Saturday, September 14, 2013

Don't race a turbo diesel truck... not even if you're driving a Lamboghini. Those trucks are wickedly fast


1/8th mile, and that truck is a dozen lengths ahead.



"traffic calmed"? what was it before? Riots and speed demons? Seriously who thought up this BS?


humor in cartoons


found on Facebook

a steampunk motorwheel at Dragon Con 2012 found on Epbot.com



for a whole bunch of great photos of Dragon Con and other conventions, and an emphasis on Steampunk!

http://www.epbot.com

This NOS ought to get the job done

Dad of the month award goes to the Landspeeder builder

Friday, September 13, 2013

Two guys, four hands, one amazing tire. Hurst Racing Tires

who puts a bathroom stall bar on their trunk instead of a wing? This guy who is such an ass that he has the Potter series spoiler on his bumper


LAPD shoot unprovoked at 3 innocent people in trucks validating the lunatic that accused them of abuse of power and incompetence, 2 were hispanic women, the perp they were hunting is a large black man. That's pretty damn incompetent


As reported in the Los Angeles Times: http://articles.latimes.com/2013/feb/08/local/la-me-torrance-shooting-20130209  and http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/02/07/16888732-women-shot-by-cops-were-just-delivering-papers in the first week of Feb 2013

LAPD were on the lookout for Christopher Jordan Dorner, a disgruntled ex-cop suspected of hunting down members of the LAPD and their families in a twisted campaign of revenge. The radio call indicated that the truck matched the description of Dorner's gray Nissan Titan.

A few minutes later, a truck slowly rolled down the quiet residential street.

As the vehicle approached the house, officers opened fire, unloading a barrage of bullets into the back of the truck. When the shooting stopped, they quickly realized their mistake. The truck was not a Nissan Titan, but a Toyota Tacoma. The color wasn't gray, but aqua blue. And it wasn't Dorner inside the truck, but a woman and her mother delivering copies of the Los Angeles Times...

Beck and others stressed that the investigation into the shooting is in its infancy. They declined to say how many officers were involved, what kind of weapons they used, how many bullets were fired and, perhaps most important, what kind of verbal warnings — if any — were given to the women before the shooting began...

Law enforcement sources told The Times that at least seven officers opened fire. On Friday, the street was pockmarked with bullet holes in cars, trees, garage doors and roofs. Residents said they wanted to know what happened.

"How do you mistake two women, one who is 71, for a large black male?" said Richard Goo, 62, who counted five bullet holes in the entryway to his house. Then, after this incident occurred... A few blocks from the first accidental shooting, police were responding to the shots fired calls and came across another similar pickup truck to the suspect's. There was a collision to the rear of the vehicle and police fired three shots (at least) into the windshield of the driver who was luckily uninjured and NOT INVOLVED.

Christopher Dorner, the intended target of the police, worked for LAPD and has accused them (manifesto here) of abuse of power and incompetence.

The ultimate irony, as several other sources have commented, is that their response to him is validating his allegations.

photo from http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/02/07/16888732-women-shot-by-cops-were-just-delivering-papers by Reuters / Patrick T. Fallon

http://tywkiwdbi.blogspot.com/2013/02/shooting-incident-in-los-angeles.html

More inept cops killing innocent people Cops shooting people unprovoked (on/off duty, it doesn't matter)
http://www.tactical-life.com/news/pa...er-unprovoked/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLZF3-o7yNA
http://pix11.com/2014/04/30/drunk-ny...ring-driver-2/
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crim...ticle-1.187862

Update, the cops shot 103 bullets, according to LAPD Chief Beck, who said officers opened fire immediately after one woman threw a newspaper and an officer mistook the sound of it hitting the pavement for gunfire.
“While there were similarities, the truck that approached was a different make and model, different color, had no ski racks and no over-sized tires.”
The police were so scared and upset that they missed with 40 of the bullets not hitting the truck.
More than 1/3 of the shots didn’t even hit the fucking truck!

‘‘I have confidence in their abilities as LAPD officers to continue to do their jobs in the same capacity they had been assigned,’’ Beck said in a department message to officers obtained Wednesday night by The Associated Press. 
https://olaasm.wordpress.com/2014/02/05/a-comedy-of-lapd-errors/

None of the officers involved in that attempted murder were disciplined or even publicly named, let alone charged for nearly killing the women who were spared only by poor, panicked shooting.

Complicating things, about half of the equipment monitoring the police in the police vehicles is regularly disabled by the police. http://articles.latimes.com/2014/apr/07/local/la-me-lapd-tamper-20140408

https://olaasm.wordpress.com/2014/05/20/the-people-v-charlie-beck-an-indictment-of-five-years-of-lapd-abuse/

Update July 19th 2016,
Eight Los Angeles police officers who mistakenly opened fire on Los Angeles Times newspaper delivery women thinking they were rogue ex-cop Christopher Dorner in 2013 will not be criminally charged, the L.A. County district attorney’s office announced Wednesday.

Chief Charlie Beck and the civilian commission that oversees the L.A. Police Department previously found that the officers violated the LAPD's policy on using deadly force.

Attorney Gary Fullerton blamed the shooting on a "big chain of mistakes" stemming from how the LAPD's top brass handled the manhunt, saying the officers in the Torrance shooting didn’t have the proper equipment, training or information to handle their assignment.

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-no-charges-lapd-shooting-newspaper-delivery-women-dorner-manhunt-20160127-story.html

An open letter to every person I meet who finds out I ride a motorcycle (posted due to the good writing and topic)

Let me stop you right there, mmmm-kay? I can tell by that little intake of breath what’s coming next. Thank you in advance, but I already know that motorcycles are “dangerous.” After nearly twenty years of riding on the streets, I am aware; telling me now will not be a revelation. It is not an insight into my lifestyle that has remained hidden from me until this, the moment of epiphany when you shine the light of outsider wisdom on my foolhardy choices.

There are ways I can minimize the risk — by riding defensively, riding sober, knowing my own and my machine’s capabilities, etc. — but I also know there are some risks that are simply beyond my control. But you know what? There a lots of risks that are within my control. We’ve become so pathologically risk-averse that for most people it is inconceivable to assume any additional risk no matter how much joy you might get back in return.

You want to know what’s truly dangerous? Not taking any risks. Hanging out with like-minded middle-of-the-roaders. Absorbing the same brain-ossifying shit from media factories every day. Jogging. Putting helmets, flotation devices, and auto-deploy epi-pens on your kids every time they leave the house. Passivity. Not paying attention to where your car, or your life, or you country is going.

If you don’t get that, that’s OK. I’m not trying to convert anybody, but here are a few tips to save us both a little aggravation:

You don’t need to tell me the horror story about your uncle’s buddy who wiped out his chopper while drag racing at some hooligan rally. That just makes me wish I were talking to your uncle’s buddy instead of you. He sounds pretty cool.

Do not — do NOT — tell me about the time you almost Sausage Creatured a biker because you “couldn’t see him” or he “came out of nowhere.” I have never known a bike to come out of nowhere, but I have seen plenty of cars pull a Crazy Ivan and turn into a lane occupied by a biker or make an impromptu unsignalled left turn in front of an oncoming me. If you’re expecting me to share your outrage at the temerity of bikers to be in the lane you want, you’re more deluded than a goldfish with a passport. I can’t make you see bikes. I can’t make you hang up your phone. They won’t let me mount a .50-caliber machine gun to my bike. So really, there’s not much I can do to change the outcome of your anecdote, so save it for your coreligionists who also have stick-figure families and giant softball stickers with the name “Tailyr” or “Flynn” or “Shyly” on their rear windows.

I do wear a helmet, as a matter of fact, along with other protective gear. But, the fact that you “certainly hope” I wear a helmet is so condescending it makes me want to ride a tricycle completely naked doing doughnuts in your front yard screaming Beastie Boys lyrics at midnight. Trust me, you do not want that. My buttocks are extremely pale and unsightly, especially in moonlight.

Please, do not complain about bikes parking in car parking spaces. Where are we supposed to park? If they let us park up on the curb like in Europe, we would totally do that, and precious few parking lots have motorcycle parking areas. Most cops already have a hard-on for bikes, so parking anywhere but in a designated spot is asking to be impounded.

Yes, I know, some bikes have very loud exhaust. Maybe it’s obnoxious, but at least you knew they were there, didn’t you? They say loud pipes save lives. I don’t know if that’s true, because there hasn’t been a serious comprehensive study of motorcycle safety since 1981, the poetically named Hurt Report. And yes, I know, at one point you probably saw some kid riding his 600cc sport bike at 100mph doing a wheelie down the freeway. He’s a squid, and he’ll either grow up or just take care of himself. Some bikers do crazy things. Anti-social things. Unsanctioned things. I don’t represent him and he doesn’t represent me — that’s the great part of being a biker. I could be a Lowbrow Weirdo or Antoine Predock or Lyle Lovett or just whatever I want to be.

If you’re really so all-fire concerned about my safety, don’t preach at me. Just do me this one favor: pay attention when you’re driving. Keep your greasy fingers off your touch-screen, put down your phone, use your turn signals and lay off the booze before you get on the road with me. You take care of your part and I’ll take care of mine.

But hang-gliding, man, that shit is crazy.

Carter Edman is an architect, writer, and rider in Cleveland, Ohio. He teaches “Motorcycles and American Culture” and other courses at Case Western Reserve University.

posted on http://rideapart.com/2012/06/an-open-letter-to-every-person-i-meet-who-finds-out-i-ride-a-motorcycle/

If your car is ever stolen, your first calls should be to every cab company in the city.

If your car is ever stolen, your first calls should be to every cab company in the city. You offer a $100 reward to the driver who finds it AND a $200 reward to the dispatcher on duty when the car is found. The latter is to encourage dispatchers on shift to continually remind drivers of your stolen car. Of course you should call the police too but first things first. There are a lot more cabs than cops so cabbies will find it first -and they’re more frequently going in places cops typically don’t go, like apartment and motel complex parking lots, back alleys etc. Lastly, once the car is found, a swarm of cabs will descend and surround it because cabbies, like anyone else, love excitement and want to catch bad guys.

Found on  http://tywkiwdbi.blogspot.com/2013/02/thoughts-about-taxis-and-their-drivers.html

Wednesday, September 11, 2013

I haven't seen a new advertisement vehicle in a while, this is innovative and a unique VW van


Greyhound Bus photo archive book shows a couple interesting busses I haven't seen before




Lowtech Blogspot has recently posted a couple cool things I just enjoyed, a Don Montgomery interview and the Dragmaster Chassis party

smallest Coke delivery truck there probably ever was

Ernst Henne, Sept.1936, record breaker BMW

Terrific variety of aircraft posters at Moment d'Inspiration Blogspot

video tour of the Sinsheim Auto Museum in Germany




did you know that 2 of the highest quality car makers in the world are getting whipped at F1 by a soft drink company?

Red Bull Racing is beating Ferrari, Mercedes and Toyota

because they are winning so much, the equivalent cost of that level of advertising would be about 300 to 400 million dollars.

That is money that Red Bull doesn't have to spend on advertising you might realize

It costs about 300 million dollars to run their race teams, and Red Bull only has to provide about 150 million directly

So for the price of racing they get free advertising, basically. Or, they get to race for free while paying for advertising

about 70 percent of the cost of racing for Red Bull is research and development

The return on the racing team has been about 285 million dollars. Isn't that about 90 % of the cost? So it's really not too expensive with the amount they win. 88 million for winning the championship, 60 million from sponsorships

the real surprise is that in a 5 year stretch where Toyota won no races, it spent 1.5 billion on its F1 racing, and Reb Bull spent about half that

in 2004 Red Bull bought the Jaguar F1 team for a dollar from Ford, and in 2010 crowned Vettel the youngest ever F1 Champion, in 2011 set the record for the most pole positions (18) of any team in a single season... in 2005 Red Bull bought the Minardi team and renamed it Scuderia Toro Rosso, and tripled it;s profits in one year

K&N air filter for my Veloster comparison

Tuesday, September 10, 2013

photos from one of the most awesome car events on the planet, Goodwood Festival of Speed


the Miller Aerodynamic Coupe


Renault 40CV Montlhery Coupe


Sunbeam Indianapolis



a London Steam Carriage (illustration is Englishman Richard Trevilthick's steam automobile)  http://patentpending.blogs.com/patent_pending_blog/2005/09/richard_trevilt.html


Photos found on  http://www.gizmag.com/goodwood-2013-round-up/28332/pictures

video found on http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/goodwood-festival-of-speed/10179641/Goodwood-Festival-of-Speed-highlights-of-the-last-day.html

from a really big gallery at http://www.worldcarfans.com/213071560185/2013-goodwood-festival-of-speed-photo-album






for more galleries, and good sized ones by catagory: http://www.gtspirit.com/category/carshows/goodwood-festival-of-speed-2013/


Even a 1932 type 41 Bugatti Royale. So big, the hood ornament was an elephant. 6000 pounds, 190 liters fuel tank, 6.5 m long, 4.3 m wide http://www.gtspirit.com/2013/07/10/bugatti-bringing-the-1932-bugatti-type-41-royale-to-goodwood/

even Turbo the snail was there

FYI San Diego, the Trolley line from Old Town and heading North to Costco / the VA hospital/ UCSD / UTC is finally going through


image from http://www.kpbs.org/news/2013/jun/04/concerns-remain-over-la-jolla-trolley-extension-pr/

up the current railroad tracks along the Interstate 5 and Morena Blvd

Some stops will be near Costco, the La Jolla Village shopping center at Nobel



video from http://www.peyser.com/portfolio/mid-coast-light-rail-san-diego/

great scooter and unique trailer, even for a one wheeler

drag racing E type with a sbc and a 6-71 it looks like, found on Bavarian-tendencies.blogspot.de/

the Jeep / Zamboni connection trivia

from 1949 to 1964 all Zambonis were made on a complete Jeep or its chassis

August 19th issue of Autoweek page 11