Author: Kim du Toit

About Those Duracell Cars

Drive Time

It seems as though at least one car manufacturer is thinking straight:

“It is regular users who are the ones who suffer” when government regulations try to shoehorn buyers and automakers into EVs, according to Toyota chairman Akio Toyoda. Speaking publicly as the head of the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association, Toyoda said, “People are finally seeing reality” as sales growth sputters. “I have continued to say what I see as reality… if regulations are created based on ideals,” instead of real-world conditions, “it is regular users who are the ones who suffer.”

All true, of course.

As an aside, I would love to see the sales figures for EVs that excludes those in California, because I’ll bet that state skews the whole thing. Why do I say that?

Anecdotally, the Son&Heir just got back from a business trip to SoCal, told me that regular gas there is currently costing $7 per gallon (!!) and that just about every Uber or Lyft driver now uses an EV.

Classic Beauty: Brigitte Bardot

Classic Beauty

People who weren’t around at the time, or who weren’t aware of Brigitte Bardot probably cannot understand the effect she had on the world in the early 1960s.  She literally defined the term “sex kitten”, and many of those who followed her in that appellation simply don’t compare.

Consider:

She simply exuded sex appeal, and was the object of many a callow lad’s fantasies.  And I was no exception.

Same Time Next Year

Travels

Apparently there’s this German guy who visits the same city in Britishland each year for his vacation, and has done so for the past several years.  (My Brit Readers can be excused for going “Huh?” when they discover which city has so enthralled our Frequent Visitor.)

Which leads me to ask the question:

Is there any city in the world that you would re-visit for two weeks exclusively each year for the next, say, decade? 

(I’m going to assume long lives for the Olde Pharttes among us, bless ’em, who could always just substitute “…for the rest of my life” if they so choose.)

Give reasons, in Comments.  It could be a furrin city or a Murkin/NorMurkin one, your choice.  In the spirit of the thing, it has to be a city, not a region or a resort.  Play the game.

My choice is below the fold:

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All Is Explained

Grammar Nazism

Now here’s a study I can get behind:

Bad grammar is so maddening it activates the ‘fight or flight’ response within the human body

No prizes for guessing which one, in my case.

Instances of bad grammar can include mixing up tenses within a sentence, confusing the singular and plural, using a double negative or misusing a comma.
They explained that knowledge about a first language is largely implicit, as most people did not need to sit and study to learn their mother tongue.
And this could mean that our body reacts to bad grammar even if we cannot pinpoint exactly what is wrong within a sentence.

My problem is that I usually can pinpoint the mistake;  and my response is

Grrr grrrr grrrrr…