I'm still wondering is he's serious about buying that car...

I feel like a hard core Baptist dad who has just been told his son is gay.

Does anyone else have local radio stations giving away Dodge Hellcats? We've got 4 of them being given away by 4 different radio stations here. Granted, i think one is a Canadian radio station.
FCA must have given them to them, no way these broke ass stations can afford a 70k car.

they are probably all the same giveaway.

They are.

"Hands on the Hellcat!" is a group promotion with iHeartMedia (formerly known as Clear Channel Communications) which owns hundreds of radio stations in North America and also has a couple of channels on Sirius / XM. These days, very few individual radio stations have either the financial wherewithal or the barter pull to do things like car-giveaways independently, and national ad accounts for the group stations are managed at the corporate level.

Decided to do something about my inoperative remote door locks.
The locks had decided to quit working a while back, and I just did not care at the time.

The thing is, I did not have a remote for the alarm/remote starter thingie anymore.
Well, I had the crappy stripped down limited function short range spare, but did not like it.

As for the cool, long range, LCD display, 2 way FM remote...
Let's just say, if you decide to ride your motorcycle/scooter in driving rain, make sure you do not tuck your pocket flaps in on your waterproof riding jacket if you toss electronic devices in the said pockets.
My keys (and the fancy ass remote) were swimming in a pocket size aquarium after a 40 minute ride in that hellacious rainstorm that day.
(BTW, I know rain and hell metaphors do not mix.)

Anyway, that's how the remote had died.

And, hand locking/unlocking the doors got old pretty quickly.
I didn't want to buy a whole new system, too.
So, I dove under the dash headfirst and removed the black box with the main circuitry.
(Yes, I did check other things first. Not much else to do when you don't see a trigger signal, but get into the mothership main circuit.)

Well, there's your problem...

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...ebde27bfb0.jpg

Locks are controlled by two transistors. (They are in red circles. OK, they're ovals.)
One sends out a 12V signal, and the other one grounds for locking, and then they reverse roles for unlocking. (+-, then -+)

Turns out, the one I am pointing out with a subtle yellow arrow was bad. I could actually tell when I looked at the circuit under a magnifying glass.
The transistor had burst ever so slightly.
Not an easy job to replace those fuckers. They are tiny, about the size of very tiny transistors.

My friend, the other Hakan (MaxiGauge guy) replaced the transistors in under a minute.
I built a nice relay pack to replace the cheap Chinese relay unit I had installed way back when.
And everything worked as it should. But, I still had the crappy spare remote.

So I went online to buy a proper remote...
I just spent 75 bucks on a remote for my alarm.
75 bucks...
I'm pretty sure the damn thing costs no more than a couple dollars to manufacture.

And that's how I got to spend the better part of the day.
Oh, and I got to listen to Led Zeppelin while I was working, too.

[serious]R&D costs money. So does setting up manufacturing lines. And marketing. And distribution. And retail.[/serious]


[not_so_serious]Groovy.[/not_so_serious]

Radiator fans are fine.

Noticed last night that the little USB power supply which I normally leaved plugged into the lighter socket wasn't illuminated blue. Pulled it out and put the backup in, and it lit up.

Opened the device, and found no obvious signs of failure, either visual or olfactory.

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...96ac6a7cbf.png

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...dbd93774f4.png


This one remains something of a minor mystery.

those cig lighter plugs are notoriously terrible at being reliable for things other than heating up cigar lighters.

I've fried 2 usb adapters in my lighter socket.

The outlet in my truck won't charge my phone. Same charger works in other cars, and other chargers work fine in the truck.
Damn thing just hates my old p.o.s. phone I guess.

Now this makes sense.

Protip:
If you have trouble getting up early in the morning, getting up at noon may prove to be a more pleasant experience.

Serious question: do people smoke cigars in their car?

I mean, I enjoy an occasional cigar, but the idea of smoking one while driving doesn't really make sense to me. I see people smoking cigarettes in their car all the time, and for some reason I can accept that, but the fundamental environment required to enjoy a cigar (calm, quiet, a glass of scotch, etc) is not really provided for by a moving car.

Or is this a linguistic problem? Is the object which I refer to as a cigarette more commonly known as a "cigar" in certain regions / languages which have been more influential in the applying of naming conventions to the affordances of a modern automobile interior?

I have never seen anyone smoke a cigar while driving. But then again, I have never met Carl Haas in real life, either.

I smoke (cigarettes) while driving.
I guess it's a matter of practicality. You smoke should not outlast your drive.

One of the older Mechanical Engineers I used to work with would smoke a cigar everyday on his way home.
I would ride to lunch with him occasionally in his large Mercedes sedan. It had a nice leather and smoke smell.

Edit: He had an hour commute each way.

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...3fcb6cf9a9.jpg

This was my first thought. Either, mobsters or business men of high class in the back of a limo.

I see dudes smoking cigars in cars here in northern VA periodically. They range from small miata-like cars up to large german sedans. The class of the smoker doesn't seem to fall into any specific fiscal category but the appearance of the man generally falls into a pretty narrow range and includes short gray hair and a precancerous tan. Stubby fingers are also common.

Maybe this is because it's a tobacco state. There are even historical farms growing tobacco but for whatever reason, all the reenactors are enormously obese.

This is the grounds and drying shed building thing (not my pic)

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com...278c71f90e.jpg

Something I always wonder.

Does anyone know the first time tobacco was smoked? I'm sure like most things such as the discovery of bread or alcohol, it was an accident, but I always wonder how it came to "We should cultivate these, dry them, then roll them up and smoke them?" Or grind them up and snort it? Or chop it up and dip it?

Same with coca leaves in Brazil giving an energy boost and fighting altitude sickness, who was the first person that just thought "Hey I'll chew on this and see what happens?"

Actually, the one and only time I can recall seeing someone smoke a cigar while driving, he fit that description almost perfectly. He was driving a white Porsche 944 Cabriolet.



I've often wondered about the circumstances surrounding the first consumption of a raw oyster by a modern human. I happen to like oysters, but upon casual visual inspection of one in its natural state, it's not intuitively obvious that it is food.