FFS

I stopped watching his channel a while ago, but I don't think a national from a nation that LITERALLY made quarantine facilities concentration camps to house the people who refused the COVID vaccine has a lot of room to be critical about the level of freedom in America.

How's the freedom to own a gun going on down under?  Or to mod your car?  I feel a lot freer than you...

There's no truly FREE nation.

The tyranny of a million tiny regulatory cuts bleeds a lot of liberty away in every Western nation. 

But the entire point of the video is "Empire is BAD, America has become an Empire, therefore America is BAD."

You want to explain how your quarantine facilities were different from concentration camps?  Tough shit, Hitler was EVIL, Hitler made concentration camps, therefore YOU are EVIL for making concentration camps!  And I know this line of reasoning because you made the exact same argument about the internment camps the US put up for Japanese-American citizens. 

The last video I bothered watching he mentioned his school of thought for how to do history and I don't think that's a good method of doing it.  Ethno-History seems to be a means of applying guilt to a society with modern filters instead of the lenses used by the people of the time.

It's a lot like blaming a 5 year old for things as if they were an senior citizen.

Something else you need to understand about Americans, Mate:  "Shiny, let's be bad guys."  It's a cultural trait that if we keep being treated as if we're guilty, when we're innocent, to say, "fuck it, let's crime!"

Are you certain that after decades of the world accusing us of shit we weren't up to that you're not just seeing us saying "fuck it"? 

PS: I loathe to call any form of quarantine facility or internment camp a concentration camp because the National Socialists "feature" of gas chambers and crematoria is absent in Australian and American iterations of the idea.

PPS: This is a half-cocked rant about a particular YouTuber and not a well researched document on all of Australia.  Apologies to my readers Down-Under who feel they got tarred by the same brush. 

Bribing Me With My Own Money?

President Trump has offered the American people a bribe to vote for Republicans for Congress.

They take both houses, he vows to give all of us $5,000.

Yippie?

That's like $1.2 trillion bucks.

No way this massive cash distribution will, in any way, be inflationary...

Printer go brrrrrrrrrr, I guess because I'm pretty sure the gubmint ain't got no extra $1.2 trillion laying around while they deficit spend normally.

I generally like Trump, but shit like this ticks me off.

I'd much rather he vowed to get the government to spend $5,000 less for every adult.

That'd be some positive change that'd be a real benefit to everyone. 

Fastener Design

In the ongoing saga of the two bolts that GM says that I need to remove the windshield to get at...

I cracked open my old text book.

The only threads doing any holding are the ones inside the nut.

Excess thread beyond the nut does nothing.  Only the engaged threads matter.

The video that got me worried about cutting them to remove them:

His contention is that the extra thread somehow catches again after enough force is applied to strip the threads from the start position.

I don't think he knows what he's on about because he keeps saying shear.  The shear force will be at the plane where the two parts meet and will break the bolt there; not cause it to slip down the nut.  Threads strip in tension.

If GM had really "highly engineered" this with the idea that an extra 1/4" of thread was going to grab after the engaged thread stripped; there'd be another nut on the end of the threads as a stop. 

My contention is this design decision was made to force the customer to go to the dealer to get the evaporator replaced because small shops don't have the ability to remove the glass.

But if you're really worried...

Cut the original bolt.

Replace it with all-thread rod.

Tighten it to spec with a nut at the top and use red Loctite® on that nut.

That would replicate the OE bolt. 

PS: Royalty Auto Services is the only source for this worry I can find.  Google cites them in the top three hits when you search for the issue.  Sorry, search for this non-issue.

PPS: The engineers that designed this are also the ones that lied about why they use torque to yield fasteners.  ARP proves them wrong over and over with regards of getting consistent torque.  Torque to yield is so a machine can do the torquing.  They're very good at counting degrees of rotation but not so much at measuring torque when you have a bolting fixture that does all of the head bolts at the same time. 

PPPS: If GM designed this all to collapse in such a way to put those bolts in tension during a collision, I think anyone injured in such an accident has an excellent case for substantial financial compensation. 

AI Slop

Caught a short vid on YouTube talking about a battle in the Pacific in WW2.

The Garands were firing 3-round bursts as fast as an M16, and shooting, at least, 30 rounds with no reloading shown.

Looked good except for the that obvious flaw. 

Conceited

Something I noticed that's made it hard for me to watch some CarTube channels is the obvious wealth of the presenter.

Their being richer isn't the problem.

It's the conceit that they're experiencing the same problems I would have in getting the money together for the project while they casually mention dropping thousands on it.

Additionally the "old friend" from the car rags days has returned.  Parts donated by a vendor and deals I won't get because a seller isn't trying to get ME to mention them on my channel.

So, no, will not be taking my $100k F350 and $20k enclosed car trailer to pick up a $3,500 car with a seized engine.

I will not be finding a 6.2l aluminum LS engine, that already has a Summit stage 4 cam, laying around for less than $5k.  I will not be handed a $5k exhaust system.  I will not be spending the day getting my car dyno-tuned, a $1,500 to $3,000 value.

But most of all, I will not be doing it in my forty-thousand square foot shop with 8 two-post lifts.

Because of all that, it rubs me wrong when they start complaining about how much a fucking water pump would cost.  I might, by necessity, need to skip the $200 water pump if I needed to get my car back on the road after an engine swap.

But I also don't brag about "being under ten grand" on a project that has, at least, another $10k in parts donated to it.

Your project is $25 grand to the rest of us and I can't pretend otherwise.

My suspension of disbelief is no longer willing. 

Bigger Bar

I found new information about the bear referenced by Ron White.

The 7mm part of the routine bugged me.

Turns out it was 7mm Remington Magnum, and a semi-auto rifle not a revolver.

The bear tared out at 1,600 lb., so it's ST 23 not 21.

It absorbed 12 rounds, total of 7mm Rem Mag. 

7mm Rem Mag does 7d+2 pi.  Average roll is  26.  24 penetrates for 24 points of damage per shot on average with FMJ.  A soft-point would do 7d+2(0.5) pi+.  The average roll would get 20 to penetrate for 30 damage.

The only semi-auto I can find that has more than 5 shots that's chambered in 7mm Rem Mag is an AR10 derivative from Great Lakes Firearms & Ammunition, the GL10.  There's a lot of red flags with the story, see below...

Because of the recoil (Rcl 4), prolly gonna take one shot per round and not the full 3.

BALL
First shot drops the bear to -1 with a consciousness roll and half move and dodge.
Second shot drops it to -25, consciousness roll and death roll.
Third shot drops it to -49, consciousness roll and death roll.
Fourth shot drops it to -73, consciousness roll and death roll.
Fifth shot drops it to -97, consciousness roll and death roll.
Sixth shot drops it to -121, auto-death.

HOLLOW POINT
First shot drops the bear to -7 with a consciousness roll and half move and dodge.
Second shot drops it to -37, consciousness roll and death roll.
Third shot drops it to -67, consciousness roll and death roll.
Fourth shot drops it to -97, consciousness roll and death roll.
Fifth shot drops it to -127, auto-death.

Clearly our ranger rolled below average on his damage dice, and appears to have missed a few times with the first magazine.

Oh, and it's appropriate that I GURPS'd this all up because it appears to be an internet hoax! 

According to Gaber and department records, the bear was shot Oct. 15, 2001, on Hinchenbrook Island at the mouth of Prince William Sound, by 22-year-old airman Ted Winnen from Eilson Air Force Base.

Winnen was deer hunting, but bear season was also open. He and a friend spotted the bear fishing along a river about 40 yards away. They decided it was a shooter, but the bear disappeared in the underbrush. It had not seen or smelled the hunters. It reappeared about 10 yards away. Winnen shot it through the head with a .338 Winchester Magnum (not a 7 mm mag.) and bowled it over. He then emptied the rifle into its vital area to make sure it was dead. It did not charge the hunter(s) as was claimed.

Official records showed that the bear was an Alaskan brown bear and measured 10 feet, 6 inches from head to toe and weighed an estimated 1,000-1,200 pounds. It was a nice, trophy brown bear, but it wasn’t 12½ feet at the shoulder and didn’t weigh 1,600 pounds. Nor was it even close to breaking the world record.

 1,200 lb is back to 21 hit points.  .338 Win Mag does 8d pi.  That's an average roll of 28.

I'm going to assume that "through the head" means a skull shot, so 24 penetrates for 96 points of damage, dropping the bear to -75 in one shot.  That's one consciousness roll and three death rolls, and clearly the bear did not make one of them (a total of 59% to make all three death rolls is, of course, not a sure thing).

The real account still GURPS! 

History On Repeat

Just like De Gaulle liberated Paris...

Peak Macron.

France will lead a European coalition to secure the Strait of Hormuz...after the U.S. has secured the Strait of Hormuz.

They won't invite the U.S. to the party. They will ask permission from Iran.

For now, they will hold a Zoom meeting. https://t.co/Uw65NUwQsp pic.twitter.com/V7juDTRoV2

— Michael Lucci (@Michael7ucci) April 14, 2026

This is what I know the French militarily for.

Claiming credit for someone else's hard work. 

Oh Sweet Innocent AI

Oh, you sweet, innocent, thing.

I don't need you to tell me why the press isn't saying they're sorry.

It's because they are proud of what they've done. 

Still Here

Apparently, the national company that's buying Noxious hires a handy, local, towing company to come seal the deal.

Also, apparently, they don't bother to check to see if that local towing company will be open during the promised pickup time.

So I sat here waiting between 3 and 8 pm for them when they closed at 5.

I'm betting they didn't even know they were supposed to come get the car.

I guess we'll see tomorrow.

Woz Is The Smart One

Steve Wozniak expounds on "you will own nothing and (dis)like it."

It's a growing problem and most people aren't any more aware of it than a fish is aware of water.

FuzzyGeff, first made me aware of the ancestor of this problem back when he asked me to look up Stalin in a paper dictionary.

"Does your dictionary say, "a Soviet politician," or, "a Soviet politician and dictator?"

Other things to check are the definitions of Nazi and Fascism.

I was shocked, all those years ago, that definitions had changed between editions.

Then I was angry, because words mean something.

For example:  Vaccine and inoculate were changed while I watched during COVID.

Amusingly, my Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary from 1959 contains some archaic stuff.

Vaccine: adj 1. Of, pertaining to, or derived from cows, or, especially in technical use, cows afflicted with vaccinia or inoculated with its virus; as, vaccine lymph.  2. Of, or pertaining to vaccinia or vaccination.  n 1. Matter or a preparation containing the virus of cowpox or vaccinia, in a form used for vaccination.  2. In general any substance for preventative inoculation, especially, a suspension of sensitized, attenuated, or killed, bacteria, called preferably bacterial vaccine, injected into the body to induce immunity to the same species of bacteria and their toxins.

Note that second noun definition and "induce immunity".

Here's the current definition from Merriam-Webster's website:

1: a preparation that is administered (as by injection) to stimulate the body's immune response against a specific infectious agent or disease: such as a: an antigenic preparation of a typically inactivated or attenuated (see attenuated sense 2) pathogenic agent (such as a bacterium or virus) or one of its components or products (such as a protein or toxin) b: a preparation of genetic material (such as a strand of synthesized messenger RNA) that is used by the cells of the body to produce an antigenic substance (such as a fragment of virus spike protein)

 

2: a preparation or immunotherapy that is used to stimulate the body's immune response against noninfectious substances, agents, or diseases.

1: a preparation that is administered (as by injection) to stimulate the body's immune response against a specific infectious agent or disease: such as a: an antigenic preparation of a typically inactivated or attenuated (see attenuated sense 2) pathogenic agent (such as a bacterium or virus) or one of its components or products (such as a protein or toxin)

a trivalent influenza vaccine

oral polio vaccine

Many vaccines are made from the virus itself, either weakened or killed, which will induce antibodies to bind and kill a live virus. Measles vaccines are just that, weakened (or attenuated) measles viruses.—Ann Finkbeiner et al.

… a tetanus toxoid-containing vaccine might be recommended for wound management in a pregnant woman if [greater than or equal to] 5 years have elapsed … .—Mark Sawyer et al.

In addition the subunit used in a vaccine must be carefully chosen, because not all components of a pathogen represent beneficial immunological targets.—Thomas J. Matthews and Dani P. Bolognesi

b: a preparation of genetic material (such as a strand of synthesized messenger RNA) that is used by the cells of the body to produce an antigenic substance (such as a fragment of virus spike protein) 

The Pfizer [COVID-19] vaccine—unlike the seasonal flu shot—does not contain the virus or viral material. Rather, it is an mRNA or messenger RNA vaccine, which creates a piece of genetic code that instructs the cells to create proteins which trigger an immune response.—Jerry Nowicki

Viral vector vaccines, another recent type of vaccine, are similar to DNA and RNA vaccines, but the virus's genetic information is housed in an attenuated virus (unrelated to the disease-causing virus) that helps to promote host cell fusion and entry.—Priya Kaur

Note: Vaccines may contain adjuvants (such as aluminum hydroxide) designed to enhance the strength and duration of the body's immune response.

2: a preparation or immunotherapy that is used to stimulate the body's immune response against noninfectious substances, agents, or diseases

The U.S. Army is also testing a ricin vaccine and has reported success in mice.—Sue Goetinck Ambrose

… many of the most promising new cancer vaccines use dendritic cells to train the immune system to recognize tumor cells.—Patrick Barry

Those are not the same.  Are they?

I also love how they include some extra stuff as examples that is really just justification for no longer using the word as it once was used.  Definitions aside, people use vaccinated to mean immunity because vaccines for hundreds of deadly diseases means you don't catch them.  It does not mean that you have an easier time dealing with your smallpox, it means that you don't break out in blisters at all!

How does this relate to Woz and not owning anything?

Because in 2018 the Merriam-Webster definition of vaccine was:

1: matter or a preparation containing the virus of cowpox used to vaccinate a person against smallpox

2: a preparation of killed microorganisms, living attenuated organisms, or living fully virulent organisms that is administered to produce or artificially increase immunity to a particular disease

chicken pox vaccine; also :a mixture of several such vaccines 

measles-mumps-rubella vaccine

My paper dictionary didn't change when the CDC and WHO redefined vaccine to explain why you weren't getting any immunity to COVID despite being vaccinated against it.

The online dictionary changed and if you didn't have a paper version, or think to check the Wayback Engine, you would never know they changed it.
 

Telling

I still find it telling that the Army and Vortex have not released a weight for the M157 optic.

You can infer its mass from other published numbers, but still.

That's Not What Makes You A Nazi

Owning a copy of Mein Kampf doesn't make you a Nazi.

READING a copy of Mein Kampf doesn't make you a Nazi.

Even quoting from Mein Kampf doesn't make you a Nazi.

Acting like a Nazi makes you a Nazi.

If someone owns, reads and quotes from Mein Kampf and doesn't behave like a Nazi, they're not a Nazi.

If someone acts like a Nazi, but doesn't own, read or quote from Mein Kampf they ARE a Nazi.

It seems really strange to have to explain this.

It seems self evident to me.

Oh, and in reference to a particular Congressional candidate from Texas who's in the news for owning a copy...

Mocking Mein Kampf and Nazis in general, and at length, means you're not a Nazi.

I notice that the press accusing this candidate never mock the Nazis... 

Spring Forward

Today the government steals an hour from us in a vain attempt to "save daylight."

Shifting the sun an hour today doesn't really change the overall day all that much come summer, and by the solstice it really wouldn't matter.

We should just stay on standard time, I think.

Not That Shocked

Reason magazine reporting on ATF's back door gun registry made from digitizing out of business FFL's 4473's.

The only way to keep ATF, or others, from accumulating the information and making a registration database from it is to outlaw the collecting of it in the first place.

They'll NEVER do that. 

Unpossible!

Once again:

The possession, use, or storage of Weapons or Firearms is strictly prohibited on all [Brown] University Property and at [Brown] University-sponsored events, except as authorized under this policy.

There cannot have been a mass shooting at Brown University because firearm possession, use and storage has been prohibited.

Do not repeat the lies of the mass media.

Or, maybe, just MAYBE, gun free victim zones are the problem and not the guns.

I don't recall any mass shootings since Texas legalized campus carry.

They Be Ignurnt

Extremists in Congress are trying to pass a national concealed carry mandate, which would force states to allow people to carry hidden, loaded guns without training or passing a background check.

 

This dangerous mandate would reward the states with the weakest gun laws and punish those that have taken real steps to reduce crime. It would bulldoze local safety standards and put every community at risk.

 

If this passes, anyone you see could have a gun on them—and the police would be powerless to protect you. Leaders must stand up for public safety and put a stop to the gun lobby’s dangerous agenda.

 

- Giffords Org 

Well, there's 29 states where you can carry without any training or permission slip already, so odds are the situation is already "anyone you see could have a gun on them."

You're also very unlikely to need the police to protect you from a perfectly legal activity.

41 states already recognize each others permits.

It's literally not a problem except in the states with the most draconian gun control and the highest crime rates. 

Where'd The Rim Go?

I think I know where some of Harvey's friends are getting their auto repair knowledge.

Sites like this!

Rotor retainer screws are assembly line items to make it simpler for the auto worker to assemble the car.

They make a lot per hour so piece rate matters a LOT.

In reality the lug nuts hold the rotor in position when the car is on the road.

Do they really think that little screw is holding the shear forces of braking?

It's the wheel studs doing that.

Um

Robert DeNiro (a known dancing monkey) purports to think. 

He says that rural voters support Trump because the media they view isn't telling them the truth?

Does he think that Flyover gets different news sources than Eastasia?

The local affiliates regurgitate the same stuff as the national channels.

The local paper isn't and non local stories are from places like Associated Press.

It's the same news in Iowa as it is in New York, you ignorant dancing monkey.

Maybe back when I was a kid the local news wasn't just repeating what the coastal outlets were putting out, but that day is long gone now that ownership has consolidated into a very small group of people. 

Unless You Got A Time Machine Up Your Sleeve

A lobbying organization that didn't have any influence until the mid-1970's; even if they have undue influence in the 2000's cannot have caused an event in 1967.

I do notice that Bernie Sanders complains about them almost as often as he mentions oligarchy, so...

Do you really want to be counted with Bernie?

I'd love to see a lot of the people dropping money at congress prevented from doing so.

Figure out a workable way to do that and I'm in.

But I'll definitely be breaking your rice bowl too.

This Is Twice

"Once is happenstance.  Twice is coincidence.  The third time it's enemy action."

-- A Goldfinger 

For the second time a trans person has shot up a place associated with a religious school.

First in Tennesee.  Now in Minnesota.

We're getting perilously close to "where there's smoke there's fire" point and having to look a lot harder at the trans community and ask some hard questions.

One question that the LGBT community will fight tooth and nail to keep from being asked, let alone answered, is, "is gender dysphoria the primary ailment or a secondary symptom of an underlying problem?"

Modern psychiatry doesn't want to ask this either, from fear of the LGBT community's response.

I'll say it again.

The people with simple gender dysphoria are absolutely harmless.  The only problem is a mild delusion that the person in the mirror isn't them.  It's easy to work with and around.  They also tend to live long, reasonably happy lives.

Then there's the folks with gender problems that stem from something deeper.  Again, most of the time, it's manageable and has happy outcomes.

Outcomes that lead to them recognizing their genetic sex as their gender.

This is an outcome that's unacceptable to the LGBT political activists and they try to treat a symptom with little more than placebos and palliatives; leading to the underlying problem to run rampant untreated.

Why?

Because if you do, successfully, treat the underlying problem they stop being trans!

The activists can't fucking have that!

We can't even try to sort the different causes out from one another without being accused of LGBT genocide or other such nonsense.

So we end up with untreated psychoses which lead to violence to themselves and others.

There's some huge problems in modern psychiatry that need to be addressed, and there's a mountain of political activists in the way of what was once a promising scientific field.