Random Thoughts Thread

[A Horse With No Name]

Warren Buffer I believe owns a good bit of stock in BYD....interesting. Going to try to verify this.

[ccap41]

2 hours ago, A Horse With No Name said:

Warren Buffer I believe owns a good bit of stock in BYD....interesting. Going to try to verify this.

He's reduced his stake in BYD from 10% to less than 5%. 

https://fortune.com/asia/2024/07/23/warren-buffett-berkshire-hathaway-cuts-byd-stake-china-ev/

 

[trinacriabob]

Today I'm deep fried in "trinacria" ...

Three days of this.  I didn't want to leave and go to a more rural place with no view in another area.  The outline across is the Italian mainland, so I'm about 30 miles south of Messina, where the distance across the strait is about a mere 1.5 miles.

As I'm traveling south on the autostrada after checking out, this pullout with an Autogrill has a nice view of Mt. Etna.

I went into a store to pick up some groceries and saw this:  Fonzies and Cipster!  Cipster is spelled for Italian phonetics because Chipster would be pronounced "Keep-stare."

While going for a haircut based on Google reviews, I passed by this place. I had to take a photo showing the "team spirit."

[G. David Felt]

Very interesting, but shows how good BYD packages their EV components compared to American, Japan, Europe and Korea.

BYD's Five-Minute Fast-Charging EV Also Has An Enormous Frunk

I will say that My EV9 frunk is big in comparison to GM, all of Japan and Europe EVs, but small in comparison to the packaging by Chinese auto companies and BYD clearly took the frunk approach to our U.S. EV Trucks and applied it to their cars and SUVs.

HUGE

BYD SUV Frunk

BYD Car Frunk, Tesla has nothing on this, except to say Tesla is very tiny in comparison.

[G. David Felt]

This is not good for them and continues to show how terribly run Tesla is.

Oil and gas supplier says Tesla is ‘refusing to pay’ $2 million in past-due bills – and that chaotic staffing has only made it worse

[trinacriabob]

Buona domenica!

Beach of the small town of Donnalucata, Sicily

[A Horse With No Name]

Electric yes, gasser no, Hyundai can't seem to build reliable gasser engines.

South America is so on my bucket list....

 

 

 

 

 

Edited Monday at 12:05 PM by A Horse With No Name
Grammer

[trinacriabob]

20 minutes ago, A Horse With No Name said:

Electric yes, gasser no, Hyundai can't seem to build reliable gasser engines.

South America is so on my bucket list....

I didn't realize Hyundai ICEs are not reliable.  I thought they were in it for the long haul.

I have trouble with the desert aesthetic for long periods of time.  I have friends in the urban area near PSP and also in the High Desert.  It's sunny and dry, but driving across all the emptiness can become depressing after a while.

The southern part of South America was to my liking.  Chile's capital of Santiago was very, very safe and I've heard it has more crime now.  Its seaside town of Vina del Mar was something.

The south of Chile begins to look like Scandinavia.

Uruguay was my favorite country.

[A Horse With No Name]

Impressive recovery work. 

 

 

 

IMG_4778.HEIC

[ccap41]

Let's see if the video works uploading it like this.. It's an entertaining video! 

I started the timer just before I turned into the gas station parking lot and turned it off just before I pulled out of the parking lot. The timer also included me adding the fill-up to my app that I record all of my fill-ups and maintenance items. 

6 minutes and 30 seconds is nowhere close to whatever absurd number David is always claiming it takes to fill up an ICE vehicle. 

@G. David Felt @Drew Dowdell

[Drew Dowdell]

To me, the fill-up time argument is becoming rather pointless.  We are rapidly approaching the time where you're going to be able to charge while you're out and about doing other things, so even if you live in an apartment, you can charge in your daily routine.

The major grocery stores in my area are getting charging stations. Walmart is putting in charging stations everywhere. The office complex where one of my clients is has two separate charging stations, 14 plugs total. There's a charging station at the YMCA I go to. There's two, a small one and a big Tesla one at the IKEA. Costco is rolling them out.  One of our gas chains, Sheetz, is partnered with Tesla and their larger locations have them.  I know that I can drive from my house in Pittsburgh to my relative's house in Manassas Virginia 200 miles away with several chargers on route.

I'm probably going to be converting my dryer outlet to the correct plug here soon so I can get test vehicles from the manufacturers, so I'll just charge at home.

Is that the case everywhere? Of course not. It will be the case in the areas of higher population though.

Can you put gas in faster? Sure. Will it matter? Only once in a while on road trips if you're trying to Cannonball Run it.  Most of the time you'll plug in at home and go inside and sleep/eat/watch tv. If you live in an apartment, you'll fill up while you're getting groceries or at work or out with friend in the hip part of town.  I can be inside, have my hot pocket microwaved, and on my couch in a lot less time than 6 minutes and 31 seconds.

[ccap41]

11 minutes ago, Drew Dowdell said:

To me, the fill-up time argument is becoming rather pointless.  We are rapidly approaching the time where you're going to be able to charge while you're out and about doing other things, so even if you live in an apartment, you can charge in your daily routine.

It's pointless to own an EV if you're paying public charging prices. There's no fuel savings and it still costs a fair amount more to purchase.

 

13 minutes ago, Drew Dowdell said:

I can be inside, have my hot pocket microwaved, and on my couch in a lot less time than 6 minutes and 31 seconds.

Of course! I'm all for EVs in the right situation and, to me, the only right situation is having a home charger. I would never consider an EV if I couldn't charge at home. Public rates are far too high. 

I'm not trying to make some anti-EV post. This was more about David's absurd exaggeration of how long it takes to put gasoline in a vehicle. 

[G. David Felt]

1 hour ago, A Horse With No Name said:

Impressive recovery work. 

 

 

 

IMG_4778.HEIC 2.3 MB · 1 download

Have to laugh at this, in Texas. Seems to be pretty standard there for people driving up and attempting to go over a K rail. LOL

[G. David Felt]

1 hour ago, ccap41 said:

Let's see if the video works uploading it like this.. It's an entertaining video! 

I started the timer just before I turned into the gas station parking lot and turned it off just before I pulled out of the parking lot. The timer also included me adding the fill-up to my app that I record all of my fill-ups and maintenance items. 

6 minutes and 30 seconds is nowhere close to whatever absurd number David is always claiming it takes to fill up an ICE vehicle. 

@G. David Felt @Drew Dowdell

Video.mov

So one, cannot download the Movie, so cannot see how many gallons or anything, I am glad you can fuel so fast.

My reality is that it takes much longer to fuel my ESV than most people and it is amusing how everyone assumes everyone drives autos with their tiny tanks and fuels all the same speed and rate.

End result, even for me, gas station days are coming to an end. I fuel the ESV every 4 to 5 weeks now, charge at home and even on road trips in the EV, I am able to find a fast charger near where I am stopping to eat or visit and have not had any waste of time at a gas station.

Drew pretty much hits all the points well about this.

[Drew Dowdell]

1 hour ago, ccap41 said:

It's pointless to own an EV if you're paying public charging prices. There's no fuel savings and it still costs a fair amount more to purchase.

 

Of course! I'm all for EVs in the right situation and, to me, the only right situation is having a home charger. I would never consider an EV if I couldn't charge at home. Public rates are far too high.

Eh, as with all things, it depends.

If you live in an apartment and your goal is simply the lowest cost per mile, buy a Pruis and we'll see you again in 250k miles.

But comparing the most popular EV sedans today to a Pruis isn't really a fair comparison. The EVs have more features, tech, and performance. A Model-3 or Ioniq 6 will vastly out perform a Pruis, and the Ioniq 6, especially after the update, has a nicer interior and more compliant ride.

Both of those EVs are more comparable in performance to something like an Acura TLX 3.0 Turbo or BMW M340i, both of which prefer premium.

Now, if you're in an area with few chargers, then you'll need to do research.  In my area, there are lots of chargers and they all have different rates, often at different times of the day.  One advantage that charger operators have is that they can vary their rates based on time of day.  So if everything in my life were the same except I was living in an apartment instead of a house, I would look at which chargers had the lowest rates.  The slow-ish 6KW chargers across from the office I'm in today are 11/c/kWh right now.  That's cheaper than I can get at home.  A lot of the mid-speed chargers around me are 25/c/kWh, still quite reasonable and would make a Model-3 about the same cost per mile as a Pruis.

The other thing to consider is vehicle size.  Because of the non-liner way we calculate fuel economy in this country, bigger gas vehicles do worse than their numbers seem. A Tesla Model-3 will cost between 8c and 13c per mile to fuel at normal Supercharger rates.

Fuel Cost	$3.50
MPG	Cost Per Mile	Cost per 100 miles
15	$0.23	$23.33
20	$0.18	$17.50
25	$0.14	$14.00
30	$0.12	$11.67
35	$0.10	$10.00
40	$0.09	$8.75
45	$0.08	$7.78

You can see why I picked the Pruis as the comparison model. At 45 mpg, it's the only vehicle that comes close to the cost per mile of a Tesla at cheap supercharging.

Now, comparing your Navigator to David's EV9, the savings start to stack up. The EV9 does 99 MPGe City and 88 MPGe highway, burning on average 46kw per 100 miles. Even at 60c/kw charging which is the most expensive I can find in my area, David is looking at $24.60 to go 100 miles, basically the same you and I would pay to fill our trucks.  But David can almost certainly find cheaper charging than that. If he charged at the building across from where I am today for 11c/kw, he'd pay $4.51/100 miles.  At a more common 25c/kW, he'd pay $10.25/100 miles. If he charges at the 25c place and commutes 300 miles a week, he's looking at $30.75 a week.

You in your Navigator and me in my Avalanche aren't getting anywhere for $30.75 a week.

The efficiency king (in affordable EVs) right now by a long way is the Ioniq 6 with 135 MPGe, large battery, and some of the fastest charging. Except for the Lexus RZ which has a low range, all the rest of the top MPGe players are around 115MPGe or less.

 

[ccap41]

8 minutes ago, Drew Dowdell said:

Now, comparing your Navigator to David's EV9, the savings start to stack up. The EV9 does 99 MPGe City and 88 MPGe highway, burning on average 46kw per 100 miles. Even at 60c/kw charging which is the most expensive I can find in my area, David is looking at $24.60 to go 100 miles, basically the same you and I would pay to fill our trucks.  But David can almost certainly find cheaper charging than that. If he charged at the building across from where I am today for 11c/kw, he'd pay $4.51.  At a more common 25c/kW, he'd pay $10.25. If he charges at the 25c place and commutes 300 miles a week, he's looking at $30.75 a week.

You in your Navigator and me in my Avalanche aren't getting anywhere for $30.75 a week.

There's also the massive price difference between a brand new EV9 and a 2017 Navigator, probably about $50,000. That's A LOT of miles to cover that gap.

This tank that cost $68 to fill from 1/4 tank was last filled up on 4/5. I went a month and $30.75 is way more than I go through in a week, because I don't drive 300 miles in a week. 

[Drew Dowdell]

3 minutes ago, ccap41 said:

There's also the massive price difference between a brand new EV9 and a 2017 Navigator, probably about $50,000. That's A LOT of miles to cover that gap.

Absolutely, but I'm talking about like verse like. You're sorta in the same situation I am in. I have a nearly paid off Avalanche with only 63k miles on it, so buying a Silverado EV to save on gas doesn't math.

5 minutes ago, ccap41 said:

This tank that cost $68 to fill from 1/4 tank was last filled up on 4/5. I went a month and $30.75 is way more than I go through in a week, because I don't drive 300 miles in a week. 

It sounds like you're not putting a lot of miles on it then, which is also valid.  Differing driving habits change the math. @G. David Felt sounds like he's on the road a lot. My mileage usage varies significantly each month so its difficult to make the case for an EV unless I bought one solely to put business miles on and save the Avalanche for personal driving. For April, I claimed over $1600 in mileage. May will probably be around $400.

As I said... it depends.

In this image, the chart is set to 15,000 miles a year, $3.50/g for gas, and 25c/kW for electricity.

[G. David Felt]

1 hour ago, ccap41 said:

There's also the massive price difference between a brand new EV9 and a 2017 Navigator, probably about $50,000. That's A LOT of miles to cover that gap.

This tank that cost $68 to fill from 1/4 tank was last filled up on 4/5. I went a month and $30.75 is way more than I go through in a week, because I don't drive 300 miles in a week. 

For our first year of the EV9, my wife put on 16,871 miles.

Average cost for public charging in the greater Seattle area is 25 cents per kW. Across the state we see rates run from 20 cents to 60 cents in the most remote places.

Home charging is 10 cents per kW.

1yr total electrical cost is $632 and this includes 4 public charges for road trips. So my cost per mile unless I did my math wrong is 3.7 cents per mile. No oil changes, no other maintenance.

 

 

[Drew Dowdell]

3 minutes ago, G. David Felt said:

For our first year of the EV9, my wife put on 16,871 miles.

Average cost for public charging in the greater Seattle area is 25 cents per kW. Across the state we see rates run from 20 cents to 60 cents in the most remote places.

Home charging is 10 cents per kW.

1yr total electrical cost is $632 and this includes 4 public charges for road trips. So my cost per mile unless I did my math wrong is 3.7 cents per mile. No oil changes, no other maintenance.

 

 

So you need to figure out what that would have cost you in the Trailblazer SS.

[ccap41]

30 minutes ago, G. David Felt said:

For our first year of the EV9, my wife put on 16,871 miles.

No way you guys have had that for a year already?!? It's been that long??? 

31 minutes ago, G. David Felt said:

Average cost for public charging in the greater Seattle area is 25 cents per kW. Across the state we see rates run from 20 cents to 60 cents in the most remote places.

There is no way the average public rate is 25c/kW. This is as believable as taking 30 minutes to fill a tank of gasoline. 

I've gone through looking for screen shots of the screen for public chargers in the Seattle area and I could only find 36c or 48c/kW. I'm sure some are lower but I do not believe for one second the average is 25c. I will gladly admit to being wrong, but I sure can't find these. 

[Drew Dowdell]

2 minutes ago, ccap41 said:

No way you guys have had that for a year already?!? It's been that long??? 

There is no way the average public rate is 25c/kW. This is as believable as taking 30 minutes to fill a tank of gasoline. 

I've gone through looking for screen shots of the screen for public chargers in the Seattle area and I could only find 36c or 48c/kW. I'm sure some are lower but I do not believe for one second the average is 25c. I will gladly admit to being wrong, but I sure can't find these. 

He's got lower electric rates than I do and I see a lot of 25c/kW around me.   But also, look at the speeds. The higher the speed, the higher the price. The 60c/kW chargers near me are for the 350kw units. You only use them for 20-25 minutes max, and that's if you are totally empty and going to 80%. They're more suited for highway rest stops than grocery parking lots. Though there is one in the local Target that is an insane 66c for 100kw charging, but that Target is a madhouse anyway, so they're probably justified in keeping the prices high. There a certain demographic that uses that Target that doesn't care about money.

The 25c/kW / L2 places are for places you'll spend an hour more at. A parking garage for the doctors office, the gym, the grocery store, at the office working.

Going to an event next week to try out vehicles.

• Ford - Maverick Lobo, Bronco Raptor, Explorer
• Lincoln - Navigator 
• Acura - ADX, ZDZX, Integra
• Honda - Prologue EV, Civic Hatch and CR-V Sport Touring hybrids
• Lucid - Gravity SUV and Air
• Genesis - 2026 GV70
• Polaris - Slingshot
• Volvo - XC90, EX90
• Toyota/Lexus - as many as five vehicles 
• BMW/MINI - five or more vehicles
• Hyundai – Ioniq 5 N, Santa Fe HEV
• Kia
• Alfa Romeo – Tonale
• BMW
• MINI

Anything that lights your fire?

[ccap41]

1 minute ago, Drew Dowdell said:

He's got lower electric rates than I do and I see a lot of 25c/kW around me.   But also, look at the speeds. The higher the speed, the higher the price. The 60c/kW chargers near me are for the 350kw units. You only use them for 20-25 minutes max, and that's if you are totally empty and going to 80%. They're more suited for highway rest stops than grocery parking lots. Though there is one in the local Target that is an insane 66c for 100kw charging, but that Target is a madhouse anyway, so they're probably justified in keeping the prices high. There a certain demographic that uses that Target that doesn't care about money.

The 25c/kW / L2 places are for places you'll spend an hour more at. A parking garage for the doctors office, the gym, the grocery store, at the office working.

Yes, I know all of this. The statement was the whole area's average rate, which you and I both know is not accurate.

His personal rate is similar to mine. I'm at 11c-12c per kW. 

[Drew Dowdell]

Just now, ccap41 said:

Yes, I know all of this. The statement was the whole area's average rate, which you and I both know is not accurate.

His personal rate is similar to mine. I'm at 11c-12c per kW. 

His view is probably based on the places he goes, not an unreasonable way to view it.  For me, I'd look around the offices I visit, the Costco I go to, the YMCA I use, etc. 

Because we got into this discussion, it made me look into it from a practical perspective on how it would fit into my life if I didn't bother to put a plug in at home, and yeah, I could still do it for cheap.

[G. David Felt]

50 minutes ago, ccap41 said:

No way you guys have had that for a year already?!? It's been that long??? 

There is no way the average public rate is 25c/kW. This is as believable as taking 30 minutes to fill a tank of gasoline. 

I've gone through looking for screen shots of the screen for public chargers in the Seattle area and I could only find 36c or 48c/kW. I'm sure some are lower but I do not believe for one second the average is 25c. I will gladly admit to being wrong, but I sure can't find these. 

Yes, we have had it for a year now and we got a new Grand Son, so my wife drives it daily to their house since she watches Kai for half the day.

Here is where Washington State pointed back to for average and in this stated site, Seattle / Tacoma average price per L2 charger is 21 cents and Bellingham is 25 cents. I had asked Bing and Google the same question on average price per kW for charging in Washington state and both came back with 25 cents average.

Here is the site our state government pointed me at from last year.

EV Stats and EV Charging Stations in Washington State | Qmerit

QUOTE: 

How Much Do Public EV Charging Stations in Washington State Cost?

With hundreds of free EV charging stations in Washington State offered through municipal programs, public charging can be very affordable.

However, a majority of public stations use a per kWh billing model. For instance, Seattle and Tacoma offer Level 2 curbside charging for $0.21 per kWh, while the city of Bellingham charges $0.25 per kWh with additional fees for occupying the spot after charging.

FYI - My work has a deal with ChargePoint, if you work in the building, you can charge using the L2 for 15 cents per kW, public is currently 24 cents per kW.

[Drew Dowdell]

Yeah I think the key there is that those are all level 2. These aren’t fast chargers you use on a road trip, and that’s okay. 

[G. David Felt]

22 minutes ago, Drew Dowdell said:

Yeah I think the key there is that those are all level 2. These aren’t fast chargers you use on a road trip, and that’s okay. 

Agree, most of the time, when out and about, if I need to charge, I am also in that area for a while, so L2 is fine. I just looked at my Electrify America app and most of the fast chargers are around 39 to 44 cents per kW. ChargePoint and EVgo who my daughter uses are also in the same range for fast chargers.

[ccap41]

47 minutes ago, G. David Felt said:

Yes, we have had it for a year now and we got a new Grand Son, so my wife drives it daily to their house since she watches Kai for half the day.

Here is where Washington State pointed back to for average and in this stated site, Seattle / Tacoma average price per L2 charger is 21 cents and Bellingham is 25 cents. I had asked Bing and Google the same question on average price per kW for charging in Washington state and both came back with 25 cents average.

Here is the site our state government pointed me at from last year.

EV Stats and EV Charging Stations in Washington State | Qmerit

QUOTE: 

How Much Do Public EV Charging Stations in Washington State Cost?

With hundreds of free EV charging stations in Washington State offered through municipal programs, public charging can be very affordable.

However, a majority of public stations use a per kWh billing model. For instance, Seattle and Tacoma offer Level 2 curbside charging for $0.21 per kWh, while the city of Bellingham charges $0.25 per kWh with additional fees for occupying the spot after charging.

FYI - My work has a deal with ChargePoint, if you work in the building, you can charge using the L2 for 15 cents per kW, public is currently 24 cents per kW.

See, that seems to make a lot more sense because that's only L2 charging. That isn't *all* public charging, that's just all L2 charging. Thank you for this information! 

[Drew Dowdell]

43 minutes ago, ccap41 said:

See, that seems to make a lot more sense because that's only L2 charging. That isn't *all* public charging, that's just all L2 charging. Thank you for this information! 

It still could be. There is a lot more L2 charging than L3 charging and there’s a bunch of it that is discounted, free, or charges by the hour rather than kWH. So that can distort the average even though is isn’t inaccurate 

[G. David Felt]

4 hours ago, Drew Dowdell said:

It still could be. There is a lot more L2 charging than L3 charging and there’s a bunch of it that is discounted, free, or charges by the hour rather than kWH. So that can distort the average even though is isn’t inaccurate 

That is so true, all the shopping malls here have major charging areas that are free to the shoppers, but then pretty much anyone can pull in and plug in for an L2 charge. Most city government locations around here have free L2 chargers and Shell has many Volta free L2 charging at various tourist spots around Washington. Major work campuses have free L2 charging like Microsoft, Amazon, Google, Boeing, Paccar, to name just a few. 

Fast charging locations are growing as Tesla has signed with the Kroger / QFC / Fred Meyers locations for major charging stations and EVgo / ChargePoint / Electrify America have signed on with Walmart / Safeway / Albertson for stations in their parking lots. Costco has signed on with a private Seattle company to install fast chargers for a fee on their lots. So lots of changes coming for sure.

Be interesting to see when the Auto Industry start up gets more places open other than the first one they did on the East coast.

[trinacriabob]

I know most of us here love food.

Here's what €14 got me for lunch:

4 spinach and ricotta cannelloni tubes, a nice piece of swordfish, steamed spinach with tasty garnishes, and a bottle of ice cold water.  Delicious ... and good for you.

I went here yesterday and they didn't have pasta and main choices that were as good.

Big supermarkets tend to have a large cafe' section that features good lunch specials and the locals gladly go there.  And I tend to be cheap, so ...

[A Horse With No Name]

On 5/5/2025 at 1:22 PM, G. David Felt said:

So one, cannot download the Movie, so cannot see how many gallons or anything, I am glad you can fuel so fast.

My reality is that it takes much longer to fuel my ESV than most people and it is amusing how everyone assumes everyone drives autos with their tiny tanks and fuels all the same speed and rate.

End result, even for me, gas station days are coming to an end. I fuel the ESV every 4 to 5 weeks now, charge at home and even on road trips in the EV, I am able to find a fast charger near where I am stopping to eat or visit and have not had any waste of time at a gas station.

Drew pretty much hits all the points well about this.

I really want an EV for around town use.

25 minutes ago, trinacriabob said:

I know most of us here love food.

Here's what €14 got me for lunch:

4 spinach and ricotta cannelloni tubes, a nice piece of swordfish, steamed spinach with tasty garnishes, and a bottle of ice cold water.  Delicious ... and good for you.

I went here yesterday and they didn't have pasta and main choices that were as good.

Big supermarkets tend to have a large cafe' section that features good lunch specials and the locals gladly go there.  And I tend to be cheap, so ...

I have a really crappy Italian restaurant here in Columbus where you can get much less for a much higher price.

Looks fantastic.

 

[trinacriabob]

32 minutes ago, A Horse With No Name said:

I have a really crappy Italian restaurant here in Columbus where you can get much less for a much higher price.

Oh yes.

Also, this way, I skip dinner and/or just eat a snack.

[A Horse With No Name]

26 minutes ago, trinacriabob said:

Oh yes.

Also, this way, I skip dinner and/or just eat a snack.

That is pretty much what I do. I find a protein shake or a bit of toast are perfect for dinner. I don't eat much alter in the day.

Absolutely the kind of place I for no rational reason want to check out.

[A Horse With No Name]

Does anyone else think trying to marry a chainsaw and an angle grinder is a bad idea?

 

Going to try some power carving.

[G. David Felt]

On 5/5/2025 at 12:11 PM, Drew Dowdell said:

So you need to figure out what that would have cost you in the Trailblazer SS.

Simple the gas prices in Washington had me from 500 to 600 a month in premium fuel. so even at $550 mid-way between the two figures, we spent $6,600 average for gas plus oil changes at Grease monkey where were $100 each so $200 for the year and then other maintenance on the SS. I would say we were right around $8,000 a year in cost to run the SS compared to less than a thousand for the EV9.

[A Horse With No Name]

2 hours ago, G. David Felt said:

Simple the gas prices in Washington had me from 500 to 600 a month in premium fuel. so even at $550 mid-way between the two figures, we spent $6,600 average for gas plus oil changes at Grease monkey where were $100 each so $200 for the year and then other maintenance on the SS. I would say we were right around $8,000 a year in cost to run the SS compared to less than a thousand for the EV9.

I so want to own an EV if I own another car.

[trinacriabob]

About food and the "boot country," there have been some changes due to globalization.  By that, I mean much more interest in fast food, candy bars, and bad snacking.  In the last 20 or so years that I've been coming here almost annually, I can see that the Big Mac attack (translation:  bigger butts) has been more pronounced, and "growing."   The people, primarily younger women, used to be very thin, and now I'm seeing some of the bigger rumps, and jeans to accommodate them, that are part and parcel of Americana.

I love me a Big Mac meal about once a month, wherever I may be, but not much more than that.

[Drew Dowdell]

Sorry! False alarm on the white smoke! That was me starting up my Toronado for the first time in a year!

[trinacriabob]

3 hours ago, Drew Dowdell said:

 

Nicely composed photo.

- - - - -

White smoke ... and I'll never forget where I was/am.  

I am in disbelief.  The new Pope is American.  (There's a reason for everything.)

I could put this in the joke thread, but won't ...

Q:  What do Trump*, Elon Musk*, Luigi Mangione*, and the new Pope** have in common?

A:  Their college degrees (baccalaureate) were all granted in ~ Philadelphia.

* UPenn

** Villanova

[G. David Felt]

4 hours ago, Drew Dowdell said:

Sorry! False alarm on the white smoke! That was me starting up my Toronado for the first time in a year!

Gree, this is an awesome composed photo, nice job Drew!!!

[G. David Felt]

2 hours ago, trinacriabob said:

White smoke ... and I'll never forget where I was/am.  

I am in disbelief.  The new Pope is American.  (There's a reason for everything.)

I could put this in the joke thread, but won't ...

Q:  What do Trump*, Elon Musk*, Luigi Mangione*, and the new Pope** have in common?

A:  Their college degrees (baccalaureate) were all granted in ~ Philadelphia.

* UPenn

** Villanova

Not surprised that the new pop is from here after he earned his way up to the last pope by doing what that pope did. Hopefully inclusivity will truly continue for this guy and those that believe, follow and want this type of leadership.

I just hope we can get rid of all the Fascist idiots that think the 1950's/60's was the golden age of the U.S. and move forward as society will and leave us behind. I believe based on history, the U.S. will see the same downturn in business for the next two decades due to stupidity now and our Auto Industry could become far more reduced for the Legacy OEMs.

Europeans seem interested in Rivian and Lucid as well as GM and Ford for EVs, but Tesla, I think is in serious trouble and would not be surprised to see the plant in Germany end up closing or sold off.

 

[Drew Dowdell]

47 minutes ago, G. David Felt said:

Gree, this is an awesome composed photo, nice job Drew!!!

Thanks, that's an oldie... I wanna say 2016 or so.  Def pre-Covid.