HossC

NEW Deputy in Town

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GAIL Flatt

The American Andretti Global team have partnered with General Motors with the aim of joining Formula 1. If their bid is successful, they will race under the Cadillac name. With all the formal processes they'll have to go through, it won't be until at least 2026. That's the same year that Audi will start using their own engines, although their takeover of the Alfa Romeo/Sauber team is already under way. Full story here.

Sheriff BUSTER Moon

Yes, but we're back to "A".

WITNESS For The Persecution

There were only 22 races in 2022, so even if the Chinese Grand Prix isn't replaced, we still get one more race this year.

Back to the obituaries. It was announced today that Anita Pointer, from the Grammy-winning Pointer Sisters, has died aged 74. Here's 'Automatic', one of their hits from 1984. It was a #1 single here in Ireland.

Yes. It was cancelled at the start of December due to ongoing Covid restrictions. This was before China's recent relaxation of its very strict Covid policies, but I doubt that it will be enough to get the race reinstated this close to the event.

Assuming that you're talking F1, I still want to see Lewis Hamilton get a record-breaking 8th world championship. Having said that, it won't be easy even with a car which finished the season much more competitive than it started, because he was beaten last year by his young team mate, George Russell. George is only 24, and looks every bit a future world champion.

Formula 1 has announced a 24-race season for 2023, but this may be reduced to 23 races if a replacement isn't found for the cancelled Chinese Grand Prix in April. The season starts on the weekend of the 3rd to 5th of March with the Bahrain Grand Prix, and includes the inaugural Las Vegas Grand Prix in mid-November (giving three races in the US). The full schedule can be found here.

Ace's Clean USED Cars

Just a quick update on the Ford Lightning - as shown in a new video posted yesterday, the truck's main battery apparently failed on the day that the Ford dealership took possession. It's still under warranty, but the batteries are in short supply and on back order, so they don't know when they'll get it fixed. Hoovie said that the failing battery may explain the bad performance he experienced, but at least it's not his problem any more. He also added that he's still a fan of electric vehicles, but doesn't think that electric trucks are viable yet.

Is that also a standard American Christmas meal? In Ireland, the usual Christmas meal is turkey and ham with mash and roast vegetables. We don't have collard greens, but we do have the dreaded Brussels sprouts! Macaroni cheese (as mac and cheese is known over here) was a standalone dish when I was young, but seems to have fallen out of favor. I can't remember the last time I had it or saw it on a menu.

Yesterday, the guy who made the electric truck video posted a new video about his latest purchase - a survivor 1968 Dodge Charger. His very brief history of famous Chargers includes a name check for Dukes. As soon as he gets it back from Florida to Kansas, I'm sure we'll get another video showing everything that's wrong with it.

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One of the car-related YouTube channels I watch recently highlighted the poor performance of the Ford Lightning electric truck in cold weather (below). A previous video he made about the truck showed how the range dropped dramatically when towing. The towing video went viral after a conspiracy website completely misquoted it to further their agenda. He has since traded the Lightning for a Hummer EV. I accept that electric vehicles will take over eventually, but we're still a long way from that point at the moment.

One of the satellite channels over here is showing M*A*S*H all day today, but tomorrow they're having a day of Murder She Wrote. It doesn't look like 'Coal Miner's Slaughter' is among the episodes they're showing, but I may watch a couple if it continues to rain. Most of our stores don't reopen until Tuesday.

We had temperatures well below freezing about two weeks ago, but Christmas day is quite mild here (10°C/50°F) although a friend of mine had a brief power cut yesterday during a heavy thunder storm. Happy Christmas everyone, and Happy Birthday to Meadowmufn.

OTIS J. (The little boy from the choir in 'The Great Santa Claus Chase') It wouldn't be all capitalized in British English - for acronyms over two/three letters, generally only the first letter is capitalized, e.g. UK, USA, Nascar, Nasa etc. Sometimes this looks weird because I'm used to seeing them all in capitals on American sites.

The MEETING Can we please stick to the alphabet in the order that we all learned it?! There have also been recent requests by myself and Roger to put the word you're playing in CAPITAL letters as it makes it easier for the next player - these requests seem to have fallen on deaf ears!

FREDDY FENDER Yes, he's credited as 'The Predator/Helicopter Pilot'.

Work away guys. I'm five hours ahead of Eastern Time, so it's not going to be easy to find a time that suits everyone, especially me.

Correct. He continued to play Harry in 16 episodes of the follow-up TV series of the same name. He died in 1991 at the age of 35 after contracting AIDS from a blood transfusion. The part of Harry was then played by two other actors for the remainder of the series. Kevin Peter Hall also played the predator in 'Predator'. He was 7' 2½" (2.2 m) tall.