Color Palette

This article got my attention:

Why is grey the most popular car colour for the fifth year running? How subtler shades have dominated the market for a decade — and the reason brighter tones have fallen out of favour.

The reason, as any fule kno, is simple:

Consumers are concerned about a bright colour ‘driving down the resale value of their car’.

Which is fine, I guess.  Certainly, if I were buying another car today, I might not accept that ghastly bronze-y color of a decade back — even if the thing was really cheap because of it.

The problem, of course, is that car colors can date a car, e.g.

Haven’t seen too many modern cars looking like that, have you?  (I’m talking about the color, of course — although that applies to its styling too.)

And let’s be honest:  as much as they are the boring same-ol’-same ol’, black, gray, white and silver cars do carry over the years (and even decades), whereas brown, bronze, “champagne” and so on do not.

The latest color craze I see nowadays is that ghastly “putty”- or “cement” gray:

Ugh.  And the trend towards matte finishes should be halted by legislation.

Interestingly enough, there are non-bland colors that stay popular:  red, yellow, dark blue and dark green (a.k.a. “British Racing Green”), but that really depends on the car, of course, e.g.

…but even I might draw the line at a purple Dino, especially if I had another choice:

Ah-ha! white and silver, just like the article suggests.  But even for a Dino, I’d never take one of these:

…because, you see, I live in Texas — where the last thing you want is a black car which turns your car into an oven (against which the Dino’s puny lil’ Italian a/c unit stands no chance).

That’s not a problem they have in Britishland, of course.

Every Dog, Parte Deux

Continuing our celebration of International Chicks’ Day:

South Africa:  Demi-Leigh Tebow

Sweden:  Izabella Scorupco

Denmark:  Birgitte Hjort Sorensen

Canada:  Kim Cloutier

Finland:  Anna Easteden

Bulgaria:  Nina Dobrev

Norway:  Silje Norendal

Austria:  Anna Fenninger

And that’s it… till tomorrow.

Every Dog Has Its Day

…although I guess to be accurate, it should be “Every Bitch Has Her Day”.

Puzzled?

It’s International Woman’s Day, dummy, so we have to celebrate international women or something.  So here we go, with a few women from all over the world:

Mexico:  Salma Hayek

England:  Charlotte Hawkins

Scotland:  Kirsty Gallacher

Wales:  Carol Vorderman

Ireland:  Aisling Bea

France:  Eva Green

Spain:  Penelope Cruz

Russia:  Maria Kozhevnikova

Italy:  Diletta Leotta

Okay, just one more or we’ll be here all day…

Germany:  Alica Schmidt

What fun.  I think I’ll pay tribute to more International Women again… maybe tomorrow, if everyone likes the idea.

Retaliation

Combat Controller asks why I have yet to comment on the domestic terrorist attacks in Atlanta:

Police have charged 23 people with domestic terrorism after a violent clash between police and protesters at the site of Atlanta’s future Public Safety Training Facility, nicknamed “Cop City” by critics.

Sunday night, police say the DeKalb County construction site was on lockdown as crews worked to put out flames around the area.

In total, the Atlanta Police Department said 35 “agitators” have been detained.

In Kim’s World, the word “detained”  would be replaced by the phrase “shot dead”, because these little anarchist fucks are actually shooting explosives at the police, and I think that aiming anything at the police deserves a return of fire, so to speak.

What the Antifa movement really needs, I think, is a couple hundred-odd martyrs to their cause, and Atlanta would make a really good place for this process to start.

But no doubt someone will take exception to this sentiment.

Summer Beach / Island Car

Here’s the setup:  you own a seaside cottage somewhere pleasant — the Carolinas, southern Oregon, Cayman Islands, Aruba… you get the picture.  Wherever it is, you spend lots of time there:  the whole summer, the whole winter, nine months of the year, whatever.

You have everything in place, but you need to buy a runaround car:  something to get to the beach, go downtown to fetch more booze or groceries, or to just drive to the local restaurants for lunch or dinner.  There’s no car rental available, so you’ll have to buy one (which works out cheaper anyway).

Fortunately, there’s a retail auto dealer in town called “Island Cars”, which will cater to your needs and store it for you and keep it in running order when you’re not there.  Here’s what’s in stock, all with low miles, in good condition etc.  Assume the prices are reasonable, and all within a couple hundred dollars of each other.

Austin Mini-Moke 

VW Thing

Fiat Jolly

And now the kicker (you knew there was going to be one, right?):

YOUR WIFE GETS TO CHOOSE IT, AND YOU HAVE NO VETO.

Which one do you think she’d go for?  (For the unmarried / widowed among you, go back in time and guess.)