The line comes from the 1947 movie “Miracle on 34th Street” about an old man who claims to be Santa Claus. Toward the end of the movie, his lawyer is talking to his girlfriend.
I must be a pretty good lawyer. I took a little old man and proved to the world that. . .
He then notices a cane that Kris Kringle always carried that is now in the corner of a house he intends to buy.
Maybe. . .and maybe I didn’t do such a good thing after all.
I’ve recently written about my son’s new interest in baseball. We’ve watched several games this year. He still is full of questions and I’m more than happy to give baseball commentary throughout the nine innings.
In fact, his interest in baseball has progressed to the point he will daily ask me each dayif there’s a game. Today was no different.
What time is the game?
It starts at seven, but we can’t watch it.
What? Why not?
The broadcast for your brother’s football game starts at 7:00.
Do we have to watch it? I mean he’s not even dressing for the game.
Lucky for him a nine-inning baseball game is typically about an hour longer than a four-quarter football game.
By the time we turned the Mariners game on, it was only the 5th inning, but it was already over. The score was Houston Astros 11 and Seattle Mariners 1. It didn’t get any better.
My son tends to internalize the games. He complained about the Mariners pitchers. He complained about the Houston pitchers. He complained about the Mariners hitting.
He was very disappointed.
And I realized I had made a mistake. I had made my son a baseball fan.
Steve Goodman wrote one of the greatest baseball songs ever written. It was called “The Dying Cub Fan’s Last Request.” Some of the lyrics went like this.
. . .
Do they still play the blues in Chicago
When baseball season rolls around?
When the snow melts away, do the Cubbies still play
In their ivy-covered burial ground?When I was a boy, they were my pride and joy
But now they only bring fatigue
To the home of the brave, the land of the free
And teh doormat of the National League. . .
The Cubs made me a criminal, sent me down a wayward path
They stole my youth from me, that the truth
I’d forsake my teachers to go sit in the bleachers
In flagrant truancyAnd then one thing led to another
And soon I discovered alcohol, gambling, dope
Football, hockey, lacrosse, tennis
But, what did you expect?When you raise up a young boy’s hopes
And then just crush ’em like so many paper beer cups
Year, after year, after year
After year, after year, after year, after year, after year
‘Till those hopes are just so much popcorn
For the pigeons beneth the ‘L’ tracks to eat
. . .
The Cubs won the World series in 1908. They didn’t win another World Series until 2016. A 108 year drought. Now, it’s true that the Mariners have not been around nearly as long as the Cubs. The Cubs trace their roots back to 1870: 150 years. They are as old as baseball itself.
The Mariners by contrast have only been around since 1977. But, in that entire 43 year history, the Mariners have not only never won a World Series, they’ve never even played in one. In fact, they are the only team to hold that distinction.
In a weird bit of baseball trivia, the Mariners squad from 2001 shares the record for most wins in a season at 116. The other winning team? the 1906 Chicago Cubs also with 116 wins, although they did it in 152 where it took the Mariners 162.
The newest team to join MLB is the Washington Nationals. They moved to Washington DC in 2005. Last year they went to and won the World Series.
The current teams with the longest World Series droughts are
- Cleveland Indians 72 years
- Texas Rangers 60 years
- Milwaukee Brewers 52 years
- San Diego Padres 52 years
- Seattle Mariners 44 years
But, those are just since they last won the series. Here’s the list since they’ve last been to the Fall Classic.
- Pittsburgh Pirates 41 years
- Milwaukee Brewers 38 years
- Baltimore Orioles 37 years
- Oakland Athletics 30 years
- Cincinnati Reds 30 years
Of course, the Mariners should top this list at 43 years, right? I don’t think so. I think the Mariners lead both lists. Because never is the longest streak of all.
And that’s what I’ve consigned my son to. I’ve made him a baseball fan, but I’ve made him a fan of the worst team in baseball.
Maybe I didn’t do such a good thing after all.
Stay safe
Rodney M Bliss is an author, columnist and IT Consultant. His blog updates every weekday. He lives in Pleasant Grove, UT with his lovely wife, thirteen children and grandchildren.
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or email him at rbliss at msn dot com(c) 2020 Rodney M Bliss, all rights reserved
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We all dread it, right? Your car has a problem. It isn’t going away. The Check Engine Light has been on for, well, longer than you can actually remember.
So, you finally decide to take your car to the mechanic. How do you know that he will be honest? How do you know that he won’t rip you off? You don’t.
My daughter recently complained that her car “wouldn’t go faster than 45 MPH.” She took it to a local mechanic. He tested it. When he called her back he had some bad news.
First, the car would no longer run. He claimed that while he was testing compression in one of the cylinders, the timing belt broke. And because she had an interference engine it most likely bent the valves.
Okay, that didn’t make a lot of sense. But, sounds good, right?
He then removed the valve cover. Followed by the cylinder head from the block. Of course, he also had to drain the antifreeze, disconnect the alternator, the power steering pump, and the air filter. I mean, of course, he had to, right?
He also removed the cam shafts and the lifters. Who woudln’t? Finally, he took the head to a machine shop so they could check out the damage. Ten bent valves and 6 cracked guides.
Wait, wait, wait. Does this sound suspicious to you at all?
She took her car in because it it wasn’t going above 45 MPH. And now, not only will her car not run, but the mechanic is telling her she’s needs half an engine rebuild.
This is exactly what you feared, right? You go in for a simple repair and the mechanic takes advantage. The next thing you know you are looking at a $2000 repair bill.
In this case, he wasn’t ripping off my daughter. Everything step he took was justified and necessary. Oh, and he’s not going to charge her $2000. He’s only going to charge her for parts, and the machine shop work, about $800.
I know all of this because that mechanic is me.
Everything happened exactly as I said. Her car wouldn’t go above 45 MPH. There could be several reasons for that: bad fuel filter, fouled spark plugs, blown head gasket, oh and a bad timing belt.
I started with the easy ones. A compression test is pretty simple. You remove the spark plug, attach the sensor and crank the engine a couple seconds. Oh, after you remove the fuel pump fuse. Otherwise, the engine starts.
And that’s what I did. The first cylinder checked out okay. As I was testing the second, I suddenly lost all compression. I didn’t know it yet, but it was at that moment that the timing belt broke.
An interference engine means there is not enough room for the piston in the cylinder if the valves are open. Since the piston has more power, it’s typically the valves that go. It left little half-moon impressions on the cylinder heads.
There are some things a backyard mechanic can do. Machining heads and replacing valves isn’t one of them.
Generally when a timing belt breaks on an interference engine, the car is shot. The only reason it’s worth it for my daughter to get her car fixed is because I’m doing the labor for free.
So, the next time you go to a mechanic for a “simple” problem, and he quotes you a repair that costs hundreds of dollars, he’s probably not trying to rip you off. You just have to believe him.
At least I’m pretty sure my daughter believes me.
Stay safe
Rodney M Bliss is an author, columnist and IT Consultant. His blog updates every weekday. He lives in Pleasant Grove, UT with his lovely wife, thirteen children and grandchildren.
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or email him at rbliss at msn dot com(c) 2020 Rodney M Bliss, all rights reserved
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Baseball is more fun when you have someone to explain it to you.
– My son
I haven’t always been a baseball fan. When I was a boy I didn’t necessarily like baseball.
But, I went to baseball games as often as possible.
Because it was one of the things my father and I did together. I don’t even know if he liked baseball. I know he watched all sports. But, he was also a professional gambler. He often had money on the games.
Pretty sure our trips to the horse track involved betting, but I don’t know about the trips to the Kingdome, the home of the Seattle Mariners. I do know my father had agriphobia and claustrophobia. And the old Kingdome trigger both of these in him.
It’s strange that I remember going to the games, but I don’t remember much else. I remember we watched the great Rangers’ pitcher Nolan Ryan get chased in the first inning during one game.
I’m sure my dad explained the game to me. It would be like him. He loved to teach.
The Mariners played the Rangers again today. It’s been 40 years since those games in the Kingdome. The M’s have a new ballpark and so do the Rangers.
With Covid, no one is attending baseball games. It’s enough that the games are being played at all. The 2020 season will be 60 games. A far cry less than the 162 game in a “normal” season. Today’s game was the 20th game of the season. One third of the way through the season.
I’ve watched most games this year. Even though I live 1000 miles away from the Mariners new home at the Pink Park, (You can call it T-Mobile Park if you want, but that pink clashes with the Teal of the uniforms) I am just as close to being at the game as anyone living in Western Washington.
I watched the game on the television in our living room. One of my sons wanted to watch Spongebob. (He’s 17, and I have no valid explanation.) The other son insisted we watch the game.
It’s okay, I can watch it in my office.
No, Dad, I think we should watch it here.
My son doesn’t really enjoy watching baseball. But, he sat through the entire game.
It was an exciting game. The Mariners had a 4-0 lead going into the sixth inning.
Do you think the Mariners will win?
Oh I don’t know. That’s the thing about baseball. Anything can happen.
The Rangers gained a couple runs in the bottom of the 6th and 7th. Headed into the bottom of the 8th, Seattle was holding onto a 4-2 lead.
And that’s when the wheels fell off. A couple walks. Two batsmen hit by a pitch, a wild pitch and all in all 10 men came to the plate. When it was over the Rangers had a 7-4 lead.
My son had a lot of quesitons,
Why did he throw that pitch?
What does “0 for 2” mean?
What’s a good batting average?
Why didn’t they pull that pitcher sooner?
He was disappointed when the Mariners failed to stage a comeback in the 9th. But, he agreed it was an entertaining game.
As he headed off to bed, I realized that while we were sitting on recliners in my living room, I could feel the old concrete walls and hard aluminium benches of the old Mariners ballpark.
My father had been gone for years. But, today he and I once more watched a baseball game together.
Stay safe
Rodney M Bliss is an author, columnist and IT Consultant. His blog updates every weekday. He lives in Pleasant Grove, UT with his lovely wife, thirteen children and grandchildren.
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or email him at rbliss at msn dot com(c) 2020 Rodney M Bliss, all rights reserved
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Yesterday I talked about how Baseball Broke The Laws of Physics. Just because science works, doesn’t mean it’s true.
Did you know crossbows were once outlawed? Not by kings or magistrates. They were outlawed by God. Or at least, God’s representative on earth, the pope.
In 1096, Pope Urban II banned crossbows. He decreed that “No Christians were to use it in any battel against a fellow Christian.” The penalty was excommunication and eternal damnation. So, you know, nothing serious. In 1139 the new pope, Pope Innocent II renewed the ban.
The weapon was simply too effective. It was particularly devasting against knights. But, given their effectiveness, the ban didn’t last for long. By the 1200s, soldiers in Europe were happily turning each other into pin cushions. And the age of knights was largely over.
Eventually hand cannons replaced crossbows. The Chinese invented gunpowder in 9th Century. It was being used for weapons within about a hundred years. The problem with early weapons was they weren’t particularly accurate.
In baseball parlance they were shooting knuckleballs. Knuckleballs are when a pitcher puts no spin on the ball. He simply pushes the ball straight ahead. What happens is that the ball takes odd jumps and drops. It’s not only difficult for the batter to hit, it’s also nearly impossible for the catcher.
A bullet that is simply being pushed through the air also takes weird jumps and drops. It’s not very accurate. That’s why many soldiers who used muskets stood in a line and fired in unison. They didn’t aim, except in the most general “this end toward enemy.”
Despite this, guns were powerful. More powerful than crossbows. And the church that had banned crossbows declared that guns were demonic.
Eventually rifling was invented. It was originally invented in Augsburg, Germany in 1498. But, it wasn’t perfected until centuries later. Rifling is the process of cutting grooves into the barrel of a gun so that the bullet will spin as it exits the firearm. And just like a fastball, if you spin it, it’s much easier to place it where you want.
Remember the church and the demonic firearms? Rifling was part of the reason why guns were considered possed by demons.
Everyone know that silver is a pure metal and lead is a base metal. I’m nto sure how everyone learned this. Why silver bullets to kill a werewolf? Why silver in rituals? The fact that it doesn’t cause lead poisoning is a good reason to make your dishes out of it, but regardless, silver is pure, lead is not.
Now, let’s talk about rifling. Remember that rifling has grooves inside the barrel that cause the bullet to spin? The effectiveness of that rifling has a lot to do with the softness of the bullet. Lead, being a soft metal, responds to rifling much better than silver, which is a harder metal.
If your rifle performs better with a base metal than a pure metal, what does that say about the purity of your weapon? Because silver can’t be used by demons. Obviously, the weapon is from satan. Add in the fact that the popes didn’t like muskets and rifles anyway and you have a religious ban.
We can laugh at the silly superstitions of the past. But, what the story of the silver bullet proves is that just because something is based on science. . .true science, doesn’t mean that the beliefs based are true.
Science is true, but not everything that is science is true.
Stay safe
Rodney M Bliss is an author, columnist and IT Consultant. His blog updates every weekday. He lives in Pleasant Grove, UT with his lovely wife, thirteen children and grandchildren.
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Let’s face it: Science is true. Real science.
It’s not always possible to distinquish real science from fake science. Ancient alchemists promised to turn lead into gold. And some got paid for it.
But, with the benefit of hindsight we know that there is no way a medieval chemist could transmute one element into another. Regardless of how convincing they were.
The same goes for perpetual motion machines. They have existed throughout time. And they are all fake. No question, it’s impossible to get more energy out of system than is put into it. At least from a mechanical system. Because all mechanical systems have to deal with gravity and friction, even if it’s only air friction. And that friction and gravitational force require energy to overcome.
So, science, true science works.
But, there are grey areas. Cold fusion, is a technology that two physicists named Ponds and Fleishman claimed to have figured out out to achieve nuclear fusion at room temperature. No one, including them, were ever able to reproduce their results.
Is cold fusion science? Or science fiction?
We are currently in the middle of a pandemic. And science has lots to do with it.
- Can we develop a vaccine? Is a coronavirus vaccine even possible?
- Do masks help to stop the spread, or do they make it worse?
- Does hydroxychloroquine help stop the virus? Or make it worse?
These are science questions. Questions that should be answerable by science. It’s strange that we don’t have a consensus on these questions. You probably have thoughts on them. Are your answers science? Or science fiction? Or is the other guy believing in fantasies?
Baseball started late this year. We weren’t sure it would start at all. And there’s no guarantee that it will last the entire 60 games they have scheduled.
But, as a baseball fan, I’m just happy to be able to watch the games.
Baseball has a strange connection with physics. For many years baseball broke the laws of physics.
Curveball
Let’s start with the most common broken law of physics. A properly thrown curveball flies in one direction normally obeying the laws of gravity and air resistance. Then, at the crucial moment, the ball “breaks” and suddenly goes in a completely different direction. Often by as much as 6″ left, right or down. (Never up since the law of gravity is still in effect and can’t be broken.)
Michael Jordan abandoned his baseball career partly because he couldn’t hit the curveball.
For years the curveball was described as an optical illusion. Everyone knew that an object in motion couldn’t suddenly change direction without another force acting on it. And then some physicists with high speed cameras discovered baseball.
Not to go into too much science-y stuff but, what the physicists noticed was that a baseball has raised stitches. When a baseball is thrown with sufficent rotating force, the stiches “push the air along with them.” The ball acts as if it’s a perfect sphere. However, once the ball slows down enough, the air in between the stitches starts to interact with the air around it. At that point those raised stitches start to exert drag on the ball. Friction kicks in. And that friction makes the ball curve.
It wasn’t an optical illusion after all. Science is true.
Grounders
I watched a game where a ball was sharply hit through the infield. It hit right in front of the second baseman. It looked like a routine play. But, just as the ball hit, it accelerated. The announcers were not impressed with the fielder.
A ball cannot pick up speed after it leaves the bat. That’s just basic physics.
Was it possible for a ball to go faster after it leaves the bat? Newton’s laws of motion would say no.
Newton’s Three Laws of Motion
- Every object moves in a straight line unless acted upon by a force
- The acceleration of an object is directly proportional to the net force exerted and inversely proportional to the object’s mass
- For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction
So, how can a baseball get faster after it’s hit?
Science.
When a baseball leaves the bat it travels in a three dimensional space. It has release angle, a velocity and a direction. With these simple data points we can track it’s expected path and velocity.
But, a baseball also has rotational velocity. (Remember our curveball?) And when the ball interacts with another object, such as the ground, it can translate that rotational energy to directional energy. If the rotational energy is larger than the force due to friction in contact with the ground, that extra energy will either heat up the baseball, or make it go faster.
Can a baseball go faster after it hits the ground?
Yes, it can. How?
Because science. Science is true.
Home Runs
Fans love to watch home runs. There were two hit in tonight’s Mariners game including a grand slam home run by Kyle Seager. The fifth of his career.
The longest home run ever hit is a matter of some debate.
- In 1987 Joey Meyer hit a ball 587 feet in Denver, Colorado.
- May 5, 1963 Mickey Mantle was credited with a 734 foot home run in Yankee Stadium
- In 1926 the Sultan of Swat, Babe Ruth, hit a ball 650 feet at Wilkes University’s Artillery Park
With as crazy as baseball is about stats, you’d think the longest home run in history would be a matter of settled history. The fact that it’s not is part of the reason I love the game.
But, this is a story about physics. What’s the longest possible home run. You know, according to science. As I mentioned, physicists discovered baseball.
Alan Nathan is a super smart guy who used to teach physics atthe University of Illinois. Fortunately, he also likes baseball. He did a lot of science-y stuff and calculated that the longest possible home run would be 565 feet. That’s well below Mickey Mantle’s top 6 (All of which were measured at over 600 feet.)
Not surprisingly the “perfect” home run would be hit in Denver. The thin air makes the ball fly farther than it does at sea level.
So, who is right? The physicist and his 565 foot record home run? Or the baseball historians?
I don’t know. But, the fact that the real players hit it farther than the physicists say is possible isn’t magic. It isn’t illusion. It true. And therefore it’s science
Because science is true. It works.
Stay safe
Rodney M Bliss is an author, columnist and IT Consultant. His blog updates every weekday. He lives in Pleasant Grove, UT with his lovely wife, thirteen children and grandchildren.
Follow him on
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or email him at rbliss at msn dot com(c) 2020 Rodney M Bliss, all rights reserved
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It won’t go faster than 45 MPH
I’m working on my daughter’s car. She’s a kid. It’s a kid’s car and she drives like a kid. She’s hard on her car.
There are several reasons a car might not go faster than 45 MPH; fuel issues, mechanical issues, compression, timing belt.
I started in checking the fuel lines and compression pressure. And it quickly became clear that the problem was more likely the timing belt.
My daughter, naturally has been curious on what was wrong, how long it would take to fix and how much it would cost.
Today, I finally got the pullies, belts, and shields off. And as I removed the lower shield I could finally see the crankshaft. And the I could see the timing belt and the missing teeth.
There are not supposed to be missing teeth on a timing belt.
There comes a moment when you go from simply believing you know what’s wrong to actually knowing what’s wrong.
This was that moment.
And with knowledge came understanding. A failing timing belt could certainly keep your car from going fast. But, that’s not the only thing a failing timing belt will do.
This car had an interference engine. I won’t go into the details of interference vs non-interference engines. An interference engine gets better gas milage. A non-interference engine can survive a broken timing belt without bending valves.
So, tomorrow we pull the head off. Take it down to a machine shop and see how much it will cost to get new valves installed. When I pull the head, I will be able to look at the pistons. And that will be another point at which my belief will turn into knowledge. Will the piston heads be damaged?
There will come a moment. . .
Stay safe
Rodney M Bliss is an author, columnist and IT Consultant. His blog updates every weekday. He lives in Pleasant Grove, UT with his lovely wife, thirteen children and grandchildren.
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or email him at rbliss at msn dot com(c) 2020 Rodney M Bliss, all rights reserved
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It was a crappy project from the start. It was il-defined and complicated.
We needed to update a key driver on our computers.
That shouldn’t be hard. IT departments all over the world do it all the time. Your IT department does it monthly. You generally don’t even know it’s happening unless maybe your computer reboots unexpectedly overnight.
We had actually updated this driver just a year earlier. It took a lot of time for my local engineers, but it wasn’t hard.
And then COVID hit. We spent two months putting everything else on hold as we moved our agents home. Once everyone got moved home we went back to our updating project.
But, this time updating the driver was going to be different. This time we needed to update a driver on computers at our agents’ homes. And not just a few. Fifteen hundred agents all across the country.
I’m the “IT Guy” in my team. But, the frustrating thing is that I can’t actually fix anything. I know the people who can fix things. In this case I knew Jerry. Jerry is one of our engineers.
I won’t go through the details of how he managed to build a solution. But, he did. It was pretty elegant. All it required was for our agents to work their normal shift and then at the end, logout and then log back in, lock their computers and the upgrade would happen during their offtime.
We spent a couple weeks testing it and we were ready to start migrating agents. We divided up each of our sites into two groups. No one upgrades everyone in one night. Despite testing, there is too much chance for an unexpected error. The upgrades went smoothly. The worst part was our first shift starts work at 5:30AM. And if there was going to be a problem it would showup at the start of the shift.
Every day after a migration I had to be on the phone at 5:30AM with my team prepared to resolve any issues. There is a reason I do audio and not video calls.
It worked. It worked amazingly well. Those were some fo the most boring conference calls I’d ever been on.
In fact, we went too fast. At one point we had to push our migration off by a week to accomodate our client’s schedule.
We finished this week. We completed the last site. We identified the groups that got missed. (There are always groups that get missed. It’s expected.) And finally, I can move the hundreds of emails associated with this project to the COMPLETED folder.
And then, I got paid. I didn’t expect to. It started simply. An email from my counterpart at the client.
Rodney, thanks for your great work on this.
And then, of course, a note from our VP. But, then, an email from one of the client executives. One of the hardest to work with, telling us what a great job we did. And then, the Senior VP at the client who is also hard to please with more praise. And an email from our own division president talking about how he sees this project and it’s successful resolution as fulfilling a promise he made to the client executives a year ago. And then, of course, my boss and his boss.
Nothing succeeds like success.
We have a few maintenance tasks to still do, but essentially the project is complete. We’ve wrapped it up and everyone got paid.
I have the emails to prove it.
Stay safe
Rodney M Bliss is an author, columnist and IT Consultant. His blog updates every weekday. He lives in Pleasant Grove, UT with his lovely wife, thirteen children and grandchildren.
Follow him on
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or email him at rbliss at msn dot com(c) 2020 Rodney M Bliss, all rights reserved
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I’m back to working on cars.
One of the fun things about working on cars, is the opportunity to collect new tools. Of course I have a collection of regular tools; sockets, screwdrivers, hammers, ect.
I recently got a set of tools that I have wanted for a long time. I had to buy it over severals months.
It’s a 21 gallon compressor, a 50 foot retractable air hose, and most importantly a 1/2″ impact driver.
This is important to me. An impact driver is like a really, really powerful electric drill.
All of these tools were from Harbor Freight. Harbor Freight is a discount tool supplier. Their tools are generally cheaper made and therefore less expensive. But, I only use some of my specialized tools occasionally. I’m not going to be using these tools daily.
It’s worth it to me to have that occasional access to a special tool.
The impact driver is a very specialized tool. It has a lot of uses. It’s great for taking lug nuts off a car. I used it to drive 5/8″ 10″ bolts through 4×4 posts.
But, what I really wanted the impact driver for was for removing pulley bolts. They are on engines. And they are really, really hard to get off.
A few years ago I had an old Lexus. In trying to work on the engine, we couldn’t get the pulley bolt out. Nothing worked. I didn’t have an impact driver, well not a very good one. And there are other techniques. Nothing worked. And that was the end of that engine rebuild.
But, next time I needed to do a similar repair I wanted to be ready. And now I am. And now I needed it. My daughter’s car needs a new timing belt.
Well, I think she needs a new timing belt. I hope she needs a new timing belt. Her car wouldn’t go faster than 45 MPH. That could be several different things, a blown head gasket, a clogged fuel filter, a misaligned piston. Or a bad timing belt. The list is almost endless.
Yesterday I was testing the compression in her cylinders when the timing belt failed completely. So, we are going to replace the timing belt and the tensioner pullies.
And you have to remove several other pullies, one of which is accessible with an impact driver. Finally I could use my new setup. I was like a kid at christmas. Except I’d already opened my presents and now I got to use it.
The pulley bolt is 22mm. I put a nice black impact socket on, stuck my impact driver on it, pulled the trigger and. . .nothing happened.
Well, not exactly nothing. The impact driver makes a load “knocking” noise when it’s working on loosening a bolt. It was knocking it’s brains out, but the bolt wasn’t moving. I kept the driver on there until the pressure in the compressor dropped too low and the compressor kicked on.
This was not how I thought this would go. While I was waiting for the compressor to build up pressure again I noticed that I had my driver set on the “Medium” setting. Ah, that was probably the reason. I switched it over the “High” as the compressor finally quieted down.
Again, I put the driver to the bolt and confidently pulled the trigger. Lots of knocking, but no progress.
There’s another way to loosen a pulley bolt. You put a large socket on it, brace it against the axle and then Try to start the car. The starter should kick it over with enough force to break the bolt loose. We call it, “Don’t be a wimp,” because you have to commit to letting the engine turn the wrench. We committed, but all the engine did was bang the wrench handle against the axle. We added additional battery power with jumper cables. Still no go.
Well, now what?
I’d bought a tool, in fact a whole set of tools for just this moment. And even at Harbor Freight prices they weren’t cheap. About $500 total for the set up.
I have this neighbor. He’s a Snap On salesman. He literally has a big truck full of tools. I try not to ask his help too much, but this time I was desperate.
I described the issue and my neighbor disappeared into his van. From the depths of the van I heard, “What size is the bolt?”
“Twenty-two millimeter.”
He emerged with a ray gun. It was large. It was heavy. And it was red. It had a 22mm socket on the end of it and the word DEMO engraved on the side.
“Here. This will take it off.”
He literally lives across the street from me. So, I took this ray gun and walked back to my garage. After the disappointments with my own impact driver, I didn’t have high hopes. And my neighbors DEMO tool was battery driven, not pneumatic.
So, I was surprised shocked even, when not only did the bright red ray gun take my bolt off, it did it as if it wasn’t even hard.
Tools make the difference. Good tools make a good difference.
I walked back across the street where my neighbor was still packing up his trailer for a summer vacation.
Thanks for letting me use this.
How did it go?
Amazing. Came right off. How much is this, by the way?
You don’t want to know.
No, really.
About a thousand dollars. $936 to be exact.
I’m glad I have neighbors who will lend me a $1000 tool for ten minutes.
Stay safe
Rodney M Bliss is an author, columnist and IT Consultant. His blog updates every weekday. He lives in Pleasant Grove, UT with his lovely wife, thirteen children and grandchildren.
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I thought of what quote to start this with. I had several choices. This one seemed most appropriate.
First they came for the socialist, and I did not speak out – because I was not a socialist.
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out — because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out — because I was not a Jew
Then they came for me — and there was no one left to speak for me.
– Martin Niemoller
Niemoller was anti-Nazi. Incidentially, he was also antisemitic. Niemoller was one of the most vocal critics of the complicity and guilt of the Germany for what they did to the Jews.
The point of his poem though, is to point out that we cannot simply abandon those who are not “us.” No one is safe. No group can safely be dismissed because once we start dismissing or marginalizing groups who is to stop them from eventually marginalizing you? Or me?
But, what about Nazis, or neo-fascists? Why should we defend them? Why not just attack them whenever and wherever possible? Didn’t we fight a war to rid the world of fascism?
No. We did not fight a war against fascism. We are talking about World War II, of course. On one side were the good guys; America, Britain, France. On the other side were the bad guys; Germany, Italy, USSR, Japan. Except that eventually the USSR became one of the good guys, after they got kicked off the bad guy’s team. And Italy kind of went from bad guy to “less bad guy.”
But, the war wasn’t about fascism. Not really. In fact, the United States didn’t even want to join the war. Sentiment was pretty high against the war at the beginning. If we were fighting fascism, why was it so hard to get us into the war? Roosevelt and Churchill came up with the “lend-lease” program to try to keep the UK afloat while Roosevelt tried to convince the American public that they should go back to war in Europe.
It wasn’t until Germany started attacking their neighbors that we started to get concerned. Had Hitler simply rebuilt Germany, even as a fascist, American would not have gone to war to remove him.
Instead we were fighting Germany. And Japan, of course. Not all the enemies were fascists. But, all the fascists were enemies.
And then the war ended. But, when Germany surrendered, an interesting thing happened. When the war ended, the Allies quit killing Nazies. And even during the war, we took Nazi soldiers prisoner, but we didn’t kill them. We didn’t punch them in the throat.
Because the war wasn’t with fascism. It wasn’t a war against Nazism. It was a war against Germany who happened to be run by fascists and Nazis. We tried and convicted the war criminals. We tried the guards. We arrested those people who were “just following order” and killed innocents. That wasn’t about fascism, Nazism, or any ism. It was about murderers and criminals.
And those people should be arrested, tried and if convicted, punished.
So, we didn’t fight fascism we fought Germany. And we are certainly not still at war with a country that we’ve been allies with for 75 years.
But, is it really okay to say hateful, racist, horrible things?
Yes. Yes, it absolutely is. And the reason is the First Amendment of the United States Constitution.
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibit the free exercise thereof, or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress ofgrievances.
There is no “hate speech” exception to the “freedome of speech” clause. Some will suggest that hate speech is the same as assault. It’s not. Assault is assault. And just as we have a problem with Niemoller’s story of marginalizing groups, we have a real problem if we start trying to police “hate.” Is all hate speech created equal? We can condemn hate speech against “good” people. But, literally every group has someone who hates them. Or even disagrees with them.
Who deserves to be protected? Only those we agree with? That’s impossible. So, we either have to protect everyone or we can protect no one.
Evelyn Beatrice Hall wrote a book called Friends of Voltaire. She wrote the phrase,
I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.
There is an old story about a farmer who had a problem with rabbits. The rabbits were getting into his crops and doing terrible damage. The farmer tried everything. But, no matter how many traps he set. There were also more rabbits that continued to devastate his fields. Finally, in desperation, he captured a tiger and released it in his fields. It made quick work of the rabbits. In only a few days the tiger had killed and eaten every last rabbit. In a few days the tiger again grew hungry.
And it was then that the farmer realized he still had to deal with the tiger.
Trying to attack those we disagree with, trying to strip them of their rights, trying to marginalize them, is as ineffective as inviting in a tiger to deal with a rabbit problem.
Stay safe
Rodney M Bliss is an author, columnist and IT Consultant. His blog updates every weekday. He lives in Pleasant Grove, UT with his lovely wife, thirteen children and grandchildren.
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or email him at rbliss at msn dot com(c) 2020 Rodney M Bliss, all rights reserved
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Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
– Amendment I, United States Constitution
I have the problem with the First Amendment. In fact, I think I have a problem with almost every part of it.
Congress Shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof
What problem do I have with the “establishment clause”? I think churches are just as essential as businesses. There are many who have rightly claimed, “It’s possible to worship at home.” And for many people it is. In fact, that’s what my church has chosen to do. But, not everyone worships the same. And just as I don’t want anyone telling me how to worship I don’t feel I can tell anyone else how to worship. If someone considers it essential that meet in person, I don’t think we can say they cannot.
With that said, I don’t think churches should have special rights. But, if an essential business can operate at 50% capacity with social distancing and masks, there is no reason a church cannot operate at 50% with social distancing and masks.
Lots of people disagree with me.
. . .Or abridging the freedom of speech. . .
My “problem” with freedom of speech? Hate speech is protected speech.
In fact, hate speech is the most important speech to protect. It’s easy to protect and support speech you agree with. It’s more difficult to protect speech that you disagree with.
I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.
– Evelyn Beatrice Hall “The Friends of Voltaire”
If we cannot protect the speech of those we disagree with, who will protect our free speech when it becomes inconvenient?
. . .Or of the press
I think my “problem” with the press is one that many people have. I hate the partisanship. I hate that Fox News is the Republican station, that MSNBC is the Democrats station.
Tell me, if you are a Conservative do you believe anything that MSNBC broadcasts? If you are Liberal do you think Fox Newss gets anything correct?
No, and that’s a shame. I think it all started down hill when broadcast companies decided to make news divisions profit centers. That led to the efforts to attrack eyeballs and later clicks.
It’s Constitutional, but that doesnt’ make it right.
. . .or the right of the people peaceably to assemble. . .
Black Lives Matter, KKK, Gay Pride, WestBro Baptist Church? Name your least favorite group. They all have a right to protest. They all have a right to police protection while they protest.
Sending troops into the streets to disperse protests? Not cool.
. . .and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. . .
Actually, I don’t have much of a problem with this part.
I guess it’s not such an inconvenient amendment after all.
Stay safe
Rodney M Bliss is an author, columnist and IT Consultant. His blog updates every weekday. He lives in Pleasant Grove, UT with his lovely wife, thirteen children and grandchildren.
Follow him on
Twitter (@rodneymbliss)
Facebook (www.facebook.com/rbliss)
LinkedIn (www.LinkedIn.com/in/rbliss)
or email him at rbliss at msn dot com(c) 2020 Rodney M Bliss, all rights reserved