https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10231634948553761&set=gm.2259339797926562&idorvanity=804065043454052
Saturday, September 19, 2026
During a practice session, Fangio ( the reigning World Champion) returned to the pits and complained to the team that his Mercedes-Benz W196 (or 300 SLR) was not set up properly and was behaving poorly on the track.
Uhlenhaut (driving engineer for Mercedes-Benz, and the father of Mercedes-Benz 300 SL) fresh from an executive lunch and still dressed in a full suit and tie, climbed into Fangio's race car.
He went out onto the notoriously demanding Nürburgring and turned in a lap 3 seconds faster than the reigning World Champion's time.
"the gentlemen should practice more" was his comment afterwards...
https://petrolicious.com/blogs/articles/the-mercedes-engineer-that-was-too-good-to-race
all stories like this should be gathered in one book, about the funny things said and done in the racing world for the past 120 years
Now that gas/diesel is at a record high price, the FMCSA announced a nationwide waiver of Hours of Service (HOS) rules for the transportation of motor fuels will be in place until December 16
“The Agency grants this waiver in anticipation of the need for greater hours-of-service flexibility for motor carriers transporting fuel during the last weeks of the summer and most of the fall if the demand for fuel increases above the levels experienced earlier in the year,” FMCSA said in its announcement.
It seems to me there is no greater demand based on the month, or time of year, but instead, this is a way for oil companies to make more money while the profits are the highest.
California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara is moving to stop auto insurers from using marital status when setting rates. I think when this changes (lowers) car insurance rates for the unmarried (50% of drivers) we'll see it change rates across the nation, probably the world, as we've been scammed too long
"The price of your auto insurance should be based on how you drive, not whether you're married," said Insurance Commissioner Lara.
"For 30 years, insurers have been allowed to use marital status when setting rates. Today, we are taking action to end that outdated practice and reinforce a simple principle: insurance rates should be grounded in actual driving risk, not personal circumstances that have nothing to do with how someone behaves behind the wheel."
Unmarried drivers pay about 200 dollars more a year, compared to married drivers
the 9th circuit court of appeals reversed a dismissal and ordered the case reopened over insurer claims over immobilizer-free Kia and Hyundai models, raising fresh questions about theft risk and future anti-theft tech.
Kia and Hyundai are back in federal court over a theft wave that made national headlines for years, and this time insurers hold the wheel. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a dismissal on September 14, ordering a Santa Ana judge to reopen claims worth more than $1 billion.
About 200 insurance companies allege that the automakers' Korean parent entities knowingly shipped vehicles without engine immobilizers into California ports.
The theft spree traces back to a design gap nobody outside the factory noticed for years. UCLA anthropology professor Jeffrey Brantingham put it bluntly: "Thieves didn't know these Hyundai and Kia cars were easy to steal until about 2020." Once TikTok tutorials spread, that changed fast.
Los Angeles saw thefts roughly double between the summer of 2019 and the summer of 2020, a spike researchers tie to idle cars sitting through pandemic lockdowns across the county's nearly 8 million registered vehicles. A UCLA study now projects elevated theft rates for these vulnerable Hyundai and Kia models will persist through 2042.
Los Angeles saw thefts roughly double between the summer of 2019 and the summer of 2020, a spike researchers tie to idle cars sitting through pandemic lockdowns across the county's nearly 8 million registered vehicles. A UCLA study now projects elevated theft rates for these vulnerable Hyundai and Kia models will persist through 2042.
A Memphis police affidavit says truck driver Robert Wilson offered a $110,000 chicken shipment to settle a drug debt.
Officers interrupted the reported exchange behind an Economy Inn on Sept. 15. Several people unloaded frozen cargo from his semi-trailer nearby. The discovery led to 12 arrests, three recovered firearms and multiple drug charges.
Wilson operated as an independent contractor under Armada Freight’s authority, the company told FreightWaves. Armada assigned him to transport the Koch Foods shipment. Wilson told police he owed a drug debt to an orange-shirted man driving a blue SUV. The complaint states he was “trading his load to pay off a drug debt.”
30 moments where bicycles shine in pop culture / Hollywood
https://www.bicycling.com/news/g22221906/best-bike-moments-in-pop-culture
(Stranger Things, ET, Wizard of OZ, Pee Wee's Big Adventure, the Shining, Queen's "Bicycle Race")
Max Verstappen (4 time F1 Champion) recently proved that he hasn't lost his touch in Max vs. 100, starting behind 100 less experienced rivals and proceeding to fight his way through the entire field. (as always, skip the 1st minute of the video, then skip the next 50 seconds too to get to the start of the race)
Verstappen started at the back of the 101-kart field during the race, and he only had 30 laps on the modified Silverstone circuit to claw his way through the horde. However, he got to form fast, and pulled it off in just 14 laps - and 37 minutes
For a list of the competitors: https://fordauthority.com/2026/09/heres-the-rivals-ford-f1-driver-verstappen-wil-face-in-go-karts/
The Max Vs 100 event streamed live on Disney + (sports) where it's listed for 2 hours
Friday, September 18, 2026
1970 Ford Maverick Estate Coupe design concept - I've never seen this before, that back end is so stupid ugly it's utterly unforgettable, and that's how I know I've never seen it before
Ford exhibited the Maverick Estate Coupe concept vehicle at the 1971 Chicago Auto Show.
The Estate Coupe had a dark green padded "Landaulet" roof over the rear seating, and the body finished in limefire green. That unique color used a subtle gold-flake base and complimented the avocado interior.
Cast magnesium wheels had a spoke design reminiscent of the classic wire wheels.
not just a strange route (Egypt to Alaska) but a lucky VW van, that LIFE magazine learned of and photographed
hell of a curve to the front, I didn't think there was a passenger side for a while, I had to look this van up for more photos
Thursday, September 17, 2026
a moment to celebrate, and remember, the inventor of Duck Tape (yes, duck, you'll read why in a moment)
During the Second World War at a munitions plant in Illinois, American ordnance factory worker Vesta Stoudt noticed a small but dangerous flaw in how ammunition boxes were sealed. The crates were closed with thin paper tape coated in wax, with a pull tab left so soldiers could tear them open quickly. In practice the tab often tore off early, forcing troops to dig out a knife or bayonet to get at the ammo, wasting seconds and diverting attention at the worst possible time.
Stoudt suggested replacing the paper tape with a strong, waterproof cloth backed adhesive tape. When her supervisors did not act, she wrote directly to President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1943 with her idea and simple diagrams. The War Production Board approved the concept and Johnson and Johnson developed a tough, water resistant green tape made from cotton duck fabric and a rubber based adhesive, soon nicknamed duck tape and later duct tape.
Once the tape existed, soldiers began using it far beyond ammo boxes. It sealed small leaks, insulated bare wires, held panels in place, and secured dressings or improvised splints when proper medical gear was not available.
Julian Mitchell, from Kirtlington, has been restoring a 1941 Hawker Hurricane for the past six years in his driveway, it was on display at the We Have Ways Fest 2026.
Mitchell said he had been interested in rebuilding vintage aeroplanes for a long time, and described the restoration of the iconic single-seat fighter as his "dream project".
"It is purely a hobby and that's working on vintage aeroplanes and anything to do with military aviation history," he told the BBC.
"About six years ago I had the opportunity to purchase a Hurricane restoration project and been working on that ever since then really."
The Hurricane was responsible for 60% of German losses during the Battle of Britain, which took place in the skies over southern England in the summer of 1940.
Later in the global conflict, Hurricanes fought in the defence of Malta, aided the desert war in North Africa and led bombing raids against Imperial Japan - before being retired from service in 1947.
The aircraft Mitchell is restoring began its life in Canada, where it was constructed in 1941, before surviving the war with two Canadian squadrons.
"Following the war it was scrapped in 1945, ended up on a farmstead up in Toronto somewhere in Canada where it laid for the best part of 40 years before it was brought back over to this country in the late 1980s," Mitchell explained.
"It went through two or three hands where people decided they might have a go at rebuilding it and then it ended up with me."
After six years of restoration work, Mitchell said the Hurricane was "60%" finished.
"The airframe will be finished fairly soon but there's all the fitting out of the systems - there's hydraulic systems, pneumatic systems, coolant system, that all has got to go in yet."
huh, an audit turns up a lot of dirty business... California high-speed rail consultants flew first-class, visited bars and a nightclub on taxpayers’ money - just $600,000 in unallowable travel reimbursements
California’s High Speed Rail Authority paid nearly $600,000 in unallowable travel expenses to “questionable locations that appear unrelated to state business,” including trips to gyms, a nightclub, an escape room, a tiki bar and a cigar lounge over a two-year period, according to an investigation released Tuesday by the inspector general that oversees the agency.
The report found that the agency routinely reimbursed consultants for trips that were unauthorized or poorly justified. Some consultants flew first-class and were reimbursed without questioning, in violation of contracts and state policies. One consultant flew his private plane from Washington, D.C. to California and was reimbursed for a premium fare.
“Paying for travel when it is not necessary or when it exceeds what is allowed by state regulations or the contract terms is waste of public funds and is behavior inconsistent with the Authority’s role as the steward of public resources,” the Office of the Inspector General report reads.
The report found that the agency routinely reimbursed consultants for trips that were unauthorized or poorly justified. Some consultants flew first-class and were reimbursed without questioning, in violation of contracts and state policies. One consultant flew his private plane from Washington, D.C. to California and was reimbursed for a premium fare.
“Paying for travel when it is not necessary or when it exceeds what is allowed by state regulations or the contract terms is waste of public funds and is behavior inconsistent with the Authority’s role as the steward of public resources,” the Office of the Inspector General report reads.
Did you know that Bruce Springsteen was being sued by some car owner's son, who argues Springsteen promised more pay for the use of the 68 GTO to be photographed
Springsteen's 2022 cover album, Only the Strong Survive, features a 1967 Pontiac GTO owned by the dead New Jersey car collector
The next of kin claimed to have been told (hearsay) his dad would get paid more if the car was used for an album cover, vs marketing and promo photos (for just $1200)
The appeals court agreed with the first court that hearsay isn't admissable.
FLOCK cameras getting used unprofessionally by cops (not yet illegal) , in the news:
A San Jose Police Department officer has been fired for accessing Flock camera data on a personal phone to help his cousin, who was accused of domestic violence, track down the woman who accused his cousin
https://www.ktvu.com/news/sjpd-officer-fired-after-using-flock-cameras-help-cousin.amp
Records show police justified Flock license plate searches with answers like "LMAO" and "idk"
https://www.techspot.com/news/113857-records-show-police-justified-flock-license-plate-searches.html#google_vignette
https://www.techspot.com/news/113589-new-halloween-video-game-has-banned-australia-not.html
Bonus Round, Flock lied about images storage time on the cameras... and hackers proved it
said that physical access is still required to exploit them and that the images are only briefly retained on the device before they’re forwarded to the cloud. However, 404 Media says that a hacking group called stegan0gram found out that this wasn’t the case after they took down a Flock camera positioned over a roadway and analyzed the data stored inside it.
While the hacking group failed to access the most sensitive data stored on the Flock camera, they were still able to access its Android operating system and found two storage partitions, labeled “vendor” and “media.” The latter was found to contain an encryption key that unlocked another partition containing all the media files from the camera. 404 Media said that that particular Flock camera captured about 1.6 million images across 21 days, detecting around 50,200 vehicles and, more concerningly, 11 people. There were also 27,321 video clips saved on the device — MP4 files with a 1024 x 768 resolution that lasted about a second or two.
and Joe Broadmeadow (retired police capt of East Providence, sounds like an admin type, not someone that ever walked the streets or arrested anyone, and hiked the whole Appalachian Trail) wrote a good opinion piece on the issue of a national license plate reader system being set up, and in action, with no laws governing the use of it
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.
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
Wednesday, September 16, 2026
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
https://www.britannica.com/technology/Roman-road-system
https://www.history.com/articles/ancient-roman-roads-network
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