Random thoughts/Off topic/Last post wins


 
We’re still living the vagabond RV life and loving it!
On of the joys (not) of RV life is cold weather. We burn a lot of propane trying to keep Pammi Sue warm!
Another issue is water. We basically use safe garden hoses to supply water to the rig. Not good when it gets down to the teens at night!
Luckily, they make heated water hoses and we have one. I was installing ours the other day when one of the park rangers came around and said that I needed to cover the spigot too. No worries, got ya covered!
I took an old fleece throw and wrapped that around the spigot and secured it with some bungees. The heat from the hose kept things warm enough so that it didn’t freeze. I also left water trickling, just in caseIMG_7568.jpeg
My neighbor got a little more involved with his
He took a trash can, some 1 X 2’s, cardboard and a drop light and made this. Brilliant!
IMG_7567.jpeg
Sorry the pics are sideways
 
I'm sorry I haven't been checking in as much as I should be. But I do often think about everyone here. I know for some people on the East Coast it will be New Year's in about a half hour. And for the people on my Coast we're still waiting a few hours. But I did decide that I should check in and say from the East Coast to my coast and everyone else that is here, I know we have some overseas people, happy New years to all of you.

Maybe if I knew yours resolution will be too try and do better about getting in here and posting more often. I've been so busy. But I do miss the camaraderie that I had when I had time.

Anyhow, I'm still around and I still do read things in here. I just don't have time to engage the way I used to. With that said, Happy New Year to everyone here.


🤔🤔🤔, I wonder will this post be the last one in this thread before the year is over. 🤔. I suppose if it is then I want the last post 🥂🍾🍹🍾 for the year.

Yeah I'm guessing somebody will not let this stand 👍😎😎😎
 
So, I resorted back to my youth recently and bought a plastic model kit! A ‘37 Ford pickup
Two things about it-
1- these stinking things are expensive now! As a teenager in the late ‘70’s, they were $3-5 each. Now they’re $20+! I didn’t pay that much as they were 40% off
2- the plastic seems much flimsier than I remember. I’ve started painting it today and I had to be very careful when cutting the pieces out IMG_7617.jpeg
 
How are you painting it? Back then when I was a kid who knew there was such a thing as an airbrush. What I wouldn't have given for one back then
 
LMichaels said:
How are you painting it? Back then when I was a kid who knew there was such a thing as an airbrush. What I wouldn't have given for one back then
Click to expand...
Oh, how I wanted an airbrush as a kid!
I almost bought some of the small cans of Testor’s spray paint to do it, but those things are $8 now! I bought some gloss red and matte black spray paint from Wally World and a couple of the small bottles of Testor’s paint and some acrylic paint to paint the rest
I did the red today and I’ll do the black tomorrow. I’ll do some of the hand painting tomorrow too and probably start assembly next week
And while I really like the weathered look on the box, I’m painting it red with black fenders
 
Phil Perrin said:
So, I resorted back to my youth recently and bought a plastic model kit! A ‘37 Ford pickup
Two things about it-
1- these stinking things are expensive now! As a teenager in the late ‘70’s, they were $3-5 each. Now they’re $20+! I didn’t pay that much as they were 40% off
2- the plastic seems much flimsier than I remember. I’ve started painting it today and I had to be very careful when cutting the pieces out View attachment 123750
Click to expand...
If you don’t mind me asking, what is the county of origin of the model?
 
Those models used to be made right in Morton Grove IL. Monogram IIRC. Our neighbor across the street worked there
 
I was interested since I use this man’s “invention” frequently and never thought about it till I read this article

IMG_9671.jpeg

One rainy day 40 years ago, Moylan was headed to a meeting across Ford’s campus and hopped in a company car. When he saw the fuel tank was nearly empty, he stopped at a gas pump. What happened next is something that’s happened to all of us: He realized that he’d parked on the wrong side.

Unlike the rest of us, he wasn’t infuriated. He was inspired. By the time he pulled his car around, he was already thinking about how to solve this everyday inconvenience that drives people absolutely crazy. And because the gas pump wasn’t covered by an overhead awning, he was also soaking wet. But when he got back to the office, Moylan didn’t even bother taking off his drenched coat when he started typing the first draft of a memo.

“I would like to propose a small addition,” he wrote, “in all passenger car and truck lines.”

The proposal he had in mind was a symbol on the dashboard that would tell drivers which side of the car the gas tank was on.

“Based on personal experience,” he wrote, “I feel that this little indicator would remove the guesswork of which side I want to park.” He continued: “For the minor investment involved on the company’s part, I think it would be a worthwhile convenience.”
 
Some of the newer gas stations/car washes or warehouse stores have pumps with longer hoses.
Doesn't matter what side you pull up but the only downside is standing out where traffic runs by.
 
timothy said:
Some of the newer gas stations/car washes or warehouse stores have pumps with longer hoses.
Doesn't matter what side you pull up but the only downside is standing out where traffic runs by
Click to expand...
Where I live Costco gas is usually at least $.10 cheaper and always crowded.

I’ll wait in line longer to get to the “drivers side” pump to avoid having the hose dragged across my truck.

New Jersey is the last state in the U.S. that requires gas station attendants to pump gas.

It’s good by me, and great for my wife.
 
JimS said:
The link goes to a site that's behind a paywall. It can be bypassed though. Click here: https://archive.is/20260103064833/h...s/ford-gas-arrow-inventor-jim-moylan-6b2ef066
Click to expand...

Thank you Jim- here is the rest of the article in case anyone couldn’t see it online:

As soon as they read his memo, they began prototyping his little indicator that would be known as the Moylan Arrow. Within months, it was on the dashboard of Ford’s upcoming models. Within years, it was ripped off by the competition. Before long, it was a fixture of just about every car in the world.

What began as an idea when one person got rained on became a simple and brilliant invention that would reach billions of people.

“Society loves the founder who builds new companies, like Henry Ford,” Ford CEO Jim Farley told me. “I would argue that Jim Moylan is an equally compelling kind of disrupter: an engineer in a large company who insisted on making our daily lives better.”

These days, there are two types of drivers: the ones aware of the Moylan Arrow and the ones who get to find out.

Some people learn what it is and why it’s there when they get their licenses. Others might be learning right now that there’s an arrow next to the pump on the fuel gauge that shows which side of the car the gas tank is on. Once you see it, it makes so much sense that you can’t believe you’ve spent your entire life without knowing it exists.

And when you realize that someone actually conceived of that arrow, you find yourself agreeing with a TikTok user who once declared: “The man who came up with this symbol is a complete and utter genius.”

That man was Jim Moylan, who died last month at the age of 80. When I came across his obituary, I called his family members and Ford to hear more about who he was—and how he pointed so many people in the right direction.

Before he was hailed as a genius, Moylan grew up in Detroit as the youngest of six children. Like their father, most of them worked at Ford.

He began his 35-year career at the iconic American automaker in 1968 as a draftsman and retired as a product engineering design supervisor in 2003. Along the way, he went back to school at night and earned his college degree to get a promotion, did a stint in Japan, got laid off during the oil crisis and picked up work as a milkman and other odd jobs to make ends meet until he was hired back. He also developed a professional obsession with instrument panels.

“What the rest of the world calls dashboards,” he once said.

Whatever you call it, that location right behind the wheel is where Moylan left his mark.

It all started when he stepped in one of the pool cars that Ford employees drove around campus. Since it wasn’t his vehicle, he didn’t know where the fuel tank was. But when the gas light turned on, so did a lightbulb over his head. After driving to the wrong side of the pump, it occurred to Moylan that a simple graphic on the dashboard could save others from his mistake. Fueled by a desire to solve real problems, he figured this information would be especially useful for rental-car customers and families with multiple cars—and Ford employees in pool cars.

After this flash of insight, he pitched his idea in April 1986 and a manager quickly sent his memo up the Ford hierarchy.

“I think the attached Product Convenience Suggestion is worth your consideration,” he wrote.

They agreed. The company’s internal records show that his suggestion entered product development by August. In November, Moylan received a note from Ford’s director of interior design.

“We think it is a great idea,” the executive wrote, “and we are planning to implement it on the 1989 model year instrument panel.”

His official reward was an invitation to visit the company’s Interior Design Studio, a rare treat that was the Ford equivalent of touring the Wonka factory.

But for Moylan, the real prize was seeing his idea come to life.

The first sign of it was on page 23 of the brochure for the 1989 Ford Thunderbird, which revealed a subtle feature on the car’s instrument panel: a white arrow.

That arrow was soon the envy of the automobile industry. When new car models roll off the assembly line, they are immediately picked apart and reverse-engineered by the competition. In this case, Ford’s rivals didn’t have to poke around under the hood to find its latest hack. Moylan’s idea was right in front of them for anyone to see.

Now it can be found in almost every car with a gas tank—and even the cars without one.

When I spoke with his daughter Elizabeth, she was in a fitting place: her Ford car. One of his three children, she told me about her father as she drove home from his memorial service in a F-150 Lightning. Right next to the battery icon on the dashboard was a Moylan Arrow. It pointed to the side of her electric truck with the charging port.

As his idea spread far beyond Ford, Moylan never asked for a patent, financial compensation or any type of credit whatsoever. His glorious innovation was celebrated by industry publications like Autoweek (“rumor has it Ford got this better idea from the many rental cars it sells”) and Automobile (“I think warm, kind thoughts about the unsung genius who got this splendid improvement through the system every time I drive a Ford”), but he was never acknowledged by name.

Then came another chance event—and this one didn’t involve getting rained on.

In 2018, a listener of the Every Little Thing podcast became curious about the delightfully practical arrow in his car and asked the show to figure out who was responsible for this particular little thing. When the investigation focused on Ford, the podcast called the Henry Ford museum for assistance. As it happens, the woman in the press office who picked up that call was friends with Moylan’s daughter Elizabeth, who once worked at the museum. By sheer coincidence, the press officer knew exactly who was responsible.

Moylan’s interview with the podcast was the first time he ever got public recognition for his idea.

But it wasn’t the last time. A few years later, Ford accelerated a project to scan its historical collections, said Ted Ryan, the company’s archives and heritage brand manager. Once researchers could easily search through a century of paper, they could excavate gems that were buried in the corporate archives—like Moylan’s original memo. And when they discovered it, the typewritten document was tweeted out by none other than Ford’s CEO.

In fact, Farley told me he thinks of Jim Moylan every time he looks at his gas gauge.

Moylan was proud of his arrow and flattered by the attention, but he didn’t seek it out for himself.

Every now and then, he watched people pull into the gas station and slink back in the car for their drive of shame. If they seemed friendly, he approached these strangers and told them about the arrow on the dashboard that could help. What he would never do is mention how it ended up there.

But others did it for him, including the deacon who led his memorial service.

“Heavenly father,” he said, “I don’t know what kind of a car you drive—or if you have a driver.” As the room laughed, he went on: “Jim will always know which side to pull in and fill up.”
 
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