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Sparky goes to ground

Sparky ran off yesterday.  He doesn’t really run away, Sparky runs toward an objective, usually something stinky.    When Sparky goes to ground, he would be impossible to find because he likes dense brush, briar patches and holes.

He can’t resist a pipe or hole in the ground.

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BBC: Instant Pot to file for Bankruptcy

BBC: Instant Pot to file for bankruptcy

The maker of Pyrex glassware and Instant Pot multicookers has filed for bankruptcy protection, with as much as $1bn (£790m) in liabilities.

As well as the more than a century-old cookware brand Pyrex and Instant Pot, which was launched in 2010, Instant Brands’ portfolio also includes kitchenware brands Corelle, CorningWare and Snapware.

How do you screw up that company?  Five years ago, everybody wanted an Instant Pot, and people are always talking about new Instant Pot recipes.  When we cleaned out Mom’s house, Corelle was the only thing anyone wanted.

Barron’s: Trump vs Biden in 11 Charts.

A good friend occasionally says that, “No one has ever logically explained to me why they voted for Trump.”  He thinks it’s persuasive, but it’s a trick.  He would never vote for Trump, so any explanation would, by definition, be illogical or unpersuasive.  Knowing any explanation would be futile and would stress our friendship, I never attempt it.   This article provides some reasons I have voted for Trump, and will again.

Barron’s” Trump vs Biden in 11 Charts 

Barron’s” Trump vs Biden in 11 Charts

A few charts are particularly interesting.  Keep in mind that the Covid Lockdown started in March 2020, and Biden took office in January, 2021.

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Boys need heroes.

Fox News: We like Heroes

Nobody likes being told what to do or how to live.  Tell a teenager how something should be done, and the mental blast shields come up.  That’s one reason why vegans, environmentalists and the WOKE can be so tedious.  Everyone used to know that people learn from stories.  That’s why the Bible has so many of them.  A story is engaging, and allows the message to slip in.

Boys need stories about heroes to learn how to be men.  For those with limited comprehension, I’m not saying girls don’t, it’s just different.  Boys need men to live up to.   Blessed is the man who was intimidated by his dad in his teen years, but eventually hopes he can be half the man his father was.

The genre of story doesn’t matter much.  Westerns, sports underdog or adventurer stories can all show a man up against the wall.  He chooses to do what’s right, regardless of the cost, and there is a cost.  It’s grueling, painful or dangerous.  He gets his ass beat, but it works out in the end.

Rocky and the first Indiana Jones are two great examples.

Teaching Physics, telling stories and showing examples of men was part of my hidden agenda. 

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Electric cars aren’t a done deal.

WSJ: Automakers get into mining.

WSJ: Automakers get into mining.

When General Motors began outlining plans in 2020 to fully switch to electric vehicles, it didn’t account for one critical factor: Many of the battery minerals needed to fulfill its plans were still in the ground.

“I remember seeing a report from our raw-materials team at the time saying, ‘There is plenty of lithium out there. There is plenty of nickel’,” said Sham Kunjur, an industrial engineer now in charge of securing the raw materials for GM’s batteries. “We will buy them from the open market.”

GM executives soon came to discover how off the mark those projections were, and now Mr. Kunjur’s 40-person team is scouring the globe for these minerals. 

“Why Magical Thinking isn’t Whimsical” or “No Shit, Sherlock” would also have been serviceable titles for this article. 

If 3 million cars are sold in the US each year, and each car needed a 100 pounds of lithium for the battery, that’s 300 million pounds of lithium needed each year.  That’s a shitload.  Before we switch to electric cars, someone should be thinking this through.

Those cars also need a shitload of electricity.  The US doesn’t have a lot of surplus generating capacity and we build a new nuclear power plant about every 10 years.

Not paying attention to the basic requirements prior to a big policy shift isn’t a clever way to induce technical advance.  It’s a way to insure that the general population will live a life that is needlessly frustrating and expensive. 

Sparky goes to summer camp.

Sparky was adopted from an animal shelter, so I never want him to feel like he’s being dumped off somewhere.  He has never said anything to make me think he’s got abandonment issues, but look at him.  Have you ever seen a baby seal that is cuter or more pathetic?

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Race shouldn’t be an advantage.

Furious parents marched their children across picket lines of striking teachers in Oakland, California, on Friday on the seventh day of a strike in which teachers are demanding reparations for slavery, among other demands.

Say what you want about France, but they don’t play “follow the leader”.  They protect their interests and make their own decisions.  On race relations, they seem to have a sensible policy.   I had some idea of how they handled diversity issues, so found this Brookings Institute article to be interesting.

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