Thursday, August 06, 2026
The Canadian Police recovered 392 stolen vehicles worth an estimated $28 million before overseas export from Canadian ports. The recoveries occurred in Halifax, Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver.
Project NoCargo began in June 2025 after investigators identified a growing export-fraud threat. The program targets organized crime networks using stolen or manufactured identities. Those credentials can secure vehicle loans and insurance policies. Criminals then attempt to ship the fraudulently obtained vehicles overseas.
INTERPOL Ottawa identified the trend during 2025, according to the RCMP. Criminal networks used compromised or fabricated personal information to purchase vehicles. They also used those credentials to obtain insurance coverage.
The CBSA intercepted 1,590 stolen vehicles in rail yards and ports during 2025.
https://www.freightwaves.com/news/392-stolen-vehicles-worth-28m-stopped-before-overseas-export-rcmp-says
New research shows that mountain lion/cougar/puma often steer deer populations away from human roads.
“On the Olympic Peninsula of Washington, deer alter their use of both space and time where pumas are present, overlapping less with roads and reducing activity at night, when some of the most dangerous collisions occur,” Suraci said.
Their findings, published Thursday in Current Biology, also provide some insight into how exactly pumas are causing less car accidents.
How to effectively advertise a simple tool... prove how the mechanic, or modern car owner needs to do an impossible job - changing the damn sparkplugs in a transverse mounted engine bay, or boxer engine bay
It's spark plugs. And it's the reason a dealer can look you in the eye and charge you seven hundred dollars for a part that costs fifteen.
Here's what nobody tells you about a boxer engine. The cylinders lie flat on their sides and the spark plugs point straight out at the frame rails, an inch and a half of air between the plug and a solid steel beam. The front two you can reach. The back two you cannot.
The worst one, the rear plug on the driver's side, sits buried behind the battery tray and the wiring brackets, where your hand goes in and your knuckles come out bleeding.
A swivel socket on two extensions flexes under load and walks off the hex.
A stubby flex-head ratchet has maybe five degrees of swing before the handle hits the frame rail, and five degrees is nothing on a plug that's been in since the factory.
A universal joint binds up and twists off the head every time
The service writer will tell you $700, give or take, to change four spark plugs.
But... have you ever heard of a chain bar. A chain, sealed in the bar. It stays dead square on the plug, so it can't rock and round it. The only reason that back plug is a dealer job is there's no room to swing a ratchet at it. Nothing to do with the plug. It's the room.
The maker is wild bear tools
FWIW, anything so utterly replicated by cheap imitations, especially when they are even duplicating the colors and appearance, must be quite damn good. I advise against buying tools made of Chinesium.
A crated Spitfire went to Sydney Technical College as an instructional airframe in 1949, but went unused, and sat outside where it weathered damage and vandalism (thank you VolksRob!)
This aircraft was the last Spitfire acquired by the Royal Australian Air Force. It was built by Supermarine in England in 1944, test-flown and then shipped to Australia. The Air Force took delivery of the aircraft in April 1945, but with World War II drawing to a close it was not required on active service and was set aside in 1949
1961–1972: The airframe passed through private hands in Sydney, including A.J.R. "Titus" Oates and later warbird collector Sid Marshall at Bankstown.
1972–1982: It was loaned to the Camden Museum of Aviation at The Oaks near Sydney, where it was made taxiable
1982: Col Pay acquired the Spitfire and moved it to his base in Scone, NSW.
1985: Following an intensive three-year rebuild of its weather-worn fuselage and structure, Pay successfully flew the restored fighter on December 29, 1985, marking the first airworthy restoration of a Spitfire in Australia
1982: Col Pay acquired the Spitfire and moved it to his base in Scone, NSW.
1985: Following an intensive three-year rebuild of its weather-worn fuselage and structure, Pay successfully flew the restored fighter on December 29, 1985, marking the first airworthy restoration of a Spitfire in Australia
Wednesday, August 05, 2026
Columbia University started classes in the new Morningside Heights campus in October 1897, with a running full-size locomotive engine underneath Havemeyer Hall in the the Locomotive Laboratory. (Thank you George!)
But there used to be a full-size locomotive engine underneath Havemeyer Hall.
The mechanics labs were located in what was known as the West or Havemeyer vault, the subterranean space north of Engineering and in front of Havemeyer.
The main attraction of the vault was the Locomotive Laboratory featuring a fullsize engine mounted on rollers. The “Columbia” locomotive had been exhibited at the Chicago World’s Fair of 1893 and was then donated to the school by the Baldwin Locomotive Works. Weighing 63 tons, the engine could be made to run in place up to sixty miles an hour.
The Locomotive Lab also made quite an impression on visitors: it was a fully functioning train engine inside a building. In 1911, Professor Rudolph Tombo met with the King Albert I of Belgium, who recalled having visited Columbia a few years earlier and seeing the indoors locomotive. According to Tombo, “the King remarked that shows how practical you Americans are. Instead of sending the student into the shops, you bring the shops to the student.”
So what happened to this locomotive? The lab was built in the era of low-steam pressure and hydraulic engines. With changes in technology, the old locomotive had become obsolete and the lab equipment had to be modernized. In 1920, the “Columbia” engine was sold to a junkman for $400, who had cut it into pieces to get it out of the small entrance to the building.
However, one piece of the locomotive did stick around campus for a bit longer, at least through 1961. The bell attached on top of the engine was used during finals to mark the beginning and end of the exam time. This was back when exams were held in the gymnasium, a practice Columbia discontinued in 1965. The current whereabouts of the bell are, unfortunately, unknown.
The Locomotive Lab also made quite an impression on visitors: it was a fully functioning train engine inside a building. In 1911, Professor Rudolph Tombo met with the King Albert I of Belgium, who recalled having visited Columbia a few years earlier and seeing the indoors locomotive. According to Tombo, “the King remarked that shows how practical you Americans are. Instead of sending the student into the shops, you bring the shops to the student.”
However, one piece of the locomotive did stick around campus for a bit longer, at least through 1961. The bell attached on top of the engine was used during finals to mark the beginning and end of the exam time. This was back when exams were held in the gymnasium, a practice Columbia discontinued in 1965. The current whereabouts of the bell are, unfortunately, unknown.
people get upset over some pretty stupid things... and call the cops because they are clueless... like this example, of a guy flying a helicopter to the Cabelas... legally. Some Karen called the cops, jealous that she doesn't have a chopper to use to get to the store
a Wisconsin man flew his helicopter around 6 p.m. Saturday, and landed in the great big empty parking lot of the Cabela's store in the Village of Richfield, Wisconsin.
He said the drive was too long, according to police,
The pilot was properly licensed, landed safely, complied with all applicable Federal Aviation Administration regulations and answered the deputy's questions about helicopter landing requirements.
Deputies determined no laws had been broken, and no citations or arrests were made.
Something I only just learned of... the the Taconic State Parkway, a 105-mile scenic roadway passing through New York, prohibits commercial vehicles from using it. "vehicles with painted or displayed signs, names, or insignia"
“When New York State’s picturesque state Parkway system was built early in the Twentieth Century, it was designed for automobiles.
Low stone bridges on the Parkway system have posted vertical clearances as low as 6 feet, 11 inches.
Commercial vehicles often hit and get stuck under these low bridges, causing serious accidents and long delays while they are being removed,” said the New York State Department of Transportation.
So, since this isn't widely known, and is often violated, the state uses it as a revenue generator, and on July 27 and July 28, 2026, troopers conducted an operation targeting commercial vehicle traffic, and made 114 tickets for violating the Parkway Rules and Regulations, (vehicles with painted or displayed signs, names, or insignia operating on the Parkway)
AAPEX has announced celebs that will be in attendance
Mark Walbergh, Mia Hamm, Jimmie Johnson, Randy Johnson, and Barry Sanders
the United States Air Force has only one dedicated close-support fighter, the Warthog / A 10 (thank you George !)
It has a 30mm Gatling with the payload capacity of four B-17s.
the Air Force has stopped training Warthog drivers, and depot maintenance operations on the A-10 are wrapping up.
Now, though, there's a new bill in Congress to keep the 'Hogs flying for a few more years: It's called the Bolstering Recognition, Resurgence, Retention, and Remembrance of the Thunderbolt Act.
That's right. It's the BRRRRT Act.
That's right. It's the BRRRRT Act.
We've learned from the war with Iran how useful a flying Avenger cannon can be, and that's prompting a lot of people to take another hard look at keeping them around. The BRRRRT Act proposes to keep at least 126 Warthogs flying.
There's still a place in the modern battle space for a dedicated, low-and-slow, dedicated close air-support airplane, and the A-10's a very, very good one
the actual car driven by Jim Clark - legendary double-Formula 1 World Champion and 1965 Indianapolis 500 winner - in the 1967 Rex Mays '300' road race at Riverside, California. The Vollstedt-Ford chassis serial '67B' is up for sale
news on the job training front, results remain to be seen to be believed (I suspect that this might only be to get dealership oil change, tire change, and brake job mechanics, all low paying jobs with high turnover due to low pay)
Ford is joining a handful of other corporations - including Google, BlackRock, and Carhartt - to form what the group calls the Alliance for America’s Skilled Trades. This new alliance has three specific goals in mind - to build a jobs pipeline for skilled trades, highlight what's working across the country - including the launch of a Skilled Trades Report - and grow the movement moving forward by adding additional partners.
"This Alliance began with companies sharing what works and applying insights from effective programs," Farley said. "By bringing together the collective know-how of these four companies, this Alliance can reach more people interested in skilled trades in more places. One proven approach is investing in apprenticeship and pre-apprenticeship programs, which create opportunities to earn and learn on the job while receiving sustained mentorship. For many, apprenticeships are a vital option that allows them to gain critical new skills and economic mobility - all without four-year college debt."
The Alliance for America's Skilled Trades will work to help fill the hundreds of thousands of open skilled trades jobs that exist at the moment, creating good careers for people in industries where there are high demand for such things. It plans to begin rolling out training efforts in 30 U.S. states to start, which will soon expand to cover the entire nation.
Tuesday, August 04, 2026
A photograph of a Formula 1 car shows you what it looks like. A Giorgio Piola drawing shows you how it works.
in 1962, the CIA found a Russian ice drift station used to monitor US submarines, and to develope advanced Arctic anti-submarine warfare technology, (thank you George! ) ( A true story about a B 17, submarines, and an adventurer)
The Russian drift station had been abandoned when the ice runway the Soviets had been using to receive restocks of supplies, had been demolished by a pressure ridge, making it impossible for any more incoming flights to reach the station.
The Soviets were forced to abandon their station, confident that, with no way on or off the drift station, all their secrets would eventually be consumed by the Arctic.
The U.S. employed similar ice stations to keep tabs on Soviet submarine movement, and being able to see how the Soviets equipped their own drift stations—including the tech they employed and any research they left behind—would be invaluable intelligence.
The U.S. employed similar ice stations to keep tabs on Soviet submarine movement, and being able to see how the Soviets equipped their own drift stations—including the tech they employed and any research they left behind—would be invaluable intelligence.
A first attempt two days earlier had failed when the crew couldn’t locate the station, but this time, they found a different and newer drift station, and the two men parachuted down onto the ice. Once Major Smith radioed a positive report, the B-17 returned to base, where crews affixed the equipment needed for Fulton’s Skyhook to—hopefully—retrieve the men. LeSchack and Smith had 72 hours to search the drift station.
Robert Fulton, son of the president of the Mack Truck Company, had already lived quite a life before he came to the attention of the CIA. Born in New York in 1909, Fulton had studied architecture in Vienna, visited King Tut’s tomb in 1923, spent 17 months on a “motorcycle adventure” across 32 countries, (wrote the book One Man Caravan that I posted about in 2011 https://justacarguy.blogspot.com/search?q=robert+Fulton) and turned a fascination with photography into a job with Pan Am “taking pictures for the development of the trans-Pacific air route.”It was used in the 2008 blockbuster The Dark Knight, after Bruce Wayne asks his engineer Lucius Fox about a way to get aboard an airplane “without it landing.” With a smirk, Fox tells him, “The CIA had a program back in the ’60s for getting their people out of hotspots called Skyhook. We could look into that.”
it's heat wave time again, and the Joe Ramsey Boulevard in Greenville, Texas, has a small section that essentially turned itself into a ramp due to extreme heat
it's been a couple of years since I've come a cross a heat buckled highway... That was Michigan if I recall correctly... this is Texas? How has this highway not had higher heat in the past?
Monday, August 03, 2026
Felix Chevrolet used Felix, officially, as their name and identity since the early days.
The Felix Chevrolet showroom has been decorated with large statues of Felix, exact replicas made of the original paper mache, from the original molds, using fiberglass
They were in the process of sending the existing ones in to be refurbished a couple decades ago, and they were also ordering more, when Mel asked if he could possibly have one made. Absolutely! The more they ordered, the lower the price would be! So he ordered three!
Sunday, August 02, 2026
A section of Roman road has been found at the site of planned autobahn construction near Drackenstein in southern Germany.
Mennonites have become some of the most prolific land buyers in Belize, acquiring large properties and making bids faster than competitors.
Mennonites have become some of the most prolific land buyers in Belize, acquiring large properties and making bids faster than competitors.
Much of the deforestation in Belize has been tied to Mennonites, the conservative and largely insular Christian denomination that began migrating to Belize more than six decades ago, cutting down the rainforest to establish new colonies.
coolest thing I saw today, Slices Of Life, by Qu Tianran, up for the Eisner Award for Best Painter/Multimedia Artist!
with a one page, or two page piece of art, Qu conveys a cool or beautiful moment that many people see, but don't pause and enjoy.
you can save a lot of money by simply looking at the art on Instagram,
I've only shared the vehicle ones, that's what's relevant here, but I heavily recommend you look at the tribute to Monet's lily pond. If you know someone who loves art, then get them some of Qu's books, for birthday or Xmas gifts. Click the links, you'll be impressed, and see why
the 2nd Amendment made it clear, Americans have a CONSTITUTIONAL right to own and carry (if they wish to) guns for self defense, defense of homes, and country. But the anti gun types, who would rather be victims, and would rather others were victims, have crippled the trucker's rights to carry a gun across state lines
“Individuals do NOT lose their constitutional rights simply by crossing into another state. In fact, there is no other constitutional right that Minnesota requires a visiting individual to first obtain permission before they may exercise a fundamental right.”
Federal legislation to create a uniform reciprocity law has been introduced multiple times in the last 10 years alone. Each time, the bill failed. Two truck drivers decided to tackle the problem in court.
Last January, interstate truck drivers David McCoy II and Jeffrey Johnson Sr. filed a federal lawsuit against Minnesota. They claim the state’s concealed-carry reciprocity gun law violates their Second Amendment rights.
McCoy has a concealed-carry permit from Texas. Johnson holds permits from Florida and Georgia. At the time the lawsuit was filed, Minnesota did not recognize any of these permits. Consequently, both drivers had to lock up their guns before entering Minnesota or risk charges.
“Minnesota’s failure to honor lawfully issued firearm permits from all states places an unreasonable burden on plaintiffs’ Second Amendment right to bear arms,” the lawsuit states. “Individuals do not lose their constitutional rights simply by crossing into another state. In fact, there is no other constitutional right that Minnesota requires a visiting individual to first obtain permission before they may exercise a fundamental right.”
The United States has charged seven Chinese executives and four of the world’s biggest shipping container manufacturers with fixing prices and restricting the global supply of shipping containers during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) said the companies controlled about 95% of the world’s standard dry shipping container production and worked together between November 2019 and January 2024 to limit output and raise prices.
Prosecutors said the alleged conspiracy increased the cost of shipping containers during the global supply chain crisis, forcing businesses and consumers to pay more for goods shipped worldwide.
after two deadly shootings in less than a week, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement will pause non-urgent vehicle stops, and maybe, comply with the federal govt use of deadly force policy? The use of body cams?
ICE agents tried to pull over the car of 26-year-old Joan Durán Guerrero, a Colombian national, and the agent shot and killed him. The agents were not wearing body cameras,
ICE agents in Houston attempted to pull Salgado Araujo over agents say he tried to use his van as a weapon,
The Department of Homeland Security's policy says deadly force cannot be used solely to prevent someone from fleeing … unless the person poses a significant threat of death or serious physical harm to the agent or others.
DHS accused Salgado Araujo of weaponizing his car against the ICE officer. In Maine, the agency said Durán Guerrero posed a public safety threat.
But in these cases, there hasn't been video evidence to back up those allegations.
None of the federal immigration agents were wearing body cameras, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
After the shooting of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis in January, DHS vowed to quickly deploy body cameras to federal immigration agents nationwide.
But that hasn't happened.
S&K Towing in the process of shutting down its operations, because it got greedy, and violated the law preventing tow truck companies from selling or disposing of active duty military member's vehicles
According to the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA), tow companies are required to obtain a court order before selling or disposing of a vehicle owned by an SCRA-protected servicemember.
In May 2024, a Military Legal Assistance attorney contacted S&K Towing and explained that the company was violating the SCRA. In response, a manager at S&K Towing told the attorney, "We do this all the time."
Between August 2020 and April 2025, S&K Towing Inc illegally sold or disposed of nearly 150 vehicles, many of which were registered to Camp Pendleton addresses. In other cases, vehicles were auctioned even after they were told that the owner was in the military.
S&K Towing will pay $160,000 to servicemembers who were affected by the illegal towing and auctioning of their vehicles.
"This settlement sends a strong message that all towing companies must recognize servicemembers' rights and take the necessary steps to comply with the SCRA," Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division said in a news release.
https://www.cbsnews.com/losangeles/news/orange-county-tow-company-settles-lawsuit-auctioning-camp-pendleton-vehicles/
I don't know why NASA needs a new wind tunnel... I don't think NASA has a future in air or spacecraft... at present NASA already seems obsolete. Private industry seems to be the only spacecraft in operation
https://x.com/NASA/status/2083289440542208058 this link says the NASA quoted reason for a new multi-million-dollar wind tunnel is "to play a role in developing experimental planes and future Moon and Mars missions"
Hmmm,... not much atmo on the moon or mars, so, what's the point of aerodynamic tested craft?
And we sure as hell ain't going to send anyone to Mars in the next century or two, if ever... it's a one way trip, at best, based on the crew needing more food and water than we can currently send with them
Saturday, August 01, 2026
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