Charlie

The interesting thing about the Toyopet was that they actually made a separate version for the American market, because they knew Americans wouldn't buy a car with right hand drive.

In fact, it is a glitch in the system that occurred years ago during one of the numerous updates of the system. Those of us who joined before the turn of the century somehow all were listed as having joined in 1969. I actually joined in 1999, the year the site was founded.

I had a telemedicine appointment with my doctor on Monday, and he wanted me to get lab tests and a CT scan for a condition I have been experiencing. He said it would be easy, because no one was going to Quest for routine tests or the imaging center at the hospital for routine scans. He was right about Quest: there were only 3 other people there when I went. But it took two days for the imaging center to call me, and they said the earliest date they could schedule the scan was May 20! I suspect that it is so quiet that they have furloughed most of their employees and are only keeping the center open for the few emergency scans each day. One of the things I don't see mentioned is that the seniors who are getting infected and dying in nursing homes and assisted living facilities are already in lockdown, and were there before anyone else, which is why they contracted the virus from workers and visitors and then spread it to one another. The same is true of prisoners. The best advice I can give those over 65 is to do whatever is necessary to avoid having to go into a communal living situation, and don't do anything that would get you sent to jail.

I just finished a couple of Sherlock Holmes novels. Now I'm reading Daniel C. Dennett's Darwin's Dangerous Idea: Evolution and the Meanings of Life.

Dane is busy doing grocery shopping for people who are at risk. I'm sure he will be available again when the pandemic ends.

Those darn Os and 0s look so much alike.

BiggMaxx charges $18000 for an overnight??!!

If Margaret Thacher doesn't work, think of Queen Victoria.

I know it is a crude stereotype, but I think many gay men think of tops as taller and bottoms as shorter, ergo bottoms look for escorts who are taller they they are, and tops look for escorts who are shorter than they are. Obviously, there are tops who are really turned on by topping big guys and bottoms who are turned on by being topped by small guys, but I think they are a minority. And there are lots of clients who don't care one way or the other, and plenty of clients and escorts who are of average male height. So, if you are notably less than average male height and want to work as an escort, your ad should probably specify which position you prefer, or accentuate that you are versatile if that is your case.

You don't believe that "the media" ever distorts anything? You believe everything in every area of the news media is completely objective?

That is quite right, and my post did NOT deny that.

Many, many years ago I used to be a regular visitor at the Everard Baths (don't judge me!). Another regular was a hunky guy who was about 5'3". He was an inflexible top, and he got more attention than anyone else. Your height can be used as a positive attention- getter in a crowd of average height providers.

Unfortunately, since this disease is so new, we have no way of knowing what the longterm effects of having the disease will be for young people like Jack after they have "recovered." According to yesterday's LA Times, people who have had even mild forms of the disease are showing clinical abnormalities in their lungs and hearts in follow-up exams.

I am worried for an elderly cousin who has been in a skilled nursing home in MA recovering from a broken leg, because I have heard nothing more from her in weeks, but I have no friends, neighbors or acquaintances whom I know to be ill or to have been ill. It is hard to learn much when people are carefully distancing, and I wonder if some of them don't want their condition to be known. I have offered to shop for people in a couple of social groups to which I belong (e.g., Bridge players in my HOA), assuming they may prefer to stay isolated at home, but only one person has taken up the offer.

The big increase in global car manufacturing between 2008 and 2019 is partly due to the big increase in manufacturing and sales in China during that period, not in American car makers, so I am sure you are right about no incentive for another bailout from Congress. The sales numbers in the US for all cars from all manufacturers this year and next will probably decline noticeably because private owners are using their cars so much less that they will need fewer replacements, and at the same time many owners will have less money to replace their less-used cars. Will fleet owners, especially car rental companies, reconsider their routine replacements after a few years of cars that have had little use? I bought a new car in December, and I am already getting lots of come-ons from the dealer for servicing, although I have only put 1000 miles on the vehicle.

The photos don't lie, but they may be misleading about the distances between groups on the sand (Imagine the media doing that:rolleyes:) The number of people on the beach is high, but one can probably assume that most of those in the groups came there together, and are not strangers casually socializing on one another's towels, borrowing their sunscreen, etc. However, it is true that those sharing shade under an umbrella are certainly not maintaining social distancing, and there are probably very few face masks.

No. Would you even have made your annual trek to Palm Springs if you had imagined it?

And I don't even know anyone anywhere who is ill! Which seems inconceivable.

In 1998, I began working for a company that had started out with everyone working in an office filled with computers, but had then allowed workers who wanted to work remotely from home to do so. The ones who worked at home were expected to be grateful and pay their own expenses for doing so: computer set-up, cable fees, phone lines, etc. Although the company never said anything, they obviously soon realized that the company was saving money that way, and in 2002 they put everything online and shut down the office. They never said anything about subsidizing the worker's costs, so it really was an unacknowledged pay cut. I think we may see a lot of that sort of thing from companies when the pandemic is over.

Probably in Alto Adige, the area that used to belong to Austria.

Interesting image.

In tennis, being unusually tall is generally an advantage for a big serve. Light weight usually is typical of a fast mover. Longer (and often skinnier) arms are an advantage for returning the ball. The typical gymnast or muscle builder body is not common among top players.

The city of Palm Springs yesterday imposed uniform restrictions on all grocery stores. People who do not wear face masks will not be served. A store with more than one entrance must use one as the only entrance and the other as the only exit. An employee must be stationed at each door to monitor how many people enter and exit; the store can contain no more than 40% of the legally allowed number of customers at any one time. Someone must clean each cart that enters the store. Aisles must be marked with one way directions, and distancing must be maintained as much as possible. Checkout stations must be marked with six foot divisions. Checkers must be masked and must be separated from the customer by a plexiglass shield (that is something that not all stores will be able to implement immediately). This morning at 9:30 I stopped at Trader Joe's in Cathedral City--there is none in Palm Springs, so they don't have to follow PS rules--because I saw there were only three people on line to get in. Everything mentioned above was being done except the one way aisles, but I noticed that many customers were automatically lining up and moving along up one side of an aisle and down the other side of the aisle, which only creates distancing in one direction. However, it's a store that only has a couple of clearly defined aisles, so the one way designation would be very difficult to produce in the rest of the layout. It's also a rule that requires the shopper to plan ahead and know exactly where everything is in the store, so I think it may be the hardest one for customers to follow.

It's OK, the guy is just checking for crabs.

Rub-a-dub-dub, three men in a tub.