Hot Dogs Tell The Real Story About Comparative Convenience Store Quality

Yes, I'm an easy mark for clickbait, so when I saw the headline "The Best Gas Station Hot Dogs In The US, According To Customers," I went to see the piece at Mashed, mainly to see if the best and the worst (IMO) made a showing. They both did.

The list is not ranked, and the methodology for inclusion leaves a bit to be desired:

[W]e perused online forums, review sites, and social media platforms .... The more positive comments we found about a specific chain, the more likely we were to include the gas station on this list.

Which seems to leave out any balance/ratio of positive to negative comments. So if Chain X's hot dog offering received 10,000 positive comments, it might make the list, even if it also received 250,000 negative comments.

So, QuikTrip and Circle K both made the list. In my opinion, the former belongs there (and, in my experience, in the very top spot), while the latter does not. Here's why:

When I'm able to visit a QuikTrip (they don't have any locations in my area, but I grew to know and love them when I lived up north in St. Louis), the experience is invariably excellent. Not just with hot dogs, but I'll stick to the hot dogs as the example. The roller grill is always full. The hot dogs on the roller grill are always fresh. They're never out of buns. They're never out of condiments. If there's any problem, it gets corrected immediately when called to the attention of an employee, but that doesn't happen very often because at QT they stay on top of things.

When I visit a Circle K -- the predominant c-store chain in my area -- maybe the roller grill has hot dogs (or anything else on it), maybe not. Maybe the hot dogs are reasonably fresh, maybe they've been sitting on the thing for six hours and look like elongated raisins. Maybe there are buns, maybe not. Maybe the buns are soft, maybe they're rock-hard. Maybe the condiment station has onions, jalapenos, sauerkraut, relish, etc., maybe it's empty and the choice is just between packets/bottles of ketchup and mustard (and they may be out of packets and have empty bottles, too).

The roller grill products are pretty much the same, although for some reason Circle K seldom has my favorite, "buffalo chicken sticks," while QT always does. And we're talking about hot dogs here. It's not the products itself in question, it's the ability/willingness to serve that product hot, fresh, with a bun that's also fresh, and with an assortment of decent condiments.

That, in my opinion, comes down to corporate culture.

QT has a "profit-sharing" plan and other employee-happiness stuff going on, and I've run into people who've worked there for a LONG time. In St. Louis, the manager of my nearest QT had a degree in physics ... but just continued with QT after working part-time there in college because he was making more money managing a convenience store than he could make as a physics professor, with less heartburn.

I've simply never had poor service at a QT. The stores are always adequately staffed and the staff is always helpful and friendly. I wondered if the "we can't find help" problems that often get attributed to COVID had hit QT, and had a chance to find out on a trip to St. Louis last year. We flew there but drove back, and during the trip we stopped at two QTs in St. Louis and picked one to gas up / snack up at virtually every chance we had on the way home, hitting our final one in Georgia just north of the Florida state line.

At every QT we visited (the two in St. Louis and, IIRC, four on the drive home), the experience was exactly as described above.

Circle K, on the other hand, seems to have a real problem keeping enough people at work in each store for things to run well. That goes back to before COVID, when my daughter worked at one. The people are friendly, but they're over-worked, which means that when there's a line stretching around the store you're lucky if both registers are operating because sometimes they have one employee trying to do everything. Ringing up sales of pre-packaged goods for waiting customers comes before tending to the roller grill, hooking up new canisters of syrup to the soda fountain, etc.

And believe me, you do not want to see the restrooms at most Circle Ks (at a QT, they're always spotless and I'm always surprised there's not one of those guys standing there to offer you a hot towel and ask if he should call to have your car pulled around front by a valet).

The hot dog listicle is interesting, but it's just about the hot dogs, not about the hot dog buying experience. And, well, for the most part, a hot dog is just a hot dog, so it's the buying experience that tells the real story.

Wordle 1442 Hint

Hint: Most people have at least one; nuns wear theirs. 

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First Letter: H

Interesting

The Federalist Society, which has spent the last decade publicly fellating Donald Trump at every opportunity, finally got its "sooner or later, he turns on everyone" moment yesterday:

I was new to Washington, and it was suggested that I use The Federalist Society as a recommending source on Judges. I did so, openly and freely, but then realized that they were under the thumb of a real “sleazebag” named Leonard Leo, a bad person who, in his own way, probably hates America, and obviously has his own separate ambitions. He openly brags how he controls Judges, and even Justices of the United States Supreme Court — I hope that is not so, and don’t believe it is! In any event, Leo left The Federalist Society to do his own “thing.” I am so disappointed in The Federalist Society because of the bad advice they gave me on numerous Judicial Nominations.

By "bad advice," of course, he means "recommended judges who have since occasionally told me I'm not above the law."

The tipping point was the US International Court of Trade's ruling on Wednesday that his unconstitutional tariffs are, you know, unconstitutional. Unfortunately, that ruling has been stayed pending his appeal, in which I understand he'll be represented by another judge:

Wordle 1441 Hint

Hint: Don't take today's Wordle literally -- it's just a figure of speech.

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First Letter: I

Wordle 1440 Hint

Hint: When a judge says no (to e.g. an indictment or motion).

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First Letter: Q

Wordle 1439 Hint

Hint: Today's Wordle is a real bear ... of the arctic variety.

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First Letter: P

Gave It Time, Finally Moved On ...

At the bottom of this site, and in the middle of the daily Wordle hint posts, I run an ad  -- a 468 x 60 banner. I do that through a "banner exchange" site, where I earn displays of my ads at other sites for the impressions I deliver here.

I'd been with an exchange called My Banner Ads for ... well, quite some time ... and had probably a million impressions built up / saved back when ads suddenly stopped appearing. When I went to the exchange's site, there was a "moving servers, be back soon" message. Then, a week later, the site was completely gone.

It happens. I gave it a couple more weeks to see if they got back up or are gone for good, and this afternoon I went ahead and set up with Banner Ad Hits, (that's a referral link, in case you're looking for such services). It looks fairly new and runs the same stock script as the previous. These kinds of sites come and go. When they go, I usually assume that they didn't get enough paid subscribers to cover hosting costs and be worth bothering with.

I'm not heavily invested in the idea of serving up ads here. I started doing this particular thing just to fill some space between the Wordle hint and the "first letter" bit so that people who don't necessarily want the latter wn't see it without scrolling down, and any traffic it generates is a bonus.

Happy Birthday To One of the Records That Would Make My "Desert Island" List

Maybe even in the #1 position!

The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan was released 62 years ago today.

Wow.

For some reason, the very first song I remember learning in school is "Blowin' in the Wind" (the second is "Puff the Magic Dragon" ... I suspect my elementary school's music teacher just may have been a hippie at heart; he was also the first guy I can remember that everyone knew was gay and no one cared, even in a pretty uptight little Ozarks town; I didn't know what that meant circa 2nd grade, just that adults would sometimes refer to him as e.g. "light in the loafers" without apparent dislike or condemnation).

It's hard to pick a favorite from the album, but I usually go with this one when pressed:

Motorcycles: Never Say Never?

A few months ago I was catching up on movies and finally watched Venom. Fun flick, from 2018, and naturally what really caught my eye was the motorcycle Tom Hardy was riding. Looked it up. A Ducati Scrambler. Scrumptious, and obviously something I'll never be able to afford.

But is that true? In the last couple of weeks, I've come across at least two used Ducati Scramblers on Craigslist, at prices not far off my notional, one-of-these-days, $5k maximum spend.

My hypothesis:

Quite a few people who can afford that much motorcycle, and who are vulnerable to fad/trend purchasing, went in for the Scrambler they saw in the movie, or one like it, and now they're tired of it (maybe they even decided that motorcycles in general aren't really for them after buying too much motorcycle for their interest/ability). Now, a few years later, they're starting to dust those bikes off and try to get them out of their garages.

If so, I'll expect to see more Scramblers, of approximately that period (2015-2020) hitting the market over the next several years, at reasonable prices. And maybe I'll go that way. It's an 800cc (approximate) bike, which is right at the top of the engine size I'm thinking. Air-cooled (my preference) And it comes in yellow!

Wordle 1438 Hint

Hint: An entertaining competition.

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First Letter: S

I Was Actually Thinking About A Memorial Day Post Of Some Kind ...

... but one of those anonymous trolls kind of put me off the idea with a "you're a terrible person for not commemorating OUR BOYS!" comment (deleted as soon as I saw it because I've stopped tolerating that shit).

So, instead, two things:

• A 2016 Garrison Center column explaining why I don't think of "OUR BOYS" as the relevant topics of the observance; and
• A speech by Oliver Wendell Holmes that I had never read in its entirety, but noticed in The Bulwark today and remembered one phrase from -- "in our youth our hearts were touched with fire" -- because of Ken Burns's documentary on the Civil War.

Enjoy. Or not.

Third Post! Or, I'm Just Gonna Go Ahead And Say That The Problem Seems To Be At Amazon

The thing started out (and continued as, mostly) a "timely delivery problems" gripe.

But now I've got two instances of a different kind of problem to work with.

In that second post, I noted that Tamara had ordered a pair of shoes, which arrived on time, but which were a different type, color, and size than the ones ordered. We returned those, and are awaiting a replacement pair.

Yesterday, I ordered a 50-foot garden hose, one of those expandable things. An old one, one of two, finally gave up the ghost and I need at least 100 feet total to reach various things. Amazon cheerfully informed me to expect delivery today, and a few minutes ago Alexa told me "garden hose has arrived."

But what had arrived was not a blue, 50-foot expandable garden hose, it was ... a red t-shirt.

That's twice in a week that I've received a product in a timely manner from Amazon, just not the product I ordered. In this case, nothing even remotely like what I ordered.

I won't say I've never received the wrong item before. A few years back, they kept sending me pair of shoes B when I had ordered pair of shoes A. Right size, right color, but a different variant than I ordered It took three times for them to get it right. I think that probably had to do with one lot of shoes from the same brand getting mass-mis-labeled  by type or something, either by the manufacturer or at an Amazon warhouse.

But I can't ever recall ordering a thing from Amazon and just getting a completely different thing from them before. I wish they'd accidentally sent me a Gretsch Honeydipper resonator guitar, or a Chinese motorcycle. Then I wouldn't have bothered with a return.

Wordle 1437 Hint

Hint: A lazy bee (or a continuous B♭).

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First Letter: D

Well, That Explains A Lot ...

I'm almost completely into "older music." The only "new artist" from the last decade or so who really impresses me that much is Billy Strings.

I've thought about why I don't like most of the newer stuff very much, but other than a lot of it being very hip-hop-influenced and me not really being much into hip-hop, I couldn't put my finger on any particular reason why.

This morning, I ran across one of Rick Beato's videos from a few months back -- embedded below, but the link is to his channel and you should subscribe if you're into music at all -- and the light bulb came on. 

Three words: Bands Have Disappeared.

Being born in the mid-1960s, my experience of music -- rock music, anyway -- was bands. The Stones. The Beatles. Zeppelin. ELO. Rush. Etc. Yes, there were single-name acts (Bob Dylan is the first to come to mind), but it was mostly bands.

To confirm some of the numbers Beato was throwing around, I went and checked the latest Hot 100. On the singles chart, not a single band in the top 20. All solo artists or solo artists "with/featuring" other solo artists. On the album chart, two band albums in the top 20, both of them "greatest hits" type compilations by bands that were big decades ago (Fleetwood Mac and Oasis).

Which brings me back to Billy Strings. Yes, it's a single guy's name and I suppose listeners tend to think of it as him. But most of his music is very much played in a "band" context. Bluegrass, which is inherently a "band" kind of music even if it's got one guy's name on it. Or him jamming with a jam band. He has some cool duets out (e.g. "California Sober" with Willie Nelson, a fantastic performance of "All Along the Watchtower" with Dylan just the other day, etc.), but even that stuff is "band-ish," and I suspect he'd be the first to admit that even when he's a "frontman," he's generally playing band music (I may have embedded it before, but check out "Dust In A Baggie" at the Grand Ole Opry). And while I have the utmost respect for his abilities (and tastes) as a musician, that probably explains why I find him far more impressive than a gazillion other "solo artists."

Anyway, Beato (who also has a great interview with Strings) explains the "what happened to bands?" thing quite well in terms of the ability of solo artists to just plug in some MIDI stuff to sing over, then hire session players for a finished product, and how the music industry finds it easier to deal with one artist rather than with an argumentative group of artists, etc.

It makes me sad.

Wordle 1436 Hint

 Hint: Don't fall for today's Wordle (it's a swindle)!

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First Letter: G

An Update To A Previous Post (As A New Post, Because REASONS)

The previous post being "Are Shipping/Logistics Problems Running Ahead of Tariff Price Increases?"

The REASONS being 1) I just felt like probably writing enough words to rate a new post rather than an update within the old one and 2) it only just occurred to me that the perceived problem might be area-specific, and 3) hey, I have to write 650 posts this year to meet my goal.

From comments/discussion on that previous post:

[T]he sample size is small. At present, my household has four orders current with Amazon. Two have been delayed. Two have not yet arrived but are supposedly on time.

As of today, one of the four has arrived on time, and three have been delayed.

The single order that arrived on time was one order, but two packages, one delivered direct by Amazon, one by FedEx.

The third order delayed is an Amazon direct delivery that seems to have had two "delays in transit," both between Lakeland and Gainesville, before arriving in the latter location this morning.

So, OK, yes, the sample size is small and the destination point is single, but that's three of four orders, three of five packages, not running on time.

That looks significant. And it might be. Or it could just be one of those weird outlier "clusters."

Suppose the next 96 orders are all "on time." I'd say a 97% on-time rate with the 3% all being in one closely timed chunk was just an anomaly.

Maybe some bug popped up in the delivery estimate software, then got fixed. Maybe there's a transit choke point -- road work, or a pre-Memorial-Day-weekend traffic glut -- somewhere in Florida this week and more trucks than usual are hitting their "return to warehouse if you haven't made it this far by this time" marks.

On the other hand, if the "three of every four orders doesn't get where it's going by the time the vendor says it will" trend continues, I'd say something bigger is going on.

I now have two more orders in process and will be interested in the results.

One of those orders, I placed at least partially just to see what happens. I've been needing a new guitar/bass tuner anyway, so I ordered it yesterday. Its tracking says it is already in Gainesville and will be here today (shipped direct by Amazon).

The other order is another pair of shoes for Tamara, because one of those delivered on time was not the pair she ordered. Yes, I went back and checked to make sure the order wasn't incorrect on my end. It wasn't. The third party seller shipped a different shoe type, and different color, and different size than the order reflected. So those got returned ... and the shipping estimate on the replacement item is significantly longer than on the first pair, one to two weeks instead of four days. I don't know if that reflects "we're having shipping problems and we know it," or "ah, we're out of the correct shoe at the warehouse we shipped from before and are having to ship it from further away," or what.

Wordle 1435 Hint

Hint: Like Carl Perkins's shoes.

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First Letter: S

Best Foot ... Er, Feet ... Forward

My el cheapo "highway pegs" arrived yesterday, and I could tell immediately they would require some work. Bare metal brackets, no "shims" of any kind included. And yep, once I had them on the Italica Bulldog 150's "crash bar" and tightened, they immediately slipped when I got on the bike and put my feet on them. I was busy with other things and left them for this morning.

This morning, I found an old bicycle tire inner tube and cut two pieces, each wide enough to wrap around the "crash bar" under the clamp and each tall enough to cover the surface area of the clamp and a little below where, when the pegs are down (they flip up when not in use), the inside bottom of the peg itself also comes up against the bar. So both a tighter grip and a less slippery surface than bare metal for anything to slip on.

Tightened everything down, got on the bike, ran down the street and back. Seems to have worked. So now I can lean back and put my feet forward while riding, just like I'm in a recliner watching TV or something. I think I'll like that when I'm out on the country highways without a stop sign every thousand feet. And if I don't like it, well, I'm out nine bucks instead of 90 bucks.

One of the nice things about having a cheap Chinese bike is that there's a lot of cheap Chinese after-market gear out there. I don't feel like I have to buy expensive name-brand stuff unless there are real safety or performance considerations involved.

Update: I took the bike out for a longer, more leisurely Saturday ride. I didn't use the "highway pegs" a lot because that ride took me into town rather than out into the country. To the extent I did use them, they held up without shifting position, etc. As to whether I actually like them, I'm not quite sure. They'll take some getting used to before I decide that I do like them, that I like the idea but want ones with more surface area, or that they're just not worth bothering with.

Wordle 1434 Hint

Hint: In slang, it often goes with "jive."

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First Letter: S

Are Shipping/Logistics Problems Running Ahead of Tariff Price Increases?

My family orders quite a bit of stuff from Amazon, and occasionally -- occasionally -- there's a delivery delay.

Almost every time, that delay seems to be a US Postal Service thing.

This week, I've got two separate delivery delays, on two separate orders, involving two separate carriers, neither of which is US Snail. One is direct delivery by Amazon, the other is UPS.

Which makes me wonder: Related to the coming (in some cases already here) tariff-caused price increases?

I can see two ways in which that might be the case.

One is that there's a lot more shipping going on as consumers buy stuff before the tariffs hit the prices.

Another is that the shipping services are already laying off, winding down, etc. because they know they'll be shipping less stuff soon.

Or it could just be one of those random things.

Wordle 1433 Hint

Hint: Shakespeare's first was published in 1623.

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First Letter: F

A Wonderful Discovery!

Two things I love:

1. A good spy yarn; and
2. A good audio or film adaptation of a good spy yarn

For the first, it's hard to get better than John LeCarre, in particular his George Smiley stories.

For the second, at least on the audio end, it's hard to get better than BBC radio plays.

And, I found out yesterday, BBC's George Smiley Radio Dramas are available at the Internet Archive.

Just finishing up the first one ("Call for the Dead"). Nicely done.

Wordle 1432 Hint

Hint: The kind of clock you may need, but may also have a love/hate relationship with.

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First Letter: A

I Try To Keep This Complaint To Once A Year ...

... but it bears repeating at least once a year.

I hate yard work. I've been completing the latest "mowing" of about 40% of my yard the last couple of days.

Only 40% because the back part, which used to be "wooded," and which I could never really keep up with anyway, is now full of the detritus from my landlord deciding to get rid of all the pines. than 90% of the trees (there were about 120, now there are maybe 10 if you count infant mimosas) disappeared, but not really. There are some unground stumps, lots of small limbs just left on the ground, etc. I'm not going to even try. I wouldn't try if I had a large tractor and a brush hog. A push mower and string trimmer? Nope.

"Mowing" in quotes because it really is mostly "weedeater" work. There are so many little stumps for a mower to damage itself on, so many divots from the heavy equipment used to eliminate those trees, etc. that in most areas it's easier to just walk back and forth with the string trimmer. Cheaper, too (I've ruined at least two cheap mowers in the last three years on those damn stumps, and still haven't found and removed all of them, mostly because I'm not interested in adding to my "yard work" work load).

When we buy a place out in the country, I picture something like this:

The bigger the lot the better, but definitely "wooded," with the house or trailer and outbuildings located in a clearing.

A fence enclosing a SMALL yard around the trailer and any outbuildings. Something I can mow in, say, 15 minutes. Something big enough to give a dog a little roaming room. Something big enough to stick one of those gazebo thingies in for outdoor morning coffee or afternoon grilling/lunch.

The rest -- jungle, except POSSIBLY for a "walking trail" loop that I mow/trim, or pay someone to brush hog, a couple of times a year.

Anyway, the yard is cut. It took a couple of hours a day for three days because I had got lazy and let it go so some of it was slow going and because I spent some time raking/picking up detritus from the landlord's most recent tree murder spree (cutting long limbs off some 200-year-old oaks). For the rest of the "mowing season," which here in north Florida basically starts in March and runs into (at least) October, my plan is to just spend 10-15 minutes a day on it every day as "exercise," which should mean the whole thing gets cut every week or ten days.

Again: I hate yard work. My kids are too old to need a yard to throw a ball in, so it's just wasted time to comply with landlord / local government demands.

Wordle 1431 Hint

Hint: Carried, as in children or long-term problems ... but I repeat myself!

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First Letter: B

Wordle 1430 Hint

Hint: You might do this with a baseball, or with a business opportunity.

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First Letter: P

The Next Motorcycle Thing

I've been thinking about putting "highway pegs" on the Italica Bulldog 150 since about five minutes after I got the bike. Most of my riding is on "country highways," and unless I'm trying to get top speed out of the bike I prefer a comfortable upright position.

The main pegs are okay for that, but not great. They encourage a bit of forward lean. Sticking a couple of pegs on the engine guard / "crash bar" would let me stretch my legs a little forward. And since this particular bike has neither a foot clutch or a foot brake, it's not like I would have any sudden need to move back to the main pegs under normal circumstances. I could cruise comfortably on those 5-to-50-mile trips.

BUT! EXPENSIVE!

I'm just not going to spend $150, or even $50, to put highway pegs on it. That higher figure (and I've seen plenty of highway pegs in that price range) is about half of what I expect to spend on parts and labor for a performance exhaust, and more than I'd spend on a better carburetor.

I've been looking around now and then for months, and just came across these (not an affiliate link):

$8.39? Ordered! If they're complete crap I didn't waste much money, if they're at least decent I saved a bunch of money, and if they're workable but not great I at least will then know whether better pegs are worth a bigger investment.

Additional side note: As usual, I am continually "auditioning" bigger motorcycles to possibly buy here in a year or three. Right now I'm really liking the Royal Enfield Interceptor 650. It's a simple retro cruiser without all that touch screen "ride mode" nonsense, just a plain ol' motorcycle with enough get up and go (it will break 100mph) and a body style that looks like it would be comfortable for long rides. And it's fairly cheap, even new ... so hopefully when I'm ready, I'll be able to pick up a 5-year-old one for well under $5k.

Wordle 1429 Hint

Hint: It used to mean blue (as in bruising); these days it usually means red (as in anger).

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First Letter: L

Wordle 1428 Hint

 Hint: It's bigger now than it used to be.

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First Letter: G

Another Plug For Proton Mail

 First the affiliate link, then the reason, then the plug:

• THE AFFILIATE LINK
• The reason: I don't know if it is general or "invite only," but I just received, and accepted, an invitation for half off a year of their "Mail Plus" option ($2.49 per month when billed for a year, as opposed to the usual $4.99 per month). If that's available to everyone, it's a really good deal. I took it because I know I'm planning to keep that service, so why not save $30?
• The plug: While Proton Mail has a "free" version, well worth having if it fits your needs, the "plus" version lets you have up to 10 email addresses (instead of one), 15Gb of storage (instead of 1Gb), support for a custom email domain if you want, and a "hide-my-email" alias function, "Dark Web monitoring" to let you know if any information involving your Proton Mail email addresses got loose in data breaches, a desktop app if you prefer that to webmail, and up to 25 personal calendars (instead of 3).

They've also got other plans with more features (possibly on sale as well?). I'm just plugging the "Mail Plus" tier because it's what I use and I like it.

The "more features" plans include things like more storage (I might be interested in that when they get a desktop app that lets it work like Dropbox), more calendars (I only use one, not the 25 that come with my current plan),  more/better VPN connection options (I find the "free" version of Proton VPN sufficient), the ability to create more "vaults" in their password manager (my level of Proton Pass is sufficient for my needs), more crypto wallets (I do not use Proton Wallet so I don't need that), etc.

Here's that affiliate link again. You're welcome.

Wordle 1427 Hint

 Hint: The one you take when you'd rather not talk.

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First Letter: F

An Internet Connectivity Reprise

I've been having some connectivity issues lately. My Internet connection seems to be up and down, up and down, and whenever I call my provider (Cox) about it, they do a remote modem re-set. Sometimes that fixes the problem, sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes, if it fixes the problem, it fixes it for five minutes, other times for five hours.

The thing is, usually the problem is specific to reaching certain sites/servers. I can reach, hypothetically, CNN or xHamster (thought I'd throw in a little spice there), but might not be able to reach Bing ... or my own shared server hosting account/sites.

This morning, that particular thing tickled my memory, and since I was stuck and unable to work anyway, I decided to see what happened if I connected over ProtonVPN (yes, that is an affiliate link -- if you purchase their premium services, I get some credit toward the costs of my own email/calendar/password manager/storage/VPN account).

Hmm ... hours later, I haven't had a single problem reaching any site I wanted to reach.

I'm considering letting Cox know about that, but that old memory tickler makes me think it wouldn't be worth it.

When I lived in St. Louis, my ISP was Charter. One day, I noticed a Charter truck down the road and workers going into and coming out of a manhole. I got an email notification that my services might be down for some fairly short period of time while they did an "equipment upgrade," and that's what happened.

But, when the service came back up, I could seemingly reach any site on the Internet ... except Rational Review News Digest. Try to reach the front end or the back end of the site, no dice. Just churned and eventually gave me a "can't reach the site" error.

That site being one of my daily workplaces, it was a problem. But I quickly discovered that I could reach the site via a proxy connection, and a little checking around told me that everyone I asked was having no problem whatsoever reaching it by normal means.

So, I called Charter several times, explained the problem, and got told that the problem was obviously with my computer, my cache, my browser, etc., that their systems were working perfectly well. thank you very much.

This went on for a week or so. Then one day I noticed a Charter truck and workers parked at the same manhole cover as before, and 15 minutes later I could reach my damn site. Hmmm.

I don't really mind using a VPN. In fact I should probably use a VPN most or all of the time. But, I think you'll agree, I shouldn't have to use a VPN just because my cable Internet provider has a misconfigured node or whatever.

Wordle 1426 Hint

 Hint: Enthusiastically desirous, like the metaphorical beaver.

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First Letter: E

New Shave Gear, First Impressions

TL;DR: I purchased the Amazon Basics 5-Blade MotionSphere Razor for Men with Dual Lubrication and Precision Beard Trimmer, Handle & 2 Cartridges (not an affiliate link); it arrived today; I like it.

Longer version:

Looking back, I see that I started using Dollar Shave Club handles and blades in 2012, fairly early in that service's history. And I liked DSC for a long time. Good blades. Pretty good handles (that they replaced on request as needed). Decent price. Good customer service.

I occasionally took breaks from DSC products. I tried Harry's. I tried a single-blade "safety razor." Other than the low quality of the handle on the latter, no problem with either, but both times I found it more convenient to just go back to DSC.

But DSC has been going downhill for several years now, starting at somepoint after it was bought out by Unilever in 2016, then getting worse after Unilever sold out to an investment firm. The handles don't last as long before they don't want to grip the blade. New blades will arrive that no handle wants to hold on to very well (I think maybe they source from multiple manufacturers and quality control is ... spotty). The shave quality of the blades varies, although it's always pretty good.

So anyway, I canceled my DSC "auto-ship" subscription a few months back and started working my way through my built-up supply of blades, planning to try something else once I ran out. Which I've almost done, but I decided to move early because really having to re-attach the blade cartridge to the handle five times with every shave is just a pain in my ass.

Now: Any time I write about shaving gear, some of you feel the need to tell me about how you've been using the same dollar-store single-blade disposable razor for 20 years, sharpening it by rubbing it backward over jeans every six months, with no problems whatsoever and don't see the point of spending several dollars a year on these new-fangled smart razors that will order their own blade replacements and make omelets to order for you. I only have one thing to say by way of reply:

THAT'S FINE!

You do you. Shaving is a personal thing. Different people have different habits, requirements, rituals, whatever, and it's all good. I'm just telling you my impressions of the gear I choose for my situation. Use it if applicable. If not, don't.

I have a particular kind of beard and you may or may not have that kind of beard.

My whiskers tend to resemble the bristles on a wire brush in strength/texture until I grow them out long enough to get curly and do the beard stuff.

On the other hand, the skin underneath those whiskers has always cut easily.

I like a multi-blade razor (more than two) because it gets the whiskers off in fewer passes, meaning fewer cuts. I don't know if those "lubrication" strips usually do much, but they don't hurt. All of that also helps when I'm shaving my head, which on occasion I do for months or years at a time (right now I'm running a high and tight pompadour, and the top is long enough that it reaches the bottom of my rear hairline when brushed back; usually I keep it in a pony tail).

For shaving cream,  I used to like Jeffrey Tucker's suggestion of using baby oil (which I blogged back in the day but can't find at the moment), but it does leave the skin feeling, well, oily.

These days I use a mug, a brush, and shaving soap (Williams because I like it, it used to be cheap, and I bought a bulk pack of it -- but it seems to be selling for outrageous prices at the moment, so I may have to change when I run out).

So anyway, I ordered the Amazon Basics gear yesterday, and my beard had been growing out from "as short as it gets with barber clippers" length for a couple of days when it arrived this afternoon. I opened the package, inspected the gear, and shaved.

The handle feels substantial and the mechanism for holding the blade seems reasonably solid.

The blade is as advertised (five blades, "lubricating strips").

The shave was quite nice. No cuts, no razor burn, ergonomically sound, minimal number of passes to get everything.

So far, I am pleased, and the remaining variable is to see how long the blade lasts before it feels dull (i.e. pulls at the beard) or the little tabs that hold the blade to the handle give way. My personal standard is that I should be able to get at least five to ten shaves out of a single cartridge, if I'm shaving at least every third day.

If I got five shaves per blade and shaved three times a week, I'd need 32 blades per year. If I got ten shaves per blade, I'd need 16 blades per year. Twelve blades cost about $16, so I am guessing Id be spending $25-30 per year on blades.

BUT! I expect quite a bit less, because I usually grow a winter beard for four or five months (Novemberish to Marchish) each year, when I travel I usually grab a couple of dollar-store disposables so I don't lose my handle if I lose my luggage or forget my razor at a hotel, etc., and occasionally I just run "barber clipper length" stubble for a little while.

One of the nice things about it being an Amazon product is that I can do a "subscription" just like with Dollar Shave Club. If I decide to stick with this razor and these blades after the first two cartridges, I'll order the 12-pack replacement and then, if I'm still liking it a year from now, probably set up a "send me 12 blades once a year (or twice a year, depending)" thing.

Update, 05/21: The Amazon Basics blade cartridge has now passed its "minimal required performance" milestone. I've shaved with it five times and it still seems to be sharp, no grabbing/tugging/skin-cutting. It's probably a keeper. Making it to ten shaves would nail that assessment down completely.

Update, 06/01: I lost count, but I'm 99.99% sure that I am now past the ten-shave mark on my first Amazon Basics blade cartridge. Still no tugging, skin cutting, etc. Considering the refill price (at present,  $14.99 for 12 cartridges, or one penny more for 16 cartridges and another handle -- these are not affiliate links), I'm pretty much sold on this product.

Wordle 1425 Hint

 Hint: Small Cuban drum kit.

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First Letter: B

Clickbait That Kinda Puts Me Off The Whole Idea

Screen grab:

It seems to me that eating at Texas Roadhouse would have to be an awfully damn complicated experience in order for it to be possible to make 19 mistakes while ordering (never mind while eating!). 

Would I want to eat at a place where I could plausibly mess up that many times before my plate even arrives?

I've only eaten at Texas Roadhouse a few times, but I've always had good food and a good experience with them.

According to the article, I've made 10 of the 19 "mistakes," but I don't agree that they're all "mistakes," although going the other way on some of them might strike some people as improving their experience. You do you.

One "mistake," for example, is "bypassing the legendary ribs." If I want ribs, I'll go to a barbecue joint or sit next to my smoker for several hours at home, nursing a beer and watching the temperature. I go to a steakhouse for, um, steak.

Another "mistake" is "passing on the sweet tea." I'm just not a sweet tea lover, and if I want that, well, I live in the south and can get real sweet tea (for you damyankees, that's tea with sugar dissolved in the hot water before brewing, as opposed to mere sweetened tea, where the sugar is added after brewing) pretty much anywhere that serves, um, tea.

I do agree that it would be a "mistake" to not have any of the rolls they provide with every meal. Good bread.

A Spoonful Of Sugar (Helps The Medicine Go Down)

I've seen at least one opinionator characterize US president Donald Trump's "offer" to attend Russia-Ukraine peace talks in Istanbul later this week as a "gate-crashing" maneuver that's really all about Trump's ego (no link -- I only noticed it in passing while doing other stuff and don't feel like trying to find it again).

Believe it or not, I try to give Trump credit when and where it's due, so allow me to point out that whether that's what it's all about or not, it's still a good idea.

Why?

Because Ukraine's Volodomyr Zelenskyy has said he will only negotiate directly with Russia's Vladimir Putin, while Putin declines to recognize Zelenskyy as Ukraine's "legitimate" "leader" and would most likely be inclined to send an underling.

If Trump is there too, Putin can pretend he's there to see Trump, not Zelenskyy, that Zelenskyy just happens to be there as well, while Zelenskyy gets to pretend his "only direct negotiations with Putin" position carried the day.

Everybody wins ... which is kind of the touchstone of "diplomacy."

Wordle 1424 Hint

Hint: What's today's Wordle? You already know.

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First Letter: A

And, I Was Wrong ...

... in my previous post predicting that Trump's executive order would merely set maximum prices the US government was willing to pay for drugs under e.g. Medicare. Per NBC News:

Most notably, officials said the policy will not be limited to certain drugs under Medicare, as it was in original version, but will also target medications covered by Medicaid and private insurance.

So, just out-and-out price controls. What could possibly go wrong? Well ...

The administration hasn’t singled out a specific class of drugs for price cuts, but officials said it’s fair to expect that GLP-1s — a class of drugs that includes Ozempic, Wegovy and Zepbound — will be included among them.

As if I didn't already have enough trouble getting the GLP-1 I use (Mounjaro), well, price controls is how you get

SHORTAGES

That's not the fundamental reason to oppose price controls, of course. They're wrong because they involve the state setting, rather than producers and consumers negotiating, prices (just like all state involvement is wrong because it uses force to intervene in market functions). But shortages are the most predictable negative side effect.

Well, hey ... whaddayagonnado?

Preemptive "Drug Prices Executive Order" Post

As I write this, the text of the executive order US president Donald Trump plans to issue today doesn't seem to be publicly available (I could just be looking in the wrong place), so I have to rely on media descriptors. I'll just go with ABC News:

Trump's proposal would likely only impact certain drugs covered by Medicare and given in an office — think infusions that treat cancer, and other injectables. ...  More common prescription drugs filled at a pharmacy would probably not be covered by the new order.

Naturally, Big Pharma is whining about it. No surprise there -- back during the Biden administration, they sued, claiming that it's literally unconstitutional for the US government to offer any price other than what the pharma companies might happen to demand for drugs purchased with taxpayer money.

One of the big dodges they use is pretending that they're operating under conditions of monopsony, i.e. there only being one buyer for their products, giving that buyer undue control. That's true neither in the United States (yes, the US government is a big customer, but even so its payments account for less than half of domestic prescription drug spending) or in general (there are lots of other customers to sell drugs to worldwide).

All of which is coming around to the claim I've heard from a couple of corners, that Trump is planning to impose "price controls" on pharmaceuticals. If the descriptions of the forthcoming order are accurate, nope -- he's just planning to say that one government program will pay X, and no more, for drug Y. The drug sellers will remain free to demand more than X from non-government customers, and remain free to tell the government "no sale, then."

Of course, you know me -- my strong preference is to get government out of healthcare entirely. But if government is in the business of paying for drugs, I see no reason why it shouldn't drive the hardest bargain it can.

Wordle 1423 Hint

Hint: One works/builds it with a curl.

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First Letter: B

Mystery Fairly Conclusively Solved

The three candidates for my stomach problems last week were: 1) Norovirus or something similar, 2) "food poisoning," and 3) Side effects of Mounjaro.

The first two would be gone by now, and on Friday I thought they pretty much were. I felt fairly good, and even had my first really substantial meal in Cedar Key with no obvious ill effects.

Then I got home and injected my second weekly dose of Mounjaro (I put it off until my return just in case), and within 24 hours the symptoms were back. Not as severely, but back.

I think I know why.

I've written in the past about the runaround my insurance company gave me even getting the stuff. I never had any such side effects with Ozempic, nor with my first installment of Mounjaro.

BUT -- part of the runaround was "there needs to be another prior authorization or a dosage change," and my doctor did the latter, taking me from 2.5mg per week to 5mg per week.

Such a dosage boost should really not be separated by ta long period of not having the medication at all. The lower dose gets your body used to the drug. But in my case, I had a month of 2.5mg, then 2-3 months of nothing while the insurer fucked around, then all of a sudden 5mg. And that is really messing with me.

Fortunately, my research says that should be a 1-2 week thing, total, and I'm into the second week. So I'll just eat smaller, blander, meals and use famotidine and simethicone for a few more days and hopefully be past it.

Wordle 1422 Hint

Hint: It's often made of wood, and used to fasten other pieces (again, usually of wood) together.

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First Letter: D

Music Recommendation

Reader Thane Eichenauer would like more music posts. I'll try to get to work on that, but as an aperetif, just a recommendation and video embed.

The recommendation: Almost anything by Billy Strings. Of the "new" crop of musicians -- those who have risen to prominence in, say, the last ten years -- I find him the most interesting and exciting -- I'm not sure there's anyone else from that period who's in his league -- and hope to see him live some time.

The video embed: His 2019 Grand Ole Opry performance of "Dust in a Baggie." All of the instrumental solos are commendable, but damn, that guitar solo is for the ages:

I Don't Really Have Opinions on Popes ...

... because, frankly, I'm not qualified to. I'm not a Catholic. I haven't gone to catechism classes, I don't attend Mass (except for a single midnight Mass at Christmas with a friend once), I can count the times I've even been in a Catholic church on one hand with fingers to spare. I have a very basic grasp of Catholic doctrine, but if you pointed out a pope to me and asked me to carefully analyze his papal words and actions vis a vis Catholic doctrine, I'd tell you you were asking the wrong guy.

I do, however, have opinions on the great number of supposed Catholics who greet every pope -- including, now, Leo XIV -- with gripes that his words and actions are somehow unrepresentative of catholicism (and, therefore, Christianity), because his politics are "wrong," etc.

Just to make sure I had it right, I popped the following prompt to Microsoft CoPilot's AI chatbot: "Catholic doctrine on papal primacy." I got the answer I expected:

The doctrine evolved over centuries, with key developments including:

• First Vatican Council (1870): Defined papal primacy as a jurisdictional authority, meaning the Pope has universal, supreme, and immediate power over all Christians.

• Second Vatican Council (1962-1965): Emphasized the Pope’s role within the collegiality of bishops, balancing his authority with the broader Church hierarchy.

• Papal Infallibility: When speaking ex cathedra (from the chair of Peter) on matters of faith and morals, the Pope is considered infallible.

If you're a Roman Catholic, you presumably believe that Jesus gave Peter (whom you consider the first pope) "the keys to the kingdom of heaven," which he passed down to the popes who followed him via "apostolic succession," and that therefore the pope, whatever else he might happen to be, is the representative of God on Earth.

Either you believe Roman Catholic doctrine on the role and authority of the pope, or you don't.

If you do believe that doctrine, whether you like what he says or does is kind of irrelevant. He's. The. Boss. Because. God. Almighty. Himself. Says. So.

If you don't believe that doctrine -- if you think Pope [insert papal name here] is a dangerous heretic who's wrecking Christianity, rather than the authoritative representative of God on Earth -- then you are arguably not a Catholic, at least as I understand the term.

Either way, why whine about it?

If you agree with Catholic doctrine on his authority and primacy, then you're admitting that where you and he disagree, God says he's right and you're wrong.

If you don't agree with Catholic doctrine on his authority and primacy, abandon the Holy Roman Catholic Church and find another (or no) religion that you do agree with. "Problem" solved.

Policy Change Note (Thanks For Asking!)

The monthly Thanks For Asking! thread is an "Ask Me Anything" feature.

Note that the word "anyone" is not among the three words in that descriptor.

Henceforth, real readers with real questions -- any questions -- will still be able to ask those questions.

People (actually almost certainly one person) who create multiple single-use Disqus accounts to ask stupid, often vile, "questions" will have their questions deleted unanswered. Not because of the questions per se -- while  I doubt real readers of the site / real friends of mine would ask most of them, they're free to if they want -- but because of the idiotic and annoying methods.

That is all.

Restorative!

Dolphins! Saw Dolphins!

Reader GregL and I didn't do as much exploration of Atsean Otie Key yesterday as I had initially expected, probably because I was weak and tired after that early-week sickness and clearly not up to it, but we did make the paddle out to the key, sat and talked on its little beach for a while, then paddled partway around the island into a waterway that splits the island, out the other side, back around, and back to Cedar Key.

On the way out, we saw the dolphins doing a little jumping out of the water, etc. On the way back, not as much but a fin or two. First time I've seen that animal in the wild. Ditto horsehoe crabs and at least one sea turtle of some kind.

I was glad to see that Cedar Key seems to be recovering from Hurricane Helene more quickly than I'd have expected, infrastructure-wise. From the news reportage, I kind of had the impression that all the buildings were just literally swept away, but that clearly wasn't the case. There was plenty of new construction, of course, but a lot of stuff that had withstood the storm surge, etc. and been repaired too. One shop (not open at the moment we walked past -- apparently a number of businesses don't open until late on Friday afternoons and only operate on the weekend) had hand markings next to its door of the water level reached by various hurricanes.

We had a late lunch at Steamers, the restaurant I always hear associated with Cedar Key. They're currently operating at (in tandem with?) 2nd Street Cafe, as their waterfront location was damaged by a fire a few days before Hurricane Helene probably assisted greatly with pre-re-construction demolition work.

Great food and great service. I even had a beer, something I rarely ever do these days. They happen to serve what may be my favorite beer in the world, Big Nose IPA, made by Swamp Head Brewery in Gainesville.

The beer, of course, necessitated a wait before motorcycling home, but that's never a problem when I'm hanging with GregL. We're always able to find interesting stuff to talk about and he's a great conversationalist. He also brought me a dozen eggs (he keeps chickens), for which I'm grateful. They made it home with no breakage in my motorcycle "trunk."

Which brings me to the ride:

I left home at 8am, even though I didn't need to be in Cedar Key until 10:30am. After that early-week sickness, I didn't want to be late if I had to make several bathroom stops, etc. (as it turns out, I didn't, but I didn't want to risk it, and I have a tendency to be early to places anyway). I stopped in Bronson, 15 miles from my home, and topped off the gas tank. Fuelly tells me that the Italica Bulldog 150's mileage for the period between that fill-up and the previous one was 63.6 miles per gallon.

Got back on the bike and rode the remaining 35 miles or so to Cedar Key with no stops. BUT! Since I was in no hurry and there was almost no traffic (I was passed by a total of two vehicles on that 35-mile stretch, and one of those passings was basically in Bronson), I decided to take my time and mostly putt along at 45 miles per hour, keeping the bike at 5,500-6,000 RPM instead of imposing maximum strain on the engine.

Once I got there, I started looking for the kayak rental place. Neither of the addresses listed for it seemed to be in operation (or even in existence based on signage). I rode the bike around town at first, then walked because one of the listed locations was on a road closed for construction. Once GregL arrived, we just went to the big collection of kayaks on the beach and found a sign with a phone number on it. The guy came over from his other business (golf cart rental) within a couple of minutes and we got the deal done. I got the impression that he'd given up on maintaining "office locations," at least temporarily, since the hurricane.

I believed that I had plenty of fuel in the tank to make it back to Bronson to fill back up again, but had a reserve fuel bottle (750 ml) in the motorcycle trunk, just in case. I ended up thinking I was going to have to use it -- my "you are about to run out of gas" light began blinking maybe 15 miles short of Bronson.

But I did make it without touching that reserve bottle, and this time (again per Fuelly) I'm informed that I got a beautiful 74.7 miles per gallon over the 76 miles I covered between Bronson and Cedar Key, both ways (plus some riding around Cedar Key itself). I attribute that to mostly keeping the bike in that sweet 45mph zone both ways instead of pouring extra gas into the carburetor just to eke out another 10-15mph.

Anyway, made it home, interacted with family a bit, then slept like a log. I really needed this trip, and I'm grateful to GregL for taking it with me. I've been meaning to ride to Cedar Key ever since I got the bike, but the route is so ... low-habitation ... that I wanted to be in communication with someone who would also be in the area and could come grab me if the bike broke down.

Note: As usual with me, no photos. I always mean to take some, and I always get caught up in things and forget. Also, on the water, my phone was in an at least somewhat protected thigh bag and I didn't want to get it wet or drop it in the Gulf of Mexico. GregL got some video from the kayak (or at least attempted to -- it was too bright out for him to see his camera's viewscreen very well). If he sends me something shareable and cool, I'll share it.

Wordle 1421 Hint

Hint: It's important in the making of beer or bread.

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First Letter: Y

Wordle 1420 Hint

Hint: Nonsense! Or, the lining of a cow's stomach.

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First Letter: T

The Shirt(s) Off My Back

I'm kind of particular about shirts. I know people who look good in "polo" shirts, but I don't think I'm one of them. If it's a short sleeve shirt that buttons only at the top, I wear a Henley. If I want to be semi-dressy but not actually dressy, a retro-style shirt of the "bowling" or "1950s" type. And of course lots of t-shirts.

I'm in a slow process of turning over my wardrobe, and the deal is that every time I acquire a new shirt, at least two old shirts go in the donation bag or the "cut up for rags" pile.

This (not an affiliate link) arrived the other day, on sale at Amazon for eight bucks or so:

So now I'm debating with myself which shirt or shirts to discard. I have a pretty ratty Walmart Pink Floyd shirt that's an ideal candidate, but the other one is one I've been struggling with: It's a pink t-shirt with the Word SLINKY and a drawing of a Slinky on it.

I don't know why I'm so attached to that shirt. I picked it up on clearance for $2.99 at, IIRC, Old Navy maybe 10 years ago (I think I've been in Old Navy twice, ever, and the second time was to see if they had any more of that shirt). Now it has a couple of small holes in it and is worn so thin it's nearly translucent, and also very pale, especially in the areas that were exposed to the sun when I inadvertently left it outside for a day. The text and graphic are basically invisible to anyone who doesn't know they're there. It really shouldn't be worn anymore, period, and it definitely shouldn't be worn outside where people can see it. But I just don't want to let it go.

One part of my wardrobe transition is reducing, but improving, my shirt collection. Another part is transitioning from my beloved Thai Fisherman Pants to jeans and cargo pants that offer a little more protection on the motorcycle. I think I've thrown away four or five pairs of the former while buying a carefully curated (by price -- I don't pay more than $20 for pants, and another reason I've moved away from the Thai Fisherman Pants is that they used to be $5.99 to $8.99 and now are often $20+, even before the tariff BS started) collection of the latter. I'm also emphasizing blacks and bright yellows to match the motorcycle. Which I guess kind of locks me in to a motorcycle color scheme in the future.

Or maybe not. If I had a spare $20k-$25k (the latter for certain accessories) just lying around, I think I'd buy the new Harley Davidson Pan America 1250 ST. Yellow is not one of the trim options. Then again, if I had $25k to blow on a bike, I guess I could also afford to take it to a shop and have custom fairing colors done.

It's not just the cool commercial for the movie Thunderbolts, with Sebastian Stan riding one as The Winter Soldier that has me craving that bike, although that is cool:

It's that the bike seems nicely built for things I'd like to do. It's a "touring" and "adventure" bike, so I could ride it 1,000 miles on the freeway or take it down rough country roads, even offroad. And maybe fight bad guys riding in military vehicles. That kind of thing. The engine is waaaay bigger than I really need (supposed top speed: 141 miles per hour), but it just looks like a cool, comfortable, versatile bike.

One of the nice things about Harley: Five years after they release a $20k model, there are all kinds of them, still in decent shape and without outrageous mileage, on the used market in the $5k range. So maybe I'll actually get there someday.

There May Be Some Scattered Thunder Showers Tomorrow ...

... but I'm still planning to meet reader GregL in Cedar Key tomorrow morning for a kayak trip out to Atsena Otie key.

Just gave the Italica Bulldog 150 its pre-trip once-over. Oil's good. Tire pressure's good. I was thinking about sliding my fun new "top box"/"trunk" back a little, but decided to keep it where it is for this trip and then reconsider.

It really hasn't been a very good week, yet. I got sick on Monday, and still don't know if it was a bug of some kind, or a reaction to my Mounjaro injection, or if the London Broil I ate for lunch was "off." I felt generally "yuck" until this morning and put a lot of miles on the toilet (as well as having heartburn). I weighed myself a week or ten days ago, then just now, and I seem to have lost 11 pounds in the intervening period (my total food intake between Monday and today has really been about one good meal). My next Mounjaro injection is tomorrow -- after the trip.

So now you know why I haven't been blogging very much. Or doing much of anything else I didn't absolutely have to get done. I plan on having some kind of light meal tonight to see what happens, but I don't plan on letting anything stop me from getting on the bike and taking off tomorrow morning. Whatever I had, it wasn't contagious even at its height, so there's that.

Anti-Censorship Software Bleg

I'm looking for a script, app, etc. that follows a particular account on X (formerly Twitter) and reproduces the content in a way other than a "retweet" connected to said account.

It's something I thought about before, but this morning I noticed a story about how X (formerly Twitter) has restricted accesss, in Turkey, to the account of Istanbul mayor Ekrem Imamoglu at the "request" of the Erdogan regime.

It would be nice for supporters of a particular censored person to help that person get around censorship by reproducing his or her posts in an accessible way -- that is, instead of a retweet that pulls content from the restricted account [likely making that content unavailable where the content is restricted], it just says something like:

"Ekrem Imamoglu posted the following content at [insert time/date here]: [Content]."

Even a few hundred supporters of the person in question using such software would likely make it very troublesome for censorious regimes to keep up with block "requests."