the death of the shade tree mechanic

 

A shade tree mechanic is any mechanically inclined individual (and it was not always guys) who could repair any automobile just about any place – and it could be outside under a tree.

Today’s cars have gotten both more expensive and more complicated.

 When I was a young man, I did a lot of mechanical repairs on my cars, in addition to regular washing and waxing

The mechanical part consisted of doing my own oil changes, rotating the tires, and replacing exhaust systems and brake pads. It also included the “tune up”, which meant changing the plugs and the points, and setting the timing and dwell angle, which entailed using something called a “timing light”.

(The owner’s manual for my 1972 Opel recommended a tune-up every 6000 miles. Today, platinum tipped spark plugs last 100,000 miles.)

Recommended intervals for oil changes were every 3000 miles, but a few people I know did the task every 1000 miles.

(Most cars today use synthetic oil, which means oil change intervals can be 6000 miles or more).

At some time in the ‘80’s, car companies added “diagnostic panels” to the firewall that allowed mechanics to use a computer to help diagnose mechanical problems.

Things are much different today, which I learned yesterday.

Our car has been roughly idling for the last couple of weeks, and today, the “check engine light” came on, so I took it to my local repair shop today.

If you are keeping score at home, consider this:

Cars first got rudimentary "idiot lights" (warning lights) in the 1930s from Hudson, but the modern, diagnostic-linked Check Engine Light (CEL) emerged with early computerized systems in the 1980s, becoming standardized and mandated for all cars in the U.S. with the OBD-II system in 1996 to meet emissions regulations. 

Computers today do a lot more than simply aiding diagnostics. 

Modern cars contain a vast number of computer chips, typically ranging from 1,000 to over 3,000 semiconductors, with electric vehicles (EVs) and high-end models often having more. These chips control everything from engine timing and safety systems (like airbags, ABS, ADAS) to infotainment, climate control, and battery management in EVs, making cars complex "computers on wheels". 

Key Numbers & Trends:

• Average Car: Over 100 microchips, often 1,000 to 3,000+.
• Electric Vehicles (EVs): Require even more chips for battery and motor management.
• Luxury/High-Tech Cars: Can easily exceed 3,000 chips and have dozens of computers (ECUs).
• Growing Demand: Chip content increases with features like advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS) and connectivity. 

What They Control:

• Engine & Transmission
• Safety Systems (Airbags, ABS, Stability Control)
• Infotainment & Connectivity
• Climate Control
• Battery & Motor (in EVs)
• Sensors for ADAS (Lane Keep Assist, Adaptive Cruise Control)

Taiwan makes the most computer chips, especially the most advanced ones, thanks to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), which produces over 90% of the world's leading-edge chips for companies like Apple and NVIDIA. While the U.S. leads in design, and China is a major producer of less advanced chips, Taiwan's foundry model and robust supply chain make it the dominant manufacturing hub, with South Korea also a significant player. 

Evolution of the Check Engine Light:

• 1930s: The "Idiot Light": The Hudson Motor Car Company introduced simple warning lights for critical issues like low oil pressure or overheating, but they offered no specific details, just a binary warning.
• 1980s: Early Computerization: As cars became more electronic, early versions of the CEL appeared, linked to proprietary manufacturer diagnostic systems that could flash fault codes, though they weren't standardized.
• 1996: OBD-II Standardization: The U.S. government mandated On-Board Diagnostics II (OBD-II) for all vehicles, creating a universal connector and standardizing Diagnostic Trouble Codes (DTCs), making the CEL more informative and diagnostic tools universally applicable. 

What I learned today is that repair shops have also started to use artificial intelligence to simplify the diagnostic process, which makes it faster and cheaper than prior methods.

Naturally, the costs of maintenance are a lot more than they used to be.

To get our car running smoothly again, the repair garage replaced 4 spark plugs and one of the 4 ignition coils. The spark plugs were $31.36 each, but that single coil was $463.48. which brought the total bill (including labor) to a little more than $1100.

“What is a coil?”, you might ask.

Ignition coils act as high-voltage transformers, converting your car's low battery voltage into the thousands of volts needed by the spark plugs to ignite the air-fuel mixture in the engine's cylinders, powering your vehicle. By creating a strong electrical spark, they initiate combustion, and without them, the engine can't run, leading to misfires, poor performance, or a no-start condition. 

 

An ignition coil is used in the ignition system of a spark-ignition engine to transform the battery voltage to the much higher voltages required to operate the spark plug(s). The spark plugs then use this burst of high-voltage electricity to ignite the air-fuel mixture.

The ignition coil is constructed of two sets of coils wound around an iron core. Older engines often use a single ignition coil which has its output directed to each cylinder by a distributor, a design which is still used by various small engines (such as lawnmower engines). Modern car engines often use a distributor-less system (such as coil-on-plug), whereby every cylinder has its own ignition coil.

 I still wash our car on a regular base, and I wax it 4 times a year to protect the paint from Tucson’s summer heat – but my days as a shade tree mechanic are now a thing of the past.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

wag the dog

 

 

  If you don’t think that history repeats itself, consider the case of the 1997 film, “Wag the Dog”.

The portions highlighted in yellow will seem familiar to you.

Wag the Dog is a 1997 American black comedy political satire film starring Dustin Hoffman and Robert De Niro. Produced and directed by Barry Levinson, the film centers on a spin doctor and a Hollywood producer who fabricate a war in Albania to distract voters from a presidential sex scandal. The screenplay by Hilary Henkin and David Mamet is loosely adapted from Larry Beinhart's 1993 novel American Hero.

Wag the Dog was released one month before the news broke of the Clinton–Lewinsky scandal and the bombing of the Al-Shifa pharmaceutical factory in Sudan by the Clinton administration in August 1998, which prompted the media to draw comparisons between the film and reality. The comparison was also made in December 1998, when the administration initiated a bombing campaign of Iraq during Clinton's impeachment trial for the Clinton–Lewinsky scandal. It was made again in spring 1999, when the administration intervened in the Kosovo War and initiated a bombing campaign against Yugoslavia, which, coincidentally, bordered Albania and contained ethnic Albanians.

(Although Bill Clinton was impeached for the Lewinsky scandal, Trump has been impeached TWICE. The first time was due to his attempt to hurt Joe Biden’s 2020 presidential campaign, or 5 years ago, due to his attempt to overthrow the government on January 6, 2021, almost exactly 5 years ago).

The film grossed $64.3 million on a $15 million budget, and was well received by critics, who praised the direction, performances, themes and humor. Hoffman received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance, and screenwriters David Mamet and Hilary Henkin were both nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay.

The music, by the way, was done by Mark Knopfler:

(1393) Mark Knopfler - Wag The Dog (Official Video) - YouTube

 

Plot

The President of the United States is caught making advances on an underage girl inside the Oval Office less than two weeks before the election. Conrad Brean, a top spin doctor, is brought in by presidential aide Winifred Ames to take the public's attention away from the scandal. He decides to construct a fictional war in Albania, hoping that the media will concentrate on this instead. Brean contacts Hollywood producer Stanley Motss to create the war, complete with a theme song and fake film footage of a fleeing orphan to arouse sympathy. The hoax is initially successful, with the president quickly gaining ground in the polls.

When the CIA learns of the plot, it sends Agent Young to confront Brean about the hoax. Brean convinces Young that revealing the deception is against his and the CIA's best interests. But when the CIA—in collusion with the president's rival candidate—reports that the war has ended, the media begins to revert its focus to the president's sexual misconduct scandal. To counter this, Motss invents a hero who was left behind enemy lines in Albania.

Inspired by the idea that he was "discarded like an old shoe", Brean and Motss ask the Pentagon to provide a special forces soldier with a matching name (a sergeant named "Schumann" is identified), around whom a POW narrative can be constructed. As part of the hoax, folk singer Johnny Dean records a song called "Old Shoe", which is pressed onto a 78-rpm record, prematurely aged so that listeners will think that it was recorded years earlier and sent to the Library of Congress to be "found". Bream and Motss fling pairs of old shoes into a tree outside of the White House grounds. Soon, large numbers of shoes begin appearing on phone and power lines, and a grassroots movement to bring home Schumann takes hold, completing a successful astroturfing.

When the team goes to retrieve Schumann, they discover that he is actually a criminally insane Army convict. On the return to Andrews Air Force Base, their plane crashes. The team survives and is rescued by a farmer, an illegal alien. However, Schumann is killed when he attempts to rape a gas station owner's daughter. Seizing the opportunity, Motss stages an elaborate military funeral for Schumann, claiming that he died from wounds sustained during his rescue, and the farmer receives expedited citizenship for a better story.

( The novel, “The dangerous case of Donald Trump”,  highlights the fact that he is not exactly playing with a full deck.)

As the President rallies toward re-election, Motss becomes frustrated that the media are crediting his upsurge in the polls to the bland campaign slogan, "Don't change horses in mid-stream", rather than to Motss's hard work. Despite Brean's offer of an ambassadorship and the dire warning that he is "playing with his life", Motss demands that he receive credit for his production, and he threatens to reveal his involvement unless he gets it. Realizing that he has no choice, Brean orders his security staff to kill him. A newscast reports that Motss has died of a heart attack at home, the president has been successfully re-elected, and an Albanian terrorist organization has claimed responsibility for a recent bombing, suggesting that the fake war is becoming real.

 

Let’s connect the dots.

 

Since his inauguration in January, Donald Trump has generated controversy in the following ways:

 

He has unilaterally imposed a variety of tariffs, even though only congress can impose tariffs.

 

He has sent National Guard troops to Los Angeles, Chicago, and Portland, even though there is no legal justification for doing so

 

He has bombed Iran, Yemen, and boats from Venezuela

 

He has destroyed the East Wing of the White House, without getting the approval to do so by congress.

 

He has encouraged the Department of Justice to attack his political enemies, including James Comey, Letitia James, Adam Schiff, and Mark Kelly.

 

He has invaded Venezuela, a clear violation of the War Powers Act passed by congress in 1974

 

Sex scandals? Too numerous to mention, but the Epstein files give a hint at what he did, but so did E. Jean Carroll, Stormy Daniels, and more than 20 other women.

 

He has added his name to the Kennedy Center, and replaced most of the board of directors - even though only congress can change the name.

  

The transcript of Jack Snith’s closed door testimony was recently released to the public, and even Judge Cannon is outraged by its revelations. Jack Smith has stated that Trump is solely responsible for the events of January 6. 

 The Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol "does not happen" without Donald Trump, former special counsel Jack Smith told lawmakers earlier this month in characterizing the Republican president as the "most culpable and most responsible person" in the criminal conspiracy to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

The Republican-led House Judiciary Committee released on Wednesday a transcript and video of a closed-door interview Smith gave about two investigations of Trump. The document shows how Smith during the course of a daylong deposition repeatedly defended the basis for pursuing indictments against Trump and vigorously rejected Republican suggestions that his investigations were politically motivated.

"The evidence here made clear that President Trump was by a large measure the most culpable and most responsible person in this conspiracy. These crimes were committed for his benefit. The attack that happened at the Capitol, part of this case, does not happen without him. The other co-conspirators were doing this for his benefit," Smith said, bristling at a question about whether his investigations were meant to prevent Trump from reclaiming the presidency in 2024.

"So in terms of why we would pursue a case against him, I entirely disagree with any characterization that our work was in any way meant to hamper him in the presidential election," he added.

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/jan-6-attack-does-not-happen-without-trump-jack-smith-told-congress

The Trump administration is one of the most corrupt in our nation’s history, and selling pardons for $1 million or more is just part of what he is doing.

 

I am still of the opinion that Trump will not finish his current term of office due to his declining mental capacity, his physical condition caused by his diet, his legal problems, and his increasing unpopularity with both his former supporters in congress, and the general public.

 

My predictions don’t also go as I planned, but I’m willing to bet that the paragraph will be true.

 

Any takers?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

the jawbone of an ass

 

The jawbone of an ass

 

The "jawbone of an ass" refers to the biblical story in Judges 15 where the Israelite hero Samson used a fresh donkey jawbone as an unlikely weapon to kill a thousand Philistines, symbolizing divine strength in weakness and unconventional victory. It's a phrase found in the King James Version (KJV) of the Bible and highlights themes of God empowering ordinary things for extraordinary feats, often used in art and literature.

At some point in time, the term also evolved to include ignorant people, especially those who have been elected to office.

However, there is an interesting fact about the jaw bone that most of us are not familiar with, and it is related to our bodies.

 

https://interestingfacts.com/muscle-facts/?lctg=ba1c555c-35c6-4205-8fa9-b593744f36da

 

The human body is a complex network of bones, sinews, tendons, organs, and muscles all working together to propel us through our daily lives, but it’s the latter member of this biological lineup that literally does much of the heavy lifting. More than 600 muscles spread across three muscle groups — skeletal, smooth (found in the walls of some organs), and cardiac — make up the human body, and this intricate system accounts for up to 40% of your total body mass. 

With such a complicated system keeping you moving (it takes the coordination of more than 200 muscles just to walk, for example), the human muscular system is a treasure trove of head-scratching and awe-inspiring facts. Here are five facts that will make you better appreciate what your hundreds of muscles do for you every day. 

 

You’re familiar with the body’s five senses (taste, touch, smell, sight, and hearing) but there’s a little-known sixth sense provided by receptors in your muscles, tendons, and skin known as “proprioception.” The information sent by those receptors, once processed by the cerebellum, allows your brain to interpret the position of your body in space.

Impairment of this sense can affect even the most physically fit among us. During the 2020 Olympics (held in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic), U.S. gymnast Simone Biles famously experienced a condition known as the “twisties,” which is essentially a temporary impairment of a type of proprioception known as “air awareness” — basically your brain and body have a slight communication breakdown that results in the body no longer accurately sensing its position while airborne. Luckily, most of us don’t require gymnast-level attunement to our proprioceptors in our daily lives, but it goes to show how our muscles do much more than just physically move us from place to place.

 

People often say the tongue is the strongest muscle in the human body, but that’s actually incorrect in more ways than one. First off, the tongue isn’t one muscle but a collection of eight muscles, each with an important role for talking, eating, and anchoring to the skeleton. And while it’s true a healthy tongue rarely shows signs of fatigue, its strength by volume is dwarfed by that of the masseter, known more commonly as the jaw muscle.

 

Working in coordination with other muscles located in the jaw, the masseter can deliver up to 200 pounds of force on the molars. While the gluteus maximus (aka your butt) is the largest muscle and the heart is by far the hardest working, no muscle singlehandedly delivers as much power as the masseter.

 

If you want further proof that the jawbone is the strongest muscle in the body, consider the stunts performed by the Wallenda family.

Both Erendira Wallenda and her husband, Nik Wallenda, have performed aerial stunts involving hanging by their teeth, a feat known in the circus world as an "iron-jaw hang". 

Erendira Wallenda's Stunt

In June 2017, Erendira Wallenda broke the world record for the highest "iron-jaw hang" when she dangled from a hoop suspended from a helicopter approximately 300 feet above Niagara Falls. The stunt, performed on the fifth anniversary of her husband's tightrope walk across the falls, saw her perform several acrobatic maneuvers before hanging solely by her teeth using a specialized mouth guard. She remained suspended above the water for about eight minutes of the 10-minute performance. 

Nik Wallenda's Stunt

Erendira's stunt surpassed the previous height record set by her husband, Nik Wallenda. In 2011, Nik hung by his teeth for a similar feat 250 feet above Silver Dollar City in Branson, Missouri. He later described the training as "very painful" and reported having neck problems for months afterward. 

Both aerialists used custom-made mouth guards created by a dentist to perform these daring feats, relying on jaw muscle strength to avoid falling. 

 

It’s unlikely that discussions of your jawbone will every come up in casual conversation, but if it does, your newfound knowledge will impress your friends – as long as you do not say too much.

 

 

 

 

Santa and tamales

 

I rarely listen to the radio in the car anymore, but when I do, I listen to NPR.

This morning, the discussion was about the connection between Christmas and tamales, a link that I was totally unfamiliar with.

When I was a kid growing up in the 1950’s, our Christmas dinner usually included ham, mashed potatoes, a green bean casserole and either a pumpkin or apple pie. It also might include tapioca pudding, and a cucumber side dish.

Christmas day usually involved a trip to the old farm house in Hastings, where mom’s relatives gathered for meals and presents.

After I got married, dinners at the in-laws included the same basic menu, with the addition of baked sweet potatoes covered with melted marshmallows.

So, you might ask, is the connection between Christmas and tamales?

Here is the answer:

https://muertolandia.com/blogs/news/why-do-we-eat-tamales-on-christmas?srsltid=AfmBOoq29UtDYK5JrmpVQ5wdiQYDOcpDoLqWw27lsQmIvI6h2F2rRjI2

In the Latino culture, it wouldn't be Christmas without tamales. They've been around longer than tortillas and the origin can be traced back to pre-Columbian indigenous people of Mesoamerica. The foundation is the masa, which many indigenous people believed to be sacred, as it allowed them to thrive. Throughout the years, the preparation of these have become a social event, as families gather to assemble their holiday feast. 

Every year on Christmas Eve, they were there for us. Warm, spicy, and familiar, the smell of tamales would fill our kitchen as my grandmother opened her large, aluminum tamalera. She’d spend the days prior making trips to La Michoacana Meat Market to get the ingredients to make the perfect, red pork filling, always remembering to get me a marranito while she was there. Since her passing, I can’t help but think about the tradition that we as Chicanos hold dear each holiday season and wonder about its cultural significance. For Chicanos, tamales are one of many staples of our traditional diet. But unlike tortillas and salsa, they hold a special meaning, coming around solely for celebrations, holidays, and weddings. I asked the experts why tamales matter to our people and found out exactly why the taste of masa feels like coming home to so many of us.

The truth is, tamales are a part of our ancestral DNA as people. They’ve been around much longer than tortillas. Claudia Alarcon, an independent researcher of Mexican food and history, did her undergraduate honors thesis on the beloved tamal. She says that the origin of tamales can be traced all the way back to pre-Columbian Indigenous people of Mesoamerica. A mural in a Guatemalan temple dating back to 200 BC depicts what are thought to be tamales. Many Indigenous tribes of Mesoamerica regarded maize as supremely sacred, believing that the Gods provided corn specifically to keep humans thriving. Alarcon says that many creation myths of Indigenous Mesoamerican cultures tell stories of humankind being created from corn itself. “We know that corn takes cultivating and great care,” says Alarcon. “Corn would not exist without the people and the people would not exist without corn.”

The foundation of the tamal is masa or maize dough. It’s cushiony, soft and can be eaten alone or filled with vegetables, meat, or cheese. Pre-Columbian tamales featured different ingredients than we commonly use today. They used quail, squash, or varieties of fungus to fill tamales. When Spanish colonizers arrived, they changed the common ingredients of the tamal, making pork, beef, chicken, and lard popular contributions to the tamales we know today. “It was a cultural and gastronomic exchange,” says Alarcon. “Cuisine all over the world would not be what it is without the event of conquest happening.” This means that tamales, like Latin American people themselves, are the result of cultural blending. Alarcon says there’s no one right way to make a tamale. “Each region has its own recipe, depending on what’s available in their ecosystem. Tamales offer a culture in and of themselves.”

Dr. Manuel Zamarripa is the co-founder and director of the Institute of Chicano Psychology in Austin, Texas. He says that tamales are a tradition that brings families together on holidays and connects them to their ancestral roots. “In terms of identity and cultural pride, tamales are a key piece for a lot of Chicano families.” Many Mexican American families hold gatherings to make tamales as a clan. Because it’s a labor-intensive process, these gatherings, or tamaladas, give families the opportunity to talk, connect, and share an age-old tradition. It’s a bonding experience that connects them to each other and loved ones that are no longer living. Alarcon is a native Mexican living in Texas. She says that tamaladas are much more important to Chicanos than Mexicans. She agrees with Zamarippa, pointing out that tamaladas are a way of preserving and celebrating Mexican culture. “When families get together to make tamales, it turns into a party,” she says. “It’s not a chore anymore.”

In a time when Latinos in the United States are fighting to be heard, seen, and recognized, the connection to culture can restore a sense of wellbeing for those in the community. “Food ties into our idea of ‘brown’ wellness. Food, art, interactions, these are the threads that we can hold onto. We’re able to celebrate our connectedness,” says Zamarripa. Although generations of Latinos in the United States may lose connection to their native tongue, their relationship to their home country, and even their sense of cultural identity, food reunites us with what it means to FEEL Latino. The tamale does this for Chicanos. Each holiday season, the ritual becomes an opportunity to remember- through smell, taste, and togetherness. We reconnect to our roots and feel a sense of wholeness.

In Texas, even non-Latinos celebrate Christmas with tamales. Zamarripa points out that this cultural exchange is beautiful and reminds all those that partake in the eating of another culture’s food to be aware of the meaning behind the cuisine and to be conscious about what it takes to get that food on the table. Many Latino immigrants work in American fields to grow and pick produce. They work in the kitchens of many American restaurants. They are the hands behind so much of what we eat. “They’re not just providing us with food,” says Zamarripa. They’re providing us with cherished holiday memories. It’s important to remember the people behind the food.”\

Every Christmas, when we take those first bites of soft, spicy, tamal, whether we are sampling the hipster, vegetarian kind, or eating from the recipe left by our grandmothers, we find our way back home. Full bellies and hearts discover the meaning of the season, as warmth and togetherness become our focus. For a moment, the concern about our place in the world is no more, as we are reminded of the sacredness of what we receive from the earth and the strength and resilience of our people. Whether tamelada-prepared or store-bought, tamales allow us to feel legitimate. The history of Latinx people is a story of great civilizations, conquered and changed by oppressors, who created within us a permanent sense of questioning when it comes to our identity. And when we make the food they made, we remember that we are a blend. Each one of us is, to quote Alarcon, “a culture in and of ourselves.”

Would Santa eat a tamale on Christmas Day?

      

Si, senor~

Feliz navidad