Thursday, February 9, 2017

Time Lapse Proof It Works

Update 4-5-7:

My tax accountant told me today that landowners who derive revenue from their land (such as leasing for grazing,  or even deer lease operations),  may deduct the price of the tool on their tax returns as "equipment purchased to maintain the land".  This effectively reduces the price paid for the tool.

Original Article:

My son and I spent a year photographically documenting just how to kill prickly pear cactus with my tool,  and just how startlingly effective it really is.  My son turned this into a video interspersed with some slides,  with all the information.

The actual video is sped-up footage of each of three attack sessions,  each attack followed by a time lapse movie made of weekly still photos.  The time lapse shows the debris composting away between attacks.  We did not pick up a single piece of anything.

That's me on the antique tractor pulling the tool.   It's a hydraulic tool,  with the retractable wheels.  Note that some of the cactus was man-high at the start of this;  I had to rig a push bar on my antique tractor for that.

The video link is to an item posted on "youtube".  If the video itself doesn't work for you,  copy the link and go directly to "youtube".

Link:  https://youtu.be/ONHjtWiVIDw

Video:



This site ("exrocketman") has some other articles about the development and manufacture of these farm implements.  That list is just below.  We also have a secure website that has all the information,  plus a way to buy yourself such a tool over the internet.  That site is:

   http://www.killyourcactusnow.com

Update 3-1-18:  the killyourcactusnow site has been shut down in favor of a new and improved site http://howtokillcactus.com,  with even better information,  photos,  and videos.  

Other articles this site:

Guide to all cactus tool articles on this site follows.  The yellow highlight indicates this article.

Date.....…title/content

2-9-17....Time Lapse Proof It Works
............watch cactus being crushed and composted
7-30-15......New Cactus Tool Website
...................turnkey site for info,  photos,  videos,  purchases
1-8-15……Kactus Kicker Development
………………production prototype & 1st production article
1-8-14……Kactus Kicker: Recent Progress
…………..….testing a revised wheeled design (experimental)
10-12-13..Construction of the Tool
………………building a “Kactus Kicker” (plain tool)
5-19-13…….Loading Steel Safely
……………….transport and storage of materials
12-19-12…Using the Cactus Tool or Tools
……………...how the tool is employed (applies to any model)
11-1-12….About the Kactus Kicker
..…………….painting and rigging finished tools (plain tool)
12-28-11..Latest Production Version
………………new bigger snout and barge front (plain tool)

Wednesday, February 1, 2017

Muzzling and Dismantling the EPA Will Kill Americans

A quick search for photos on the internet reveals the differences between having a clean air act and not.  In the US,  we have had a Clean Air Act since 1970.  Corporate interests may complain,  but this is the result on a worst case day in New York City:



And a worst case day in Los Angeles:



Compare that to a worst case day in Beijing,  China,  where there is nothing like our clean air act:



And this is what it looks like in Beijing on a “not too bad” day:



Pollution kills people,  that we already know to be factual.  There are no “alternative facts” to this.   There is no such thing as an “alternative fact”.  There are political lies,  however.  A lot of them.

Dismantling the EPA to “reduce the regulatory burden” on giant corporations is very bad public policy.  Muzzling the outreach of civil servants at the EPA to cover up the dismantling of the agency is even more evil!  That is the very worst-conceivable form of censorship!  It is the form that kills people.

That is not to say the EPA does not need reform,  because it most certainly does!  They would not need to outsource their scientific work to academia,  if there were more scientists than lawyers on the EPA staff.  And they really do have more lawyers than scientists,  for that outsourcing of the science was also frozen,  as was their outreach to the public on social media.  (And that of the national park staffs.) 

 This legalistic imbalance at EPA shows up in a file-a-lawsuit,  punitive approach,  without any “how-can-we-help-you-comply” helpfulness.  The regulations are byzantine at best,  and incomprehensible to most of us.  All of us can agree that is a bad thing.

But on balance,  not killing people with pollution is more important.  The Trump administration attack on the EPA is an evil that will kill Americans.