Interesting Posts Today

The JWST tensioned up 3 of it's 5 sun shields today. This NASA blog gives regular updates on progress.


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Thought this was interesting... visualization of the world economy in GDP.
From here.

That’s interesting, at first glance that chart would make it appear that the USA produces more goods than China. If you look up the definition of GDP, it’s this,

“(GDP) is a monetary measure of the market value of all the final goods and services”

So then, what are final goods?

A final good or consumer good is a final product ready for sale that is used by the consumer to satisfy current wants or needs, unlike intermediate goods which is utilized to produce other goods. A microwave oven or a bicycle is a final good, whereas the parts purchased to manufacture it are intermediate goods.

And the definition of services,

A service is a transaction in which no physical goods are transferred from the seller to the buyer. .

I would be willing to bet that if our GDP’s were broken down into categories, China manufactures more than the US, but the US is the world champion consumers, we pay for everything to be done for us. Therefore skewing the GPD numbers. It looks like we produce more than anybody, but the reality is we consume and pay for services more than anybody. Also GDP only considers final products , ready to sell. A bicycle is a final product, but all the parts necessary to make a bicycle are not, and China has to make more parts for everything than anyone else.
 
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That bike, IMHO, is sex on wheels.

The engine, sadly, is a pooch in stock form. One assumes that one has been massaged.

My wife's son had one for a few years, the Standard Bolt R spec, not the later Track inspired one. Yeah it's no powerhouse, but then it's basically a Japanese Sportster and those aren't particularly potent either.
The tracker mods look good, only thing Yam did stupid is they made the top frame rail higher but to save money they left the same short rear shocks mounted half way down the rear frame support.
All the same I think they would make a decent Hooligan bike if someone would breathe some life into the engine. It's surprising that S&S didn't take to these the way they have to the RE Twins.
As for Yams homage to the past, I just can get into the modern styling of the newer XS models, they just don't do it for me.
It's like putting lipstick on a pig, yeah you can do it, doesn't make it any better and looks silly.
 
My wife's son had one for a few years, the Standard Bolt R spec, not the later Track inspired one. Yeah it's no powerhouse, but then it's basically a Japanese Sportster and those aren't particularly potent either.
The tracker mods look good, only thing Yam did stupid is they made the top frame rail higher but to save money they left the same short rear shocks mounted half way down the rear frame support.
All the same I think they would make a decent Hooligan bike if someone would breathe some life into the engine. It's surprising that S&S didn't take to these the way they have to the RE Twins.
As for Yams homage to the past, I just can get into the modern styling of the newer XS models, they just don't do it for me.
It's like putting lipstick on a pig, yeah you can do it, doesn't make it any better and looks silly.
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I love the way the C Spec looks, but it's my understanding that it won't go around a corner without dragging parts.
 
That’s interesting, at first glance that chart would make it appear that the USA produces more goods than China. If you look up the definition of GDP, it’s this,

“(GDP) is a monetary measure of the market value of all the final goods and services”

So then, what are final goods?

A final good or consumer good is a final product ready for sale that is used by the consumer to satisfy current wants or needs, unlike intermediate goods which is utilized to produce other goods. A microwave oven or a bicycle is a final good, whereas the parts purchased to manufacture it are intermediate goods.

And the definition of services,

A service is a transaction in which no physical goods are transferred from the seller to the buyer. .

I would be willing to bet that if our GDP’s were broken down into categories, China manufactures more than the US, but the US is the world champion consumers, we pay for everything to be done for us. Therefore skewing the GPD numbers. It looks like we produce more than anybody, but the reality is we consume and pay for services more than anybody. Also GDP only considers final products , ready to sell. A bicycle is a final product, but all the parts necessary to make a bicycle are not, and China has to make more parts for everything than anyone else.
You have an interesting point there, Bob. As you say, “(GDP) is a monetary measure of the market value of all the final goods and services.”

The definition assumes that there is a comparable monetary measure across different economies. Economists also use different measures of GDP, such as PPP - purchasing power parity - which recognises the spending power of currencies in different economies.

If you compare the size of the US and Chinese economies in US$ then the US economy is larger. But the comparison fails to recognise the greater spending power of the Yuan in China. If you convert $1000 dollars to Yuan then go and spend that money in China, you will be able to purchase far more goods than you would spending the $1000 in the USA.

Comparing the size of the US and Chinese economies in PPP the Chinese economy is much larger. That is, the total spending power of the Chinese economy, how much stuff the Chinese people could buy in a year, far exceeds the US economy.

And as you said, the Chinese manufacturing sector is also far larger than the American.

An interesting diagram for a range of discussions.
 
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Nice view of @Mailman's operating theatre.

Indeed....annoying, isn't it.

For comparison, here are a couple of photos of the present (2 minutes ago) state of the Disaster Central Workshop (DCW) at the new place....

RN_Garage-1.jpg

RN_Garage-2.jpg


While the DCW will never look like @Mailman's immaculate shop, in my defense, please allow me to point out that there are:
- three bikes in there plus;
- a fairly big John Deere garden tractor with a plough blade on it, along with,
- all the beautiful tins as painted by @Jim AND,
- all of the shop equipment for the pole barn (should it ever be approved by the local-yokel approval wankers) AND,
- a whack-load of SWMBO's stuff including the sewing machine table (foreground - soon to be sold) AND,
- a bunch of UHaul boxes that Daughter #2 and her beau are taking away on Sunday evening.

Today's task will be to push Demi (the third XS650 - the Cafe donor bike) around from the garden shed and into the garage, re-commission the bike lift and move a bunch more stuff up to the attic.

Pete
 
Indeed....annoying, isn't it.

For comparison, here are a couple of photos of the present (2 minutes ago) state of the Disaster Central Workshop (DCW) at the new place....

View attachment 204752
View attachment 204753

While the DCW will never look like @Mailman's immaculate shop, in my defense, please allow me to point out that there are three bikes in there plus a fairly big John Deere garden tractor with a plough blade on it along with all the beautiful tins as painted by @Jim AND all of the shop equipment that is intended to go into the pole barn (should it ever be approved by the local-yokel approval wankers) AND a significant whack-load of SWMBO's stuff.

Today's task will be to push Demi (the third XS650 - the Cafe donor bike) around from the garden shed and into the garage, re-commission the bike lift and move a bunch more stuff up to the attic.

Pete
Hey Pete you do the load calcs on your rafter/roof system yet?

;)
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Hey Pete you do the load calcs on your rafter/roof system yet?

;)
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Good thought Gary.

The things I note from the photo above are that:
- the span of the collapsed trusses is much longer than the ones at my place and,
- the HVAC units that presumeably caused the collapse are basically point loads and are much heavier than anything in my attic;
- finally, the above-truss area in that building has no floor while my attic has a strong plywood floor which is extensively nailed from one truss to another and also, the ceiling of my garage is strong tongue-and-groove boards and not just gyprock (i.e. plaster) panels which only contribute weight but have no strength at all.

This last point is important because the flooring and the ceiling combine to help distribute the loads throughout the structure and they also increase the bending moment of inertia of the whole structure (i.e. the MofI is a measure of the ability of the structure to resist bending loads).

Anyhow, I did a few back of the envelope calculations and then yesterday, a buddy came over for a chin-wag about Yamaha XS650s.

He is a forum member and more to the point, he has been a civil engineer (my discipline is mechanical) for more than 50 years. He went upstairs and had a look at the set-up and the whole structure and said that it looks fine as long as the load is distributed (it is) and nothing too heavy is placed up there (nothing is heavier than I can easily lift myself) - and so all is well safety-wise.

Pete
 
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Good thought Gary.

The things I note from the photo above are that:
- the span of the collapsed trusses is much longer than the ones at my place and,
- the HVAC units that presumeably caused the collapse are basically point loads and are much heavier than anything in my attic;
- finally, the above-truss area in that building has no floor while my attic has a strong plywood floor which is extensively nailed from one truss to another and also, the ceiling of my garage is strong tongue-and-groove boards and not just gyprock (i.e. plaster) panels which only contribute weight but have no strength at all.

This last point is important because the flooring and the ceiling combine to help distribute the loads throughout the structure and they also increase the bending moment of inertia of the whole structure (i.e. the MofI is a measure of the ability of the structure to resist bending loads).

Anyhow, I did a few back of the envelope calculations and then yesterday, a buddy came over for a chin-wag about Yamaha XS650s.

He is a forum member and has more to the point, he has been a civil engineer (my discipline is mechanical) for more than 50 years. He went upstairs and had a look at the set-up and the whole structure and said that it looks fine as long as the load is distributed (it is) and nothing too heavy is placed up there (nothing is heavier than I can easily lift myself) - and so all is well safety-wise.

Pete
Lets just say I keep an eye on the snow loads on the shed of ill repute and roof rake when needed. Occasionally I weed out the rafter loads.

shed4.JPG


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Lets just say I keep an eye on the snow loads on the shed of ill repute and roof rake when needed. Occasionally I weed out the rafter loads.

View attachment 204755

View attachment 204756

Always worthwhile for sure. Our snowloads around here are normally very light (in fact at the moment, there is virtually no snow on the roof at all) - but I am keeping an eye on it.

Pete
 
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