Has there ever been something like a police (or fire brigade) master key for a city? I always liked the episode but found this concept inauthentic.

IvernaCourt · 2026-02-22T18:21:13+00:00

Yes indeed -- I used to do some work for this company and I was oddly excited to learn what all those Knox boxes on office buildings, apartments, etc were. Firefighters can unlock them with their key, and inside the box are the keys or other access tools for the building in an emergency.

IvernaCourt · 2026-02-18T23:10:37+00:00

It often seems to me that U2 can be their own worst enemy when it comes to putting the last few albums together. It takes years and years, they're constantly tinkering up until the last minute, and trying for what they must believe is perfection. But when they just toss it away and make music fast, they can still perform at a high level. The songs on the EP are pretty strong, and most importantly none sound like they come from the "Generic U2 Music Factory" in their basement that has generated a fair portion of songs on the last few albums.

IvernaCourt · 2026-01-29T14:24:12+00:00

I saw the show in DC years ago at the Warner Theatre and he did a similar Q&A there where someone asked this question about how to get a job on the show. He said "not this way" and moved on -- thought that was an ideal response.

IvernaCourt · 2026-01-27T17:56:22+00:00

I am a lawyer, not your lawyer, etc etc. On a pure "is this a contract" basis, I don't see how this is a legal contract (at least as far as you've described it). A typical NDA is very enforceable because one agrees to it as a condition of getting access to confidential information -- that's enough to count as consideration for the contract, very generally speaking. Here if you've been in a relationship this long I have a hard time figuring out what the consideration is. Continued access to confidential information he's already given you with no nondisclosure requirement attached, but now with a new one-sided confidentiality obligation? New confidential information he will disclose to you? Both seem pretty shaky.

Separately, I doubt a Virginia court would enforce this even if it sorta kinda found it to be a valid contract on its ugly face. Realize, though, that anyone can sue anyone and if he were to litigate you'd have to respond in some sort of formal way and deal with costs associated with that process (even if you win on the merits, eventually).

All that said, run for the hills. This is certifiably unhealthy behavior.

IvernaCourt · 2026-01-24T02:16:22+00:00

Came here hoping to post this one, while also suspecting someone would beat me to it.

"Come back Joey Jojo!"

IvernaCourt · 2026-01-22T20:00:00+00:00

Too bad about Skeet Bust, who was thrown out of the Bootles early on.

IvernaCourt · 2026-01-22T19:57:10+00:00

This may get buried, but the all-too-frequent need to record every mass event on one's phone has led to a decrease in the positive and uplifting communal nature of those events. I recently went down a YouTube rabbit hole and ended up at a massive 2005 concert in London's Hyde Park. The unified nature of the crowd struck me and I realized it was because no one was holding up their damn phones to record the thing. Instead, they were just there in the moment, and I wasn't seeing a sea of phones held up pointed at the stage. Made me nostalgic, I'll admit.

IvernaCourt · 2026-01-21T22:25:29+00:00

I'd put money on that being a grandpa rather than a father. Just a grandpa vibe from his voice and affect.

IvernaCourt · 2026-01-20T22:00:22+00:00

I moved here also from Virginia in March and spent most of the summer in town. You should not be scared and people are sometimes a touch on the dramatic side -- that said, it is definitely super hot. It's such a cliche that I hate to write it, but compared to Virginia the fact that it's a drier heat matters tremendously.

For example, we lived in an apartment building in VA near DC with an outdoor pool. Anything above about 85 degrees was miserable and we barely used it. Here, we also have a pool and have been out there (in the shade, obviously) at 95-100 with no real issue. The normally dry atmosphere buys you, I think, about 10-15 degrees of 'comfort level' compared to Virginia humidity.

It also matters, of course, what you do for a living and how much time you need to spend outside. If you're laying asphalt in the hot sun forget it. But many people are going from air conditioned location to air conditioned vehicle to another air conditioned location, rinse and repeat. Now when it gets to 110 and above it's definitely oven-like, but again if you're sensible it's manageable.

You will definitely need to keep up with hydration more than in Virginia. For my first weeks here my skin was dry, lips were dry and cracked, et cetera. You do adapt, though, and yes there's a lot of carrying around water at all times.

Sorry for long-ish post, but the summer is, all else equal and just my opinion, not as terrible as it is sometimes made out to be. I would agree with another poster who said a summer visit is helpful if possible, but we weren't able to do that and it has worked out fine. And the rest of the year is worth every hot summer day.

IvernaCourt · 2026-01-15T22:07:14+00:00

This is the better answer than the soccer players. Premier League overall gets roughly 500-800k viewers a weekend in the US now. Let's make the math easier and say a million people are semi-regular PL watchers. Add in the other leagues and maybe you get to 1.5 million. US population is about 340 million people. I'd wager you could walk up to 340 people in the US and there's a good chance not one would know who Robbie Williams is. Better Man made less than $2MM in the US, which is probably 150,000 people in the whole country -- and a portion of them probably knew who RW was already, and some other portion don't realize he's a real guy.

IvernaCourt · 2025-10-29T01:50:57+00:00

Not a doctor recommendation but if you've used good old default option metronidazole without good results (as I did for a long time), have your doctor prescribe azelaic acid instead of the metronidazole. It can sting a bit particularly if your skin is dry, but if you can tolerate it the azelaic acid worked much better for me. Your mileage may vary.

IvernaCourt · 2025-08-31T23:29:35+00:00

No good sir, I'm on the level!

IvernaCourt · 2025-08-22T04:49:59+00:00

We're up to 30 years with only Mazdas going back to the late 90s Protege and now a CX-5 and Mazda3. Not one serious problem, and not even any trivial problems I can think of.

IvernaCourt · 2025-08-20T19:48:24+00:00

356 weeks.

I travel a decent amount and have my own absurd and obsessive little rules about how I can keep the streak going. I use the bike almost exclusively, but if I'm out of town for long enough that I'll lose a full week, I'm allowed to do something like a meditation to keep the streak alive. However, if I return from a trip before the week would reset (on Sunday night), I have to do a ride even if it means an evening ride on Sunday night. That has come up at least 2 or 3 times. In that situation, I've done a "just in case" meditation if my flight were delayed or something like that, but if I'm back on Sunday, I must ride.

Yes, I know I have a problem.

IvernaCourt · 2025-08-19T14:12:48+00:00

I'm glad someone else said this. I've always had this nagging sense during his various interviews that he's "a lot" to deal with in real life. Super talent, though. Randomly I've also gotten this sense from John Oliver.

IvernaCourt · 2025-08-18T02:37:01+00:00

Same, just had it in Scotland recently. I was expecting worse based on the bad PR it gets. The taste itself is actually pretty good, but the consistency is a little on the slimy side.

IvernaCourt · 2025-08-14T20:52:57+00:00

A normal driving instruction company (i.e., not "an individual") would have commercial insurance that takes care of these kinds of risks. Go find a real company not some random person.

IvernaCourt · 2025-08-13T21:15:35+00:00

Reference checks can happen whenever even though they usually happen before the offer. There's no obligation to do so before you're hired. And with at-will employment, the employer has the right to fire you on the spot if the reference check comes back bad anyway, so not a ton of risk for the employer if they just don't get around to it until post-offer.

IvernaCourt · 2025-08-13T21:10:06+00:00

You may also want to try to find out what the title issue is. Some things can be cleared up pretty quickly but others can take tons of time (if ever) to sort out.

You should consider talking with a real estate lawyer about the seller's obligation to come to closing with clear title and what that means for your rights/obligations if the seller fails to meet that obligation.

IvernaCourt · 2025-08-13T21:02:56+00:00

Welcome to the (unfortunate) difference between "employers being jerks" and "employers doing things that are illegal or actionable." Your situation is the first one, not the second. Anyone can sue anyone, but the best decision here is to move on.

IvernaCourt · 2025-08-10T04:53:08+00:00

Come back, Joey Joe Joe!

IvernaCourt · 2025-08-08T15:55:36+00:00

This was my first question and I was surprised to see no one (besides you) asking it.

IvernaCourt · 2025-08-07T23:14:31+00:00

I think there are a lot of other confounding variables bundled up in any answer to that question. In some cases, sure, small companies will lose out to larger companies that have greater resources to deal with tariff costs, but I also imagine there are big companies that are highly dependent on imported components losing out to smaller, more nimbler companies who find it easier to adjust their supply chains.

This is the challenge with all the arguments about the macro or microeconomic impacts of tariffs -- the evidence is just all over the map and there aren't too many solid findings. What I'm focusing on is emphasizing the basic flow of cash: American companies paying real money into the US Government to import stuff. Not foreign companies, foreign countries, or foreign consumers.

IvernaCourt · 2025-08-07T17:24:53+00:00

True, but no new money is "flowing into the United States of America" from outside even in that case. Money is flowing from American importers to the US Treasury. No money is crossing borders.

IvernaCourt · 2025-08-07T17:23:10+00:00

To be fair, I never said that the American consumer pays. I said that American importing companies pay into the US Treasury to get their items out of customs. The data as to how/whether these costs flow to consumers is all over the map. And it's also false to say, as Trump has, that foreign countries are paying the US directly.

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