30 Replies to “Reader Tips”

  1. Thanks for posting this Kate. Kids today never think of the hazards that were associated with driving cars and trucks back in the 40’s and 50’s. My Dad had a new 1954 Plymouth Belvedere when one day we were driving in the rain on number 2 highway towards Moose Jaw. There’s a small town named Ardill, named after an Irishman who allegedly said (using slang) that it was an ”ard ill to climb.” The nearby hill has a sharp incline.
    My Grandmother was amazed that we had climbed the hill, and the wipers hadn’t stopped. That was because the Plymouth had electric wipers. A true safety feature indeed. I still recall her comment. ”What will they think of next?”
    The Plymouth had tubeless tires, and an interior heater that actually worked. It also had a relay that prevented the horn from working when the ignition was turned off. Much to our chagrin, my sister and I could no longer scare pedestrians by blasting the horn when we were alone in the car, angle parked against he sidewalks, and my Mom and Dad were in a store shopping.

  2. Electric wipers were available as optional equipment on many makes as early as 1940.

  5. What the climate wars did to science
    What went wrong with Lysenko and dietary fat was that in each case a monopoly was established. Lysenko’s opponents were imprisoned or killed. Nina Teicholz’s book The Big Fat Surprise shows in devastating detail how opponents of Ancel Keys’s dietary fat hypothesis were starved of grants and frozen out of the debate by an intolerant consensus backed by vested interests, echoed and amplified by a docile press.
    This is precisely what has happened with the climate debate and it is at risk of damaging the whole reputation of science. The “bad idea” in this case is not that climate changes, nor that human beings influence climate change; but that the impending change is sufficiently dangerous to require urgent policy responses.
    http://www.rationaloptimist.com/blog/what-the-climate-wars-did-to-science.aspx

  7. IIRC my old army jeep had wipers like that, although they also had a lever attached to them so you could wipe manually.

  9. “Political Correctness is the Essence of Leftism”
    …-
    “Man objects after surname ‘Grabher’ refused as licence plate in Nova Scotia”
    “The Nova Scotia government has withdrawn a man’s eponymous personalized licence plate, saying Lorne Grabher’s surname is offensive to women when viewed on his car bumper.
    Grabher says he put his last name on the licence plate decades ago as a gift for his late father’s birthday, and says the province’s refusal to renew the plate late last year is unfair.
    “What you’re doing to me is you’re discriminating against my name,” he said. “This director at the motor vehicle branch, she thinks she’s God.””
    http://www.680news.com/2017/03/24/man-objects-after-surname-grabher-refused-as-licence-plate-in-nova-scotia/
    …-
    “Political Correctness is the Essence of Leftism”
    “”In a widely praised piece for New York Magazine, liberal writer Jonathan Chait says the leftist language police are perverting liberalism,” Sean Davis writes at the Federalist. “Chait is wrong. The politically correct language police don’t pervert modern liberalism; they embody it. And amateur leftist thought cop Jonathan Chait himself is proof.”
    Read the whole thing, including this passage:
    Now, some will say that Chait has been unnecessarily provocative in his writing. That he should’ve made a better effort to reach out to the people he’s criticizing.
    The problem with this framing is that it presumes the angry rage mobs roaming Twitter in search of someone who has insufficiently checked his or her or its privilege are open to debate, to having their mind changed. That they’re interested in having a calm, rational discussion. This is a faulty presumption. It’s impossible to have a polite discussion on this topic because the outraged don’t want to have any discussion on this topic. As Chait puts it:
    If a person who is accused of bias attempts to defend his intentions, he merely compounds his own guilt.”
    https://pjmedia.com/eddriscoll/2015/01/27/jonathan-chait-anti-pc/

  11. Vacuum? Many years ago, a neighbor asked me for help figuring out why her Audi 100LS weren’t putting washer fluid on the windshield–the reservoir was full. We traced the line back to the trunk where it turned out the pressure for the reservoir came from the now-flat spare tire. Clever, yes. No need for another pump. Just don’t get a flat after a heavy rainy season.

  13. In grade 12 (’92), I had an army green ’69 Rebel Rambler which had vacuum wipers. The faster you drove the better you could see.

  16. Baltimore – Another Democrat success city…
    ———————————————
    Baltimore’s mayor is asking for help from the FBI, as the city struggles to contain a soaring murder rate. But will bringing in the feds stop the killings?
    Violence in Baltimore has reached a crisis level, with the number of killings shattering a 20-year high this early in the year…
    http://baltimore.cbslocal.com/2017/04/28/mayor-asking-fbi-for-help/

  17. Venezuela has raised the minimum wage by 60% in a effort to placate the proles.
    Red Rachael beat them to it…ha ha. Still wearin’ your che broach to work Rachael?

  19. Wonder if bongo’s going to try and save Sajjan’s ass?
    If he is going to, in an attempt to win back respect with the military look for Sajjan to make a BIG military spending announcement. Crass? Sure, but the libranos are nothing if they are not crass.

  21. AGW Kills.
    Snowstorm’s stalking the wheat belly: “and it’s done.”
    …-
    “Wheat Futures Surge After U.S. Crop Pummeled by Snowstorm”
    “‘Nasty storm’ dumps 12 inches of snow in four Midwest states
    Initial estimate puts crop loss at 50 million bushels or more
    Wheat prices headed for record gains in Chicago on Monday as the U.S. winter crop faced substantial losses from snow and high winds that slammed into four Midwest states including Kansas, the top grower.
    “More Rain to Pummel U.S. Plains After Crop-Damaging Snowstorm
    “The wheat was a little bit taller than it might normally be,” Harries said. “In a lot of places, the stems actually snapped or kinked over. If that’s the case, it can’t get nutrients to the head anymore, and it’s done.”
    The snowstorm followed a freeze late last week that also threatened the state’s crop. According to a map from Kansas State University Extension, wheat in more than 20 counties throughout central Kansas was at “high risk” of freeze injury on April 27.”
    https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-05-01/snow-winds-crush-u-s-winter-wheat-to-spur-grain-price-rally

  25. Ottawas rumour mill buzzing over Sajjan takin’ the high jump. Andrew Leslie stepping up.
    Leslie was always the man. Sajjan got the job – affirmative action.

  26. Brian Lilley’s comments earlier today on The Rebel showed part of the exchange in the House of Commons concerning this. The Defence Minister apologized all over himself, though, apparently, it wasn’t the first time he told nose-stretchers about his service. Juthtin, not surprisingly, defended him with the usual litany of empty phrases.
    I’m betting that Sajjan won’t resign but will, instead, be quietly made to go away. Watch what happens in the next cabinet shuffle. He may end up with some useless portfolio, such as–oh, I don’t know–Minister of Tiddlywinks or something trivial like that. That way, Shiny Potato still maintains the politically correct appearance of the cabinet and Sajjan will save face by not being forced to quit.

  27. Forgivness is for our kids when they make a mistake and own up to it. We expect a higher level of responsibility from MPs.
    Sajjan will be shuffled off to some insignificant post like happened with Monseur.
    Anyway, it doesn’t matter, he’s done for this administration. Another Minister into the trash heap of history. Politics is a very unforgiving sport.

  28. Bongo has given his standard answer. Sajjan made a mistake, he apologized, lets move on.
    The military will not accept this and if they have anything on this guy it’s coming out….soon.

  30. We had the Plymouth Mayflower around that time.
    How about those Plymouth names-Mayflower, Savoy, Belvedere; who were they trying to kid with those names. Our Mayflower wasn’t too bad but it had a tendency to clunk out in hot weather due to vapor lock.
    Another thing that was different about those cars was left-handed wheel nuts on the left side of the automobile. Pontiac and some Oldsmobile were like that and all Studebaker. If you had a flat and your car was encrusted with mud or it was dark out it was easy to screw that up and you could easily bugger up at least one of the studs on the left side of your car, usually by attempting to remove the bolts the wrong way.

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