@roadskater@mastodon.social
@roadskater@mastodon.social avatar

roadskater

@roadskater@mastodon.social

Inline skating the mean streets of NYC since 1993 and still alive to kvetch about it.
Webmaster for some scientists.
Java netCDF dataviz and cartography coder.
Somewhere left of center.
Recovering Idahoan.
Bobcat grad.
Jack Methodist.
Once upon a time RPGer and developer.
Erstwhile alternate history authority.
Miscellanea and erratica.

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

Andres4NY, to random
@Andres4NY@social.ridetrans.it avatar

There's plenty of research out there showing that when you add a protected bike lane, a street becomes safer for ALL road users.

However, I'm not convinced that the traffic calming effect that made it safer actually continues to work if you don't bother to maintain the "protection". I fear it's actually the opposite; without the protection, drivers see just a clear lane and drive faster than they did before (where parked cars used to slow down cars, prior to PBL installation).

roadskater,
@roadskater@mastodon.social avatar

@Andres4NY It's been a couple years. I should skate east and check out the boulevard. As bad as it can be, it was nice that nice being able to roll where you could least remove the fear of being doored from the mental watchlist.

lzg, to random
@lzg@mastodon.social avatar

it would be really great if what ends up killing this AI hype cycle is that it’s unable to discern what is real and what is a shitpost

roadskater,
@roadskater@mastodon.social avatar

@lzg Somewhere in all this BS is some tech bro preparing his TED Talk about web4 and "trusted web results", and feeling smug about how genius he is. Sigh. I feel sick having just typed that.

amcasari, to random
@amcasari@hachyderm.io avatar

Sam Altman may not be able to eat in SF, but Bernie Sanders can waltz in your froyo shop in Vermont and no one blinks an eye.

roadskater,
@roadskater@mastodon.social avatar

@amcasari Did the scooper just say, "The usual?" to him?

MissingThePt, to random
@MissingThePt@mastodon.social avatar

ChatGPT is a menace, suggesting using glue to keep cheese on a pizza.

Everyone knows you should use staples.

roadskater,
@roadskater@mastodon.social avatar

@MissingThePt Don't forget the gasoline or the snakes.

lzg, to random
@lzg@mastodon.social avatar

frustrated once again googling what the fuck is a red herring, an idiom that never sticks to my brain no matter how many times i’ve looked it up

roadskater,
@roadskater@mastodon.social avatar

@lzg
Whoever used the phrase on you apparently distracted you from whatever else it was they were saying and didn't want you to actually pay attention to. Win-win.

dangillmor, to random
@dangillmor@mastodon.social avatar

@hiltzikm is one of the consistently best business commentators in daily journalism. Here, he pulls apart the corporate sleaze -- and gross mismanagement -- that pushed Red Lobster into bankruptcy.

https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2024-05-21/column-it-wasnt-just-the-endless-shrimp-red-lobsters-corporate-owners-drove-it-into-bankruptcy?utm_source=press.coop

roadskater,
@roadskater@mastodon.social avatar

@dangillmor @hiltzikm I don't think I have ever read about one of these sale-leaseback transactions that worked out well for anyone except for the hedge fund or the private equity fund that made bank screwing the company over.

And didn't I read around 8-10 years ago that the state of New Mexico was thinking of doing something dumb like that with one of the state government buildings?

clive, to random
@clive@saturation.social avatar

“I had a guy come in with his family ... and he did 16 rounds of shrimp scampi. He was there for over two hours on a busy Friday night. They had one of my biggest tables. I just had to watch this man eat plates upon plates of the scampi, which isn’t even served over pasta. It’s shrimp in a garlic-wine butter.

"It was so gross.”

Red Lobster employees tell grim tales of the chain benighted "endless shrimp" deal: https://slate.com/life/2024/05/red-lobster-restaurant-closing-bankrupt-endless-shrimp.html

roadskater,
@roadskater@mastodon.social avatar

@clive ISTR a Simpson's episode from long ago (~25 years?) where the seafood restaurant has an all-you-can-eat deal, and Homer took it on as a challenge. A court case might have resulted.

lzg, to random
@lzg@mastodon.social avatar

finally the org is large enough that there's another Lena at work. let the namespace collision begin!

roadskater,
@roadskater@mastodon.social avatar

@brohrer @lzg Like when I started grade school and there were four Davids in my class. Thankfully, I was not one of them.

roadskater,
@roadskater@mastodon.social avatar

@lzg @brohrer Looking at the Social Security table of most popular baby names, and yep, David was in the top 3 boys' names there for a very long stretch. But I'll bet even the guys named David were glad they weren't named Michael.

sundogplanets, to random
@sundogplanets@mastodon.social avatar

I am talking o a reporter about this in a couple hours: https://regina.ctvnews.ca/from-outer-space-sask-farmers-baffled-after-discovering-strange-wreckage-in-field-1.6880353

This is about an hour away from my farm, so this'll be a fun conversation, and yet another great opportunity to tell a lot of people about what a huge problem we have with unregulated commercialization of orbit. (Also I just redid my slides for my public talk next week, this is going in!)

roadskater,
@roadskater@mastodon.social avatar

@sundogplanets They should mount whatever else they find in the trophy case at the skating rink.

roadskater, to bikenyc
@roadskater@mastodon.social avatar

Manhattan Bridge bike counter, 23:30 on 5/6/2024.

roadskater, to random
@roadskater@mastodon.social avatar

My spider sense is trying to tell me something.

Something about a game. A basketball game.

video/mp4

roadskater, to CrystalsHashtags
@roadskater@mastodon.social avatar

Wasn't really paying attention last night while , but I passed at least two ghost bikes. The photo here is at Central Park South and Fifth Ave, which... what... some driver was desperate to beat the light and get stuck in the perpetual traffic jam on East 59th St and so killed a cyclist?

The other bike I passed was the one in BK at Wythe and the highway where the assistant DA was killed a few years ago.

roadskater, to nyc
@roadskater@mastodon.social avatar

Beautiful afternoon in . Not a cloud in the sky.

roadskater, to cycling
@roadskater@mastodon.social avatar

Manhattan Bridge bike counter, 23:09 on 3/12/2024.
Looks like I’m just a bit early for some zeros.
NYCBike

Andres4NY, to random
@Andres4NY@social.ridetrans.it avatar

Just watched a fire engine salmoning on Queens Blvd (not the access road, but the highway itself). It was awesome. Beep beep, outta the way mf'ers!

roadskater,
@roadskater@mastodon.social avatar

@Andres4NY Friends of mine think it was hysterical that I wiped out last year due to a banana peel in the bike lane.

roadskater, to CrystalsHashtags
@roadskater@mastodon.social avatar

I honestly don't know why it took so long to get my lately ass out of the apartment on Saturday. Finally, finally!, I started about 8 p.m. Thought I'd go to Red Hook, but the moment I finished crossing the Manhattan Bridge, I changed my mind and went to Greenpoint instead. Probably because the spot in Red Hook with the best views is a major PITA to reach after dark because of crappy asphalt and just-as-bad lighting. Greenpoint, though, is easy-peasy.

bigzaphod, to random
@bigzaphod@mastodon.social avatar

What better way to celebrate 's 40th anniversary than by using BitCam https://iconfactory.com/bc.html to take a pic of your current Mac? 😛

roadskater,
@roadskater@mastodon.social avatar

@bigzaphod ICU.

roadskater, to random
@roadskater@mastodon.social avatar

Looking to do an update on a #Perl script on the office webserver, I looked up the perldoc for a module and ran into, "PLEASE DO NOT USE THIS MODULE IN NEW CODE". 🤔

gwagner, to nyc
@gwagner@fediscience.org avatar

…if you invest in some insulation and perhaps even a heat pump & induction stove to cut the gas line.

roadskater,
@roadskater@mastodon.social avatar

@gwagner I have seen the unicorn, and god is it ever ugly.

roadskater, to bikenyc
@roadskater@mastodon.social avatar

Pardon my earlier snark about NYPD on the West Side Bike Path. It’s 2 1/2 hours later, the cops are still blocking the path by Pier 76, and it’s because somebody on a powered kick scooter crashed hard and there’s blood all over the bikepath. Forensic guys are examining the scene, and that can't mean anything good.

roadskater, to CrystalsHashtags
@roadskater@mastodon.social avatar

It was a late night of but damn the weather was perfect. A solid 50k to Prospect Park and back. And oh hey, the 106th St deli cook was working at 3 a.m. so I finished with a tasty jalapeño-avocado burger.

Of note:

  • The Manhattan access to the Queensboro Br bike lane is soooo much better than it used to be, but my god the "tunnel" at the start could be better lit.
  • Views from the Greenpoint shore get better and better.
  • Broadway in the 70s resurfacing almost done!
roadskater, to random
@roadskater@mastodon.social avatar

I'm working on some sample pseudoconic map projection output, and WTF, Berlin is north of Winnipeg?

ct_bergstrom, to random
@ct_bergstrom@fediscience.org avatar

OK this is hands-down the funniest thing I have read today.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/25/dining/drinks/cocktail-glasses-gender.html

roadskater,
@roadskater@mastodon.social avatar

@ct_bergstrom Downtown finance bros. <shudder>

roadskater, to random
@roadskater@mastodon.social avatar

@ivory, Is there a way in either your iPad or iPhone app to view the feed that the Mastodon web interface shows if you click "# Explore" in the right-hand column? Or that Ice Cubes for iPad shows if you click the Trending icon? If there is, it's not jumping out at me. Thx.

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