I’d rather get an Epiphone than a Gibson at this point; the quality’s better and you get more bang for your buck. Or, as someone else has said, “Get a Gibson for $3500 and you get a good $700 guitar.”

Juszkiewicz seems to have the business sense of your average snail. Gibson’s treatment of the Cakewalk music software - buy the company, leave it alone, and then shut it down - was a big waste of money and alienated a whole bunch of fans, just like his other decisions. The turnover rates at Gibson are mind-boggling,…

That’s been a major complaint about Gibson - they want every store, even ones that don’t/can’t sell in volume, to sell in volume. A lot of mom & pop stores ditched Gibson and have gone to other brands; Fender must be sending Gibson a thank you note every month for the increase in sales.

Heritage Guitar Inc. - made up of people who stayed when Gibson left - beat you to it.

I didn’t want to string anyone along.

Yup, and they mentioned Jerry as well, still working on his TV show idea. And that means that Seinfeld, Mad About You, and Friends are in the same universe, since the ditzy waitress Lisa Kudrow played is supposed to be Phoebe’s twin sister, Ursula. (This later got contradicted by episodes of Seinfeld, where Mad About…

I was told my flight from Dulles to CDG on Air France wouldn’t have a meal (we left at 11pm), so I had a bacon cheeseburger and two beers. On the flight, my family had dishes that were so mouth-watering, they took pity on me and allowed me a bite, which made it worse since it was so good. On the way back I had their…

Seconded. San Francisco’s food choices were tops in my book. The worst so far was Logan in Boston; the seafood place (Phillips) was awful. They offer an awful lobster, and I had the best one on the Cape that weekend.

Yes, but assume that the full rule will be enforced; each airport handles the rules of TSAPre differently.

When I was at Denver airport with my mom going back to Atlanta, I got soup for her and a sandwich for me from Quiznos. I was very tempted to get another sandwich and take it on the plane with me; next time I travel I’ll do that. Screw tiny, expensive snacks.

I still remember the pilot I worked with many moons ago; he had a sticker on his flight briefcase that had the old Continental logo with a death’s head on it and the legend “Don’t Fly Continental”. For a pilot to have that, it must have meant something.

I’ve heard her speak a few times on NPR and The Daily Show, so I’ve got three of her books - this one, The Wordy Shipmates, and Unfamiliar Fishes - on my Christmas list.

I was hoping for Tasmia as well. Would have been cool to see her done right.

I’ve read about that idea, and agree - the more I read about the wars, the more it seems like a continuation of ills that plagued Europe at the end of the 1800s. French Marshall Ferdinand Foch said the end of WWI wasn’t a peace, but a 20-years armistice, and he was only off by less than a year.

The Sykes-Picot Agreement - which divided up the Ottoman Empire between Britain, France, and Russia - is considered a main reason for all of the strife in the Middle East. This article seems to explain it better than I can:

One connection to the Chevalier was Pierre Beaumarchais, the playright of The Barber of Seville and The Marriage of Figaro, who was sent to London in the 1770s to bring d’Eon back to France. Beaumarchais was an inventor, writer, adventurer, and spy (among other things), and Sarah Vowell has a rather amusing story…

I have a feeling that in the spirit of empire and conquest the Middle East would have been conquered and divvied up at some point (like Africa was). But you’re right about the crucial - probably never in history has the drawing of a map caused so much grief due to ignorance and/or blind arrogance.

Harry Turtledove does a lot of other alt-history stories - what if the Spanish Armada had won over England, or what if Josef Stalin had moved to the U.S. as a kid and eventually entered politics while being as ruthless as the original. The Southern Victory series is pretty sprawling, and he’s dedicated more books to…

Sounds along the lines of this book:

Work at a Dönitz shop?