Invisible Motion Amplification

Reveal Invisible Motion With This Clever Video Trick
Steven Mould
The shots of vibrating machinery are impressive. Very clever, these video guys.

Turbonique

Why the 1300 HP Turbo Axle Failed
Donut Media

I vaguely remember the name Turbonique and that it was attached to some sort of vehicle. Jeremiah gives us an entertaining story of the company's history and the devices they made.

I don't know how Jeremiah pronounces it, but I always pronounced it turban-eek.

There is an ad embedded in this embedded video. It starts at the 50 second mark and runs to 2:17, just in case you want to skip over it.

Winter Is Coming

Massive snow storm hit the Rockies on October 8-9-10 2021

A couple of days ago: Strong Fall Storm Brings Heavy Snow, Strong Winds to Rockies, High Plains. Huh, maybe winter really is coming. Then these two generators showed up on my desk. With the way state governments have been mishandling energy supplies (I'm looking at you, Texas and Michigan), I suspect many people are buying generators.

Firman 7500W Running / 9400W Peak Tri Fuel Generator
Costco $800

Predator 2000 Watt Super Quiet Inverter Generator
Harbor Freight $530

Going by the numbers, the Firman generator from Costco looks like a better deal. It produces almost four times the power as the Predator from Harbor Freight for less than twice the price. The Predator is smaller and lighter than the Firman, but it's still weighs 50 pounds, which isn't 'light'. I mean you could carry it, but I wouldn't want to have to carry it very far. The Firman weighs 200 pounds and even with wheels, shifting it around is going to take some oomph.

And then there's the noise factor. The Predator noise level is rated at 66 dB, the Firman at 72 dB. Sounds like they ought to be fairly quiet, but I really have no idea. I know 100 dB is really loud. I suspect it really depends on your situation.

The Firman will run on natural gas which is great if you are going to be using it for an extended period - you won't have to constantly refilling the gas tank. On the other hand, making a connection to a natural gas outlet requires a certain amount of technical competence, not much mind you, but some people just can't be bothered. I expect we'll get a few fires and maybe an explosion or two, but they probably won't kill as many people as carbon monoxide poisoning caused by people running the dang things indoors.

Uniberp bought a Predator a couple of years ago and uses it occasionally.

Speedy

1969 Camaro Z-28

I was receiving information, reading it or watching and listening to a YouTube video, about a car, and they mentioned the 0 to 60 speed as being some number of seconds. Okay, that's nice, but what does that mean? Back in the day we rated cars on quarter-mile times - 13 seconds and 100 MPH was what the 1969 Camaro Z-28s and Ford Mach 1 Mustangs were doing, and those two numbers were the most important numbers in the world. Everything since then is just imitators beating their chests. Young men are such nincompoops.

Okay, nothing has changed except now we're quoting a different number, and I have no idea what's good or bad, so some random time means nothing to me, so I go Googling and Google takes me to Zero To 60 Times where I find a list of a couple hundred cars along with their 0-to-60 times as well as their quarter mile times. Times range from two seconds for a Tesla and a Ferrari to 14.1 seconds for some Hyundai econobox. A big surprise were number of trucks that showed with sub-seven second times.

I took those numbers and put them in a spreadsheet and sorted them according to their 0 to 60 times. Then I broke them into one second brackets and counted the number of models in each bracket. That's the blue line. You'll notice that there is a significant dip at the 10 second mark. The number of different models peaks at the 7 second mark. If your car can make it to 60 in seven or eight seconds you are in good company. Then there is another peak at the 11 second mark. These I believe are your econoboxes, cars designed to get you around with the least amount of fuss and bother. Given the way traffic is in big cities these days, they will probably get you where you are going just as fast as one of the hot rods.

Then I tried to a apply a little ordinary math to the numbers to see if a better picture would appear. Faster cars cost more money and fewer of them are sold. Slower cars cost less money and more of them are sold. If we choose the right multiplier to adjust the price and number of cars made, then the total value of the cars sold in each category should approximate a straight line. It didn't turn out that way. Instead it looks like more money is to be made from making a few, very expensive cars than than from making a zillion econoboxes. This is just me playing with numbers, it might be interesting to find the actual number of cars made of each model and the price they sold for, but that's a lot of work that I am not going to do.

Oregon Governor's Race, Part 1

State Sen. Betsy Johnson of Scappoose

We're talking about the 2022 election. I labeled this post 'Part 1', just in case I write another one. No telling if that will happen. If I read the linked article correctly, Ms. Betsy is an airplane pilot as well as a helicopter pilot, so two points for her. She talks about being a centrist, and that might appeal to some people, but I am pretty sure most of the people who pay attention to politics don't want to be agreeable, they want to fight, and being agreeable is not conducive to fighting. I would like to see a centrist elected, but I'm afraid some king sized, rabble rousing jackass will claim the spotlight and launch some kind of 'war'. Of course this is Oregon, so the war will probably be something around the flavor of the glue on envelopes. You know, something of the first importance.

And then there's always the problem with the complete disconnect between what politicians say on the campaign trail and what happens when they get elected. It would be nice if we had some analysts we could trust. Whatever, here's my contribution to the public forum.

P.S. While Blogger's image handling is pretty good, the lack of information bugs me, so I sent some feedback:

It would be nice if we knew how big the image we just inserted was. I want them to be as big as possible, but no larger than their original size. If I load an image that's 1,000 pixels wide, it would be nice to know. That way, I wouldn't need to enlarge it full size to find out that it's too big to fit in Blogger's format. Likewise, if the image is like 500 pixels wide, I don't want to blow it up. Generally I don't like expanded images, I used them occasionally, but I want to know what I'm doing.

Martin Luther’s Germany and Public Schooling

Martin Luther

Yard Sale of the Mind (Joseph Moore) has a post up about public schooling. He talks about current events, Sparta, and about halfway through he talks about Martin Luther (look for the heading Martin Luther’s Germany). A little history and a some food for thought.

Sparta

Why Were Spartans So Disciplined? | The Spartans (Ancient Greece Documentary) | Timeline
Timeline - World History Documentaries
Longer video than I usually post (50 minutes). Just bought another truck so now everyone has a vehicle so they can get to work and I have my own car which is an essential part of who I am. I was crippled but now I am whole. I suspect the relief in pressure might have something to do with my choice of video.

YouTube blurb:

The Spartans chronicles the rise and fall of one of the most extreme civilisations the world has ever witnessed. A civilization that was founded on discipline, sacrifice and frugality where the onus was on the collective and the goal was to create the perfect state, and the perfect warrior.  Classical historian Bettany Hughes reveals the secrets and complexities of everyday Spartan life: homosexuality was compulsory, money was outlawed, equality was enforced, weak boys were put to death and women enjoyed a level of social and sexual freedom that was unheard of in the ancient world. It was a nation of fearsome fighters where a glorious death was treasured. This can be aptly demonstrated by the kamikaze last stand at Thermopylae, where King Leonidas and his warriors fought with swords, hands and teeth to fend off the Persian invaders and show the rest of the world what it meant to be Spartan.    Sparta was ruthlessly militaristic and founded on a belief that good order and justice protected against chaos and lawlessness. Policed by secret spies the society was supported by a nation of slaves so all Spartan men had to do was fight. Boys were indoctrinated with the Spartan code of death and glory, separated from their mothers at seven and left to fend for themselves. It led Aristotle to comment that Sparta "turned its children into animals." The training continued throughout adolescence, the most able boys being let loose as death squads preying on the slave population to keep them quiet.  It cannot lay claim to the philosophers or artists of Athens but Sparta contributed as much to western civilisation as Athens did. Indeed it was Sparta, not Athens that was the first city to offer citizenship to its inhabitants. To many, the ideals formed 2500 years ago in Sparta can be seen as a fore-runner of modern-day totalitarianism.  By setting out to create a perfect society protected by perfect warriors, Sparta made an enemy of change. A collapsing birth-rate, too few warriors, rebellious slaves, and outdated attitudes to weaponry and warfare combined to sow the seeds of Sparta's destruction. Eventually the once great warrior state was reduced to a stop for Roman tourists who came to view the bizarre sado-masochistic rituals. Documentary first broadcast in 2003.

I've heard of Sparta and I watched 300 so I knew they were disciplined fighters. I didn't know they were as crazed as the Japanese in WW2. Of course, I don't really know that they were, I just had a very attractive woman tell me a compelling story and since she is attractive and coherent, I believe her.

Via Knuckledraggin My Life Away