Saturday, July 17, 2021
Looks like a B 17? In 1961 French fishermen went hunting lobsters off the coast of Brazil where lobsters thrived, and caused an international kerfuffle and research as to whether lobsters swim, or remain on the ocean floor
French fishermen decided to try their luck on the other side of the Atlantic ocean. After trying out a few locations, they found an excellent spot off the coast of Brazil where lobsters thrived at depths of 250–650 ft.
The sudden increase of French vessels in the area annoyed the local Brazilian fishermen. They reported that French fishing boats were illegally catching lobsters and soon the Brazilian vessels demanded that the fleet of French fishing boats return to deeper waters, unfortunately, the French believed that they had every right to trap lobsters in those waters. They immediately sent a message to the French government, and Charles de Gaulle was furious about the whole situation. He decided to dispatch their 2750-ton T 53 class destroyer Tartu to keep the fishing boats safe.
The Brazilians denied access to French fishermen within 100 miles of the Brazilian northeast coast. Their main argument was that lobsters “crawl along the continental shelf” and therefore they belong to Brazil. The French, on the other side, claimed that “lobsters swim” and therefore they belong to everybody that catches them in the ocean.
The “scientific” argument continued until 1966. Both French and Brazilian scientists had their theories about the actual movement of crustaceans. The Administrative Tribunal of Rennes recognized the French theory that lobsters are like fish and they swim in the open ocean. Because of this reason they can not be considered as the property of any country.
Brazil, on the other hand, claimed that lobsters are like oysters and remain down on the ocean floor, as a part of the continental shelf.
Brazil’s expert in the field of oceanography during the 1960s said that accepting the French thesis that lobsters are like fish and “leap” on the ocean floor is like Brazilians claiming that when kangaroos “hop” they should be considered as birds.
Friday, July 16, 2021
there's a class action lawsuit about Ford misrepresenting the 2016 Ford Mustang Shelby GT350 Base or Technology packages, because Ford screwed up, and didn't build those for track days, and installed "limp mode" software instead, because of overheating concerns due to the lack of an oil, transmission, and differential coolers, which are found in the pricier Track, R, and R Technology packages.
The lawsuit alleges that Ford removed these coolers from the two lowest trims in order to increase profits, yet still chose to improperly advertise these Mustangs as being "track-ready." Some plaintiffs in the case say that they specifically purchased the cars for prolonged track use, yet the cars are unable to perform due to the cooling issues constantly sending them into Limp Mode before they could complete even a single track day. Some claim that the vehicles entered Limp Mode in just 15 minutes of sustained track driving.
at about the 4 minute and 10 seconds point
Ford might as well concede now and not contest this in court, because the Mustang owners hired the right gunslingers to duel for them; Hagens Berman—the firm that won $1.6 billion from Toyota over unintended acceleration, $350 million from GM over its ignition switches, and $330 million from FCA (now Stellantis) over an emissions scandal—is leading the case.,
Northeast Corridor Commission releases $117 billion infrastructure plan
The commission that helps fund Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor operations today released a sweeping blueprint that sets goals for passenger rail service improvements over the next 15 years, and the infrastructure investments and funding it estimates will be necessary to implement them.
https://www.trains.com/ good site for images
the preview for the new Grand Tour: Lochdown... and it looks like they finally realized they needed to get back to making a show like TOP GEAR used to be when they hosted it. Brilliant
I've heard the name PG Wodehouse, as I've spent a LOT of time in used bookstores, but never saw this cover art before, and am not familiar with his books, and he wrote 96 of them. Agatha Christie only managed 80
Pelham Grenville Wodehouse, KBE was an English author and one of the most widely read humorists of the 20th century.
Evelyn Waugh’s praise of Wodehouse, offered for a BBC broadcast, in 1961: “Mr. Wodehouse’s idyllic world can never stale. He will continue to release future generations from captivity that may be more irksome than our own. He has made a world for us to live in and delight in.”
the New Yorker says "Wodehouse is an anodyne to annoyances. He’s a tonic for those suffering from bearable but burdensome loads of boredom, from jadedness of outlook and dinginess of soul."
flash flooding in Flagstaff washes a Prius down the road
FYI, there is terrible flooding due to rain in Germany, and Detroit, again
Thursday, July 15, 2021
I saw this photo and wondered if it was as smooth ride. I then looked for a video. Then I realized something obvious
Skip to 1:15 to see the square wheeled trike on the inverted catenaries. Oh, and now you know what catenaries are. So, that's a bonus.
The obvious thing I realized is that there will not be as smooth a ride with square wheels as the round ordinary ones, because of the air filled tube of the wheel on the rim. That square wheel doesn't have the air filled tube to give a cushion to the hard rim, and no suspension trike.
So, this was not all that cool, but I was interested in the top photo potential for a smooth ride, because it might be possible for solid wheel on solid surface to be perfectly smooth, like a train on rails. Just not likely
Steve just told me about Nevada license plates and registration, and the have a good system going (thanks Steve!)
In Nevada all the info is on one sticker
a) Most states change the color of the year stickers so the police can spot a really out-of-date registration from afar.
b) The year printed on it indicates that you didn't reuse an old sticker, or just color the sticker yourself.
c) The number 12 tells the cop that the plate expires in December.
d) The name 'Nevada' indicates that you didn't stick on a yellow sticker from another state.
e) The license plate number on the sticker shows that the sticker wasn't razorbladed off of another car (which was a problem until the DMV started that). This eliminates the need for a separate serial number for the sticker.
Nevada also has self-serve kiosks all over the place, just go to the local Albertsons to renew and the sticker prints right then and there.
interesting off roading and rv-ing website SunCruiser
Boating, Rvs, 4X4, trains, travel, gear and gadgets
Tom Laskowski spent $90,000 to make his '68 Tempest restored, and the way he wanted it. Then it was stolen about 10 years ago, but a friend of his recently spotted it in a driveway, and now he's got it back!
"That car was given to me by my father in 1975," he said. "We worked on it together. Fixed it up. I drove it all through college and celebrated my graduation by driving it across the country. My wife and I had our first date in that car, and we used it in our wedding party. It means a lot to us."
He had put in a 650-horsepower motor, a Turbo 400 transmission with a trans-brake he used when racing the car, and hundreds of chrome accessories.
Laskowski put the Tempest in storage for $100 a month after a fire damaged his home in February 2011.
Then, a tow truck driver hauled it out of a storage facility, and it was all caught on camera,
The thief hooked the aqua-colored Tempest to a tow truck and drove off. The cameras captured it all in color, right down to the suspect's face and the tow truck's license number. Yet no arrests have been made, and the car has not been recovered.
"Everyone knows who [took it]. We have video of him doing it, and he admits doing it," said Laskowski, 55. "He says he was hired to remove the car by a Jamaican man who said he owned it, even though he had no keys or registration.
"Of course, no one can find this Jamaican man," Laskowski said. "Shouldn't the tow-truck driver be responsible for taking the car?"
Cleveland Detective John Kraynik agrees with Laskowski. He investigated the theft.
Kraynik said the case was poorly laid out to a Cuyahoga County grand jury by a detective not familiar with it. Kraynik said only the barest of evidence was presented.
"I was working a later shift, so they sent another detective," Kraynik said. "But he was not aware of everything I had. I was angry when I learned what happened. The suspect admitted to me that he stole the car, and we had him on camera doing it. But that was not presented to the grand jury."
here's the story: https://www.cleveland.com/metro/2012/06/memories_make_pontiac_tempest.html
“When we got married it was in our wedding party,” Laskowski said. “So it had a lot of sentimental value.”
They never stopped looking for it, and by chance Tom’s good friend spotted it in November. Tom and his friends were then able to locate it in a driveway in Maple Heights. Even though the car was made to look like a GTO, Tom knew it was his Tempest.
“It was very obvious it was my car,” Tom said. “I had hundreds of things that we changed. I knew what I did on that car.”
A few months later, William Woods, of Maple Heights was indicted on a receiving stolen property charge. His case is still pending in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court.
https://fox8.com/news/i-team/after-nearly-a-decade-man-gets-stolen-classic-car-back
Wednesday, July 14, 2021
just the right amount of California sun baked patina, on a truck made before all the computer crap was installed, back when nearly anyone could repair a Ford truck
my guess is 1974?
Don't look it up, just guess first.
Because where's the fun in guessing to see how close you are to being familiar with most makes and models, + the correct year, if you go and look it up instead of just being honest and guessing?
Look it up after you guess, see how close you got!
the new Stromberg BIG97s flow 55% more than the originals
not many people need to know this, but it's good info
this sure looks like they do not want to tell the parking enforcement just exactly when their registration expires
I parked behind this at the grocery store, or I wouldn't have seen it
The Global Chip Shortage Impact on American Automakers
https://www.visualcapitalist.com/global-chip-shortage-impact-on-american-automakers for more stats, facts, and figures
sorry, I would have posted more tonight, but just as I was getting started a couple hours ago, I got a call from a shipmate I served with back in 1995-98
We haven't talked in years, so we covered a lot of ground and it took a while.
The trio is heading to Scotland, in mid 70s American land yachts, and released a teaser on Tik Tok, "The Grand Tour: Lochdown" will hit Amazon Prime on July 30th
The teaser shows May driving a 70s Cadillac across an unnamed body of water on a floating bridge, then he gets stuck.
Clarkson, behind him on the bridge in a bright blue Lincoln from the late 70s, says he has one of his trademark brilliant ideas and begins accelerating towards May.
https://www.motor1.com/news/520197/the-grand-tour-scotland-teaser/
How hot is it in California this week? So hot, the sun melted a shield designed to protect vehicles from the sun.
Although Fresno didn't break the all-time record high of 115 degrees, it was the hottest July 11 recorded for the city since 1896. The previous record for the day was 110 degrees.
So, do the world a favor, don't leave kids or dogs, or cats, in your car when you need to make a fast trip into a store. Leave the pets at home, bring the kids with you. After all, you had kids, you must have wanted to enjoy the store experience with them.
Tuesday, July 13, 2021
310th Troop Carrier group flew the C-47 aircraft in Normandy, Holland and England, and The Flying Buccaneers VMF-422 who flew the F4U Corsair during WWII. By aviation artist Nick Gamarello.
I mistakenly thought I'd found the right guy in searching the internet when I came across Nicholas Gamarello, who served in WWII as a Staff Sergeant assigned to the 13th Air Force 72nd Bomber Squadron, the 5th Bomber Group in the Pacific Theater.
He flew in a B24 Heavy Bomber as an Assistant Crew Chief and was also a Ball Turret Gunner. Nicholas flew 76 missions including many record setting long distance raids. He was awarded many citations including the Air Medal, Presidential Medal, and the Pacific Air Medal.
But I was wrong, when I found that artist Nick Gamarello, https://www.instagram.com/nicholasgamarello who was a fashion designer for Polo Ralph Lauren and Stetson, was born in 1955, and he is likely the nephew of the above WW2 pilot, as his bio in the New York Times says:
His father flew P-47 Thunderbolt and P-38 Lightning fighters in North Africa. One uncle flew a B-24 Liberator bomber and another was lost flying a P-47 over France.
it's a little bit crazy, and a little bit sad... a woman lost her mind mid flight on a red eye 2 hour flight last Tuesday from Dallas-Fort Worth to Charlotte, NC... and she was determined to get out of the plane. It took all five flight attendants to get her into a seat, with the help of duct tape
“I guess it took all five flight attendants to subdue her and like literally take her down so,” she said, of the incident, which was first reported by TMZ. “They pretty much took her down, put her in the seat and duct taped her.”
after he left her for another woman, his girlfriend deliberately ran 49 red lights in his car to rack up fines, he'd have to pay!
Police in Shaoxing started investigating after noticing that the same Audi racked up the dozens of red-light tickets — as well as another for speeding — in just two days
A bitter woman and her new boyfriend were arrested
The woman, identified only as Lou, asked a man called Chen to rent her former partner's Audi, he handed the car to her new boyfriend, and they used the car in a two-day marathon committing traffic offenses in order to run up tickets and fines he ex would be hit with. Except they got caught
https://www.yahoo.com/news/woman-deliberately-runs-49-red-124311308.html
in 1967, Sept 25th, the ATF shut down the Middle Georgia Raceway, because there was a moonshine still under the track
and a fake ticket booth was just past turn 3, hiding a trap door that opened the access to a ladder, which led to a 125' long tunnel that went to a couple of tanks.
a 2000 gallon cooker, a 1200 gallon fermentation, and a 750 gallon gas tank to heat it up
and they made around 200 gallons of shine a week
learned about this on Lost Speedways, season 1, episode 2
