What’s on your mind?

[Scepticalscribe]

On my mind: (In no particular order):

The sheer ugliness of many modern cars; there is no aesthetic pleasure (whatsoever) in seeing them drive past, no sense of 'wow, that is beautiful', or elegant, or stylish.

The constant (and depressing) sight of local, family owned businesses, (sometimes, businesses that have been around for decades, perhaps a century or more, having been run by several generations of the same - perhaps extended - family) closing their doors for good.

The ubiquity of smart phones and how much I detest touch screens.

Okay: That is a bit of a rant.....

Coffee is also on my mind.

 

[Herdfan]

On my mind: (In no particular order):

The sheer ugliness of many modern cars; there is no aesthetic pleasure (whatsoever) in seeing them drive past, no sense of 'wow, that is beautiful', or elegant, or stylish.

Yep. They all look the same. I blame the wind tunnel.

 

[Apple fanboy]

Yep. They all look the same. I blame the wind tunnel.

Mine looks pretty unique I think.

 

[chown33]

Mine looks pretty unique I think. View attachment 2412322

Reminds me of bird plumage, in a good way.
In David Attenborough sotto voce:
And here we see a black-capped redflank quietly feeding. The white plumage of the feeder is typical for this species, despite the more ostentatious display of the mobile unit.

 

[VulchR]

Yup! It's such a cumbersome process. It's never just board your plane and have a nice flight. It's always something.. lost luggage, unexpected delays/layovers, flight cancellations, etc.

However, I am grateful that I can get from Victoria BC to Halifax in one day, that is pretty awesome.

I have a new appreciation of the trains in the UK. You show up. Nobody searches you. You get on the train. You sit down. There's food. If passengers start acting up, they can be ejected by the Transport Police at the next station. No wait for luggage. They refund your money if a train is more than 30 minutes late. So much more civilised than flying.

The trains are more expensive than taking a flight in the UK, but well worth the money IMO.

 

[VulchR]

I don’t like anyone so I only fly Delta in seat 1A, use Sky Priority, the lounges, and pay the cart people to drive me to my gate.

The thing that makes me rage against flying these days is that in the UK one pays enormous 'airport fees', which supposedly pay for the infrastructure and services in terminals. Yet every time I go, they vary the number of open security lines so there is at least a 20 minute wait. It is outrageous.

 

[Herdfan]

I used to love flying, now I would rather have a root canal.

What I don't understand is why the choices for seats are coach and First Class. (Ignoring Business Class because it is mainly international). I think airlines should take maybe 5 rows behind FC and make them 4 rows of 5 seats. So 20 seats instead of 30. Take the gross revenue for the 30 seats and divide it by 20 and charge that amount. I don't need to be pampered in FC, I just want a slightly bigger seat with a little more room. And I'm willing to pay a reasonable differential. But not 3-4 times like FC costs.

 

[mtbdudex]

My 18 year old son today at his swear in ceremony joining the USA military, now he’s flying to Parris Island to become a Marine in 13 weeks.

Very proud of him.

 

[mtbdudex]

I don’t like anyone so I only fly Delta in seat 1A, use Sky Priority, the lounges, and pay the cart people to drive me to my gate.

Back in early 2000’s I had over 800,000 miles in Northwest (became Delta), flying monthly to Japan, Mexico, Europe from Michigan.
Flying got “old” after a while, but I loved being Platinum then. Banked miles , lotta first class, sitting in top floor 747 up front, etc.
Then the over proliferation of “award” classes.. and I stopped travel so much now just an ordinary flyer … wait my turn like cattle in line.

Meh, who remembers flying to Japan early 1990’s, on plane with so many others smoking, just 1 big screen in middle to watch.

It’s such a better experience today, sure security is a PIA post 9/11/2001 ..

 

[GrayFlannel]

Back in early 2000’s I had over 800,000 miles in Northwest (became Delta), flying monthly to Japan, Mexico, Europe from Michigan.
Flying got “old” after a while, but I loved being Platinum then. Banked miles , lotta first class, sitting in top floor 747 up front, etc.
Then the over proliferation of “award” classes.. and I stopped travel so much now just an ordinary flyer … wait my turn like cattle in line.

Meh, who remembers flying to Japan early 1990’s, on plane with so many others smoking, just 1 big screen in middle to watch.

It’s such a better experience today, sure security is a PIA post 9/11/2001 ..

I seldomly travel internationally but used NetJets domestically until that no longer made sense. Now I only fly into Palm Springs or San Diego a couple times a month during the winter. The cabin service changed quite a bit since the pandemic.

 

[GrayFlannel]

My 18 year old son today at his swear in ceremony joining the USA military, now he’s flying to Parris Island to become a Marine in 13 weeks.

Very proud of him.

Outstanding.

 

[DaveFromCampbelltown]

On my mind: (In no particular order):

The sheer ugliness of many modern cars; there is no aesthetic pleasure (whatsoever) in seeing them drive past, no sense of 'wow, that is beautiful', or elegant, or stylish.

The constant (and depressing) sight of local, family owned businesses, (sometimes, businesses that have been around for decades, perhaps a century or more, having been run by several generations of the same - perhaps extended - family) closing their doors for good.

The ubiquity of smart phones and how much I detest touch screens.

Okay: That is a bit of a rant.....

Coffee is also on my mind.

Gone is the time when you could tell the brand, model, and often the year of a car as it drove past you (Ford Cortina, I'm looking at you here).

Except for the Porsche SUV, that looks like an obese hippopotamus from the back...

 

[Macky-Mac]

Yep. They all look the same. I blame the wind tunnel.

I think they would look better if it were just a matter of "the wind tunnel"

 

[DaveFromCampbelltown]

Those of us recovering from surgery/anaesthetics thank y'all for your good wishes.

The problem with anaesthetics is that they are all a poison, designed to kill you. The challenge for the anaesthetist is to give you enough poison to knock you out, without giving you too much.

Different people's bodies cope with recovering from that poison differently, some better, some worse. Second night home I slept for 11 hours, and I still can't type properly (you can't see the vast number of red lines under my typing...).

Perhaps more coffee will help.

 

[Herdfan]

Different people's bodies cope with recovering from that poison differently, some better, some worse. Second night home I slept for 11 hours, and I still can't type properly (you can't see the vast number of red lines under my typing...).

I recover rather quickly, but I also need an anti-nausea drug as part of the cocktail. First time under, I woke up and immediately puked on the NA. She told me about the anti-nausea option. LOL

 

[rm5]

My problem was that I had trouble breathing during the procedure, and that I was completely unable to speak afterwards, even after the tube came out. For almost a day, actually. Had nothing to do with the surgery itself, I'd guess it's a side affect of the anesthesia. All over and recovered now, thankfully.

 

[rm5]

The constant (and depressing) sight of local, family owned businesses, (sometimes, businesses that have been around for decades, perhaps a century or more, having been run by several generations of the same - perhaps extended - family) closing their doors for good.

The ONE locally-owned computer shop in my hometown--quite a good one--shut its doors completely two years ago. Now I have to go to Best Buy.

 

[rm5]

My 18 year old son today at his swear in ceremony joining the USA military, now he’s flying to Parris Island to become a Marine in 13 weeks.

Very proud of him.

Sending my biggest congratulations to him!! I am by no means a military man, but I admire the dedication of those who serve.

 

[DaveFromCampbelltown]

My problem was that I had trouble breathing during the procedure, and that I was completely unable to speak afterwards, even after the tube came out. For almost a day, actually. Had nothing to do with the surgery itself, I'd guess it's a side affect of the anesthesia. All over and recovered now, thankfully.

The problem there is that, due to Non-Intelligent Design, your breathing tube (trachea) and your swallowing tube (oesophagus) meet in your neck and cross over. When they put in the breathing tube, they have to go down the oesophagus, then do a sharp turn to get into the trachea. Side effects include sore throat (me) and laryngitis (you).

Honestly, the way the human body is put together, I would send it back under warranty for a do-over, if I could...

 

[The-Real-Deal82]

The thing that makes me rage against flying these days is that in the UK one pays enormous 'airport fees', which supposedly pay for the infrastructure and services in terminals. Yet every time I go, they vary the number of open security lines so there is at least a 20 minute wait. It is outrageous.

I went through Bristol airport a couple of weeks ago and we’d paid for fast-track security so we didn’t have to deal with the huge queues. We got there and they’d decided to use the fast-track area as an overflow and people who hadn’t paid the premium were suddenly queuing with us! We are now in the long process of getting our money back, much like the meet and greet parking where it was chaos and we spent 30 mins queuing to hand our keys in. We could have saved £40 and parked in the Silver zone and gotten into the terminal quicker lol.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

The ONE locally-owned computer shop in my hometown--quite a good one--shut its doors completely two years ago. Now I have to go to Best Buy.

Very unfortunate.

 

[GrayFlannel]

I got a chuckle out of the skipper of the USS John McCain being relieved of duty for posting an embarrassing photo onto social media. I assume he was set up for a practical joke that went too far. But then maybe it wasn’t a joke.

 

[mtbdudex]

Gone is the time when you could tell the brand, model, and often the year of a car as it drove past you (Ford Cortina, I'm looking at you here).

Except for the Porsche SUV, that looks like an obese hippopotamus from the back...

I’m 62 and soon will retire.
Lived thru so many decades of cars & styling, 60’s decade cars thru now I’ve owned.
I hear ya on cookie cutter styling it seems at times.
Some auto will “hit the mark” and other then copy it for sales.
Spring 2025 I might buy a ZR1 and have it for 1 year .. just for fun, then sell it.

 

[GrayFlannel]

I’m 62 and soon will retire.
Lived thru so many decades of cars & styling, 60’s decade cars thru now I’ve owned.
I hear ya on cookie cutter styling it seems at times.
Some auto will “hit the mark” and other then copy it for sales.
Spring 2025 I might buy a ZR1 and have it for 1 year .. just for fun, then sell it.

Didn’t the new style come out a couple years ago? My neighbor went on the list and got one in red. He loves it and I hear him leaving on Sundays. Lol

Will you have to go on a list?

I have an 88 Jaguar convertible sitting in a garage with < 3k miles.
Also have two SL500s (2003, 2004) sitting in a garage with 21k and 18k mi respectively.
My wife absolutely needed them at the time.

 

[VisceralRealist]

Today marks one year since I joined MacRumors 😁 Has it been that long? Well, I intend to be around for years to come.