Going back to episode 7, it just occurred to me where I heard the “Ventura, ventura, space people” chant and ring dance before:
In an episode of 80s Urusei Yatsura:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3kbmZdeuBnU
This is from the a dubbed version, but it’s the same thing in the original Japanese.
According to a reddit post, “ventora” came from a Japanese UFO society https://hatch.kookscience.com/wiki/Cosmic_Brotherhood_Association_(CBA)
No idea if the dance came from them too.
I hate my Samsung S25.
The hardware is lightning fast, but this OneUi garbage fucks up multiple apps, even Voyager that I am using to type this right now.
They especially seem to fuck over the Fossify open source apps.
The redundant Samsung apps (Phone, Messenger, Calendar, Photos, App Store, et al) are garbage clones of the vanilla Google Android apps.
I never had this many problems with my Motorola, which did use vanilla Google Apps
A pun on the Cape Fear suspense movies from 1962 (the original is better) and 1991 about a family stalked by a psychopathic killer.
The cape buffalo is an African bovine.
Lecterian slip.
How many people actually own shortwave-receiving radios though?
Consumer Reports (CR) is frustratingly short on full ratings for EVs.
It’s like EV buyers aren’t CR subscribers or something.
CR is really down on reliability for most EV models, assigning most of them straight-in-the-middle average for predicted reliability. And quite often lower.
The one exception seems to be the 2025 BMW i4, which earns the best ratings for both predicted reliability and owner satisfaction.
Suspiciously so.
Sometimes when CR’s data patterns appear like that, it’s a mirage due to some other factor. Particularly when the manufacturer’s other models don’t join them.
For example, the 2025 BMW i5 has a more typical bang average predicted reliability rating.
In terms of incomplete ratings, they seem to like the 2025 Toyota Mirai, and 2026 Lexus ES, but those are likely to come back down to average as the results come in.
p.s. CR is in the US, and for US consumers, so they don’t get to rate Chinese EVs like BYD, etc.
A couple of maps from LACMTA:
Just the Metro Rail, simplified diagram: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Los_Angeles_Metro_System_Map.png
LAX Metro Transit Center still grayed as “Coming Soon”
Full gory detail: https://cdn.beta.metro.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/06110740/25-1389_blt_system_map_47x47.5_DCR.pdf
Has anyone checked whether it’s actual users, or AI companies scraping content?
Let’s agree to disagree on that one.
This is a dig at the way statistics are presented, such as “The average American family has 1.5 children” for example.
That’s not an accurate statistic, just an example.
This is a barely recognizable reference to Broom Hilda, the titular witch character in a syndicated American comic strip.
I’m not super-familiar with the strip, but I don’t remember the character having any notable fascination with brooms.
Is this a younger Broom Hilda?
Think about what things would have been like after the earthquake: Any building materials and labor would have been in extremely high demand.
The faster that one could put up anything to house people, the better, even using “waste materials” like old streetcars.
At least these had a solid roof and walls.
No doubt there was even more temporary housing that would resemble homeless huts that we see today.
Sadly, according to the article, these didn’t stay for very long, and were replaced by more traditional construction after 4 years.
In case you were wondering, like I was:
Foals will begin to eat grain, if accessible, within the first month.
https://extension.okstate.edu/fact-sheets/foaling-management-and-care-of-the-nursing-foal.html
Little pigs plead with state for subsidies to upgrade wood and straw houses.
Grandmas living alone in the woods terrified.
Depriving everyone else of physical cash would just hasten the spread of electronic transactions into the corners of the global economy where it doesn’t already reach: Drug cartels, rural villages in 3rd world countries, etc.
And with that, lack of privacy from prying eyes in governments, banking, and corporate databases.
The infrastructure to accept and process cash would quickly deteriorate faster than you, the one sole cash owner, could spend it, and therefore distribute cash back around the world for it to become useful again.
By the time the physical cash could get sorted, spent, and make its way from your one location, to most places around the world, essentially cash would have become almost worthless, because alternative payment methods would be made, and nobody would be used to using cash anymore.
“The Dragon Keepers, their reputations and organization shattered, and identities revealed, must now continue their fight for Justice against the monsters as part of the underground…” Sounds like the tone just moved into grim 'n gritty…
Red needs to learn some impulse control…
And how exactly did Hwalipon escape from a room full of Rangers?
World Of Warships had a great selection of Triremes back then
Betty converting to Islam and wearing a burkini in…
The planned demise of the current DC Streetcar line is sad because, like many US cities, DC has a long history of extensive streetcar lines that have faded away over time. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streetcars_in_Washington,_D.C.
Wow, snapshot from a bygone age.
Dry cleaners around here have just about all been wiped out, because nobody wears “nice” clothing anymore.