収束ゾーンでのライフ: Life in the Convergence Zone

I know that some people are going to see a Cybertruck and be mad that someone actually bought one of these monstrous things from the babyman fascist who runs Tesla.

Be mad if you want, but don’t act mad. Not at them, not visibly.

If you really need to react then… laugh. Laugh unexpectedly, like you can’t believe what you’re seeing.

Laugh at the fugly truck, in that “oh my gods, you actually bought one of those stupid things?” way. In that “trying not to be seen laughing at you but I can’t stop oh my gods it’s so stupid looking I can’t believe it’s real” kind of way.

If you’re with a friend, and they’re in on it, suppress a laugh, poke your friend and get them to look and have them try not to laugh in that “oh my gods I’m so embarrassed for you” way.

Because let’s face it: it is hilarious, in so many ways. It’s worse than a Nissan Cube and far worse than a Ford Edsel, and so many other vehicles. It’s a 20% rendered bunker vehicle and if you think stainless steel is a good idea for a car body, ask any DeLorian collector how that plays out.

Particularly once you get a dent in it. Which you will.

And besides, a lot of Muskovites, they’re fine with angry strangers. They know how to sneer and feel superior in the face of that.

But being laughed at, though?

Not as much. xD

Posted via Solarbird{y|z|yz}, Collected.

Oh, so you don't want to sell your special rack system accessories to north america, weird German bicycle rack maker? Is that how you're going to play it? You're gonna put special agreements in your reseller contracts so none of them can ship here either? Not even on German eBay?

WELL FINE I'LL JUST MAKE SOME.

I will reverse-engineer your goddamn system and make it out of matching metal and I'll do it with WOOD TOOLS because THAT'S WHAT I HAVE. I will turn a $5 garage-sale corded drill into a METAL GRINDER. I will turn LEFTOVER ALUMINIUM sized in ENGLISH UNITS into COUNTER-STRESSED SELF-STABLE OBJECTS that fit your METRIC racks and I will do it with my HANDS and SANDPAPER.

And you know what's holding it all together? Do you? Huh? Even after I kind of accidentally tossed it across the room onto the cement floor? See how it stayed together? Perfectly? Unchanged? Do you, German maker of weird bike racks?

It's not glue! It's not screws! It's PRECISION. As in PRECISION. CASCADIAN. ENGINEERING.

And also spite.

But mostly the engineering.

First! That pro-bono recording-restoration project I mentioned a week or so ago? The one with the interview with Buck O’Neil, of the Kansas City Monarchs of the old Negro American League?

I heard back from James today:

For the record, Bob Kendrick with the NLBM [Negro League Baseball Museum] said the audio is outstanding.

Second: the allergy testing went fine; I’m much less allergic to grass than I used to be. Thank you, allergy shots.

And finally, the latest follow-up appointment to have my eyes checked again as I continue to recover from two rounds of emergency eye surgery a couple of months ago also went well; they told me get out and don’t come back for eight weeks, and that my vision is up to 20/25 with lenses on.

I have to tell you, I’d've thought 20/25 would be a lot better than this. But apparently, it’s not. Wow.

I’d also talk about the meetings earlier this week, but I can’t. Yet. I can say that something very cool and exciting came out of them, I just can’t say what. Hopefully I’ll be able to say more in a couple of months.

But it’s cool, and exciting. Hee hee hee. :D

I’ll be at the Welcome to Night Vale show at the Neptune tonight. Say hi, if you see me. Say hi, if you don’t see me. Say hi, to the faceless old woman who secretly lives in your home. You won’t know for sure that she heard you. But she did. She did.

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This is epic – it’s a spaceship disaster simulator built into a caravan. Lots more details at the link, but here’s the video:

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Going to get the stupid car today. The shop in Kelso can’t find the problem – or even recreate the problem so far – so we’ll be driving north in a tiny convoy, and I’ll have AAA on speed dial.

So here, have a Friday amusement. Seattle’s big passenger rail depot, King Street Station, is being restored. It’s been a huge undertaking and I’m really excited about it as someone who rides Cascadia Rail a lot.

Where it’s built faces two substantially different street levels; King Street is low, and Jackson Street is rather higher. So there’s an upper plaza while the rails, ticketing, and waiting rooms are down on the lower level. Originally, the Grand Stairwell connected the two, and you had entrances on both levels; the stairwell has been closed for decades, but they’re restoring it.

I just found out today that the Grand Stairwell was originally narrowed – but not yet closed – in 1949, to add escalators. I’d never even known those were there, as they’ve also been closed for decades. And following some threads on the construction update I was reading, I found this:

I WANT THAT SIGN FOR THE LAIR. NOW.

I’d steal it but according to SDOT in this thread, it was gone by the time they took over the station. So sad.

The station took the most damage in the 1960s (…of course…) as it was “modernised” with drop ceilings and and and. Thankfully, in the main waiting area, they did not rip out all the ornate plaster and marble work, but instead hid much of it, semi-intact, behind new material. More of it had to be removed – temporarily this time – for the seismic retrofit, but it’ll be coming back, along with repairs and replacements for the 1960s damage.

There are about eight zillion photographs here, and notes here.

Find some of the pre-restoration photos of the station if you can. That was just sad.

This weekend for me, assuming we make it back in one piece: more recording with Leannan Sidhe, then prep for Second Thanksgiving at the Lair. What’ve you got?

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