People down below talked about their first cars. I owned a 1972 Honda 600 coupe, where the prior owner converted it to a convertible. 600 was the engine size, so it was larger than a Fiat 500 (which actually had a smaller engine than that). 36 horsepower. Top speed on level ground at 58 mph, so I grabbed a brick for "Cruise control".10 inch rims. My ZTR today has bigger tires than that! When the engine broke after four years, we toyed with putting a Briggs and Stratton lawn mower engine in it, but didn't. My Dad sold it a few years later to a friend of his who thought he could put an engine in it.
I'd take my grandmother for rides in it. We'd put-put-putter out of the driveway, then down the street out of view of my Mom. I'd then drop the top, and gun it, she'd whisper "wheeeeeeee". She loved fresh air on her face. On our trip home. I'd stop, put up the top, then put-put-putter into the driveway, my Mom never the wiser. Grandmother was a saint, but also wise enough to stay quiet about her adventures!
Okay - talking about old cars .. my hubs, no exaggeration, can ID American 50’s/60’s car with a stock exhaust. You show him a head light, a tail light, a fin, ANYTHING - he was INTO cars. Back in his day he owned Fords… he loved watching the refurbished old car shows…
That was her daughter. Grandmother Crockett wore out bibles reading them. She'd place a page sized magnifying glass on them, which over time broke their spine. She tried to read the entire bible 6x annually.
Earlier this week, looking at a garage with too many bikes, I decided to get rid of three. They are decent bikes, probably $600-$1000 new, but they aren't new anymore. I thought it would be nice to donate - maybe a family could use them for Xmas gifts. So, I talked to a hispanic woman that runs a crew working in the area, asking if she had anyone in her crew that could make use of them. I shouldn't be surprised, but of course she said she would take them. The odds are pretty high that I could find them on Facebook Marketplace in a few days. Not what I intended, but OK. I should have donated to the thrift shop I guess.
As bad as the Vega was, it was a Mercedes when compared to the Pinto. I don’t remember stories of Vega gas tanks blowing up. I drove my parents’ Pinto a few times and it was so underpowered that I thought of Fred Flintstone using his feet. Yes, I’m pretty old.
My best friend in high school and college had a Vega. A 'Millionth Vega'. His family had money. I think his dad bought it for him. We loved how cool that car looked and my friend was proud of it. He would always point to the 'Millionth Vega' door handle. I rode in it with him many times. He was a very conservative, law-abiding, stellar student who went on to become a doctor.
Side note: I remember his dad, who had a small engine plane, in '73 or so contemplating buying a personal helicopter. It cost $250,000 at the time. Somehow he got to have it for a trial period and I remember watching him fly the helicopter around his backyard. He decided it was just too much money, and passed.
I also remember his uncle, who owned 'Lancaster Laboratories' at the time, showing us the first handheld calculators in the market, which he bought for the laboratory, around '72 or so. They cost $400 each and he bought two, which was a mind-blowing amount to us high school students. And they did not only addition, but subtraction, multiplication and division as well!!!
My family always drove Dodges, until I dated a guy who sold me in the excellence of Hondas. My brothers still drive Dodge trucks. And one is a highly regarded Viper mechanic.
Him: We took the car for a test drive and couldn’t hear the noise. (No duh there was no wind yesterday.) The video doesn’t pinpoint where it’s coming from. Me: What do you suggest I do? Schedule another appointment and hope that it’s a windy day? Him: Hmmm, that’s a good question. Me: I’ll return on a windy day and you’ll just have to make a tech available. Him thinking: I’m not messing with you lady. Him saying: That sounds like a good idea.
Woo hoo - I left at 8:20 for a 9 am appt , 30 min drive time, I always give myself a bit of leeway - I was driving into my garage at 10:58! So my packed lunch was a picnic at home - hubs goes practice shooting with friends 1st Friday each month, then lunch.
Anyway - great, QUICK, service today- & had a friendly conversation with someone in the waiting area… she was looking at her phone & started laughing —- I impulsively said “cute dogs or cats?” cause that’s what hubs says when I laugh at the computer (that used to almost always be the case, now it’s often something one of y’all have written)… anyway, she was laughing at a map a friend sent her of people ‘migrating’ from ‘some’ states to TX or Florida —- only Florida was Canada… that conversation quickly switched to her asking about my hair (people often do) & she wanted to know how I cut my bangs… then to other things… then her ride showed up…
I have my lunch packed, so will leave in about 30 minutes... I read the "fine print" on the reminder note they sent yesterday, something like: 'your appointment time is 9:00 am, that is for meeting w/ your service advisor. We don't know the timing of your service'
gulp... I'll throw in a snack, or 2... guess I shouldn't include my 1:00 wine time, hmmm
They gave me a free loaner (the mini is less than a year old with only 9K miles.) That being said, they kept it from 9:30-5 and I basically got a tire rotation, test drive and oil change in those many hours.
I just met with Jay -he gets around, cold or no cold, altho he said “it’s a little chilly out” & I said not if you’re further north…
Anyway, he said I was just there for basic service, I said yes, altho I had rec d notes about brakes & battery & he said “you don’t drive your car much so those are just automated emails & I said “yep, I’m just a little old lady who drives to volunteer stuff… & btw, please make sure my 3D navigation screen on my dashboard is reset before I leave” 🙂
at least, imo, if it's not a "sudden onset", then it's not the flu, it is 'battling a cold, altho a cold can be miserable. Hope it's short term. Bundle up. Chicken soup.
The video describing the pyramid was a patience tester. I had no idea there was a pyramid in Rome. Interesting, very interesting. The Vega, not so much.
Romans knew how to build stuff. Kurt knows this better than I, but it's taken us moderns until very recently to figure out how they made concrete that last so long. The pantheon doesn't use rebar!
Good morning. 15 degrees here, not getting above freezing. Single digit chill factors were reported last night, even one in negative territory.
The mothership is covering “circular financing” of AI companies, where tech companies finance other companies developing AI. A big eye-glazing. The FP has its usual TGIF potpourri.
I owned 2 Vegas early in my driving career, One of them I used to haul a U-Haul trailer from Ohio to my first Army duty station in Fort Bragg, North Carolina, at one point driving on twisty mountain roads in western NC. (I was following a AAA “trip-tik”. Thanks, AAA). Both cars were ultimately wrecked and replaced.
My parents would bring us kids in the the AAA office before a cross-country trip to have the oh-so-helpful advisor use big old highlighters in various colors to make us a "TripTik". At least that is what they were called in our neck of the woods. (I imagine "trick-tic" is just a typo, but I could be wrong.)
They now have digital 'TripTiks" on the AAA website. When we were planning to visit our son in Seattle five years ago, I found them to be vastly inferior to Google Maps. Maybe they are better now.
No, you don't have to give it back. But the word "triptych" refers to a painting or carving with three panels, typically depicting three related aspects or takes on a subject, usually hinged together, and often done as an altarpiece. I don't know if the typical TripTik was a tri-fold like the art.
I knew that! Do I get an A, Mr D? (Mr D was my Art teacher, who also gave me the award). I remember having to memorize that term. Mr D literally changed my life. He opened a world of art I had no idea existed. Side note: In hindsight, I rather suspect Mr D 'played for the other side' as the Brits might say. In the early 70's, such things were never even hinted at in our very conservative area.
The TripTiks of my childhood were sections of maps detailing our route, cut out into strips, and spiral bound. They were all different size cutouts, which offended my desire for uniformity in all things:) Some trips we took required several dozen of map sections.
We used that alllll the time. I took my oldest with me one time when he was young (no older than 2 because the next hadn’t been born)he was sooooo impressed he wanted to do that when he grew up.
The Chevy Vega was also the first car I owned. I bought it used. Lemon yellow, dirty torn seats. I didn't mind so much the car for getting to school or a friends house. But I was quite conscious that the car was a serious handicap in the dating game. Funny, I can't remember what happened to that car.
The Vega was a terrible car, but could arguably have a little personality as an uncool car. It wasn't as bad as my friends AMC Gremlin, with the passenger door that swung open on sharp turns. He abandoned the car when graduating from college - leaving it in the apartment parking lot.
My first car was a Mazda 808 Station Wagon. Its hood opened up toward the front and had a glitchy latch. When I got moving (about 40 mph or so) the air from below the car would begin to lift the hood. Then, when it had lifted about four or five inches, the air coming from the front would push down on the hood, keeping it from lifting any further. The end result was that the hood would lift a few inches and then stay there for as long as I drove at that speed. Then, when I slowed down it would gradually lower until it was flat again.
I got completely used to that after a few days. It didn't seem to be a problem and it was completely entertaining to see the reactions of my friends who might happen to be in the passenger seat when this occurred.
when dating now hubs, he had a Prius & a Tacoma 4 cyl little pick-up truck. Sometimes when he'd want me to sit next to him (vs the bucket seat in the Prius) he'd drive the truck. Problem was it had no oomph, when going up hills, & at that time we lived in parts of town when the best way to go back & forth was via the toll rd, w/ 80 mph. Well, we'd get on that & he'd have to turn off the AC, in TX heat. Arrrggghhhh! I guess he knew I was a keeper 'cause I didn't complain. And I didn't care if I sweated. We'd dance up a storm & I sweated then & that was ok. But usually on the dance floors, in the corners, they have big ole fans, so I'll stand in front of those for a bit... side note: he's a pro at backing up any car. His house prior to marriage had a 2 car garage, very full, he'd back both vehicles in, neatly, never touching anything, could still get in/get out the doors... did that in order to be able to leave the driveway easier 'cause of views being blocked by trees, etc.
That reminds me of a Jerry Jeff song - The Pickup Truck. In the live version at Gruene Hall he tells a story about hanging out with Hondo Crouch the "mayor" of Luckenbach, and the fun they had in the pickup truck. Going for the coasting record "we're all leaning in the cab to try to go a little farther.."
my first car was an English Ford, bought at a car auction. I drove it for awhile - would pull into the gas station, ask the attendant to check the gas, fill up the oil. The muffler never stayed put; we'd go to the drive-in, over the hump (how many readers went to drive-ins?). We'd get over the hump ok, but driving off, I had coat hangers holding that muffler up, so friends would have to lay across the back seat, both ways, grab hold of the coat hangers to keep the muffler from dragging off.
Then I had a 56 Chevy. Then I left for college, & couldn't have a car the first year, so had to sell it.
Next car I had was a Sunbeam. Cute little car until the engine blew. Then I bought a 57 Ford for $50. I had a step-brother by that time, whose mom convinced my dad to 'adopt' him as a 21 or 22 yr old, who had come back from Viet Nam, after shipping weed back to the states, to my dad's house while he was mayor & storing it in the ceiling - hahaha - what a story - well, step-bro had inherited a big chunk of $$ when his dad had been killed in an industrial accident - back to my story about the Ford: I had a new job, while going to school, could get a ride for about a week but needed the $50 to buy the car, knew I'd have the money in a week, asked 'dear' step-bro for a loan; he refused. I asked my brother, who was also a student, w/ no $, but he scraped together the $50, which I was able to give back to him in a week. Wooo boy, did y'all just get another story from me... Anyway, I kept that Ford, till graduating, moved to Annapolis - then when was due for inspection, new tires, etc. I sold it to a friend for $1, to make it legal for title transfer, bought myself a used Karman Ghia; kept that till I moved across country & needed room to haul the little bit of stuff I owned, so traded that in for my used VW bus, got more for the Ghia than I had paid for it previously 'cause that was during the gas crisis... Kept that bus for many many yrs...
We sure had some off-brand cars back then, didn't we? My first three cars were: a Simca (for which I paid $35), a Rambler (with a left-foot gas pedal because the previous owner had had a wooden right leg), and a Fiat.
I sold the Simca to a college friend for $5, which I thought was a record-setting low price for a car till I read your post!
My main thought about this was that 50 years isn’t nearly long enough. It should be at least a century, maybe a millennium.
These days, out collective attention span is so short, a time capsules will probably be slated to open in six to twelve months to orgasmic oohs and aahs.
Yesterday, I got a freebie teaser from the Mothership...Dispatch Energy. It may be one of the worst researched pieces of self righteous drivel on energy and climate change imaginable. I hope they're not staking their future on energy polemics. Man, it was a stinker.
Well, to start, the subtext was "How DARE anyone question the wonderfulness of America, we've done more than every other player COMBINED to reduce emissions, and everyone should thank their lucky stars we don't...etc., etc.."...not the engaging rhetoric one might employ to draw skeptics into their worldview.
His take on China was utterly idiotic; he clearly hadn't studied anything and did nothing but misrepresent every aspect of China's plan, which to be fair, does call for coal and gas fired energy generation, but China is realistic in seeing if there's going to be an economy that supports any plan, there has to be energy for RIGHT NOW, and those plants will be mothballed when all the other energy buildout and storage capacity is online. China does have. a plan for an energy transition, said plan being remarkably similar if not identical to the (imho) Gold Standard on the topic...
The Manhattan Institute's study, "The Energy Transition Delusion" which factually dismantles the progressive left's lunacy on green new deals and all such blather. We need more energy right now and youngsters thinking we're going to scrap a multi trillion dollar investment in gas and magically develop electrical generation to replace it overnight need to STFU. If our exploding electricity costs aren't evidence of the need for more plants, I don't know what is.
He did disparage COP and the Paris Accords, which need disparaging as they're both object lessons in performative posturing absent any coherent plan, but it read like it was straight out of a DJT 2am rant on Truth Social.
He didn't address what's his face deeply credible study indicating the vast economic losses caused by climate change as having much less (almost nothing) to do with the actual change of climate than it does with the fact humans are moving to and occupying areas that are already subject to problems from extreme weather conditions, and if we're going to mitigate future economic losses, maybe we shouldn't do stuff like build in flood plains, on barrier islands, shifting beach environments, etc. What's his face does not dispute any of the human causation, carbon emissions, or anything else, but it cost him his job at his progressive university, but it did get him a gig at the AEI...so good for him.
Anyway, it was an awful polemic. I've said enough.
I read the article and the negative comments. I hoped I would find Kurt addressing this. I knew I would find out the truth, I mean THE TRUTH, to quote a certain politician who you all might know. I was not disappointed :)
"How DARE anyone question the wonderfulness of America,"
No worries, the comment section was dominated by people ready to defend China and blame the US.
I may have to re-read the article. I agree with Kurt's comments above, yet in my recollection of the article I didn't notice the things he's calling out. Maybe I skimmed it and went to the comments.
I was less bothered by what he said, than by what he didn't say. It was too much rah rah America and not enough discussion of what can be done and what China is doing.
I don't want to blame anyone. I just want factual reporting absent the ranting. There's all sorts of stuff to criticize China about, but energy is not one of them. They actually have a plan and it makes sense.
A good energy plan is one that actually produces more energy, so for sure. The US energy policy has been stupid for a while, working mostly towards policy that would produce less energy. Anti-growth really the fundamental driver.
Thanks for taking the time to lay all this out. I know they're TRYING at The Dispatch. (And a lot of times they do succeed.) It's unfortunate that sometimes they end up publishing a rant rather than reportage.
I think your last point is one that people really need to get, but mostly don't: much of the so-called "climate" damage is just a result of people moving to areas where they're in harm's way from bad weather.
AFAIC, it's the main point. The climate changes, it's going to change, and if economic losses are going to be minimized, people have to think about what they build and where...which flies directly in the face of the American way of life. The problem I see is folks think these tweaks to our emissions are going to solve the main issue. They're not. I hear it all the time in Evanston..."WE HAVE TO DO SOMETHING!"...which I agree with, but deeply disagree on what the something is.
Now, now. Advice columnists like Ann Landers have sold newspapers for over a hundred years. The Free Press has been pretty astute in figuring out what will sell subscriptions (and good for them!), and I don't begrudge them reaching back for a tried-and-true formula. And this column will be a lot better than the woke advice columnist in the NY Times who tells people how to fix stresses in their polyamorous relationships.
It's not that I think Abigail Shrier is wrong about everything, but I just don't like reading what she writes. Something about her writing irks me. And I have my kids to give me personal-life advice, generally unsolicited.
She's fine. She's really smart. She writes well. I don't have a beef, but that sort of stuff...semi-famous or publicly recognized entities asking love advice in a purported news rag...it's the descent into places I've spent most of my life avoiding. Shudder...
The Vega. What a turd of an automobile.....and Ziebart! I remember chewing on the cost of getting a new car "Ziebarted". I recall Vegas rusting out somewhere about 5 minutes after purchase. I knew a couple folks that toasted their engines trying to drive over the Rocky Mountains. It managed to encapsulate everything about lousy American cars of the era.
Ford's pinto at least kept you warm...if someone rear ended it.
I know an exec at Ford who was the recall manager (he became an academic). He wrote about the pinto, and why he delayed recalling it. It wasn't that the fires were not serious, he looked at the evidence and concluded it was not a systemic issue requiring a recall. For years, he had students read that case in his class and every year they'd tear him a new one. His point was you had to build a different type of thinking into safety issues, else people like him would fail to see the safety issues sooner. He bought one, and gave it to his sister (who he loved), so he honestly thought they were safe.
My friend had the Vega, but newly married me had a Pinto station wagon! It survived through our first two children. One Sunday, we headed to church in deep snow and a blizzard. I had responsibilities at church, and back then, not getting to church was unthinkable.
We rented an old farmhouse from a young Amish fellow. The Pinto sank into the snow. We got the Amishman to tow us out of the drifts with his work horse. All went well until the tow rope snapped and the metal hook flew through the back window like a missile. No one was hurt, and I guess insurance paid for the window, but we didn't keep the Pinto too much longer.
EARWORM: I’m looking for a few more new Christmas tunes as velvety as this one by Presley Haile for the next few weeks. (I’ll take suggestions.) But even if I don’t find them, I hope you “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas” (audio, 3:14): https://youtu.be/NmYTldlC8KQ?si=mnqzXC6FMTVRXCty
Like all music genres, there's a lot of Christmas dreck out there, but some gems as well.
I love the Nutcracker, which to me is Christmas music. I play it every year. As a matter of fact, We used that in our wedding, which caused everyone to ask "why are they playing Christmas music on Feb 15th"?
Okay, time for a cheesy confession. I used to make fun of Amy Grant in college, but I love "Breath of Heaven", and "Angels we have heard on high"....
I don't fault you for that. I'd like most of it better if I only heard it in, say, December. If retailers understood that there are customers who won't go in their stores because of the way-too-early Christmas music, they might be more circumspect.
I have a CD of Christmas music recorded by the orchestra that bears the name of Glenn Miller. The original band didn't do one back in the day, but the situation has since been corrected.
An odd favorite is "Oy to the World" by the Klezmonauts. Christmas music done in klezmer style (the Fiddler on the Roof sound), for those multicultural and interfaith situations.
Fred Waring and the Pennsylvanians. I haven't heard that name in years. Of course, growing up in PA, we may have had a record of theirs, but definitely heard them on the local radio often.
Renee Fleming has a wonderful themed album "Sacred Songs" that I pull up every year. It's not so much Christmas as it is...uh...sacred songs that fit Christmas.
however, not velvety, I always say my very favorite Christmas song is The Little Drummer Boy, because to me it tells me the reason for gifts, which is why I sang it to my boys. And I really like Bob Seger:
Sheldon was born on December 22 in Tulsa, and in the room across the hall on the 23rd, there was a young woman from Africa who had just given birth. All the relatives turned up in their traditional outfits to celebrate, and things got kind of loud.
A nurse poked her head in my room and asked if it was too noisy for Sheldon and me. I said, "No, they're just happy. It's fine as long as they don't start drumming."
One of my favorite versions is Rolf from the Muppets singing it. It is what I would play when taking the kids through the winter lights near our home. I'd bundle them into the miata, top down, and drive through the park featuring the lights display. Yeah, illegal, but we drove 5mph through the lights display.
Two kids under six in a front seat, sharing the one seat belt. I technically had to drive on a highway for a quarter mile to get to the light display.
Lol, the line begins to back up traffic for half a mile; so when trying to get from the HS to our home we drive the opposite direction 3 miles out of the way since it is quicker to get home that way. 🙄
Sometime around 1964, my mom stacked quilts behind the seats in her TR-3 and she and dad drove us top down from Central Arkansas to Branson, MO. Not sure of the legality of all that, but the car didn't have a seat belt. I lost a comic book along the way.
And it's still safer than kids riding around in the backs of pickups in decades past. I did my share of that. And I'm not sure that's illegal now, although it's a much less common sight than it once was.
I rode in the back of pickups, in the end of a station wagon, yeah, my parents must have loved me to do that! 😉
The funniest one was when I had my little Honda 600 coupe, Mom made me take her car whenever I took Grandmother somewhere on a highway. She didn't care if I died on the highway in my death trap, but don't harm g-ma!
All joking aside, I had a great relationship with both of my parents....
My two oldest kids drove from Charlotte to Seattle in a Ford Fiesta with all Jo's worldly goods and her dog. At least once, they all slept in a parking lot, having not planned on a place to stay with the dog.
People down below talked about their first cars. I owned a 1972 Honda 600 coupe, where the prior owner converted it to a convertible. 600 was the engine size, so it was larger than a Fiat 500 (which actually had a smaller engine than that). 36 horsepower. Top speed on level ground at 58 mph, so I grabbed a brick for "Cruise control".10 inch rims. My ZTR today has bigger tires than that! When the engine broke after four years, we toyed with putting a Briggs and Stratton lawn mower engine in it, but didn't. My Dad sold it a few years later to a friend of his who thought he could put an engine in it.
I'd take my grandmother for rides in it. We'd put-put-putter out of the driveway, then down the street out of view of my Mom. I'd then drop the top, and gun it, she'd whisper "wheeeeeeee". She loved fresh air on her face. On our trip home. I'd stop, put up the top, then put-put-putter into the driveway, my Mom never the wiser. Grandmother was a saint, but also wise enough to stay quiet about her adventures!
Okay - talking about old cars .. my hubs, no exaggeration, can ID American 50’s/60’s car with a stock exhaust. You show him a head light, a tail light, a fin, ANYTHING - he was INTO cars. Back in his day he owned Fords… he loved watching the refurbished old car shows…
Is she the same that called the little ones little sh!ts?
That was her daughter. Grandmother Crockett wore out bibles reading them. She'd place a page sized magnifying glass on them, which over time broke their spine. She tried to read the entire bible 6x annually.
Good moring. That was an interesting story, though I don't have any clever responses at the moment. But I do rememer 1975 pretty well..
I am waiting to see if I get a PDF to work on today (final copyediting check), or whether the project will carry over to Monday.
Good morning and up to 50F in Tucson.
Poor Sarah Isgur again making a weak and obviously 2nd year law argument supporting the Supreme Court.
My NYT subscription ends in a week.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/05/opinion/supreme-court-trump-congress.html?unlocked_article_code=1.6U8.3vuq.QZgcRQz2kXm2&smid=nytcore-android-share
She faints objectivity but she loves the Trump autocracy.
She would have all regulations written by the lunatic friends of RFK.
Earlier this week, looking at a garage with too many bikes, I decided to get rid of three. They are decent bikes, probably $600-$1000 new, but they aren't new anymore. I thought it would be nice to donate - maybe a family could use them for Xmas gifts. So, I talked to a hispanic woman that runs a crew working in the area, asking if she had anyone in her crew that could make use of them. I shouldn't be surprised, but of course she said she would take them. The odds are pretty high that I could find them on Facebook Marketplace in a few days. Not what I intended, but OK. I should have donated to the thrift shop I guess.
As bad as the Vega was, it was a Mercedes when compared to the Pinto. I don’t remember stories of Vega gas tanks blowing up. I drove my parents’ Pinto a few times and it was so underpowered that I thought of Fred Flintstone using his feet. Yes, I’m pretty old.
My best friend in high school and college had a Vega. A 'Millionth Vega'. His family had money. I think his dad bought it for him. We loved how cool that car looked and my friend was proud of it. He would always point to the 'Millionth Vega' door handle. I rode in it with him many times. He was a very conservative, law-abiding, stellar student who went on to become a doctor.
Side note: I remember his dad, who had a small engine plane, in '73 or so contemplating buying a personal helicopter. It cost $250,000 at the time. Somehow he got to have it for a trial period and I remember watching him fly the helicopter around his backyard. He decided it was just too much money, and passed.
I also remember his uncle, who owned 'Lancaster Laboratories' at the time, showing us the first handheld calculators in the market, which he bought for the laboratory, around '72 or so. They cost $400 each and he bought two, which was a mind-blowing amount to us high school students. And they did not only addition, but subtraction, multiplication and division as well!!!
On the subject of banjos: here is something different by the Kruger Brothers.
Watching the Clouds Roll By
https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=dOsouhunRFM&si=OPwtaYKwbd-5A8BH
My family always drove Dodges, until I dated a guy who sold me in the excellence of Hondas. My brothers still drive Dodge trucks. And one is a highly regarded Viper mechanic.
Him: We took the car for a test drive and couldn’t hear the noise. (No duh there was no wind yesterday.) The video doesn’t pinpoint where it’s coming from. Me: What do you suggest I do? Schedule another appointment and hope that it’s a windy day? Him: Hmmm, that’s a good question. Me: I’ll return on a windy day and you’ll just have to make a tech available. Him thinking: I’m not messing with you lady. Him saying: That sounds like a good idea.
Woo hoo - I left at 8:20 for a 9 am appt , 30 min drive time, I always give myself a bit of leeway - I was driving into my garage at 10:58! So my packed lunch was a picnic at home - hubs goes practice shooting with friends 1st Friday each month, then lunch.
Anyway - great, QUICK, service today- & had a friendly conversation with someone in the waiting area… she was looking at her phone & started laughing —- I impulsively said “cute dogs or cats?” cause that’s what hubs says when I laugh at the computer (that used to almost always be the case, now it’s often something one of y’all have written)… anyway, she was laughing at a map a friend sent her of people ‘migrating’ from ‘some’ states to TX or Florida —- only Florida was Canada… that conversation quickly switched to her asking about my hair (people often do) & she wanted to know how I cut my bangs… then to other things… then her ride showed up…
I have my lunch packed, so will leave in about 30 minutes... I read the "fine print" on the reminder note they sent yesterday, something like: 'your appointment time is 9:00 am, that is for meeting w/ your service advisor. We don't know the timing of your service'
gulp... I'll throw in a snack, or 2... guess I shouldn't include my 1:00 wine time, hmmm
They gave me a free loaner (the mini is less than a year old with only 9K miles.) That being said, they kept it from 9:30-5 and I basically got a tire rotation, test drive and oil change in those many hours.
I just met with Jay -he gets around, cold or no cold, altho he said “it’s a little chilly out” & I said not if you’re further north…
Anyway, he said I was just there for basic service, I said yes, altho I had rec d notes about brakes & battery & he said “you don’t drive your car much so those are just automated emails & I said “yep, I’m just a little old lady who drives to volunteer stuff… & btw, please make sure my 3D navigation screen on my dashboard is reset before I leave” 🙂
I experienced Déjà Vu with that.
I've been battling a cold the past three days, gonna take some cold medicine and go back to bed awhile.
sweet dreams
at least, imo, if it's not a "sudden onset", then it's not the flu, it is 'battling a cold, altho a cold can be miserable. Hope it's short term. Bundle up. Chicken soup.
Best wishes. Vlad likes "fizzy cold medicine," the Walmart version of Alka-Seltzer.
I was going to recommend Cold Away, but to my horror, they've changed the formulation and omitted Banlangen.
The video describing the pyramid was a patience tester. I had no idea there was a pyramid in Rome. Interesting, very interesting. The Vega, not so much.
It doesn't look 2,000 years old, for sure!
It kinda looks like some tourist attraction off I-75 on the way to Florida. Amazing that it's 2k years old.
no concrete slabs falling off
Romans knew how to build stuff. Kurt knows this better than I, but it's taken us moderns until very recently to figure out how they made concrete that last so long. The pantheon doesn't use rebar!
Good morning. 15 degrees here, not getting above freezing. Single digit chill factors were reported last night, even one in negative territory.
The mothership is covering “circular financing” of AI companies, where tech companies finance other companies developing AI. A big eye-glazing. The FP has its usual TGIF potpourri.
I owned 2 Vegas early in my driving career, One of them I used to haul a U-Haul trailer from Ohio to my first Army duty station in Fort Bragg, North Carolina, at one point driving on twisty mountain roads in western NC. (I was following a AAA “trip-tik”. Thanks, AAA). Both cars were ultimately wrecked and replaced.
My parents would bring us kids in the the AAA office before a cross-country trip to have the oh-so-helpful advisor use big old highlighters in various colors to make us a "TripTik". At least that is what they were called in our neck of the woods. (I imagine "trick-tic" is just a typo, but I could be wrong.)
They now have digital 'TripTiks" on the AAA website. When we were planning to visit our son in Seattle five years ago, I found them to be vastly inferior to Google Maps. Maybe they are better now.
"Trick-tic" was a combination of uncertain memory and Substack auto-correct (also known as "Victoria Davis Hansen" 🙂).
I think "TripTik" was supposed to be a play on words, but one that only someone who has taken an art history course would get.
I won our high school Art History award. But I missed the reference. Do I have to give my award back?
No, you don't have to give it back. But the word "triptych" refers to a painting or carving with three panels, typically depicting three related aspects or takes on a subject, usually hinged together, and often done as an altarpiece. I don't know if the typical TripTik was a tri-fold like the art.
I knew that! Do I get an A, Mr D? (Mr D was my Art teacher, who also gave me the award). I remember having to memorize that term. Mr D literally changed my life. He opened a world of art I had no idea existed. Side note: In hindsight, I rather suspect Mr D 'played for the other side' as the Brits might say. In the early 70's, such things were never even hinted at in our very conservative area.
The TripTiks of my childhood were sections of maps detailing our route, cut out into strips, and spiral bound. They were all different size cutouts, which offended my desire for uniformity in all things:) Some trips we took required several dozen of map sections.
Ms. C will happily award you an A for knowing what a triptych is after all.
We used that alllll the time. I took my oldest with me one time when he was young (no older than 2 because the next hadn’t been born)he was sooooo impressed he wanted to do that when he grew up.
The Chevy Vega was also the first car I owned. I bought it used. Lemon yellow, dirty torn seats. I didn't mind so much the car for getting to school or a friends house. But I was quite conscious that the car was a serious handicap in the dating game. Funny, I can't remember what happened to that car.
The Vega was a terrible car, but could arguably have a little personality as an uncool car. It wasn't as bad as my friends AMC Gremlin, with the passenger door that swung open on sharp turns. He abandoned the car when graduating from college - leaving it in the apartment parking lot.
My first car was a Mazda 808 Station Wagon. Its hood opened up toward the front and had a glitchy latch. When I got moving (about 40 mph or so) the air from below the car would begin to lift the hood. Then, when it had lifted about four or five inches, the air coming from the front would push down on the hood, keeping it from lifting any further. The end result was that the hood would lift a few inches and then stay there for as long as I drove at that speed. Then, when I slowed down it would gradually lower until it was flat again.
I got completely used to that after a few days. It didn't seem to be a problem and it was completely entertaining to see the reactions of my friends who might happen to be in the passenger seat when this occurred.
That would have frightened me!
I was only seventeen. Too young and dumb to know any better. 😉
when dating now hubs, he had a Prius & a Tacoma 4 cyl little pick-up truck. Sometimes when he'd want me to sit next to him (vs the bucket seat in the Prius) he'd drive the truck. Problem was it had no oomph, when going up hills, & at that time we lived in parts of town when the best way to go back & forth was via the toll rd, w/ 80 mph. Well, we'd get on that & he'd have to turn off the AC, in TX heat. Arrrggghhhh! I guess he knew I was a keeper 'cause I didn't complain. And I didn't care if I sweated. We'd dance up a storm & I sweated then & that was ok. But usually on the dance floors, in the corners, they have big ole fans, so I'll stand in front of those for a bit... side note: he's a pro at backing up any car. His house prior to marriage had a 2 car garage, very full, he'd back both vehicles in, neatly, never touching anything, could still get in/get out the doors... did that in order to be able to leave the driveway easier 'cause of views being blocked by trees, etc.
That reminds me of a Jerry Jeff song - The Pickup Truck. In the live version at Gruene Hall he tells a story about hanging out with Hondo Crouch the "mayor" of Luckenbach, and the fun they had in the pickup truck. Going for the coasting record "we're all leaning in the cab to try to go a little farther.."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41xXMODgmCw
That comes on sometimes in the afternoon when we have country music streaming while playing pool!!
my first car was an English Ford, bought at a car auction. I drove it for awhile - would pull into the gas station, ask the attendant to check the gas, fill up the oil. The muffler never stayed put; we'd go to the drive-in, over the hump (how many readers went to drive-ins?). We'd get over the hump ok, but driving off, I had coat hangers holding that muffler up, so friends would have to lay across the back seat, both ways, grab hold of the coat hangers to keep the muffler from dragging off.
Then I had a 56 Chevy. Then I left for college, & couldn't have a car the first year, so had to sell it.
Next car I had was a Sunbeam. Cute little car until the engine blew. Then I bought a 57 Ford for $50. I had a step-brother by that time, whose mom convinced my dad to 'adopt' him as a 21 or 22 yr old, who had come back from Viet Nam, after shipping weed back to the states, to my dad's house while he was mayor & storing it in the ceiling - hahaha - what a story - well, step-bro had inherited a big chunk of $$ when his dad had been killed in an industrial accident - back to my story about the Ford: I had a new job, while going to school, could get a ride for about a week but needed the $50 to buy the car, knew I'd have the money in a week, asked 'dear' step-bro for a loan; he refused. I asked my brother, who was also a student, w/ no $, but he scraped together the $50, which I was able to give back to him in a week. Wooo boy, did y'all just get another story from me... Anyway, I kept that Ford, till graduating, moved to Annapolis - then when was due for inspection, new tires, etc. I sold it to a friend for $1, to make it legal for title transfer, bought myself a used Karman Ghia; kept that till I moved across country & needed room to haul the little bit of stuff I owned, so traded that in for my used VW bus, got more for the Ghia than I had paid for it previously 'cause that was during the gas crisis... Kept that bus for many many yrs...
We sure had some off-brand cars back then, didn't we? My first three cars were: a Simca (for which I paid $35), a Rambler (with a left-foot gas pedal because the previous owner had had a wooden right leg), and a Fiat.
I sold the Simca to a college friend for $5, which I thought was a record-setting low price for a car till I read your post!
My first car was a Chevy Impala, then a Chevy Nova Supersport, which i traded for a Honda 600 Coupe.
My main thought about this was that 50 years isn’t nearly long enough. It should be at least a century, maybe a millennium.
These days, out collective attention span is so short, a time capsules will probably be slated to open in six to twelve months to orgasmic oohs and aahs.
哈哈哈哈。。。
Yesterday, I got a freebie teaser from the Mothership...Dispatch Energy. It may be one of the worst researched pieces of self righteous drivel on energy and climate change imaginable. I hope they're not staking their future on energy polemics. Man, it was a stinker.
I read it too, but I don't know enough about the subject to have seen the piece's deficiencies.
Well, to start, the subtext was "How DARE anyone question the wonderfulness of America, we've done more than every other player COMBINED to reduce emissions, and everyone should thank their lucky stars we don't...etc., etc.."...not the engaging rhetoric one might employ to draw skeptics into their worldview.
His take on China was utterly idiotic; he clearly hadn't studied anything and did nothing but misrepresent every aspect of China's plan, which to be fair, does call for coal and gas fired energy generation, but China is realistic in seeing if there's going to be an economy that supports any plan, there has to be energy for RIGHT NOW, and those plants will be mothballed when all the other energy buildout and storage capacity is online. China does have. a plan for an energy transition, said plan being remarkably similar if not identical to the (imho) Gold Standard on the topic...
The Manhattan Institute's study, "The Energy Transition Delusion" which factually dismantles the progressive left's lunacy on green new deals and all such blather. We need more energy right now and youngsters thinking we're going to scrap a multi trillion dollar investment in gas and magically develop electrical generation to replace it overnight need to STFU. If our exploding electricity costs aren't evidence of the need for more plants, I don't know what is.
He did disparage COP and the Paris Accords, which need disparaging as they're both object lessons in performative posturing absent any coherent plan, but it read like it was straight out of a DJT 2am rant on Truth Social.
He didn't address what's his face deeply credible study indicating the vast economic losses caused by climate change as having much less (almost nothing) to do with the actual change of climate than it does with the fact humans are moving to and occupying areas that are already subject to problems from extreme weather conditions, and if we're going to mitigate future economic losses, maybe we shouldn't do stuff like build in flood plains, on barrier islands, shifting beach environments, etc. What's his face does not dispute any of the human causation, carbon emissions, or anything else, but it cost him his job at his progressive university, but it did get him a gig at the AEI...so good for him.
Anyway, it was an awful polemic. I've said enough.
I read the article and the negative comments. I hoped I would find Kurt addressing this. I knew I would find out the truth, I mean THE TRUTH, to quote a certain politician who you all might know. I was not disappointed :)
"How DARE anyone question the wonderfulness of America,"
No worries, the comment section was dominated by people ready to defend China and blame the US.
I may have to re-read the article. I agree with Kurt's comments above, yet in my recollection of the article I didn't notice the things he's calling out. Maybe I skimmed it and went to the comments.
I was less bothered by what he said, than by what he didn't say. It was too much rah rah America and not enough discussion of what can be done and what China is doing.
I re-read, and see that.
I don't want to blame anyone. I just want factual reporting absent the ranting. There's all sorts of stuff to criticize China about, but energy is not one of them. They actually have a plan and it makes sense.
A good energy plan is one that actually produces more energy, so for sure. The US energy policy has been stupid for a while, working mostly towards policy that would produce less energy. Anti-growth really the fundamental driver.
The anti-growth crowd...sheeesh...
Thanks for taking the time to lay all this out. I know they're TRYING at The Dispatch. (And a lot of times they do succeed.) It's unfortunate that sometimes they end up publishing a rant rather than reportage.
I think your last point is one that people really need to get, but mostly don't: much of the so-called "climate" damage is just a result of people moving to areas where they're in harm's way from bad weather.
AFAIC, it's the main point. The climate changes, it's going to change, and if economic losses are going to be minimized, people have to think about what they build and where...which flies directly in the face of the American way of life. The problem I see is folks think these tweaks to our emissions are going to solve the main issue. They're not. I hear it all the time in Evanston..."WE HAVE TO DO SOMETHING!"...which I agree with, but deeply disagree on what the something is.
Could be worse. You could have gotten the new advice column "Tough Love" from the FreeP. Where's the "block" button?
Now, now. Advice columnists like Ann Landers have sold newspapers for over a hundred years. The Free Press has been pretty astute in figuring out what will sell subscriptions (and good for them!), and I don't begrudge them reaching back for a tried-and-true formula. And this column will be a lot better than the woke advice columnist in the NY Times who tells people how to fix stresses in their polyamorous relationships.
True.
I saw that and shuddered.
Shudder.
Definitely shudder...
It's not that I think Abigail Shrier is wrong about everything, but I just don't like reading what she writes. Something about her writing irks me. And I have my kids to give me personal-life advice, generally unsolicited.
That's funny.
I like her. Have you ever heard her be interviewed? I have heard her many times and she is a practical sense maker.
I like her too.
She's fine. She's really smart. She writes well. I don't have a beef, but that sort of stuff...semi-famous or publicly recognized entities asking love advice in a purported news rag...it's the descent into places I've spent most of my life avoiding. Shudder...
No, I haven't seen anything live, only print. As I said, I'm not saying she's wrong or anything, just doesn't appeal to me.
Who was the author?
Some new guy whose name I erased from my memory.
Lol!
The Vega. What a turd of an automobile.....and Ziebart! I remember chewing on the cost of getting a new car "Ziebarted". I recall Vegas rusting out somewhere about 5 minutes after purchase. I knew a couple folks that toasted their engines trying to drive over the Rocky Mountains. It managed to encapsulate everything about lousy American cars of the era.
Ford's pinto at least kept you warm...if someone rear ended it.
I know an exec at Ford who was the recall manager (he became an academic). He wrote about the pinto, and why he delayed recalling it. It wasn't that the fires were not serious, he looked at the evidence and concluded it was not a systemic issue requiring a recall. For years, he had students read that case in his class and every year they'd tear him a new one. His point was you had to build a different type of thinking into safety issues, else people like him would fail to see the safety issues sooner. He bought one, and gave it to his sister (who he loved), so he honestly thought they were safe.
My friend had the Vega, but newly married me had a Pinto station wagon! It survived through our first two children. One Sunday, we headed to church in deep snow and a blizzard. I had responsibilities at church, and back then, not getting to church was unthinkable.
We rented an old farmhouse from a young Amish fellow. The Pinto sank into the snow. We got the Amishman to tow us out of the drifts with his work horse. All went well until the tow rope snapped and the metal hook flew through the back window like a missile. No one was hurt, and I guess insurance paid for the window, but we didn't keep the Pinto too much longer.
File that under Upton Sinclair, i.e., "It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it."
EARWORM: I’m looking for a few more new Christmas tunes as velvety as this one by Presley Haile for the next few weeks. (I’ll take suggestions.) But even if I don’t find them, I hope you “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas” (audio, 3:14): https://youtu.be/NmYTldlC8KQ?si=mnqzXC6FMTVRXCty
I don’t particularly care for Christmas music. There, I said it.
Like all music genres, there's a lot of Christmas dreck out there, but some gems as well.
I love the Nutcracker, which to me is Christmas music. I play it every year. As a matter of fact, We used that in our wedding, which caused everyone to ask "why are they playing Christmas music on Feb 15th"?
Okay, time for a cheesy confession. I used to make fun of Amy Grant in college, but I love "Breath of Heaven", and "Angels we have heard on high"....
I don't fault you for that. I'd like most of it better if I only heard it in, say, December. If retailers understood that there are customers who won't go in their stores because of the way-too-early Christmas music, they might be more circumspect.
There is a lot not to like.
I like harmony, choirs and a capella groups, stuff out of the hymnal and ancient traditional carols.
And Fred Waring and the Pennsylvanians (1940s).
How about Mannheim Steamroller?
I have a CD of Christmas music recorded by the orchestra that bears the name of Glenn Miller. The original band didn't do one back in the day, but the situation has since been corrected.
An odd favorite is "Oy to the World" by the Klezmonauts. Christmas music done in klezmer style (the Fiddler on the Roof sound), for those multicultural and interfaith situations.
Fred Waring and the Pennsylvanians. I haven't heard that name in years. Of course, growing up in PA, we may have had a record of theirs, but definitely heard them on the local radio often.
I looked him up this morning to make sure I had the dates right. He was an interesting businessman.
Renee Fleming has a wonderful themed album "Sacred Songs" that I pull up every year. It's not so much Christmas as it is...uh...sacred songs that fit Christmas.
Excellent performance, but the song doesn't do anything for me.
Drama Queen and I sang this one Christmas before Mass:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=icco9ET8j_g&list=RDicco9ET8j_g&start_radio=1
It's a good song, not something I would have expected from Steve Earle.
He's a very wide-ranging songwriter. For every successful song he recorded himself, he's probably written three that were hits for other performers.
I would have loved to have heard y'all sing this.
It went well. DQ has an ear for harmonies.
oh, that's nice.
however, not velvety, I always say my very favorite Christmas song is The Little Drummer Boy, because to me it tells me the reason for gifts, which is why I sang it to my boys. And I really like Bob Seger:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41cvukwmqhk
or perhaps an old medley:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCpXMy5GalI
Dave Barry had a column that discussed the little drummer boy, how Mary probably didn't enjoy a child banging a drum just after childbirth!
That column was a good one.
Sheldon was born on December 22 in Tulsa, and in the room across the hall on the 23rd, there was a young woman from Africa who had just given birth. All the relatives turned up in their traditional outfits to celebrate, and things got kind of loud.
A nurse poked her head in my room and asked if it was too noisy for Sheldon and me. I said, "No, they're just happy. It's fine as long as they don't start drumming."
One of my favorite versions is Rolf from the Muppets singing it. It is what I would play when taking the kids through the winter lights near our home. I'd bundle them into the miata, top down, and drive through the park featuring the lights display. Yeah, illegal, but we drove 5mph through the lights display.
What part of that is illegal? No seat belts?
Two kids under six in a front seat, sharing the one seat belt. I technically had to drive on a highway for a quarter mile to get to the light display.
Lol, the line begins to back up traffic for half a mile; so when trying to get from the HS to our home we drive the opposite direction 3 miles out of the way since it is quicker to get home that way. 🙄
Sometime around 1964, my mom stacked quilts behind the seats in her TR-3 and she and dad drove us top down from Central Arkansas to Branson, MO. Not sure of the legality of all that, but the car didn't have a seat belt. I lost a comic book along the way.
And it's still safer than kids riding around in the backs of pickups in decades past. I did my share of that. And I'm not sure that's illegal now, although it's a much less common sight than it once was.
I rode in the back of pickups, in the end of a station wagon, yeah, my parents must have loved me to do that! 😉
The funniest one was when I had my little Honda 600 coupe, Mom made me take her car whenever I took Grandmother somewhere on a highway. She didn't care if I died on the highway in my death trap, but don't harm g-ma!
All joking aside, I had a great relationship with both of my parents....
TR-3 from central AK to Branson...that was a trip.
My two oldest kids drove from Charlotte to Seattle in a Ford Fiesta with all Jo's worldly goods and her dog. At least once, they all slept in a parking lot, having not planned on a place to stay with the dog.