Saturday, January 23, 2021
A gas station sign so damn big, airplanes used it as a landmark. Photo taken in 1946
It was installed in 1932, it was 70 feet tall, with 5200 light bulbs, and 2900 hundred feet of neon tube
tip of the hat and applause to Rep Madison Cawthorne, who brought pizza and offered a place to sleep to the troops who Biden forgot, after the powers that be decided that 25,000 national guard troops needed to sleep on the floors of parking garages in Washington DC
I can totally ignore the self serving phot op for anyone that will pay for and deliver pizza. I'm not that proud, as I do love pizza.
National Guard troops were let back into the U.S. Capitol complex after being banished to a parking garage for their rest area on Thursday.
CNN reports, after protecting the Capitol during the Inauguration, thousands of National Guardsmen were moved into a parking garage and were told they could no longer use space within the US Capitol Complex, including areas like the cafeteria of a Senate office building, as a rest area.
“Yesterday dozens of senators and congressmen walked down our lines taking photos, shaking our hands and thanking us for our service. Within 24 hours, they had no further use for us and banished us to the corner of a parking garage ...” one Guardsman
All National Guard troops were told to vacate the Capitol and nearby congressional buildings on Thursday, and to set up mobile command centers outside or in nearby hotels, another Guardsman confirmed. They were told to take their rest breaks during their 12-hour shifts outside and in parking garages, the person said.
“Just made a number of calls and have been informed Capitol Police have apologized to the Guardsmen and they will be allowed back into the complex tonight,” added Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill. an American politician and retired Army National Guard lieutenant colonel serving as the junior United States Senator from Illinois since 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, she represented Illinois's 8th district in the United States House of Representatives from 2013 to 2017 ), who lost both of her legs in combat. “I’ll keep checking to make sure they are.”
“As Congress is in session and increased foot traffic and business is being conducted, Capitol Police asked the troops to move their rest area,” Murphy said. “They were temporarily relocated to the Thurgood Marshall Judicial Center garage with heat and restroom facilities. We remain an agile and flexible force to provide for the safety and security of the Capitol and its surrounding areas.”
Guard leadership did not make the decision and are “doing their best to provide rest shelter for troops who are still on 12-hour shifts protecting the Capitol and congressional grounds,” the second Guardsman said.
The group was forced to rest in a nearby parking garage without internet reception, with just one electrical outlet, and one bathroom with two stalls for 5,000 troops (which proves that the military should always be supplied with decks of cards)
https://www.politico.com/news/2021/01/21/national-guard-troops-vacate-capitol-461220
Reminder, the Capitol and congressional grounds?
They are the jurisdiction of the "capitol police force"
1/2 the size of the entire Washington DC police dept,
with it's own intel dept,
a 456 million dollar annual budget,
which was shown a couple weeks ago to be unable to secure one building in the face of an expected disruptive protest, nor was that an incident that just slipped under the radar. The joint session inside was the single biggest news event in the United States that day, and the rioters had been planning disruptive protest for weeks, in the open.
In the past two decades, the Capitol Police has grown into one of the largest, best-funded and most single-focus police departments in the country, with a budget of more than $460 million and around 2,000 sworn officers to guard just 2 square miles of the capital.
https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2021/01/08/capitol-police-failure-456237
Also keep in mind, that packing tens of thousands of troops into garages; which to thousands, and thousands of troops, are also known as tight quarters - during a pandemic, which is known as a time of a contagious disease, after they are no longer needed (when the actual police force for that building are still getting full pay and benefits despite being replaced by minimum wage national guard troops).
The massive deployment incited by the media and Democrats succeeded in bolstering a theatrical production, which painting Trump, and his supporters, as an imminent threat, and it was successful in convincing a large number of people which don't think about, for a moment, that such events are nothing more than propaganda created to sway them to be convinced of a point of view conducive to the incoming political party who can pull off such events. (wag the dog, does that phrase ring a bell?)
Also, this on the same day Biden decides to order face masks on EVERYONE on federal property, so he is not wearing his mask at some speech at the Lincoln Memorial
I'm certain that there is a positively liberal democrat explanation why he shouldn't wear a mask after signing an executive order to do so. Must be very illuminating. Do I want anyone to send me a single word about it? No. Not so much. Just remember, I don't need to be proven wrong to make me a better person, I'm pretty much ok with being less than perfect in every way, every day, and just move along.
https://news.yahoo.com/bidens-federal-mask-mandate-empty-122415690.html
Biden’s executive order says that people in federal buildings must comply with the CDC’s public safety guidelines to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.The Lincoln Memorial isn't a federal building in Washington DC? It's not a federal government funded monument?
Also, keep in mind, I am just a car guy, who has a blog. I don't ask you if it's ok with you that I post this, or anything else. If my post upsets you, gee, that really doesn't matter to me, not even a little bit. If after 46,000 posts, you're upset that I say something about memory challenged -
hypocrit pedo -
people I do not like and you should not let within reach of your daughters?
Sadly, it's the 2 party political system of pay back politics for campaign contributors that has let down a nation of barely staying out of poverty citizens (how's that credit card, mortgage, and student loan debt?) by not motivating and selecting from a group of wonderful people who will be willing and able to be respected while in elected national office, like the presidential or congressional offices.
I don't know how hard it is to find a Mike Rowe, a Roy Rodgers, Will Rogers, Chuck Yeager, John Glenn, or a fire fighter, nurse, grade school or high school teacher, carpenter, plumber, hero, icon, or simply some retired person that realizes they are fed up with politicians, and instead, will run for office because it's the tail end of a lifetime of public service which began with the scouts as a 2nd grader. I've got 24 heroes that I recommend http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/search/label/hero and where the hell is Maine State Trooper Stephan Murray when he country needs him? Dang, he'd be a great president.
I think you can find 46,004 other posts where I don't mention politicians. This is not a political blog, never has been, and this wasn't a political post, it's complimenting a guy who remembers the troops, and brings pizza. If you can't support that? Find something else to like that doesn't support the national guard, pizza, or people who are in wheelchairs because they were a passenger in an 'asleep at the wheel' crash.
the Bucanners are on an airliner and land at Green Bay–Austin Straubel International Airport. Upon landing, the pilot said, "TOUCHDOWN, Green Bay"
Pilot humor, just perfect for letting the visiting team know they are up against the home field advantage.
Austin Strauble was a meat packer in Green Bay Wisconsin, joined the Army for in 1928 (age 24), rose to the rank of major, and was commander of the 11th Bombardment Squadron and acting commander of the 7th Bombardment Group.
On Feb 3, 1942, while flying a B-18 to Indonesia, over the Makassar Strait, Straubel's aircraft was attacked by Japanese Zeros and shot down. Straubel managed to land on an emergency airstrip, but he and the crew died from gunfire
how did advertising get so confused, that they paired up lawnmowers, Coles of California, and Fairbanks Morse?
and why couldn't women's navels be in advertising? https://carney.co/carnage-category/ad/page/79/
Mackinac Island’s new, custom ambulance is a tribute to its history
The photos taken by Katharine Rose Witt show the ambulance in front of the Mackinac Bridge and Round Island Light, on the island’s bluffs and next to Sugar Loaf Rock.
The ambulance features graphic designs by Adam Thompson and his team at Graphix Gurus in Zeeland including a custom logo of a horse-drawn ambulance from the island’s past and graphics depicting plants, lanterns, an American flag and faux siding and doors.
https://www.facebook.com/KatharineRoseWitt/posts/3458455907591556 for 40 more photos
Friday, January 22, 2021
here's a mouthful: the Busch Beer Daytona 500 Sweepstakes Cale Yarborough driven Oldsmobile owned by Junior Johnson
So, someone must have won the "high performance street version of Cale Yarborough's Busch Super Car" ... I wonder if it's still out there somewhere
Thursday, January 21, 2021
Are you in good hands with Allstate? No. Not if you want roadside assistance, like a jump start, and make an appointment, and expect Allstate to get a tow truck or roadside assistance truck to arrive on time, or a half hour late, or 45 minutes late
My friend has a Prius ( I'll let you add your own jokes, she's heard all of mine) and just got back from spending 6 weeks with her mom, 3 with her dad who was dying of cancer. Yup, she hung around for weeks afterward to be with her mom, who for the first time on her 80 some years of life, is now living alone, after her high school sweet heart just died.
So, yeah, my friend is cool like that to spend weeks with her mom, and still work via laptop, and help with funeral arrangements etc.
Anyway, the 10 year old 12 v car battery in the Prius finally had enough, and when she got back here to San Diego, it wasn't able to get the car started, and the morons who designed the Prius has this big damn battery pack that can't be accessed to start the combustion engine.
And now that we're caught up with the reason it's now in need of a 12v battery, as she thought it was likely that being dead the one time she returned after weeks, was simply due to long term non use, but today she sat in the car for a half hour doing stuff that resulted in the battery draining some more, and it wouldn't start the car again.
So, she needed another jump, and called Allstate, and they have some damn app that informs their customers that they've made an appointment, and when to expect the tow truck to arrive. Well, the tow truck people, in this case, Andy's Towing doesn't update anyone on the current situation the tow truck driver is in, nor when he expects to be onto the next assignment, in this case - jump starting my friend.
So, I go to hang out and keep her company, as I don't have jumper cables, because the last time I helped out someone who needed a jump I ended up having to buy an alternator.
Allstate, it turns out, doesn't have someone answer the phone at 877 810 0834 when you want to talk to "Roadside Assistance". But the message you have to listen will tell you all about Covid first, before you can request " "Roadside Assistance" then it tells you, hey, go ahead and text us first.
So, no human is going to answer the phone, and the app isn't helpful in anyway when you want to know why they are late, BUT it does have an icon feature that lets you call and talk to their dispatcher.
BUT you will want to know why the hell they have a dispatcher, when there is only ONE driver in the 7th largest city in the USA, to answer service requests. AND I just called them at 619 900 8095, and this "24 hour" roadside assistance company?
DOESN'T answer the phone, DOESN'T have an answering service, and DOESN'T forward the call to the ONE driver they have after 6 pm.
Yeah, straight to a message that says "Our mail box is full, GOOD BYE"
Instead, the night turned out a bit different then expected when some stranger offered to give her a jump when he overheard the conversation we were having when my friends patience ran out, and I offered to take out her car battery and take it to my garage and put it on my battery charger. Yes, it has occurred to me that this entire wasted night could have been avoided if we had went with my leaving work and getting right to her car, pull he battery, and put it on the charger, give it a couple hours, and then put it back in her Prius, and she'd be set.
Or take her to Autozone where she could buy a battery and then I could either swap it out or show her how to swap out her own battery.
Instead we caught up on chit chat, learned that Allstate let her down, that BOTH of us are switching to AAA, and that Allstate went with the one tow truck company that CAN NOT be trusted to get a driver to help a woman that made a damn appointment.
But you're never going to learn a damn thing about all this stuff on Auto blog, Jalopnik, Petrolicious, Bangshift, Hooniverse, Carscoops, Silodrome etc.
But some "top 54 blogs" list felt all those websites were blogs, and decided they all do a better job blogging than I do. Very few blogs are even in that list, of what seems to be every car website in the English language
But do you want to know when a car insurance company lets your friends down, or a tow truck company advertises as 24 hours, but isn't even answering the phone or able to send someone to help when you have an appointment? Or do you want more boring articles about new Porches and Jaguars? As that's all Car and Driver seems to have, and they were #38 on that list.
Wednesday, January 20, 2021
in Brunei, they are making some far out stuff, but there aren't any magazines or websites over there to give the fun stuff the publicity it deserves
Indonesia’s roads are full of scooters. Eighty-five percent of the people who live there, own and ride scooters, many as their primary source of transportation.
Vespa sampah (“garbage Vespa”) and Vespa gembel (“Vespa drifter”), as they are known by locals.
The unique design of the riders is partially attributed to their emergence in the early 2000s
When coinciding with the fall of the Soeharto authoritarian regime, and then the country went through a financial crisis in 1997 and has struggled to recover.
The prices of things like scooters has soared, meaning many cannot afford a new one; the manufacturer stopped importing them in 2001, at any rate.
A culture of rebuilding, reuse and customization has sprung up around the shortage. If you can’t buy what you need new, you find it used and fix it yourself.
