Cutting round things in a saw can be dangerous if they aren't clamped correctly: they can spin. (Don't know of a link, this was taught to me at community college in the context of cutting round metal stock in a band saw.)
I stuck a table knife into the outlet when I was little. I only did it because everyone kept telling me not to. I have this memory of it jumping out at me, I'm genuinely curious if I actually touched the hot side or it's just my imagination.
The federal government had super strict emission laws for vehicles starting in the 70s. This was before computers were cheap and reliable enough to stick in average vehicles, so the way automotive engineers got it to work was to have vacuum lines to send signals to the carburetor and distributor. They probably could've done it with analog electronics, but you already have a free source of vacuum (the intake manifold), and there isn't an simple way to convert an analog voltage to a linear position, while you can do that with a diaphragm and vacuum.
Every time I restart Windows 10, I get a full screen prompt wanting me to create an online account, with a tiny little button to "remind me in 3 days". This is why I will never fucking do it.
I have a neighbor with a car with no muffler. Half the neighborhood just signed a letter to his landlord with our complaint. It's pretty impressive to have an entire page full of signatures, each one completely different. It went from being a sterile document written by a lawyer, to something that has normal people behind it.
I live a couple hours north of San Francisco, about a mile from the ocean. There is pretty much always a prevailing ocean breeze. Last summer, about 10 in the morning, I walked out on my lawn, and couldn't believe how hot it was. There was no breeze, pretty high humidity, and I could just feel the sun beating down. It was so bad that I couldn't stand there.
I've watched a number of his videos. He has a hobby of finding old CRT TV's and "resurrecting" them (basically replacing the minimum amount of parts to get them working, the focus being on the diagnosing part). Here's one that he gets to work that he found in the desert: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6lZIJQ-cKDs
Even if you rarely use the brakes, seems to me like a good idea to keep them functional. And based on my experience working on old, worn out shit, the less something is used, the more likely it is to get corroded or gunked up and not work.
Modern calipers have slide pins that they move on (so that you only need pistons on one side). These can freeze up, and your brake pads won't wear evenly. By the time it starts screeching, the friction material is gone, the steel backing plate is rubbing, and you're replacing the rotor too. (I actually fixed this exact problem on a Ford truck the other day)
In the eighties and nineties, BMW and Mercedes spent a huge amount of money on researching how to lay out car interiors. The idea being, a car with easy to read displays and easy to use controls is going to be safer.
I think the main concern is breathing in lead dust. Also, since it's so soft, it rubs off easily and can contaminate other things. I've worked with lead, and my bright orange gloves were black with lead pretty quickly.
Uh, no. There's a ton of dedicated integrated circuits that are highly optimized for one specific task, and which contain everything you need. For example, an ABS module is going to contain something like the L9396, which does signal conditioning for wheel speed sensors, and mosfet drivers for the solenoids. All in one little package configurable by SPI.
And even the standard commodity silicon components are going to be AEC-whatever certified, as others have mentioned.
Jalopnik has it's fair share of memes and repetitive in-jokes (BMW blinkers, Mustangs hopping curbs). But there are are also some pretty insightful and knowledgeable threads. I've seen a couple of technical comments on certain vehicles that I'm absolutely convinced were written by an engineer that designed that vehicle.
By swallowing a valve, he means one of the valves that lets air into the cylinder, or exhaust out, snapped off. So you no longer have that cylinder working, plus you have the valve rattling around against the piston that's still moving up and down. Not good.
Hi there. I have social anxiety. There's a fucking huge difference between performing in front of someone more important in a job interview compared to talking to peers in a casual setting.
Hate to break it to you, but a zener diode on your ECM can fail short, which burns up the pcb trace for the power. And the ECM is glued together, and it's ridiculously hard to open up without damaging it further, and it has a flexible pcb that can split if you flex it too much once you get it open. (I have one sitting 5 feet from me).
Most modern vehicles are repairable at the corner garage, it just takes being a computer nerd and several thousand dollars in tools. You have to buy a scanner to read the codes and watch the live data (basically as an oscilloscope). If you need to update the firmware, or replace a failed module with a different one, you also need to pay the manufacturer to access their programming software.
Modern automatics are smart enough to downshift when coasting down a steep hill. I've driven a Duramax with the Allison up and down mountains. Absolutely amazing. You just slightly touch the brake pedal, and it downshifts and the exhaust brake enables.
I'm running a Thinkpad T530 with Intel graphics. Ram is maxxed out, I have a SSD, and I upgraded the screen to 1920x1080. It's more responsive than most other computers that I use. The only thing it struggles with is playing HD Youtube videos and WoW at the same time, and compiling large programs. Really, I think by this point, I'm on my second one, since I keep replacing parts when they wear out.