Ace-Garageguy

You believe everything Consumer Reports says? They have their fair share of "expert" idiots. What systems were reported on, specifically? How was "reliability" data compiled? What is the frequency of failures compared to all the other makes available here? Incomplete information is as useful as NO information, and can be much more damaging when everyone who reads a negative article written by a fool becomes an instant authority.

The real problem isn't that a foreign-owned Chrysler may not be building cars in the US. The real disgrace is that American "business" has elected to sell-off American institutions like Chrysler and Continental (aircraft engines) in a fast-buck, no-effort strategy to de-industrialize the US and turn us into a third-world country dependent on others for what WE need. Ford building a billion-dollar plus plant in Mexico is just another cut-the-balls-off-of-America move by bean counters. I wonder what Henry would think of that idea. He was the guy, by the way, who was ridiculed by the financial and business "experts" of the time when he instituted the $5 work day for most of his production employees. Everyone called him crazy, yet that one move had a lasting effect on creating a comfortable middle class in this country. Rather than trying to squeeze every last nickel out of every worker (as in...getting Mexicans who work a lot cheaper in Mexico to build the damm cars), he thought it might be nice if the people who worked building the cars could aspire to actually BUY one of what they made. What a concept.

Jeez. Everybody loves to bash poor old Fiat. First off, there was nothing inherently WRONG with the old Fiats. They kept Europe moving just fine for decades, thank you. The PROBLEM is that, being tiny little somewhat overstressed things, they DID require more routine maintenance than Americans used to big ol' slow revving V8 and L6 engines that would go for 100,000 miles on one oil change would pony up for. The upkeep got ignored over here, the cars failed. Easy correlation, eh? (I've owned many Fiats over the years. All ran fine and always got me there if I took reasonable care of them). Fiat's bad rap over here (really unfairly earned and due to poor maintenance, plain and simple) is probably still dogging them and trashing sales, as so many people just love to keep dumping on them. Fiats of many styles were SCCA national class champions for years, with significant strings of wins from the 1950s through the late 1970s. "Bad cars" don't win that many races. Period. http://www.velocetoday.com/the-racing-fiats-tiremarks-on-america-piii/

YEAH !! There you go man. That one's kinda hard to be prepared and ready for.

Nothing said was at your "expense". YOU were not ridiculed. Tamiya recommends swirling only because it's a more reliable way to get the mixing ball to go round and round and get the settled pigment off of the bottom than entirely random shaking. Think about how the ball travels using each method, it's pretty obvious. I've been using spray cans in every conceivable environment on the planet (except arctic and undersea) and like other guys here, for more than 50 years. I've NEVER seen this happen.

Well, technically not entirely true. IF the barometric pressure were to drop far enough (or to be pedantically accurate, the pressure of the atmosphere the can was in, like if the can were placed in a sealed container that had the air pumped out of it, approaching a vacuum), the end of the can very likely WOULD bulge, just as the first photo shown by the OP. HOWEVER, barometric pressure on Earth, anywhere there's a breathable atmosphere...it just ain't gonna go that low.. One EXTREMELY UNLIKELY (and non facetious) but possible way for this to happen is if the end of the can was somehow fabricated from significantly thinner steel stock than is normal. Extremely unlikely that an under-spec sheet of steel could have crept into the material pile, but maybe remotely possible...depending on their supplier routines, inventory procedures, etc. Like I said, really unlikely, especially when one figures these cans are fabricated by fairly intelligent machines...not easily distracted, texting humans.

Blame: 1) The distracted or incompetent a..hole who ran the light. 2) Yourself for not paying sufficient attention to avoid the collision (not always possible, but it usually IS). 3) Knee-jerk safety legislation that encourages deployment of systems that aren't properly developed, long-term tested, or subject to rigorous enough quality control 4) Engineering and verification procedures that don't include sufficient long term-testing in real-world conditions and / or quality control. And yeah, people are going to scream that long-term real-world-condition testing and verification are too expensive. So...how expensive is it going to be to replace millions of airbags and settle the suits resulting from the inevitable tragic failures?

For several years we had a joint a block off the town square called The Square Bagel. It was pretty close to an eat-in Noo Yawk deli. Really good food. Not great, but pretty damm good. Now gone. I have no idea why. We have a diner that's also pretty damm good, owned /run by real Greeks. No Greek food on the actual menu, but if you ask, you shall receive. We also had a very good kinda upscale Greek restaurant on the square. Now also gone, but they still cater from another location and have a tent at the weekend farmer's market. The interesting places that are definitely a cut above don't survive here. White-bread mediocrity lasts and lasts.

Yup. Day be debils in de spray cans. OR...you have previously unsuspected psychokinetic powers. Your mind is inadvertently pulsing energy into the mixing ball in the cans, much more energy than is normally imparted through shaking, causing them to make the outie-dents we're seeing in the photo. At one point, the Id-monster in the 1956 film Forbidden Planet portrays something disturbingly similar to this phenomenon. Of course, when it's used for good, as channeled by the Yoda character in Star Wars, it's a whole nother kettle of fish. ...

...and sometime in the AM, lox-cream cheese-red onion-tomato-capers on a warm bagel. Hot strong black coffee. Fresh squoze OJ. I think I'll fly to NYC for breakfast.

There are already a bunch of 'em. Google is your friend. Just Google "3D printing forum". Over a million hits.

In a "perfect" world, drivers would all be competent and un-distracted. Airbags would be completely unnecessary. There are NO "accidents". There is only failure of humans to adequately control vehicles. But choo know what'll NEVER happen? A nationwide campaign to make better drivers who realize they're operating in a potentially fatal environment and behave appropriately, that's what. No, make the cars "crash-proof". And eventually eliminate the human operator entirely. Great idea. Really. Yeah, right. Same philosophy as getting everyone convinced they have to take dozens of pills to be healthy, rather than getting some freaking exercise and not getting fat.

Speaking of pastrami...I just noticed a new deli only about a block away. Wonder if they can do a hot pastrami on real rye (not the flavor-free soft mass that passes for rye bread from most grocers here). Or a righteous reuben. Or a braunschweiger and red onion. Or just a plain ol' corned beef and swiss. Gonna hafta find out.

Yeah, pickled eggs and pigs feet here, too. And chitlins. Hard to believe that there weren't rampant epidemics of plague and all manner of flesh-eating diseases when things were so terribly unsanitary. OMG OMG !!! HOW did people SURVIVE ??? OMG !!! Oh wait...that was in the dim dark ages when people thought vaccinations were a good thing, everybody knew the Earth was a sphere, it was pretty spectacular to think that humans had actually walked on the Moon, and kids could write their names and make change. Now the illiterate checkout person at the Wallyworld is washing her hands after every transaction with "antibacterial" lotion, completely oblivious to the fact that she's contributing to the growing menace of known-antibiotic-resistant bacteria that are on the rise.

Glad somebody got it.

Still really kinda amazes me that several "scale model" engines, all models of the same engine and all in the same "scale", can be different sizes. I guess the definition of "scale" as I know it isn't held to be a hard and fast rule for the "professionals" who make these things. Just in case there's any confusion about this quandary of mine...to make a "scale" model, all you do is measure the real one and divide by the scale you want your model to be. Therefore, if you know how to use a measuring tape (duh) and can divide and get the same answer every time (better check the batteries in the calculator or smart-phone, 'cause God knows it's impossible to divide with a pencil and paper anymore) EVERY "scale" engine should be just about identical. But somehow, they're not. Measuring and dividing must be a LOT harder than they seem. Must be Chinese time zones new math production constraints artistic interpretation language barriers etc.

With a tiny tiny tiny flash remover.

Heaven. They used to have a place here that made those. Alas, too Yanqui for the unwashed masses.

You could always try painting inside an iron lung.

Wow...you know...like...maybe it's...like...not too high pressure in...like, the cans, but like...the air pressure is...like...really low where you live...

Not one of my personal; favorites, but it still has adherents in the Australian outback...

Oh yes..."Dagmars"...

Hmmmmm.... That view looks to me like it would put you pretty much AT sea level. And I think you need to get in touch with these guys...

Generally, real "zoomies" are defined as what you said above: "separate pipe (one per cylinder) headers that are up swept". Just like most car terms, they're subject to stretching and re-defining by late-comers...kinda like "lakes pipes"