Heck, I learned “never ever work on a car with ANYTHING hot” with the later added caveat of “unless it is a part you heated up yourself and damn well expect to be hot.” Because sometime you need to take a torch to things. Man, some of the bitching I heard about pit crews....

You left out the part about not needing a damned college degree in electronics to wrench on older vehicles.

Yep. I do this with a little 3x5 notebook. Inside cover is contact info for family, my mechanic, insurance and AAA. Then the first six or so pages are fluids, bulbs, tires & rims, filters, and other various odds & ends, then the rest is dedicated to maintenance history by mileage, right down to listing what tire went…

Years they’ve talked about how Dolphins were the next most intelligent species on the planet, or maybe chimpanzees. But no, they never noticed bears were evolving into Ursus Sapiens.

Call us back when they actually have to knock down hundreds of homes to extend one of the runways.

Let’s not forget that keys and tumblers will strip over time. A buddy of mine had an old Toyota Celica with an ignition lock so worn, you could start his car with a popsicle stick.

Done that with my 94 Accord twice. Nothing like getting into what you think is your car and finding the seat way too far forward. I hurt myself and got stuck between the seat back and the steering wheel before my butt reached the seat in one. The other I got in and immediately realized the steering wheel was…

Not his fault, back in the 90's, there were quite a few models for which Ford used as little as four different keys on the entire annual production run.

I’m just going to say that every bicyclist I’ve run down ran a red light literally within two seconds of being struck AND long after my light turned green. Bicyclists need to be taught that ALL traffic laws apply to them as well.

I live on the opposite shore of this country and my neighborhood has the poster child for why Sacramento County established such a bit of legal code - up the street from me in an inept clown running an automotive repair business out of his garage. The guy’s property is practically a superfund site (and a junk yard) and…

That opening image needs to become a PSA: “Booze and Summer Don’t Mix Well.” and “Adults Do Childish Things.”

Dressing as a Plague Doctor for Halloween has pretty much eliminated the week of illness that would usually result from dealing with so many small children for a single night. Three years I’ve been putting that costume on for the night and it works every time.

I see a large button to be sold for people to pin to their clothes “I am a PAX 2009 Swine Flu Survivor. Pardon me for avoiding physical contact.”

ALWAYS.

Point 2 is horribly flawed because the influence of local taxes on local school district spending. People have been whining about this for years, but the major fact of the matter is that those who get more school funding almost always have a far more wealthy local tax base as well. There is also no effort made to…

Regarding that entire “thousand mile gun” nonsense, that is only happening because the civilian government negotiated away the Army’s ground launched cruise missile program back in the 1980's. The Army almost got Tomahawks, too. Instead, only the Navy and Air Force got them.

The whole railway gun was our idea to begin with. The first railway guns were huge mortars built on railway cars used by the Union Army during the ACW.

From my experience as a non-sports visitor, this is not Boston sports fan behavior; it is Boston resident behavior.

Are you sure this isn’t a French car? They put a cattle guard on the back end... which would be a typical French thing to support retreat.

I can get an entire “roadside repair” kit including jack, lug wrench and donut with rim for $30 for either of my cars. Meanwhile, the cheapest full size replacement tire currently is $45 and 3 hours’ time for installation and balancing using a rim you provide. Living paycheck to paycheck is why many people will drive…