Fractal Friday

From The Grumpy Economist, AKA John Cochrane. He is a Senior Fellow of the Hoover Institution at Stanford University:

 

“[S]omeone has to work, or we all starve. So, if it is not going to be you work or you starve, it has to be you work or we send you to Siberia. If we are not actors in a market, we must be slaves to the state. Empirically, the incentive that the more you work the more you get has proved much more productive than appeals to patriotism, community spirit, the common good, or force.”

 

If you can’t work, then you should receive assistance. If you don’t want to work, you should receive nothing. I wish Cochrane had cited studies for that last sentence, but I believe it to be true. People want to reap most of the rewards for their labor, not have most of it confiscated/stolen by government.

******************

NO ONE can have it all. EVERYTHING is a trade-off. In the developed world, the median age for motherhood is increasing as women want to establish careers before having children. That choice is their prerogative. HOWEVER, that choice comes with a cost. This study cited in Scientific American states that:

 

“The researchers found that mothers over 40 had a 51 percent higher risk [emphasis mine] of having a child with autism than mothers 25 to 29 and a 77 percent higher risk than mothers under 25.”

 

While the trend of women waiting to have children does not explain all of the increase in diagnosed cases of autism, that trend is certainly a contributing factor. That is an inconvenient truth.

******************

As this year’s Mecum Arizona auction began yesterday, I am still upset that I cannot attend because I have not reached maximum immunity from the damn virus. While I almost certainly wouldn’t have bid on the ’63 Studebaker Gran Turismo Hawk that crossed the block yesterday–and hammered for $15,000–I would have liked to see the car in person. Why wouldn’t I have bid on the car? Well, no room at the inn, the car was fitted with a large and unnecessary (IMO) continental kit, etc. From RM Sotheby’s another picture of my obsession du jour:

 

See the source image

 

As I have written on multiple occasions, IF I were to acquire one of these I would want it painted in green, maybe British Racing Green. The rear deck molding indicates the car is a 1963 model. More accurately, perhaps, the rear deck molding is the type used on ’63s. I do not know enough to identify the year based on other cues.

 

Have a great weekend!

 

#FractalFriday

#TheGrumpyEconomist

#NoWorkNoPay

#AutismAndMaternalAge

#MecumArizonaAuction

#1963StudebakerGranTurismoHawk

#somanycarsjustonelife

#disaffectedmusings

If you like this blog please tell your friends and share the blog URL (https://disaffectedmusings.com). Thanks.

 

Advertisement

Throwback Thursday 36?

No, I haven’t lost track of what day it is. This post from February, Throwback Thursday 36, about the 1920 US Presidential Election has been receiving a fair number of views the past 2-3 days. The reason I’m mentioning that is I have no idea why.

The number of views for the post exceeds the number of all blog views referred from all search engines during this period. I guess I should just be grateful for the post “revival,” but I am a curious person.

******************

More blog minutia…

I started writing Disaffected Musings in January, 2018. The number of views/visitors made a quantum leap forward in October, 2018 and continued at about the same level through March, 2020. With a big “boost” from people being at home, the number of views/visitors took another leap in April, 2020.

The last five months, April through August of 2020, have been the five months with the highest number of views and visitors. Numbers nerd/OCD “sufferer” that I am, I had to quantify the leap.

With the number 100 representing the average number of monthly views from October, 2018 through March, 2020, here are the “adjusted” number of views for the last five months (the actual average of monthly views is in the thousands; 100 is a number often used as a baseline):

April 177
May 231
June 199
July 168
August 176

The 177 figure for April means the number of blog views for that month was 77 percent higher than the average from October, 2018 through March, 2020. Yes, I could have used +77% instead of 177.

Almost one-third of all blog views have happened in just the last five months. Once again, I am grateful for the increase in readership, not oblivious as to the main reason why, and I will continue to ask for “the sale.” Please feel free to tell your friends about the blog and to pass along the URL (https://disaffectedmusings.com), please feel free to click on any (or all) of the related posts at the bottom of each post, please feel free to “Like” any post and to submit thoughtful comments.

******************

Although the National Corvette Museum opened on this day in 1994, I think I have been writing too much about Corvettes in general and the C8 in particular as of late. According to 365 Days of Motoring, it was on this day in 1955 that the first meeting of the Studebaker-Packard Dealer-Factory Planning Committee occurred. (On a tangent…it is incredible to me that with all of the times I have written about these two companies, this post marks the first that the tag “Studebaker-Packard” is used.)

Although characterized as a merger, technically Packard acquired Studebaker with the transaction becoming official in October, 1954. If 365 Days of Motoring is correct, then this “important” committee’s first meeting was awfully late.

Many people are far more qualified than I to discuss the reasons for the eventual demise of both makes. Remember that even before World War II, the “Big Three” of American car companies had taken control of the market, due in no small way to the Great Depression. For example, the eight best-selling makes for model year 1941 were all made by the Big Three and accounted for 74% of all vehicle production for that year.

My “obsession” with defunct American makes has waned somewhat in recent months, but I still read parts of James Ward’s The Fall Of The Packard Motor Car Company and Richard Langworth’s Studebaker 1946-1966: The Classic Postwar Years almost every week. I still dream of owning a car made by one or both of those companies. Maybe something like these:

 

See the source image

See the source image

 

From the Consumer Guide Auto blog the top picture is a 1963 Studebaker Gran Turismo Hawk and from Hemmings the bottom is a 1956 Packard 400. Shops that work on older cars, defunct makes or not, must exist where we’re headed, given the huge car culture there. Yet again, what is life without dreams?

#ThrowbackThursday36?

#ReaderBoost

#Studebaker-Packard

#1963StudebakerGranTurismoHawk

#1956Packard400

#somanycarsjustonelife

#disaffectedmusings

If you like this blog please tell your friends and share the blog URL (https://disaffectedmusings.com). Thanks.