Nimbus Motorcycle (What Hagrid SHOULD Have Ridden)

Unless you are a hardcore bike nerd or Danish (of the non-pastery persuasion), you have probably never heard of Nimbus motorcycles. Unlike the Nimbus 2000 of Harry Potter fame, this one runs on petrol as opposed to ye old magickal spelz. Note the unusual (for a bike) 4 cylinder inline motor. If you look closely, you will notice another oddity, these guys were shaft drive, even way back when. The Nimbus was made by a Danish company that also made vacuum cleaners and was manufactured from the 1920's until 1960.

Manhasset Music Stands - Not Just for Band Geeks

Even the most rabid HS Band Fanboys probably never gave a second thought about what was holding up their copy of "The Wizz". That's okay though, because the Crinkle Black Manhasset music stand is so common that almost nobody knows they exist, outside of music store owners and orchestra accounts payable clerks. It's a shame really, because it's very good at what it does, namely holding stuff up. Manhasset now makes a variety of stands, all with the more or less the same music desk that graces countless high school stages. Besides being good for holding music, the various stands have loads of potential for usage outside the music hall. The table top stand pictured above for example would be great for holding cook books up so you can more easily read the recipe while you are cooking, or for holding textbooks in an upright position for studying and transcribing. The company also makes a wall mounted version and the familiar height adjustable model, both of which would be handy for a host of uses where there isn't room for a table or when you need to consult reference material while standing - plans in a woodshop for example. Oh, and they are made in the U.S. and come in different colors. The Manhasset Specialty Company

Tecumseh Small Engines - Closing up Shop

Well, a truly sad day for motor heads, Tecumseh closed it's U.S. small engine plant and apparently there will be no more Tecumseh engines produced. The power equipment Co. Ariens always used Tecumseh engines and they were incredibly reliable. The Tecumseh Snow King engine on my snowblower is close to 40 years old and still runs reliably, burns no oil and starts on the second pull every time.

Making Unions Successful and Relevant in the New Economy

A Recipe for the Teacher's Unions Judging by the public discourse during the auto industry meltdown, a large segment of the population prefers handing over tax dollars to investment banks over giving even more modest sums to struggling auto companies. There are many different motivations to this, lefties don't want to reward the auto companies for building gas guzzlers and shitboxes, but the larger block seems driven more by anti union sentiment, and that's a shame. Although they have largely been immune to this sentiment, even the teachers unions find themselves facing increasing increasing anti-union sentiment. With continued, drastic school budget shortfalls, the teachers unions will soon be in a more perilous position than the UAW, and that takes some doing. The UAW only has to negotiate with the manufacturers they serve, the teachers have to negotiate with the public, and a positive perception of the union is required for their survival. Even in the progressive and relatively wealthy town where I live, the teachers union is loosing the support of the normally sympathetic parents, and that's not good. What can the teachers union do to ensure the survival of unionized teachers? More... Well, in my view, there are basically two different types of unions; labor unions and trade unions. A labor union is one where, in general, the workers are not united by trade, but rather by industry. The auto workers for example are a labor union, they don't all have the same skills (some are electrical workers, some are welders, some are upholsterers etc.). The Carpenters Union is an example of a trade union, they are all carpenters (more or less). For the Teachers Union to succeed and thrive, they NEED to stop acting like a labor union and start acting like a trade union. Promoting quality, consistency and convenience are the keys to success. The Carpenters and Electricians have been selling this for years and it really works. Trade unions essentially act as certification organizations, much like Universities do when awarding MBA degrees, it indicates that the worker has the skills and knowledge required for their profession. To the employer, this provides the benefit of knowing what you are getting from a technical training perspective. Teaching on the other hand is a different animal, all the education in the world can't guarantee a good teacher, there are too many intangibles. What if being in the union guaranteed a good teacher? If the Teacher's Union was self policing and worked with the school administration to root out poor performers and help improve overall performance? Certainly the parents would favor this arrangement, and it would save the administration a lot of labor and headaches. Teacher's work conditions on the whole are undeniably tough and could be improved, but in order to get the community to fork out the extra dough to improve things for the teachers, there needs to be a something in it for the community. That something can really only be one thing, better quality teachers- give the public a reason to prefer unionized schools.

FIJI Water

Interesting article about FIJI water over @ Mother Jones Fiji Water: Spin the Bottle

Hive - The Game

I first read about Hive in wired and I finally got around to ordering it last month. Hive is a turn based strategy game played on any flat surface by two players using chunky six sided Bakelite pieces emblazoned with insects. Each of the insects have a different pattern of movements and only one may be moved during a turn. The object is to surround the other players "queen bee" piece on all sides with a combination of your pieces and the other players pieces. I played it with my 3rd grade daughter and she was able to understand it pretty easily and in fact beat me. Definitely a good game to take on family trips for rainy days and buggy evenings.

Circular Saws Righty or Lefty ?

Growing up a right hander on the East Coast, I only knew one type of circular saw (as I recall they were all called "Skil Saws" no matter who made the actual saw). Needless to say, I grew up using "sidewinder" saws, ( that is to say, saws where the motor was perpendicular to the blade as in the top most picture). I never really noticed it before, but the blades were always on the right. I have no idea what the intention was behind the right side placement of the blade, but I can only assume that it was to keep your left hand (holding the stock) out of the path of the blade. This is all well and good, but the problem is (of course) the blade guide is out of your line of site (being on the opposite side of the saw). Not that this ever troubled me, it just seemed like the way it was, and I was used to it. A few months ago, I was talking to a colleague who was also a carpenter type and he was bemoaning the lack of saws for Leftys. Since I had spent some time on the West Coast I was familiar with worm drive saws (e.g. the saw in the lower photo), which in the traditional configuration are more or less ambidextrous and I thought they might be the answer to his prayers. Which they probably would be excepting that the blade is on the left, which puts the guide out of sight of someone holding the saw with their left hand. A further search found a somewhat newer class of sidewinder saws with the blade on the left. So what is the story? Is it better to have the blade on the stock side (which you are likely holding with you left hand) or on the opposite side with an obstructed view of the blade guide. Personally I prefer sidewinder saws, they are lighter and are more easily one handed, which honestly makes them more versatile for re-modeling, worm drives may be better for from scratch framing, but that's not what I do. I would like to hear from some Lefty's, would you rather have a better line of sight or your hand out of the way? FWIW Bosch makes an intriguing worm drive saw that has the handle on the top for one handed operation (as opposed to the traditional rear handle pictured above)