combination spanner: drop forged steel vs. chrome vanadium

On Thu, 18 Aug 2016 07:12:53 -0500, AMuzi wrote:

On 8/17/2016 7:47 PM, John B. wrote:
On Wed, 17 Aug 2016 15:47:37 -0500, AMuzi wrote:

On 8/17/2016 2:49 PM, jbeattie wrote:
On Tuesday, August 16, 2016 at 9:50:30 PM UTC-7, John B. wrote:
On Tue, 16 Aug 2016 20:41:07 -0700 (PDT), jbeattie
wrote:

On Tuesday, August 16, 2016 at 7:23:28 PM UTC-7, John B. wrote:
On Tue, 16 Aug 2016 07:07:49 -0500, AMuzi wrote:

On 8/15/2016 9:43 PM, Frank Krygowski wrote:
On 8/15/2016 7:05 PM, John B. wrote:
On Sun, 14 Aug 2016 22:38:58 -0400, Frank Krygowski
wrote:

On 8/14/2016 7:39 PM, John B. wrote:
On Sun, 14 Aug 2016 08:23:56 +0200, Emanuel Berg
wrote:

John B. wrote:

Snipped

amazement, and says, "You don't know?" Thor
says it has been a problem among scholars for
some years and no one can figure it out and
the local guy says, "O.K., tomorrow we'll
show you". The next morning the local guys
show up and they not only move a head to an
auspicious location but they stand it up and
put the "hat" on it.

Ha ha, the local being the boastful and
intolerable "long-ear" mayor who pained
everyone with his tiresome brag, but whose wood
carvings by all means were by far superior to
anything else on the island

This is another book for the record, a book
even more (?) wonderful than the Kon-Tiki one,
in Swedish:

@book{aku-aku,
author = {Thor Heyerdahl},
publisher = {Bonniers},
title = {Aku-aku. Påsköns hemlighet},
year = 1957
}

I read that also - in English :-)

MORE SNIPPED


I think, perhaps, that all political systems,
and probably very large companies too, have
their moments. The Sputnik program, the AK-47
and perhaps the T-34 tank were all
superlative accomplishments.

Good examples, again for the record now we only
mention the superstar moves, obviously there
were countless of which we will never know.

The Collectivization, on the other hand was
a less successful scheme.

Perhaps less successful in terms of
agriculture but in terms of punishing the
entire population prior to the world war...?

I find it interesting that Russia freed their "slaves",
i,e., Serfs in
1861 by decree of the Emperor while the U.S. had to
fight a disastrous
war to free theirs in 1865.

Britain outlawed (most?) slavery in its empire only about
30 years
earlier than the U.S.

And around 1900, at least one famous British company was
still relying
on products produced by slaves, according to this book
https://www.amazon.com/Chocolate-Tri.../dp/082141626X


written by a good cycling friend of mine.

- Frank Krygowski

Oh My God! Horrifying!

But of course you Americans bought 1.054 thousand barrels
of oil a day
from Saudi Arabia in Jan 2016, and are still buying oil
from them
today.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_...n_Saudi_Arabia


I'm not particularly happy about buying that oil. But
nobody in power ever bothers to ask about that.



it's a world market in a (nearly) fungible commodity so
consider also the other big slavers in Sudan, Nigeria etc.
Don't leave out the totalitarians in Venezuela, where
communism is slavery by another name.

But we're oh-so-moralizing that we inhibit our own
extraction industries, leading to unemployment, reduced
exports and de facto empowerment of some of the worst
regimes on earth. Try to comprehend the pernicious policies
which empower the Keeper of the Two Mosques while punishing
Canada. I can't.

U.S. policies have always been a bit of a mystery. Overthrowing
governments in aid of one of the world's larger copper companies or
providing support for radical Moslem movements who's stated aims are
world domination. Or paying people to have babies out of wedlock and
paying them not to work all seem a bit strange to the untutored eye.

Perhaps with an advanced degree in Swahili or basket weaving it would
be clearer?

Forget about copper. We were overthrowing governments for bananas and British oil interests. Many policy decisions seemed correct at the time but look stupid in retrospect. Some were stupid at the time and in retrospect. Some were stupid at the time but are now seen as good, including various bail-outs. Eisenhower was pretty good with the stupid at the time but now seen as good, like his views on the military industrial complex and the Federal Highway Act which was seen by conservatives as the new new deal. He backed a national health system. My gawd! As for SA, the reason we've been friends is obvious.

You should read this: https://www.amazon.com/Power-Faith-F.../dp/0393330303 Our national history has been shaped by our relationship with the Middle East -- right down to our first battle ship and the Marine Hymn.

-- Jay Beattie.

To be pedantic it wasn't the first battle ship, which wasn't
commissioned until about 90 years after the Derna campaign :-)

That's what I'm saying -- we built our first navy ships because our commercial vessels were being harassed by the Barbary pirates, among others. http://www.militaryfactory.com/ships...ed-States-1797
That was a big step as a new federal government, motivated in large part by our relationship with the Muslim world.


But what I find rather ironic is that in the early 1800's the Barbery
Pirates were pirating ships and holding them for ransom. the U.S.
sailed in with two war ships, shelled the town, captured it with a
force of something like 500 men and disposed the Pasha, replacing him
with a "friend". Everybody involved was a hero, songs were written
about it.

About 200 years later the same thing happened in Somalia. They formed
a committee.

Well, whose ass would you recommend kicking to end piracy in Somalia? It's not like you can depose some pasha and it ends. It's a bunch of down-and-outer fishermen turned thugs, AFAIK. If we moved in a bunch of war ships, they would just have to sit around, waiting for Akbar in a skiff to try to hijack a Maersk container ship. Not even worthy of a verse.

-- Jay Beattie.



No need for a flagged military vessel. There are a host of
private security firms doing very effective antipiracy work
for commercial shipping now. That includes I'm sure a few
Cat-5 type wannabees but also retired British SBS, US
Special Forces etc.

Any bets on Achmed & Kemal vs. ex-Spetsnaz Russians?

http://antipirates.org/

Back in the Old Days when piracy was rife in the Malacca Straits there
was a couple of security companies in Singapore that used to provide
"security" for shipping in the Straits.

From a newspaper article in the Straits Times newspaper, these people
would board in Singapore with some boxes and packages, the ship would
sail and the extra people would disembark in Penang - after the ship
was though the straits.

Strangely, I don't remember reading about pirate attacks being beaten
off but apparently the frequency dropped as the practice of carrying
security company people died out in a couple of years.

Now, of course, it is a multi-national effort with the Indonesian,
Malaysian and Singapore navies involved.


If I recall the rash of pirated oil transports there in the
1990s turned out to be (possibly renegade but who knows)
PLAN operations with their own docks and terminals. They
were eventually hanged, probably for not paying off the
right Party members I assume.

Certainly. The blokes with the Black flags are a dim and distant
memory and what can a few honest pirates do with say $750,000 of
diesel oil?

In the 1980's and probably later, the ships would either disappear in
route or in relatively fewer cases be boarded, usually on the
Indonesian side of the straits, and sailed away and never seen again.

Obviously the cargo went into commercial distribution systems and the
vessel was be-badge and sold off. Poor beleaguered fishermen can't
usually pull off these kinds of deals.
--
and a good day to you Sir,

The Mighty Ant