Saturday, June 02, 2018

competition sure does make truck manufacturing improve the trucks... to compete with the Ford Raptor the Dodge Ram 1500 has been upgraded a hell of a lot, and it's most apparant in looks


this is the TRX from Dodge

https://www.cnet.com/roadshow/news/jeep-ram-alfa-romeo-maserati-dodge-chrysler-fiat-business-plans/

And, because there are no Dodge trucks smaller than a full size 1500, to compete with the small trucks from Nissan, Toyota, Chevy /GMC Canyon/Colorado and the Ford Ranger that's coming back, FCA head of whatever, Mike Manley (what a perfect name for a guy in charge of a truck department) confirmed that a smaller truck is in the 5 year plan https://www.cnet.com/roadshow/news/ram-midsize-truck-confirmed/

Friday, June 01, 2018

This is Ireland's President Michael D. Higgins on a freaking bmx. Ireland loves him. This photo was made by photographer Michael Donnelly who couldn't find a single newspaper who wanted to buy it.... but it got a life of it's own on Reddit and Facebook


it was a photo op while on the campaign trail in 2011

https://www.facebook.com/MDPStudios/
http://www.dailyedge.ie/michael-d-higgins-bmx-photo-3245611-Feb2017/

one road in Nebraska looks a lot like most I saw there when I drove through


Makes you wish it was a race track with a clock, or one competitor...

http://viralthings.tumblr.com/post/155041146300/i-pulled-over-during-a-recent-drive-through

better than most stop lights!

humor found on Reddit


Wife left me. This is where the breakfast table used to be. I get to look at her every morning when I eat breakfast now. Just because I can.

http://viralthings.tumblr.com/post/155778592543/wife-left-me-this-is-where-the-breakfast-table

US firefighters helping out in Mexico

someone made their truck look like the one in the movie Twister

Well... you either lawyer up, never park in front of his house ever again, pay other people to park in front of his house to piss him off, move away, or get ready to have the worst day of your life when he catches up with you. But, choose wisely


Clearly, this Nam vet has given his last warning... and switched from EYE to I by the end of his rant

http://viralthings.tumblr.com/post/158181266844/so-this-was-on-my-windshield-today

The German method for dealing with speed cameras is swift, efficient, non destructive, & an example to us all.

Thursday, May 31, 2018

Guy is ticketed for parking in the handicapped spot without a permit... she needs her glasses and her attitude fixed


http://viralthings.tumblr.com/post/158501660880/guy-is-ticketed-for-parking-in-the-handicapped

I post this, and stand by my 1st impression of it, because, no matter the formalities and paperwork that a govt and it's bureaucracy invent to thwart our humanity... I say we must rise above, serve no master, and do the right thing.

What would Jesus do? What would Ghandi do? and those are good guidelines.

Me, I'm convinced that you lead with your heart, and do the right thing

cool train in Czech republic with some well placed Alien xenomorph art on it!

now THIS is close!

the ultimate boondoggle of WW2 was the long-range General Motors/Fisher XP-75 Eagle fighter


the P-75 could have been classified as "a group of parts flying in formation."

In April of 1942, the famous designer Donovan Berlin of the Curtiss P-36 and P-40 was assigned the task of meeting the requirements for the new fighter. To keep down costs and shorten development time, he decided to use existing aircraft sub-assemblies already in production.

It was made up from sub-assemblies of other airplanes that were already in production. It used the tail of the Douglas SBD Dauntless, the wings of Curtiss P-40 Warhawk and the landing gear of the Vought F4U Corsair.

This methodology was chosen to reduce production times and costs, but unfortunately this "Rube Goldberg" approach of assembling parts from several different aircraft and getting a car parts maker to build it, didn't work out so well. What may have seemed like a good idea at the time, with good intentions to save time and money, only gave more credence to Murphy’s Law, “Whatever can go wrong, will go wrong.” The main problem was that each of these parts was designed to function as an integral unit to a specific airframe. Combing parts of different aircraft proved to be ludicrous.3

While it may be fun to poke at GM for the failure of the P-75, they have to be commended for the monumental effort in converting their eastern automotive division to aircraft production. This involved a complete tear down of its five eastern automotive assembly lines and its parts division, and completely rebuilding these facilities practically overnight.

The program was cancelled after only a small number of prototypes and production aircraft had been completed, as it was no longer required in its original role, could not be quickly deployed, and possessed no significant advantages over aircraft already in production.

or read a far better written, and thorough description here: https://www.militaryfactory.com/aircraft/detail.asp?aircraft_id=420

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fisher_P-75_Eagle
http://www.aviation-history.com/fisher/p75.html
http://www.joebaugher.com/usaf_fighters/p75.html
http://mz-across-usa.blogspot.com/2018/05/the-national-museum-of-us-air-force.html

oh wow, what could have been if Nasa had went with option A, instead of the jetpack for EVA

United breaks guitars, you've now been warned. Of course, they also kill a lot more pets than all other airlines combined. You might want to consider how terrible they are and fly on any other airline



United Airlines had broken Dave’s guitar in checked luggage.

After eight months of pestering the company for compensation, he turned to his best tool—songwriting—and vowed to create a YouTube video about the incident that he hoped would garner a million views in one year.

Four days after its launching, the first million people had watched “United Breaks Guitars.” United stock went down 10 percent, shedding $180 million in value; Dave appeared on outlets as diverse as CNN and The View.

United relented. And throughout the business world, people began to realize that “efficient” but inhuman customer-service policies had an unseen cost—brand destruction by frustrated, creative, and socially connected customers.

“United Breaks Guitars” has become a textbook example of the new relationship between companies and their customers, and has demonstrated the power of one voice in the age of social media.




JUST when we thought things were bad enough for United Airlines, things got even worse.

The Chicago-based carrier has faced explosive backlash after it forced a passenger to put her beloved dog in the overhead compartment of a plane during a flight from Houston to New York City, leading to the dog’s death.

But reports of bizarre incidents in its cabins have proved damaging to its brand. Days after the David Dao incident in April last year, United suffered a $1.3 billion drop in market value.

Dr David Dao was already seated when he was forcefully dragged from an overbooked United Express flight on April 9 in Chicago, after he refused to give up his seat for crew members.

Dr Dao had a “significant concussion”, lost two of his front teeth, and suffered a “serious broken nose”, his lawyer Thomas Demetrio said.


Last year, 18 animals died while being transported on United, compared to just six cases on all other US carriers combined.

DEATH OF LULU THE DOG, AUGUST 2017
KID KICKED OUT OF SEAT, JUNE 2017
DEATH OF SIMON THE RABBIT, APRIL 2017
DEATH OF JACOB THE GOLDEN RETRIEVER, JANUARY 2017

PASSENGER SENT TO WRONG CITY, APRIL 2017
BRIDE AND GROOM KICKED OFF PLANE, APRIL 2017
DAVID DAO INCIDENT, APRIL 2017

https://www.news.com.au/travel/travel-updates/how-things-went-from-bad-to-so-much-worse-for-worlds-third-largest-airline/news-story/6a240f5dd5c2408cb6d4f1f322c75bc3
http://www.davecarrollmusic.com/book/?v=7516fd43adaa

hat tip to Kim!
http://mz-across-usa.blogspot.com/2018/05/28-maj.html

F150

After the success of the Higgins landing craft, the adaptation to the US Army's LCVP (landing craft, vehicle, personnel) was the bow ramp, JC Higgins saw the future and went on to make camper trailers and PT boats


The United States Marine Corps, always interested in finding better ways to get men across a beach in an amphibious landing, and frustrated that the Navy´s Bureau of Construction and Repair could not meet its requirements, began to express interest in Higgins' boat. When tested in 1938 by the Navy and Marine Corps, Higgins' Eureka boat surpassed the performance of the Navy-designed boat and was tested by the services during fleet landing exercises in February 1939.

Typically constructed from plywood, this shallow-draft, barge-like boat could ferry a platoon-sized complement of 36 men to shore at 9 knots. Men generally entered the boat by climbing down a cargo net hung from the side of their troop transport; they exited by charging down the boat's bow ramp.





Dr. Stephen Higgins was the man who helped win the war.

No less an authority than the Supreme Allied Commander, Dwight Eisenhower, declared the Higgins boat to have been crucial to the Allied victory on the European Western Front and the previous fighting in North Africa and Italy: "Andrew Higgins ... is the man who won the war for us. ... If Higgins had not designed and built those LCVPs, we never could have landed over an open beach. The whole strategy of the war would have been different."

His ship building company designed the Higgins Landing Craft that facilitated seaborne invasions and in 1943 92% of the US Navy consisted of ships and boats designed by Higgins Industries of which many were built at one of their 7 plants located in New Orleans.

After the war, he applied this skill toward a small, expandable tent trailer. Manufactured only in 1946 and 1947, Higgins camp trailers are extremely rare and collectible.

How have I never came across a Higgins Camp Trailer before?







http://www.bendbulletin.com/exports/newsletters/main/3267135-151/bend-couple-stars-of-reality-show-flippin-rvs



http://www.murphyautomuseum.org/1946_Higgins.html
http://www.ewarbirds.org/vehicles/lcvp.shtml
https://towingmisstrilly.com/mr-higgins/
http://www.dougsvintagetrailers.com/_1946_higgins




https://www.uspto.gov/dwcstories/higgins.html

the license plate “853 OKG” is on the Pontiac Firebird of Jim Rockford, played by Jim Garner on “The Rockford Files.”


I didn't know that it represents the date of Garner’s first feature film, August of 1953
and the postal code for Garner’s birth state of Oklahoma,
and the ‘G’ simply for Garner.

853 OKG =  August 1953, Oklahoma Garner.

https://www.garagestylemagazine.com/

Winner of the Valletta Concours D'Elegance 2018, on the island of Malta, is the Mullin’s 1960 Citroen ID Coupe Chapron Le Paris

Respect

Wednesday, May 30, 2018

Organic farmers have found an effective solution to pesticides thanks to “flame weeding"

pioneer and astronaut respect: on April 12th 1961 Yuri Gagarin became the first human to journey into space. Here’s his monument in Moscow.

the funniest caption anyone could possibly have thought of

How to kidnap a hipster

Desk made from the engine cowl of a 747

Motorized pennyfarthings

I just learned that Geico is paying 20 an hour to work telephone customer service.

It's a higher stress job than what I have, even if it pays better. So I am passing on it

All they deal with is unhappy customers, or people having a bad day.

Job requires typing the info onto a form while discussing the problem with the customer.

I thought it was a good idea to let all of you know of this good paying job. 

In 1930 the Pennzoil distributor in the Los Angeles went a bit upscale and purchased Studebaker Six light truck chassis’ for its sign service fleet.

It is not known if the panel truck body was built by the auto and truck maker or if it contracted with one of the many commercial body builders in the LA area for this classy-looking unit.'

 The service body features a pair of reverse-painted glass Pennzoil panels, a two-tone paint job, double whitewalls, and accessory bumpers. The back of the truck contains the tools of the trade needed for installing and servicing signs at Pennzoil dealers.



https://www.facebook.com/groups/353785941367129/permalink/1675287942550249/

3 cheers for the fire departments!