Friday, January 02, 2026
I hope this isn't an omen for the year that just started
I start the car up, and immedately I'm alerted to low presure in the front left tire—it's only 27psi (or 1.9kgf/cm2 for those of you deficient in the Imperial System of measure and weights) when it normally should be 35psi (2.5kgf/cm2). No problem, I thought. I'll just haul out the air compressor.
Easier said than done (have to move the lawn mower to reach the tire valve attactment, and I have to move several miscellaneous items to extract the compressor unit, then find an extension chord, etc.) but I finally had it set up, turned on, and started to inflate the tire.
After several moments, the tire pressure was lower than it was. Maybe I'm not getting getting a good seal on the tire air valve, I thought. I tried several times and … the tire pressure is now even lower. I kept at it until the tire got to 13psi (0.9kgf/cm2). I then decided to try another tire. It should surprise no one that doing the same thing and expecting different results did not in fact result in different results. Now I had two low tires.
Maybe it's something to do with the compressor, I thought. I examine the unit, and indeed, it was something to do with the unit—I had forgotten to close a valve on the bottom of the unit. All the air it was trying to compress was blowing out the valve used to empty the compressed air from the unit when you're done with it. I use the compressor unit enough to know how to use it to reinflate my tires, but not enough to remember a valve that needs to be closed before it'll work properly.
Sigh.
Welcome to the New Year everybody!
Why does the Electoral College exist?
The Electoral College in the U.S. is a controversial aspect of electing the President, but not many people understand why it was done. That's why I find “Why does the Electoral College exist?” video so good—it goes into the history of why the Founding Fathers picked such a convoluted scheme to elect the President (and I did not know that direct election by the population was on the table). It basically comes down to the Founding Fathers distruct in direct democracy and the fear of large population states running roughshod over less populated states. Also, while democratic institutions have been around for a about two thousand years, it had never been done at a country level (cities, yes. Countries, not so much). As such, the Founding Fathers were treading into uncharted territory and given what they knew at the time, I don't think they did all that bad.
It's worth the watch.
Heck, the entire Premodernist channel is worth watching.
![[Self-portrait with a Christmas Tree] Oh Chrismtas Tree! My Christmas Tree! Rise up and hear the bells!](https://www.conman.org/people/spc/about/2025/1203.t.jpg "Oh Chrismtas Tree! My Christmas Tree! Rise up and hear the bells!")