(Jimmy Johnson via GoComics.com)
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Garden season’s over, here in the Northeast. Any of you tropicalistas want to gloat, this would be a good time (you don’t want to wait until mid-Winter, that’s just cruel). How’s the winterizing going, in your neighborhood?
Keith G
My ficus tree (is that redundant?) is kicking ass. It was given to me as a few years back as a gift at 2 ft. It is now over 20 ft and provides shade for my apartment window from the the Houston sun. That is the extent of my gardening in this period of my life.
It is 11 AM in London as I type this and the BBC is playing the tolling of Big Ben and the Beeb goes to two minutes of silent for Remembrance Day Sunday.
Felonious Monk
What time is it? I just woke up. Did someone start the coffee?
OzarkHillbilly
Calling for frost this morn so I put fabric over my lechugas. My garlic seems to have survived the chickens scratching thru the bed a couple weeks back rather well. It’s coming up and I can only see a couple holes in the planting.
The chicken yard I had my meat birds running in is getting a nice layer of compost over the concrete like clay/Potosi dolomite conglomerate that stands in for soil in these parts. I’ll till it in as best I can and then seed it with clover. Right now it looks like the surface of Mars, and will again after next years crop of birds, but someday I’d like to get it to the point where it grows stuff for the birds to peck and scratch at with relative ease. Like the garden, it will probably take a few years.
Phylllis
Cold front coming through these parts as we speak. The ferns are on their last legs, which was the extent of our gardening this year.
raven
It’s is still raining and supposed to keep it for a couple more days. I got really lucky that it stayed dry for the game but this shit is getting old.
HinTN
Rushing about losing up for the long haul to the Gulf Coast for a week of loafing and eating fish.
BruceFromOhio
Its the downhill run now, most of the leaves are already down, mulched, and distributed to the various beds. Somehow a few cherry tomatoes showed up in the menu yesterday, where they were hiding who knows, the tomato plants are keeled over, done. Today is draining the pipes in the addition on the lakehouse, blasting out the gutters one last time before snow, and tidying up the woodpile to make it less inviting for wintering critters. Possibly one last trip to the sandbar. Browns got stomped on Thursday night, so that’s out of the way already. Broncos/Colts and Eagles/Cowboys should be fun contests. Go Bills! Squish the fish!
Ultraviolet Thunder
I’m back in Detroit from a week in Germany.
Passed through Amsterdam Schipol airport at a run to change planes and didn’t have a moment to browse the lovely bulbs on offer.
So much want! And a lot of them are exportable. I’m thinking gifts for family the next time I’m there with an hour on my hands and spare Euros.
gene108
Anybody know when the right time is to replace an old car, which is running but does need repairs as parts wear out?
I have a 2003 Toyota Corolla, with a little over 197,000 thousand miles on it.
This past I’ve replaced my front struts and sway arms, serpentine belt tensioner, and rear brake drums. Total cost is about $1500. Last year I replaced my catalytic converter. Year before that I probably had $1200 in repairs, as the water pump, and several cracked gaskets and seals that were leaking oil were replaced.
Long story short, there’s money that needs to be sunk into the car every year, but so far it is less than car payments on a newer car would be. On the other hand, there are no “WTF is causing the issue” problems. Part wears out. Part is replaced. Problem solved.
And now I have a bunch of newer parts that should last a good while longer, the way I look at it.
(I’m not much of a car expert, so I’m just taking a minimally educated guess here and hoping I’ve replaced most everything that could go bad over the last 3 years, as my mechanic or the dealership says “hey, this ‘doo hicky’ needs replacing”, though there’s always chance, I guess, for another part failing).
I just can’t make up my mind, when it is time to get a new(er) car.
Any constructive suggestions welcome.
tybee
despite last winter’s dip into the mid twenties, one of the banana trees flowered this week. probably won’t have enough time to ripen if it freezes again…dammit.
tybee
@gene108:
i replace them when they start leaving me stranded repeatedly.
Gvg
Winter gardening season is starting in Florida. I am thinking I may grow some lettuce. It likes our winter. Once it’s started not much to do. I hate cold and won’t mess about in cold weather so that’s suitable. We are trying to get the house on the market so I don’t do my personal style. I have to what potential buyers won’t be put off by. Also probably won’t have much time. This year we had a very rainy summer even for us and the later weeks of September into October the lake flooded and parts of our backyard was covered for weeks. I lost about 7 rose bushes that covered the fence. I will have to plant some innoncuos shrubbery along there. I spent the last two weekends cutting them out. Dead 20 foot climbers take some work removing. I had a lot of blooms from them over the year.
Currently I am obsessed with snap dragon seeds. I want tall stripped and bicolored ones. Searching on line. Apparently Thompson and Morgan’s seeds is financially in trouble and not really selling in America now.
Keith G
@gene108: There will be info on line about the maintenance issues for your year and model. Start there. Check to see what replacement issues regularly pop up at 200,000 mi. For example, I have a older 4 Runner and I know I am past due for a timing belt replacement. It will need to be done soon.
Then decide if you want to pay for those regularly expected repairs or not.
satby
@tybee: Always a good metric to follow.
Gindy51
Garden is kaput, all the leaves are mulched, trails are mowed and edged for winter enjoyment, dogs re HAPPY bug season is over with.
As for cars, we replace after 10 plus years. Last one was a BMW 325xi sport wagon and it was starting to $1000 and $2000 us, no nickel and dime shit with those cars. The old Dakota ruck, same thing.
We went through a transition phase of retirement, kid leaving home, etc and bought and sold several cars before we settled on a 2015 Suburban and the 2013 Prius V. We have big dogs and a farm we need a hauling vehicle and dog transport car for (Suburban) as well as something for those short trips to town (Prius V).
IF Tesla ever produces an all wheel drive electric with a big cargo [lace, we will trade in the Prius V for that. Until then we are so done with buying cars for at least 10 years.
raven
The NYT has a new “virtual” feature that you can download but the viewer is $23!!!
raven
@gene108: Drive it till it drops. Our Dodge minivan has 189,000 an it goes into the shop to repair the front end that got smacked when my wife blew a stopsign and hit a fedex van last week.
OzarkHillbilly
@gene108: Have a compression check done on the engine and ask a transmission guy what he thinks of yours. Those are the 2 main components (assuming the body is relatively rust free) that when they go, cost BIG bucks to repair/replace. Everything else is just parts.
We finally gave up on my wife’s 2004 Pontiac Bonneville 2 years ago when it was at 450,000+ and it was still running like a striped assed ape. Why’d we give up? It started having mysterious electrical malfunctions that would come and go. Finally one problem came and stayed. Took it to the mechanic and he found the wire that was grounding out. When he went to replace that harness he found that the insulation on all the wires was so rotted it just flaked off. Looking further, all the wires in the care were like that. Would’ve cost $2,000+ to replace all the wires in the car. At 450K? No thanks.
satby
I’m starting to enjoy our daily multiple server hiccups. I’m using them as a sign from the universe to go do other stuff IRL.
OzarkHillbilly
This is just for Betty Cracker, a headline over at the Guardian:
Florida man bites dog: attack on canine leads to yearlong prison sentence
I’ve seen some sh!t over my years of wandering the hills and hollers of these here Ozarks, and I never came across anything quite like that.
RSA
@gene108: I’m not in quite the same boat as you, but there are a few thoughts, for what it’s worth:
A few months ago I bought a 1992 BMW 325i, with some performance upgrades and 82,000 miles on the odometer. The first owner had cared for the car like a champ, but the second owner had none of the service history. I combined the advice and repairs of my trusty mechanic (about $2500 worth) and a visit to repairpal.com and various Web searches to see if I was missing any big upcoming expenses. I think everything’s been covered and I should be good for a long while except for little stuff. But I could be wrong. As tybee mentions, being stranded is bad; it would be a huge red flag for me. Another is the comparison you mention, but not with a new car payment but a lease, because at the end of a lease I wouldn’t have a car either.
To me it sounds like you’re doing everything you need to.
satby
@OzarkHillbilly: Oh, thanks! I’m almost at the same place with my car, and I really don’t have money for a new one, at least not until I get another job. One that pays regularly and doesn’t stiff me on a $900 payment. Yeah, that hurt.
And in garden news, planted my newest little blueberry bushes, the girls got their tulip bulbs in (so they have a garden of their own that will bloom before they go home), some leave raking and mulching are next. I’m realizing that I may have to relocate for a decent job and am dialing back further improvements now. I just hope things stay stable until the girls go home.
Matt McIrvin
@OzarkHillbilly: Finally, a story that is news by definition.
PAM Dirac
The fall color is mostly over in this part of MD. A few yellow stragglers on the grape vines. With all the leaves gone from the vines it makes it obvious that I need to do a much better job in shoot positioning and hedging. The lack of rain from about mid July through September made for a great wine grape year. Most wineries I visit in the area are quite excited about the vintage.Lack of rain combined with neglect was not so good for the vegatable garden. High on my “do better next year” list is to recognize that what grape vines need is different from what vegatables need.
Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism
@gene108: I start looking at about the point where you are now. Emphasis on looking. I test drove everything that remotely fit my needs at the local Carmax. Eventually, something low mileage will show up at a good price.
Ultraviolet Thunder
@OzarkHillbilly:
Seconded. My wife is on her 3rd Corolla. Compared to the alternatives, they’re rugged and relatively cheap to fix. If the mechanic gives the engine & trans a clean bill of health and there are no other major issues, you might get another 50K – 100K out of it with regular repairs of defects as they come up.
Trading up to something newer would mean fewer nuisance repairs but might not be less costly, viewed purely as transportation.
As with every automotive issue I recommend finding a trusted mechanic and weighting his opinion heavily in the decision.
MattF
The highlight of the morning (so far) is Karl Ove Knausgaard’s extremely… peculiar NYT revew of Michel Houellebecq’s novel ‘Submission.’ Knausgaard begins with a “small confession”– he’s never read any of Houellebecq’s novels before. He tries to explain this, he digresses, and then digresses and then explains some more. At about the halfway point in the review, he quotes the first sentence of the novel, and then explains and digresses some more. I won’t spoil the suspense about whether he ever appears to have read the whole thing. Read the review yourself.
currants
@Ultraviolet Thunder: Man, you need more than an hour in that airport. I changed there last year to/from Sweden and thought I’d built in plenty of time–barely made it to the next gate. Thank goodness for the signs telling you how many minutes to each area. Still, 38 minutes to get where I had to go was not what I was expecting, nor were the multiple additional security checks. But YES, great place for gifts!
Mustang Bobby
Not from my garden, but one up the road: the lily pond at Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden. Monster-sized lily pads. (http://barkbarkwoofwoof.com/2015/10/relaxation-therapy-3/)
currants
@gene108: I think Richard Mayhew said one day this past summer that he starts looking when the amount he spends on repairs is greater than the –hmmm– trade in value, or blue book value, or one of those numbers.
I tend to drive cars longer than that. Stopped driving my 1991 Volvo wagon in July (mostly because it was impossible to put my granddaughters’ carseats in it–it still ran like a champ!) and got a 2010 Element.
Ultraviolet Thunder
@currants:
Schipol is one of my favorite airports to browse in. Usually I have more time there, but yesterday my plane from Stuttgart came in late, the transport bus was late and I got picked for additional security screening. Plus I took 5 minutes to beef at the Delta agents about not having the correct meal on my reservation and no way to correct it. Yeah, I’m that guy.
They’re rehabbing the concourse and have been for about 18 months. It’ll have more restaurants next year but right now it’s kind of a construction zone in places. But I like shopping there. Little souvenir wooden shoes for Grandma, etc. And chocolate. I almost went over my weight limit loading up on candy.
currants
@Ultraviolet Thunder: I got hilarious little dutch slippers (not wooden) for granddaughters, and reasonably lovely tulips (wooden) as gifts. I really wanted to get actual bulbs, but didn’t have the time on the spot to figure out whether I’d get to Boston only to have to dump them. Hence the wooden ones.
JPL
@raven: The mutt is even depressed over the weather. He climbed in his crate last night at seven.
Ultraviolet Thunder
@currants:
Some of the bulbs sold at the airport come with a cert stating that they’re cleared for export. If they’re not, they’ll tell you.
They had amaryllis bulbs the size of a cantaloupe with frighteningly large flowers. I wanted one of those but they’re not exportable to the US yet.
Maybe next year.
Yeah, I buy overpriced trinkets in airports. I have a ‘fridge covered with magnets from cities I’ve flown to.
I wanted to get my grandma one of those fantastic polychrome carved animals from Oxaca when I was there but the quality was poor. I found excellent ones, made in Oxaca, in the San Antonio airport. 10X higher price but worth it.
She’ll never know…
currants
@MattF: Hah! A friend of ours raves about Knausgaard, and me, although I speak Swedish, lived there for awhile and am in regular contact w/friends/family there, MEH (subject matter did not appeal, nor did the style/structure). I much prefer Swedish poets (Ekelof, esp, also Aspenström and Tranströmer). And Astrid Lindgren. ;-)
BillinGlendaleCA
@gene108: Don’t ask me, my car will be 30 in less than a month.
Ultraviolet Thunder
FYWP eated my comment. Has ‘amarylli$” been added to the Naughty Words List or something?
RSA
@Ultraviolet Thunder: And real art! It’s been forever since I’ve been through Schiphol, but I remember it always being under construction somewhere.
Schlemazel
@gene108:
I have a 2001 Impala with the same mileage & am making the same decision. Not having a monthly car payment is pretty nice but the trade-off is not knowing when it might go belly up when I am counting on it.When I had some front end work done last year the mechanic said everything looks fine so we will probably go through this winter & re-evaluate.
schrodinger's cat
Election news update from India, BJP lost and lost big. Happy Dance
schrodinger's cat
Elections were for the Bihar Assembly
Schlemazel
As for garden new, we finished raking leaves, 52 bags this year. anyone else required by law to use paper instead of plastic? Man, I hate those paper bags, they don’t fill nicely, don’t close well & can fall over & spill.
They finished paving the street this week. Because they re going to be regrading the slopes they graded about 1/2 our driveway and paved it also. Next year I will have to get the top half done, They told us they are not going to get around to finish grading and installing sidewalks till next spring so I won’t be shoveling the walks this winter so I have that going for me, which is nice.
magurakurin
@Ultraviolet Thunder: that chocolate shop/cafe that has those giant blocks of chocolate that they sell by the chunk is awesome.
Schlemazel
In about an hour USA plays Canada for the gold in the 4 Nations Cup happening in Sweden. The US beat them earlier 3-0 and have a good record against the Canadians everywhere but the Olympics but the games are always close & hard fought. Sadly, because it’s just girls its nowhere on TV, apparently even the Canadians are not watching.
debbie
@JPL:
Be happy it’s not cold enough to ice over. I know how that goes down in your area.
Gvg
When it’s nearly time to get a new car, do your research and go drive models you are considering, then let it sit. You may watch for a good deal on your chosen or just wait but if you already know what you want and what a good price is and where you are likely to get the price you are prepared. My sister and I both did this through several cars. We were indecisive over up sizing to a minivan when we started fostering and did all the shopping but didn’t buy because my car was still ok. Then she had ankle surgery and the cast was so big she couldn’t get it in her car and was due to work again in a week so she went and got the mini we had decided on Mazda 5. After she was healed I gave her car back and took the Mazda. Hard to have dealt with a choice with no warning. Then 2 years later she had an accident that totaled her car that had been fine. We weren’t expecting that obviously so we weren’t prepared and didn’t know what to get. Not a Prius again because she was upset the air bag didn’t deploy. Much less smooth search. Get ready, then put it aside till the right time.
debbie
@gene108:
If you can, wait for spring. There would be nothing worse that getting your new car slid into by a careless driver. Something about snow and ice turns drivers stupid.
NotMax
Ow. Ow. Ow.
Jolted awake by a major cramp in lower left leg and a minor cramp in right foot. Forced to hobble, very slowly, to the little commenter’s room.
Party pooper.
@BillinGlendaleCA
The one I’m currently driving became old enough to order a drink this year. Just crossed over the 52k mark on original miles last month. (That’s not a typo.)
p.a.
@schrodinger’s cat:
Election news update from India, BJP lost and lost big. Happy Dance
India has a Balloon Juice Party?
(But seriously, who are they, why is their loss good?)
Mustang Bobby
@BillinGlendaleCA: I’ll send you an application to join the Antique Automobile Club of America. Your car doesn’t have to be an award-winner; they have categories for unrestored cars, too. All it has to be is over 25 years old.
bemused
@NotMax:
One trigger of foot and leg cramps is lack of enough fluids.
WereBear
@OzarkHillbilly: I used vermiculite on a clay area with spectacular results.
For those playing at home, my first Chromebook Has expired at the age of three years and seven months. Trackpad went. However, an identical one of the same age is still going for my brother. Both saw heavy use.
Though in my case, the last year or so was the cats using it to watch videos. They don’t use the keyboa d except my inadvertently. I think.
max
@gene108: Anybody know when the right time is to replace an old car, which is running but does need repairs as parts wear out?
Depends enitrely on what shape the rest of the car is in.
This past I’ve replaced my front struts and sway arms, serpentine belt tensioner, and rear brake drums. Total cost is about $1500. Last year I replaced my catalytic converter. Year before that I probably had $1200 in repairs, as the water pump, and several cracked gaskets and seals that were leaking oil were replaced.
When they replaced the belt tensioner did they do the timing chain at the same time?
Long story short, there’s money that needs to be sunk into the car every year, but so far it is less than car payments on a newer car would be. On the other hand, there are no “WTF is causing the issue” problems. Part wears out. Part is replaced. Problem solved.
At a certain point in the wear out cycle, you need to ‘roll over’ the parts in the car.
And now I have a bunch of newer parts that should last a good while longer, the way I look at it.
Well, yes. If you buy a used car and flip a bunch of parts in the car and the interior and body are in good shape then you can keep rolling it along for quite a long time. Some people would just rather make that monthly payment than do the repair costs, even if the repair costs are lower. That’s fine, you can go either way you want, or you can mortage the house and buy a Ferrari, whatever. You’re going to be out money one way or another.
(I’m not much of a car expert, so I’m just taking a minimally educated guess here and hoping I’ve replaced most everything that could go bad over the last 3 years, as my mechanic or the dealership says “hey, this ‘doo hicky’ needs replacing”, though there’s always chance, I guess, for another part failing).
Personally, I think it comes down to what you’re prepared to do – are you willing to swap in a new motor (very expensive at a car dealership) or transmission to keep it going, or is the interior/visible body so worn out that it’s not worth it?
Any constructive suggestions welcome.
A Corolla is a pretty reliable car, but the internal build quality is not high end. You’ve got 200k miles on it, and I think a 2003 would have a 10 year power train warranty, so you’re two years past Toyota’s EOL target. Depending on how hard you drive it, you should have at least 50k miles left in the motor before it blows, but easily 100k left in the motor. If the timing chain/belt is still the OEM part that came with the car, I’d be expecting it to crap out soonish but those are supposed to be on a regular maintenance schedule and should have been done ~50k miles ago or so. If that’s been done and you’ve been keeping up with the motor/tranny fluid changes, it’s probably got 2-3-4 years left of regular driving in it before you start wondering if the tranny to give up the ghost or the motor is going to blow that year.
If you can deal with the appearance and the interior and the level of regular repair costs you mentioned, then hang on to it. If worn out seats or body rust or the floppy visor or whatnot is bugging you and you can deal with the costs, then go ahead and flip it for a new one while it still has some resale/trade in value. (But maybe wait until August when the dealerships are trying to clear the tail end of their model year.)
max
[‘HTH.’]
Schlemazel
@Gvg:
Great advice – we have been renting cars for long road trips for a couple years now. Not just reliable transportation but also a trial run for cars and features.
@WereBear:
My chromebook made it just short of 2 years. The monitor died so I bought a new one for $40 but somehow or other fried it trying to install it so I gave up & bought a new one.
WereBear
@gene108: If you have the wherewithal to come up with the money, you can keep going as you are.
Our budget lends itself more towards a monthly payment and a warranty than random high expenses. Plus, we live in an extreme climate where cars just don’t last, with low temps that encourage metal fatigue, salted roads, and no garage.
Plus, I need the reliability of a newer car and a good dealership. I don’t want to be stranded in a wilderness area during a snowstorm or spell of -20. It’s possible my cell phone won’t work in these areas.
And I have far more wilderness than not.
For me, the joy of knowing I don’t have a huge repair bill looming with every suspicious creak and groan is worth the monthly payment. We only have one car, so putting one in the shop is a serious kink in my schedule, and having a dealership means they will give me a loaner if something does come up.
I hope my outline of why I don’t do what you are doing is helpful. Because I likely have different challenges.
NotMax
@WereBear
Wireless mouse not expensive these days. Black Friday sales time of year, have seen them for under ten bucks.
@Bemused
Thanks. Pretty good about keeping hydrated. Always a 16 oz. glass of water right at hand. Go through maybe a half dozen of those a day. Cramps not a real biggie, more of an annoyance. They’ll pass by tomorrow. Dinner at the weekly gathering last evening was ham, which always sets my salt receptors to red alert. Out of politeness did eat some, albeit liberally slathered with mustard to try to mask the saltiness.
HinTN
@gene108: I routinely take my Camrys to 300,000 and just accept the cost of maintenance at the dealership. I also buy with 100,000 or so.
a different chris
@Schlemazel: This fall’s leaves are supposed to be next spring’s fertilizer! Suburban America’s obsession with gathering up, placing in bags, and then shipping off to the landfill all that perfect plant food is just baffling.
WaterGirl
@gene108: You’ve gotten a lot of great advice this morning! Here’s my rule of thumb, for what it’s worth: If you’re still wondering whether it’s time to replace it, then it’s probably not time yet. When it is time, I think you KNOW the answer, with no wondering.
I like the idea of doing your homework ahead of time, though, so when it does start to leave you stranded and you know it’s time, you don’t have the stress of trying to research cars under pressure.
Truly one of the best things my -ex left me with was a great car guy. Until then, I always used a place for a coupe of years until they started taking advantage of my gender and lack of knowledge about cars, then moved on to the next place. It’s probably been 15 years, and I love my car guy. A good car guy is a blessing. (*guy being used in a gender neutral way)
Amir Khalid
In the Premier League of the Angles, bottom team Aston Villa is at home to top team Manchester City and they’re heading towards half time with the score at 0-0.
Schlemazel
@NotMax:
about the water thing
https://curiosity.com/paths/youre-probably-not-dehydrated-the-eight-glasses-of-water-a-day-myth-healthcare-triage
Its possible that cramps indicate some dehydration but it also could be a lack of potassium. Water didn’t stop my cramps but a multi vitamin did.
satby
@schrodinger’s cat: thank multiple deities!
Tommy Young
I am a little bit of a newbie to gardens, but I am still getting tomatoes and a ton of peppers from my garden. Maybe this is normal and I didn’t realize it before, but seems kind of strange to me.
Mike J
@magurakurin: The vlaamse frites stand is my first stop.
WaterGirl
Anyone else having trouble getting onto BJ? I had to reload 7 times before I got in this morning.
NotMax
@Tommy Young
Send a thank you card to Al Gore.
;)
Schlemazel
@a different chris:
When you have 7 oaks, 2 Maples and 2 cherry trees on a small lot leaving the leaves would mean no grass at all. Particularly the oaks which do not decompose quickly. I use some of the oak leaves as mulch and my flower gardens are weed free because nothing can get through them.
Jerzy Russian
@gene108: A few years ago I bought a new car after more than 10 years and almost 200,000 miles on the old one. The new one is larger, has more power, and got better mileage than the last one. There is something to be said for a new car, assuming you can afford one.
Schlemazel
@Schlemazel:
DRAT! I forgot about the link thing & have a comment in moderation F it
The concept that you have to have 8 glasses of water a day is a misunderstanding of the science & nobody is suffering from dehydration without some pretty serious side affects. Cramps may not be cured through more water but from a multi vitamin because potassium levels are important.
J R in WV
We had a WV Jetta, an older diesel (pre-cheater) which suddenly started going into “safe” mode, where the waste-gate on the turbo opens up to protect the engine, and your horsepower/torque drops from way good to completely inadequate. Too slow to be safe going up a hill on any freeway!! The dealer was honest and helpful, put in a new ECU and spent hours on air systems, caulking, replacing wiring and sensors. Nothing helped.
They didn’t charge much of their time, and gave us parts wholesale. But they didn’t fix it.
So I sold it on Craigslist, open and up front about the “safe mode” issue, and a guy fooling with diesels and making biodiesel bought it at a good price for both of us. Nothing else wrong with it, well kept, etc. We bought a 2006 diesel Jetta to replace it, which lasted well, and traded it lasdt summer for a all-wheel drive VW SUV, gasoline powered, the first non-diesel we had bought in 20 years or more. We also got a set of snow tires for that, which make it really good in bad weather.
I need a truck, a used truck that’s been well maintained, but they seem really hard to come by. I can use the neighbor’s for minor errands, recycling and bringing home lumber etc, but I hate to feel like I’m risking his new truck…. what if I get t-boned or something?
Cars are a pain in the ass!
Tommy Young
@WaterGirl: A good “car guy” is worth his weight in gold. I come from a family of car people. Dad can take apart and put back together a car. I can barely change my oil. I tend to side on keeping a car running if the engine is still good. It has been my experience that often cars have a lot more life left in them, well then people give them credit.
Schlemazel
@Schlemazel:
And I should add that the leaves don’t go to a land fill, the county composts them and all grass clippings so you can go pick up a truck load of good black dirt for free.
WereBear
@Schlemazel: The new ones are very nice. Last Christmas Mr WereBear got me a new Chromebook because the one for the cats didn’t have enough battery to be mobile. It came in super handy when his computer blew its hard drive and repairs took a couple of weeks, what with shipping back and forth and such. (We have Apple Care so it only cost us shipping to the place.) He was able to be happy with his account on the Chromebook.
I was using it for coffee shop writing and the like. But then I got an iPad mini with a Logitech keyboard folio and man, it is sweeeeeeet. It is my new mobile writing device, so the cats and Mr WereBear will be the primary users. At that rate, it should last years.
debbie
@Schlemazel:
How beautiful must your yard be in the autumn!
gene108
Thanks guys for all the helpful advice!
bemused
@NotMax:
I found out the hard way about dehydration and foot cramps when helping out at a benefit on an extremely hot, humid summer day. Both feet cramped till it my toes were almost curling. Ouch. It eased up when I drank two glasses of water in a row and then continued to sip water after that.
I think trying to get lots of fluids when nighttime leg or foot cramps begin to be bothersome is a good start to determine the causes. Some people may be restricting liquids before bedtime to avoid getting up too often to pee but being woken up in extreme pain with cramps is a lot more unpleasant than a full bladder.
Tommy Young
@J R in WV: VW lover right back at yeah. I drive a 2001 Passat. Last year the thing was made in Germany. I recall watching its production online and then shipped here, because I was this strange person that wanted the V6 and I wanted manual. Has all of 37,000 miles on it. Sits most of the time in my garage. When I say I am a hippie liberal, I like to walk, ride my bike, use public transportation, well I am not just saying it :).
Schlemazel
@debbie:
Yeah but I really love that the house is shaded in the heat of summer. The trade off is my garden sucks and the only sorts of flowers I can grow in most of the yard have to be shade lovers. Its a fair trade as far as I am concerned but I hate raking leaves more than shoveling snow.
Tommy Young
@WereBear: Keep preaching Chromebook. I might be something of a power user with my desktop. But much of the day I just surf the web. My Chromebook just rocks when used that way. I’d say about 90% of those online can do anything and everything with a Chromebook. And they are in fact almost dirt cheap.
gelfling545
I was given a Meyer’s Lemon Tree last winter & have managed to keep it alive but not thriving. I have 2 large grow lights trained on it most of the day & it is in a west facing window – my south facing windows are both in bedrooms and this is out of sight; out of mind & the kiss of death for plants in my house. It still experiences a lot of leaf drop. I water it weekly and gave it a bit of slow release citrus tree fertilizer in the summer. Does anybody have any advice that might help it be a bit healthier?
WereBear
@NotMax: @NotMax: Thanks, but it also has a shot battery. Keep in mind that it is the cats’ Chromebook now, and they would mess with the mouse and stop their video and come to us to get it working again. As it is, I flip it so the screen is resting downward and they are less likely to bring up mysterious windows with their magic keypresses.
After so long, it’s just not worth the investment and the hassle when we have a fresh ingenue waiting in the wings.
It’s funny, because computers have the same cost/loss ratio as cars. We start thinking tradein (with Macs you can do that) when the computer can no longer upgrade to the latest OS, or it gets dead slow by doing so.
raven
All my friends are low riders. . .
WereBear
@WaterGirl: It has been reliable for me on iPad always. Cannot edit my comment, though.
Oh, okay, this time it did. Did Tommy make it sentient?
debbie
@Schlemazel:
Plenty of hydrangeas love shade!
schrodinger's cat
@p.a.: BJP: Bharatiya Janata Party, Narendra Modi’s right wing party. NM had made the right personal. He lost. That’s a good thing for India. I am working on a blog post as to the reasons why this is great.
OzarkHillbilly
@J R in WV: “I need a truck, a used truck that’s been well maintained,”
I bought mine from my son in law, so I knew it had been well maintained and never off the road. Nice knowing that the transfer case and front axles and hubs have never been stressed. Try getting one in an urban area if you can. Most people buy 4x4s for the “bad ass looking” factor and wouldn’t dream of actually using it for what it was designed for.
WereBear
@J R in WV: A friend saw a small truck for sale by the side of the road, he crawled under it and it looked really well kept, came back with cash and found three others looking. He got it because he was there with the money, done!
Because they are hard to find.
NotMax
@gelfling545
Strictly a stab in the dark, but have you checked if it may be rootbound? Many times plants come in containers that are too small (or become too small fairly fast).
ThresherK
@gene108: I read about the “ten cent rule” someplace, and it goes like this: Don’t undertake major repairs or expensive consumables unless you’re getting 10 miles out of every dollar spent on it (i.e., ten cents per mile).
This doesn’t apply to wiper blades, headlights or gasoline. But at some point you don’t want to put money into a vehicle that’s near the end of its resale or utility life. The cost to perform repair X to a conscientious owner (which sounds like you) is the same whether your car has only 60k on it or 200k.
And neither is the Ten Cent Rule a gauge of the cost-per-mile to drive a car, whether it’s a 20-y.o. Corolla or same vintage Jaguar. Just a rule of thumb.
MomSense
@OzarkHillbilly:
Do you bring your meat birds to an abattoir or are you a DIY chicken slayer?
WereBear
@gelfling545: Gee, citrus trees, I always wonder if it is getting enough sun. Have you checked with a light meter?
Randy P
@Schlemazel: Since I’ve been composting, raking leaves is a snap. It’s the bagging part I hate, but now I just have to get them to the compost heap and dump.
Our house and yard are dominated by a huge old oak and a huge old walnut (yes, we are a very popular dining destination for squirrels). Between the two of them, they seem to provide just enough “brown matter” for a year of composting for two people.
Sounds like you have a lot more trees to deal with though, so composting wouldn’t help that much. However, I have found that even oak leaves are pretty well composted after a year in the pile, though composting people recommend two years.
Winterizing for us? My wife is the gardener, and she sticks mostly to pots. So winterizing, such as it was, consisted of pulling in the last few surviving pots: a bunch of gardenias (I think. I’m pretty sure it was a G word. Either those or geraniums) and a very bountiful basil harvest. However, it doesn’t really feel like “winterizing” is urgent yet. We’ve had maybe 1-2 frost nights but daytime temps have still been in the 70s the last few weeks.
Ultraviolet Thunder
@RSA:
My last two comments got eated, then the site disappeared.
testing…
schrodinger's cat
@schrodinger’s cat: not right, fight.
WereBear
As winter approaches I will be enjoying my potted begonia in my office at work. It’s a great choice because it really doesn’t want much sun. I gave it an eastern window sunbath and burned several leaves. I felt like a plant abuser!
So now it must like the lighting and the fertilizer, because it is producing the little apple blossom flowers that I like so much. New ones are coming so I’m doing something right.
But where are the African violets? When I didn’t have the proper windows they were everywhere, now I cannot find them.
Schlemazel
@debbie:
I have a couple varieties of those, one does real well they other doesn’t get enough sunlight & hardly blooms.
NotMax
@schrodinger’s cat
Three little words that ought to be stitched into a sampler and mailed to Debbie Wasserman-Schultz.
:)
OzarkHillbilly
@gelfling545: A larger pot? It may be root bound. That’s all I got.
schrodinger's cat
@satby: I thank Lalu and Nitish, they fought the fight, BJP’s ugly dog whistles and gave as good as they got. Also, the voters who tuned out in large numbers. Turnout for all phases was 55% or greater
Mike E
@OzarkHillbilly: I knew a professor from the local college that did class “field trips” to his yard so his students could condition his soil…took him the better part of two decades to get from “concrete” to frequent “yard of the month”
jeffreyw
I just gotta chime in here – I think a Sunday morning car talk post would be a nice placeholder till garden chats can resume in the spring.
Kirbster
It’s a leaf-raking and gutter-cleaning kind of day on Olde Cape Cod. I look forward to using my iRobot Looj, a little remote controlled gutter cleaning robot that trundles down the length of the gutter on little tank treads while the rotating flaps and brushes toss the leaves and junk out. It’s great for the areas that are out of reach of the stepladder and I get a kick out of watching it work.
The raking and hauling of leaves from the yard to the woods behind the house can be tedious, but listening to audiobooks while I work makes the job more rewarding. I am always astounded by the sheer volume of leaves from the maples, oaks, and unidentified mystery trees that my dad planted about 40 years ago in the back yard.
Ultraviolet Thunder
I killed all of our house plants’ fungus flies without killing the plants, and here’s how. A gift plant came into the house bearing fungus flies and quickly infested everything. It was awful and we hated it. They fly in your face and are super irritating. But I noticed they’re weak fliers so I made a trap for them. I took a big pole mounted fan and put cheesecloth on the back (intake) side with binder clips. Placed near the worst infestation, on low, blowing away. The draft of air drew the flies to the cheesecloth and held them there. Then I sprayed rubbing alcohol on the captured flies to poison them. Took about a week and killed every one.
The standard solution to this is toss all of your plants and start over. But the fan trap worked.
satby
@schrodinger’s cat: I have so many friends in India and I really want to go back someday, but one of them is a Midi supporter and his rants appear to get more unhinged every day. Fortunately, he seldom posts in English and I don’t read Hindi.
Schlemazel
@Randy P:
We thought we would compost our own & found that even with regular turning 2 years was the minimum for oak. Kept it up for 2 autumns but it was not going as I wanted. I eventually turned the entire heap into a hill that I have put a couple of shade loving bushes on to block my view of a neighbors garage.
benw
@WaterGirl: I’ve had an interesting experience in that my local Honda dealer has been the BEST “car guy” for my old Civics. I know the classic rule of thumb that the dealer takes twice as long and costs twice as much. But this dealer has been fantastic! Cheapest place for my oil change and always bending over backwards to get replacement parts under warranty. Very strange, but I’m not looking a gift mechanic in the garage.
satby
@satby: Modi, of course. FY autocorrect.
Tommy Young
@Kirbster:
Yeah I should do that.
As we speak my next door neighbor is on his roof with a leaf blower. He is that anal about his yard. I try to keep a pretty nice yard, neat, but the dude just shames me every freaking day of the week with his yard.
Another Holocene Human
@Ultraviolet Thunder: I got some wooden tulips in Schipol. They looked chintzy but they’re still going strong and look beautiful. I can’t really have flowers indoors anywhere b/c of my allergies.
I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet
@gene108: You’re getting a lot of good advice here.
J had a 1993 Corolla that she was fond of – it was her first new car. She put just over 200,000 miles on it in about 15 years. It had a manual transmission. We gave it to Goodwill when it needed a second clutch, etc., and its second set of struts was acting worn. It was no hardship to give it up – she had inherited her parents 2000 Corolla and is still using that.
It really depends on your pain tolerance, your finances, and the luck of the draw. Cars are an expense, not an investment. For most of us, they’re an essential expense – we can’t work without them, at least not without giving up many hours in alternative transportation instead. I suspect your engine will go another 200,000 miles without much trouble (might need valve seals (do you see a puff of blue smoke on starting it in the morning?), it might need things like a new radiator, new alternator, etc.). Automatic transmissions usually last longer than the car, if they’re not abused (trying to tow a boat in the Rockies, having a teenager drag race it, overheating the fluid, etc.). Various plastic bits may break (door handles, washer fluid reservoirs, etc.) that are annoying, but easy to replace. Our 2000 has a sticky hood latch, but it always eventually loosens up…
Good luck!
Cheers,
Scott.
(Who has been occasionally eyeing the 2016 Prius as a replacement.)
MattF
@benw: Similar here with my local Honda dealer. Convenient, since the nearby local independent garages are all closing down due to the current building boom in my area.
Ultraviolet Thunder
@benw:
“I’ve had an interesting experience in that my local Honda dealer has been the BEST “car guy” for my old Civics.”
That’s surprising. For many years Honda dealers had a rep for the worst customer service, and I experienced it myself. Maybe they got the message that a happy customer is a return customer, and reformed their ways.
Steeplejack
@WaterGirl:
I was getting sporadic “connection reset” errors last night. Seems to come and go.
OzarkHillbilly
@MomSense: I was going to DIY but never found the time to build the plucker so I took them to an MDA inspected 3 man operation about an hour away. They did a first rate job and it cost me $2 per bird. Screw doing it myself.
The only draw back was I couldn’t keep the feet (my wife loves them) because they need to be processed in a particular way (special bath, bagging and labels) and they were not set up for that.
Amir Khalid
@Steeplejack:
Tommy says these connection issues are not his fault.
Tommy Young
Just watching CBS Sunday Morning and their segment on Bernie Sanders. They go back to his home state and he is kind of a rock star there. In a strange twist of fate, my best friend when I was in grad school at LSU was from Vermont. Two Yankees paling around :).
I’d go back with him to the state and if the state and Brattleboro isn’t like the coolest town in the nation I don’t know what town beats it.
Heck about my favorite story, his mother was a state Senator. When Dean ran I asked him what his mother thought. She wasn’t a fan. I asked why, “he isn’t liberal enough.”
Tommy Young
@Amir Khalid: I honestly don’t know what is going on. I really don’t. Why I am not making any changes to the site. They get worse when I do. I see the same errors/connection problems you do. Clearly a issue and I think I know why, but it won’t be popular with the people on my side.
Steeplejack
@Amir Khalid:
And still holding firm almost at the end of regular time.
WereBear
@Ultraviolet Thunder: I had one of the greatest surprises of my car buying life when my local Ford dealer (family owned since 1914) turned out to be fantastic. Buying, servicing, stopping by to get help with a feature; all great.
We have settled into buying an August inventory leftover and keeping it for the three year warranty. We don’t put a lot of heavy mileage on it and get a good tradein when the time comes.
NotMax
@benw
Swear by a local mechanic whose independent shop is conveniently within reasonable walking distance of the abode. Does top-notch work, charges fair prices and is not shy about telling one that something can wait or just to live with it until more extensive work is warranted, as it’s not a dangerous or crucial problem. How he maneuvers in the nooks and crannies of smaller vehicles is still a wonderment, though. Even after recently dropping some weight he still tips the scales at well over 300 lb.
OzarkHillbilly
@Ultraviolet Thunder: Genius!
Ultraviolet Thunder
@OzarkHillbilly:
Muchas Gracias. I could write that one up for Make Magazine but I can’t figure out how to work a microcontroller into it.
Amir Khalid
@Tommy Young:
Have you shared your suspicions with the people, ahem, on your side? That might help them address the issue.
SFAW
@currants:
Far be it from me to disagree, but how many different ways can you say “It’s snowing” and “It’s f-ing cold” and “Why is it so damn dark all the time?” (in winter, of course)? Poetical or otherwise.
I mean, it’s not Vogon poetry, but still …
Tommy Young
@Amir Khalid: Just with my partner. I want proof before I go to John. I don’t have proof at this time. I just have found building sites for a living, for seven years almost, I am rarely wrong when I use my cause and effect thinking. Things don’t “break” on their own. An action is taken and things go sideways. Ads added in a manner I didn’t support, and then things start to not work. How I connect the dots there should be clear.
The good news is the other person on the client side tends to agree with me. Or I think he does. So we are going to get this right, just might not happen today or tomorrow.
Mike E
@Amir Khalid: The internet is “trickle down” in practice.
Baud
@Tommy Young:
The connection errors are coming from inside the house!
Tommy Young
@Baud: LOL. Yes they are. It is like a horror movie.
NotMax
@Baud
Hamsters on the flywheel need to be swapped out.
Gvg
I would expect John’s illness will delay action. I like to think things through about important long term descissions and it’s hard to think when you feel like he has described.
benw
@MattF: I tried a couple of local garages near my house before the Honda dealer and they were assholes who way overcharged me: one guy tried to get $70 for an oil change on a Honda Civic!
@Ultraviolet Thunder: “Maybe they got the message that a happy customer is a return customer”. This! When the current Civic dies I’m definitely going to check out buying from that dealer just for the service dept. alone, all because they tried a little extra on their service.
mai naem mobile
@Tommy Young: I remember reading about Dean when he ran and he and Sanders butted heads because Dean was way too much of a fiscal conservative for the Sanders wing of the Vt Dem Party.
@schrodinger’s cat: Narendra Modi gives off a real creep vibe to me. This was before I even knew about the abandoning the arranged marriage wife and then lying about it. I have to say an American presidential candidate would never get away with it.
benw
@Tommy Young: “I’d go back with him to the state and if the state and Brattleboro isn’t like the coolest town in the nation I don’t know what town beats it.”
Montpelier, VT is the most awesome town I’ve ever been to. I still have my Dean 2004 sweatshirt that my in-laws gave me, even though it’s falling to pieces. Let’s go, Bernie!
Schlemazel
@Tommy Young:
as always, its the damn clients (human not machine) that cause the most headaches! Than for all you do & hope you don’t take all the whining and snottiness from some commenters don’t get taken personally
Tommy Young
@mai naem mobile: I will never forget my time in Vermont. Never. This is the early 90s. I am there because his brother is getting married. Got close to his brother because while I and his brother were at LSU he was at Texas A&M working on this PhD. We road tripped to see him more than once.
I got this bong attached to my face, his mom walks in, doesn’t blink an eye, and tells us the update of what is going to happen. Burt tells me yeah, mom is cool with us smoking pot. She might come join us later.
This was such a foreign thing to me. But in hindsight it makes total sense. Brattleboro, when I first went there and stepped off the Amtrak train, is a cool town. Totally self-contained. Fighting off a Wal-Mart in it for like three decades. Just a different world and a world I kind of like.
WaterGirl
@benw: That is a surprise! Take ’em where you find ’em, that’s my motto. :-) A good mechanic is a treasure.
tybee
@jeffreyw:
a weekly “all things mechanical” thread could be interesting all year long…
dmsilev
@Ultraviolet Thunder: Blinkenlights that change state whenever another bug lands on the trap. As to how to sense that, hmmm, optical might be easiest. Camera pointed at trap looking for the appearance of dark spots.
gene108
@schrodinger’s cat:
The sad part, from an American perspective is that for what is the equivalent of the State Legislature elections we had last week that maybe got 20% to 30% voter turn out here, the Bihar Assembly elections got between 50% to 60% turn out, depending on the district.
There’s something America is doing wrong with voter turn out.
Matt McIrvin
I tend to keep driving my cars until long after their resale value has dropped to scrap. I had a 1997s Nissan Altima that I kept going until the head gasket started leaking and spraying oil everywhere. That was the end.
Then we bought Sam’s Subaru and she gave me her Nissan Sentra as a hand-me-down. But I wasn’t so eager to drive that one into the ground because it was kind of a crap car compared to the Altima. It was still pre-ABS and I remember the brakes would lock really easily unless you operated them with finesse; the thing was a deathtrap in any kind of slippery weather. I traded it in for my Honda Fit when it probably could have gone for another 100,000 miles, but I didn’t really want to find out.
The Fit, I like. I’m going to keep driving it until it falls apart.
Alain
Hi, Tommy’s redesign partner here.
I just disabled a very old plugin and re-enabled a more recent plugin that should put buttons on the comment form for you to make comments with.
I know the text is white on white, etc. I’m onto that next. If anyone has problems with the buttons not working, please post.
I am the one who’d working with the comment plugin developers to get the Comment Numbers and a couple of other must-haves.
Thanks,
Alain
beltane
@gene108: Voting is no longer considered a civic duty. In fact, the whole concept of “civic duty” no longer exists, especially for the under-55s. Voting has almost become a niche activity, something done by only a relatively small subset of the population. Republicans have also worked hard to make voting as much of a hassle as possible, and many people will tend to shy away from situations where government entities subject them to scrutiny and questioning.
sparrow
@gene108: we drove our carolla to the moon, in miles. I say keep it until it requires something more than replacement cost to fix it.
Ultraviolet Thunder
@dmsilev:
That reminds me. My first Make Magazine article appeared in the issue with the mosquito killing laser on the cover. It identified female mosquitoes in the room by the wingbeat frequency, tracked them ultrasonically and blasted them with a diode laser shot.
THAT is what genius looks like.
Amir Khalid
@Alain:
Ohai. The comment buttons are fine as they are. If you can also get them developers to let us commenters use the HTML code for subscript and superscript, that would be really swell too.
I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet
@Alain: Oooh. You’re brave for posting here! :-)
Thanks for your efforts. I hope it’s not too painful to get FYWP to accept sensible changes.
If you get a chance and are looking for ideas that many of us like, take a look at The Other Chuck’s MBBJ.
Good luck.
Cheers,
Scott.
Steeplejack
@Alain:
Thanks for all your efforts (and Tommy’s). The comment buttons are back for me (Firefox/Win10). And the link-mo-tron seems to be working. Things are getting better!
ETA: Can do italics with <i>? Nope.
beltane
If anyone wants to see bitching, they should head over to the new and improved DKos. People are actually complaining about features that have been there for the past 10 years but which they only seem to have noticed with the redesign.
The Other Chuck
@beltane: Oh hell, DKOS looks a hell of a lot better than it did after the last redesign. That was an absolute clusterfuck start to finish. Of course I left the GOS years ago after the content of the site made it not worth reading.
And yay, editor buttons are back. Still white on grey, but that’s easily fixable.
Tommy Young
@beltane:
That pains me to hear you say, but you are 100% correct. My mother runs elections in her district. I vote. My mother votes. If I didn’t my mother would pound me into the ground. She calls me after every election in tears and asks me why people don’t vote. I tell her I don’t know. Voting where I live, I like to joke, is faster than ordering a Big Mac. There is just no excuse not to vote.
gene108
NEW (INTERNATIONAL) STAR WARS TRAILER!!!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7XNit858b6I
Felonius Monk
@The Other Chuck: Best diary over at GOS was
PurpleGirl
@Alain: Welcome to Balloon Juice. Hope our cranky commenters haven’t made you too crazy, and that they won’t in the near future. (I’ve generally been pleased with the redesign, only commented once on something I didn’t like; I’ve gotten a bigger and more annoying problem to contend with.) (I don’t think it’s so horrible I need to mouse over a button to see the text. I’ve got to mouse over the button anyway to click on it.)
Baud
@Felonius Monk:
I don’t know if I want that to be snark or sincere.
Baud
@Alain:
Why are we using GOP comment buttons on Balloon Juice?
Tommy Young
@Alain: Alain is the man. He found me here and reached out. He is a stud on the back-end of things. Easy for me to do a corporate site with no visitors, my bread and butter to be honest. This site, well far different. Far different. I know many don’t like some of the things I did but if it wasn’t for Alain none of this would have happened.
If there is one thing I am proud of and this is Alain and not me, this site loads fast. Night and day from what it used to be. I am a user of this site and I heard people say non-stop about the speed of the site. Or the lack of it. We did kind of correct that didn’t we :)!ed
The Other Chuck
@Felonius Monk: And almost certainly meant in total humorless seriousness. Sounds about par for GOS.
Ked
@beltane:
I dunno, the GOS rebuild is pretty brutal, at least if you try to venture into the comments. Something about that font implementation… which has led users to start using bold, blockquotes and heading tags to make their text more readable. Letting users “shout” in comments – particularly at Kos – is not going to end well. And I’m not going to start about the new-comment popups.
NotMax
@Alain
Buttons? We don’ need no es-stinkin’ buttons. Velcro is the future.
;)
Seriously, thanks, especially for a real time heads-up re: what’s going on..
pamelabrown53
@beltane:
Hah! Re: DKos; the whining is epic!
Cervantes
@Alain:
Thanks.
Just curious how something like that can even happen.
What are these “must-haves”? Is there a list to be found somewhere here as a post or a comment?
I take it you’re working with developers whose comment plug-in is new to the site. Does the new plug-in allow only the same HTML tags as the old one did?
Amir Khalid
Meanwhile, Liverpool have equalised late in the first half against Crystal Palace with a beauty of a goal from Coutinho. This is kind of like last week’s match against Chelsea, when Coutinho did the same thing. Even the opposing team’s name begins with the same letter.
Aleta
@Alain:
Thanks Alain +Tommy for your willing ability to slog through this.
Always Look on the Bright Side of Life
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJUhlRoBL8M
Baud
@pamelabrown53:
Worse than us? Unacceptable. We need to whine harder.
Cervantes
@Tommy Young:
Nice work if you can get it!
Aleta
Is there any better actor-in-a-straightjacket than James Cagney?
Wordpress Developers
@PurpleGirl: Thanks for the welcome! I’ve been a lurker and very infrequent commentor as I prefer to read and listen and learn. I just wanted to jump in and try to get this commenting thing a bit better than it was previously while we wait for the new improved one.
And to whomever mentioned that the white text on the grey button is simple to fix, yes, it normally would be. Except nothing is so easy in FYWP. I’m still tracking down why my efforts to change the font color for these buttons keeps getting overwritten by other CSS styling info! Another reason that Tommy’s the front-end guy and I’m more back-end and things technical.
beltane
@Baud: Here, we can only whine in the comments. There, users can post diaries. The Rec list is mostly filled with complaint diaries right now.
NotMax
@Aleta
Moment of pedantry:
straitjacket
Tommy Young
@Ked: I saw they were doing this as I was here. I wondered how it would work. I actually now feel better. A site with a ton of resources is going through the same thing as here. I looked at the font issue and just laughed. I am a font geek, but used a standard font on purpose. More about readability than being “cool.”
Cervantes
@Tommy Young:
Readability might suggest use of a serif font.
Aleta
@Alain:
(previous comment without the link)
Thanks Alain +Tommy for your willing ability to slog through this.
Always Look on the Bright Side of Life
Mike J
@Cervantes:
WordPress comes with a small set of tags allowed in comments. There’s very little reason to change them, but if you have to it’s pretty easy to override wp_kses_allowed_html() in a plugin. (You could just edit the code directly, but then you’re screwed on every upgrade.)
I’d never do unless somebody could demonstrate a very good reason. But hey, it’s not my site.
Wordpress Developers
@Cervantes: We shall see. They are in a mad blitz of new functionality. Upgrading their tool to handle existing comment tables as large as ours took a while, and there are many other voices out there trying to get their attention. I’m hoping that the opportunity to get their tool working and beloved on a site as busy as this will be a good feather in their cap and thus, that we get their attention sooner than later.
Comment must haves that aren’t in it yet include Tools buttons like the “white on white” ones, Comment Numbers, and pictures.
As for how white on grey/white happens, it’s the glories of the interaction between a plugin, a theme, and WordPress. I’m actually working on adding more buttons right now, for Amir and others’ needs. Even pictures!
Cervantes
@Tommy Young:
With so many variables “proof” may not be easy to come by — but you can gather circumstantial evidence by switching off the ads temporarily to see what happens, all other things held (roughly) equal.
By the way, I hope you have re-thought some of the notions you expressed last night. I did not read them in real time; only glanced at the thread just now. It was, to my eye … ugly all around. I wonder if you agree that, no matter what the provocation, we should each recognize that certain actions, even if they are responses, are unacceptable. A rhetorical question; no need for a reply here.
I’m off. Have a good day.
Baud
@WordPress Developers: Can we get the ability to make blinking text?
NotMax
@WordPress Developers
No use of avatars, one (gingerly) hopes.
Tommy Young
@Cervantes: LOL. We could talk for years about fonts and font usage. I went with Georgia which I think folks don’t think is perfect, but not bad either.
Baud
@Tommy Young: I like Georgia also.
Baud
@NotMax: I dislike avatars also.
NotMax
@Baud
March straight to your room and think about what you said.
;)
Cervantes
@Mike J:
Thanks.
Yes, I was asking about a new plug-in. Why would you (personally) err on the side of fewer allowed tags? Bandwidth considerations? Because users can more easily mess the page up (inadvertently) if more tags are allowed? (I understand you are not speaking for anyone else about this.)
Jerzy Russian
@pamelabrown53: Every time I see a comment from you I get an ear worm featuring “Pamela Brown” as sung by the Blue Water Ramblers. I like the song, so it is a nice ear worm to have.
Aleta
@Aleta:
well, Jack Nicholson could contend, I guess
And best actress-in-a-straightjacket would go to ? Can’t think of any for sure, but I keep picturing Angelina J in one, in that Winona Rider movie. It might be a false memory, though.
Wordpress Developers
Ok, trying a different plugin with more buttons. If that doesn’t work optimally, I’ll try a third. Stay tuned.
Aleta
@NotMax:
hear, hear, here, here
pamelabrown53
@Baud:
I know. We are neophytes in comparison.
debbie
@Ultraviolet Thunder:
Great idea! I hope to remember that next summer. I waste so much time stalking those bastards and they always win in the end.
Cervantes
@Tommy Young:
Thanks, but let’s not and say we did.
That’s curious. What I see in Safari (desktop) is a sans serif. Perhaps it’s a setting I chose locally and can’t remember!
And yes, Georgia is a good choice, it seems to me.
debbie
@Baud:
For a potential president, you’re quite the troublemaker.
Schlemazel
@NotMax:
That would be fun just to see what everyone chose! Up/down voting too!!!
That should open whole new avenues of insult and butthurt we can whine about
Steeplejack
@Baud:
No. Just fuck no, for the love of God.
And I’m a little nervous about the insertion of pictures, unless the format/size is tightly controlled.
Baud
@debbie: The rabble aren’t going to rouse themselves.
pamelabrown53
@Jerzy Russian:
I chose that name because my first name is Pamela and I had a mentor (deceased) who used to call me Pamela Brown (he loved the song). It’s chosen to honor him.
debbie
@Baud:
Not so here.
NotMax
@Aleta
Olivia de Havilland, in The Snake Pit
Mike J
@Cervantes: I don;t like to add plugins unless they add real value to the site. One more way to introduce a bug to begin with, one more thing to worry about breaking at upgrade time. Allowing commenters super and sub tags on a blog about politics wouldn’t be high on my priority list. But as I said, not my blog, not my dev project. (Kos’s redesign allowed header tags, but that’s being pulled due to people posting entire comments in H3.)
Baud
@debbie: True. Juicers tend to be self-rousing. But I need to reach the masses if I’m going to win it all.
Steeplejack
@Cervantes:
This, primarily (IMO). We have daily examples of commenters who can’t handle the basic tags allow now.
ETA: Also what Mike J said.
pamelabrown53
@Schlemazel:
Up/down voting is a terrible idea; it undermines discussion and fosters gang/posse mentality.
Mike J
@Aleta:
Victoria Jackson?
Oh wait, you meant giving a good performance while in one. I was thinking about who needs it.
Steeplejack
@Cervantes:
I think Tommy means he chose Georgia for the upcoming comment system.
The Other Chuck
@Cervantes: Pretty easy to get style screwups like white-on-white if you combine different elements from different themes rather than proper widgets. BJ itself runs on a mismash of unmaintained plugins, so it’s no surprise that happened. Usually one goes into the theme dir on the server and overrides the broken stuff — basically what I’m doing with MBBJ in a “rogue” fashion.
Speaking of which, I’d have no problem with Tommy stealing any of the stuff out of MBBJ, though most of it is really gory hacks that would be better implemented by editing the template.
Cervantes
@WordPress Developers:
Sounds promising. Good luck.
My $0.02: Tracking properly back and forth along source/reply paths ought to be on the list; plus, if bold text has to be colored, you might choose a color that isn’t close to the color of hyperlinked text.
Also: What’s happening with the mobile site?
Yes, I see how all those nested instructions could get mixed up.
Thanks.
Brachiator
@gene108:
I think it popped up Thursday or Friday. Very interesting stuff for those anticipating the new movie. Some of the dialog hints at the direction of the story, and it does not seem sucky, like the prequels.
Two small reservations:
I hope that Abrams is still holding back a lot of stuff. There have been some hot action sequences, but all of them are set on one planet or another. No space battles. It’s Star Wars, dammit.
The shot of the storm troopers with flame throwers was kinda prosaic, humanoids walking. Lucas at least had a strong visual imagination and could come up with cool looking creatures, vehicles, war machines. So far, Abrams is showing us a lot of variations of the spacecraft which appeared in the original film. I think the film would be better served if it is more than a nostalgia fest.
Now, it has taken me more to type this than time I spent thinking about it when I saw the trailers, and so far the studios have been good about not pimping the entire story in the trailer, as happens with so many movies today, so speculations may just be the unnecessary worry of a fan.
One thing that I find very interesting from the trailer: I don’t give a rat’s ass about the gender or color of the stars in a SF movie, especially one set in “a universe far, far away.” So I am very happy that the film appears to center on a woman and a black man because of the real world, and the stupid insistence by some studio execs that even fantasy worlds must be dominated by white male characters. I think that hard core Star Wars fans will come along (especially if they can still get their Luke Skywalker and Han Solo fix), but I do wonder how this will come across to the “girls have cooties crowd.”
I thought about this a little more because a friend’s young daughter went as Darth Vader this Halloween. She originally wanted to be a Darth Vader Cat, but couldn’t quite pull it off. She didn’t do the Vader mask, though. Some folks, including some adults, commented to her that Darth Vader was a man. But Vader is the character that resonates with her. And that should be that. Period. End of story, especially since we are talking about fantasy characters.
Still, this is an interesting risk — an SF film apparently with a female lead, especially for the Disney overlords, who are often very risk averse.
Cervantes
@Steeplejack:
If so, that’s a bit of a relief!
Of course, I could still be contending with other local settings I’ve long forgotten about.
The Other Chuck
@pamelabrown53: To say nothing of the idiotic “tip jar” on every thread in DKOS. I like the idea of upvotes that are themselves weighted by the upvotes one has given the, uh, upvoter. The venerable advogato.org does that, and yes it results in a little cliquishness, but those exist in any community anyway, and the weighting does prevent phenomena like the “Digg Bury Brigade” (not having downvotes at all helps too)
Amir Khalid
@Brachiator:
Galaxy! Galaxy, darn it!
NotMax
@Brachiator
In short, less white space.
:)
pamelabrown53
@Cervantes:
Frequently, on this site and Political Animal, I’ll get a box that says allow script to continue, stop plug in, etc. Well, these plug ins slow down my computer to the point where I can’t scroll. Do you know how I should handle it? Usually just check the stop plugin box. Which might help for a couple of minutes.
The Other Chuck
BTW, please don’t allow images in comments. I really don’t want to see this place turn into Fark.
WereBear
@Ultraviolet Thunder: Damn! Didn’t know they were dealing with a pro!
Eric U.
@Tommy Young: Tommy, the site runs fast. And it doesn’t lock up my browser, which is a big bonus for me.
Steeplejack
@The Other Chuck:
Strongly agree. I toned down my comment above—mostly to remove the spittle—but I don’t see how pictures could be implemented in comments with enough safeguards not to turn into a fiasco.
pamelabrown53
@Eric U.:
This is the fasted the site has ever run for me. Love it!
Tommy Young
@The Other Chuck: Funny so many ask for this. This is a perfect example of where I don’t know what to turn on or off in functionality.
WereBear
@Aleta: Nope. None. Or for many other things!
/cagneyfan
Mike J
@Tommy Young: Are you a big fan of goatse?
The Other Chuck
@Tommy Young: I imagine you’d have to deliberately work at allowing images, since it’s rare to see any WP site that does. Probably a plugin.
trollhattan
@gene108:
As cars age the NVH creep in, handling precision declines and the seats break down. It’s subtle and sometimes becomes apparent only when driving something new, due to the contrast.
It’s not hard to keep modern cars on the road for a good long time, long after the driving enjoyment has departed. If a long drive leaves you exhausted, it’s probably time to go shopping.
The Other Chuck
@Mike J: I would hope the existing moderation system would fix that. Not that the moderators are going to like looking at that.
NotMax
@The Other Chuck
While severely constricted thumbnails might work out, one also needs to consider the legal issues of copyright and permission when dealing with willy-nilly posting of images and also malware exploits via steganography.
Ruckus
@NotMax:
I go through periods sometimes where bits and pieces actually lock up for a bit and hydration is not the issue and they really aren’t cramps. But, and you know that it is a very large, round firm but, I just found out that I have a fun neurological issue which can (and will as it progresses) cause all kinds of fun with your entire body. You may want to discuss the cramp issue with your doc to make sure they are cramps. Not a lot of fun finding out but at least there are some minimizing remedies.
Amir Khalid
Crystal Palace are back in front 1-2 at Anfield, after Liverpool fail to make their dominance pay. Feh.
Brachiator
@WereBear: RE: I was using it for coffee shop writing and the like. But then I got an iPad mini with a Logitech keyboard folio and man, it is sweeeeeeet. It is my new mobile writing device
I used to use an iPad and then a Nexus 7 tablet and a bluetooth keyboard for on-the-go writing. But I like that I can have multiple tabs open easily with my Chromebook. Overall, the chromebook is a little bigger (Toshiba Chromebook 2) but it is very light weight.
Still, I guess the thing is that there are many good choices, and there are times when I much prefer working away from home.
Question: what kind of writing do you do on your machine? Long documents or quick notes? Do you have a preferred writing app?
ETA: the comment buttons came and went as I exited and came back to this thread. Must be nomads.
Tommy Young
@pamelabrown53: Thank you. There are a few things, well a lot of things, we’d like to turn on, but had to show from a server point-of-view we were not crazy. I might have been wrong about this or that, but the site loads well.
Baud
@Brachiator: They’re testing the buttons right now.
NotMax
@NotMax
Omitted last line:
So pencil me into the “no” camp as well.
NotMax
@Ruckus
Thanks, and best wishes that your situation isn’t terribly debilitating.
The Other Chuck
@NotMax:
Terrible misuse of the term “steganography” but leaving that aside: frankly, if you’re paranoid about that, you may as well be browsing with lynx. Might be a good idea to run uploaded images through pngcrush for that and bandwidth reasons though. Still, for BJ I’d rather just not have it at all. I don’t want to be innundated with stupid memes, I have Facebook for that.
Ruckus
@NotMax:
@Schlemazel: Makes a great point about potassium. For me potassium level was a hint that it wasn’t cramps as mine is checked regularly as my meds can and in my case do cause my potassium level to be normal to high, enough so that I have to watch my potassium intake. This was a hint that it’s not really cramps in my case. Just remember horses not zebras.
MattF
@Brachiator: Actually, ‘Frozen’ was pretty much a reboot of the whole Princess thing — we now have Elsa, the Princess/Queen/Superhero-with-powers– and that’s about as daring as you can get in the Disney universe.
WereBear
@Ruckus: Well crap, Ruckus. Sorry to hear.
Amir Khalid
Liverpool lost1-2 at home to Crystal Palace after wasting a host of scoring chances. Shoot.
Amir Khalid
I just had yet another of them server glitches, with the connection reset message. It’s starting to get really annoying.
ETA: Two in quick succession, the second as I was posting this comment.
Ruckus
@benw:
Some dealers do understand that having a repeat customer is easier and better for the bottom line than having to always capture new customers. Not many, from the experiences of an awful lot of people but still some. They know that if you are happy, you will buy and maintain your cars there but even more important, you will tell your friends. I’ve known a couple of dealers like this, had one that we bought several medium sized trucks for the company I worked for and which I bought a number of personal vehicles from. All because of the attitude and results of the dealer. There were closer dealers for the same brand but it was worth driving all the way across town.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@Ruckus: Man, I am so sorry to hear about the neuro stuff. I hope it stays as minimal as it can.
NotMax
@The Other Chuck
Not so much paranoia (turning j-script off poofs such exploits) as pointing out it opens a doorway for the maliciously inclined to hack.and slash on the site.
Interesting demo took place in Holland earlier this year.
rikyrah
Good Afternoon, Everyone :)
debbie
@Amir Khalid:
Please don’t tell me you’ve gone over to the Whining Side.
Amir Khalid
@debbie:
Well, Liverpool FC just lost a league match today, so of course I’m whining. Pout.
Steeplejack
@rikyrah:
Good afternoon! Did you sleep in this morning?
rikyrah
what da phuq?
Why Ben Carson’s claim that he stabbed someone is so key to his appeal to white America
By Janell Ross November 8 at 9:23 AM
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2015/11/08/why-ben-carson-having-stabbed-someone-is-so-key-to-his-appeal-to-white-america/?hpid=hp_hp-more-top-stories_no-name%3Ahomepage%2Fstory
Debbie
@Amir Khalid:
Would saying, “It’s only a game” help any?
Aleta
@NotMax:
re: leg cramps
Osteopath prescribed a magnesium powder called Calm for my 65 yo cousin for leg cramps, and it works well and quickly for him even during an attack. (He also has a regular MD to rule out her possibilities.) Tha Calm powder is very good for calming, and for sleep, too.) You have to be careful not to exceed the right amount (a teaspoon or two) lest the muscle in the wall of your large intestine relax too much….
rikyrah
Why Missouri football players are going on strike
By Cindy Boren November 8 at 10:35 AM
Several dozen African-American football players at Missouri are threatening to stop participating in any football activities until the president of the university system is fired or resigns.
The action stems from troubling racial incidents on the Columbia, Mo., campus, incidents that Missouri’s Legion of Black Collegians believes were poorly handled by Tim Wolfe. The group announced its decision, using the hashtag #ConcernedStudent1950 and a photo of 32 black men on Twitter on Saturday night. Included in the photo is Russell Hansbrough, the team’s starting running back. Concerned Student 1950, the student activism group leading the protests, is named for the year Missouri first admitted African-American students.
“The athletes of color on the University of Missouri football team truly believe ‘Injustice Anywhere is a threat to Justice Everywhere,’” the tweet read. “We will no longer participate in any football related activities until President Tim Wolfe resigns or is removed due to his negligence toward marginalized students’ experiences. WE ARE UNITED!!!!!
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/early-lead/wp/2015/11/08/why-missouri-football-players-are-going-on-strike/
rikyrah
@Steeplejack:
I did indeed…..enjoyed the sleep too.
Amir Khalid
@Debbie:
To a sportsball fan?
Steeplejack
@rikyrah:
You are like clockwork around 8:30-8:45, so I was wondering. Swimming today?
Brachiator
@MattF:
Ah, but “Frozen” was aimed at young girls, as is the case with all the Disney “princess” movies and their marketing.
A woman and a black male character at the center of a Star Wars movie is different. And look how Marvel/Disney screwed up some of the marketing for The Avengers and Guardians of the Galaxy, where the female characters were foolishly sidelined.
Aleta
@Ruckus: Friend has similar; 10 years along she says that the various things she and her mate are doing to adapt and treat effects have altered her understanding and outlook as well. Acupuncture amoung them. Best to you.
Brachiator
@gene108:
@Amir Khalid:
@NotMax:
Apparently, there is a new TV trailer as well, with a hint of new action.
http://io9.com/rey-kicks-ass-in-the-latest-tv-spot-for-the-force-awake-1741285847
And, MILD SPOILER, comicbook.com claims that marketing for a Star Wars jigsaw puzzle reveals something about character surnames:
John Boyega is supposedly Finn Calrissian.
Wait a minute. Isn’t Calrissian an Armenian name?
;)
The Other Chuck
Am I the only one constantly getting 204 “Empty Response” errors when trying to load BJ? Is it related to the ongoing dev work?
Aleta
@Baud:
throw hats at the rabble instead
Brachiator
@The Other Chuck: You mean:
No data received
ERR_EMPTY_RESPONSE
No, others are getting it as well. I think it may, as you note, be related to the ongoing dev work.
The Other Chuck
@Brachiator: I’m picturing how bonkers the fanbase that already lost their shit over a black Heimdal will go if the Avengers movies follow the comics’ current plotline around Thor.
Amir Khalid
@The Other Chuck:
@Tommy Young:
@Alain:
Tommy and Alain are here. Let’s ask them.
Ruckus
Thanks everyone.
Oh it will get worse. Lots worse. Nature of disease. With disease, either you get cured or you get worse if there is no cure. Much neurological stuff has no cure, only band aids to help with the effects. This is one of those. There aren’t even any solid tests to actually determine if one has it. But of course, I do. It has taken 5 yrs from first symptoms to get to here. Story of my life, no matter that I think the cup is partially full rather than partially empty, the level is still just moisture at the bottom after you’ve poured out all you can. Still I take refuge in the phrase, “Could be worse”, used to best effect by Monty Python.
Cervantes
@The Other Chuck:
It is.
Brachiator
@gene108: Original comment is in moderation, maybe because of an included link
@Amir Khalid:
@NotMax:
RE: new Star Wars trailer…
Apparently, there is a new TV trailer as well, with a hint of new action. Go to i09 and elsewhere to check it out. Includes another brief scene of Han Solo
And, MILD SPOILER, comicbook.com claims that marketing for a Star Wars jigsaw puzzle reveals something about character surnames:
John Boyega is supposedly Finn Calrissian.
Wait a minute. Isn’t Calrissian an Armenian name?
;)
Amir Khalid
RIP: Gunnar Hansen, who played Leatherface in the horror classic The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, has passed away from pancreatic cancer at the age of 68. (H/t BBC.)
satby
@Ruckus: I had put in a “sorry to hear that, take care of yourself” comment, but it got caught in the latest server bounces. So hear it is again, along with my very best wishes that things can be controlled.
I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet
@NotMax: CalculatedRisk uses Hoocoodanode for its comment system. It has lots of emoji-like things that are sorta entertaining (though I’ve never posted there myself).
There are lots of ways of skinning the cat of adding image-like features, but since raw images can be abused so easily, having them turned off here makes sense. If there’s going to be implemented here, it seems like restricting them to 250 pixels or so max would make sense.
I would much rather have the 3-link limit substantially increased over being able to post in-line images, myself.
My $0.02.
Cheers,
Scott.
Tommy Young
@Brachiator: I love my niece with all the fire of a burning nova. But the whole princess thing and “Frozen” thing I don’t understand. I hate it actually.
Ruckus
OK on to better issues.
I have an old full size van. Bad mileage, hard to park in a part of the world that thinks everyone drives sub compacts and that parking structures need only 6 1/2 foot clearance. Good part is I paid little for it, drive it few miles and it holds lots of stuff. But as I’m looking at possibly only a few more years of driving and not being able to ride my motorcycle much longer, and to make a long story longer, I’m looking for a replacement. It will be used, have no idea how much longer I can work, it will need to carry some stuff so possibly an SUV, one on the small side. Have owned an Element and those I like but they stopped making them 3 yrs ago so that is limiting but not a total sticking point.
Any suggestions?
Amir Khalid
@Brachiator:
You were expecting a Finnish surname? He is almost certainly Finn Calrissian bin Lando Calrissian.
As for the links, it looks to me like you tried to put too many in your comment. Not more than three, reply links count too, yadda yadda yadda …
Wordpress Developers
Well we’re sticking with this set of buttons for now, white on grey and all.
I also tweaked some code for a plugin, so perhaps whomever was using their phone or tablet and hit some funky error or issue can try again. I believe WP won’t puke on that now.
I hope to squash a few other lurking issues that might cause some FYWP moments. Already, I think the server’s running smoother today than yesterday.
So, that said, best wishes to all for the goodwill, and all have our assurances that we’re still working on improvements.
Alain
I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet
@Ruckus: Google tells me that the HR-V is Honda’s Element replacement.
No personal experience myself.
Best of luck with your choice and I hope your medical condition changes for the worse much slower than you fear. Hang in there.
Cheers,
Scott.
Brachiator
@The Other Chuck:
Yeah. I love crap like this. I actually got into a conversation with a co-worker about the Thor movies. He mentioned black Heimdal. I said it’s funny that comic book purists don’t insist that Thor be red-headed, bearded and kind of stupid. And what happened to his chariot pulled by goats?
And they cheer over Lady Sif being a dark haired bad ass warrior woman, when in the myth she is a soft, alluring blonde goddess. Who had her long blonde hair shaved off by Loki and who wears a golden metal headpiece instead.
Cervantes
@I’mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet:
I agree.
I didn’t add much value beyond that, but may have managed not to subtract.
benw
@Ruckus: I’ve driven hybrids for my last couple of cars and loved them. I know that the Ford Escape and Toyota Highlander SUVs have hybrid models.
Renie
@beltane: I use to be a regular there but the last few years I don’t bother. If anyone thinks this upgrade is bad, you should see theirs. The pictures are way too huge – especially when they use unflattering pictures of Republicans – and there is an annoying box that pops up every time a new comment appears in a blog. They use to have an easier way to look through comments but now they seem to expand all of them. Funny but over there is also a lot of complaints about the ‘white space’. Just my opinion but the fonts are not attractive at all.
Cervantes
@WordPress Developers:
Thanks again.
I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet
@Cervantes: rofl.
Cheers,
Scott.
(Who isn’t literally rolling on the floor, but illustrating his agreement with more than a :-).
Brachiator
@Amir Khalid:
Nope. I just had one little link.
Or Finn Calrissianlandosson.
I hope the son of Lando thing, if real, does not cause some viewers to confuse Star Wars with the upcoming Creed movie, in which the title character is the son of Apollo Creed.
Could this mean that Star Wars might also include a brief cameo of Sylvester Stallone as Darth Rocky? It always gets weird when you cross movie streams.
Cervantes
@Ruckus:
Not the worst refuge. You have much to give. Enjoy each day. Hang in there.
Renie
@Steeplejack: I agree, would prefer no image allowed but if they do PLEASE limit the size. (Unless the pictures are campaigns pix of BAUD 2016!!)
Tommy Young
@benw: My parents drive non-stop. A few thousand miles a week. You can’t get them away from Chrysler. I tell then time and time again a Passat wagon would work for them. Dad won’t buy any car not made by an American. But look to a Passat for your next car.
Cervantes
@Tommy Young:
Not to worry: Al Gore is still fat.
(Or so you could tell them.)
benw
@Tommy Young: my current car (aside from my elderly Civic hybrid) is a Nissan Leaf EV and I luuuuuuuuuuuv it. Of course, that only works if you’ve got less than roughly 80 miles/day to drive, or a high-speed charger.
Gin & Tonic
@Tommy Young: My parents drive non-stop. A few thousand miles a week.
According to the back of this envelope, that equals over 5 hours per day, every day, of highway driving. Where in the world are they going?
Ruckus
@I’mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet:
That’s the replacement for the CRV. The Element and the CRV were/are the same vehicle under the skin but the skin made all the difference. What looks like a bread truck on the outside has the room of one on the inside.
Brachiator
@Tommy Young:
I don’t get the hate. The hero of the Lion King is a prince. Luke Skywalker is from birth destined to be a Jedi.
Pop culture for little boys is deeper than a manure pile with royalty with promises of destiny. But somehow, being a princess is a mockery of a travesty?
And the fun thing about Disney princess stories is that the males are largely anonymous and interchangeable, which always caused me to wonder why the churlish are always so quick to devalue princesses. I challenge anyone not to use google and name the princes in the Disney film, aside from Prince Charming.
Also, when the only character in the first Star Wars film is a princess, and sometimes best known for being in a slave girl costume, the Disney princesses are an oasis of possibility by comparison.
Steeplejack (phone)
@Ruckus:
You could get a used Element. A three-year old one would last a long time and no doubt is technologically way ahead of your van.
Omnes Omnibus
@Ruckus: How is the HRV a replacement for the CRV when the CRV is still in production?
Scout211
@Omnes Omnibus:
I thought the HRV was smaller than the CRV?
Cervantes
@pamelabrown53:
Yes, various things, including scripts and plug-ins, can overwhelm your browser and your computer. Sorry it happens to you. What you can do about it (if anything) depends in part on where things are installed, what their scope is. Some plug-ins, like the WP ones discussed above, are installed on a server, not locally on your computer. Others you may have installed within your web-browser. In the latter case quitting and re-starting the web-browser may help. It depends on the specifics. Feel free to provide more details; I may not be able to help but I imagine others can. Good luck.
Cervantes
@Gin & Tonic:
In circles.
debbie
@Brachiator:
I finally got around to watching Frozen a couple months ago. I know little girls were nuts for that one song, but I didn’t get its appeal. “I’m just going to go off by myself and be fine.”
Omnes Omnibus
@Scout211: It is.
Ruckus
@Omnes Omnibus:
One on me, didn’t look for the CRV, just expected that it would go the way of the Element when the platform had run out it’s time.
ETA the HRV is not that much smaller wheelbase is less than 1/2 in shorter.
Omnes Omnibus
@Ruckus: The Element went away because it was cannibalizing CRV and Pilot sales rather than reaching new buyers. Nothing to do with the platform.
rikyrah
@gene108:
I have a car that’s fully paid for. Until it breaks down completely, I’m not going for a car payment. I just don’t want one. So, my car is old…I don’t care.
Gin & Tonic
@Omnes Omnibus: I’ve heard used Elements are hard to find, because the people who like them really like them.
Gin & Tonic
@Cervantes: Then it’s a good thing they live on a more-or-less spherical world.
LauraPDX
@Gin & Tonic: We currently live out in the middle of the ocean on a small island. The longest road is 55 miles from end to end. And yet we have more than doubled our annual mileage here versus what we racked up in PDX (17,250 vs. 7500) because depending on where you live here you have to get in the car and drive to go anywhere. The island is quite rural, and there are no nice straight routes to anywhere, just lots of paved but winding cane haul roads through the back hills to get from Point A to Point B, unless we want to use the main 2-lane ‘highway’ that is usually clogged with tourists and takes even longer although the mileage is practically the same. Thankfully the drives are usually exquisitely beautiful.
Anyway, if Tommy’s parents live in even a semi-rural area, I can imagine them putting a great deal of mileage on their car every week just running typical errands. Add on if they like to get out and take drives and the mileage could add up fast.
Ruckus
@Gin & Tonic:
They do, and without new ones they will keep their old ones and the resale prices rise higher than they should.
@Omnes Omnibus:
I’ve heard that for a long time. Maybe there is a reason that happens. People like the car and there really is no replacement for it. Honda seemed to sell the ones they made without problem, the issue is Honda’s vision, such as it is, and not the customers. Friends who have worked there for decades tell me that it is being taken over by bean counters and such and that they no longer recognize what used to be great about the company. Hope they don’t fuck it up completely.
Amir Khalid
@debbie:
Essentially, it’s the sparkle-princess version of going Galt.
MazeDancer
New site at DailyKos deserves any and all whining the users slap onto it.
There are 2 technical terms oft used in ye olde ad biz when discussing design of anything supposed to be enjoyed by humans. The terms are somewhat mutually exclusive. When you have one, you don’t usually have the other.
The one term Kos got more of than any human eye can decipher: Clutter.
Which means no possibility of the other term, which is a goal to be pursued relentlessly, as it is hard to achieve, easy to destroy, and is essential, especially for a for a site that many users visit many times a day: Readability.
Kos ain’t got that.
(And user avatars next to every comment? Why not big orange hearts that animate when you click rec, as well?)
When Esquire destroyed Charlie Pierce’s site, it was a sad day. I am a Charles Pierce fangirl of the kind of devotion that I would buy a T-shirt and totebag if he offered them. But now I can barely bring myself to go over there. So I understand how the Kossacks must feel, and why they whine.
gene108
@Brachiator:
I’m kind of surprised X-Wings and TIE Fighters are having sub-orbital battles. I always thought TIE Fighters could not fly in sub-orbital space and X-Wings and other space craft could fly and maneuver just enough in sub-orbital space to reach escape velocity.
I guess the basic models got a lot of improvements over thirty years.
I’d rather have a tight plot than have a bunch of new plot elements introduced. Lucas tried to introduce a lot of alien races and space crafts in the prequels and it was just too much new information to process, along with the basic plot elements, which led to bad story telling.
There’s a point, where I was sitting thinking I had a pretty good handle on the Star Wars Universe and I’m introduced very abruptly to the Trade Federation. WTF is a Trade Federation? WTF is a “trade franchise”? You mean the Star Wars Universe has their own version of the British East India Company? This super technologically advanced galaxy has the equivalent of an 18th century real world economy? Makes no damn sense. And things sort of went downhill from there.
I don’t hate the prequels like a lot of people, but when people know what the ultimate plot twists are going to be – Annakin becomes Vader, Palpatine becomes the Emperor, all the Jedi die save Yoda and Obi-Wan, etc. – you really need to focus on a tighter more character / story arc driven plot, rather than introduce so many new plot elements like Lucas did.
@rikyrah:
That’s the conclusion I’ve reached after reading the comments on this thread.
Again, thanks for all the useful suggestions.
MazeDancer
@pamelabrown53:
Think it’s the ads loading that cause the script takeovers. Try Ghostery. It blocks the ad trackers. It’s free.
After I put Ghostery on my browser, it’s like a whole new internet. Easy loading, no scripts, vastly increased speed. (Not sure if we can link yet, but Google can get you to the the free Ghostery download.)
gene108
@Omnes Omnibus:
New for 2015 is the Honda HR-V, which has gotten good reviews for being a “typical” Honda. Maybe not the most fun to drive, but very well thought out, good workmanship and very utilitarian, with regards to cargo space.
Ruckus
@MazeDancer:
With some minor change your two terms are exactly what good design is all about.
Clutter. Many things humans design have extraneous bits added that is supposed to make them more appealing. Fins on a car for example.
Readability could be defined better as user availability, that which makes a product work better and more usable. It’s not a lack of complexity or bells and whistles but understanding what the customer needs and doing that. Environmental and safety laws have made our vehicles be more and more alike, while better mfg has removed a lot of the actual differences between brands. The all look similar, work similar, cost similar. So people who must own different for their egos have to pay more for it, to purchase exclusivity. It doesn’t work of course because modern mfg requires production in numbers to be viable.
The same can be said for any product that humans mfg, be they websites or cars or whatever.
But simple, elegant design is difficult, and to get it right costs money. And in an ego driven world spending money to simplify design is not generally an accepted path to wealth.
WaterGirl
@gene108: I love my CR-V, and I had never heard of the HR-V. Is it just me, or does it look more like a car or maybe a hatchback than a small SUV?
Ruckus
@gene108:
And this is why I don’t think that the Element was taken out of production because of it stealing sales from the CRV/Pilot. They just brought out a car that is about the same size, lighter by close to 20%, gas mileage nearly 20% higher as the replacement for the Element. (That also makes it lighter/better mileage than the Element) I think the world wide acceptance or even sale of the car was the issue.
Ruckus
@WaterGirl:
It’s a new car for this year. It’s lighter, better mileage, nearly the same size as the CRV but not as well equipped. It’s a hole in the market, list price starts almost 5 grand less than the CRV, something the Element couldn’t do, using the same chassis/engine.
J R in WV
@Cervantes:
My 25 years of IT experience tells me that unlike type on paper, electronic fonts are easier to read in sans-serif in every case. I know there are differences of opinion of sans-serif versus serif, but I feel pretty strongly about it, and think sans-serif fonts on screens from CRT green-screens to the newest electro-luminescent gadgetry are far easier to read than serif fonts.
Feel free to disagree, people with design degrees still argue over it.
ETA: And with that experience, I want to tell everyone that Tommy, Alain and the others working on the infrastructure are doing a great job. Using code packages written by others is the most difficult thing a developer has to do. Especially if that other person’s code isn’t well structures and has different people using different styles and conventions.
Good job, guys!!
WaterGirl
@Ruckus: Interesting. I like that my CR-V feels solid, like it’s built out of metal instead of plastic. When I hear “lighter”, that doesn’t seem like a good thing to me, except that it surely improves gas mileage.
But for me, safety feels more important than gas mileage. A friend of mine loved her Honda FIT, right up until the day that some drunk woman careened into it in the parking lot of the grocery store. The drunk lady was not going very fast, but the FIT crumbled like a piece of aluminum foil. Needless to say, she did not replace her beloved FIT with another FIT.
Ruckus
@WaterGirl:
The strength of a modern car is not in it’s weight but in it’s engineering and the materials used. That being said, you run into a 2,500 lb car with an 80,000 lb truck, you don’t have to guess which one will lose the worst. But something closer to the weight of the car and you stand a much better chance of survival. But while nothing will change the laws of physics, survival while driving is a different story. But, and there is always a but, cars are made to be safest for the kinds of accidents that we usually have. You want to be safe all the time, get an M1 tank. You won’t be able to go nearly as fast, you will take up a lane and a half, parking is (well not tough, you can find a spot wherever you want, but make sure there isn’t any one in them so you don’t park on top of them) fuel is a bit of an issue but little in the way of road going vehicles will stop or hurt you.
MazeDancer
@Ruckus:
Gotta smile at that. So true. When I switched from global corps to non-profits for clients, had more than a few moments explaining that white space is to enhance readability not open opportunity to cram more stuff in there.
Many bucks, for sure. Also, close to pathological obsession with perfection and abandonment of all personal life, to devote oneself to making teeny, almost imperceptible, changes over and over again while refining. Besides any kind of design of anything, there are many endeavors in which making things seem “effortless, yet elegant” requires that. Figure skating, for example. Also exquisite dinner parties.
But then, what in life is not a trade-off? Perfection kills. So I no longer even value it. (But sometimes, I still hear its life-snuffing siren call. And then, just say no. Eventually.)
a different chris
@WaterGirl: New-fangledy cars crumple like that on purpose, because cars that don’t crumple and absorb energy in a crash are much more likely to kill their occupants.
Ruckus
@MazeDancer:
Perfection is overrated. Fortunately, because we can never get there. We can however get better.
This site is actually a great example of good enough, getting better. And with so many “customers” it will never be perfect but maybe better. There are those who criticize but this is a prime example of the process which most will never see. Would probably be better to just start from scratch but imagine the expense and time to get a working site, given all the crap that has to go on in the background to make a database this big work for so many people at the same time while using so many disparate systems to connect to it, and have it look pretty and usable for everyone in the way they do now, finished all at once and for them to like it better.
It’s a thankless task in anyone’s book.