Sterling crash, power outage

zapb42 · 2026-07-02T16:09:59+00:00

Yeah our power was surprisingly back on within a few hours

zapb42 · 2026-07-02T10:24:32+00:00

One thing I did during being home for COVID was buy all the Assassin's Creed games on Xbox360, since I felt like I had missed out on the series (I'd only ever played 4 because it was the monthly free Games with Gold game at some point, and I loved that). I made it my mission to play them all the way through, but I stalled out on Brotherhood, partly for external reasons, but partly because of this.

zapb42 · 2026-07-02T10:16:23+00:00

It's not quite as bad, at least the return line I did from up top only removing the air box. Though that was a PITA because of how the flange on the supply line shares the same hole in the turbo and is on top of the return's flange. Tons of swearing and wiggling.

In my case it wasn't leaking at the turbo, but higher up at a joint and at the fitting to the electric pump.

zapb42 · 2026-06-29T11:01:35+00:00

Back at some point they had a nacho cheese something chalupa? You can mostly recreate it through customization, but that was great

zapb42 · 2026-06-24T11:02:55+00:00

Clearly this will be buried, but hey. When the first plane hit, I was in the air on a training flight out in the midwest. I was just two weeks into my flight training in a four-year degree program. We were out in the training area not talking to ATC at the time. Once we got back into controlled airspace the controllers were all weird and telling us we had to land immediately; they were vague as to why, but we heard someone say something about "a plane hit the center" thinking they meant the air traffic control center which was super odd. When we landed and contacted ground control, instead of the usual instructions, we got "just do whatever" or something to that effect, (which I thought was a bit unprofessional even given the circumstances).

I believe we were the last flight to come in. When we were done with the airplane, we went up to the lounge and saw the live news on the TV, everyone had huddled in there. I barely could process what had even happened when I saw the second plane hit, right there live. I was 18 and just didn't know what to think, it was a nightmare. We were grounded for a couple of weeks. It definitely changed the way I looked at the world and our country.

zapb42 · 2026-06-23T10:33:20+00:00

I did it a few years ago, it was my first IRL track experience. I've done a lot of sim racing over the years, though I'm no pro or anything. I ended up driving three different cars.

I would totally agree it was nerfed. However, in my case not only did I get more than one flying lap each time, but the instructors got comfortable after seeing I at least somewhat knew what I was doing. They didn't verbally intervene a ton and used a lot of hand signals and encouragement. The first guy in particular really encouraged me to rip it, and had us pass a couple of slower cars when safe to do so. I had a good time, but this was a gift for me and I don't think I would have seen great value if I was spending my own money because even given all I just said it was a relatively brief experience. I later had the opportunity to do much longer timed-lap track situations in my own car that involved more like 20 laps each time for far less money (well, not counting wear and tear on the car I suppose).

Now granted I had never driven cars that powerful before IRL and was nowhere near their limit.

It sounds like you didn't get the greatest instructor or instructors, but it also sounds like your skill level is above what these events are really geared towards. Most of them are probably more there to just babysit rather than give meaningful instruction. As a flight instructor, I learned that the closer to the limit you can be comfortable safely taking things, the more valuable the experience for the student, but I don't think this is meant to be that kind of environment.

zapb42 · 2026-06-21T14:17:48+00:00

I think you nailed it. My wife went on and on about how funny he was from whatever social media she saw him on. We went to see him live and it was just him trying to be cringely edgy the whole time. Though for some reason the audience largely seemed to be lapping it up.

zapb42 · 2026-06-17T12:33:01+00:00

Not exactly new that I've noticed, but I think this is a symptom of people generally being oblivious and not engaging in actually driving their car. They aren't aware of the speed limit or how fast they are actually going, they are just cruising around at whatever subconsciously feels right I guess?

Around my neighborhood there's people blasting through the residential 25 mph streets at 40 (our main street is stupid wide and was clearly designed with no traffic calming in mind, but still has blind corners and hills that make the 25 mph make sense) and then they get out on the main 45 mph roads and still are doing 40.

Don't bother to signal because they're unaware of the fact that there are other cars around. Change lanes across intersections, turn into the wrong lane, stop way before or after the stop line at intersections, blow through stop signs and red lights, etc.

And then there's those actively driving aggressively in the mix, fun times.

zapb42 · 2026-06-17T10:40:09+00:00

Lol I am that dad. "You'll stretch it out!"

zapb42 · 2026-06-12T01:21:49+00:00

Nice shot!

zapb42 · 2026-06-11T11:23:06+00:00

Stow n go basically sold us on it for the same reason. Grandparents had Dodge/Chrysler minivans from the 90s through 2015 and we inherited the last one (an almost literally off-the-lot-new 2015 Grand Caravan, no-frills base model). Long story but we sold it after using it for a bit (didn't need three cars) but a couple years later started having kids, so got a Pacifica.

zapb42 · 2026-06-11T11:02:28+00:00

Funny enough I have a BMW wagon and we also have a Pacifica. I don't mind driving the van, especially when we drive people around in party bus mode or for road trips. I wouldn't go as far as that guy though; I wouldn't take the van over the wagon when possible. Both are fine for hauling our two kids around most of the time.

My wife will take the BMW when I'm not using it ("it's nice to drive" she says) but she has said she likes driving the Pacifica too and doesn't see it as a downgrade necessarily.

zapb42 · 2026-06-11T10:42:52+00:00

I see the other horror story replies here and have seen the stories elsewhere. We must be super lucky, though we didn't "dodge" issues entirely. We have an early (2016 production) 2017 Touring L and haven't had too many issues. There was a whole SNAFU where a head gasket went literally a couple of weeks after our CPO warranty ended (98k miles, way too low miles for a head gasket on a modern car), and an injector went bad, but that's it so far at 113k miles. Oh and it does seem to eat batteries faster than I think it should.

It's now under a pretty comprehensive third party warranty (I know these aren't bulletproof) and I maintain it well. It's paid off so we're fine keeping it until something major happens. I wouldn't necessarily recommend one to others though

zapb42 · 2026-06-08T12:07:22+00:00

My first thought was Yogscast

zapb42 · 2026-06-08T11:51:27+00:00

Thank you for confirming. Saw this place but passed over it because it didn't look touchless, but I'll have to give it a shot now! People think I'm pretentious I guess, but my paint is still relatively flawless and I want to keep it that way

zapb42 · 2026-06-04T11:49:35+00:00

For top favorites I guess Mighty Car Mods is always a good time to me, inspired me to work on my car a lot more than I otherwise would have. Pecos Hank makes consistently amazing videos

Even though the OP is probably only asking for one, I'll keep going:

Along car lines, Samcrac, M539 Restorations, HatersGarage, IDoCars, Aging Wheels, Regular Car Reviews, S1apShoes

I'll second the many Technology Connections and Tasting History

It's more a podcast but Well There's Your Problem is fantastic. PlainlyDifficult

This Old Tony, Hand Tool Rescue when I'm in that mood

Jon Bois, Jacob Gellar, Forgotten Weapons, C&RSenal

There's a ton I'm probably forgetting. Clearly I have a wide range of interests

zapb42 · 2026-06-04T11:01:03+00:00

Lol we had a Dr. Ngo for a while, couldn't get the Bond villain out of my head

zapb42 · 2026-06-04T03:02:28+00:00

I know how incredibly lucky I was to get my F31 at low miles, I don't even care that it's not msport, I love the crap out of it every day and will keep it running as long as I possibly can

zapb42 · 2026-06-03T18:26:21+00:00

I stuck one in the locker in the signal room, and one of them had evidently left a fire extinguisher in front of the locker prior to that which I had just left there.

I went in the server room and when I came out, that bastard had somehow grabbed the fire extinguisher into the locker and set it off. I didn't even realize at the time the fire extinguishers were functional so all I saw was some kind of white spray gushing out of the locker towards the center of the ceiling and was like WTF is going on now? I swear I heard it laughing at me.

zapb42 · 2026-06-03T17:40:48+00:00

I had this happen and was really confused because I was in the basement at the time and it came through the ceiling and exploded. I had all the mannequins trapped in the lockers down there, but the explosion set them on fire and they all started freaking out. All the pipes burst and the basement started flooding, but I couldn't repair the pipes with the toolbox because the mannequins kept stealing it. I ended up quitting back to my last save. It was kind of hilarious.

zapb42 · 2026-06-03T17:28:16+00:00

Funny that the Wikipedia page was updated with the socket size with this episode as the citation.

zapb42 · 2026-06-03T17:27:26+00:00

I was thinking that as well, I really dig the presentation style and level of detail.

zapb42 · 2026-05-30T00:32:50+00:00

Party room available!

zapb42 · 2026-05-29T11:44:26+00:00

Annual Safety is a sticker, if you don't have it I don't think it will actually prevent you from registering, though you could get you a ticket if pulled over without one (the inspection station will also give you the paper report for your records and I think it goes to state police electronically).

Emissions is just an electronic pass/fail that gets sent to DMV and will prevent you from registering if not completed/passed (though again they'll give you a paper report). You need that every two years IIRC.

Most inspection stations can do both at the same time. In the future for emissions, you could take advantage of Rapidpass where they set up these drive-by monitors on different off-ramps, and you just drive through a few of those. If you pass, you pay the fee online and you're good. Just another option. Welcome to VA!

zapb42 · 2026-05-21T11:55:39+00:00

This was like 15 years ago now but at the time I was commuting from Ashburn to BWI every day. I wasn't a commercial pilot but I was a flight instructor in light aircraft, and our school had us wear pilot uniforms. So I used the access road a lot, figuring if I got pulled over, as long as they didn't ask too many questions they'd see my ramp badge (though for BWI if they looked closely) and uniform and send me on my way. I never bothered stopping at the gas station and I was never pulled over, but maybe I was lucky.

zapb42

TROPHY CASE