"Motors" - revving up again

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When mom was still fixing computers, she brought home a bottle of platen restorer, to see if it would work on her worn windshield wiper blades tophat-cool It did work, and fuck if it wasnā€™t like having brand new blades! The ā€œrestoredā€ blades only lasted a short time (canā€™t exactly recall how long - it was 1000 yrs ago) before she wound up buying new ones.

I think she shoulda tried a more scientific approach, and tried applying more of the stuff, leaving it on longer (if youā€™re sposed to wipe or rinse it off after a certain amount of time), etc and various combinations thereof. tophat-shrug

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:flushed: :face_with_raised_eyebrow: :rofl:

Top speed of what, 25 mph?

Dang, thereā€™s a car stopped right in front. Good thing I can fly over it! :roll_eyes:

Soooo tempting! (not)

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I wonder if any Tesla employees knew about the problem with the Cybertruckā€™s panel adhesive. I wonder if they considered what dangers that could pose. I wonder if they knew about Morton Thiokol engineer Roger Boisjolyā€™s warning about the MT SRBā€™s O-rings and what happened to him ā€”then figured, heck, better not to say anything. Well, likely not. Just having Musk as their boss poses a constant threat.

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I really like airships, butā€¦ no, they wonā€™t.

Theyā€™re like ground effect vehicles, or hovercraft, amphibious cars or even submarines for that matter - a really clever idea, sweet technology and all thatā€¦ but just not practical outside a couple of very specific, niche use cases.

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They may not be practical for very many real-world use cases, but weā€™re at a very unique point in history, where there are a substantial number of billionaires out there with big egos and more money than they know how to spend. Frankly Iā€™m amazed that there arenā€™t more supervillain-styled billionaires out there who choose to use airships as their conspicuous-consumption vehicle of choice. Hell, if I had the money Iā€™d consider it. Certainly more original and probably more fun than founding yet-another rocket company.

Googleā€™s Sergey Brin is helping to fund a competing airship, I thinkā€¦

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I think they would settle for those to begin with.

aside:

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Practical advice needed from car aficionados, please:

In 2021 I bought a new car, aka a bunch of interconnected electronics in black boxes with a Volvo badge on it and maybe 3 user serviceable parts. Its factory warranty will expire in a few months. The dealers, both the local one and the one a state over wehre I bought it, are inundating me with offers to add an extended warranty ASAP, before the factory one runs out, call now for a quote and coverage details. I know the math on most extended warranties isnā€™t good, but is this something to even consider when I intend to keep the car as long as possible AND when the price (and availability?) of parts will likely not be in my favor going forward? What are the questions to ask, the good and bad to look for, etc.?

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No. Extended warranties are much like health insurance. Their default position is to deny claims. Which means if you make a claim, when they deny it you need to decide if itā€™s cheaper to fight them/take them to court or pay for it yourself.

Basically, vehicle extended warranties in the US should just be treated as scams.

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(I think someone posted about it before so hey thereā€™s your Coke!)

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Regarding dirigible airships and adjusted for inflation, we already were at this very point over a hundred years ago. Still hasnā€™t trickled down to be used in mass transport.

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I see what you did there. Properly adjusted inflation is critical for these. :wink:

Donā€™t get me wrong - I never expect these to ever be used for mass transport. More along the lines of a ridiculous mega-yacht plaything for the super-wealthy.

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Re the purchase of an extended warranty, you can bargain with the dealerships. Such warranties are often marked up (greedy bastards). Good research on your end (knowledge, baby!) could get you an arrangement you can live with.

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This makes me sad. They had a really slick-looking plane and I was hoping theyā€™d be successful.

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Stay classy, Florida.

Picture from Bimmerpost:

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Just what an enterprising sort of chap would need to start their own independent trading company.

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