Ace-Garageguy

So not Space Hobbits then, obviously. The case gets stronger for Marvin and company.

I agree in principle, but occasionally, if I'm kinda in the middle of nowhere with very little traffic, I'll engage cruise if I'm getting uncomfortable from sitting and need to stretch. I find it's useful for that...but more often I'll just pull over and walk around a little. Otherwise, I can't conceive of it being just so difficult to maintain a steady speed that somebody would need mechanical assistance. Interesting aside...traffic fatalities are up something like 11%, the highest since 2007, in spite of all the latest greatest "safety" measures. And stupid operator behavior and impairment are the primary causes. A logical solution would be much better vehicle-control training (do they even teach parallel parking anymore?) and more stringent licensing requirements, but anything requiring people to accept personal responsibility for their actions is generally political suicide.

You seem to be assuming that self-awareness and machine intelligence are necessarily mutually exclusive. They're not. https://www.me.columbia.edu/news/lipson-self-aware-machines

The most dramatic of them all in my humble experience. Maybe not the fastest through a given turn, but without doubt among the most fun...

Interesting paradox there. Though many may "take for granted" their ability to engage in "intelligent thought", few actually possess it.

I agree with everything you say except the above. As a spare-time student of primary-source AI writings and research for decades (from Turing to Kurzweil, etc.), the work done by the best and brightest has provided fantastic insight into how human intelligence interprets and interacts with reality, and that understanding has been the basis of an increasingly sophisticated AI-development feedback loop that gets us ever closer to building a real thinking, feeling machine. Systems that can learn and infer from available data and stimuli, and self-modify on their own (way beyond what they're programmed to do) are currently running. Unfortunately, a lot of the folks in the field are NOT at the top in ability, and are primarily motivated to produce marketable toys that miss the mark of real intelligence by miles. To put it in model car terms, think of the difference between the trash that companies like Palmer turned out, compared to the masterworks of Gerald Wingrove. As with so many things bleatingly promoted as great saviors of humankind, AI is just not ready for deployment, and a lot more first-rate work needs to be done before it is. But it's coming. Count on it.

Yup. Amazing how many "tuners" don't grasp the fact that the intent is to keep the heavily loaded (outside) tires perpendicular to the pavement in turns to get maximum contact patch for max adhesion.

Hand forging a katana-style sword from ball-bearing steel. Sorry...no BLANG BLANG BLANG music...just applied intelligence. EDIT: Note that this is not the multiple-folded steel forging technique often associated with Japanese sword making, but it is still a beautiful piece of craftsmanship.

Because everything that the old past-it geezer generations came up with is out of date and not PC and just needs to be replaced for the good of society and general equity. Like arithmetic and reading and writing.

Yup. And the ones pictured take standard 7" round sealed beam bulbs, or replacement 7" round halogen, LED, or HID units.

Great build. One of my heroes when I was a kid. Nice to see him remembered.

Yes, some of us who live in engineering reality have been aware of the shortcomings and the inability of current systems to provide the "more than human" level of reliability and function that's constantly touted.

All the above...or toothpicks inserted in small holes drilled on the backsides, or straightened paper clips... In short, use what you've got.

Most of us have had it happen at least once. It's always caused by the material being sprayed being too "hot" for whatever the substrate is. Some paints and primers have solvents that will attack plastic just like glue does...even some paints that are supposedly made for plastic. The case for TESTING on the underside of whatever you're painting can not be overstated.

Another technically important historic race car from what I consider to be the "golden era", the IMC 1/25 kit of Jim Hall's Chaparral 2E. Lightly started by a gloo-smearer who wisely gave up early in the game. Missing a few non-essential parts, but the tough-to-fabricate stuff is all there, in excellent shape, and as it's another candidate for a heavy upgrade, what's missing is no big deal...especially as I got it significantly under the usual going rate. Also got a Flintstone White 3000 cabover cab. Love these things. Pity it's listed as 1/25, cause it ain't. Flintstone absolutely positively pulled his mold from the beautiful 1/24 Danbury mint version, which I have already compared, so I won't feel bad at all pulling a few copies from this one for my own use.

Came home early to get packages shown as "delivered" on the USPS tracking thingy, as the prevalence of porch pirates is on the rise as my neighborhood continues to ghetto-ize (local thieves took a big 'ol stainless propane-burning outdoor heater not long ago). Packages not there. Nothing. Nada. Hmmmmmmm....says I to myself. Looked next door, all the packages hammered into their bigger mailbox....even though MY box has CLEAR BLACK NUMBERS on BOTH SIDES. Most be the same moron back on the route who dropped one on the ground at the street BY my box and drove off as I watched...and about whom I complained in person. Guess where I'll be going on the way to the shop tomorrow...though it looks like I'll need to have everything shipped directly to the shop in the future.

But you'd probably contract terminal narcissistic stupidity from that transplant.

Looks like it might very well be a backyard copy of a Howe or similar chassis, but to anyone who builds stuff like this, there are glaring differences and things done questionably.

Quite possibly because it was built long before the term SUV was invented. If you search International station wagon, there she be.

Fer that kinda dough, I'd prefer this one...the W 196 streamliner:

It's clearly based on an OEM front frame section, but due to the apparent randomness of some of the tube placements (look at the driver's side anti-intrusion bay), and the lack of lateral symmetry of primary load paths and triangulation, my best guess is that it's an independent shop-built piece as opposed to a professionally designed and fabbed unit. I could be wrong.

Great looking build. This is another kit I didn't know existed that I'm going to have to have.

You just reminded me of the one advantage of living in a working-class neighborhood that's transitioning into a ghetto. If my abode was within the jurisdiction of an HOA, I'd have been burned at the stake or lynched by now.

Very nice indeed. One of my favorites from the golden age of motorsports. Cars were brutally fast, beautiful, and relatively simple.