While my wonderful wife and I were driving to our annual eye exams yesterday something said on the radio reminded me of what I wanted to write yesterday. It is a thin line between confidence and arrogance and too many people are on the wrong side of the line.
I have been accused of being arrogant. I believe that sentiment has been expressed by people with insecurities and/or those who cannot see my own self-doubt. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.
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Since WordPress has still not fixed the major glitch with “Pelated Rosts” I will offer three posts here:
A Tenuous Grasp Of Reality
This is a great post if you want to learn about my history and what makes me tick, to the extent I still am.
Memory Holes
The 100-Day Countdown
Again, please feel free to click on any or all of the linked posts. Thanks. Remember that even if you are not viewing my blog in the WordPress Reader you should no longer see any ads.
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Yes, of course I am aware that today is Election Day. I weep, internally if not externally, at what I perceive to be an utter lack of admirable candidates, at the sheer incivility of political partisans, at the vitriolic campaign ads filled with lies and character assassinations.
People who could actually serve us well in government do not want to run. In my opinion the last thing I mentioned, character assassination, is the reason many choose to stay in the private sector. I also strongly believe that someone who has spent most or all of their adult life in politics is, almost without exception, the last person we should think will serve us well.
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With my plan downgrade I have much less storage for media files and am now unable to upload videos. All of that means more pictures published here will be “repeats” and those captured from other sites without being saved to my WordPress media “library.” Nevertheless, here are two new pics.
The sunrises and sunsets here are unlike any other I have seen anywhere else in the US.
Yes, an odd photo, but consider the source. It rained at the Goose Bumps House on Saturday and Sunday and on the latter day we had small hail (graupel?), which you can see near the window.
It was a long, hot summer, but now we are in what appears will be a long stretch of much colder than average temperatures. The average high this time of the year here–again, we do NOT live at Sky Harbor Airport where the “official” weather readings are taken–is still in the upper 70s to around 80°. For much of the last week we have not even reached 70° and in the forecasts for the next week, the longest anyone should trust a weather forecast, most of our projected high temperatures will be in the 60s.
I have had to resume turning on the space heater in my office. (Our low temperatures have reached the low 40s. At 5:30 this morning, the outdoor temperature was 42° according to my F-Type.) My wonderful wife and I will not turn the HVAC system(s) back on, yet. We will just bundle up a little more in the house.
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On this day in 1895, after using evasive legal tactics for 16 years to delay the patent’s acceptance until conditions seemed favorable for commercial exploitation, George B. Selden received US Patent No. 549,160 for his “road engine” (gasoline-powered automobile), granting him the monopoly on the concept of combining an internal combustion engine with a carriage. Yes, Selden was a lawyer. “The first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers.” – Shakespeare, from Henry VI
Although he never became an auto manufacturer himself, every other automaker would have to pay Selden and his licensing company a significant percentage of their profits for the right to construct a motorcar, even though their automobiles rarely resembled Selden’s designs. In 1903, the Ford Motor Company, which refused to pay royalties to Selden’s licensing company, was sued for infringement on the patent. Thus began one of the most celebrated litigation cases in history, ending in 1909 when a New York court upheld the validity of Selden’s patent. Henry Ford appealed the decision, and in 1911, the New York Court of Appeals again ruled in favor of Selden’s patent, but with a twist: the patent was held to be restricted to the outdated construction it described. In 1911, every major automaker produced vehicles that were significantly different from that described in Selden’s patent, and major manufacturers like Ford never paid Selden another penny. (This paragraph is from 365 Days Of Motoring.)
I believe in protection of property rights–without it an economy cannot function, but like every other concept, in the extreme it is almost never a good thing. The 1911 decision by the New York Court of Appeals should be fondly remembered by those of us who love cars.
Gee, do you think I have a lot of car photos in my WordPress media library?! 🤪
#BelatedMemory
#SeldenPatent