"The idea is to die young as late as possible." - Ashley Montagu

Charles Bolden is the head of NASA. At a meeting this week he said it's imperative that humans reach Mars, and that our suvival requires that we become a "multi-planet species."
Multi-billions of dollars to put humans on Mars, assuming it's technically possible. Sure, that sounds like the best use of funds to enhance human life. Especially compared to foolish things like a clean water supply or adequate dietary protein for everyone.

Remember that story from a couple months back about the sinkhole at the Corvette museum? Well, they've finally pulled the last of the rare and irreplaceable cars from the bottom of the hole and some of them aren't looking so good. Even the wizards who specialize in that sort of thing say some may be beyond restoration. You can see pictures of the recovery and results here (page 12 of 14, and it gets better). But for those of you disinclined to click through to that site, here's a couple of photos courtesy of the National Corvette Museum showing Vette's that went in first and were therefore at the bottom.

And I thought a '59 Chevy pickup was a challenge.

I've been mulling tomorrow's sermon pretty continuously for the last 24 hours and that will undoubtedly continue until tomorrow morning's delivery. I'm struggling with how much to say. Back in the day preachers didn't hesitate to light into people when they thought it appropriate (legit or not), but that's considered bad form now, at least in all but the most fundamentalist churches. It's judgmental and presumptuous...isn't it?
I'm not saying the good people of Pathway are recalcitrant; they're great people and I thoroughly enjoy being their pastor. But any coach will tell you that sometimes pushing players to a higher level than they've previously attempted can bring out levels of performance previously unrealized.

Speaking of unprecedented activity, Today I pulled the differential out of the chassis. Never done any drivetrain work before, so this was all seat-of-the-pants wrenching. I had no intention of going this far when I started the project, but one thing led to another.

After I bought the truck I learned that the 4-speed manual transmission is better suited to pulling stumps than driving on the freeway. First gear is good to about 3 mph and the realistic top speed is about 60 mph. Some guys improve that by having the gears in the differential/rear axle changed, so I looked into that. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on your preferences), this truck has a limited slip differential that limits the gearing options. It also requires brake drums that aren't being made anymore and are scarce as hen's teeth. Long story short, after a TON of research I know more than I understand, but I'm going to swap out the stock 4-speed transmission for a 5-speed manual from an '83-'88 Chevy S-10 pickup that, it turns out, bolts up to this engine with only minimal modification. And Friday I made the decision to swap out this differential for one from an early '70s Chevy truck that will have much better gearing and takes brake parts that are widely and cheaply available. All of this will require I have a custom drive shaft made, but I'm told that's neither uncommon nor expensive. And the end result should be a truck that will go down the road all day at 75 mph were I so inclined, will get great mileage, and will have parts readily available if/when that's necessary. All of these changes will be invisible to anyone not laying on their back underneath the truck, and then only if they know their stuff, so it will look completely stock.

Note: the guy who will supply the freshly rebuilt differential will discount the price when I give him this one which, because it's limited slip, is somewhat sought after by guys with Jeeps who go rock hopping out in the desert.

Oh, and I'm also having the leaf springs de-arched by 2" so the truck will sit just a bit lower. Looks better and handles better.

If I can pull all this off it will be one sweet truck!