It weighed 3,000 lbs. About the same as most compacts today. This isn’t about whether it’s a good car, or whether it had problems. This is QOTD asks what car was ahead of its time. I still maintain the Pacer was ahead of its time in terms of several aspects of its design.

I think a case could also be made for the Pacer. (My first car!) Besides the general rounded design, which would have looked unremarkable 15 years or so later, it really had some thought put into usability. Great visibility from those windows, and ease of access with the longer passenger-side door, etc. I also remember…

I often have a real craving for something I’ve been making as a snack for years. I put some rolled oats (old fashioned are best) in a bowl, add a spoonful of peanut butter, a pinch of salt, some brown sugar, and some butter. Microwave for about 45-60 seconds, or until the butter is mostly melted. Stir and enjoy! It’s…

A home-grown tomato is like a totally different fruit than a store-bought one. If you’ve never tasted a home-grown tomato, you haven’t tasted a tomato. Home-grown tomato, crispy bacon, and mayo on toasted bread is the food of the gods.

I know a lot of people like Arby’s curly fries, but their new-ish crinkle fries are pretty darn good. I was looking forward to a batch for lunch the other day, then my local Arby’s was out of them!

My initial thought is that it wouldn’t work. You don’t want the butter or shortening in the pastry, which you (should) have taken care to keep solid while making the pastry, to melt before the oven is hot enough to begin vaporizing the water in it.

I don’t mean cooking raw pizza. I’m just talking about warming up pizza from my local place (thin crust tavern-style) that’s been sitting in the refrigerator overnight.

If you’re warming up pizza, I recommend specifically not preheating the oven. Turn it to 400 and immediately put in the pizza (on a foil-lined pan works well). Set the timer for 9 or 10 minutes. The pizza gets to reheat throughout while the oven warms up, then by the time the oven is getting nice and hot, the last…

If you use a mulching mower (or mulching kit), the leaves will almost disappear when you mow over them. I always mulch my leaves instead of raking. If they’re particularly numerous it may take 2 or 3 passes to pulverize them, but it’s still a far better way to handle them than raking.

I agree. I’ve been using some cheap alternate bags from Amazon in our old Litter Locker, and they are fine. It’s not a cartridge-type thing like the original bags, just individual bags that you put through the top that get held in place by the lid of the device. Like you said, a must for a cat owner.

Not nearly often enough, I’m sure. I have cleaned it. At least once.

Is candy food? My friend and I would get boxes of Tart ‘n’ Tinys from the cafeteria snack bar, and dump them in our jacket pockets. Then we could surreptitiously sneak them into our mouths during biology class after lunch. This was before Tart ‘n’ Tinys were candy-coated, and they were just little slugs like tiny…

Speaking of Toro, in 1999 I needed a new mower and decided to spend a little bit more to get a Toro. It was great investment. I have not been gentle with that thing, but it just keeps going all these years later. I think the only things I’ve had to do to it are replace the spark coil and replace the front wheels,…

My grandmother was killed in a crash in 1978, which she probably would have survived if she had been wearing a seatbelt. Since that day, my family have always, always worn our seatbelts. It seems like in some cases, people just don’t get it until it directly affects them, due to a lack of imagination, or a lack of empa…

I don’t fly a lot, but the half-dozen or so times I flew international in the past 10 years, the food was honestly pretty good. I mean, it wasn’t gourmet or anything, but it was better than a Subway sandwich or something.

Maybe you’re thinking of the part about coming down from the trees, etc. at the very beginning of the book?

I freaking hate tab groups, but they are fast becoming impossible to turn off in most browsers. >:(

There are times when nothing satisfies like some Campbell’s tomato soup and a grilled cheese.

Ah, I’ve never run into that particular one myself. Plenty of other issues, though, as you say.

A guy I knew was whining about gas taxes in our state, and that he could get gas for such-and-such amount cheaper in the next state over. I told him that, yes, gas is a little cheaper there, but if you lived there you would be paying about $1600 per year in personal property tax on your cars that you don’t have to pay…