Rambo in Venezuela

Posted on February 27, 2014 by Alaska

Unrest in Venezuela Spawns a Folk Hero

http://on.wsj.com/1hAnJhu

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Hitching a ride on the gravy train

Posted on February 27, 2014 by Phil Kadath

By the way, you and I supplied both the gravy and the tracks for the train.

Obama appointee subsidizes electric bus company, then goes to work for it

President Obama’s Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood has left the administration and joined the board of an electric bus company he subsidized and praised while in office.

Proterra Inc. makes buses that require no gasoline or diesel – they run on electricity and fuel cells.

You can see why electric buses would appeal to cities that want to clean the air and reduce fuel usage: City buses run a predictable number of miles a day, averting worries about dead batteries. Also, a fleet of buses creates economies of scale that can make recharging infrastructure economical.

…..

On Feb. 18, Proterra announced that LaHood, who left DOT last year, was joining the company’s board of directors. “LaHood’s government experience and leadership in transportation policy innovation make him an excellent fit for Proterra,” the company said in a news release. He will be paid not in cash but in stock in 2018 if the company successfully goes public, according to a spokesman for LaHood.

Proterra wrote: “During his time as secretary, LaHood was an avid supporter of EV transit, leading the Federal Transit Administration’s Clean Fuels Program, which was used to help fund the purchase of EV buses by several cities across the country.”

So LaHood used his power as a top government official to give taxpayer money to Proterra. Now he stands to personally benefit if the company succeeds.

A DOT spokesman also did not respond to my request for comment by press time.

Would that be considered a “job created” or a “job saved” in ObamaSpeak?

Posted in Order of the imperial upraised middle finger. | 2 Comments

I’d be happy

Posted on February 27, 2014 by Phil Kadath

If this guy were voted out of office.

But then again, I’m not an Oregon resident.

Oregon is a beautiful place, and, for many of the state’s well-heeled residents, including many refugees from equally beautiful but overpriced California, economic growth not only is unimportant but is even a negative. Rather than create opportunity, the real issue, according to Gov. John Kitzhaber, is making sure the state ranks high on “the happiness index.” Forget sweating the hard stuff, and cozy up with a hot soy latte.

There’s a problem with this. Oregon’s unemployment rate remains above the national average and underemployment – the measure of people working part-time or well below their skill level – stands at nearly 17 percent, behind only Nevada and California. Since 2007, the state has lost over 3.4 percent of its jobs, a performance much worse than the national average and even California.

“You have to wonder about the rhetoric of happiness,” suggests economist Bill Watkins, who predicts the state won’t be back to 2007 employment levels till next year. “You need jobs for people to be happy, you would think.”

This dearth of opportunity extends even into Portland, the state’s dominant city. One recent study showed that earnings for educated male in the city are among the worst in the country. Portland, the land of Ph.D.’s driving cabs and working in coffee shops, notes geographer Jim Russell, “attracts talent for the sake of attracting talent” but does little with them once they arrive. No surprise then that the place has become widely described the “slacker capital of the world.”

It won’t be long until this “progresses” north. Hopefully, I’ll be working by then so that I will actually BE happy instead of just being considered “happy”.

Posted in Freaks, Mutants, and Morons | 1 Comment

Now that they are finally over

Posted on February 26, 2014 by Phil Kadath

Do you notice anything about this graph?

injury_rates_v2

It seems that the least dangerous Olympic sport is the only one which includes firearms.

So for heavens sake, ban snowboards and skis!

Found via Samizdata, who found it via the Aussie LibDems.

Posted in The Left is Never Right | 3 Comments

RNS Quote of the Day: 02/26/14

Posted on February 26, 2014 by Phil Kadath

Britain is about to get a new island off its Southwest coast. Of a sort.

Nature treats humans as part of the natural world but environmentalists treat nature as part of the political world.

Richard Fernandez – Rainbow Slick

The Southwestern leg of Britain is drowning under historic levels of floodwater. But not because of global warming, as their government has told them. Instead, it is because the government has misappropriated funds and decided “the cause” is more important than its people’s lives and property.

If you haven’t been keeping up on the problems in the Somerset Levels, you should take it upon yourself to hit the link and do so. Think, “Northern Californian drought” in reverse.

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RIP Barkley

Posted on February 25, 2014 by Alaska

Many good people, past and present, we come to know only through their words. Where they cannot speak, the words of others must do. Such it was with Barkley, a good dog person whose good human person wrote of him so well and often.

Our thoughts and prayers are with you, Brigid.

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We all would

Posted on February 25, 2014 by Phil Kadath

Chess Grandmaster, Gary Kasparov tweeted out a partial truth on Saturday

I’ve said it before, but if Barack Obama had been president instead of Ronald Reagan, I’d still be a citizen of the Soviet Union.

The reason I label this a partial truth is, not that I think it to be untrue, but because behind is the whole truth that if our current President had been in office from 1981 through 1989, the 1990’s would have been much different.

Today would be different as well since I’d be dead and there would be no such thing as the internet.

Posted in Life in the Atomic Age | Leave a comment

RNS Quote of the Day: 02/25/14

Posted on February 25, 2014 by Phil Kadath

By way of Insty, pertaining to the Hobby Lobby case before the SCOTUS

If corporations can’t have religious beliefs, then it follows that they can’t believe in climate change, sustainable investment or any other beliefs embraced by the corporate social responsibility movement.

Keith Paul Bishop – 44 Law Professors make a Case Against Corporate Social Responsibility

It would seem to be true, to those of us who live in the real world. However, you know that the SJW’s (social justice warriors) believe that one standard is not enough and like to whip out a second and third standard if it meets their needs.

Posted in Quote of the Day | 1 Comment

Math Defeated the Incas

Posted on February 24, 2014 by Alaska

Or rather, the lack of it: the cultural “human capital” deficiencies correlated with relative innumeracy.

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You like strange?

Posted on February 24, 2014 by Phil Kadath

I’ll give you strange.

A while back I made mention of an interesting little project going on in the corner of the fabrication shop at school. I finally got to talk with the owner and get some pictures to share.

First, a little history.

In 1967, customer car master, Ray Fahrner, hit the car show circuit with his latest creation, The Boothill Express.

Boothill-express

He built it using a mid-19th century wooden horse drawn funeral coach on top of a custom built box-steel frame and powered it using a 426 Hemi whose carburetor intakes you can see sticking out of the top in the above pic. Hit the links for the history.

I remember the Boothill Express model kit. I’m pretty sure that it was one of the most popular kits Monogram/Revel ever put out. You can watch the Boothill Express race the original Munsters “Drag-u-la” here.

So imagine my eyes popping out when I walked into the fab shop for the first time and saw this (clicken to embiggen pics)

20140206_210631a

Now, if you look at the first pic and compare it to this one, you may notice something different sticking out of the top of the chassis.

Instead of eight intakes, there are 24 exhausts.

20140206_210604a

Dude has an offset pair of 5.3L Jaguar V-12 mills sitting in the engine bay.

And it gets crazier

20140206_210617a

He has each of them connected to their own GM TH400 transmissions and then their own siamesed Franklin diffs.

Oh, and the Jaguars are set up for NO2. It is a good thing that fuel cell you see there above the U-joints is tiny. You’ll need to stop frequently for a new pair of tightie-whities.

He is naming his rendition of the Fahrner classic “The Hellbound Express”. Which is fitting since you’ll be putting a lot of dollars into the swear jar when you put this thing in drive.

I’ll try to get some better pics of it in the future. The thing is, this guy isn’t just some off the bricks student. He’s a custom chopper builder. Rumor has it that he built a four wheeled, rotary powered chopper a while back in the shop. He is usually only around one day a week these days, and it is not always the same night I have Fab class, so meeting to talk with him is hit and miss. But do enjoy the pics and if you have any questions, I’ll pass them along to try and get some answers.

Posted in Kewel! | 1 Comment