August 4, 2018

At the Althouse Giant Café...



... you can get your kicks and comebacks.

(The image was sent in by a reader who tells me it's from 1931 Northwest Farm Equipment Journal.)

42 comments:

robother said...

Althouses have been wheeler-dealers in Wisconsin from way back when.

Etienne said...

My Dad sounded like Lawrence Welk. He spoke German growing up in North Dakota. One day we were talking about Windmills, and a smile came over him.

"Yah das wind muller it vas great fun!"

He then went on to describe how him and his sister would climb to the top with a frog, and then they would watch the frog jump.

"der frush vas kaput yah?"

Yes dad, I'm sure of it, meathead...

Narayanan said...

Hello Chuck,
Any comments? On this Michigan Senate race.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/03/us/politics/john-james-michigan.html

Sebastian said...

What would Werner Herzog ask Althouse?

rhhardin said...

Some distant town is blowing off fireworks. We just had the finale. I don't know what the occasion is. Maybe celebrating Hiroshima. American Technology Day.

Ann Althouse said...

Obama’s birthday.

Etienne said...

rhhardin said...I don't know what the occasion is.

Mead Day

Michael K said...

Keep that ad. It might come in handy for ordering one after the EMP.

Ralph L said...

I'd like to know why modern windfarms use a yuge 2-3 blade turbine instead of one like this, which looks like it would do better in light winds. Are these more fragile?

daskol said...

a windmill powered pyramid scheme

Ralph L said...

Britain declared war on Germany late on 4 Aug 1914, after Germany declared on Belgium earlier in the day, after Belgium refused entry of their army.

Fernandinande said...

John Wesley Hyatt was a printer by trade and a prolific inventor who secured over 250 patents, the first issued in 1861 for a knife grinder. His chemical experiments led to the invention of celluloid.

In 1888 he was working on a mill for crushing sugar cane, but lacked adequate bearings. His solution was a roller bearing where the rollers were made from coiled strips of steel, and he patented his invention.

The helical-shaped rollers made from flat spring steel were more flexible than solid-cylinder rollers, did not heat up and lock due to friction, and lasted longer.[3] Later Hyatt introduced refinements, with the bearings assembled within a closed cage.

Seeing broad potential for the invention, he founded the Hyatt Roller Bearing Company in 1892. The company was originally based in Newark, New Jersey, but soon moved to Harrison, New Jersey.

traditionalguy said...

Watching the President's authenticity and messages to Americans at the Rally is reaching critical mass with crowds He is as beloved by most as FDR was in his day. I pity anyone who runs against him in 2020.

The economic boom is obvious everywhere Construction of huge new facilities by floods of workers is visible everywhere you go. Happy times are here again.

daskol said...

for those of you concerned about Occasio-Cortez's ideology, here's an article suggesting she's more flexible than you're thinking. she's an ambitious young woman who broke the Dem Machine in New York. that's terrific news. she's riding the progressive wave, not some true believer. good for her, and good for us that she's demonstrated the weakness of the powers that be. apparently she had thoughtful things to say about Adam Smith and feminism as recently as 7 years ago.

stephen cooper said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
gilbar said...

I'd like to know why modern windfarms use a yuge 2-3 blade turbine instead of one like this, which looks like it would do better in light winds. Are these more fragile?
if you had a field of 1,000 of these, you'd get about 10kw; or enough to power ONE Household
(i'm giving each windmill a power of 1.3 hp, which is TOTALLY Generous)

Here's Wikipedia's numbers
A 16 ft (4.8 m) diameter wind pump can lift up to 1600 US gallons (about 6.4 metric tons) of water per hour to an elevation of 100 ft with a 15 to 20 mph wind (24–32 km/h)
One metric horsepower is needed to lift 75 kilograms by 1 metre in 1 second


by my math that comes to 2/3 hp in a strong wind

StephenFearby said...

NYT
By Jeremy W. Peters
Aug. 3, 2018


John James, Black and Republican, Thinks He Can Crack the ‘Blue Wall’ in Michigan

Mr. James, 37, is a West Point graduate who spent eight years in the Army. He is the president of his family-run business. And he wants to become a senator.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/03/us/politics/john-james-michigan.html

A fair interview with a Michigan Republican Senate primary candidate that Trump recently endorsed.

Because the narrative didn't support the NYT's leftist agitprop, the editors decided it didn't deserve a comments section.

A wonder that the article wasn't spiked.

gilbar said...

I redid my numbers, 2/3hp is 500w 500w*1000= 500 kw
one house ~3.5 kw

So a thousand old fashioned windpumps would make enough electricity (assuming NO Loses) to power 142 houses at max wind power.
Another way to look at it:
3.5kw/500w = 7 windpumps to power one house (my factor labeling fails here; but i'm pretty sure the number's right

wild chicken said...

Stephen I don't think Etienne wrote approvingly of the cruelty to the frog.

Char Char Binks, Esq. said...

I still see windmills like that on farms, but I doubt many, or even any, are still in use. Frogs can rest easy on that account.

Happy Mead Day!

Wince said...

There are no kicks and comebacks when you sell the Giant windmill.

"...it's from 1931 Northwest Farm Equipment Journal."


By contrast, in 2018 this scam pretty runs on government kickbacks, regrettably as much as it does the wind.

I Have Misplaced My Pants said...

How on earth are you named Etienne if you had a German-speaking father?

Comanche Voter said...

The windmill ad brings back some good memories. My maternal grandparents lived on a small ranch in Southeastern Arizon. Grandfather;s "day job" was as a justice of the peace, But he and grandmother lived about five miles out of town on 40 acres or so. When I visited them as a child in the early 1950s the windmill out back pumped their domestic water from a well. Their adobe house was about half a mile off the paved highway down a dirt road. They did have electricity. Heating and cooking came from a big propane tank. They hadn't yet installed a septic tank so the outdoor privy was in use.

Thirty years later, Grandfather was dead, While the old windmill was still up on the tower, an electric pump pumped the well.The outdoor privy had been replaced by indoor plumbing. My city bred daughters were with me on a visit to their great grandnmother, and their reaction to the dirt road and an adobe house was, "Great grandmother can't live here!" Well yes she could and had happily done so for more than 40 years at that point.

Thirty years after that, my grandmother had long passed away; my cousin, herself a widow, was living in the adobe house; the rod was paved and named after my grandparents; and my cousin was connected to the world via the Internet.

About three years ago the well finally sanded up--so there was no domestic water. My cousin moved into town, and the adobe house and the windmill have been abandoned.

Windmills are still in use out in the country for pumping well water to fill stock tanks and such. They are gradually being replaced by solar powered electric water pumps.

Ralph L said...

They couldn't drill a new well? Perhaps she took it as a sign to leave.

My oldest standing ancestral home built c.1790 was an empty, paintless wreck when my mother visited in the 30's. Now it's a wedding venue north of Charlotte.

She remembered the hooks built into the cellar wall for chaining up wayward slaves.

Big Mike said...

I see LeBron James and Don Lemon are feuding with President Trump. The black unemployment rate is at historic low. How much of that is due to the actions of James and Lemon, and how much is due to Trump?

Kevin said...

“Because the narrative didn't support the NYT's leftist agitprop, the editors decided it didn't deserve a comments section.”

Worse, the “not a real black person” comments make the racism of its readers overwhelmingly evident.

rehajm said...

A cuple of stories about the Ohio election- headlines of Trump in trouble even though not running. One poll has 11% undecideds and uses a ‘special election’ turnout model. IOW we assume turnout will be identical to when Ds won earlier in the year.

We’ll know soon but if Ds lose can’t we conclude media is breeding another cycle of leftie derangement and disfunction? Maybe this time around somebody will actually turn in their passport.

Haha- never happen.

Jaq said...

Democrats do better when they can focus all of their resources on a single district. But I don’t pretend to know what is going to happen in November.

Jaq said...

August 4, 2018 Rasmussen: Black approval rating of Trump now at 29%

That’s for Peanut Butters. The white left and their LLR allies aren’t going to change their minds, but others are.

Humperdink said...

These windmills are becoming the rage with the local Amish community. They pump water into a large tank in their attic. The water is then gravity fed down to the living quarters.

Ralph L said...

My great grandfather's 1890 house 2 doors down still has a copper tank in the attic that fed into a built-in bathtub, one of the first in town. There was a hand pump in the yard and a pipe on the roof so you'd know when it was full. One of his 4 sons got to do the pumping. The kitchen was in an outbuilding that was joined to the house in the 20's, with the city water, so it was only for bathing.

traditionalguy said...

Old Saxon England had a Wind Ham along with Birming Ham , Cunning Ham , Notting Ham , etc.. Ham is Germanic for home or hamlet. But wind mills are for the North Sea winds.

narciso said...



Yes it's the blank pages from they live model

https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2018/08/threecard_mueller.html

Phil 314 said...

Can I get this windmill on the Althouse Amazon portal?

PuertoRicoSpaceport.com said...

Blogger gilbar said...

I redid my numbers, 2/3hp is 500w 500w*1000= 500 kw one house ~3.5 kw

Too lazy to really check your numbers but I think you were closer the first time. 500KW would be 1/2MW the big 3 bladed windmills are 1 to 1.5MW.

That little pumper can't possibly be 1/3 to 1/2 the capacity of the biggies, can it?

500KW is 670HP. That would be enough to fill a huge stock tank in a couple seconds

I would believe 500 watts or a bit more than 1/2HP.

I was very interested in windmills and alternative energy back in the 80s and remember these type were not at all suitable for electricity generation.

Neither are those huge 3 bladed ones. But for different reasons.

John Henry

PuertoRicoSpaceport.com said...

Blogger EDH said...


By contrast, in 2018 this scam pretty runs on government kickbacks, regrettably as much as it does the wind.

I would say even moreso than it does the wind.

Here's a photo of a windfarm in Naguabo PR. It was trashed by Hurricane Maria almost a year ago and nothing has been done to repair them. Rumor is that they are now abandoned and will never be repaired.

http://darkislandpr.blogspot.com/2018/05/22m-prepa-customers-without-light-mws.html

Even though millions have been spent to run power line from the windmills 4-5 miles to the connection point. I hope by the developer, but maybe by the power company.

Even though they have a contract to sell power at 18 cents/KWH

Even though 90% of the structure is intact (except for 1 of the 13)

Even though, apparently, the main thing to make them operational is replacing the blades.

In other words, even with all the sunk costs, there is not enough money in windmills, as electricity generators, to justify their repair.

ALL of the profit comes from subsidies and tax breaks for construction. That's already been milked.

Apparently there are no subsidies for repair. So they will sit there forever as monuments to government (US and PR) stupidity.

John Henry

PuertoRicoSpaceport.com said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
PuertoRicoSpaceport.com said...

These old timey windmills are still available, though not via Amazon

Aeromotor was the biggest manufacturer selling tens of thousands a year. Still selling them.

I suspect that if you needed to keep a stock tank full, these would be a good option.

Someone else will have to pencil it out vs solar but the fact that Aeromotor still sells them tells me they are probably competitive.

No solar panels
No electric pump
No battery
Works 24 hours/day (Solar works 4-5hrs assuming no clouds)

John Henry

stephen cooper said...

wild chicken - thanks, I missed the meaning of the last word (meathead), which makes the comment by Etienne so good, when you understand what it means ... as the whole point of my pro-frog 9:55 comment was based on a completely incorrect premise, I deleted it.

Michael K said...

she's an ambitious young woman who broke the Dem Machine in New York

I thinkMiss Occasional Cortex s going to lose the general to the guy who lost the primary to her.

He is on the ballot for the Working Families Party and has been denying he's running but, as the election approaches, his story will change. I expect she will make such a fool of herself that it will be easy for him.

She may have said something intelligent 7 years ago but 7 years as a bartender pretty well erased it.

PuertoRicoSpaceport.com said...

One of the things that strikes me about her is that she spent $100m or so getting a degree from Boston University:

In Economics and every time she opens her mouth she proves that she know absolutely nothing about economics. I think she has said she doesn't know much about economics.

She has a second major in International Relations and flat out said in an interview, when asked about Israel, that she "knows nothing about foreign policy" (Approximate quote)

How the hell did she graduate 6th in her class and know so little in her major areas of study? She should ask for a refund.

President Trump should ask why the govt is funding BU if this is the level of education.

Sad.

Also, with this kind of education, why is she working as a bartender? Is that the best job she could find? She could have skipped college altogether.

John Henry

daskol said...

she's callow, not stupid. I would not suggest taking her socialism seriously. it's just the current fad in the Dem Party, especially around these parts. it's what passes for "normal" around NYC progressives. her ideas will change with the times. she's getting a lot of publicity, so no, she's very unlikely to lose to sore loser Crowley. he's a punctured balloon. I think you guys give too much credit to the institutions that have made her, and also to the one she's about to join. they are all hollowed out already. at least she's vivacious.