The Random Thoughts Thread

Gallowbraid said:
They were all nice, with one exception, which I'll get to... snip...

The vehicle that started this day full of test drives was the Land Cruiser. I'd never driven one, but had been exposed to a few through different events and trail runs. I think, in the minds of many, this vehicle sits on a special off road pedestal. I have to say, after getting some experience with one, it's an over priced Sequoia with 2nd gear start. I get it, supposedly the build quality and materials used are much better. Supposedly it'll drive for 300,000 miles with only minimal maintenance while climbing 90 degree vertical shafts inside a volcano. It just didn't impress me, and was I hugely let down.

Maybe I'd just built the Land Cruiser up in my head as I think many others have, but at the end of the day it was the disappointment of the group. I thought the 4Runner had better fit and finish than the Cruiser. It felt large on the road and seemed to wallow around, and that's coming from a guy who's daily driver is a quad cab F250. It just felt improperly proportioned, like parts of the vehicle were being drug down the street by the rest of it. I can't imagine trying to run one down some of the east coast trails I've been on. It might be somebody else's cup of tea, but I walked away disappointed.

Between the three if I had to pick one. I'd take the Lexus and then embrace shipfitter syndrome to make it look different in order to prevent my eye from wandering too quickly to the next 4 wheeled siren.
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That’s where I was as well. The LC has a mystique, but even though I could have laid down the money and built one, it was just vanilla to me. Other than the LC badging and the cache that comes with it, it didn’t put a smile on my face. Drove like a tuna boat in stock form.

The Lexus IS nicer, but it’s a Lexus and to me, well, they’re almost as fugly as the Infinity version of the Patrol. It would need some serious mods to delete that vibe for me.
 
Bryanseye said:
Not every Land Cruiser can be an 80. Heavy and underpowered for maximum offroad traction and a fuel range of 250 miles to explore the many cultures of random gas stations along any route. :jump:
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Yeah, I was ready to pull the trigger on a very nicely preserved 80 Series Land Cruiser at one point. I just couldn’t get past the Toyota tax and the fact that it had nearly 200,000 miles on it. At the end of the day, it was long in the tooth and uninspiring to drive.
 
So, yesterday, I pulled out the welder...

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Professional “spectator sports” are dead to me. All of it. Bunch of spoiled, overpaid, narcissistic ingrates.

And the management that has allowed politics and “woke” soapboxes on the field and in uniform is to blame for enabling their own demise. Good riddance.

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Dave said:
Professional “spectator sports” are dead to me. All of it. Bunch of spoiled, overpaid, narcissistic ingrates.

And the management that has allowed politics and “woke” soapboxes on the field and in uniform is to blame for enabling their own demise. Good riddance.

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We've got enough BS politics shoved down our throats every day and now this... I don't mind your personal behind-the-scenes agenda stuff, but keep all that at the door. Sports have turned bad already as they have progressed over the decades anyways...

MLS were whiners flopping-galore.
NBA followed suit and turned everything into a foul.
NFL just became a flag-infested spy-gate.
MLB was hopeful as America's past time, but the recent turn of events is disappointing
Nascar was doing pretty well but just went from 'Merica to WTF in no time.

As an entertainment outlets to watch, since there is really nothing else to watch on the regular tube outside of sporting events, this is a pretty disappointing hit. I guess now I have to find another excuse to drink all day Sunday and find other activities to fill the tiny void left in my life lol.
 
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Scott B. said:
you could read a book...
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Funny you mention that. I’ve been down some deep rabbit holes lately with books - namely, the Encyclopedia Brittanica.

Most people today have no idea of the sheer scope of knowledge they contain. Founded in 1768 in Edinburgh, Scotland, they were ahead of their time. And with the ninth edition in 1875, the range of topics were expanded by bringing in contributors from the literary field, social sciences and the scientific community. The ninth edition has since been acknowledged as one of the most impressive collections of scholarship ever produced.

Sadly, it ceased production of its printed version in 2012 with the 15th Edition. If you can find a set, I highly recommend adding one to your family’s library.

Recently, I hit the jackpot and scored the 15th Edition. It now resides in my study (I don’t have a man cave) where it will live on as a family heirloom from days gone by.

Printed, hard bound tomes such as these - written before the current mania of radical far left censorship - will be invaluable in the future as the hard, sometimes ugly facts of our world continue to be re-written and suppressed by the cancel culture.

:study
 
Dave said:
Funny you mention that. I’ve been down some deep rabbit holes lately with books - namely, the Encyclopedia Brittanica.

Most people today have no idea of the sheer scope of knowledge they contain. Founded in 1768 in Edinburgh, Scotland, they were ahead of their time. And with the ninth edition in 1875, the range of topics were expanded by bringing in contributors from the literary field, social sciences and the scientific community. The ninth edition has since been acknowledged as one of the most impressive collections of scholarship ever produced.

Sadly, it ceased production of its printed version in 2012 with the 15th Edition. If you can find a set, I highly recommend adding one to your family’s library.

Recently, I hit the jackpot and scored the 15th Edition. It now resides in my study (I don’t have a man cave) where it will live on as a family heirloom from days gone by.

Printed, hard bound tomes such as these - written before the current mania of radical far left censorship - will be invaluable in the future as the hard, sometimes ugly facts of our world continue to be re-written and suppressed by the cancel culture.

:study
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Wait! You mean widipedia isn't true or accurate??????

When I was a kid, we had World Book encyclopedia - wonderful collection of information. I do have Brittanica on a set of DVDs from about 20 years ago. I am going to go find them, and see if they will work on my new computer.

As for reading, when I was commuting every week, I was listening to books on Audible. I was near 100, when this situation (keeping politics out of the discussion) allowed me to work at home.

While I do prefer working at home, I miss all the time I had to listen to books.
 
Dave said:
Sadly, it ceased production of its printed version in 2012 with the 15th Edition. If you can find a set, I highly recommend adding one to your family’s library.
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That looks like quite the rabbit hole! I took a look on Abes and eBuy, and found a huge variety of different sets. Anniversary, Limited, Black covered, marroon covered, "New Britannica" printed in Michigan that included parts of EB and other stuff. A quick perusal made it confusing as to what's the real thing. I've got piles and piles of books stacked in the spare bedroom downstairs, so adding 32 more wouldn't be noticed. :rolleyes:

Barely related: When we moved into this modified split level 29 years ago, I used an upstairs bedroom as a library, with two large bookcases stuffed full on the wall between it and the adjoining room. after a week or so, we notices serious creaking when walking into the room. We found that with no basement, that there is an 18" "chase" between the upstairs floor and the downstairs ceiling, where the ducting and wires all run. With just 2X6 floor joists and a long span, the load from the books had sagged about an inch in the middle, and pulled the floor away from the wall. The anchor screws in the drywall at the top to keep it from falling over had torn and inch long slot in the wall! :eek: After having just hauled all those books upstairs, we had to carry them all to the downstairs bedroom with a slab floor.


Scott B. said:
When I was a kid, we had World Book encyclopedia
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We had the Funk and Wagnalls set that you could get one volume a week at the grocery store. Then an annual for many years after. It was always fun to say Funk and Wagnalls around the other boys. ::snicker::

Scott B. said:
As for reading, when I was commuting every week, I was listening to books on Audible
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Back when we lived in rural Virginia, and I had a 40 minute drive to work, I tried books on cassettes. I found that I couldn't concentrate on the book. Or worse, I did and then realized that I hadn't been paying attention to my driving, once not knowing if I'd gone through a tiny crossroads town or not. After that, I kept my reading to a stationary setting.
 
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Steve & Deb said:
We had the Funk and Wagnalls set that you could get one volume a week at the grocery store. Then an annual for many years after. It was always fun to say Funk and Wagnalls around the other boys. ::snicker::
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IIRC, we had a set of these first, also from the grocery store.

Steve & Deb said:
Back when we lived in rural Virginia, and I had a 40 minute drive to work, I tried books on cassettes. I found that I couldn't concentrate on the book. Or worse, I did and then realized that I hadn't been paying attention to my driving, once not knowing if I'd gone through a tiny crossroads town or not. After that, I kept my reading to a stationary setting.
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I used to have a difficult time listening to books while driving many years ago. It used to put me to sleep! Fortunately, that does happen an more.

I do stop the book when there is any issue in traffic. Of course, it is much easier to listen to a book on a route you are familiar with.
 
I like the audio books a lot (podcasts too) - on my trip from FL out to AZ for Desert Rendezvous most of Texas and New Mexico was a blur as I was deeply engrossed in an audio book as I passed across I-10. Great way to lay down the miles.
 
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