Modern Vespa

Been there. It is genuinely lovely. But it's also a tourist trap, and there is a line down the street to get in, every single day.

Is it worth €5 to get in? Dunno. Maybe once, just to see the staircase.

Also, it is a bookstore, not a library. Though the name in Portuguese is confusing: Livraria Lello

Speaking of Fiats (I was): https://www.popsci.com/technology/skinny-diy-fiat-panda/

Hope it hasn't been posted before.

To find an old speedway bike at the lobby of a small countryside hotel.

Build 1954, 49HP on metanol fuel

Just made a pound of fresh Pappardelle for dinner.😋 A third of the flour is stone ground wheat. Im really digging it.

Whilst separating the "pack this" from the "trash this crap" I came across some stickers I'd ordered a few years ago and genuinely forgot where I put them (spoiler, they fell behind my reloading bench after i'd put them on it, forgotten they were there, and then other activities took hold of my ADHD).

it's James May's face and "That's the DACIA SANDERO!!" in a jaunty font.

I have a friend in Italy who happens to own a Sandero (and is a massive TG/GT fan). I suspect he's getting mildly vandalized in February.

So, leaving to lead some rides early next week and use audible directions primarily from my nav software. Hadn't connected my Sena bluetooth for a while, in the meantime new phone, new computer. And of course it wouldn't connect. Unable to update firmware for some computer security issue, none of the instructions seemed to work, so finally after random attempts during the day, actually connected it pretty much from memory. All good. I feel like a freakin' genius.

And update on the Fiat 500e. They simply can't sell enough and so Fiat are re working the engineering on the body and making a Hybrid version due to be released in 2026.

The Petrol version can no longer be made as I believe that it wouldn't pass an NCAP test. It rated a 3 out of 5.

I would actually love mine as a plug in hybrid. This won't be. From what I've read the performance won't match the all electric. They are pairing the 1.0L 3 cylinder with an electric motor and a six speed manual.

It's essentially "We added an electric motor to assist and underpowered gas engine". Kind of a step backward.

This guy was a little too excited about the rebadged Citroen. Depending, I'd consider having one.

They dropped the price here by 40%. Once the taxi driver for the kids every night gig finishes I'm in.

The Citroen Ami has suffered from a few reliability problems so I'd stay away.

I'd also stay away from anything coming out of the House of Stellentis at the moment.

They have driven down the quality and ramped up the price.

Buy a Honda.

Fiat should bring back the 500 Abarth

Like this ?

Yes....but I would do a different colour

So like this ?

That's better....but I was thinking more like this

Zoom hosting an outdoor wedding today. Hope everything goes well.

So the same thing Volvo and many others have already been doing with "mild hybrids" for several years now?

Fun fact, I can confirm the Volvo at least is an absolute heap of junk that overheats on the Colorado front range in 85* temperatures. Had one for a rental last year and it was truly shocking to see how anemic (0-60 was about 8 seconds), uneconomical (28-32mpg from a HYBRID), and weak (previously mentioned overheating issues on a lovely summer's day) it really was.

That's because the Chinese own it now.

My son taking a break.

My latest project (no blood).

We got our 2013 Mazda 3 painted this week which, along with the new wheels and tires, makes it look like a new car. Except for...

...the badly fogged headlight lenses.

So, today's project was to do something about that.

Half an hour and a secret product later, here is the result.

The secret product?

Toothpaste.

That there is enough snowmelt runoff in the local (southern Oregon) man-made mountain lakes and adjacent plains to attract a population of sandhill cranes.

We've got a bunch of those down here. Very balletic. Listening to them overhead at night is awesome. That's a hell of a long range

yup been using it for years on face shields, dash speedo plastic lenses. also works good on windshields on the scooters and motorcycles.

....the $3.99 (US) two eggs, hash browns, and toast breakfast at the First Gold Hotel/Casino in Deadwood, SD.

So, I'm figuring out how to use some of OpenWebUI's tools. I just successfully created a prompt and a knowledge base that is the complete text of "The Hobbit" in PDF form, and I'm having a lively discussion about the book with the Cogito 8B LLM.

SHUT UP! I'M STILL COOL!

We planted more milkweed in the yard to help support monarch butterfly proliferation.

Today we noticed a chrysalis clinging to our patio furniture table.

Pretty sure the caterpillar was hanging out with us a few nights ago while we were enjoying the summer evening.

Cool! We had one nearby under an overhanging rock a few years ago. I also let milkweed grow, but very rarely see a Monarch.

Whats the range like Jess? We currently have a petrol 500 which we love but its going to need replacing soon. We could go electric with where we live because we could sort charging at home out but the electric 500's dont look as though they are set up for distance, more of a town car for short journeys.

I can't see toast or hash browns in that photo, only the eggs, white bread and some kind of shredded stuff!

That's exactly it. They are rated for 85 miles, but I normally get between 100-120 per charge, depending on the temperature. And it depends on speed. City mileage is fantastic. I often see numbers approaching 200MPGe. But in the winter, not so much.

The good news is if you do want to buy a 500e there's going to be a load of dealerships falling over themselves to sell you one at cost just to make a sale.

It's a buyers market if you want an EV right now.

Apologies to the other fanatics out there!

Thats good to get confirmation, I guess we'll carry on looking for something that better fits our needs. Or just stick with the petrol for now.

We have the first world problem of having multiple vehicles. A couple of years ago we bought a new car. My first ever new car. We looked at gas vs hybrid. Since we already beat up the 500e every day, we knew the hybrid wouldn't benefit us all that much, and the amount of time it would take for us to recoup the price difference was substantial and wouldn't be worth the investment, so we went with the gas only option. Two years in, we just broke 10K miles.

I absolutely love my 500e, though.

'Bingo!'

The 'toast' is a bit under-toasted, but it's sourdough bread and actually pretty good with the strawberry jam, and the cook managed to slap some butter on it here and there.

The "shredded stuff" was an actual potato-based material that, with the addition of a light application of pepper and ketchup, was more than passable.

And, of course, eggs is eggs.

You should totally be writing their menu descriptions.

The newer ones have double the range, more like 180 miles minimum. Still a town car though in US terms.

For the price of the new ones I'd rather just buy five old ones and keep them charged up.

Not to be pedantic, but do you mean city car? I think of a town car as a large sedan that is used to chauffer executives around, while a city car is a small car meant to fit in tight parking spaces.

Got to go for a little ride today (140 mi.) on the Scoot. after trimming the Lemon,Rose bush and Palm tree limbs !.

I guess that's the difference between a Brit thinking of 'town' and 'city' and a US person, as in the UK, a place is only a city if it has a Royal Charter, whereas what I think of as towns or villages call themselves cities in the US!