That was back in the late 70’s. I wasn’t a big fan of my bed being a couch too, but at least I had a bit more room than the other 2 beds squeezed behind portable closets. I live in Michigan now and we’ve had a beautiful fall so far. We’re supposed to get rain for Halloween but it may be done by the time the kids get out. It supposed to be 78 degrees today which is really nice for late October

Battery technology is on a huge J curve and I don’t see how early tech investment from the established automotive companies will ever get their return back. It’s like if the first OS was 2 bit and businesses spent millions trying to use this new technology but before it really rolls out, there are 4 bit OS’s, and the cycle repeats. As a computer manufacturer it would be hard to keep your production and design aligned with technical advancements. I think the established car companies are really struggling with this. It’s really surprising to me there is not more being done in the west like there is in China with the government investing heavily in battery technology and development. It’s like we’re so connected to the oil, gas, and coal industries that we fight against the adoption of clean technologies to protect them as much as we put effort into creating those new technologies to try to save the planet.

It looks like my room in college when I was in Florida. My bed was the couch in the main room.

Perez appeared to think the baby team car should move over and let him pass, Lawson wants his seat and wouldn’t give an inch. I loved Perez, but it seems the Red Bull car is just not a car that suits him, or he can’t handle having a teammate who is so far beyond him. I don’t see him in F1 next year unfortunately but I don’t think he deserves the main team seat anymore and there’s no where else to go really.

The Guardian is my preferred paper but this article is garbage. Comparing car deaths to early deaths from gas stoves is ridiculous.
““The main uncertainty is whether the risk of dying found with outdoor NO2 from mainly traffic can be applied to indoor NO2 from gas cooking,” said Steffen Loft, an air pollution expert at the University of Copenhagen, who was not involved in the research. “But it is a fair assumption and required for the assessment.””
Industrial and petrochemical pollution is by far the largest cause of health problems when it comes to the general population. The insurance companies are very cagey about releasing rates of deaths from cancer in specific areas and the government certainly doesn’t share that.

Where will Trump voters hear about the negatives? The 4th estate is not something they have any regard for or they wouldn’t be on the fence. Newsmax, OAN, Fox, etc will all ignore the racism

One side expects their candidates to hold some standards, the other side doesn’t care. It’s like watching a sporting event with a homer who only sees the world based on how it effects their team winning or losing. Fairness doesn’t come into play, the other side is always cheating and getting favored media exposure.

My little brother’s wife had little interest in raising kids so it all fell on him. Without him, there may have never been love felt by his child. Her only interest was her career and living the high life. Having kids requires so much sacrifice which can make it very challenging when only one parent accepts the sacrifices. But he’s reaped the rewards. His wife doesn’t have much of a relationship with their child now that they’re an adult. And she’s kind of okay with that. Right now. The future has a way of biting us for the sacrifices we chose to pass on to others. I imagine as she ages, she’ll have regrets that can’t be walked back any more.
If you put in all the effort, the kids will remember. The future you’re sacrificing for may bring greater value than what you sacrificed. She may even see and hear about all you do together as a family, minus her, and want to become more part of what she’ll be missing.
None of that makes it easier now, and not having any free time to decompress really sucks. With all the micro time management you’re going to be doing, hopefully you can find time for yourself to fill your wants and needs.
If your spouse doesn’t appreciate you or consider your needs, that’s another issue to find a solution for that kids certainly complicate. Relationship issues are tough to work through and if either or both people don’t look at themselves in a mirror it can be insurmountable for the time. Then your choice becomes going into a holding pattern or finding someone else who can fill your needs you spouse won’t fill, or last; walking away which won’t make anything easier even if it can solve a problem

It looks like a picture from the Prince Valiant comic

In SE Michigan it doesn’t matter if you’re in a 55 or 70mph speed zone, people will be averaging about 80mph including in the winter. Try to stay right and it should be safe if you’re doing the speed limit. The most unexpected dangerous part of driving when it gets really cold is it will freeze under an overpass and it’s very hard to see. Spinning on that is non uncommon. Just hold your line when you go under them and even if you slip you’re back on dry pavement in a second.
Shoveling isn’t too bad if you’re in decent shape. When it’s really wet it can be rough on my back but otherwise it’s just exercise. In freezing cold weather. With numb hands and feet from the cold. Usually needing to be done before your drive to work or just as you’re getting home, so perfect timing when you’re looking for something to take up some free time. ;-p
Good snow tires make a huge difference. They still stick in cold weather unlike harder summer tires and they can save you in bad conditions.
8-10 inches of snow is not rare but it is uncommon. 2-4 inches of snow at some points is usually expected. Freezing rain sucks and will take out power to a lot of people from branches falling. It’s become a lot more common. Backup generators are becoming more common. However we don’t have the problems Texas has with their grid and it’s usually pretty sound.

I rented a Fiesta when I was there for work and I think I hit about 110mph, but I live in Detroit and our highways are nicknamed the Michigan Autobahn so 90+ is not unusual. What was unusual and required some attention were the cars coming up behind you at over 150mph. If you chose to pass you had to look a lot further back to see if anyone was coming or you’d cut some Porsche/Merc/Beemer off.
I had a lot more fun on the twisting back roads in Germany and Belgium

Both parties are beholden to Israel and the power of AIPAC

XP was kind of a F up for MS, they gave us a really decent OS that raised our expectations. People ran that for almost 2 decades because no one wanted the new OS’s MS was putting out like ME and Vista. Win 8 was out when XP support fully ended and many people chose to go with the older Win 7 because it was less intrusive and more like a PC OS instead of trying to become like a Apple/phone/tablet interface. XP>Win 7>Win 10>Win 11 imo and all the unmentioned weren’t worth upgrading for, but I don’t use my phone for the internet and I’ve been using a PC for over 40 years. We like what’s familiar and we can use without having to think too much about the tool used to achieve what we’re doing. I have Win 11 on a laptop and I have to jump through a lot more hoops to control my desktop, who can pull my info, what can install, what can run in the background. And every update I have to do it again because they add shit back in again along with new stuff I don’t want or need. Win 10 professional at least minimized how often they’d add new stuff or change my existing settings. Win 11 Pro doesn’t seem nearly as friendly.

I contracted to one of the big 3 for over 30 years. When we decided to quit making cars and focus on trucks, SUV’s, and crossovers it seemed like they were giving up future numbers for short term profit. It’s obvious small electric cars are the future but our big 3 want to ignore that. Blaming the lost market share on small cars from China disregards that they chose to leave that market. Of course Asia would step into that market and fill it

Those traits gave me two things in my IT contracting career, the ability to roll into a new position at the same contractor so I didn’t have to job hunt, and the contractor wanting nothing to do with bringing me in as a full time employee. I saw it as a win/win

If you don’t vote Dem you’re willing to let him win and don’t see any difference between how the 2 candidates who can actually win differ enough to choose one over the other when one is a fascist

I always thought a parliamentary system made more sense so we could vote for parties that aligned more closely with our ideals and our ideals for our nation. France is currently showing how the divide between right wing nationalism, the leave it as it is people, and those who want more social and economic equity can still lead to deadlock as much as a 2 party system can. The powerful are so powerful now and our information is controlled by so few, with so little social responsibility or regard for the media as a watchdog over the powerful. They are the powerful trying to keep us in the dark.

A 3rd party vote is a vote for neither but with a nod toward where we’d like to head. I loath the DNC just slightly more than the old RNC. With the RNC becoming a MAGA party, I could never vote for one of their candidates. When our vote is fascism or a DNC status quo I’ll plug my nose like I did for Hillary and vote for whoever the DNC puts up. I’d really like to see the non DNC preferred candidate win the primary in 2028 and have the progressive arm of the party have significant clout.
And yes, the DNC has unwavering support for Israel. What more proof do you need than Biden still sending weapons to them while a genocide is taking place? The Prog wing in the party is a great voice, but they have little clout and AIPAC has been effective at getting them out.

More like when does orange become red/yellow to you imo

I remember reading about a Pa Kua Chang master who could walk through a crowd with a full teacup and not spill any. For whatever reason I started to practice walking with a full to the brim teacup (with or without a handle) and now I can go up and down stairs with one or two and not spill anything. Usually