Life goes on - Summer 2025

[SteveUnruh]

Well, I am getting two years from E-10 useable stored in vapor sealed thick plastic cans & tanks TomH.
Stored inside the big unheated shop out of the sun with 2 oz. / gal of Motorcote FUEL optimizer per gallon.
I just got the rear tank fuel pump on the 94 Ford pickup working again. That E-10 treated is three years old.

I do believe PRI-G additive would be better by all user reports. But not available off-the-shelf here locally.

Best to just still refresh gasoline supply as still possible every six months.
Regards
Steve Unruh

[tcholton717 (Tom Holton)]

I wasn’t familiar with Motorkote Steve. I don’t think it was included on the “Taryl fixes all” tests a couple years ago. Very interested in what anyone’s personal experience has been. Pri-G isn’t sold by anyone around here either. I tried the Ethanol Shield on Chicanic’s recommendation.

[Chris (Chris Saenz)]

I ordered a big jug of Pri-G, it’s pricey but a little goes a long way. I’ll let you know how it does.

[Marat_Lysenko (Marat (East of Ukraine, 70 km from Donetsk))]

- YouTube

Youtube apparently didn’t like the little girl’s clothes, and it blocked the video.

Let’s see how long it will last in the public domain on Rutub.

video_2025-05-13_20-57-16

[Tone (Tone Šuštarič)]

Hello Marat, it’s nice to see your children happy, despite the difficult times you are going through, may God bless and protect you

[tcholton717 (Tom Holton)]

Just trolling for opinions here out of curiosity. I was watching a video in which Elon Musk was extolling the benefits of a robotic future. His opinion was that shifting most, especially repetitive, labor from human hands to mechanical ones would free humanity to explore more of their potential. My opinion is that freed from their day to day drudgery and routines would pretty much destroy most people because their life long programming has forced them to be pretty much drones. People like us, with inquiring minds and fascination with creating alternatives would no doubt benefit greatly from having our jobs taken over by friendly robots, as long as we got the fruits of their labor. For the average, get up, go to work, come home, drink beer and watch TV, person I believe they would soon deteriorate into even bigger lumps of flab. I guess I’m not much of an optimist.

[JonHurst]

Perhaps Tom, I think it more likely that if all the menial jobs go then these people are going to starve as the system is not going to pay them to do nothing.

[Marty (Martin S)]

A lot of people need menial jobs sad to say. It is wishful thinking that they can learn other skills. It was disingenuous of Biden when he suggested miners should learn to program. Maybe the government will tax robot labor to subsidize welfare payments to those put out of jobs? I see social upheaval if Musk’s vision comes true unless those people are taken care of. Sabotage version 2.0 comes to mind.

[SteveUnruh]

There is a dignity in productive work.
Unfortunately too many of the highly intelligent, say top 5% can never seem to understand this.

From young I have worked side by side with many men and some woman who just wanted the dignity of knowing they were daily doing meaningful work. Contributing to the welfare of themselves and their families.
I am ashamed to say that early teens to my mid-50’s as most always the smartest in any room even me from humble beginnings I could not empathize enough with those less intellectually blessed.

Fortunately the short term memory degradation I have fought with for 20 years now has blessed me now with this empathy of understanding not able to easily juggle multi-tasking anymore. Ah, so. This is why so many around me have struggled trying to keep up with change driven times. Now it is me too.

You are correct Martin that the top brains 5%ers mostly just never seem to understand the happiness and satisfaction in daily work done well.
Their intellectual drives them to develop systems robbing many of the simplicity of good-enough. Rob them of daily work dignity and self-respect.
Elon, Jobs, Gates I think; no more than Henry Ford or Rockefeller, can never even begin to understand the real social destruction of their fine, fine brainiac systems. They are lifelong racers competing against each other. Never settled. Never satisfied. Never daily happy.
Never understanding those left back in their intelectual hieghts dusts.
Never understand the value of my Grandpa was a farmer/miner/logger/fisherman; my Daddy is a farmer/miner/logger/fisherman . . . and I want to be one too.
The same can be said of cooks, seamstress, and tailors. None of these are menial. Skills. Hard learned skills.
The same can be said of being actually good fathers/mothers/aunts/uncles/grandparents.
It’s daily sacrificial work too. An investment in time set aside from brainiac’ing; arts pursuing; instead to enrich the lives of the real people around you. With your attention, caring, and presence.

Steve Unruh

[JohanM (Johan Mattsson (Sweden))]

Yes, one should not underestimate physical tiredness whether it is a meaningful job or just satisfying like working out. Mental tiredness I find harder than physical, I for one always look forward to firewood season when the sun is starting to warm a bit and the cutting and splitting is just straight forward work so I’m just alone with my work and thoughts plus there is a really nice feeling of accomplishment afterwards. A zen moment with yourself to just enjoy.
Something to feel proud about and the satisfaction knowing you and your family has a warm home again next winter.
Happiness in your work and accomplishments is important.

[JO_Olsson (Jan-Ola Olsson (SWEDEN))]

@tcholton717

benefits of a robotic future

The question is for whom. Yes, better for the top 10% who already owns 90%. The rest, who are left to share what’s left - no.

The problem is we all stribe for efficiancy. I guess I could hire ten people with bowsaws and hatches to chunk for me, but I decided to build my rebak. A lot cheaper/easier/satisfying for me personally.
When my grandmother bought a new pair of boots 90 years ago they cost two month’s wages. It was then worth it to maintain them and even visit the cobbler when needed. Nowdays a new pair is cheaper than paying for a cobbler’s wages (if you can find one).

Not only robotic labour has contributed to this development. Also, western corporations have kept slavery alive. The only difference is we no longer need to provide food and shelter, since global shipping makes it possible to keep the workforce outof sight in their home countries. A shiny wrapping then helps to keep most soft minded customers from feeling bad about consuming cheap products.

In modern times the focus has so far been on labour costs. What’s really lacking is appreciating the value of the materials mother earth provides. We take for granted they are free of charge. It seems this is about to change though.

I’m sorry to say I’m not much of an optimist either. No matter our opinions, history tells us all grafs look the same. When they reach high enough it’s time for a collaps - stock markets, grasshopper populations and human civilisations - all such grafs follow the same pattern. The best we can do to avoid going crazy is focusing on our daily lifes, closest family and friends.

[SteveUnruh]

Very well said JO.
There is a stark difference between mechanization and automation/robotics IMHO.
Your shear cutter/chunker still needs human hands feeding it. Those hands; human spirit directing. Feed size judging. Clearing feed jams. Side load cramming stub ends and short pieces against a longer piece. You will still movements sweat. Keeping the body/mind working active and vibrant.
You will be using an experience developed feel for the process. Vibration tones.Using smell too. Good fresh cut wood smells. Bad hot rubber or too hot of metals smells.

Brainiac’s so caught up in their will and minds creations miss much that is valuable in Life. Then unaware of their own lacking, rob others of this too with their created tier stacked overly complex systems.

To live a meaningful life ain’t about pushing up some few to achieve lofty ohh-rah goals.
But how many you can carry through along, to meaningful lives too. And some subjectivity to that alright. Those carried through have to be worthy of the investment. Earned by their own merits a place in your life.
You will only ever have just so much time and energy at any place in your life. Spend it out wisely. Humanly. Morally.
S.U.

[Pelletpower (Joep Kruijssen)]

Sharp Jo, exactly as what I think. On the other hand, automation is the only thing I am going to invest in, no extra hands available. But a crazy robot? No way. Ai? Dont need it at the moment (I think).

Thanks Mr Steve, my meaning of life also. But keeping the right balance between work and family is difficult.
Electronics, after all those years I am still sceptical, but I see what is possible. How flexible production goes nowadays, you cant compare that with 30 years ago. I am ashtonished every day how fast, accurate and flexible things go and how dependent we are from technology. Well, it is how it is.
But people that build complete homeautomations? Maybe for a hobby, but practical? Not me, I rather walk to the switch and turn it. My homeautomation is just for convenience so I can see from the couch if the boiler needs a refill. Electronics have to serve, if the dont, I dont need them. The same with Ai and robots…Time will tell wich way we go as society.

[Bronlin (Bronlin Klassen)]

Well I work in the manufacturing industry were we use automation and robotics all the time. So I figured I could add to this topic a little.

In this area there is a lack of workers. Almost every company I hear about is looking for workers. Most of the workers that are here have a poor work ethic. Mostly the younger workers but sometimes older people as well. They have no qualms about standing around or regularly taking extra long breaks. A lot of people don’t really want to work at all or do any real labor. They are only there to get the paycheck and don’t really care about the advancement of the company or their contribution to it.

In this situation the industry is having issues finding good reliable workers. So in order to meet product demand and be able to expand the business they are forced to look for alternatives was to keep product moving.

This has lead to the adoption of automation and robotics at least in the place I work. And to be honest this has greatly improved production work flow and productivity. The consistency and accuracy of robotics is unparalleled. Some of our machines are able to run 24/7 without issues. Other machines and/or robots will cause issues every few hours and require human intervention to fix the issue and get them going again. It still needs someone to set up and confirm the robot won’t collide with anything, but once that is done it will do the same thing over and over for as long as we need or no issues arise. All our machines and robots still need someone there to start it at the beginning of the shift. That part at least cannot be automated.

There will always be a place for humans in the work force. As much as people try robots and automation can’t sense as much as humans. If it needs a vision sensor for example it can be installed but it will only do one thing. It won’t hear, smell or feel.

This is my opinion and I don’t wish to hurt any feelings.

P.S. Just for information purposes. To make it simple most robots are just advanced automation with lots of moving parts. They run through an assigned program exactly like a small Arduino board.

[FruitvaleFarmer (Kent Potter)]

Our little town had a pretty good restaurant. Limited menu, but they did it well. They remodeled, expanded (which took a while since all the contractors were busy), and reopened with an expanded menu. And lasted about 6 months. Story we’ve heard is that they couldn’t find enough help. Wages aren’t high around here, and while living costs are low, they are climbing, so that’s part of it. The economy is such that a lot of people can’t earn what they think they need. There are certainly lots of complicated reasons, but as a nation, our expectations may be unrealistic. It’s hard to be content with your phone and computer showing and telling you all the things you just have to have. I suspect we have a lesson coming, and I doubt we will enjoy it. We have no complaints (though you might not think so, if you listened to us ), but we’re working at gratefulness. We don’t NEED anything beyond food, water, clothing and shelter. Maybe firewood to keep the indoor temperature nice in winter. If we can be content with those things, which we have, I think we’d have a lot more joyful lives. Pretty sure, actually.
Still a ways to go

[madflower69 (Sean Omalley)]

The robotic welders that automakers brought in during the 80s replaced workers but the product was better.

However, if you have to spend 2m+ per robot, you are significantly limiting who can produce stuff. And everything has to be designed to not only work but also be mass produced.

It is kind of like gardening. I can buy stuff in the store cheaper then what I can produce it in most circumstances especially when I factor in the cost of my time. I like to think my product is better but that isn’t always the case.

For unique products with limited mass market appeal, it isn’t going to be worth making it robotic because you can’t pay for the robot.

[Pelletpower (Joep Kruijssen)]

And that is changing rapitly. Robot is far under 100 k or 10 k range. If products arent that heavy a cobot can do the work for even less money and easy to learn. 2+m was the last century. Not anymore nowadays.

[Bronlin (Bronlin Klassen)]

Yes robots are becoming cheaper. If you are curious check AliExpress for 6 axis robots. Most are just a few thousand dollars.

There is a few applications that robots and automation is useful. The manufacturing industry is one of them where repetitive strain is a big problem. Automation greatly reduces the risk of injury to humans though maybe the robots take the beating instead.

But there is a lot more times where people are developing systems where it is really not needed. IoT for example. It is all about convenience. Giving people what they want.

I came across this. A Canadian company is now developing AI systems to train Air Force pilots.

Top Aces Unveils AI-Driven Unmanned Wingman for the ADAIR Industry

I can’t imagine what would happen if something went wrong.

[JO_Olsson (Jan-Ola Olsson (SWEDEN))]

Three 12 hour shifts over the weekend. An evening view from the office window. It’s greening up now.

[Marat_Lysenko (Marat (East of Ukraine, 70 km from Donetsk))]

I think robots are very good and useful when they are in every home and make life easier for people. IBM’s law: “A person must think, and a machine must work.”

But robots are very bad when they deprive a person of work on their land and creativity. For example, working on an assembly line to assemble equally ugly and unreliable modern machines. Not only can people not grow their own food in this way and are forced to pay for someone else’s housing, but none of us can buy what we really like, but we have to pay for a lot of advertised one-day junk!

Where can I get a new 1959 Chevy Impala? Preferably with removable plastic body panels on a stainless steel frame! And if monstrous car factories can’t do this, then I hope to make a CNC machine that can print matrices for the car of my dreams from PET bottles, and then, the same machine will be able to glue body panels made of polyester resin (I wouldn’t want to breathe this even through a gas mask) and fiberglass (yes at least from jute!) in my workshop. Aluminum casting is also available at home, on firewood – you don’t have to mess with cast iron when you’re collecting aluminum beverage cans around.

Or such a UAZ cabin with a sleeping place, which was released in too limited quantity? But it is in such a cabin that you can conveniently place everything you need so that this machine helps to sow and harvest all the food that we want to grow ourselves, without buying it in stores.

The inscription at the top: Universal Autonomous (Zveri) Animals
On the left – alive, on the right – iron.
The inscriptions below (a play on words in Russian): on the left is a bear that staggers in winter in search of food, and the same word means the connecting rod of the piston in the engine, i.e. 4 such connecting rods of the UAZ.

Someday, the times will come again, and people will be able to understand how to use any animals as pets. But now, even if I knew how to ask a bear to dig up potatoes, my neighbors would not understand me, and most likely, they would be seriously afraid of a neighbor like me. But a bear is more perfect than any home robot! However, we do not have large forests in the vicinity – and there would be nowhere for him to live, eat and reproduce in the way that the Creator of the Universe intended!