bobmacliberty

Something seems off with that list. I thought Atlanta was still the busiest in the world, and that Heathrow was not far behind. I'd also expect O'Hare, LAX, and Frankfurt.

Looks like an absolutely amazing trip!

I see what you did there. 😁 Great picture!

I don't know how this is even possible. 🤣 The activities that you plan for your grandkids are just amazing. Again, will you adopt me? While living in Ohio, we had a huge Halloween party and every year was a different theme. Of course, one year was Harry Potter. I'm still amazed at the Goblin that Micheline made from Gringott's bank.

We moved less than half of what we owned. Some things wouldn't look good in Florida and needed to be replaced (according to Micheline, happy wife... 😁). We, in order, gave some to our kids, sold some on FB Marketplace or a local consignment shop, donated some to Goodwill, left some for the new owners (who confirmed that they wanted it), and threw the rest in the 1-800-GOT-JUNK dumpster. I know that someone got a really nice, solid mahogany dining room set in nearly perfect condition for a LOT less than we paid for it many years ago.

Fun night last night with a bonfire on the beach.

Great show in person. I've recorded it but haven't watched it yet.

Inflation can definitely sneak up on you. It seems like just yesterday that I could buy a takeout lunch meal for a little more than $5. Now, it's more than $10. Out of curiosity, I looked up the average US inflation rate for the past 20 years, smoothing out the shorter-term impacts of world events, politics, etc. It's 2.43%. That means something that cost $10 in 2004 would cost more than $16 today. Inflation over the last few years has been higher than average, peaking at more than 9% in June 2022, so increased prices recently are real. Obviously, some items will see a higher inflation rate, and some will see a lower inflation rate.

When we moved 4 years ago, we incorrectly thought that our moving quote included packing. We called a couple of days before the move date asking when they'd be there to pack. Oops. We spent the next couple of days feverishly packing and making numerous trips to Lowes for more boxes and bubble wrap. The movers just loaded and unloaded everything. The quote that we received from Two Men and a Truck was a bit more because it was 2 dedicated drivers who would drive directly from our old house to our new house after loading the truck, with one stop overnight. The same guys that loaded would then unload, and our stuff wouldn't get mixed in with stuff from other people. We preferred this but we weren't going directly to our new house and the truck would have arrived before us. We instead went with Allied Moving. They put our stuff in a truck, put it in storage for a couple of days, and then later combined it with other stuff from someone else headed to the same area as us, so get more efficiency from a full truck. This meant extra moving of boxes and furniture between storage and trucks which caused a lot of damage for us. I can't imagine that everyone who moves would have the same amount of damage that we had, so we must have been an unusual situation. Still, I'd make sure that we use the Two Men and a Truck model of point to point moving the next time (although I hope there isn't a next time 😁) to avoid additional handling and damage.

Per the article, 17 lifeboats at 450 people per boat equals 7650 person lifeboat capacity. Also per the article, double occupancy is 5610 guests. The ship will often be more than double occupancy but still plenty of lifeboat capacity for guests. I agree that they'd probably use the MES system just for crew, especially if there's some training needed.

Haley is definitely my favorite singer in the PMJ videos. As one commenter put it, "Haley has a way of curling her voice around lyrics like smoke". Love that gravely tone that she can toss in. Her version of Seven Nation Army is incredible.

Princess Bride has some all-time great quotes: "Hello. My name is Inigo Montoyo. You killed my father. Prepare to die." "Inconceivable!" "You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means."

If the box is made of 1 oz of solid gold, it's a bargain!

I'm a Hitchcock fan. Rear Window and North by Northwest are 2 of my favorites. For comedies, I always enjoy Some Like It Hot.

Every now and then I go down a YouTube rabbit hole. My latest journey involves a musical group called Postmodern Jukebox. They re-arrange popular songs in completely different and older styles. The first one that I saw was Def Leppard's Pour Some Sugar on Me done in a 1960s early soul style. That led me to Shania Twain's Man! I Feel Like a Woman! in a 1950s Marilyn Monroe style and Kiss's I Was Made For Lovin' You in a spaghetti western style (with an incredible singer). They have hundreds (literally) of songs that they've redone in jazz, soul, swing, doo-wop, R&B...you name it. They've done songs from Fleetwood Mac, Michael Jackson, Lizzo, Spice Girls, Blondie, ELO, The Police, Pearl Jam, Taylor Swift, Huey Lewis, U2, Rihanna...the list goes on and on. If you're looking to kill some time watching some very talented musicians, their main YouTube page is here. Don't say that I didn't warn you. 😁

Yes. The majority of dialog is in Japanese with subtitles throughout the series. I'm used to reading closed captioning, so it doesn't bother me.

I have closed captioning turned on anyway. 😜 Although it's a little bit of a pain to read the subtitles, I think it's more authentic having 2 Japanese people speaking to each other in Japanese. It also makes sense when a Japanese person is speaking and Blackstone doesn't understand, and makes it easier to know when Blackstone and Mariko are speaking in English.

We are watching Shogun. It's excellent. It's also on FX, if you have access to that channel and can watch the episodes that were aired previously. The only thing I don't like is that you need to wait a week for another episode. I've become spoiled binge watching.

I agree with everything that you've written. I'm an ideal candidate for an EV. We have 2 cars and don't drive either one very far, so range anxiety isn't an issue (except for the couple of times a year when we take a longer road trip). In fact, I have to occassionally trickle charge both of our car batteries since they don't get charged enough from driving. I could plug in an EV overnight and almost never have to worry. I'm also a tech geek who likes the tech in many EVs. For a while, I was monitoring the new EVs that were coming out thinking that this year or next I'd replace my current vehicle with an EV. I was waiting until the Mercedes and BMWs of the world came out with luxury vehicles designed as EVs from the ground up rather than being retrofitted into a gas car with some compromises (like a hump in the floor for a drive train that no longer exists). I'm not a Tesla fan...too minimalist for me and not enough of a luxury vehicle with fit and finish issues. I'm backing off looking at EVs for now. If I were to replace my car today, I'd probably go with gas or hybrid. I'll squeeze a few more years from my current car and see how things have changed both in EV designs and in the charging ecosystem. We're seeing more chargers pop up in places where a gas pump can't be located (parking garages, restaurants, stores, etc.) which I think is an advantage for the EV market. It's getting easier to "plug in" wherever you go, although we're far from that being broad enough to impact range anxiety in a big way. There are also changes being made in where and how EV batteries are being made. The US may have the largest lithium deposit yet found in the world and environmentally cleaner battery production processes are evolving...just like manufacturing processes for many other products that were historically bad for the environment. Battery development will also certainly lead to better power density, meaning more range. One of the things that I'm keeping an eye on is Toyota's hydrogen engine. Toyota, the largest car maker in the world, has not fully embraced EVs. They continue generating huge sales with their hybrids while developing what they think will be a better option than current EV designs. Even if Toyota is successful with their hydrogen ICE, they will face the same challenge of how to distribute hydrogen to consumers who want to refill their vehicle. I wouldn't buy an EV just because I thought I was helping the environment. I'd buy it because I like the vehicle. I can't justify the big increase in price of an EV over its roughly equivalent gas ICE that exists today. As others have noted, this price increase is part of what's caused the EV market share in the US to level off (depending on what you read). If I were to guess, I'd guess that the EV market will be much more robust in 10 years.

My daughter texted me about OJ before I saw the news. I replied that she should expect a lot of white bronco chase videos in the next couple of days. Since that was before she was born, she texted back that this is what she remembers most about a white bronco chase: I forget how funny the Shrek movies were. I love the Puss In Boots line. Knight: Catnip. Puss In Boots: That's ah, not mine.

Looks like her last activity was on March 16 and her last post was in February. Hopefully everything is OK and she's just busy.

I don't mind athletes in college, even if they are only a student in name. If you want to play professional football or basketball, you have to go through college. This is the path to a future for some of these kids, even if that future is not academically related. The schools make a LOT of money from those 2 sports, especially the big-name schools. That money funds scholarships for other athletes in smaller sports who ARE good students, don't have a pro sports option after graduation, and might not otherwise be able to afford college. Combined with Title IX, this gives opportunities to a lot of girls who might not have been able to attend college. At Kentucky, profits from sports were used to build a brand new academic building which benefits all students. I understand the thought that "student athletes" who are paid to attend a school just to play a sport are overly privileged, but I think it's quite a bit more complicated than that. Edit: I'll also add that sports are a fun part of the college experience for those who don't play sports. It's a nice relief from the pressures of school and helps generate school pride. Without sports, there wouldn't be student managers, marching bands, cheerleaders and dance teams, etc. I'll get off my soap box now. 🙂

RIP Bella. 😢

Someone at NASA was having fun with their NASA Moon and NASA Sun Twitter accounts. 🤣

I think you're right. I don't think popcorn ceilings were a fashion choice so much as it's much easier and faster to put up drywall that way. Just spray the ceiling to get the popcorn texture. No time/skill needed to apply and sand drywall mud multiple times to get a smooth finish.