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RTDNTOTO šŸ» Random Thoughts Deserving No Thread Of Their Own 20 (2025)

Maister said:
My brother is nearly 6'5" and has super long legs. He complains constantly about car manufacturers not designing their products with folks like him in mind. I wonder what cars NBA players drive? Are there certain models of cars that really tall people do well with? And what about cars for the tubby?
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A cousin of mine is a bit taller than that and quite big/muscular and I remember one family gathering 15 or 20 years ago where he showed up driving a VW New Beetle and said it was one of the most comfortable cars he had ever owned. The round roofline gave him plenty of headspace and he was able to put his seat back quite far. It worked for him but of course there was roughly zero room for anybody to sit behind him (not there there is much space in the back of a Beetle anyway).

His wife and kids are all pretty tall too and they've always had full size vans as their family cars but he's had a few Beetles over the years for his car to and from his office and when he didn't have a Beetle it was some other smaller sports car (I remember a couple Mustangs and a Porsche Boxster and now that he's been retired for a while it's been Corvettes). I think his theory is that with a sportscar he doesn't really need to worry about anybody behind him so he can just put his front seat as far back as he wants. I was surprised when he got his first Corvette as that looked like it had a particularly low roofline but apparently the seat is low enough to the ground that it makes up for the space.

He also preferred vans over SUVs for the whole family because it was easier to get them customized to have captains chairs in the back instead of bench seats and they could raise and lower those captains chairs and recline them and make them a lot more comfortably.

There's a Detroit Piston in my neighborhood who's pretty tall. He drives the Maybach version of the G-Wagon. Pricey for sure but it's so tall and boxy it looks like there has got to be a lot of space in there.
 
I bake cookies every year on the first day of school. Our oldest is in 10th grade now so between that and kindergarten and a few years of preschool, I think that makes 13 years worth of Back-to-School-Cookies!

The kids' have half days today and the high school got out at 10:50 AM and it only took our oldest about 5 minutes to walk home. I had just finished taking the last batch out of the oven (I baked about 180 cookies this year) when her and a couple friends came in and started pawing through them. We need to go back to full days for day 1!

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This guy was hanging out at the entrance of my hood. A big boy got one of my neighbor's dogs two weeks ago. Older dog got out at night and wandered too close to the lake. Really sad. :'( It's a regular wild kingdom here. This morning on my walk I saw deer, armadillo (they will really tear your yard up), a fox (first time for that), two rabbits and a possum.

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WSU MUP Student said:
A cousin of mine is a bit taller than that and quite big/muscular and I remember one family gathering 15 or 20 years ago where he showed up driving a VW New Beetle and said it was one of the most comfortable cars he had ever owned. The round roofline gave him plenty of headspace and he was able to put his seat back quite far. It worked for him but of course there was roughly zero room for anybody to sit behind him (not there there is much space in the back of a Beetle anyway).
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Kia Soul. My son is 6'3" and loved driving his sister's Kia Soul for the head and legroom. Surprisingly roomy in some of those boxy little cars.
 
My mom wanted to see first day of school photos of her granddaughters so I finally found a good use for ChatGPT: I took a regular photo of my daughter and fed it into the app and asked it to make her into a Juggalo. I sent that to my mom telling her our daughter insisted on waking up early so she could take her time and do her make-up the way she wanted to for her first day.

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WSU MUP Student said:
My mom wanted to see first day of school photos of her granddaughters so I finally found a good use for ChatGPT: I took a regular photo of my daughter and fed it into the app and asked it to make her into a Juggalo. I sent that to my mom telling her our daughter insisted on waking up early so she could take her time and do her make-up the way she wanted to for her first day.

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She's missing a 2 liter of Faygo lemon lime pop.
 
Maister said:
She's missing a 2 liter of Faygo lemon lime pop.
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She could probably fit a few cans into the clarinet case.

FWIW, every year since 6th or 7th grade her and her friends try to do some sort of coordinated Halloween costumes and every year I suggest they all go as Juggalos and every year she shoots that idea down.
 
WSU MUP Student said:
My mom wanted to see first day of school photos of her granddaughters so I finally found a good use for ChatGPT: I took a regular photo of my daughter and fed it into the app and asked it to make her into a Juggalo. I sent that to my mom telling her our daughter insisted on waking up early so she could take her time and do her make-up the way she wanted to for her first day.
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Juggalo's are actually misunderstood, allot of them are good people with good values. Their community is very tight knight and tend to look out for each other.

Punks LOOOOOVE to rip on Juggalos especially on r/punk and r/hardcore, until someone shuts the elitists down by pointing out that Juggalo's treat each other better than we do and have a greater sense of social solidarity between them. I.e. A Juggalo is a Juggalo is a Juggalo, its not like Crust Punks vs. Chain Punks vs. Eggpunks vs. Skinheads* vs. Mods vs. Hardcores vs. Straight Edgers vs. Peace Punks vs. Insert 250 more variants here.

* = Buffalo only tolerates the anti-racist version of these. We keep our city clean in that regard, even if the rest of it is falling apart.
 
I had a friend who was a parking ticket cop in college on campus. A student job. He had a friend who was a big Insane Clown Posse fan who had a big window sticker on his car. One day, my friend wrote him an official ticket disparaging the car and ICP.... got fired for it.
 
zman said:
I had a friend who was a parking ticket cop in college on campus. A student job. He had a friend who was a big Insane Clown Posse fan who had a big window sticker on his car. One day, my friend wrote him an official ticket disparaging the car and ICP.... got fired for it.
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I was in student government so my tickets always seemed to get ā€œlostā€ and never processed.
 
The Terminator said:
Juggalo's are actually misunderstood, allot of them are good people with good values. Their community is very tight knight and tend to look out for each other.

Punks LOOOOOVE to rip on Juggalos especially on r/punk and r/hardcore, until someone shuts the elitists down by pointing out that Juggalo's treat each other better than we do and have a greater sense of social solidarity between them. I.e. A Juggalo is a Juggalo is a Juggalo, its not like Crust Punks vs. Chain Punks vs. Eggpunks vs. Skinheads* vs. Mods vs. Hardcores vs. Straight Edgers vs. Peace Punks vs. Insert 250 more variants here.

* = Buffalo only tolerates the anti-racist version of these. We keep our city clean in that regard, even if the rest of it is falling apart.
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One of my older sisters never really cared about ICP, but being from the Detroit area we've known who they were for a very long time. One summer maybe 10 or 15 years ago she decided to join a friend of hers and go to a Gathering of the Juggalos and she loved it. I think she's now been to like 10 of them over the years.

Also, if you have never seen it, I highly recommend the Workaholics episode where the guys go to a Gathering of the Juggalos. One of the best episodes of a truly underrated show.
 
Hey, I headed something off at the pass last night at Planning Board (that is, gave a full-on presentation of "what is this and why was I notified" thingy - and it was a slide deck (see, didn't say PowerPoint!)) and by golly, it worked - no questions!
 
luckless pedestrian said:
Hey, I headed something off at the pass last night at Planning Board (that is, gave a full-on presentation of "what is this and why was I notified" thingy - and it was a slide deck (see, didn't say PowerPoint!)) and by golly, it worked - no questions!
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There is a certain surge of power one feels when an potentially unruly roomful of people is silenced by your ability. In my case I can never tell if it's my ability or my shocking hair, but either way, I have CHOSEN to feel a surge of power! :)
 
Today is last official day of work for the City of Reno, even though I cleaned out my desk and turned everything in weeks ago.

My vacation payout begins tomorrow; I expect to have a job announcement before that runs dry. Right now Iā€™m waiting for some Iā€™s to be dotted and tā€™s to be crossed. Iā€™m still interviewing though, because it never hurts to do so. In fact, Iā€™m heading up to Susanville, California this morning for an interview for transportation planner/system manager. And I have another interview with the state of Nevada in Carson City tomorrow. Oh, and Iā€™ll squeeze in my regularly-scheduled Planning Commission meeting tonight in Virginia City.

My references report they got a couple calls about me this week from state agencies. But with the state IT network having been down for two weeks, HR canā€™t do anything beyond that.
 
I don't have any great random thoughts to give at this moment. So I'm just going to sit here and wait for one to come along because I don't like seeing the RTDNTOTO sit and idle. It's bad for the environment. The idling of significant threads spews contaminants into the atmosphere we are all breathing here. I think it's been proven and that's why all the new cars shut themselves off when they are at stoplights. I remember the day that I learned the word "semaphore" and then started using it all the time to sound like a smarty-pants. Pants are funny. I wore corduroy this week. My daughters thrifted me some 90's Eddie Bauer cords. I felt V cool. VVVVV cool.

BUT I WAS......

wrong.gif
 
jumbach said:
Today is last official day of work for the City of Reno, even though I cleaned out my desk and turned everything in weeks ago.

My vacation payout begins tomorrow; I expect to have a job announcement before that runs dry. Right now Iā€™m waiting for some Iā€™s to be dotted and tā€™s to be crossed. Iā€™m still interviewing though, because it never hurts to do so. In fact, Iā€™m heading up to Susanville, California this morning for an interview for transportation planner/system manager. And I have another interview with the state of Nevada in Carson City tomorrow. Oh, and Iā€™ll squeeze in my regularly-scheduled Planning Commission meeting tonight in Virginia City.

My references report they got a couple calls about me this week from state agencies. But with the state IT network having been down for two weeks, HR canā€™t do anything beyond that.
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Im sending you mucho posi vibes!!!

Random thought: There is a druggie motel in a dodgy section of my city where an abandoned 1989-1991 Plymouth Acclaim has been sitting for 5+ years. It's rust free but covered in grime and definitely does not run. Code enforcement visits this property often, and our PD can and does repo abandoned ownerless vehicles. I am having naughty thoughts because I have always wanted an Acclaim, the Chrysler 2.5l is not a hard motor to work on or resurrect.

My even randomer thought...our Planning Dept does not have a dedicated vehicle. If I can get the thing running and titled to the City, it would make a great beater Planning car and would probably give us the distinction of operating the oldest regular service municipal car in NYS. Parts for 90s Mopar junk aren't terrible to find/price. I think I have maybe a 20% chance of making it happen if I catch my DPW head and City Admin on a good day lol #phatchance
 
The Terminator said:
It's because I was a child in the 1990s and my taste in cars is frozen from when I was 6/7 years old. My friend's mom had a really bitchin '95 Acclaim with a 5 speed, green exterior on grey cloth interior.
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I am sorry to be the one who has to tell you this, but "really bitchin" is not something anyone should ever say about a '94 Acclaim. It does not matter if your friend was named Stacy and her mom had it going on... you should never say that about a '94 Acclaim.

If it was this, then sure...
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or
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...but not a 95 Acclaim.

Please, for the love a all things motorized vehicles, go rent the movie American Graffiti and watch it. You won't be disappointed.
 
What does everyone think was the LEAST COOL car of all time? For whatever reason, whatever criteria you choose to apply, make your arguments for it. Go...
 
Drove to an interview up in Susanville today, about 90 miles north, for a transit manager job.

I failed wildly, mostly because I donā€™t know the most recent statutes in California pertaining to transit, since I havenā€™t lived there since 2005. But Susanville is California only geographically; culturally, itā€™s Oregon-sans-Portland.

But, when I left the interview, I turned my phone back on. It was the state of Nevada, offering me a planning-adjacent job. (Dealing with water projects throughout the state.)

I start Monday, September 15.
 
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jumbach said:
Drove to an interview up in Susanville today, about 90 miles north, for a transit manager job.

I failed wildly, mostly because I donā€™t know the most recent statutes in California pertaining to transit, since I havenā€™t lived there since 2005. But Susanville is California only geographically; culturally, itā€™s Oregon-sans-Portland.

But, when I left the interview, I turned my phone back on. It was the state of Nevada, offering me a planning-adjacent job. (Dealing with water projects throughout the state.)

I start Monday, September 15.
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Say hi to Vinny, she works the Arizona side of water things.
 
As much turmoil as there is in my life, you can always count on me to be here at the courthouse (or online) when itā€™s PC night.

Tonight, the newest addition to the Planning Department, Jessica Prager, takes the mike for the first time. Iā€™ll be sure to give her a hard time. šŸ™‚

ā€œWhat effect will this transmission line have on the duck population of Botswana?ā€
 
michaelskis said:
I am sorry to be the one who has to tell you this, but "really bitchin" is not something anyone should ever say about a '94 Acclaim. It does not matter if your friend was named Stacy and her mom had it going on... you should never say that about a '94 Acclaim.

If it was this, then sure...
View attachment 65264
or
View attachment 65265

...but not a 95 Acclaim.

Please, for the love a all things motorized vehicles, go rent the movie American Graffiti and watch it. You won't be disappointed.
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My FIL built the '32 over the past couple years, I think it is my wife's (my) inheritance!
 
jumbach said:
As much turmoil as there is in my life, you can always count on me to be here at the courthouse (or online) when itā€™s PC night.

Tonight, the newest addition to the Planning Department, Jessica Prager, takes the mike for the first time. Iā€™ll be sure to give her a hard time. šŸ™‚

ā€œWhat effect will this transmission line have on the duck population of Botswana?ā€
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I'm on my fair city's Board of Adjustment.

I ALWAYS make sure to ask a question of staff.
 
dandy_warhol said:
Saw a McLaren from Switzerland on the drive into work today. I tried really hard to not look at it but it was pretty cool.
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High end sports cars are not uncommon in my area and there are a couple McLarens I see around town on occasion and those definitely get my attention. I saw one yesterday parked in front of the little grocery store a few blocks away when I was on my walk yesterday afternoon. I was very tempted to cross the street to go get a better look.
 
WSU MUP Student said:
High end sports cars are not uncommon in my area and there are a couple McLarens I see around town on occasion and those definitely get my attention. I saw one yesterday parked in front of the little grocery store a few blocks away when I was on my walk yesterday afternoon. I was very tempted to cross the street to go get a better look.
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Take a photo for me! I've yet to see a McLaren on the east side lol.

Sometimes I wonder how many zoning permits I've signed off on during my 20+ year career.
 
WSU MUP Student said:
High end sports cars are not uncommon in my area and there are a couple McLarens I see around town on occasion and those definitely get my attention. I saw one yesterday parked in front of the little grocery store a few blocks away when I was on my walk yesterday afternoon. I was very tempted to cross the street to go get a better look.
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I am in the same boat down here. Some are amazing and some are just ugly. One guy has this color change green/purpose Lamborghini that almost has a metallic/mirrored finish. My gym seems to attract several high end vehicles as well. I have seen a Rolls Royce, Lamborghini SUV, Ferrari California, Bugatti, Aston Martin, Audi R8, and more. And then there is me in my stock 9 year old F150...

*I agree with @btrage. I have never seen a McLaren in the wild.

Although the coolest one was a red Plymouth Prowler that had a hemi 6.2 Hellcat motor.
 
michaelskis said:
I am in the same boat down here. Some are amazing and some are just ugly. One guy has this color change green/purpose Lamborghini that almost has a metallic/mirrored finish. My gym seems to attract several high end vehicles as well. I have seen a Rolls Royce, Lamborghini SUV, Ferrari California, Bugatti, Aston Martin, Audi R8, and more. And then there is me in my stock 9 year old F150...

*I agree with @btrage. I have never seen a McLaren in the wild.

Although the coolest one was a red Plymouth Prowler that had a hemi 6.2 Hellcat motor.
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Along with the McLaren, the Audi R8 is the other supercar that turns my head every time I see one. I know they're not on the same level as the McLaren but I think it's a cooler car. If I were ever to buy some sort of "supercar", it would be the R8, I love that thing (though I'd actually rather have the RS8 station wagon but I don't think Audi imports those into the U.S. anymore?

The Plymouth Prowler was a crazy car. I saw one of those driving around the area a couple weeks ago - somebody probably took it out of their garage for the Woodward Dream Cruise in the middle of August. The Prowler was a crazy car that sort of launched a whole genre of retroish design with things like the PT Cruiser, Chevy SSR truck and HHR crossover thing, and the final generation of the Ford Thunderbird. None of them were as "out there" as the Prowler (though you could get the SSR with a 6.0L engine which is sort of insane for how small that truck was). I always really liked that final generation of T-Birds but remember reading that people liked the exteriors but complained about the cheap trim and features used on the interiors. I still see some of those T-Birds around every once in a while though. There is a guy around the corner from me who has one in his garage. I've never actually seen it out of the garage but one day I hope to see a "For Sale" sign on it because I am curious...
 
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