Our leaders!

[crfriend]

"what in the **** is the truth anyway?"

I don't mean to trivialise the matter, but one of the most hilarious comments I've ever heard about "Truth" was a bit of a throwaway line in the first Indiana Jones movie: "Archaeology is the search for fact. If you want truth, Professor So-and-So's philosophy class is just down the hall." The crack is actually funny on a number of levels and points out that there is a (sometimes not-so-subtle) difference between the two.

Getting at facts is usually fairly easy so long as sources can be trusted; how one works and weaves those facts into one's own opinion and judgment of "truth" can be extremely convoluted -- which is why we need to be rather suspicious of those who lay claim to, and profess, "truth".

The only problem with the approach you mentioned is, it involves work and it makes you think. Some drawback to everything I guess *sigh*.

I'm usually not happy unless something makes me think. Critical thinking is a lot of fun. Yes, it's work, but like any other "muscle" if you don't use the one betwixt your ears it'll atrophy -- and that's a shame.

[Milfmog]

The only problem with the approach you mentioned is, it involves work and it makes you think. Some drawback to everything I guess *sigh*.

I'm usually not happy unless something makes me think. Critical thinking is a lot of fun. Yes, it's work, but like any other "muscle" if you don't use the one betwixt your ears it'll atrophy -- and that's a shame.

I'd also note that, in my experience, the more work I put in the more I get out. Work is a pain, but it makes achievement so much more rewarding.

Have fun,


Ian.

PS: As an engineer I gave up the search for truth years ago; facts will do nicely as a basis for opinion.

[Mugs-n-such]

I agree with both crfriend and Milfmog on their most recent posts. I guess I better not be lazy! I'd sure hate for my one remaining brain cell to atrophy! I might need it sometime, ho ho.
Speaking of the truth...er excuse me, the facts...about Sarah Palin, I sure wish I knew because people either seem to love her or hate her. From what I've read, she seems OK, and that the left just hate her because she comes from a working class family.
Say Milfmog, coming from an engineering background, I wonder if you could answer a question:
Recently I blew the main "maxi-fuse" in my Miata. A friend of mine told me sometimes fuses die of old age, or just a spark (as when you replace the battery in a car) can make them blow/die/burn up. Is this true? I suspect he (my friend) may have done something wrong when he gave me the jump, because that's when the fuse blew...when he applied the jumper cables (they may be called booster cables in UK). I was just wondering...

[Milfmog]

Your friend is right that it is not unheard of for fuses to age and fail, but it is uncommon and seems remarkably coincidental if it went immediately as you were trying to jump start the little bus. It is possible that an already aged and weakened fuse could fail as a result of in-rush currents when a battery is connected. To be honest, I'd not lose sleep over it, replace the fuse and thank him for helping you get the car started again. If you are concerned, make sure you have a few spares in the car, just in case.

Have fun,


Ian (not an automotive engineer )

PS: Linguistics; "booster cables" and "Jumper cables" are both seen as Americanisms from this side of the pond, but would be understood by anyone who knew how to use them. The more usual English term would be "Jump leads".

[crfriend]

On the Miata, I find the coincidence between blowing the main fusible-link (the "maxi-fuse") and getting the jump-start very suspicious. Had the thing just opened up, I could possibly cite age, but this one sounds like something went horribly wrong, possibly a polarity blunder; usually it takes a good 500 - 600 amps before one will open. When one of those blows, it's usually accompanied by a very audible report. I would get the thing looked at by a proper mechanic unless you're very good with electrical troubleshooting tools.

Sara Pailn, she of "Going Rouge [sic]" fame (or infamy, depending on your viewpoint) who quite probably cost McCain the election... The problem with her candidacy, as I saw it (and still do) is that she does not have a well thought-out strategy for much of anything, and has far too many extremist leanings. Yes, I am very aware that there are extremist leanings on both sides, and that pains me because I'm pretty much in the middle and both sets of extremists make me afraid for the future of my country.

[Mugs-n-such]

Thank you Milfmog and crfriend both. Well it may have been coincidence or not about the fuse blowing but I figure he didn't have to help me at all and I'm just going to keep my mouth shut because it's not worth ruining a friendship over and it's not like I've never made mistakes, either. And it may have been one of those weird coincidences and maybe he didn't do anything wrong, either...he said he didn't and I don't think he would lie, he was a former police officer after all.
About Sarah Palin, the more I learn about politics, the more I realize I feel like I don't know anything hardly. It's a tangled mess and I feel like a 3rd grade arithmetic student trying to do 3rd year calculus. Anyhow, 'nuff said for now I guess.
Glenn Beck had a liberal democrat on his show (when he had it on Fox) and he gave her a hug! They were talking about bad school programs and the difference between politics and principles. He gave her a hug. Yay!
One minor rant: I hope to see more men in (manly) skirts! I have been out a few times in a skirt myself, but hope to go out more once I get a regular kilt.
Peace and goodwill to all and Merry Christmas!

[crfriend]

Well it may have been coincidence or not about the fuse blowing but I figure he didn't have to help me at all and I'm just going to keep my mouth shut because it's not worth ruining a friendship over and it's not like I've never made mistakes, either.[...]

It's either coincidence or an "aw s**t!" moment -- and certainly not worth blowing a friendship over. Fortunately, it'll probably be easy, and hopefully inexpensive, to fix. Friends are a lot harder to replace that fuses.

[... T]the more I learn about politics, the more I realize I feel like I don't know anything hardly. It's a tangled mess and I feel like a 3rd grade arithmetic student trying to do 3rd year calculus.

Making matters worse is that it doesn't much resemble anything we've seen before in our lifetimes so we're all on thin ice whilst trying to decode it. The big picture is pretty clear, but the way to solve those huge, and now institutionalised, problems evades resolution because the two main sides are steadfastly refusing to talk to each other and make the compromises that will get the job done. The days of yore when the two sides would actually work together for the common good are long gone (gone since the early 1980s, really), and we're watching the vultures come home to roost on the problems that have surfaced in 30 years of bad law, bad ethics, and bad government.

Personally, I see echoes of Czarist Russia and pre-revolutionary France in what's going on, and if history is any guide, the results are not going to be pretty. Sapphire and I were discussing this over dinner the other night, and the general consensus was to the effect of, "I hope we're dead before the thing explodes, and I feel for the younger generations."

Peace and goodwill to all and Merry Christmas!

Hear hear!

[Mugs-n-such]

Amen crfriend about what you said (about everything really). I think anyone who has studied history would concede we live in perilous times. A friend of mine was telling me President Obama shut down some of the profitable car dealerships because they had contributed to Republican causes. If that's true, that is infuriating! That's unconstitutional and imo downright criminal!

[crfriend]

I think anyone who has studied history would concede we live in perilous times.

And it just got one whole heck of a lot worse on the Korean peninsula and continues to get worse in the middle east and southeast Asia. We seem to be living that classic Chinese curse of, "May you live in interesting times."

A friend of mine was telling me President Obama shut down some of the profitable car dealerships because they had contributed to Republican causes. If that's true, that is infuriating! That's unconstitutional and imo downright criminal!

It's also completely incomprehensible.

Here's why: When the US government bailled out two of the "Big Three", it cost real money, and that's money that the taxpayer and the government (mostly, but not always, one and the same) would hope shows back up in the long haul. Governments are "allowed" to think in the long term where private enterprise used to but which now think in terms of quarters or even weeks. In any event, shutting down outlets for goods (of any ilk) which are profitable makes precious little business sense -- even if one doesn't happen to agree with the viewpoints of the local management; the corporation is larger, and therefore more important, than an individual outlet. The wise man doesn't eat the goose that lays the golden eggs after all -- even if that goose happens to bite the hand that feeds it.

[Mugs-n-such]

I think I understood most of what you said, crfriend, and I agree. I guess the key word you used was "wise" as in the "wise man doesn't kill the goose that lays the golden egg..." Here's an example of Pelosi "wisdom": "We need to pass this bill (Obama care?) so we can see what's in it"...wow. And we pay her a salary? OK...
I always thought it was so unfair that the big three car companies shut Tucker down with the help of the government and then they get help, or at least Chevy and Chrysler did, when they were (are?) in trouble from the same government that shut down Tucker, which I think would have been a really cool car. I guess maybe justice is not meant to prevail on this side of the grave...what thinkest thou my friend?

[crfriend]

I think I understood most of what you said, crfriend, and I agree. I guess the key word you used was "wise" as in the "wise man doesn't kill the goose that lays the golden egg..."

Indeed the key word was wise. This may be a bit of my flinty Yankee upbringing coming to the fore, but I was brought up with the words, "Don't ever f..k with the principal.", and my family was not referring to the authoritarian at the local school. This has stood me in good stead over the years as I am not in "over my head" in debt -- which is why I am so peeved that those of us who were conservative (in the classic meaning, not the new political meaning) in our affairs are now being called upon to bail out those who were spendthrift in their outlook.

The notion of Obama-care (a rebranded form of Romney-care that we suffer from in Massachusetts) is about as deeply flawed as it gets, and is a positively spectacular example of what you get when you allow "interested parties" redefine words -- in this case substituting "insurance" for "care". What both Romney-care and Obama-care have in common is that they confer the power to tax to the "insurance" companies -- private enterprise that not one of us has ever voted for or that is particularly beholden to even moderate standards of ethics in the modern realm. In this author's opinion, the current system needs to go and be replaced with one where if "universal insurance" is mandated the profit motive (read, "obscene bonuses for the fatcats at the top while 'subscribers' suffer") must be utterly suppressed.

I always thought it was so unfair that the big three car companies shut Tucker down with the help of the government and then they get help, or at least Chevy and Chrysler did, when they were (are?) in trouble from the same government that shut down Tucker, which I think would have been a really cool car. I guess maybe justice is not meant to prevail on this side of the grave...what thinkest thou my friend?

This is going to fly straight in the face of what's taught in "civics" classes all over the US of A, but what we're dealing with in this case is not a question of "what is right", but rather one of "what is legal" -- for the two are very different notions, sometimes at polar opposites. Sadly, the civics class tries to force the notion that governments and corporations never do wrong, even if they keep it legal; in point of fact, it is possible for individuals and corporations to behave and operate in positively evil ways while maintaining the veneer of legality.

Recall the mantra from the 1950s and early 1960s: "What's good for General Motors is good for the nation." That notion got a lot of credence; however, did anybody really ask whether it was correct or not? Even if it was correct for the moment, did anybody question whether it'd remain that way in the long term? I suspect not.

Chrysler, by the way, got bailled out twice. The first time 'round it paid off the debt, with interest, in full; this time, however, it's a bit of a crap-shoot, just like it remains with GM.

As far as "failures" (a euphemism there) go, recall that Tucker was just one; there was also DeLorean, and likely more that only automotive historians know of.

The ultimate point of this missive might be summed up: "Do not trust but one source of information as either fact or truth. Gather information from many sources -- preferably sources that do not trust or even like one another. Reality, or a semblance of it, will be found someplace in the middle where nobody bothers to go. Too, question your methodology for interpreting those multiple and sometimes contradictory sources; just as the world is a dynamically-changing place, we must remain on our mental "toes" if we are to be able to interpret what's going on around us.

[Mugs-n-such]

Wow, crfriend, I like everything you wrote even though some of it does stretch my brain a bit. I gather you are well-read and probably very intelligent, more intelligent than I more than likely (which may not be saying much, ho ho). DeLorean is another one that I mourn. I had a chance to buy one once and always regret that I didn't, although I'm not sure what you would do if you needed replacement parts. A machine shop might help, but I imagine that would be pricey!
I think that when I read books, even if I were completely neutral (and I guess I'm not, you could say I'm conservative or Christian-biased) I think I would trust the conservative books more because they tend to have footnotes and cite their sources while the liberal books I have seen tend to be mud-slinging and name-calling ("Rush Limbaugh is a big fat idiot" comes to mind) and no footnotes. Not very trustworthy.
I'd write more but my brother is waiting for me so I better go. Long story. Thanks crfriend, I'll try to understand your posts better. I feel a little understanding/intellect-challenged when I read them.
Peace to all the fellow-skirters out there,
Gary (Gummug)