trinacriabob

Ok, I see. Yes, for an active person, it's not easy. Even though a few covid episodes were mild (thanking vaccination and boosters), 4 or 5 days of laying around was not to my liking and got me down. There are some things I won't do anymore and haven't done for a while. One is messing with free weights ... I want the weight machines to restrict and regulate any movements. Parenthetically, "regulate" was one great Dr. Ruth Westheimer "rrrr" word (where she rolled that "r" in an unmistakably Germanic way). The other is that I no longer swim in a saltwater body of water. And some warm, turquoise ones really beckon. Wishing you a speedy and very satisfactory recovery!

Argh. This is a question I almost want to avoid. The A380 is incredible. Yes, I had a roundtrip through AA on British. They have a small economy section at the back, upstairs. Then I flew a one way from Italy to New York-JFK on an Emirates "fifth freedom" flight segment. They have economy taking the entire main level, with none upstairs. Economy seats are a little wider on the A380 ... definitely on Emirates, at least. It was an outstanding flight because of that. On British, I paid for an economy seat upstairs and the curvature of the exterior translates into windows that are too sloped and with an odd and bigger void in between the cabin and the exterior. I will be sitting downstairs if there is a future flight on one. The 747-8 isn't as comfortable in economy because the seats are traditional economy width. I feel more comfortable in one because I know it. It's also much more photogenic all the way around. You feel good when it pulls up to the gate and you see that beautiful and proportioned machine through the big glass windows. The humidification is good on both planes. It's really sad that no more passenger quadjets are being produced. It's easier to get onto an A380 if Europe bound (British, Lufthansa, Emirates, and others via connections, with Air France holding back). For a 747-8, Lufthansa is the only choice and I am grateful to them for that.

Right. It's not the aircraft themselves, but the haste and sloppiness. ("Haste makes waste.") This 777 X is ambitious and the folding wingtips are novel. They will be very late with delivering this plane. I now like some Boeing and some Airbus. It's a mix. In the recent past, I took a ride on a Boeing 787 Dreamliner and I definitely like it more than the Airbus 350 (even though the Airbus 350 has that photogenic curved winglets). The cabin fatigue from flying is much reduced on the Dreamliner. Yesterday, I was on two domestic Boeing 737 Max 8 segments back to back on Southwest. I like its newer features - ambient lighting, larger bins, a little quieter. So, if it's working, it's a very nice rendition of the 737. It's too bad that their newest version of this storied workhorse had to be tainted. I get on and sigh. If it keeps a clean track record going forward, people may be less weirded out as the statistics may become better. It is. However, I'm not a fan of the leg design, which is also now popular on sofas. The biggest turnoff for me in sofas - when I bought a sleeper for another room with the last stimulus money - was the amount of product that had nailheads all over the place.

Whew. Somehow I feel excluded from that fold, so thank you. I will be more than happy to continue as the designated pedant.

That's very thoughtful of you to commemorate her the way you have. It's great to have people in one's life who shape it with the positive though, sadly, we will always have some who try to inject the negative. I'm sorry for your loss. That's a nice photo of her and she clearly radiated positive energy.

No, 300 is not to my liking ... pref 400, or 350. I am not in a home charging situation. Until that situation settles, I will not be considering an EV.

Three items for me that would be highly important in deciding which, and when, for an EV: 1 Price 2 Range 3 Ease of charging ... I'm talking availability of places and time to do it Honorable mention: Attractive enough ... it can't be dowdy, looking like some appliance or robot

I don't know. I have no doubt Mexico City is interesting. I learned to speak Spanish from college courses, traveling, and living in California, and I don't know if I'd go. Acapulco, which was always painted like the Honolulu of Mexico while growing up as well as a preferred stop for ships, is now really sketchy. The border towns are definitely sketchy. I went to Rio de Janeiro for 4 days almost 20 years ago. I had one dicey situation that I read and got away from, but I can't get the place out of my head. That said, everyone, including Brazilians, have told me it's now even worse. It's stunning, but I'll pass. As much as I hate organized tours, I feel they might the way to go if checking out "fringe" places. I'd say Madrid over Mexico City. Madrid is an impressive city, but so damn hot and dry during the summer.

Fortunately, most people view Elon negatively. Sadly, some people may have "listened" to him. "Listening to Prozac" might be better than doing that.

@G. David Felt I had forgotten all about the exploding pen! - - - - - Crossing the Apennines in a rental this evening and going through some cool mountain tunnels, this came on: I had forgotten all about its existence. Isn't music in the New Millennium mostly garbage?

No, everything should be left as is. It's much like how Seattle's outline has all these different areas to explore. And that most people don't know about. It just reminds me of how many more things I need to see in NYC that are unchecked on my list. Each borough, other than Manhattan, has some nice beaches. Jamaica Bay, mostly in Queens, is huge and is protected as a park or wildlife refuge.

I randomly think of and daydream about New York City, with its 5 boroughs and abutting areas, often.

Random thought ... ... a recurring one!

Ding - ding - ding I've been to Hot Springs, Arkansas. What a cool place with an interesting history, complete with gangsters. There's a scenic viewpoint you can drive up to for a view over the town as well as that other tower in the town you can go to the top of for a 360 degree view for a little bit of coin. It was on a Missouri trip that looped into and out of STL during the pandemic and fall colors. I wasn't expecting Arkansas to be as beautiful as it is. I came into its NW border from south of Branson, MO. Eureka Springs was a cool hippie-dippy town with the usual coffeehouses and gift shops. It's the location of the nondenominational architecturally unique Throrncrown Chapel. Stunning places and views at Mount Magazine State Park as well as a precipice you have to drive down a graded dirt road to get to its parking lot: Hawksbill Crag. I was going to turn back, but I'm glad I went ahead with it. Very nice photo of you two!

Ok, thanks, but what would be the gain or loss related to the Timeline as a specific feature? Why they made a bifurcated yes/no decision on desktop versus phone is weird. I will continue to use Google Maps. Remember Mapquest? Yikes. Not to digress, but I use the Moovit app with great success when it comes to planning rides on transit. It resets itself to the metro area you are in and seems to do a slightly better job than Google Maps.

With all this discourse, I need some input. I have put off ... and forgetting about ... my election for the Google Timeline, which is about to sunset. People seem to say it's phasing out for desktop, but will stay on phones. Like others have said, they get more mileage out of it on their desktop/laptop than other their phone ... ditto for me. Who really benefits from the Timeline? I've looked at it a few times, mostly to be amused. What election are you or people you know making? What is/will be salvageable? What do you recommend?

It all comes rushing back when I see one on the road, see it on YouTube, or similar. I miss what could have been - like influencing my parents on their choices. They could have just as easily gone with buckets - the big, comfortable kind - in that first colonnade coupe. I'm talking the Salon or S/R type buckets. No one ever sat where the armrest was and there were rarely more than 3 occupants in the vehicle. I miss what was - there was nothing quite like the ravine dash with full instrumention in the '88 to '94 Regal coupes (changed for '95 and '96) that I enjoyed looking into as a daily driver for a good number of years, and in a car with stellar reliability. In general, I mourn the loss of all the personality and luxurious creature comforts older cars had.

It takes something not feeling right (suspected sprain, crick, etc.) to push me to getting to get a massage, so less than a handful of times. The ones that hurt just a little are usually the ones that resolved the issue. (I'm not referring to anything remotely kinky.) I know baking is something you appreciate. You wouldn't have wanted me to make you a cake. My mom didn't bake many "American" things, so I once decided, as an early teen, that I could make what I wanted and keep it on hand: the marriage of two phenomenal flavors ... orange and chocolate. I'd drool over the boxes in the supermarket aisles with the photos on the cartons. I bought the orange frosting mix and chocolate cake mix. I was salivating in anticipation of the finished product. I don't know what went wrong. I followed the instructions. The result was kind of hard and dry. The frosting was not moist and shiny. I still ate it over the next few days, but never attempted to bake anything again. Anymore, people often go to get their cakes made for them.

It was a joke. I think I've put up that same photo before saying she'd make a formidable 007 film villainess and needs to go to a casting call rather than just be useless and high maintenance. When I see her, I think of an Eastern European foe of James Bond and the main 007 theme goes through my head.

Q: What are you listening to? A: The James Bond theme!

Join me in wishing @Drew Dowdell a happy birthday. Have a great day!

I agree, can imagine, and sympathize. The Dow may be up, but I wonder if that's because it foretells that the rich may get richer and the poor may get poorer. I may benefit some when the market is up, but it's not all about me. At any rate, I'm glad we're back up and trust that some redundancy is there or will be bolstered to shore things up.

They want them as side dishes but not for anything serious. When in the U.S. or Canada, they might bend that rule to some extent. In SoCal, they bent that rule a lot ... if the wallet was thick.

Good morning ...

This came up again as featured in one way or another, so I watched it again. Riviera: what a storied nameplate ... one with highs and lows. The high of its introduction. The low of being a 1977 and 1978 dressed up LeSabre coupe. While I really liked the 1989 to 1992, I mostly like this last attempt. Car design is like surgery. Millimeters matter. I think that more millimeters in some areas and less in others could have made a difference. For one, I think the length of the rear could have been slightly shorter so it wouldn't have had those equal volumes. The sturdy rear flanks look great as this Riv is slaloming around. I also loved the dashboard and the feel of the cabin of this model. It would have been even better with a 3800 that was either a Series I or Series III because of their better reliability. I very much miss American coupes.