good news on the bridges and roadkill issue, in the Amazon, "Zero roadkill as Amazon canopy bridges secure 15,000 crossings"

Project Reconecta installed eight rope bridges in a municipality in Brazil, and a 15-month study used camera traps to document thousands of arboreal wildlife adapting to new aerial crossings.

Reconecta’s creator, biologist Fernanda Abra, a National Geographic Explorer and winner of the Whitley Award, is now expanding these low-cost conservation tools to other Brazilian biomes and neighboring Suriname.

Brazil’s federal transport department has officially designated the rope bridge design as the recommended national standard for highways to curb the millions of wildlife deaths recorded on roads annually.

https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/zero-roadkill-as-amazon-canopy-bridges-secure-15000-crossings

The pres signed a memo to get the EPA to end the CARB bottleneck, and end persecution of Americans who fix their own cars

President Trump signed a presidential memo directing the EPA to end one of the more absurd overreaches of the Biden era: the prosecution of Americans for fixing their own vehicles.

The memo goes further than just ending the arrests. It targets a California-specific bottleneck that has been quietly choking the aftermarket parts industry for years. 

The only federally recognized third-party certification body for aftermarket auto parts was CARB, the California Air Resources Board,  a notoriously backlogged and slow process that gave Sacramento effective veto power over auto parts sold nationwide.

 The presidential memo ends that monopoly. “𝘕𝘰 𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘊𝘈𝘙𝘉 𝘣𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘳𝘥 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘺 𝘤𝘦𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘧𝘪𝘦𝘳 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘦 𝘢𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘬𝘦𝘵 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘴,” Zeldin said.

https://x.com/EricLDaugh/status/2071678109619773515

a Pennsylvania Republican and an Illinois progressive plan to introduce an amendment in today's House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee markup hearing to prohibit federal highway funding for states using automated license plate readers for any purpose other than tolling

The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee will mark up the underlying bill—a $580 billion, five-year reauthorization of federal surface transportation programs—at 10 am ET on Thursday.

The amendment runs a single sentence: “A recipient of assistance under Title 23, United States Code, may not use automated license plate readers for any purpose other than tolling.”

The amendment is brief, but its reach would be vast. Title 23 funds roughly a quarter of all public road mileage in the US, including most state and county arteries and many city streets where ALPR cameras are becoming ubiquitous. Conditioning that funding on a ban of the technology would, in practical effect, force any state, county, or municipality that takes federal highway money (essentially all of them) to either remove the cameras or restructure their use around tolling alone.

https://www.wired.com/story/a-bipartisan-amendment-would-end-police-license-plate-tracking-nationwide/

Sir George Dowty designed the hydraulic landing gear for the World War II Lancaster bomber, and a statue of him and the gear will be officially unveiled at the International Bomber Command Centre (IBCC) in Lincoln on Wednesday 27 May..... not many people get a statue for suspension!

The undercarriages and landing gear of the Lancaster bomber were "faultlessly designed and manufactured" and "instrumental to safe landings for our crews at the completion of their flights"

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cgjpd1jd5q3o

one step closer to a terminator robot... but - is this also one step closer to robots being used as bomb defusers, deep sea welders, and other high dollar and high danger work (but it's not likely, as human labor is often dirt cheap... robots like this will never clean hotels)

Japan Airlines will introduce the robots for trial run at a Tokyo airport amid country’s surge in inbound tourism and worsening labour shortages, with a view to deploying them permanently as a solution to the country’s chronic labour shortage.

The Chinese-made humanoids will move travelers' luggage and cargo on the tarmac at Haneda, which handles more than 60 million passengers a year.

The president of JAL Ground Service, Yoshiteru Suzuki, said using robots to perform physically demanding work would “inevitably reduce the burden on workers and provide significant benefits to employees”, according to the Kyodo news agency.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/apr/28/humanoid-robots-baggage-handlers-japan-airports

a Marine lcpl developed $10 solution to $5,600 antenna problem

A junior Marine’s 3D-printed fix for a fragile communications antenna is saving the Marine Corps hundreds of thousands of dollars and slashing months-long supply delays across the fleet.

When Schule joined the Marine Corps in 2022 as an engineer equipment operator, he was assigned to be an armory custodian. But his superiors quickly realized he had untapped technical skills.

They learned he had previously worked as a computer numerically controlled, or CNC, machine operator at an industrial machining company and had an interest in 3D printing and design.

In April 2025, Schule attended a basic additive manufacturing course at the II Marine Expeditionary Force Innovation Campus, where he learned to reverse engineer and print replacement parts.

The campus, a 3D printing hub focused on solving equipment and supply challenges, recently received a Defense Department award for education and workforce development.

Through trial and error, Schule refined the process and ultimately produced a replacement mast that passed durability testing and held up during a month-long field exercise.

During a joint exercise, Pine observed antenna masts breaking across multiple units. Replacements cost more than $5,600 each and took over 220 days to arrive. He estimated more than $1 million in damaged equipment across the fleet.

Since then, the II MEF Innovation Campus has produced more than 100 replacement masts at roughly $10 a piece, saving an estimated $600,000 while eliminating years of cumulative supply delays.

https://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-military/2026/03/20/marine-lance-corporal-develops-10-solution-to-5600-antenna-problem/

stamps celebrate the lowrider car were unveiled here in San Diego, then released nationwide

Let the Good Times Roll/Soy Como Soy: A blue 1946 Chevrolet Fleetline
Eight Figures: A blue 1958 Chevrolet Impala
El Rey: A red 1963 Chevrolet Impala
The Golden Rose: An orange 1964 Chevrolet Impala
Pocket Change: A green 1987 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme

The stamps were designed by art director Antonio Alcala using existing photographs snapped by Humberto “Beto” Mendoza and Philip Gorden, while artist Danny Alvarado added the designs’ pinstriping. 

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/las-iconic-lowriders-featured-new-usps-lowrider-forever-stamps-rcna263355

(standing ovation time!) Staff Sgt. Billy Scafidel, an armory chief with the 7th Engineer Support Battalion in the 1st Marine Logistics Group, received the Navy and Marine Corps Medal, the service’s highest non-combat award, for saving another Marine’s life following a motor vehicle accident

he heard a loud splash in the ocean, discovered a truck lying on its side, half submerged in the water, quickly enlisted the help of a nearby Corpsman 2nd Class Andrew James, then grabbed a hammer before smashing out the windshield to get out the trapped driver, shredded his hands without noticing, and succeeded in creating an egress and getting the driver out before the cab was filled with enough seawater to kill the driver, who was in imminent danger of drowning. 

The driver was stuck in the seat, the doors were locked and the driver’s side of the vehicle was quickly filling with water. 

 Before ensuring the driver received medical attention, Scafidel dived back into the water to confirm no other passengers were in the truck.

The driver was transported to a nearby naval hospital, where he made a full recovery.

“In the face of adversity when a life was on the line, Staff Sgt. Scafidel, without care for his own safety, put himself in a position to make a difference,”

https://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-military/2026/02/09/marine-earns-services-highest-non-combat-award-for-vehicle-rescue/

Good news on the Rockford Files reboot, they've picked a really good actor, who LOOKS the part!

Boreanaz's first paid acting job was in a JC Penney commercial with Bryan Cranston. His first important role as Kelly's boyfriend in the series Married... with Children 

I really enjoyed Bones, until they killed off Sweets. They had to in order to hit the audience in the guts. That's what really sticks with a fan forever... the actors that carry off a role of grief, unrequited love, or unexpected death. 

The official logline of the pilot states, “Newly paroled after doing time for a crime he didn’t commit, James Rockford returns to his life as a private investigator using his charm and wit to solve cases around Los Angeles. It doesn’t take long for his quest for legitimacy to land him squarely in the crosshairs of both local police and organized crime.” 

There have been various attempts to reboot “The Rockford Files” over the years, including a failed 2009 NBC pilot starring Dermot Mulroney that was produced by Steve Carrell. Universal Pictures also developed a feature film version that was to star Vince Vaughn, though it never moved forward.

https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=1260520795938746&set=pb.100059425124329.-2207520000

standing ovation for LVPD Officer Deb Rinkovsky, who was patrolling near Charleston and Decatur boulevards in November when she saw a person in a motorized wheelchair being splashed by passing cars, and stopped to help (finally a cool cop!)

Rinkovsky stepped into the rain and offered the person her own poncho in a moment that a bystander captured in a photograph.

https://news3lv.com/news/local/las-vegas-police-officer-gets-recognition-for-help-person-in-wheelchair-soaked-in-storm

good news for disabled vets, and it's news to me, a VA benefit I've never heard of.... a Department of Veterans Affairs automobile grant

The Advancing Uniform Transportation Opportunities for Veterans Act, known as the AUTO Act, allows veterans with qualifying service-connected disabilities to receive an automobile grant from the Department of Veterans Affairs every 10 years instead of just once in their lifetime.

https://www.military.com/benefits/veterans-health-care/veterans-can-now-get-va-auto-grants-every-10-years-heres-what-changed.html

500 good people in South Bend Indiana pitched in and got Mo a new truck!

Standing ovation to the B52 maintenance crew that invented a better, safer, faster pylon-loading fixture tool! It cuts pylon-loading time from four hours to about 30 minutes while reducing the risk of injury and aircraft damage.

Airmen who maintain B-52 Stratofortress bombers won the Air Force’s top innovation prize after designing a simple adapter that makes one of their most dangerous maintenance jobs faster and safer. 

The team from Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana took first place at Air Force Spark Tank, the service’s championship round for innovators, for a work platform that cuts pylon-loading time from four hours to about 30 minutes while reducing the risk of injury and aircraft damage.

“We just had to create an adapter … to basically fix it to the lift truck, so it would interface between the pylon and the lift truck,”

“The ALE 25 Pylon Loading Adapter was born out of real-world challenges faced by maintainers,” the research lab release said. “By cutting task times from four hours to just 30 minutes and eliminating risky manual lifts, it’s transforming safety and efficiency for B-52H Stratofortress operations.”

Another finalist, Tech. Sgt. Tylar Cravens, a C-130J Super Hercules engine mechanic at Yokota Air Base in western Tokyo, represented his team at the competition. His project, Star Forge, uses advanced 3D printing to produce full-scale composite engine models, allowing maintainers to train without removing aircraft from service.

Star Forge reduced training equipment costs dramatically — in one case from $89,000 to $1 — and is expected to improve training for about 2,300 aircraft maintainers, according to the research lab.

https://www.stripes.com/branches/air_force/2026-01-05/air-force-spark-tank-b52-repair-20303218.html

I am glad to find and share the rare stories of people that were lucky enough to be in the right place, at the right time, with the right resources, and the good idea on how to make it all become a money maker... like Kern Schumacher in 1956, Oakland, Ca

Kern Schumacher was a young nineteen-year-old man who happened upon a great business opportunity in Oakland, California, in 1956. 

The lower deck of the Oakland Bay Bridge was to be torn apart, and thousands of railroad ties were left with nowhere to go. 

Kern being the young entrepreneur he was, sought out Bay-area salvage expert Alfred Boyd, and the two jumped at the opportunity and bought every last railroad tie. Kern didn’t know it then, but he had just become co-owner of the country's largest supplier of used railroad ties.

What started as the A&K Tie Company was buying used railroad ties and selling them mainly for landscaping purposes. 

The headquarters of A&K then moved to Utah in 1963, containing less than ten employees. The headquarters of A&K at the time was an old railroad roundhouse for the naval base. There were tracks on both sides of the building with only two offices and one reception area. 

Quickly A&Ks sales began to double every year, and the building was getting crowded with new employees to help supplement the growth. A&K started growing across the nation with a new centrally located yard in Kansas City, Kansas, and an Eastern regional office in Pittsburg, PA. An international office was opened in Houston, TX, and a Southern regional office was created in New Orleans, LA.

 Sales between 1970 & 1980 grew to over 30 million 

https://akrailroad.com/history/

Springfield Mass in the 1950’s and the swill wagon was still horse drawn. Pig farmers picked up the swill from each house twice a week and fed it to the pigs in Chicopee.

As the neighborhood where the farm was started to build out, people complained about the smell. 

Thus the farmer converted over to a dump. 

The result? He went from a poor pig farmer to a large trucking business picking up trash. He sold out in the 80’s for 50 million dollars. 

https://forums.aaca.org/topic/341211-period-images-to-relieve-some-of-the-stress/page/536/

a meteorite the size of a Christmas turkey broke up over a small village 60 years ago, the largest meteorite to hit the UK, was on Christmas Eve 1965. A kid found a 3 pound piece of it, and sold it to buy a 10-speed Raleigh racing bike

When a meteorite the size of a Christmas turkey broke up over a small British village 60 years ago, David Radford was a teenager who had a second-hand bike.

This changed after he found a fragment of the meteorite when he was playing with friends at a park. His foot fell down a hole, and he found the 4.5 billion-year-old piece of space rock.

A week later, there was a knock at David's front door. The late British astronomer Sir Patrick Moore, and an official from one of the museums in London

After the two visitors confirmed it was a meteorite, the museum official asked if they could buy it from him.

He said he was given 530 dollars when adjusted for inflation, as the going rate was a dollar per ounce of meteorite.

"I was wanting a new bicycle, and I'd got the family hand-me-down, so I wanted to replace that," David said.

He bought a 10-speed Raleigh racing bike, but said his mother made him set up a bank account with the remaining money.

https://www-bbc-com.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/www.bbc.com/news/articles/c2dzk6zx7nzo.amp

they are breaking ground on an 1/8th mile drag strip in Callahan Florida (on the Georgia border), and it's expected to be operating by May 2026

 https://www.actionnewsjax.com/news/local/step-closer-reality-callahan-speedway-breaks-ground-dragstrip/2R6AXFPZDFAK5CJ2JSV7MCFLUM/

Standing ovation for San Diego UPS driver Derrick West for doing some hero work!

He is the UPS driver whose quick actions likely saved the life of a man critically injured in a crash last week on San Vicente Road 

75-year-old James Ostermann had been driving his golf cart when the California Highway Patrol says it collided head-on with a truck.

Soon after, a UPS truck with two people inside, delivery driver Derrick West at the wheel, drove past the scene. On the ground was Ostermann, a grandfather and Air Force veteran, was surrounded by a lot of blood. Three people stood nearby.

Two ladies yelled, ‘He's bleeding out. We need to stop the bleeding,’” West said.

"Instinctively, I just started taking off my belt," West said, and applied a tourniquet to Ostermann's leg for several minutes before emergency crews arrived, and he was airlifted to a hospital.

Ostermann has since undergone four surgeries. His femoral artery was damaged, and he suffered fractures throughout his body, including his leg, pelvis, and ribs. He is now in stable condition.

Doctors said West had been five minutes from dying of blood loss.

The CHP says no arrests have been made. The other driver wasn't injured, and the investigation is ongoing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9DMEg0Ivc2Y news outlet video not embedable.

 https://www.10news.com/news/local-news/ups-driver-saves-grandfathers-life-after-golf-cart-crash-in-ramona

Terry Crews (terrific guy) driving FI racers in a Lego Cadillac Sixty Special in Las Vegas to the podium

 Just three years into the Las Vegas Grand Prix, it's consistently building and tweaking its race traditions, with the cool-down car from the past two years upgraded in 2025 to a pink LEGO Cadillac piloted by actor and former NFL player Terry Crews.

At the end of F1's longest race by overall distance on the calendar, Max Verstappen, Lando Norris, and George Russell climbed into the back bench seat of the LEGO convertible, where a LEGO race track and oversized pink LEGO sunglasses were waiting for them. Russell and Verstappen immediately put on their glasses

The LEGO Cadillac was seen around the circuit all weekend, and marks the second time that LEGO and F1 have joined forces to create life-sized vehicles for their drivers. LEGO provided 10 1:1-scale F1 cars for the drivers' parade at the Miami Grand Prix, which led to the 20 drivers fighting over the captain's seat and LEGO-to-LEGO contact.

https://www.roadandtrack.com/news/a69520393/terry-crews-takes-las-vegas-grand-prix-podium-finishers-track-in-lego-pink-cadillac/

A high school senior combined his love of cars and community to create a brand-new fundraiser for his school band. Standing ovation for Jonas Henley!

https://www.rochesterfirst.com/generation-roc/generation-roc-pal-mac-senior-organizes-first-ever-car-show-to-support-school-band/amp/