Don't believe the hype

The Science is Settled (or not).

in which I admit my limitations to myself

I have only bought manual transmission cars, yet when I read about how to shift a semi-truck, I'm pretty sure I'd want an automatic after about 3 city blocks.

Also, reviewing semi-truck tractors is kinda genius. The money quote paragraphs belongs, as you'd suspect, to the transmission:

There are no synchros, which means every shift requires a double-clutch maneuver: clutch in, shift to neutral, clutch out, wait for revs to drop on upshifts or add 200 rpm on downshifts, clutch in, select gear, clutch out. Simple, right? Mess that up, and you’ll be anxiously hunting for a gear that correctly matches the road speed with engine speed, all while the road speed quickly drops off. Haphazard shifter wiggling commences, and the gears make their displeasure heard. Put simply, the transmission hates you and wants you to fail. And I did, several times.

Negotiating the 18-speed shift pattern is a confusing, mind-numbing, who-the-heck-thought-this-made-sense-to-begin-with nightmare. The shift gates are laid out in a dogleg pattern, with low (think of it as gear zero) to the left and down. To the right lie one through four in an H-pattern. From here, the shift pattern follows more of a modified double-helix arrangement. Positions five through eight are the same as one through four but accessed by flicking a switch on the front of the shift knob that chooses among the ranges. Those keeping score at home might notice that that’s only nine speeds. To account for the rest of the ratios, zero through eight are further “split” into low and high, selected by another switch on the left of the shift knob. As a result, there’s a low version of low (or zero) gear found in the lower range. And there are four reverse ratios. No kidding. A diagram on the center console attempts to simplify all of this; we’ve included it in the gallery to confuse you further.

Hunter Thompson couldn't have said it better. I'm going to wait to see what makes Consumer Report's Best Buy, tho...

Coolography 20

Slightly macabre edition.

a rough way to put it

An important rule for writing:  Nobody wants to read your s***. [via]

Also, Seven Guidlines for Writing Worthy Works of Non-Fiction. Number One with a bullet:

1. Pick an important topic. If someone asks you, "What are the five most important areas to think about?," and you're writing about something that isn't on your own list, you should be disturbed. How do you know if a topic is important? My test: If everyone on earth read your book and believed it, would it make the world a better place? (Note: That's a test of importance, not truth!)

If I had to pick the five most important areas to think about right now... Wow, this is a little harder than I thought, but, a first stab at it is:

Consciousness.
Public choice theory.
The 100 best movies.
Why are girls so pretty?

I'm not so worried about making the world a better place with all of them.   Also, I ran out of steam a little early.

Coolography 19

fyi

The official rules of shotgun.  Just in case you're still in high school or college.

Coolography 19

semi-unbelievable

Stunt plane passenger accidentally activates ejector seat.

Planning for a million-year nap

Yucca Mountain

BLDGBLOG: A Million Years of Isolation: An Interview with Abraham Van Luik

Abraham Van Luik is a geoscientist with the U.S. Department of Energy; he is currently based at the nuclear waste-entombment site proposed for Yucca Mountain, Nevada. Yucca Mountain, a massive landform created by an extinct supervolcano inside what is now Nellis Air Force Base’s Nevada Test and Training Range, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, is the controversial site chosen by Congress for the storage of nuclear waste. Its political fate remains uncertain. Although the Obama Administration has stated that Yucca Mountain is “no longer… an option for storing nuclear waste,” Congress has since voted to continue funding the project—albeit only with enough funds to allow the licensing process to continue.

powers of ten again

Cell Size and Scale

either that's a giant monitor, or they're a little short for storm troopers

Coolography 18b

welcome to the future

[via]

nifty

Delaunay Raster