SCAM!

While starting a new business this September, I fell victim to a scam. It was an old scam, but packaged in a brand-new way.

 

10-Key, Voice-Activated, Cruise-Control

I wonder if anyone has ever built a input pad for a vehicle speed system to set a car’s cruise control. Imagine: instead of watching the dash as you accelerate to set your cruise-control, simply key-in a new speed and the cruse-control immediately takes-over. I figure some sort of audible, synthetic-voice response confirming the action would be the safest implementation of this kind of system. Once you’re used to using the 10-key pad, you won’t even have to take your eyes off the road (which is the whole point). Obviously, this is only for people obsessed with their speed.

Like me.

 

A Local Helmet Law Forbids Helmets

Here’s a little tidbit for those bikers fighting helmet laws in your area. I don’t know if it helps, but it’s interesting.

Read this…

If you don’t speak Visyian-Cebuano, I’ll give you the basics in a nutshell. The mayor of a large town in the Philippines has outlawed the wearing motorcycle helmets while operating a motorcycle.

You don’t see that very much.

Apparently, the prevalence of armed thefts by people wearing helmets prompted this move. No one has been able to identify the thieves because they all wear motorcycle helmets. So now, no one in Mandaue City can wear one. The original intent was to outlaw all but shorty and visorless open-face style helmets, but the loosely-worded ordinance is having a much broader effect.

How would you like to live somewhere where you could ride and not wear a helmet, but also have it be illegal to use one?

 

The Building of a Parade Float- The S.S. Huron

To whom it may concern…. a little show.

Dick Durkin is former parade float builder with a submission to the Rose Bowl parade on his resume. Dick hauled-out the tools once again to build the Bicentennial celebration float for the tiny city of Huron, Ohio. Starting with a decommissioned full-size school bus, a massive 40′ replica of a cargo ship emerged, complete with a rotating Bicentennial birthday cake (not real icing) and a mini-lighthouse on a beach.

5 months of tear-down and prefabrication allowed Durkin to move the vehicle from his garage in Mansfield to the Huron City municipal service garage for final assembly. There, he and a small crew of volunteers took the project from bare frame to finished in just over a month.

Nice work, Mr Dukin. Nice work, all around.

 

Hybrid Intake Mod with 1st-Gen Honda CR-V

1st-gen CR-V’s were never exactly power monsters in the first place. The few people who did race these SUV wannabe’s swapped out the stock engines with Civic racing engines (Yes- it’s just a civic engine), keeping original CRV trannies (which are actually pretty cool). The stock Civic engine don’t put-out much torque in the first place. With twice the vehicle wrapped around it, the CRV ended-up with terrible pickup. I remember buying a new battery for mine at Autozone. The guy behind the counter couldn’t believe the tiny battery I was buying was for my car. He wanted to see under the hood himself just to make sure.

I was sick of taking minutes to pass trucks. I was sick of traveling on the highway in 2nd-gear on cold days (well, actually it was 3rd of 4th gear on the CRV). These things just didn’t have enough power for high-speed travel. Oddly, mine had enough torque to pull out cars stuck in snow drifts in the winter, and go up any crazy hill or ditch I sent it into. For something with the ground clearance of the average sedan, it sure thinks it’s some sort of dune-buggy. But what to do about the highway? I didn’t need much boost- just enough to keep the automatic transmission happy on the freeway (with maybe a little extra for passing).

 

Now…Ethanol! So What?

For the first time, I saw a “flexfuel” Sedan in my area. It was a pretty, brand-new Chevy Impala. It’s shiny white paint glistened in the sun. It’s been a year and a half since I first wrote “Ethanol..Made to Fail?” , and 2 years since oil companies and car dealers in my area began pushing for local adoption. At the time, I was complaining that everyone was hailing Ethanol as our next energy savior, but no one would sell vehicles that ran on it.

 

Key fob cover

When I first got my Honda, I kept the door lock fob on my key chain for about a week. Ever since, it’s been in the hidey-bin next to the steering wheel. Why? Every time I’d walk away from my car and put my keys in my pocket, the doors would unlock. Then lock. And unlock. After fighting with the locks every day in parking lots across the county, I got fed up.

 

Vehicle choices and Modifications for Disabled or Bariatric Patients

 

What a road this has been. I had a family member in need of a new car. She’s not only heavy and tall, but unable to walk very far or lift her left leg due to spinal cord damage. Her 17-year-old Ford Explorer wasn’t able to handle the size of her new power wheelchair, and was quickly rusting out. So the search began for a new car. We thought this would be easy. We learned we were wrong.

 

Good Sleeping Car?

Just wondering…are there any small or mid-sized vehicles on the market now that can be used for sleeping? I’m not talking about vans or RV’s, either. I currently have a 1st-gen Honda CRV. It isn’t a particularly good or comfortable vehicle, but it does have one saving grace. Its entire interior can be folded-down into a bed large enough for 2 people (or 3 very familiar people). It’s a cool camping feature that we’ve used a few times. I wanted to know if anyone has found any other vehicle, daily-driver sort of thing, with a similar system. Any suggestions welcome.