America’s Image Abroad Rebounds With Transition From Trump to Biden.
Japanese Castaways of 1834: The Three Kichis. (via Metafilter)
Cat protects child from perceived danger. That's a good kitty.
The Wacky State of the Used Car Market. No, that crazy price Carvana offered for your car isn't too good to be true. (via Digg)
The Strange Tale of the Identical Twin’s Mirrored Mansion.
22 of America's Best Preserved Ghost Towns. (via Nag on the Lake)
Kip Kinkel Is Ready To Speak. At 15, he shot and killed his parents, two classmates at his school, and wounded 25 others. He’s been used as the reason to lock kids up for life ever since.
The Fundamental Question of the Pandemic Is Shifting. America's concepts of personal freedom and rugged individualism meant the deaths of half a million people. (via Kottke)
A blast from the past (2015): 9 Remarkable Ultrasound Images.
Another reason used car prices are going through the roof is the shortage of microchips needed to run all the high-falutin' electronics in the new ones. If you can't make enough new cars, the still-running, still-in-good-condition older cars will become a viable alternative.
ReplyDeleteWhich, of course, makes me wonder how long before thieves start targeting newer cars and stealing their electronic brain-boxes solely for the microchips, similar to the way catalytic converters were once being stolen for the value of the platinum and other metals in them.
-"BB"-
Bill, I put my car into the app, and it offered me $200. But it runs, so I will keep it.
ReplyDeleteAcquiring chips by stealing the brain boxes is not that easy, chips are all over the vehicle. There are a couple of major "boxes" like engine management, body management, and emissions, which talk to each other. they are also communicating with the transmission control, anti-lock brake system, fuel evaporation control, climate control, instruments, entertainment, and anti theft systems. Some of the manufacturers have knocked features off some models so they can be built without certain chips, but the whole system is so integrated that option is rare, usually when some feature is added to an existing structure. You can bet the salvage yards are not scrapping any wrecks without a careful inventory of what repair techs need.
ReplyDeleteI wonder how much Kip Kinkel has cost the Oregon taxpayers so far?