Monday, March 23, 2026
The DC streetcar's final week of service is upon us. The boondoggle will offer its final ride on March 31.
Initial planning began in the 1990s. The city published a feasibility study in 2002 and broke ground in 2004.
Three streetcars were ordered from a Czech company in 2005 but sat in European storage until 2009 because the city didn’t know what to do with them.
It was comically over budget. Construction cost about $200 million. Operating the streetcars cost $10 million every year.
Many didn’t dare ride because of how many homeless people camped out.
Finally, a serious structural budget deficit has forced city leaders to pull the plug. Outgoing D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) says “next generation” electric bus service will replace the streetcars by mid-2029. In the meantime, the chair of the D.C. Council’s transportation committee announced plans to budget $250,000 for a study of replacement transit options.
Of the many lessons from this debacle, perhaps none is more important than the fresh reminder of the sunk-cost fallacy. Year after year, D.C. politicians were unwilling to expend the political capital necessary to stop wasting millions of tax dollars, because they were afraid of antagonizing a small but vocal community of die-hard advocates for public transit. It’s better late than never to stop throwing good money after bad, but D.C. could have stopped this streetcar in its tracks two decades ago.
Of the many lessons from this debacle, perhaps none is more important than the fresh reminder of the sunk-cost fallacy. Year after year, D.C. politicians were unwilling to expend the political capital necessary to stop wasting millions of tax dollars, because they were afraid of antagonizing a small but vocal community of die-hard advocates for public transit. It’s better late than never to stop throwing good money after bad, but D.C. could have stopped this streetcar in its tracks two decades ago.
Via https://dailytimewaster.blogspot.com/2026/03/yet-another-reason-politicians-should.html certainly a daily stop for me
Ford Racing High-Performance Driving School, formerly known as the Miller Motorsports Driving School after Larry H. Miller launched it back in 2006 at the now-defunct Miller Motorsports Park in Utah, is getting yet another name change
For the 2026 season onward, the Ford Performance Racing School will now be formally known as the Wheelhouse Racing School
I guess the era of sports car schools may have ended with Covid, or, chatter about them in the auto enthusiast world has waned.
I never hear about the drag racing schools, the Hellcat, Viper, Corvette, Camaro, etc etc
news flash... LaGuardia ATC has got a lot of explaining to do
2 pilots of Air Canada dead, the airliner collided with a fire fighting vehicle
The pilot and copilot of the Air Canada plane were killed, and 41 passengers and crew members, some with serious injuries, were taken to local hospitals. Of those injured, 32 have since been released
The fire truck was traveling across the runway to respond to a separate incident on board a United Airlines flight that reported an odor issue. Moments before the crash, audio of an air traffic controller revealed that they gave clearance to a vehicle to cross part of the tarmac. Moments later, a controller can be heard saying, “Stop, stop, stop, truck 1 stop, truck 1, stop.”
Later in the audio transmission, a distraught controller is heard saying, “We were dealing with an emergency earlier. I messed up.”
Preliminary data show that the Air Canada plane was traveling between 93 and 105 mph when it collided with the fire truck
Later in the audio transmission, a distraught controller is heard saying, “We were dealing with an emergency earlier. I messed up.”
Preliminary data show that the Air Canada plane was traveling between 93 and 105 mph when it collided with the fire truck
Follow up,
A flight attendant was found alive on the ground by rescuers, still strapped to her seat with the seatbelt - which had fallen through the floor of the damaged planeAnd we will never hear the end of that from airlines about wearing the damn seat belt during landing UNTIL the plane has reached the terminal. God damn it. They now have proof
Sunday, March 22, 2026
nice piece of art by the detailed people at American Bank Note company, the Greek God Mercury, symbolic of commerce, negotiation, and speed
Trains, planes, ships, and standing on a winged wheel
a Marine lcpl developed $10 solution to $5,600 antenna problem
A junior Marine’s 3D-printed fix for a fragile communications antenna is saving the Marine Corps hundreds of thousands of dollars and slashing months-long supply delays across the fleet.
They learned he had previously worked as a computer numerically controlled, or CNC, machine operator at an industrial machining company and had an interest in 3D printing and design.
In April 2025, Schule attended a basic additive manufacturing course at the II Marine Expeditionary Force Innovation Campus, where he learned to reverse engineer and print replacement parts.
The campus, a 3D printing hub focused on solving equipment and supply challenges, recently received a Defense Department award for education and workforce development.
Through trial and error, Schule refined the process and ultimately produced a replacement mast that passed durability testing and held up during a month-long field exercise.
During a joint exercise, Pine observed antenna masts breaking across multiple units. Replacements cost more than $5,600 each and took over 220 days to arrive. He estimated more than $1 million in damaged equipment across the fleet.
Since then, the II MEF Innovation Campus has produced more than 100 replacement masts at roughly $10 a piece, saving an estimated $600,000 while eliminating years of cumulative supply delays.
https://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-military/2026/03/20/marine-lance-corporal-develops-10-solution-to-5600-antenna-problem/
I found a set of streets named after fighter planes
only a couple miles from what was the NAS Miramar airbase, which is now MCAS Miramar
You know that commercial where is Jean-Claude Van Damme is doing splits between two semis? Chuck Norris is driving both semi's.
Chuck Norris once pissed into the gas tank of a semi truck on a dare. We now know this truck as Optimus Prime.
Chuck Norris didn't die, he just gave Bruce Lee enough time to prepare for their rematch
The rumor was he was supposed to go on Mount Rushmore after he died but the rock is too soft to hold his face.
There's no street named after chuck Norris because no one crosses chuck Norris
Chuck Norris didn't die, he got bored of being undefeated on earth
trying to prevent bad publicity... the senate passes a measure (that politicians will just ignore) prohibiting preferential airport screening for lawmakers... as they can't arrange for TSA to get paid, it's not a good time to bypass the unpaid screeners
The Senate approved by unanimous consent Thursday a proposal to end the special treatment members of Congress get at airports that allows them to speed through or skip the Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) screening checkpoints.
Saturday, March 21, 2026
A cyberattack on Intoxalock has shut down a nationwide breathalyzer test system found in vehicles of OUI offenders, impacting thousands of drivers
"Anybody that's locked out has remained locked out. There's people that haven't been able to drive since Saturday, if that's their only vehicle," he said.
"Sunday evening, the company put out a notification that they'd been cyber-attacked," a Mainer with an Intoxalock device said.
In online messages, Intoxalock says hackers are flooding its servers to stop them from functioning, and that the nationwide outage has affected installations, removals, calibrations and account access. The company says despite the attack, user data is secure, but it did not say if there was a ransom demand.
the most expensive gas is at the end of the interstate exit ramps...
yup, the higher octane and diesel is now over 7 a gallon in Carlsbad (near the old Carlsbad NHRA dragstrip location on Palomar Airport Road today, and it was 40 cents more expensive across the street
Carroll Shelby himself said "Only the best wear black"
it would be fascinating to learn which drivers are the best at gauging distance between their cars and the chicanes and walls... Nascar? F1? Rally? SCCA? Indycar? IMSA? Drift? Dirt track? Baja?
This is how close an F1 driver was to the barriers. I'll guess that's a 1/4 to a 1/2 inch
This home made display is just awesome
the Montana Loophole (thank you Doug!)
The loophole is simple. Register an LLC in Montana, and claim that it owns the vehicle. Now you've evaded all of that tax. Keep it out of California for 12 months, and you can bring it back home without the sales tax. But prosecutors say that it's not a valid loophole, and that owners aren't waiting a year.
California is also using plate readers and surveillance systems to monitor for Montana license plates and other registration and tax violators.
according to Bloomberg, by 2023 there were more than 2.3 million registered vehicles “in” Montana, a state with a population of a little more than 1 million, and just 879,000 licensed drivers.
the Schwinn Lemon Peeler is a $3,500 bike today lol
and this was a simple bike rack mounted to the wing and trunk lid
Al Bahr Shrine, part of the fundraising arm of the Shriners Hospital in San Diego, CA. is looking for a 1931 or older vehicle to use as a parade car
the photos show what they can do as part time volunteers,
Any questions you may have can be answered by Bob, by calling 619-550-8849, or email sandogbob@gmail.com
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