Canopyflyer
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For some reason, when Cibola Burns came out, Jefferson Mays was unavailable, so another person narrated it. I think it was Erik Davies, but cannot remember, the book has since been redone by Jefferson.
I stopped and returned the book when the narrator pronounced “cumin” as something a teenager does into a Kleenex. Which, to be fair, is actually an appropriate pronunciation of the word, per Webster’s dictionary, I’ve never heard anyone else pronounce it that way before. There were A LOT of other issues with the guy’s narration. His cadence, voicing, along with pronunciation was absolutely atrocious. By far the worst narrator I have personally encountered.
Jefferson Mays needs to have someone go through and coach him on pronunciation. Otherwise, his cadence, pacing, voicing are all pretty good. Certainly not an S tier narrator, but pretty solid and he gives “The Expanse” books the tone that they need.
Large ships that ply the stars at super luminal speeds. These ships are equipped with massive energy weapons capable of pulverizing planets. Powered by systems that use anti-matter, or ultra exotic inter-dimensional matter.
Yet, for some reason the ship is constrained on energy and is unable to keep all the lights on, or the crew has to conform to “energy conservation protocols” (ST TOS), or there isn’t enough power available to keep the ship at a habitable temperature (BSG).
Life support would not even be a rounding error on the power output of some of the systems described in Sci fi.
Not just circuit breakers, but why are high powered circuits being used in the habitable parts of the ship?
Even modern cars no longer run high amperage circuits to the driver’s controls. Back in the old days, you turn on the lights, the light switch carried a full 12v and a lot of current to control relays. Today, the light switch and turn signal stalk use a signal circuit to tell a body control module what to do.
The bridge of a Star Trek ship should have control panels running on the future equivalent of 5 volt signal circuits that tells a distant and well shielded control module to switch the ultra high powered circuits.
That leads me to the one thing that has always bothered me about Star Trek and its transporters and replicators. E=MC^2… When a replicator creates food or an object, it would take at least the same amount of energy to make, as it would if the same amount of mass were destroyed in a nuclear reaction. That DOES mean in areas where those devices are installed there ARE ultra high powered circuits (EPS conduits) in the wall. So high powered that they have the equivalent of multiple nuclear explosions flowing through them every second… YIKES.
Told a janitor to not unplug the equipment rack in a closet to plug in their vacuum cleaner. Why they thought that plugging in their vacuum there, rather than just using the outlet not 6 feet away outside the closet is beyond me.
Further, why that closet wasn’t locked in the first place. But this was almost 30 years ago and it was another time in IT.
I spoke with the janitor and she started plugging in her vacuum in the adjacent outlet. Then I went to the director of IT and got the capitol cost approved to secure all of the networking closets in the building, which there were 6, one for each floor. Only the one floor was an issue as that closet also house a sink and drain for the janitors to use. There wasn’t another place we could move the networking equipment to without laying out a lot of money.
As someone that literally spent 25 years driving a manual, including various stints in racing. Manuals have seen their day.
It used to be if you wanted better mileage, you drove a manual. If you wanted to be faster on the track, drive a manual (caveat there is drag racing.)
Today? The computer is just better at controlling a transmission. I drive a Camry Hybrid now and not having shifts is REALLY weird and the drone getting up to highway speeds is annoying, but I do like the 45mpg. Not to mention, when I sat down to learn how the Toyota Hybrid Drive works… It’s a pretty clever system.
There are a lot of times that nostalgia gets the better of me and I wish I had a car with a manual. My oldest is possibly joining a skating team that is a 2 hour drive away. It’s tempting to let him use my car and then buy an older manual for myself as a toy. I’d love to get a hold of another mid-80’s Corolla GT-S. I autocrossed one back in the late 80’s early 90’s. It still remains my favorite car I’ve ever owned.
Fellow X’er here. My wife and I have worked with a financial consultant for the last 20 years. From the get go she said not to count on SS at all.
We have always considered all that money we paid into it to be just… Gone. That’s pretty much a reality now.
I hope the billionaires enjoy what our money buys for them. It will probably be another politician.
I find distressed audio equipment and bring them back to life.
Here is a photo of some of the pieces I’ve worked on:
Top Shelf:
Adcom GP-555 It’s actually dead. I cannot get the left channel to work at all. Resoldered the entire signal path, replaced the opamps, cleaned the controls, bypassed the controls… Just cannot find where the issue is…
McIntosh MC7108: On/off circuit issues. This one I didn’t really fix, just bypassed the affected circuit, because I don’t care about turning it on and off via a switch. I use it every day.
Second Shelf:
Carver TFM-15cb: Needed new lights in the meters and the input level pots cleaned. That is all the one pictured needed. I have another one that required the same things, but also had to recap it. The one in the photo will need new capacitors before too long. Great sounding amps, but not very well built.
Bottom Shelf:
Soundcraftsman PRO-PA2X200: This is actually an amp my wife has owned for over 30 years. The power supply caps went out and needed to be replaced.
Here is a photo of said capacitors:
Been in a plane crash.
It was a Beech 18 that experienced fuel starvation on climb out. The pilot raised the gear and belly landed it in a freshly tilled corn field off the end of the runway. It was a lot like being in a car accident, just lasted longer with a lot more rending metal noises. The port engine was ripped off and was sitting about 50 feet behind where the plane came to rest.
It wasn’t cool, believe me…
Quite the metaphor mixing you’re doing there.
Must say I rather like it.
Got to see Chicago/ Beach Boys double headline back in 1989 (I think). Both bands were great. Saw the Beach Boys at the old Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati, OH about 5 years later and it was a great show.
Bad Company Holy Water tour. Brian Howe was front lining the band and he was great, but really would have preferred to have seen Paul Rodgers.
Black Crowes opening for ZZ Top on the Recycler tour. ZZ Top had a great show, but musically, Black Crowes was much better.
Duran Duran … I was a closet fan of theirs back in my teens. I’m not in the closet any longer. Soup Dragons opened for them and they suuuucked.
Linkin Park opening for Metallica at the Atlanta Braves stadium in 2003. They were great, Metallica was meh, but I’ve never been a huge fan of theirs.
Live… Not a big fan of theirs, but they did have a good live show. (see what I did there! Yes, I’m a Dad.) They opened for the Counting Crows who were great too.
Santana is a lot better live than anywhere else. I saw him on the Supernatural tour, or at least that was the album he had just released. Funny side story about this concert. This was in 1999 and was there with a friend. 25 years later, my wife and I were talking about concerts we have attended over the years. She mentioned she went to see Santana when she first moved to Cincinnati, which is where I lived at the time… Turns out we were at the same concert 5 years before we met and didn’t realize it until last year.
Yes, I’m old.
My college girlfriend bought me a tri-fold wallet for my 20th birthday. It is still in daily use.
Why? It is an expensive and well made wallet and it has always felt “right” in my back pocket. While it shows obvious signs of wear, all the stitching is still in perfect shape.
That girlfriend dumped me, after 3 years of dating, for a guy that owned a fancier car. She contacted me two years later looking to get back together. I told her to pound sand, but I still use the wallet.
Thanks for the wallet Shannon… It doesn’t remind me of you, but it is a good wallet.
Just remembered, she bought me the Led Zeppelin box set for Christmas that same year. It is currently sitting in my closet. I still “use” it, but I’ve long ripped the discs to FLAC files and listen to them via my Plex server.
So two things from the same girlfriend.
I will be turning 55 next month.
Brilliant.
You are the Universe experiencing itself.
Solid recipes that tend toward being simple and easy to make, but still taste great. I have several of his books in my cookbook collection. With that said, I don’t reach for them nearly as much as some others. For reference cooking is a full on hobby for me. I have multiple bookshelves full of cookbooks.
His “Kinda Spaghetti Bolognese” is a family favorite and I make it several times a year.
As to what I think of Jamie himself? Honestly, I don’t know anything about him, other than he’s British. Entertainment celebrities is not a subject that holds any interest for me.
In the pantheon of cooks, whose recipes I’ve made:
He’s a LOT better than Rachael Ray (but who isn’t?).
But not quite as good as a Julia Child, Ina Garten, Charlie Trotter (RIP), or Jonathan Best.
That I’ve met personally?
Don’t know, but here’s a list that I consider the coolest people I’ve personally met and I’ll give a brief synopsis on how I met them:
Neil Armstrong: Went to get a haircut in Loveland, OH where I was living at the time. Walked into an old school barber shop that was on Loveland-Medaira RD, just down from Krogers. There were three men in the shop, the barber, who was cutting the hair of a man in the chair, and one more who was reading a newspaper, so I couldn’t see his face. The barber finished up and looked at the gentleman reading the newspapers and said; “Neil you’re up next.” The man put the newspaper down and I found myself face to face with the first man to walk on the moon. Yeah… It was a trip to say the least. He lived in the town next to Loveland and he was there looking for a new barber, as his previous one was a bit of a creep.
Paul Tibbets: My Demonstration Skydiving team was performing in an airshow at Lunken Airport on the east side of Cincinnati. Col Tibbets was there as part of a Hiroshima presentation. After my team wrapped up after the show I toured the displays. I had my team shirt on and walked up to the table where he was sitting. He asked a few questions and said my team and I were really brave doing demo jumps… Yeah… the guy that dropped the first nuclear bomb called my team and I… Brave… Rather a surreal moment for me. He was really interesting to talk to.
Chuck Yeager: Gen Yeager drove the pace car for the 1986 Indy 500. My high school marching band also was marching in the parades and around the track. Yes, I’m really old, I was 16 that year. Some friends and I were walking around the campus where we were staying and actually just ran into him… Literally. I knew who he was, but none of my friends did not, so I didn’t say anything. He gruffly dismissed us and walked off. Yes, we did apologize for running into him.
James Doohan: He gave a presentation at Indiana University Southeast in the early 80’s and my Dad took me to see it. He never announced that he was staying afterward and for some reason my Dad and I hung around after most everyone left. There was only about 8 people that were in the auditorium and we got time to talk directly to him. He was the type of person that you just… Loved. He was an actual good person who was also very intelligent. I actually cried when he died in 2005.
Anyway, that’s my submission of people that I think of as “cool” that I had direct interactions with. Other’s than that I would consider cool:
John Young: Robert Crippen, in an interview, stated that his heart rate while Columbia was sitting on the pad, for its first launch was over 140. John’s was 70. Yeah, John Young was sitting on top of thousands of pounds of brand new untested rocket and wasn’t bothered in the least… FUCK ME. If that ain’t cool, I don’t know what is. I never got to meet him, unfortunately.
If you find yourself throwing away a lot of stale moldy bread…
Freeze it.
When you need it, take it out the night before to thaw in a sealed bag. Or if you want toast, just throw the frozen slices straight into your toaster.
This also works for most cakes and other baked goods.
I KNEW IT!
I’M A LESBIAN!!!
I’ve known my whole life and it’s a relief to FINALLY to be able to come out officially.
THANK YOU PRESIDENT RUMP!
You mean before it blows up in ours?
Yeah, me too, but I’m not holding my breath.
Used to work for a company that started out as a US startup for IT Services, later it was purchased by a large German company.
During its startup days, you did not dare drink alcohol at lunch time.
After being bought by the German company, you did not dare NOT to drink alcohol at lunch time. Especially if someone from Germany was visiting. They viewed it odd that we had an aversion to drinking beer at lunch.