Charlie

I suspect that one of the reasons gay men are more likely to finish degrees than straight men is simply the fact that they do not start families and have to support them, as straight men often do when they are young and sexually active. Gay men are therefore also freer to pursue careers that require academic degrees. I was always in the top five per cent of my high school class academically, so there was social pressure from family, teachers and peers to go to college. I completed two degrees before I even started working, and two more later, but I don't think my sexuality per se had anything to do with that; the more important factors were my freedom and financial ability to do so.

The Alamo is one of the most over-rated tourist attractions. The building that most people think of when they "Remember the Alamo!" is not the real site of the battle, which was a nearby barracks. That iconic facade that always appears in every movie or advertisement is actually a nearby church that the organizers who turned the Alamo into a memorial to the battle chose, because they didn't think the barracks--which had been turned into a grocery store in the years following the battle--was photogenic enough to attract visitors. The battle itself wasn't even particularly important, until Texas myth-makers got hold of it in the later 19th century, and the entertainment media latched on to it in the 20th century. Legends need heroes, so the most prominent men who were killed were turned into the leading characters in the battle of those who "fought to the death" for "independence." However, William Travis was actually a self-serving lawyer who was killed at the very start of the battle, Jim Bowie was an illegal slave-trader who was ill with malaria and was killed in his sick-bed, and Davy Crockett actually surrendered to save his life, only to be executed anyway. Sorry to disappoint those of you who still have your Davy Crockett coon-skin caps.

Because of their complexity, internal combustion engines are more costly for the owner to maintain than electrics, but I'm not sure that they are more costly to produce, once the mass manufacturing is ramped up to the same degree. However, I recently read an interesting commentary on the danger of the US becoming too dependent on producing EVs, whose energy source comes from batteries whose components have to be imported from countries (especially China) which are potential enemies. I have owned a couple of Priuses in the past, and although they were not my favorite cars, I would consider buying that kind of hybrid rather than a plug-in hybrid or an all-electric car.

At 34, I think he has passed childhood, too.

I am reading Forget the Alamo, a fascinating history of how a relatively inconsequential battle in 1836 became a popular (but in many ways inaccurate) legend, and its site a heavily promoted tourist attraction. It's a collaboration among three Texan journalists, Brian Burrough (author of the best-seller Barbarians at the Gates), Chris Tomlinson and Jason Stanford. Texans like to to speak of the revolt as a fight for political independence, but it was no secret at the time that the only important political issue was slavery: Mexico had abolished slavery, and the Americans in Texas were mostly cotton farmers whose economy depended on slaves, their most important "property." The constitution of the Republic of Texas specifically stated that slavery could not be abolished, and no free Blacks would be allowed in the new country. The most famous "heroes" of the battle, all of whom were killed, were William Travis (a shyster lawyer), Jim Bowie (who had fled to Texas to escape prosecution in the US for numerous crimes), and Davy Crockett (a failed politician who made up outlandish stories about his frontier exploits). They were all whitewashed into heroic figures by Texan patriots, abetted by the entertainment media in the 20th century. Even the site of the battle was not the building that almost any American can easily identify when they "remember the Alamo," but a nondescript barracks nearby that had been turned into a grocery store for years after the battle, and that the curators of the site wanted to tear down because it was not picturesque enough for the memorial they wanted to create. It is a classic American story, and a fun read if you are not a die-hard Texas conservative.

Strangely enough, I was living in Bohemia when he died. It was big news there.

And whaddaya know--European Boy's ad is gone.

One of my female neighbors goes all out decorating the front of their house for every kind of holiday--Halloween has skeletons, ghosts and witches all over the place--so I can only imagine what the inside of the house looks like. I had a couple of female relations who seemed to spend all year just preparing things for Xmas. We used to put up a small tree in the living room when we still had family around, but it's been a few years since we even hung a wreath on the front door.

Here in eastern Riverside county, I-10 runs through a long stretch of desert in which there are no other roads. A few years ago, a flash flood took out a bridge, and traffic heading west got stuck there for a very long time, because there were no exits and no way to turn around. A guy in a Tesla wasn't watching his charge, and ran out of battery power. Once things got cleared out, Tesla sent a truck to get the car and take it to their nearest charging station, which was miles back near the Arizona border.

Ad is gone already.

If he "became a star in Australia...London..." etc.. I can't find any references to that claim.

But it is hard to argue for a Tesla as a second car at the price, especially if you don't have charging capability at home.

Big Guy from Pasadena used to come to the Palm Springs Weekends, but he has been missing for some time.

The day after the election in 1948, I saw a copy of the New York Daily News on our kitchen counter, with the headline "TRUMAN WINS." My father (a Dewey supporter) picked it up and looked at it, and seemed to me to be completely baffled.

A friend named his Beagle Bailey, after the comic strip.

Nice '55 Ford.

Well, there are 3 other slams he can play in 2022 to hit the 21st title, and Roger won't be competing at all. Of course, there is the possibility that Rafa will be in shape to contest at Roland Garros, so the tennis commentators will be praying for a final between the two of them there to see which one gets to 21 first. Since he has already had COVID, he probably doesn't want to get caught in the [mostly political] argument between those who believe naturally acquired immunity is enough and those who believe in vaccination regardless of previous exposure (he hasn't said which position he takes). I'll bet he has political ambitions in Serbia after he retires, so I wouldn't be surprised if he found some other reason to simply not go to Melbourne.

I suspect he is searching for a wealthy patron rather than one hour gigs.

Spouse and I had Pfizer for all three shots, and had little reaction to any of them beyond a slightly sore arm. It almost made me wish I had more reaction, to know that it was the real thing.

Albertson's is the only market that sells the box-bags in Palm Springs. I use them all the time to carry bulky items.

I always take my own bags, most of which are Trader Joe's. The other day when I was in Von's (Safeway, to those of you who are not in SoCal), I heard the checker say to the packer, "Those TJ bags are really nice."

I forgot to mention that the only other dog we didn't rename was Duke, because he was 9 years old when we adopted him, and we thought he had earned his name by then.

I have sometimes acquired adult dogs and cats that already had names, but I usually renamed them. My Australian Terrier was called Snuggles, which I couldn't imagine calling out in a dog park; I renamed her Miss Jane, because she reminded me of my favorite author, Miss Jane Austen. When we got our black Persian cat, he was called Smoky, but he was so regal that we called him Cyrus (the Great). The only animal we didn't rename was a Greyhound named Guinevere, because she had already won dog shows with that name.

I'll say it again: "intelligence" means different things, to different people, in different situations. The assumption that it can be encapsulated in a single number is not very intelligent, IMHO.

Calvin Culver, of course, was one of the names used by Casey Donovan.