Just hung my 62 year old butt off a 24 foot extension ladder to replace my old flag pole holder on the front balcony, and put up a shiny, brand new "Old Glory" for the weekend.
Guess where ALL components, (perhaps with the exception of McFeely's screws) were made ...?
In any event ... a Happy 1st and 4th to all you Canadian and other "Americanos Del norte" wReckers ... and be careful with your feng shui around that BBQ pit.
Ironic, ain't it? The last flag I bought came from Vietnam. Not sure I'd have bought it if I'd known that in advance....
Remember, Never barbecue in the nude!
-- "We need to make a sacrifice to the gods, find me a young virgin... oh, and bring something to kill"
Tim Douglass
Consider the alternative. A major, major portion of the lifestyles that Americans (and we Canadians) enjoy is as a result of being able to buy cheaper goods from other countries. The problem comes when the scales are tipped too much to one side.
Just got done reading, "The World Is Flat", by Mr. Friedman.
It's a damned interesting explication and elucidation of the complex issues that underpin your hardware problem.
I recommend it highly.
I guess I have a simplistic turn of mind, because I believe that a country that doesn't make anything - isn't anything.
The way that we are being directed by our political and business leaders, into an era of global interaction which positions the USA as a global manager, information resource provider, and research resource, at the expense of producing hard goods, is truly frightening to me.
It is particularly interesting to me that the progeny of workingmen have turned on their progenitors, and their purpose, to such a degree.
Perhaps I am not learned enough to understand the implications.
If we make planes and tanks that depend on offshore, and potentially adversarial entities for production, are we not in a disadvantaged position, at a certain level? If my Korean car needs a part two years from now, should I worry about the possible consequences of an evolving political situation?
There is a theory of economics which claims that globalization will result in a world without wars, because going to war would be bad for business.
I really ain't buying into that.
The current Politico-Business religion of America is Global Economics
- these theorists seeks to extend that predilection to the rest of the world. It is, in my small opinion, a misplaced understanding.
We still suffer through religious wars that are at least the equal of the Middle Ages, in terms of human cost and ferocity.
I guess we will start to really pay attention when the best seller writers begin putting out books about China in the same way that they used to put them out about our old Cold War nemesis, the USSR.
Anyways, a happy Fourth to you, Swing.
May the thinking that engendered it always be strong enough in the populace to defeat the interests of those that would defeat it.
Tom Watson - WoodDorker tjwatson1ATcomcastDOTnet (email)
Hi Tom,
Happy 4th and happy woodworking!
Think TO is coming back?
Lou
Hmmm..... I thought "iron-y" came from the island of Fe-ji
Isn't that similar to the Christmas tradition of roasting chesnuts by an open fire?
;-0 Glen
Hemmed and hawed a bit over that one in the bookstore today, then passed it up- think I might try and find it in the library, though.
Agreed.
Or perhaps a healthy lack of "sophisitication" is superior to living in a mindless fog! :)
Glad to see I'm not the only one left that wonders about that one.
Bingo. Hasn't happened yet, and it isn't going to. People aren't wired to hold hands and sing in harmony. A dominant predator doesn't evolve by being nice to everyone.
Happy 4th to all. Spend a couple of minutes thinking about what it meant to those guys who were in that first contental congress, and what motivated them to do what they did. By all means, support the military as well, but they're really not what it's about.
This 4th will be my 25th wedding anniversary. I am giving my wife "the quilter" a Long Arm machine.
On Sat, 02 Jul 2005 12:07:00 GMT, the opaque Glen spake:
CHESTNUTS? Well, no wonder my girlfriend left me that year. I was always singing "Chipmunks roasting on an open fire".
--- Annoy a politician: Be trustworthy, faithful, and honest! ---
If the screws were square drive (US), then remember that they were invented By PL Robertson, right here in CANADA!! His patent idea didn't work and that is why they are not common in the US, only here in Canada.
Lars
Larry Jaques wrote:
Your butt was made in China?
When the bit is 45 degrees off rotation to the screw, the bit won't/can't enter the hole. That will jam automated screw feeds. The real reason why Detroit rejected the square drive. For ultra-fast feed rates a regular Philips will not be perfect either... hence the torx (really two square-drives at 45-degrees) and posidrives. Just in case anybody gives a shit. Happy 1st and 4th.
I had read that Roberson aproached Ford and Ford wanted it. Henry Ford also wanted the license to make the square drive IIRC. Robertson did not agree.
Bondhus makes off center ball end screwdrivers for square drive screws and hex fasteners and maybe more than that. If memory serves about
15° or 25° off axis. Color coded four all four sizes.
For true irony, it would have to be England
Just an on-topic aside: you won't be roasting chestnuts anymore. The American chestnut species is extinct for all practical purposes as a tree, and now only survives as a shrub that lives only until the blight kills it. It is one of the greatest environmental catastrophes in our history, but most people don't even know about it.
Get in line.
Go to an old car show in the northern states or Canada. Some Fords, those made in Canada, use Robertson screws.
Curious, eh?
Dave O'Heare oheareATmagmaDOTca
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