View From The Porch

This early (2003-2004) Z4 2.5i was BMW's immediate successor to the Z3. It had fully modern underpinnings compared to the Z3, which was running around until the 2002 model year on a semi-trailing arm rear suspension cribbed from the old 1982-vintage E30 3-series. (This was done for reasons of both cost and compactness; from the rear suspension forward the Z3 was pretty much identical to the newer E36 3-series, but its wheelbase was a foot shorter.)

The Z4 had the multilink rear derived from newer 3-series cars, but as a result had a 4-inch bump in wheelbase length over its predecessor. On the upside, handling was improved and it didn't squat like a motorboat under acceleration.

The 2.5i was the cheaper engine option, featuring the 192hp M54B25 2.5 liter inline six. Buyers could also opt for the 231-horsepower 3.0i.

As a fan of the Z3's lines, I dissed the Chris Bangle-era Z4 pretty hard when it debuted, but like most of the Bangle Bimmers, the lines have aged well over time.

BMW insisted on calling it a roadster, but since the car has a permanently-affixed folding top, that's not exactly accurate. It is a sports car, though.

We've seen this Lamborghini Huracán and Rolls-Royce Ghost before (here and here) but, hey, these are a couple of really cool sleds, so I'm always gonna snap a pic when I have a chance.

You can spend a ton on tablets or smartphones if you want, but you can get a pretty decent one for very reasonable dough if you don't have to have the most memory or megapixels.

I'll try to cheer up and be funnier.

This is your reminder to get off the internet, snuggle your [cat/dog/kid/significant other] and go outside and touch some frickin' grass.

There's this one dude who managed to slip his spammy garbage into places like USA Today and Sports Illustrated:

Guys like this claim they hate government regulation meddling in business, but when they wind up on the wrong end of the stick, they're all "Please help me, Government! I'm just a smol bean and they're being mean to me!"

I rarely have to walk far. It's only a few blocks to the store or a restaurant, so unless it's absolutely raining buckets, I don't need some giant mobile domed tent of a brolly.

I had to buy a new one earlier this year and, not knowing anything about which umbrella brands were good or not, I ran into the enshittified search engine on Amazon and got stumped. A little bit of research around the web saw me picking up a collapsible unit from Prostorm.

After six months of use, I gotta say that it was a good call. Reasonably priced, the auto-extend and auto-collapse features are handy. It's like the Microtech out-the-front mechanism, but for umbrellas. It has nine ribs rather than eight in order to add to its sturdiness in windy conditions, and that plus the venting in the deep bowl of the umbrella itself has kept it from getting inverted even in gusty conditions.

Collapsed down, it's only about a foot long and easily fits in the bottom of the tote. This one gets two (dry) thumbs up from me.

An old rear-wheel drive JDM (Japanese Domestic Market) AE86 Toyota Corolla Levin all set up for drifting. Good-looking ride and sounded pretty healthy.

The last generation of RWD Corollas ran from the '83 to '87 model years and are just Peak Eighties for me. Very Synthwave. I could get into driving one, although I think I'd prefer keeping it a lot closer to stock in the wheel & suspension department. You can tell that encountering the wrong speed bump or pothole in that thing would be disastrous.

I mean, neither the Zed Drei or the Mustang has a ton of ground clearance or what you'd call a cushy suspension, but the difference in sidewall height between the two sets of tires makes a world of difference on rough springtime pavement here in Indy.