ShopTalk Sunday: Speed Freak Winter

The Preface: I like driving on ice.  However, I don’t like paying for the damage.  Like G2 who has his all-wheel drive being fixed because even AWD and ABS (and a good clean driving record) can’t fix an unsanded patch of black ice, a quarter inch thick – at a stop sign – that should have been sanded.

OK, speed is our topic.  And I have literally lived long enough to be “scared spitless” at 7 knots, and a low-speed stall warning.  G2 has hit 221 MPH feet first, hands overhead in free-fall and when he rolled into belly first? He said the deceleration was incredible. We have adrenaline receptors in the bloodwork.

Starting Points

Speed does things to a man.

Not just the obvious “wind in the face, grin you can’t wipe off with a rag” stuff. I mean the deeper thing: speed rearranges your internal filing cabinet. It takes all the little “maybe someday” notions and suddenly promotes one of them to CEO.

I’ve loved speed since the first time I got to experience it in a way that wasn’t just youthful stupidity. Flying will do that to you. It teaches you the difference between fast and reckless—and it teaches you to respect the invisible math that lives between the two. Scared is 48 knots turning base to final before the vortex generators went in.

Speed – It’s a Car Tune

Which is probably why I’ve also been a serial Porsche pilot: 911E, 944, and the 930 widebody that will make you either a better driver, a statistic, or a better pedestrian, depending on how much humility you’re carrying on a given day. Fear here?  Getting a speeding ticket for 83 MPH in a posted 70 zone in my hopped up Super Beetle.  Who would believe me?

And then there was my old Honda XL350… which, in one of those oddball “small world” stories, was once ridden by Jordan’s King Hussein at a Boeing delivery years and years ago. BCAC Renton on the ramp. Not exactly a provenance you can list on Bring-a-Trailer, but it sure makes for better coffee conversation than “I bought it off a guy named Earl.”

Still it wasn’t the perfect dirt bike.  I always worried that with its weight, coming down wrong (with it on top instead of under me) could hurt.

Anyway—this week I’m talking with my AI stack (which is basically a committee of silicon interns who never sleep), when the (self-appointed) Admiral of the Ice Fleet—Egor—another certified speed addict—drops a casual little remark that he might unload a ’78 Mazda RX-7.

That’s how the mind gets me in trouble.

Grown Up Men’s Toys? 

My buddy Jay long-ago of the famous scrap Iron and Metal outfit in Seattle – had one. Billions of years back.  Pukey green, but fast as hell. Because the RX-7 isn’t just a car. It’s a spark. It’s a “what if” that turns into an itch. Not to mention turns up 14,000 RPM on the Wankel. And next thing you know, you’re not thinking about the car anymore—engineering takes over. You stop shopping and start solving. That’s also the moment you realize: this isn’t about buying a car. It’s about building a toy.

  • How do you get speed without killing yourself… and still have go-kart fun? I mean without combat fighter school, a degree and a 6-year or longer hitch?

Go-karts are honest. They’re fast enough to make your eyes water, low enough to keep you humble, and simple enough that you don’t need a software update to feel alive.

But they also tend to be:

  • loud in that “small engine screaming for mercy” way,
  • fussy in that “it ran yesterday” way,
  • and pricey in that “this should not cost more than my first mortgage” way.

So I started thinking: what’s the sweet spot for a farm-speed toy? Something one size up from G2’s medical CanAm worksite rig—fast enough to feel like speed, but not so fast it turns into a Darwin Awards tryout.

Call it 50-ish.  G2’s medical rig will do that – and does – when there’s an emergency on the server sites they’re building. But that’s a good number.

50 MPH as a Goal

Now, on pavement, 50 mph is “did you bring milk?” territory.

On dirt? Fifty is… um… spiritual.  The tighter you turn, the farther you slide and that’s where the fun is.  Fifty on dirt is the speed where you begin to understand why rally drivers are always smiling like they’ve seen God and survived the meeting.

So this vision starts forming: open sides, light-ish, low center of gravity (none of this top-heavy Jeep nonsense), and streetable in a pinch. Electric start. Simple mechanicals. Cheap to fix. Something you can take out in the tree farm and get your “flying fix” at ground level.

And then—because I’m me—I immediately start laying out the engineering stakes like I’m doing corral or preflight:

1) How big a track?

Not “how big can we make it.” How big does it need to be to be fun at 30–50 mph without becoming a lawsuit against physics?

A good farm track has:

  • one straightaway long enough to let you feel the engine,
  • turns that reward smoothness instead of bravery,
  • and runoff that is mostly “soft embarrassment” instead of “hard medical bills.”

Which is when I looked over at the shooting range area.

Now—before anyone faints—yes, it’s a fine place to sight in a long gun or pistol. Great use of a straight line. But I stood there thinking:

  • Wouldn’t that be a kick-ass straightaway?
  • And you could almost hear the tree farm whispering: “Don’t you start. Don’t you even…”

Because that’s how it begins. First you repurpose a straight line. Then you’re measuring turns. Then you’re looking at culverts like they’re banked corners. Then you’ve got flags, cones, and some neighbor kid asking if you’re starting NASCAR East Texas.

2) How many turns—and what kind?

There are two kinds of turns on dirt:

  1. the kind you drive, and
  2. the kind you survive.

What I want is go-kart-like fun, not “call the insurance company and invent a new identity.”

So the turns have to be engineered for the speed, not your ego. Wide enough to slide a bit. Smooth enough that the suspension isn’t being used as a percussion instrument. Clear enough that if you overcook it, you end up in grass, not timber.

3) How much money?

This is where grown-ups ruin everything.

Because there’s “I want a toy” money, and there’s “I have now invented a hobby that will eat my retirement” money.

The trick is to keep it in the first category.

A cheap donor car. Minimal necessary mods. Maybe some light farm-proofing. And a hard rule that anything fancy is earned, not bought.

4) How not to botch the tree farm tax advantages?

Ah yes. The adult voice clearing its throat. “No tree-cutting!”

If you’ve got a working tree farm, you don’t want to do something that makes the whole operation look like you built an amusement park and called it “silviculture.” (Unless you can sell it, to the tax guys, of course…)

So the track concept has to be… how shall we say… compatible with the land use story.

  • Maybe it’s a “maintenance access loop.”
  • Maybe it’s “firebreak and inspection path improvements.”
  • Maybe it’s “erosion control grading” that happens to include a nice sweeping left-hander.
  • High-speed emergency medical pathing?

I’m not an accountant and I’m not your lawyer, (but I drove by a Holiday Inn a while back) but I’ve learned the same thing everyone learns eventually:

The IRS does not appreciate your sense of fun.

5) How to get the fun without the death?

This is the core problem.

Speed is addictive. But the older you get, the less interested you become in “finding out.”

So you want speed managed by design.

That means:

  • low center of gravity,
  • predictable handling,
  • nothing top-heavy,
  • and “fast enough” without “fast enough to permanently alter your family’s plans.”

Which is why I started thinking less “RX-7” and more “pit car.” Something you can gut, simplify, hose out, and still start every time.

And then the brain did what brains do when they sense a new rabbit hole:

Recycled Racing

I checked and noticed RecycledRacing.org is available. Now we’re in dangerous territory. MBA meets testosterone.  Because once you name a thing, you’ve halfway built it.  You have sketched a deliverable.

Hmm. I got to thinking: what if there were a DIY ShopTalk kind of racing concept where the rules are brutally simple:

  • 100% built by the owner-driver
  • no buying “turnkey fast”
  • either off-the-shelf parts installed and integrated by you, or fabricated by you
  • and the whole point isn’t trophy-chasing… it’s recycling speed out of the scrap stream

Because there’s something deeply satisfying about taking the cheapest used light import you can find—Geo Metro, old Corolla, whatever “runs and stops”—and turning it into a pit car that makes you laugh like you’re 17 again.

Electric start. Cheap tires. No upholstery to cry over. Not a museum piece. A machine designed for one job: safe-ish joy.  Good belts, full helmet. Extinguisher. But not on a public road or track.

And yes, “safe-ish” is a technical term. It means:

you can get sideways,

  • you can giggle,
  • you can learn,
  • and you can go back to the house with the same number of bones you started with. No ER visits.

Now, I’m not saying I’m going to do this. I’m just saying the mind is reeling. I’ve been on an ice boat.  SHEEE-it! FTF (Faster Than …uh…Flurries).  You butt 6-inches off the ice.  And on two points – like a Hobie Cat trying to get air?  (Also fun, BTW. BYOT – bring your own trapeze.)

Why the fixation?  Either from possibility… or from the cold that blew in this weekend and froze my common sense in the “off” position.

But I’ll tell you what’s funny: a winter storm watch makes you think about workflows and preparedness. And speed—real speed—also requires workflows and preparedness. Same mental discipline. Same “checklist brain.” Same respect for physics.

Which is why the whole idea might actually be a Time-Engineering lesson wearing a ShopTalk Sunday hat:

On Speed and Aging – the Truth?

If you want to have fun without getting hurt, you don’t add adrenaline. You add process.

So for now, the zip line can wait (it’s only good downhill anyway and besides we were in the teens last night.  And the RX-7 thought can sit on the workbench for a bit.

It’s an idea – a possible deliverable – a series of engineering notions – doable.  But with Hour A Day Gardening, two books to finish, and ham radio projects galore?

Before the storm, though, I got the railing on the deck…so tick-mark on that one.

But if you hear a distant engine note coming from down by the creek of a tree farm in the Texas deep woods one of these weekends… and you see a mysterious new “inspection loop” that happens to have a gorgeous straightaway and maybe a ramp where just at the right speed you could grab some air going into a turn?

Well. Let’s just say at that point, you could rest assured the process workflow delivered.

Triple-Clutching – is there such a thing?

Yes.,  On a track: They mean you’re doing two separate rev-matches while braking hard.
Example: you’re going 4th ? 3rd ? 2nd quickly. Each downshift is its own double-clutch (or rev-match), and people will say “triple-clutched it” meaning “worked the clutch a bunch,” not one distinct formal technique.

OK, why triple-clutch?  Storm bound shorthand for three things to mention.  Namely you might have time to read my “projects” websites which Peoplenomics subscriptions underwrite:

For those interested in AL:  Beyond the “Mind Amplifiers” Book – Hidden Guild

Gardening: 5 Core Concepts to Hour-a-Day Gardening – Hour a Day Gardening!

And on Getting the most out of Time: The Daily Hamster – Time Engineering

Write when it’s “not so chill,”

George@Ure.net

45 thoughts on “ShopTalk Sunday: Speed Freak Winter”

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  1. Speed kills!

    Canned Heat – “Amphetamine Annie”

    This is a song with a message
    I want you to heed my warnin’

    I wanna tell you all a story
    About this chick I know
    They call her “Amphetamine Annie”
    She’s always shovelin’ snow
    I sat her down and told her
    I told her crystal clear
    “I don’t mind you gettin’ high
    But there’s one thing you should fear
    Your mind might think it’s flyin’, baby
    On those little pills
    But you ought to know it’s dyin, ’cause
    Speed kills!

    But Annie kept on speedin’
    Her health was gettin’ poor
    She saw things in the window
    She heard things at the door
    Her mind was like a grindin’ mill
    Her lips were cracked and sore
    Her skin was turnin’ yellow
    I just couldn’t take it no more
    She thought her mind was flyin’, yeah
    On those little pills
    She didn’t know it was goin’ down fast ’cause
    Speed kills!

    https://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/cannedheat/amphetamineannie.html

      • re: Speed + Ice = cop shop
        feat: jiu-jitsu slow cooker to dining car

        The following are simply a series of coincidences. The summer of 1879 saw the World Tour of former U.S. President Grant reach Japan. On August 5th, the founder of Japan’s first bank, Eiichi Shibusawa, arranged a jiu-jitsu (“gentle technique”) martial arts display for the visiting General. The current day Japanese bank holding company descendent, Mizuho (“Harvest”), is one of Japan’s larger mega-banks with assets of around $2 trillion. Nowadays Eiichi Shibusawa appears on the ¥10,000 banknote and General Grant on the US$50.

        The Hispanic community of LA is served by an English-Spanish digital media outlet called “Parriva” (perhaps translating colloquially as “rising voices”?). They noted the recent surrender of alleged Canadian drug kingpin Ryan Wedding at the US embassy in Mexico City. Apparently his cartel bodyguard protection melted away. There was no mention of any memo from Venezuela.

        Subsequently following the second Twin Cities ICE killing this time of an ICU nurse Local 3669 union member, “Parrivo” published a report about ICE’s social media monitoring contract with Hootsuite (parent to AI-driven subsidiary Talkwalker?) Here’s a link to the City of Vancouver webpage soon to be accepting feedback on plans of converting an office building and underground parkade into an AI data centre.

        https://www.shapeyourcity.ca/111-e-5

        The address has most recently housed the global headquarters of Hootsuite. According to ChatGPT, the company’s alleged New York address (not on their website) is now at Tower 49 in New York. Tower 49 has been owned and operated since 1986 by a privately held Japanese family firm founded on April 8, 1945. Their headquarters are situated in a southern suburb of Nagoya next door to a Suda (“essential rice field”?) motorcycle dealer.

        Time to join DJ George playing a request for Foreigner flashbacks from 1977 at the following Youtube link. Apparently Union Pacific Pullman dining car 369 entered service in 1921 on first class routes. By 1950’s retirement, it operated local routes as car 3669. Tourists, birthday celebrants and rock bands can find it at an LA museum. Let’s skip right to “party time” at the 1m09s mark of “Cold as Ice”:

        https://youtu.be/ySb1f9zWJkQ&t=1m09s

        https://youtu.be/ySb1f9zWJkQ&t=2m34s

  2. Vanishing Point (1971)

    On Sunday morning, California police, who have been tracking Kowalski’s movements, set up a roadblock with two bulldozers in the small town of Cisco, which Kowalski will be passing through. A small crowd gathers, some with cameras. Kowalski approaches at high speed; failing to slow down, he smiles as he crashes into the bulldozers, destroying the car in an explosion. As firemen work to put out the flames, the crowd slowly disperses.

    Vanishing Point (1971) – ending clip – YouTube

    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=bOb2BqiGZGA

  5. Speed Racer cartoon…

    Here he comes
    Here comes Speed Racer
    He’s a demon on wheels
    He’s a demon and he’s gonna be chasin’ after someone.

    He’s gainin’ on you so you better look alive.
    He’s busy revvin’ up a powerful Mach 5.
    And when the odds are against him
    And there’s dangerous work to do

    You bet your life Speed Racer
    Will see it through.
    Go Speed Racer! Go Speed Racer! Go Speed Racer, Go!

    He’s off and flyin’ as he guns the car around the track
    He’s jammin’ down the pedal like he’s never comin’ back
    Adventure’s waitin’ just ahead.
    Go Speed Racer! Go Speed Racer! Go Speed Racer, Go!

    Speed Racer – Intro (1967) Theme

    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=jvc11BYryk0&pp=ygUZU3BlZWQgUmFjZXIgY2FydG9vbiBpbnRybw%3D%3D

  6. Had a go cart when I was a kid. Ran it on dirt. Learned to do post-traction manuevers on it long before I heard the term. Got other things to do now.
    Risk/reward is high; ROI is negative.
    Further, being an adrenaline junky is bad for BP. Take up meditating on electromagnetic phonemena or someting, and stay out of the weather. Ohmmmmmmmm…….

  8. Speed on ice…lol lol lol…
    I can say the kids give me he’ll all the time..I’m the go at a comfortable rate look loo driver.. and it drives them nuts..if the speed limit is 80 I drive sixty five..one day my older mini me was riding with me and his parents swipe by me.. he seen them driving fast and he simply sad..grandpa the speed limit is eighty.. I said..ho eh it could say a hundred and sixty and I’d still drive sixty five..he said they’ll be there and already sitting in the bleachers..honey if we were driving across the country or going to the moon you’d be right in..BUT we are only going a short distance..sixty miles at sixty miles an hour and we would be there in one hour if they are driving eighty…. it would roughly be forty five minutes to drive twenty miles at eighty your looking at fifteen minutes and at sixty five Eighteen minutes you can bet they will just be pulling into the parking spot when we get in there and they burned more fuel took a chance on getting a speeding ticket for a few seconds of time.. while I’m driving comfortably..If your in an accident the kinetics is what kills.if you increase speed by 20%, crash energy goes up by 44%.If you increase speed by 30%, crash energy goes up by 69%…so taking your time enjoying the ride..you will benefit with less chances of dying in an accident and your only wasting a few seconds of time..as we pulled into the parking lot..they were just parking..we both existed the cars at the same time..lol lol lol

    That’s why speed is so dangerous.

    • Nein, nein, nein .

      “Faster, faster till the thrill of speed overcomes the fear of Death”-H S Thompson.

      Wrrrrong !
      The big Fig Newton is Ure friend when comes to Speed. Yes I always feel the need for Speed. Go fast or dont go at all is usually my motto. But lettuce not forget the basics..An Object in Motion tends to stay in Motion at a constant speed in a straight line, unless acted upon by an outside force..this bee Newtons 1st law of motion.

      Down here in Central America/3rdworld – I drive slow as molasses – smoke a bone prior to and just drive on the hard right so the wackadoodle do’s can fly on by – I usually wave to em as they pass..and when I pass their pulled over/crashed asses.
      I learned this driving philosophy from a famous Nicaraguan Artist residing in Belize. Toke & Go.
      Which would have saved BCP countless hours of stress during working years, as I suffered from the Road Rage Disease for a couple years before being introduced to Dr. Yan Xin and Yan Xin 9 Step Child Longevity QiGong practice.

      Baack on East coast, my black 2010 Frontier(dailydriver) has banged up drinker side rear fender over wheel wheel – I just spray painted it with black undercoating – looks great. Not the cripest looking vehicle on the road. The thing is in County (wealthiest in State) everyone drives fancy cars, and they have absolutely NO Desire to trade paint with Moi..I have tried.. ; )

      • translabot : a PSA, for those wondering, the “drinker” side is automobile front seat without steering wheel. With wheel is the *driver* side who is presumably _not_ dronking. Egor

  9. (How to get the fun without the death?
    This is the core problem.
    Speed is addictive. But the older you get, the less interested you become in “finding out.”
    So you want speed managed by design.”)

    ok..speed and being tired..or drunk.. my daughter was coming home after work.. she sees a lump in the road assuming it was a deer she gets out..that’s when she sees the car that had flipped end over end..the guy was driving what they estimated 110 miles an hour hit a culvert that sent the car flipping at the end he was ejected from the car first hitting the pavement with his feet shot in the leg up and out through his abdomen.. his intestines laying on the avement..then hit his head..she called flight for life..they hauled his mangled body in..he was still alive.. she calls me at work saying they won’t talk to her on his condition because of hippa.
    will you check on him..I walk into the ward.. everyone working even the doctor and surgeons.. had walked the halls with me..including the flight for life crew.. they tell me the extent of his injuries..it was the worst they had ever seen..put him into a chemical induced coma..he walked out of there a few months later..
    an executive..got up to get a cup of coffee..you g to sit down in his chair..missed the chair hitting his head on the edge of his desk..he died..
    A young woman that crossed my path was hit by an elderly woman .. the emergency team showed up thinking she was dead..working on the child that the mom was taking to school..when they seen her breath..saved her..her employer wasn’t forgiving and she hit the skids..I had seen the photos of the accident from the emergency crew before she crossed my path..and when she was venting she showed me the photos..what are the odds..I took it as a sign from god and helped her get on her feet six months later she was able to stand on her own two feet..we still visit once in A great while like every couple years..
    last year I was at a stop sign some running a stop light ..yellow means go faster hit a team flipping it..a bunch of us got out and assisted in getting the people out of the van..no..going fast is not fun keep it to the zip lines..old people speed up ..I always assumed it was the what the help I’m almost there already so why not..

  10. You’re planning on building a fish pond/ water reserve for fire. Build your track around the pond or to the pond through the woods.

    How much snow or ice did you get?

  11. So where is the TX “Uretopia” weather report? I was looking to see how much weather you had gotten and how everything was going. Maybe post an update in the comments later today?

  12. There will be no dawn for men — Saruman, The Two Towers

    To war? Let’s not. Anywhere, including and especially here, hey?

    No ShopTalk to speak of, still on Survival speak. It’s a sizzling 11F here, steady snow, added 4-5″ overnight (or, since last I shoveled?). Double digits on the plus side are vastly better than 9+ on the negative side (>-9). This, plowing through the WX wave, is easily doable providing power stays on. That’s when plan B kicks in. Not pretty but better than C (since we only have B).

    Our waterfront is all glass so mostly closed off. Were we to lose power the fiber stays on through Coop provided battery pack for 4-5 hours. I probably have 2 hours of firewood inside and 10-12 hours in the garage. There’s at least a cord across the road under cover but … if living on a (highly efficient) fireplace I will abandon heating 40% of what’s still heated.

    Wind is rocking snow-nados as I write.
    Warmth is life. Get you some.
    Always, Egor __/)_______

    • Finally fired up the fireplace for the first time since moving to the new ranch. 11 degrees with 9 or 10 inches of snow this morning. Plowed the drive over to the green house and dug out around the door. Then it was an hour checking everything and replacing batteries in the temp sensors. 1 degrees outside vs a scorching 52 degrees in there. Then a quick ride across the tundra to check the cattle at their winter residence in the timber. Didn’t get stuck or attempt any power slides since it’s a long walk back to the ranch in the event of an accident. All is well there. The rest of the day will be sitting in front of said fireplace contemplating how much firewood it is burning. Diana asked how much snow did I think we have. I said about 8 inches, I checked. She called me a sicko and went to start dinner.
      Stay safe.

  13. Sanded roadway to increase friction coefficient, as ice has about a zero coefficient, like currency Bro fromunda has zero clue as to Value.

    All about that on going Debasement Trade?..And hear all along youse all thought is all about that bass.,”a little moar booty, please” -https://youtu.be/7PCkvCPvDXk?

    What Lenny does in his basement is none of my business, nor are his fevered prognostications regards USD. I just wanna know what and where Who is, as he apparently is no longer on first base, let alone second in command Chynah.
    Sorry for the digression – whacko in the western Packo aside, here in central america, Belize to be specific – we know how to Sand a Road.

    See look here for deets-https://www.sanpedrosun.com/accidents-and-disasters/2026/01/20/police-investigate-fatal-motorcycle-crash-involving-roadway-obstruction/

    Why no questions, inquiries Tokens and Tokenization ? Are you all going to Ostrich this new era in finance like youse all did Cyrpto ? Youse no wanna get in on ground floor..cause we be going up.

    You KNOW – thats right, KNOW, that SOFTWARE Will eat the world eventually.
    Knowing this already you all still went Cleopatra and claimed De Nile regards Tokens. Tokens = Purity in Collateral repo terms. Everything in will be tokenized soonly enough.

    So denying PURITY – hmmmmmm, we wonders my Precious, we wonders..

    Guess f-ing WhistlePig Day is back with a vengeance, rinse -lather – repeat and cue the Clover, Grass and lil tree bark..yum!

  14. I got going 147 miles an hour in a 1986 Corvette, it felt like it was about to fly off the ground if it had wings, around 1993 or so…

  16. Here’s one from back in my day. Hot Rod Lincoln.

    https://www.bing.com/videos/riverview/relatedvideo?q=hot+rod+lincoln+song&&mid=35DF617112CA289DDBCC35DF617112CA289DDBCC&vi=eyJuIjoiSG90IFJvZCBMaW5jb2xuOiBMaXZlIFZlcnNpb25zIiwicyI6IllvdVR1YmUiLCJjIjoiZGp0cm9rIiwidiI6IjEuMU0gdmlld3MiLCJwIjoiSmFuIDEwLCAyMDEyIiwidmVtIjp7ImVtYmVkVHlwZSI6IklGcmFtZSIsImFsbG93RW1iZWQiOnRydWUsImFsbG93SHR0cHNFbWJlZCI6dHJ1ZSwiYWxsb3dNb2JpbGVFbWJlZCI6dHJ1ZSwiZW1iZWRIdG1sIjoiPGlmcmFtZSB3aWR0aD1cIjEyODBcIiBoZWlnaHQ9XCI3MjBcIiBzcmM9XCJodHRwczovL3d3dy55b3V0dWJlLmNvbS9lbWJlZC9UbDAzOEdrWWhqVT9hdXRvcGxheT0xXCIgZnJhbWVib3JkZXI9XCIwXCIgYWxsb3dmdWxsc2NyZWVuPjwvaWZyYW1lPiJ9LCJoIjo0ODAsInciOjY0MH0&mmscn=vdct&plid=c081ecbc324ad0ca85869bab73f441bf&FORM=VAMGZC

  18. While y’all are complaining about snowfall, we had ‘lavafall’ here yesterday. Kilauea volcano blew off episode #41 with 1,000+ ft. spray fountains of lava yesterday. But the wind was different. Normal tradewind days the volcano output drifts SW into the Kau desert. Yesterday we had higher elevation westerly winds that carried the tephra (look it up) back over the civilized area and rained ‘Pele’s Hair’ (fiberglass) and glass-sponge lava chunks on us. They closed 10 miles of highway past the volcano park due to ash fall.
    I am 30 miles away, yet I was seeing this junk falling on my car. Stayed indoors as this glass shard pollution is nasty on the skin also. Today we blow off and hose off the cars… with NO rubbing! Pumice is abrasive.

    • Pumice – the only material known to mankind that not only floats, but it also Grates away that hardened, tough dead skin that accumulates on bottom of feet/heals, due we modern hairless Apes dont go unshod anymore.

      Like a HoofGP in a lightwieght, floaty rock..
      HoofGP-https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2c5msfYzAsk&pp=ygULdGhlIGhvb2YgZ3A%3D

  19. January 24, 2026
    The United States is planning to inject $1.6 billion into Oklahoma-based miner USA Rare Earth and will receive a 10% stake in the company, the Financial Times reported on Saturday, citing people familiar with the matter.

    USA Rare Earth, Inc. (USAR): $24.77 (January 23, 2026 close)

    I’m expecting a run on USA Rare Earth, Inc. (USAR) similar to MP Materials Corp. (MP).

    July 10, 2025
    The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) announced a multibillion-dollar public-private partnership with MP Materials. Part of that agreement included the DoD purchasing about $400 million of preferred stock in MP Materials, with warrants to buy more shares — a move that made the U.S. the company’s largest shareholder on an as-converted basis (about 15%).

    MP Materials Corp. (MP):
    $45.23 (July 10, 2025 close)
    $100.25 (Oct 14, 2025 high)

    Not financial advice.

    • The government owning companies …. isn’t that socialism, but with at least a capitalized “S”? As in “Socialism”).

      Umm …. a demand by parts of the populous for outright Communism usually is not far behind. OMG … what they apparently are proposing for NYC!! It is happening right here right now!! “Praise be to Marx!!” the crowds are already chanting

  20. For me, it was a lifetime of sailing speed. Chasing Crossbow record at Weymouth in 1983 led to the first World record, 30.82 kts. Windsurfing. Imagine. Then it was a year after year hunt for every level more, always including personal testing of equipment at Maui’s high wind offshore spot. There’s nothing like going almost forty knots on a 12″ wide board with almost no chop. Then we broke forty and after that it wasn’t long to fifty. Now guys regularly do over fifty on a canal in Namibia where the angle is right and it blows stink. Tops is over 55. Dangerous to fall. Breaks shit. Sail Rocket, a specialist sailing craft has gone near 70.
    Sailing speed. Nothing like it.
    The current craft has hit 17 surfing in 25+ kts and ocean swell. 10-11 is more comfy feeling for us old farts though.
    Still have a few aches and pains from doing the too fasts while younger and more stupid.
    Today is about 35C and good to go.
    Stiks

    • [for the viewers at home, Stiks is *speaking* uber sailing speed ^ there]

      Chasing Crossbow record at Weymouth in 1983 led to the first World record, 30.82 kts.

      British Pathe is home to a most impressive set of records and videos
      https://www.britishpathe.com/asset/130449/

      Now, America’s Cup _and_ SailGP yachts have closing individual closing speeds of over 50 mph. Each

      IcemanEgor
      __/)________

  21. We have a 2 person gkart that does okay. I haven’t driven it, but the teens love it. Btw, I think my little patch of tundra heaven got about 15 to 18 inches of snow. The jeep balks, but can make it through, even if the county hasn’t snow plowed out main road. We will not be testing the Jetta, Ford Focu, or my daughter’s old lady Cougar. (Not a typo on the Ford. We refer to this as my son’s FocU car as he has made bad choices in the not too distant past. It’s our way of reminding him, lol!)

  23. Lee (little Big Al) was tail ended on the way to work and the Mustang Ecoboost was totaled.
    So He is driving car number two, left to him by the room mate that had a stroke. An RX-8. He said he is actually enjoying it, but it is a finicky thing, very easy to “flood” and when a Wankel floods it is a pull all the plugs out nightmare. Good thing he’s a master mechanic and one of the only people in Birmingham that knows how to work on it.
    I can tell you from experience that a Wankel Rotary RX-8 is not a dirt track car.
    How big a track?
    I grew up going to Friday Night races at 1/4 Mile dirt track ovals.
    The cars in the middle late 1960s were mostly Willy’s and 1940s Fords stuffed with 392 Hemis with GMC 6-71 blowers on top. On a drag strip these were called “gassers” but on a 1/4 mile bowl they were very quick, tail all the way out LOUD. The semi pro stockers were more late model, big V8 Sedans. All gutted, water pipe roll cages, and fitted with large hand grooved slicks on the outside and smaller narrower tires on the inside.
    As Doc Hudson told the racer, “remember to go left you gotta turn Right!”
    (A great final Paul Newman role.)
    If you have a tractor with a blade in front and a clearing about a furlong on a side, you should be able to push out an oval. The straight’s will be 250-300 feet long and separated by corners 115-130 foot diameter.
    You can start with flat corners and over time the cars will bank them for you with the dirt dug out of the inside and thrown up to the outside. Your pit will be the grassy spot between the straights.
    One of the local tracks remaining in the late 1990 had a class for 4 cylinder Fox Bodied Mustangs and Early 1980s Toyota Corollas. These were the last of the front engine rear drive Corollas with the 2TC and 3TC 4 cylinder Hemi engines. Anna had one and the local racers were always trying to buy it. But if it were my track and I could find one, Well, I would want the first car I and Art have any memories of riding in.
    My Dads Twin H Power (2 carb) Hudson Hornet 6!
    Remember, to go left, Turn Right!

  25. No one connecting the dots??

    “WAR ZONE’: Storm chaser describes impact of winter ice storm in Mississippi”

    ICE storms taking out power in CONUS. ‘Pele’s Hair’ (fiberglass) and glass-sponge lava chunks raining down in Hawaii (reported by Hank).

    Signs…………….

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