A different view on current affairs & history
Yes you read correctly. A best seller entitled Capital in the Twenty First Century by Thomas Picketty, a Frenchman has created a revival in Marxist thinking throughout the world. Continue reading
There is an old Hotel/Pub in Marble Arch, London which used to have a gallows adjacent to it. Prisoners were taken to the gallows, (after a fair trial of course) to be hung. The horse drawn dray, carting the prisoner, was accompanied by an armed guard, who would stop the dray outside the pub and ask the prisoner if he would like ”ONE LAST DRINK”. If he said YES, it was referred to as “ONE FOR THE ROAD” If he declined, that prisoner was “ON THE WAGON”
They used to use urine to tan animal skins, so families used to all pee in a pot & then once a day it was taken & sold to the tannery. If you had to do this to survive you were, “Piss Poor”, but worse than that, were the really poor folk, who couldn’t even afford to buy a pot, they “Didn’t have a pot to piss in” & were the lowest of the low.
The next time you are washing your hands and complain, because the water temperature isn’t just how you like it, think about how things used to be. Here are some facts about the 1500’s: Most people got married in June, because they took their yearly bath in May and they still smelled pretty good by June. However, since they were starting to smell, brides carried a bouquet of flowers, to hide the body odour. Hence the custom today of carrying a bouquet when getting married. Baths consisted of a big tub filled with hot water. The man of the house had the privilege of the nice clean water, then all the other sons and men, then the women and finally the children. Last of all the babies. By then the water was so dirty you could actually lose someone in it. Hence the saying, “Don’t throw the baby out with the Bath water!”
Houses had thatched roofs, thick straw piled high, with no wood underneath. It was the only place for animals to get warm, so all the cats and other small animals (mice, bugs) lived in the roof. When it rained it became slippery and sometimes the animals would slip and fall off the roof. Hence the saying “It’s raining cats and dogs.” There was nothing to stop things from falling into the house. This posed a real problem in the bedroom, where bugs and other droppings could mess up your nice clean bed. Hence, a bed with big posts and a sheet hung over the top, afforded some protection. That’s how canopy beds came into existence.
The floor was dirt. Only the wealthy had something other than dirt. Hence the saying, “Dirt Poor.” The wealthy had slate floors, that would get slippery in the winter when wet, so they spread thresh (straw) on floor to help keep their footing.
As the winter wore on, they added more thresh, until, when you opened the door, it would all start slipping outside. A piece of wood was placed in the entrance-way. Hence: a thresh hold. (Getting quite an education, aren’t you?)
In those old days, they cooked in the kitchen with a big kettle that always hung over the fire. Every day, they lit the fire and added things to the pot. They ate mostly vegetables and did not get much meat. They would eat the stew for dinner, leaving leftovers in the pot to get cold overnight then start over the next day. Sometimes stew had food in it that had been there for quite a while. Hence the rhyme: ”Peas porridge hot, peas porridge cold, peas porridge in the pot, nine days old”.
Sometimes they could obtain pork, which made them feel quite special. When visitors came over, they would hang up their bacon, to show off. It was a sign of wealth that a man could, “Bring home the Bacon.” They would cut off a little, to share with guests and would all sit around talking and ”Chew the fat”.
Those with money had plates made of pewter. Food with high acid content caused some of the lead to leach onto the food, causing lead poisoning & death. This happened most often with tomatoes, so for the next 400 years or so, tomatoes were considered poisonous. Bread was divided, according to status. Workers got the burnt bottom of the loaf, the family got the middle, and guests got the top, or ”The Upper Crust”.
Lead cups were used to drink ale or whisky. The combination would sometimes knock the imbibers out for a couple of days. Someone walking along the road would take them for dead and prepare them for burial. They were laid out on the kitchen table for a couple of days and the family would gather around and eat and drink and wait and see if they would wake up. Hence the custom of ”Holding a Wake”.
England is old and small and the local folks started running out of places to bury people. So, they would dig up coffins and would take the bones to a bone-house and reuse the grave. When reopening these coffins, 1 out of 25 coffins were found to have scratch marks on the inside and they realized they had been burying people alive. So they would tie a string on the wrist of the corpse, thread it through the coffin and up through the ground and tie it to a bell. Someone would have to sit out in the graveyard all night, (the graveyard shift) to listen for the bell; thus, someone could be, ”Saved by the Bell ” or was considered a ”Dead Ringer”
And that’s the truth.
Now, whoever said history was boring!
The function of pneumatic tyres is to provide traction between the vehicle and the road while providing a flexible cushion that absorbs shock. With this potential advance by Michelin, the tyre industry will be going a full circle.
The first practical pneumatic tyre was made by Scottish inventor John Boyd Dunlop while working on his son’s bicycle in an effort to prevent the headaches his son had while riding on rough roads. Dunlop’s patent was later declared invalid because of prior art by fellow Scot Robert William Thomson, although Dunlop is credited with “realising rubber could withstand the wear and tear of being a tyre while retaining its resilience”. The development of this technology hinged on myriad engineering advances. Today, over 1 billion pneumatic tyres are produced annually in over 400 tyre factories
John Boyd Dunlop
Pneumatic TiresA pneumatic, or air-filled, tyre is made of an airtight inner core filled with pressurized air. A tread, usually reinforced with steel belting or other materials, covers this inner core and provides the contact area with the road. The pressure of the air inside the tyre is greater than atmospheric air pressure, so the tyre remains inflated even with the weight of a vehicle resting on it. The tyre’s air pressure provides resistance against forces that try to deform the tire, but it gives to a certain degree a cushioning effect as the tyre hits bumps in the road. If you have ever been taken for a ride in an old-fashioned carriage with wooden wheels, you would understand what a difference a pneumatic tyre makes.
Pneumatic tires do have drawbacks, especially in high-performance or highly dangerous applications. The main problem, of course, is that a puncture of the tyre results in total failure. A blowout at high speeds can lead to a dangerous car accident. Military planners are concerned with tires getting blown out by gunfire or explosion shrapnel. A vehicle crew’s worst nightmare is getting trapped in a fire zone because their tyres are all flat. Obviously, an airless tyre cannot be disabled by a single puncture.
Now Michelin has developed the first airless tyre in 120 years which its marketing department has christened as Tweels, an airless tyre which nevertheless still provides shock protection.
Consider all the benefits if tyres that cannot be punctured and their impact on existing industries:
Michelin first announced the Tweel in 2005. The name is a combination of the words tyre and wheel because the Tweel does not use a traditional wheel hub assembly. A solid inner hub mounts to the axle. In turn that is surrounded by polyurethane spokes arrayed in a pattern of wedges. A shear band is stretched across the spokes, forming the outer edge of the tyre (the part that comes in contact with the road). The tension of the shear band on the spokes and the strength of the spokes themselves replace the air pressure of a traditional tire. The tread is then attached to the shear band. The Tweel looks sort of like a very large, futuristic bicycle wheel.
When the Tweel is put to the road, the spokes absorb road impacts the same way air pressure does in pneumatic tires. The tread and shear bands deform temporarily as the spokes bend, then quickly spring back into shape. Tweels can be made with different spoke tensions, allowing for different handling characteristics.
Components of a Tweek
More pliant spokes result in a more comfortable ride with improved handling. The lateral stiffness of the Tweel is also adjustable. However, you cannot adjust a Tweel once it has been manufactured. To do that one has to select a Tweel with the desired characteristics.
For testing, Michelin equipped an Audi A4 with Tweels made with five times as much lateral stiffness as a pneumatic tire, resulting in “very responsive handling”. Michelin reported that “the Tweel prototype… is within five percent of the rolling resistance and mass levels of current pneumatic tires. That translates to mean within one percent of the fuel economy” of the tyres on your own car. Since the Tweel is very early in its development, Michelin could be expected to improve those numbers.
The Future of Airless Tires
What is the likelihood of purchasing a Tweel in the new future? First Michelin has to eliminate several flaws, the worst being vibration. Above 50 mph, the Tweel vibrates considerably. That in itself might not be a problem, but it causes two other concerns: noise and heat. A fast moving Tweel is unpleasantly loud.
Furthermore long-distance driving at high speeds generates more heat than Michelin engineers would like.
A final problem involves the manufacturing process itself. Making Tweels is quite a vastly different process from making a pneumatic tire. The sheer scale of the changes that would need to be made to numerous factories, not to mention tyre balancing and mounting equipment in thousands of auto repair shops, presents a significant (though not insurmountable) obstacle to the broad adoption of airless tires.
Because of these flaws, Michelin is not planning to roll out the Tweel to consumers any time soon. According to Michelin, “Radial tyre technology will continue as the standard for a long time to come.”
Nevertheless there are applications which are eminently suited to the use of Tweels viz low-speed applications, such as on construction vehicles. The Tweel is perfect for such use because the high-speed vibration problems will not be a factor in their acceptance. Furthermore the ruggedness of the airless design will be a major advantage on a construction site.
Michelin is also exploring military use of the Tweel. Currently the major shortcoming of wheeled armoured vehicles are their tyres. Even though the temporary solution has been to install run-flats, this is merely a symptomatic solution whereas the Tweels address the root cause of the problem.
Finally there is one major objection from my viewpoint which Michelin has to address: the name Tweel.
A priest offered a Nun a lift. She got in and crossed her legs, forcing her gown to reveal a leg.
The priest nearly had an accident. After controlling the car, he stealthily slid his hand up her leg.
The nun said, ‘Father, remember Psalm 129?’ The priest removed his hand.
But, changing gears, he let his hand slide up her leg again. The nun once again said, ‘Father, remember Psalm 129?’
The priest apologized ‘Sorry sister but the flesh is weak.’
Arriving at the convent, the nun sighed heavily and went on her way.
On his arrival at the church, the priest rushed to look up Psalm 129.
It said, ‘Go forth and seek, further up, you will find glory.’
Moral of the story:
If you are not well informed in your job, you might miss a great opportunity..
A sales rep, an administration clerk, and the manager are walking to lunch when they find an antique oil lamp.
They rub it and a Genie comes out. The Genie says, ‘I’ll give each of you just one wish.’
‘Me first! Me first!’ says the admin. clerk..… ‘I want to be in the Bahamas, driving a speedboat, without a care in the world.’ Poof! She’s gone. ‘Me next! Me next!’ says the sales rep. ‘I want to be in Hawaii, relaxing on the beach with my personal masseuse, an endless supply of Pina Coladas, and the love of my life.’ Poof! He’s gone.
‘OK, you’re up,’ the Genie says to the manager. The manager says, ‘I want those two back in the office after lunch.’
Moral of the story:
Always let your boss have the first say.
An eagle was sitting on a tree resting, doing nothing. A small rabbit saw the eagle and asked him, ‘Can I also sit like you and do nothing?’ The eagle answered: ‘Sure, why not.’
So, the rabbit sat on the ground below the eagle and rested.
So, the rabbit sat on the ground below the eagle and rested. All of a sudden, a fox appeared, jumped on the rabbit and ate it.
Moral of the story:
To be sitting and doing nothing, you must be sitting very, very high up
Lesson 4
A turkey was chatting with a bull. ‘I would love to be able to get to the top of that tree’ sighed the turkey, ‘but I haven’t got the energy.’
‘Well, why don’t you nibble on some of my droppings?’ replied the bull. It’s full of nutrients.’
The turkey pecked at a lump of dung, and found it actually gave him enough strength to reach the lowest branch of the tree.
The next day, after eating some more dung, he reached the second branch.. Finally after a fourth night, the turkey was proudly perched at the top of the tree. He was promptly spotted by a farmer, who shot him out of the tree.
Moral of the story:
Bull Shit might get you to the top, but it won’t keep you there…
A little bird was flying south for the winter. It was so cold the bird froze and fell to the ground into a large field.
While he was lying there, a cow came by and dropped some dung on him
As the frozen bird lay there in the pile of cow dung, he began to realize how warm he was.
The dung was actually thawing him out! He lay there all warm and happy, and soon began to sing for joy.
A passing cat heard the bird singing and came to investigate.
Following the sound, the cat discovered the bird under the pile of cow dung, and promptly dug him out and ate him.
Moral of the story:
(1) Not everyone who shits on you is your enemy.
(2) Not everyone who gets you out of shit is your friend.
(3) And when you’re in deep shit, it’s best to keep your mouth shut!
THUS ENDS THE 5-MINUTE MANAGEMENT COURSE.
The Platinum Industry strike might be over but Traumatic Changes await both Parties
Normally after a strike is over, the tensions rapidly abate and the situation swiftly returns to normal. In the case of the Platinum Industry strike, the underlying causes are much more deeply rooted and entrenched. Worse still, like a spectre hanging over it, are the ghosts of the Marikana Massacre.
In no small measure, both parties in the dispute including government will find the process ahead both arduous and possibly intractable.
A Metaphor of German Brilliance and Flawed Thinking in WW2
Wittmann and the Tiger 1 represented the very best of German manhood and Engineering. Joined together they represented an invincible combination. Both had fatal flaws.
Michael Wittmann was emblematic of WW2 German Panzer Tank Commanders. He was credited with the destruction of 138 tanks and 132 anti-tank guns, along with an unknown number of other armoured vehicles, making him one of Germany’s top scoring panzer aces, together with Johannes Bölter, Ernst Barkmann, Otto Carius and Kurt Knispel who was the top scoring ace of the war with 168 tank kills.
Compare this sequence of events with what would happen in the West under these circumstances.
Thinking the unthinkable. Alternative solutions to life’s manifold problems.
Imagine when boarding a plane if one were asked the following question. “Would you prefer Cruciform, a Rogallo Wing or one of the luxury three seater parachutes which our airline has just proudly introduced?
Nonchalantly and laconically you retort, “My usual; the Annular.”
In future aircraft might have become much safer due to technology but due to unprecedented public pressure in 2025 after two Airbus A2000s were lost with all 2000 passengers on board, the airlines finally introduced – as an optional extra – the parachute.
Let’s see if you have what it takes.
The following short quiz consists of 4 questions and tells whether you are qualified to be a “professional”.
Scroll down for each answer.
The questions are not that difficult.