A federal investigation into the Minneapolis Police Department found that the police, and the city itself, engages in a "pattern or practice" of excessive force and racial discrimination that violates both the United States Constitution and federal law.

The Minneapolis Police Department, the probe found, “uses excessive force, including unjustified deadly force and other types of force”; “unlawfully discriminates against Black and Native American people in its enforcement activities”; “violates the rights of people engaged in protected speech”; and discriminates against people with behavioral health issues.

 https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/doj-probe-minneapolis-police-finds-racial-discrimination-excessive-for-rcna89556

Thursday, June 15, 2023

Pennsylvania's got a quick plan for reopening Interstate 95 in Philadelphia, they'll wall in the underpass with tons of recycled glass, then pave over that, so the 95 can be used until a permanent solution is ready



Workers will fill the gap — which is roughly 100 feet long and 150 feet wide — by piling recycled foam glass aggregate into the underpass area, bringing it up to surface level and then paving it over so that three lanes of traffic can reopen each way, Shapiro said.

The company supplying the glass aggregate, AeroAggregates of North America, has a production site just south of Philadelphia along the Delaware River. There, it mills glass bottles and jars diverted from landfills into a powder and heats it into a foam to produce small, lightweight nuggets that are gray and look like rocks — but are as light as Styrofoam, said CEO Archie Filshill.

Each one is about an inch or inch-and-a-half wide.

Filshill estimated that it will take about 100 box-truck loads to haul about 10,000 cubic yards (7,600 cubic meters) of the glass nuggets required for the I-95 project. The total weight is around 2,000 tons, a fraction of the weight of regular sand or dirt, meaning that it will take many fewer trucks to bring it to the site, Filshill said.

PennDOT was the first to use his company's product after he began making it in 2017, and it is now approved for use by 23 state transportation departments around the country

80 in a 45... sounds like a thing a cop would notice right? This time it was the cop doing it, and the Sheriff's deputy busted him on it. Nice, the donuts are on me deputy!

“What are you doing?” asked Officer Alexander Shaouni after finally coming to a stop. “I am going into work, my man. Why are you trying to pull me over as I’m going into work?”

The deputy explains to the officer that he was doing nearly double the speed limit. Shaouni blows off the deputy's comment and instead points out his uniform, again noting that he was headed to work when he was pulled over.

“I am going to work,” said Shaouni, bringing attention to his vest marked with his name and badge. “What does it look like I’m dressed for?"

Shaouni is then asked for his driver's license. He refuses to hand over his license to the deputy, saying "no" when asked. He then gets back into his police vehicle and leaves the scene only to later be identified by his car and badge number. Bodycam footage of the incident also clearly shows the officer's name on the front of his police vest.

Ultimately, Shaouni was arrested for the incident and charged with reckless driving, fleeing and eluding law enforcement, as well as resisting an officer without violence. He was "relieved" of his position pending the results of both the criminal investigation conducted by the Sheriff's Department, as well as an Internal Affairs investigation.


The news does NOT give the name of the sheriff's deputy. Huh. Finally a deputy does the job right, professionally, and the news doesn't say what the name is? Huh. NO NEWS report has the deputy's name

a day away from the Trotter's Rod Club history being thrown in a dumpster and that fantastic 5th wheel truck scrapped and lost forever.... only 4 members survive, and one's in the hospital. But Sef got there to prevent the loss of this awesome club's legacy




 I bet you remember them now.... and that truck! 

And that was ALL I knew of them... just the truck, the 5th wheel trailer, and the slingshot dragster. I hadn't ever seen anything else about them, and I mean ever. 

I think I first saw their hot rod and dragster in 2010 https://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2010/12/innovative-hot-rodder-made-fifth-wheel.html and didn't see much else since. 



that's awfully close to gone for ever

Sef jumped in to help and save, and dang it, standing ovation time! Seriously, it's awesome, and rare, for anyone to save a club's legacy, and history, and share it with the rest of us gear heads! 




saving it all!



that makes my day, and I'm looking forward to learning everything that Sef can share in the future about this club. I'm even telling Steve to make a book about them, I shit you not

How many people notice errors.... it couldn't just be me

https://www.goodwood.com/grr/event-coverage

I wonder sometimes.... doesn't anyone have a 2nd checker to prevent errors from getting published?

another unusual bridge, this is bridge in a British reservoir revealed by 2022 drought conditions in the UK


The drought exposed an old bridge because the River Ryburn has been reduced to little more than a trickle, leaving the Baitings Reservoir, above Ripponden, West Yorkshire, UK water levels at an all-time low. 

This was a bridge submerged when the reservoir was built in the 1950s.

"It is very interesting for a local historian because we can actually see the foundations of the bridge and the structure of it, which hasn't been revealed for quite a number of years," she explained. "For example, you can tell very distinctly that it is a 19th-century industrial build."

During a previous dry spell, there was a more gruesome discovery – the possible victim of a gangland killing.

"In 1989, they found the body of a 23-year-old man," Greenwood explained. "He'd been shot in the head and his body weighed down by a pickaxe – and sadly the case has never been solved." Investigators identified the man as 23-year-old Laurence Winstanley, who was last seen leaving a pub in Oldham the previous year.



https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-62519107

Grand National Truck show to debut at the Pomona Fairplex this September

Hundreds of trucks, vans and SUVs will take center stage at the inaugural O’Reilly Auto Parts Grand National Truck Show at the Fairplex in Pomona on September 16-17. 

The new show, produced by Rod Shows, was created to celebrate the growing popularity of these vehicles among collectors, builders and customizers.

This will encompass all trucks, vans, SUVs etc., from 1900 to current anything with a bed or cargo compartment. All are welcome no matter what make, model or year domestic or foreign.

 Modified, restored, patina, lowered or lifted. Inside the buildings will be judged classes with top awards and the inaugural “Worlds Most Beautiful Truck” award competition

https://rodshows.com/grand-national-truck-show/

Parking is at Gate 17 off of Fairplex Drive/McKinley Avenue. $17.00 per vehicle.

Or park somewhere nearby and walk over. I've done that, as paying nearly 20 to park pisses me off. 

Fontana police stop a 1947 Suburban that lost its brakes by getting in front of it and using the police cruiser to bring it to a stop... yay good cop! Donut time!


Alexis Pritchard and her grandfather share ownership of this cool ol lowrider, 

Much better video news at this following clip: 
https://www.cbsnews.com/losangeles/video/fontana-police-stop-runaway-vintage-car-by-crashing-into-it/

How turning off the engine, and downshifting, didn't get it to slow to a stop for 5 miles, I can't understand. No parking brake? Maybe, and I don't guess that I have any clue if leaving a car with an automatic transmission in gear, and turning off the engine, would result. I figure as long as you don't have it in park, it's just going to act as a drag, and slow the car down pretty well with the engine off. 

What do you all think? No brakes, no parking brake, what can be done from inside a car to get it to slow down other than turn off the engine, and look for an uphill slope, sloppy mud or big lawn area... or a lot of bushes to run into? 

As long as you don't hit a fire hydrant, telephone pole or utility box, anything like yards and bushes ought to slow you down, right? 

Tuesday, June 13, 2023

the right way to advertise


I may have posted this many years ago, I'm not sure. I try to not repost anything. 

What I learned yesterday about upgrading my car

 Tire companies often, for profit markup, decide a tire part number is done, obsolete.

Those are going to sell for less than the new (supposedly improved) version that replaces it

So, if you make friends with the nice people behind the counters, and maybe, oh, tip them a pizza or something like a 20, to look for the least expensive, but highest grade tire for what you are looking for (speed rating might be your priority, or softer compound for autocross or cornering) 

If I order now, there are about 300 of the tires I was recommended, and they sell for 173 apiece. Once those are gone, the new version are 60 dollars more apiece. 

So, buy now and store them, and save 240 dollars, or keep checking back closer to when I need them, and run the odds that every week that goes by, there will be fewer available, maybe none left if a bunch of racers buy them for the same Optima type event. I will see if week by week I find that there are still the same amount, I don't have to hurry and store them. But if the inventory drops to less than 50, it's time to buy, and then see how many can be fit into my little Veloster to get transported to my garage. 2 at a time? Probably. 

The Supreme Court declined to hear a case challenging North Carolina’s decision to stop issuing license plates bearing the Confederate flag

the Sons of Confederate Veterans sued North Carolina, claiming in part that the decision curbed the speech of private individuals. A lower court ruled that the license plates represent government speech, since the state controls the messages on the plates.

Jesse Ventura, pro wrestler and movie star in the 80's, governor of Minnesota 99-03, first had a job with the DOT when he got out of high school in 1969

he was working for the Dept of the Tranportation, operating a jackhammer in the summer of '69, and went into the Navy in Dec 1969

He was a member of the Mongols biker gang of San Diego in the early 70s

Both his parents are WW2 vets