This was a much better rental car than I expected. it was really kind of fun. Fast, powerful, and surprisingly solid. It has those paddle shifter things on the steering wheel and the were kind of fun – with a 6 speed automatic transmission. It’s too bad I couldn’t find anyplace to drive it fast.
It was also very quiet and had a pretty nice stereo. Really, an unexpectedly good car.
We visited the Hessenpark in Germany with our friend Peter. It was pretty cool – it is a park where old buildings from all over Germany that are slated for destruction are trucked and reassembled. They also practice traditional period handcrafts such as indigo dye and rope making and farming.
I was listening to Christian Radio in a red state recently and heard a news break between the adulational Christian soft rock/country exhort Christians to vote their conscious. The commentator was, to my liberal ears, neutral in his repeated statements about voting one’s conscious until he said “I honestly believe that if the liberals win the presidency we will see Christians going to jail.”
Some of what followed I couldn’t hear behind my own laughter, but I think he said something about a liberal senate, house, and presidency having unchecked powers to criminalize evangelicals and jail them for their beliefs.
On the one hand this sort of fear mongering seems just bat excrement crazy, and a fringe not representative of the mainstream of conservative thought. On the other hand…
I got a Toyota Land Cruiser as a rental car for the first time. It was kind of absurd as a rental. Oversized and a bit mushy, but otherwise it was a perfectly competent car. I still don’t get the “luxury 4WD” concept. I understand luxury cars – they are about comfort. But I don’t get a vehicle that’s premise is to be durable and tough yet coddles it’s occupants as if they’re eggs. You should be able to climb into a 4WD vehicle covered in mud and not think twice about the interior.
I rented a Pontiac Grand Prix in Canada. It’s a slightly sporty car that otherwise doesn’t stand out in any way. The stereo doesn’t have line/ipod inputs but works. The knob based control system has lots of identical knobs making it easy to change tuning instead of adjusting volume or vice versa. Otherwise fairly comfortable and basically a competent rental car.
I got a chance to experience the new UAL business class pods on a UAL international flight routed from Zurich through San Francisco to Sidney. As it is one of the first six 767’s out of about 100 with the new Panasonic seat pods, a system-trained UAL employee was on board to answer questions. My observations are:
Red State Wackiness
I was listening to Christian Radio in a red state recently and heard a news break between the adulational Christian soft rock/country exhort Christians to vote their conscious. The commentator was, to my liberal ears, neutral in his repeated statements about voting one’s conscious until he said “I honestly believe that if the liberals win the presidency we will see Christians going to jail.”
Some of what followed I couldn’t hear behind my own laughter, but I think he said something about a liberal senate, house, and presidency having unchecked powers to criminalize evangelicals and jail them for their beliefs.
On the one hand this sort of fear mongering seems just bat excrement crazy, and a fringe not representative of the mainstream of conservative thought. On the other hand…
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Category: Politics