MikeL

Best wishes, Wayne.

It's 108°F here today. The forecast calls for 111°F on Saturday and Sunday. Hot, hot, hot!

If I may be permitted, I would state your question in a different way: Is the label "bisexual" a new form of closet? A closet with glass doors?

Is that you?

Cool! Thanks, Chase.

I appreciate your tribute to age and experience. I'm pleased to still be here. As the old joke goes, "At my age, I am pleased to be anywhere."

Happy Birthday, Wen!

That's why you no longer live in Boston.

Anders Celsius wasn't an American. When I was in elementary school - 60 years ago - we used all the metric system measurements in our science classes in the certain knowledge that the US would soon convert from the British standard to metric. It has never happened. Metric is used almost exclusively in science and medicine - all my pills are in milligrams - but in the everyday world we hold onto the old standard. It's one of the few British things we really cling to. Despite all our technological advances, we haven't decided - our politicians haven't decided for us - to make the switch. I understand the British have switched as part of their EU membership. The US isn't the only western nation which uses Fahrenheit; there's Cayman Islands and Belize. It's really no big deal; it's easy to convert from Fahrenheit to Celsius: [°C] = ([°F] − 32) × 5⁄9 Now that I think of it, Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit wasn't American either.

You wouldn't know it from the temperatures we've had the last two months, but summer has only now arrived in the northern hemisphere. It's the Summer Solstice, the longest day of the year. It's always amazed me that all the hot weather in July and August occurs as the days are growing shorter. Doesn't seem logical somehow. Keeping cool in Music City... Hope you have a great summer.

But, Bob, you are not to be pitied. Your accomplishments are many as is the number of friends you have. The fact that you remain so productive in your 84th year is not pitiable at all.

I have no fear of pink. Looking good, Matt.

Here it is:

Welcome back, Eric.

They misspelled "Treat". How about this street sign?

When I was in my mid-30s, I looked younger than that. Now that I'm twice that age, not so much.

It sounds/looks like you have a neat collection of yellow tee shirts. Squirt is one of my favorite sodas, BTW. My favorite yellow tee shirt in my collection is a Mr. Goodbar shirt. I don't get especially deferential treatment from anyone in the supermarkets, but I do get a great feeling when I ask for a senior discount and they card me.

I never saw one of these, but the Motorola "brick"? Lots of them were around in the mid-1980s.

I've heard good things about the Samsung Galaxy. Congratulations, Yettie! I'm still stuck on 3G myself. I think cellphones are great...for making telephone calls. I have one of those Sony Ericssons and have had it for five years. Great phone! I've even had AT&T block text messaging because all I was getting was junk messages. There's one concession I've made to modernity. I've done away with the old land line. Learned that from my sons. Our home security system even uses cellular technology. I doubt you remember the first cellphones...ugly things the size of a brick. People carried them around in attaché cases. Your new toy is cool by comparison. Is it still cool to say "cool"? SRA/Ericsson MTA (Mobile Telephone System A), 1956 Motorola DynaTAC 8000X, 1983 Your beauty.

Another Leo here. That homoscope didn't seem applicable somehow. Wonder why?

Swag is swag.

Wouldn't it be more logical to assume that Basingstoke, a professional hit man, would easily dispose of two teens? I'm not talking about what is convenient for the author, but what is merely logical.

Kidderminster! Happy Birthday!

And...will she personally make an attempt on Trevor's life?

Kidney stones are no fun. I had a couple while in my 60s; it appears his case must be a lot worse since the doctors are recommending reconstructive kidney surgery. I didn't know someone that young could be plagued by stones. I was fortunate to be treated with lithotripsy (ultrasound that destroys the stone) and I take a preventative prescription drug, potassium citrate. I wonder if some urologists treat the malady too conservatively to the great discomfort of their patients.