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metalhead posted:Been a while since this was posted. Still makes my jaw drop every time. Did that get bent, or is it supposed to be bent and we should just be amazed at the loving size of the thing? Either way... 
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May 11, 2011 06:27
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Two Finger posted:Yep, you're dead right. The engines are built around that principle - with the kinds of power outputs they're throwing around (in the thousands of kilowatts per cylinder) it becomes absolutely worth cutting down on even fractional percentage efficiency losses. It's all money straight out the door, otherwise. I have a friend who runs a refinery for Conoco-Phillips. He was telling me that because of the scale, if they can manage to get a ship full of crude from Saudi Arabia to the US a day or two faster, that can translate to hundreds of thousands of dollars in increased revenue. The oil sitting in the tanker is like capital that isn't doing anything, so it's like sitting on $100,000,000 dollars (I don't know the exact numbers, but this is the size of the ballpark at least) that isn't earning interest, etc. One day of interest on that much money is significant, so not only are they trying to get the max horsepower out of the engine, but they have to factor in the cost of the cargo. When you start to think of the scale these businesses operate on, physically as well as financially, it is truly mind boggling.
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May 12, 2011 15:59
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Phy posted:That is not fuel. I really find it hard to believe that is actually fuel. Yes, I understand that if you heated it it would get less viscous and flow better, but how do you pump a million gallons of that goo into the ship's fuel tank? Do you have to heat it then too? How could it possibly flow into the fuel lines and whatnot?
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May 13, 2011 15:52
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Boat posted:gently caress. You'd have to add some sort of oxygen injection system... Actually, wouldn't it be easier to pack it with C4?
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May 27, 2011 04:18
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drzrma posted:Having had the unfortunate experience of a SCUBA tank popping its burst disk and providing an exciting demonstration of Newton's second law, I'd say this is optimistic to the point of euphemism. Mythbusters just did something with an LP grill tank - same thing but smaller, right? They put it in a burning building, after about 20 minutes the safety vent popped and essentially created a semi-controlled blowtorch for 10 seconds. The only way they could get an explosion was to rig the pressure release valve so it wouldn't work. Essentially what you get is a big explosion with shrapnel from the broken tank all over the place. To get that they had to set it on a specially created gas burner that looked like about 20 blowtorches going off at once, for about ten minutes. They were trying to re-create the myth that the tank turned into a rocket that flew 150 feet in the air. They were kind of able to do it by rigging a gun to shoot a hole in the bottom just as the tank started to bulge. It went maybe 60 feet, then started spinning because it didn't have stabilizer fins.
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May 28, 2011 04:39
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InitialDave posted:A Dremel cut along the side Slight Derail: Father's Day is fast approaching. This reminded me of something a colleague of my wife said about the perfect gift several years ago - "Does he have a Dremel? Because if he doesn't have one, he definitely wants a Dremel." It was true, of course. I have no idea why I didn't have one already, now I have one as well as a million little attachments in a little tackle box that's now the Dremel box. I don't know why they don't market it that way. Apologies...
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Jun 1, 2011 18:14
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Armacham posted:my girlfriend's parents bought me a dremel for Christmas last year, so it must be the default gift for any guy who doesn't have one. I have still not used it a single time Did you know that if you use the felt wheel to try and buff out a scratch on a cd, either nothing will happen (because you got the felt wet to be safe) or you will melt a little divot in the CD? There is no in-between.
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Jun 1, 2011 22:32
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Mr.Peabody posted:I'm pretty sure "spilled a drink" is a euphemism for "masturbated all over" He was using a Dremel.
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Jun 5, 2011 03:36
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Hillridge posted:Ha, I also had that happen to me: Your picture reminded me of something that happened 35 years ago. When I was 12, I got my first 10 speed (aaaaages ago...note "ten speed", not 15, 21, 18, 17, etc...) but my folks absolutely required that I put fenders on it. At that time, no 10 speeds had fenders. I would suppose that someone's did, but they were from another planet. So anyway I had a really cool bike, a Peugeot that was really light, it totally kicked rear end, I had watched "Breaking Away" which was just released, and I was like the guy on that movie who had the really interesting foreign 10 speed that was awesome that I had spent my own money to buy, bought it used so I got a much nicer bike than I would have gotten if I bought it new, and everything was great in my life except that my really cool bike had god-damned fenders on it. And not the cool little ten-inch fenders that stop the rain from going up your back, but the big fenders that wrapped all the way around the wheel, and you could (and probably did, now that I think about it) put a reflector on it. I guess I technically have to add at this point that I was teased mercilessly about the existence of these fenders on my bike, although anyone with an ounce of sense would already realize that. So it's the middle of summer, and the girl that I had the hugest crush on is at our baseball games, which are played in the infield of a track. So of course, everyone races their bikes around the track while waiting for their games, afterwards, etc. Part of me wants to believe that someone actually did this to me, because it's just too amazing to be accidental. But you'd have to be a pretty bright 12 year-old evil nemesis to come up with this plan to gently caress me up like what occurred, so it probably was an accident. But then if it was accidental, that implies that the world is fundamentally aligned against me because it was just too perfect in timing and execution NOT to occur by design. Anyway, I am flying past the girls and guys on my awesome bicycle with the huge-rear end fenders and all of a sudden my back wheel just locks up. I barely manage not to wipe out, but I can't figure for the life of me what has happened. They are all laughing at me as I am looking at the chain, the derailleur, the sprockets, the wheel, trying to figure out what the gently caress has happened to my bike. I fiddle with the chain, adjust the derailleur to pull the chain off, the wheel still won't spin. I look at the brake, it's open, people are still laughing. Wait - what's that by the brake? FINALLY I notice this big shiny mess folded up perfectly under the seat. It's the fender, all folded over itself and jammed up against the brake and wedged between the wheel and the frame. Imagine one of those "cool" little ten inch fenders, except it's been made from a really big fender that's been folded over a couple times and angled up so it almost touches the bike seat and jammed in against the wheel and the bike frame. That's what it looked like. I'm like "what the gently caress?" So I do a little investigation and apparently a stick (good sized, like 3/4 inch maybe) got into my spokes, then hit the brackets holding the fenders and just folded those fenders up until they couldn't go any further. Amazingly, the spokes didn't break. The laughter subsided, perhaps someone came over to see what the deal was, I don't remember. I removed the fender right there (I had a little tool kit under my seat - I was a bike mechnanic of course) and don't remember if I brought it home or not - I do remember my Dad being somewhat dubious about the whole "stick in the spokes" thing, like how could that happen? I had no idea, again it seems just too coincidental, because of course everyone is out to get your typical teen/pre-teenage boy.  But he didn't make me get a replacement fender, and after awhile, the fender on the front of the bike disappeared too. Anyway, hope you enjoyed my trip down memory lane. Obviously I have work to do, so I did this instead...
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Jun 5, 2011 20:15
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Detroit Q. Spider posted:Why were your folks so hardcore about fenders?
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Jun 5, 2011 20:32
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InitialDave posted:Parents have little to no understanding of what is currently Down With The Kids. My daughter sends about 6 million texts a day - it is exceptionally exasperating when she needs a ride or something and I have to wait there while she texts back and forth to her friend about the details - something that could be handled in literally 30 seconds with a phone call ends up taking 5 minutes. So I get mad, complain to my wife, she tells me "That's the way kids do it these days" like that is supposed to explain any god-damned thing. Then she wants to have a bike, but not put any FENDERS on it!!!! And it rains here like twice a week sometimes, I mean she's going to get her clothes all dirty arghle barglsgfg asieghnalswttt....
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Jun 6, 2011 02:57
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ApathyGifted posted:Texting is probably faster than calling each friend individually, unless your daughter has a phone with no keyboard. No, I'm talking about one friend - I'm not a complete moron, despite the fact that I am both a parent and a member of SA. Edit: And no, the friend wasn't in a place where she couldn't talk, nor was my daughter. And both do not have colds so they couldn't physically talk. And just to cover all the loving bases, there was no possible hypothetical situation where it would actually make sense to text instead of talk. JD Brickmeister fucked around with this message at 05:38 on Jun 6, 2011 |
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Jun 6, 2011 05:35
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Fermunky posted:Can we get a picture of these mechanically failed hypothetical devices? 
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Jun 11, 2011 19:03
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Motronic posted:I am a trained fire investigator and the Fire Marshal (which makes me the chief investigator and enforcement authority) of a small town. I've also been a firefighter in one capacity or another (volley or paid) for almost 20 years. I started when I was 18. Well I have driven past a handful of automobile fires, including a spectacular RV fire where melted plastic was literally pouring out of the back of the vehicle. So I appreciate all your "qualifications", but I think I know a little bit about what I am saying, bub.
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Jun 23, 2011 16:32
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iastudent posted:Lucky friend of a friend. I actually got there just as the firemen were pulling up to it but I wasn't able to get into my apartment and retrieve my camera until after they had put out the fire. A couple years ago my dad was at his Rotary meeting (civic organization in US) and they announced a car-fire in the parking lot. Word got around that it was a mini-van, so my dad relaxed and finished the meeting. Then he came outside to discover the mini-van was parked next to his car. Complete loss.
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Jun 25, 2011 17:25
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GnarlyCharlie4u posted:I don't understand how something that hosed up can be so clean. Why isn't it coated in oil / coolant / gas / etc?
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Jun 28, 2011 15:43
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meatpimp posted:I like that the guy in the striped shirt is pointing, like the giant fireball is something that may be missed. It's within the realm of possibility that he is saying this: "No Bobby - it's BEHIND the giant fireball..." 
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Jul 2, 2011 02:13
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RoboCriminal posted:Automotive Insanity > Post Conversations of 70 Year Old Retirees In Italy the freeways are quite expensive - but just try to drive virtually any long distance without them and you will understand why. WELL worth the $50 or so to cross northern Italy and save at least 10 hours if you're in a hurry. Then you get to the Matterhorn tunnel and it's another $50 (round trip), but again, worth it. BTW - I heard an interesting argument on NPR the other day - someone was bitching about how nowadays passenger trains are never profitable. The perfect comeback was that roads aren't profitable either, but we build them.  sigh... edit: also, get off my lawn.
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Jul 4, 2011 16:15
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meatpimp posted:Basically anybody not you is a bad driver. When I was dating my wife I had anger issues, so I would take them out by raging at all the idiot drivers on the road. She would freak out when out of the blue I would explode and literally scream at the loving moron who didn't use his turn signal, or whatever transgression I had to endure. She made me learn to quietly say "I am a much better driver than they are" instead of yelling. It actually worked - I have no idea why - but I am a much calmer person than I used to be, and it remains quite true.
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Jul 4, 2011 20:17
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Nam Taf posted:Also, stuff *can* grow in ballast. It's not easy, but it can. Ballast will get contaminated with all kinds of poo poo. In Italy, ballast literally gets contaminated by poo poo. On many (like easily 30-40%) trains, the toilet is a seat on top of a cylinder that narrows down and deposits *whatever* directly on the tracks. They have lots of signs reminding you not to use the facilities when you're parked in a station.
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Jul 7, 2011 21:37
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Phanatic posted:The world would be safer if you got rid of seat belts, air bags, crumple zones, and anti-lock brakes and replaced all these things with a 6" rusty spike sticking straight out from the non-collapsible steering column. We'd just take longer to get to work. Sorry - that would only work for people 25 and above. Perhaps 22 or 23, but that's where I would draw the line. People younger than that literally have a reduced ability to cognitively assess risk related to things that might happen to them in the future. So you'd end up with a LOT of kids with rusty metal spikes in their chests, as well as giving them a reason to wear all kinds of Mad Max armor when they drove.
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Jul 11, 2011 04:18
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EightBit posted:Where's the problem?  Except instead of being some one-off weird cosplay person, this would be your kids and their friends...
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Jul 11, 2011 16:30
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Intoxication posted:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7JQ7Kc--qM&feature=related If that boy survives to adulthood, he will become a likely contender for . . . the most interesting man alive. . . (or whatever the hook is for that beer commercial)
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Jul 21, 2011 19:59
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Brain Issues posted:Except, the battery can't blow up into your face when you use it. This is important. The battery in my Escalade made a "POP" sound, kind of like a dud firecracker when I tried to start it, then everything went dead. Opened up the hood and there was battery acid sprayed inside and the battery itself had split a little. Lesson - this kind of poo poo happens with sealed batteries - something I did not know.
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Sep 8, 2011 17:22
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Devyl posted:JB Weld would take care of that...
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Sep 9, 2011 15:21
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netwerk23 posted:Well, technically so would hot glue if you never put any stress on the joint. Exactly - I was actually thinking along the lines of cyanoacrylate (sp? superglue) because you can see how nicely the two parts fit would fit together.
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Sep 9, 2011 17:47
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revmoo posted:I'd take it to Napa and ask them to machine it just to get their reaction. It's a hardcore mod - single disc rotor to save on weight.
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Sep 16, 2011 15:08
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Maker Of Shoes posted:Is there a proper way to clean that poo poo off short of blasting it with brake cleaner? I generally just give it a good wipe down and know it's going to smoke for a few miles. I used really fine sandpaper, followed by brake cleaner. Perhaps that was overdoing it a bit.
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Sep 17, 2011 20:08
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Wojcigitty posted:Also, picture of a small mechanical failure that caused the particularly horrific mechanical failure at Reno: Isn't that like an aileron for the aileron? It's hard to believe that something that minor could cause such trouble, but I guess when you're 100 feet off the ground going 400 mph there is no such thing as a minor problem...
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Sep 19, 2011 15:12
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The Scientist posted:walnut shells Peanuts are bad luck at auto races for some reason.
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Sep 19, 2011 18:22
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EightBit posted:Time for an Atlas II ...shrugged 
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Oct 6, 2011 16:00
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bolind posted:What is going on here? What's that cable hanging off the back? Someone thought it would be funny to recreate "American Graffiti" 
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Oct 25, 2011 14:43
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dor1 posted:Yea, pretty much this. There's no reason not to have jack stands. You can pick up a pair for $20, and using them adds a negligible amount of time to whatever you are doing.
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Oct 31, 2011 21:37
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AlternateAccount posted:I miss the old GM jacks that were a long bar with notches in the side that slotted into a base and then had a little rider piece that would hook into the bumper. Then you used your lug wrench to stick into a little pivot-y bit in the riding piece and CLICK CLICK CLICK CLICK CLICK jack it up. Oh, memories.  From here if you're interested.
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Nov 2, 2011 16:21
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Nerobro posted:I'm going to suggest something more shocking. I think I will market something even better - a stencil you can place over that area and a can of black spray paint. That way you get the identical benefit of having appeared to do something about it without the hassle of drilling the holes, doing the rivets, etc. My solution will be as effective but much cheaper. My biggest fear is that someone will come along with an even cheaper product that makes it so you can't open the hood.
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Nov 3, 2011 17:01
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ack! posted:I've had 2 2nd Gen Legacies and both required a thorough cleaning of the climate controls due to layers and layers of coffee/soda/who knows what. Also, the little LED bulbs that light the controls always seem burnt out requiring the thing to be pulled apart and cleaned. My daughter left her lotion in my Sunfire, it got hot and about 1/2 cup of lotion gooshed out into the cup holder. Initially I was pissed, but when I used napkins to wipe up all the goo, it took several years worth of dust, coffee residue, soda, etc. with it. Left it all moisturized I guess, because now it's very clean and looks better than the rest of the vinyl in the car...
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Nov 4, 2011 17:45
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tater_salad posted:Was this on a Malibu? this happened to one of my friends, "my brakes are noisy" Things like this really underscore how simple most car brakes are. They can go catastrophically wrong and still function.
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Nov 9, 2011 16:50
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CaptBubba posted:Its even worse than that: they designed the wheels to use both compression and tension. As the wheel spins, the spokes on the bottom were in compression and the spokes on the top were in tension. Oh and they also only did tension quality checks on the spokes, with no testing of their ability to hold a compressive load. Just looking at that makes me wonder what they could possibly be thinking. Sure, they reduce the number of spokes, but they are demonstrably bigger - seems like aerodynamically and weight wise it would be a wash. On a similar note, how do they "tune" those solid wheels? With spokes, you tighten or loosen them to get it perfectly flat - and my guess is that any anomaly in the tire or tube that might pull it out of true gets fixed when you tune it. How do those solid wheels work? Edit: Please don't say "magnets"
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Nov 18, 2011 16:02
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Mercury Ballistic posted:When I worked on the Wilson bridge project I heard some guy there was severely injured by an exploding tire on the 100 ton travelift. I heard it flipped him over and blew out an eardrum. This was before I started but the tires were about 6 feet tall and routinely had leaks from the jobsite. So yeah - tires.
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Nov 18, 2011 22:14
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infrared35 posted:Well, he was in way back during the diesel-electric days, but yeah.
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Nov 28, 2011 03:40
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