The Most Tuner-Friendly Cars You Can Buy – Road & Track

https://www.roadandtrack.com/rankings/g22514662/best-tuner-cars/

Cheapest Trucks for 2026 - R&T Picks for Affordable Pickups

https://www.roadandtrack.com/rankings/g45106198/cheapest-trucks/

At $26,400, the Slate Pickup Is a Bargain, but These 10 New Cars and SUVs Are Cheaper

https://www.motortrend.com/news/10-cars-and-suvs-cheaper-than-the-slate-pickup

25 Legitimately Fun Used Cars You Can Buy for Less Than $10,000

https://www.roadandtrack.com/rankings/g6684/fun-used-cars-under-10k/

The handheld gaming boom accidentally created the cheapest SSDs on Earth (for now)

These make good (& fast) boot drives, especially for Linux, if the PC supports one or more NVME M.2 drives. https://www.makeuseof.com/the-handheld-console-boom-accidentally-created-the-cheapest-ssds-on-earth/

Free CAD software for Woodworking

Best Free CAD for Woodworking:  https://worldofwoodcraft.com/best-free-cad-for-woodworking/
"Some of the most popular options include SketchUp, Fusion 360, and LibreCAD. "
"... there are certain features that are particularly important for woodworking. For example, you’ll want a program that allows you to create and edit 3D models, as well as one that offers precise measurement tools."

"SketchList 3D: (https://sketchlist.com/) is a 14-day free trial CAD program that is specifically designed for woodworking. It offers a variety of tools and features that are tailored to the needs of woodworking enthusiasts, including the ability to create 3D models and templates. One of its standout features is the ability to generate cut lists and material layouts, which can save you a lot of time and effort."

"SketchUp Free: (Browser-based) is a popular choice for many woodworking enthusiasts. It offers a user-friendly interface that is easy to navigate, and it also provides a variety of tools and features to help you create 3D models and templates. One of its standout features is the ability to import and export files in a variety of formats, making it easy to work with other programs."
"Browser-based—no install needed. – 3D Warehouse for free woodworking components (e.g., hinges). – Exports 2D plans for table saw setups."

"FreeCAD: (Windows, macOS, Linux) is a powerful CAD program that is completely free to use. It offers a wide range of features and tools, including the ability to create 3D models and templates, and it also provides a user-friendly interface that is easy to navigate."
"... changes to sketches automatically update the entire model—ideal for iterative woodworking like adjusting table saw blade angles for dovetail joint layout."

"LibreCAD: (Windows, macOS, Linux) is another great option for woodworking enthusiasts. It is a free, open-source CAD program that offers a variety of tools and features to help you create 2D and 3D models. One of its standout features is the ability to import and export files in a variety of formats, making it easy to work with other programs. It also provides a user-friendly interface that is easy to navigate."

7 Best Free 3D CAD Program for Woodworking Projects:
     https://toolsradar.com/7-best-free-3d-cad-program-for-woodworking-projects/

"Tinkercad: (Browser-based) Beginner-Friendly for Simple Wood Projects -  uses drag-and-drop shapes for basic 3D design, perfect for hobbyists prototyping shelves or boxes without steep learning."

Free CAD software for makers:  https://wayofwood.com/free-cad-software-for-makers/
This list includes suggestions for woodworking, 3D printing, and CNC work ...

7 Best Free CAD Software in 2024 (Beginner-Friendly):
    https://www.3dsourced.com/3d-software/free-cad-software/

Windows 11 Clipboard vs Edge Drop

https://www.windowscentral.com/software-apps/i-love-this-windows-11-clipboard-utility-but-it-needs-a-new-name

"Edge Drop is a clipboard manager that can also be used for some light file management. It stays tucked away on the left side of your screen until you swipe your mouse over it or use a keyboard shortcut (Alt + C).

...  Any item you copy on Windows 11 is added to Edge Drop by default. You can also drag items into Edge Drop."

"The developer of Edge Drop, AdiArtist, shared the app on Reddit.  You can download Edge Drop through the app's website and read more about it on GitHub."

"Windows 11 already has a robust, built-in clipboard history that you can summon with Win + V. It supports pinning items, syncing across devices, and has been an integral part of my workflow for years. Even with Edge Drop installed, I'm not abandoning it.  

Where Windows 11's clipboard is heavily keyboard-driven, Edge Drop is more built for the mouse."

Windows 11 recovery options

"Windows 11 has more recovery tools than ever, but choosing the right one can be confusing. Here's what each feature does and when to use it."

https://www.windowscentral.com/microsoft/windows-11/windows-11-has-more-recovery-features-than-ever-and-heres-when-i-would-use-each-one

"Over the past several years, Microsoft has quietly transformed Windows 11 into a much more resilient operating system. Instead of relying on a single recovery option, the operating system now bundles a collection of tools designed to solve different types of problems. Some can repair Windows 11 while minimizing changes to your data. Others can roll back a problematic update, recover a computer that won't boot, or completely rebuild the system from the cloud.

The downside is that all these options can be confusing. Microsoft doesn't always make it clear which recovery feature you should use first, and many of them sound similar even though they solve different problems."

Why the free OpenVPN version is still the best choice for most users

https://www.zdnet.com/article/managed-self-hosted-or-open-source-how-to-choose-the-right-version-of-openvpn/

"OpenVPN offers three modes of deployment with varied pricing based on the same underlying protocol. Here are the pros, cons, and costs associated with each."

"There are three versions:

• OpenVPN Community Edition - This remains the default community-maintained protocol where you configure everything yourself. 
• Access Server - You're still responsible for setting up your own VPN servers, but management is easier thanks to a web-based UI. 
• CloudConnexa - OpenVPN's full-service cloud version works just like any other paid VPN software."

Microsoft's new Windows 11 recovery tool is the ultimate Undo button - the Windows Resiliency Initiative

https://www.zdnet.com/article/windows-11-point-in-time-recovery/

"Microsoft's new Windows 11 recovery tool is the ultimate Undo button - how to enable it
After a CrowdStrike update caused millions of Windows PCs worldwide to crash in July 2024, Microsoft announced the Windows Resiliency Initiative. The new Point-in-time Restore feature is a key part of that."

"ZDNET's key takeaways:

•     The Point-in-time Restore feature is now available for all Windows editions.
•     It takes daily snapshots of the system state to help recover from a serious problem.
•     If your system drive is 200 GB or larger, the feature is on by default."

"This tool solves a problem as old as the PC itself. "I don't understand. It was working fine yesterday. Then I did [some seemingly innocuous thing] and now it's crashing." About that time, you desperately wish your keyboard had an Undo Today button.

That's Point-in-time Restore. It's one of those rare Microsoft features whose name perfectly describes its function. It rolls back your PC to a time when it was working properly, undoing everything that happened between then and now. Aside from ensuring that the feature is turned on, there's nothing else you have to do."

15 Cheap 2000s Cars Quietly Becoming Collectible – Vehicle HQ

https://vehq.com/cheap-2000s-cars-becoming-collectible/

2026 Tesla Model Y vs. 2026 Toyota bZ Comparison Test

Toyota is getting serious about electric cars:

https://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/comparison-test/a71627458/2026-tesla-model-y-vs-2026-toyota-bz-comparison-test/

"Surprisingly, Toyota's refreshed and renamed bZ has outsold every non-Tesla EV in America through the first quarter of 2026, though the Model Y remains entrenched atop the sales charts."

"Tesla's Full-Self Driving (Supervised) is included for the first 30 days and then costs $99 per month, but can be canceled at any time. Previously, it was an $8000 stand-alone option, so the subscription is a much better value."

"...  the 2026 bZ adopts upgraded electric motors, new battery packs, and the NACS charge port that grants access to Tesla's vast Supercharger network; an improved 11.0-kW onboard charger makes Level 2 fill-ups less time-consuming too."

"Apart from lacking phone-mirroring functionality and traditional switchgear—at least there's a turn-signal stalk—Tesla's UX ranks among the best in the biz. Its menus are smartly organized, and functions are surprisingly intuitive (yes, even the power front-seat adjustments that live in the 15.4-inch center touchscreen). Plus, you can access popular apps such as Spotify and YouTube, and the navigation system is just as helpful as Google Maps or Waze."

What are Flock cameras - where are they located ...

"Automated License Plate Readers (ALPRs or LPRs) are AI-powered cameras that capture and analyze images of all passing vehicles, storing details like your car's location, date, and time. They also capture your car's make, model, color, and identifying features such as dents, roof racks, and bumper stickers, often turning these into searchable data points."
"Flock Safety (https://consumerrights.wiki/w/Flock_Safety) is one of the largest ALPR vendors in the United States. Their cameras are installed for police departments, businesses, and HOAs. Captured vehicle data is uploaded to Flock's cloud system, where participating agencies can search and share information across jurisdictions."

Welcome to DeFlock - An open-source project mapping license plate readers (113,196
LPRs mapped in the USA):
    https://deflock.org/
    https://maps.deflock.org/

Flockhopper - has an app available:  https://dontgetflocked.com/  Use full map to see details.

Interactive Camera Map - Click any marker to see camera details.  Zoom in on your neighborhood:
    https://alprmaps.com/flock-safety-map
    https://alprmaps.com/flock-cameras/phoenix-az  -  Not a lot reported in Phoenix yet ...
Includes HOA Safe-List instructions and a privacy route planner ...

Guide: Find Flock Cameras in Your Area - Why Rural Communities Should Pay Attention:
    https://ruralprivacy.org/find-flock-alprs-in-your-area
"Flock cameras are easy to spot once you know what to look for:
    Mounted on metal poles or street signs, sometimes on existing utility poles
    Often near town entrances, main intersections, or school zones

    A small black camera box with a solar panel on top - 

        (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Flock_Safety_camera_with_solar_panel.jpg)

    Sometimes paired with a small cellular antenna"

Flock Safety: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flock_Safety

When Flock Surveillance Comes to Your Town: Everything to Know About These Cameras -
Flock Safety is setting up cams and drones around the country. Here's why communities are fighting back and exactly how this technology works:
    https://www.cnet.com/home/security/when-flock-comes-to-town-why-cities-are-axing-the-controversial-surveillance-technology/
"Due to concerns over privacy and how Flock allows data to be used, dozens of cities have cancelled their Flock contracts this year. Bend, Oregon, was one of them, but only after passionate city council meetings. Some towns have even had to cover Flock cameras with plastic bags because they aren't sure if the cams are shut down."
"Following Super Bowl ads about finding lost dogs, Flock was under scrutiny about its planned partnership with Ring, Amazon's security brand. The integration would have allowed police to request the use of Ring-brand home security cameras for investigations. Following intense public backlash, Ring cut ties with Flock ..."
"... it usually means the installation of ALPR cameras to capture license plate photos and monitor cars on the street."
"... Flock reports on its site that its surveillance system is intended to reduce crime, including property crimes such as "mail and package theft, home invasions, vandalism, trespassing, and burglary." The company also says it frequently solves violent crimes like 'assault, kidnappings, shootings and homicides.'"

"Flock's stance, as outlined in its privacy and ethics guide, is that license plate numbers and vehicle descriptions aren't personal information. The company says it doesn't surveil "private data" -- only cars and general descriptive markers.
But vehicle information can be considered personal because it's legally tied to the vehicle's owner. Privacy laws, including proposed federal legislation from 2026, prohibit the release of personal information from state motor vehicle records in order to protect citizens.
However, those laws typically include exemptions for legal actions and law enforcement, sometimes even for private security companies."

"It's important to note that not all cities or neighborhoods refer to Flock Safety by name, even when using its technology. They might mention the Drone as First Responder program, or ALPR cameras, without further details."
Lancaster Police Department Launches Drone as a First Responder Program to Strengthen Public Safety:
    https://www.cityoflancasterca.org/Home/Components/News/News/10442/
"... a March announcement about police drones from the city of Lancaster, California, doesn't mention Flock at all, even though it was the company behind the drone program."

The Creepy Reality Behind the License Plate Cameras in Your Town -
Those cameras you keep seeing?  They're run by Flock Safety, a private company that tracks more than just your car's plates:
    https://www.pcmag.com/explainers/the-creepy-reality-behind-the-license-plate-cameras-in-your-town
"Did you know that all those cameras you see on street corners in your neighborhood aren’t owned (and in some cases, aren’t monitored) by your local government or police department? Instead, the cameras are leased from and operated by Flock Safety, a private company."
“They have drones!” he said. “They have pan-tilt- zoom cameras that recognize people and zoom into their faces. You can even see what they're doing on their phone. Their ALPR cameras can recognize people. They do store pictures of people. I know this because I've accessed the footage and found pictures of myself. I'm not a car or a license plate.”

Scanopy - self-hosted network documentation

https://scanopy.net/community

Install in Docker or Proxmox ...

Scanopy 2026: Benefits, Features & Pricing:

https://www.softwareadvice.com/product/543800-Scanopy/

"Scanopy is a network discovery and diagramming tool that creates live network topology maps automatically. It is designed for IT teams, managed service providers, and self-hosters who require accurate and up-to-date network documentation."

Scanopy: Clean Network Diagrams, Zero Upkeep:

https://www.opensourceprojects.dev/post/0110d48a-f3ff-4b6f-9539-27a3f3efa7d2

Scanopy - Network documentation, without the drawing:

https://github.com/scanopy/scanopy/tree/main

Scanopy Documentation:  https://scanopy.net/docs/

Ventoy - Rufus substitute

Cut down on the number of USB drives loaded with ISO images. https://www.ventoy.net/en/index.html

Does Starting Or Idling Your Engine Consume More Fuel? Here's What The Data Says

https://www.jalopnik.com/2199593/does-starting-or-idling-consume-more-fuel-according-to-data/

OpenVPN for Windows, Android, iOS & Linux | Gizmodo

A good explanation of how it works: https://gizmodo.com/download/openvpn

OpenVPN - Wikipedia

Study how to use and implement this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenVPN

Ibn Warraq - Why I Am Not A Muslim

Ibn Warraq, the renowned scholar of Islam spoke at Yale. Here is an outline of the talk he gave.

First, I should like to thank The William F. Buckley, Jr. Program at Yale for inviting me. I should also like to thank my friends and colleagues whose ideas have profoundly influenced what I am going to say today: Sebastian Gorka, Katherine Gorka, Robert Reilly, and Hugh Fitzgerald.

James Burnham’s book Suicide of the West is full of insights on US Foreign Policy, which I find relevant to this day. In fact one has only to substitute “Islam” for “communism” in many of his observations to realise their continuing pertinence. I shall limit myself to one of his observations from Chapter XII, Dialectic of Liberalism:

“The communists divide the world into “the zone of peace” and “the zone of war”. The zone of peace means the region that is already subject to communist rule; and the label signifies that within their region the communists will not permit any political tendency, violent or non-violent, whether purely internal or assisted from without, to challenge their rule. The “zone of war” is the region where communist rule is not yet, but in due course will be established; and within the zone of war the communists promote, assist and where possible lead political tendencies, violent or non-violent, democratic or revolutionary, that operate against non-communist rule. Clear enough, these definitions. You smash the Hungarian Freedom Fighters, and support Fidel Castro; you know where you are going.” Pp.227-228. The above could easily have been a dictionary definition of the Islamic doctrine of Jihad, and its notions of “Dar al-Islam” –the Zone of Peace, and Dar-al Harb –Zone of War”

Now onto my main points:

Our foreign policy should be guided by understanding and admitting the following realities:

We are engaged in a war of ideas, with our principal enemy: an ideology.

An ideology that will not collapse out of economic incompetence.

The ideology of the terrorists is religiously based and derived from Islam and its founding texts, the Koran, hadith, and the sunna, and the history of the early caliphate.

One, but not the only, way we know this is because they tell us so. 

First , if you want to understand the enemy “Read what they say”. They constantly justify their acts with accurate and apt citations from the Koran and Hadith. They also refer to, among others, Sayyid Qutb’s work Milestones, Abdullah Azzam’s Defense of the Muslim Lands, S. K. Malik’s The Quranic Concept of Power, and Ayman Al-Zawahiri’s Knights Under the Prophet’s Banner. Some of the latter have doctorates from recognized Islamic universities, and to hear John Kerry trying to tell them their ideas have nothing to do with Islam is comical.

Islamic terrorism is not caused by “poverty, lack of education, sexual deprivation, psychological problems, or lack of economic opportunity..”, Western Imperialism, or Western decadence, or the Arab-Israeli conflict.

There are two kinds of Jihad: terrorism, and slow penetration of Western institutions subverting Western laws and customs from within.

Ignorance, naivety, arrogance, political correctness , sheer laziness, sentimentality, and Saudi, Qatari and Iranian money have led to Islamist successes in penetrating Western institutions, from the Voice of America, The Pentagon, CIA, FBI, DHS, PBS, to the universities and colleges where Islamic propaganda is shamelessly and openly disseminated.

While groups such as ISIS, al-Qaeda, and others are non-state actors, they are funded by states such as Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Iran. These three countries, for example, also provide the necessary Islamic support, framework, and propaganda that spews forth anti-Western and and anti-American hatred. They should be warned or face the consequences.

It is also important to point out that it is not something we have done that is impelling the Islamists. Constantly apologising, Mr President [Obama], is pointless; they will not like or respect you the more.

We must learn the lessons of the cold war, for there are striking similarities between the Islamist ideology and that of Soviet Russia [Cf B.Russell, Jules Monnerot, Maxime Rodinson]

Speak out in support of the Christians who are being persecuted, and being killed almost every day in Islamic countries. Profound importance of this act of solidarity not realised by many in West.

In order to succeed we need urgently to recover our civilizational self-confidence.

One way we can fight jihadist ideology is to undermine their certainties, and one can accomplish this with Koranic Criticism. In the West, Spinoza hastened the Enlightenment by his Biblical Criticism.

There is an obvious need to understand the Islamic ideology to understand the mindset of the Islamic terrorists. Terrorism is not caused by poverty, and so on. It is their ideology that motivates them and is the source of its moral legitimacy. Without it, terrorism cannot exist.Terrorists are produced by a totalitarian ideology justifying terrorism.

While America has had some impressive tactical successes, and has managed to kill Osama bin Laden (May 2011) and Anwar al-Awlaki (in Sept.2011) it still fails to understand their goals, their ideology. The reasons for this failure are many:

First, there is a reluctance to address the religious inspiration of the acts of terrorism,to admit that their ideology is derived from Islam and its founding texts, the Koran, the Hadith, the Sunna and the early history of the Caliphate. Instead, the present [now past thankfully] administration exhorts us to use euphemisms such as “violent extremist”. “WhereasThe 9/11 Commission Report, published under the presidency of George W. Bush in July 2004 as a bipartisan product, had used the word Islam 322 times, Muslim 145 times, jihad 126 times, and jihadist 32 times,The National Intelligence Strategy of the United States, issued by the Obama administration in August 2009, used the term Islam 0 times, Muslim 0 times, jihad 0 times.” Now Obama’s policy applies to internal government documents as well, which can only have disastrous consequences for our understanding of political groups and events in the Middle East, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and South and South East Asia. “How can one possibly analyze the power and appeal of this ideology, the way that ideas set its strategy and tactics, why it is such a huge menace if any reference to the Islamic religion and its texts or doctrines isn’t permitted?”

Perhaps it was only in 1946, when George Kennan’s wrote his classified ‘Long Telegram’ that America began to understand the nature of the Soviet Union, why it acted the way it did, how the Kremlin thought, and why the USSR was a grave threat to America. In other words it took three decades to understand the mind of the enemy.

To complicate matters further, today there are two enemies: first, non-European, religiously informed non-state terrorist groups, like ISIS. Second, and equally dangerous, states that, in fact, fund and support them. There is evidence that, as the The Atlantic reported in June, 2014, “Two of the most successful factions fighting Assad’s forces are Islamist extremist groups: Jabhat al-Nusra and the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). And their success is in part due to the support they have received from two Persian Gulf countries: Qatar and Saudi Arabia.”

Our ability to fight al Qaeda and similar transnational terrorist actors will depend upon our capacity to communicate to our own citizens and to the world what it is we are fighting for and what it is that the ideology of Jihad threatens in terms of the values we hold so dear.

To quote Sun Tsu, in war it is not enough to know the enemy in order to win. One must first know oneself. However, with the end of the Cold War America and the West understandably lost clarity with regard to what it was about its way of life that was precious and worth fighting for.

James Burnham explains with exemplary clarity the reasons for this loss of self-confidence, and what he wrote is still, mutatis mutandis, relevant:

“Judging a group of human beings- a race, nation, class or party- that he considers to possess less than their due of well-being and liberty, the liberal is hard put to it to condemn that group morally for acts that he would not hesitate to condemn in his fellows.

“When the Western liberal’s feeling of guilt and his associated feeling of moral vulnerability before the sorrows and demands of the wretched become obsessive, he often develops a generalized hatred of Western civilization and of his own country as a part of the West. We can frequently sense this hatred in …[journals like] The Nation.”

In order to succeed we need urgently recover our civilizational self-confidence.

Ronald Reagan was able to succeed because he was supremely confident of the moral and spiritual superiority of his cause. He was thus able to state with certainty and without hesitation that the SovietEmpire was evil. He was not afraid to confront reality. He was able to defend our values because he believed in them totally. He told an audience at Moscow State University, “Go into any schoolroom [in America], and there you will see children being taught the Declaration of Independence, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights-among them life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness-that no government can justly deny….”

John Lenczowski describes what Reagan advocated unapologetically, “Altogether, the various ideas of freedom, democracy, human rights, moral order, and the dignity of the human person were promoted not only by the President’s rhetoric and personal moral witness but by the Administration as a whole in numerous forms: in Voice of America editorials, Radio Free Europe/ Radio Liberty broadcasts, in articles in United States Information Agency-published magazines targeted at Soviet-bloc populations, on the USIA-run billboard on the sidewalk outside the U.S. embassy in Moscow, in American diplomats’ addresses at various international fora, in the distribution of books to Soviet bloc audiences and U.S.libraries abroad, in films distributed abroad, and so on.”

To quote Asian columnist Banyan in the Economist,“For all its flaws and mis-steps, [America] represents not just economic and military might, but an ideal to aspire to, in a way that China does not. And when American leaders appear to give less weight to that ideal, they not only diminish America’s attractions, they also lend more credence to the idea of its relative economic and military decline.”

The rest of the world recognizes the virtues of the West. As Arthur Schlesinger remarked, “when Chinese students cried and died for democracy in Tiananmen Square, they brought with them not representations of Confucius or Buddha but a model of the Statue of Liberty.”

Ibn Warraq is the author of Why I Am Not A Muslim, Defending the West, and many other books.

REO — Built Like It Used To Be

As a 2-door pickup, this should be the cheapest new vehicle for sale in the USA: https://reotrucks.com/