Modern Vespa

He's got plenty of relatives up here in the Waikato as well. They just turn up suddenly. We often have this conversation . . . "so how did he get on that wall? He wasn't there an hour/day etc. ago".

Sounds like life is a bit slow there

Fortunately. At least they don't bite/sting etc. with potentially disastrous consequences. They are just creepy cockroaches.

MY BLOOD PRESSURE MEDICATION!

It's giving me horrible nightmares and very vivid dreams. I guess they call them lucid dreams. Always wake up in a panic when they happen. So I'll take them in the morning and see what happens.

Seasonally, I would get a big batch of Boxelder bugs on the outside
sunny side of the house. Some would get into the house. You could
kill them easily by spraying soapy water on the house.

For some reason, they have mostly vanished. Maybe a weather cycle got them.

Problem, they have been replaced (not in as large of quantities) by
Stink Bugs. Ish, they even get in the house. When I had my first
wood fire in the fire place for the Fall, they were in the chimney.

Now bug free, with an occasional Stink Bug appearing our of nowhere.

The super cold Winters here drive off the bugs and the homeless.
They all go South.

Bob Copeland
Kind of Bugs Yah.


The Boxelder - seems to have almost vanished

Replaced by this nasty bug.

From 06:00 this morning until 06:00 on Tuesday, our state-owned power utility ESKOM will only be able to provide my home with electricity for 10-12 hours.

Democracy?
Kleptocracy more likely !

Well today is " Blue Monday" which is classed as the most miserable day in the calendar year here in the UK.

Personally I'm OK but the day isn't over yet! I'll see how the dinner turns out.

Hi Max!

Your dreams wouldn't technically be called lucid dreams. Lucid dreaming is when we become aware during the dream that we are dreaming. It even, then, becomes possible to control the narrative, which can be fun (use your imagination). The normal laws of physics don't apply. It's a natural virtual environment.

https://tinyurl.com/7ukbl8r

It sounds like what you are having are nightmares: https://tinyurl.com/y28nkx97

Thanks for the above explanation. It's almost like I am aware of the dream when I'm dreaming but I cannot change the narrative consciously on the contrary I wake up and sometimes I go back to the same dream. It is nightmarish as hell because I cannot control the narrative and I cannot move so I guess I am visibly in REM sleep. Maybe what I am having is a night terror? What do you think?

Those two links are really interesting. Yeah I'm having nightmares or night terrors. And recurring dreams. I am blaming it all on the beta blocker.

Fud, my dear friend - you are living the peoples dream. There
is a better descriptive term for your experience:

Ineptocracy:

"A system of government where the least capable to lead are
elected by the least capable of producing, and where the members
of society least likely to sustain themselves or succeed, are
rewarded with goods and services paid for by the confiscated
wealth of a diminishing number of producers."

Actually, I have great confidence in things working out. But having
the power out frequently is a factual result of crap not working.

Best of luck Fud. I did read in the news here across the pond, that
land confiscation is legislatively starting up again. Just make sure
it does no include Vespas.

Bob Copeland


Back in my Hemingway Days (trying to look like Hemingway) the
phones, power and TV went out frequently in Old Italia. 1970-1975.
It felt like a great adventure - as long as we had enough red vino left.

Too damn hot to work on my scoot yet I really wanted it done and tested soon so I could possibly start a road trip soon 🥵 max 37C

I went to fill up my scoot this afternoon at my usual station. I know most of the pump jockeys there by name, but today there was a face I hadn't seen before by the name of Given. I open the seat, remove the cap and place it under the lip of the luggage basin so it won't get lost.

"Given, please fill it up with 95 octane. It will take no more than 6 litres."

I begin a conversation with another pump jockey there who shares a first name with me. We converse, watching Given at his task. I glance at the rolling dial on the pump as it gets to 5.5 litres and rolling merrily.

"Given, slow down... it will only take 6 litres !"

Given grins at me and then looks down, but the delivery rate doesn't change.
Suddenly, fuel spurts from the rim of the filler, spewing all over the rear of the Vespa !

"Yoh, yoh, yoh!" Given says as he pulls the nozzle out of the filler, spewing even more fuel out over my baby and into the luggage tub !!!.
I look at the volume dial on the pump - 6.27 litres.
I know exactly where that 0.27 litres went...

Instead of a quick fuel stop, I had to get the back half of my baby washed down using windscreen spray and unpack the contents of my luggage tub so it could air dry. Only then could I proceed onward without the risk of fuel fumes igniting in the engine bay.

Twenty minutes of my life stolen by a second or two of stupidity.

My namesake apologized and helped to clean up the F-up!
Given just stood there silently, awkwardly waiting for me to pay for the fuel.

Today it's raining. Can't win.

Easy Pass does the same, in the state the Easy Pass is registered in, not out of state though.

When I see a response to a post but there is not a link to what the comment was commenting on!

Is there a way to properly quote a post so that it shows up in your rely as a link so someone can understand the context the remark was referring to?

Each post has includes a direct link to itself just before the date/time in the top line. It's the cropped-corner rectangle (sheet of paper with a folded-over corner) icon.

example linking back to your post

Last edited by Rusty J on Thu, 19 Jan 2023 06:18:20 +0000; edited 1 time

Trying again to see if I made it pretty, or made it worse.

Not sure which it was, but at least there's a linkback in the quoted text now.

Nope. Forums running newer software than this 20-year-old beast do support that feature, and it's been requested that we support it here. As I'm just one lone guy writing all the code for this forum, though, I haven't gotten to that feature yet. Sorry.

I had the same reaction when I saw the post.

I just now searched all of Billrush's posts to find out what he was responding to, and have quoted it here: Oh, the irony.

I had tried that but for some reason when I went to "members" and pasted his name in there that I had copied from the post in question it did not find anything. Then just now I instead actually typed in Billrush in that same box and it pops up with his info.

Strange thing is sometimes when I enter Billrush by copy and past it works and sometimes I have to actually type in Billrush, not sure what the difference is that causes it.

That might be an issue between your browser and the forum software -- copying and pasting into a text field that responds to typing (i.e. without need of a "submit" button) seems to fail on some browsers but not others, depending on exactly how the browser implements their copy/paste algorithm. We had a similar bug in the new XSearch recently. If it does happen, add a space and then backspace again, or backspace over the last letter and then retype it.

I'll try to remember that. What seemed strange was one time it worked then another time it didn't. Then again most of the time I do use the "Brave" browser so that could be part of the reason.

Just tried it with "jess" when I copied it off your post and pasted it in the the "search for members" thing I got no response but as soon as I back spaced the ending "s" a who list of members with jess in their screen name popped up.

Yeah, that sounds like the paste bug that affects some browsers. I'll see if I can give it some attention.

200km into the start of a multi day ride and the steering bearings fail

😭🛵😭🛵😭

Slow ride home.



GTS steering bearings

Dunno if I'm 'pissed off about it' but..

I'm currently in an airport lounge... and seated over by the small buffet area is a guy watching some sort of intense open chest surgery on his laptop. At one point he gets up to use the restroom and just leaves it playing.

Fellow travelers in the lounge are trying to get small cups of minestrone soup and finger sandwiches all while watching exposed guts and organs.

Too bad they don't have the kidney bean salad today.

With my luck he'll be sitting next to me on my flight.

Walk over to his laptop and point it at pornhub.

Either that, or quietly vomit on it.

Maybe a naughty nurse scene, so he's like, 'man, this procedure must have really gotten hot.'

Or something with feet.

Or whatever autocompletes from his existing browser history.

'Modern_____'

How to....

So dark.

I was a nurse in the past life. Some people have absolutely no gag reflex whatsoever when it comes down to human organs. I used to work in the post anesthesia unit so when I had some down time I would go to the operating rooms to check on my next patient and how the procedure was going. You just get absolutely desensitized to the whole process. Another issue was the formaldehyde in anatomy and physiology classes. After dissecting bodies for 4 hours I would come home and my roommate would gag by the smell. The smell sticks especially to your hair and your clothing even your books. I was not allowed to roam in the house until I took a shower and I had to leave my books and backpack in the garage. Once I had a patient with an open heart surgery that wasn't finished so they send the patient to the recovery room with the sternum cracked open and they put a transparent dressing on it. I mean the whole unit was coming to check on my patient to see the heart beat and the lungs. We got so used to it that we actually worked up an appetite we could eat a whole Subway sandwich afterwards.

Just a little flashback. I like to watch autopsies on YouTube too. I know I'm not right in the head.

Here we go again! I just absolutely detest driving in the snow. The worst part is that Wichitans don't know how to drive in the snow.

Max6200,

We are having a record snow fall this year here in Frostbite Falls MN.
14" of snow last week, 6" this week. I have to admit, the Metro
Highway folks do an amazing job of clearing snow. Within one day
they have the main roads high, dry and salted to the point it is like
driving in the summer.

I also hate driving in the snow. Only problem here is when it is actually
happening and I have to drive to work 23 miles one way.

Bob Copeland

Bob, do you still drive your Honda Fit to work? Have you thought about all wheel drive? My wife's Honda has it and I gotta admit, it's easy to drive in snow.

I know what you mean. I did my pre nursing requisites at the University of Iowa Iowa City and their snow crews are a lot more efficient and can handle a lot of snow very quickly but it's still treacherous to drive in.

I don't know how you guys do it. We get maybe one or two snows a year and everything shuts down. Now the major roads are ok because they are cleared, but any side street is ignored. It doesn't help that after almost any snow, the ground is just warm enough to turn it to ice underneath. They brime the roads, but again, on the side streets you are on your own. Since this does not happen very often, on those days, I just stay home. It's just not worth getting in an accident or sliding off the road (lots of hills here).