Thursday, December 31, 2020
Wednesday, December 30, 2020
Doc Ball. Legendary pioneer of skateboarding, and surfing photography. At age 92 years young (born in 1907, began surfing in 1929, died 2001) was a dentist in the Coast Guard, served during WW2, then had a career as a dentist in Eureka Ca.
kids might say "Grandpa you can't just hop on its not as easy as it looks."
Grandpa's will probably reply: "hold my beer"
Doc Ball, was an important photographer, one of the pioneers in surf photos in the water, and edited a photography book of Surf “California Surfriders” with150 photos ”
Born in Los Angeles in 1907 he started surfing in the 20's and graduated in dentistry.
In the 30's and 40s he worked as a dentist in the Coast Guard, during the second world war of course.
https://www.khsu.org/post/artwaves-humboldt-revisits-photographic-time-capsule-1987#stream/0
https://www.reddit.com/r/OldSchoolCool/comments/701mrk/grampas_style_is_excelent_1980s/
see a video about him at https://vimeo.com/84915736
A 24-year-old has been accepted into Harvard Law School after working as a garbage collector for three years (of waking up at 4 am) to pay for his education.
His grades weren’t strong, and teachers gave up on him, going so far as to call him “handicapped,” he said. When it was suggested he be placed in remedial classes, Staton’s father found him a tutor at a community center.
“I ended up getting on the honor roll the rest of that year,” Staton said. “The same teacher who suggested I be placed in special education actually wrote my dad an apology note.”
Staton turned to athletics to keep him, and his grades, in shape. Through high school, he hoped to become a professional boxer after graduation — until a devastating injury to his shoulder forced him to put down his gloves for good. “I couldn’t go to the doctor, because we didn’t have health insurance,” Staton said. “I was crushed.”With low SAT scores, he was rejected from every college he applied to. That’s when Staton got a job at Bates Trucking & Trash Removal.
It was here that his ex-convict colleagues and the company owner's son Brent Bates saw his potential and helped him get the break he deserved
In addition to Harvard Law, Staton was offered admission to Columbia University, University of Southern California, University of Pennsylvania and Pepperdine University.
and especially the Good News Network:
https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/rehan-staton-sanitation-worker-accepted-harvard/ because there is good news out there, but it's really hard to find.
ever heard of the Ford Ghia Grenada? (thanks Martin D!)
Later Ghia and European Sports Sedan (ESS) variants could get a 5.0 and a 4 spd manual
I just learned about the Avis rental car cleaning fee, that they can arbitrarily charge your credit card, and you can do nothing about it after they hit you with it
so be sure to get someone at your rental can company to look over your car before you officially turn it back in, and get them to write a note declaring how it's not going to be hit with a cleaning fee.
the guy who told me about this did not have a cat in the car, but he did stay with his daughter, who has cats, and he suspects that the hair transferred off of clothes to the seats.
And just like that, poof, 80 dollars out of his paycheck
FYI the Hardy Boys tv show has been restarted, on Hulu. Seems from the preview that it's not based on the book series any more than the tv show Riverdale is based on the Archie comics
one of the kids drives this Chevy truck... looks like it's mid seventies, and restored
both the Hardy Boys use typical bikes for the late 70s... from the vehicles I see in the trailer, they might be setting this show in the early 80s. I'll guess 1983 based on the newest car I see in the trailer, and from the incredible success of Stranger Things. What's that got to do with it? Well, when one thing succeeds in Hollywood, it gets copied, like Riverdale seems to have paved the way for the Hardy Boys to get some screentime
I am impressed that someone finally is kicking off a new tv show from the books, they were terrific. It's been over 45 years since the last attempt to make something happen with these characters on tv, it's long overdue for there to be a successful tv series with these characters
go cart company breached the intellectual property rights of Nintendo by marketing the tours with Mario Cart costumes and characters, got sued, and lost
Earlier this, year, MariCar was ordered to pay Nintendo $50 million yen ($483,000) for violating its IP rights.
MariCar’s IP breach was particularly noticeable because it let drivers dress up as Mario Kart characters. Nintendo also felt its name could be sullied by safety issues, which proved to be a valid concern after several accidents.
MariCar lost the initial judgment and was ordered to pay 10 million yen ($97,000) and subsequently made the perhaps ill-advised move of slapping “unrelated to Nintendo” signs on the cars. Following an appeal, the judgment was boosted to 50 million yen.
https://www.autoblog.com/2020/12/28/mario-kart-real-life-judgment-japan
1969 Camaro that was stolen 17 years ago from Tom Cook, happened to be in a warehouse where he was looking over another Camaro for a friend
One of Cook’s acquaintances, who was on the lookout for a 1968 Camaro, asked Cook to respond to a Maryland man’s social media advertisement for a blue 1968 near La Plata. When Cook arrived at the shop to look over the prospective purchase, he noticed a hoodless 1969 Camaro sitting in the corner of the garage.
The seller told Cook the pseudo-Rallye Green ’69 was originally Hugger Orange, the same color as Cook’s missing car.“It was kind of a hokey green they had painted it, resembled the [Rallye Green] they had on a ’69,” said Cook. “I thought to myself, maybe someone’s trying to hide a stolen car.”
The seller also told Cook the green ’69 was built in California. Cook knew all first-generation Camaros were either built in Norwood, Ohio, or Van Nuys, Calif., at what Cook and collectors call “The Los Angeles Plant.” Cook’s missing car was a California car that he transported on a flatbed truck from Arizona to the East Coast in 2001.
“I looked inside on the dash at the [Vehicle Identification Number] and it had an N code, indicating the car was built in Norwood,” said Cook. “You can’t have a Norwood [Vehicle Identification Number] if the car was made in California.”
Cook sensed something wasn’t quite right.
“So now, we’ve got an orange car, we got a California car, we’ve got a car with a hinky VIN number on it,” said Cook. “I was beginning to think, this is looking a lot like my car.”
Although the car didn’t have a motor when it was stolen, someone had installed a 350-cubic-inch engine along the way.
Cook went on to vehicle’s engine compartment where he found another VIN, carefully hidden by factory workers under the cowl screen. Cook said it appeared body plastic had been smeared over the plate, but the digits in the VIN were visible.
“It was a California VIN,” said Cook.
That evening, Cook compared the Camaro’s VIN to his stolen vehicle report and discovered the car in La Plata was indeed his car that went missing 17 years earlier.
Cook later learned his Camaro changed hands four times over the course of 17 years.
Tuesday, December 29, 2020
Monday, December 28, 2020
Wow, this is a stunning design I haven't seen before, I was going to quit posting for the night and get some sleep... but then POW this popped up on my screen. 1928 Brill Doodlebug converted to a rail defect detector car in 1954
Union Pacific Railroad DC-3 at Lincoln, Nebraska on an unknown day in October 1956,
The DC-3 was built by the J. G. Brill Company in 1928 as Detroit & Mackinac 201 on Order 22749. As built, it was powered by a Hall-Scott 300 horsepower gasoline engine and GE electrical gear.
It was purchased by Teledetector Company of Chicago in 1954 (along with D&M 202, same builder and construction date), and converted to a rail defect detector car. Apparently Teledetector was planning on competing with Sperry, but only the 201 was converted and was sold to the UP in April 1954, becoming DC-3 (03000). The DC-3 was modified in August 1961 (renumbered 90300 but still displaying DC-3) and again in 1984. It was sold for scrap in December 1986.
Description: Union Pacific Railroad DC-3 at Lincoln, Nebraska on an unknown day in March 1962, Kodachrome by Dick Rumbolz, Chuck Zeiler collection. This appears to be the second permutation of the DC-3 on the UP.
It started out as a gas-electric built in 1928 by the J. G. Brill Company on Order 22749 as D&M 201. It was a Model 350 powered by a Hall-Scott 300 horsepower gasoline engine driving GE electrical gear.
It seated 38 passengers and weighed 58 tons.
In 1952 it was sold to Teledetector Company of Chicago and converted to a rail defect detector car. However, the company did not survive and sold the detector car to the UP in April 1954.
It became DC-3 and still had the as-built Brill front. It was rebuilt in 1961, acquiring the brow over the front windows as seen here, and rebuilt again around 1983, acquiring yet another front end arrangement.
Note that in this arrangement it has a single headlight and the Brill passenger windows were retained, to be replaced at a later date.
those geniuses at Aardman invented one of the coolest most fun characters when they made Grommit
and they are simply incredible with claymation.
