From Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.misc

On 2026-03-17 08:05, c186282 wrote:

On 3/16/26 17:00, Carlos E.R. wrote:

On 2026-03-16 14:50, c186282 wrote:

On 3/16/26 09:05, The Natural Philosopher wrote:

On 16/03/2026 04:51, c186282 wrote:

I've explained why I won't go fiber - it would be THE
   excuse to zap my great old landline phone forever.

I bless the last day I ever had to have a carburettor in my daily
drive...

   Um ... I never had much trouble with carbs. Once
   in a great while you might have to replace the
   bowl gasket, but otherwise.

My R5 carburettor needed cleaning every oil change (every 10000Km). It
had a vent hole in its small gasoline reservoir, and dust entered that
way (my guess).

  FUEL FILTERS dude !!!

  Never had a car without one. Cut and added
  one if they didn't come with.

Nono. There was a fuel filter, periodically replaced.

Again, there was a vent hole, external air to the small gasoline
reservoir. Half a cm in diameter. With a rubber lid that closed the hole
when pressing the accelerator.

If I did not clean it, the iddle carburetor jet became blocked.

--
Cheers, Carlos.
ES🇪🇸, EU🇪🇺;
--- Synchronet 3.21d-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.misc

On 2026-03-17 01:47, Lawrence D’Oliveiro wrote:

On Tue, 17 Mar 2026 00:02:45 GMT, Charlie Gibbs wrote:

Rumour had it that the Pinto's gas tank would explode if rear-ended
...

No rumour. There was an actual lawsuit against Ford (which the victim
won). Among the evidence that was uncovered, it was revealed that
Ford’s executives knew there was a likelihood of a rear-end crash that could cause a fire leading to serious injury or death, but they
calculated that the expected cost of the lawsuits would be less than
the actual cost of fixing the problem.

The jury did not look kindly on that.

Also a running gag <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-Qj58o87sY>.

Who did that gag? :-D
--
Cheers, Carlos.
ES🇪🇸, EU🇪🇺;
--- Synchronet 3.21d-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.misc

On Tue, 17 Mar 2026 01:47:50 -0400, c186282 wrote:

But if I can find a '57 Chevy that's not all
bond-o and thick paint I'll buy it.

We had a '57 Chevy and it already had some Bondo around the headlights
when we traded it in on a '62 Rambler Classic. That left me with a
distaste for the entire Romney family. My father liked it because it had
15" wheels rather than the 14" other manufacturers were going to. And it
did have the handy bed option which didn't impress the parents of teenage girls.

My fave were the late 60s Fords and Chevys.
The 200ci Ford straight-6 was reliable and super easy to service.

I had a '62 Falcon Futura with the straight-6. I don't name things but I referred to it as the Thunderchicken since it looked like a scale model T- Bird, black vinyl roof and all. It must have had some Jeep DNA since it
would go anywhere. My next Ford was a '73 Mustang that was baffled by an
inch of snow.
--- Synchronet 3.21d-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.misc

On 2026-03-17, Lawrence D’Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> wrote:

On Tue, 17 Mar 2026 00:02:45 GMT, Charlie Gibbs wrote:

Rumour had it that the Pinto's gas tank would explode if rear-ended
...

No rumour. There was an actual lawsuit against Ford (which the victim
won). Among the evidence that was uncovered, it was revealed that
Ford’s executives knew there was a likelihood of a rear-end crash that could cause a fire leading to serious injury or death, but they
calculated that the expected cost of the lawsuits would be less than
the actual cost of fixing the problem.

The jury did not look kindly on that.

Also a running gag <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-Qj58o87sY>.

Good one. :-)
--
/~\ Charlie Gibbs | Growth for the sake of
\ / <cgibbs@kltpzyxm.invalid> | growth is the ideology
X I'm really at ac.dekanfrus | of the cancer cell.
/ \ if you read it the right way. | -- Edward Abbey
--- Synchronet 3.21d-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.misc

On 2026-03-17, The Natural Philosopher <tnp@invalid.invalid> wrote:

On 17/03/2026 06:10, rbowman wrote:

On Tue, 17 Mar 2026 00:47:05 -0000 (UTC), Lawrence D’Oliveiro wrote:

On Tue, 17 Mar 2026 00:02:45 GMT, Charlie Gibbs wrote:

Rumour had it that the Pinto's gas tank would explode if rear-ended ... >>>

No rumour. There was an actual lawsuit against Ford (which the victim
won). Among the evidence that was uncovered, it was revealed that Ford’s >>> executives knew there was a likelihood of a rear-end crash that could
cause a fire leading to serious injury or death, but they calculated
that the expected cost of the lawsuits would be less than the actual
cost of fixing the problem.

Common practice. A good part of my college statistics course was finding
the sweet point where the cost of rigorous QA was greater than the cost of >> replacing defective devices.

Yes. US Robotics had 'lifetime guarantees' on their modems.
When mine was struck by lightning, I sent it back and got a new one in
the post

It's almost impossible to proof electronics against a direct strike to
the telephone wire...cheaper to simply replace the odd modem.

Likewise the cost of ensuring every 'new build' meets 'disability regulations' vastly exceeds the cost of giving every paraplegic a
$50,000 grant to modify their house to their needs.

In the case of the Pinto though, lives were at stake.

So? There are armies of actuaries out there calculating
the cost of a human life (lost income, etc.) so it can be
plugged into the same equations.
--
/~\ Charlie Gibbs | Growth for the sake of
\ / <cgibbs@kltpzyxm.invalid> | growth is the ideology
X I'm really at ac.dekanfrus | of the cancer cell.
/ \ if you read it the right way. | -- Edward Abbey
--- Synchronet 3.21d-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.misc

On Tue, 17 Mar 2026 12:48:07 +0100, Carlos E.R. wrote:

On 2026-03-17 01:47, Lawrence D’Oliveiro wrote:

On Tue, 17 Mar 2026 00:02:45 GMT, Charlie Gibbs wrote:

Rumour had it that the Pinto's gas tank would explode if rear-ended
...

No rumour. ...

Also a running gag <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-Qj58o87sY>.

Who did that gag? :-D

It’s from this movie <https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088286/>, “Top Secret”. One in the long line of Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker films (think “Airplane”, “Naked Gun”, “Hot Shots!” etc), where the script is so full of gags that the plot shows serious signs of giving way at times.
--- Synchronet 3.21d-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.misc

On 3/17/26 14:27, rbowman wrote:

On Tue, 17 Mar 2026 01:47:50 -0400, c186282 wrote:

But if I can find a '57 Chevy that's not all
bond-o and thick paint I'll buy it.

We had a '57 Chevy and it already had some Bondo around the headlights
when we traded it in on a '62 Rambler Classic. That left me with a
distaste for the entire Romney family. My father liked it because it had
15" wheels rather than the 14" other manufacturers were going to. And it
did have the handy bed option which didn't impress the parents of teenage girls.

US, indeed all, older autos had CRAP rust-proofing. There
was (still is ?) a US company called 'Ziebart' that would
blast all the little crevices with some agent that would
allegedly inhibit rust. Some 80s vehicles used (lightly)
galvanized steel ... it'd last longer, but not forever.

If you want 'forever', buy a DeLorean. Still see a few
around town, even know where to go for service. Tesla Truck -
YUK ! Big and Ugly and Weird and - gak ! - ELECTRIC !!!
Maybe with a big diesel conversion :-)

Northern climes where they use salt to de-ice the roads
just DESTROYED older cars.

USA ... old cars from 'desert-like' states ARE often
still pretty good. The paint may be gone but the
steel persists.

Still hoping for a sort of old 60s Land Rover clone
with ROBUST hard-anodized body panels and good steel
'C' or Box underframe. Alas we're more likely to
see the Moon People come down and shower us with
wonderful gifts ......

Hmmm ... a few years back I saw a little article
in a local paper about a designated 'historical'
house - belonged to a wealthy founder. One pic
was of a mid-30s Packard found in the garage.
Beautiful !!! Love that swoopy+running-board
look from that era !

My fave were the late 60s Fords and Chevys.
The 200ci Ford straight-6 was reliable and super easy to service.

I had a '62 Falcon Futura with the straight-6. I don't name things but I referred to it as the Thunderchicken since it looked like a scale model T- Bird, black vinyl roof and all. It must have had some Jeep DNA since it
would go anywhere. My next Ford was a '73 Mustang that was baffled by an
inch of snow.

I had a later Falcon - GREAT car. You could also
pretty much dive head-first into the engine
compartment and reach anything. Simple, solid.
I think an Oz company made a sort of clone ...
but with a somewhat heavier suspension meant
for the nasty local roads. Only went out of
biz a few years ago.

Note that the early 'Mustangs' were nothing but
a sexier body bolted on a Falcon.

--- Synchronet 3.21d-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.misc

On 2026-03-18 01:25, Lawrence D’Oliveiro wrote:

On Tue, 17 Mar 2026 12:48:07 +0100, Carlos E.R. wrote:

On 2026-03-17 01:47, Lawrence D’Oliveiro wrote:

On Tue, 17 Mar 2026 00:02:45 GMT, Charlie Gibbs wrote:

Rumour had it that the Pinto's gas tank would explode if rear-ended
...

No rumour. ...

Also a running gag <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-Qj58o87sY>.

Who did that gag? :-D

It’s from this movie <https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088286/>, “Top Secret”. One in the long line of Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker films (think “Airplane”, “Naked Gun”, “Hot Shots!” etc), where the script is so
full of gags that the plot shows serious signs of giving way at times.

Mmm, I don't remember if I have watched this one. Probably not on 1984.
--
Cheers, Carlos.
ES🇪🇸, EU🇪🇺;
--- Synchronet 3.21d-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.misc

On 2026-03-17, rbowman wrote:

On Mon, 16 Mar 2026 23:01:41 +0000, Nuno Silva wrote:

On 2026-03-16, rbowman wrote:

[...]>

Years later when I bought a Toyota [...]

I can't wait for AI automotive control systems making random decisions.

Well, probably not random, but as far as disastrous decisions go,
doesn't Toyota already have that in their "Unintended Acceleration"
offering?

The floor mat problem? Not in any I owned. The current one is at the base trim level and has vestigial pieces for lane control and collision
avoidance that aren't implemented fortunately. I do sometimes trigger the imminent collision beeping when driving too aggressively.

(Kind of, I'm not sure it was ever proven it was *just* the floor mat
and not e.g. a race condition in engine control, along with evidence of
bad code quality.)
--
Nuno Silva
--- Synchronet 3.21d-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.misc

On 3/22/26 08:04, Nuno Silva wrote:

On 2026-03-17, rbowman wrote:

On Mon, 16 Mar 2026 23:01:41 +0000, Nuno Silva wrote:

On 2026-03-16, rbowman wrote:

[...]>

Years later when I bought a Toyota [...]

I can't wait for AI automotive control systems making random decisions. >>>

Well, probably not random, but as far as disastrous decisions go,
doesn't Toyota already have that in their "Unintended Acceleration"
offering?

The floor mat problem? Not in any I owned. The current one is at the base >> trim level and has vestigial pieces for lane control and collision
avoidance that aren't implemented fortunately. I do sometimes trigger the
imminent collision beeping when driving too aggressively.

(Kind of, I'm not sure it was ever proven it was *just* the floor mat
and not e.g. a race condition in engine control, along with evidence of
bad code quality.)

The more you think about it, the more running
an automobile becomes a giant tumbleweed. TOO
many things happening at the same time, dependent
on each other.

Writing such code must be a horror. 'Race' conditions
are the least of it. It'd almost be better as pure
analog.

--- Synchronet 3.21d-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.misc

On 22/03/2026 12:49, c186282 wrote:

  The more you think about it, the more running
  an automobile becomes a giant tumbleweed. TOO
  many things happening at the same time, dependent
  on each other.

The point is that they are actually not dependent on each other.
Subsystems are more or less autonomous.

Mots EMCs are state machines One set of independent inputs, one output
--
"In our post-modern world, climate science is not powerful because it is
true: it is true because it is powerful."

Lucas Bergkamp

--- Synchronet 3.21d-Linux NewsLink 1.2