Preserving The American Political Philosophy

I have been busy attending to many different things and so it took a while to get new materials ordered so that I can test our casting slip using a different water supply. As a reminder ( see last pos t) after mixing slip at our location since 1958, recently I was unable to achieve a functioning balance between specific gravity and viscosity. To put it in easy to understand terms. specific gravity is the measure of the water content of the slip and viscosity is the measure of resistance to fluidity. A low specific gravity means there is a high content of water. A low viscosity means that the mixture is very fluid. I was getting an extremely low specific gravity reading such as I have never seen before and an extremely high viscosity. That is like putting enough liquid into a batter to make it like a soup but instead it is like cookie dough. Neither low specific gravity or high viscosity are functional in a ceramic casting slip. After three different batches of slip were attempted

Andersen Design has been mixing casting slip at our present location since 1958. I have personally been mixing it for decades but I recently ran up against an unprecedented problem, which has persisted through three batches from three sources, the last being made from fresh raw materials, keeping adjustments for viscosity at a minimum. When mixing clay slip the amount of water content is crucial. Our specific gravity target range is 176-180. The lowest We ever go is 171 and that is for small items only. The viscosity, or fluidity of the slip has to be such that it easily pours in an out of the mold. I do not usually measure that because it is very apparent, The higher the viscosity the thicker the slip and the less flowing qualities it has. If the water content is within range but the viscosity is high, I add a deflocculant and that brings the viscosity down. This is the way it has been working for years until now when we are working on a small but potentially large wholesale or

I was thinking in a cynical manner of jest, that I want to live in a town where the zoning laws mandate that one must have a business in one's home and apply for special permission to live there if one has a residence without a business. Then I remembered that there are such places. Its called artist in residence zoning, without which Soho in New York City would never have become the neighborhood it is today. I remember riding my bike through the Soho neighborhood when it was nothing but run down factory buildings. Then it became zoned for artists in residence. After that it became the center of the downtown Manhattan art scene. In the eighties there were more art galleries per square foot than anywhere in the world. There were entire buildings filled with nothing but art galleries. Then suddenly in the early nineties someone turned off the stock market faucet which had been fueling the art boom. After that the art galleries were replaced with stores and restaurants. The Libra

Supporters for the petition for MTI to offer fiscal sponsorship have now grown to 16 as our legacy business in East Boothbay faces foreclosure. Let it be said that MTI matching grants can be as small as 1000.00 but small grants do not go very far. Matching grants favor large established well financed companies, all at taxpayer expense. Fiscal sponsorship does not cost the tax payer since a fiscal sponsor can charge a fee to cover its costs and even a reasonable profit margin. Fiscal sponsorship draws upon volunteer giving. State matching grants mandate giving by the general public to special interests selected by the state. One example of special interests favored by the state is itself, in the Public-Public Relationship of MIT and The Advanced State Manufacturing Center at the University of Maine  In April 2 2013 MaineBiz published two articles. Quote from article 1: MTI grant to help manufacturing R&D “he Maine Technology Institute has given the University of So

Marco Rubio explains everything.  I have lately been thinking about an interchange in which I was recently engaged with one who had, in the past been involved in the JECD. In the course of the conversation, I was told that I have to stop this with the JECD, that I am wasting my time, which is better spent minding my own business and then asserted that the JECD is not working with Industry Partnerships . The latter statement relies on knowledge of my objections to JECD which can only be known from reading this blog and so informs the interpretation of "stopping this with the JECD" as meaning I should stop writing this blog, or at least stop making JECD part of it. As for wasting my time, I wondered by what measure that would be true. Since I felt that my conversant was acting as a spokesperson for the JECD, I surmised it is true by an imagined end goal projected upon me by the JECD, about which it is not worth my time to hypothesize. The fact of the matter is I am o

The unofficial capital of Maine's new public-private government is reeling in more federal taxpayer dollars to finance its executive airport.  The town of MRRA is the third former military base to be chartered as a municipal corporation serving as an instrument of the state. The first was the Washington County Development Authority, in Maine's poorest county, chartered as a shell company which would transfer the real estate assets of the base to private developers. Since a legally challenged entity such as :a " municipal corporation serving as an instrument of the state " cannot collect property taxes or provide municipal services, the Legislatures gift of WCDA"s real estate assets to a private non-profit corporation, left the WCDA without any means of income except collecting rent on remaining real estate. Recently after two private developers were unable to make a go of the expensive-to-maintain commercial property, it was gifted back to the WCDA. The volun

To give some context to theory, I am posting this history: The Boothbay Comprehensive Plan of 2015 follows word for word a Maine State bill passed in 2013 and codified as "Industry Partnerships" This act seeks to centrally control the the entirety of all resources in Maine, as a corporate conglomerate structure. Title 26: LABOR AND INDUSTRY Chapter 39: MAINE INDUSTRY PARTNERSHIPS §3304. Industry partnerships 2.   Responsibilities of the collaborative.   The collaborative shall: A.  Provide support and staffing assistance to the industry partnerships established under this chapter;  [ 2013,  c. 368,  Pt. FFFFF,  §1  (NEW) .] B.  Create an industry partnership to advise the collaborative, the State Workforce Investment Board established in section 2006 and the boards of the local workforce investment areas designated pursuant to the federal Workforce Investment Act of 1998, Public Law 105-220 on aligning state policies and leveraging resources acr