Dang thing keeps dropping my photos:

Good lesson. Class makes much of “collar gap”—here is Fussel on Al Haig:

I see someone else has read Class...

Oh, snap!

Dunno about Amsterdam, but here in Connecticut, I get lots of “thanks!” and other gratitude when I use my bell. It’s handy.

OK, let’s make a distinction between being cautious and being nervous. I’m a cautious rider, and that leads me to take the lane when I need to. A nervous rider is another matter, staying as far as possible out of traffic (e.g., riding in the gutter) even when that puts them at risk. A cautious rider knows that…

No, no, no, no. Simply an agent. I keep telling people, I’m a devil’s advocate, not the Devil’s advocate.

That’s an interesting question. It’s a really interesting question, and the answer is (at least in my state, which is not hers, AFAIK, and probably not yours) “Maybe”:

Sometimes, they’re what you’ve got. I use them sparingly, but I’m an attorney, and from time to time, I do use them (e.g., in the case of another attorney who for a significant period wouldn’t show up to meetings or return phone calls).

Conservatorship is a fascinating thing—essentially, you lose virtually all of the rights guaranteed you under the constitution and have them vested in the hands of others. Placing conservatorship in the hands of probate courts is both a cause for concern (in that many probate courts are not well-equipped to make this…

Sounds like a job for a sociology graduate student! No, I’m not kidding. I’ve played all three roles...sometimes all at once...and it never, ever paid like that!

I know this is off-topic, but: A comment on smartphones. I was installing a gadget in my car this afternoon when I realized that there was a problem with one of the parts I had been sent. I was able to talk to technical support, take and send a photograph, even look up an email from last week to show the day I made…

Hey, I’m just a devil’s advocate, not the Devil’s advocate. Scylla of me, I know.

I’m an attorney. I get most of my ties from Goodwill. $2.50 each. You have to go through the rack, but I find a lot of very nice designs, and I’ll be damned if I’m going to pay $40 or $80 for a tie.

If all you need is a hold through thin material, then this is something you don’t need. On the other hand, if you’re talking about, for example, assembling some 1/2" thick items, then either drill with them clamped together (not always possible) or use a guide. Sometimes it matters that the hole is perpendicular to…

I had young kids at the time the movie was in theaters, so I saw it. I absolutely hated it. It was a wannabe animation film, second-rate in almost every respect except its disregard for history of any kind.

I use all three, each for a different purpose. OneDrive for personal stuff, DropBox for one organization I work with, Google for a couple of others. In addition, for my own professional work, I have OneDrive for business.

Unless you’ve lived in Chicago, you have no idea how true that joke rings. You don’t think of yourself as living in illinois. More than once in my time there, I heard people talk about having a “Chicago driver license.”

I don’t know if it’s a matter of quality so much as it is national pride ;-). I am told that French youngsters are taught to write with fountain pens, and so it may simply be that French paper manufacturers make a different (not necessarily better) type of paper. I like the Herbin, but I wouldn’t say that it’s in any…

J. Herbin ink, using a Pilot Metropolitan fine nib: