I hope to some day reach that level of comfort with a bar in Florence somewhere, but it seems unlikely in the near term :)

Certainly in Italy they have a “table service” charge. Particularly blatant with coffee, where you get a 2 euro cappucchino if you drink it at the counter, but it’s more like 5 euro if you sit and drink it. Restaurants you don’t even notice it since there’s no option for not sitting down (take out, I suppose?), and…

I’ve honestly tried to elevate the fashion in my office a bit. But it’s an engineering gig. My shirts always have a collar and I already feel like a NARC.

What’s with Switzerland and long stretches of infrastructure? I drove through the Gothard Road Tunnel back in May, which was both awe-inspiring (from an engineering standpoint) and kind of terrifying (from a claustrophobia standpoint), and then this?

Re : NH insurance, a crazy adendum to that law is that you don’t need insurance, UNLESS you get into an at-fault accident, at which point they require you to get insurance going forward. Um, kind of too late there isn’t it????

The rest is a mix of tasteless fibers and industrial additives called maltodextrin, silicon dioxide, sodium phosphate, potassium phosphate and potassium lactate. 

The city nickname thing... you know most of those names were coined by locals, and probably used HEAVILY by locals, until at some point it caught on to outsiders, and the locals who like to feel like they are part of an exclusive club because they’re one of five million people from a metropolitan area immediately…

I think this explains the reason for the convention. The reason for this convention’s continued existence despite designs converging is more likely apathy (or inertia) than anything else.

Unfortuantely it’s usually not basic arithmetic, because most cards use “average daily balance” for calculating the amount to charge interest on.

Is the Facebook application space still a resource hogging behemoth? I’ve mostly weaned off of Facebook in general but even in my limited use I just use the mobile website because their apps kill my phone.

Well, speaking as someone without a dishwasher, it’s so you can wash it without shredding your sponge?

Well, speaking as someone without a dishwasher, it’s so you can wash it without shredding your sponge?

As recently as 2014 Subaru models were plowing through oil. My in-laws bought a Forester, 6 speed, that went through a quart or more ever 3000 miles. All maintenance done by Subaru, who claimed the oil consumption to be “normal.” Before they got to 20k miles they got rid of it because oil consumption got worse but…

It’s not sad when someone dies because you feel for the person who actually died — your sympathy is useless ot them, they’re dead. You feel bad for their loved ones, who are not responsible for the stupid actions of their friend or relative.

“Why do people keep trying gluten free diets?”

I know everyone hates this one because the plates look dumb, but the general idea isn’t dumb. Everyone recognizes the need for license plates. Making it easier to identify vehicles is a “good idea” (though most of us would not like to be easily recognized if we do something wrong). The problem is that American…

Gotta agree with this one. Spent a good ten years of my young life with that feeling. I know “buying new” is a dirty phrase to some people because of depreciation and blah blah but man is it worth it for piece of mind, to me (at least, now that I can afford it...)

Which statement are you referring to? We both seem complimentary about the car, not sure what you’re contradicting here.

For sure. And people pay attention WAY less here. In Europe it’s more of an active sport but at least everyone is playing with the same set of rules.

Pff, where’s your sense of adventure?

Corner exits. Straight line acceleration is fine. It probably doesn’t help that I’m in the northeast and the stock tires are “all-seasons” (despite the fact that I put snows on in the winter) rather than summers.