After all these years, I never realized that the Tesla speed settings / Ludicrous Speed, Plaid - were something Elon Musk picked up from the movie Spaceballs (thank you Marco the Lab!)

The Tesla Plaid Origin: 

Elon Musk named Tesla's high-performance powertrain after the 1987 Mel Brooks sci-fi parody film Spaceballs. 

In the movie, the spaceship Spaceball One travels through ridiculous speeds: Light Speed, Ridiculous Speed, Ludicrous Speed, and finally, "Going Plaid". 

When the ship reaches Plaid speed, it moves so fast that the stars warp into a literal tartan plaid pattern.

When the villain spaceship prepares to chase the heroes, the ship commander skips over Light and Ridiculous speeds for the rarely engaged Ludicrous speed.

 Tesla previously introduced "Ludicrous Mode" for acceleration, so "Plaid" was chosen as the ultimate step above it.

In 2016, Tesla introduced Ludicrous Mode as the ultimate performance setting of the Model S and Model X.

Tesla introduced the even quicker Ludicrous Plus Mode in 2017.
Tesla discontinued Ludicrous Mode and Ludicrous Plus Mode for the 2022 model year.
The Model S and Model X Plaid are Tesla’s new performance benchmark vehicles.

Tesla introduced the Model S Plaid for the 2021 model year, replacing the temporary Ludicrous driving mode with a more powerful vehicle overall. The 2025 Model S Plaid offers impressive specs:

1.99-second 0-60 mph time
200 mph top speed
309-mile range
The Model X received the Plaid treatment after the Model S. Its performance numbers are slightly tamer but still strong:

2.5-second 0-60 mph time
149 mph top speed
335-mile range

Both vehicles offer a range of upgrades over the standard models, including:

Performance electric motors
Carbon-fiber bodywork
Performance brakes

https://www.autotrader.com/car-shopping/ludicrous-mode-ludicrous-plus-mode

one empire, with no computers, slide rules, calculators, university trained engineers, Army Corps of Engineers, road graders, dozers, excavators, dynamite, rebar, cement, etc... made more roads than any other ever had, or ever will... on three continents, over about 500 years, and many have lasted for millemium

the Roman road system, covering 186,411 miles

https://gizmodo.com/the-biggest-map-of-roman-roads-ever-made-still-isnt-big-enough-2000811770

https://www.britannica.com/technology/Roman-road-system

https://www.history.com/articles/ancient-roman-roads-network

this is adorable

https://www.craigslist.org/view/d/longmont-1967-dodge-a110-rv-lazy-dazy/s7U8NJkJSRq6bauYrcPSLh

https://barnfinds.com/lazy-daze-rv-1967-dodge-a110/

true fact.... I researched the Panama Papers for a post on Lewis Hamilton (and I post about car bombs)

The Panama Papers journalist who was killed by a car bomb was Daphne Galizia, a prominent investigative reporter and blogger from Malta.

She was murdered on October 16, 2017, when a powerful explosive device detonated inside her rented Peugeot 108 near her home on Malta

She was widely known as a "one-woman WikiLeaks" for exposing high-level government corruption. Her recent work focused on local fallout from the Panama Papers, specifically targeting offshore companies tied to Malta's prime minister and inner circle

At the time of her death, she was facing more than 40 libel suits.

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Several men involved in carrying out the murder have been convicted. This includes bomb suppliers who were sentenced to life in prison and a confessed hitman who received a 15-year sentence

Mr Fenech was involved in a consortium that won a controversial contract with the Maltese government to build a power station.

Prosecutors accused him of being the mastermind of the slaying and of having ordered and paid for it.

He was arrested in 2019, as he was sailing away from Malta on his yacht

https://www.npr.org/2026/09/02/nx-s1-5954420/daphne-caruana-galizia-case-yorgen-fenech-acquitted-malta

Governor Newsom signed Jay Leno’s Law, creating a phased in smog check exemption for qualifying collector cars built between 1976 and 1985, AND the Lowrider specialized license plate program to honor a uniquely Californian tradition

Newsom signed Senate Bill 1392, known as "Leno's Law," at Jay Leno's Garage in Burbank.

California currently exempts vehicles made before the 1976 model year from the state's regular smog-check requirement. Under the new law, qualifying collector vehicles made before 1981 will become exempt beginning Jan. 1, 2028.

One additional model year will then be added annually, eventually reaching 1985 model-year vehicles in 2033.

To qualify, vehicles must either be insured as collector vehicles or be driven less than 1,000 miles per year, according to the governor's office. The restrictions are intended to limit the exemption to cars preserved for occasional use rather than everyday transportation.

Newsom also signed two other car-related measures at Wednesday's event, including a bill creating a specialized California lowrider license plate and another aimed at speeding up state review of aftermarket vehicle parts.

https://www.cbsnews.com/sacramento/news/california-lenos-law-classic-car-smog/

Martin-Baker, a British company that builds ejection seats for military planes, pushes out a social-media post every time one of its seats saves a life. I love that (thank you Doug!)

Then it contacts the ejectee and welcomes them to the tie club.

By Martin-Baker’s count, 7,827 lives have been saved by its seats since the first successful ejection in 1949.

One pilot has ejected four times, nine have ejected three times and 256 have ejected twice, according to Steve Roberts, a Martin-Baker executive. The four-timer was an Air Force F-4 reconnaissance officer.

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Collins Aerospace, another maker of ejection seats, started its own ejection fraternity in 1979. Called the Grasshopper Club, members get a plaque, patch, pin and a coin.

Collins’ seats have saved 730, including several Air Force F-15E Strike Eagle pilots and crew shot down this year in Iran.

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Ron Bath was flying his RF-4 Phantom military jet at nearly 700 miles an hour over the Nevada desert when it smashed into a bird, destroying one of the engines and part of the wing.

Bath managed to land at his base in Reno, but there was still a problem: He couldn’t steer or apply the brakes. As the plane slowed, it rolled off the side of the runway and into a ditch filled with rainwater.

The Phantom’s front landing gear collapsed, piercing the floorboard under the cockpit and rupturing the charge on his ejection seat.

“Next thing I know is I’m looking down at my airplane and it’s getting smaller and smaller and smaller and smaller, and I’m just shooting up into the sky,” said Bath. Seven seconds after he shot through the glass canopy, Bath smashed into the ground, breaking his back and neck.

this is 2.2 billion dollars worth of a crashed B2 bomber on the runway at Andersen Air Force Base in 2008, the pilot ejected, and that action broke his back, not uncommon

https://www.wsj.com/lifestyle/careers/eject-tie-club-military-jet-collins-martin-baker-4c8496ab

news to me.... they built about a 100 Barracuda and Challengers in Antwerp Belgium, and some in De Nekaaf, Rotterdam, Netherlands

https://www.facebook.com/groups/ebodies/permalink/28382971091321690/

there were even a few assembled in Switzerland. 

What's really cool are the 100 or so all white Challengers that were assembled at the Simca plant in Poissey.

How've I been a gearhead, a car guy, a mopar fan - and not learned of this until now? 

A ghost town named Goo... another was named Tunk - so there must have been enough odd named ones that it wasn't very unusual

Goo was likely located off of a railroad branch that extended from Boyne Falls area toward Alba. It doesn't sound like it was much of a town, more likely a logging camp or small settlement.

"Goo" appears in the Rand McNally Shippers Guide for Michigan, 1908 and 1917.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1282668961809379/permalink/28327162176933358

news flash, NBC Los Angeles, Telemundo 52 helicopter crashed in Chatsworth just before 7 p.m. in the 9100 block of North Mason Avenue, while covering a bus collision

https://ktla.com/news/local-news/helicopter-crashes-near-deadly-l-a-metro-bus-crash/

 Three people were killed and one person was hospitalized when the NewsChopper4 helicopter went down between two commercial buildings. The crash resulted in a fire, damaging four vehicles and two storage containers in the area.

Several TV news helicopters were in the west San Fernando Valley community reporting on a crash involving a Metro bus.

https://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/national-international/helicopter-crashes-in-chatsworth/4074253

on the island of Malta!

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=122141885391188865&set=gm.2198391567373243&idorvanity=354701791742239

too awesome to pass on, I must share this

When 30 men from Catwick, in East Yorkshire, left to fight inWW1, the village blacksmith John Hugill nailed a coin for each of them, mostly farthings, to the doorpost of his forge on Main Street, just below a lucky horseshoe.

Remarkably, all 30 men returned home alive, though one, Joseph Grantham, came back having lost an arm. Hugill marked this by cutting a notch out of one of the coins to represent the missing limb, before nailing it back into place.

Two decades later, when another 30 villagers went off to fight in WW2, Hugill repeated the exact same ritual, and once again, every single man came home safely, making Catwick one of just a handful of "doubly thankful" villages in the whole of England and Wales.

The horseshoe and coins have since been mounted onto a wooden plaque, passed down through the family and now kept by the blacksmith's grandson, also named John Hugill, who still lives next door to the old forge and calls it "a fantastic piece of history."

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=122271355766269902&set=a.122108168822269902

A park visitor's smartphone camera caught a crack in a steel support column on a roller coaster.... the inspectors didn't. So, what the hell is wrong with the inspection system, and inspectors? Isn't the roller coaster industry serious about preventing a deadly disaster?

 One of the easiest ways to see a broken column, is simply to watch a system in motion, and if any part support column moves, it's broken... it's that easy, that simple. No computers needed.

These two screen grabs prove that there's enough space made when the sheered off, to see daylight through. 

That is at Carowinds, the theme park outside Charlotte, North Carolina, in the summer of 2023.

(the operator, the inspector, and the manager should all have been fired for gross negligence)

The visitor was Jeremy Wagner, and the ride was Fury 325. It stands 325 feet tall and reaches speeds up to 95 mph

Wagner recalled the moment plainly: “I look up and I see a light come through the pole.” He filmed it. 

As he told The New York Times, in an account quoted by CBS News, “My hands were shaking because I knew how quick this could be catastrophic.”

https://spacedaily.com/m-a-park-visitor-at-carowinds-spotted-a-crack-in-a-steel-support-column-on-the-fury-325-roller-coaster-before-the-rides-daily-inspections-caught-it-the-ride-stayed-shut-for-more-than/

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/carowinds-fury-325-crack-support-beam-customer-video-jeremy-wagner

A Toyota Camry has 2 camshaft position sensors, a crankshaft position sensor, mass air flow (MAF) sensor, manifold absolute pressure (MAP) sensor, engine coolant temperature sensor, and knock sensors

... and this roller coaster doesn't have a single track flex sensor to indicate a broken support beam? not a single motion sensor that activates if a laser beam drifts off point? That's some gross negligence on the part of the manufacturer, operator, state inspectors, park operator licensing dept, etc! WTF!

I came across a vintage speed shop and race car parts decal facebook page

https://www.facebook.com/groups/214853835512400/

cool business logo and business card from a 1970s company around the corner from Clay Smith's

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10248205259653162&set=p.10248205259653162&type=3

and their water slide decal was a hoot

a new way to hack the limits of the 3 wishes rule! Wish for the impossible, forcing the genie to give you a freebie!

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=28530978129865968&set=gm.3504939796346266&idorvanity=132380976935515

the classic cars on the mid 60s tv show Gidget (Sally Field's debut into celebrity, before the Flying Nun) incuded Ed Roth's Tweedy Pie! Thank you Notorius DUG!

Seriously? A pink racing stripe on a green hearse/ambulance Caddy? Someone WAS colorblind

and of course they had to make the most of the use of the Caddy, so they washed that green and pink off, and painted on red flames

and Gidget signs up for shop class after she buys the Caddy

on a tv show that probably no one watched (17 episodes from 72-74) they snuck on screen the AMX 400 (thank you Doug!)

even I Love Lucy used the old car that falls apart gag... it's a hoot. 1924 Cadillac - skip the first 90 seconds to get to the bit (thank you Doug!) then a switcheroo bit at minute 4

Tom interviews the daughter of a guy, who was an original owner of a 68 GT 500 Shelby Mustang... and bought a 289 Cobra after it had rolled 4 times (without the body), and she inherited and still has, her dad's car collection

Towing the Cobra home when purchased, without the body

outstanding method of painting clouds, possibly wood block print, artist unknown, I tried to get the name, couldn't find it

https://dailytimewaster.blogspot.com/2026/09/high-flight.html

one of the coolest scenes from a movie, Tomb Raider (reboot) had this WW2 Japanese bomber that had been crashed and swept down a river to the edge of the water fall

By the way, Walter Goggins was the bad guy in the movie, and the treasure he was after was a deadly virus, some mummy was buried to contain (this was a movie two years before the covid 19 virus escaped China) 

Thunderbolt at the drag strip

https://www.hagerty.com/media/automotive-history/11-of-our-favorite-hood-scoops/

427 solid lifter 4 spd 66 Caprice that had caught the attention of Hot Rod magazine staffer Gray Baskerville, because it was stored at Art Chrisman’s shop

https://www.hagerty.com/media/car-profiles/after-sitting-idle-for-decades-this-rare-427-powered-caprice-is-back-on-the-streets/

the Apr 22, 1967 Oak Lawn (Illinois) tornado claimed 33 lives and destroyed the bus yard of Suburban Transit System

OAK LAWN, IL -- By the time an EF-4 tornado tore down Southwest Highway in Oak Lawn on April 21, 1967, ten tornadoes would strike northeastern Illinois on what would be the worst tornado outbreak in state history.

Chicagoland residents were already hearing grim reports out of Belvidere, where an EF-4 tornado struck at 3:50 p.m., killing 24 people, 13 of them children who were boarding buses at Belvidere High School. An hour or so later, another EF-4 tornado slammed Lake Zurich, destroying 75 homes, an elementary school and damaging hundreds more structures. One person died.

But the worst of the swarm was yet to come. The precise moment the tornado hit the epicenter at 95th Street and Southwest Highway was 5:32 p.m., as recorded on a stopped clock inside Oak Lawn Community High School. Although the funnel cloud had touched down for only a few seconds, the largest death toll occurred at the intersection. Eighteen lives would be lost. Three people died at Fairway Super Mart, one at Sherwood Restaurant, three at Shoot’s Lynwood Tavern, two at the Suburban Bus terminal garage, and nine in cars waiting at a red light in heavy Friday afternoon traffic.

Walter Sobut owned Fairway Super Mart with his brother, John, at 5951 W. 95th St. The afternoon of April 21, 1967, Walter had been collecting carts from the parking lot when cars began flying across Southwest Highway and down the street. Walter ran back into the store and told his cashiers to take cover. He grabbed onto the cart pole inside the store and hung on for dear life. The wind spun him around.

“He said he prayed to God that instead of breaking his back to take his life,” his daughter later said. “It was the second time he cheated death. He was the last guy off the U.S.S. Arizona in Pearl Harbor.” (Sailor Lauren Bruner was the second-to-last person)

Fairway’s roof fell in when the walls collapsed, killing three shoppers inside the store: Charles McNeill, along with 30-year-old Joan Casey and her 18-month-old daughter Christine. All lived in Oak Lawn.

“The roof on that place was humongous,” Rita recalled.

She said the customers’ deaths haunted her father until the day he died in 1996.

https://www.facebook.com/PaceBus/posts/pfbid02wD7yM81U2s7vpyqQSADnUfZxpJSFpBN3p27h4PoCGmoHk2fG7UCYpUjZV5tDjukgl

https://olpl.pastperfectonline.com/bysearchterm?keyword=April%2022%2C%201967

https://patch.com/illinois/oaklawn/oak-lawn-tornado-50-years-later-survivors-recall-black-friday