Tampa Bay Rants and Raves is a weekly airing of national and local politics, sports, lifestyles and nostalgia items from a very politically incorrect viewpoint. As always, beware - some of what is printed here should not be taken literally.

Leading off: what about renters, condo dwellers?

You see the ads – just plug into the wall then plug into the car – slick as a whistle. This, we are told, is the future of the automobile. But wait, what about the over 25 percent of Americans who live in apartments or condos? There’s no easy plug in for them, unless they have a really, really long extension cord with the proper plugs. For them, it will be a trip to the local gas station, assuming it has the proper facility. And the cost – to be determined, but it won’t be cheap. Just one of many things for electric car proponents to figure out, not to mention many states’ already stretched out electric grids. Bottom line – the gasoline engine won’t be leaving us anytime soon.

Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

Speaking of renters, the demand for apartments continues to increase while the demand for office space is tanking. It appears the bay area may well channel other metro areas in converting empty office space into apartments.

Idle thought: Rather than a nationwide search, perhaps the city of Clearwater should seek someone local who knows the evil empire, the city’s culture and its major players as their next city manager. A couple of good names come to mind.

Factoid: it costs 8.5% more to dine out than it did a year ago. But the cost of preparing meals at home is up even more.

Answer: Herbert Hoover and Harry Truman. Question: Who were the first two Presidents to come from west of the Mississippi?

Quote from someone I admire greatly: “Computers are great – when they work.”

The 5:05 Newsletter reports that Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez doesn’t know what all the fuss is over the House speaker position, saying, “Why do we need a house speaker when we already have headphones?”

This week in 1916 (Jan.2 3-24): In Browning, Montana, the temperature drops from +44 to -56 in a 24 hour period. Now that’s a cold front!

Sports, media and other stuff:

Turn, Turn, Turn, Mr. Tambourine Man and Suite Judy Blue Eyes were just a trio of songs gifted us by David Crosby who passed away last week at age 81.

Music trivia: Crocker Bank in San Francisco gave us the best song ever credited to a bank. It was their commercial We’ve Only Just Begun which was written by award winning songwriter Paul Williams. Richard Carpenter heard the commercial on the radio and the rest is history – one of Rolling Stone’s 500 best songs of all time. The bank merged with Wells Fargo in 1986, but not before giving us a great song!

Idle question: So what happened to all that Sierra Mist that vanished from the shelves when Pepsi’s new lemon-lime Starry debuted? Will it become a collector’s item or be stored in the same warehouse with New Coke?

Younger baseball fans probably don’t know that there were two guys named Frank Thomas who could really crank the ball. In addition to the Big Hurt, there was the Pittsburgh Pirate Frank Thomas who launched 286 homers with his hometown team and a few other clubs. The big slugger died last week at age 93.

From Jimmy Buffett: “go fast enough to get there, but slow enough to see.”

How to throw some set-in-their-ways people into a complete tail spin: close their regular breakfast place for two days for a family wedding.

…and another thing: your question please

This month’s Focus Group assignment was: Assuming an honest answer, if you could go back in time and ask any famous person one question, whom would you question and what would you ask? Leading the pack are two separate queries of Dan or D.B. Cooper. One of our charter members asks: Did you survive the jump from the plane? If so, did you enjoy spending any of that money? Our newest Focus Group member puts it this way - I would like to ask D.B. Cooper, the unidentified man who hijacked a flight in 1971 and got away with $200k in ransom money, what his real identity is. I’d also really like to know how he got away with it, because it’s a fascinating story. Another charter member chose one of their heroines, Amelia Earhart, and the question was simply, “what happened?” Our next member’s inquiry would be of Lee Harvey Oswald or the CIA or perhaps the Mafia – who was involved in the JFK assassination? (Love the way that question is phrased). One of the sports fans in the group asks if Babe Ruth, in the 1932 World Series, really told Cubs’ pitcher Charlie Root the next pitch is leaving the ballpark. From our former western-most member (new kid on the block lives in NOLA) for Rev. Billy Graham – will our pets meet us in Heaven? Good questions all.

UP NEXT: Bridge to nowhere; $30 a gallon; John Lithgow

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