Sorry folks, that's not capitalism

 Overheard recently:

Speaker: Epi pens cost this much each (insert expensive price here)

Audience member: You can buy them in Canada for this much (insert cheaper price here)

Speaker: That's capitalism for you.

Nope.  The topic wasn't capitalism but health care so I kept my mouth shut but no, that isn't capitalism.

Capitalism is someone (an American, by the way) inventing the epi pen and saving millions of lives in the process.

Not capitalism is the Canadian government informing the maker of epi pens that if the price isn't lower then they will be banned from selling them in Canada.  Rather than lose the market, they sell them for a lower price, forcing Americans to subsidize the cost of each and every epi pen sold in the United States.

If the maker of the epi pen could make a healthy profit and recoup the billions they undoubtedly spend developing it and getting it approved, it's a pretty good bet that they would reduce the price and sell more of them.  Lots more.  I'd carry a couple around in my IFAK if they didn't cost much.  But they don't and therefore it's reasonable to assume that therefore they can't.  They most likely lose money (or at best break even) at the Canadian price.

Definitely not capitalism.

Bradbury Family No 1

 Not chocolate, that's Cadbury.

I was fortunate enough to win an auction the other day.  Auctions, of course are horrible.  I was winning with a $63 bid right up til about five minutes before, then I was winning with a $170 bid.  Soft close meant that if the person who last minute bumped me up had thrown in another bid, the auction would have gone on for another five minutes, another chance for said bidder to bump me even higher.  None of it, of course, the end of the world.  I'd put in my max bid and wasn't going up under any circumstances.  But enough of that, you don't care how much I paid or who caused me to pay it.  Show us the machine, you are screaming!

There you go.  Bradbury Family No 1.  Haven't been able to pin down a date yet but sometime in the late 1800s.  The couple who seem to be the resident experts on Bradbury, having written several articles for a prestigious sewing machine collectors magazine, aren't answering their email.  Hopefully they're on holiday and will be back soon.

Quick  description: fiddle base, hand crank, transverse shuttle sewing machine, the Bradbury's were designed to be set into a treadle base as needed, hence the holes just under the balance wheel.

The case, unlike any other that I've seen, sets down over the machine with a lid that is hinged up, then the case is clamped to the arm of the machine with a J-bolt.  The lid closes and locks with a standard triangle shaped key, of which I have several.  The machine can then be picked up with the handles on the sides of the case.

The upside is that the weight is supported on the arm of the machine, a very strong hang point.  The downside is that the J-bolt has been digging into the finish of the machine for well over 125 years or so.  In the long run I'll add a rubber pad to the end of the J-bolt to minimize future damage.  I don't think we can blame the company for not anticipating 125+ years of use.

The second CBR is now running

 Cross posted from the CBR forums.

And the adventure continues. I've put about 100 miles on the 1990. Rode around the county with friends and my buddy tried to hot rod me off the line with his 2007 Harley Softail. Needless to say that didn't go well for him as I passed him doing about eighty about 100 feet down the road. 😁 Getting the hang of clamp the knees on the tank, drop the elbows to lower center of gravity and loosen push on handlebars, lean through those corners. If nothing else riding this will take me back to being a better rider. I started on sport bikes and then switched to cruisers, mostly Harley, Back then I could outride anyone on a Harley because I rode them like I rode my CBR. Time to get that back.

So what about the 1988 I hear you saying? Well...

Bought another battery. Took off the tank and airbox and hooked up my hanging gas can directly to the carb inlet line. Opened the carb drain valve for each carb and clear fuel came out unlike the greenish stuff that came out of the 1990. Just for fun, poked the go button, and it went. Ran perfectly. Moved the gas to the fuel filter inlet and fired it up again, gas came out of the fuel pump. Reconnected the fuel pump line to the carbs and fired it up again. So far so good. Clean tank so put the tank back on, added fuel, bike ran. Not sure about posting videos directly here so instead, here's the youtube link.

https://youtu.be/YnJXAZv625E

Next adventure, hopped on, put it in gear and it jumped forward about two feet and died. Thankfully it's a light bike. Clutches were stuck. Did that a couple more times to see if they'd break loose, then put it in gear and bumped it a few times. Then I did the same with the starter. The starter dragged me down the alley, trying to fire when suddenly the clutches broke loose and the bike fired. Off I went, just around the block. If I have to push it home I don't want to have to push it more than two blocks.

Back home I checked the tires and went out (a bit nervously) and put 35 miles on the bike. Seafoam in the oil, Amsoil PI in the fuel. The farther I rode, the better it ran. Only thing I don't like is that it has this gooey grease all over the rear sub-frame. You know that stuff that gets in your stove grease trap that has to be cleaned out every once in a while? Yeah, that's what it resembles. It's very odd. I tried cleaning it with Simple Green and a rag and it came off (slowly) so eventually I stopped and I'm going to break out the pressure washer and see if that will do a better job. Also, the stay plate, the one that holds the carb bank together, is quite rusty. Doesn't affect operation so I'll probably get in there with some naval jelly and a brass brush and try to clean it up a bit in-place.



So the problem now is "which to keep". My plan is to keep one, probably get rid of my 1989 which I still have never gotten to run properly. I like the 1988 paint scheme better as it just looks more classic, but the 1990 I'm just seem to enjoy riding more, not sure why. Too be fair I've only put 35 miles on this one and that was a test ride so it's not really a proper ride. Could just be that this one needs some miles put on it so I'll probably get it registered and then try to get some saddle time before the weather locks in. The 1990 has more miles (73k) than the 1988 (53k) but the '88 just doesn't seem to be in as good condition, with the rusty plate, the grease, etc. Either way, they both are going to get brake fluid and coolant flushed, fork oil and engine oil changed, and a good cleanup. That'll be relaxation projects on weekends since I'm starting a Master's Degree program in a week or so. I'm also thinking about that Nexxus exhaust. I don't like the looks of the big chrome can. I've got a Hindle on the '89 and since it's not running anyway I might swap it out.

So which would you keep? Please don't say both because I don't have room to store them (to be fair I actually do, but having six bikes in the little garage is a bit much as I'm constantly having to either climb over them or move them out) and I don't really have time to ride them all although [looks out window and thinks about early retirement]... 😊

Paying in raspberries?

 Senator Elizabeth Warren joked about paying for a house in raspberries.  But she, as usual, got the pertinent facts wrong.

Average housing costs for the past 70 years (in raspberries, but as we often talk about in my math classes, various weights and measures are arbitrary):

As you can see, average housing prices haven't changed all that much and, as the article linked below points out, houses, much like many of the things we buy, are a lot nicer now that they were in 1963.

https://www.cato.org/blog/senator-warren-way-raspberries-americans-living-standards

FWIW

Women lived nearly six years longer than men in 2021; at the turn of the twentieth century, the life expectancy gap was two years, though job-related fatalities were much higher in 1900 than today. Men die of cancer at a rate of 189.5 per 100,000, compared with 135.7 cancer deaths per 100,000 women, yet only research to beat breast cancer gets celebrity treatment. Men die of diabetes at a 60 percent higher rate than females. Men’s age-adjusted Covid death rate was also 60 percent higher than the female age-adjusted Covid death rate, even after considering preexisting conditions. For every 100 females who die of opioid overdose, 227 males die of the same cause. Men kill themselves at nearly four times the rate of females, and the male rate is rising, due to an increase in suicides among the 15–34 age cohort. Workplace mortality is ten times higher for males.

The new hotness

 So the other day I was at an Indian Motorcycle dealership.  Not because I was buying an Indian Motorcycle but because my buddy was picking up his new bike.  While I waited for them to explain everything on the bike to him (the instructions for operating a new Indian motorcycle are somewhat longer than the operating manuals for the nuclear reactor plant on a Nimitz class carrier) I wandered.  Salesman asked if I was looking for a new bike and when I replied in the negative, because I already had four bikes, we struck up a conversation.  The topic turned to my four bikes, one of which is a 1989 Honda CBR600F (nee Hurricane although Honda abandoned that name in 1989 after two years, ostensibly for insurance reasons).  The salesman suggested that he had something interesting out back if I wanted to take a walk.

Enter three Honda CBR600F models, a 1988, a 1989, and a 1990.  All of them imported from the UK, none of them Hurricanes because Honda only marketed the bike under that name in the US.  All three were red and black and each year had a slightly different paint scheme.  The salesperson, who probably should qualify for salesman of the year, asked if I'd like to make an offer.  Apparently they'd been sitting at the dealership for three years, non-running.  Any offers considered.  I hate making offers so I didn't really say much, at which point he suggested $500 for one.  When I assented he upped the ante to $1,000 for two.  How could I refuse?

The next morning we loaded them into the back of my buddy's pickup truck and headed towards my house.  I'd been going to run back down in a week or two with my truck but he offered so it worked out nicely.  We got them home and I was the proud owner of the 1988 (left and front respectively) and the 1990 (right and rear) bikes. 

Cut to the next couple weeks.  I decided to focus on one bike at a time.  Bought a new battery and a can of ethanol free gasoline.  1990 bike fires up, but barely.  Stumbles a lot, can get it to rev but not smoothly or consistently.  Took it for a bit of a ride but it wasn't running well so off came the carbs.

Carbs amazingly clean.  I assume that since the bikes were being shipped from the UK that the tanks and the carbs were properly drained.  The pilot jets were clogged, however.

Enter three different cleaners, the last being Amsoil PI fuel system cleaner.  Four clean pilot jets, reassemble carbs, bike fires up and off we go for a ride.

I have now put about 80 miles on the bike and got to admit, I'm having more fun than should be allowed.  The titles arrived in the mail (I had concerns as Honda Motorcycle USA is a bit sticky about sending out compliance letters, and by a bit sticky I mean that they absolutely refuse to do so) but the dealership had assured me there would be no problem, and there was no problem.  I'm headed out of town for a couple weeks but when I get back it'll be a second battery and another carb cleaning.

I am, however, now curious about the third bike, the one I didn't buy.  I was under the impression that it was a 1989 but looking back at the pictures the body style more resembles the F2, which was made from 1991 to 1994.  Look at the vents in the little side fairing down by the knee and the way the windshield swoops back past the mirrors.  Maybe once I get one of the current stable sold I'll swing back by the Indian dealership and see if it's still sitting there.  You never know.  Meanwhile, though, I don't have any room for it as there are currently six bikes in my (small, built in 1909, one car) garage with another for sale down at the local motorcycle shop.  

One of these bikes will be staying in my stable but not sure which one.  The 1990 which I have running is a blast to ride but I think that maybe I like the paint job on the 1988 better.  We'll have to see.

And here's a quick shot of the '88 in situ, just to round out the pictures.

Authoritarianism is still with us, just not where the media says it is.

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Note: Can't get it to embed so you'll have to follow the link.  Relevant detail, Harris announcing that if Congress refuses to act within the first 100 days of her administration, then she'll take executive action to accomplish whatever it is she needs done.  Shades of "I have a pen and I have a phone".

https://x.com/LarryOConnor/status/1818395088101482627