Category: Review

September 23, 2022 – Atlas Shrugged 2:2

September 23, 2022 /

This is one of those chapter’s that I struggled with a bit. I struggled to make time to read and I struggled to pull something out meaningful. The subject matter was a little dull as well. But, I think that there was something to pay the fuel bills here.

When I was a child, grade school to middle school, my uncle bought a fishing boat. With that boat was also a commercial fishing license. At that time, salmon fishing lasted two weeks. We would go out at least once while he fished for money, we fished for sport. A day was measured by whether your catch met your expenses or not. A good day exceeded your expenses (hopefully significantly).

So, Jim Taggart is marrying the dime store girl. Not much is written about him or the relationship in between the time that they met and actually getting married. The book feels like it has been about a year but the truth is that very little is spoken about time. It seems like it is always fall whenever the weather is mentioned but there is very little actually marking time.

Because Jim has really evolved into an insignificant character in the book, this wedding has to have a higher purpose. After all, there is over forty pages about it. Wouldn’t you know who shows up? Francisco d’Anconia of course and he ends up with a hard hitting soliloquy.

As is customary, the minor characters behave as snooty, intolerable children. They talk in empty platitudes. You know the kind where people say something rude out load without addressing a person specifically or making eye contact. “Money is the root of all evil” within earshot of Francisco. That set him off into some real insightful analysis.

I have heard it said that money is a measure of work or better yet energy. The reason money works is that I don’t necessarily want a bushel of apples for my beef every time. Money equalizes the peaks and valleys that bartering cannot. And, not all work is as equally valuable. While you may not want to throw hay on a trailer all day, there are plenty more people that can actually do that job than fix your automobile. Hence those jobs command different rates.

I am going to kind of go back and forth between the book and reality here. Francisco sets off to dispel the myth that money is the root of all evil. I tend to agree with him that people with money are the ones that subconsciously understand the value proposition of job rates being unequal. However, the balance of power is changing to people that are gaining money by changing the laws. He calls them ‘takers’.

We do not have to look far to see this in our own lives. This was the first article I looked up on congress people’s net worth changing while in office. I am willing to concede that there are no poor people running for congress but I think that it is pretty apparent that there are a lot of people somehow increasing wealth while in office.

“Money is the barometer of societies virtue. When you see that trading is done, not by consent, but by compulsion – when you see that in order to produce, you need to seek permission from those that produce nothing – when you see that money is flowing to those who deal, not in goods, but in favors – when you see that men get richer by graft or pull, not in work, and your laws do not protect you against them, but them against you – when you see corruption getting rewarded and honesty a self-sacrifice – you may know that your society is doomed”.

So, let’s see here, we have health insurance as a tax. That sounds like trading done by compulsion, not by consent. Then we have Monsanto suing farmers for their genetics interbreeding with non-Monsanto grains because the wind blew the pollen into other’s fields. Meanwhile, the USDA is a revolving door “experts” that come from the major agriculture companies. The same with the FDA. This sounds like seeking permission to produce. By the way, these were just the first things I saw when I looked for supporting evidence to my claims.

I have one more thing to say so I can get to the end here. Let’s get more local rather than the US Department of…, landlord tenant law. In my state, this is quintessentially law protecting the pullers rather than the producers. Fortunately, the pullers don’t seem to be smart enough to actually capitalize on getting richer but for no good reason there is a perception that tenants are always the victims. Let me state that there are very few circumstances that landlords want good tenants to leave. There are literally hundreds of reasons that they want bad tenants to leave.

End Your Programming Routine: Francisco d’Anconia seems to have a pretty good read on the tea leaves. What is interesting is that Ayn Rand saw this over sixty years ago. At this point, I am not yet convinced that all of these things happening today were already growing at the point this was written. I assume that concepts in the book were largely the growth of European socialism and communism. However, I do think that the ignoring of the Constitution goes back to Abraham Lincoln as the tipping point.

September 20, 2022 – Cannelle et Vanille, Part 2

September 20, 2022 /

I wasn’t the only one confused. It seemed as though most of the book club members weren’t sure if it was one book or both. So, most of them looked at both. This was the first cookbook that Aran Goyoaga wrote and it is all about dishes but includes baking.

I think that it is natural that everyone wants to put a stamp on their work. In this case, I saw something that I had never seen before which was about ten different meals. They included the entre, salad and drink/desert/side. This was the last third of the book. I suppose kind of like wine, pairing everything together.

I kind of like the concept. At least it makes the decision making kind of easy. I guess what makes the book speak to me more is that the ten dinners seem to have a Spanish bend. There is paella, tortilla de patata and various seafood, pasta and Mediterranean vegetable dished that are in Aran’s culture. I made the tortilla for our dinner and I feel closer to these Spanish recipes than I did with the Jose Andres cookbook.

If there is any downside to the cookbook, I would say is that it shares content with the baking cookbook. So, there is some duplication in the introduction fundamentals and the baking sections. I suppose that it is nice to know that she sticks to her principles and has found something that works. The other thing that I found a little too much gluten free baking in this particular cookbook. Since this one was written first, this is a much more comprehensive cookbook and I could see the other one as a niche reference.

Just like the others, there are a few things I am interested in trying. I am definitely going to give paella a whirl. I have made it before and after feeling disappointed in Spain, I feel like I can do it better. I mentioned after reading Self-Reliance magazine that I would like to try to make yogurt. There is a recipe here as well. I also saw a very approachable ragu using beef roast. I am always looking for more ways to focus on the primal cuts besides just Sunday roasts.

Once you start getting so many cookbooks, it is difficult to invest much unless it speaks to you. I was not excited when I saw the list and this one included. However, after giving it a chance and our connection to Spain, this one is stack ranking on the higher third on the list. What I am saying is that I don’t think that this cookbook is going to appeal to everyone but it seems to be the right mixture for me.

End Your Programming Routine: I feel for those that have a severe gluten intolerance. I know other chef’s that are absolutely tortured by situation. So, for that reason alone, I applaud Aran for attempting to solve the problem. As I said last week, I am going to keep trying things until we can eliminate some of the extra ingredients around or give up. If this is you, then I would give a recommend to the book at least for experimenting.

September 16, 2022 – Atlas Shrugged 2:1

September 16, 2022 /

As we transition into part 2, things begin a little slowly. Where we left part 1, Ellis Wyatt was giving the middle finger to the establishment, namely the government and central planning. Most of the chapter is centered on the consequences and the domino effect of the political changes.

In my mind there are two things in this chapter that are significant. The first one is the State Science Institute (SSI) attempts to order some Reardon Metal. Presumptively, the reason this is happening is because Reardon seems to be the only one producing raw material in any quantity. Reardon stands by his principles and refuses to sell product based on the smear campaign SSI launched against the metal.

It’s hard to say whether Barrett firearms took a page out of Atlas Shrugged or not, but there is plenty of this kind of sentiment in the firearms world. There are some pretty strong stances amongst manufacturers, dealers and other resellers about selling into the California/New York/New Jersey markets. Ironically, at least with the first two states, they keep doubling down on their failed policies with each iteration.

The second subplot occurring within this chapter is the interaction between Ferris and Stradler of the SSI. I haven’t talked about Ferris before, but you will remember Stradler as the head of the organization. Ferris is the one that released the opinion about Reardon Metal to the press. From reading previous chapters, you may also recall that Dabny and Stradler discussed the smear campaign.

It seems as though Stradler is a bit of a dupe. His initial impression of Reardon Metal was favorable, but his trust in Ferris is unshakeable. Ferris seems to be a bit of a chameleon. What I mean is a partisan masquerading as a scientist. Once again, I am talking about the practice of ‘science’ justifying politics. Because of Stradler’s implicit trust of Ferris, he doesn’t bother to question his work or opinion. Ferris has now written a book extolling the virtues of central planning and the government science.

This is a round about way of talking about authorities. Truth does not have any authorities and science has very little truths. Science has data where qualified scientists offer opinions. The validation of the method is called peer review, but not the validation of hypothesis. The phrase ‘the science is settled’ fools the average citizen into elevating various figures in demi-gods. Politicians masquerading as scientist use the bully pulpit to manipulate data into policy. All the while, the population’s malaise and lack of critical thinking just swallow up the opinions as truth and fall in line.

For sure, the first issue mentioned would not occur without the second. Once again, we have abdicated our responsibility as citizens to follow data on any level. I think that most people assume the language and the vocabulary is too technical to even begin to validate facts. We find it much easier to accept that someone else has done the work and we call that person an authority.

One last thing about this subject. Not everything is wrong or malicious. I like to use the intent barometer when forming an opinion. Some topics lack data or are extremely convoluted or maybe only have lose-lose outcomes.

Take the subject of mask mandates for instance. The data was known even before mandates were implemented that cloth masks were ineffective. This is the reason why the requirement was slow for initial adoption. If you recall, it took weeks of debate before the mandates became policy. The problem I have with the entire situation was it was all about appearances. Once implemented, the government was not going to backtrack despite what the data says.

The initial intent at least was good, the execution draconian and the result was evil. All of this behavior netted people scared to death and doing something that had no real benefit. Meanwhile, the government would only save face on policy rather than admit they were wrong and end the division among the people.

End Your Programming Routine: I realize that there is only so much time in the day to do things. What seems to be most important is binge watching the latest season of Yellowstone rather than becoming educated to our societies downfall. Admittedly, I choose to work on my own projects and pursue my interest than research political statements mostly. At least, I spend time on this forum trying to encourage you to check the data behind ‘the facts’.

September 13, 2022 – Cannelle et Vanille, Part 1

September 13, 2022 /

This is the September 2022 selection for the the Left Coast Culinary Book Club. Now, all of this is a bit confusing, at least to me. Because I missed the initial meeting this year when the selections were made, it appears that there are multiple books in the series as well as a blog. I went ahead and purchased both.

One book is a gluten, vegan, dairy free baking cookbook. The second and more difficult to find is a more traditional cookbook. Hence, why I broke this review up into two entries. It also appears that there is a third on the way.

The official title of the book is Cannelle et Vannille Bakes Simple: A New Way To Bake Gluten Free by Aran Goyoaga. The cookbook contains 100 recipes for breads, deserts and all things baking using alternative ingredients. Her blog is a two time James Beard finalist. Those are pretty high marks in my book as those awards are the best of the best. I will say, the blog hasn’t been updated since 2019, so I am not sure what she is currently up to besides writing a third cookbook.

I started with this one because it was the one that I received first. The truth is, I don’t think that this was the actual choice of the month but it was ubiquitous compared to the other cookbook given that it is the latest publication. And the only reason I actually bought it is because my son says that he wants to open a bakery with all of these particular traits. I figured it was worth having as a reference and a starting point for him if nothing else.

In my life, my wife has inflammatory responses or another way of saying immunodeficiencies. My research into food has convinced me that gluten, sugar and carbohydrates do play a large role into triggering that. I don’t think that it is really good for anyone and it particularly worse for others with immune issues. For that reason, I have cut way down on bread and pasta. What was at least one sandwich a day has gone to a couple a month for instance.

My own experiences with gluten free has left me less than impressed. One, I don’t think fake food ever replaces the real thing. Gluten plays a role in bread and pasta that is really irreplaceable. In order to make up for the things the real ingredients are missing, a lot of chemicals and other bad (or worse) ingredients are used.

To be honest, I have yet to make anything. As I stated earlier, I bought this for my son. That being said, we have most of the flour substitutes hanging out taking up space, I might as well use them up. The area that I feel like the best place to start are items that are more dense, like pound cake. That way, we are mitigating the things that gluten bring to bread such as elasticity.

As stated earlier, I personally know people that have sensitivity to certain things. They can even have a reaction by touching particular chemicals. Did you know that Play-Dough has flour in it? The thing that I think this cookbook does well is touching on all the particular substitutions like flour, eggs or dairy. There is no judgement offering flour equivalents as well.

Aran was originally from Spain. Most of the recipes have a European feel to them. Truthfully, I only have one other cookbook that is exclusively baking but I found that over half of the deserts had fruit incorporated in them. Outside of substitute flours and dairy products, everything else seems pretty natural and oriented toward lower sugar. Those are pluses in my book.

One thing that I found surprising were the recipes containing ‘sourdough’ starter and the use of yeast with the flour substitutes. I guess I didn’t think that they would actually work. Once again, I can’t vouch for anything yet but I do plan on trying a few things. I might make the blueberry coffee cake for our monthly dinner considering it is coming up in a just a few days and I have some blueberries to finish off.

End Your Programming Routine: I get turned off by evangelists, maybe it is the holier than though or the aggressive nature of their chosen religion (like veganism). Because the approach is pretty universal and inclusive, I am more inclined to give it a shot. The truth is, I would like to do a side by side with substitutes and real ingredients just to see if there is a taste and texture difference. Maybe that will be in the near future as the weather changes.

September 9, 2022 – Atlas Shrugged 1:10

September 9, 2022 /

This is the last chapter in part one of Atlas Shrugged. It is not quite numerically a third of the way through, but practically it is. Let us just say that the world is quickly losing it’s mind. By the end of the chapter, we see the beginning of the end.

As the story line goes, Dabny continues her search for the engineering brains behind the ‘perpetual motion machine’ or the motor that converts static electricity from the air into mechanical energy. Of course, the search is very difficult because the Twentieth Century Motor Company closed over ten years prior and anyone that is affiliated doesn’t want to talk about it.

Most of the chapter wanders around interviewing different characters who lament how their desire to make the world better ended in hard feelings and failed financial enterprises. We had the banker who loaned money without any credit check or collateral and lost everything. We had the owners who levelled the entire organization payroll structure to have the entire company vote on need based results and punitive for those who got less votes. The people involved with the enterprise for pure reasons like science left out of disgust. The people involved with the enterprise for social engineering failed miserably.

I guess where I want to go with this today is philosophy of the premise. What I mean is that making the world a better place is a laudable goal. But, logic must be applied to the methods. Ideologues that act without a solid premise are destined for failure and ridicule regardless of how equitable the changes might be.

Speaking of Ideologues, I would also say that perception of the surrounding world is skewed. If I believe that every person should be paid equally (or the same amount), then I am going to perceive anyone that runs a company against my beliefs as deficient. That may project as greedy or selfish or a workaholic or any number of adjectives negatively describing someone with opposing views as mine.

Additionally, in today’s fascist world I am going to use the means of the state to try and force my beliefs as policy or law. This leads us to a new dirty word, fair. If you are anything like me then then the connotation of the word fair is positive. As I do, I want to look deeper into the word.

I have thought about this quite a bit. Is fair a reality? What is fair and what does it really mean? On thinking deeper, something can only be fair when all parties agree. Just like in the book, losing your business to bad business practices is not un-fair it is your perception of the circumstances. I don’t think all would agree that it was un-fair, I sure don’t.

Other industrialist are doing a lot of whining about the fairness of Hank Reardon’s success and productivity. Subsequently, under the orders of Bureau of Economic Planning and National Resources railroads speeds are capped at sixty miles and hour and the maximum train length is limited to sixty cars and trains are required to operation the same number of trains in one state as adjacent states. In addition, no one metal company can produce quantities exceeding another. And finally, there is a 5% Value Added Tax to Colorado. This is all in attempt to have a fair marketplace.

End Your Programming Routine: The name of this chapter is Wyatt’s Torch. The reason being is that Ellis Wyatt, the oil baron and the reason the John Galt Line was built just gave an ‘F’-You to all the people demanding fairness. He set his facility on fire and gave up on drilling oil. Like the engineers, at some point you can’t fight these kind of battles head on. You have to regroup and take the fight in a different direction or front.

September 2, 2022 Atlas Shrugged 1:9

September 2, 2022 /

I don’t want to come off sexist, but I will say it anyway. There are some elements of this book that read like a romance novel. It could be that this becomes important later, but it does seem a little dramatic and over the top. This chapter gets into that aspect quite deeply. That is all I am going to say about that.

It is human nature to feel vindicated having success when there were so many doubters. Dabny and Henry are riding high and begin having an affair and end up going go on vacation to Wisconsin. Meanwhile, Jim is low and I don’t think that he really knows why. I think that it is because situations are not really going his way and he knows that he is wrong. These are not really what I want to go into this week.

The real money in this chapter is a conversation between Mr. Mowen on Amalgamated Switch and Signal Company and an unnamed worker. Mr Mowen observed Quinn Ball Bearing Co. moving to Colorado from his office. There is some discussion of the Equalization of Opportunity bill and how they don’t agree with it and then there is this quote.

“I don’t see it. It is a backward, primitive, unenlightened place. They don’t even have a modern government. It’s the worst government in any state. The laziest. It does nothing – except keeping law courts and a police department. It doesn’t do anything for the people. It doesn’t help anybody. I don’t see why all of the best companies want to run there.” – Unnamed worker.

And there is your economics lesson for all time. Money goes where it is treated well. And where the money goes, so do the jobs and consequently so does the wealth. Have you ever observed an un-incorporated area growing rapidly? Who moves there and why is this happening? It is the upwardly mobile moving to a lower cost area. Housing costs and taxes drive the migration.

By the same token, so does industry. I did a job in China back in 2009. This was making epoxy resins for carbon fiber layups (primarily building aerospace parts). The plant operators were Chemical Engineers with Master’s degrees and English almost as good as mine. The company was paying them about $20,000/year. Part of the reason this was being done in China is because the US equivalent would be paying operators $50,000/yr plus benefits, so say $75,000.

Of course not everything is perfect. For instance, a local pipe fitter was hired for the installation. When they finished, all of the piping sloped backward. This caused problems with the line contamination and dosing. So, the pipefitters had to redo the entire installation. That being said, it still cost less than doing it right in the first place.

Businesses are not stupid. If an advantage can be obtained by shifting operations for a better long term outlook then they will do so. It is the same reason the “Anti-Inflation Act of 2022” is going to fail. The government is pretending that putting price controls on pharmaceuticals is somehow going to reduce inflation. How will these companies respond? Move operations to a cheaper location i.e. China, distribute costs to non-listed products or cease production all together. I ask you, is this win-win or even lose-win?

In a free market, if consumers can’t afford an item, then it doesn’t get purchased. When something doesn’t get purchased, it eventually doesn’t get made. If I was pricing something, I would try to keep it at a razors edge of profit and market toleration of cost. Let us not fool ourselves, we do not have a free market. It is highly likely that the drug companies were in on the creation of the list of drugs where these price controls are instituted in the first place. For all I know, the maximum allowed price may be above the current cost and this could all be a sham.

End Your Programming Routine: The quote by the unknown worker resonates something that is so fundamentally wrong with today’s society. The greater society believes the government needs to do something about gun violence, climate change, social justice, inflation or Covid, None of these things drove the Pilgrims to come to America. None of those things are even thought of in the Constitution. My point being, we the people have absolved our self-responsibility and now believe it is the job of the government. Now, if we just elect the right people…

August 26, 2022 – Atlas Shrugged 1:8

August 26, 2022 /

This book is rapidly earning a spot on the reading list. I suppose you could say that I enjoy a story with a bunch of subversive subplots going on. I also appreciate a long and intricate story. If a book is going to be short like Animal Farm, it very well better get to the point and quickly. Animal Farm is going on the review list too, I have a couple others ahead of it first.

There is a lot going on in this chapter that is relevant to the current story lines in the plot. In fact, it is probably an end to the most controversial issues to date. I didn’t recognize that there were a lot of new concepts however. I am not sure where things are going from this chapter other than there is sure to be more interaction between Frank D’aconia, Jim Taggert, Dabny Taggert and Henry Reardon.

In the first, third of the chapter, we have the Equalization of Opportunity bill in action. Reardon ends up selling his different business interests to individual industrialists. Some of them are consolidating operations and others seem to be friends. It is clear that many industrialist are not happy with the status quo, but we get a glimpse into Reardon’s character. He will fight for his business in management and the marketplace but not in the political arena.

In the second, third we have more doubt on the John Galt Line. Dabny holds a press conference, concerning the near completion of the line. We have the same battle lines with the media saying it is going to be a disaster and the normal folks betting on success. The third, third of this chapter had the first run on the John Galt line. Of course it was successful, what did you think was going to happen?

So, lets talk about the media and misdirection or agenda pushing. Did anyone hear about the Inflation Reduction Act 2022? If you see the title, you would think that this is an attempt to actually reduce inflation. Despite the fact that the government is claiming there is no recession and inflation is minimal, why would we need to reduce inflation?

You can follow the link above to see what is actually in the bill (on a summary level). But, if you ignore the actual details and just look at the cost summary, you will see that this is touted as a deficit reduction. How is this actually done? Primarily there are some rebates that are terminated and taxes are raised on corporations.

Let us look into the bill for a minute. The ‘benefits’ of the bill are targeted toward climate change and health care rebates and changes. Now, if we take the name of the bill at it’s face value, how in the world are these things related to inflation reduction? I really don’t have the time and/or space to discuss how inflation works. But, simplifying inflation for a quick bite: inflation is driven by the federal reserve (non-governmental entity of member banks) increasing the money supply and this is done through fractional reserve banking. I hate to break this to you readers, but inflation is actually desired by the government because this is how the federal debt is financed. Older (more valuable) debt is payed with less valuable money.

Circling back to the media now. We have the useful idiots parroting all the great inflation reduction that we are going to see just like the media is publishing false information sourced by the State Science Institute in Atlas Shrugged . We are going to do that by raising taxes on the rich and giving money to people to buy electric cars, all the while the national debt is reduced. Huh, I can’t make the connection.

End Your Programming Routine: Pick your issue here. Trump has nuclear secrets at his home, the election was stolen, there is no inflation, stay home and save lives, two weeks to flatten the curve, get your vaccination to do your part… lies. I don’t like to talk about politics this definitively but if you are wrapped up in the BS that is being fed, then you are a drone. The government is going to do what they are going to do. We the people need to focus on things that matter to us. The political circus is still happening every day, don’t go.

August 24, 2022 – Review: Porter-Cable FR350B

August 24, 2022 /

It’s been a long time since I did a proper review. Part of what holds me back is I want to get some use out of something before I give it a one day run and then write about it. For example, I have gotten enough use with my Crossman Optimus that I should be able to speak with some authority on that product. Ideally, I would also like some experience with multiple models as well so the review is not in a vacuum.

Before we get completely immersed in this review, I wanted to talk a little bit about the Porter-Cable brand. It wasn’t that long ago that Porter Cable was a premium brand. In 2004 Delta Machinery was acquired by Black & Decker (parent company of DeWalt as well) and it seems like it has been relegated to to value brand. For instance, the FR350B was about 50% cheaper than the comparable DeWalt nailer.

Truth be told, I really wanted to buy a 15 degree siding nailer but I simply couldn’t justify the $350-400 price tag for my one wall project. I probably should have bought it 2 years ago when I did my remodel job. At that time, I justified that I didn’t need to spend any additional money. When I did my office project, I decided to splurge and buy a framing nailer. I no longer needed to prove anything to anyone after my apartment remodel.

What I realized was that instead of buying a siding nailer, I could do the job with the framing nailer I already owned. There are shorter, thinner, ring shank and galvanized nails that would work just fine. My only real gripe is the plastic collation remains visible after driving the nail. Lap siding is covered by the overlapping the above course. For my project, I picked and scraped the worst offenders on the T1-11 but this would never do in a pay for, job situation. And that really has noting to do with the nailer itself.

This particular nailer is a 21 degree nailer which can shoot between 2 and 3 1/2 inch nails. It would appear that there are other nailers on the market that have a more severe angle (that is the angle of the magazine to the tool) which in theory allows more access in difficult or tighter situations. I think that the 21 degree angle is the most common. It comes with the hose connection already made and a rafter hook attached.

Make sure an know your application so that you can also get appropriate nails at the same time because those are not included. Manufacturers have come up with a color coded tag to match the proper nails to the nailer. In this case, mine has a maroon 21 degree tag on it that matches the label on the box of nails. The other way to match nails to the nailer is buy the same brand nails/nailer. This is not a guarantee but it is a way but it is much more likely.

ScoreProsCons
Value3-50% less than competitors
-Nails cost significantly less $40/1000 or roughly $2/lb vs. $6/lb loose
-Comes without a specific case (to me that is a plus)		-Still Paid $180, that buys a lot of nails
-In my frequency of projects, an unnecessary luxury
Quality3-Operated on two projects without misfire
-The way the air port ejects exhaust is often in the face. It is adjustable however it seems to be frequently in the wrong location
-Mechanism seems bulkier than others I have handled
-When nail magazine gets to about 5-7 remaining, needs to be reloaded to operate
Performance5-Much easier to work alone
-Significantly faster than hand nailing
-Can make nailing in tight or difficult positions possible		-Easier to make compounding mistakes
-More difficult to tell if you missed the framing

It is not fair to review on speculation. However, I have gotten lots of comments on my nailer rebuild video that newer Porter-Cable nail guns will not last. I don’t know if that is true or not, but there has to be some kind of compromise for the price. I guess time will tell.

There are cheaper tools out there particularly online and at a national tool store we all know. To me, this was the lowest price point I was willing to go. I am a big believer in you get what you pay for. Often times, inexpensive items do the job for a while, but the value is in the durability like softer alloys, inferior batteries, no serviceable parts, etc.

End Your Programming Routine: The truth is, I really didn’t need this tool at the time I bought it and I didn’t need it here either. But, I have done this work several times and trying to do it by yourself is difficult. To top it off, it seems like some brands of nails don’t have as much integrity. With one brand of nail, I was bending and pulling 2 nails for every one that I got in. Also, hand nailing into Hardi siding is doubly difficult. I am positive that I will have other projects that I will use this for. However, sometimes the setup is not worth the effort, so keeping a hammer around and knowing how to use it can be a better and easier strategy.

August 23, 2022 – Self Reliance Magazine

August 23, 2022 /

Let the cheapness flow. Last Tuesday, I wrote about Backwoods Home Magazine, today I am reviewing the companion publication. The story as I understand it was that the kids of the publisher started this magazine. I am presuming the strategy was to leverage the name of Backwoods Home to kickstart this one.

My interpretation of the mission statement is similar content, less controversial. Of course, less controversial is subjective. What is missing is content on firearms and politics. My one look at Backwoods Home, I saw some of those two but really very little; I would say two columns. Nevertheless, as promised it is not here.

Below is a look of the contents of Self-Reliance Magazine.

  1. Tips on watering your Garden
  2. The front porch concert
  3. From tree to table: Harvesting black walnuts
  4. The jitter free cafe (coffee substitutes)
  5. How to build a bee house
  6. 11 building mistakes
  7. Protecting canning jars during an earthquake
  8. Natural Goat Horns
  9. Homeschool vs. online school
  10. Blueberries for all of us
  11. Sew a ram apron
  12. A primer on zippers
  13. Grain Sack Totes
  14. The complicated world of corn
  15. Foraging farther off the grid
  16. Making crock pot yogurt
  17. Healthy, heart smart Greek cuisine
  18. Six soulful smoothies

In many ways, I felt like I was reading an extension to Backwoods Home. Most of the subject matter was the same and even authors/columnist cross back and forth. I felt like Self-Reliance had additional food and crafts to make up for the content the parent publication has. It is probably subconscious because I knew this before I started but I felt like the the overall tone was subdued compared to Backwoods Home.

From this, I am interested in trying to make yogurt, I thought that there was some good advice to secure canning jars and the Ram apron was an eye opener. This is a device to prevent the ram from breading when it is the time of year. The zipper article offered some tips on mending and it confirmed some things that I thought I knew.

Maybe I shouldn’t admit this either but I have my eyes open for picking up a second hand sewing machine because it is so much easier and better than sewing by hand. I have sewed a number of patches on my kids Boy Scout Uniforms and it takes a long time. Ideally, they would show some initiative and do this themselves but I could see some value in mending myself.

End Your Programming Routine: I am strongly considering subscribing. If I do, there is a deal to get both in the same transaction which is what I will do. That being said, if I only could pick one it would be Backwoods Home over Self-Reliance. It just felt more like me. There are several publications that are pretty similar as well like Grit and Mother Earth News come to mind. The extra spicy Backwoods Home is a differentiator.

August 19, 2022 – Atlas Shrugged 1:7

August 19, 2022 /

This was a long chapter, over 50 pages. It was really a tale of two sides. The first being the State Science Institute denounces Reardon Metal, contractors/suppliers quit, unions refuse to work with it. The other was Dabny creates the John Galt Inc as own contracting company. Orders are exploding for Reardon metal because other suppliers have failed. So, in other words we have the state and media saying one thing and people doing the other… sound familiar?

Once again we hear another John Galt back story. This time he found the fountain of youth. It seems that John Galt is a mysterious character that no one really knows anything about. I know for a fact that we are going to continue to learn more about him but we will just have to wait for that to be revealed.

Also, another significant event happens, the Equalization of Opportunity bill passes. If you remember from last week, this is the statute that only allows a person to own one business. In theory, this is going to prevent industry vertical integration. With all of the supply chain issues, I am sure that this is going to have a negative effect on Reardon Metal.

The rest of this post I am going to focus on the smear campaign against Reardon Metal. There were lots of interesting quotes in the interaction between Dr. Robert Stadler of the State Science Institute and Dabny however, I chose these two. “Set science free of the rule of the dollar.” “And when we deal with people, considerations other than the truth enter the question.”

Now, taking it one at a time. Once again, there is this higher level thought that science should be free from the influence of money. As an educated scientist, I can say that attitude is really still pervasive within the educational doctrine. It is not so much the case on the front of research. You see, it take money to perform ‘research’ and institutional budgets are not adequate. This means that industry is funding academic studies. At that point, the outcome is likely tainted because it is not an impartial hypothesis.

Stadler proclaims that the sole purpose of the Institute is to create cutting edge materials research i.e. invent new products. Since this is a publicly funded venture, he is concerned that his entity will be judged for little to no output. And to make matters worse, Reardon Metal is the technological biggest breakout in the current era. Therefore, slander on the metal is an attempt to save his own reputation. Aligned with him are all of the lazy industrialist that have a comfort in not having competition.

Like the Betamax/VHS debate of the mid-1980s, the best product (or truth) isn’t always important. Sometimes when something dominates the market, then it doesn’t matter if it is the best. This is not what Stadler was inferring with his statement. He was actually saying the opposite. It is OK to lie to the public when it is in their best interest.

I like to call that the ‘better-than-you liberal’. There is something about the arrogance of people that have this prevailing opinion that the ends justify the means. Whether it is a mask or vaccine judgement or you don’t announce your pronouns or you don’t have a Ukraine flag icon on your social media it has the feel of judgement to me. Remember, even if masks don’t decrease the risk of transmission, it can’t hurt to require people to wear them.

End Your Programming Routine: I am open to being wrong, but this is the behavior I have observed from the left side of the political spectrum. The difference with the right side is they are always saying “what you should do is…” or “they ought to…”. If you recall, I choose neither. I am perfectly OK that you think that you were born a cat or the earth is flat; I am not going to respect that but that is your right. Once again, examine the motivations of the source of data or opinions to get the appropriate understanding for yourself.