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The good old days are gone unless America stops screwing around.

October 11, 2024 / Richard Nestoff / 0 Comments

Both Donald Trump and Kamala Harris are vowing to engineer a manufacturing renaissance. Such promises evoke 1950s-era memories of strong communities full of ordinary Americans, many without college degrees, earning attractive pay and benefits for their hard work.

The author believes the US cannot get back to the fully functioning country we had in the 1950’s. That is a widely held opinion, so talking about this article is as good as any other.

Manufacturing bottomed out at around 10 percent of nonfarm workers by 2019. The numbers employed in manufacturing started to recover under President Biden and may continue to rebound.

The author shows her bias. If the bottom was in 2019, then it started to recover after that. Biden took office in 2021, so it wasn’t his policies that turned things around.

While women and immigrants helped offset the slowing growth of the native-born population, it hasn’t been enough: Two-thirds of respondents to a National Association of Manufacturing survey this past spring said that their biggest challenge was attracting and retaining employees.

Attracting and retaining employees is simple. Pay more and improve the working conditions.

Austrian opera makes audiences swoon.

October 11, 2024 / Richard Nestoff / 0 Comments

Daily Mail: People faint at opera.

Its provocative scenes left theatre goers reeling, with 18 suffering with nausea and shock and requiring assistance over the first two performances. In three cases, a doctor even had to be called.

This report is surprising, because it’s assumed that audiences are more savvy or cynical now. Nobody was coerced or tricked into attending this opera. Decades ago, my nephew Brian and I attended a machine gun shoot in Knob Creek, Kentucky. When the “Commence Fire” command was given, the amount of firepower unleashed from the firing line was astounding. One might swoon if the title of the event wasn’t so clear. It was great fun.

Stump grinding

October 9, 2024 / Richard Nestoff / 0 Comments

After 8 hours of stump grinding, I’m knackered. It isn’t hard. The grinder does all the work, just sweeping back and forth, chewing up the wood. It’s the low-level attention that wears a guy down. At the end of each sweep, lower the wheel just a bit. Take too big of a bite, and the wheel chatters, the machine bucks and the clutch starts squealing.

The American president matters.

October 9, 2024 / Richard Nestoff / 0 Comments

Who we elect for president, seems to matter to the rest of the world.

Our dotard in chief, Joe Biden, is the president, but he doesn’t appear to be mentally competent. No one is certain who is making presidential decisions. Today, October 9th, 2024, North Korea has decided to cut road and rail links to South Korea.

A year into President Trump’s term, the North Korean leader and the South Korean leader shook hands at the demilitarized zone between the two countries.

The world degrades quickly with no American leadership.

Sparky may not be much of a woodland threat.

October 8, 2024 / Richard Nestoff / 0 Comments

I hold Sparky in high regard, but sometimes, he seems like just a pretty face.

When we went outside for our walk, these three deer were wandering by. I said, “Rabbit!” to flip his switch into hunter-pursuit mode. They strolled about 40 yards before Sparky even looked in their direction. Sparky decided to take me very literally, and wasn’t interested.

Sparky talks big, but now I’m wondering if chasing rabbits is a charade. Sure, he’ll eat any baby bunnies he finds. but what would he do if he caught a rabbit?

Stump grinding

October 8, 2024 / Richard Nestoff / 0 Comments

Sparky says that he is protesting some damn thing, but I wasn’t listening. Early on, he made it clear that he likes pooping on stumps. That was covered in the Poop wars post.

Next walk, he crapped on a stump.

The Welle is an engaging take on a real-life high school event. 8/10

October 8, 2024 / Richard Nestoff / 0 Comments

Die Welle, aka The Wave, is 2008 German movie about a free-spirit teacher who gets in over his head. It’s got sub-titles, but worth watching anyway.

Weller gets the bright idea to show them, rather than tell them. He takes on the role of a charismatic leader, and gradually introduces fascistic policies. Kids are gullible, and are eager to finally hear from someone with all of the answers. The students love it, and surprisingly, so does Mr. Weller. The whole thing goes tits-up by the end of the week.

Spark-e-wok

October 6, 2024 / Richard Nestoff / 0 Comments

Sparky wants to be an Ewok for Halloween. He is still pissed about The Acolyte, so wanted to do a costume homage to a time when Star Wars was good. He doesn’t have the face for it, but I made him a costume and took some head shots for his portfolio.

The Physics industry is broken.

October 6, 2024 / Richard Nestoff / 0 Comments

The 20^th Century was the Century of Physics. In 1905, Einstein published his “Special Theory of Relativity”, and up to about World War 2, modern physics was established. Very little of modern physics corresponds with what we experience in daily life, but it’s been experimentally verified and is used in current technology.

Physicists like Albert Einstein, Niels Bohr, Werner Heisenberg, Max Planck, and others debated the new theories, and tried to make some sense of the universe.

“We Are Legion” is a great Sci-Fi book. 9.5/10

October 5, 2024 / Richard Nestoff / 0 Comments

We Are Legion [We Are Bob] is the first book in a five book series known as the “Bobiverse” by Dennis E. Taylor that came out in 2016. It’s funny, creative and thought-provoking, without any heavy-handed messaging for modern audiences. It’s an entertaining and engaging series, and one of the few that I ever revisit.

Big Stick Physics

Page 13 of 61

The good old days are gone unless America stops screwing around.

Austrian opera makes audiences swoon.

Stump grinding

The American president matters.

Sparky may not be much of a woodland threat.

Stump grinding

The Welle is an engaging take on a real-life high school event. 8/10

Spark-e-wok

The Physics industry is broken.

“We Are Legion” is a great Sci-Fi book. 9.5/10

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