Why did the left front wheel bearings blow?
While dealing with the breakdown crisis last week, I heard from EdB and HogsbreathSS by phone. (“I’ll call you back”)When the wheel bearings failed, the wheel wobble ate the L/F brake (calipers then scored the disk), and I had to figure out a tow and a ride. Given that I live a LONG WAY from a tow truck, there had to be a way to arrange for a friends and family discount…and there was. Always carry cash.
Conventional wisdom holds that front wheel bearings don’t disintegrate for no reason—except that there is a reason. The rig is 19 years old. I run weighty Walker Evans beadlock wheels and 35″ tires, which are much heavier than OEM, and then I run it over big rocks. I replaced the R/F wheel bearings when they failed near Young, AZ, about three years ago—except they didn’t go 100%. I caught the problem before it got that bad.
A 2007 Toyota FJC with 90K miles, about half of which was on dirt roads or no roads at all, the custom swing arm that holds the spare on the back is there because the tire (OEM mounts to the rear door) was pulling the rear door from the hinges—yeah, heavy. The rig has a lot of custom fabrication. The canoe carrier is my most recent weld-er-up improvement. I’ve had the Savage River Blackhawk canoe for a few years now. It’s customized with extra Kevlar layers on the bottom to provide more protection against rocks.
Lessons learned? None. Stuff will break when you leave hardball roads and take the road less traveled. It’s just a matter of when and how you’ll extricate yourself from that mess when it sinks to the axels in mud or — whatever.
Wetbacks
In my travels to Kurdistan, my Kurdish security service [Asayîş or Asayish (Kurdish: ئاسایش)] associates continually pointed out Syrians who swam the Tigris to get into the KRG (Kurdish Regional Governance Area). They said that they called the illegally immigrating Syrians – who they equated to human lice – “wetbacks.” Because they had to swim the river. Interesting, isn’t it?
Closer to home, since the Trumpkrieg™ started on January 20th, the Democrats have taken the short end of one 80/20 issue after another, but none more important than the issue of illegal immigration. They’ve made so many illogical, specious arguments on the topic that I’ve found myself muttering more about this issue than others. The two most annoying leftist immigration fallacies are acting as if there is no difference between legal and illegal immigration and acting as if immigrating to America in the 18th century was just like immigrating here recently or today.
The first point is too obvious to require much debunking. To equate immigrating legally to doing so illegally is as stupid as equating having a loving relationship with your spouse to rape. And yet, if you were to watch 8 hours of MSNBC or CNN each day – God help you – you would see dozens of boneheads saying, “Except for Native Americans, all Americans are descendants of immigrants!” Yes, Rachel Maddow. But you can also say, “Thousands of people go into banks every week, and they leave with money.” But most go in with a photo ID and leave with money from their accounts. Some of them go in with pistols and ski masks and leave with other people’s money.
That’s different!
The second point relies on the listener being ignorant of history, which—conveniently for the leftists—most people who went to leftist-run public schools are. However, just like illegal immigration is very different from legal immigration, immigrating to the US before around 1850 was very different from coming in the last hundred years or so. That earlier period was marked by a largely empty continent offering immigrants more danger and challenges than tempting opportunities.
Yes, I said “a largely empty continent.” Before you can mention the native Lizzie Warrens living here, estimates show that around 4-7 million Indians lived in today’s US and Canada around 1492. That comes out to between 2 and 4 humans per square mile. And that’s before epidemics thinned that number considerably by the time Europeans got a toehold on the eastern seaboard.
Back then, there was very little government and no social safety net. Nor even any literal safety nets, for that matter. (Nor seat belts, “no smoking” signs, or labels on the top of a ladder warning that you shouldn’t use it as a step). The fledgling nation needed all of the hearty pioneers with grit, ambition, and work ethic that it could get. So, it broadly welcomed all comers. And when many of them suffered gruesome deaths – from scalping-involved Warren-cide, being thrown from seatbelt-less saddles in multi-horse collisions, or neck-breaking falls from the top steps of ladders – the rest of the citizenry just went about their business.
Because immigrating wasn’t for whiny wusses.
The situation was very different by the 20th century, especially with governmental and other financial support growth. The country could still benefit from hard-working immigrants, but with many areas getting more crowded and the number of would-be immigrants exploding – not to mention the powerful draw of ever-more-generous welfare programs, and newcomers who no longer wanted to assimilate – the risk-reward ratio of large-scale immigration shifted toward more caution, limits and careful vetting.
Tracking the amount of legislation on the topic during the 19th century can reveal the nation’s evolving thinking about immigration.
The Steerage Act of 1819 required that arriving boats have a manifest of immigrants on board and that those aliens be inspected and given a medical exam before even preliminarily being allowed entry. Multiple acts in the 1870s and 1880s banned entry to forced laborers, prostitutes, and Chinese people.
The two significant laws regulating immigration in that century – the Immigration Acts of 1882 and 1891, respectively – enacted increasingly more stringent restrictions on would-be immigrants.
Consider the first paragraph of the Immigration Act of 1891:
“The following classes of aliens shall be excluded from admission into the United States, in according with the existing acts regulating immigration other than those concerning Chinese laborers: All idiots, insane persons, paupers or persons likely to become a public charge, persons suffering from a loathsome or a dangerous contagious disease, persons who have been convicted of a felony or other infamous crime or misdemeanor involving moral turpitude, polygamists, and also any person whose ticket or passages if paid for with money of another or who is assisted by others to come.”
Let’s break that down. The list starts and ends with what I think are less relevant points. I can only guess that the concern about Chinese laborers arose from fear that they would make the rest of us look lazy in comparison, and possibly that they would screw up the grading curve in all of our classes?
The part at the end about immigrants whose passage is paid for by others seems to depend on the context. We should probably consider them if they had family members or solid citizens paying their way in. But if some shadowy character funded them – likely named “Soros” – send them packing. Consider the middle of that passage, which is so relevant that it could have been ripped from today’s headlines. It lists five groups of people – with old-fashioned descriptions that can be easily translated to their modern equivalents – who should not be allowed into the US:
1. Stupid people – “Idiot” later had a specific, IQ-defined meaning, but the modern “stupid” is a suitable umbrella term.
Fun fact: Psychologists once classified those with an IQ between 0-25 as “idiots,” those between 26-50 as “imbeciles,” and those between 51-70 as “morons.” Those groupings are still relevant today, especially if you are trying to analyze members of congress, or answer questions such as, “Is Hank Johnson a low-range or mid-range idiot?” or “Is AOC capable of achieving imbecility?” or “Have Jasmine Crockett’s remarks about the Texas governor dropped her from moron status to idiocy, or just to imbecility with a dusting of sociopathy?”
2. The mentally ill. (See: sufferers of gender dysmorphia or auto-gynophilia; watchers of CNN, or The View; Robert DeNiro)
3. Welfare recipients and those willing to go on the dole. “Pauper” can mean “broke” – a temporary state that many (even hilarious geniuses) of us have experienced. A broke person may even take welfare for a very short time. But “a public charge” is someone who can’t or won’t support himself, and “likely to become a public charge” is a standard fixture in modern America: a habitual and/or multi-generational welfare recipient.
4. Health risks. Remember when COVID was so threatening that American citizens couldn’t leave their houses…but millions of unvetted third-worlders with hacking coughs were waved through the border like leftist celebrities being welcomed to Pedo Island by Jeffrey Epstein? And who can read “loathsome, contagious disease” and not think of the plague, TB, or the woke mind virus?
5. Criminals. These are as commonplace today as in the past. If you aren’t familiar with “moral turpitude,” think “Hunter Biden.” And we don’t have many polygamists (i.e., married to more than one person at a time) anymore, having replaced them with never-married baby mommas and deadbeat dads.
Look at that list again, and apply it to a sane immigration policy in the future.
Denying entry to group 4 (the health risks) should be uncontroversial to even the far-leftists. If you’re still wearing a covid mask in 2025 and looking forward to your 13th covid booster… zip it, Karen!
Groups 1 and 2 – the stupid and the insane – make up at least a significant plurality if not an outright majority of our current Congress. And we don’t need any more of those.
And groups 3 and 5 – welfare recipients and criminals – make up the lion’s share of the Democratic base. So that’s a hard pass.
***
Hillary is pushing 80 years of age, and if we’re going to lock her up
before she cashes in the chips, we’d better get on with it. Let her barf up what she knows
in exchange for not being housed in a prison cell with Big Mike Obama.
***
Climate Change
Mediterranean Sea 6 Million Years Ago
***
Bullet Points:
** USAID – The COVID story epitomizes this systemic manipulation. What began as a public health crisis transformed into a global experiment in narrative control – demonstrating how rapidly populations could be reshaped through coordinated messaging, institutional authority, and weaponized fear. The pandemic wasn’t just about a virus; it was a proof of concept for how comprehensively human cognition could be engineered – a single node revealing the true scope and ambition of discourse manipulation.
Think about the cycle: American taxpayers unknowingly funded the crisis itself – then paid again to be deceived about it. They paid for the development of gain-of-function research, then paid again for the messaging that would convince them to accept masks, lockdowns, and experimental interventions. The system is so confident in its psychological control that it no longer hides the evidence.”
** USAID paid $84 million to the Clinton Health Initiative. It’s not hard to imagine where that money ended up.
** The Matrix is art imitating life. Some people want to stay awake, while others prefer to stay asleep. One pill makes you larger. One pill makes you small. The pills that mother gives you don’t do anything at all. Ask Alice. And beware the Jabberwocky while you’re at it.
** Prince Harry’s “charity” for Africa, which he just resigned from, received $50 million from USAID in 2024. The African doctor who heads it, who’s accused him of bullying her and trying to oust her, has started asking where the money went. Maybe Harry’s Afro-American/mulatto wife knows how she spent the money?
** Seattle is circling the drain…and they’re blaming…Pres. Trump. Of course, you can’t take responsibility for businesses and the middle class fleeing the urban rot.
***
***
Flouride
Utah has become the first state in the nation to ban the addition of fluoride to public drinking water. Gov. Spencer Cox signed the bill into law Thursday night, and the ban takes effect May 7.
Rep. Stephanie Gricius, who sponsored the bill, called the move a victory for medical freedom.
“The proper role of government is to provide safe, clean drinking water, not mass medicate the public. While we have banned it from being added to our water systems, we have also increased access to fluoride tablets through the pharmacies so any Utahn who wishes to take it may. But it will now be a decision each individual can make for themselves.”
Rep. Stephanie Gricius
A federal judge recently sided with critics of water fluoridation in a lawsuit brought by the Fluoride Action Network (FAN), ruling that water fluoridation at current levels poses an “unreasonable risk” to children’s health. Despite mounting scientific evidence, the suit targeted the Environmental Protection Agency for failing to regulate the chemical.
The law also grants pharmacists new authority to prescribe fluoride supplement pills—an authority previously limited to dentists and physicians.
***
Advantage?
Stephanie Turner is the collegiate fencer who took a knee and refused to compete against a dude who’d fenced as a man just the year prior and was kicked from the tournament.
One of these people in the image is the man who likely destroyed Stephanie Turner’s fencing career so that he could cheat against women.
The problem is that it’s impossible to tell which one is which because there is literally no difference or physical advantage.
***
Identify the Aircraft
1
Purpose-built late-war Japanese aircraft.
2
2,385 built
3
205 built – served at the Battle of Midway during June 1942, where eight of them were operational.
Parting Shot
End
Identify the Aircraft:
1. Nakajima Ki-115
2. Mitsubishi Ki-51Sonia
3. Yokosuka B4Y Jean
fast>>>>>>>>!
A.I. never sleeps.
All I want is for Surly to put in a good word for me when SkyNet goes active and starts sending out terminator machines.
LL … Unlikely Surly will put in a good word. But he’ll ID what Skynet made that’s trying to kill you and text you a description complete with photo of it following you… in real time.
(From Predator) “If it bleeds, we can kill it.”
😂
Cash is always a good idea.
Remote breakdowns are not fun. On a previous 4wd ute I had the gearbox fail about 300 miles from home and just before I left the main road to head 80 miles into a forest hunting. This was just over six years back. Vehicle had about 300k miles on it then. Ran it for about 12 years.
Official quote was nearly $6000 for tow truck. My wife found a retired guy who used a second hand F250 with 16 foot trailer as his side job. Cost about $750 cash.
90k miles is not that many on a Landcruiser. I have 130k on my Nissan Navara (diesel engine) and expect to get to 250k before I sell it.
Yes, it’s almost “new” at 90K miles. I’ve babied it despite using it for its intended purpose. I paid $200 for the tow.
Geez LL, just be glad it wasn’t a Cybertruck…for that kind of money an anarchist…err, peaceful protester…would have lit it on fire for you and you could have collected the insurance money.
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Kidding aside, glad you got it towed and hopefully repairs aren’t too insane. But….why does it seem these things always happen the furthest from home? This one is worse than an EdB boating accident. Out plowing after work…decided at the last second to do the upper section of road. Ahh…only take a few minutes and I can grab dinner. Yeah. That. Murphy strikes again. Top of road a mile out near the turn around hit a sloped frozen drift section, pushed the plow and 2500 TD…so not light…to the right j-u-s-t enough to catch the bar ditch road edge that led to a depression. Plow drags the whole rig into the depression then proceeds to sink into that half frozen slop and mud, stopped at a 45 degree sideways tilt, half on solid road half in ditch. What the hay!? Hike back to the house, grab the old Commanche, jack blocks, shovel, and all manner of stuff. Took the plow off, start jacking and the boards are sinking…five layers deep until they hit frozen. Then to beat all, the Dodge issued jack (for a 2500 no less) strips out and quits working. Huh?! Hike back to the house and grab the mondo jack and more blocks. Snowing hard now so working away like an idiot, Carhartts are covered in frozen mud. Front-back-front-back…finally get it level enough and blocked to drive out, then, 5 hours later, shuttle both vehicle home, a 100 yards at a pop.
A 2 second decision turned into five hours of exhaustion and mess. Ate the entire pizza and two bowls of soup that night after using up all the hot water trying to get warm. We all have stories…but that’s a sign of living well.
I use a hi-lift jack with a Wabbit attachment. Mine is custom but they have them for sale and they attach to your rock slider instead of the frame. https://www.amazon.com/ZORASEN-Slider-Adapter-Locking-Jacks
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Without the adapter the hi-lift inevitably slips and smashes into the side of your rig. Or it slips onto you. So the hi-lift is only recommended if you do that with a wide after-market base as well. For mud, I use an air jack or X-Jack as they’re marketed. They use the vehicle’s exhaust to inflate and they work very well in scenarios such as the one you cited. Better than looking for “bottom”. You had a frozen base to work with but sometimes in a swamp the bottom is a long way down.
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When Toyota introduced the FJC, they had two demonstration teams (Toyota Trail Teams) – East Coast/West Coast. I made friends with them and did expedition style runs with them. Between four rigs, they had everything short of an engine to replace damaged parts on the trail. I have many photos and lifelong friendships from those days. There were two of us (non-trail teams) who were invited to do the runs and showcase on film what the rigs would do.
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There are two schools – solid front axle (Jeep, Land Rover, etc.) and independent front suspension (IFS) types. You can modify an IFS with a front locker, which imitates a solid front axle. The IFS is better (IMHO) for Southwestern US driving because it performs much better in sand. Toyota also added traction control systems to the IFS (A-Track), which made it even better. I don’t hate solid front axles and I’m not anti-Rubicon. The Toyota has several advantages over the Jeeps that they’re turning out these days.
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I have not driven the new Broncos. The Bronco/Raptor looks interesting to me. When Ford designed the F-150 Raptor, they did many things right. It’s just too expensive to take out and romp in. That said, I’ve had my Raptor in some extreme situations and there is always the question of whether it’s the rig or the driver that makes the difference. I think it’s both. I’ve been in some horrible terrain in Arizona in company with some exceptionally capable rock buggies where they broke down and needed to be recovered. I did and took photos. Then they needed to rescue me. I took photos of that too. I would love to build a chromoly DOM frame rock buggy with a balanced LS engine and so forth, but I’ve never had $100K in cash to drop on something like that. I have a friend who works in the Permion Oil Patch (TX) who is doing some really solid work on electric motors (in the hubs) with a diesel to charge them in 1-ton frames. He’s offered to build one for me. He’s quitting the patch to do it full-time, so you may see me driving one.
PS – I still have boxes of Trail Team Toyota swag in my garage. I use most of it because it’s practical.
Thing was…limited slip. Yeah, it does. Stock long bed 2500 with a stick (aka Millennial Theft Device), even in 4wd the tires on solid never spun when needed even after a little back and forth to try and get them to switch, only those in the slop spun. Talk about frustrating. Moreso is the Liberty…MrsPaulM’s slightly modified Jeep 07′, last of the cool body style and she has do-dads on it. No lift but bigger wheels/tires…gotta flatten the inner fender weld flange, Renegade light rack, roof rack, etc. Great “chick” car. One day the motor blew itself up 2 miles from the house at 176K miles, looked around at others, bought a new motor instead. This traction control is useless when in snow, turn it off…because she can drive in the snow…and it’s worse, eve in 4wd.
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Your Texas friend…similar to a land scraper, electric at the wheels, diesel gen-set to run the thing. Great concept.
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Air bags…need to get a couple of those…forgot about them. Slide under, pump up…less bending over and easier on the knees.
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That ‘Raptor’ exchange the other day when researching…saw the Bronco Raptor…pretty cool version (otherwise, no buyee). But for that kind of cash then taking a new one out on trail…better to buy something older and spend half on a rebuild/upgrades.
I recently bought an air bag floor jack.
I have five (don’t ask) hydraulic floor jacks that may never be used again.
“electric at the wheels, diesel gen-set to run the thing”. General Motors has been doing that since 1939.
Yes, but not in a rock buggy.
I’m interested in the terabytes of information deleted, and now recovered. Does it reveal a paper trail of the huge amounts of tax dollars being funneled into the illegals that flooded into the United States, who was involved, and the obvious crimes committed? At best, some high officials will find prison life their new experience. We’ll see, but even the leverage of the information will be a powerful tool. I’ll enjoy watching some people squirm.
I have no idea what the information will reveal, but the cartels kicked back to the democrat party through NGOs. Illegal immigration was far more profitable than drug smuggling and distribution.
I have 2 people with rollbacks in my contacts list, And cash like you said. Neither one take bitcoins or PayPal. I have always prided myself on figuring out a way to get back home, but if a lower A arm breaks you just have to suck it up and call.
I replaced my OEM rear lower control arms with BEEFY billet aluminium control arms with teflon skids on the bottom.
As a former maintenance manager, may I suggest a preventive maintenance program?
An inspection and replacement of critical suspension components every, say, 10 years? :)
I did that with my son-in-law who is a better wrench than I am – maybe six or seven months ago. We didn’t see a problem. A slight shim developed but I attributed that to the large tires being slightly out of balance, then bang.
I feelz yer painz. My 2010 Chebby 4WD pick-up also ate the left front wheel bearing at 160K about a month ago. Thank God we were in Wichita when it decided to go inverted. In my younger days, I replaced four front wheel bearings in an FJ40 in about two years because we’d go out trying to get our rigs stuck in various inconveniences and streams and that takes a toll. One memorable occasion, we had two FJ40’s and a half-ton short-wide pickup stuck on the same gravel bar. Get one out and go to working on the next but it was so loose they’d just keep getting buried. Only one winch between the three of us, generally on the wrong end. Fun times. Nothing like muskeg outside Fort Wainwright, though. That stuff really sucked (literally).
I need a fully equipped Unimog, WWW. Winches on all four sides.
“acts regulating immigration other than those concerning Chinese laborers”
“screw up the grading curve”
Hah! I’m sure that was the reason. But there were a LOT of laws and Acts and so forth regulating Chinese immigration. I’m bad at the grievance and victimhood schtick so I don’t know much about those. (My yerrow blothas done suffa’d. Ai ya, always with the anti-Sinotism. Etc etc etc.)
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On a flight. Or rather about to be. Pulling back from gate. The jetbridge was decorated with posters showing happy (or contentedly sleeping) passengers. Out of 20 or so persons depicted there was maybe one person of white European ancestry. What are you telling us, Delta? Is flipping planes not enough? On the plus side, seatmate is an uncommonly attractive young woman with waist-length blonde hair. Good for her. But it’s a fair amount of work and I don’t miss the waist (or butt) length hair I had for pretty much two decades all told.
I had a run of wonderful airplane karma a few years ago. In one case, a “Barbie model” on her way to do a photo shoot boarded with me and ended up sitting next to me. She said, “The flight attendant (male) thinks I’m your girlfriend – do you mind if I play along?” It made the flight fun. Then I lost my mojo. On a flight from SLC to Long Beach, riding on a puddle jumper (full flight), I was seated in the cramped Bombardier/Canadair next to a huge and soft female whose flesh partially enveloped my arm, shoulder, and upper torso—Uber gross. I learned not to take airplane karma lightly.
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Embrace your victim status. No airline is as woke as Delta, which is a shame. I used to fly them all the time. Now, I avoid Delta and the all-woke DEI flight crews when I am able.
A reasonable question about Fluoride that I don’t see being asked is just how effective it is. I’ve never heard anyone say that if they fluoridate a water supply that cavities in kids go to zero, and I still see commercials selling things for for kids’ dental health, so my guess is that any improvement is marginal. Say a few percent, but I’ve never heard that it cuts cavities in a population even 50%. Maybe they talk about this in dental colleges?
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That means fluoride is a perfect place for a cost vs. benefit analysis. If some amount of fluoride “injuries” comes with putting it in the water, what else could we do? The only other buzz word I know is there are toothpastes that use hydroxyapatite to harden the enamel on teeth. The chatter online is that fluoride reduces cavities some amount and hydroxyapatite doesn’t reduce cavities as much as much as fluoride, but harms fewer people. Does fluoridation work or matter for adults? If no adults are helped but are only injured, that’s worse than if it’s completely irrelevant for adults.
I don’t know, Sig. The issue came up on the blog a few months ago, and Boron (a retired dentist) weighed in. I use fluoride toothpaste and haven’t died (yet). That may be enough. Or maybe it’s a scam. I’m on well water now, and it’s tested, and nothing needs to be added, so it’s pure from the rocks. In the past, when I lived in cities, I’m sure that they added fluoride. As with so many things, experts are on both sides of the issue. I have all my own teeth and I’m getting old so it either worked for me or genes are the answer or the fact that I am somewhat obsessed with dental care is the reason. Where is the oprant variable?
“Sensodyne toothpastes are specifically designed to address tooth sensitivity, and while fluoride is a key ingredient for overall dental health, it’s also important to note that Sensodyne’s active ingredients, like stannous fluoride, are also effective tooth desensitizers. ”
I use a prescription toothpaste that has extra stannous fluoride for the purpose of desensitizing exposed tooth due to receding gums.
Fluoride is very, um, ineffective for toofeses. The whole control system when it was first tested was screwed up because the ‘control’ cities got money to go ahead and fluoridate their waters.
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And there are lots of fluoride injuries. Check the rise of hypothyroidism, which tracks with the introduction of fluoride into municipal water systems. Why? Well, you use fluoride to slow or kill hyperactive thyroids. So what does years of exposure do to normal thyroids? Survey says, it kills them.
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Fluoride is one of those weird things. Tested was one type of fluoride, which showed… not much changes. What’s used in our water systems is basically chemical waste hiding as ‘fluoride.’
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Wife is hypothyroid. Smart woman did lots of research as to why and it all tracks back to municipal water systems. Getting rid of fluoride is a good thing.
Ask and use ONLY Timkin Bearings
Still Made in USA
Still the best.
I replaced them with OEM/Koyo. Timkens made in Japan are usually rebranded Koyo. I’ve also had very good luck with SKF in the past.
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The early FJCs had a softer ring and pinion (which I still have). I think Toyota went to a harder temper in 2009, and some of them failed. The failures are usually caused by drivers “hopping” the rear end over rocks or obstacles. My rig is heavy. Heavy plates, an aux 18.5 ga tank in front of the rear bumper, and so forth. I use superheavy coils in the back and Icon shocks (heavy coils in the front) since OEM is insufficient to compensate for my modifications. I also have steel bumpers front and back which add weight. Because I’ve made those mods, I know the limitations. In the past on my Chevy 3/4 ton I blew the rear drive shaft and had to disconnect it and come home on the front in 4×4 but the third member held up. I mention this because it’s difficult to prevent failure just through maintenance. A lot has to do with how you drive the rig and how insane you go with welderup mods.
An early study, done years past, showed that kids with mottled brown teeth (as a result of) drinking high fluoride water, had a far lower caries index than children who had a “normal” fluoride content in their water – – – therefore it was decided by TPTB that all children should have the benefits of fluoride.
The fluoride ion in water is useful in converting hydroxyapatite of the hard (mineral) structure of tooth and bone only when such is under development: such as in the placenta and (perhaps) the first year or so of life; after which it may convert only the first micromillameter layer of enamel to fluorapatite,
or so I remember from my studies between ’62-’66. As am endodontist I had only a little to some interest following this line of research
As a practicing endodontist, I noticed no difference in how rapidly the instruments I used dulled (the hardness of the dentin).
My (pregnant mother lived (in NYC) and I grew up during a period when no fluoride was added (not to mention that I had a terrible sweet tooth) – with the usual results. My kids had the same attitude towards dental hygiene (and a terrible sweet tooth as well: must be genetic) as I did, yet, they and their (pregnant) mother lived during the fluoride-added-to-public-water-supply period and their dentist can’t make a living off them (or their friends).
The only questions I have: does the addition of fluoride in micro quantities to the public water supply have other deleterious results? Does/should “public health” include the addition of various and sundry materials to the public’s water supply, particularly when it has been shown that fluoride, in particular, can only affect tooth structure during tooth formation in the placenta?
I apologize for being so long-winded
Thanks Boron. It’s helpful.
That was great…no apology needed.
I was always skeptical of water supply additives by government officials (eg. Covid/Vax proves the point that trust needs to be MORE earned from these people), therefore do not think our water supply should be messed with. Same as that asinine forced “desegregation busing” from good school districts – paid thru higher property taxes – to lesser schools, without parents getting a say. But only if it helps one person…sorry, should not happen. Been on a well for 40 years, hard granite so great water. Municipal water should be…water. But as trust has eroded to nothing, there’s no telling what these fools would decide to put in it after adopting some PhD’s “grant based study”.
X2 – You need water treatment in cities. There’s no way around it. I join PaulM in remaining a skeptic now that water treatment is handled by the woke.
Municipal water systems should be filtered and clorinated. That’s it. No other treatment, maybe to soften, but seriously.
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And waste water plants should produce clean enough water it could be drunk safely.
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Other than that, there should be no more additions to the water mixture.
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Now, I have lived on an island that had an old school desalination system to back up the water recovered off of the runway. The runway water was well filtered and reasonably tasty. The desalinated water sucked and had a funky flavor to it. But it was safe, for values of safe.
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Then we came back to America. The water provided to the barrier islands from the Melbourne municipal water system (Brevard County, FL) was actually cleaner than the stuff on the mainland, as the stuff growing in the pipes did a reasonable job of filtering. No, not joking. But in comparison to that desalinated crap from Kwaj, the chunky Melbourne water was sweet mountain water. You could actually drink it from the tap. Just don’t pay attention to all the floaters. Then again, we thought sulfer water was tasty.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J67wKhddWu4&t=5s
Words to live (and die) by. EOP/POE.
Your last question is where I’m coming from. The only benefit of fluoridation appears to be while the person is still in utero, so any effect on older kids through senior citizens is a bad cost. My weak spot is that I’ve seen so many misuses of statistics – even more than the epic number I’ve made – that I don’t trust medical studies anymore. WM Briggs (calls himself “statistician to the stars!” https://www.wmbriggs.com/ ) refers to epidemiology as the science based entirely on bad statistics. AFAICT, that’s only a slight exaggeration. I wouldn’t trust any study on fluoride in the water supply without randomized controlled trials, but that’s just not happening. Take a big group of kids, thousands of ’em, yes – starting in utero – and study them for life. In a hundred years we’ll know. In addition to being criminally unethical, it’s also insanely expensive. Let’s just say that ain’t happening.
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On the other side, the anti-fluoride crowd is apparently upset because some systems use fluorosilicic acid (also called hydrofluorosilicic acid) to generate the 1 to 2 ppm of fluoride ion in water. Once that acid reacts to release the fluoride ion, the acid no longer exists, so there’s literally nothing there to complain about.
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I had my first cavity when I was 28. I remember telling my dentist “in the last 28 years, Kodak produced more defective pieces of x-ray film than I’ve had cavities so take a look before you do the novacaine and take out the drill.” He agreed.
I am not, repeat not, being paid by Kodak. I never had a problem (until the onset of the far grainier, faster films, thereby allowing less exposure to those horrible, horrible X-rays produced by that frightening-looking [ugly shade of] green machine in your dentist’s office) with dental X-ray film.
It was imperative that I, as an endodontist, correctly read the position of the end of a stainless steel endodontic file (I don’t remember the numbers precisely, but as I remember it was less than half the diameter of a blond human hair) in relation to the apical foramen – and Kodak (the older films) never failed me. I retired prior to the advent of the “computerized X-ray films” – color me unimpressed (with both quality and cost, which has to be passed on to the patient).
Kodak’s dental film had an excellent reputation – and with good reason, but problems typically arose with:
1. the quality of the machine producing the X-ray beam (GE, for a very long time made an excellent, well-shielded machine),
2. the angle at which the dentist (or his assistant) placed the machine in relation to the plane of the film in the mouth (the beam had to be at a right angles to the film),
3. any motion of the patient, the machine, or the film,
4. various problems arising during the development of the film, the most obvious and common being extraneous light and elderly development fluid.
I hated the dental x-ray films as my overly sensitive gag reflex caused me to have problems keeping them in my mouth. It was tough mental work but I could overcome the problem.
Ok, one more welderup rant, and then I’ll shut up. I can go on forever with this topic because I am passionate about going where others fear to tread. There was an “Off Road Specialist Company” that came out with “indestructable tie rod ends.” They offered them to me free if I’d review them. I have an off-road reputation through a pseudonym I don’t use on this blog. I responded that tie rod ends are supposed to be the point of failure. They’re supposed to bend first. If they don’t fail, then the rods fail and then the rack and pinion fails or gets sloppy. When you depart from OEM in any rig, you almost always exceed design specifications for other parts in the chain. Knowing that and understanding cause and effect is critical when modifying your rig. There are countless examples of people (whom I call squirrels) who do things to increase off-road/off-trail performance and end up bending their trucks.
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I started modifying and driving a built rig when I was fifteen years old. I had an old 1956 International Travelall, designed by International to be indestructible in the way that a Dodge Powerwagon (the old ones) had been. They were farm implements, intended for farmers improved through operational experience during WW2. They were easy to fix if they broke down, unlike modern vehicles, which require 40 computers to operate properly (My Honda Passport has something like 40 computers on it, and while I like the Passport a lot, it’s an expert-friendly system). My point here is that I’ve driven over a lot of horrible terrain and so much of doing well in it is a combination of knowing your vehicle and understanding what it can and can’t do.
Change one thing, you change ’em all. Maybe not, but don’t bet against it. Any competent manufacturer knows this………
I spent a year working for the Nevada Auto Testing Center and know a bunch of folks who’ve spent time working there as well. Many vehicles there that should have not broken, broke. Some left the driver stranded, some were very expensive and embarrassing. It was a huge learning experience, and I nearly had a t-shirt printed that would have said “Don’t Lase Me Bro”. Something to do with target identification testing of “systems”.
There were other trucks tested that I’d love to have obtained, and they looked like normal trucks. But weren’t. Not available at any price.
That being said, after seeing the range of military and civilian vehicles tested and the feedback on test articles, and vehicles that survived the daily grind to the Test Center, I recently acquired a 2021 Chevrolet Colorado ZR2 Bison edition, 2.8L Duramax diesel, with some additional accessories. One huge consideration was the development of the Infantry Squad Vehicle (ISV) using about 90% of the basic ZR2. I recently did an off-road race “Poker Run” – think pre-run with limited max speed and no passing allowed, and was pretty amazed at the truck’s capabilities. It’s not a side-by-side/UTV, nor a purpose-built off-road-only race truck, but I was very pleased with how it held up. Time will tell…
Personally, I’ve not (yet) had complete failure off-road, but have assisted several, and they SUCK big-time. Glad you got out of there with minimal pain.
Good luck with the FJ!
Poker runs don’t require you to pass anyone. It’s a civilized way to race and have fun.
See the countryside, pre-run the course. And yes, have a great time! Got event one this weekend in Yerington, a benefit run. I’m probably going to be staged at a stop, handing out cards. And standing by if anyone has problems.
Thanks for ranting, and ” going where others fear to tread” verbally v.m. and real life adventures!
My real life memory relating to the subject stays on the pavement. 80’s crewcab 4×4 power wagon. Rounding a corner, the inside rear tire, wheel and axle shaft broke loose and passed me up as I pulled over on the shoulder.
According to my “aged” memory I can’t remember how or where the repairs / tow occurred. I’m visual and distinctly able to i.d. the corner and know it was on my way to work in the madrugal.
Are there methods of restoring our lost memories?
Sidebar: MrsPaulM’s veterinary CE this year for her Wyoming license is in Dubois (an easy hop for us)…at the National Museum of Military Vehicles, thinking for $200 extra I’ll go and look around. Website looks interesting. Anyone been there?
AOC & IQ – one meme points out that if her IQ dropped a few more points, she’d have to be watered twice a week.
Why is the UK investigating the poor princes’ trust, did someone there not get their cut of the USAID fraud? Why didn’t any Prince of the Realm open a trust to aid the girls of Rotherham?
While not addressing bearing issues, I’ve had good results with this product.
https://centramatic.com/?srsltid=AfmBOooH5nisoA3wZ8CG-h4STBI_moLRkGewlhTRxNFc0dlbkDkLOg-R
These improve both tire life and driving on older Fords with Twin I-beam front suspensions.
I’ve never used them in serious off road driving. They do help keeping brake dust off rims and mud off calipers.
A cousin does hot shot with a Ram 2500 and 42′ gooseneck trailer. He uses them on all four wheels on his truck and all wheels on his trailer.
I worked at a front end shop for a few years, the owner, Buster had a theory on why one front wheel bearing would go out. A bad ground.
He thought that when the grounds on the vehicle weren’t “right” the static electricity would go looking for a way to ground and would find it thru a front wheel bearing and that, in time, would cause the bearing to go bad long before it’s partner on the other side of the vehicle.
I left that job in 2003 but as I’m writing this I’m thinking of the ground strap from the transmission to the frame…
I’ll take a look. Thanks.
Mediterranean Sea 6 Million Years Ago…
It would have been something to see , that day when the Atlantic ocean broke through and started filling in the Mediterranean!
If you look at the sonar charts, you can see the geology and the deep trench that the waterfall gouged over many thousands of years.
I posit that Noah and the Great Flood were based on legends of the collapse of that giant earth and rock dam at the Straits of Gibraltar, thereby flooding the Mediterranean in a catastrophic event of, literally, Biblical proportions. Mount Ararat, Armenian, the Ark’s resting place, is at the other end of the Med.
There was a similar event in the Black Sea. A catastrophic inflow of Mediterranean seawater into the Black Sea freshwater lake occurred around 5600 BC. The gradiation of salt water and fresh water remains in the Black Sea.
https://youtu.be/QCcWzLAcv4o?si=emry6buMo0aZrJuE
This could be my theme song from years past. On our fire department rescue truck we have a receiver hitch winch, and mounted a receiver going all 4 directions. Just move the winch to the receiver that’s pointing the direction that works the best for that particular application.
And you can put the change from sensible immigration rules to widespread acceptance of the bottom feeders of the world on that fat corpulant ‘Lion of the Senate’ Teddy Kennedy.
TB took me out for almost two years. People ask me ‘where did you contract it’ and I have to explain that it has a LONG incubation period. But I have my suspicions. On a city bus, being the only white English speaker. My Spanish is pretty good, but more and more I’m hearing sub-Saharan languages. This is not a good thing. My apartment complex harbors speakers of at least 15 different languages, which of course makes management impossible. The kids there are okay, fluent in Spanish, with crude English, but otherwise, bring an interpreter. It’s a sad thing.
TB is still a thing in many parts of the world; it’s very contagious. A guy I work with brought his wife, who is Japanese, to a work function – like a decade or more ago. She started coughing, and some blood came up – a noticeable amount. I asked him what was wrong. He said, “She has TB.”