Hakarl . . . Hot Carl . . . There’s a joke in there, somewhere, but my brain is not quite making it.
Well, they certainly wanted a better drummer, at any rate. Although, if Pete Best had been a better fit personally they might have kept him on and he would have improved, probably. Stu Sutcliffe wasn’t any great shakes as a bass player, but he fit in socially and intellectually, and I imagine he could have stayed in the band as long as he’d wanted. To anyone who grew up with the Beatles as a phenomenon, it is mind-blowing to see old photos of Stu with one or more other Beatles, after they had started wearing Beatle haircuts. He fit in so well visually, and yet he was a whole other Beatle.
You may find this interesting; I did. The buttery flavor you often encounter in Chardonnay is from a process called malolactic fermentation. This is a process in which bacteria convert the naturally-occurring malic acid in the grapes into lactic acid. This is of course in addition to the regular fermentation in which yeast convert sugar into alcohol. Malic acid has a bright, slightly tart, green apple flavor, while lactic acid tastes buttery and has a creamy mouthfeel. The bacteria traditionally came from already-used oak barrels, which are seldom used with other types of white wine because the oak flavor would overwhelm the subtler grapes. Although today winemakers can do oak without MLF or vice versa, those things still tend to go together, with Chardonnay. But they don’t have to! You may occasionally encounter an “unoaked” or “natural” Chardonnay (which has not undergone MLF), and if you do, it’s worth a taste. I generally hate Chardonnay too but I’ll drink an unoaked one when I find it. It’s a perfectly cromulent grape if you don’t mess around with it.
Oh and it’s my opinion that, whatever the official meaning, the term “off-dry” is primarily used by 1) people who secretly like sweet wine but believe it’s gauche, and 2) people trying to sell sweet wine to the first group.
My understanding is they got Ringo because he was a hot shit drummer in the Liverpool scene at the time. In Anthology, Paul McCartney said: " “We really started to think we needed the greatest drummer in Liverpool, and the greatest drummer in our eyes was a guy, Ringo Starr, who had changed his name before any of us, who had a beard and was grown up and was known to have a Zephyr Zodiac. So we made Ringo an offer to join us, and Pete had to have the dreadful talking to.” (Though I suppose that quote can be taken another way. That said, outside that quote, I heard Ringo was well regarded in the Liverpool scene.)
Clowns. I think they’re great performers and lots of fun. I’ve even known a few over the years.
My pipes. Smoking nowadays is yucky-poo, but I can still enjoy a pipe of tobacco in my own home.
There are two parts to smoking a pipe: the pipe and the tobacco. The pipe can take various forms, and the tobacco can be various blends. Find the right combination, and you’re in heaven. My bent Lorenzetti pipe and Peterson’s University Flake tobacco–there’s nothing better to end a workday with.
Well, a cold beer helps also. 
The thing about clowns is that there’s a vast difference between your average kid’s birthday party clown, and good, well trained professional circus clowns. I suspect the people who don’t like clowns have only experienced the kid’s birthday party variety. But I remember going to the circus as a kid, and the clowns there put on a very good kind of Three Stooges style slapstick comedy routine that I really enjoyed, at least as a kid.
Ringo had sat in with the Beatles many times before joining the band. It was the refusal of George Martin to allow Pete to drum on the records that forced the switch that they’d been thinking about
One of my most distinct childhood memories was the time my family went to the circus. I was about 4 and my brother was about 7. Somehow the two of us got to sit by ourselves in the very first row. A clown came around and let the kids squeeze his nose, which honked and lit up. I took such delight in this, and kept squeezing it again and again. My big brother, on the other hand, wouldn’t go anywhere near the clown. Even decades later, he was still afraid of clowns.
And a while later, I got to be in the “Peanut Gallery” of the Howdy Doody Show. I remember Clarabell the Clown came around and met all the kids. I even wore a Clarabell costume for Halloween that year.
Not wearing shoes. If Western culture wasn’t so up its own ass about bare feet, I’d likely never wear shoes unless I was walking outside for an extended period.
Before 9/11 the Tucson Airport used to give tours of the airport including some behind the scenes stuff; my father signed himself and I up for one as he couldn’t convince anyone else to go on it with him. I remember we got to peep at one of the conveyor belts in action.
German Potato Salad… It goes excellent with Texas BBQ. Everyone in my family loathes it, insisting on either mayo or mustard based or even a combo of the two but they detest the vinegar based potato salad that I could eat as a meal unto itself.
Folding laundry. It is effortless. It reminds me of driving on road trips on auto pilot. I can watch TV, listen to a sermon on YouTube, or just daydream or unwind from the day and before I know it, the laundry is folded and ready to be put away. Unfortunately, cleaning the cat’s litter box does not hold the same appeal…
There is a huge and vast difference between a soft wine, that isn’t so tannic and dry, and a sweet wine.
I like a nice refreshing chilled Lambrusco on a hot day. It not sweet, but neither is it dry,
Ecch. Sticky germy floors in stores. 120 degree asphalt and sidewalks. I go barefoot at home, and at the beach.
Polo shirts. They look good on me.
They look great on the ladies in the LPGA.
Socks with sandals. Due to foot problems I can’t wear hard footwear without socks. And it feels good, too.
I absolutely can’t and will not lounge around in sweats or ‘shudder’ PJ’s all day long. No way. I must put on clothes. That includes shoes around the house. I hate going barefoot. I will take my shoes off at the end of the day if my Wife and I are lounging on the couch and my biggest activity is going to the 'fridge for a beer.
My typical attire is a fleece top, shorts and some sort of hiking shoe.
So I guess I like wearing clothes, including shoes.
High water pants. That is, pants that come nowhere near the tops of my shoes. I just don’t see the attraction of having clothing drag through the germs and other disgusting stuff on sidewalks, parking lots, dog runs, and store floors. Laugh at my ankles and socks all you want - I don’t care. (And I do not wear “outside” shoes in the house.)
I come by it honestly. My grade school “health” textbook had a picture of Victorian ladies with their skirts that swept the ground - and the accompanying text pointed out how unsanitary the fashions were “back in those foolish times”.
^ Not to mention the lead-based face make-up. 
Nothing wrong with Polo shirts.
The issue was retired guys in Florida wearing high black socks with sandals and shorts. That does look a little off. When I hike in sandals i sometimes break out thick wool socks, and whne just walking around I sometimes wear super short no show socks with sandals.