Hivemind Times Issue #47

Welcome To The Hivemind Times!

God bless nothing, THIS country sucks feet. Happy cookout day everyone please don’t rejoice too much without taking tabs on the state of current affairs. But let's not make this all doom and gloom, let's focus on what’s going well and promote joy(x3) and fun. 

Feud with Wahony hit the airways and boy oh boy was he a special guest, if you haven’t watched that video please do so and leave a fun comment. Don’t worry there is more to come so keep your eyes peeled. 

Well I hope everyone enjoys this week's read. I have made sure to fill it up with a bunch of nonsense. Be safe this weekend and don’t point fireworks at your friends!

- Riley & Graydon

CRONK’S UPDATE

An Update to my beloved Ford Explorer

Hello Good People of the Hivemind newsletter,

Though progress on my Ford Explorer restoration has been slowed due to the blistering heat and humidity of Michigan, I have made some progress in getting this thing driving good again.

Since the first day I picked this car up, it has had a nasty shake, making the car feel unsafe and like it’s trying to kill you at every second. This led me down a convoluted path of replacing suspension components like lower and upper control arms, ball joints, shocks, tires, sway bar links. I even replaced my transmission valve body with a rebuilt one, as I thought this shaking was transmission shudder. None of these things made the car feel 100 percent safe to drive.

The answer I had been searching for was the driveshaft all along, more specifically, the U-joints. The driveshaft is responsible for carrying the motion of the transmission to the differential, which is what moves the whole car. All motion is transferred through the driveshaft. On the ends of the driveshaft are these replaceable joints called U-joints. These let the driveshaft move freely, as it can’t be a rigid tube moving at 6,000 RPMs. The driveshaft gives it some flexibility.

Well anyways, this is my first time owning a truck. On trucks, you have big driveshafts. Before, I had Japanese cars that were front wheel drive, which have CV axles instead of driveshafts, as the power travels a shorter distance to the front wheels. No driveshaft = no joints = no shaking.

Long story short, my U-joints on the driveshaft were causing a horrendous vibration, mostly prominent above 60 mph, basically making the car unusable at freeway speed. So last weekend, I rented a U-joint press and stayed outside till 1 AM on a Sunday night putting these U-joints on. This was an easy job and should’ve been the first thing I did when I got the car.

The difference is remarkable. The car is smooth and safe. I have been driving it 85 mph with the windows down, listening to all of the classics.

Please, if you have a truck or SUV that shakes at speeds above 40 mph, change your U-joints.

- Cronk

MOVIE REVIEW

The NYT 100 Greatest Movies of the 21st Century

The NYT released their greatest films of the 21st Century last week - you can find it here.

You can also see how you rank - got some work to do.

- Graydon

WHO WOULD YOU RATHER HAVE DINNER WITH?

ALBUM RECS

Caveman Wakes Up (2025)

Hey guys my name is Grant. I hope you know me by now.

Last time I was in here we shared some 2025 music with one another which was freaking awesome. This time around, I wanted to highlight an album that has really caught my attention and has been huge in my rotation the last 2 months.

Caveman Wakes Up on the surface is just a country album, you could just throw it on around some friends doing something outdoorsy and nobody would bat an eye. However, this album offers so much more in its lyrics. It’s whimsical, gut wrenching, and most importantly, honest. There are a flurry of different sounds going on on this thing.

Love Vape is for the dance-aholic, while songs like Free Association have such an incredible atmosphere and message you wanna lay on your back on a field and think. If I were to draw some comparisons between Friendship and other artists you may be familiar with, here’s what I would say: Black Country, New Road, Cameron Winters (from Geese), and MJ Lenderman (I believe they are friends don’t quote me on that though. I know the same artist does their cover art). 

Fav Songs: Free Association (easily top 10 song for me this year), Love Vape, Fantasia, and Resident Evil

I hope y’all find a couple songs on this thing to enjoy, I really think this album is so so so underrated.

- Grant

SUMMER FUN TIER LIST 

Hopefully the weather is nice wherever you are at this weekend and you get a chance to go out and play with some friends. Here is my tier list style opinion on classic summertime activities.

• Grilling - A 

  • Depends on what and where big difference between slaving over a million hotdogs tryna feed guests and making sweet tender love to a fish for some close pals.

• Boating - S

  • Under the conditions it is not my boat and I don't have to dock it. Heavy preference on leisurely cruise and or a putt than rip roaring full throttle kind of event.

• Fishing - S

  • Now this is obviously not an exclusive summer activity but it is the best activity.

• Beach - C 

  • I'm over the sand tbh and being just near fresh water idk I’d rather just launch and do sick gainers of the rocks and or dock.

• Biking - C

  • Honestly Imma crash at some point

• Gardening - D

  • God bless em I’m not taking care of shit well

• Ice Cream - D

  • Hot take Ice cream isn’t all that jazz

• Throwing a frisbee - S

  • Greatest device ever designed to toss

• Human Sacrifice - D

  • Ancient tradition usually practiced in types of Nordic/Pagan cults not my thing

• Sidewalk Chalk - F

  • Childish messy and I suck at drawing

• Cold Beer On A Friday Night - S

  • No need to explain added points for a pair of jeans that fit just right

• Watching a movie outdoors - S 

  • This is an elite evening especially with a film like The Sandlot

• Eating a Watermelon - A

  • Spitting seeds is awesome seedless melon is overrated

• Campfire - A

  • I love fire and chilling and maintaining a blaze but the smoke stink can linger

• Squirt gun/water balloons - B

  • All fun and games until the real chop come out

• Frying ants with a magnifying glass - F

  • Animal cruelty not cool

- Graydon

QUINN’S CHEMISTRY CLASS

Fireworks

It is the 4th of July! Our Orwellian, capitalist dystopia is on the brink of being taken over by a fascist regime that has insidiously infected every branch of government, and is currently making a mockery of the constitution while unleashing military force on citizens and journalists protesting against the grotesque orange monster.

This might be one of our last July 4ths to celebrate, and there is no better way to celebrate our independence from the evil British empire that made us pay extra for imported tea, than with fireworks.

What is more American than loud, colorful, bright explosions in the sky?

Fireworks are awesome. This year, I went to buy some and while reading the boxes, trying to decide which ones to buy, I noticed a list of effects on the mortar boxes that describe what each explosion will look like. I had no idea what any of them meant, so I went online to learn about them and found it really interesting, so I would like to share this knowledge. If you don’t want to learn about fireworks, and just want to see the pretty pictures of shiny explosions, scroll to the bottom of this article.

History of fireworks

The earliest known instance of fireworks were found in the 2nd century BC in ancient China. They weren’t fireworks as we know today, rather they were bamboo sticks that would be thrown into fire and explode, resulting in a loud bang. The explosion was due to steam building up in air pockets inside the bamboo and bursting from the pressure.

Actual chemically explosive fireworks were not developed until the invention of gun powder some time in between the year 600-900 (also from China, thank you China!). This early “gunpowder” was a mixture of potassium nitrate, sulfur and charcoal which produced a black, flaky powder. This powder was then poured into bamboo or stiff paper tubes and sealed before detonation, resulting in a firecracker or tiny m80 like bang.

Fireworks spread to Europe and the rest of the world around the 13th to 15th centuries. Firework technology improved over time as our understanding of pyrotechnics and black powder based explosives improved.

How is firework made?

There are many types of fireworks, the kind that you see launched into the sky during fireworks shows are called aerial fireworks. Basic aerial fireworks are made of a shell that consists of four parts; the lifting charge, shell fuse, bursting charge, and stars. The shell itself is made out of pasted paper. The lifting charge is a black powder charge situated at the bottom of the shell that ignites and creates pressure that launches the shell out of a tube and into the air.

Black powder in fireworks consists of the following materials: 10% suilfur, 15% charcoal, and 75% potassium nitrate. Black powder is a “low explosive” The lifting charge ignites the shell fuse, a fuse with a predetermined timing that ignites the bursting charge when the shell has reached a desired height. The bursting charge consists of an oxidizer, fuel, and “stars”.

The most commonly used oxidizers are perchlorates, chlorates, and nitrates. The most commonly used fuels in fireworks are sulphur or charcoal. The bursting charge explodes and rips the entire shell apart, and also ignites the stars which contain all the compounds that burn with bright colors and various effects.

Before they explode, stars look just like a black or grey lump of compressed sand. The stars are made by hand out of various materials including black powder and perchlorate with colouring and binding agents: aluminium or magnesium for white, copper salts for blue, barium nitrate for green, strontium nitrate for red, sodium salts for yellow, and charcoal or other types of carbon for orange.

The shape of the stars around the bursting charge determines the shape you see when the firework explodes, and that shape is 1 to 1 how the stars are situated in the shell. Multi-stage fireworks are essentially, shells within shells that explode at different times with separate fuses that can be in series or parallel. 

Firework effects

Brocade

A spider-like effect in the sky, much like fine lace. The brocade effect is generally a silver tail effect, and is brighter than the willow or tiger tail effect. Most brocade effects use glitter to produce the long brocade tails.

Chrysanthemum

A flower-like aerial pattern, usually resulting from a cake or mortar.

Comet

A type of star that leaves a long trail of sparks as it flies through the air.

Corsette

A type of comet that breaks into multiple comets, usually forming a cross shape.

Pearls

Bright balls of color that fly through the sky and burn themselves out after reaching maximum height.

Dragon eggs

A delayed crackle effect displayed in egg-shaped patterns, as seen at the end of this video clip.

Waterfall

Glowing embers that fall slowly in the air, creating a willow or waterfall effect.

Flying fish

An aerial effect that looks like a swarm of objects squirming through the air. This effect usually lasts only a few seconds. Fish are actually a type of fuse that propels itself through the air, creating a swimming effect.

Palm tree

An aerial effect that produces a gold or silver stem as the shell rises into the sky (known as a rising tail), followed by a brocade or willow effect that creates palm fronds. It resembles a gold or silver palm tree in the sky.

Peony

An aerial effect that looks like a spherical ball of colored lights in the sky. A very common aerial effect on most fireworks displays.

Pistill

A ball of stars in the center of another ball of stars. Another way to describe this effect is a small peony inside a larger peony.

Rising tail

A rising tail is a gold or silver tail effect that is created when a shell is shot into the sky, similar to the trunk of a tree. Commonly used with palm tree shells.

Strobe

A strobe is a blinking effect. When used in a shell with hundreds of strobe stars, the strobe effect looks like shimmering water in the sky. Strobes can be a variety of colors, including white, green, blue, and orange.

Tourbillion

Another name for a serpent, a tourbillion is a type of star that spins in the sky and gives off large quantities of gold, silver, or white light. These are generally constructed as a small paper tube with holes on each end that allow it to spin.

Willow

An aerial effect that looks like a giant gold willow tree in the sky. A true willow effect has delicate golden trails that hang in the sky ten seconds or more.

- Quinn

MERCH