two gaskets in between the carb and the spacer, and no gasket in between the spacer and the intake manifold

That's bad enough to report to the mechanic's boss.

Using a torque wrench is always a better idea than guessing at it. Under-torquing risks things coming loose, and over-torquing risks pinching the gasket too thin to do the job.

I've known mechanics who had a good feel for their own self-calibration, but I've also known some whose idea of wrist-tight was less than 10ft-lbs., and one whose idea of finger-tight was more than 15.

I have a racism question for the hivemind. At the movie (Batman, of course) this weekend, there was a bit of talkback in the audience (comments every scene, basically). Afterwards, one the the people I was with exploded about black people talking during movies. His rant was "I know this is a cultural thing in certain sectors of Black America, but why can't we have talking and non-talking theaters? Why do the rest of us have to put up with this?" I didn't have an answer, except to mention that I would MUCH rather sit in a film with an all Black teenage audience than an all senior citizen audience. His statement made me uncomfortable, and I am not sure how I should have responded.

For me, it's usually dark and hard to see people who are talking. If "shush" doesn't shush them, I head to the manager. I got a whole group of people thrown out of The Two Towers for yelling, "RUDY" every time Sean Astin came onscreen. I didn't care what color the people were--just that they were loud and stupid. And I'd paid $10 to see a film I couldn't enjoy while they were yelling.

OMG, during The Two Towers? They had what, an entire year of FotR to get used to Sean Astin as Sam Gamgee NOT!rUDY and they STILL yelled, "Rudy"?

Idiots!

(Now, I'm feeling very lucky in the audiences I've had for all the LotR films.)

I just had sushi.

Robin, that's a toughie. I think the thing that gets me about that statement would particularly be the "the rest of us" bit, as it belongs to the same group as "those people," particularly as it posits talkers as the "other" and non-talky people as the default "us".

On the other hand, I find myself thinking, well, if by "those people" you mean people who are talking in the movie, I get irritated by them too. And it doesn't matter what the ethnicity of the talker is, but it is true that there's a cultural divide there. And, er, now I'm all turned around and confused. Cause I would find lots of talking extremely annoying. But that quoted comment makes me uncomfortable too.

Also, honestly, I do believe there are people who use "Jew down" without ever thinking about it having anything to do with, you know, Jews. I know it sounds absurd, but when you grow up with something you often never question it like that.

I mean, not that it's an excuse for people to go on using it. Just saying. I've known some people who've said some just awful things without, seriously, any awareness that it's offensive or intention to be offensive.

Also, honestly, I do believe there are people who use "Jew down" without ever thinking about it having anything to do with, you know, Jews.

I can't wrap my head around that. I don't really want to.

Joo? Gew? Djue?

Chew. That is, that's what I'd always thought I'd heard, until someone said it in front of me, and then someone else commented how bigoted it was, and then I said, "Oh, it's so not 'chew' is it?" I didn't hear the expression until I was in college, though.

Ditto, "That's mighty white of you." Granted, I had heard of that one, but I'd never heard it spoken aloud, until someone I'd never thought of as a bigot said it. We were close enough, that I asked her straight out if she knew what she was saying. It turns out she hadn't known--had never given it a thought, and was completely humiliated.

Ditto, "That's mighty white of you."

Oh yeah, that was a shocker the first time I heard it actually said.

Oh, lord -- my friend's father said, after we finally got furniture in our apartment after a summer of sitting on the floor, "Now you're living like white people!" Um, OK.

I also discovered this weekend that my friend's fiance is racist, which was kind of dispiriting. Especially since she's not white. He had a problem with the woman at the desk and extrapolated to black women in general. I just said, "Well, there are a lot of crappy people in service jobs in general..." and kind of left it at that, but UGH. I am with you, Robin.