Author: philg

Diversity tour of Shaker Heights near Cleveland, Ohio

by philg

Photos taken walking around a rich white neighborhood of Shaker Heights, Ohio back in July…

Joe Biden won 90 percent of the vote among the folks here (Wikipedia). Quite a few houses sported political signs, 100 percent of them advocating for progressive Democrat points of view. Example from a $1 million house (a fortune by Rust Belt standards!):

Maybe the owner doesn’t want to replace the sign with one that is better condition because that wouldn’t communicate that he/she/ze/they has had a longstanding relationship with Black Lives Matter. What would happen if a Black Life from Cleveland proper wanted to dip into the “public” Shaker Heights swimming pool? Unless accompanied by a resident, he/she/ze/they would be excluded due to non-residency:

We did find some genuine diversity in the Van Aken District. One visitor was dressed in a full burqa with eye slit. Her companion wore a modest abaya with parts of her face showing and everything else covered. They walked by this clothing store whose message wasn’t exactly Islamic:

None of the closeted conservatives of Shaker Heights had the temerity to display any political message outside of their homes. One of the better examples of independent thinking was this house with a “resist” sign, an upside-down American flag, and a Ukrainian flag:

A sampling of the signs in front of some other $1 million houses:

I wonder if these signs help maintain neighborhood political monoculture by discouraging anyone who disagrees with the posted messages from buying a house. This would result in an increase in happiness among residents, according to Harvard University research as covered by the New York Times: “The downside of diversity” (2007).

But a massive new study, based on detailed interviews of nearly 30,000 people across America, has concluded just the opposite. Harvard political scientist Robert Putnam — famous for “Bowling Alone,” his 2000 book on declining civic engagement — has found that the greater the diversity in a community, the fewer people vote and the less they volunteer, the less they give to charity and work on community projects. In the most diverse communities, neighbors trust one another about half as much as they do in the most homogenous settings. The study, the largest ever on civic engagement in America, found that virtually all measures of civic health are lower in more diverse settings.

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Measured cooling effect of clay tile roof

by philg

I have a Chinese Govee temperature sensor above the fiberglass insulation in a mostly unventilated attic here in Florida. During a reroof there were periods of time when the attic was covered with

  1. concrete barrel tiles over hot mop tar paper
  2. modern peel-and-stick underlayment only
  3. clay barrel tiles (a medium-dark red/brown) over the modern underlayment

Weather conditions were reasonably consistent during these three time periods, i.e., hot and sunny.

Temps in the lower part of attic (only about 4′ high; probe on top of some fiberglass insulation above the finished ceiling) went from roughly 100 degrees underneath the old intact roof (concrete tiles) to 120-130 degrees under the peel-and-stick underlayment only (white in color, but apparently not very reflective), and back down to around 100 degrees underneath the new clay tiles over underlayment. Here’s a chart from the Govee app:

In late July, maybe the hottest time of year, the temps went up to a max of 115 degrees.

Speaking of Chinese tech, here’s an idea for an awning that can automatically deploy over a parked car:

(I hope that it checks the wind forecast and the actual wind and folds itself up automatically when necessary!)

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EAA AirVenture (“Oshkosh”) Airshows 2025

by philg

The daily airshows (and two night shows) at EAA AirVenture this year were awesome as usual. The announcer pointed out that Philipp Steinbach was a remarkable exception to today’s division of labor. He’s the designer of the GB1 Gamebird. He’s the aerobatic demonstration pilot for the machine at airshows. He’s the founder and CEO of the company that builds the machine.

Minnesota governor and erstwhile Kamala Harris running mate Tim Walz contracted PTSD during his deployment to Italy. It’s fortunate that Mr. Walz wasn’t present during the Wisconsin National Guard’s demonstration of its F-35s, Black Hawks, and tankers all while blasting off artillery rounds (blanks, I hope!) every 15 seconds (the video below doesn’t capture the impact of the artillery sounds). If this is only one state’s Guard it would definitely be smarter for a foreign enemy to find a way to take over the U.S. other than via frontal assault (maybe have an army of soldiers walk across the southern border and claim asylum?).

It was great to have Randy Ball back with his MiG-17, whose afterburner is beautiful at dusk. Nathan Hammond in his Super Chipmunk was amazing in the night airshow with LEDs and fireworks coming off the windtips.

Australian Pitts pilot Paul Bennet was new and interesting:

Also in the Pitts and also new to AirVenture, the Northern Stars Aeroteam (strange choice of vertical video; trying to appeal to youngsters on their phones?):

Not new to AirVenture, but frightening to watch… Skip Stewart:

Rob Holland had been scheduled to perform, but instead there were various tributes to him from other performers. (Rob died in April due to a mechanical failure potentially attributable to a small modification made to his plane (FLYING).) Very sad.

The skies were so filled with warbird trainers that it was possible to get a decent photo even with an iPhone:

Blimps also make a decent iPhone airshow subject:

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Washington, D.C. is safe and also people from places that are safer are entitled to asylum

by philg

The righteous recently have complained that Donald Trump is trying to reduce crime in Washington, D.C. where the murder rate is only about 27 per 100,000 in the most recent statistics, down from 40 per 100,000 in 2023. That’s almost perfect safety, we are told, and therefore Trump is plainly motivated by a combination of racism (AP, below) and a grand plan to transition to full dictatorship.

The same people who say that D.C. is perfectly safe tell us that people from Colombia, Guatemala, South Sudan, Venezuela, El Salvador, Syria, Yemen, and Afghanistan are entitled to asylum in the U.S. (and four generations of welfare if they want it) because their home countries aren’t safe. What do their home countries have in common? All have murder rates lower than Washington, D.C.’s (Wikipedia).

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National Museum of the US Air Force, Hangar 4

by philg

One reaches the museum’s last hangar by walking through the “missile gallery”:

The principles of rocketry are explained and the museum notes that the New York Times ridiculed Robert Goddard in 1920 and finally apologized in 1969.

Here’s part of the Newspaper of Science’s editorial:

There’s a plaque honoring the founder of Boeing, but no mention of the fact that FDR’s federal government forced its breakup in 1934 due to its alleged monopoly power. Nor is Boeing’s subsequent career as a real estate developer mentioned in which he restricted ownership in his new neighborhoods to whites (he anticipated the Harvard University research described in 2007 by the New York Times in “The downside of diversity”: “the greater the diversity in a community, the fewer people vote and the less they volunteer, the less they give to charity and work on community projects. In the most diverse communities, neighbors trust one another about half as much as they do in the most homogenous settings. The study, the largest ever on civic engagement in America, found that virtually all measures of civic health are lower in more diverse settings.”).

The fourth building of the museum contains some impressive items, including the enormous North American XB-70 Valkyrie, Mach 3 predecessor of the B-1 bomber.

My favorite, though, was Wile E. Coyote’s space sled:

The Apollo 15 command module in which Al Worden orbited solo:

Here’s a smiling but unsuccessful competitor to the F-35:

The museum holds a collection of Air Force Ones dating back to FDR, but my favorite is Eisenhower’s:

On the way out of the museum, Outstanding Airmen of the Year are recognized:

A separate area is maintained by the National Aviation Hall of Fame and I was pleased to see Frank Robinson honored (he looks quite tall standing next to the R22!):

A substantial portion of the gift shop is dedicated to Rosie the Riveter:

There are some beautiful memorials near the parking lot set up by various units and retirees of the Air Force:

Here’s one for the Kanye West fans:

Thus concludes my coverage of the 2025 trip to the USAF museum in Dayton, Ohio. Allow at least a full day for the experience.

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National Museum of the US Air Force, Hangar 3

by philg

All of the third building is devoted to the Cold War:

Highlights of this hangar include the 10-engine B-36 “Peacemaker” and more familiar but still awesome machines such as the B-1, the SR-71, and the U-2. The primary heroes of the Cold War identified as “women” (as the term was understood by the primitive people of the 1950s and 60s):

The Air Force reminds us that “women are responsible for countless discoveries and inventions” (e.g., female engineer Kelly Johnson of Lockheed who led the P-38, U-2, and SR-71 design teams). The next hangar in the tour (building 4) has many reminders of the terrible ideas perpetrated by the inferior sex. Here’s a Canadian flying saucer, for example, and the Goblin fighter that would be dropped from the B-36 Peacemaker to fight then would return to the bomber mothership.

Here’s another “parasite” idea:

Men also came up with some terrible tilt-rotor ideas:

The Cold War hangar also showcases the contributions of mighty piston-powered aircraft. Who knew that the USAF operated the Grumman Albatross?

Imagine bragging about being an Air Force pilot and then being exposed as trundling along at 100 knots in a Cessna 195 on floats!

Speaking of feeble piston-powered machines, what about the Cessna 172? The museum describes the plane’s heroic role on September 12, 2001, shortly after the successful jihad against the World Trade Center:

The uniform and “Nikon” of a C172-flying hero:

The museum highlights the heroism of other Civil Air Patrol officers:

For folks who love engineering, a cutaway F-86 (more relevant to the Korean War, but in the Cold War hangar):

Also in the Cold War hangar, though describing a 2019 event, the Air Force highlights its refusal to follow Sharia and its prohibition on females leading worship of Allah for mixed-gender groups:

There are some outdoor exhibits as well, including this “simulator” that simulates flying by… flying.

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Meet up in New York or Boston?

by philg

Loyal Readers:

I’m headed to Manhattan this weekend and it would be fun to get together for coffee. Please email philg@mit.edu if interested. I propose Sunday, August 17 at 10:30 am. I propose that we meet near the Tenement Museum on the Lower East Side to celebrate NYC’s return to its glorious heritage of migrants housed in squalor. After coffee we can proceed to the nearby International Center of Photography and its “Great Acceleration” exhibition:

The Great Acceleration is an established term used to describe the rapid rise of human impact on our planet according to a range of measures, among them population growth, water usage, transportation, greenhouse gas emissions, resource extraction and food production, each of which Burtynsky has photographed the outward signs of at length and in great detail over the past forty years.

(And what better way to accelerate the Great Acceleration in the United States than via open borders and associated rapid population growth?)

After NYC I’ll be traveling to Boston/Cambridge. How about a Friday, August 22 noon meeting at Yume Ga Arukara, an udon place in Porter Square that is supposedly great? I’m open to alternative suggestions, but let’s try to avoid the towns in Maskachusetts that are currently drowning in garbage because elite Massachusetts Democrats refuse to pay their peasant workers a fair wage (the state is home to at least 355,000 “illegal and inadmissible migrants” so maybe the hope was that these enrichers would pick up garbage at a lower hourly rate?):

Thank you for your attention to this matter!

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Positive thought for the day: our mortgage rate is 0.425 percent

by philg

“Inflation Held Steady at 2.7% in July” (WSJ). We secured a 3.125% mortgage for our house early in 2022. Thus, the real interest rate on the money we borrowed is 0.425%. That’s a cheerful thought! We could take the money that we borrowed for the house and put it into a money market right now and get a 1% annual profit! Mark Zuckerberg could pay a mortgage for his $110 million compound for less than $40,000 per month in real terms. (Of course, it is still smarter to rent because property tax, maintenance, etc. are ruinous and the mental load of maintaining a house is better spent on productive activities.)

Here’s how state-sponsored NPR reports on the inflation that the Wall Street Journal describes as “steady”. It’s all doom and gloom thanks to the evil dictator who is taking away the state sponsorship that NPR claims they don’t get.

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National Museum of the US Air Force, Hangar 2

by philg

Continuing our tour of the USAF Museum (post 1) in Dayton, Ohio…

The second hangar is devoted to the Korean and Vietnam wars.

Walking into the hangar we are immediately reminded that it was American women who did the heavy lifting in the Vietnam War:

Turning 180 degrees we find the Korean War exhibit. The floor signs remind us that, as of July 14, 2025, we’re still fighting our War Against SARS-CoV-2:

Our brave young warriors are also protected from COVID-19 by simple non-N95 cloth masks:

The Twin Mustang was our favorite plane on exhibit in this section:

Tough to believe that these were actually used in combat!

Progressive Democrats have complained about the sometimes-too-cold and sometimes-too-warm air conditioning situation in Florida’s Alligator Alcatraz, where noble undocumented migrants spend a few weeks in the UNESCO World Heritage treasure of the Everglades awaiting deportation. USAF pilots and mechanics deployed to Korea spent a year or more in tents without A/C or reasonable heat:

Returning to Vietnam, we lost the war because of failed political leadership:

Dogs and helicopters are appropriately recognized:

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National Museum of the US Air Force, Hangar 1

by philg

We visited the National Museum of the US Air Force in Dayton, Ohio on our way to Oshkosh. This is a two-day museum if you want to read more than half of the signs and absorb the history and technical information that is being communicated (vastly more detail than at the Smithsonian Air and Space). The experience starts with words from President Nixon:

The curators are less prone to the Wright Brothers worship that pervades Dayton:

A Jenny is exhibited and also explained:

The museum seems to be run by a separate foundation so they’re perhaps not required to follow Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s orders to refrain from dividing military personnel according to victimhood group. The museum celebrates Eugene Bullard, for example, not for being a military aviator but for being the “first Black military aviator”:

The drones that have transformed today’s battlefield were initially developed in Dayton, Ohio during WWI:

Here’s the only surviving Martin B-10 1930s bomber, out of 348 built:

The other side of the first massive hangar is devoted to more familiar World War II aircraft. Visitors are reminded that it was women who fought and won the largest battles, e.g., against bias, of World War II:

Here’s a less-familiar Douglas B-18:

At least in the signage, there are few mixed feelings regarding the dropping of atomic bombs on Japan. The B-29 that devastated Nagasaki is on display:

On a more cheerful note, a PBY is painted with the rafts of the aviators rescued:

An original Me 262 is displayed along with a cutaway Jumo engine (note the Donald Trump/Elon Musk symbol on the tail):

The B-24 is named “Strawberry Bitch”. Maybe after someone got a bill for an annual on the four-engine machine?

The WWII hangar includes an original Mitsubishi Zero and this unusual Kamikaze trainer (one flight school that it would be great to fail out of!):

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