Despite my Marxist leanings I am now a default member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Woodchipper Owners due to my recent acquisition of one of these $1000 units:
Powerhorse Rotor Wood Chipper – 420CC Ducar OHV Engine, 4in. Chipping Capacity
https://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200712320_200712320
Powerhorse is one of Northern Tool’s home brands for Chinese made stuff. My woodsplitter also came from Northern Tool but is of the better (not completely Chinese) NorthStar brand. I’ve bought a lot of stuff from Northern Tool over the years.
This model woodchipper is popular and it’s usually backordered. I ordered mine in July and it was shipped in October. Shipping is freight-only and it cost $200 to go from Fort Mill, South Carolina to Northern Vermont. The woodchipper was packaged in a thin plywood crate on a pallet and the shipping documentation says the entirety weighed 385 pounds. A modest amount of assembly was required. The input and output chutes needed to be bolted on and the tires slipped onto the shafts.
The woodchipper is advertised having electric start and I assumed that it was like my snowblower which came with a 120VAC socket but instead included are a starter battery, which needs to be connected, and a set of keys. Posh! There’s also a pull cord.
One nut and one of the tire valve covers were missing. The engine has a label forbidding the use of gasoline with an ethanol content greater than 10%. The engine and operator manuals are both skimpy and uninformative.
The woodchipper is advertised as handling branches up to four inches in diameter but the diagnostic section of the operator’s manual suggests that in the case of failure-to-chip branches should be limited to three inches in diameter.
Large handles on the input chute allow the woodchipper to be manhandled about. There’s no built-in way of towing it with a tractor or ATV.
Upon filling with 10W-30 motor oil and forbidden gasoline the starter battery cranked the engine into life in a few seconds. The rotary drum chipping mechanism is self-feeding and branches inserted into one end produce fine chips from the other. It takes a surprisingly long time for chips to stop being expelled after the last branch.
Northern Tool sells a riding lawnmower cover:
https://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_1016343_1016343
That fits the woodchipper perfectly. I’m glad I got one because it’s getting dewy at night.
Despite my minor criticisms I’m quite pleased with the woodchipper. There’s already a line of neighbors who want to borrow it.
Get some Sta-Bil to offset the evil of the ethanol gasoline.
All my gasoline is Stabilized. It really works.
Star-Tron works even better
But still, cut the fuels and run the carb dry before putting it into storage. Popping the bowl nut to drain it also helps (not a euphemism, but it’s also useful for that too)
Nice write-up, btw. I’ve only shopped in a Northern Tool one time. There’s a Harbor Freight in the town I work in, so that is my go-to for Chinesium tools. It seems like NT may be a half-step up in quality from HF. And their product mix is slightly different. Like maybe NT tries to appeal to professionals more than HF.
Around here the local source of Chinese stuff is Tractor Supply. I haven’t bought enough stuff from them to know their products.
I have a TSC in the town I live near. While they certainly have Chinesium, they also have lots of brand names. I’ve bought DeWalt, Carhart, Sta-Bil ? etc. there.
I figured you for an ACME tool kind of guy (it being a NoDak based purveyor of tools).
There is a Northern Tool less than a block from work. They have saved my ass more than once while trying to pull off an aircraft structural test late in the evening.
Being a local company gone big I do have a soft-spot for them, but damn they are expensive. Some of it comes from selling higher quality goods than most, but I think most of it is their main clientele is contractors who like to go the same place for everything and aren’t going to quibble about their new SawzAll costing $20 more because it’s a one-stop-shop.
That said, when I decided to buy a good quality horizontal bandsaw, I went to Acme and got a Jet…you know, top-shelf Chinesium.
Jet!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M8V1nFCP058
Jet!
I knew it!
You should see all the tools at TOS.
TOS?
Haha. I got it just as I hit Post.
“The Other Site”, I think.
Reason Magazine
Or unreason magazine as I call it.
Find your nearest source and splurge on ethanol-free gasoline for all of your small engines. Bonus points if you cross a state line and violate a state/local ordinance.
I do that for anything 2 stroke. All the 4 strokes get cheap gas + Sta-Bil
I read that as “I’ll do anything for 2 strokes.”
hahaha. Also correct.
But I won’t do that.
My really old two stroke boat engine gets only prehistoric gasoline. I’ve had good luck with heavily satibilized cheap gas for others.
I don’t put ethanol in anything other than newer cars.
Me too. Not that much more for ethanol free for all OPE.
…and self medication…as required
Finally got the inspection done on the property we are contemplating buying – and sure enough, there is a water problem. So now we are debating how much to cut the offer to offset the cost of a well (the place is currently on spring water).
Depends on how deep you have to go. I had a 265′ deep well drilled in 2010 that cost me a little over $8k.
And of course we don’t know that before we buy it and start drilling. Do you feel lucky? Anyway, $10K is pretty much the minimum (new pump/pressure tank/etc) it’s going to run and I don’t expect it go over 15k, but it could. So, how much margin to build in? I’d probably tolerate lower than the wife (she doesn’t like unknowns).
Wow. That’s a deep hole.
No shit. I’d build in plenty of margin.
No, the minimum is if I only need 100 or so feet. $18/ft after that.
Just as reference, I’m 600 ft in our place in PA, but we have better quality than some of our neighbors.
Relevant
I’m on a deep well (125 ft for the house) and have 2 hand dug wells in the garden area, at about 18 feet. Water tastes great and cold, cold, cold. As I’m remembering 30 years ago the house well was about 3 grand and had a new pump installed about 15 years ago. $1400. Hard water and no water softener.
I think a well now is about 5 Gs , has to go minimum 60 feet but water in MN is everywhere.
Where is the property?
Up in the Blue Ridge mountains near the Virginia/NC border.
Sweet! Pics when you can?
Sure. I have no idea how the seller will react. We already got them down pretty good from their original ask.
Not worried, there are couple of alternatives if this one washes out.
Welcome to the neighborhood JI. I’m at the base of the Blue Ridge near the VA/NC border.
Just run a line out from the Septic Tank. It will only cost a couple grand and you won’t have to pay to have the septic emptied.
Slap one of those Brita filters on your faucet and it should be good.
There’s already a line of neighbors who want to borrow it.
You spelled “rent” wrong.
I hope they clean the “mess” out when they’re done.
They never do. The best part about moving to a new neighborhood is that I can pretend I don’t have any cool stuff until I determine who is cool.
My neighbors and I all think we owe each other more than we owe each other. They’re welcome to borrow the wood chipper.
I used to live in a neighborhood like that.
Congrats!
Should SHTF my end of my dead end road will survive.
Find out what tools the neighbors have that you don’t and trade use. Rent in kind.
Also always keep a parts graveyard. Ya never know when some spare part, that you cant get, can be refurbished.
https://archive.is/BklaA/c1cac1789cdd51dc2525b0655cc7cb6b9e67bf05.jpg
NSFW.
https://archive.is/6aYDp/e939261195e4a0e2f7e9e95cefceea27135e99a2.jpg
NSFW.
https://archive.is/usUXI/64c82692023c7073481dbd236952d11c561e5d5b.jpg
NSFW.
https://archive.is/LKXhw/69b005c97a0ebe20c121cc972db70b89bd9b227c.jpg
NSFW.
https://archive.is/q2cRh/2f9fa187cb9c6fd4f9599efa483a4cf8ec08315b.jpg
NSFW.
Now that’s a party.
Yes it is,
That’s my kind of sorority.
brb chipping wood.
Brb wood got stuck.
Maybe I’m way off, but there’s something normal and vulnerable about this picture that is appealing.
Maybe it’s just the one high socks
So… nothing below the waist unless they have piano legs and no arms if more than slightly muscled?
*Measures thigh circumference*
*
Yeah. I’m gonna clog it.
Soft tissue goes in easier than mother nature.
As we learned from Fargo, a small segment of 2×4 works wonders.
II have no idea what you’re talking about. In addition to getting rid of a pile of old brush my wood chipper is creating wood chips that I can use in my cabin’s composting toilet. This is an entirely environmental acquisition.
That was supposed to be a reply.
I didn’t realize politicians could be composted
So, humanure?
Can y’all not burn brush up there? Not only do I get wonderful charcoal but can leach lye out of the white ashes.
As an aside – my aunt was supposed to rent a chipper a few weeks ago and the previous users had apparently stripped the clutch rendering it in need of repair. May have been associated with trying to chip old wood vs fresh cut.
Also people throw in vines, etc with wood and it binds up the clutch/bearings.
I gotta go. I’m sitting outside my cabin where my cell phone barely gets reception and while it’s not raining the bugs are copious. This is my third article to post at Friday night. I think TPTB are sending me a message.
Yeah, before I even read any of this, I saw that color of blue and I knew.
Northern Tool.
And now, it is time to take off the pants and relax to a few beers. Oh, and the pants? Haggar corduroy baggies, cuffed bitches!
She. Sounds. Hideous.
I love that commercial.
Talking point on the Sunday morning talk shows: Trump and his minions normalized this sort of behavior.
‘Reminiscent of Jan. 6’: Violent protesters arrested after storming Interior Department, injuring officers
Kinnath, good news! A use has been found for your tree chipper!
Solitary confinement in supermax pending trial.
Right? They were all arrested right?
Lol, like the Sunday morning talk shows will ever mention this.
Very good point.
I have a woodchipper in the shed. Hasn’t been used in 13 or 14 years. God only knows what state I left it in when I put it away last.
I just bought a shredder from HF that will take sticks up to 1.5”. We just trimmed about 20 trees around the property so it’s perfect for mulch. Anything thicker gets chopped for the fire pit, pizza oven, or smoker.
We’ve started doing a fire pit every Saturday night for the kids (8 and under). Smores for them and bourbon for me. It’s been fun and I’m hoping gives them some nice memories. Sometimes I smoke a brisket while we’re out there and other times it’s camp food.
Nice!
What kind of fire pit? Just dug out or lined with brick or metal?
We started with one of the metal bowl pits from the big box store, but I built one once we started using it regularly. The new pit is about 4.5′ diameter with 3 levels of the retaining wall blocks (mortared) and river rocks for the base.
Sounds a bit fancier than my tractor tire rim fire pit.
Sitting in the upscale pizza restaurant, waiting for my order.
They are playing “I’ll Wait” by Van Halen.
I added it to a small YouTube playlist of mine
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLRT7Lz5YKoIl84pXGCynemsEhWukCX_2b
Look at that playlist. 55 yet?
I can’t drive that
Touché
“I’ll Wait” is a great stalker song
I don’t think I’ve heard this song since MCMLXXXIV.
Nostalgia-rush.
IKR
Suddenly, I am back at the mall, deciding between Sbarro’s and The Steak Escape and looking forward to browsing the selection at Software, Etc.
I’m at my buddy’s house hacking on his Commodore 64.
Favorite game?
Archon.
Archon was awesome!
Also jumpman!
Can you guys keep it down? We’re trying to play D&D over here.
Champions?
No, but maybe Traveller.
I play D&D with my kids
I switch between 4th edition and BECMI/RC
I think Mike Mercer’s “Critical Role” videos are the best-known currently, but my favorite podcast/videos of people playing D&D are the “Acquisitions, inc.” games.
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL34bSCdBG2Qo-7Wyhr2UKod0MkfX3OhAn
Matthew Colville has a series of games he calls “Dusk”, which has been entertaining, as well.
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLlUk42GiU2gsYEWUOKp1WkMrkXMs6mw-K
I discovered Matthew Colville, by the way, from this series of videos:
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLlUk42GiU2gtSENFDN3Rm2oLJLkUsaJ_A
He talks about the history of the game as he creates a fighter character using each edition’s rules.
I haven’t actually played D&D since 2e in the early 90s, so I don’t know how any of the more recent editions stack up.
Last RPG I played was … Rolemaster, maybe? It had giant, overly detailed critical hit tables and focused on “realism” rather than “playability”, so everyone’s characters kept getting killed. We eventually burned out and never actually finished the campaign.
4th edition was nearly universally reviled, but now that it is out of print, some are starting to be curious about it.
You can get every edition in pdf (and some as print-on-demand) at dndclassics.com
5th edition is supposed to be very easy to get into, and I guess it is, but I find the rules suboptimal. The very basic version of the rules are available free of charge.
https://dnd.wizards.com/articles/features/basicrules
Also, this video by Matt Colville is helpful: https://youtu.be/zTD2RZz6mlo
Look at the guy trying to cast a “keep it down” spell.
*uses magic missile to attack the noise*
It’s the last good VH song.
What is the first one?
/gives the side eye
Well, the first two albums, VH I & II are both great, and then you have Diver Down and Save the Women and Children First. Just good, solid album rock from the seventies, early eighties.
But, at least in my opinion, Fair Warning is their best work. Dard, moody, surprising. But, they aren’t a singles band, you gotta get the whole package.
Here is a good shot of how it was the most Tits Out, Boozing, Shmoozing PreAIDS rock.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mmke5kC4Blk&ab_channel=MichelJAY
I made a very downscale calzone for dinner, with Pillsbury Dough Boy crust and the usual fillings (ricotta, mozz, pepperoni). Not my best effort but the flavors were there. Could have used another 5 or 8 minutes in the oven.
Mojeaux, if you ate out there: gathering info, have link for The Matador. Writing tomorrow for the November posts.
Also, I found it! A penis degloving for Halloween! Joy!
My best friend growing up, and first room mate was riding his GpZ and got sideswiped, tearing his tankbag off with his member. Ended up getting seven stitches down the length.
He used that as a pickup line for years. “Hey, wanna see my scar?” Sad part is he was six-two and blond. It worked.
CNN has Gabby and Brian on. It can probably go for hours. You can guess where I am.
Staaaahp. Put on something on your phone. No watch bad airport news.
Gabby is coherent with half a brain?
The ninth circle of Hell?
Indistinguishable from “airport” so yeah.
Can anyone provide a link to Ozy’s excellent write up on the Vaxx? I have someone I need to shut up.
I would like to read it, too
Does this help?
Perfect! Will also help throw him off the scent of Glibs.
Huh?
*surreptitiously sniffs armpit*
Walkin’ away.
Thanks
I also started looking at market-ticker.org
From a few days ago: Michael Malice and Jesse Lee Peterson on Your Welcome:
https://youtu.be/35jbRn9hLbU
Peterson’s uh…something else and plainspoken to a fault.
So help me, my workplace best not force me to get a “booster”…
FDA panel recommends a booster shot of Johnson & Johnson vaccine for people 18 and older
Not mentioned in the WP (naturally) is that “scant” equals a sample size of 17.
17!?!?!
*starts making qanon hand signals*
Sorry if this has already been discussed. Andrew McCabe was given his bribe by el Presidente Biden and was given his pension of $200k.
So this lying piece of shit was fired for misconduct before his pension was to start but now gets a gimmee from taxpayers?
These traitor bureaucrats are reading about all these woodchipper sales and must be freaking out.
Plus, from memory, I believe they paid his legal bills to get his pension back. Something like another $500k.
Not surprised but most bureaucrats have become what the Founders feared.
Im still sending boxes of plastic straws to commifornia politicians. I might start sending Benedict Arnold pictures to bureaucrats.
Found the domestic terrorist.
Haha. Im on so many lists….
I just sent coca cola two huge boxes of smashed coke cans that I was goin to recycle. With a letter about cutting out the woke shit or that would be the last coke I ever buy. They might blow it off because it takes awhile to build up that many cans. Still, a customer sends you something like that might give you pause.
The Silent Majority just needs to let the potentially woke business world know who their real customers are and what moral hazard is.
When I give companies helpful feedback on products, I usually get a coupon and reply thank you letter. Not a word from companies with my anti-woke feedback.
Yeah, he did alright…
On the bright side, the pen and the phone giveth…pen and phone taketh away.
LOL
/some judge in Hawaii.
“Don’t blame me, I voted for Kodos!”
Restoring his pension and similar is a sign of confidence actually. If they were worried that wouldn’t have been done.
I think it shows more desperation. They need everyone on deck. Public support is not in their favor as much as they hoped.
Democrats threw blag the gov under the bus. I bet hes not on their side anymore. Lesson learned?
Biden slips to 36% in a poll… and his admin is still going ahead with the mandate? It makes me wonder what we don’t know about their ballot shenanigans that they feel confident moving forward with mass firings in November.
they don’t care about his ratings, the filibuster, reconsiliation, the deficit, the debt, they want Power! any way they can get it.
They also forgot about the deplorables,
When I say deplorables I reference El Unico,
I can’t tell if it’s the insanity of crowds and no one, really, is at the helm, or if we’re so thoroughly fucked by progressivism that they’re not actually worried about losing power anymore. I’d have thought they’d need mass amnesty before they felt safe being unapologetically authoritarian about their policy ambitions, but they seem genuinely, millenarianly unconcerned about losing power.
I mean there’s a real sense of “losing money on every unit but making it up in volume” mentality here. Nobody, even among Democrat hardliners, can possibly believe their policies will improve the economic fortunes of anyone outside the superwealthy… but they’re going forward with it. They know they’re fucked if minority voters bail on the Dem ticket, but they’re pushing a vaccine mandate that hits minorities harder than whites. Something they’d swear is indicative of racist thinking if anyone but the fucking Biden administration suggested it. What the fuck is going on here?
-What the fuck is going on here?
Bribe the poor, enable the rich, control the middle who are divided anyway.
They seem to be cognizant of some deadline.
Going for broke. And seeing what sticks.
It’s worked for them in the past.
This time Broke is what we all get,
American commies are desperate. They thought america was ripe for communist utopia and Trumps election proved them wrong.
Demographics are not going their way. Tyranny that works in Australia, EU, china, cuba doesnt work in the USA.
They felt that they had to go super commie fast and hard. Commies always have a sense of urgency with their takeovers. Almost like people with get wise if commie revolutions take too long.
Nah, it’s hubris combined with righteous indignation along with a bit of miscalculation. I hope anyway…
keep pushing,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IReb27tFqMg
Polls are somehow indicating right now that vaccine mandates are popular. I’m amazed.
What outfits are conducting them and how are the questions phrased? Not that I don’t believe you but the way they’re conducted can make a big difference.
I can’t figure it out. Are they f*cking nuts? Bereft of reality? Or are we crazy? Is this part of a plan to make us crazy? Tending towards the latter. There really, really are a ton of crazy ass liberals out there. Feels like I am surrounded by pod people all the time.
Many people have lost their minds. They are paralyzed in their normal getting thru life routine. Sheeple have that problem.
As a historian, I am reminded of the psychosis Germans felt at the end of WWII. Many lived life day to day and some of those hour to hour. You can see it in the photos. You can read about it in diaries and messages. Your life is turned upside down and your risk of dying is so high, that most hope is lost.
Some Americans are paralyzed by fear that COVID will kill them. Never mind that everyone <65 has a 99.500% chance of survival.
Add in that Boomers are most at risk with this biological weapon and Boomers are one of the most scared generations to die. I guess they thought they would live forever.
I do think there is an gerontocracy aspect to all of this. The Boomers are very numerous and they are in complete control. And surprise, surprise – everything the government does seems to redirect money to them.
Us Gen Xers need to do something about it! Put an end to the Boomer Reign!
And by “us Gen Xers”, I mean the rest of you. I just don’t really care enough.
They wont escape history or maybe they will. The boomers are stealing an unprecedented amount of wealth from younger generations on their way out. Boomers had access to top notch 1-12 education and college in the 1950-60s. It was relatively cheap too.
Also they nuked the US economy just so they werent the only people quarantined at home.
Crimes against humanity comes to mind.
I got to thinking more about that and had to do some research. The Repubs are doing relatively OK, especially in the House, but man, the Dems…
President – 78
Vice President – 56
Senate Majority Leader – 70
Senate Majority Whip – 76
Senate Minority Leader – 79
Senate Minority Whip – 60
Speaker of the House – 81
House Majority Leader – 82
House Majority Whip – 81
House Minority Leader – 56
House Minority Whip – 56
They’re trying to grab whatever they can, hoping things improve a bit on their own before the midterms, hoping the media (social and mainstream) can fortify the election enough that they won’t do too badly, and confident that even if they lose big the Republicans will only do two things to overturn their policies, “jack” and “shit”?
The last one is likely the best bet. The Republicans are a bunch of pussies.
Some Dem operative chick on “The Five” today was saying Biden’s recent polls are going up, that he was 50% favorable on latest CNN poll. {I don’t think he’d score that high if the poll was among Democratic congresscritters.}
Didn’t see the Atlantic interview with the Babylon Bee editor posted earlier. Recommend a cached view. Its absolutely insane- and hilarious. Reactions on Twitter are even better – https://twitter.com/TylerHuckabee/status/1448700381115174916?t=J4VVhMO6-dAB0jB5IetJDA&s=19
Thanks. I needed that.
Thanks. The interview is a hoot. I don’t have the stomach to wade through the Twitter reactions to it.
She is so tone deaf she didn’t notice him shredding her entire premise, well done Bee keepers!
I Google stalked her – she works with a Christian organization. I’m imagining she must be one the “experts” The Atlantic employs to understand “the faithful”.
It explains why they actually had a constructive discussion on Isaiah.
But she didn’t seem to get the point about that’s what satire is.
that is the third article I have ran into from her in the last week, she is a one note song,
Where was it posted?
Nevermind. I found. Had to punch after 5 minutes because it made NPR sound entertaining.
Just read it. I dunno, I found the need to explain what “satire” is to a humorless lefty kind of funny. And sad.
“Protests erupted in Italy on Friday as one of the most stringent anti-coronavirus measures in Europe went into effect, requiring all workers, from magistrates to maids, to show a health pass to get into their place of employment.”
https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Protests-hit-Italy-as-workplace-anti-COVID-norms-16534784.php#photo-21586937
Fuck the Italian government, put La Cosa Nostra in charge, they’d do a much better job and be less oppressive in the process.
Horseshit.
When I was stationed in Italy, garbage strikes were classic mafia tactics. Garbage piles higher than the people walking by.
Italy has some amazing ancient sites but govt corruption and syndicate crime is rampant.
Hiro Protagonist approves.
Well for all his faults I can’t fault his anime recommendations.
I’m planning to start watching some animes, recommend a few of must watch / your fav animes?
Howl’s Moving Castle was okay
I used to watch Voltron every afternoon when I got home from school
Regards prepping, what would be some High value dry goods to purchase? I have a good stock of the usual, but what sounds exotic? People will trade for such things, maybe canned fruit?
Chocolate?
Not dry but honey, Everclear, and common OTC meds like Benadryl or ibuprofen.
Sorry, got the meds alcohol and ammo, I have some Snap Benefits to spare, so I’m thinking Bad Times luxury foods, I already spent 100$ on exotic spices alone,
Trade goods BTW,
Canisters of noble gases, freeze dried cocoa beans, freeze dried coffee, dried fruits.
Canned fruits usually only last a few years. You want good stuff that lasts 5+ years. Thats why MREs are awesome 7+ year shelf life.
Also tires. Spare new tires in vacuum bags or atleast kept away from the elements.
Longest life Batteries you can get. Especially rechargable batts.
” freeze dried cocoa beans, freeze dried coffee, dried fruits.” That’s the ticket! Rechargable batts? i can jump start a car with all my R/C batteries, good call!
I can’t buy Tires with fod stamps,
Well, I could…..
The end of fall, the end of the season.
Listening to Tucker right now it seems the world is collapsing, it surely is, but up here we don’t see it too much, a few empty shelves now and again, and Gas at 3.33 a gallon.
I know shit is coming, even though it may take a bit to arrive up here, so Prep like a big dog!
I feel like I should have stockpiled… but also, I need to lose ~20lbs. So a little starvation could, you know, be a good thing.
I should probably have bought some guns, my weeny .32 revolver ain’t getting me nowhere.
And I should know. I wave it at people, and they wave their much larger pistols and rifles at me, and the obvious inadequacy is, I think, the only reason I haven’t been plugged. They feel sorry for me with my little snubby revolver.
In the end times, all you need to do is find me.
Bring bacon and bourbon.
Stocks are easy, start with soup, then get creative. As for weapons, I wish I had a hand gun, Shottys are kinda big, and mt Sword ain’t much smaller,
You know, as much as I’ve enjoyed Fall, I hate all the literary dead-ends Stephenson left in the novel. The whole Moab bit… went nowhere. (I bought a Remember Moab sticker for my cubicle because who doesn’t like esoteric jokes.) But it went nowhere. The setup with a fractured America, and the hillbilly bumpkins waging war on the remnants of technocracy… goes nowhere. Fucking hell, Enoch Root shows up nailed to a fucking cross, and that… goes nowhere. The whole premise of ONE goes fucking nowhere. I cut Stephenson a lot of slack because he writes truly fascinating novels, but this book is chock full of promising premises that go FUCKING NOWHERE.
The entirety of humanity is being subsumed by this MMO afterlife? HUGE IMPLICATIONS for humanity.
I haven’t finished the book, so maybe there’s a satisfying conclusion to it all, but this being Neal Stephenson… I doubt it. And I usually defend his endings as being the necessary desistence of a remarkable story because it has to end eventually, but I’m guessing this goes nowhere. REAMDE was the same, Seveneves too, and I really liked Seveneves, even the weird third act taking place forty thousand years later or whatever, because the first two were so compelling.
Wut? all I heard was word word word, make some sense man!
I would love to slap a bunch of Remember Moab bumper stickers on cars for the lulz.
I didn’t know he had another book. ??♂️
I liked Seveneves. I loved Anathem. But yeah, you never really know what you’re going to get.
I’m a shmuck and I tear up pretty easily as I get older, but the bits about humanity as we know it being bombarded under the hard rain had me crying. That and Bobby Shaftoe diving into the Jap base on Corregidor are memorable tearjerker moments for me.
The fact that the Baroque Cycle exists at all is proof to my mind that Neal Stephenson is an 800-year-old vampire. It is an incredible commitment to literature, and I feel like I shouldn’t criticize his later work too much or at all because I don’t want to anger the undead.
But yeah, except for Anathem, I kinda don’t know that I’ve been super impressed by Neal Stephenson in the last several years. That is, granted, like saying I’m not super impressed by Genghis Khan failing to take the Sandwich Islands after plowing through Asia, but.
He really has an issue with sticking the landing. I think Baroque cycle was the only one that didn’t end with a vaguely incomprehensible firefight between too many different players.
Good at concepts, bad at complex action (lead up and follow through).
Is that the sequel to Reamde? Still haven’t picked up that one after the reviews.
One thing I’ve been thinking about is that even in stuff like Snow Crash or Warren Ellis “Transmetropolitan” – the focus of dystopia is always the coast or NYC. Never any references to flyover country which is presumably still chugging along. (Diamond Age does put in a couple background references for rural folks but nothing too detailed).
One thing I really liked about Fall is that he gives over a lot of time in the opening third of the novel to flyover country.
zoom nowhere? we’re here, if there’s a thing. Or we will host if late an folks are out.
we did look. but links seem to be done.
I’m game but I’m watching season finale of See…
“See?”
TV show. Post apocalypse where humans lost sight. Not bad. Kinda Game of Thrones meets disabilities
ah. we’re just starting “under the dome” another allegory, not sure how strong it is yet though so the story is good yet
I’ll have to check that out
I am having a good night. Rome can burn around me for all I care tonight.
Yay!
Me too.
I am living out the scene in Joe Vs Volcano where the Meg Ryan character grabs Joe’s hand at the mouth of the volcano and says “who knows? We’ll see. We’ll jump and we’ll see.”
Jumping tomorrow at 9am.
Jump. It’s usually better than not.
Thanks, dude.
I’m optimistic.
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/87394112658?pwd=NmJqcTdlVllOTXMvSXZFS2NhMWJUZz09
OH I’M SORRY I THOUGHT THIS WAS GLIBERTARIANS
lol whut?
Silver birch against a Swedish sky
You live with a cantankerous bunch of people apparently.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10097417/Cop-turned-NASA-exec-guilty-murdering-National-Guardsman-neighbor-years-long-feud.html
I…what?
Thought he still had cop immunity? Noticed that his wife was happy and satisfied lately?
Jealous. I’ve felt like murdering my downstairs neighbors on occasion. Maybe just the rugrats who are helpfully not attending school but instead apparently doing somersaults and fighting all day.
A healthy mind in a healthy body!
suh’ fam
whats goody
Mornin pimp.
*waves bejeweled chalice*
On topic, sort of…Northern Tool still sends out big full color hardback catalogs. Like a boss.
https://m.facebook.com/mazezilla
Mazezilla is having their pink out today.
https://www.foxnews.com/us/florida-state-troopers-chase-elderly-man-scooter-turnpike
I don’t recall seeing this here.
Good morning! Trying a different breakfast place some my regular on is on vacation. We’ll see how their corned beef has is.
*Benny Hill salute*
Guy two seats down: what do they put on these home fries!
Waitress:. Some kind of home fry seasoning I think.
Is she hot?
Actually yes.
My favorite kind!
She has a “biker slut in her prime” vibe.
⬅
My favorite kind!
And I just spend 40 bucks on Home Fry Seasoning. Thanks NA
lol
DYQF
This product is made of colourful spice granules mixed with a slightly brown powder that has a peppery aroma.
That’s the stuff! I love me some slightly brown powder.
At least they managed to squeeze a hesitant reference to some flavor in there.
https://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2021/10/15/germany-COSO-testicle-bath-James-Dyson-Award/8391634330489/
Testicle bath.
I don’t believe that will work.
I just line my briefs with radium tablets.
That’s how you get Kuwatto.
*starts reactor*
I would not dip my balls in that.
That raises the question of what you would dip your balls into.
A phrase one hears less often than one would think.
https://www.wkow.com/townnews/food/madison-business-creates-spooktoberfest-brat-with-unlikely-ingredient/article_dcd0632e-2855-11ec-a700-f7e487d40dec.html
Click baity title. Left on purpose.
Also, NOPE.
Not pumpkin spice?? I haz a sad! ?
https://www.traderjoesreviews.com/product/trader-joes-pumpkin-tortilla-chips-reviews/
Surprisingly decent. Not keto though. ?
Small amounts…with queso…mmmmm.