Friday, February 6, 2026

Good morning. Shall we jump right in?

Item 1: a link

You probably thought Elon Musk invented electric cars. Meet the 1980 Comuta-Car Electric Runabout, you utter fool:

The Comuta-Car, and its predecessor the CitiCar, were electric cars designed for limited use in cities. Sharp increases in gasoline prices in the 1970s persuaded some 4,000 people to buy the tiny vehicles. But every time the price of fuel spiked, it always fell again, and demand for specialized urban electrics always fell along with it.

(Also, meet the long history of electric cars, starting back in the 19th century.)

Clearly built for city driving and parking (check out those hefty bumpers, which, uh... contained the batteries), the Comuta-Car is like a glimpse into an alternate universe where Ronald Reagan didn't rip Jimmy Carter's solar panels off of the White House roof. Perhaps someday we'll have a federal government that supports the obvious, inevitable march of progress.

Anyway, in researching this adorable vehicle I learned that they're still out there, getting bought, sold, remembered, discarded, and restored (I'm pretty sure I used to walk past this last one parked on the street in my old neighborhood!).

Item 2: a list

Italian Wedding Soup Components, Ranked:

1. Meatballs
2. Pasta
3. Fresh herbs
4. Spinach
5. Chicken broth
6. Carrots
7. Celery

Item 3: a media recommendation

Item 4: word of the week

Demotic

Stop using all those high-falutin' fancy words and just speak demotically!

Item 5: an image

See ya!

Thanks for reading. See you again next week.