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
true fact.... I researched the Panama Papers for a post on Lewis Hamilton (and I post about car bombs)
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.
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
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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 sentenceMr 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
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
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.
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.
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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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
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
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
Tuesday, September 15, 2026
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
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
too awesome to pass on, I must share this
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."
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.”
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!
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!
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
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