@SVChucko@sfba.social
@SVChucko@sfba.social avatar

SVChucko

@SVChucko@sfba.social

He/him/his. Aging cis male #nerd, counting down to retirement in the heart of Silicon Valley. Using the Internet socially since 1984 (really!). Fair weather #cyclist. #Musician. Wannabe #RaceTraitor and #Antifascist. #TransRights advocate. Many boosts. Occasionally, original thoughts.

Avatar photo: Balding white man wearing a rainbow face mask.

Header photo: A hazy view of several mountain ridges from Long Ridge Open Space Preserve, just off Skyline Blvd. in the Santa Cruz Mtns, California.

This profile is from a federated server and may be incomplete. Browse more on the original instance.

ai6yr, to cycling
@ai6yr@m.ai6yr.org avatar

Bicycled, instead of drove, to the local bicycle shop, to buy new tires and tubes for a couple of bikes with old, rotted tires... could not bear to have them not usable at all.

SVChucko,
@SVChucko@sfba.social avatar

@ai6yr As long as it covers the spoke holes, it’ll be fine.

ai6yr, to indycar
@ai6yr@m.ai6yr.org avatar

AP: Indy 500 delayed as severe weather forces fans to leave Indianapolis Motor Speedway https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/indy-500-delayed-as-severe-weather-forces-fans-to-leave-indianapolis-motor-speedway #severewx #INwx #indy500 #wx

SVChucko,
@SVChucko@sfba.social avatar

@ai6yr Having been to the Indy 500 and had the race postponed due to weather, this is absolutely nothing new.

SVChucko,
@SVChucko@sfba.social avatar

@ai6yr In 1997 I went with my wife for what I half-jokingly called our honeymoon, her first time at Indy. The rain started on the parade laps on Sunday, no racing. Monday they got a few dozen laps in, then the rain came again, and the rest of the race was postponed until Tuesday. We were able to change our plans and stick around for the finish on Tuesday.

SVChucko, to random
@SVChucko@sfba.social avatar

Seeing this story about California utilities’ proposal to charge users fixed fees for connection to the grid infuriated me. The Public Utilities Commission is clearly in bed with the utility industry, as are many of the state legislators.

It also made me wonder if a proposition to directly elect PUC members could get enough traction to get on the ballot.

h/t @Frances_Larina for the CalMatters story.

https://calmatters.org/newsletter/california-utility-bills-legislature/

18+ Frances_Larina, to random
@Frances_Larina@sfba.social avatar

USA college administrations, when Nazis show up on campus:

"They have a right to free speech"

When rallies are held protesting atrocities and mass civilian murder in Palestine:

"We are arresting you for expressing antisemitism."

Can someone make this make sense???

SVChucko,
@SVChucko@sfba.social avatar

@Frances_Larina The most logical conclusion is that the college administrations are in league with, or supported by, Nazis.

ai6yr, to random
@ai6yr@m.ai6yr.org avatar

LA Times has two ways to report a (paper) delivery issue nowadays, and neither results in re-delivery of said paper. 🤔

(that said, the weekend paper is now "The Greatest Hits From This Week's Digital Version" + comics).

SVChucko,
@SVChucko@sfba.social avatar

@ai6yr What I don’t get is LA Times and others pushing the “e-newspaper” format so hard. If I wanted to read a newspaper like I used to, I’d still be subscribed to the paper edition. I don’t. The format doesn’t work on computer screens, tablets, or heaven forfend phones.

grimalkina, to random
@grimalkina@mastodon.social avatar

Watching a talk about double marginalization (of being an LGBTQ+ researcher who includes LGBTQ+ topics or measures in their study) and being like "hmm, I don't know, this example can't be an example of this extremely negative repercussion, because this happens to me all the time" and then being like WAIT

SVChucko,
@SVChucko@sfba.social avatar

@grimalkina Link?

rebeccawatson, to random
@rebeccawatson@mstdn.social avatar

I have until Monday to tell Climate Ride whether I want to bike 60 miles (my previous max in one day) or 100 miles on day 1. I have a month to get in shape. What say you fellow cyclists and people who consider taking on more than you probably should? https://support.climateride.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=donordrive.participant&participantID=12036

SVChucko,
@SVChucko@sfba.social avatar

@rebeccawatson Are you aware of Lorri Lee Lown and her Savvy Bike coaching business? She’s led group training for the AIDS Ride, among other accomplishments. She also does bike fits, though you can probably find a good bike fitter closer to home. LLL might be able to point you to someone in your neighborhood. https://savvybike.com/

toplesstopics, to random
@toplesstopics@eldritch.cafe avatar

Hahahaha the same day I already changed my #southwestAirlines flight from the insane 7 am-5 hour layover one they suddenly changed it to back to the 11am/1 hr layover it had been originally, the fkers changed the flight AGAIN, this time to a two hour layover that doesn't get on until 9 at night 🤬🤬🤬

I'm going to change it AGAIN tomorrow but something tells me the mfers are just going to keep changing it up to the last minute, and we have no choice but to suck it up 🙃 I went with Alaska Airlines last year and they charge an ass load per bag and they LOST my bag for a day on the return trip, but at least they didn't change my flight a dozen times before leaving! (they did suddenly set me on a flight that was three hours earlier THAT MORNING that I departed, though)

Honestly maybe I'll just take my car 1000 miles down next year rather than deal with this shit. I would hate that, but at least I wouldn't be at the mercy of greedy incompetent airline execs.

SVChucko,
@SVChucko@sfba.social avatar

@toplesstopics WTH? SNA to PDX via freaking Denver?! That’s the best Southwest could do?

drahardja, to random
@drahardja@sfba.social avatar

If you are a #sfba dot social member, move your contributions to ko-fi today at https://ko-fi.com/sfba_fedi

I joined as a Fellow ($9/month) level because I love this team. https://sfba.social/@announcements/112062530702212045

SVChucko,
@SVChucko@sfba.social avatar

@drahardja I had been at the $5/month level on OC, but my partner has recently moved to sfba dot social, so I upped it to $9/mo on ko-fi. Shout out to the mods!

cstross, to random
@cstross@wandering.shop avatar

Boeing Missing Key Elements of Safety Culture: FAA Report

Employees lack awareness of the basics in reporting safety concerns.

https://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/air-transport/2024-02-26/boeing-missing-key-elements-safety-culture-faa-report

SVChucko,
@SVChucko@sfba.social avatar

@cstross Daaaaaaaaaaamn. Will mgmt have the good sense to exit the company now? Or will they ride this shitshow all the way to the ground?

18+ Frances_Larina, to random
@Frances_Larina@sfba.social avatar

This is getting scary. Walters is the head of schools in Oklahoma and he's saying an entire class of people strongly affected by his words and actions don't exist. He's also known for pushing for prayer in schools & hanging the Ten Commandments in classrooms. It would be good if top Democrats would call him out on his bigotry. Like, right now. Loudly.

"Ryan Walters, the Oklahoma superintendent of public instruction, doesn’t recognize the existence of transgender or nonstudentsbinary people, even after the death of bullied nonbinary teenager Nex Benedict in his state.

“There’s not multiple genders. There’s two. That’s how God created us,” Walters told The New York Times in his first interview about Benedict’s death. He said “he did not believe that nonbinary or transgender people exist”.

https://www.advocate.com/news/ryan-walters-rejects-trans-nonbinary

More on Walters here:
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/ryan-walters-oklahoma-schools-superintendent-tulsa-rcna101235

SVChucko,
@SVChucko@sfba.social avatar

@Frances_Larina Getting scary?? Tell that to my trans friend who’s afraid to fly anywhere because the plane might be diverted to some trans-hostile state. They’re seriously afraid they’d be arrested just for getting off a plane while trans.

18+ Frances_Larina, to random
@Frances_Larina@sfba.social avatar

"Alito Fears Bigot Label for Americans With Traditional Religious Views of LGBTQ People"

Remember when you were young and everyone told you judges were impartial? How are we supposed to expect any sort of fairness from a judiciary that announces its bias like this?

https://www.thenewcivilrightsmovement.com/2024/02/alito-fears-bigot-label-for-americans-with-traditional-religious-views-of-lgbtq-people/

SVChucko,
@SVChucko@sfba.social avatar

@Frances_Larina “Justice” Alito is a %^&* bigot. And a KKKristofascist. But I repeat myself.

18+ Frances_Larina, to random
@Frances_Larina@sfba.social avatar

Mayor London Breed, Gov. Gavin Newsom, Federal DEA agents, the California Highway Patrol and local police are all cracking down on illegal activity around U.N. Plaza.

Specifically, people selling...candy bars, cupcakes, jelly beans, maybe even Peeps in an open air market.

Nope, not kidding.

https://sfstandard.com/2024/02/18/candy-sells-faster-fentanyl-san-francisco/

SVChucko,
@SVChucko@sfba.social avatar

@Frances_Larina This reads like satire. For real?!

BigAngBlack, to AdobePhotoshop
@BigAngBlack@fosstodon.org avatar

Time for Open Source alternatives to Adobe products

@inkscape
@GIMP

Your #Adobe subscription might be more expensive next month - but at least you'll get some freebies | TechRadar

https://www.techradar.com/pro/your-adobe-subscription-might-be-more-expensive-next-month-but-at-least-youll-get-some-freebies

> Are you ready for the worldwide #CreativeCloud price hike?

SVChucko,
@SVChucko@sfba.social avatar

@BigAngBlack @inkscape @GIMP I decided it was time for FOSS alternatives to Adobe products when they made Lightroom subscription-only.

ai6yr, to random
@ai6yr@m.ai6yr.org avatar

FEMA summary on the Atmospheric River event in Southern California for 2/6/2024. (via the @disaster_bot --which reposts FEMA status every morning) https://m.ai6yr.org/

SVChucko,
@SVChucko@sfba.social avatar

@ai6yr @disaster_bot Is anyone else annoyed that they misspelled Monterey?

ai6yr, (edited ) to random
@ai6yr@m.ai6yr.org avatar

749K people without power in California right now per @PowerOutageUS #CAwx #AtmosphericRiver

SVChucko,
@SVChucko@sfba.social avatar

@ai6yr @PowerOutageUS On @weatherwest ’s livestream earlier this afternoon, he was estimating 3 people per electric power “customer”. So more like 2.25M people without power.

We lost power in Sunnyvale about 45 minutes ago. Fortunately it came back on after about a minute.

ai6yr, to random
@ai6yr@m.ai6yr.org avatar

Planespotters enjoying the LAX landings and takeoffs today through the rain. #CAwx #KLAX #avgeek https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FaRo_aA-Zc

SVChucko,
@SVChucko@sfba.social avatar

@ai6yr Is there one for SFO?

SVChucko, to random
@SVChucko@sfba.social avatar

People opposed to the hard right turn Huntington Beach, CA politics has taken are beginning to make their presence felt. As a former HB resident, I’m happy to see this. https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2024-01-20/column-yes-you-can-fight-city-hall-huntington-beach-retirees-are-waging-a-revolution

ai6yr, to random
@ai6yr@m.ai6yr.org avatar

Gentle rainfall system this time over Southern California. All green in terms of intensity over the last 24 hours. Drive carefully, however! #CAwx #rain

SVChucko,
@SVChucko@sfba.social avatar

@ai6yr @GreenFire The central theme of Mark Arax’s The Dreamt Land is the recurring cycles of drought and deluge throughout California history, and how people and society have dealt with that cycle. Highly recommended. https://mark-arax.com/the-dreamt-land/

SVChucko, to random
@SVChucko@sfba.social avatar

I got email today from PG&E. It warned “Your bill is projected to be $###!” They estimated our electricity charges for this month would be 2-1/2 times what I paid for the same period last year. Gas usage estimate went up a few percent.

So I login (with some gratuitous difficulty) and look at current usage. It looks a lot like this month a year ago. We don’t use much to start with, so there’s not a lot to trim.

What’s different this year? I grab a PDF of the most recent bill, and compare it to a year ago. The bastards jacked up the electric delivery rate by 8 cents/kWh on Jan. 1! We have a local generation co-op, and their rates went up too, but not nearly to the same degree.

The state of California needs to take over the failed criminal enterprise that calls itself PG&E.

ai6yr, to cycling
@ai6yr@m.ai6yr.org avatar

Random question for #BikeTooter - I need to replace these mountain bike tires (1996...) 26x1.95 - but not finding any of the various tire recommendations here in this size. Only cheap no name brands. Any guides on figuring out what tires would fit a rim?

SVChucko,
@SVChucko@sfba.social avatar

@ai6yr As others have said, you can find a variety of widths to fit a “26 inch” mountain bike rim. I’ve used everything from 26x1.50 slicks to 26x2.35 knobbies, sometimes on the same wheelset.

Since 26” wheels have gone out of favor with the hardcore MTB set, there are fewer choices today than there were even 10 years ago. But that means you “only” have a few hundred tires to choose from, instead of the several thousand that used to be available.

How do you use the bike? Pick a 26” tire based on your intended use, and don’t worry too much about the labeled width.

SVChucko,
@SVChucko@sfba.social avatar

@ai6yr Check out Cambria Bicycle Outfitter, just up the coast from you. I’ve been a customer for years. https://cambriabike.com/collections/tires

absolutspacegrl, (edited ) to Texas
@absolutspacegrl@mastodon.social avatar

The quote “Lack of preparation on your part does not constitute an emergency on mine” does not apply to because everyone in must pay - sometimes very highly and not only with money, sadly - for the constant lack of preparation in this state for any weather…regardless of the season.

https://www.click2houston.com/news/local/2024/01/14/ercot-asks-texans-to-conserve-electricity-use-on-monday-morning/

SVChucko,
@SVChucko@sfba.social avatar

@absolutspacegrl We gripe about PG&E getting away with murder (or at least negligent manslaughter) by wildfire here in California. ERCOT’s doing the same to Texans by freezing them to death. And in both places, we pay for the “privilege”. I hope you stay warm in this cold snap.

ai6yr, to hamradio
@ai6yr@m.ai6yr.org avatar

Aha, my friend @W2AYZ sent me a photo of his ham radio bicycle trailer, full mobile radio with antenna mounted in a bicycle trailer (with batteries) -- contemplating my own setup, just because...

SVChucko,
@SVChucko@sfba.social avatar

@ben @ai6yr @W2AYZ BEHEMOTH is on display at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View. I saw it there over the holidays.

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