Ugh. That’s awesome. Gotta have them now! Mainly because I dont even have (or have heard of) most of those! Interesting that Children of Húrin isn't in any of these sets. I feel like it was a long enough book alone to not have been incorporated into one of these…

Isn’t voting open for much longer than 1 day? Polls are already open…and so is early voting and mail-in ballots, etc. Election Day is just like the last day when (allegedly) the winner is decided. Not really a point for a full-on, everything closed type holiday, or even a “bank holiday” like President’s Day.

Thank you. I’ve been so tempted to start doing this every time i see this pointless extra line….

AkShUaLlY…. It’s pronounced “Kel-a-born”….but I still applaud your humor!

Most, if not all c’s are pronounced as hard K’s in Elvish (Elven?) languages.

It does get a little weird with places like Cirith Ungol, but there are, allegedly, older maps where it’s spelled Kirith.

Shouldnt suprise you but…US. (Possibly other countries) Years ago they started adding video screens to display certain things, so as natural progression goes….there’s a screen so there will be ads. Loud-as-shit video ads that play as soon as you start pumping. And when no one is at the pumps they cycle silent ad slideshows.

Yeah, for the most part. The other commenter is right about that battery, tho. Disconnecting the battery will help, but depending on the type and age of the battery (and temperatures in the storage area) the battery might still not last. Trickle charger might be ideal here, even just a little solar panel for it.

Gas in the tank is another thing. There might be conflicting opinions on how best to handle this, but- I would run the tank as empty as practical, then fill it up completely (so you have all fresh gas) and add a stabilizer. Most stabilizers will keep the gas good for 1-2 years. Best to make sure its an Ethanol stabilizer (like Sta-Bil 360), unless you put pure gas in. Then make sure to drive it a little so the stabilized gas gets into the whole fuel system.

Otherwise, give it a good wash and then a cover for it if you can if it’ll be outside in the elements. Depending on the storage environment, things could still start growing on it, inside and out.

Im gonna be the AkShUalLy guy here and say this isnt always the case…. There are shower controls that turn on immediately to full pressure and then adjust for temp as you keep turning, no way to actually control the water pressure without just having fully cold water. These have been around forever…

I installed a newer Delta one in my house a few years ago (2021 or so). They now have a feature where the water temperature is always whatever you set it- no fluctuations of scalding water when someone flushes a toilet or random freezes if someone turns on hot water elsewhere in the house. Or even 2 showers/baths fighting for hot water at the same time. So it’s like an auto-adjusting thing that happens inside that requires max input pressure to work right. Of course, i always want max water pressure, so this was a win-win for me!

To note- this wasnt a crazy expensive, high-end model…it was basically what most of the single knob/lever shower controls are now.

Underground parking garages are very common over here. Most of the times these city squares are exactly that, a huge multi-level underground parking garage because these squares are always event spaces, and they are usually city-center so even when there isnt events, people have somewhere to park when just visiting the city. Yes, there will even be long lines of traffic waiting/hoping for a spot during event periods.

With that said, they do fill up, usually fast. So most events suggest finding public transportation. This just means people park further away and then take the bus/rail/etc the rest of the way. These Markets arent just for the locals, people travel from all over to come to them. So public transportation for long-distant travel, while totally possible, isnt always as practical (sometimes nor affordable or possible) for everyone. Plus, long distance trains do sell out. We just spent most of the season traveling all over Central Europe going to various markets.

National Guard, not police. They got called in many times during any of the various disputes that happened up there.

Okay, i’ll bite and try to answer these. Without knowing any details of which chain and where exactly this station is located (in a city/town or right off a motorway/interstate?)

A lot of “truck stop” type stations are this big to accommodate large vehicles and potential larger trailers they might be towing. Like a 3/4ton pickup with a huge 5th wheel trailer. Or even Class A/C motorhomes and RVs. These pumps likely have diesel and petrol so even large box trucks will pull in the fuel up. There are usually different areas for full tractor-trailer (lorries) but those pumps are for those trucks only. Further, the gap is three vehicles wide so a vehicle can be on a pump on either side and someone arriving or leaving can fit between them- especially if there is a case of 3 pumps in a row.

Pizza for breakfast? Judging by the picture and the title, this looks like actual Breakfast Pizza. Eggs, sausage, etc are the toppings. Had this a lot growing up just at home. And pizza style is common “grab and go” type food from gas stations since it’s easy to eat, even while driving.

Now, a cola with/for breakfast…naah. I’m with you there. That’s a bit off. But otherwise, the size is normal for a truck stop. Fountain drinks are a lot cheaper than canned or bottled of the same drink. For example 24oz bottle for $2-3 or a 48-64oz fountain for the same price or less. People are traveling when they come through here, or stopping by to grab stuff on their way to work for the whole day. So the idea is the drink is to have on hand for hours if not most of the day. The styrofoam cups are junk but a lot of people transfer to a more practical container, or some stations chains would sell their own fancy insulated cups and allow discounted refills in their cup.

How is this so cheap? Gas station food, man! Doesn’t mean it’s any good! I just covered the soda portion for pricing and a slice of pizza (breakfast or normal pepperoni) is usually only like $2. So the pricing advertised here makes sense.

Midwest is a kind of marketing thing with many layers or points. The midwest region of the States is the massive, wide-open middle section where there’s usually cattle ranching, farming and a lot of nothing. So this can be spun in a lot of ways- farmers/ranchers allegedly eat big (unhealthy) food and drinks, the midwest is big, things are cheap because nothing and no one is out there, etc. Also this gas station is likely located in the midwest and targeted towards people that are traveling through, so it’s got that “tourist” hook to it.

I think that about covers it?

Dirt bike/motocross boot. This guy (or girl) was riding/racing a dirt bike offroad- think hiking trails. Gearne is not a cheap brand either, their top-tier SG-12 boot is usually $5-600 a pair. And they are a superior quality brand. I’m not sure what tier boot this is since i cant see all the signage, but this is truely a freak accident that no quality of foot protection would have prevented. With that said- that stick is clean, so their foot is most likely fine. Edit: forgot to mention; the white/orange combo does match a lot of chainsaw gear, so good call. But, this person most likely rode a KTM, which are primarily white and orange, and KTM riders love buying orange gear to match, lol. You can get these boots in a variety of different color combos, however

Their dvd library went to shit a looooong time ago, so to echo some other comments here- i’m surprised the service was even still around. I used to get multiple discs at a time. (i think they had a 3 disc at-a-time plan where you could send one back and they’d send you the next in your cue, but you’d always have 3 at home.) Then as streaming started to take off and they started making their own TV shows it seemed like there was less and less DVDs for rent, and not just because id watched them. I was getting notices of things on my “wish list” or whatever about to become unavailable, or movies i wanted to rent again were just gone from the library. This effected movies, documentaries, TV series, lots of different content types. They rolled streaming into my plan for free and i eventually gave up on discs entirely and just canceled that part of my plan, sadly. Eventually completely canceled everything a few years ago, ended up never using the service anymore. There’s my experience no one asked for!