Today in "People Are Dumb"...

From the Associated Press:

Federal auto safety regulators are warning people not to stick decals on their steering wheels because they can be hurled at drivers if the air bags inflate in a crash.

The warning from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration comes after another driver was severely hurt by a flying emblem during a crash. The air bag inflated and sent two pieces of metal from an aftermarket decal into the driver’s face and neck.

The agency said it couldn’t say where or when the injury occurred. But it said the injury was the second it is aware of involving an aftermarket decal. In the previous case the driver lost sight in one eye after being hit by a rhinestone-adorned decal that hit them in the face, NHTSA said in a statement Tuesday.

Apparently bling-encrusted vehicle logo stickers are a thing that people stick in the center of their steering wheel hub, right over the airbag cover. You know, the airbag that deploys via an explosive charge. Essentially this means you can buy fragmentation sleeves for your safety grenade from Amazon!

From Reddit, where someone hot-glued a homemade claymore.

Imagine if someone did this in a car that had un-replaced Takata airbags!

"Yo, dawg, I heard you like fragments so I put some fragments on your fragments..."

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Meme Dump...

Automotif DI...

Here's a style of car that died out a while ago, largely replaced by small vans. The "sedan delivery" style was a two-door wagon with no side windows into the cargo area. They were more maneuverable on crowded city streets than truck-based delivery vans, and generally cheaper and more fuel efficient.

This one's a '55 Chevy that's obviously been hot-rodded.

Those expanses of sheet metal enclosing the cargo area made a handy place to paint the company name, in this case "Paul's Garage & Speed Shop" which, alas, does not appear to have a web presence under that name that I can find.

U.S. Aerospace Industry: A Crown Jewel Sullied

The state of our aerospace industry is worrisome.

"In recent years, however, the dangers of resting on our collective laurels and ambling ahead with no real vision have become apparent. Boeing’s ongoing 737 MAX debacle and the chronic manufacturing issues with its 787 Dreamliner show just how far the once-proud commercial aviation giant has fallen—and transformed one of America’s leading aerospace companies into what one journalist took as the exemplar for the current “Dark Age of American Manufacturing.”

The industry’s problems aren’t confined to Boeing and its commercial aviation business, either. Lockheed’s challenges with the F-35 stealth fighter are well-known and ongoing, with software problems delaying the delivery of new jets to the U.S. Air Force as well as NATO allies like Denmark and Belgium. Nor has the company announced plans to expand production to meet increased demand, even after the war in Ukraine revealed production capacity shortfalls across the entire American defense industry and as orders for the older F-16 fighter remain backlogged.

In space, the United States has quickly become far too reliant on just one firm—SpaceX—for its launch and space exploration needs; problems with SpaceX’s Starship spacecraft have already delayed NASA’s plans to return astronauts to the surface of the Moon with its Artemis III mission. Worse, NASA’s own famed Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the brains behind many of the agency’s robotic exploration programs, faces “broader institutional issues” that have delayed missions and forced them over budget. The cost of NASA’s ambitious Mars Sample Return mission has also skyrocketed, leading to significant changes to the planned mission."

Go and RTWT.

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Gratuitous Gun Pr0n #254...

The Rost Martin RM1C and Swampfox Justice MRDS is a lot of capability for not a lot of dough. Look for a full review of the pistol in the July '24 issue of Shooting Illustrated.

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Automotif D...

When John DeLorean at Pontiac stuffed the big 389 cubic inch V-8 from the full-size Bonneville and Grand Prix into the midsized Tempest LeMans to create the 1964 GTO, it kicked off the whole muscle car fad in Detroit.

Over at Mopar, big blocks went into sportily-styled midsize B-body variants to create cars like the 1966 Dodge Charger and the 1967 Plymouth GTX, but these were not inexpensive rides.

Plymouth came up with the idea for a budget-priced factory hot rod in the form of the 1968 Road Runner model, which came with a split-bench front seat, rubber floormats, plain steel wheels, and a cool "Beep! Beep!" horn, and Dodge wanted some of that action, so they launched the Super Bee in the same model year.

Since Dodge was more upmarket than Plymouth, you got a Hurst shifter with your four-on-the-floor gearbox and the Super Bee logos on the nose and tail were 3D metal badges and not just decals, but otherwise it was the same bare-knuckles street brawler, available with either a 335-horsepower version of the 383 Magnum V-8, or a 425bhp 426 Street Hemi.

For 1969, a third powertrain option was added, and that's the one in the pictured car; a '69 Super Bee in Hemi Orange. 

It was a version of the 440 cubic inch big block V-8 with three two-barrel carburetors and a host of go-fast bits. Dubbed the "440 Six Pack", it was hilariously underrated at a claimed 390 SAE gross horsepower and featured a fiberglass hood with a massive functional cold air intake and a hood pin at each corner. There were no hinges; if you wanted to check the oil at the local Sunoco station, you'd better have brought a buddy to help lift the thing clear.

Solar Storm Disables... Tractors?!?

What happens when your farm machinery is GPS-guided and there's a solar storm? Weird stuff, apparently.

"The solar storm that brought the aurora borealis to large parts of the United States this weekend also broke critical GPS and precision farming functionality in tractors and agricultural equipment during a critical point of the planting season, 404 Media has learned. These outages caused many farmers to fully stop their planting operations for the moment.

One chain of John Deere dealerships warned farmers that the accuracy of some of the systems used by tractors are “extremely compromised,” and that farmers who planted crops during periods of inaccuracy are going to face problems when they go to harvest, according to text messages obtained by 404 Media and an update posted by the dealership. The outages highlight how vulnerable modern tractors are to satellite disruptions, which experts have been warning about for years.

“All the tractors are sitting at the ends of the field right now shut down because of the solar storm,” Kevin Kenney, a farmer in Nebraska, told me. “No GPS. We’re right in the middle of corn planting. I’ll bet the commodity markets spike Monday.”"

Big solar flares do more than give you cool aurora photos to post on social media.

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Meme Dump...

Hey, look!

Speedloaders are the most popular and have been for decades now. It’s important, however, to distinguish between competition- and carry-oriented loaders. HKS speedloaders, for instance, are sometimes derided for not being very speedy, but they hold on to cartridges like grim death. I once had a five-shot .44 Spl. HKS loader—the Model 44CA, intended for the Charter Arms Bulldog—roll around forgotten and neglected in the bottom of a purse for years before I fished it out, all five rounds still firmly clamped. Sure, with the HKS you need to insert the rounds and then twist a knob to release them into the cylinder, while the fastest compe-tition speedloaders literally launch the cartridges when inserted, but they can also launch the cartridges in the pouch, pocket or purse where the speedloader is carried. Save the gamer carriers for the games, where they excel.

Remember, it’s fairly unlikely that you’ll have to reload your wheelgun in a defensive scenario, but if you do, the most important thing is that the cartridges be there in your carrier. Otherwise, you’re that guy with the loose rounds in your pocket. Don’t be that guy.

A Model 19-5 with two types of speedloaders: the classic HKS 10A and an all-rubber MaxFire.

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Automotif CDXCIX...

Here's a 1966 Ford Mustang GT convertible in the wonderfully-named Nightmist Blue color.

For '66, you could get your then-new GT convertible model with either the regular 225 horsepower 289cid 4-barrel motor, or the "K-code" HiPo 271-horse version of the 289. The former was available with either a 3- or 4-speed manual or a 3-speed Cruise-O-Matic slushbox, while the HiPo motor only came with the four on the floor.

The Great Train Robbery

Here's a fascinating in-depth look at the plague of heists of commercial goods off of freight trains:

"According to detectives, Llamas divulged how he learned to decode the containers stacked on freight trains through his repeated break-ins and by Googling the placards, locking devices, logos and numbers on the containers, which often provided clues to the loot he might find inside. An upgraded lock was a sure sign of more valuable contents. Inside the containers — most of them were secured with metal locks about the size and shape of a corkscrew that easily succumbed to his bolt cutters or mechanized handsaw — the items were varied and plentiful: TVs, beer, clothing, makeup, shoes, electric bicycles, hard drives, tablets.

Llamas worked with Connie Arizmendi, his girlfriend at the time. After becoming aware of them, the detectives put a tracking device on the couple’s S.U.V. and followed them around Southern California. The couple would set up in a motel near the tracks somewhere out in the Inland Empire or farther south; they ranged as far as Barstow, more than 100 miles to the east. After nightfall, they would hit the trains and then often shuttle cargo back to their motel rooms for storage."

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Automotif CDXCVIII...

This C8 Corvette is wearing the official 2024 Indy 500 Pace Car livery, but I don't know if it's actually an E-Ray 3LZ hybrid 'Vette. If so, it's ungodly quick. All-wheel drive and 0-60 in 2.5 seconds.

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Tab Clearing...

• The easiest way to be a rich and famous author is to be a rich and famous person who gets offered a book deal.


• "Fully Self Driving" has been a scam. Perhaps in the legal sense, even.


• Stop pointing guns at people you shouldn't be pointing guns at.

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Heavy Metal Range Trip

At the range yesterday morning with the Daniel H9 Compact reboot of the Hudson, as well as a Walther PDP Compact Steel Frame, both of which will be in reviews in upcoming issues of Shooting Illustrated.

There was a time, not all that long ago, where metal-framed guns were largely a dead letter, because the difference in manufacturing costs were so great that there just was no point in even trying to compete on price.

With the advances in CNC manufacturing over the last decades, costs have come down enough that some metal-framed pistols, like the alloy-framed Smith & Wesson M&P variants, are barely more expensive than their polymer-framed kin.

There's also this idea that a metal gun, being heavier, will shoot much flatter and faster, although the difference is usually minimal for the vast majority of shooters (and raw split times are among the most meaningless measurements in shooting.) Still, though, think of how many jillions of dollars people have spend on esoterica like tungsten guide rods in the hope of adding another ounce or two out toward the muzzle.

I, personally, just dig the fact that there are more choices out there.

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Automotif CDXCVII...

These GMC motorhomes, made from the '73 to '78 model years, are notable for two things.

For one, they were made in-house at GMC, whereas most motorhomes and RVs are made by coachbuilders who buy bare chassis from a truck manufacturer and ad their own body.

The other is that they're front-wheel drive, using the basic driveline from the GM E-body Toronado. There's a longitudinal V-8 up front, either a 455 or 403 Olds Rocket, sitting atop a transmission driven by a roller chain off the crank, with half-shafts transmitting power to the front wheels.

It's so very cool and aero-looking. Those lines have aged well.

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Scam Spam

The latest form of scam emails to clog my spam folder are ones that purport to be from various services claiming that a payment was declined and my account will be suspended or deleted or terminated or some other ominous-sounding word.

This is most amusing when it's coming from someone claiming to be from Sirius XM or some other place where I don't actually have an account.

I can see a less net-savvy person falling for one of these, as some look very official. I avoid even looking at these on a touchscreen device.

One giveaway is the return email address...

Horking Cat

I was awakened this morning, about an hour before the alarm clock was due to go off, by the plaintive cries that Huck makes just before he horks something up.

He was in some unknown location in the house, and it took me a second to pinpoint where.

Understand that every square inch of floor in Roseholme Cottage is hardwood, tile, or linoleum... except for a smallish, maybe six foot by four foot, oriental-type rug on the floor next to Bobbi's bed.

I went stumbling in that direction, half-asleep still, muttering "No, Huck! No! Not on the rug!"

He must have heard me galumphing his way, because he skedaddled down the hall to the office and proceeded to hork out a blob of hairball and other ick nearly the size of a golf ball.

It's really hard to get back into dreamland after that, and I'd been having a neato one about living on a cool space yacht like the Millennium Falcon.

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Meme Dump...

The Titanic kills an average of 13.4 people per year.

People in My Neighborhood

Some shots of the crew at Fat Dan's Chicago-Style Deli at 54th & College, using the Fujifilm X-E1 and the lovely little Zeiss Touit 32mm f/1.8 lens.

Being a roughly 50mm equivalent focal length, it's about as short of a lens as I'll ever use for portraiture, and its fast maximum aperture is good for making the subject stand out against a softly-blurred background. At the same time, f/1.8 and an APS-C size sensor is less likely to wind you up in those "Oops, I only had enough depth of field to get one eye in focus" situations than, say, f/1.4 on a full-frame.

Bug

So the germ that had me feeling a little ookie for a couple days last week has pretty much knocked Bobbi flat.

She's definitely improved over yesterday, but I imagine it's going to be tomorrow before she's feeling up to going anywhere.

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Automotif CDXCVI...

In the '70s, Alfa Romeo started selling a fastback coupe version of its compact Alfetta sedan as the Alfetta GT. Its Giugiaro-penned lines were very swoopy, very disco.

For the '78 model year the North American version was renamed the Sprint Veloce. This China White 1979 Sprint Veloce would have had a 2.0L DOHC inline four up front driving the rear wheels through a 5-speed rear mounted transaxle. The EPA-compliant version was down a bit more than a dozen ponies from the Euro mill, being rated at 111 SAE net horsepower.

Between the rear-mounted transaxle, DeDion tube rear suspension, and inboard rear brakes, these Alfas had plenty of exotica to make sporty car fans of the era salivate.

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Red Gold

Apparently one of the things that has kept gold's price at record highs the last couple years is consumer demand in one of the largest economies on the planet:

"Often considered a safe investment during times of geopolitical and economic turmoil, gold has soared in price in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the war in Gaza. But gold’s climb to highs above $2,400 per ounce has proved more resilient, and lasted longer, because of China.

Chinese consumers have flocked to gold as their confidence in traditional investments like real estate or stocks has faltered. At the same time, the country’s central bank has steadily added to its gold reserves, while whittling away at its holdings of U.S. debt. And throwing fuel on the fire are Chinese speculators betting that there is still room for appreciation."

It's a paywall-vaulting gift link if you want to read it.

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Automotif CDXCV...

Of all the days to leave a camera at home while running an errand to Indy Arms Co., I had to pick one where this '71-'72 Mustang convertible was parked out in front of the local car stereo installer.

Fortunately the longer lens on the iPhone 13 Pro Max is a ~77mm focal length equivalent and will take a pretty undistorted pic if you have room to back up, unlike the regular ~28mm camera, which always gives funhouse proportions.

'71-'72 was the beginning of the end for the original Muscle Car-era Mustangs. Mustangs are, properly, pony cars, not muscle cars, but that's another post.

The body was widened to accommodate the Lima-series 429 big block V-8s, after squeezing the Lima-derived Boss 429 hemi motor into the eponymous '69-'70 Boss 429 cars required engine bay surgery at Kar Kraft of Dearborn to shoehorn the motors in.

For '71 you could get your Mustang with anything from a 145bhp (SAE gross) Thriftpower 250 cid I-6 to a snarling 375hp 429 Super Cobra Jet big block.

In just three years, the Mustang would be a Pinto.

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The Zombie Internet

There's a great article up at 404 Media about the tidal wave of bot-generated AI glurge that's swamping social media:

All of this, taken together, is why I think we should not view Facebook’s AI spam through the lens of the “Dead Internet.” The platform has become something worse than bots talking to bots. It is bots talking to bots, bots talking to bots at the direction of humans, humans talking to humans, humans talking to bots, humans arguing about a fake thing made by a bot, humans talking to no one without knowing it, hijacked human accounts turned into bots, humans worried that the other humans they’re talking to are bots, hybrid human/bot accounts, the end of a shared reality, and, at the center of all of this: One of the most valuable companies on the planet enabling this shitshow because its human executives and shareholders have too much money riding on the mass adoption of a reality-breaking technology to do anything about it.

You should click through and read the whole thing.

Negligent Discharge

So one of the NYPD cops, an ESU* officer at that, cranked off a round in the Columbia building that was temporarily occupied by student protestors. He was using the weapon-mounted light to find a way to navigate barriers in the dark. Fortunately the bullet didn't hit anyone.

There was absolutely no reason to have an unholstered firearm in the middle of that Punch & Judy Show. That was a job for a handheld light, not the SureFire U-Boat screwed to your Glock. 

People act like just having a light on a pistol turns it into some sort of dual-purpose tool and next thing you know they're using it to direct traffic or look for stuff they dropped under their squad car in the dark. I swear to gawd, it's only a matter of time before we hear about some Officer Fife using it to check for horizontal gaze nystagmus.

*NYPD Emergency Services Unit contains their equivalent of SWAT, but not all ESU officers are SWAT dudes.

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When Concealed Isn't...

This dude doesn't care too much.

Like the folks in these photos, sometimes people just aren't really trying to conceal their firearm, and if there's no legal requirement to do so, fine. That's up to the toter.

But what if you are and you think it's been spotted anyway? Note here that we're talking about a situation where there's no legal reason you can't be carrying and therefore no legal repercussions to being discovered, but you'd still prefer to be discreet. If you think you've been "made", what's a good response? Greg Ellifritz has some ideas.

This dude only sorta cares.

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Automotif CDXCIV...

The fourth generation of Ford's F-series pickup trucks were produced from the 1960 through the 1966 model years. The 1965 models, like the faded Light Turquoise F100 in the photo above, saw an entirely new frame slid under the existing body design, featuring a "Twin I-Beam" swing-axle front suspension in place of the previous solid axle. This basic chassis would remain in use through the '79 model year.

For '65, the F100 could be had with two flavors of inline six: a 150hp (SAE Gross) 240 cubic inch inline six, or a longer stroke 300cid version of the same motor rated at 170 horsepower. The V-8 badge on the hood indicates this one has the 208hp 352-cube "FE"-series big block V-8, which was the most powerful engine that had been offered in an F-series truck up to that time.

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