trinacriabob

Good morning. I think it would be funny to go into a biker bar, locate the jukebox, select "McArthur Park,""More, More, More," and "I Love the Nightlife," and GTFO.

I wonder how Tesla owners who are "progressive" reconcile their ownership with having bought one. A college friend has 2 Teslas in the garage. He raves about them. He has a cheaper one (3, ?) and the S, which is their only "attractive" vehicle, IMO. He had to stomp on it to show me how fast it is. I have yet to ask him to weigh in on Musk and how it might affect his ownership trajectory.

Do you recognize this person? This is the teenaged Gene Hackman. Okay, it takes a bit to see that. I saw the headline. Is this for real? They'll be investigating this and hopefully get the truth. I get it that he was a great actor. I didn't see many of his films. I was young when I saw "The French Connection" and I didn't understand anything about the topic, and that lingo, so I should probably see it again. I saw him in "Hoosiers." I can't remember any other movie featuring him. I didn't know he was born in dusty San Bernardino, CA, which would have been backwater at that time. He was in the womb during the stock market crash of 1929. I applaud him, and all stars who leave Hollywood to seek quieter, unpretentious lives. This is a tragic end, though. RIP, Gene Hackman

I see a Luigi Mangione lookalike about once every three days.

The issue, for me, is that she would be the only American passenger ocean liner for which this (c/w)ould have been done. I wanted to look at it the next time I go to Philadelphia, not knowing this had occurred. I suppose I could go to nearby Mobile if in Pensacola. The QM has a home in Long Beach. The QE2 has a home in Dubai. Thankfully, they went the tasteful route with the QE2 Hotel rather than making it for folks with too many gold chains and pet cheetahs. I feel that the SS United States, a singular piece of maritime history, could have found a home in an Eastern port city as part of a complex or venue. But what do I know? I wasn't putting together the spreadsheets for such an undertaking.

This part ... sad.

About 2 weeks ago, actually ... a cheap Sicilian lunch Swordfish and lasagna! Very good.

I honestly thought this was the dowdiest model of the 1997-2004 BOP sedans, especially in Century form with wheel covers. (The LaCrosse was such an improvement - both in looks and the Series III engine - replacing Century and Regal.) The Regal did benefit from the sloped back grille. It rode well. However, the big rear taillight assembly under the lip was oversized and the dashboard was boring for that entire stretch of years. I would have babied that car though, in that span of years, only the Intrigue appealed to me ... still beautiful from almost vantage points and in a timeless way.

Florida has always appealed to me on some level. The first time I went, I sat by the window and the plane flew down the coast over Lauderdale and Miami Beach to land. I had never seen turquoise water like that. I have relatives there, none of whom I like. I love the food options. I like the colorful and diverse people from everywhere who live in the urban areas. I then came to learn that driving between Miami and Marco Island or Tampa to Orlando is not easy on the eyes. I know Costa Rica, Panama, etc. are relocation destinations. Also high on the list is Uruguay, which I've been to twice, and it has South America's highest literacy rate and a milder climate at that lower parallel. It's also beautiful. Montevideo, the capital ... very manageable and it used to be extremely safe, but now it's a little less safe Punta del Este, their famous beach report ... incredible, avoid December 15 through February, because it's high season and half of Buenos Aires has moved in

The City of LB had a big decision to make: let her go or pay for structural and aesthetic repairs. It's a hotel, a renowned brunch, a tour destination, and people get married and have proms there. All that stuff. What would it look like without the QM there? I believe it's staying. In less than 3 years, it will have been there 60 years. It IS Long Beach through and through.

II was sad to see this news, but it was to be expected. The S.S. United States will not be having a traditional retirement home, as most beloved and historical ocean liners do. Instead, she will be moving to the Florida Panhandle, where they will sink her to create the world's largest underwater artificial reef. There will be a visitor center and museum in Destin, from which she will be offshore. For being 990 feet long, she doesn't weigh as much as that length would suggest. She has a very low profile, which accentuates her oversized and rounded funnels. This might have also helped her capacity for speed. Converted into miles per hour, the S.S. United States once sped across the Atlantic at about 41 mph to make the crossing in 3 days, 10 hours, and 40 minutes. That is insanely fast, so, the ship is the very last to earn the Blue Riband, with no other ocean liner winning it since. I guess it's good that it isn't being scrapped. However, this artificial reef solution is what penciled out. She was the greatest of American ocean liners and had a designation as a historical place ... plus, I can't go visit a sunken ship. So, a sad Philadelphia turned out on the banks of the Delaware River to see the ship sail out after being moored there for about 30 years.

@G. David Felt die Deutschen sind prazise

One of the "perks" of being American Like roller derby, but with no skating ability required

I hate to say stuff like this, but you can profile people fairly easily. A certain emboldened member with a smaller view of the world used to get on my case about this ... go see the world and learn to make inferences. At any rate, I was boarding a plane in Jacksonville and, in front of me, was a guy with a baseball cap and all I could see was the rear camo effect. When he got up, I saw Trump 2024. I felt like saying something to him, along the lines of how is it that the most conservative people support the most depraved individual. I thought I should skip it since I didn't want to end up in an argument and on a "do not fly" list for some airline. He was white with salt and pepper hair but had that Charles Bronson brow. So, you know ... ex-military, high paying trades, utilities, government job ... or alligator trapper. For all these so-called conservative people, we've never had a first lady (lower case in her case) where you're a "k**t hair" away from seeing the R/X rated stuff. I'm originally from SoCal and NOTHING shocks me, but that and the whole circus of everyone involved - extended family, loyal friends - is over the line for me for the job at hand. Houston is not my favorite place. However, I handle it much better than Dallas or San Antonio, which don't interest me. I don't like their interior location and the brushy looking mesquite. Houston has a distinct and attractive downtown. There's the Space Center. There are the museums, of which MFAH is free one day of the week. There's Galveston, and even if the not the nicest beach, water can be so therapeutic, just watching the cruise ships or freight ships come and go. Lastly, there are some beautiful neighborhoods, with newer homes in the darker red brick, completely hidden under a pine canopy, which is never the case in other big Texas cities. It reminds of Atlanta, which I very much liked. So, between that, and the welcoming and freewheeling people, I can hang in H-town for a while and find new indie coffeehouses and eateries. There's so much food and it's easy to gain weight there. I agree ... I hate Orlando FL ... a bad knock-off of Las Vegas and Las Vegas is already bad. I've never been to Hawai'i and Alaska. I'm not so sure I'm interested. If I have to fly that far, I'll just cross a pond. I also have an issue with Hawaiians since some of the locals of Samoan stock have issues with "haoles," having heard this from white folks I knew who moved there and then came back because of the passive-aggressive discrimination. The only other states I have never set foot in are a cluster in the middle and they're not that pressing for me - ND, SD, Nebraska, and Montana. So, I'm at 44 of them and that's good enough for now.

This can be difficult. If it's very red, hick, and thoroughly boring, it's an easy pass. When it's red by a margin, but mixed, with blue and cosmopolitan urban centers, it causes cognitive dissonance. South Florida and Tampa Bay are blue. The FL panhandle beach towns are very red, with Christian colleges and those billboards I hate. It's enough to toss a person with a religion into the "lapsed" pile. Then, in Texas, Houston is now the most ethnically diverse city in America. I went for a while because I flew out from there. It's what Toronto is to Canada on that dimension. But, yes, it is good to collectively boycott places with backward thinking. (It still won't change them.) Just like it's good to avoid certain car brands based on things that are just so wrong about them.

I sort of like it because Galveston, while not too pretty, has a funky and relaxing vibe. I like some of its suburbs, too, while on the lookout for coffeehouses. I'm guessing Big Bend is SW, so it has its mountain lions. Brazos Bend and Brazoria Reserve, south of Houston toward the Gulf of MEXICO, has its alligators. Alligators are a fact of life in big Lake Houston, at the northeastern part of the city. They periodically make appearances on Buffalo Bayou, too, and it makes the news. Maybe they like the skyline, too.

Someone sent me this asking me, 'Have you ever heard this before?' NO. I was in disbelief. I thought Dom Dolla would have been a Jersey Shore type ... Dom. It's not his real name. It's a red headed Australian guy who's kind of unusual ... consider this genre. Then, there's a guy who talks during this song. He doesn't sound at all like anyone who'd be on the dance floor. He sounds more like a frat boy/stoner/surfer. Best YouTube comment: "This was the weirdest thing to hear in a gas station in rural Quebec at midnight." Indeed. This song makes for a good laugh, at best.

Boy, I'd like to talk about other things but it's really sad how we've so quickly moved to a culture of fear and helplessness. His love for "you're fired" continues, as I knew it would 8 or 9 years ago. It is really weird to see photos of the oval office with guys in baseball caps - the usual red one and now a guy who looks like he has marbles in his cheeks who wears a black one and who stands there like a Roman centurion. Two comments: I don't know what mechanisms are in place to stop overreaching in use of power. I think that as much as we are mostly a tranquil and pacifist nation (yes, there's violence in our cities), I fear something ugly ... I just don't know what. - - - - - We have the country's trailer parks and minority turncoats, neither of whom benefit, for this.

Ok, it's a lot clearer. The issue is now why that wing dipped. Some articles mentioned wind gusts. CRJs are quiet and nimble, for the most part. I don't like their wing swept back and I don't like the engines at the rear hugging the fuselage. It's noisy in the back. When it comes to this more commuter-like size, I now much prefer the Embraer 190/185 product. This tells me to keep that safety belt fastened tight. We've seen people get out quickly when the plane was right side up ... AF's Paris-Toronto A340 and the JAL A350 in Tokyo that collided with a commuter plane on the runway. Getting out when you're upside down must have been much worse. I'm thinking some of these folks will have PTSD from this. I feel for them.

What is this 10.5% sales tax and what are the extra add-ons funding? Unbelievable. You can find an $8 to $10 omelette at a dive in a nondescript part of Houston. Food there isn't ridiculously expensive.

I have been tuned out to politics for at least half of my life. I'm sort of apolitical. I sometimes get treated to a neener-neener on how it's one's civic duty. I have never liked or trusted most politicians ... and that's since I took civics in high school. The shocking things of the last 10 years have caused me to take note. However, for my sanity, I try to remain checked out as much as I possibly can. I prefer to dwell on reading, photography, archiving, health, budgeting, travel, dogs and cats, staying in touch with my friends, and, of course, CARS! - - - - - Back to planes: As if AA colliding with a helicopter at DCA wasn't enough, there was the Delta crash landing at Toronto. I don't know if there is footage, but I saw a YouTube simulation. That looked scary. It also looked potentially more lethal than it turned out to be. They were successful in getting the passengers out of an upside-down CRJ aircraft. There was snow and 40 mph winds at YYZ. I want to know how this could have happened.

When you put that together with high sales taxes in big West Coast metro areas and tips that (should) now start at about 18%, the picture isn't pretty.

My dad was heavy handed at times. In high school, he wanted me to take Latin. (That's an Old Word immigrant mindset right there ... you know, Mass for him when growing up was in Latin.) I took French because that's what I wanted to take. I aced it. I liked going to this class everyday and even stirring the pot because it was too easy. Little did I know I'd go to Quebec a dozen times and use it as an adult. In college, I took some Spanish electives. Then, I'd go to Cuban and Mexican school friends' houses and learn more. I sometimes use it to make my life easier. In some places, they (Mexicans) might feel patronized. In Houston and South Texas, they seem to appreciate it and the service is always excellent because of my doing that. Here I was, going into a WU location to load a travel card in a marginal Houston neighborhood and in a rented Tiguan SUV, and, since this was an atypical transaction for them (mostly it's money to/from Mexico), I had to explain to her how to process it and it went through. I guess it was trippy for the others in line to hear this token white American guy in their midst carrying on in Spanish with the teller. She remembered me, and the process, the next time. Bottom line: mostly, parents should stay out of trying to navigate or control their kids' interests if they are not up to speed with the variables involved.

So, Second Cup revenue up and Starbucks (Canadian) revenue down. When in Canada, I have tried to avoid Stbx, preferring Canadian chains and indies, and this has been for 5 to 10 years and unrelated to politics ...

Good morning. - - - - - Reaaallly? Ya think? I didn't even need the t-shirt as a clue! There's a short article about her on Today-dot-com that went with this photo. People can be so predictable and packaged bills of goods.