respublica

Worst highway idea?

Elon Musk, the electric car guru of Tesla fame, has proposed and idea to alleviate traffic congestion on the DC to Baltimore route. He wants to see two 35 mile tunnels built along that distance. He's calling it a hyperloop. Hyperloop passengers traveling in autonomous Teslas would shoot through vacuum tubes in pods traveling more than 600 miles per hour, according to Musk’s tunneling venture, the Boring Company.

All I can say is, This is crazy talk. Now, I'm not the most creative of thinkers and could be wrong, but wow, just think of all the things which could wrong, not to mention having this loop for electric cars means very few commuters could actually use it. And, what about accidents? How long would people be stuck inside these tubes while waiting for tow trucks or clearing? And, if they opened it up to normal gas fueled cars, wouldn't carbon monoxide be a danger?

He figures about 1000 cars a day would use these tubes initially which really won't help the congestion brought on by the normal 120,000 cars on the Baltimore/Washington parkway.

In the end, it looks like a way Musk hopes to sell more of his cars.

Why is Coke messing with a good thing?

I guess we're easily bored and need something different all the time, but Coke? All of a sudden that company sees a market for Coke flavored with fruit. Beer makers have been doing this for some years now, an addition I've never understood.

Coke advertises a new Flavor Power Couple, the orange vanilla. This will join Georgia Peach and California Raspberry which are sold in the glass bottles in 4 packs. If I had to guess these 4 packs, which are shelved alongside the glass bottles of Mexican Coke (real sugar, no corn syrup), are sweetened similarly. But go to any grocery store where these are sold and the true Cokes in 4 packs are almost always sold out and the fruited ones just sit there. I pay attention to this since I am a true Coke person, just like I pay attention to how often the original Triscuits are sold out at our local Schnucks and the goofy flavored ones just sit there.

Now the corn syrup-ed cokes in cans are getting fruited with all different kinds of fruit. There's cherry, blood orange, Mango, ginger lime, and on and on. Is there really a market for this when there is nothing better, maybe perfect, than the traditional Coke made with real sugar, no corn syrup?

Candy help

Today I learned we've become a nation of people who need help opening a candy bar wrapper. I mainly laughed, but after thinking about it, I wondered just why a candy bar company would believe we'd need directions. I picked up a Kit Kat bar in Schnucks after church and noticed the instructions. When did this happen?

A mattress storm

In the last 36 hours 6 mattresses and one ladder have fallen on local roads. 6 mattresses! Seriously, what is going on with people driving around with mattresses these days, February hardly seems like the time of year for moving to new homes or apartments.

Mattresses 20

Ladders 14

Air travel troubles

This made me laugh hard this morning. A Twitter thread posted by a woman who was flying Air France from Paris to Los Angeles, a long flight. She was seated across the aisle from a man who boarded the plane and then proceeded to take off his pants and sit in his boxers.

I'm quoting Lizzie Thompson now: @Lizzie_Thompson

"The man in the seat across from me has taken HIS PANTS OFF for the flight and is just in his boxers. Flight attendants seem unconcerned. This is going to be a long flight." She took pictures.

"He has also removed his socks."

"He just shouted at a man who boarded with a ukulele (also have questions) to COME SIT WITH ME AND MAKE SOME MUSIC."

Her Tweets included the Air France Twitter account so that company responded to her.

"Update- @AirFranceAF alerted the flight attendant. He offered to move me (which would mean losing my bulkhead legroom) but just shrugged when I suggested he ask the man to put his pants back on."

"Just landed. 2 hours in he stood up and took 4 mini bottles of wine from the cart. Then he fell asleep. Then 6 hours in he got cold so PUT ON HIS PUFFY JACKET

"Finally, his pants went back on. Good news: nothing bonds a group of passengers like a man half naked in your section. Shout out to the flight attendant who slipped me extra wine and did keep checking in to make sure I was good."

"To answer a few q’s I’ve seen: 1. He took pants off in the plane bathroom pre-takeoff. He put them back on pre-landing in aisle right next to me. 2. He was neither American nor French 3. No ukulele was played, sadly."

 

 

A bath towel Tweet storm

A fun alternative to political tweets. A New York Post writer, Yashar Ali, tweeted yesterday, "As a couple you should own as a minimum: 10 bath sheets, 10 bath towels, 10 hand towels, 20 wash cloths." 

He was answering this question: "hello fellow adults. my gf and i have a question... what is the correct amount of towels to own? i said 10 and she looked at me like i was crazy. we have zero frame of reference on the appropriate amount of towels in a household of two."

This set off all kinds of jokesters. But when I first read this I wondered just what bath sheets are. I must not have been the only one because pretty soon Yashar responded: "For those asking what a bath sheet is, here’s a handy chart."

We've never had a bath sheet, the closest may have been a beach towel. Honestly, I don't think I'm tall enough to do a decent job of folding a long bath sheet.

One woman wrote: "Controversial opinion: I don't think anyone needs to own any bath towels. Just buy all bath sheets. Bath towels are just mean tricks skinny people play on fat people."

Then this: "Also a really nice thing to do if you have the time or have someone to help is to iron your towels. Yes, iron your towels. You’ll enjoy the difference. I will not regret this tweet so go ahead with your ratio."

I've never ironed our towels, I'd be curious as to what the difference would be, but not going to do it.

 

A more benign question

This seems like a small thing, but its begun to bother me that bars of hand soap develop cracks along the entire length very quickly. The soap is still usable but it just looks terrible. We keep a dish with a bar of soap on the bathroom sinks as well as a bottle of liquid hand soap, but when we do yard work or other messy work, the bar soap just cleans better. But what is with the cracks?

I don't remember this happening in earlier years. If we have people coming over I always make a point of removing the cracked soap and laying a new bar in its place so we don't seem like slobs.

Pastry beer

Ever since beer brewers began adding fruit to their ales and beers, it seems as though it's been a contest among them to come up with the next big thing in unexpected flavors. To be honest I am not a fan of fruit in my beer, grapefruit, lemon etc, but enough people like this that now it isn't enough. We're starting to see pastry beers. Yes, pastry beers.

The 14er Brewing company in Denver has come up with a Key Lime Pie beer which ferments its cream ale with Key Lime juice, vanilla and cinnamon. This gives its ale the taste and smell of Key Lime Pie. I don't get this, but there must be a market for it. Also, the Decadent Ales brewery in Mamaroneck, New York does a S'mores IPA-marshmallows, vanilla beans, crushed graham crackers and cinanamon sticks.  Plus many more odd ales. Think French Toast.

This is not beer or ale. I am not sure what it is, but not that.

Mascot Museum

Now here's something you probably didn't expect to see created. The day after Christmas Whiting, Indiana, 2 miles from the south side of Chicago, opened an 18 million dollar Mascot Hall of Fame. The Hall — honors both professional and college sports mascots (but will eventually include high school and even non-sports-associated corporate mascots. It is also interactive, think T-shirt canon, build a mascot, etc.

The city wanted to do something different, not a historical museum of Standard Oil or the history of the Whiting refinery. They sure found it. Read more about it at the link.

Sometimes it's hard to be sympathetic

People. What won't they do?

A Palm Beach, Florida, police officer patrolling a local park around 11 Sunday night, accidentally ran over two people who were lying in the road. The first thing that popped into my mind after seeing this story headline was, "Why would they be lying in the road in a dark park at 11 at night." They were taken to the hospital with only minor injuries due to the officer having been driving very slowly.

He obviously did not see them until it was too late. They explained later that they lived nearby and wanted to see the lunar eclipse and the park was extremely dark, better to see the moon. If you're going to lie in the road in the dark of night, you better be ready to expect the unexpected, like maybe cars...or maybe pay attention to sudden headlights coming toward you in that dark park.