Honda, you never did say if you thought Leno was funny…
yeah, I think PC is required at NPR these days…
do please flag me as off topic Honda, save VDC the trouble…
Naw…I dont bother flagging for Off Topic because I run off the reservation more than most I think. Just look at some of my posts…they are about as off topic as they can get sometimes… They make for good discussion however…and some are the longest running Posts on this site. LOL… I’m good at stirring up comments…or hatred maybe…lol.
Leno? Funny? Yeah I think Jay is funny and he is very PC as well… He doesnt use or need to use Profanity and that is a tough thing to pull off. Not using profanity and still appealing to a wide audience is a fine line to walk and a very difficult one as well. Just think of the comedians or famous people who dont use profanity and still get the job done.
Jay is definitely one of them, Jerry Seinfeld, Will Smith…Bill Cosby…Billy Crystal…etc… There are quite a few but its a difficult thing to pull off…esp while being PC and not insulting people. Yes I find Jay Leno funny.
Letterman on the other hand? I NEVER …EVER Understood the…the…what? I never understood ANYTHING about the guy… He was not funny in ANY way whatsoever… He was funny LOOKING at one time…but Funny comically? Absolutely NOT… In fact I’ve wondered why on earth he ever made it onto TV at all… No I do NOT understand Letterman in any way at all I don’t think I ever even liked the guy… He was always so close to the vest…you never really got to know the man like you did Leno… Leno would share personal details of his life…at least a little… Letterman? Never…in fact I dare anyone to make any kind of personal comment about David L…we still don’t know the man after all these years… I will never understand Anything Letterman… I will be happy when I don’t see him any longer and I think that just happened…No? Ah sweet relief!
Blackbird
Most of the callers to CT were just average non gear head people with automobile problems or even general automobile and driving questions. Years ago I sometimes tuned in to this mans show
and found that his efforts to make the answer to every callers problem a generic process was annoying, as was his often punting on the call by recommending the caller go to the dealer. His efforts to make calls short was quite obvious. His primary sponsor then was Slick 50 which didn’t give him much credibility with me. In looking back at old shows and today’s call in radio talk shows, the success is in the ability of the call screener to ‘triage’ callers as to their potential on air performance whether in a automotive or political program.
I never considered Leno that funny on the Tonight Show but in the car world some of his comments are pretty amusing and he makes the subject very interesting to listen to.
One thing about Leno and cars is that he walks the walk.
The thought crossed my mind momentarily in a brief flash of insanity but hopefully Scotty Kilmer would never end up in a CT position; not even sweeping up the studio after hours.
Team him up with Lauren Fix and that would pretty much mean the end of civilization as we know it… 
years ago, letterman wanted to know what a bug on a windshield felt like. so he dressed up in a Velcro suit, ran and jumped off a vaulting springboard and stuck himself into a Velcro wall, face on with arms and legs spread out. now that was funny to a teenaged boy…
He had His moments(His bashing of Richard Simmons,was sort of humorous)No,if you redo CT it will take different characters,that was the success of " MASH" they brought in new characters,they didnt try to bring a replacement,so to speak(never considered Alan Alda that funny either(but I do admire some of His convictions) satire and comedy,dont always mix that well.
We all know the last thing to go through a bug’s mind when it hits your windshield…it’s derriere.
Unlike driving through cow pastures, and noting the dairy air.
“Is this board fading out?” Not If I can help it.
Every now and then a car/truck problem appears that peaks my curiousity. I may get the answer from the ‘reponders’ but if I don’t get a cogent answer, I file the question away for further processing.
As an example, revisit the Dodge Ram that separated the rear yoke from the final drive pinion. How could the pressed on yoke ‘pull off’ the pinion splines even with a nut holding it on? Also noted was the rear pinion tapered roller bearing roller visible free in the rear final drive with the cover removed. That brought up the question of whether the pinion is pulled in during coasting i.e. drive train turning the power train. That brought up the question of what would the forces be if a 4 wheel drive being driven on dry pavement with slightly smaller tires on the rear trying the drive against the front final drive i.e. no center differential.
Another question I have been keeping on file is: Why does a DC generator need a current regulator while an AC alternator does not? I am sure that someone who has a thorough knowledge of synchronous electrical machines could come up with an answer.
Then there is the question of why the infamous “cattle trailer” had the electric brakes apply when the emergency flashers were used? I voted for an open ground solution but the question is still on file.
So with the spectrum of experteses at hand, a rational response will eventually appear.
ok, I can answer one of your questions…
dc circuits are in series, in which current is constant at each load, the voltage varies according to loading
ac circuits are in parallel, generally, and the voltage is constant, while the current varies according to load
a series circuit has all the loads on one side of the circuit, the positive side generally
a parallel circuit is comprised of interconnected loads which the current travels thru simultaneously, or darned close to simultaneously anyway
I think, it s been a while…
I am in the process of writing the dissertation for my doctorate in psychology concerning the social interactions on forum boards and how most contain a few alpha members who try to control the content/context of them and how this related to the declining numbers of people utilizing them. I was actually looking at different forums when I discovered this thread about the decline of this site.
I joined this forum as well as four others and the theory holds true across boards that range from cars to home repair. I have discovered bullies, sexiest idea, homophobia and bigots in most all the forums that I have posted to.
It didn’t take long for me to identify the alpha members here. I will not refer to you by your screen names, but I will certainly use your personality profiles that I gleaned from my short time here.
Thank you for being part of my research,
Bill Williams M.S.W.
@BillytheKid. Your short time on this forum looking for validation examples of your theory has apparently given you a highly inaccurate and skewed opinion regarding the regulars posting here. Yes, as in any group in any context there are leaders but to label them as bullies is both utterly inaccurate and downright rude. The regulars posting here are notably good at self policing each other on those rare occasions anyone’s comments are inappropriate in tone or attitude. I have never encountered a better group of regular participants on any forum regardless of the forum purpose, number of participants, gender ratio, age ratio, education backgrounds, work experience, or other factors. I will heartily embrace interaction with this group over your short view theoretical philosophy any time.
Correction: philosophy should have been psychology.
sounds like you should have no problem.
your B.S. degree was well earned.
I don t usually go in for personal attacks, but I ll make an exception for you, and for Whitey, (oops, I m a racist) see? you don t even know enough about this board to get that joke.
nevermind that you don t have a clue (psychology isn t real science anyway, right?), I don t really believe you anyway. anyone who would sneak around and BS people isn t to be trusted anyway, right?
if what you say is true, you should have told us, we would have gladly assisted, I think. if you know your xxx from a hole in the ground you will have noticed that there is a very impressive bunch of folks here (Carolyn, please put the credentials sticky thread back up)
now I m not one of them, I m just a simple fisherman, but I know enough to appreciate this group (and even the managers of this site 
)
so, you can either join the club or buzz off, your choice
wes
(I apologize for the language, but it was integral to the script, as the director told the actress before her nude scene…)
vote john Kasich!!!
now now, give the young man a chance to apologize marnet, he may see the error of his ways, or he may just be a guy who got his little feelings hurt and lashed out.
god knows I ve screwed up worse and been forgiven
I don’t notice any change to the number of posters or the number of questions asked and addressed. If anything, while the number of expert regulars seem about the same, I’m seeing more questions now than a few years ago. That’s just my impression. But it’s something that could be measured I suppose.
The ‘Car Talk’ radio show continues as “Best of Car Talk”, at least here in the SF Bay area, same as always, and as far as I can tell as popular as ever.
@BillytheKid. Your dissertation proposal seems to be one involving qualitative research…Over the years, I have seen some value in this type of inquiry, even though I am a statistician and have been involved in more quantitative studies than I can count. In any event, I would like to know what you define as an alpha member of this board or any board. Are you looking for differences and similarities of alpha members across boards? Will the results of your research be of help to someone like Carolyn who monitors this board?
Please tell us more about your dissertation proposal. Your hypothesis seems to be that the alpha posters drive away others who were posting but left the board. I’ve found that most responses try to be helpful to those who post with automotive questions.
So, BillytheKid Isn’t Here To Discuss Cars, Rather Study People. I Make The Motion To Consider Her/His/Its Input As Being OFF TOPIC.
CSA
This is a public forum so I guess anyone can go through the threads and use the comments by different posters for some sort of research. I really don’t understand why @BillytheKid announced what he is doing rather than silently reading the threads. I am wondering why he referred to some posters as bullies, sexist, bigoted, etc. I would think that this might be one of the conclusions of his research if, in fact, the research indicates this. However, he seems to have this bias as he undertakes this,investigation. I have served on quite a few doctoral committees and one major problem is to have the doctoral candidate realize,that his/her research may lead to a different conclusion than expected.
“…concerning the social interactions on forum boards and how most contain a few alpha members who try to control the content/context of them and how this related to the declining numbers of people utilizing them…”
How would you know if less people are using forum boards? “Alpha members” at some boards might cause some people to leave a particular site but that doesn’t mean those people haven’t gone and found another one they like. The number of forums appears to have increased quite a bit since I first started posting about 15 years ago.