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ms-demeanor · 1 year

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Hello Ms Demeaner! May I ask you about old cars? I have a 26-year old suv (i know, not that old), that I love dearly but it is the smelliest car on the block. I've been told the entire engine bay is coated in oil which I guess is a fire hazard? But I've also been told that doing those engine (steam cleanings? Degreasings?) on old cars could strip the engine bay of everything holding it together, and I can't really afford to buy a new engine/everything since I need that car to get to work.

Was I told correctly about the engine cleanings? Is that even a concern for cars just under 30? Do you have any advice on how to help cars not have so many toxic fumes? Thank you 💚

Okay so a basic engine cleaning shouldn't hurt your car in any way if you take proper precautions like covering up fuseboxes and stuff, and this is something that most cars should actually have done fairly frequently even if they're quite new, so I would tentatively recommend either trying to clean out the engine compartment yourself or seeing if there is a trustworthy local company that does this (this is not something I'd hire out to someone with no experience, look for the people in your life who work on their own cars or look for a reliable mechanic who offers this service or a car detailer who specifically works on engine compartments).

Here is a very detailed step-by-step guide to cleaning your engine compartment. If you want to try it yourself make sure that you can identify all of the parts of your engine that should be covered in your particular vehicle - you may want to invest in getting a used Chilton's or Hayne's Manual from ebay - and if you are very new to working on cars I'd say ask a friend who is good with cars to supervise (though I recommend doing this yourself! Learning how to work on cars is good even if it's as simple as cleaning out the engine compartment!)

HOWEVER

Because I don't know your car and can't kick the tires and investigate I'm not sure what the type of smell you're dealing with is or what could be causing it. Are you running rich? Is there a leak? Is there something slowly burning? There are lots of things that can make a car smelly and they are varying levels of problems.

If you haven't had your car in for a tune-up lately it may be time to save up for a full service at a trusted mechanic to see if they can identify any problems that are causing the smell. Someone should check on the life of your belts, the age of the filters, and do the general 100k mile maintenance if you haven't done that yourself and your car has that many miles on it. You should do that regardless of whether or not you clean the engine compartment (and so should everyone; if you own an older car search "my car model + 100k/150k maintenance" and see what parts need to be inspected that don't get checked at every oil change).

Good luck!

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seat-safety-switch · 2 years

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When you are doubtful of your own impacts upon the world, it’s good to go back to the folks you have helped and have them massage your fragile ego for a little while. What if you actually haven’t helped anyone, though, and they resent you for forcing them to lie out of fear you may become violent? The fear of this happening to me is why I volunteered to be our small town librarian on weekends.

You might be too young to remember when librarians held absolute control over all information in an area. When you wanted to know something, you’d phone the library, and ask about it. Sometimes – more often than statistically probable, the more I think about this phenomenon – the librarian would just know the answer. Or they’d invite you to show up to the library, and figure out which books you’d need to look at in order to figure out the truth of the matter for yourself.

I have a very fond memory of calling up when I was a kid, and asking a question about... dinosaurs? Oh my, now I seem to be forgetting exactly what I asked Ms. Campbell about. I’m... pretty sure it was dinosaurs. Or carburetors. Yeah, probably carburetors. Anyway, she knew the answer off the top of her head. No, wait. I’m mixing up my stories. That time I called her and she just put the phone down and I heard two voices indistinctly arguing, very loudly, and then a bang that made the receiver ring, and then silence. Silence for a long time. Ms. Campbell came back on the line, or something speaking with her voice, and told me not to ask that question ever again. It was forbidden knowledge, it/she explained, and I must never, ever, repeat it, especially to law enforcement. Then, she seemed to brighten, and wished me a productive day pondering life’s mysteries.

Was that experience formative? No. I had been traumatized by unexplained violent outbursts by trusted adults in the past – it was part and parcel of growing up in a coal town. What really surprised me was that she claimed the 1980 Dodge Aspen was so-called “forbidden,” especially since I’ve now used my newly-gained Librarian’s Access to their computer system to find out that they in fact carry the Chilton’s repair manual for just such an automobile. Now all I have to do is place an inter-library loan request...

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iobsessoverfictionalmen · 10 months

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The Taste of Revenge (4)

Warnings: canon typical violence, mentions of non-consensual drugging, descriptions of character death, mentions and descriptions of jail, car crashes, descriptions of drowning, lying, manipulation, guns, yandere themes, cursing, mafia AU, mafia Rafael Barba (trust me, he needs the warning), spoilers for Hannibal, references to Leverage, past Frederick Chilton/Rafael Barba, NSFW moments and angst.

Spanish translations

Cariño - Sweetheart.

Chapter 4

“I will be collecting those,” you vowed, motioning to the eggs in the hands of one of the Interpol agents. From the way they interacted with each other, you were willing to bet that this agent was the one the other three agents reported to. He hadn’t spoken during your conversation with Sterling and he wasn’t the agent that had stepped forwards to smack your hand away from the eggs.

The agents paired up and then went to two separate, unmarked vehicles while you followed Sterling to his car.

“You need to teach your agents to blend in.” You instructed, “If they continue to dress in suits and ties, they might encounter some very unforgiving people during a case.”

Sterling didn’t appear to heed your words but you hoped that he listened to them. You weren’t telling him about his agents sticking out like a sore thumb when they wore suits just to be petty. A chirp sounded, informing you that the car door unlocked and you climbed into the passenger seat.

Your eyes landed on the gear box, “I didn’t know that you knew how to drive a manual.”

“The car that I learnt to drive on was a manual.” Sterling revealed gruffly as he slipped into the flow of traffic, “I saw no reason to lose the skill.”

“One time, the boss took us all out to a racetrack. The cars were all manual. He tied all our favourite items to posts around the track and while we were driving, we needed to find ways to collect them without damaging the car within a time limit. That was the day I learned to drive a car with manual transmission.”

“The more I hear about Jethro Gibbs, the more I wonder how that man has continued to serve as an agent.”

“That’s easy to answer. He’s a good man, an effective leader and one of the best NCIS agents that I’ve had the privilege of knowing.”

Sterling made a non-committal noise in the back of his throat and you realised that your conversation was over. On the positive side, his driving was much more controlled than Ziva’s or Gibbs’ and you found yourself relaxing in your seat. That was until your eyes moved up to the rear vision mirror and you noticed the cars with the other Interpol agents breaking suddenly and three unfamiliar cars creeping forward on the road.

In the calmest tone you could muster, you focused on Sterling. “Either someone forgot to tell us that we’re escorting the president today or we’ve just picked up a less than friendly tail.”

Sterling’s eyes flicked up to the rear vision mirror and your eyes moved around the car, examining any places around the car that possibly hid a gun, “The odds of this are slim but you wouldn’t happen to be carrying a gun right now, would you?”

“No, I’m not.” Sterling admitted and he removed a hand from the steering wheel. You were about to question what he was doing when he reached over and with one hand opened the glove box. Nestled in the glove box were your gun and badge.

“Would these come in handy?”

With a touch of amusement, you thanked him and grabbed your shield and your gun. “They’re travelling in the standard phalanx formation. The one in the middle will speed up and the one holding the gun will aim for the middle of the car. You need to keep driving no matter what happens. We have two minutes at the most before they begin their attack.”

You checked your gun and with relief, noted that you had a full clip. You twisted around so that you could grab the lever that reclined the seat.

“What do you think you’re doing?!”

“Just drive!” You ordered, “Stay on this road.” You added as the car climbed a small hill and you saw a river winding underneath you.

You adjusted the lever until you were lying flat on your stomach on the seat. During this process, you had to undo your seatbelt but you made sure that you clicked it back into place. It definitely felt odd in this position but you would rather the strange feeling as opposed to flying through the windscreen because you didn’t have your seatbelt on.

Just as you predicted, the middle car sped up so that it was now leading the other two.

“Do you know how they were able to isolate us from the other Interpol agents?”

You squinted and barely made out that one of the passengers was typing on a laptop. “From this distance, I can see one of them typing on a laptop. Are you the only person on your team that can drive a manual?”

“Yes.” Helpfully the car sped up and you saw that one of the passengers was indeed typing on a laptop.

“That’s how they’re doing it then. They’ve hacked into the computer systems in the automatic cars and forced them to stop.”

“Don’t the community of hackers have any new ideas? With all the tools at their disposal, you would think they’d try for a little originality.”

You ran out of time to ask Sterling what he meant with his words. Instead you could only yell out for Sterling to brace himself as the passenger in the front of the car that was approaching you the fastest raised his gun and fired off a shot.

Sterling flinched but kept his grip on the wheel. You raised your gun slightly, aimed at the headlights of the car tailing you and fired out of the already damaged back window. There was a colossal bang and the car swerved to the right as the airbags emerged. The car sideswiped a tree before colliding head on with a telegraph pole.

The second unfamiliar car jumped forwards and realising what was about to happen, you yanked the lever up and hurriedly readjusted the seat and your seatbelt. “That trick isn’t going to work again.”

“What other ideas do you have?” Sterling gritted out. His words or tone didn’t alarm you but you detected a subtle note of panic in his voice that did. Exhaling deeply, you pointed your gun into the small gap between the passenger seat and the window behind the passenger.

“Come on. Move up a little further.” You prayed.

The car you were in inched forwards and the second car pursuing you followed suit. You focused on the first wheel of the car on your right. Seconds after you had squeezed the trigger, a bullet propelled itself out of the chamber. It shattered the glass of the passenger window and embedded itself in your target. The tyre deflated with an audible whoosh and you raised your gun to shoot at the headlight closest to you. The car’s airbags propelled themselves forwards and the driver stomped on the brake hard.

“Two down.”

“Don’t celebrate just yet.”

The third car slammed into you with tremendous force. It pushed you across the two lanes of traffic so that you were opposite the river.

“If the car hits us one more time…”

You couldn’t get a clear shot at the two people in the car because you didn’t want to risk Sterling being caught in the crossfire. Fragments of ideas popped into your head but they were all too risky. If you were by yourself, then you would attempt them but you weren’t alone.

Then you remembered a manoeuvre that Ziva had used once. It was risky but it was the best option that you had.

“Sterling! Hit the brake now!”

The Interpol agent wisely chose not to argue and stomped on the brake harshly. At the same time, the remaining car shot past you in a blur. You aimed and fired at the back tyre and at the small square on the side where the petrol tank was. There was a bang and the final car became airborne. Flames erupted from the petrol tank. It flipped in the air and landed on its side with a tremendous crash. As gravity pulled the car back to earth, the boot of the car smashed into the car you were travelling in and pushed you sideways into the river.

You had just enough time to realise that the river was deeper than you initially thought before your car began sinking into the river. Time was of the essence so you ripped your seatbelt off and yanked the headrest from your chair. In a smooth movement, you unbuckled Sterling’s seatbelt and propelled yourself forwards to smash at the windscreen with the headrest.

Cracks appeared immediately and you held up three fingers to signal to Sterling that he needed to be ready to get out of the car. Once you shattered the windscreen, you wouldn’t have much time before the car flooded. You put down a finger before you hit the windscreen again.

Your lungs were starting to burn from the lack of oxygen so you gathered your remaining strength and threw the headrest at the centre of the shattered glass. Luckily for you both, the glass shattered outwards not inwards.

Sterling used the seat he was sitting on as leverage to push himself out of the car. You watched him swim up to the surface of the river. You braced your feet on the ruined seat and pushed forwards. With the added force, you shot out of the car but as you passed through what used to be the windscreen, your arm connected with the rear vision mirror. You let out a muted scream and bubbles floated from your mouth as your arm became too painful to move.

Slowly you swam towards the surface but your vision dimmed and you were struck with the feeling that you wouldn’t make it. Your limbs became heavy and your eyelids fluttered. You began to sink.

Something disturbed the water around you and you glimpsed the sunlight above you before two strong arms wrapped around you and guided you to the surface. With the added support, your head broke the surface of the water and you greedily gasped in air.

Your rescuer towed you to where the river met grass and with a tremendous heave, your back was resting on the grass. In the distance, you could hear the scream of sirens. The wailing of the sirens grew louder and louder and even in your exhausted and pain filled state, you knew that that meant they were coming closer.

Your body registered a soft touch on your cheek as if someone was brushing the backs of their fingers across it, “You’re safe now cariño.”

The voice was hushed yet somehow familiar. The sirens sounded extremely close now and just when you registered their closer proximity, you realised the presence by your side had vanished.

#my writing #my fics #the taste of revenge #rafael barba x reader x frederick chilton #rafael barba #female reader #jim sterling #enemies to friends to lovers

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emily-rouse · 7 months

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Did you know "Dune" was rejected by at least 20 publishers before being published by Chilton, the auto-manual company?

#did you know #today i learned #facts #dune

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azspot · 6 months

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At least, at first it did. Dune sold slowly — so slowly, in fact, that Chilton editor Sterling Lanier was fired over the decision to publish it. Lanier has been vindicated by history, and the current film’s $40 million opening weekend at the box office, but it remains an odd step for the car-repair publisher.

Nobody Wanted To Publish Dune Except A Car Repair Manual Company

#dune #books #movies

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cedarxwing · 8 months

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Random worldbuilding stuff

De figuris Veneris, Chapters 1-5

Chilton had a fiancee in Hannibal named Inelle. I love the character of Chilton and the thought of him having an ex-wife is funny to me. She definitely left him when she figured out he was gay.

The NYT plum torte recipe was famous in the 80s.

Freddie Lounds is a combination of Philip Seymour Hoffman's 2002 portrayal, the comically evil Mason Verger, and maybe a little Bunny from The Secret History. I love Chorostecki's version as well, but it didn't fit this story.

All articles and books included in the story are real and dated prior to 1983.

Psychology's understanding of empathy was limited in 1983. Mirror neurons were not discovered until the 90s. Hogan's Empathy Scale has been proven ineffective due to self-reporting bias but also includes some dubious questions such as "I prefer a shower to a tub bath," "I think I would like to belong to a singing club," and "I like to talk about sex." Incidentally, Robert Hogan taught at the Johns Hopkins Department of Psychology from 1967-1982. Heimlich's retirement soiree was partly inspired by him, as well as the Harvard criminal psychologist Will mentions in Red Dragon.

The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra performed Brahms's Quartet in G along with Bach's Toccata and Fugue and Beethoven's Piano Con. #5 in September 1983 (Source). As a Bachian, Hannibal would have been more excited for the Toccata and Fugue, but it's only 10 minutes long and I only wanted to mention one composer.

I chose to have Hannibal live in Fell's Point instead of the fictional Chandler Square or the real Mount Vernon Square because I couldn't resist referencing Dr. Fell. I think it's rare for Fell's Point townhouses to have garages, but one was necessary for Hannibal's lifestyle. I took his floor plan from a real townhouse in the neighborhood that was most likely renovated within the last few years. Fell's Point has an interesting canning and shipbuilding history. It was just starting to become gentrified in the early 80s.

To me, De figuris Veneris (publicly available) represents academia's simultaneous fascination with and revulsion toward the erotic, especially in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Will and Hannibal pretend to themselves that they are more rational than the characters in The Metamorphoses (which also used to be considered a naughty book). They are so sexually repressed, I wanted them to act as if they received their entire sexual education from this "manual."

Will reads Gregory Horace's translation of The Metamorphoses. Published in 1958, it was the most recent translation available at the time and is now publicly available on the Internet Archive.

The Walters Art Gallery became the Walters Art Museum in 2000. I've never been, but if I was the art director I would display all their Italian bronze statuettes in the same room, including their Hercules and the Dragon Ladon.

Next: Chapters 6-8

#notes on DfV

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