I don't worry about the economy because I don't understand it.

I left the house on my bike a little after 7 a.m. and it was already 80 degrees. When I got back 20 miles later it was 85 and on its way to today's high of 105. Summer is here.

After cleaning up I spent the rest of the morning working toward this:

Getting the engine separated from the transmission wasn't supposed to take that long. The book calls it a 20 minute job. That may be true if you don't have to dig through 50 years of crusty mud and grease just to find the bolts, and if the heater boxes aren't rusted in place and if you own the $150 jack and the $40 engine dolly.

I'll put it on an engine stand but I've had to order an adapter designed specifically for VW engines. Then I can get to work on....
I am in WAY over my head. I have never torn down an engine or worked on a clutch, but I've just crossed the Rubicon and there's no turning back.



OK, watch this 20-second video. It demonstrates the "SawStop," a device that senses moisture and instantly stops a table saw blade before it can slice off a finger. Here the hot dog acts like the finger. If you Google "saw stop" you can watch a longer version of the video on their website that's even more impressive and read about the technology that makes it possible.

Pretty cool, huh?!

On my ride this morning I listened to NPR through my iPod and heard this story.
The U.S. Product Safety Commission has proposed regulations that would require the SawStop be installed on all table saws sold in this country. The PSC director testified before Congress that every year 4,000 Americans cut off a finger or a hand in accidents with table saws and this device would eliminate all of those accidents.

Wait a minute!
4,000 fingers or hands every year?! Not just nicked or cut, but cut off!

How many people do you know who own a table saw? I think I know two: my son Josh who has a small tabletop model and Jason who bought my full size model when we left Michigan. Now consider, how often do the people who own a table saw actually use it? I owned one because we were restoring 100-year old houses, and I occasionally made furniture. Even at that I used it maybe 10-15 times a year. Sometimes it was to make two or three cuts, sometimes a couple of dozen passes. But months would go by when I never turned it on. How many guys have a table saw out in the garage they haven't turned on in years?
A total of 4,000 severed digits or hands works out to just shy of 11 per day, 365 days a year.
According to the CDC, 10 Americans die every day from drowning.
And I'm supposed to believe drownings are less common that severed body parts from table saws?
I don't think so!
I don't know where she got her data from but I'm guessing it was a bodily orifice she can only see with a mirror.

The addition of the Saw Stop feature would add either $100 or $300 to the price of a table saw depending on whether the number comes from the manufacturer of the device or the table saw manufacturers' trade association (respectively). Since there's no licensing agreement to allow use of the technology I'm suspicious that the patent holders would sell it cheaply once the govt. requires its use. An entry-level 10" floor model table saw runs $200 at Lowe's, which means the price just doubled... at least.

Congress will now have a period for public comment before the regulations are put into effect.
I've got a comment:
Hey, Congress - butt out of our lives. If someone cuts off a finger (never mind a hand!) with a table saw it's because they've disabled the safety guards that already come on every table saw sold in America. Every buyer assumes a level of risk when they buy a table saw. We don't need Washington telling us we're too stupid to use it without their oversight at $200-$300 a pop.

(ask me how I really feel.)