The United States may be a land of freedom and opportunity, but it is also a place with some seriously dumb laws. Take Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 108 for example, which legally prevents high-beam and low-beam headlight elements from operating at the same time. That may have seemed like an issue in 1967 when the rule arrived, but it has somehow managed to keep adaptive headlights out of the U.S. for nearly two decades. Now, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has finally come to terms with industry pressures. A new rule signed on February 1 will finally allow automakers to install adaptive headlights in the U.S.
For those living in colder climes, winter presents its share of driving challenges. Once upon a time, General Motors took a novel approach to improving winter traction with the Liquid Tire Chain Traction Dispenser.
The onboard system promised, at the push of a button, improved traction through chemistry. As option V75, it launched in 1969 on everything from full-size Chevrolets and sporty Chevelles to the economical and compact Chevy II. Liquid Tire Chain joined a group of other late-’60s wintery options such headlight washers, a rear-window defroster, and an engine block heater.
Old tires used to be really bad in the snow as rubber hardened a lot in the cold. You wanted hard rubber to make the tires last but soft rubber for traction. This spray both made the tires softer and stickier. Modern rubbers are more temperature consistent, and are more plyable but durable.
I listen to the news from time to time, but less and less, because it seems like there is absolutely no news anymore to listen to — it’s like NPR is just vamping for time. About the only thing newsworthy is climate change, as the northeast floods and gets smoked out, and the partisan extremists pontificate about how wonderful they are. I guess the grafters can’t be bothered to come up with decent news stories to distract the public’s attention with anymore.
Roughly 90% of the residents got the COVID vaccine. Then for some unexplained reason, a resident starting playing Martha and the Vandella's Dancing in the Streets on once each hour. It started with a few dozen residents dancing and putting their feet down on the down beat but soon nearly everyone in the building was joining in. The harmonics were too much for the building which went critical and failed. One person dancing might not destroy a building but hundreds slamming their feet down at the same time just might. But the Main Stream Media won't report on the dance party or the vaccination status of residents.#COVIDVACCINEVICTIMS#conspiracy
I was thinking this morning it’s been over a week since I last listened to the news at all.
I do check the NPR website for headlines maybe once or twice a day but I find myself rarely following the local news that is about hyped up crime and it just seems like the national news these days is basically junk food. Do I really need to hear more about people complaining about how bad the world is?
Maybe I should care more about my community but I don’t because I don’t expect to live in this area much longer and honestly on my experience local news rarely reports on community issues but instead focuses on hyped up stories of crime and corruption, along with local sports and weather.
Probably my biggest source of news these days is podcasts and syndicated NPR shows on podcasts along with all the content my off-grid and farm followed channels on YouTube are posting. And most of that stuff isn’t news but the reality of life living off the land. The mud and manure, blood and bones of ordinary life.
When James Dallas Egbert III was reported missing from his college dorm – one of America’s most flamboyant private detectives was summoned to solve the case. “Dallas” had many of the same problems that most teenagers face – but P.I. William Dear stoked fears that he might have fallen under the evil spell of a mysterious and sinister game…. Dungeons & Dragons. The global panic about the dangers the role-playing game posed to impressionable young minds may seem quaint 40 years on – but again and again we show how fearful we are of creative endeavours we don’t quite understand. Read more about Tim’s work at http://timharford.com/ Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com
