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.

Successfully making a good cup of coffee is a good start to my day.

I use, in rotation:

• a French press
• an aeropress
• a cucumella
• a moka pot

Sometimes things go perfectly, sometimes something unexpected happens, and I have to figure out how to roll with it.

Sometimes I just screw around with the factors to try something different: Changing the brew time, paper filter vs metal filter, crack open a new bag of beans or grounds, etc.

It’s not the most complex of tasks, nor the most important, but it’s something that is solvable.

Lots of websites seem to have M2’s cone burrs, and matching ring burrs in stock.

And also the paddle wheel.

You don’t have to buy it directly from Baratza.

Here’s an Italian company that sells food grade filter paper: https://www.polsinelli.it/en/filter-paper-disc-ø-200-100-pieces-P3276.htm

Before you say “it’s not the same”, you have to understand that you’re moving to an entirely different non-Chemex product anyway, so you’re going to have to experiment with what products work for you as well.

You could try googling for “chemex compatible filters” then carefully looking for where the products come from.

Here’s one that says “from Canada” on the box, and “Canadian pulp” in the description. ~~https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D8BFP4C3~~

But where was it actually made? Doesn’t say

Never mind. It’s made by the parent company of NutriBullet, Alchemy Worldwide, which is American.

Company name rhymes with Shamazon.

About the Antonov AN-196 Liutyi drone https://united24media.com/latest-news/ukrainian-an-196-liutyi-drone-dubbed-ukrainian-shahed-receives-major-upgrade-3996

Pretty impressive payload at 75kg.

For comparison, a standard 155mm M795 high explosive shell has a payload of 10.8kg of TNT.

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

The quest for vengeance was a voyage of self discovery after all.

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?

There are interesting stories and background to the song, and the band, Wall Of Voodoo, and the music video.

https://americansongwriter.com/the-story-behind-mexican-radio-by-wall-of-voodoo-and-how-a-nascent-mtv-helped-it-become-a-radio-hit/

Regardless of climate and health costs.

Sounds like fossil fuel companies alright…

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.

On the other hand, she was great at the housewarming that one time.

Fuck Saruman. I am never buying one of his electric palantirs.

That’s really cool!

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

Due to seemingly unsolvable political polarization in the US, it’s a popular belief that we’re headed for a second civil war.

https://carnegieendowment.org/research/2023/09/polarization-democracy-and-political-violence-in-the-united-states-what-the-research-says?lang=en

But you’re right, that doesn’t belong in this /c