XCR1250

What's a "Dyson sucky sucky wand"?

https://www.businessinsider.com/us-buys-81-soviet-fighter-jets-from-russian-ally-20k-2024-4 US buys 81 Soviet-era combat aircraft from Russia's ally costing on average less than $20,000 each, report says

If someone gave me an EV for free I'd cut it up for the junk they are.

They do buy Junk so I imagine they will buy all the EV's they can for scrap.

Wonder how much an Auto Salvage yard will buy it for?

Body shop on CTH B here took all the dents out of another truck I had for $100 while I went across the road to Subway, he then came to pick me up at Subway, paintless dent repair.

We do burn oil in our firering to keep the stumps burning that we are trying to get rid of.

Rob's Auto Body in Radisson, Wi.

We still burn our garbage.

Not here, had lots of rust repair and painted on a 2007 Avalanche we wanted to sell, was only $850, a year ago.

Shocker From Top Conservative Judge: Trump Likely To Skate Completely Greg Sargent Sat, April 27, 2024 at 5:00 AM CDT·4 min read 512 “I’m profoundly disturbed about the apparent direction of the court,” J. Michael Luttig told me. “I now believe that it is unlikely Trump will ever be tried for the crimes he committed in attempting to overturn the 2020 election.” I called Luttig, a former federal judge with extensive conservative credentials, to solicit his reaction to this week’s Supreme Court hearing over Donald Trump’s demand for absolute immunity from prosecution for any crimes related to his insurrection attempt. On Thursday, Luttig posted a thread critiquing the right-wing justices for their apparent openness to Trump’s arguments—but that thread was legalistic and formal, so I figured Luttig had a lot more to say. And did he ever. Luttig lacerated the right-wing justices for harboring a “radical vision” of the American presidency, and pronounced himself “gravely” worried that Trump will never face accountability for alleged crimes committed in attempting to destroy U.S. democracy through extensive procedural corruption and the naked incitement of mob violence. Luttig’s fear that Trump may very well skate centers on the lines of questioning from the court’s right-wing majority about Special Counsel Jack Smith’s ongoing prosecution of Trump. As many observers noted, those justices appeared largely uninterested in the question before them—whether Trump’s alleged crimes related to the insurrection constituted official presidential acts that are immune from prosecution after leaving office. Instead, the justices dwelled on the supposed future consequences of prosecuting presidents for crimes, and seemed to want to place some limits on that eventuality. That suggests the justices will kick the case back to lower courts to determine whether some definition of official presidential acts must be protected (and whether Trump’s specific acts qualify). Such a move would almost certainly push Trump’s trial until after the election, and if he wins, he can simply cancel prosecutions of himself. Luttig fears that outcome. But he also worries that even if Trump loses the election, there may well be five Supreme Court votes for siding with Trump’s demand for immunity. Both outcomes would functionally end his prosecution. “I believe it is now likely either that Trump will get elected and instruct his attorney general to drop the charges, or that the Supreme Court will grant him immunity from prosecution,” Luttig told me. To be sure, some observers think that in the end, five justices will not grant Trump that immunity. In this scenario, a conservative majority could remand the case to lower courts to define official presidential acts that cannot be prosecuted, even as some combination of five or more justices later rules that Trump’s specific actions are still subject to prosecution. But Luttig fears that this may be overly optimistic. Luttig pointed out that even Chief Justice John Roberts seemed to express some sympathy for the general idea that official presidential acts should be immune from prosecution. He also noted that Justice Brett Kavanaugh praised the pardon of Richard Nixon, and that Justice Neil Gorsuch said that if presidents can be prosecuted, they might pardon themselves before leaving office to protect themselves, which Gorsuch suggested might be legitimate. Take all that together, Luttig said, and it’s not hard to see how five right-wing justices could let Trump off. Some could declare that Trump’s actions related to Jan. 6 (the pressure on his vice president to subvert the electoral count and on the Justice Department to create a fake pretext for that) constitute official acts immune from prosecution. Others might hold that the statutes Trump allegedly violated don’t offer a clear statement that they apply to presidents, Luttig said. Either way, Trump has already gotten much of what he wants with the all-but-certain delay. And the lines of questioning from the right-wing justices are already deeply alarming, Luttig argued. Justice Samuel Alito, for instance, declared that if presidents must fear prosecution after leaving office, they might prove more prone to resisting the transfer of power, destabilizing the country. That’s preposterous, as The New Republic’s Michael Tomasky noted, since there’s never been a bar on post-presidential prosecution throughout U.S. history, yet the only president to aggressively resist that transfer is Donald Trump himself. What’s more, as Dahlia Lithwick and Mark Joseph Stern point out at Slate, the notion also seems to suggest, absurdly, that giving presidents free rein to commit crimes in office, including attempting to destroy democracy at its very foundations, is essential to maintaining democratic stability. One might add that when the justices ruled that Trump’s insurrection does not disqualify him from the ballot, they told us that this, too, was necessary to avoid national destabilization. Mysteriously enough, a key ingredient for achieving political stability always seems to involve not holding Trump accountable. “The conservative justices’ argument for immunity assumes that Jack Smith’s prosecution of Trump is politically corrupt and seeks a rule that would prevent future presidents from corruptly prosecuting their predecessors,” Luttig said. “But such a rule would license all future presidents to commit crimes against the United States while in office with impunity,” Luttig concluded. “Which is exactly what Trump is arguing he’s entitled to do.”

$6,000 to paint a Pickup truck?? I had 1 of mine painted for $800 and another for $1,300 including some rusty body work.

What an idiot.

Hate those things. Wife can go into anaphylactic shock if she gets stung, has to carry an Epipen.

Tesla cars have a few biggest problems that make them less than perfect. If you're considering buying one, read on to find out about the 15 major issues Tesla cars have. 1. They have a poor build quality Tesla cars have a lot of problems with their build quality. The interiors are designed well, but the materials used to make them are often low-quality, which causes a lot of issues down the road. Even some of the exterior parts of Tesla cars wear out after only a few months. If tesla cars were of good quality there would be no issues of bolts rusting off, fuses sticking out, or paint peeling off. However, not everything on tesla is of poor quality. The roof and the body panels are all made from high-quality materials, and their interiors are nice as well. 2. They are expensive to maintain The batteries on tesla cars have to be taken care of to keep them running, but the repairs that you have to do can cost you a lot the maintenance costs on tesla cars are more than any car, and they are more expensive than the maintenance costs of other electric cars as well. If you compare it up to other cars that use gas, their cost is still high. They also have unnecessary repairs needed, like fixing a computer or replacing parts that are not broken. Tesla cars are great when they work, but if you want to get them fixed right away, they can be expensive. The average maintenance cost of a tesla is around $1100 a year, which is much more than most other cars out there. RELATED: Why Is Insurance For Tesla So Expensive? 3. Replacing the batteries is a hassle There's a big problem with the batteries in Tesla cars. They have long warranties which say they will last for 8 years, but after that warranty runs out the batteries can cost thousands of dollars to replace. The main issue with replacing the batteries is that you cannot remove them from your car yourself. Additionally, you have to go direct to Tesla to get the right type of battery. The main types of batteries are lithium and nickel-metal hydride. You cannot replace these batteries yourself with a traditional model. RELATED: How Much Does It Cost To Replace The Battery In A Tesla? 4. Tesla cars have issues with autopilot features The self-driving features on tesla cars are great. They can steer, accelerate and decelerate without any human assistance, but they also have a lot of driver-related problems. The sensors are supposed to be able to detect pedestrians, signs, and other vehicles, but they can't do that well all the time. It is impossible to detect every little thing out there, but tesla cars don't even register some things that other cars should. When it does work, the autopilot feature is awesome, but it can be dangerous when it does not work. RELATED: The 8 Leading Companies In Self-Driving Cars of 2022 5. Lacks a towing capacity If you plan on towing anything with your tesla car. prepare yourself for the worst. Tesla cars do not have a towing capacity of 2,500 pounds like other cars, which makes them much less comfortable to tow with. Many others can tow up to 8,000 pounds without issues, but tesla cannot handle that. It will limit you on what you can do, as well as how you can use your car. Also, if you want to pull a boat or trailer of any kind, tesla cars are high-tech, and coming off the road for long periods can cause problems. RELATED: The 7 Best SUVs for Towing 2020 6. More Rattling in the suspension Tesla cars have a lot of problems with the suspension system. It is supposed to last a long time, and it could be, but that's not true for all Tesla cars. There are many different types of vehicles out there, and not all Tesla cars have the same suspensions. It makes it hard for them to handle bumps on the road and decreases their overall lifespan. Bumps do something that shocks tesla cars more than other cars. The shocks are not made to handle the way tesla cars' suspension handles bumps, which often ruins their suspension. It can start to rattle and shake in the front of the car and it can be very annoying. 7. The power steer fails occasionally Tesla cars have an electric power steering system that makes them feel like they are sports cars, but it will fail sometimes. It's not a problem most days, but if you're involved in an accident the power steering can make your car feel like it's going to fall off the road. There are also reports of other drivers seeing the power steer system going in and out of sync while driving which can be dangerous. While turning, you can feel the steering take a few seconds to respond, and it makes driving a little less enjoyable. 8. Frequent wear of tires This may seem like a problem that many cars have, but it is more of a problem with a Tesla car. They have tires that wear out too fast, and they think that the problem is with the tires themselves. They claim the tires have uneven tread on both sides of the tire, but this isn't what's causing the problems. The wheels are not perfectly aligned to their center axis, and it makes the tire wear out much faster than it should. Also, if you have a tesla car that has a lot of miles on it. The tires will likely wear out. Buying new tires can make your car a lot safer, and it will increase the life of your tesla car. 9. Lacks car dealership support If you ever have problems with your tesla car, you will be on your own. Tesla cars do not have a traditional dealership support system, and they are all independent of each other. Many people rely on their car dealerships to fix problems and help them choose the right car for their needs. If your local tesla dealer is the only one around, then you're out of luck. You can go to other dealerships, but it might be harder for you to find the kind of car you want. If you're looking at purchasing a traditional car. then you should look into the dealership system and make sure that it works for you. 10. Stereotypical customer service Tesla cars are pretty much new. so they do not have a traditional customer service system. If you have a problem with your tesla car. you will be on your own. You could go to Tesla's website, but it's not like a traditional website where you can get help right away. Many people turn to forums and communities to help them with their problems when they're having issues with their tesla car or other vehicles. Having decent customer service would be a great addition to their cars, and it would help them earn more customers. 11. Problem with Touch screen Cruise Control Adjustment The main problem is that it is located on the center touchscreen and can be distracting. If you are paying attention to the road, you could end up in the wrong direction by mistake. The "clicking" sound that causes a lot of distraction also makes it hard to avoid traffic when you're merging onto a freeway. 12. Buggy updates Tesla is notorious for releasing new versions of their software, and they constantly release updates that fix bugs and improve the user experience. However. these updates are often buggy and might end up making the car worse than it was before they were installed. Tesla cars have had problems with their updates. Even though it was fixed in a few days, this kind of problem could happen again in the future. Besides. there have been cases where the update breaks the car's connectivity. These types of crashes can be avoided by getting an emergency battery pack. 13. Not good on snow Tesla cars are not good in the snow, since their tires are generally not good at moving through rough or slippery conditions. Tesla cars fall short when it comes to having enough power to climb steep hills or even to move through heavy snow storms. Tesla cars may not be as good at driving down icy roads, because they're designed to be less sensitive to cold weather than other vehicles. Also, their tires tend to stay much cleaner than those of other cars. The snow tracked by the Tesla car tires is better to meet and keep the car moving safely. 14. Cold Battery Degradation This is related to the 13th problem. Tesla experts claim that a cold battery can only travel for about 60 miles, which is almost half the distance compared to what it can travel in moderate temperatures. It makes Tesla cars not great for people who live in cold climates. Although the current produced by a cold battery is smaller, however, it still has a lot of energy in it This energy can be used to facilitate the lifting effect of an electromagnet. Hence, cold batteries are the most suitable for transmitting high voltage electricity through wires, but they do not help provide power to everyday objects like cars or homes due to their low power output and low output current. 15. Unreliable dashboard warning lights The dashboard warning lights are probably the most necessary feature of a car. It tells you when your oil pressure needs to be checked or when your tire pressure has inflated. In Tesla's case, the dashboard warning lights are unreliable. The online community has complained about how their meters go off randomly, which can be confusing for the driver because they don't know if it is real or fake. This problem creates a lot of unnecessary stress and seriously reduces the safety factor of Tesla cars. The Bottom Line Tesla cars are very cool and unique, but they are not the best car to buy. The big problem that Tesla owners have with their cars is the poor build quality, expensive maintenance, and they are no car dealership support for them... If you are looking to buy a Tesla car, then make sure you keep these problems in mind before you purchase it.

https://people.com/toddler-hears-monsters-in-bedroom-walls-over-50-000-bees-found-exclusive-8639105

Fact check: Biden repeats his claim that he ‘got arrested’ defending civil rights. There’s still no evidence for it DANIEL DALE Updated April 26, 2024 at 4:06 PM Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images President Joe Biden went on “The Howard Stern Show” on Friday and repeated his familiar story about the time he supposedly “got arrested” trying to defend the civil rights of Black Americans. As in the past, Biden told the story on Friday while recounting what his mother supposedly said while urging him to accept Barack Obama’s 2008 offer to be his running mate. His mom, he said, did not want him to turn down a man who was vying to become the first Black president. Biden told Stern: “She said, ‘Joey, let me — remember’ — true story, she said — ‘Remember when they were desegregating Lynnfield, the neighborhood … suburbia — and I told you — and there was a Black family moving in and there was — people were down there protesting; I told you not to go down there and you went down, remember that? And you got arrested standing on the porch with a Black family? And they brought you back, the police?’ And I said, ‘Yeah, Mom, I remember that.’” Facts First: There is no evidence Biden ever got arrested during a civil rights protest, as The Washington Post and PolitiFact found when they looked into this claim in 2022 — and Biden has at least twice told the story of his supposed presence at this particular Delaware protest without mentioning any arrest, instead claiming that the police merely took him home that day. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Friday. The Post noted that in the version of the story Biden told during a public conversation with Oprah Winfrey late in the 2020 presidential campaign, he said the police escorted him home from the protest because they thought he would get in trouble; he did not say they arrested him. The Post reported that he told Winfrey his mother said: “And there were people protesting and I told you not to go down there and you went down and the police brought you back because you were standing on the step with the Black family. You were standing with them. And the police brought you home because they thought you’d get in trouble.” He told Winfrey that he responded, “Yeah, Mom, I remember that.” As the Post and PolitiFact also noted, Biden’s 2017 memoir included an abbreviated version of the story about his mother’s 2008 comments urging him to accept Obama’s running mate offer, but it made no mention of an arrest. No other Biden memoir, either, says he was arrested at such a protest. The Post and PolitiFact did find that there were protests roughly matching Biden’s description in early 1959, when Biden was 16 years old, in communities not far from Biden’s home in Delaware. Crowds protested against a Black couple that had bought a home in a previously all-White community and against the realtor who sold it to them. But the Wilmington News Journal reported that the four teenagers arrested at the protest at the couple’s home were arrested for possessing fireworks — and that all seven of the arrests that day were of people in the anti-integration crowd outside the home. The newspaper reported that the police on scene were defending the home and the Black couple. It also quoted one member of the couple as saying, “Nobody’s behind us.” It’s impossible to definitively prove whether or not Biden was present at this protest or any similar protest 60-plus years ago. (Biden’s mother died in 2010.) Previous false claims Biden has made a series of false claims about his personal past in the last two weeks. They include the false claim that he “used to drive an 18-wheeler” and the false claim that he has never earned $400,000 in a year. And while running for president in 2020, Biden claimed he was “arrested” as a US senator as he tried to visit South African anti-apartheid icon Nelson Mandela while Mandela was imprisoned. After media outlets found no evidence of such an arrest, Biden told CNN that he had been “stopped” in South Africa but did not mean to say arrested.

Federal regulator finds Tesla Autopilot has 'critical safety gap' linked to hundreds of collisions ROB WILE AND LORA KOLODNY, CNBC Updated April 26, 2024 at 3:41 PM Federal authorities say a “critical safety gap” in Tesla’s Autopilot system contributed to at least 467 collisions, 13 resulting in fatalities and “many others” resulting in serious injuries. The findings come from a National Highway Traffic Safety Administration analysis of 956 crashes in which Tesla Autopilot was thought to have been in use. The results of the nearly three-year investigation were published Friday. Tesla’s Autopilot design has “led to foreseeable misuse and avoidable crashes,” the NHTSA report said. The system did not “sufficiently ensure driver attention and appropriate use.” NHTSA’s filing pointed to a “weak driver engagement system,” and Autopilot that stays switched on even when a driver isn’t paying adequate attention to the road or the driving task. The driver engagement system includes various prompts, including “nags” or chimes, that tell drivers to pay attention and keep their hands on the wheel, as well as in-cabin cameras that can detect when a driver is not looking at the road. According to the NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation data, 13 fatal collisions evaluated in the probe resulted in the deaths of 14 people. The agency also said it was opening a new probe into the effectiveness of a software update Tesla previously issued as part of a recall in December. That update was meant to fix Autopilot defects that NHTSA identified as part of this same investigation. The voluntary recall via an over-the-air software update covered 2 million Tesla vehicles in the U.S., and was supposed to specifically improve driver monitoring systems in Teslas equipped with Autopilot. NHTSA suggested in its report Friday that the software update was probably inadequate, since more crashes linked to Autopilot continue to be reported. In one recent example, a Tesla driver in Snohomish County, Washington, struck and killed a motorcyclist on April 19, according to records obtained by CNBC and NBC News. The driver told police he was using Autopilot at the time of the collision. The NHTSA findings are the most recent in a series of regulator and watchdog reports that have questioned the safety of Tesla’s Autopilot technology, which the company has promoted as a key differentiator from other car companies. On its website, Tesla says Autopilot is designed to reduce driver “workload” through advanced cruise control and automatic steering technology. Tesla has not issued a response to Friday’s NHTSA report and did not respond to a request for comment sent to Tesla’s press inbox, investor relations team and to the company’s vice president of vehicle engineering, Lars Moravy. Following the release of the NHTSA report, Sens. Edward J. Markey, D-Mass., and Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., issued a statement calling on federal regulators to require Tesla to restrict its Autopilot feature "to the roads it was designed for." On its Owner's Manual website, Tesla warns drivers not to operate the Autosteer function of Autopilot "in areas where bicyclists or pedestrians may be present," among a host of other warnings. "We urge the agency to take all necessary actions to prevent these vehicles from endangering lives,” the senators said. Earlier this month, Tesla settled a lawsuit from the family of Walter Huang, an Apple engineer and father of two, who died in a crash when his Tesla Model X with Autopilot features switched on hit a highway barrier. Tesla has sought to seal from public view the terms of the settlement. In the face of these events, Tesla and CEO Elon Musk signaled this week that they are betting the company’s future on autonomous driving. “If somebody doesn’t believe Tesla’s going to solve autonomy, I think they should not be an investor in the company,” Musk said on Tesla’s earnings call Tuesday. He added, “We will, and we are.” Musk has for years promised customers and shareholders that Tesla would be able to turn its existing cars into self-driving vehicles with a software update. However, the company only offers driver assistance systems and has not produced self-driving vehicles to date. He has also made safety claims about Tesla’s driver assistance systems without allowing third-party review of the company’s data. For example, in 2021, Elon Musk claimed in a post on social media, “Tesla with Autopilot engaged now approaching 10 times lower chance of accident than average vehicle.” Philip Koopman, an automotive safety researcher and Carnegie Mellon University associate professor of computer engineering, said he views Tesla’s marketing and claims as “autonowashing.” He also said in response to NHTSA’s report that he hopes Tesla will take the agency’s concerns seriously moving forward. “People are dying due to misplaced confidence in Tesla Autopilot capabilities. Even simple steps could improve safety,” Koopman said. “Tesla could automatically restrict Autopilot use to intended roads based on map data already in the vehicle. Tesla could improve monitoring so drivers can’t routinely become absorbed in their cellphones while Autopilot is in use.”

Ghana man hugs 1,123 trees in an hour for world record UPI Staff Fri, April 26, 2024 at 1:27 PM CDT·1 min read A Ghana man studying forestry in Alabama set a world record for most trees hugged in an hour when he hugged 1,123 trees at Tuskegee National Forest. Photo courtesy of Guinness World Records April 26 (UPI) -- A Ghana man studying forestry in Alabama set a world record for most trees hugged in an hour when he hugged 1,123 trees at Tuskegee National Forest. Abubakar Tahiru, 29, became interested in nature conservation while growing up in a farming community in Tepa, Ghana. He is pursuing a master's degree in forestry at Auburn University. The record attempt required that Tahiru wrap both of his arms around each tree in a close embrace without causing any damage to the trees. No tree could be hugged more than once, requiring Tahiru to move quickly between each hug. Tahiru was fasting for Ramadan at the time of his record attempt, which presented another challenge. "Not being able to drink water throughout the attempt posed a significant challenge, especially give the physical exertion required," he told Guinness World Records. "However, this also proved to be helpful in a way, as there was no need to pause for water breaks, allowing me to continue the attempt uninterrupted from start to finish." Averaging 19 trees per minute, Tahiru easily surpassed the minimum requirement of 700 trees to establish the record. The record raises awareness of the importance of trees and environmental conservation.

That worked, thanks.

Hmm, wonder what it could be????

This is all it shows: https://www.instagram.com/reel/C6NnEZYrYmY/

Do not have Instagram.

Wife works at Walmart, this is not the case here anyhow.

We had multiple truck farms in the area I lived in, many neighborhood kids worked at them every year including my sister.