Today I Learned (TIL)

Yesterday I learned there's a company in New Zealand making supercharged rotary powered mini bikes. For under 1000 kiwis or whatever their money is called. 

In reply to RevRico :

That's thread-worthy. Just saying.

Talked to a guy recently who just kinda gave me the cold shoulder. Our families were together talking and everyone else was fine but I just got this vibe from him which was reinforced when we ran into each other later. We had talked briefly about our sporty cars which is usually a good point of connection, he even goes to the track. It’s kinda bugged me, and also, some people are just like that. Was almost a rant of the day a while back.

Today I happened to find out that in addition to the cars we talked about, he also has a much higher end sports car. So now his cold shoulder feels like snobbery, which I can more easily lay 100% at his feet.

I still think I’m gonna try to give him the benefit of the doubt next time we talk, which is very generous of me.

In reply to P3PPY :

I had a Lime Rock shirt on during my first consult with a surgeon.  He noticed the shirt and told me that he had just gone to Skip Barber racing school and wanted to start doing track days.  
 

I started telling him about my Miata, and went on and on about how they make great track cars...very forgiving, cheap consumables and modest power to keep you getting in over your head while you learn. 
 

He let me talk for a while, and then he told me he just bought a Ferrari Challenge car. 

TIL the person that makes and fixes clocks and watches is called a Horologist.

In reply to 914Driver :

In reply to Woody (Forum Supportum) :

I’d probably fell better going to a surgeon that made Ferrari money than Miata money. My dentist is into speedboats and does a much better job than the cheapo guy I used before I had insurance. 

I actually learned it a few days ago and it spiraled into a great/terrible idea. Pumpkins float and are reasonably priced directly from the farm. It led to investing in a large bin of 58 pumpkins that will be floating around in the pool for the Halloween party at my girlfriend’s Y where kids can go bobbing for pumpkins. 

Wally (Forum Supporter) said:

In reply to Woody (Forum Supportum) :

I’d probably fell better going to a surgeon that made Ferrari money than Miata money. My dentist is into speedboats and does a much better job than the cheapo guy I used before I had insurance. 

I used to work on a 45' sailboat that was owned by a dentist. Apparently, he was good enough at dentistry that he started importing sailboats from Korea and selling them to his other dentist buddies.

Stay in school, kids.

Wally (Forum Supporter) said:

I actually learned it a few days ago and it spiraled into a great/terrible idea. Pumpkins float and are reasonably priced directly from the farm. It led to investing in a large bin of 58 pumpkins that will be floating around in the pool for the Halloween party at my girlfriend’s Y where kids can go bobbing for pumpkins. 

Those kids must have enormous mouths.

Wally (Forum Supporter) said:

I actually learned it a few days ago and it spiraled into a great/terrible idea. Pumpkins float and are reasonably priced directly from the farm. It led to investing in a large bin of 58 pumpkins that will be floating around in the pool for the Halloween party at my girlfriend’s Y where kids can go bobbing for pumpkins. 

Bobbing in a stream, they are EXCELLENT for shooting at with an AK. 10/10 recommend as part of your bachelor party. 

P3PPY said:

Wally (Forum Supporter) said:

I actually learned it a few days ago and it spiraled into a great/terrible idea. Pumpkins float and are reasonably priced directly from the farm. It led to investing in a large bin of 58 pumpkins that will be floating around in the pool for the Halloween party at my girlfriend’s Y where kids can go bobbing for pumpkins. 

Bobbing in a stream, they are EXCELLENT for shooting at with an AK. 10/10 recommend as part of your bachelor party. 

You can also do the Native American method of duck hunting with pumpkins. They would reportedly float a bunch of pumpkins on ponds so that ducks would get used to the pumpkins being there, then they would hollow a pumpkin out and cut eyeholes in it and put it over their head, swim out into the pumpkin-filled pond with the ducks, and then snag a duck and wring it's neck. Adam Savage said he always really wanted to test that one on Mythbusters.

TIL that on a 2021 Chevy 2500HD, the odometer stops counting at 999,998.

In reply to NickD :

250k miles a year? 11.4 hours a day 365 days a year. I'm assuming that's some kind of diag mode.

In reply to CAinCA :

Nope. The truck has over a million miles on it, he has a technical case with GM because the odometer doesn't read any higher, and he has all the service paperwork to prove it. He lives in Florida and transports horses all over the state. 

999,999 is actually reserved for a diag or failure mode, so 999,998 is the highest it reads for actual mileage.

P3PPY said:

Bobbing in a stream, they are EXCELLENT for shooting at with an AK. 10/10 recommend as part of your bachelor party. 

AKs and an open bar, what could go wrong? 

TIL the gas tank of a Honda CR-V Hybrid is only 14 gallons.  Drove to CT 190 miles away with a full tank, coming home the dashboard said I could go 227 miles.  Perfect.

Getting off the hiway to drive the 5 miles home, the gas warning light comes on.  Rut-Roh.  I drove 4 miles to a gas station staring at the orange everything the whole time!  Filled it up, only took 10.8 gallons.  Huh?  Squeezed the trigger again, nope, she's full.  So, I presume that when the light comes on you have 3 gallons left.

NickD said:

P3PPY said:

Wally (Forum Supporter) said:

I actually learned it a few days ago and it spiraled into a great/terrible idea. Pumpkins float and are reasonably priced directly from the farm. It led to investing in a large bin of 58 pumpkins that will be floating around in the pool for the Halloween party at my girlfriend’s Y where kids can go bobbing for pumpkins. 

Bobbing in a stream, they are EXCELLENT for shooting at with an AK. 10/10 recommend as part of your bachelor party. 

You can also do the Native American method of duck hunting with pumpkins. They would reportedly float a bunch of pumpkins on ponds so that ducks would get used to the pumpkins being there, then they would hollow a pumpkin out and cut eyeholes in it and put it over their head, swim out into the pumpkin-filled pond with the ducks, and then snag a duck and wring it's neck. Adam Savage said he always really wanted to test that one on Mythbusters.

Shooting at the pumpkins sounds a lot more fun than strangling ducks. As a side note I have been told she won’t ask about bringing the kids BB guns. 

TIL the block that was in the Monte Carlo when I bought her is a 4 bolt. Score

In reply to 4cylndrfury :

Looks like a forged crank, too!

Today I learned Wally is the guy in the math problem with all the pumpkins

I learned that the windshield wipers in the Mini are smart enough to automatically slow down to intermittent when you come to a stop and then return to the normal speed when you start moving again. 

Pete. (l33t FS) said:

In reply to 4cylndrfury :

Looks like a forged crank, too!

Wait...now I need to learn how to determine if that's actually the case?

In reply to 4cylndrfury :

It's the parting line.  Cast cranks have a very narrow parting line because they are cast between two fairly close fitting halves of a mould.   Forged cranks are smashed into shape between two dies and have a fairly wide parting line.  It's actually not a "parting line" but where some excess squeezed-out metal gets ground away.

To be extra sure, you could look for a part number on the crank, but that looks forged from way over here.