Things I Know

I was at a car show on Long Island, Sunday, where I met a guy who owns a 1969 Hurst Rambler drag car.  American Motors officially designated the model as a Scrambler. I told him that I saw a custom Pontiac at Barrett-Jackson in Connecticut last Wednesday.  The Pontiac had Buick taillights, and it disturbed me that I knew the difference instantly, instead of knowing something that would make me a lot of money.  He started correctly describing the difference between the taillights on a 61 Pontiac and a 61 Buick.  I couldn’t help thinking, “A kindred spirit!”  I don’t know if it’s a good or a bad thing that I’m not the only one.

My back has been biting me recently.  As a result, I’ve let yard maintenance slide and I had a lot more weeding to do than my back was willing to allow.  So, I hired the lawn-care company my neighbor uses to do it for me on a one-time basis.  It cost a bit, but it was like magic.  Four people who are used to this kind of work, know what they are doing and have proper tools took care of everything in about two hours.  I’m not going to give up doing normal yard care myself yet, but that idea is sure tempting. 

One thing did occur to me, lawn-care companies and house-cleaning companies ought to exchange sales-contact lists.  In my home, while my wife and I share both inside and outside work, she does more of the inside and I more of the outside.  If I were to hire a company to mow the lawn and do yard cleanup, I’d be benefitting myself more than my wife, so it would only be natural for me to want to do something nice for her as well, if that should happen.

If you ever wonder if you’re still young at heart, here’s a sure-fire way to find out.  When is the last time you deliberately made yourself dizzy?

On Facebook the other day, one of my friends wished another, “Mazel tov.”  Oddly, at least to me, Facebook offered to translate the phrase to English.  Where I grew up, mazel tov is English.

I like the recent addition to Facebook that allows me to choose to see all comments, most relevant, or most recent.  I’d like it better if it allowed me to set a default value for that.  I’d like it much better, if when I choose “all comments,” it shows me all the comments, instead of showing maybe two or three and then making me click to see more.

I don’t object that the special deal Sirius XM satellite radio offered me costs me $6.06 a month.  I object that they said it cost $4.99.  The extra charge, revealed in the process of signing up, is to cover music royalties.  But music royalties are part of their business overhead.  I suppose next they’ll assess me a separate fee to cover the cost of the electricity they use to stay on the air.

Things I Want (or Need) to Know

Do you suppose any of the attractive young women who have recently followed me on Instagram are actually attractive young women?

Have you seen the latest Progressive Insurance commercial?  It’s the one where they ask why Flo and Jamie are dressed as bakers.  I know I asked that question in April, but here’s proof I also asked it more than four years ago.  http://sisyphusproject.org/2015/01/02/things-i-want-or-need-to-know-135/

Without discussing whether the border wall is a good idea, if Donald Trump really wanted one, why didn’t he try to get it when his party controlled both houses of Congress?

It’s old music in commercials time again.  Cadillac is using a song from the early sixties to sell the XT-5.  Acura and Dior’s Joy perfume are both using the Rolling Stones “Like a Rainbow” from the early seventies.  Ford is using something from a late-seventies movie to sell trucks and Chevy isn’t using the song itself but is also referencing a song from the late seventies to sell trucks.  Two questions.  Do you suppose Ford and Chevy colluded on their ad campaigns for trucks?  And what demographic are all these ads trying to sell to with songs that are too old to play on the radio?

Things I Know

I like hotels in the Hilton chain.  I especially like Homewood Suites because a genuine suite (the kind with a door between the sleeping and living areas) doesn’t cost a lot more than a room at some other chains.  We stayed at the Boston/Peabody Homewood Suites for a couple of days last month and were entirely satisfied.  You knew there was a however, didn’t you?  However, today I got an unwanted sales call from Hilton Grand Vacations time shares.  I called Hilton Honors and told them that if I continue to get unwanted calls from their time-share subsidiary after staying in their hotels, I’ll stop staying in their hotels, even though I do like them.  Maybe it’s a coincidence, but if so, it’s not the first coincidence, or the first time I’ve complained about it.

The spell checker built into Facebook thinks Zuckerberg, spelled correctly, isn’t spelled correctly.  On the other hand, the spell checker built into MS Word is familiar with the term.  Go ahead, try it.  Unless they scan the internet for every mention of Facebook, it will still be true by the time you get around to checking it.

You don’t have to be as wealthy as Donald Trump says he is in order to wear clothes that fit properly.  On the other hand (and this may be less obvious) being as wealthy as Donald Trump says he is doesn’t preclude you from wearing clothes that fit either.

Don’t know if he’s in the right place, but Doctor John the Grammy-winning New Orleans musician, passed away earlier this week.  RIP Doctor, Doctor John.  Two doctors because he called himself doctor and Tulane University awarded him an honorary doctorate a while back, I think in 2012.

A few days ago, in a supermarket I patronize, there were packages in the refrigerator case labeled, “5 Cheese Ravioli.”  Except, there were six in each package.  So, I’m assuming for the sake of clarity they meant “5-Cheese Ravioli.”

Things I Know

Somebody won the big Powerball lottery on a ticket sold in North Carolina.  According to CNN, “A stack of $100 bills totaling $344.6 million would be taller than the 1,063-foot Eiffel Tower in Paris, the Powerball website says.”  Ridiculous, I say.  A stack of $100 bills totaling $344.6 Million would fall over long before it got that high. In case you won, and are wondering, taking that prize in $100 bills, before taxes would also weigh around 7,600 pounds, depending on how dirty the bills were.

President Trump says he’s going to impose tariffs on goods coming from Mexico if that country’s government doesn’t stop the illegal immigrants coming from Mexico to the US.  As far as I know, right now the only country that spends a lot of effort and money trying to keep people from leaving is North Korea.  Maybe China spends some effort to stem outflow too, but not nearly as much as North Korea.  The last country to make a big deal of it was East Germany.

President Trump seems to think that tariffs imposed on Mexico and China are paid by those countries.  No, they’re not.  Maybe if we raise tariffs it costs some exporters in those countries some of their business, but companies that import their goods to the USA are the ones that pay the tariffs.  Then, they pass the increased cost on to we the consumers.  So, we’re the ones who pay.

Plus, tariffs are generally reciprocal.  If you raise tariffs on my country, my country is very likely to raise tariffs on yours.  That explains why China has raised tariffs on soybeans to the extent that Chinese importers have stopped buying soybeans from US farmers.

The first Democratic presidential debates of the 2020 campaign will be held toward the end of this month in Miami.  How many candidates are there now?  23, I think.  I’m not exactly sure a debate among 23 candidates (or whoever many of them wind up qualifying to take part), taking two days, will be scintillating.

In Great Britain, the contest for the next prime minister is on too, but will finish up a lot sooner.  Unless I’ve lost count, there are only 11 candidates for that job.  But Britain has about 20 percent of the US population, so that’s proportionally much worse.  LBC, a British talk radio station, has a brilliant programming idea.  One day each week, their afternoon-drive host is taking calls about the race.  But he’s not asking callers who they support.  He wants to know what they would do if they were prime minister. 

ETA:  I stand corrected.  At last count there are 13 candidates for British prime minister.

So, what would you do if you were President?