1. in addition to the music, david crosby was a poster’s poster, rip

  2. finally figured out no-handing on the cargo bike: simply allow the tires to run a little low, simple as.

    I’d been maintaining it like my commuter bike at max recommended pressure (60PSI I think), but at 40, the ride is a lot smoother and no-handing is easy.

    Yay!

    my (rider) POV of no-handing a cargo bike, southbound on Shotwell, in the Mission, SF, U.S.A. Shotwell is a "slow street", through traffic is in theory prohibited but in actuality, only slightly discouraged. The cyclocomputer is registering about 15 miles per hour.

    same POV and speed as previous shot, on 17th st westbound, passing Jackson Park and Thee Parkside. Jackson Park is being completely redone next year and so they are topping all the trees that line the park to pre down to 10' stumps. It's a bummer, but the new park should be great... in 2026.

  3. fourth book, “Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage”, Haruki Murakami

    I’ve had this on the shelf for a while (years, even) after catching up on Murakami and taking a good long break (furthermore, I think this was a gift, or used rack sale find, even) because it’s all very samesy. I picked this off the to-read pile because it looked the shortest.

    I think crit of his lesser stuff like this is totally on the mark and fair but also “it me” so, I enjoyed it.

    https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/41022133-colorless-tsukuru-tazaki-and-his-years-of-pilgrimage

    Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of PilgrimageINSTANT #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • One of the most …Goodreads

    the cover of Murakami's "Colorless Tsukuru Tazki and His Years of Pilgrimage"Like all of his current American paperbacks (excepting 1Q84) at least, it's just white text over a blur of colors

  4. second book down, the new Jason Pargin (f. k. a. David Wong), “If This Book Exists, You’re in the Wrong Universe.” It was fun! I lol’d a few times, didn’t want to put it down, etc.

    Jason put a tiny house of leaves gimmick in it (it’s full of metafiction shit tbh) but I only noticed it was happening for the last word so if you read it, let me know what it says (I’m going to go cheat and google it right now).

    The cover of John Dies at the End #4"If This Book Exists, You're in the Wrong Universe", file under Jason Pargin / David Wong. The cover is a an illustration of a black hardback of the book with the title in silver on the spine and cover, made of arby's sauce dripping, and one of the drips forms a skull below, all over a solid, flat light green.

    ok, what the letters spells out is p easy to find on tvtropes[.]org which I’m told is a terrible website that’ll rot your brain and your ability to perceive art as anything but strings of gimmicks (they probably have a name for people like me who believe this), so I guess if you look for it the right way, like I did, the answer is in the google preview (remember when things were like that?) and you don’t have to click through.

    but I’m also not gonna say what it is either, just read the book.

    third book, “The Stories of your Life and others”, Ted Chiang.

    Cheating because I read the first half last year. I got another copy after leaving my first copy on a plane ( https://mastodon.social/@gravely/109372422129728908).

    gravely (@gravely@mastodon.social)I was also half way through the Ted Chiang book of stories that included the story the movie Arrival is based on but i think i left it on the plane at SFO yesterday after two dudes behind me got in a fight as we were deplaning and it distracted me from checking the seat pocket, RIPMastodon

    I hope whoever found my first copy enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed my second copy.

    “let’s take one idea seriously and see what happens”

    https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/223380.Stories_of_Your_Life_and_Others

    Stories of Your Life and OthersWhat if men built a tower from Earth to Heaven-and brok…Goodreads

    the current paperback cover of "Stories of your Life and others" by Ted Chiang. The title and author's name encircle the hands of a clock at about 11:10:30, over field of stars on the top half and cloudy sky on the bottom half. Inset in the top left is a cloud circle that proclaims that this book "Includes 'Story of Your Life," the Basis for the Major Motion Picture ARRIVAL.

  5. first book of the year down, (I think via @leigh somewhere?): “Axiomatic,” a collection of Greg Egan’s short stories that appeared in various science fiction magazines (mostly Interzone and Asimov’s) between 1989 and 1992.

    Great late 80s hard SF shorts

    I don’t do star reviews, but, folks, they’re good stories

    https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/156783.Axiomatic

    AxiomaticAxiomatic is a collection of Greg Egan's short stories …Goodreads

    aside: a characters is mentioned to have received their advanced degree in 2023, which I’m sure felt reasonably far out at the time.

    the current paperback trade cover of Greg Egan's Axiomatic, a repeating tile mosaic in blues and greens, which he designed himself

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