The 77-year-old law professor, who was former karate instructor in his 50s and a SCCA race car driver in his 60s, recently decided to enlist in the police academy. He's the oldest police recruit / rookie ever in California

"I guess the first class at the police academy, the first thing that you notice is how old you are by comparison,” he joked. “I'm old enough to be the grandpa, not the father, the grandpa. The biggest intimidation factor was of course, the physical part of it. It is physical with the push-ups, the sit-ups, the running up and down stairs, and the weightlifting."

But Myers did make it. After 10 months in the academy, Myers graduated with the rest of Class 5724 in November.

After a lengthy background check, Myers recently began working on the UOP campus. In doing so, Myers is now the oldest known law enforcement rookie in California history.

He is working the overnight shift and still teaching during the day.

“You can call this retirement if you want,” Myers joked. “It's my version of retirement."

https://www.kcra.com/article/oldest-police-rookie-california-history/65468793

a driver of an 18-wheeler made a split-second decision to avoid other drivers by crashing into the overpass. “This man saved everyone that night, everybody,” (the night of Aug 27th)

In Memphis, Tn, on the I 40 near North Watkins that night, the semi saved lives, only because a pair of Mustangs were street racing. 

https://wreg.com/news/witness-blames-fatal-i-40-tractor-trailer-crash-on-drag-racers

There is no news outlet that gives the names of the trucker

 A life saving hero chose to risk his own life instead of someone else's

A moment of silence for the dead.

Agnes Denes’s “Wheatfield — A Confrontation: Battery Park Landfill, Downtown Manhattan — Blue Sky, World Trade Center” (1982)

 “Wheatfield — A Confrontation,” the astonishing earthwork that for a single golden summer turned a patch of Lower Manhattan into a wind-whipped farmstead. 

In the spring of 1982, two acres of land in Lower Manhattan, in the Battery Park City landfill) were transformed into a wheatfield by the Hungarian-born New York SoHo artist Agnes Denes, who trucked in 200 loads of topsoil to the landfill created mostly by the construction of the World Trade Center Towers. 

Her project was in the shadows of the Twin Towers and with the New York Stock Exchange looming just outside. Denes had said her idea was for "an intrusion of the country into the metropolis, the world's richest real estate."

Denes and her handful of volunteer assistants cleared the site of garbage, removed rocks, boulders and wires by hand, set up an irrigation system, weeded, put down fertilizer, sprayed against mildew, placed the seeds by hand, and maintained the two-acre rectangular field for four months. Each furrow took two to three hours. 

Once the wheat had matured over three months, the group harvested it on Aug. 16, with a yield of more than 1,000 pounds. After providing hay to the mounted New York City police, they took the crop on the road to 28 cities to distribute it to people who would spread the seeds. 

Denes, who was born a few years before the rest of the (almost entirely male) land artists, has a different agenda than theirs:  “I decided,” she once said, “that we had enough public sculptures of men sitting on horses.”

https://www.art-19.com/news/the-new-york-times-the-25-most-influential-works-of-american-protest-art-since-world-war-ii

http://www.doyoucity.com/proyectos/entrada/1310

http://www.agnesdenesstudio.com/works7.html

https://www.reddit.com/r/OldSchoolCool/comments/gmzgen/farmer_right_in_downtown_manhattan_1982/

https://www.tumblr.com/publicartfund/60944890897/remembering-lower-manhattan-pre-911-agnes

nothing you see this week will beat the true sportsmanship of the #19 Chase Briscoe team jumping over the wall to help the #23 car of Bubba Wallace.... utter respect for the #19 pit crew. You're only as good as your best competition, and if they all aren't on the track, you haven't beaten them

the above shows the best part, but there is a longer video clip of the car in the #23 pit, and leaving it, see that full clip at https://www.facebook.com/watch?v=1255701382495067

Hardest working skater there ever was, Jesse Arrowood, a land scaping skater from Santa Cruz. Respect! The 1st comment I see under the video, is a local bar owner, telling this guy, free beer for all the work!

With only 21,000 subscribers, his video still reached and was watched by 152 thousand viewers!

His efforts, like this video, to clean up a skating area, are in a series of videos he is calling Scape and Destroy

This video is off the 101 in Morgan Hill, South East of San Jose

there are 2,900 Ford dealerships in the USA, and since 2001, Ford awards the best of them, the coveted Triple Crown Award for sales, excellence in customer service, and vehicle service.

In 2025, only 41 Ford dealer locations across the U.S. won that recognition.

But Village Ford of Dearborn just won its 17th consecutive Triple Crown Award all the more special.

It's the only Ford dealer to ever win a Triple Crown Award for 17 straight years, and though it became Village Ford in 1982, when it was purchased by Jim Seavitt, who still owns it to this day.

Ford CEO Jim Farley, the Detroit Lions mascot, and the Mayor of Dearborn, dropped by to help celebrate the award this year (and probably previous years) 

To bring home Ford’s Triple Crown Award, dealers must win three others in the same year – the President’s Award, Top Volume, and Premier Club. The President’s Award is focused on providing excellent customer satisfaction in sales and service, while the Top Volume award highlights the top 100 dealers in terms of retail vehicle sales, and Premier Club rewards dealers that post the best results in terms of service protection or parts departments.

https://fordauthority.com/2025/07/ford-dealer-wins-triple-crown-award-for-17th-straight-year

https://www.autonews.com/article/20120521/RETAIL07/305219950/look-of-dearborn-dealership-reflects-ford-s-founder-history/

Of course, Village Ford has also repeatedly won the Detroit Press award for Best Place to Work https://topworkplaces.com/company/village-ford-inc/freep/

https://www.villageford.com/

https://www.facebook.com/VillageFord/

this is brilliant.... a guy with a stick shift used Miata turned his car, invented a new side hustle... teaching people to drive stick, with his car. Realistically, he invented a company: Manual Driving Academy. And he's looking to franchise (like Uber)

Today, he’s the CEO of Manual Driving Academy—an in-person program that is teaching a new generation of drivers how to row their own all over the country. And he’s looking for more drivers who might want to make a buck doing the same.

And once he’d gotten the hang of it, he was eager to share his newfound enthusiasm with friends and family. Raza enjoyed the process so much that he got the itch to expand it into a business. He approached the individual who would later become his partner with a simple pitch: Let’s teach folks how to drive stick for money as a side hustle. Just like that, Manual Driving Academy was born.

the Manual Driving Academy doesn’t exist—not physically. Instead, it contracts with local instructors who provide their own vehicles (other people around the country that want to earn some side hustle money)

Courses come in three flavors, in ascending order of price: The Basics, The Standard, and The Works. The price for each is fixed, and instructors should expect to earn between $50 and $60 per hour.

https://www.thedrive.com/news/he-turned-his-miata-into-a-side-hustle-by-teaching-enthusiasts-to-drive-stick-hell-pay-you-to-do-the-same

after a decade of nursing, Desiree Hill pivoted away from the Atlanta commuting, (3 hours a day wasted stuck in traffic) and a high stress job, to start a garage far closer to her home. Today, Hill is the owner of Crown's Corner Mechanic — an auto repair shop in Conyers, Georgia

Hill started fixing cars in 2019 with no prior mechanic or entrepreneurship experience, teaching herself through YouTube videos and involving her family. Her 10-year-old daughter recently built a motor, and her son is a mechanic in the U.S. Army, stationed in South Korea for the past 3 years. 

In her first year, 2020, she bought, fixed and sold 38 cars, which made her around $100,000 she says.

In June 2021, Hill decided to additionally work on other people's vehicles as a mobile mechanic, traveling to customers to fix their vehicles. She spent a "couple thousand dollars" on her business license, auto tools, website, advertising and billing software, she says.

Hill brought in about $13,000 as a mechanic in six months, she says. She documented her repair jobs on TikTok, which brought a wave of new clients her way. In Spring 2022, she stopped flipping cars and rented a garage at a local repair shop to keep up with demand, and quickly outgrew that space, too.

In September 2023, Hill began renting Crown's Corner Mechanic's 9,000-square-foot space, initially receiving two months prorated before paying $6,375 monthly. She brought on a mechanic, a welder and a towing professional, each renting space in her shop, covering about half of the now $6,566 monthly rent. "It was the smartest thing I could have ever done."

In the meantime, she plans to keep growing her clientele through social media and one day get a mechanical engineering degree, preferably through a flexible, online program.

https://www.instagram.com/crownscorner_shemechanic (it's a hoot, Desiree is a riot!)

https://www.facebook.com/SheMechanicCrownsCorner

https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2025/05/31/crowns-corner-mechanic-founder-how-i-quit-my-nursing-job-started-a-business.html

https://www.the-sun.com/motors/14383710/crowns-corner-mechanic-auto-shop-georgia/

The redesigned Lincoln Nautilus had a big year in 2024, raking in more than its fair share of accolades. It was dubbed MotorTrend’s 2025 SUV of the Year, was one of the vehicles to nab a Wards 10 Best Interior award, and earned the 2024 Best Corporate/Brand Identity Campaign Marketing Award for a unique campaign.

AdAge commended the Lincoln Nautilus for its unconventional ad campaign. Earlier this year, Lincoln partnered with ad agency Hudson Rouge and released a 30-second ad spot featuring cinematic videography of the redesigned Nautilus Hybrid set to an unnamed song.

The a straightforward ad quickly became one of its most-viewed posts on the platform.

Internet sleuths attempted to track down the catchy piece of media, only to find out that it was an original song that didn’t exist outside of the Nautilus ad.

Eventually, Lincoln dropped the full-length song, titled “Kaleidoscope Bliss (The Nautilus Song)” by Heavy Duty Projects, which is the studio that produced the original song for Lincoln. 

The song debuted on YouTube, but was also made available on various other streaming sites, like Spotify and Apple Music. 

The original ad, meanwhile, raked in 2.9 million views, 1.78 million impressions, and – perhaps most critically – a 9.7 percent increase in awareness among millennials, a key demographic for Ford’s marque.

https://fordauthority.com/2024/12/lincoln-nautilus-ad-campaign-wins-2024-marketing-award/

https://fordauthority.com/2024/05/lincoln-nautilus-song-gets-full-length-version-video/

https://www.autonews.com/marketing/lincolns-30-second-nautilus-ad-track-now-streamable-song/

But very remarkably, it's the ad agency behind the work, Hudson Rouge, that deserves your attention, and respect. I recommend watching this video https://www.hudsonrouge.com/earning-your-earned-media to understand how Hudson Rouge kept Ford from killing off Lincoln, a brand they might have done away with when it was tanking in 2008. 

That's the affect of GOOD advertising, and it's why I tag it with the rarely used "respect" tag/link

booth games at SEMA are a welcome sight, they add fun to the endless walking, and there can be a lot of time spent looking though halls at things you have no interest in, like speakers, mall crawlers, or "new products"

 

depending on the day, the winner of this putting game, could walk away with a sock monkey, a 10mm craftsman deep socket, a bottle of the below tequila, or a bottle of JD Makers Mark, and on the right side of the above backboard, you can see what the grand prize was each day, for getting a golf ball into EACH of the holes in one try

if you could make the paper airplane flu through the upper left hoop, you would win a free product. Only 2 people did, in all 4 days. Those airplanes on the table were utterly unpredictable

The most enthusiastic, hardest working guy at SEMA, was this barker, who worked the Fireball booth. The line was LONG, just to play with him, and he got participants to clap, chant, dance, and enjoy the spinning wheel of chance (which he so slyly stopped with his left elbow where he wanted it to, depending on their enthusiasm and level of cheer) to win the BIG gift back of the entire sample line of products, or just a single bottle of window treatment, etc. 

I kid you not, standing ovation of respect for his effort all day, every day, with every one that stood in line. I doff my hat, please join me! 

I think there were at least 4 booths with the cornhole game

in World War II there was one all-Black, all-female Postal Directory Battalion, of the Women’s Army Corps, the 6888th. Respect.

It was a direct result of their success that President Harry S. Truman desegregated the military in 1948. 

As for the Six Triple Eight’s wartime logistical triumph, the 6888th, dispatched to Britain under the command of Col. Charity Adams in 1945, managed to clear a massive backlog in undelivered mail to soldiers in the European theater of operations.

With the slogan “no mail, low morale”, they were sent to sort the massive backlog of mail in the European theater. Reports indicate the women were confronted with warehouses stacked to the ceilings, Christmas packages, love letters, and in some cases, final correspondence between loved ones lost.

 Solving that severe morale issue and getting the letters and packages out was supposed to be an arduous task stretching six months at the least. 

 They did it in three.

“Only four women are buried at Normandy, and three are from the Six Triple Eight,” Cummings said during the ceremony, referring to the fact that the unit was subsequently sent to France as the war ended to clear another monumental postal logjam. They again completed it in record time.

It has taken decades for a widespread sharing of their story — indeed, Phyllis Wilson, president of the Military Women’s Memorial and a retired Army chief warrant officer, said she spent 37 years in the military and “never knew” of the 6888th’s heroics.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/arts-entertainment/2022/06/16/black-women-6888-gold-medal/

https://www.uppermichiganssource.com/2021/03/03/all-black-female-battalion-closer-to-congressional-gold-medal/

https://coolchicksfromhistory.tumblr.com/post/77755315051/frolicking-in-the-snow-at-camp-shanks-are-a-group

Pictured in softball training, 11 September 1945, is Dorothy Ellis from Chicago. Dorothy of the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion of the Women's Army Corps played short center in the softball team that went on to win the Championship for the Chanor base section Northern France. They then competed in the European Theatre Championship in the U.S Riviera Recreational Area in Nice France on 8th December 1945.

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=1227704092730218&set=pcb.1227704212730206

Toby Wells, respect

Toby frequently rescued many dogs from death in animal shelters by putting them to work at different locations as company watchdogs. He felt it wasn't as perfect as family life, but it beat the alternative these dogs faced. Many of these tough canines lived to be quite old and grew to be companions of employees. They were well cared for, and burial services were even held when they passed away.

The twin causes of welfare for animals and children were championed by Toby Wells, who was known for rescuing dogs from the animal shelter. His legacy and spirit now live on through the foundation.

For 14 years the Toby Wells Foundation has sponsored one of the signature charity events at Maderas Golf Club, with more than $2 million raised for funds to help underprivileged children and neglected animals in San Diego County.

The tournament began after his sisters established the Toby Wells Foundation and were seeking ways to raise funds and awareness for causes to honor the memory of their brother, who died at in May 2000 from medical complications after being paralyzed in a swimming accident.

“Our family was in the construction equipment industry,” Wells said about Contractors Equipment Company, a business her brother helped run until the family sold it in 1999. “A lot of our supporters were construction workers who really enjoyed golf.”

The family also funds the Toby Wells YMCA in Kearney Mesa, through which it serves unprivileged children and military families.

“Funds from the golf tournament are directly benefitting children,” Wells said of the event that takes four to five months of preparation by the family.

But tasks such as accumulating auction items and the like are a labor of love because of the good causes.

“And it all comes from San Diego, like the Padres and the Chargers,” West said. “And Maderas donates back too. Every bit helps.”

In all, nearly $14 million has been raised for the Toby Wells Foundation through a variety of endeavors.

Not bad for an event organized by two women who don’t play golf, helping kids and dogs

http://www.tobywells.org/tribute-toby

https://www.ocregister.com/2015/06/24/sisters-use-golf-as-a-way-to-raise-funds-in-their-brothers-memory/

Tribute to Sir Frank Williams at FW42

https://soymotor.com/blogs/boxthislap/sir-frank-williams-el-ultimo-garajista

TIL of Dr Ron McNair, astronaut, and public library legend.

McNair was born October 21, 1950, in Lake City, South Carolina, and in the summer of 1959, he refused to leave the racially segregated Lake City Public Library without being allowed to check out his books. 9 years old, and knew what was right, wrong, and stupid. 

He went out into the world, this beautiful world that often is marred by shitty narrowminded people that demonstrate the worst of what humans are capable of, and got a PHD from MIT, and joined NASA in 1978 when the shuttle program was in concept stage, where he was one of 35 astronaut candidates selected from a pool of 11,000 applicants to become a member of NASA's elite Space Shuttle program.

He crewed on the Challenger in 1984, and again, in 1986, on it's last flight. 

He must have been mentioned in the incredible play '73 Seconds', but I simply have a terrible memory, and can't recall what they said about any of the 7 people who died when the shuttle exploded over Florida. 

Incredible play that toured in the 2017 Fringe Fest. 

That library is now named for Ron McNair. 

The library that wouldn't let him check out books because caucasians in South Carolina in the 50s were some racist, narrow minded, ignorant, stupid people. Some were worse than that, others were just not concerned about being part of a system that wouldn't allow a brilliant kid to check out books from a library because he didn't look like his ancestors came from Europe. 

Frankly there were alot of people that didn't have a bit of common sense, some others decided it was fine to jail Asians that were living in the USA during WW2.  

None of the people in the American federal, state, or local governments seemed to have much of a problem with all of this racist behavior. Sadly, it's true that a lot of people are missing the component of living that causes them to think about things, be empathetic, brilliant, sympathetic, analytic, logical, smart, nice, terrific, generous, and terrific. It must be awfully easy to be a horrible human being. 

Dr Ron McNair was quite a great guy... he played the saxophone very well, and his lifelong commitment was to continue his quest to inspire and encourage students to dream big, work hard and accomplish their goals.

If universities with enormous financial resources felt the same, ponder what the results could be if kids that wanted to get a great education might accomplish with it.... 

instead, 

Harvard has 38 billion dollars in the bank. Doing nothing. Harvard is ranked as the best university in the English speaking world, and probably is the best compared to all others also, but, who knows. 

The University of Texas has 30 billion. 

Yale has 29.3 billion, and is ranked 5th best university in the world

Stanford has 26 billion and is ranked 6th best university in the world

Princeton has 26 billon and is ranked 10th best university in the world

MIT has 16 billion, was founded by founded with money left by George Eastman, founder of Eastman Kodak.  

the University of Pennsylvania, co–founded by Benjamin Franklin in 1751, is ranked today as the 15th–best university in the world. The university is best known as the home of the Wharton School of Business.

All of the top 20 richest (by the amount of money in the bank) universities (except Texas) charges each student about 52 thousand dollars a year. None charge more than 59.5k.. Texas charges 38k

https://thebestschools.org/features/richest-universities-endowments-generosity-research/

http://mildlyinteresting-blog.blogspot.com/2019/03/my-mother-took-photo-of-space-shuttle.html

The most important public health workers are garbage collectors and janitors. So much of our health relies on a clean environment. These people do some of the most important work in society. Respect.

https://www.tumblr.com/blog/view/takesabeating

because respect and honor thrives amongst car guys

and this is one reason I have the tag "respect"

Hats off to Dani Verges. I've never seen a painting of a work truck with a load of wood

That's more legit country than any cowboy hat and pair of boots.

That's respect for a hard days work, getting your own wood, and not heating with oil.

I didn't think it'd get better, but then I saw this.... ayfkm? Look at the patina! Work box! Dog! Trailer side mirrors!

That's respect for a 4x4 Ford without stupid rims.

SO, my compliments with what I can do, and that is to spread the word to people who appreciate hard work, good art, and old trucks.

https://danivergesart.tumblr.com/post/188251479323/loaded

If you've got a minute, I hope you'll click over and appreciate the terrific paintings of hats, horses, people, buffalo, etc. https://danivergesart.tumblr.com/

If I was FOrd MOtor COmpany, I'd hire Dani to be one of  our companies featured artists

To read about, and hear an interview with https://mountainandprairie.com/daniel-verges/
maybe even better https://blog.stetson.com/stetson-stories-artist-dani-verges/
https://www.instagram.com/dani_verges/?hl=en

With great pleasure and respect, I present for your admiration, a bicycle. Found ignored in the back of a booth at SEMA, behind stanchions, and why it's displayed with great respect.... the 50th anniversary of the Spanesi company, and it's wonderful founder. (kleenex may be needed)

if that's not the coolest story to come out of SEMA this year, I double dog dare you to find one more moving.

Stories like this are why I have the tag "respect"

https://www.spanesi.com/
https://www.facebook.com/spanesigroup

December 1, 1955. Respect.

"Nah"

Rosa Parks.

respect for the hard working man

https://www.facebook.com/carsjoo/videos/vb.1643896272337119/453752981830546/?type=2&theater

first thing you'll notice is that he's getting some time on camera for his work effort
2nd thing, he's got no safety anything. No face mask to prevent the asbestos from the clutch dust, no safety glasses to protect his eyes from splash...

he may not live to see old age, he may not get paid well, but damn it, he gets respect.