from the twisted minds of snm
Really? Is there anything correct here? The top overlocknut is cross-threaded. The lower of the two keyed washers is turned and jammed on the threads so the key isn’t in the groove. The second (second?!?!) overlocknut spins and neither tightens nor loosens, since the threads have been stripped on the steerer. The giant spacer is just a piece of random tubing and is not square on top or bottom.
…oh, and the headset is loose.
It’s been over several weeks since the start of the new anime season in Japan, so a lot of the shows are pretty far along. It’s a little late, but here are some reviews of current properties if you haven’t started watching yet and need a helping hand trying to pick what to watch. They’re not in any specific order:
Kiniro no Mosaic – when it was first announced, I was somewhat interested in this title, but after watching the first episode, the inevitable end was fairly obvious. The Japanese character being heavily Westernized and the foreign character being well-versed in Japanese culture schtick has been done numerous times before, but usually as an aside, not as a core interaction device. I’m sure we won’t see anything new this time around. The character design is cute and the character animation is above average. The backgrounds are very good. By nature of two of the characters being from England, the English language is naturally going to be encountered. They got reasonably close grammatically, though it is still a little “Speed Racer” awkward. The thing that ruins it is the accenting of words within the sentences is all off. At least it will probably be a somewhat entertaining ride. B-
Root – I have top say I was pretty let down, I was looking forward to this, but it fell pretty flat for me. It isn’t terrible, it looks nice and can be entertaining, but the gags and humor are a little weak. Yes, the English is bad, although correct. But that’s something I’m used to and expect, although there has been a rare case of native English voices, but the script they read from is filled with odd english. It just occurred to me, they really should be speaking the Queens English. Wonder what that would sound like! C+
I never saw so many people out at the Ditch.
When we met at the trailhead on Sunday morning for a quick spin, the parking area was full. Chris wondered if Xterra or something was coming up, though we didn’t see anyone who really fit the flailing triathlete profile out on the trail. Almost immediately, a lady with a helmet came out through the gate. She didn’t have a bike, which confused me. Was she just a clumsy hiker? Later as we were heading in, she went in to retrieve her bike that she had left just inside the opening in the fence. Her riding companion had finally arrived at the bottom of the trail and was expousing her learned wisdom on the Maui shark attack victim from Germany. Just as we were starting the climb, a pleasant lady sand her two pleasant dogs also began the trail. Continue reading ‘Crowded’
The weather last night at the peak of the Perseid meteor shower was actually nice for a change. Went out at midnight but didn’t see anything. It’s not exactly a low-light environment in my neighborhood: The rental across the street had all the lights going. I woke up at three to go and look again, but it had clouded in. I found a place where the neighbor’s lights (still going full-blast at three! This is great during termite season as all the critters go over there) weren’t burning my retinas, but after fifteen minutes I went inside to avoid waking up in the driveway in the morning at sunrise covered in dew… and mosquito bites.
(0)Every time I hear the English-language version of the Air Buggy Japan ad in KORL, I imagine some dude popping out from the back of the store going, “Yo! Kick it! Break it down!” when they mention their “free wrapping service”.
(1)As in previous years, there’s a common theme in some of the anime properties this season. This year it’s magical girls and cards. The three I’m thinking of are Fantasista Doll, Day Break Illusion, and Fate/kaleid liner Prisma Illya. In Fantasista Doll, the middle-school protagonist comes into possession of a smartphone that allows her to call forth five combat “dolls” that she can variously equip with a card app on said phone. In Day Break Illusion the high-school protagonist has inherited the power to transform and use the power of tarot cards to engage in battle with dark forces. In Prisma Illya, the elementary-school protagonist becomes the unexpected heroine through happenstance and has to use her newfound powers to stop the transdimentional manifestations of cards and collect them. All three have different intents, but all share high quality artwork, both in the character animation and background art. Continue reading ‘The Cards Have It’
Thanks to everyone who came out to the Honolulu Museum of Art to support the Museum and the Hawaii art community! I was engaged in creation (though at times fruitlessly), so I didn’t get to talk to many of you, but I enjoyed meeting those of you who I had the brief lucid moments to converse with. Thanks to you who bought my pieces! Hopefully we’ll meet again next year!
Even with tropical storm Flossie approaching, the forecast called for hot, sunny days this weekend, so even though it was clouded in on Sunday morning, we chanced a ride out at Royal Summit. It was ripping hot, but there was a good breeze going, so we didn’t die immediately from the heat. We did die later from the climbs, as we were instantly reminded why we usually tackle this area as a loop from the Wailuna side – the climbs at Royal Summit suck! My complete lack of conditioning became readily apparent as I dropped off the back. Definitely have to get more secret training time in before the next trail ride. We went up to the end of the doubletrack then snaked our way back down via the siding singletrack fun runs. There was a lot of daylight, so we sessioned a couple of sections until we ran out of juice and headed back out. We mistakenly went down into the airsoft area. We’ve done that before, and it sucked as much this time around. Continue reading ‘Sucking Wind at the Summit’
After replacing the eight mangled spokes on my rear wheel on Tuesday, I went for a spin today to test out the rebuild. After some hard climbing and purposely hard landings, the wheel was still true, so I guess everything is fine. There was one inside drive-side spoke that was a little stretched that was bugging me, but since the wheel is still round, I won’t mess with it. On the way back, I accidentally found a mud bog in the park and ended up getting muddier than I have on any of the past several rides!
D = 9.32 km (5.79-miles), Vavr = 16.6 km/h (10.3-mph), Vmax = 34.6 km/h (21.5-mph), T = 33-minutes
All week we had been planning a dirt ride, but at the last moment, Chris remembered he was on the schedule for his part-time fun job on Sunday, so the ride evaporated. When he got there, what he had to do was cancelled, so the ride was back on! Luckily I had gotten my kit together on Saturday in anticipation of the ride, so when the Minuteman-like call to arms came, all I really had to do was fill my hydration reservoir and mix my endurox. Continue reading ‘Go/No Go/Go!’