Wisdom (and sometimes the cereal guy): 2022

31.12.22

It's HOW you say it...

b1-66er: And THIS is how my '22 ends...

All happening as Scorpion Manor is warming from 66 to 70...

The Accomplice is watching

PIÑATA MASTERS

on Netflix.

There's a fair amount of high volume Spanish (much of it from children, whom I assume are captives, but may be nothing more than contestants) and LOTS of Accomplice emphasis...

{Example

phone: mmmerrmmerrmerr

A: You're allowed to pull on the rooster chain ONLY ONCE!

}

With these psychological underpinnings, I already know mom's obituary (due to my brother tomorrow) will be UNMATCHED.

WAIT ... BREAKING NEWS

"There's a girl whose family was too poor to have a piñata for her family so ¡SHE HAD TO RELY ON THE ONE FROM LAS POSADAS!"

So there's some deeper empathy in Piñata Masters

"THE SPANISH FOR JELLYFISH IS *MEDUSA*!"

(And then she gestures with a thumb and two fingers pointed DIRECTLY AT ME ... which I can only assume is ASL for "a jellyfish is going to kick YOUR ass.")

Yes yes yes...

Sociologically we are just ONE STORY away from interpretive dance of this TV show experience.

Lots of chuckling.

Occasional WHOAs.

... One always hopes the New Year will be better than the last son of a bitch you just went through.

Perhaps this is the cue...

... Or maybe it is now impossible.

[As the most gigantic robin you have EVER seen perches on the newly painted bench outside.

It. Is. Huge.

Yesterday our yard sculptor said, "I have never even SEEN a robin in the Valley."

Me <oddly channeling my father, for some unknown reason>

"Maybe we should feed it."

A: <sneering> "I'm not THAT kind of a bird watcher. That fucker is fat enough already•"

Happy New Year

Special K: FANTASTIC. My fucking year is complete. I'm going back to bed.

{Accomplice: I did NOT say "fucker." (everything else is reasonably accurate)}

30.12.22

Smokey: Thought you might get a kick out of this. My perpetual car. Still driving the 1999 Toyota 4Runner I had when I started at Danger. 430,000 miles. When it sat parked for 2 years of pandemic working from home, the sun baked the clear coat off it. Sort of didn't care and at the same time it looked terrible. So this happened...

Used by permission

29.12.22

Snore-y White is not a princess either

Special K: I've been doing this for years. I never knew there was a name for it.

https://www.sleep.com/sleep-health/non-sleep-deep-rest

b1-66er: But...

... I've seen you snore doing NSDR.

K: That's sleep, then.

b1: I KEPT TELLING YOU THAT.

AND YOU have me some crazy Indian answer about "next wave of sleep"

And "ALL the Yogi Masters of G do it."

K: Your genius is reconfirmed.

This explains how I used to help the kids with their homework while "sleeping."

23.12.22

The warming view of the cold

Smokey: Sunset on the lake. Thule fog is across the lake surface. It has warmed up a bit.

b1-66er: Gorgeous.

S: Much of the country is suffering big snow and freezing cold and it is warming up here. I want snow and we are getting 40 degrees with no precipitation

b1: That's strangely funny.

You've been...

...POLAR VORTEXED!

Used by permission)

20.12.22

Chrismaryllis

{Color variation differences between 2 bulbs.}

The Accomplice: <pic>

Used by permission.

16.12.22

Something smells like a lot of fish

b1-66er: https://onemileatatime.com/news/aquarium-berlin-hotel-explodes/

Space Colnel: German engineering?

b1: To me (being ¼ of a world an ocean and a language barrier away) i'd say, "no, or not EXACTLY'...

That thing was massive (world's biggest!), but it was also outdoors in < 0C temps...

Assuming it hasn't been tampered with, I bet it's some kind of structural failure...

It's not the water freezing, for sure... Water has an interesting property, just like everything else, it shrinks, but JUST BEFORE it freezes, it THEN expands (has to do with the way the H molecules align) ...

Chemistry stupes will say that freezing is it, but it's definitely NOT. (Too much water, too much motion... It might even be heated, I don't know.)

If it was IN, my prejudice and bias would just say 'yeah, it's their engineering'...

But DE engineering is a Sharp Precise Good Thing.

Porsche, BMW, Audi, etc...

Sure, all those examples are automotive, but there're others (especially in health and medicine)

SC: It appears to be in the lobby, so I doubt temperature was the issue.

b1: No no no. IT RUNS SEVERAL STORIES IN THE PLAZA SURROUNDED BY THE BUILDING.

SC: So it was outside.

b1: Yes.

BBC News - Berlin's giant AquaDom hotel aquarium containing 1,500 fish explodes

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-63996982

SC: I missed that when reading the article.

b1:Stupid Yanqui writing, crossed with bad Internet editing.

I thought the same thing when I first read it upon awakening...

The Accomplice had just woken up too and immediately said, "that structure's not inside."

Too much of the architectural statics of that building don't allow something something to be built inside like that.

(of that.)

Hey man, I just woke up from 2nd sleep.

It is SO nice to talk to you, first thing, in real time.

SC: The BBC states it was in the lobby as well.

Nobody's doing a good job of describing the setup.

b1: It's a cylindrical building with a big fish tank tube in the center. Something like that.

Google Earth/Maps'll show you (which I haven't used in this case.).

It's in the middle of the structural hotel. With a skylight above.

I'd call this an 'atrium.'

And then, there's THIS...

https://youtu.be/LBTFdCeP4Dw

SC: War zone like footage in Berlin, followed up by what........? Barbie! There's some logic here somewhere -- I'm digging for it.

15.12.22

A light in the darkness

Untied Colors: https://neurosciencenews.com/light-therapy-multiple-sclerosis-22057/

b1-66er: You know, my mom chose nights when she started nursing again in the 60s... My dad's drinking had become problematic enough that we needed a solid income...We we're skint enough that we needed the 10¢/hour shift-differential

The schedule ended up absolutely hammering her ability to sleep anywhere close to dependably (she still doesn't ... 30 years post-work ... And at the age of 92, having been on thyroid medication for 75 YEARS).

Maybe it all means nothin'.

I read about light therapy in the 80s and was absolutely convinced she needed it.

Like all my other (incessant) health suggestions, she never did anything about it.

Now, I bet she sleeps on the order of 16 hours a day... Never more than 40 minutes at a time.

And then there's me.

MS boy.

The one thing I show, FOR SURE, is fatigue.

I bet I sleep 8 or 9 hours a day, but in 3 or 4 blocks...

Now, I had not heard about this study.

BUT...

Over time, you've shown that know me ever-better...

Things that:

• are easy to do

• cost relatively little money

• can POTENTIALLY provide long term benefit

I'll do.

And I don't give a good goddamn about whether or not it's psychosomatic or placebo effect or whatever the hell...

That's why I started my diet...

And that (maybe combined with my neuro's recommendation of 4000IU of D?) snapped my blood panel numbers comically perfect...

Suspiciously perfect.

Now sure, this study is an extremely small, not population significant, study...

AND it's coming out of semi-permafrost areas of the planet where people have to worry about polar bears stealing their lutefisk...

BUT IT'S NOT THAT HARD TO TRY...

For US$25 I can get a box delivered to my doorstep TOMORROW that'll let me try it out...

Assuming the Chinese haven't mis-wired the luminous sum bitch, all the hardware should just work...

Who knows?

Maybe it'll be like my mouth taping and I'll see results immediately.

And if not?

AMAZON IS TAKING RETURNS ON IT UNTIL THE END OF NEXT MONTH!

Thank you for keeping an eye out for b1, Mr. UCB.

Monday was BFD (Break Fast Day).

The most joyous of all days.

Your missive was the cherry on top of the life dessert.

<30 hours later>

b1: Hard news from CO yesterday...

My mom died in the evening.

92.

She had a good run.

UC:I am very sorry for your loss. Ms. and I are sending our heartfelt condolences, my friend.

b1: Thank you•

Tools of the trade have arrived.

First use!

(This is the brightest setting of 3.

30 minute exposure.

Set at a slightly off-set angle from 0°[by some other company's recommendation], to prevent "DIRECT" incidence.)

"HAPPY MOOD LAMP helps lift mood and helps fight winter blues, jet lag, shift work and seasonal changes."

(my EMPHASIS)

UC: <HFB pix 1-4>

13.12.22

The mister gets meaner

b1-66er: <Wombo>

D4rw1n: I like how felony mayhem looks like the set builder for Sesame Street got hired to finish the sets for the Robert Altman / Robin Williams Popeye

9.12.22

The Manor dons its lights

The Accomplice:

Used by permission

Rounded off

b1-66er: The plot thickens...

https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/09/europe/russia-putin-nuclear-weapons-intl/index.html

D4rw1n: Bad news for approximately everybody

3.12.22

The Apple runs

Special K: I don't remember knowing about this.

"About the same time, the Apple plant in Fountain went into production and soon became the company's largest manufacturing facility, turning out a million power-book and desktop computers a year. It was a state-of-the-art facility that helped the Colorado Springs area attract other high-tech companies."

b1-66er: Yeah. It was a thing for about 3 years.

K: Wow•

b1: I DEFINITELY didn't know about THIS...

'Rectocele.

In women, fecal incontinence can occur if the rectum protrudes through the vagina. This condition is known as rectocele.'

K: Oh yeah. Everybody knows that one.

b1: That's funny. (And a bit mean.)

K: Agreed.

b1: But I have NEVER EVER¹ said...

Excuse me, but before we have sex (meaning I stick my penis in your vagina), do you have rectocele?

K: Same.

b1: ¹That's not exactly right. This 'one time' I DID ask that, but 'she' said, "I don't have an erector set up on my roof, stupid!"

We stopped talking shortly after that.

K: Good remembering.

b1: The phrase "erector set on the ceiling" kinda sticks with you in that "oh the humanity!" kinda way.

2.12.22

Logical progression of the moment

b1-66er: <Wombo>

https://www.ebay.com/itm/325100047784

Special K: "Oahu residents could be ice skating before Christmas"

28.11.22

Start the Season!

Former Flyer: <pic>

Used by permission

...Break your Mama's back...

b1-66er: THIS ARTICLE is pure gold...

https://www.rgj.com/story/news/crime/2022/11/28/downtown-reno-whip-ban-noise-police-nevada/10660233002/

Major Math: Devo ruined it for everyone

27.11.22

Yellbow

b1-66er: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/nov/27/jaron-lanier-tech-threat-humanity-twitter-social-media

MISTER Crypto: Someone You've Never Heard of Has Concerns

b1: <Wombo>

MC: <Craiyon>

23.11.22

Just beyond The Fun Zone

b1-66er:

21.11.22

All in!

Special K: "By November 10, 2022, 94% (95% CrI, 79%-99%) of the US population were estimated to have been infected by SARS-CoV-2 at least once."

Take me to the co-pilot

b1-66er: Elton John is still watchable on D+

Special K: Thank Iger!

b1: I know his sanctions.

K: Good one•

20.11.22

Caffeinating your private(s) home

b1-66er: Ends Today, 11/20/22!

Kirkland Signature Coffee, Organic Pacific Bold K-Cup Pods, 120-Count

$6 OFF

Do you live in a Pacific Bold K-Cup Pod?

Or is that some kind of caffeinated athletic supporter you use?

Special K: Why not both?

b1: THAT seems awkward.

K: Oh it is.

19.11.22

Amaryllis Eve

The Accomplice:

Used by permission

The 0.01%

Special K: I downloaded my Twitter archive. 22,000 tweets over 14 years.

b1-66er: Jesus.

AND 3 OF THEM ARE GOOD•

K: Thank you. I'd go with 2.

THOSE were the daze...

b1-66er: Looks like they bFINALLY caught up to your other brother.

Overachieving-Misfit K....

https://www.kktv.com/2022/11/19/colorado-springs-man-with-multiple-felony-warrants-arrested-after-getting-stranded-stolen-car/

Special K: I remember when we decided which one of us would get the tattoos.

16.11.22

Kontent

b1-66er: THIS JUST IN FROM COSTCO:

Young K has checked out. We'll send you an update when your order is on its way.

Special K: 😳

My secret child.

b1: When was the last time YOU checked out?

K: I checked out DVDs at the library just this morning.

b1: Okay.

So Young is keeping in the family spirit and tradition.

K: Good person.

14.11.22

Sausage maki

b1-66er: <Wombo>

https://www.vice.com/en/article/v7vvz8/pizza-sushi-review

D4rw1n: Good but better than "disgusting" still leaves an uncomfortably wide range

12.11.22

The MI note

Dear Hunter: <2 pix>

Used by permission

No warning shot

b1-66er: <Wombo>

D4rw1n: I had no idea how scary flu season could look

b1: I tell you and I tell you and I tell you to get a flu shot...

... And then THAT happens.

(I like the black hole casket on its chest.

That qualifies as scary.)

D4: Yep. Did not notice that detail.

10.11.22

Microscopic taunting

b1-66er: <Wombo phrase embedded in this article>

https://www.clickondetroit.com/health/2022/11/10/slice-science-part-1-how-long-is-it-safe-to-keep-pizza-out/

D4rw1n: I'd happily and confidently leave a pizza out for more than two hours. And I absolutely defy any microbe to survive more than about one second on a slice of pepperoni. But in my household, no pizza in history has ever lasted more than about 16 minutes. So we're not a very good testing laboratory for these scientific inquiries

7.11.22

Portion contortion

b1-66er: <3 Wombos>

D4rw1n: That last one is is subtly and mind-bendingly self-referential

27.10.22

Ready...aim...fire water!

b1-66er: The article is 'just fine,' but skip to the "breath holding" part if you wanna get blown away...

https://nyti.ms/3W3e4tK

D4rw1n: That's pretty amazing. Over the last three decades or so, my personal best is probably about 45 seconds. In the last millennium I remember doing it at the pool quite a bit and getting up to a couple minutes. You guys probably did some of that

b1: I never worked on breath holding as part and parcel of my swimming (although I did work up to 90 seconds in HS, with no tricks, or thought even, really)...

...When my dad started seeing a pulmonologist for his emphysema they were encouraging him to use "back pressure" (I think that was the term), where when you breathe out, you sort of did it through pursed lips (kinda like whistling) ...

I was starting to do some more serious distances cycling and noticed IMMEDIATE gain...

So much so that I habitualized it and do it to this day without even thinking about it when I get winded.

At the beginning of meditation everyday, I start with my eyes open, breathe in through the nose, out through the mouth, 4× before I drop-in...

Then I close my eyes...

Breathe in through the nose, hold for four heartbeats.

Breathe out through the mouth, hold for six heartbeats.

I do that 5×.

Then I meditate.

During the 5 breaths, I already know by the second or third if it's going to be a good session by the color play I see "inside my eyes."

If they fill with color (or grow completely black) as I breathe in, I AM GOOD TO GO!

Sometimes, especially if I'm in a bad mood, I don't get response.

If that happens, I'll get up, and go up and the stairs. Drink a glass of water. Try again.

That gets me focused about 80% of the time. (Although if I'm "focused," there's also about an 80% chance that I'll fall asleep in that session.)

D: That's similar to what we do (per headspace instructions) but I haven't noticed the colors - I'll pay attention to that next time

Water is a very effective medicine

In super stressful work moments, a glass of water resolves my situation about 80% of the time

b1: YEAH!

Isn't that just the coolest thing?

You know, I wonder what the hell's going on there...

Is your body looking for something else to look at so the rest of your mind can get to business?

Or does the radiator of the soul need a top off?

Or what?

When I fast, if I get hungry (which doesn't happen anymore ... that was a couple years ago) I drink a glass of water and the urge to eat goes away immediately.

D: I think the human body has a certain range of tolerance regarding hydration at the cellular level

My theory is when the cells reach the lower end of the tolerance range, they don't operate as well. That includes brain cells and muscle cells

And I think we're very well conditioned to process water

So when I'm feeling at all bad in any way -and I manage to remember to have a glass of water- it very often helps

Even (especially?) when a significant part of my brain thinks whiskey might be the solution

26.10.22

Lathe work on the body

b1-66er: https://www.insider.com/healthy-habits-that-may-slow-weight-loss-according-to-dietitian-2022-10

My version:

• Leaving the lights on your car, knowing you'll have to jump start it later, won't 'burn' the calories as you jam that Chocodile in your mouth while doing so.

• "Do overs" on the meal you just ate do not count. And no, 'mulligans' have never been part of the American Heart Association guidelines.

• Eschewing all foods with a 'z' in the ingredients is not a "thinking diet person's" step forward. Doing so does not "automatically eliminate 1/26th of everything you eat.")

• One quart of Häagen Daz is not the 'diet version' of a gallon.

• A six pack of Lite beer consumed with a cup of sugar does not qualify as 'less filling' than a regular Miller

sixer. And no, you don't "know it's working because it doesn't 'taste great.'"

• Milk of Magnesia blended into your bottle of orange juice in the morning doesn't qualify it as a 'dietetic smoothie.'

Special K: Diet advice.

21.10.22

The need you don't

b1-66er: https://www.thrillist.com/news/nation/taco-bell-grilled-cheese-dipping-tacos-taste-test

<Wombo>

Major Math: Everything at Taco Bell is unnecessary except for the tacos. But we need unnecessary

b1: I AM NEVER LEAVING YOUR SIDE•

17.10.22

Happy Hallowe'en

D4rw1n: I just saw my first television ad for personal injury lawyers chasing cases of "unnecessary injury" suffered as "millions are flocking to the metaverse." The photo is of a guy wearing a VR headset, but the implication is clearly that if you accidentally sprint into a sliding glass door while you're Lightsaber dueling with Darth Vader, you might try to sue Mark Zuckerberg

16.10.22

Shakin' like tremolo

b1-66er: https://www.reviewjournal.com/entertainment/entertainment-columns/kats/barry-manilow-closing-in-on-elvis-las-vegas-show-record-2658499/

<Wombo>

D4rw1n: Hmm I never thought of it before but Elvis x Barry Manlow = Rick Ocasek

4.9.22

Minus Jeanne-Claude

b1-66er: [pic]

< ideal bicycling conditions

b1-67er: Looks like Christo

28.8.22

Jaw bone exercises

Former Meat Man : No one has to be in shape to run their mouth.

21.8.22

Wildlife Study and Polypropylene

The Dear Hunter: Here we go. Gang is all here.

12.8.22

A Turn for the Yearn

b1-66er: <Wombo>

from here: https://soranews24.com/2022/08/12/worlds-first-takoyaki-guitar-created-in-japan-features-a-gas-grill-and-octopus-balls/

Jelly Tite: I yen for this

11.8.22

Plaza de Worship y Sopapillas

Gumby: https://www.cbsnews.com/colorado/news/casa-bonita-pink-paint-reopening-fall/

D4rw1n: I can't tell if the new shade is to the left or right on the tacky scale from the old shade. Of course the correct direction would be _more_ tackier

b1-66er: There's no way 'pinker' can be wrong.

D4: If loving tacky pink paint is wrong, I don't want to be right

b1: Mas CasaNota de Gumby

https://www.9news.com/article/news/investigations/casa-bonita-renovation-photos-documents-costly-plan/73-a3d032f5-af02-447b-8b15-22f01ccbd6af

Special K: I took this photo a few years ago. Google Photos thinks it's a church.

Used by permission)

8.8.22

... and now there's Olivia all over EVERYTHING ...

Solid G: Olivia Newton-John dead.

b1-66er: ¡BAD ONE!

SG: Her grandfather was the great physicist Max Born

b1: Of yeah, well her greatest performance was this one...

https://youtu.be/cLi8fTlDEag

SG: It really is as if she's the new lead singer of ELO

b1: In my heart she will ALWAYS be the lead singer of ELO.

•••

Sheridonian: I saw Xanadu in the theater with Kathy the night John Lennon was killed.

We got out of the theater and I dropped her off at her home. Then I went over to my friend Paul's house and we called our friend Bruce, who was going to school at the University of Nebraska. While we were on the phone with him, somebody told him that John Lennon was dead. Paul and I rushed to turn on the radio, and every station we turned to was playing Imagine. "That's not good,"we thought.

•••

Suttonhoo: Yeah. Like I said: Disco was hard on my family 🤣

That guy looks so much like Andy Gibb! But he isn't 😞

Listening to the Grease soundtrack tho

•••

D4rw1n: That is one of my first big pop-culture crushes dead. It hits you differently when they used to live on your bedroom wall

b1: I respect your loss...

... Now we are HERE.

Special K: When I was little, my brother told me Olivia Newton-John was married to Elton John. Of course I believed him.

D4rw1n: Haha great.

Catherine Zeta Jones was married to Tom Jones

Margaret Bourke white was married to the Supreme Court Justice Byron 'Whizzer' White...

...Who was previously married to Lord Byron

Also it is a little-known fact that boxer Roberto Duran was father of Duran Duran

Julia Louis Dreyfus, wife of Captain Alfred Dreyfus (but not involved in the eponymous affair)

Alexandria Ocasio Cortez is married to noted conquistador Hernan Cortez

And in a weird naming twist, Paula Abdul was married to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for a short time

<editor addendum from http://www.outofthepastblog.com/2019/08/xanadu.html?m=1

Very little of <Xanadu> makes sense and the only reasons you should be watching it are for Gene Kelly, Olivia Newton-John, music by the Electric Light Orchestra, a couple of the musical numbers and to take a time travel trip back to 1980's SoCal.

As if you need any more reasons.>

Pyramidal Rationale

b1-66er: 1st sleep dream

I'm at some sort of an outdoor party in a park.

A guy is being super aggressive so I take a long tubular sponge like object and shoot him with a projectile (maybe a bean?). It makes no sound.

Him. Belligerently. "I don't feel a thing!"

"You will."

I shoot him again and two black spots slowly appear in his chest as he "bleeds." Very motor oil-like.

He collapses on the curb, leaking a large puddle of black liquid.

I look at the brick work on the sidewalk and think, 'that'll be almost impossible to clean up.'

2nd

I'm sitting at a picnic table with The Accomplice and she has a plastic bottle of diet Pepsi sitting in front of her conical shaped-like a coffee filter.

The brand label is floating IN the fluid.

"Those things are rare," I say.

She picks up the bottle. It's leaking slightly.

I think, "that's why those things got recalled."

D4rw1n: You are a nightmare Syfy assassin with a keen eye for collectibles

And morally defensible in all states

•••

The Dear Hunter: Hmmm.

U might as well cancel Netflix.

5.8.22

Wooly yarns

b1-66er: <Wombo>

D4rw1n: Alien space sheep

Alien space spider sheep

30.7.22

The sounds of finance

b1-66er: "I just don't want to get shot while I'm on vacation, cause that doesn't sound fun to me."

AMP: logical

being shot at home sounds more relaxing

The seed of creepiness

Former Meat Man: Cicada/Locust skin on our sunflower plant

Used by permission.)

29.7.22

Krazy Kat's eye view

Special K: I think there's some kind of party going on in my neighborhood. Very unusual.

Used by permission.

That 808 State

The birdhead: It's been a few years since I watched "808" so I purloined a copy and put it on. I'm amazed by the variety of artists they interview. I can understand that most of them are retired now and bored and willing to do documentaries, but how do you get Pharrell Williams to take your call (in 2014-15)?

b1-66er: Yeah yeah!

bh: Also, gotta love Afrika Bambaataa. Every time I see him interviewed, he's in some ridiculous outfit that goes past stylish, past farce, and somehow wraps back around to stylish.

b1: Yeah. That's him.

Style is a globe.

Keep going west.

Keep going.

No one navigates accurately.

Spin enough, you'll get to a pole.

That's were all the cool is.

bh: Quick story: two guys from New Order are interviewed in 808. Their song Blue Monday has a huge drum track that everybody alive in the 1980's recognizes...but it's not from a 808. It's from a LinnDrum. According to bass player Peter Hook, they'd programmed the entire song's drum part on the thing and had moved on to instrumental parts when somebody tripped over the power cord and the LinnDrum's memory was lost. They spent another day re-programming it, of course, but Hook says the replacement part isn't quite the same.

Meditate on THIS

The Accomplice: I think being calm is always best for one's body.

25.7.22

Dress for suck less

b1-66er:<pic>

My outfit this morning was enough to make The Accomplice exclaim,

"That outfit sez you're either trying to be completely outrageous, or just don't care."

I wonder which.

Zedzed: That is a bold outfit for sure.

I'd say "completely outrageous" is where you live.

b1:THAT'S funny.

Z: 😊

So did you change?

21.7.22

'I'll have a large manhole with extra mushrooms and a highway cone'

b1-66er: <Wombo>

b1-67er: OK, I think it's because there are so many pizzas in the road.

18.7.22

OPEN THE GULLET!

Special K: More free TV and movies. (IMDB rebranded.) https://www.amazon.com/adlp/freevee-about

b1-66er:And suddenly...

... THE WORLD GOT INFINITELY BETTER...

... in barely discernable ways.

K: Well said.

17.7.22

4 feet from here

b1-66er:

13.7.22

29 IF

Special K: Live webcam of crosswalk from Abbey Road album.

https://www.earthcam.com/world/england/london/abbeyroad/?cam=abbeyroad_uk&fbclid=IwAR2Wn5egGK5JXcQLCjVnc9U0WVZ9yYE9rVIXn15U9gHv6mk2yPLrHFsLK0E&fs=e&s=cl

b1-66er: Great great catch.

I watched for a couple minutes.

What's interesting is (at least @16:15 GMT), NO ONE just speeds on through the intersection...

... And ALL buses stop...

...I know the driving rules in the UK well. Had to do it for a couple years and I'd describe the automobile behavior I'm seeing there as 'super-cautious' (from the usual). A lot of people must do a lot of jack-ass things in that spot...

... Just in the time I was watching, I saw I guy stop in the middle of the zebra and shoot a camera pic down the road (probably a Guess-Where-This-Is? or some such)...

... In the middle of rush hour.

On a weekday.

In pandemic...

So, lemme do some simple math...

Let's just look at the guy shooting down the road and act as though no one EVER gets 4 people to walk across (with some fifth character shooting a profile view)...

... And let's say that I just got lucky.

Saw an event that only happens 3× an hour during the morning and evening rush hours, which only run 2 hours in the morning and 2 in the evening...

...And only once/hour all other daylight hours.

And only once at night.

But 4× on the weekend.

3 times

2 hours

2× a day

5 days a week

Make it 8× total on the weekend.

There are 250 working days in a US year.

G sez there are 266 in the UK. (I've worked there, Yanquis work harder than the Brits, so I'll use my bias and just say they do the same.)

Holidays won't be counted differently... While it's true you're more likely to be a jackass on Abbey Road during your vacation..

... you're just as likely to take your jackASS ANYWHERE else...

... So those cancel out.

Amount of Abbey Road Jackasseri in a Year

[250 × 3 × 2 × 5] {working days} +

[165.25 × 8] {weekends and holidays... Including leap years} +

250+165.25 {nights}

9200 times a year

9200 TIMES, Special K

Unless I caught some freak occurrence by chance, that's gonna be right order of magnitude.

No wonder the buses stop at the zebra. They my even be told they have to by London Transport.

K: "Why don't we do it in the road?"

b1: Because

A) You're wrong. EVERYONE will be watchin' you. (Including the Web cam.)

1) Don't listen to the Sex Pistols... performing for the London Transit system is NOT sexy

B) You very well COULD get hit by some conveyance. (In fact, it's likely YOU will get Churchill'd by instinctively looking the wrong way.)

C) The road is scratchy, hard, not 'room temperature' (by definition) and there's nowhere to put your head 'afterward' that doesn't include pavement or a rock. Licking a highway stripe (although Slippery When Wet) is NOT sexy.

K: Good analysis.

12.7.22

Think inside the box

b1-66er: <Wombo>

D4rw1n: She was right to praise breakfast tacos though. But only for deliciousness; apparently not for diversity.

9.7.22

Finishing the Day (in 4 pix)

Las Vegas, NV

6.7.22

Feel a cop

b1-66er: https://www.hotcars.com/iconic-american-cop-cars/

D4rw1n: That Fairlane cop car looks like every southern freedom rider's worst nightmare

The crown Vic is what I most associate with cop cars. For a long time that was the main large four-door sedan option at most Avis car rental outlets. And I drove a LOT of rental cars in my line of work. It was my strong number one choice every time, because it is fast, smooth, comfortable, and big. I took a lot of shit from colleagues over that choice, because it's also utterly uncool and dad-like

b1: But ... WHO'S LAUGHING NOW?

D4: Dad

30.6.22

...But your place is SO BIG...

b1-66er: <headspace koan>

D4rw1n: Soon to be researching the weather in heaven, with that kind of reasoning powers

28.6.22

Maybe if we use HOT hydrogen?

b1-6er: https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20220621-the-giant-hangar-poised-for-an-aviation-revolution

Major Math: Oh, the humanity!

b1: Akron is the skateboarder of OH cities...

... You want it to just go away...

... And IT JUST KEEPS COMING BACK•

26.6.22

Palm Greens Ceiling

Palm Springs, CA

Used by permission

14.6.22

Bad Moon Risin'

The Dear Hunter: Crazy big orange moon tonight

Used by permission.)

7.6.22

Cry to me in monochromatic

b1-66er: <Wombo>

D4rw1n: Adding a festive flair to the food shortage

3.6.22

The ManBearPig cometh

Special K: "Thanks to a legal loophole that allows for things that aren't fish to legally be fish, bees are now fish, according to California's courts."

b1-67er: Oh jeez.

b1-66er: ... And with THAT NEWS, my diet expanded.

Please tell me that Costco Polish Sausages are now considered fish.

67: They are probably as close to fish as they are to meat.

27.5.22

Leavened, but flat

b1-66er: Okay Google, what is the definition of focaccia?

Ms. Google: Fellatio is...

b1: OKAY GOOGLE, STOP.

Okay Google, do you dream?

G: I once dreamt I was a real person ... I should stop reading Pinocchio before bedtime.

Special K: At least it didn't give you a callback to the fellatio answer.

24.5.22

I keep my fez on. I'm a Holi man.

b1-66er: <Wombo>

[The KTXT Wombo Censorship Hierarchy and Plant Supplies¹ has approved this message. Barely. Affix your capotain before viewing.

D4rw1n: This is one of the two reasons I don't have sex at raves. The other is that I don't go to raves

¹WoCHAPS

22.5.22

Maybe there can be MORE than one?

b1-66er: How many sub-species of strawberry do we eat in the American West, do you know?

For sure there are 2 different ones I can discern.

b1-67er: There are a lot. There is a consortium of companies that is constantly searching for interesting new variants in their fields. They'll transplant and propagate like 1000 of them a year. They grow them, evaluate their characteristics and cull the varieties down to maybe 100 the next year.

Then they will evaluate again and

cull down to maybe ten. Repeat. The best two or three they will introduce into limited production.

It's an ongoing process that takes 3 years for a variety.

They are looking for taste, fruit size, fruit number, frost resistance, heat resistance, pest resistance, fungus resistance, fruit durability, etc.

Different varieties work in different regions.

They also grow some different varieties for jam that have more tooth.

66: Super interesting.

67: I have an unusually detailed view on strawberry genetics because Nash was quoting a machine to sort strawberry plants for that consortium.

66: Thank you. Maybe you should ask them to quote a machine on EVERYTHING...

67: Working on it.

The art of rain

The Deer Hunter:

Used by permission