vise pattern and a soapbox

I've been working on a foundry pattern for a copy of a Bugatti vise. I really love the look of these vises but they cost an arm and leg. Although you can't make it out here, this happens to big a very very large vise. I'm hoping to cast it in Iron at a upcoming iron pour or I'll wait until Sloss next Spring. I'm almost done piecing together the sections I printed since it's way too large for my 3D printer to print whole. I'll have a lot of smoothing to do, but it should make a decent pattern for resin bonded sand. I'll have to work out the details of the ram section on it and wether I'll use steel or try to cast oversize and machine to fit. 

On a side-note, you may have noticed my blogging has picked up again. Jill and I have been discussing the impact that social media (namely Facebook) has had on our relationships; with each other and our children, as well as others. I have many opinions about what Facebook is doing to the productivity and mental health of our society, and sadly enough, I am just now becoming cognizant of it's effects and how it influences my thoughts. 

We've decided to have a go at staying off of Facebook and I'm even toying with disappearing from Instagram. When I picked up with these two things I pretty much stopped blogging. Of course life and the major move to North Carolina were also factors in ceasing the blog, but now that we've grown accustomed to being a bit more separated from the world on our 6 acres, I find myself wanting to write a bit more and be a bit more productive on the things that I am naturally inclined to do, work on, and think about. Social media became a distraction from the meaningful things in my life; and life is simply too short to sacrifice time with those immediately in front of me. 

Facebook's algorithms are influencing our thoughts in ways we are not even aware of and I see firsthand at school how social media is inducing serious anxiety and damaging our younger generation. We wonder why anxiety and depression is on the rise in teens and college students. I think Facebook is one of the contributing factors to the polarization of our country. When stories are spread like wildfire across the platform it becomes a powerful tool to influence and further radicalize. The middle ground and independent thought that I grew up with has disappeared and been replaced by individuals being angered, frustrated,  and becoming fearful. Being able to understand the context of where information is coming from has eroded away. Our country is self destructing from within via or tendencies to fuel our fears and appeal to our senses. We're living in a dangerous time where it's easier to read the rumors from the extreme left or extreme right (depending on which way the algorithm sees that you're leaning) via our pocket computers, than to read a book or the Constitution itself and spend some time working on something of value while we take the time to formulate our own original opinions. I'm making it my resolution to work on more things in order to free myself up for a little introspective discovery rather than trusting others to determine what I should be thinking or doing. It feels good to be back here...