Today I Learned (TIL)

People DON'T  like Necco wafers? Who knew?

TIL that Kathleen Quinlan played Marilyn Lovell in Apollo 13.  I had always thought it was Rita Wilson.

Swapping from one brand of Miata coilovers to another is approximately ONE BILLION times easier than swapping from factory mile long dampers to anything better.

Also that VMaxx coilovers need to be dialed up to their highest setting on the front.   Crazy low low they can go!

KyAllroad (Jeremy) (Forum Supporter) said:

Also that VMaxx coilovers need to be dialed up to their highest setting on the front.   Crazy low low they can go!

Yeah, my fronts were as high as they would go and the highest point of the front wheel wells was still only 23" high

Pete. (l33t FS) said:

Mndsm said:

In reply to Datsun310Guy :

Til necco wafers were discontinued. 

They stopped making them in 1958.  Everything you've seen in the candy/gum aisle is old stock.

 

That's why they taste like flavorless Tums.

Also explains why there was always some in my bag when i trick or treated the old people places. 

TIL that we get Friday off for the 4th- something I should have realized way sooner, but just didn't think about with our 9/80 work week split. So yay for 3 Fridays in a row off! Maybe the weather will be nice enough to run up to see if there's anything worthwhile still on the 330Ci that showed up at a (relatively) nearby junkyard a few weeks back).

 today I learned the lawnmower will climb hedges if it wants to, and does a decent trim job in the process. I also decided I'm getting a little too good at shutting it down when it's on end.

The blades are on the deck lever, to shut them off you have to raise the deck. The clutch and brake are on the same pedal, the right side unfortunately, and there's no real slip to it. 

Someone entered a Mini at Darlington in the late 60s in  a support race before the Southern 500.

I'll see  your NASCAR Mini and raise you a NASCAR Jag.

TIL that RevRico needs an appropriate battery tie-down on his lawnmower battery.

Oh wait....

I knew about the NASCAR Jag but the Mini is new to me.  That looks like a terrifying speed/size differential.  It reminds me of the time that I ran a race where the sanctioning body had big bore and small bore on track at the same time.  Every time I came thundering up behind a bug eye Sprite in my Camaro I worried that they wouldn't know I was there.  The speed differential had to be over 60MPH on some parts off the track.  As unsettling as that was for me, I'm sure it was worse for them.

In reply to SVreX (Forum Supporter) :

When the bungee chord gives up, I have an angle iron/all thread mount built. The bungee was temporary to test starters because cheap battery doesn't fit in stock location, but we all know how temporary fixes wind up.

I would like to get it to quit wheelying though. Might have to take the tire chains off or finish my snow plow mount.

TIL that Mike Evans (Lionel Jefferson) was co-creator and writer of Good times

Appleseed said:

People DON'T  like Necco wafers? Who knew?

 

What I don't understand is how someone took a Tums tablet and said "hay this taste good let's make a candy like this".  And the necco wafer was born. 

dean1484 said:

Appleseed said:

People DON'T  like Necco wafers? Who knew?

What I don't understand is how someone took a Tums tablet and said "hay this taste good let's make a candy like this".  And the necco wafer was born. 

I'm going to come right out and say it - TUMS tablets actually taste better than Necco wafers.

Nope -it wasn't Tums, maybe chalk.

In 1847 candy science wasn't that advanced.  Thomas Edison was eating Necco wafers at his desk as he was analyzing his bulb failures.   

TIL I need to hoard Necco Wafers...

Peabody said:

TIL that Mike Evans (Lionel Jefferson) was co-creator and writer of Good times

Interesting.

I was actually thinking about him yesterday when I heard a Lionel Hampton song on Sirius XM 40's Junction. I remembered an episode of the Jeffersons when Weezie said that her son was named after Lionel Hampton.

And wasn't the family named Evans on Good Times?

dean1484 said:

Appleseed said:

People DON'T  like Necco wafers? Who knew?

 

What I don't understand is how someone took a Tums tablet and said "hay this taste good let's make a candy like this".  And the necco wafer was born. 

I have eaten am entire bottle of tropical Tums because it was the only thing in the work truck. You see where my tastes lie.

In reply to Woody :

Yup.

There are a few interesting stories about that show. It was supposed to be a more serious sitcom,  starring Esther Rolle and John Amos, a pretty big name then,  showing the plight of a black family living in the projects. But the Jimmie Walker character took off and the show became more about him. Apparently nobody on the show was happy about that.

The tarty neighbour Willona is the woman who sang the Jefferson's theme song.

The teen heartthrob thing was going strong then and the studio tried to capitalize on it and made an album with the little brother (Michael) but it never took off.

Appleseed said:

dean1484 said:

Appleseed said:

People DON'T  like Necco wafers? Who knew?

 

What I don't understand is how someone took a Tums tablet and said "hay this taste good let's make a candy like this".  And the necco wafer was born. 

I have eaten am entire bottle of tropical Tums because it was the only thing in the work truck. You see where my tastes lie.

Did you then have to eat a bowl of hot peppers to settle your stomach?

Pete. (l33t FS) said:

Appleseed said:

dean1484 said:

Appleseed said:

People DON'T  like Necco wafers? Who knew?

 

What I don't understand is how someone took a Tums tablet and said "hay this taste good let's make a candy like this".  And the necco wafer was born. 

I have eaten am entire bottle of tropical Tums because it was the only thing in the work truck. You see where my tastes lie.

Did you then have to eat a bowl of hot peppers to settle your stomach?

Back in the early days of me on the rescue truck, we were dispatched for a girl who overdosed on Benedryl. On the way to the scene, I asked the paramedic,  "What we give for a Benedryl overdose?"

He said, "Ragweed".

TIL that my great-uncle may have played some sort of classified role in the Iran-Contra affair. He had been a Marine in WWII, then went on to a career as an air traffic controller. During the mid 1980s he made a number of trips to Venezuela for "work" and when his sister (my grandmother on my father's side) would ask him why his job as local air traffic controller in upstate New York required him to go to Central America he would never answer. He also apparently knew Eugene Hasenfus, Caspar Weinberger and other members of Reagan's cabinet. 

In reply to NickD :

In that same timeframe, my neighbor was Pat Foley, who was co-owner of Summit Aviation and who flew 747 cargo jets for Flying Tigers, the CIA's covert cargo / airline.

Interesting stuff.

TIL one of the Icy Hot Stuntaz went solo and makes Christian rap now.