Man crashes car on testdrive

Police in Ontario arrested a man who was allegedly under the influence of drugs when he crashed a Corvette into a tree during a test drive Tuesday, fatally injuring a CarMax salesman.

Witnesses told KTLA-TV Channel 5 that the vehicle was going at least 70 mph.

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-carmax-salesman-killed-corvette-crashes-test-drive-20160223-story.html

Speeding, with catastrophic and predictable results.

And here's another story about a street racer wiping out multiple people.


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3340798/Driver-24-hangs-wrecked-Lamborghini-texting-crash.html

Tesla crash - flies 82 feet through air

http://electrek.co/2016/05/06/tesla-model-s-crash-large-crumple-zone-gallery/

Another avoidable crash due to simply driving too fast. What a great idea: give a novice driver a supercar. It ought to have a valet/novice mode that limits it to "ordinary car" performance and speed.

Don't get me started about the 107-mph snapchat crash.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2016/04/28/lawsuit-blames-snapchat-for-107-mph-crash-in-mercedes-caused-by-teen-girl-using-speed-filter/

Hydroplaning car

"Sadiq Rahman, a 21 year-old student, was driving his wife, mother and sister in his BMW E60 5 Series sedan in England when the car hydroplaned out of control"


http://jalopnik.com/video-games-helped-this-bmw-driver-go-full-opposite-loc-1774913691

I'm watching this video and I see that he's driving faster than other cars. Why is it necessary to "make an epic save" when all you have to do is slow down in the first place instead of putting yourself, your passengers, and other cars at risk. So you get to your destination a minute later, but you get there in one piece.

Interesting how markets being abandoned

One of the latest developments in the computer world is that Intel is getting out of one of the "low-price" markets because they can't make any money in it.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/3063508/components/intel-is-on-the-verge-of-exiting-the-smartphone-and-tablet-markets-after-cutting-atom-chips.html

and then I see things like Chrysler dropping the 200 because there's no profit in making sedans with all of the competition and declining sales. They figure that they should "refocus" on more profitable things like SUVs.


http://www.freep.com/story/money/cars/chrysler/2016/04/06/fiat-chrysler-lay-off-1300/82675808/

So what happens when there aren't any more "profitable areas" to retreat to.

Recycling an old monitor pivot mount

I always had this thing for pivoting monitors. There's something about using a vertical monitor that I always liked. So I had this old compaq 19" with a pivot mount that could be used with another monitor with VESA screw holes. Most pivot mounts I've seen are proprietary and are designed only for the monitor that they come with (like the Dell 1901FP for example).

After removing the 4 screws and transplanting a 22" widescreen presto, a widescreen pivoting monitor. The only problem is that the new monitor is LED and very light in comparison with the old one. The mount was balanced for a much heavier monitor and it tends to rise up to its maximum height.

It's not really a problem as long as I use it vertically. Maybe I'll drill a hole and stick a pin in it to keep it from rising.


Here's a couple of interesting articles about why you should use a vertical monitor.

http://www.dailydot.com/technology/vertical-monitor-setup/

http://mashable.com/2014/03/16/vertical-monitor/

What everyone needs: a 120 inch TV

Seriously, a 120 inch TV. For $130,000. And it weighs 385 pounds. I think that I would have a hard time with a TV that outweighs me by 2 times.


So I can get the reference series 65 inch for $6000. I could get 20 of those for the same $130k. Now all I need to do is win the lottery or something.

Sticker residue

If there's one thing that drives me crazy it's sticky gunk left behind from price stickers or cheap package sealing tape.

What I've found works pretty well is to get some "good" quality package sealing tape and repeatedly press it down and lift it off using my thumb. Sometimes it takes a while but eventually the sticky goo builds up and it starts lifting the residue off with the tape. It's amazing how tenacious some of these adhesives can be.


When I was a kid, I used to love putting stickers on everything. Now it seems like the opposite.