My Fourth Blog

Yup! I binned the other three. Too politically driven! international jingoism just got too much for me! Then I realised that those of us with our feet firmly planted on the ground seemed somehow apt to just keep going. A year ago today we saw the COVID roll itself out with a seemingly unstoppable force. Today, we face our world filled with new opportunities. We can welcome the future with an open mind to accept the changes and never return to what everyone seems prone to call normality. Riding my bike to work I recalled the January start in 2020 when I decided I would not be using my car except for necessary trips. Well, COVID helped me with that one that is for sure. It’s a year today since the Prime Minister told us to stay at home. This of course followed our world leaders actually thinking and even saying we will be through this in a few short weeks. Today, I heard that there are so many variants coming from abroad we have imposed a travel ban on flights with a £5,000 fine for those who breach the ban.

It saddened me to see the EU take unprecedented steps that might well thwart our UK effort to reach our goal of inoculating a million adults a day and to make the AstraZeneca vaccine available to struggling countries worldwide. We were so close at the weekend when we hit 900,000 per day here in England but, hey ho, there you go. It is what it is. We’ll make it anyway! Working together is the only answer and of course, we have to slough off any tendency towards self-centered self-protectionism, which of course is designed to undermine inclusivity. But a swift and clear report countered the EU’s fakefulness and fear-mongering–I was grateful that the USA gave the incredible results of a trial that proved the efficacy yet again of the AstraZeneca inoculation. In direct contrast to EU leaders, who for no apparent reason were highly disparaging about the vaccine, AstraZeneca is more than merely passable, it’s really good. Why was I grateful? Because I am ready for my second dose in five weeks, yes, but I am also glad that the spirit with which our scientists developed this Oxford vaccine is being upheld:

Approval of this vaccine was an important turning point for the pandemic because it has been deliberately developed to have global impact that includes people living in the most fragile and poorest regions of the world.” Professor Helen Fletcher London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

As I rode my bike I felt successful! A year ago before the official lockdown, we decided to start working from home. I couldn’t. Not without shutting down what we’ve worked towards for almost three decades. I decided that my best effort would be to batten myself down at work and self-isolated so that the work could keep going. My comfort zone was stretched in a positive way. I didn’t plan for it to be so long and neither it appears did anyone else. I made my first series of videos to keep everyone occupied at the workbench wherever they were in the world. I am glad for the technology that enabled outreach. Life became different!

It’s hard to think that we have lost so many in so short a period of time. This vicious disease has robbed us of the best and changed the way we view one another. In the beginning, the deaths were distant from most of us, but gradually the infections and deaths came near to home. We had no idea that the disease could be spread so fast and so widely, but I and others became ever-increasingly more thankful for what our NHS did to absorb the pain of those who depend so much on not just the NHS initials but the people who built it into what it is today. The National Health Service is, and this is only my own view, is and always has been one of if not the best in the world. The people who were trained by it and in it are the outcome that took on the challenge and they never ran from it, though their lives and the lives of their families were indeed put at risk.

Persuasive education needs to replace law-making as the way forward. As we know, most laws are designed to create the possibility of enforcement not to merely enforce it. We all stop at traffic lights because it’s the most practical and safe thing to do. We stop because we neither want to be killed nor to kill someone else. If everyone decided not to comply to laws it would indeed make any law unenforceable, so we volunteer to stop on red and defer to any opposing traffic. Most of us volunteer into upholding the law when no law enforcement is present. So too should we volunteer into our new future despite the stupidity of those making life more difficult for us. We know that we need to vaccinate in the same way we need to take charge of our health by eating rightly and exercising daily. The misinformation seems to have come from some world leaders who should be accountable for what they have done and said. That’s not likely, I’m afraid.

My decision this morning, reflecting on the last year, Is to embrace the unique diversity that is likely to unfold in our future woodworking. Consider this if you will, 300 years ago hand tool working was the existing technology of the era. Amazingly, in 300 years, no new hand tool has come into being that wasn’t in existence at that time. The Egyptians had developed bronze woodworking planes and we can assume that there were other metal-cast tools too. In our day, we continue to investigate new options but the main difference is how we make the tools and the material developments we have made. Beyond that, a little twist here, a bend there, some milling instead of hammer forging, things like that, have enhanced the effectiveness of what already existed. In general, we never needed more than what existed three centuries ago. It’s not necessary to invent a new hand tool if what already exists works effectively and efficiently. This is what has made my job simple. I do not need to reinvent the wheel. What can happen though is I can take what exists and look to reshape people’s attitudes towards the way we work and towards the attitude we have to work. That is what I do best. When someone says how can I use a plough plane to plane a stopped groove in a six-inch length of wood I simply answer, ‘You can’t!’ If it is two feet long, I can give them an answer and a method that works. I work best when someone presents an impossibility with hand tools and says it can only be done by machine. The stars I created for inlaying a few months ago is a prime example. Setting up machines to cut thousands might take me a day to do and the following day I might have a thousand stars. But I only want a few stars. I can make half a dozen completed in an hour. I can do it without a single machine. My world of individual making finds no place nor space for a machine shop. Machining my rocking chairs here would be less speedy by machine-only methods. Even hybridizing the methods would be of little if any gain for me because a full machine setup would indeed be negated by the impact the machines might well have on me, my well-being and my working. So I use a bandsaw for the heavy cuts and cut my tenons and mortises in quick time by hand. Why? none of them are parallel to an edge–so it’s quicker!

Covid stretched everyone, that’s true, but we can see new opportunities that will create more opportunities. I have seen the opportunity to care for others that didn’t exist so clearly before. Science and scientists have pooled resources to replace competitiveness throughout and across continents. I hope that it lasts. Pollution of the environment is lower by not flying to foreign climes for a few days break but there are other pollutions and pollutants to consider change for now. Here in domestic woodworking things seem to be just as equally normal as before. We take the wood from a single tree and make some things designed to last for decades if not centuries. We shun MDF and pressed fibre board, particle boards and plastic covered ones. Let’s leave that material to the professionals. It’s good forest management on the one hand, and then good environmental consideration on the other. Recycling wood and upcycling where we can creates creativity in us and we rise to the challenge positively. I like that!

41 Comments

  1. The other day I glued up some oak planks for the top of our soon-to-be side table. I sent the pieces through the jointer / thicknesser for speed. I skimmed the surfaces with my smoothing plane to remove the machine marks, then jointed the edges by hand and made a spring joint. Hard to do that in a machine, at least as fast as I did it with my hand plane.
    The top needed slight refinement after the glue cured, and it will need a final once-over with the cabinet scraper.
    The whole process was pretty fast and efficient. I spent the longest time cranking the thicknesser table up, and then down after the fact – and I also had to do a bit of vacuuming in nooks and crannies as the chip collection on the thing is not the best.
    I really did not spend that much time with my hand tools…

    Interesting.

    As for the pandemic and vaccines: I think we all agree that the day the media finds something else to write about than covid, will be a… well, to be honest: it will probably be the same, although the paint job will differ. Shock, horror and awe will still be mainstream.

    But then we can choose where to put our focus. Look for positive things. Search for fun and comedy. In my blog, I try to provide what I’ve learned with a bit of fun and tounge-in-the-cheek vocabulary. I love that kind of blogs!
    Enjoy what you and others create in DIY groups on facebook. Yesterday I saw the images of a dovetailed chisel shelf made by a person that has done a few dovetails before, by the looks of it. His wall of Lie-Nielsen and other premium branded hand tools is impressive. Not because of the brands, but the layout. It looks like a pipe organ with the small wooden flutes (chisel handles) on the left rank, the huge bass pipes (hand planes up to the mighty 7 or 8) to the right and the principals (the hand saws) in the choir rank. I thought is was awesome. Good for him!

    Let us focus on good things, and let us above all agree that seeing things differently is perfectly okay. Nobody gave YOU all the correct answers, and absolutely noone needs to care about what _I_ think – but me.
    Just respect each other for the very short flash of time we exists.

    And do woodworking!

  2. Hi Paul. You say “It saddened me to see the EU take unprecedented steps that might well thwart our UK effort to reach our goal of inoculating a million adults a day and to make the AstraZeneca vaccine available to struggling countries worldwide”

    But in spite of the above statement it would seem that the opposite is true, and the UK (not alone, EU and EEUU too) are stopping developing countries from accessing these vaccines. What it would help is that rich countries (and the UK is actively fighting this) renounce to patent rights while the pandemic last, and until most of the world population is vaccinated. Th wisould effectively mean that developing countries could manufacture the required doses in their own countries, faster and cheaper to the current set up, where they will need to wait patiently until most of the population in richer countries are vaccinated, and then pay dearly for it.

    Since I’m not sure this blog takes links I wont provide any, but the information is easily accessible after a quick search. Indeed the BBC touches the issue.

    Other than that a long due thank you for all your teaching and inspiration.

    1. Sylvian
      But in spite of the above statement it would seem that the opposite is true, and the UK (not alone, EU and EEUU too) are stopping developing countries from accessing these vaccines. What it would help is that rich countries (and the UK is actively fighting this) renounce to patent rights while the pandemic last, and until most of the world population is vaccinated. Th wisould effectively mean that developing countries could manufacture the required doses in their own countries, faster and cheaper to the current set up, where they will need to wait patiently until most of the population in richer countries are vaccinated, and then pay dearly for it. ”
      The AZ vaccine unlike others is being sold at cost – it was a requirement for anyone manufacturing it to do this. It is being manufactured in other countries to facilitate its distribution across the World. I believe that it was a condition set on AZ that this should happen.

      1. Keith
        Yes: it is, for instance, manufactured in India and sold for twice the price Europe pay to South Africa.
        Goodwill statements are one thing, but the hard reality of private companies maximizing benefits is quite another. A patent is either held in private hands or it is released for the public benefit. The former will give way to all sorts of sneaky ways to do something while proclaiming the opposite. The later will give the best chance to tackle the global public health emergency we are ALL going through. In my view anything less than this is wrong

      2. “being sold at cost”

        The opening sentence of the first lecture in cost accounting I attended, as uttered by the professor: ‘Tell me what cost you want, and I will calculate it to be so.’

  3. You say “It saddened me to see the EU take unprecedented steps that might […] etc.

    I am afraid that this is a one side view, while it seems some month ago the UK government did not permit vaccine produced in UK to be exported to EU according to the contract. There are always two sides to a coin.

    You will note that Belgium did not make a pause about the Astra-Zeneca vaccine.

    Road traffic. IMO, the greatest cause of accident is surprising other people. The main benefit of road code is making the behavior of others (more) predictable.

    “most laws are designed to create the possibility of enforcement not to merely enforce it. ”
    – One can not condemn somebody before he has commited a violation. And, it is not possible (nor desirable) to preventively put a policeman next to everyone.
    – Making a good law is difficult. Unfortunately some of the initially targeted people remain unaffected and some non targeted people find themselves in the final target group. A periodic revaluation is good governance.
    – Many sectors are subject to periodic inspections to keep them on track. But it has a cost.
    – If everybody were nice and responsible we wouldn’t need (so many) laws. Unfortunately, without laws it would be “the law of the strongest”.

  4. A Couple of comments / Questions:
    Can someone please explain the wisdom of putting hand tools in a box, piled on top of one another? I just don’t get it, other than for partibilities sake, but it still seems like a good way to ding up good tools. In order to stay a minimalist woodworker, I would think forsaking the tool chest altogether would help with that effort. Keeping the number smaller could mean that a portable solution that isolated each cutting edge might be found, and be more portable that that huge chest.

    RE: Covid
    So more variants are being discovered every day. Does that make the vaccine(s) less effective, like our seasonal flue shot here in the US that always seems to be targeted toward the wrong strain?
    Truth is, love of money corrupts everything, especially laws and even pandemics. No one is acting in the interests of others, no matter how much we lionize them. Call me cynical, but wait until the bills come due. Then there will be ____ to pay.

  5. What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.
    Ol’ Kohelet said just party on.

  6. The country I live Belgium, is producing the vaccine and exporting it to UK. Here all are staying calm and waiting for vaccine. Nobody blames UK because it consumes the vaccine produced in Belgium. EU exported millions of doses to >50 countries for free, UK 0 until now. EU financed this vaccine, opened the large doors to collaborations, offered logistics support and production facilities.

    I’m very disappointed about you. Where are we going with this attitude? Read again what you wrote, there are too many contradictions and misinformation in the text.

    Reach 1.000.000 per day, we don’t care, we wish you all the best if it is important for you. But don’t blame us for what we don’t do, after that don’t expect to have many friends. I sincerely don’t want to think this is the true face of English peoples.

    1. Hello sla – We all of us see the world through the often limited information we each have. So you say the country you live in, Belgium, is producing the AZ vaccine which was ‘EU financed’. It seems you don’t know that the AZ vaccine was produced at Oxford University’s Jenner Institute and benefitted from funding from the UK government. Here is part of a statement from Pascal Soriot, CEO of AstraZeneca, ‘AstraZeneca is at the forefront of the response to COVID-19, and we are proud to be working with Oxford University to help make this vaccine available as quickly as possible. I would like to thank HM (UK) Government for its commitment to the vaccine and welcome its leadership and generosity for its help in expanding access beyond the UK.’

      I’m not wanting to be jingoistic here – I live in the UK, and also I’ve had the Pfizer jab, not AZ. It’s just I realise how difficult it is to get full information about these complex situations. I think we all have to be careful that we don’t let our personal inclinations and prejudices mis-inform any debate.

      1. I don’t blame anybody. I just told that I don’t know a person in EU of my friends, neighbors , colleagues saying something bad about UK. We understand there are difficulties in production, we just wait and work from home or were it is allowed.

        I think we should stay humans and not blame each other, keep good friendly relations.

        I’m working in a multinational company, usually one of the main offices is in UK, because of financial and legal reasons. It was like this when UK was part of EU. I think it was an international effort, but if it is a pure UK product I apologies. I was saying about production from Belgium, there are two factories here in Belgium that export to UK. From what I know no exports were limited until now, even if in Belgium vaccination is very modest.

        I didn’t expected this from Paul.

        1. Really don’t want to get involved in vaccine, wars, but probably the biggest founder of the Jenner institue where Oxford vaccine was developed was the EU

    2. Fully agree with your comment.

      Since couple of months, UK has been complaining that EU is trying to keep the vaccines produced in EU and not sharing as they should.

      Reality is that :
      1/ EU has exported a lot of vaccine (approx 30 million worldwide)
      2/ UK has exported 0
      3/ UK has put a clause in their contract with AZ that vaccines produced in UK have to be used first in UK. Once UK is fully vaccined, the export can begin.

      And the UK officials (Raab and Johnson first) have the presumptuousness to blame EU for “vaccine nationalism”. It’s the pot calling the kettle black.

      EU has been simply idiot enough not to put such a clause in their contract, and EU officials are very poor at communicating about the issue and fighting back.

      I believe the main reason behind this vaccine row is mostly linked to Brexit, with Johnson and his cabinet trying to show the UK people (and voters) that Brexit was/is a great thing.

      Also, to reply to some comments, no, the vaccine has not been funded only by the UK. The UK funded part of it, as the EU did :

      “AstraZeneca was allocated €336 million in public EU funding to help the development and production of its vaccine in collaboration with Oxford University, in exchange for an agreement to supply the EU with 400 million early doses, part of a portfolio of more than two billion doses pre-booked by the bloc in a bid to halt the pandemic.”

      Quite a pity to see Paul regurgitate what has been published in some pro-brexit newspaper. It looks like the strong stance towards woodworking magazines and the urge for critical thinking didn’t apply here.

      “Working together is the only answer and of course, we have to slough off any tendency towards self-centered self-protectionism, which of course is designed to undermine inclusivity” -> You do realize that the UK, via its priority clause in its contract, has imported 10 million vaccines from EU and exported 0. Looks like to me a very self-centered attitude.

      As the proverb says : a friend in need is a friend indeed. Let’s hope EU officials remember in the future how the UK handled the situation.

      About the true face of english people : I’ve been living in UK for quite some time now. If in London people tend to be fairly open-minded and open to the world, the same cannot be said to the rest of the country.

    3. I have great respect for you Paul and I’m in your debt for all that I’ve learnt from you over the past years.
      However I’m surprised and disappointed at this article. You have many times talked about truth in various media and now you are doing what you criticise others for.
      I know there are many ways to get information but I thought you would be more considered and sceptical of the politicians’ opinions and would look for the truth underneath.
      I know you want the best for the world but maybe the self centred protectionism is closer to home than you think? Astrazeneca are the authors of their own criticisms. Their lack of transparency to blame, at least in part, for the efficacy and contract complaints. The EU (yes I’m part of it) has exported vaccines to the UK. Some recipricocity would help.

  7. As someone who has lived in Continental Europe, the US and the UK, and with ties to other continents as well, it saddens me to see the manipulations in the press, and as a result, in the mind of the people which try to separate us. The way topics such as the current vaccine situation are depicted varies too significantly across borders for me to trust what is fed to us by the media and special interest groups who live on division and fearmongering. I think this has been exacerbated by the growth of the internet (which has many benefits too!) as it allows the fragmentation of audiences and the pursuit of very narrow or manipulative views of the world, with little ‘fact checking’.

    I do think that the NHS and the healthcare institutions which were created around the same time in quite a few other countries are great institutions and make superb contributions to the well being of our society, but at the same time, I feel that less advantaged nations do need access to the limited vaccine supplies more than people in my age group (50-60) in the UK.

    It’s not a easy subject but I do think that a global perspective is more likely to give us a good solution than the pursuit of narrow interests driven by nationalistic agendas or otherwise.

    1. Well Jonny you won’t be upset if you are refused access to hospital if you catch Covid….will you…silly boy

  8. Hi Paul,
    Enjoyed your blog and generally agree with most of your sentiments on Covid, lockdown and the vaccine. However, as I have learnt from other online posts (notably The Times Online), it is a can of worms and that is evident from some of the comments to your article, and therefore I am staying quiet (albeit agreeing with you) on the matter and will post my opinions, if I feel the need, on TOL and not on this hallowed woodworking blog.

    I am in the process of setting up my workshop and I have a mixture of power tools and hand tools. Before I came across your videos and guides, I thought the best route for me was power tools. As I now reflect, I realise that was partly because I had limited experience of using hand tools (and using them properly) and a hand plane scared the bejesus out of me! I can honestly say I will endeavour with hand tools and to learn the skills. I am fortunate that it is not my ‘day job’ and is something I want to do for me and for the benefit of my health (de-stressing and being absorbed in something where I can actually see the results of my labour – I am not expecting those results to be top quality in the beginning, for sure, but I will persevere!). Your choices appear to be lifestyle choices (the way you work) and I totally understand that and that is what I am striving for, too. I will use power tools (as I bought them!), but I will certainly be engaging with hand tool practices.

    I would like to attend a course, but these tend not to fit in with my usual work and are geared towards those who want a career. Maybe I will speak to the woodwork teacher at my Son’s school and see if that is a possibility. Anyway, it is always great to read and watch you and the comments of other woodworkers on this and your other forums (I can’t bring myself to join Instagram or the like so will stick to your websites).

    All the best.

    Steve

  9. Wow – political commentary on WWMC/Paul’s blog, this is not a good trend!!!

    Re: Covid – Thinking about Covid from one of the viewpoints I take from Paul’s blog, Covid shows us what nature can do.

    As a biologist I believe climate change is creating a perfect storm for biological catastrophes like Covid . More heat means biology runs faster, more toxins mean biology mutates faster and environmental change means life faces new challenges forcing life to adapt in ways which may or may not be good for humans. At the same time climate change leads to less healthy humans because of disruption of our food chain and subsistence living among the millions of climate refugees significantly weakening our health and well being. I don’t want to discount our ingenuity but in my experience nature wins.

    Re: Tools from the past, I would add that much of the finest furniture ever made was made during the “hand tool” only way.

  10. Hurrah for all the Covid vaccines that have been produced and approved for use. Hurrah too for the hard work that has gone in to producing these vaccines in such unprecedentedly short timescales. And for the NHS employees without whom the rollout of vaccinations in the uk would not be the success it has been so far. Hurrah because all of the above means that in time we will all be able to get back to seeing the family and friends we love and have missed to give them a hug, and be free to go to the places we love to go, and do the things we love to do. Just a few positive thoughts.

  11. Ha! Have you ever used a bronze plane? I’m so glad we have modern alloys and ceramics.
    Vaccine can loom as a large problem if we only opt for European-controlled sources.

    1. This is funny, Andrew. I just finished another blog contrasting metal sluggards versus wooden planes that glide across wood like swans on a lake yet can take off ten times more wood faster than you can shake a stick at!

  12. I don’t want to live in a world of spin and politics over everything – I want to live in a P Sellers world of bikes and trees and tools.

  13. Wow! Here I thought only America was divided and contentious.
    I got my shots ( Pfizer) and had no ill effects. Maybe the vaccine is “junk” so if you truly believe that I won’t try to convince you otherwise, after all it’s your life to do as you choose. During my life I’ve had vaccines or shots for polio, measles, mumps, chicken pox and shingles to name a few. I feel fortunate I didn’t get sick or suffer some of the terrible side effects these diseases can give you. After all it’s one of the reasons people live healthier into their eighties and longer today.

  14. I don’t mean to be rude, but it would be much more pleasant all round, and would greatly help your standing as the excellent hand tool woodworking teacher that you are, if you didn’t make blogs that are more politics than woodworking. It turns too many people against each other, which is a shame to see in a forum that has always been so pleasant, open and fruitful.

  15. “Want to stay up to date with Paul’s blog?” Yes, if it’s about woodworking.

  16. I am confused, not an unusual state for me. The UK produces the vaccine and the EU also produces the vaccine. The UK is supposed to export some of the vaccine it produces to the EU and the EU is supposed in turn export some of the vaccine it produces to the UK. Would it not make more sense for the UK to keeps the vaccines designated for the EU in the UK and the EU to keep their vaccines designated for the UK in the EU.

    Here in beautiful Welcome Creek in sunny Queensland Australia live is pretty much “normal”. I am in the “at risk” age group and will get the vaccination at some stage. In the meantime I will continue to spend time in my shed woodworking just for the enjoyment it gives me. To date every morning I have woken up with a pulse which is always a sign of a good day.

    Paul has written about things that are on his mind, that while many may not agree, I see that it is relevant to his blog. Paul does give his opinions and thoughts on many things outside the realm of “woodworking” just because we may or may not agree is irrelevant.

    The sun is shining and the shed beckons. Enjoy your day.

    Cheers

  17. I reckon it was a good job that you didn’t post the 1st 3 blogs Paul. This one seems to have caused a bit of a stir…

    I’m with you and then some, but will remember my nan’s advice to not talk religion or politics with friends (and if it had been invented im sure she would have included social media).

    Keep up the good work and despite my Nans advise she could never follow it herself so good on you for speaking your mind. I thought you were quite restrained actually.

  18. How many people have died after taking the vaccine? You don’t know because there is no transparency. The US government has proven it can’t be trusted time and time again. Can your government be trusted? Clearly not or the US wouldn’t be. Isn’t it an amazing fact that deaths in every single category have been significantly reduced as covid deaths grow. You dare to utter the words “fear mongering”. I’ll hold off until the tests for the virus are allowed to go through the normal testing process without testing phases omitted. I’m not in desperation of normalcy, that you say no longer can exist, like the people desperately grasping for the vaccine.
    You’re still a hell-of-a guy though. Good luck.

  19. Hi Paul,

    I know it’s off topic, but that’s a cool looking bike. If it’s not a stock photo can you share the brand?

    And thank you for the posts, and re-posts. I always enjoy your insights and wisdom.

    James

    1. I have two bikes. One is a Raleigh with 18 gears and pedal power only, not an expensive one, still pleasant to ride and demanding my whole energy. The other is a Van Moof from the Netherlands. This one has power-assist. It will not go without you pedaling. I have owned this for almost five years I think and it is a joy to ride whether against high winds or high hills which the button power by your thumb negates. I cycle two or three times a day both to and from work but also a circuit firth thing that takes me an hour on either bike, mostly the Raleigh now spring is here.

  20. Well, Paul broached the subject…

    The World Health Organization was and is a corrupt organization and succumbed to pressure from China even though they knew China had created the virus and let it spread on purpose. Our last President showed this clearly and held China responsible for all its horrendous activities. It was common knowledge that Chinese officials have said that Trump was the smartest President in a while in how he dealt with the world, foreign policy and focused on what was best for America first.

    My Texas Governor and the Governor of Florida for example have handled the pandemic beautifully with commonsense, intelligence, and zero political motivations.

    Another note here to the biologist…. the left in this country and most other countries have always tried to use the climate change hoax to try to push socialism on the country. Socialism / communism and has failed all thru history and has been responsible for millions of deaths. I too have an education in biology and science… all thru history as cold periods receded humans on this planet had higher survival rates because of more food and less severe climate. … more leftist BS on a woodworking website on climate change… or as realists call it… Catastrophic global warming hysteria with ridiculous predictions that have always been wrong and have pushed for billions of dollars of initiatives based on this nonsense that would have horrendous effects on any nation.

    Since politics has gone off the cliff… many of us have much more peaceful lives just avoiding the insanity and focusing on activities that we enjoy like woodworking.

    Thanks Paul for all you do…. hope you are not offended to find out about the corrupt W H O.

    R

    1. I agree with you. It was created there or messed with and let loose however one would put it. However, like I told my 14-year son when asked what will be the ramifications if proven?

      I told him I hope it’s never proven. What is done is done. The main thing is to never let it happen again. They are now creating a pandemic treaty. That in of itself proves that man meddled. We can’t have a WWIII. This is what will happen if the Chinese government is proved liable. Not the everyday Chinese man or woman mind you. But their government playing around with deadly things. Just as the U.S., Isreal, U.K., and ETC. Iran will jump to China along with North Korea and Russia. The snowball will roll on. I hope we learn from this and work to make sure it never happens again.

      1. I agree with you Shannon… but our governments must use this harsh shadow of suspicion cast on China to employ tough foreign policy directives with many nations at our side… I fear the current administration is just too corrupt and/or over its head to do the right thing.
        …. R

  21. Vaccines benefit humanity. You are an influencer and I am pleased that you promote their use. It will get us back to the new normal sooner and healthier. Damn the politicization of science and health practices. Science is data driven.

    1. Exactly right… vaccinate all and lets move on. The current administration is hardly motivated by science… only politics and power.

      r

  22. > The misinformation seems to have come from some world leaders who should be accountable for what they have done and said. That’s not likely, I’m afraid.

    I’m Brazilian, so this rings so true… sometimes it’s really hard to contain the rage derived from the many, many stupid decisions that got us to this mess. Happy to see you well, Paul, your videos are an inspiration and a constant source of learning for me as a novice. Be safe!

    1. If you steer clear of politics and stick to woodworking, I will leave you be and without comment. I think that that is fair. On the other hand, I will enjoy the freedoms of being who I am in living and speaking and writing in the free world and country I live and thrive in. Now that way we can both enjoy the freedom of speech our respective countries supposedly support. I like freedom of speech. Some people don’t and they are allowed to voice this opinion because, well, there is freedom of speech.

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