They prefer hot, dry conditions, and well-aerated soil? Or maybe...

"The stems of some in the southwest tend to point southward toward the equator, while their counterparts in the Southern Hemisphere tilt northward toward the equator..."?

arcellus, I'm with you. There's some huge *******s in here. I won't name names. I don't understand why people just can't be a little bit cordial.

Is it that hard?

When people compliment you, they're not complimenting you because they "approve" or they think you give a **** about what they think. They thought something, so they thought they'd tell you that what you built/ride/enjoy is something that they enjoy also.

When someone compliments my bike, I'm glad to hear it, for no other reason than I like my bike also. I usually say, "thanks, I like it a lot too", and I go on my way.

It's not a big deal, I don't think that they feel they are "approving" of me. Obviously we don't know each other. And because we don't know each other, I have to reason to be a jerk to them. If they give me a reason, that's a different story.

And I happen to think Corvettes are kind of cool, too. Even if not all their drivers are.

Yeah, I moved here in June and it's a huge cultural shock after being in Italy 4 years. I miss the land of little turbo diesel hatchbacks. I tend to avoid the streets when possible which is pretty easy with the trail system.

Wow.
I'd like to hear the sound of one of those.

Go find a late-model VW Golf TDI. They even get around 50MPG. I like VW diesels, especially when run on bio-d.