Monday, September 28, 2026
this cute kids lunchbox was designed by Al Konetzni - remember 1st grade when you simply enjoyed the little cool things like a cool lunch box?
this is one of the many reasons I enjoy Facebook pages, there are so many that focus on a single thing, like this on https://www.facebook.com/groups/169550661538899/ one Disney merch/collectibles from before 1967
turns out if you go to the Kearny Mesa Hyundai dealership for a 4 wheel alignment, they tell you the cost will be 150 bucks. But they will email you a quote for 100... is our email address really worth that much to them?
After 110000 miles, it was in need of a tire alignment, the fronts had been smashed by potholes too damn many times, and that had bent the drivers side off enough to wear on the tires enough cause them to get bald on the outside in 20k miles. Not that there was much more on the inside
Anyway, it feels BETTER after the alignment, and I figure that we owe it to the people we like to tell them about any way they can save money, that we learn of.
My perspective is that it's us consumer/spenders - against the companies and services that will rip us off.
Sunday, September 27, 2026
oldest surviving Rolls Royce will be at the London to Brighton Veteran Run
The 1904 vehicle is due to appear at the St James's Motoring Spectacle in London before joining the annual 60-mile event on Nov 1st
Chassis 20154, as the car is known, has recently undergone a three-year restoration which returned it to its former glory, said the Royal Automobile Club.
Duncan Wiltshire, chairman of the organization, said the car's participation was "particularly significant" because it is the only known pre-1905 Rolls-Royce eligible for the car run.
The vehicle, built just months after the partnership between engineer Henry Royce and businessman Charles Rolls was formed, is one of only 17 models of its type produced.
It is regarded as one of the most historically significant cars of its marque.
The London to Brighton Veteran Car Run, first held in 1896, celebrates the pioneering vehicles that helped shape the early days of motoring.
RAF Flying Officer Leslie Valentine played a vital role on D-Day, when he who was 24 at the time, flew his Boston bomber at 50ft over the Normandy landing beaches to lay thick smoke to protect the invading forces from enemy fire, on D Day, to cover the invading forces.
Aviation artist Michael Turner captured the mission in his painting Friendly Smoke, and incredibly Mr Valentine's son, who was unaware that it was his father's aircraft depicted in the picture, bought him a copy.
"The eventual realization resulted in the artist visiting and signing the print: 'Thanks for posing for my painting!'."
Saturday, September 26, 2026
Buses passing through McMinn County TN were often pulled over, and passengers were randomly ticketed for drunkenness, regardless of their intoxicated state. Between 1936 and 1946, these fees amounted to almost $300,000 (equivalent to $3,700,000 as of 2024).
The Battle of Athens (sometimes called the McMinn County War) was a citizen rebellion in Athens and Etowah, Tennessee, United States, against the corrupt local government, which took place on August 1 and 2, 1946. The citizens, including around 50 to 200 World War II veterans, accused the local officials of predatory policing, police brutality, political corruption, and voter intimidation.
It was a result of the economic corruption of political figures, who enabled gambling, bootlegging, and other illegal activity.
Ex-convicts were often appointed as deputies as most of the county's young men were off fighting World War II.
These deputies furthered the political machinations, exerting control over the citizens of the county.
When McMinn County's GIs were demobilized and returned home, they were targeted by the deputies.
McMinn County had around 3,000 returning military veterans, almost 10 percent of the county's population.
There were several beer joints and honky-tonks around Athens; we were pretty wild; we started having trouble with the law enforcement at that time because they started making a habit of picking up GIs and fining them heavily for most anything—they were kind of making a racket out of it. After long hard years of service—most of us were hard-core veterans of World War II—we were used to drinking our liquor and our beer without being molested. When these things happened, the GIs got madder—the more GIs they arrested, the more they beat up, the madder we got
On August 1, 1946, voting irregularities surfaced as armed deputies blocked independent watchers and locked ballot boxes inside the McMinn County Jail rather than allowing a public count.
The Siege: Around 50 to 200 armed veterans raided a local National Guard armory to secure rifles and ammunition, then marched on the county jail where about 55 deputies had barricaded themselves with the disputed ballot boxes.
Surrender and Reform: After an exchange of gunfire and using dynamite to breach the jail's perimeter, the deputies surrendered in the early hours of August 2 without any fatalities. The recovered ballots were counted honestly, proving the veteran ticket won and effectively dismantling the entrenched machine
after 13 years of entertaining us with upgrading the engineering and design of, while building an Austin Mini, Nik and Richard have gotten Project Binky out of the shed and onto the blacktop for shakedown runs! And of course, found that many things needed to be fixed
Started in 2013, this has been one of the most entertaining series on You Tube for gear heads, I learned of it and posted about it in 2018, with a follow up in 2020 https://justacarguy.blogspot.com/search?q=binky
https://www.youtube.com/@BadObsessionMotorsport/videos for all the Binky build videos
this is the only video of a Böhmerland I think I've ever come across
Böhmerland opened its doors in 1924, cast rims from aluminum, closed at World War II, and made the longest wheelbase factory stock motorcycle at 10.5'
Friday, September 25, 2026
538 lumber company locomotives in an online library, interesting designs
https://atom.pnrarchive.org/index.php/informationobject/browse?sq0=heisler&sf0&repos&levels&onlyMedia&findingAidStatus©rightStatus&materialType&topLod=0&startDate&endDate&rangeType=inclusive&fbclid=IwY2xjawUkPJxleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBwZG9mBXNydGMGYXBwX2lkEDIyMjAzOTE3ODgyMDA4OTIAAR6MpStB-NUh1Z48cj7Xtgmui595m2luULmJ1bLqMhvt4KrYAPBplWP1k7JCxQ_aem_GYJWHy-Zh5B56I-TpDkogA
GM is launching what it calls the "GM Automotive Service Technicians 30 Under 30" program, which places a spotlight on technicians that started out at a young age, and aims to encourage others to follow the same sort of career path.
Those that wish to nominate a current GM technician can do so - so long as they're under the age of 30 - or techs can put their own name in the hat for potential recognition.
GM will contact the selected techs later this year, and in January, will announce the winners publicly.The techs will receive some swag including a custom Packout toolbox, a special service jacket, AI glasses for diagnostics, and professional tools. They'll also be recognized for a number of things - customer service, ongoing education, leadership, and willingness to mentor others. Essentially, they'll be ambassadors for GM, too.
“Service technicians are on the front lines of innovation as our vehicles become more complex,” said GM President Mark Reuss. “With the GM Automotive Service Technicians 30 Under 30 program, we will recognize exceptional young talent and foster a robust pipeline of skilled service technicians to support both the industry and this important part of the business for years to come.”
“Service technicians are on the front lines of innovation as our vehicles become more complex,” said GM President Mark Reuss. “With the GM Automotive Service Technicians 30 Under 30 program, we will recognize exceptional young talent and foster a robust pipeline of skilled service technicians to support both the industry and this important part of the business for years to come.”
Thursday, September 24, 2026
the origin of the words waiter and waitress, they were called waiter carriers.... but the source is a very long read... so, summed up, selling food to rail car passengers involved waiting, and carrying, due to racist bastards in Virginia.
They were called waiter carriers. Because
In 1879 the town council started charging these women a license tax to stand on the platform they had made famous.
Gordonsville Virginia would not hire black women at the hotel and would not hire them in the stores, then worked out how to take a cut of the only trade left to them.
They paid it and were back at the stove by four the next morning.
That is not resilience, that is somebody being charged rent on the one square foot of ground they were allowed to stand on.
She was not allowed inside the train car.
So she sold her food through the window.
That window was not a convenience and it was not a charming little detail. It was the only opening in a wall built to keep her out, and she turned it into a storefront.
Fifteen cents bought a chicken leg or a breast through it. A back or a wing went for a nickel or a dime.
This happened in Gordonsville, Virginia, a junction town where two railroads crossed.
The window opened when the first line reached the town in 1840, and it stayed open for about eighty years.
The women who worked it came from Brown Town, the Black community on the far side of the tracks.
By the town's own account the Exchange Hotel would not employ them, and neither would most of the businesses on Main Street.
Right beside the platform stood the hotel that would not have them.
They cooked in their own kitchens instead and sold in the twenty feet of open air in front of it.
proof that good people still exist
things like this make me really happy to have a place to share them with so many like minded people
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