#Party Bus Company in the Bay Area

[aonoexpat]

29-08-2023

While my mood continues to swing, I do feel like I am finding my way again in this adventure :)

I tried my luck with the job search in the Tāhuna area, including Wānaka. On my way there I got caught up in the evening rush hour, and decided to wait it out in a resting bay by the side of the road. The farmer that lived there must have had their fair share of rude tourists, because they had gone through the trouble of putting up this sign, which was quite a funny sight to me:

I spent two nights in Wānaka and met some lovely people in the SC parking spot, who I had the honour of teaching my favourite card game to. I did unfortunately discover a patch of (dreaded and inevitable) mould in the MDF my bed is made of 💔 So, I spent the next days attacking it with bleach and sandpaper, and I think I've killed most of it. I've been airing out the bed as much as I can, and will just have to live with it as it is now. Luckily I am told it is not harmful and unlikely to spread!

After a seemingly pointless job interview back in Tāhuna and no responses from any potential employers for several days, I decided to throw in the towel. Most of the hospitality gigs wanted a long-term commitment that I wasn't ready to offer. I realised that even if I found a place that would have me for only three months instead of the regularly requested six, that would still mean I'll have spent 2/3 of my time in this country working when I go back home. Though I could really use the money, that's not worth it to me. I'm proud of trying, but my heart wasn't fully in it, especially with the extreme scarcity of accommodation in the entire region due to ski season. When I do get my next job, I want to be able to enjoy it. So instead I sent my first e-mail to a Dutch IT company in hopes of starting the journey to secure a well-paying job for when I get back home! I'd rather re-earn money well spent here on a spectacular adventure than save it and miss out on some truly unique opportunities in these parts.

In the true spirit of making the most of my time here, I booked a trip for the very next day to go see Piopiotahi, one of Ata Whenua's most spectacular and accessible fiords. The entire day had me smiling ear to ear, from the moment our enthusiastic tour guide picked me up from the Tāhuna bus terminal in the early morning to the goodbyes we said in the late evening. There were 11 other people on the tour with me from all corners of the world, and it was great to feel part of a group again. We talked about our favourite places around the world, our careers, and on the ride back to Tāhuna we all got to share a party song using the driver's Spotify account (I picked this one). I was also able to get some great advice from the driver, who was local as could be, about spots worth visiting on the rest of my trip. He reignited this little spark of inspiration I've had in me ever since I went traveling on my own for the first time back in 2014: the aspiration to maybe one day be a tour guide myself. He told me something I've only ever heard a handful of people, including my father, say before: he doesn't work a day in his life, because he truly enjoys what he does from the bottom of his heart. If that's not a career goal, I don't know what is 🤩

On this tour, we drove the almost 300 km to Piopiotahi while our guide told us everything we wanted to know about the area. We experienced quite some rain, but in the morning that just meant we had some beautiful rainbows to look at from the car windows:

Soon we entered the national park, and again that sense of driving from one biome into another hit like a ton of bricks. In a matter of seconds, the scenery suddenly looked like this:

We were surrounded by beech trees, and the rain only got worse as we drove. We went for a little walk at the Mirror lakes, which unfortunately weren't mirror-ing very well due to the weather, but the views were still worth it:

After a quick stop at Knob Flats, I started to seriously appreciate the fact that I didn't have to drive these roads myself. Not only would it have been more expensive than the tour in terms of fuel, but these roads are not for the faint-hearted. They are perpetually wet and slippery, winding as can be, and on top of that they encompass a 21-kilometer long, so-called "avalanche risk area": a stretch of road on which you are not allowed to stop driving under any circumstances:

Not long after, the tour guide swapped out the generic pop music for movie soundtracks; a much better fit for our new surroundings. He explained to us that in these parts, the ground is almost entirely made up of pure granite. This means there is virtually no top soil present in the ecosystem. The rocks are overgrown with moss, which provides just enough hold for the massive beech trees to take root, which are in turn also overgrown with moss. Due to the rain, all the mountains were overflowing with innumerable delicate little waterfalls, that made the whole place (to me) reminiscent of Iknimaya: the floating mountains in the Avatar movie.

We stopped next at Monkey Creek, both to admire the views and to fill our water bottles from the stream of crystal clear mountain water. To my absolute elation we were welcomed by a pair of Kea, which came running over to us as soon as we had parked, hoping to steal the crisps from the bus. They had me doing tippy taps of pure excitement! I had been looking forward to meeting these amazing mountain parrots for months, and I finally got to lay eyes on them. They are very clever birds, and for some reason they thoroughly enjoy destroying any rubber they can get their beaks on, so our tour guide had to stay with the bus at all times to protect the windscreen wipers!

We went for another hike in the prehistoric wilderness of the forest, one of very few places left on earth that have truly been untouched by human hands, and show what a jungle might have looked like in the Jurassic era:

And then, finally, we made it to Piopiotahi! We had officially reached the West coast of Te Waipounamu. Our boat awaited us patiently, ready to take us on a little cruise through the fiord and out to sea before bringing us safely back to port. We were so lucky that the rain let up for most of the cruise, only starting to pour down again as we were on our way back. This place deals with, I kid you not, nine meters of rain per year. Only two of the waterfalls in the photos below are permanent falls. The rest only happen when it's raining!

These detail photos show the trees directly growing on the granite. In order to survive in these harsh circumstances, the trees' roots connect to each other in one big network. This, unfortunately, also means that if one of them breaks and falls, it tears others down with it, resulting in "scars" in the vegetation down the side of the valley. In the second photo you can also see copper, iron and quartz deposits in the granite!

On our way back, we got to see a beautiful sunset over Lake Te Anau:

That night I went to sleep very tired, but very satisfied. The only blemish on the day was the fact that after the tour I tried to refill my water tank from a public tap, only to find it not working, so I had to spend 10 minutes pouring FORTY (40) cups of water into my tank from a public bathroom sink. Would not recommend. The cherry on top was that it was one of those fancy exe-loo electronic bathrooms, so I got to listen to some nice elevator music for a while before the voice started scolding me with its "Your use time has expired. Please leave this bathroom immediately" lines 😂

The next day I took the leap, spread my wings once again and left Tāhuna in my rear-view mirror! It felt very empowering to choose my own path again. I really wanted to make it all the way to the Southernmost tip of Te Waipounamu, and so after fueling up I turned up the music and drove for hours. My most invigorating tracks of the day were these two. I raced the sunset, and, unlike the good people of Rise Against, I won!

I burst through the gate in the fence and felt like I was running to the very end of the world. I was all alone when I greeted the icy winds at Slope Point, the most Southern tip of mainland Aotearoa!

I stayed to watch the sun go down and walked back to Elrond with a skip in my step and this song in my head, before finding a spot to sleep for the night. I was a happy camper, though my gas cooker has decided to malfunction. I'm hoping to get it fixed in the next few days!

[nationwidecarservice]

Evidence that a Bay Area Party Bus Rental Is the Practice Option

No matter your plans, if you’re plan to venture out on the town in the Bay Area party bus rental offers practice transportation to whatever destination chosen. While cabs and personal vehicles are always there, one option isn’t dependable, and the other poses risks for groups who’ve been drinking. Choose a professional transport to conveniently gain surety of group fun and safety throughout the service.

Fun Is the Goal

Party buses of the Bay Area offer an ideal venue when fun is your goal. These machines are mini nightclubs which happen to be mobile, and the amenities included as standard are a luxurious area of seating to accommodate many passengers; a dance floor with a dancing pole; high tech televisions and speaker systems; and a bar stocked with complementary ice, cups, soda, and water. You can select any venue available to attend, but the ride to and from is sure to be fun. Moreover, the fun can be tailored to your preferences, due to our 24/7 customer support.

Safety Is Inherent

When raucous parties include carousing and alcoholic refreshments, sober drivers become essential elements of the experience. Our professional drivers offer protection from hazards including violations of law, car accidents, and separation from the group. In order to instill confidence in these employees, we require drug tests and background investigations. We also train and evaluate to ensure that they are familiar with the region and possess the essential driving skills needed. Ideal service from a Town Car Service or party bus company in the Bay Area also includes mechanically superior and comprehensively insured, bonded, and licensed. The safe experience gained from our service is beneficial to any gathering.

Gained Convenience

Reserving and employing car service is simple and fast. Simply jump online, and reserve your party vehicle. You can then call our 24/7 customer support team to modify any accommodations that you’d like changed or added. Deliver your itinerary; mass text your friends; and we’ll deal with the rest of the event’s logistics. We put together our service in such a streamlined manner that we don’t need a lengthy notice, so with our road ready fleet, we can be ready within moments of your service request.

Party buses are impressive party options. You’ll enjoy the fun features, safety benefits, and convenient service during your special occasion. We offer customer-centric service in order to match your needs with appropriate transportation as you venture forth on a fun event with your inner circle.

Posted by NATIONWIDE CHAUFFEURED SERVICES

 Please Visit to our website, if you have more queries like the following.

How Much Does It Cost To Rent A Charter Bus?

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How Much Are Limo Rentals Near Me?

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Source: https://nationwidecar12.blogspot.com/2019/07/evidence-that-bay-area-party-bus-rental.html

[architectuul]

Autobus Park №7: Kyiv’s Abandoned Transport Circus

Kyiv might be Europe’s single greatest city for late-twentieth century Modernist architecture. It boasts many wild, eclectic, and vividly imaginative examples of the style, built during the height of Soviet monument-mania. Though amongst its steel and concrete marvels of Soviet-era architecture, one of Kyiv’s most striking modern buildings has, in recent years, also become one of the city’s most problematic ruins. Autobus Park №7  – once the pride of the Ukrainian transport industry – exists today as a decaying morgue for almost a thousand abandoned buses.

Autobus Park №7 today. | Photo © Darmon Richter

The design challenge of the Autobus Park №7 was to create an efficient depot capable of housing and maintaining a fleet of some 500 buses, in an urban environment where building space was limited. Had the building been constructed like a warehouse, or a factory, using a square plan and a regular pillar-based solution for supporting the roof, it was estimated that the total size of the building would have needed to be at least 4,000 square metres. However, an ingenious solution was proposed instead.

Under construction (1972), promotional photographs (1970s) and technical sketches (1979). | Photo via Khabarovsk Polytechnic Institute.

The chief engineers on the project, V. A. Kozlov and S. I. Smorgon, were responsible for the idea of using a cable-suspended roof. They took their inspiration from circus buildings – the cylindrical concrete-and-steel constructions which were by this time a ubiquitous feature in cities throughout the Soviet Union. By designing the building on a circular plan, and suspending concrete roof panels on cables strung between a central support pillar and the outer walls, it was found that both space and construction costs could be significantly reduced. Moreover, this design, with its organic, circular shape, lent itself more to what was then considered a modern and humanistic work environment for employees – while its form, reminiscent of circuses and Palaces of Culture, presented the bus depot not as a bland, functional box, but rather a community venue.

Kyiv’s Autobus Park №7 during its heyday with the tall building on the left accommodating administrative offices and staff canteens. | Photo via Exutopia

Left: Workers outside Kyiv Autobus Park №7 in 1977;  right: A new fleet of buses ready for service, 1975. | Photo via Exutopia

Kozlov and Smorgon built a 1:10 scale model to test their idea. The central support pillar would be 18 metres high, a tower of reinforced concrete with a diameter of 8 metres, consisting of 0.3-metre thick concrete walls around an inner support of solid steel with a cross-section of 0.32 x 0.22 metres. Attached to the top of this pillar, were 84 radial cables – steel ropes with a diameter of 65 millimetres. Each of these cables was able to support a weight of up to 350 tons, and the roof would be constructed on top of them: a suspended tent dome, created from concrete plates, and with a total diameter of 160 metres.

On its completion in 1973, the building was considered an engineering marvel – its hanging roof was one of the largest ever constructed, and this system of support reduced the building’s necessary size from 40,000 square metres (the estimate for a pillar-supported roof) to a footprint of just 23,000 square metres. 

Details of the relief on the front of building showing staff, passengers, vehicles, and the logos of various automotive brands. | Photo © Darmon Richter

As much as possible, the design aimed to take advantage of natural light. The concrete plates of the roof were fitted with portholes, most of which were concentrated close around the main support tower. In the outer wall, upright glass cylinders were installed between concrete panels, serving as sturdy support pillars that both insulated the building against the cold outside, and allowed refracted light to shine into the wings of the building. This solution proved particularly robust, and most of these glass pillars have survived intact since the early 1970s until this day. Between them, these design choices resulted in an interior space and working area that enjoyed bright sunlight during the day, thus minimising the additional cost of electrical lighting.

Attached to the 18m central support pillar, a metal staircase leads up to an observation platform. | Photo © Darmon Richter

Once operational, Autobus Park №7 was the largest vehicle depot in the Soviet Union – and it was rumoured, potentially the largest anywhere in the world. It served as more than just a garage, though. It was the base of operations for the entire fleet of buses serving the capital, including city buses, intercity buses, and also those working international routes, to Germany, Poland, Belarus and Russia. The building was fully air-conditioned, it featured a four-gate vehicle wash, and a mechanised repair bay fitted with conveyor belt systems. The building had a staff of 1,500 workers, and featured workers’ canteens, as well as a computing centre too – where teams calculated staff salaries and work shifts, as well as designing and optimising bus routes.

Sadly, the glory days of Autobus Park №7 would be short-lived. Following the break-up of the Soviet Union, many of the fleet’s international routes were discontinued. Services were gradually reduced through the 1990s, into the 2000s, while meanwhile, the building was increasingly used to store wrecked vehicles awaiting repair or decommissioning. The reduction of domestic bus routes in 2005 was a further blow, and eventually, in 2015, the autopark closed its doors for good – the building slipping into disrepair, as the once-proud circus was steadily transformed into a scrapyard.

Since it was officially closed in 2015, almost 1,000 buses have been stored inside the abandoned building. | Photo © Darmon Richter

Today, Autobus Park №7 in Kyiv seems to be locked in a downward spiral of decay. The building itself is nothing short of an engineering marvel, an extraordinary work of architecture that supporters have suggested could be adapted now into a museum, or even a film studio. In April 2018 a petition was registered on the website of Kyiv City Council, calling for the building’s preservation – but it only received 321 votes, a long way short of its target of 10,000 signatures. Even had it been successful though, good intentions don’t count for much without action and intent on the part of Kyiv City Council; where currently, any talks of potential preservation are being blocked at a bureaucratic level.

For 25 years the building has been owned by the company Kyivpastrans (‘Kyiv Passenger Transportation), whose deputy general director, Sergey Litvinov, has said that Autobus Park №7 poses an imminent risk of collapse, and, given the cost and scale of such a project, would be almost impossible to save. Meanwhile, other former transport depots around the city have already been bulldozed to make room for new residential blocks and shopping centres. Many property developers would jump at the chance of getting their hands on this 23,000-square metre plot – and from the perspective of the current owners, it is probably a more attractive financial proposition. The building is neither listed nor protected, so were it empty, there would be nothing to stop the owners from knocking it down overnight.

This rooftop capsule offered a panoramic view of the 180-metre diameter suspended roof of Autobus Park №7. | Photo © Darmon Richter

However, for the time being all parties are locked into a kind of stalemate over the building’s contents. The estimated 903 rusting vehicles stored inside (including LAZ, Volvo, Ikarus, and various other brands of urban and long-distance buses) pose a major administrative problem. These buses cannot easily be removed, or scrapped, as technically they are yet to be decommissioned from service. A new regulation that was introduced into Ukrainian law in 2013 complicated the bureaucratic procedure and created a backlog; so that all of the vehicles inside Autobus Park №7 today are – officially, on paper – still in service and awaiting audit. As such they cannot legally be taken apart for scrap, and right now, there’s nowhere else to store them in the city but here.

The vehicles have still not been officially decommissioned under Ukrainian law – which means they cannot be scrapped until the necessary paperwork is processed. | Photo © Darmon Richter

So for now, it’s a waiting game. If Kyivpastrans and Kyiv City Council are able to solve the bureaucratic headache of their vehicle decommissioning procedure, remove the abandoned buses, and then find the will, not to mention the funding, to undertake the colossal project of preserving Autobus Park №7 (while turning down more lucrative offers from property developers in the process), then perhaps the building might yet be saved. But in the meanwhile, the circus roof is sagging, and young trees are already sprouting from cracks in the concrete.

It may just be that this building, an engineering marvel of the Soviet period, having failed to find its place in a post-Soviet world, is doomed to go the same way as the regime that built it.

--

by Darmon Richter 

[adapted with permission from an article at Ex Utopia]

Sources: Smena Magazine (1974) Issue No.19 Khabarovsk Polytechnic Institute (1979) Reinforced Concrete Space Structures (lecture notes, p.24-26), M. P. Danilovsky Hmarochos (2018) Why are Storage Facilities for Faulty Kyivpastrans Buses Being Set Up in Kyiv? Kiev Vlast (2019) Kyiv City Council Decided to Solve the Riddle of Bus Depot №7

[twilitty]

Moonlit ch.1

This is the first chapter in my new fic Moonlit, it will be posted on Tumblr, ao3, and ffnet. New chapters uploaded every week and a half. Message/comment to be added to my tag list.

3k words

big thank you to my beta reader @effervescentlyirrevocable who has given me the absolute best criticism and helped make this chapter so beautiful :)

Bella moves to Forks Washington, her first week is uneventful. This fic has aged up characters, making them all at entry-college level ages.

Chapter One

My senses are sharper in Forks than they were in Phoenix, I’ve only been here a handful of days yet everything seemed brighter, louder, more alive than my past home. There was something here for me, something that made me feel more alert than I have in years.

The sound of heavy rain slowly pulls me out of my restless sleep, an elbow is thrown across my eyes in an attempt to keep the real world at bay. It’s always raining, the mist layering the ground never abandons its post, and the chilly air seemingly lasts indefinitely. The rainy town of Forks Washington sooner resembles my personal hell than it does a sleepy old town. The forest that borders the town at each cardinal point is layered in green moss, damp dirt, and an endless supply of fresh animal tracks. I’d moved to Forks only a week ago, the sum of which was spent unpacking dreadfully thin clothing and acquainting myself with the few stores and public access areas the town has to offer.

My father, Charlie, has had little to do with this process apart from moral support and the occasional bag of fast food that he’s picked up while on shift. Charlie is the town's police chief, a job that both seems ill-needed and also unbearably boring. How much crime can be committed in a town of fewer than ten thousand citizens? Other than the odd tag on a school building or bush party, what does his shift consist of? I have yet to bring my insulting opinions on his career to his attention, and likely will never do so. He’s a good man with a heart of gold and a passion for the judicial system, which is ever-present in his TV browsing as he cruises through endless episodes of Law & Order.

I’m not a big TV person, even back home in Phoenix, I preferred reading to the television. Perhaps this was related to my mother’s endless stack of yoga DVD’s that seemed to consume our viewing; her in a downward dog position gossiping about her latest advancements at her newest club membership, me sitting on the couch finishing a craft for her so she won’t be late submitting it. My favourite of her crafts was embroidery, one month I embroidered nearly two hundred dandelions on a pair of jeans for her. She gave them to the club administrator as an apology before she quit.

Regardless, at night when the TV is blaring the intro theme to a cop show, I am curled in bed with a book under my nose and headphones in my ears. Blocking out the rain is a full-time chore.

This morning is a particularly eventful morning, not because of any specific events, but rather the events that will be set into motion because of this morning. Today is the first day of my online college courses. I’m currently enrolled in an undeclared major. My hope is that the three courses I’m taking this spring term will help me decide on what I want to do in the future.

Charlie had given me a new laptop upon my arrival in Forks, a current model with modest upgrades to “enhance my academic experience”. Or at least that’s what the box boasted. I am not entirely convinced that a larger memory will miraculously cure me of my educational despise. High school was tortuous, I had few friends and fewer interests outside of my mother’s hobbies. I had no extra-curricular activities that were not synonymous with financial responsibilities. The monthly budget book was mine to care for, as was the constant, intrusive phone calls of the bank when my mother got too engaged in a store. She’s a gullible woman if nothing else. If a store clerk tells her a blouse suits her figure, she’ll purchase ten colours in the article along with two in a size lower just in case she finally loses the ten pounds she’s been trying to shed.

My eyes have barely opened, the down of my forearm just a fraction away from my pupil when Charlie pounds against my door. You’d imagine I was fostering a fugitive in here with the noise he’s making, but this is just the way my father is, loud noises and soft voices. I wonder, idly, if perhaps he has minor hearing loss from spending so much time around guns.

“I’m up!” I call out, my voice is thin and calloused with morning sleep. I clear my throat as the knocking cuts off, “Good morning, Dad.” Charlie doesn’t like me calling him Charlie.

“Morning, Bells,” he calls back through the door, quiet enough to not be taken as aggressive yet loud enough to sound authoritative. He is a father, my father, at heart. He pauses, and it’s as if I can hear the mental gears shifting in his mind. He hasn’t had to be a father since I was a baby, after that Renee was the parent. Charlie was the summer distraction. “Don’t be late for school.” I grunt a response, reaching for the alarm clock on my nightstand and groaning at the early hour of the morning. Barely eight, class doesn’t officially start until noon. I guess there’s nothing wrong with logging in early, although I’d much rather catch up on the sleep I’ve lost to the thunderous storms we’ve been experiencing recently.

As if he could sense my intentions, Charlie knocks against my door again. “Bella, I mean it. You didn’t come here to slack off, now.” No, I think nastily, I came here for peace and quiet.

Between unpacking my belongings and touring the town, I’ve developed a routine in my new living situation. Charlie is fond of my company, enjoying having a woman in the house outside of his ex-wife, my mother and ex-roommate. Although, his fondness of my presence does not directly translate to time spent together. He makes me breakfast, occasionally placing it in the oven to keep warm, and then immediately heads off to his family that is the Forks police station. We meet again for lunch, depending on our individual plans for the day, and then reunite again just in time for dinner. Food really is the great American pastime.

I dress in jeans and a light blue sweater that smells mysteriously of mildew although it’s a recent purchase and has yet to be worn outdoors. I suppose the rain permeates every available space, closed windows be damned. My socks are tall and I have to roll my jeans up at the bottoms to accommodate for the thick, high fabric of them. It’s a trick Charlie taught me for wearing rain boots, the higher the socks the less likely they are to run down to your toes as you walk. Immediately after that trick was taught I went to the nearest hiking store and purchased a pair of rain boots. My first pair of rain boots at nineteen years of age. Unfathomable yet ironic considering my lineage marks back to the wettest town in the continental US. My ancestors roll in their graves every time I step outdoors and forget a jacket or umbrella, I’m sure of it.

Charlie is waiting for me downstairs, both a surprise and unwelcome presence. I had a battered copy of Dorian Gray under my arm, I was expecting philosophy and moral ambiguity, not idle conversation. Before the chief notices my book, I slide it over the back of the couch and enter the kitchen with a polite smile. There’s bacon frying on the stovetop, the police chief is dressed in uniform already, but has a stained white apron tied around his neck. “Dad?”

“Oh,” he turns around and gives me a tight smile, “Excited for your big day?” You’d imagine it’s my first day of preschool with the amount of enthusiasm he’s trying to keep hidden from me, not my first day of online school. I don’t say anything to dampen his mood, I’m glad he’s excited about something. His life is repetitive, if my existence here proves to be no more useful than just disrupting his schedule, it will still be a success.

“Yeah, I guess.” He turns back to the bacon and shifts it around quickly, the grease snapping up at him. If it burns him he doesn’t show it, just maintains the stiff-backed posture of a respectable police officer cooking his daughter breakfast. “I’ve gotta ask, what’s up with the apron?” I stifle a giggle behind a bite of the toast that’s sitting in the middle of the small table. He shakes his head in faux annoyance.

Charlie takes the pan off the hot element, sliding the bacon onto two plates and pouring the grease into an open can. The second trick he taught me since arriving here: never pour grease down the drain.

“I’m in uniform, it would be disrespectful to the badge to stain it.” He slides a plate of bacon in front of me, sitting down in his designated seat across the table. “Besides,” he takes a sip of coffee from his to-go mug. “Can you imagine walking into a police station smelling of fried pig?”

Breakfast ends quickly. We each eat a piece of toast, Charlie stuffing a second piece into a plastic bag “for later” and heading out the door. I still have half a plate of bacon in front of me after he leaves, the maple glaze filling the small kitchen with its smell.

After my Mom and Charlie got married, Renee redecorated much of the house. Her lace curtains still hang in the master bedroom window, constantly drawn closed. The rest of the house has been minorly updated with age, the TV got bigger, the couch more comfortable, new bed linens and even newer rocking chairs on the porch. I had asked Charlie if they were Moms when I first came up to the house a week ago.

They were rocking gently in the wind, the wood seemed to be polished as it shined in what little light filtered through the depressive clouds. They were sitting side by side, matching pillows on them both, a coffee table in the middle with a stack of coasters. It was an old person's porch, where husband and wife would sit all grey and wrinkled, waving at the neighbourhood kids as the bus dropped them off from school. I could almost picture Charlie and Renee sitting there, her knitting a scarf and him content to just watch her and the scenery.

He informed me that they were relatively new, a purchase from a shop down on the Reservation. We haven’t spoken about them since, but I wonder if perhaps he wishes he had someone to sit out there with him.

I spend the morning before class doing odd chores around the house. It’s nice living at Charlie’s, nicer than I had expected it to be. I’m not a fan of the weather or the fact that I currently have no social life, but it’s nice to just sit. I throw my laundry in the wash and manage to get the kitchen cleaned up with just enough time left over to sit on the couch and read a chapter of my book before class.

School has never been my strong suit. That’s not to say I get poor marks or intentionally skip classes, I just never found it as fulfilling as my peers seemed to. I never woke up and looked forward to the social or academic aspect of high school. Perhaps this contributed to me postponing my college experience and only starting it now when I should already be a year into my program.

When I log into my schools online database and click on my first class, Social Psychology 1001, I’m immediately transported to a screen filled with windows and the faces of my classmates. “Hello, class!” The professor's voice calls out over my computer. Perhaps online school won’t be my strong suit either.

Class ends and the next one starts, and I get through all three classes and an hour's worth of homework by the time Charlie pops in for dinner.

“Hey, Bells,” He calls as he opens the front door. I can hear him from where I sit in the kitchen, hanging his gun belt up by the front door and kicking his boots off into a heap on the floor. I imagine Mom back in Phoenix, walking into the house with arms full of bags and tossing her flip flops onto her pile of shoes beside the coatrack she used for purses. Some things won’t ever change.

“How was work?” I ask. He pauses to poke his head into the kitchen, moustache moving as he chews on his lip. I can’t remember when Charlie initially grew out his moustache, just that one summer I arrived and thought could he look more like a cop?

“Good, good, just some meetings. New family moving into town, all foster kids around your age.” He takes pause, staring off into some middle ground in the hallway as if deep in thought. His eyebrows furrow, “Don’t want any trouble makers coming in, but the father seems nice. Respectable.”

“That’s nice,” I contribute conversationally. Charlie and I rarely have material conversations, always just idle talk of the weather or what's for dinner. I’m not entirely sure how to approach this topic, which clearly seems to be occupying his mind.

“Yeah, he’s a doctor.” He grins at this, toothy and a little crooked to the right side. A pang of embarrassment settles in my chest before he speaks, as if knowing where this will turn. “Perfect for you, considering how often your clumsiness-” I wave a hand over my face, grimacing at his words. “Don’t speak it into existence,” I mutter with a half-hearted plea underlying my words. He chuckles, disappearing up the stairs.

I hear the shower turn on after a few minutes of him fumbling around, presumably trying to get undressed. I’m sure once he’s showered and in sweatpants it’ll be twenty questions about my day of school. I’m not sure I have the heart to break the truth to him: it absolutely sucked.

The material was interesting enough, psychology has always been close to my heart. I loved the idea of people being more than their actions and thoughts, that there was something making them say that or something making them act that way. Perhaps this was yet another symptom of having Renee for a mother.

I sit at the kitchen table for a moment longer, my computer is closed in front of me and my pencil case- dreadfully unnecessary with school being online-sits closed and untouched. I haven’t made any friends in my classes, not that I had expected to. Twelve years of public school and no friend group to show for it, just a few texts every couple of weeks. Why would I have believed college, and an online college at that, would be any better?

Having enough with my thoughts, I get up from the table and pack my things into my bag. I’ve completed enough work for today, the rest of the evening I’ll spend either with Charlie or in my room. I’d rather not be nose deep in pdf textbooks and youtube videos constituting as follow-up lectures, I’ve had enough of that today. As if sensing the immediacy of my departure from the kitchen, the shower cuts off and I hear the bathroom door squeak open. For a man who, until recently, lived alone with too much free time, you’d imagine he’d have taken better care of the house. Nearly every door, except my own, creaks open and closed. I made sure to oil my hinges nearly immediately after moving in, I didn’t want Charlie to wake up every time I sneak downstairs for a comfort snack or warm glass of milk to help me sleep. He’s lived alone for nearly twenty years, he doesn’t need his sleep schedule disrupted now.

“The game is on in-” Charlie pauses as if double-checking the times mentally, “- an hour and a half. Are you interested?” He’s calling from up the stairs. I wonder if he truly wants me to watch the game with him, whatever sport it may be, or if he’s only being polite.

“Uh, I was just going to organize my room right now and then maybe make something for dinner,” I say in response. The floors don’t make a noise and I know he’s heard me, but he doesn’t respond. A lump forms in my throat, perhaps he really did want to watch with me.

“That’s fine, but if you want we can order in?” The lump passes and I convince myself that there is no reason to avoid the TV. It’s not like I’ll be a disruption, if I get bored I can read on the couch. I’ve only watched TV with Charlie on a few occasions since my move here, and each time I strategically saved my questions for the commercial breaks.

“Sure! That works.” The floorboards creak and I hear him retreat into his room, the door closing with a pitiful squeak.

We eat pizza on the couch, a large meat-lover for the carnivorous father and a small vegetarian with extra mushrooms for the daughter who cares about her cardiovascular health. We eat slowly, occasionally Charlie will make a face at the television or mumble something under his breath, but other than that we’re quiet. The sport turns out to be baseball and I recall a few of the basic rules from the tragic gym classes of my past. It’s not disastrous in any way, and surprisingly I don’t get bored. There is something relaxing about the repetitive nature of the game.

After the game ends we box up the remaining slices and put them in the fridge to be eaten tomorrow, say good night, and go our separate ways at the top of the stairs.

taglist:

@musingsofvenus @maybesandohnos

[newstfionline]

Sunday, June 13, 2021

Rash of mass shootings stirs US fears heading into summer (AP) Two people were killed and at least 30 others wounded in mass shootings overnight in three states, authorities said Saturday, stoking concerns that a spike in U.S. gun violence could continue into summer as coronavirus restrictions ease and more people are free to socialize. The attacks took place late Friday or early Saturday in the Texas capital of Austin, Chicago and Savannah, Georgia. In Austin, authorities said they arrested one of two male suspects and were searching for the other after a shooting early Saturday on a crowded pedestrian-only street packed with bars and restaurants. Fourteen people were wounded, including two critically, in the gunfire, which the city’s interim police chief said is believed to have started as a dispute between two parties. In Chicago, a woman was killed and nine other people were wounded when two men opened fire on a group standing on a sidewalk in the Chatham neighborhood on the city’s South Side. In the south Georgia city of Savannah, police said one man was killed and seven other people were wounded in a mass shooting Friday evening.

Summer camps return but with fewer campers and counselors (AP) Overnight summer camps will be allowed in all 50 states this season, but COVID-19 rules and a pandemic labor crunch mean that many fewer young campers will attend, and those who do will have to observe coronavirus precautions for the second consecutive year. “Camp might look a little different, but camp is going to look a lot better in 2021 than it did in 2020, when it didn’t happen,” said Matt Norman of Atlanta, who is getting ready to send his 12-year-old daughter to camp. Even though most camps will be open, reduced capacity necessitated by COVID-19 restrictions and the labor shortage will keep numbers well below a normal threshold of about 26 million summer campers, said Tom Rosenberg of the American Camp Association.

Mexico says COVID-19 has affected a fourth of its population (Reuters) About a quarter of Mexico’s 126 million people are estimated to have been infected with the coronavirus, the health ministry said on Friday, far more than the country’s confirmed infections. The 2020 National Health and Nutrition Survey (Ensanut) showed that about 31.1 million people have had the virus, the ministry said in a statement, citing Tonatiuh Barrientos, an official at the National Institute of Public Health. According to Barrientos, not all of the people in the survey’s estimate necessarily showed symptoms. The survey was based on interviews with people at 13,910 households between Aug. 17 and Nov. 14 last year, and confirmed preliminary results released in December.

Peru on edge as electoral board reviews result of disputed presidential election (Guardian) Peru was on a knife-edge on Friday as its electoral board reviewed ballots cast in the presidential election, after a challenge to the tally by the losing candidate Keiko Fujimori. The final tally gave the leftist teacher Pedro Castillo a razor-thin 50.17% to 49.83% advantage over his rightwing rival Fujimori, which amounts to about 60,000 votes. However, the country’s electoral authority has yet to confirm the win, and Fujimori, the scion of a controversial political dynasty, has refused to concede. She alleges fraud, even though national and international observers said the vote was clean, and has called for up to 500,000 votes to be nullified or reexamined, forcing the electoral board to conduct a review of ballots.

For Cornwall, G7 summit brings disruption (AP) Towering steel fences, masses of police, protests on the beach: The Cornish seaside’s turquoise waters and white sandy beaches are looking decidedly less idyllic this week as leaders of the Group of Seven wealthy democracies descend for a summit. U.S. President Joe Biden and leaders from Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan are arriving for three days of talks starting Friday at the tiny village of Carbis Bay, near St. Ives in Cornwall. The region is a popular holiday destination in the southwestern tip of England. Locals may be used to crowds and traffic jams during the peak summer tourist season, but the disruptions caused by the summit are on another level. A naval frigate dominates the coastline, armed soldiers guard the main sites and some 5,000 extra police officers have been deployed to the area. Authorities have even hired a cruise ship with a capacity of 3,000, moored offshore, to accommodate some of the extra officers. A main road is closed for the whole week, and local train lines and bus services have been shut down. A 3-meter (10-foot) tall metal fence nicknamed the “ring of steel” has been erected around Treganna Castle in Carbis Bay, where world leaders will stay. Security is also tight in the nearby town of Falmouth, the main base for international media covering the summit.

World leaders are in England, but beautiful British beaches have stolen the show (Washington Post) When President Biden shared a photo to Twitter on Thursday of him standing alongside British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and gazing out onto an unspoiled, sandy white beach from the Group of Seven summit in Cornwall, England, the post was supposed to be a tribute to the “special relationship” between the United Kingdom and the United States. But to many, it was the image of the picturesque coast that stood out. It looked somewhat suspicious. Too good to be true. Others questioned the authenticity of the scene, wondering whether it was photoshopped. Although it is true that some of Britain’s beaches have a reputation for pebbles, angry seagulls that steal food from unsuspecting tourists and diapers that float in murky waters, the county of Cornwall boasts some of the country’s best seaside destinations—complete with calm, clear waters that are perfect for swimming in and long stretches of soft sand that attract families from around the world. Carbis Bay is one of several beaches that make up St. Ives Bay, which, according to the Cornwall tourist board, is considered by the “Most Beautiful Bays in the World” organization to be one of the world’s best. The bay is described as being “surrounded by sub-tropical plants and lapped by turquoise waters.”

Ransomware’s suspected Russian roots point to a long detente between the Kremlin and hackers (Washington Post) The ransomware hackers suspected of targeting Colonial Pipeline and other businesses around the world have a strict set of rules. First and foremost: Don’t target Russia or friendly states. It’s even hard-wired into the malware, including coding to prevent hacks on Moscow’s ally Syria, according to cybersecurity experts who have analyzed the malware’s digital fingerprints. They say the reasons appear clear. “In the West you say, ‘Don’t . . . where you eat,’ ” said Dmitry Smilyanets, a former Russia-based hacker who is now an intelligence analyst at Recorded Future, a cybersecurity company with offices in Washington and other cities around the world. “It’s a red line.” Targeting Russia could mean a knock on the door from state security agents, he said. But attacking Western enterprises is unlikely to trigger a crackdown. The relationship between the Russian government and ransomware criminals allegedly operating from within the country is expected to be a point of tension between President Biden and Russia’s Vladimir Putin at their planned summit in Geneva on Wednesday. The United States has accused Russia of acting as a haven for hackers by tolerating their activities—as long as they are directed outside the country.

Pandemic relapse spells trouble for India’s middle class (AP) India’s economy was on the cusp of recovery from the first pandemic shock when a new wave of infections swept the country, infecting millions, killing hundreds of thousands and forcing many people to stay home. Cases are now tapering off, but prospects for many Indians are drastically worse as salaried jobs vanish, incomes shrink and inequality is rising. Decades of progress in alleviating poverty are imperiled, experts say, and getting growth back on track hinges on the fate of the country’s sprawling middle class. It’s a powerful and diverse group ranging from salaried employees to small business owners: many millions of people struggling to hold onto their hard-earned gains. The outbreak of the pandemic triggered the worst downturn since the Great Depression of the 1930s and as it gradually ebbs, many economies are bouncing back. India’s economy contracted 7.3% in the fiscal year that ended in March, worsening from a slump that slashed growth to 4% from 8% in the two years before the pandemic hit. Economists fear there will be no rebound similar to the ones seen in the U.S. and other major economies.

‘Xi Jinping is my spiritual leader’: China’s education drive in Tibet (Reuters) Under clear blue skies, rugged peaks and the spectacular Potala Palace, one image is ubiquitous in Tibet’s capital city Lhasa: portraits of Chinese President Xi Jinping and fellow leaders. China is broadening a political education campaign as it celebrates the 70th anniversary of its control over Tibet. Civilians and religious figures who the government arranged to be interviewed on the five-day trip pledged loyalty to the Communist Party and Xi. Asked who his spiritual leader was, a monk at Lhasa’s historic Jokhang temple named Xi. “I’m not drunk ... I speak freely to you,” said the monk named Lhakpa, speaking from a courtyard overlooked by security cameras and government observers. “The posters [of Xi] coincide with a massive political education programme which is called ‘feeling gratitude to the party’ education,” said Robert Barnett, a Tibetan studies veteran scholar at the University of London’s School of Oriental and African Studies.

Long overlooked, Israel’s Arab citizens are increasingly asserting their Palestinian identity (Washington Post) Growing up in an Arab village in northern Israel in the 1990s, Mahmoud Abo Arisheh was sure of at least two things: He was Israeli, and he was not allowed to talk politics. “Be careful, or the Shin Bet will get you,” his parents told him, referring to Israel’s domestic security service. Decades later, much has changed: Abo Arisheh is a lawyer, a poet and a theater director in Jaffa. He attends protests and talks politics freely—in Arabic, Hebrew and English. And while his citizenship may remain Israeli, the identity most dear to him is that of a Palestinian. “I didn’t know anything about being Palestinian,” said the 32-year-old, “but then I opened my eyes.” And now, it seems, so are many others. In just the past month, Palestinian citizens of Israel—also known as Israeli Arabs—have risen up in mass, nationwide demonstrations to protest Israeli evictions and police raids. They have been arrested by the hundreds following some of the worst communal violence between Arabs and Jews in Israel’s post-independence history. For a community that is often overlooked despite numbering nearly 2 million people—or about 20 percent of the Israeli population—these are momentous days indeed.

Nigerian police fire tear gas to break up protests over rising insecurity (Reuters) Police fired tear gas and detained several demonstrators in the Nigerian cities of Lagos and Abuja on Saturday during protests over the country’s worsening security situation, Reuters witnesses said. Anger over mass kidnappings-for-ransom, a decade-long Islamist insurgency and a crackdown on protesters in Lagos last October has fueled demands for the government of President Muhammadu Buhari to do more to tackle violence and insecurity. Reuters witnesses in Lagos and Abuja saw police shooting their guns into the air and firing tear gas into the crowds to disperse the demonstrators, who held placards and chanted “Buhari must go”. Officers were also seen smashing mobile phones confiscated from protesters, who also denounced the country’s 33.3% unemployment rate.

[sammysdewysensitiveeyes]

“After all, who doesn’t need a friend who has dirt on everyone?”

(OOC: This is a rare time that I’m writing actual Marauders continuity instead of alt-Marauders continuity.  Let’s say this takes place shortly after Kate’s resurrection but before Emma and Kate’s ridiculous beat-down of Shaw.)

“We’re not exactly friends, though, are we Shaw?”  Pyro shifted uncomfortably in the fine leather arm-chair that Sebastian had insisted he occupy.  He was vaguely aware that there was some kind of bad blood between Shaw and Emma Frost, who was technically his “boss,” he supposed.  And why on earth would a Quiet Council member invite him for a private meeting?  Either Shaw was trying to bang him (that was a “maybe”), or he had some kind of dirty work in mind, the only reason the mutants “on high” would talk to someone like him.  Pyro’s guard was up automatically. 

“No,” Sebastian admitted.  “And I doubt we will ever be.  But we can maintain a cordial relationship that might be....mutually beneficial.” 

Pyro sighed.  This was exactly the kind of weaselly beating-around-the-bush he expected from the high society types.  Never willing to get their own hands dirty, never willing to even outright state aloud the atrocities that they set into action.  He took a generous gulp of the whiskey, and decided that it wasn’t worth staying for however long it would take Shaw to indirectly suggest that he’d like Pyro to commit just a teeny little spot of arson. 

“Let’s not muck about, Shaw.  You obviously want something from me.  What do you want?”

“I see you prefer to be direct.  I can respect that.  I don’t like to waste time, myself,” Sebastian nodded, apparently willing to ignore the rudeness.  “You are in a unique position to bring me valuable information.”

“Am I?”

“Yes.  You see, I have reason to fear that the White Queen is using the Hellfire Trading Company for her own selfish purposes.  Trust me, I’ve worked with her for many years.  The woman is a snake.  Constantly playing games.”

“I didn’t know snakes played games.  Unless you mean that one with the ladders.”

“Don’t be flip, Allerdyce, this is a serious situation, and a unique opportunity for you.”  A bit of the charm had dropped out of Sebastian’s voice as he continued.  “I know she has Kate wrapped around her finger, the poor naive child, even though Emma’s own manipulations led to the girl’s unfortunate death.  And  the others onboard are no match for Emma.  Iceman is just as naive as Pryde, and Storm and Bishop are too noble and high-minded to be able to counter the White Queen’s treachery.  But you.  You don’t have the same ideals.  You are a practical man.  You understand that the world is a dark, vicious place.  I need you to be my man inside the crew.  Pass along information about the missions.  For the sake of Krakoa, and your own crewmates.  Together perhaps we can prevent any more....tragedies.”

Pyro wasn’t entirely sure he believed any of that.  But he also couldn’t say he entirely trusted that Frost woman.  Of course, she HAD carefully arranged a psychic trick to get Yellowjacket out of his body without harm, even though the resurrections meant that it wouldn’t have really mattered if that horrid bug-man had exploded him from the inside.  Plus she’d let him burn those awful children for a sadly short time.  That counted for something, in Pyro’s book.

“If I’m so worldly and cynical as you say, surely you can’t imagine I’ll just take your word for all of this,” Pyro grinned, leaning back and finishing the glass of whiskey.  “Or that I’ll do anything ‘for the good of Krakoa.’  Even if I did believe you, you’re asking me to take on a dangerous job that’ll piss off not one, but three Council members if I’m caught.  And I’m not keen to get kicked off that boat, which would be the very least they would do.” 

“Of course I wouldn’t expect you to work for free,” Sebastian said, leaning forward to refill Pyro’s glass of whiskey.  “I recognize the risk involved, and I will see you handsomely rewarded.  Surely you can see the resources I have available.”  Shaw gestured at the impressive drawing room, just a small section of the luxurious Blackstone Keep.  “And that’s just wealth.  I have connections, political power.  The question is, Pyro - what do you want for yourself?”

That was.....a damn good question, actually.  Since coming out of the cocoon with the Brotherhood disassembled, Mystique acting distant, Blob playing bartender, Phantazia MIA and Avalanche bloody dead, he’d just been drifting with the wind.  Or rather, drifting with the ocean currents.  

“I’m sure it hasn’t escaped your notice that the rest of the crew occupies far more privileged positions than yourself.  Bishop, a Captain.  Emma, Kate and Storm on the Council.  Iceman lacks political power in Krakoa, but has become something of a minor celebrity among the humans.  They all live in luxury on this island, where all mutants matter but some clearly matter more than others.  And meanwhile, I believe you are still spending most of your time in Krakoa at the Brotherhood compound.”

Pyro had a nice little hut in the area that they all shared.  It was all he really needed, and very convenient for game nights.  Which often turned into drinking-fighting-and-ripping-the-game-board-in-half nights, but it was all in good fun. 

“Yeah, you really seem to care about economic disparity on the island with your giant castle and all that,”

“I’ll not apologize for the wealth that I’ve earned,” Sebastian said.  “I’m offering you an opportunity to earn some of your own, with relatively easy labor.  Be my eyes onboard the Marauder, and I’ll see to it that your life is vastly improved, however you see fit.  As a reward for your service to Krakoa, of course.” 

Pyro gulped down the entire glass of whiskey again, hoping that the jolt as it hit his chest might bring some clarity. 

He wasn’t keen on betraying team-mates.  Once he was on a team, he was there for that team.  He’d only betrayed his team once, the last-minute “heroic” mistake of a dying man.

But he was also very keen on bumping Avalanche up the resurrection queue.  Surely Sebastian could flex his authority to move things along, something even Mystique hadn’t bothered to do.  He could imagine himself and Avalanche living in a castle like this, but with more fancy cars, big-screen TV’s and titty posters.

Assuming that Shaw was telling the truth about any of this.  Assuming that Shaw was successful going up against three Council members at once.  Assuming that Shaw would actually follow through on his promises and not immediately throw Pyro under the bus.  It was something the powerful mutants tended to do with lackeys.  Pyro had many years experience as a lackey to back that up. 

In the end, Pyro supposed it came down to this - who did he trust?  The corrupt businessman who might generously reward his service?  Or the squeaky-clean X-types who might kick him off the boat or even into the pit if he got a little too enthusiastic with his fire? 

Who would have his back, when it came down to it? 

Pyro made his decision, and poured himself more whiskey.

“Shaw, I think we can work something out.  Let me tell you everything I know.”

____________________________________

20 minutes later, Sebastian Shaw had learned that Iceman was cheating on Christian Frost with Bishop, who was also carrying on a passionate affair with Storm, and that Kate had come back “wrong” in her resurrection, but was hiding her ill health from crew-mates while searching for a cure.  Jumbo Carnation had been secretly captured by a human anti-mutant group and brainwashed into being a sleeper agent assassin, but had been subdued by Callisto who had taken him off for deprogramming in the Swiss Alps while also rekindling her love of fashion modelling.  “Storm” had actually been replaced by her evil twin sister “Zalastorm” who stole her powers and appearance, while trapping the real Storm in the Negative zone.  Christian Frost was somehow pregnant.  And Emma was being haunted by five identical psychic ghosts that represented the loss of her childhood innocence.

It was, quite possibly, the most obvious steaming pile of bullshit Shaw had ever heard.  Like something out of a dreadful daytime soap opera.  Downright insulting.

“You know, you could have just said ‘no,’ Allerdyce.  There was no need to waste both of our time.”

“It hasn’t been a waste of my time,” Pyro said cheerfully, drinking again.  “I’ve been having great fun.”  Sebastian reached out and snatched the glass away.  Whiskey was for people who were useful, not obnoxious “guests” now overstaying their welcome.

“You’ve thrown away a tremendous opportunity for the sake of what?  A cheap joke?  You really are as stupid as everyone says you are.”

“No, I’m not,” Pyro said, suddenly straightening up with a serious expression.  “I know who really has my back.  Those X-Men might be self-righteous pricks, but they’ve looked out for me since I came aboard.  They treated me like a team-mate.  I doubt you’d do the same.” 

“I would have treated you with the respect that you earned,” Sebastian said honestly.  “Which, at the moment, is less than nothing.  Get out.”

“Suits me fine,” Pyro said.  He snatched up the whiskey and took a long chug directly from the bottle, winking at Sebastian as he did so.  Sebastian yanked the bottle back.  Not because it was worth anything now, but because he wasn’t going to give Allerdyce the satisfaction of walking away with it.  He grabbed the Australian mutant by the collar, dragged him to a window, and tossed him down into the turbulent waters of the bay, taking some small satisfaction in the splash.  Pyro could probably swim to the shore.  Probably. 

He spun and tossed the whiskey into the fireplace, flames flaring up as it shattered.  A 25 year-old bottle of Chivas Regal, $425.  Thank God he hadn’t wasted any of the good whiskey on trash like Allerdyce.  

Sebastian needed another plan.  Pyro might run and tattle.  Emma had made it clear that she wanted his head.  And Kate had seemed smugly hostile at her resurrection party.  After some thought, he sent out a summons to his worthless son, and the slightly less worthless Fenris.  A storm was obviously coming, and Shaw would be a fool to sit alone in his castle unprepared.  And anyone who knew Sebastian - who knew him and truly understood his character - would know that he was no fool. 

(OOC again: I’m afraid this might have leaned too far in the direction of Pyro making a fool of Shaw, which really wasn’t my intention, especially after that last Marauders issue.  Instead, this was meant to be ‘Sebastian makes an offer, and Pyro acts like his obnoxious asshole self.’  Also, I stole the joke about Sebastian thinking of really expensive alcohol as something that can be ‘thrown away’ on someone like Pyro directly from your own excellent writing.)

[stephenjaymorrisblog]

From Peoples Park to Echo Park

(Post- Trump era, Part 3)

March 26th 2021

By Stephen Jay Morris

©Scientific Morality

It was Easter 1971 in Berkeley, California.  I was visiting the Bay Area and I wanted to see the place where the students had fought the police. The park was small, maybe an acre; it looked like any other city park.  A couldn’t-be-overlooked wooden sculpture of a giant clenched fist assaulted my view.   Other than that, it was very nice and banal.  Some kids with backpacks were attentively listening to a guitarist.   He played a song I’d never heard of, “18” it was called.  I really liked it.  I asked who did the song and the guitarist said, Alice Cooper.  I thought it was a chick.  Boy, was I wrong!

By this time, the New Left was dying a slow death.  Much has been written about the Peoples Park riot.  Click here for more information. I wont rehash the entire history here, however, it was the strangest trip I’d ever been on.  It’s recounted in my one of my manuscripts.

In the City of Berkeley, homeless encampments are protected by city ordinance.  However, 500 miles south of there is a different story. Echo Park is an area northeast of Los Angeles where my mother grew up.  She lived two blocks up the hill from the park itself.  At the time, my grandfather co-owned a grocery store called, “Pioneer Market,” located nearby on Sunset Boulevard.  Echo Park was a white neighborhood.  How white was it?  Well, my mom’s family consisted of the only Jews on her block.  My grandfather wanted his two daughters to marry Jewish guys, so he moved his family to the Fairfax District, about 20 miles west.  Success!  They both married Jews, although my aunt eventually divorced her husband and my mom suffered with my dad for 50 years!  But, hey—stick to your own tribe! (Sarcasm 101)

Now, Echo Park has a large Latino population and LGBTQ residents.  The park itself is right next to the Hollywood Freeway.  When I used to take the express bus home from work on that freeway, I would see that man-made lake to the left.  It looked similar to that of another park, MacArthur Park, on Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles, only smaller.  There were boats on the lake you could rent, just like at MacArthur Park.  There are many old growth shade trees, perfect for picnics and just relaxing.  There were grills for barbecuing, and bathrooms. The bathrooms were not very nice but, they were there should you really need them.  On the park’s south side, there was a public swimming pool.  In the distance southward, you can see LA’s downtown skyline.

Berkeley is a small university town.  When the college administration threatened to tear down Peoples Park to build college dorms, word got around and, within hours, protests emerged.  The protests soon became riots.  That was when conservatives ran the universities.   Today, conservatives still own the university, but liberals run it.  Finally after a few years, the college left the property alone.

Los Angeles is a huge city, now run by Democrats.  It used to be run by Republicans, until they got voted out of office because of mass corruption.  Back in the 40s and 50s, Los Angeles had a massive transportation system known as the “Red Car.” You could ride an electric train car all the way from Pasadena to Venice Beach on that system.   Then, the Republican city council acquiesced to the oil companies and auto manufacturers and destroyed the “Red Car.”

Now to the “homeless problem.” Because of Southern California’s mild climate, it is easier to be homeless in LA than, say, in Chicago. Most of the homeless are mentally ill, alcoholic, and/or drug addicted.  Enter the COVID 19 pandemic, followed by the economic depression and, like an avalanche, it quickly caused average citizens to lose their jobs and businesses.   Subsequently, their homes were foreclosed upon and/or they were evicted from their apartments when they could no longer make their mortgage and rent payments.  These average, working class citizens became homeless.

There are hundreds of homeless camps in LA, many of them under freeway overpasses.  There are homeless camps on Venice Beach and in public parks.  One park, Poinsettia Park, was where I used to hang out when I was a preteen.  East of that park, you could see the United Artists Studio movie sets stored behind their studio walls.  That park is now a homeless camp.  It looks like a Boy Scouts Jamboree.  

Echo Park became a homeless camp.  The city council representative for the area decided he wanted to clear out the park of encampments because of the many complaints he’d received.  Since LA  is a left-of-center government, they didn’t want to be seen as Fascists preparing to evict poor people into the streets, so, they found a loophole.  “We’ll tell the public that we will be clearing out the park to do needed repairs.   Having people there while the work was ongoing, would present a safety hazard.”  Thus, under false pretenses, the City evicted the homeless from the park and fenced it off for construction purposes.  

Millennial protesters showed up to protect the modern day itinerants from the heartless state.   Homeless residents joined them. They practiced non-violent resistance by standing, their arms locked together, in front of a line of an LAP.D riot squad.  They marched and chanted, but they were outnumbered.  The homeless became nomadic.

A Lumpen proletariat like me knows that, when the Middle Class becomes unemployed and homeless, they are not worried about the “Red menace.” Do you really think that if they utilize the Protestant work ethic, they will, by free enterprise magic, ascend from poverty like superhero's?   And, if they pray to Jesus, they will be saved?  Fuck, no!  What they will find out when they unite and become a revolutionary army is, that they will rise above property rights by targeting their true oppressors, the Ruling Class!

History, once again, is repeating itself.  We now have another Eisenhower mixed with Truman in the White House.  President Biden will be remembered, by history, as the savior of the USA.

It is a two party game.  I am so sick of it!  Republican bad cop and Democrat good cop.  The pendulum will swing from left to right again and again until America has a left wing revolution.  What is happening in Echo Park is happening globally.

[fuelcut]

A thought experiment on Silicon Valley’s third era

[ read the tweetstorm if you’re in a rush] 

June 19th marks the end of American slavery, July 4th American Independence and July 14th the storming of the Bastille. It’s also my 40th birthday, and I’m exploring what we can learn from the past to help navigate today’s struggles for racial justice and economic freedom. 

1940-1980: “Atoms” and the military-industrial-labor complex

My dad arrived in the Bay Area in 1970-1971 to get his PhD at Berkeley - just as the area was being rebranded as Silicon Valley.  

Free from the stifling hierarchy of the East, the Bay was America’s center for social, technical and institutional change. Black Panthers policed the police in Oakland, shiny BART trains crossed the Bay to SF where the Gay Rights movement was flourishing. My family tree waited a millennia for India to recognize intercaste marriage. My parents would see radical social change in America across every axis in a single generation. Bold leadership in the 60s expanded civil rights and embraced immigration. They (and I) benefited greatly from an economic and social foundation that had been laid over many decades. 

Caterpillar Tractor - founded in the Bay Area - embodied the spirit of this era. It went from liberating France in WW2 to building a massive middle class, unionized labor force. Cat later moved its headquarters to Peoria, Illinois - because in this era, cities across the country - not just the coasts - had the ability to compete. Since WW2, America pursued an intentional strategy of geographically broad-based economic development - via highways, airline regulation and distributed national labs.  

Caterpillar didn’t just give Peoria a chance, it also gave my dad a chance to put down roots in America by sponsoring his green card. There was no H1B limbo. The nexus of military, industry and labor unions brought immigrants, Women and Blacks into the workforce - with paid apprenticeships (not exorbitant higher education) and technically-focused community colleges paving the way for millions. My mom learned COBOL while her toddlers played in the back of class. Even Hunter’s Point in SF was vibrant during much of this period.  (Of course, it was far from a halcyon era - the war machine had massive human cost globally and civil rights were far from evenly enforced in America.)

And while atoms reigned supreme during this era, the military and government patiently invested risk capital in advanced manufacturing, semiconductors and software/networking to prepare America for its future. 

1980-2020: “Bits” and global capital, jackrocks and polarization

In 1980, Reagan was elected President - and I was born. This would also be the peak of private sector labor employment in the US and the beginning of global capital (and the multinational companies they backed) as the leading force in forging the social contract.

They promised us that countries with McDonald’s would never go to war with each other. Indeed the Berlin Wall fell, Asian laborers got jobs and Americans could buy cheap stuff at WalMart. Global capital (bits) put atoms inside shipping containers and sent them around the world - abstracting consumers from the manufacturing base. 

The writing was on the wall for unions.

As a middle schooler, I saw Cat management and labor (UAW) locked into a multi-year strike over the future. The front line was not in a boardroom or on the picket line. It was neighborhoods, schools and community groups. I remember when a classmate whose dad was in the union talked about how folks in the factory were peeing on effigies of management - including my dad.

Naturally I knew which side I was on. Cat needed wage concessions and freedom to operate to be globally competitive.  I’d read Akio Morita, TPS and Lee Iacocca. I worried about Japan Inc. eating our lunch (yes as a 12 year old!) UAW workers and families were much more grounded. They needed a livelihood and wanted certainty for their future.

---

War continued to wage into high school. We came home one day to find “jackrocks” outside of our driveway - a tool used in feudal Japan to thwart the advancing armies - horses, chariots - etc. of those in power.  In <60 years, Caterpillar had gone from transforming America’s agrarian society to becoming the enemy of American workers. We had the GOP’s Contract with America (stored in my Trapper Keeper) and Clinton signing NAFTA within a couple years. Both parties supported global capital and global capital supported both parties. Maybe jackrocks worked better than voting?

Corporate America soon figured out that if your workers were in China, Mexico or the South, it’s harder for them to stick jack rocks in your driveway. If your kids go to private school or you live in a quasi-private suburb, they’ll be insulated from the wrath of the have-nots in heavily policed, declining urban centers. No peeing on your effigy or having your kid hear about it!

---

After college, I became an analyst at Bain & Company. Once an auto parts company hired us to do a “portfolio review”. I meticulously compared the costs of building mirrors in Eastern Michigan or Malaysia - creating a zero defect Excel model. Guess which location won? The auto parts company - like Cat - had the freedom to choose where to put jobs. 

But what freedom did the workers have? Marie Antoinette once said “let them eat cake”. The elites of our era now say “let them move”. Social capital is critical for folks navigating change. The educated elite take the portability of social capital (embedded in college degrees and iMessage threads) as a given. 

But place and social capital are deeply intertwined especially if you’re poor or a minority. While the deep introspection elites once had during 2016 has now been paved over by new crises, we should never forget that there’s a cost to society of losing its manufacturing base and jobs. How do you model the costs of broken families, drug addiction and a polarized electorate in Excel? 

---

I grew disillusioned with management by spreadsheet. But I saw a bright spot on the horizon: tech. I remember opening my first iPod, getting 1000 songs in my pocket and believing that America had a shot at leading a new generation of consumer electronics when everyone a decade earlier had written us off in favor of the Japanese. Perhaps tech could bring jobs and prosperity back to the country? I wanted to be part of it. 

So I moved to the Valley in 2004 and joined a VC fund. I saw how the VC funding model that Silicon Valley was built on incentivizes high-risk, high-leverage and massive-scale. It encourages companies to cherry-pick top-end talent (immigrants, marquee college grads) to build the differentiated bits. Pick the highest leverage point in the stack, outsource everything else - by building in China and/or pushing the last-mile to an ecosystem that you can control at arms length.

Tech companies could more than pay back the largely fixed costs of software / semiconductor design from the large and homogenous American market. This dynamic attracted massive amounts of private risk capital and enabled aggressive expansion abroad. This model didn’t work for everything (I got burned with cleantech) - but it worked amazingly well for broad swaths of enterprise software, consumer services and marketplaces. I saw how tech could be an incredible lever for wealth creation. But every visit back home to the Rust Belt made me wonder - wealth creation for whom?

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2020+ - A thought experiment on institutional innovation and putting people first

July 14, 2020 - Q2 Earnings - CEO, MEGA TECH CORP - Hi everyone. These aren’t normal times. We’re not going to talk about our 10Q on this call. We’re here to talk about the next 10 years. So if you’re here for DAUs, ARR or CPC, you can drop off now.


We’ve been doing a lot of thinking about the race, health and economic crises our country faces. Over the last few weeks, I’ve asked our exec team to leave their homes, their Zoom calls, their DoorDash deliveries - to join protests and explore our community through new eyes. 

Race & Place: On Juneteenth, we biked from Sheraton Place to Hunters Point to Tanforan. We saw the real life impact of redlining, mass incarceration of Blacks and the lack of jobs from decades ago - and how our headquarters sustain - rather than disrupt - the region’s policies of de facto segregation. We also remembered how political demagogues once imprisoned our neighbors of Japanese descent. We see today how their rhetoric affects our Black neighbors and colleagues. What might it do tomorrow to folks without legal status in ag/service industries that California depends or the H1Bs we depend on? What does diversity & inclusion mean in this context?

Jobs: The next Friday we biked from SRI to PARC to Sunnyvale and Moffett Field. Our industry once dreamed of a bicycle for the mind and embraced technical education and apprenticeship as a path in the door for Women and Blacks. Meanwhile we’ve pushed vast swaths of work to contractors or platform-mediated transactions - making it harder to use up-skilling as a talent lever like manufacturing employers did in the last era. What’s the impact on income mobility? At what point will 40 million unemployed Americans affect our share prices and the stability of society?

Climate: On Independence Day, we biked on the Bay Trail past landfills, superfund sites and the 101 - alongside poor and minority neighborhoods with terrible health outcomes. We talked about the Bay Area weather forecast for 2060 “fire with a chance of flooding”. We passed abandoned railways and dreams of regional transport - the result of which is folks commuting hours each way from the central valley to work service jobs in our campuses.  We wondered about the long run political consequences of isolating our employee base inside the WiFi confines of a private bus network. Where is the voting base to drive institutional change? How many axles or tires will our commuter buses need to keep them safe from jackrocks on the 101?

Health: Last week, we rode from the old Permanente cement quarry to 101 (built by the same cement workers.)  We talked about how Kaiser - a private employer of low-skilled workers - internalized their healthcare needs, pursued disruptive innovation and faced fierce clashes with the medical establishment. We thought about how COVID is exposing the brittleness of our employee’s isolation inside a private insurance bubble. No one can be healthy in a pandemic without competent public health infrastructure. Meanwhile, the growing cost of private healthcare makes it harder for tech - let alone the rest of the country - to employ American workers across the wage spectrum - exacerbating job loss and instability. 

And as we spoke with others, we saw how the issues that Silicon Valley faces are not unique to one metropolitan area or one industry. It just happens to be the ultimate archetype of Global Capitalism and de facto segregated American metros.

What we now see - more clearly than ever - is that our entire company, our entire industry, our entire Valley - is built on a flawed foundation. 

We can no longer just focus on the magical software bits and hope someone else figures out racial equity, employment, climate and health. This is Joel Spolsky’s Law of Leaky Abstractions on the ultimate scale. The abstractions are failing - and we’re seeing bugs and unintended consequences all around us. And the more we invest to deal with one-off bugs, the more likely we are to calcify change and imprison ourselves inside a failing stack.

It’s like we decided to build the world’s notification service on Ruby on Rails - or building an iPhone competitor on Windows CE. Fail Whale everywhere. Unfortunately, America’s democratic institutions are in poor condition. They are struggling to deal with inequality let alone looming environmental disaster.  A polarized electorate - particularly at the national level - leads to populism and makes it hard for these institutions to execute meaningful, long-term plans.

We talk a lot about speech, misinformation, fairness of targeted ads etc. But it’s becoming clear that UX, linear algebra/training data and monetization in our products is just the tip of the spear to address polarization. We believe polarization is a product of the underlying conditions of civil rights, education, health and climate debt that affect Americans differentially based on race, wealth, neighborhood and region. e.g. If we care about justice, how far does focusing on the fairness of employment ads get us in a world when many people lack the skills and negotiating power to secure a living wage?

So will today’s peaceful protests for racial justice expand into tomorrow’s revolution(s) for economic freedom? If you don’t think things are bad now, think about what happens when the stimulus checks run out. Take a look at the amount of debt in the public sector, use any imagination about COVID, work out what happens to their tax base / pension returns and consider the impact on public services, public servants and their votes.  MMT better be a real thing. Maybe we didn’t start these fires, but that refrain won’t save us when the flames come our way. 

We’re done debating why we need to act. It’s clear America needs our help. Let’s talk about how we’re going to rise to the occasion. Our mantra will be “internalize, innovate, institutionalize”.

First, we’re going to internalize our problems. I’m here to tell you that issues of racial and economic justice are not just moral issues but they’re financial issues. Racial debt, education debt, health debt, climate debt  will hit us harder and harder each year.  (By the way, revolution probably won’t be great for your DCF models.) So we’re going to recognize these off-balance sheet liabilities - which amount to a few hundred billion in the US alone over the next 10 years for a company at our scale. 

Second, we’re going to innovate against these systemic problems - but our only shot at making progress is if we realign the entire company’s mission to address them. This is not about optics. This is not about philanthropy. This is not another bet.  We’re putting all our chips behind one bet - America. It's the country that backed us in the first place, it's where most of our people are and most of our profits.  The job for our existing products, platforms and cash flows will be to advance four areas: place / race, skilling / manufacturing, health / food and climate / mobility - starting in America. The board will measure me based on job creation and diversity.  It should go without saying that we’re pausing dividends and buybacks for the foreseeable future. Every dollar will serve our mission.  Every senior leader will need to sign up for our new mission - and those who choose to stay will receive a new, back-end loaded, 10 year vesting schedule.  We want them focused on the long-term health of society - not the whims of Robinhood day traders or strengthening the moats of existing products. We will need to invent entirely new ways to operate and ship products. As Joel Spolsky said, “when you need to hire a programmer to do mostly VB programming, it’s not good enough to hire a VB programmer, because they will get completely stuck in tar every time the VB abstraction leaks”.  We need engineers, designers and product managers that will look deep into the stack, confront the racial, job access, health and climate debts that our products, our companies and our communities are built on top of. This is not about CYA process to protect cash cows or throwing things over the fence to policy. We will need to innovate across technical, cultural and organizational lines. This requires deep understanding and curiosity. This will bring more scrutiny to our company - not less.  Not everyone’s going to be on board - so for the next 12 months, we’re giving folks a one-time buyout if they want to leave. 

Third, we can’t do any of this by ourselves.  The problems are too big. Our role will be to provide enlightened risk capital (from our balance sheet or by re-vectoring operating spend) alongside R&D, product, platform leverage to help leaders and innovators pursue solutions in these areas.  Of course we will work with our peers and the public sector wherever possible - buying/R&D consortia, public-private partnerships, trusts, etc. But the new era and landscape demands that we explore institutional models beyond global capital/startups, labor unions, NGOs or government. We need models that can more flexibly align people and purpose, that innovate on individualized vs. socialized risk/reward - and that ultimately help build and sustain local, social capital.  It’s difficult to say what these will look like - but increasingly figuring this out will be existential for our core business too. Right now, it doesn’t matter if you’re designing the best cameras in Cupertino or the best way to see their snaps in Santa Monica - we’re all just building layers of an attention stack for global capital. Our Beijing competitors have figured this out. ByteDance is already eating our lunch. They’re using the same tech inputs as us - UX, ML and large-scale systems - which are now a commodity - but with vastly lower consequences for the content they show - creating a superior operating / scaling model. They’re not internalizing social or political cost.

 What we need in this era is the accumulation stack - where each interaction builds social capital.  This is not about global likes. This is about local respect. We’ll create competitive advantage when we build products that reach across race / economic lines to harness America’s amazing melting pot and do so in ways that build livelihoods / property rights for creators and stakeholders.  

With this operating model in place, we’re committing to fundamental change in four areas:

Place & Race - We’re done with de facto segregation. Over the next 10 years, 100% of our jobs will be in diverse communities that embrace inclusive schooling, policing, housing and transit policies. (Starting tomorrow, we’re putting red lines on our maps around towns with exclusionary zoning.) This is not about privatizing cities or an HQ2-style play to extract concessions. This is about investing our risk capital and our reputation to innovate alongside government. How do we bring world-class education to neighborhoods with concentrated poverty? What is the future of digital/hybrid charter schooling? Unbundled, community-driven public safety? We’ll embrace “remote-first” as a means to this end. The Bay will become one physical node alongside others (e.g. Atlanta, DC, LA) creating an Interstate Knowledge System that develops diverse talent across the country. We’re going to coordinate our investment with leading peers - since after all, this isn’t about cost savings or cherry-picking. It’s about broadening our country’s economic base.

Skilling & Manufacturing - We will 10x the tech talent pool in 10 years - by inventing new apprenticeship models that bring women, minorities and the poor into the workforce. We’ll start with our existing contractor base, convert them to new employment models with expanded benefits and paths for upward mobility.  Next, we will invent new productivity tools for all types of workers - from the front office to mobile work to call center - that brings the power of AI and programming to everyone. These will be deeply tied into new platforms for work designed from the bottom-up to build social and financial capital for individual workers and teams.  Last, we’re going to manufacture most of our hardware products - from silicon all the way to systems - entirely in the US within 10 years. This will require massive investment, collaboration and innovation. It may require a revolution in robotics - but we will pursue this in a way that makes the American worker competitive - not a commodity to be automated away. If we’re successful, the dividends of our investment here will have massive spillover benefits to every other sector of manufacturing in the US - autos, etc. - including ones we have yet to dream up. 

Health & Food -  We’re not going to tolerate a two-class system for healthcare anymore. As we convert our contract workforce to new employment models, we’re going to have to innovate on the fundamental quality/cost paradigm across our benefit stack. This may feel like a step down but it will put us (and the rest of society if we’re successful) on a fundamentally better long-term trajectory.  Food is part of Health, and we’re going to innovate there too. Free food for employees is not going to come back post-COVID. Instead, we’ll use our food infrastructure to bootstrap cooperatively-owned cloud kitchens. We’ll provide capital to former contractors - mostly Black and Hispanic - to invest and own these. We’ll build platforms to help them sell food to employees (partly subsidized), participate in new “food for health” programs and eventually disrupt the extractive labor practices we see across food, grocery and delivery. 

Climate & Mobility - Lastly, we’ll be imposing a carbon tax on all aspects of our own operations - which we’ll use to “fund” innovation in this space - with a primary focus on job creation.  This is an area where we’re going to be looking far beyond our four walls from the beginning.  As a first step, we’re teaming up with Elon and Gavin Newsom to buy PG&E out of bankruptcy and restructure it as a 21st century “decentralized” utility.  It will accelerate the electrification of mobility - financing networked batteries for buses, cars and bikes along with charging infrastructure - and leading a massive job creation program focused on energy efficiency.  Speaking of mobility, private buses aren’t coming back after COVID. Instead, we’re teaming up with all of our peers to create a Bay-wide network of electric buses (with bundled e-bikes) that will service folks of all walks of life - including our own employee base.  Oh and one more thing - we’re bringing together the world’s most advanced privacy/identity architecture and computational video/audio to bake public health infrastructure directly into the buses. For COVID and beyond. None of this is a substitute for competent, democratically accountable regional authorities. This is us investing risk capital on behalf of society - with the goal of empowering these authorities. Yes the New York Times will have a field day with this. Maybe in time they’ll leave their bubble, enter the real world, see the sorry state of their institutions - the behavioral health and infrastructure crises on their crumbling streets - and get on board. Until then, our job is to be patient longer than they can be inflammatory. 

Open technology for global progress - While we have to prioritize America given the scale of problems, the intent is not to abandon the rest of the world or hold back it’s progress. We feel the opposite - that over the coming decades each country’s technology sectors will thrive. To get there, we will continue to invest patiently - hiring, training, partnering, investing and innovating - but with a clear north star to help each country develop local leaders in new areas. Long-term, we’ll continue to contribute open technology that others can build upon. 

America should be the proverbial city on a hill for everyone - not a metaverse for the rich with the poor dying in the streets. We don’t have much time so we’re getting to work now. See you next quarter.

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This call may be imaginary but none of this is sci-fi or requires MMT. What it requires is us to care. To act. Join me on bike rides to explore our past and discuss what tangible actions Silicon Valley’s leading companies can take in the coming quarters and years. Logistics here for rides on June 19, June 26, July 2 and July 10!

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50 Years of Going to Shows, Pt. 2: The Grateful Dead Universe

Part one of this series extrapolated from the conceit that the 9/4/19 Hot Tuna show here at the Sheldon Concert Hall also marked the anniversary of my Fall 1969 Johnny Winter concert that was my first rock show.  50 years!!   That segment was about those early concerts in KC (well, a couple of Dylan shows in St. Louis and then Chicago).  

The glaring omission from that note was the Grateful Dead (11/11-12/72; 6/16/74 Des Moines; and 10/28/77).  I propose correcting that with this entry that can take up 7/26-27/94 and 7/5-6/95 (shows 4 and 3 from the end) plus visits with The Other Ones, The Dead, Furthur, Dead and Company, various Phil Lesh and Friends iterations (including the Q 3 times, the Campbell/Greene band twice, another time with Campbell, and this past summer with an Allison Krauss sit in); Ratdog maybe 5 times; Weir and Wolf Bros; and Joe Russo’s Almost Dead to whom I’ve passed the torch.

This is a quite modest Deadhead roll call, but it does include 1972, a Wall of Sound, and 1977.  So I’ve been around long enough to have opinions.  

And I do have opinions.

1972–The 11/11 show was all we thought we were going to get.  A Sunday night show after them always missing us.  There was a rumor then, pure fiction it turns out, that they opened (?!?) for Iron Butterfly (#@%!) in KC before I got on the bus (1969ish?).  I was transfixed—the long unfolding two sets, pauses including for a cigarette puffs), the wide range of songs, the stacks of speakers and Macintosh amps even if it wasn’t quite officially a Wall of Sound show—but that’s all I remember.  Set lists say there was a Box of Rain.  

The second show got added and I was going to go no matter what—two school nights in a row.  And that one is better fixed in memory because of an Owsley Stanley tape that captures a sprawling Playing in the Band to close the first set.  I don’t need that tape to remember the Dark Star>Morning Dew, though being able to revisit it sure is a treat.  It was in fact huge though I was beside myself from the opening notes announcing that the adventure was beginning.  In the moment, I just knew it was happening and that was good enough then.  It is a big big one though with lots of space travel before settling into the Dew.  I turned grumpy about Dew but this one was magic then and now.  

1974–I couldn’t get anybody to go to Des Moines to see them that June.  My dad, actually, was up for the drive and camping (him staying in camp while I and the other Deadheads went to the afternoon outdoor show.  He had a draft dissertation to read which he left somehow but we got it back).  The key parts of this show (another Playing with a gnarly breakdown) were released officially as part of the Road Trips series honoring the Wall of Sound.  That was a sight though I thought I’d seen a version of it inside in KC.  Also a sight was Garcia’s chin and upper lip as he had reduced the beard to mutton chops for a very short while.  The second set was where the meat of the show was culminating in the Playing.  I experienced it at the time as meandering and anxious, without the tranquil spaciness of some of their explorations, but it’s just fine and part of the oeuvre as per repeated listening AND a much broader experience with their music.

1977–When Steal Your Face and then Blues for Allah came out, my enthusiasm was waning.  To this day, I’m a pre-hiatus fan with a real focus on 71-74 when Kreutzmann was the only drummer.  They were more lithe, exploratory, and dynamic.  Still a good friend told me I was going back to Memorial Hall for a late 1977 show, so I got part of that magical year.  And what stood out was 1977 slinkiness even though there wasn’t a Dancin’ in the Streets.  But Lazy Lightning>Supplication, Samson and Delilah, and Passenger all caught my ear.  It was fun, but I was not on the bus much.

The taping scene pulled me back in in the late 1980s, though I’d been intrigued by Lowell George of Little Feat producing Shakedown Street.  I suppose in some ways I am a secondary Touch Head, though Without a Net too was welcome.

I was on the periphery of the Brent Mydland era and actually found Bruce Hornsby’s interlude a real boost to the creativity, particularly Garcia’s. That was spent really by 1994 and 1995.  I went to both nights that they were in St. Louis on those summer tours.  Still I was glad to see the break outs and covers (Here Comes Sunshine, Take Me to the River), but they were going through the motions, keeping Garcia in tow.  It was fun, I'm glad, I'm went, they are memorable in a general sense, but I won't go play recordings.  1995 was the third and fourth shows from the end as they headed from here to Chicago.  Within 5 weeks, Garcia was dead.

It was about the party or, ahem, the cultural experience. I'm glad I got that too with the originals (and subsequent Furthur Festival/The Other Ones/The Dead/Furthur/Dead and Company shows in big venues were as much about that as the music), but an advantage of the end of the big machine is that the shows got much smaller.  The party was still there, but the music was closer. Also as I have aged, I've been willing to pay for better seats (to see Phil Lesh at Willie Nelson's Outlaw Festival this summer we even paid for premium parking.  Sheesh.) so that helps put the music to the fore.

So has couch touring—and that is how my concert gang and I saw the first night of Fare The Well—GD 50 from Levi Stadium in the Bay Area as well as the Friday and Sunday from Chicago.  We also saw a Phil Lesh Quintet reunion.  Being in real time, I count those as shows which indicates that experiencing the music live is what counts for me.

The GD Meet Up at the Movies don’t, but they do remind me that I like to be in the presence of those songs and their creators. And that has pulled me along so far to shows that have included at least Phil Lesh and/or Bob Weir.  I actually am a fan of Drums/Space and stay in my seat to watch the spontaneous magic happen, so having Kreutzmann and Mickey Hart along for The Other Ones, The Dead, and Dead and Company is just fine.  But those operations felt a little bloated.  They have to be in large spaces to accommodate the party, so the gestures are equally grand and the rituals are observed.  Furthur (Lesh and Weir’s operation) was a bit more nimble—one drummer, Joe Russo, and more flexible set lists.  But I saw them in a small arena (12 K) and The Fox Theater (almost 5 K), so those were big concert experiences.

Bob Weir is an indefatigable road warrior, sometimes when he shouldn’t.  St. Louis was an early stop of a Fall 2004 tour that was aborted.  But we got to see him and it was awfully good, one I return to.  It jammed into Jack Straw into the opening of a Terrapin that would be concluded in the second set and the rest of the suite in the encore into Dark Star (my first since 1972 and the only one of two more I saw in person, both from Ratdog) that concluded at the end of the set before back into Jack Straw.  The second set had Peggy O, The Winners, and Friend of the Devil for a can’t be beat acoustic interlude before firing up The Other One and Uncle John’s Band (its reprise after Terrapin proper closed the second set.  With the exception of Playin’, he rehearsed all the big tunes and was energetic and in good voice.  That one was a treat.

Ratdog was always fun, a solid band and a showcase for Weir’s quirkinesses which help make the GD experience.  I like many of his songs more than Garcia’s, excuse the heresy, but I confess that I probably haven’t given up being angry at him not just for being dead but for dying, for giving up which probably started in the 1980s.

Ratdog shows were chances to hear the songs and Weir’s take on them, including Garcia’s at the heart of the canon were always good to hear.  He brought most things into circulation.  The bands were not the all star configurations that Lesh’s were, but they were effective.  St. Louis shows reflected his connection with Johnny Johnson (a 2003 The Dead Show had Johnson and Willie Nelson jam on Little Red Rooster (overplayed over the years, but the way to do a 12 bar blues) and Lovelight that was historic).  After Johnson’s death, it was his horn section sitting in, usually for one of the big jam tunes.  A Dark Star stands out, but there must have been a Sailor>Saint or Eyes another year.

But it is Lesh who is the curator of the part of the universe that matters to me—the invention, the opportunity that any tune can unfold into a world of possibility.  That was most clear with the Q—John Molo, Warren Haynes, Jimmy Herring, and Rob Barracco whom I got to see in their prime three times.  They played the big barn with Weir’s Ratdog to open in July 2001, with a Weir sit in to open set one.  The feature of that one was a Viola Lee Blues sandwich that wove out of that primal jam vehicle from the GD past four times with interludes of Lovelight, Tons of Steel, and Into the Mystic.  Lesh would pull out tunes that had fallen out of the rotation—Alligator and Doin’ That Rag that night, Caution with Furthur at the Fox, Cosmic Charlie with the Q that November, and Viola itself.  The Q revival Couch Tour show we saw had a Mountains of the Moon which suggested a potential (not developed) for that tune as a subtle jam vehicle just as it was the last night of Fare The Well.  They did Beatles tunes, Brent Tunes, Van Morrison.  The second show at the Fox for some reason doesn’t leap out as magical.  But the third one, also at the Fox, on what would have been Garcia’s 60th birthday was.  The first hour was Bird Song>Here Comes Sunshine>Not Fade Away and had me riveted.  The second set had Sunshine of Your Love and a transcendent Low Spark of High Heeled Boys with Haynes somehow capturing the piano parts on guitar.

My only quasi bit of touring was to run over to Indianapolis to see Lesh in a hybrid band of Molo and Barraco with Larry Campbell, Barry Sless on pedal steel, Greg Osby on alto, and Joan Osborne on vocals.  It was a hot hot day but good adventurous stuff.  The Peggy O  as a story with Lesh narrating, Osborne being the fair maid, Campbell as our captain was very cool.  Bertha, Viola, and Shakedown stretched things out too.

With the Molo/Larry Campbell/Jackie Greene/Steve Molitz band, I got to see the premiere of the Ritter Eyes of Horus bass.  A dark stage, the fretboard LED lights on, a solo into The Other One and then Truckin' made quite an impression.  It didn't have the heft/power of the Modulus instruments he used before and after (a possibly smaller one) and it was more striking then pretty, but it was a moment of GD lore that happened on my watch.  Those were two good shows with Campbell showing a range I hadn't expected.  He could dig into the jams whereas I thought he would be more of a Robbie Robertson fills and one chorus solos player. It was also fun to watch Greene grow.  It was like he went to grad school or maybe a post doc in that band.

I have seen Greene at least 5 subsequent times (Duck Room, Old Rock House twice (band and "acoustic," Delmar Hall, and as an opener for Gov't Mule).  He has tasty covers including but not exclusively GD ones and some damn good tunes.  It's good to see his efforts to extend the GD universe.

But I'm putting my money on Joe Russo's Almost Dead as where the legacy will reside.

I saw them earlier in the year and they strike me as not just a Dead cover band, but a PLQ cover band--anything can be jammed out, the tunes can be played in any order in any part of the set.  Russo is a dynamo of energy on drums and his alter ego Marco Benevento is an inventive player.  It's cool to see the varied opportunities the music presents.

My shows this year with Weir (the Wolf Bros trio) and Lesh at Willie Nelson’s Outlaw Festival felt valedictory.  Weir was an interesting disappointment in that his wonderfully idiosyncratic guitar was at the fore, but too often through a too thin toned D’Angelico Bedford guitar.  He had that jangled tone in Ratdog but it went away during Fare The Well and beyond when he used Fender Stratocasters. His voice too was thinner.  So, while I wanted to see him in the spare setting, I don’t need to do it again.

And, though I’m likely to succumb to peer pressure if Dead and Company comes to town, I don’t need that party.

So, I’m content to go out on the Phil and Friends set at the barn with Willie Nelson as my last time seeing an original member.  There was Molo once again, Jason Crosby and Stu Allen from the Terrapin scene, and a new other guitarist Cris Jacobs.  The set had Jack Straw, Brown Eyed Women, Sugaree, and a Cumberland Blues (a favorite) as the closer.  Eyes was the jamming tune, but so was Help>Slip>Morning Dew.  And what a Dew it was as Alison Krauss sang it as she did on To Lay Me Down.  Amazing and what a rare moment in the Dead universe.

Dead music is magical and so it has been for me right to this end.

But long live JRAD too.

[maggyme13]

A hug is all you need

AN: This is my entry for @loki-the-fox ´s Fluff writing challenge with the prompt “You looked like you need a hug” /w Loki

I hope you all like it

Wordcount: around 1500

Warnings: none

It was one of those days where everything was going wrong:

First, your alarm hadn’t gone off and you barely woke up early enough to get ready for your internship. But that wasn’t the worst part, no, your shower decided it didn’t want to give you the satisfaction of warm water, resulting in a very cold shower. Then, when you nearly missed the bus and when you stepped out, a cyclist nearly knocked you on your ass. You where only saved by falling into another woman behind you, causing her hot coffee to spill over your side and back. After a quick apology and giving her money for her spilled drink, you had made your way towards your destination, Stark Tower.

I am already late, better nothing happen now.

Your back and side were still burning when you waited in front of the elevator.

This day is designed to be bad.

A groan left your throat, when the elevator doors opened and Chris (another Intern) stood there a slimy smile on his face.

“Good morning (y/n). Soo nice for you to finally appear as well. Maybe Mr Stark will finally get rid of you. I can´t understand why you even got the job.”, he sneered and you didn’t even bother to talk to him.

Why me? What else can go wrong?…

“Ms (y/n). Mr Stark is waiting for you in meeting room 2. Mr Chris, Dr Banner is still waiting for you in Laboratory B1, I suggest you hurry instead of putting your nose where it doesn’t belong.”

“Thank you for the information JARVIS. I will go immediately. Did he mention for me to bring something?”, you asked the AI only barely supressing a laugh about the scolding Chris had gotten by a smart computer.

“Not at all. Though I took the liberty to organize a change of clothes for you to take after the meeting.”

“Thank you JARVIS.”

“Hope he fires you!”, Chris told you when the elevator reached the floor the Laboratories were located on.

“Better not burn the experiments again.”, you mumbled after him, his words causing panic to rise in your insides.

He wouldn’t fire me, would he? This is the first time I am late and- I admit I am not the smartest, but- Calm down (y/n), just listen to what he has to say to you and then panic if necessary. Alright you can do this!

“Mr Stark. JARVIS informed me you want to see me.”, you spoke upon entering the Meeting room.

“Ahh (y/n), finally decided to join us I see.”, he stated, motioning from him to the other Avengers that were seated there. Making you gulp.

“I am sorry Mr Stark. My alarm didn’t go off and I overslept. It won´t happen again.”, you apologised and cast your eyes down.

“I know. You are usually here earlier than necessary, so – shit happens. Now, why is your arm and shoulder all red?”

“I got coffee spilled over it on my way here. JARVIS already organised something for me to change in after this meeting.”, you explained.

“Visit the medic bay as well, looks like your skin is burned.”, Captain Rogers piped up from his seat.

“I will Sir. May I get to know, why you wanted to see me know, Mr Stark?”

“What- oh yeah. There will be a party tonight and I want you to get the common area ready. JARVIS has all the information and plans. It won´t be too big, so you won´t need any help. Have fun.”, and with that you were excused.

_____

“Not big my ass!”, you grumbled, seeing the plans JARVIS had for you.

“Do you want me to call Mr Chris to help you?”

“NO. I will manage, somehow. I -fuck!”, you had just hit your toes against one of the crates before toppling over it and into another one. To make it all worse, one of the crates edges bored into your shoulder, bruising it immediately.

Four hours and a lot of curses later, you had finally succeeded to prepare the common area of the tower for the party. The ice sculpture (which resembled the Avengers-Logo) had been the last thing for you to place and you had managed it (somehow) to lift it into its place.

When suddenly: “(y/n). Still not fired I see.”, Chris´s voice sneered from behind you, startling you in the process. Out of instinct you tried to stabilize yourself against the sculpture causing it to topple over and crash on the floor. “Well, that might change now. Well, I am needed back in Dr Banners Laboratory. Please close the doors behind you.”

Shit! Fuck- why?? I am screwed.

Silent sobs shook your body. There was no way you would be allowed to keep your internship, after you possibly ruined one of Starks famous and loved parties.

You didn’t know how long you stood there staring at the shattered and melting figure, when you suddenly felt arms wrap around your body. And you tensed.

“What-“, you mumbled confused.

“You looked like you need a hug.- But don’t tell anybody.”, a male voice whispered in your voice and you recognised it to belong to Loki, the God of Mischief. THE man everybody calls after to be heartless. “Now tell me, why do I find the usual so cheery Intern almost crying in the common area standing in the molten remains of one of Starks ice decorations?”

“It- it´s not only the- the sculpture- the whole day was just shit. First my alarm doesn’t go off, then my shower was cold, I got hot coffee dumbed over my arms and legs. Then I have to decorate this whole room alone- not that I usually mind that- only to possibly break my toe, bruise my shoulder and then destroy the deco. If Stark didn’t want to fire me this morning he sure as hell will now.”, you hickuped, not caring who heard you. You just wanted to get it out. “My back, arm, shoulder and foot are hurting. I should have stayed in bed.”

“That sounds like an awful day to have, indeed. But the way I see it isn’t the figure your fault, but the bilgsnipes one. He startled you on purpose.”

Wait what? How long was he standing here.

“Mr Loki, how long were you here?”, you asked, slowly enjoying the embrace he still held you in, his chin resting on your head.

“Long enough. And I am sure Stark wont fire you because of this. Now let me help you with the sculpture.”, the god of mischief whispered, stepping beside you. A green glimmer moved in front of you and within seconds the Ice- sculpture was whole again and the water on the floor gone.

“See, no reason to get fired. Now about your hurting body.”, he mumbled, turning around to face you.

He looked neither menacing nor cruel, but sincere and a bit worried (?). Slowly he reached for your hands and as soon as his skin touched yours, the pain disappeared, as well as the redness of the burns.

He is healing me. But- isn’t he supposed to be the bad guy?

“Thank you, Mr Loki. But you might want to leave, I am sure Mr Stark and the others will be here soon. I don’t believe you want them to see you helping me, are you?”, you answered him with a grateful smile and he chuckled.

“Indeed, that wouldn’t be in my interest. See you another time Ms (y/n).” and with that- he was gone.

 ___

When you returned the next day for your internship you were a lot merrier. Because one, your alarm worked AND shower worked, and two because the praising of her boss was still echoing in your mind.

“Can´t you watch where you are going you cretin?”, Loki´s voice greeted you as soon as you exited the elevator and for a moment you thought he meant you.

“I- i- sorry sir.”, you heard Chris panicked mumbled and you couldn’t supress a smile.

“Good morning Mr Loki.”, you greeted him, “I wanted to prepare some coffee, do you want one as well?”

“No, but I wouldn’t mind a tea. If you don’t mind preparing me one.”, he answered her with a smile on his own.

“Of course not, Mr Loki. Shall I bring it to your rooms when it is finished?”

“That would be wonderful. Ms (y/n). Cretin.”, and with that, Loki left but not without sending you a little wink.

From that day on, you would make Loki tea whenever you came to work or when you thought he wouldn’t mind one. And he would come to you to talk or just have some company whenever he felt the need to.

And then there were the times when Chris had little incidents after being especially cruel or bad with you: one time he slipped and spilled hot coffee over Dr Banner (almost causing a code green), another time he tried to speak but his lips wouldn’t let any noise out and then there was the day were his hair changed colour every few seconds; unfortunately he had a date the very same evening.

It was a weird kind of friendship the two of you had formed.

And all of that because he thought I needed a hug.

AN2.0 : I hope you liked it and please let me know what you think ;)

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[bobbysealeblackpanther]

The legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King is manifested in moving to eliminate institutionalized racism in America. From the moral standpoint to the practical community organizing standpoint, it was about nonviolence and rightfully so. It was about the first amendment to the Constitution which gives all of us the right to peacefully assemble and address our grievances. At that time the power structure began to attack, murder, shoot, kill and brutalize peaceful demonstrators. In other words, they were violating their constitutional, democratic, civil and human rights to organize, unify and educate the people.

When I went to hear Dr. King speak at the Oakland Auditorium in 1962, he was the first black leader to inspire me. I was a student with a full-time night job on the Gemini missile program. In that auditorium, I sat in a sea of seven thousand people who had come to hear Dr. King speak about what we had to do about people of color being discriminated against by companies all across America. It was a time when I had just begun to digest material about our historical struggle for civil-human rights. Dr. King went on to explain America’s rampant discrimination telling us how we had to organize to boycott many different companies, specifically bread companies who refuse to hire people of color. He went on to say that we were going to boycott Lagendorf and Kilpatrick bread companies here in the San Francisco Oakland bay area and the Wonder Bread Company. We were going to boycott them so consistently and profoundly that the Wonder bread company will wonder where their money went. All seven thousand of us stood up applauding and raving.

A few years later, I worked with and gave the original Black Panther Party support to Dr. King on his Poor People's March. Dr. Ralph Abernathy called me personally and said "Mr. Seale, Dr. King would like to know if you would be willing to participate in a broad roundtable of organizations across the country working together in the struggle to end institutionalized racism." I said, "Yes, the Black Panther Party will definitely work with you and Dr. King on anything you want to do." People don't know that we crossed those lines.

King helped change America’s conscience, not only about civil rights but also about economic justice, poverty and war. As an inexperienced young pastor in Montgomery, Alabama, King was reluctantly thrust into the leadership of the bus boycott. During the 382-day boycott, King was arrested and abused and his home was bombed, but he emerged as a national figure and honed his leadership skills. In 1957 he helped launch the SCLC to spread the civil rights crusade to other cities.

He helped lead local campaigns in Selma, Birmingham and other cities, and sought to keep the fractious civil rights movement together, including the NAACP, Urban League, SNCC, CORE and SCLC. Between 1957 and 1968, King traveled more than 6 million miles, spoke more than 2,500 times and was arrested at least twenty times while preaching the gospel of nonviolence.

King’s birthday is a national holiday and his name adorns schools and street signs. But in his day the establishment considered King a dangerous troublemaker. He was harassed by the FBI’s COINTELPRO and vilified in the media. The struggle for civil rights radicalized him into a fighter for economic and social justice.

During the 1960’s, King became increasingly committed to building bridges between the civil rights and labor movements. He was in Memphis in 1968 to support striking sanitation workers when he was assassinated. In 1964, at 35, King was the youngest man to have received the Nobel Peace Prize. Some civil rights activists worried that his opposition to the Vietnam War, announced in 1967, would create a backlash against civil rights, but instead it helped turned the tide of public opinion against the war.

When I look at Dr. King's legacy and what we stood up for, the amount of people that were killed in the civil rights protests and later in my organization where 28 original Black Panther Party members were killed in attacks from the police who were trying to terrorize us out of existence, when I look at that, I have a very great affinity for Dr. King and everything he inspired me to be.

All Power To All The People! Bobby Seale http://bobbyseale.com/

[crazedshiper]

First things first: What is a hoverboard?

These types of hoverboards can't actually levitate, a la " Returning to the near future Part II. " Instead, they use tires to spin throughout the surface. It noises lame, but really, they're much more fun to drive when compared to a skateboard.

Officially, they're called "self-balancing scooters. inches These scooters look and work like small Segways ( without the handlebars) continuing to move forward when you slim forward and braking and reversing when you thin back. You face transfer while using and use delicate actions of your foot, hip and legs and torso to maneuver in a path.

To get going, whatever you carry out is step on. Both pressure-sensitive footpads enable you to control the velocity and steer along with your foot. Because the hoverboard begins going as soon as you step on, installing and dismounting can be hard in the beginning. And since there is deal with to stable yourself, controlling can be hard -- it's simple to fall off as you get accustomed to the board.

Truly, it's kind of a good work out. You utilize your primary to stay well balanced and also feel the burn off in your calves and ft . considering that the muscles individuals areas help you steer.

Whether you call them hoverboards, self-balancing panels or perhaps explosions waiting around to occur, these two-wheeled scooters aren't heading anywhere on http://get10best.com/best-hoverboard-for-kids/.

This tech fad might have been awesome, but it had a dangerous side. This past year this news was peppered with reviews of hoverboards exploding and getting open up fire. Metropolitan areas prohibited all of them from streets and sidewalks. Airlines would not let you bring them onto airplanes. Suppliers such as Amazon and Overstock ceased offering specific models and even informed buyers to garbage ones they are yet to already received.

Be enough this to express that a lot is promoting in the last yr. For anybody who is searching for a table this christmas and beyond, in this article would be the items you should know just before you purchase.

Carry out hoverboards still capture fire place?

2015 found various reports of hoverboards combusting or overflowing. To blame was obviously a mixture of faulty battery packs and bad consumer electronics. Hoverboards are run by significant lithium ion electric batteries that can heat up and explode under unusual circumstances -- something similar is definitely considered to have occurred with Samsung Galaxy Take note 7 earlier this fall.

In early 2016, the customer Product Safety Percentage investigated the safety of most hoverboards across all brands, promoting that any new hoverboards produced be " accredited UL 2272 compliant" to considered to be brought in to the US (more about this later). Compliant hoverboards are more unlikely to end in flames.

After that there were counterfeits. CNET video manufacturer Mariel Myers came across this when the lady purchased a desk by a third-party vendor about Amazon . com. com and wound up with a cheaply made artificial. During the time, these knockoff planks appeared to be considerably more vulnerable to fire and explosions, but we how to start for certain. To get the actual board, she wound up going straight to the Canadian manufacturer's website.

Exactly what are other security concerns?

Even though you don't have to stress about explosions, you may still find risks to bear in mind.

Falling off and harming yourself. Much like any fast-moving vehicle, generating a hoverboard can bring about personal injury. Hoverboards can reach a maximum speed of around 10 mph, so that you could support a far more significant destruction than you will falling off a slower-moving skateboard.

Though most bikers (at least in Bay area ), do without it again, proper safety gear is essential. You may need a helmet, leg parts, elbow pads and arm guards. This will reduce your likelihood of fractures, sprains and other mishaps if you fall.

Traffic injuries.  Substantially like  bicycles and skateboards, gleam risk of stepping into a traffic incident, particularly if you're in or near to the street. A teenager was struck and wiped out with a tour bus in London while applying a hoverboard. Please don't trip a hoverboard on the street or near traffic -- except if you're in California wherever hoverboards are categorized like a bike under legislation.

Fat limitations. Hoverboards have at least (usually around 45 pounds) and maximum weight limit (some boards can support about 300 pounds). These kinds of restrictions happen to be designed to guard the rider and flexibility scooter, and that means you should look at manufacturer's internet site to find out more.

Children under the weight limit may have trouble employing, as the scooters won't identify their pounds and won't balance appropriately. When your child ride a hoverboard? You will need to use your very best judgment.

Steep hills. Many cedar planks also won't function increasing or down large hillsides, generally over 30 degrees. You can find little height boundaries linked to the planks, though retain mind that many lift you about several in. above the floor. When you're especially high, you'll work a larger risk of striking the head while riding.

Why are they a favourite?

Hoverboards can be hard to find the suspend of. But once you expert riding a person, that motions effortlessly with you, halting on the cent and turning easily. Using an individual almost seems like an expansion of yourself, and keep in mind that require any manual movement, such as an enjoyment or kick kid scooter. You can get a whole lot of price (most top out at about twelve mls each hour ), thus, making them faster than walking.

Even though they could be expensive, they're more compact and cheaper in comparison to a Segway (which costs upward of $5, 000), so they're a lot more accessible to buy, shop and use.

Thus which hoverboards must i acquire?

There are various companies selling hoverboards, starting around $220 and reaching up to $800. Most of them job likewise, with minor distinctions in specs and style. I've ridden many models. While there are sensitive variations in the way they trip, it can not easy to differentiate the high-end and cheaper types.

The largest factor to consider when shopping is make sure that is UL 2272 accredited. In case you are unfamiliar with UL, it is usually an corporation that certifies, validates, checks, verifies, inspects and audits electric gadgets. UL seeks to "facilitate global trade and deliver satisfaction. "

That said, remember that CNET have not thouroughly tested some of these brands, or can we specifically attest to their very own comparative  protection or absence thereof. 

[wabashmfginc]

Lube Trucks Market To Reflect Sturdy Growth During 2017 2025

In the case of the 15W-40 oil, cleanliness was maintained and the hydraulic fluid truly got cleaner. Need a personalized Fuel Lube Truck to match your specific application? Knapheide Fuel Lube Trucks function a versatile design to accommodate a selection of product tank and reel cupboard configurations.

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Initially, they wanted to clean up the bulk storage items to ensure clear lubricants are delivered to the preventive maintenance bay and the sphere lube trucks. Second, the staff wished to make sure the delivery of fresh lubricants to tools within the field by way of lube trucks. NFE can be proud to represent Elliott Machine Works and their impressive lube trucks line of gas and lube products. Offering lube solutions for any dimension truck and even large, off-road items built on heavy equipment chassis, Elliott makes a formidable product for any application. Looking for lubrication automobiles with plenty of area and countless configurations? Look to IMT SiteStar® open lube trucks, enclosed lube trucks, and lube skids.

This course will introduce you to a gasoline and lube truck and its operation. Before you may be permitted to operate a gas and lube truck, you will need to be adequately educated and have the data to operate lube trucks safely and productively. Whatever your lube application wants, Maintainer may help you create a custom bundle that precisely meets those needs!

IMT SiteStar lube trucks use polyethylene product tanks, which provide an 80% % discount in tank weight, and include cleaner fluid storage, easier tank substitute, and contamination management. TruckWorks is a frontrunner in the tanker manufacturing trade, and we know what it takes to design a truck built for the long haul. Starting from a brand new or used chassis, we will set up our code and non-code gas tanks ranging from 200 to 2,000 gallon capacities and come in a single or tandem-axle configuration. We additionally provide a diverse product selection from grease station choices, stress washers, oil filters crushers, and other lube truck tools. Whether it’s so simple as custom cupboards that you want installed, or a new lube truck constructed from the ground up, we've a skillful workers and premiere product line to make it happen. We’re right here to make the purchasing course of an easy one, and provide you with skilled steering every step of the best way.

This includes suppliers and different third parties a company may utilize to course of private information. The digital or mechanical dial meter with resetting totalizer helps dispense precise amounts of products and aids in tracking materials usage. Mega manuals include a complete set of technical manuals detailing installation, operation, upkeep, inspection and substitute elements lube trucks. Mega provides a whole set of technical manuals detailing set up, operation, maintenance, inspection and substitute components. The cell control valve has a single CAN bus connection and precision software program control which reduces wiring and hydraulic connection complexity. The system consists of stress, move price, gentle start/stop troubleshooting feedback.

We combine an eclectic mixture of expertise, analytics, machine learning, and information science to develop research methodologies that lead to a multi-dimensional, yet realistic analysis of a market. Third events might collect personally identifiable information about your online activities over time and throughout totally different Internet companies whenever you visit our Sites. The truck chassis is allowed to flex beneath the spring sort front mounting tie downs. Let’s work collectively to standardize a service fleet to go properly with your needs.

As contractors focus on different actions in numerous elements of the world, their needs change, and so does their requirement for a gas and lube body. In addition to DEF, telematics, and gas efficiency, necessities evolving embody heated lube our bodies, longer hose reels, bigger oil portions, and extra fuel. Lube/fuel trucks are notably conceived to hold out a complete vary of refilling, repairs, and repair tasks. These tasks are likely to comprise modifying the water, oil, greasing elements, anti-freeze, and rather more.

Lube trailers have been — and still are — a preferred choice for a lot of mid-size users. They’re bigger than a skid but are smaller and more reasonably priced than a devoted truck. Trailers could be dropped off at any job website, providing operators with a prepared source of fluids.

Lubrication technicians work in antagonistic environmental circumstances around the clock to ensure mining equipment is serviced according to plan. Along with tools operators, technicians provide the primary line of protection against tools failure. Often working in subzero temperatures at night, these unsung heroes hold the wheels and gears turning. The staff at Antelope coal mine shows delight within the work they carry out every day. Niece Equipment has been producing Fuel and Lube Trucks for 15 years. Our design engineers are hyper focused on DOT necessities, chassis payload limitations, operator security, and environment friendly operation so that you’re not stuck paying expensive fines, or shedding payload.

[emsvehicles]

Vw Transporter Ambulance, 2012 Mannequin, Fully Converted To Ambulance And Registere

We didn’t achieve discovering any new rock artwork sites , however we had a beautiful stroll via one of many kloofs minimize by the primary river course. We stopped for tea under some superb slabs which look unbelievable for a future climbing meet. Saturday saw the main party of 14 set off for the high ridge of the Witteberge, whereas Greg and Cheryl went on a climbing expedition to test a few of the clean slabs to be discovered in the valley and Nicky went seeking converted ambulance post-fire fynbos development. The centre is run by the EMS’s public info, schooling and relations unit. Upgrades include a Basic Emergency Safety and Fire Education Centre , where people might be taught about fire security and hearth prevention, evacuation drills and basic first assist. Ngcukana additional added that criminals usually minimize the fence at the border to achieve entrance into Lesotho and the ambulance will most likely be converted into a taxi there.

It now has technologically advanced medical amenities, and the old single storey building has been converted into a contemporary facility with a number of rooms. “We should use Covid-19 to enhance our companies as we move towards the National Health Insurance . The provide of persistent medication closer to people’s properties is a part of our plan. We are also starting a program to train healthcare staff to treat people with non communicable illnesses. This facility is produced by the Standard Bank of South Africa Ltd ("the Bank") for information functions only.

Vehicles ranging from mini busses to massive 60 seat buses are used to transport these shoppers. Some of the buses have had conversions accomplished to permit for stretchers to be lifted into the bus by an hydraulic ramp. These buses are in a place to carry seated, wheelchair and stretcher sufferers.

Cape Ambulance Rescue Service, owing to finances constraints and the ensuing personnel shortages are unable to supply a full time service on this area. Waiting occasions of as a lot as 6 hours have been reported for non-priority calls. The range of equipment includes an air conditioner linked to that of the driver cabin, a recent water system with basin, oxygen tanks, an intercom, interior LED-lighting, a swivel rear spotlight and space for storing that double up as a bench. This equipment, and the additional power factors within the rear cabin, are powered from a further battery system fitted within the engine bay. Inside the ambulance cabin, Mahindra has fitted a range of medically approved gear that is not solely easy to succeed in and use however allows most customers to buy and use the ambulance with out requiring further customisation and certification. These proven underpinnings and the help from Mahindra engineers imply that the mannequin carries a full factory guarantee and is out there as both an S6 Single Cab 4×2 or S6 Single Cab 4×4.

Rust treated locknuts are built into the ground assist constructions of a purpose-built Quantum passenger service at manufacturing level. The windows are glued in, the roof and facet panels strengthened, channel lipped, fuse welded, and rust treated. The eNatis licensing passenger variety converted ambulance of these “JTFR” ambulances are authorized as the variety of passengers may be reduced from the normal ten passengers to 6 or seven passengers, as is the norm for ambulances throughout an emergency.

NAAMSA was talking to Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Transport regarding the progress made in cracking down on the illegal conversion of panel vans into ambulances and taxis. The firm has dealers in all nine provinces of South Africa, which are complete amenities that handle gross sales, service and spare components. With sixty seven dealerships, in cities and in cities throughout Southern Africa, Mahindra has a rising nationwide footprint that is shifting ever deeper into communities as the company continues its drive to supply value-for-money services to its clients.

Bust the stress out of on an everyday basis life and indulge in some high quality me time as you build a LEGO model of the converted 1959 Cadillac Miller-Meteor ambulance from the Ghostbusters movies. The ambulance, a converted Nissan Hardbody, is used to switch patients to Frere Hospital in East London from Cathcart, some 135km away, two or thrice per week. A civilian woman, who was both the owner of the store or had been staying inside, was critically injured having suffered severe burns to her physique and face. She was rushed through to hospital by ambulance for additional emergency care. Rollover protection structures and Fall over safety buildings (ROPS & FOPS) for personnel transport underground is a safety requirement by Department Minerals and Resources . We specialize in the design and manufacture of Rollover protection structures and Fall over protection buildings (ROPS & FOPS) according to SABS and the University of Pretoria standards.

Two lithium-ion battery packs support its EV capabilities (33 kilowatt-hours) with a further battery permitting longer use of electrical gear and the air- conditioning system. The ambulance can even flip right into a mobile supply of energy in case of an influence outage or natural disaster. Kindly note the extreme pricing of respectively R254,905 and R278,297 on both agreements. Long wheelbase Quantum panel vans only retailed for R197,500 VAT inclusive throughout 2007. The addition comes as part of the rolling out of a specialised ambulance fleet by ER24, with the opposite automobiles to be distributed to its varied branches across the nation. The new Pik Up Ambulance is converted with a double-walled and insulated ambulance cabin.

ROPS and FOPS man carriers are used underground to move workers safely. What you should learn about Southlands Sun newspaper For 20 years, the Southlands Sun print edition has produced newsworthy and dependable stories to its neighborhood. The passionate group intend on finishing up their pilot project for the communities of Wentworth, Merebank and Bluff as their method to respond to the excessive crime rate which consists of shootings, stabbings and assault in the area. This number is, in accordance with Motlhaping, a bit of a shifting goal on account converted ambulance of ambulances coming out of repairs on a every day basis, whilst others get broken and must go in for maintenance at nearly the identical rate. During the budget speech presentation, the MEC acknowledged that procurement challenges have lowered the operational ambulance fleet from one hundred ten firstly of this yr to only beneath 70 now. In October 2017 a new tender was advertised, but that tender was never awarded – and has basically been changed by the tender marketed in October 2018.

Safety options embrace dual entrance airbags, ABS brakes with EBD, side-impact protection, and seatbelt reminders. The cover itself is double-walled and insulated, with frosted laminated side home windows and one-way home windows within the rear. The ground is shock-proof and has been treated with a hard-wearing anti-skid coating.