I was thinking more like judges and prosecutors than about celebrities. They seem to be the ones who look back at the snarling dog and say I deal with mobsters every day. Get out of my way; I have a job to do.
E > On Dec 27, 2023, at 6:28 PM, Steve Smith <sasm...@swcp.com> wrote: > > Rambling Ode to (mostly) Trucks: > > On 12/27/23 10:59 AM, Marcus Daniels wrote: >> What I saw on my trip were hundreds of late model giant pickup trucks jacked >> way up off the ground driving around 90mph with the usual markings. >> How do the proles afford them? Not yet post-scarcity. Hmm. > Re: LMGPTJOtG - Last time I drove the corridor you describe I remember having > my doors blown off by one of those "cowboy cadillacs" with bumper stickers > reading Trump 2016 and If it ain't King James, it ain't Bible. I'm sure > there is a Trump 2020 and 2024 sticker on there (or overlayed) now. > > Re: Bible tangent - I recently bought a used Bible off the interwebs for > reasons I'm sure you don't want me to elaborate here, and learned a bit too > much about the myriad *modern* translations/editions and versions, with KJ > influencing them all significantly. I chose a 1951 version the Catholic > Church produced to try to align with Protestant versions without letting go > of any of their own principles/tenants. A sort of peace offering? I was > raised agnostic-unto athiest but surrounded by Protestants and Impinged with > Catholics until I started choosing escaped/reformed/recovering Catholics as > partners as an adult. > > Re: Can't wait for the machines to take over- When we invented gods in our > own image we did a bad job, I'm not sure we are doing any better with the AI? > Please gods, not in Elon's image! But hope springs infernal. > > Re: REC Banks/Culture - glad to hear someone else is as voracious as I am > with Science and Fiction... my library still holds a dozen or so books from > REC's library when he left SFE (10 years ago?)... but I don't remember any > SciFi, just SciFact? > > Re: Eric's cryptic comment about "last keeper of Democracy being a Black > Woman - " Michele, Oprah, and Kamala seem like the likely candidates in > exponentially decreasing order of likelihood? I see an adjacent-possible > path fitting Biden's and the DNC's handling of 2024 strategy? When does > Biden step down/out? After Trump implodes entirely? After election? Some > acute aging-related event? If Haley squeeks the primary away from DJT? > While she might qualify as "woman of color", not Black and not particularly a > "keeper of Democracy" unless of course, we measure such by small handfulls of > shred? I'd want Kamala to beat her, but not sure where all those > Trumpster-Dumpsters would come down? Some probably couldn't vote for *any* > woman? > > Re: Big Trucks and post Scarcity - On our last road trip, Mary's favorite > cousin (our age) arrived (Northern NE) to meet us for dinner one of those > cowboy cadillacs... looked like it had been in a bar-fight. Golfball and > bigger hail the week before he said. > > He had just come from the insurance adjuster who offered him a $50k check for > the repairs (spangled windshield, ball-peened hood/roof, and some minor pings > in every panel and toolbox)... which he was upset about since replacement > was $70k. Not a single functional issue outside of windshield visibility. > I'd have had a $500 windshield put in, paid off the loan (which I would never > have taken out, myself) and worn the beating like a sabre scar, but he was > dead set on getting it repaired whilst grumbling at the downtime when he'd > have to drive one of the (equally big/expensive) company trucks (he owns a > tree trimming service, so it would host a bucket and chipper, slows him down > on the straightaways?). > > I didn't check for bumper stickers but am pretty sure they would say > Trump/Pence with Pence struck through with a Sharpie (maybe a noose drawn > on?). He might have missed the small Biden/Harris one on the back of Mary's > ($5k new to us) 15 year old Prius (215k miles and no hail damage)... I just > smiled when he railed about the cost of fuel (a lot of "I did that" Biden > stickers on the gas pumps there) thinking about the 50mpg I was getting > unless I drafted behind a truck like his (then 60)... > > Mary is excellent about not talking politics with family... most of her > generation of relatives (and all of their survining parents) are died-in-wool > conservative and about half of the next generation are too. One tween > grand-niece sported a "I'll be Baaack Trump-Terminator" T-shirt when we met > up with them... I'm pretty sure it was for our benefit. I wanted to send > her a Dark-Brandon one to round out the closet, but Mary thought she > might/not recognize the snark in it and either way it would be futile. > > Love of Pickup Trucks - I grew up with pickup-trucks as the best > value-versatility vehicle, usually the first/only for any family with 3 > little kids squeezed between mom and pop on the wide bench seat and > grandparents and older kids in the back in the slipstream of the cab sharing > a blanket. Camper shells/toppers didn't come into vogue until a few years > later, that made the back a little more hospitable. None came with power > steering, brakes, windows, AC, automatic transmissions that I knew of, and an > (AM) radio was a luxury... but no preset stations and a single speaker under > holes drilled in the (metal) dashboard. > > None of my own half-dozen pickup trucks have ever been "luxury" by > contemporary standards but as time progressed, all those power/automatic > features became *standard*, hard to avoid and the MSRP's went up and past > that of any compact and many sedans. Increasingly newer (none of mine were > newish much less new) and more capable (starting with AM/FM stereo and 4x4 > and extended (not double) cabs) with my latest being a 2002 diesel 4x4 (250k > miles) once converted to veggie oil. fryer oil became scarce for a while > but then at some point all the old hippies hoarding the stuff started trying > to give it away by the 55 gallon drum a few years ago. If they had sat in > the sunlight too long they probably had algae growth. Not good for > injectors. It is hard to keep the pumps, injectors, seals in good shape with > veggie instead of dino oil with/without alge... even if Rudolf Diesel (1858) > did design the first ones to run on peanut oil. I sure wish I'd not help > Reagan oust Jimmy in 1980! > > I'm not sure when pickups became self-indulgent luxury toys. I love/owned > motorcycles too. Same/Same. > > My 49 2.5 ton farm dump truck (mostly lawn ornament now but often used a > decade ago (by me) for woodchips, manure, firewood) is on it's way to > becoming (fingers crossed) Double Axle II, a second in the fleet of Axle Art > <https://linkprotect.cudasvc.com/url?a=https%3a%2f%2fwww.axleart.com%2f&c=E,1,FS7F1Uu_GNNCY8AuxjLHKCb8jyhRJTVcG8P5-8sd5bsdYZpcgBW6Nw28H-9qocZgDA6z3eGAgv7k-RS0r6t5iantmmN5kQbSvmApyj0vfpLYW6WjJaQowg,,&typo=1> > projects. > > > > Current Treatment of Axle Contemporary Van > > <DALL·E 2023-11-18 19.33.38 - A modified version of the previously described > scene, featuring the Ford F-6 model farm grain bed truck from the 1950s with > a yellow cab and red bed. .png> > > DALL-E has a strange sense of humor about a lot of things, including which > direction a dump-bed dumps!... my proposed performance art-project is called > "sequestering carbon, two cords of books at a time". > > Color scheme and body style are accurate, specific Patina and stenciling > entirely made up by DALL-E... many renderings offered. The only other > obvious inauthentic element is the bolt pattern on the rims... 5 giant > self-centering lug nuts were the standard for this class of truck well into > the 50s. > > These rims are known as widowmakers... for good reason, surprisingly Garcia > Tire still maintains a cage with mounting equipment inside to work on them > with. I'm looking for modern replacements. But they will still have a 5 > bolt pattern. > > I've been waiting for larger affordable "hub motors" to come out so I could > quit tuning a 75 year old petrol burner and drop in the good sections of my > 16kWh Chevy Volt battery I replaced when I bought it. Used (but still > functional) solar panels are cheaper than plywood and a whole lot more > water-proof. I could cover or clad the bed with those and collect enough > photons for the 2-6 mile moves every week or two the art-platform concept > suggests? The split-drive-shaft and two-speed rear-end with PTO setup is > also a reasonable place to inline an EV-class motor for low-speed, short > distances. Who knows?<Poetruck with color copy.jpeg> > > Locals should look for this pressed into some form of transient public art > installation in Santa Fe by this summer. > > 'nuff of this careening ramble, > > - Sieve > > >> >> From: Friam <friam-boun...@redfish.com> <mailto:friam-boun...@redfish.com> >> On Behalf Of Roger Critchlow >> Sent: Wednesday, December 27, 2023 9:28 AM >> To: The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group <friam@redfish.com> >> <mailto:friam@redfish.com> >> Subject: Re: [FRIAM] The last Lighthouse Keeper in America >> >> >> >> On Tue, Dec 26, 2023 at 8:51 PM Marcus Daniels <mar...@snoutfarm.com >> <mailto:mar...@snoutfarm.com>> wrote: >> [...] >> >> Really hoping the machines can take over soon. >> >> I just yesterday finished rereading all the Iain M Banks "Culture" novels in >> the Boston Public Library e-collection, seven between Halloween and >> Christmas. The "Culture" is a space-going far future civilization of >> organic life - humanoid and other - and of artificially sentient beings. >> The machine "Minds" pretty much run the infrastructure and economy while the >> organic beings party, study, travel, pursue dangerous hobbies, whatever. >> It's all post-scarcity, so everyone can pretty much have what they want. >> >> It sounds like the Culture "Minds" pretty much solved the dictatorship of >> the proletariat in the Culture's history. You raise dumb matter to >> sentience and let it sort everything out. The energy and matter of the >> tools that the proletarians used are even more prole than the proles. >> >> -- rec -- >> >> >> >> -. --- - / ...- .- .-.. .. -.. / -- --- .-. ... . / -.-. --- -.. . >> FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv >> Fridays 9a-12p Friday St. Johns Cafe / Thursdays 9a-12p Zoom >> https://bit.ly/virtualfriam >> <https://linkprotect.cudasvc.com/url?a=https%3a%2f%2fbit.ly%2fvirtualfriam&c=E,1,Cfu_kHw6B-P606kEAMn5g47m9BhEd4nMyq4tUN9MVEcfOYQzL-ozjngOe1SFMvkxK4ngs2DZIEbtCBGwVr4AQK08sz0nZuXoc8g11_gCGw,,&typo=1> >> to (un)subscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com >> <https://linkprotect.cudasvc.com/url?a=http%3a%2f%2fredfish.com%2fmailman%2flistinfo%2ffriam_redfish.com&c=E,1,zzZ8m59MQnriLldgcPyrG6ZTA_a67lXk9ZOUIR0fg0y5MYDFUozjXxJef1KKI0XrPB8AsM2nA0Y_yqhKDiAaQAZq-_2nAlAffjt8_YQO36s,&typo=1> >> FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/ >> <https://linkprotect.cudasvc.com/url?a=http%3a%2f%2ffriam-comic.blogspot.com%2f&c=E,1,mRVoC5SajQdc3MqhUSmcLsJKYsN2J6MB4ipXr8NxuwHVxiZU5Kxf-CJSshGYi6w-0g-rTp4Gnc1sSVbEPowjSjgqojkdgsTEbqQDeYRhbh0vMlcp6iqD5GM,&typo=1> >> archives: 5/2017 thru present >> https://redfish.com/pipermail/friam_redfish.com/ >> <https://linkprotect.cudasvc.com/url?a=https%3a%2f%2fredfish.com%2fpipermail%2ffriam_redfish.com%2f&c=E,1,cSREnKMG2cj6IsabSfVWaJAwBuJxYidkRjd-Hp_KBybyG1YPCuL7cQKucNwKu_EedkPazs3D_nmcPkTpxJ_qbX_kAZhrj_4JN9dwe9lQqfSC&typo=1> >> 1/2003 thru 6/2021 http://friam.383.s1.nabble.com/ > -. --- - / ...- .- .-.. .. -.. / -- --- .-. ... . / -.-. --- -.. . > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv > Fridays 9a-12p Friday St. Johns Cafe / Thursdays 9a-12p Zoom > https://linkprotect.cudasvc.com/url?a=https%3a%2f%2fbit.ly%2fvirtualfriam&c=E,1,DU7z2uQvyHZL-21UQctC4tilCpni3BRfpU3ee08WX0yh71zYa8Tt2N4BjyuFv1pDErsR552YigIF4AHsTdT8-qNSC9-NjfomzqqnMeoO8lHW1jLrA9p6AasAv911&typo=1 > to (un)subscribe > https://linkprotect.cudasvc.com/url?a=http%3a%2f%2fredfish.com%2fmailman%2flistinfo%2ffriam_redfish.com&c=E,1,xbqWKJ2uaID5KBRCTGzvXXU3lL_NOLFo4G8Cxdb4Cz33wXB08Y6CC9UWexEUnbIg0-BfslP4HnC2QIXBhgzTKyaMOgPW5Wr9ZoXGUZAIdaIESsrjQ70,&typo=1 > FRIAM-COMIC > https://linkprotect.cudasvc.com/url?a=http%3a%2f%2ffriam-comic.blogspot.com%2f&c=E,1,jaKHf35c-bW5ykuXIO2XcfiAtU4mkccd-r5ZR1NHBgWVzIlzv4UWEW-wfq92OcEd5dbmM8wSS9b2BmnqnBDO3SviPEv0iY7lGOsCIX0-TSo8yu7-Qg,,&typo=1 > archives: 5/2017 thru present > https://linkprotect.cudasvc.com/url?a=https%3a%2f%2fredfish.com%2fpipermail%2ffriam_redfish.com%2f&c=E,1,j8wu9f7bDOIxHyaOEvUMiNAha_uVINpL7rEI0HMZBeZ2d7FRCvdc3PoGIyBe_TH8J_EDdOTFxm8ubXve12JtREFl-dtnJqltfH5BGpzIl5MIXw,,&typo=1 > 1/2003 thru 6/2021 http://friam.383.s1.nabble.com/
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