So trivial, yet it really ticks you off.

[Formeruser012523]

We got our own version of royalty over here in God’s Country — celebrities from the world of entertainment, mostly.

Evidence? Box-office numbers are top-of-the-hour news. Whatever attire some women named Kim K and Lady Gaga wore to something called the Met Gala (whatever that is) is a matter of great public interest, judging by the level of press coverage it receives. And even I, who devotes as little attention to such things as can be reasonably accomplished while living in the wider world, knows more than I ever cared to know about one Brad Pitt and one Jennifer Anniston and one Angelina Jolie.

Why do we even know their names? Why I try to keep my television off but I often fail miserably.

I will note: I was surprised that Prince William and Kate Middleton had a third kid. Here, in the US at least, 2 kids is considered standard, UNLESS you have the same gender (which makes having a third socially acceptable, to "try" for another gender). Having three kids when you already have a boy/girl is often viewed as slightly excessive. I haven't seen any push back on the couple for expanding their family to three; which I would expect in the US culturally and in the UK at least from the sense that they are supported by the public. My understanding is that families are relatively small in the UK as well (2 kids or less; 3 is considered large).

Look at it this way, an excessive amount of children gets them their own television show. lol At least in the US.

 

[sheeplady]

Look at it this way, an excessive amount of children gets them their own television show. lol At least in the US.

Growing up, the largest families I knew (contemporary to me as a kid in the 80s and 90s) had 6 kids. I grew up in upstate NY. Sometimes you'd see slightly larger in blended families, but that was pretty much it.

In the area I live, there are many Mennonite families, and these families tend to have more children. Families with 8 kids are common. The largest I've seen have around 12 children. In many cases, because the large families are so, well, large, it leads to larger families being more common in the general population. Granted, they aren't all 12 kids, but families of 4, 5, or 6 aren't uncommon.

 

[tonyb]

I have an aunt and uncle who had an even dozen kids — three sets of twins among them — the old-fashioned way. They’re farm people, and Catholic. And where they live it gets real cold in the winter. And the nights are long.

You know those stick-figure family decals you see on the back windows of SUVs and minivans? You know, a stick-figure daddy and a stick-figure mommy and a couple three or four stick-figure kids and maybe a stick-figure dog and/or cat?

Ever seen the photo of the stick-figure daddy and three stick-figure mommies and at least a dozen stick-figure kids on that Grand Caravan with the Utah plates?

 

[Zombie_61]

One of my classmates from elementary school through most of high school (he stopped showing up) had seven brothers and six sisters, and he was the second youngest of the brood. Yep, 14 kids. Nice people, but I'd be surprised to find out any of 'em had an IQ higher than 80.

 

[Lean'n'mean]

One woman's luxury is another woman's prison. Or sometimes even the same woman.

We are all caged, every bar built by our own constraints....the important thing is to possess the key to the lock so that we may evade, if only temporarily. Most Louis Vuitton or Gucci cages come with a key as opposed to those of more humble manufacturers.

 

[GHT]

There's a few on this forum that rather like the bars of their MGB V8 prison.

 

[Edward]

There's a few on this forum that rather like the bars of their MGB V8 prison.

I wouldn't say no to being forced to drive one of those (long as somebody else picked up the tab for the insurance and the fuel bill, obvs!).

 

[tonyb]

I wouldn't say no to being forced to drive one of those (long as somebody else picked up the tab for the insurance and the fuel bill, obvs!).

What are y’all paying for gasoline (‘scuse me, petrol) these days?

Around here, it was a whisker under two bucks a gallon a few months back. Now it’s around $2.70, and inching up every couple-three days.

Those MGB V8s had that Buick-clone Rover 215 cubic inch aluminum block engine, right? I’d think you could get around 20 mpg out of that setup, what with the relatively light car and all. Or is that just wishful?

 

[tonyb]

Yes, I know, there are few wastes of one’s energy to compare to complaining about the weather.

I awoke this morning, May 9, to fresh snow on the ground.

 

[Lean'n'mean]

What are y’all paying for gasoline (‘scuse me, petrol) these days?

Around here, it was a whisker under two bucks a gallon a few months back. Now it’s around $2.70, and inching up every couple-three days.

I believe the average in the UK is around £1.20 a litre, if we say for arguments sake that there are 4 litres to a gallon, that makes £4.80 & gallon or $6.24 using an online converter.
Please note: there are 3.78 litres in an American gallon & 4.54 litres in an imperial gallon, that's way too complicated for me to do the sums.

 

[GHT]

I believe the average in the UK is around £1.20 a litre, if we say for arguments sake that there are 4 litres to a gallon, that makes £4.80 & gallon or $6.24 using an online converter.
Please note: there are 3.78 litres in an American gallon & 4.54 litres in an imperial gallon, that's way too complicated for me to do the sums.

Lets just say that we pay through the nose. On top of the retail price we pay a fuel tax, then add the fuel tax to the retail price and we then pay value added tax. So we pay tax on a tax, talk about shafted. No wonder Edward has the sense not to run a car.

 

[Lean'n'mean]

Lets just say that we pay through the nose. On top of the retail price we pay a fuel tax, then add the fuel tax to the retail price and we then pay value added tax. So we pay tax on a tax, talk about shafted. No wonder Edward has the sense not to run a car.

You should get your yellow vests on & start protesting like the French.

 

[Edward]

What are y’all paying for gasoline (‘scuse me, petrol) these days?

Around here, it was a whisker under two bucks a gallon a few months back. Now it’s around $2.70, and inching up every couple-three days.

Those MGB V8s had that Buick-clone Rover 215 cubic inch aluminum block engine, right? I’d think you could get around 20 mpg out of that setup, what with the relatively light car and all. Or is that just wishful?

I think that was the birdy, yes. The regular MGB these days seems to average around 20-22mpg; my Dad used to get that in a 1973 MGBGT, slightly better on a longer run on the motorway. The V8s are thirstier, anywhere between 15 and 21 mpg depending on how much town driving you do. I'm not up to date with current fuel prices (I haven't driven in twenty years), but on average fuel has always been about three times the price in the UK that it is in the US. Mostly tax, though you also have to factor in that we have absolutely zero domestic production.

Lets just say that we pay through the nose. On top of the retail price we pay a fuel tax, then add the fuel tax to the retail price and we then pay value added tax. So we pay tax on a tax, talk about shafted. No wonder Edward has the sense not to run a car.

The obvious option is to switch to electric, but I think that industry is still in the Catch 22 of electric cars not being popular because there aren't enough charging points, and there not being enough charging points because electric cars aren't yet popular enough. The black cab industry will go electric very soon I suspect, then we'll see big changes.

 

[KILO NOVEMBER]

Lets just say that we pay through the nose. On top of the retail price we pay a fuel tax, then add the fuel tax to the retail price and we then pay value added tax. So we pay tax on a tax, talk about shafted. No wonder Edward has the sense not to run a car.

"One for you nineteen for me ..."

 

[GHT]

"One for you nineteen for me ..."

You are showing your age, but that is so apt.

 

[tonyb]

…

The obvious option is to switch to electric, but I think that industry is still in the Catch 22 of electric cars not being popular because there aren't enough charging points, and there not being enough charging points because electric cars aren't yet popular enough. The black cab industry will go electric very soon I suspect, then we'll see big changes.

In traffic yesterday I found myself directly behind an all-electric car bearing a vanity plate reading SOLR EV.

The mildly annoying self-congratulatory nature of that license plate aside, I'm all in favor of electric vehicles charged with photovoltaic panels. Three miles or so from where I sit at present is a public transit station with a large lot for commuter parking. The lot isn't quite "open"; the parking spaces are open at the sides but covered with carport-like roofs, which are themselves covered with photovoltaic panels. Plug-in hybrids and EVs get "gassed up" while their owners are off at work or shopping or recreating downtown or whatever. And when they return to retrieve their vehicles, they are literally driving on sunshine.

Before EVs become the norm -- as I'd wager they will, sooner than most of us would have predicted not so long ago -- we had better tackle how we'll fund road construction and maintenance and other transportation infrastructure, which is now largely dependent on gasoline taxes.

 

[Lean'n'mean]

Before EVs become the norm -- as I'd wager they will, sooner than most of us would have predicted not so long ago -- we had better tackle how we'll fund road construction and maintenance and other transportation infrastructure, which is now largely dependent on gasoline taxes.

Don't worry, they'll find a way of taxing the electrickery at the charging points.
How enough electricity will be produced to regularly recharge all the billions of vehicules that will come into use is yet unknown, especialy when combined with the move away from fossil fuel & nuclear power stations. Where to find all the minerals & metals needed for the batteries may pose some problems too.

 

[Edward]

It's a whole series of challenges, of course, though in the UK part of the saving may be made up by fewer lung-related illnesses needing to be treated by the NHS if the switch to EVs means significantly cleaner air in the cities. I imagine Beijing will be studied in this regard, given the policy shift there to encourage EVs (most of them two-wheelers, which can be bought cheaply and require neither insurance nor a licence(!)) which seems to have already paid dividends in improved air quality. I would hope though that the shift is allowed to be gradual (resources required to build a new EV as opposed to continuing to use an old one and not replace it prematurely) and sensible (some policies suggested over the years here would have seen it become very hard to drive a vintage hobby car on the public roads).

 

[Edward]

Don't worry, they'll find a way of taxing the electrickery at the charging points.
How enough electricity will be produced to regularly recharge all the billions of vehicules that will come into use is yet unknown, especially when combined with the move away from fossil fuel & nuclear power stations. Where to find all the minerals & metals needed for the batteries may pose some problems too.

UK roads are paid for our of general taxation; fuel tax pours into that pot, so I'm sure there will be some other way of doing it as we go along.

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

UK roads are paid for our of general taxation; fuel tax pours into that pot, so I'm sure there will be some other way of doing it as we go along.

For quite some time California has been toying with the idea of replacing the gas tax with a mileage tax. Reason: After years of encouraging more fuel efficient and/or electric vehicles, gas tax revenue has dwindled.