MVB

Background: Two years ago I wanted a new piano for my apartment. I liked the Yamaha CLP series, but before spending my hard-earned dollars I spent a weekend going to all the music stores in the (Bay) area to check out the competition: Rolands, Kurzweils etc. They all felt like cheap synthesizers compared to the Clavinova, so that is what I got. Now the keys are beginning to stick and my repair guy says it's at the end of its life -- not worth any more service calls. New ones are really pricey, so I'm looking on Craigslist where I'm seeing fairly attractive prices for YDP-213 and YDP-121 models. I am not familiar with the YDP series.

My question is: would these models be of interest to someone who 1) demands top-quality keyboard feel but needs little else in the way of bells and whistles, and 2) what kind of lifetime can be expected of the keyboards on this series? If they're more than ten years old, are they on their way out, like my CLP-670? Also, has the competition caught upTo Yamaha? I see various Artesia models that claim to have weighted keys like a real piano -- worth checking out?

I'm doing an ignition refurb on my car: new plugs, wires, distributor cap and rotor. I just opened the box containing the wire set and it includes a little tube of PTFE silicone compound. What is this for? Am I supposed to coat the wires with it, or what?

Also, is it still considered good practice to put a drop of motor oil on the threads of new spark plugs or should they go in dry?

Thanks.

"full-time employees"

"fulltime employees"

or

"full time employees?"

I have an old (50-yr+) storage chest for the family's sterling tableware. The liner is labeled "Tarnish Resistant" but this quality has faded over the years. What is the best way to restore or replace the liner?

(to someone just returning from a vacation there)...

How was Italy?

ie, "Como --- Italia?"

Also, "How was the honeymoon?"

Grazie.

I get along in Italian, but want to know the most likely way an Italian would ask the question of someone he knows who's just returning from a stay in (name a country)

I bought a house with an old ipé deck; previous owner apparently gave up maintaining it and had it painted. I plan to have it sanded with a big belt sander, the kind used by flooring pro's. Once I'm down to fresh wood, what's the best way to finish and preserve it? Also, the fascia and posts are redwood -- what's the best way to finish them after they're sanded? Please share any experience you have with ipé decks. Thank you.

"nice folks" (good people)

It would be inserted in a note written in English effectively thanking [the nice people] at such-and-such hotel in Rotterdam.

Danke.

I'd like to buy or put together a CD or iTunes playlist for a young lady who's starting out on trumpet. She's already in a youth jazz band and doing very well. I'd like to expose her to the best of the genre.

I'm thinking first of great classical works such as Haydn's trumpet concerto and the trumpet part in Brandenburg #2. I believe there's another great classical trumpet concerto by... Hummel? (can't remember, but I used to hear it on classical FM radio, back in the days when we had classical radio.) Other classical suggestions welcome.

This collection should not be limited to old classics. I'm thinking of Louis Armstrong, Harry James, Herb Alpert... What would be your (informed, expert) list of the best, hottest, most famous? Thanks very much for your throughtful input.

I learned to play some of the 2-part inventions, and still enjoy playing them, but I didn't have a teacher so I never got to ask: "What the heck are the "parts?"

Back then, I assumed it meant right and left hand, and that the 3-part inventions would be for organ and have a part for the feet, but when I hear the 3-part inventions it's always on piano, not organ. What, exactly, are the parts?

We need to buy a new mattress for a family member who complains her room is too warm and her mattress is too hot. Her current mattress has a built-in memory-foam top, which she says feels good but is too hot.

Cool and soft are the criteria, in that order. A local vendor claims that latex mattresses are the best for conducting away body heat. Can you confirm? Which type of mattress is the coolest?

We have tile floors and oriental (Turkish) rugs. When we bought them about ten years ago we placed under them the backing the dealer recommended: a sort of rubberized mat, tan, with a grid of white fibers embedded in it. Recently, we sent the carpets out for cleaning.

We found the underlying mats to be somewhat deteriorated and not pleasant smelling, so we decided to replace them. Now I'm wondering if they really need to be replaced. I'm not talking about small carpets, which need something under them to keep from slipping -- these are 9 X 12 or so, and they are not going to slip. Do they really need an under-lying layer? If so, what is the best kind? Thanks.

Not a kid with a home work problem, for a change... but an adult looking at Algebra II problem and wondering why he doesn't get their answer... obviously, I've forgotten how to do these. Show work please! Many thanks.

"My mother's in the hospital with a broken hip"

(fluent in Portuguese and get along in Spanish. Looking for good natural Mexican-Spanish idiom for this one. thanks.)

I want to pay a high compliment to a French artist. Please give me the best way to say (in writing):

"Very interesting gallery, sir! Excellent work. Well done."

Background: an organization attempted to regulate parking in a visitor's lot, the objective being to reserve certain spots for visitors only. Residents would be able to use the lot only if they owned a third vehicle, given that their garages can hold only two cars. To prevent their parking a junker in the visitors lot the phrase "... it must be registered and in running condition" was included.

A resident now seizes on a loophole to put an unregistered junker in his garage, claiming that the third car that is now (cynically but theoretically legally) parked in the visitors lot IS registered and therefore compliant. This is, of course, true, and the organization wishes to amend to rule to state that "all the vehicles in question" must be registered and licensed.

Fixing the wording would obviously affect only the one violator. The violator claims this would be illegal, the same as if a new rule were created specifically directed at him (like a bill of attainder). The organization, on the other hand, claims this would only be a clarification of what was clearly originally intended.

Is there a rule of law that allows an amendment of a rule (CC&R) that only fixes a semantic defect, completely corresponding to what was obviously the original intent, or is the violator entitled to a lifetime exemption based on what is admitted by all to have been an original loophole overlooked by the organization's (incompetent) lawyer?

We welcome all thoughtful comments. Thank you.

One example: French "oui" and English "yes."

Can you think of any more pairs like this? The French words need to be known to literate Americans.

I understand Holds, Challenges and the Coutesy Rule in a 2-person game. The problem arises in a 3-person game. Suppose Alex plays a word that Bob and Cindy think is dubious. Alex has been known to try bogus words, but he's also good and knows a lot of Scrabble words. Bob wants to challenge the play, but he has a small lead and does not want to take the risk of being wrong and losing his turn, so he tries to convince Cindy to challenge it. Cindy thinks it's a good word so she's afraid to challenge it, but it's wrecking a high-scoring play for her, so she wants Bob to try to get it off the board. They debate and argue for three minutes and then it's too late. Alex later wins the game and smirkingly notes that QUZEX was just a bunch of letters.

I have a book on Scrabble strategy and it has a whole chapter about bogus words and challenges, but only for 2-person games. Who can/should challenge a dubious play in a 3- or 4-person game?

Do you know what these things are? If you click on the link, you first have to give them an email address: well, OK, I might do that, but then there's something about a home security system and they want your home address, and I'm outa here...

Have you ever pursued one of these so-called offers? Do you have to spend $5000 to get the certificate? How can Walmart be involved if it's a complete ripoff?

On a Mac I would select some jpegs and then click File/Create Archive and that would put them in one archive file. How do you do that on a PC? Is it built into XP Home or do you need 3rd-party software?

This stunning but bogus "photo" is getting passed around the internet:

http://www.pbase.com/inaturalist/image/107009000

The claim has no doubt taken in thousands and produced many exclamations of surprise and wonder, yet it is certainly a Photoshopped composite.

Please check out the text refuting the claim and share your thoughts. How many more ways can you find to prove that it's fake? Can you find anything to support the claim of authenticity?