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The example is, of course, an impact on lower Manhattan.

I like the effect on Capitol Hill.

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A bunch of current cartoonists celebrate the creator of PEANUTS.

No, I don’t get to wet my beak from this ‘ad’–I just like the concept.

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Meatloaf has some obstacles to overcome: it has an unprepossessing appearance, and an uninspiring, slightly off-putting name, which it shares with the famous singer. And it wasn’t a compliment when it was given to him: the singer’s father took one look at his newborn son and said he looked like “nine pounds of ground chuck,” before persuading the hospital staff to put the name “Meat” on his crib (which is real commitment to a joke).

I can’t speak for baby Meat Loaf, but when it comes to the dish, the name is at least an extremely accurate description. Meatloaf is made up of ground meat (often beef, sometimes pork, occasionally veal, or a mixture thereof), cut with bread or other carbs, and bound together with egg. The whole thing is generously seasoned, before being shaped into a loaf, glazed, and baked either freestyle or in a loaf tin. It’s a little like a hamburger, a little like a giant meatball, but is served in thick slices, like a loaf of bread.

My late first wife’s mother had a meatloaf recipe that included, I believe, cinnamon. Whenever she went anywhere, people asked her to Bring Her Famous Meatloaf.

Steve girds his loins for adventure.

Once again, a friend and I are in what we jokingly call THE CONE OF CERTAIN DEATH. Unbelievably, the devil has managed to scrape together a tropical storm after the end of hurricane season, and he has tried really hard to get it to go right over my house. The National Hurricane Center’s prediction cone is looming ominously, like the strong possibility of Kamala Harris becoming president when Biden finally forgets who he is.

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Jack Algiere has always been a tinkerer. As a child in the 1980s, he would repair and swap out engines in the broken equipment on his family’s farm, often figuring out exactly what he was building as he went along. “It’s just part of growing up on a farm,” he said. “We made it work, and we made it.”

Algiere grew up in an era when it was second nature for farmers to fix their equipment—before farm equipment manufacturers like John Deere and others started incorporating proprietary software, parts, and tools only accessible to authorized dealerships.

Now, amid a growing “right to repair” movement pushing farm equipment manufacturers to shift their practices, some have gone a step further by calling for a new, production model altogether, built on an open-source system. Under this model, farm equipment is designed to be easily modified and repaired by relying on accessible, universal parts, while sharing or licensing the design specifications and source code.

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We have the technology.

I’m waiting for the day when somebody 3D-prints a full-size mockup of an Apollo moon lander controlled by a modern smartphone.

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Matt Mikka explained he used a 400-cc gas generator in the back of his Tesla Model S.

“I really like my Tesla but what I don’t like is stopping to charge, especially on a road trip,” Mikka said. “I don’t even like stopping to fill up my gas-powered car, and that’s way faster than charging.”

In a video posted to his YouTube channel, Warped Perception, Mikka explained that he placed the generator where the Tesla’s rear window is.

While Mikka made the 1,800-mile trip without plugging in at an electric vehicle charging station, he had to stop to allow the Tesla to charge on the side of the road. Mikka also said he had to drive at slower speeds in order to have enough energy to keep the Tesla charged.

Turning a Tesla into a hybrid … a Prius would have cost a lot less. And it won’t spontaneously combust when parked. Or Mercedes has an S-Class hybrid, if you want that “I’m rich and don’t care who knows it” vibe.

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Sometimes the old ways are best.

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If you’re an American eating at a restaurant in Europe and you order a glass of water, you may be surprised — and disappointed — to receive a glass of lukewarm water, or, even worse, a room temperature bottle of water.

A glass of ice water, though customary in the United States, is seen as strange and unnecessary elsewhere.

A few years ago, the HuffPost ran an article titled “It’s Weird That American Restaurants Serve Ice Water In Winter,” in which the author called not just drinking ice water in the winter but also drinking ice water generally a “bizarre” practice.

For some reason the Narrative Media have this (to me odd) notion that the way Europeans do things is somehow a norm to which Americans ought to conform, or at least justify any divergence therefrom.

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What goes around, comes around.

John Hinderaker at Power Line.

Tonight was American Experiment’s Fall Briefing, and, as Scott previewed, Tulsi Gabbard was our keynote speaker. I looked forward both to meeting and to hearing her, as she is one of the most interesting figures on our political scene. And, of course, the timing was fortuitous with Gabbard having just departed the Democratic Party.

So, what did I think of her? I was blown away. Our audience was, too.

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After working in the Trump administration, Hope Harvard moved home to South Carolina unsure of what the future held. After a night of crying out to God for direction in her life, she awakened with the idea to start a makeup line inspired by the women of the Bible, and Hope Beauty was born.

I am not making this up.

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Walk into a Walmart, Target, any drugstore chain in your neighborhood or a corner bodega for New York City dwellers, and chances are you’ll find an Ivory Soap bar, or a pack of 10 bars for under $5, sitting on the shelf.

This iconic cake of soap, invented almost 150 years ago, has become a part of Americana largely by advertising its two strange merits: “It Floats” and it’s “99+44?100% Pure.”

The original product is a no-frills, plain white, mild-scented bar soap with the name “IVORY” etched into it in script. Impressively, it has stayed exactly that way for 143 years — barring the addition of an Aloe scented variety, and is also still around.

Even CNN recognizes that sometimes the old ways are best.

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Say not that the pioneering spirit is extinct in America.

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Foldscope combines low-cost materials with precision optics to create inexpensive microscopes that are affordable for communities worldwide. With a magnification of 140X, Foldscope can visualize tiny things like bacteria and microorganisms as well as larger samples like insects, plants, fabrics, and tissues. Foldscope can also attach to mobile phones for imaging. This portable microscope is also waterproof. With that versatility, the possibilities are endless!

If, of course, that’s what you want to do.

I received a microscope kit when I was a child, my parents apparently concluding from the fact that I was worthless at (and even less interested in) sports that I was destined for a Nobel Prize.

I looked at a bug. I looked at a leaf. I looked at the multicolored dots on a comic book illustration. Then I went back to reading. Three degrees later, I still don’t have that Nobel Prize (primarily because I’m even more worthless at math than I am at sports). Still, it was a kind thought.

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I expect reliable and cheap energy.  I expect that every time I flip on a switch, the lights will come on, and the heat will come up.  I expect that I will be able to fill my car with gas pretty much whenever I want at any gas station that is open and that I can hit the open road for a road trip without breaking the bank.

I expect abundant, varied, and cheap food.  I want to see the grocery stores stocked with fresh food and sundry items.  I expect that when I go to the store to get broccoli that I will find it, as will millions of other Americans.  I expect high-quality toilet paper on the shelves and that I can buy as many packages as I want.

I expect reliable services.  I expect that when I need a plumber, or my carpets cleaned, or my roof repaired, I can find someone to come in a reasonable amount of time and that they will either have or will be able to easily obtain the parts they need.

I expect to be able to my own home, to feel the pride and joy of ownership, to decorate it and landscape it and modify it as I wish, without asking for permission, and to be able to use it as collateral to build a business or whatever other needs I may have.

I expect that through hard work, I will pay for all these things to ensure they are available to all.

I expect to be able to speak my mind in public without fear of who is listening.  I expect to be able to declare my political ideology through tee shirts, hats, or bumper stickers without reprisals, whether on the street or a college campus.

I expect the schools to teach children the basic knowledge they need to be good citizens and to appreciate the country they have.  I expect that when they graduate they are literate, understand math and science and know how our system of government works.

I expect to be able to walk within our cities and parks without stepping over homeless people, garbage,  drug paraphernalia, and human waste.  I expect to walk without fear in our cities and neighborhoods, and not to be assaulted on the streets or on public transportation.

I expect civil order, and that wholesale vandalism, property theft, and destruction will not be tolerated.

I expect to see statues of our Founding Fathers and other historical figures throughout America. These works were created to honor them and inspire us, and they do.

I expect that through responsible and moral conduct, I will contribute to a peaceful and prosperous society for all.

---

All these things I expect not out of a sense of entitlement, but because the majority of Americans had them in my lifetime.  We know how to do this.  I never took  these things for granted.  I was always filled with wondrous gratitude and admiration for the freedom, hard work, and ingenuity that led to our prosperity and all the men and women who worked every day to keep society running smoothly.  Some of that hard work was my own, and I always tried to be a productive and responsible citizen by making the most of the opportunities afforded to me.

To our so-called elite: I am unapologetically grateful for my standard of living and under no circumstances do I want you to ruin it for me and millions of other Americans who either have or aspire to a similar standard. You may be bored with your lavish lifestyles, you may be suffering from fear, guilt, self-hatred, or confusion about what is a man and what is a woman, you may be living a life devoid of meaning,  but I am not.  You have not convinced me that destruction of our way of life is necessary for some greater goal.  You have no right to lower my standard of living to make you feel good about yourselves.  Lower your own.  I love living in the middle class, I am profoundly grateful for the opportunity, and I will fight to keep it alive for me and future generations.

Concur.

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Craftcloud is your 3D printing service marketplace.

Get the best price on your projects with a real-time price comparison of 3D printing services worldwide. Place your order with us, and we’ll handle the rest.

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Houston city officials banned 3D-printed firearms at future gun buyback events after one man recognized an opportunity to exploit the system and print money.

The anonymous man told local news Fox 26 that he made 62 3D-printed guns and handed them over in Houston’s first gun buyback event last weekend. He said the city offered him $50 per gun, cutting him a check for $3,100.

The man said the cost of production per gun was $3, netting a profit of $47 per weapon. He said, “the goal was not personal profit, but to send [Houston leaders] a message about spending $1 million tax dollars on something that has no evidence of any effect on crime…”

He added another goal: to make the city “pay fair prices [at gun buyback events], use private donations rather than tax dollars, and don’t destroy historic guns.”

You always get more of what you pay for. Markets work even when you don’t expect them to.

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Andrew Yang, the failed Democratic presidential candidate (of which the country has no shortage) has launched a third political party called Forward! (and then backtracked a bit and described it as a “Political Action Committee) instead. The media are describing this new political party or PAC as a “centrist” alternative to the Democrat and Republican parties. Here are some of the centrist party’s centrist policies that are centrist.

• Universal Basic Income
• State-run (“universal”) health care
• Private financing of political campaigns replaced by government-allocated “democracy dollars”
• “Human-centered capitalism” and “alternative measures of economic growth”

Look kinda left-wing to me….

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I set up a fake dog that barks if my surveillance cameras are triggered while I’m out of town on vacation. It’s a pair of computer speakers plugged into a Raspberry Pi, which is an inexpensive single-board computer. One speaker faces the front door and the other faces the side door.

When the front door camera is triggered my surveillance camera system sends a message to the Raspberry Pi. A simple program plays an audio clip of a big dog barking through the side speaker and then the front speaker. The change in speakers simulates a dog moving towards the front door. The opposite happens if the side door camera is triggered.

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My, what a surprise. Aren’t you surprised? I’m sure surprised.

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Here in Baltimore, I belong to (and attend) a very nice range. When they opened, the clientele was maybe 30% black. From Covid until this spring, it grew to perhaps 60% black.

But now, after the Supreme Court ruling? The place is packed, and packed with black people getting trained so they can carry legally, and protect themselves, their loved ones, and their property. Last night, staff excepting, #5 and I were the only white faces there. Fantastic!

Well, actually, blacks are already armed (see the crime statistics in New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles), but now they can do so legally.

A totally uncovered story is the extent to which 2nd Amendment rights were a factor in allowing black people under Jim Crow laws to defend themselves against, say, the Ku Klux Klan.

“The safest place in America is next to an armed Republican.” — Scott Adams

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Someone has managed to place a landmark in the Delaware location, naming it after the infamous ‘Lets go Brandon’ chant, which was initiated after the White House claimed Nascar fans were not chanting ‘F*ck Joe Biden’ when they totally were.

At time of writing, ‘Brandon Falls’ is still listed as a ‘historical landmark’ on Google Maps.

Now that’s comedy.

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While my parents and their friends peruse the enormous shelves, I prowl the sample stands. This is one of the only times I get to eat American food. My parents don’t patronize American restaurants out of a combination of fear and disdain. For a while at lunch I was dumping out the fried rice my mother cooked because the white kids said it looked funny, but I quickly ran out of allowance money to buy chicken nuggets.

I make a beeline for the old ladies in hairnets doling out cut-up Hot Pockets or lone nachos with salsa. More than anything, I lust after the microwavable cheese-filled pierogies. “Trash food,” my mother calls them. I tell her that I aspire to be a trash can.

Been there. Done that. All my life.

(Seriously: Follow the link. Bluebird of Bitterness has knocked it out of the park on this one.)

“God, I love this country. This is the only place on earth where people said “well, I do like donuts, but I cannot possibly be expected to get out of my car to obtain them,” and someone said, in return, “actually, I think I have a solution for that.” Here, if you can think of a product, you can almost certainly find it somewhere. It’s magical.”

— Charles C. W. Cooke

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The Southwest Chief made an unexpected stop near Mendon, of all places.

The Chief was traveling 87 mph, bound for Chicago. There were more people aboard than there are living within Mendon’s city limits.

Up ahead a dump truck was on the tracks. The truck was obstructing the crossing of County Road 113. This was not a small truck. This was a vehicle about the size of a Sonic Drive-In.

The train never slowed.

The sound of the collision could be heard from as far away as Westville. It was the noise of two General Electric diesel locomotives and seven Superliner cars plowing into a mass of Dearborn steel. The train was derailed.

Who takes the train any more?

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Back in 2020, the oozing governor of California, Gavin Newsom, took it upon himself to all but cancel the Fourth of July. Newsom issued a statement encouraging towns and cities across his state to shut down any fireworks shows they might have planned, so as to prevent people from congregating and spreading Covid. The reliably meddlesome Los Angeles County then went a step further, banning displays of fireworks altogether.

The people of LA considered this. They stroked their chins. And they said, “You know what? I don’t think this is for me.” The night of the Fourth, Angelinos sent up so many fireworks that the next day a local authority had to issue an air quality warning.

It wasn’t the most memorable moment in a 2020 that had far too many of them, but it did feel like the most American moment. Here was a wealthy, powerful, almost comically arrogant governor trying to control his people — and those same people just shrugged and went about their business. His status meant nothing to them. That isn’t to say their firework delinquency was a political protest against Democrats or lockdown policies. It was something more innate: that good old-fashioned American willingness to ignore rules we don’t like.

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Arizona will enact the nation’s most expansive school voucher bill, allowing all parents to decide where their children will attend school.

The bill, which allows Arizona families to take their children out of public school and puts public funds into Empowerment Scholarship Accounts, also known as education savings accounts (ESAs), that families can use for homeschooling or private-school tuition, last week passed the state House and Senate. Governor Doug Ducey (R.) has said he will sign the bill, which will expand the number of students who can use savings accounts from 10,000 to more than 1 million. As the program stands now, only students who are disabled, in failing schools, or in military families can access the savings accounts.

Joel Kotkin.

Out in the rolling country just east of Columbus, Ohio, a new—and potentially brighter—American future is emerging. New factories are springing up, and, amid a severe labor shortage, companies are recruiting in the inner city and among communities of new immigrants and high schoolers to keep their plants running. Two new Intel plants, costing $20 billion, will employ 3,000 workers, generate thousands of jobs, and help make the Midwest an integral part of the high-tech economy.

The technology may be new, but what’s drawing these manufacturers to Ohio is something more traditional: its central location, business-friendly atmosphere, and long-standing industrial culture. “We are still at the edge of the farming areas, and people have a strong work ethic,” suggests Jay McCloy, who runs a plant for Mount Vernon, Ohio–based Ariel Corporation, a maker of natural-gas compressors that employs 1,400. “People here think building stuff is better than selling insurance. On a decent salary, you can live a good life in central Ohio.”

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Those who need this information know who they are.

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“I thank God for this place.” It might seem a weird thing to say, unapologetically earnest and deeply uncool, but, in Florida, it’s very common to overhear someone saying exactly this. On the beach. By a pool. In a restaurant. At the checkout line at Publix.

Some other phrases you hear a lot: “I wish we had made the move sooner.” “I feel like I’ve added years to my life.” “Living the dream.” “Another day in paradise.”

It is a unique moment in Florida’s history. The feeling of gratitude is very real. Millions of people seem to have woken up one day and decided they had to become Floridians right away. I am among them.

…

Florida has internalized the lesson of Texas. You can’t build something worthwhile and then surrender it to people who, although they are escaping a place that has begun to collapse, show no evidence of understanding why that collapse is happening. People move for all kinds of reasons, like weather or taxes. Not all of them realize the role they, and their votes, may have played in creating the chaos in their rearview mirrors. So far, the influx of people to Florida is indeed “voting right.” For the first time ever, registered Republicans outnumber registered Democrats in Florida, by over 100,000.

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Post-pandemic, the homeschool boom hasn’t let up, as parents realize they can effectively teach their children and guide their education in a way that aligns with their values.

Christian actor and filmmaker Kirk Cameron wants to demonstrate how freedom-loving Americans can best start their own homeschool journeys with his new documentary film “The Homeschool Awakening.”

“No one loves [your kids] more than you do as a mom and dad, and no one’s better positioned to teach them. You’ve been doing it since Day One,” says Cameron. “You taught them how to walk. You taught them how to talk. At the end of the day, whoever controls the textbooks has possession of the future, either for good or for evil.”

Send your kid to a government school
And he will turn out a fool.
That’s the way
Things are today:
Your tax bucks at work and play!

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Yes, steel is sturdy … steel is modern … and in post-World-War II America, steel was arguably the hottest choice for materials for the home. During the war, America had ramped up tremendous capacity in steel production so that we could produce weaponry. Afterward, all the production had to find a new outlet. Where did it go? To big ‘ole American cars, but also into the American home — for appliances, home construction, and, yes, kitchen cabinets.

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3D printing has revolutionized gun-making and has come a long way since the single-shot “The Liberator” pistol was available for download in 2013. Now entire semiautomatic pistol carbines can be entirely printed at home, and weapon-making appears to have graduated to rocket launchers.

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Instead of waiting for the police to arrive, a woman with a concealed carry license in West Virginia acted fast to stop a crazed man with an AR-15-style rifle who was about to kill dozens of people at a graduation party.

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A lot of effort to compensate for the inherent deficiencies of Turd World food.

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In his 2016 bestselling autobiography “Hillbilly Elegy,” J.D. Vance thanks his grandparents – his “Mamaw and “Remember in 2019 when workers were doing well in this country, not struggling terribly. Thanks [to] the president for everything, for endorsing me.”

Tuesday night, as Vance stepped closer to his goal of joining the most exclusive club in the country – the U.S. Senate – he thanked his grandparents again, along with President Trump.

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An Austin rancher has offered to donate free land to Elon Musk for the use of a new Twitter headquarters in Texas, if he chooses to relocate the company from San Francisco to the Lone Star State, reported Austonia.

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Hey, tenure doesn’t grow on trees, you know.