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Live axles
Advertisers took the phrase literally! The first one seems to be a proper limited-slip differential, 50 years before it became common or standard. = = = = = And one more animist ad for a product invented 50 years before it was common. Steel-belted tires.
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Thanks, algo!
Among the social platforms, Medium is especially bad and especially sticky. Good old partial reinforcement. When you start with a good experience, you keep hoping for another one. I started with some good reads by Avi Loeb, and Medium continued to provide about 1 out of 20 interesting pieces. The other 19 were aggressively harmful.…
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Early adaptation
Neat example of handicap adaptation from Motor Age 1922. The Ford T was already closer to all-hand than most cars. Early Ts, and the predecessor model S, were fully footless. The hi/lo/neutral control was a lever instead of a pedal. Only the brake and reverse were pedals, and the brake was always duplicated by the…
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Weather humor
The local Weather Bureau has finally figured out that you don’t gain trust by constantly screeching imprecatory prayers to Gaia and her Prophetess Greta. Cuteness works better. This is cute and educational at the same time. Science should be entertainment, not torture.
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Correct present, wrong history
This piece by Terry Mattingly is frustrating. He accurately describes the current atrocity of total unabashed bias in all media, but he’s wrong about the history. Basically, the world’s most influential newspaper is moving away from the old free-speech liberalism of what historians call the “American model of the press,” with little public commentary about…
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Rererereprint with rerererereaddendum
From 2017: = = = = = START REPRINT: How do you know which side of a “debate” is good? “Scientists” jail you for questioning “science”. Astrologers don’t jail you for questioning astrology. == MDs force you to follow orders by withholding life-sustaining prescriptions. (In any other context this would be called extortion.) Alternative healers…
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Karen guide
From Motor Age July 1922, a guide to customer service for Karens. 100 years old, still excellent advice. Well, my dear girl wouldn’t work now, but the rest is perfect.
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Satanic limbo
Still looking for a newspaper replacement. One author on Medium mentioned NewsBreak so I looked at it. NewsBreak is a pure aggregator, sensing your location and picking up “stories” from a variety of “local” media. It picks the most sensational, the best inducers of fear and panic. It also features national “stories” as seen from…
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When was it invented?
From Motor Age in 1919, a brand new and clever method for ‘working a car into a small space’. “Not one driver in a hundred knows how to work a car into a small space to get near a wall or curb.” Still true after 100 years of required driving tests.
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Not worried
Headline at Bari Weiss’s neocon opinion page: The rise of deepfake porn: AI can turn anyone into a porn star without their knowledge. That reality should frighten us all. Well, that’s one AI threat I definitely don’t need to worry about. Guarangoddamnteed.
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Two cities, six dwarfs
I was checking weather radar and noticed some rain around the Tri-Cities, possibly moving this way. As usual I tried to remember the Tri-Cities and as usual missed one. Kennewick, Pasco, and ….. Dopey! The Six Dwarfs would be a pretty good personality test. Which seventh dwarf is missing in your brain? I have Dopey,…
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Super-random thought
On this morning’s walk, my old eyes thought I saw some miniature writing on the pavement. First thought: Micro-graffiti! Neat idea! Turned out to be a piece of plastic food wrapper, transparent with white letters, so it looked like white paint on the asphalt. Still a neat idea. In other forms of art, miniatures are…
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Taft liked EVs
More from the same 1909 Motor age: = = = = = A Baker electric express wagon of 1,000 pounds capacity is the latest addition to the White House garage, already notable for the fine collection of cars purchased for the use of President Taft and his family. Two Pierce-Arrow cars, a White steamer, a…
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Primly and properly
Speaking of subjunctives… There are lots of old jokes about proper prim Bostonians. Maybe they’re right. Motor Age in 1909 has some pretty pictures of the motoring conditions around President Taft’s “summer capital” in Beverly. Nice Stickley typography. I’d say the summer capital is almost large enough to hold Taft. Alongside this picture: the article…
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Skill vs status
Carver in 1913: Start where you are. Work with what you have. Make something of it. Never give up. Here’s a fable showing what happens when you disobey Carver. Around 1915, Ford’s total mastery of high quantity at low price forced everyone else out of that position. Later, Cadillac’s total ownership of the luxury market…
Polistra's Mill
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Polistra's Mill 