First thing we do is build an overhead train system...

b1-66er:

10 minutes ago

AMTRAK: Train 11 on 4/26 is delayed. Est arrival in SJC now 12:19pm. Note: trains can make up time. For updates/questions reply UPDATE or click https://amtrak.com/?trainno=11&station=SJC&date=2023-04-26

'trains can make up time.' 

yeah, pull the other one.

D4rw1n: It may not be true the trains can make up time. But apparently train companies can make up facts about trains making up time. 

Just imagine if it was called 'Armadillo'...

Former Chronicler: I'm in Amarillo tonight. It seems like kind of a nice city, except it smells like cattle.

Striped Fruit > Yellow

MISTER Crypto: Apple Computer's revenue is more than 8x the global banana market.

Talking about books talking

b1-66er: Have you and I ever talked about audio books?

Solid Goldstein: Not really. You would think I'd listen to them often but mostly I've listened to them on the drive from SF to LA

Do you listen to them? 

b1: You know -better than most- how seriously under-read I am.

I mean, sure, I read probably 6+ hours every day, but it's mostly Bazooka Joe level stuff ... Websites, news, TXT conversations...

I got chummed in by a free Audible offer...

... Which I took advantage of to 'digest' the book "Immune," figuring I'd get the feel of it, and get my lazy-ass mind engaged in the world...

... And it was great. I loved it ...

... But it overflows me with questions.

Weird ones:

Like, am I reading when I do that?

And

What's the 'proper' way to read in such a fashion

And

How do you remember this stuff you're reading

And 

Why does that matter...

[I've gotta talk to The Accomplice, coming back.]

SG: I think those are really good questions. My own reading has changed pretty radically. I used to read a couple books a week. Now it's more like one a month. I'm not completely happy about it. The internet sucks my reading attention. 

<1 hour later> 

b1: Weirdly...

... I'm giving a small amount of thought to becoming a narrator.

But the funniest/weirdest/strangest/surprising thing about my audio book experience is I LIKE not running my eyes over the written page (and to a lesser extent, manipulating a physical book)...

... My mind still doesn't think of it as 'reading.' 

It's more like story telling.

Right now I have 3 books checked out.

2 Hunter Thompson

and a

Michelle Obama

But there's so many strange knock-on questions...

Like

What makes a good narrator?

And is it okay to listen to a book, then not have it available for reference?

SG: I think book narration would be pretty hard. Especially fiction. 

I'm not sure it matters so much how you take information in. 

Though it is a good question if you retain it differently if you hear it rather than read it

b1: I suspect I'm going to be following the whole audiobook world for a good long while. (It already appears to be a 'habit' I repeat.)

I'll let you know how it goes.

[I don't think I'll keep paying for Audible, although I DO like their service and the way it's designed...

...I think I'll stay in the free probably-associated-with-library world...

... The way the information and money flows in that system would be interesting to know...

... Like how/if the library pays for the books, and where THAT money comes from.]

... objectifying righteousness ...

b1-66er: ...And a judge ordered Elizabeth Holmes, the founder who defrauded investors at her blood testing start-up Theranos, to begin an 11-year prison sentence on April 27...

Zed Zed: Yes!

No justice no peace. 

b1: Know justice

Have a piece

Z: 😁

At least wear a neck brace. 

b1: She's gonna need to be bracing more than her cuello.

FaDing to black

Special K: "The Phantom of the Opera," the longest-running show in the history of Broadway, will close its doors on Sunday after more than three decades." https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/14/podcasts/the-daily/broadway-phantom-opera.html

b1-66er: How does the K interpret that news?

K: Incredible they could make a go of it for that long. Some people had an entire career with that one show. 

b1: YOU could do that...

... Get a REAL/paid musical job at a REAL theater in a REAL acting company and then have a REAL heart attack.

Entire REAL career in one show.

K: Fake Death. 

b1-66er: OHH I LIKE THAT!

Complements of the season

The Dear Hunter: Spring color 

<Pic © 2023 Wild Beauty Prods

All rights reserved

Used by permission>

Vampires, Vice Presidents and Facemasks

Special K [12:40 PT]: "Transylvania University is a private university in Lexington, Kentucky. It was founded in 1780 and was the first university in Kentucky. It offers 46 major programs, as well as dual-degree engineering programs, and is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. Its medical program graduated 8,000 physicians by 1859.

Transylvania's name, meaning "across the woods" in Latin, stems from the university's founding in the heavily forested region of western Virginia known as the Transylvania Colony, which existed briefly between 1775 and 1776 in south and western Kentucky.

Transylvania is the alma mater of two U.S. vice presidents, two U.S. Supreme Court justices, 50 U.S. senators, 101 U.S. representatives, 36 U.S. governors, 34 U.S. ambassadors, and the Confederate president, making it a large producer of U.S. statesmen."

[12:47]: Yesterday was the first time in NHL history there were 5 shutouts and 5 hat tricks.