Everybody Watch Now

New Year's in Paris

Are you even a person if you don't have a smartphone?

Quote of the Day

From an old post on Handwaving Freakoutery:

This is a problem bigger than Covid-19. This problem is fundamental to the way people in 2021 make sense of the world around them. The fundamentals of crafting a model of reality necessary for living life itself are now based on partisan signaling spilling through a smartphone. The truth of a thing is not related to reality, it’s related to whether the thing was written in red ink or blue ink.

 

Nimbus Motorcycle

Nimbus vintage motorcycle

The Nimbus is a Danish motorcycle produced from 1919 to 1960. Two basic models were produced, both with a 750 cc four-cylinder engine and shaft drive. A Nimbus was featured in a 1948 short film.

De nåede færgen (Carl Theodor Dreyer, 1948)
Israel de Francisco

There is a Nimbus club in Chicago, and there is an active market for old Nimbus machines.

Le mot juste

Stolen entire from Flares into Darkness:

Archaeologist and Clay Tablets

We relied primarily on these USTR [United States Trade Representative] officials in the Office of China, Affairs, the Office of Innovation and Intellectual Property, the Interagency Center on Trade Implementation, Monitoring, and Enforcement, and the Office of the General Counsel, and their work was invaluable in ensuring that there were no gaps between the English text and the Chinese text.

Although there were extensive battles over the translations of various terms, the most difficult fight was over whether the term "ying" or "jiang" should be used as the Chinese translation for "shall" in numerous instances throughout the agreement. Our Chinese-language experts at USTR insisted that "ying" was the appropriate Chinese term to use for "shall" because it represented an obligation, whereas "jiang" represented the future tense relating to something a party merely planned to do in the future. However, the Chinese side vehemently disagreed, arguing that the use of "ying" was inappropriate and even insulting. We even decided to consult outside Chinese language experts on this issue, including one who had worked on important agreements with China over several decades while serving with the US embassy in Beijing. They all confirmed that if we wanted the term to convey obligation, we should continue to insist on using "ying." That is exactly what we did. After several conference calls between Ambassador Gerrish and Vice Minister Liao on this issue, the Chinese finally relented and agreed to use "ying." As we went through this "ying versus jiang" discussion internally at USTR, I asked my staff to bring me the famous cyber-intrusion agreement that President Obama had made with President Xi. I wanted to see which Chinese word that agreement had used. After some delay and checking around the government, my staff discovered that neither word had been used in Obama's agreement. That was because the agreement had never been written down. There had not even been a joint press release agreed to. This vaunted "agreement" was nothing but a US press release. I realized again why the Chinese side was so surprised by our approach. They were used to dealing with Americans who were more interested in a show than actual enforceable agreements.

- Robert Lighthizer, No Trade is Free: Changing Course, Taking on China, and Helping America’s Workers. New York, NY: Broadside Books, 2023. (via Language Log)

Robin Hood

Robin Hood (Young People's Records / Children's Record Guild)
boyjohn

I'm poking around on YouTube and I come across a video of a guy talking about medieval archery and he mentions bodkins. Bodkins? As in odds-bodkins, like they sing about in Robin Hood? A little digging turned up this recording. You can hear the Sheriff of Nottingham singing about food just after the 12 minute mark.

Man, I haven't heard this record in a zillion years, but I must of have played it a zillion times when I was a kid because the whole thing is engraved on my brain. Talk about a blast from the past. Boom!

Agostino Ramelli

How an ingenious 400 year old drawing predicted the future
Machine Thinking
A zillion years ago Agostino Ramelli invents the swashplate water pump. The first half of the video is great, but the second half where he's fumbling with A/C compressor it a little slow. Got to give him credit for wandering into an unfamiliar area. Anyways, back to the swashplate. 60 years ago GM built a swash plate compressor that brought modern cold A/C to the car.

1962 GM A/C compressor

Here's a guy who knows what he's doing making short work of a similar compressor.

car ac compressor repair and how it works
Techweb CCN

The Mark 46 Torpedo uses a swashplate engine. I think torpedoes were the first application of the swashplate I ever heard of.

Mark 46 Torpedo Engine Display Model

I found a video of a torpedo engine in motion, but embedding is not permitted.

I think some hydrostatic drives, typically used in tractors, also use swashplates. I don't think I've ever used one, so I'm going to stop here. Before I turn into a pumpkin.

Update two days later replaced missing video with image.

ECM Repair

Ford 460 RV Surges, Runs Rough but Nothing's Wrong?
Watch Wes Work

Wes is like the foundation of Western Civilization. I can see replacing an ECM, (Engine Control Module) but pulling it apart and repairing the electronic circuit inside, that's a whole 'nother level. We won't talk about the old video screen sitting on the shelf in my storage room, waiting for me to open it up and look for blown capacitors. Seems to be a common problem with old electronics (see here just after the 21 minute mark). Of course finding blown capacitors opens another can of worms - finding and ordering the parts. Then we get to move on to finding some open space to set up a soldering station, i.e. a table with some open space. We got stuff piled up around our ears here.