Random thoughts thread

I've been watching the Clone Wars TV show while I've been working out in the morning.  I'm on season 5 right now.  After this morning's episode, I am far more accepting of the Rise Of Skywalker "somehow Palpatine returned" plot twist, since this episode had Palpatine (the freaking leader of the Republic) leave Coruscant, travel to a war torn neutral planet widely known for political intrigue during the Clone Wars, fight two Sith, kill one of them, and no one noticed...

Korben Dallas is who Malcolm Reynolds would be if humanity stayed on Earth.

And Leeloo is River if they hadn't cut up her brain and made her wicky in the wacky woo.

Coke is better than Pepsi, but Cherry Pepsi is better than Cherry Coke.

I was told today that the Kentucky Derby is really just The Amish version of the Daytona 500

I have 4 cars. It occurred to me for the first time today that one is naturally aspirated, one is turbocharged, one is supercharged, and one is both turbocharged AND supercharged.

In reply to dean1484 :

Right down to the silly hats instead of shiny helmets. 

3.1415926535

314159 - 265 = 313894

314159 - 653 = 313506

Just for future reference.

Duke said:

I have 4 cars. It occurred to me for the first time today that one is naturally aspirated, one is turbocharged, one is supercharged, and one is both turbocharged AND supercharged.

 

It occurred to me recently that all of my road vehicles including my motorcycle are turbocharged but none of my race cars are.  

APEowner said:

Duke said:

I have 4 cars. It occurred to me for the first time today that one is naturally aspirated, one is turbocharged, one is supercharged, and one is both turbocharged AND supercharged.

 

It occurred to me recently that all of my road vehicles including my motorcycle are turbocharged but none of my race cars are.  

As it should be, IMO.  Audi felt the same way for a while - turbos for regular cars (adds efficiency don't you know), well sorted naturally aspirated engines for the S cars.

I'm curious about the motorcycle.  The turbo bike era always fascinated me, ever since I was in junior high and read a book in the school library about four kids in an After The End southwestern US who managed to get turbocharged dirt bikes, then I did a little research and discovered that turbo bikes were an actual thing.

I'm seeing an awful lot of low mileage rebuilt title cars and vans for sale lately, and some of tha ads stating minor damage.

Is it possible that a lot of stuff that wasn't that bad was written off during Covid due to parts availability, and now that parts are available, they're being rebuilt?

In reply to Pete. (l33t FS) :

Man. I can't remember the name of it, but I definitely remember reading that series. Well the handful of books I could find from it. I had to rely on WOW outlets for them. A weird, factory seconds store in town. Library couldn't find them and didn't really have a big book store at the time. 

Now I am going to hunt for it, just like I hunted for Redline 7000 and got an entirely different book with the same name and premise.  All I remember from the dirtbike kids book is the grizzled old guy was making jerky from some jackrabbits, and some guys who were looking for something/somebody punched him in the stomach so hard he puked.

Random thought.  Remember when DOHC was a special acronym?  Even if the engine still had only two valves per cylinder like a Ferrari or a Toyota, just the fact of two camshafts per head made for a legendary engine.

In reply to Pete. (l33t FS) :

Turbo Cowboys. I'm like 90% sure. Called fuel gojuice. 

Good reads link

In reply to RevRico :

Sweeeeet!  Now to see if I can find copies anywhere.

If you like the genre, I really recommend "HardWired" by Walter Jon Williams.  I recommend it anyway, it is probably my favorite sci-fi book.  It is kind of Neuromancer meets Damnation Alley, people live and drive "on the face" (USB like jacks in their heads) and the setting is a crumbling, balkanized world controlled by megacorps situated in orbit, the main characters are a high tech smuggler delivering cargo from the west coast to the east coast with alcohol fueled turbine powered hover tanks, battling revenuers in the middle of the country who are armed with attack helicopters and other such machinery, and he has an assigned bodyguard eerily reminiscent of Molly Millions.... and then it gets REAL interesting. 

It's a real good read, along with his other books like Voice of the Whirlwind.

Edit: and now that I think of it, its Western kind of flair makes me realize that it had a lot of similarities to Firefly.

Being written in 1983, it also has a lot of quaint anachronisms, like how the setting would be really different if cell phones existed...

A recent Kyle Hill video made me think again that the 43 year old car that I spent most of the day in was built in a city that, 35 years earlier, had been flattened and seared by the world's first applied nuclear weapon.  It's a combination of sobering and hopeful.

I wonder how much vehicle emissions is from people just sitting in their car futzing with their phone while parked.

I have neighbors who will get home and sit for 15 minutes. Perhaps looking at something they don't want their housemates to see?

j_tso said:

I wonder how much vehicle emissions is from people just sitting in their car futzing with their phone while parked.

I have neighbors who will get home and sit for 15 minutes. Perhaps looking at something they don't want their housemates to see?

Or decompressing - it can help you leave work at work. Or just give you some quiet alone time.

Or they don't want to be with their housemates. 

Remember when the brand on the box gave you a certain level of confidence in the quality of the part inside?

I miss that.

Saw a 400Z in person for the first time.  Looks better than pictures, and it's easier to tell they were mining the 240Z for inspiration.  Which leads me to an idea.  Other than reducing the size of the grill (which I suspect they may need it big based on the various coolers I saw behind it), a couple of small bumperettes on either side of the grill, even just made of black urethane would break up some of the verticalness, and make it look better.

I'm beginning to understand Joe Bonamassa as FB seems to think I want to see his timeline.  His recordings and concerts are ways to earn money to sink into the dream equipment he's always wanted.  His fans want to see that equipment played and recorded and the cycle grows.  Pretty sweet gig for him and those along for the ride.

As one member of the magazine team locks a thread, another opens a new one, which gets locked, as another new one is opened by another member of the magazine team.

What it brings to mind is rather funny

I wonder what Recon1342 is up to?

Well, it's happened. Me and my rowdy friends have done rowdied on down.

In reply to Crxpilot :

For some reason I'm in that group too.

So what happens if you spray a Miskito with bug repellent spray?  
 

Testing will commence shortly.