Open Thread topic : I've got my and Jack's XS1100 carbs both torn apart on my work bench right now and my mental state has vacillated between "mad scientist on the verge of a great discovery" and "I'm going to put a gun in my mouth"
My buddy and I rebuilt a carb for his CJ. It was tedious and pre-youtube all we had was an exploded view. Got it back together with no parts left over! Then when he was going to put it on the intake he turned it over to look at something and a piece (I think the float valve) fell inside. He visibly flinched to prevent himself from throwing it in a nearby pond. I left.
Wishing you all the best! It’s almost twenty years since I rebuilt my GL1000’s carbs over a few weeks in January/February. I’m still not quite over the trauma, and that’s while having used an excellent kit from Randakk’s Cycle Shack.
To some degree it's also been built by the current overeducated "elite" as a way to preserve their own status, while pulling up ladders for others to move up. It makes it very easy to question people's credentials as a "DEI" admit/hire, and actually makes some of this racism happen.
There's more mobility than you or I think. We look at our social circle and everyone is mostly where we are -- because they're our peer group. However when looking at data, there's a lot to contradict that.
Former Senator Phil Gramm wrote a book recently "The Myth of American Inequality" where he did a deep dive into that very question using census bureau (and other) data. He broke down households into five quintiles -- lower class, lower-middle, middle, upper-middle, and upper class. Both 2010's and 1970's. Also had an interesting bar-chart in a WSJ op-ed they wrote -- illustrating where each quintile (ipso facto 20%) was vs where their parents were. [Sadly the op-ed is behind a paywall.]
Key takeaways:
1. If we had no class mobility, each group would have had 100% parents in the same quintile as you. And 0% from other quintiles. IT's not.
2. IF we had perfect class mobility, each of the quintiles would have exactly 20% of their parents in each of the quintiles. (i.e. where you are vs your parents would have been pretty random). It's also not true.
3. While a large plurality are in the same quintile as their parents, most move at least one (or more) quintiles. Three to ten percent move from one end to the other in a generation -- both ways.
4. Once you count in transfer payments -- taxes on the upper class and direct/indirect govt benefits to the lower class -- the gap between rich and poor is not as great as you'd think.
5. Once you factor in those transfer payments, the gap between lower class and lower-middle class is not very large. Which provides people in lower middle a powerful incentive not to work at all.
6. Our standard of living has risen so much, that people in the middle quintile today (middle-middle class) would have been upper class a generation ago.
I love the fact you are embracing the second topic of today’s ACF and going full “Kate Wagner”.
Please let us know what you get!
At 6’2 I have only driven Miatas with the top down and wish I would fit in one. I don’t think there is a bad choice as Miata is always the answer “if you fit”.
I think I have only had the opportunities to ride in NA and NB versions. Would love to drive a NC or a new one. Enjoyed the ride, had a great time, but could not make it work. My buddy still owns the NA as his fun car.
Love cars you can do this to and look down and still be legal-ish. So much more fun to drive and they don’t put you to sleep. The drive is part of the reward rather than a chore.
Not getting smashed by those around you checking phones, shaving, and putting on makeup make the game Frogger look tame and is a whole different issue.
Yes. The best/most expensive modifies the seat base and retains full function. The cheapest is fixed in position and the newest is a slide and wrench tighten affair.
No two Mazda dealers will be alike. You have options and you're not driven by short term considerations. Call every dealer in a 300 mile radius and work the best deal.
Like any other brand dealers are hit and miss. The dealer we bought the CPO cx-5 from was horrible. The dealer I bought my ND club was excellent. If you go for the club with recaros, try them out on a long test drive. Some prefer the stock club seats over the recaros.
I bought my CX-5 from a Benz dealer in North Olmsted OH. I bought my wife's CX-9 at a Mazda dealer in Green Bay. The Mazda dealer compared favorably to the Benz dealer, but they didn't have Aston Martins, Bentleys, or other exotic cars to drool over while we waited for F&I. The Mazda dealer in Escanaba was trash to deal with and they closed down a year ago. Good riddance.
Miata leather doesn't wear particularly well. You have to be built for the Recaros or you will hate them. The nannies they have jammed into the GT amount to sacrilege.
Is there an official and legal TV subscription one can buy in the US? I know how to find races after the fact, but I'm not a huge fan of watching that way.
Thanks. As I mentioned in another post, F1 and the "Drama" is pissing me off. Really bad. I know of one sight that should have the races within a couple of days.
I don't care if the drama is true, I watch for entertainment coming from the event not for DTS/Netflix reasons. Keep the BS behind closed doors. About the only thing drama wise MotoGP has is where someone will be going next year. I can live with that.
I'm taking off tomorow morning from my winter home in Naples FL, riding my '23 XSR900 up to Daytona for the races. The racing may appear boring on TV, but it's pretty cool in person (standing at the infield edge watching the bikes scream over your head at speed on the banking is a total gas!). The baggers are fun to see too: riders wrestling these improbably large and bulbous looking land yachts into and around corners is a real hoot. Manufacturer offered demo rides and display tents, plus yards of accessory Harley chromesium offer hours of entertainment. The piece de resistance is a trip downtown to the beach to see thousands of fat, bearded, and tatoo'd men (and women!) cruising and walking up and down the boulevard. You'll leave the latter with firm plans to start on a diet and take regular showers. YMMV
I'm hoping to get out to Mid-O. I think it's the closest drive, but might also be taking the family to Ogden for visiting cousins and seeing UP 4014 Big Boy at the museum.
Ahh McMansion Hell. That subreddit inexplicably shows up in my feed when I’m on my way to r/StraightGirlsPlaying (highly recommended and highly NSFW btw). It’s full of the kind of apartment dwelling underachievers who don’t understand why moderately successful people with $500k-1M to spend on a house don’t spend $4M on something custom and beautiful.
You better believe it. Get someone to come on short notice and you'll name a future kid after them. My uncle was a plumber. He'd blow off promises to his mother and my mom. My dad wanted a gas hot water heater put in. No family discount was assumed. He was going to pay the going rate. My uncle would show up once or twice a week to shoot the breeze with mom over a shot and a beer. Dad said screw it and hired someone else. My uncle was pissed.
I needed my porch roof fixed in the fall of 2022. "No job too small". Yes it was. Got blown off by roofing people.
Called a contractor that I've used for bigger stuff. Gets a guy in a week. Guy and crew show up. The contractor likes to do remodeling stuff. Family business and the brothers like to build custom homes. I asked the guy "How did Jeff (the contractor) get you to do it?" He threatened me on the custom homes.
I'm sure there was a decent finder's fee for Jeff. A week later it was snowing. The porch no longer leaked. Money well spent.
Some of the small job stuff helps if you can see it from the contractors perspective too.
I had a really small thing I needed done and didn't have time for (small chunk of non load bearing wall). Contractor who built my barn squeezed it into his schedule, but it was about $100/hr in cash.
Similarly, if I can string together a few smaller jobs into a day of work for one of his crews, it's easier for him to put on his schedule somewhere.
Both. This past house wasn't as much of a struggle as one might think. It helps to live where the trades live. It took 5 months from digging the hole to moving in.
I think we can just call it Minardi, I never stopped.
What is the Verstappen angle with Jos' bizzare post race interview with whatever British paper it was? How could removing Horner possibly help Max?
I get why other Red Bull execs could be out for blood. I don't think Max owes Red Bull any loyalty, but he has a lucrative and stable contract with a team that has a lock on this era in F1. Why get rid of the guy who made it happen? He is the only team boss to achieve dominance in two technical eras, plus a driver's championship at the end.ofnthe one he didn't dominate.
I’ve tried to follow the whole thing and I just don’t get it. Those texts were hardly scandalous. It read like a girl who was tired of sleeping with a married man.
After seeing pictures of the “victim”, I don’t understand why he’d throw his career away on someone so “mid”.
I think it's related how how "success" in many corporate settings simply comes from sucking to those above you and doing what's asked. Why would a man be any different when he got home?
The majority of successful men are largely there through luck or fortunate circumstances. So they're gonna simp. Because that's what the media taught them, and it's all they've ever known.
Per BusinessF1 he was sort of a late bloomer. Intensely focused on work (young F1 TP) until his late 30s. Plus look at pics of him when he was younger … he has probably visited Geri’s dentist and plastic surgeon.
I think you're over simplifying the first part, they have to do some sort of work to put themselves in that situation in the first place. It's just that they've been rewarded for the simping in too many cases, rather than actually doing something.
Most C-suite people are sociopaths who can toady up and kick down. So they toady to women until they're in control, then they kick... I agree with you.
Thanks, from a little reading it seems like for a while there was SOME mutual back and forth and then she started resisting. Horner is clearly an idiot for falling for this though...
I haven't seen a picture of her, but read the texts. They are bad, but paint her in a good light. I figured there's more. Also, women and men can't work together. This whole feminist thing needs to end, but it's men's fault it has happened anyway.
In a sane world it would be Max saying, "I know Lewis, that you and I don't get on. But, how much did it cost to get rid of your old man? Did you pay him off, or did you threaten to put him in a nursing home because of dementia?". Hamilton's old man has become a non-person. Maybe he shows up at Silverstone, but everyone says he's not around like before.
I understand "2026" and if RBR are going to have a decent power unit. Other than they've never done one, the PU deal is the same for everyone.
This drama isn't fun. I've clicked on my F1 TV package and have stared at the Cancel Subscription a few times. It's fucking retarded. If I did and get the urge, I can wait a few days and find it in glorious 720P out of places like Russia. Only thing holding me back, it's the Sky TV feed. 80 bucks isn't going to kill me, but I hate giving money to assholes.
Hamilton's dad is a non-person because Lewis hates him (with good reason, if what I'd been told by contemporaries is true) and his attempt to manage OTHER drivers turned out about as well as the same plotline did in Sly Stallone's "Driven".
Stage fathers are as bad as mothers. They might have gotten their kids to the big show, but the kids are ones that doing the hard work to excel and stay there.
Sit in the background and bask in their success that you did good.
Max supposedly gets on well with his old man. His old man has managed a few times to not end up in prison. There really needs to be a "You're my dad. I love you. STFU. Please". If there was a bomb threat called in at a F1 track, first person I'd be thinking of would-be Jos as the one making the threat.
The wife saw the rename and looked at me like I had something to do with it.
I also suggested we just call it Minardi, which was before her time watching F1, but she somehow knew what I was talking about and agreed it was a good idea.
There were a lot of tourists I met when I was teaching in Japan who were there for Instagram shots rather than sharing experiences with the people there. It's like a lot of people look at the country and consider it a toy and the people in it like dolls. At 180CM I stand a lot taller than most of the people I met (my father-in-law is particularly short) but it's been a long time since Japanese were "other" enough to me that they were mere dolls. All you have to do is spend some real time with them and you can see the samurai just beneath the surface of the current culture. Anyway, CashVisaBS team did Yuki dirty. Ricciardo sucks. Since Sargent got into early trouble I had only him (Tsunoda) to root for and I didn't think his "tantrum" was childish at all. I'd be pissed off too.
It is interesting to imagine some sort of trans-national alliance against the current regimes. Japan seems to be doing very well at continuing to exist. Perhaps returning to a more historically normal level of population, but retaining its essential character.
My working theory is that only the technology and the names of things have changed since the Heian period. Oh, and how seldom they now kill each other.
Sadly that's everywhere now, people want superficial rather than real experiences. Like how my coworkers and industry friends want to rave about some tourist paella place in Barcelona rather than going to one of the older local seafood places I find. The tourist spot has fancy lights and looks better in pictures
Upper Michigan is just rocks and trees. You can see the same shit in almost every other state in the country, the only unique thing being that it was isolated and uncrowded. Now Pictured Rocks gets 2 million morons every year and those morons have spilled over into the other neat spots. Of course they rarely wander far from their idiotic campers so if you go far enough into the woods you're still alone.
Could be worse. I worked with 2 people who's idea of a travel vacation was Disney World. Every year. For decades. The biggest decision was what resort on the property to stay at.
Disney jackets (Plural), coffee mugs, socks, purses, pencil holders. In an office.
One of them (Female) would go once a year. The other (Male) twice a year.
These 2 were unique. Worst I've ever seen in that regard. My sis had a woman boss that would take enough family to fill a small school bus to Disney every year. She'd brag on what she would spend. I think the number was 15,000 bucks. That was a few years ago, probably 20 grand now if she's still doing it.
$20,000 would be a an entire "F1 Experience" weekend at Miami for my wife and I PLUS a few extra days on the beach before or after with delicious, expensive meals at nice restaurants and a premium rented car after flying upgraded to at least Delta Comfort+. Fuck Didney Whorl at that kind of price point.
EDIT: changed 15 to 20 to better represent today's inflated price point
My nephew was playing in a College Bowl game in Tampa a few years ago. My sis, his brothers, her ex and some others all went down for the game. One of the days there, they drive to Disney World.
After the visit my sister told the boys, "If you have kids and 'Invite' me along to Disney World to be a baby sitter, you can count me out. This place is a soul sucking hell hole. I'll take your kid(s) at my house, and you can go, but I'm not going". The boys agreed.
That's nothing new, most everywhere in the world has that. "OK everyone, this stop will be 10 minutes long, use it wisely!!!" Click, click, click, click.......
More to prove you were somewhere, than to figure out why it is worth being there.
In Yukio Mishima's last book of the Sea of Fertility tetralogy he makes this very lament. The main character is at some historically significant scenic area in Japan watching people take their pictures and leave. I see it here, too. Few are the people who seem to understand why they are somewhere, or at least have an idea that they're having an actual experience, rather than just insta-whoring it up.
I've come to the conclusion that many believe (or want) the real world to be inside the borders of an electronic display. Be it phone, tablet, monitor or TV. If what is inside that rectangle offends you or bores you, you just turn it off or find something else.
The "Meat World" exists outside of the rectangle. There are real ramifications in life. It is not that easy to control at your whim. There's comfort inside the rectangle. Insta-whoring it up, is giving everyone else the best and cleaned up version of what you want to be reality.
Re: Airsoft, just put a good dot sight on it and call it a day. The shot distance isn't great enough for a scope to have a net benefit.
To my earlier comment, "sucks and rocks" is the domain of that I call watchers. There are doers and watchers and the watchers don't have the requisite experience to make nuanced judgements so they want a binary or high contrast answer. We all watch sports from time to time, but what makes it interesting is having enough personal experience to be engaged and assess the performance of the participants. That's why I don't watch most sports. I have no personal connection to them. I can't understand why the masses are so obsessed with watching others do what they are incapable of and then natter about it endlessly on Monday.
Because I can do it, just not well. I played rec basketball as a kid. I played front yard football. I played baseball. I play golf poorly, occasionally. So it’s fun to watch someone do it well. And besides, as Bill Burr said, it’s amazing to watch a group of men come together and triumph over adversity. It’s what separates us from chicks, who want to watch other chicks tear each other down.
I agree with you on the watchers, but I think the "sucks and rocks" is also partly a symptom of the "hot take" social media age we live in. Everything needs to fit into 30 seconds, so it's very difficult to have nuanced opinions and explanations. Even for watchers, you can have quite nuanced discussions on the couch or at the bar watching a game/race with friends, it's not so easy online.
YOU GUYS!! BOISE HAS THE ONLY INEOS DEALER IN THE COUNTRY! TAKE THAT, LOS ANGELES! SUCK IT, ATLANTA! I knew them as "the blue team from the Tour De France," before starting to receive mailers about it from the local luxury dealer. But I SAW MY FIRST GRENADIER YESTERDAY. It's as big in real life as you'd imagine. A huge $70,000 truck that only seats five with a sparse, utilitarian interior? I guess richies will fly in to Boise, pick up a Grenadier, then drive it ~3 hours to Sun Valley to Be Seen.
Now, the more serious question: Was the owner of the Grenadier eating at:
1. The mormon softdrink shop
2. The ramen shop
3. The mexican food joint
4. Or buying shoes at SAS
5. Or buying a BNPL prepaid phone at the wireless store?
(spoiler: I have no idea. No one in the ramen restaurant looked like a Grenadier owner.)
I want a diesel Grenadier so badly. Even if it's a turd and worse day to day than my Expedition. Too bad we get gas only, and I wonder what the markups will look like. It really is what the Defender should've been, while the current Defender is a fantastic Discovery.
The Grenadier has gotten middling at best reviews, even from the pliant British press.
Although they may think a rich guy like Sir Jim deserves a kicking, so that they can reserve their praise for the likes of McLaren, Aston Martin, JLR, etc.
Do the ugly Rivian and Hummer 12,000 lb porkers get good reviews? You're well aware people buy these oddball expensive cars because they want a vehicle the hoi polloi don't have--something that turns heads--not because they're good.
I have now seen half a dozen of them. The first one was wrapped (as described above), the rest have been SS (so hard to know if they are unique observations).
The Yuki situation sounds similar to the Formula Drift DeNofa-Stuke drama at the Englishtown event last year. DeNofa absolutely dominated the battle (went on to win his first and only championship), but Stuke's crew chief protested the call on a technical rule. Stuke won the protest, resulting in a "one more time" battle. Upon hearing this, DeNofa went over to Stuke's pit and let loose a verbal fury (giving us the iconic line "pack your shit on the fuckin trailer!") In the one more time battle, Stuke crashed into a wall on his first lap, ending is weekend and DeNofa was knocked out by teammate Adam LZ in the next battle.
That story conveniently segues us into my announcement; I hereby declare myself the official (though unasked for) ACF-FD correspondent! I see Moto GP, off-road, and sports car racing updates in the comments, so I thought I would contribute updates on the only professional series of any kind I seriously follow. 2024 will be my 5th year following the championship, and my 3rd year doing grassroots drifting myself. I have 2 friends who drive in the ProSpec series (4 rounds instead of 8, smaller tires), numerous closer friends who work on their crews and have worked on Pro1 teams in the past. Every round is livestreamed on youtube for free, and although some coincide with events I'm driving here in Michigan, I will always catch up and bring the highlights here on Wednesdays; though I will gladly answer questions about FD or anything related to drifting for those who are genuinely curious at any time! Streets of Long Beach kicks this season off April 13, same day as my season.
I've been drifting for about a decade and even used to run some private events here in WV before the lawyers got involved, but I'm taking a hiatus now to try some club racing. I never cared too much for FD, but it is interesting to see the diversity in car builds and engine choices at that level. One thing I'll always love about drifting is that at the grassroots level you could get your friends involved who weren't necessarily into motorsports. I put lots of friends in the passenger seat with a borrowed helmet who had a blast riding along. I look forward to hearing your perspective.
Ah man why the lawyers? I totally understand not caring about FD. It's almost unattainable for a majority of drivers, although still far more than NASCAR, IMSA, or F1, and sometimes the battles are hard to watch because the cars themselves are so extreme now. Everyone making 1100+hp on the widest, stickiest tires they can use and treating FD like sideways NHRA leaves such little room for error, which means there's less room for aggressive driving and style. Still, the battles that are good are very fun to watch.
I've been considering a shift in personal motorsport participation as well. I enjoy drifting but I think I'm ready to move onto club racing soon myself. I also have a wedding to pay for in a year, so I'm considering selling my E36 midway thru or at the end of this season, and possibly picking up a Spec Racer Ford (as recommended by Jack) after the wedding.
My favorite part about drifting though is taking someone for their first laps. I like sharing my passions with others, and that's the best way I've found so far.
Meh, I don't care how fast they can go. DeNofa looked back at data from like 2016 and the Irwindale entry and bank today is only like 6-7mph faster, but the cars are exponentially harder to drive. The juice ain't worth the squeeze.
But, I would like to see what an unlimited class could do, lower weight and ideal geometries would be the main advantages there. I want to see aggressive tandems and max style, the velocity is kind of a given to drift the bank of a 1/2mi oval.
The lack of custom geometries is the only one that really bugs me. Being constrained by something designed for a pedestrian car 30 plus years ago at the pinnacle of a pro motorsport field is retarded.
I agree to an extent. I think it would be cool if you could build an ideal ideal car like Forsberg's Altimaniac tube frame monster, but I honestly like that restriction because it provides a challenge to the teams to get a chassis to work with its inherent advantages or flaws. I also like it because it further differentiates the chassis themselves, regardless of driver or engine choice. It's like when NASCAR went to spec chassis and body silhouettes; using factory base chassis is a great way to keep the field varied and interesting.
Also, keeping a stock chassis with stock-ish pickup points is much more in line with the "spirit" of drifting. Yes FD is expensive to compete in, but it's nowhere near most other professional, best in the country motorsports. Opening the rules up would kill that.
how about a driftrace series where you race on a road course and have zones in the corners where your cars have to be at least at a specified angle to your direction of travel? should i patent this idea?
There are zones they need to fill with the rear outer corner of the car, and clips to hit (not literally) with the front inner corner, and an ideal line to take in between them. D1GP in Japan and FIA drifting have a ton of telemetry computers on board to actually measure the angle, speed, distance from clips/zones, and proximity to the other car (closer is better). The winners are more clear cut based on data, but it's like watching robots drive; very precise, little flare or surprises. In Formula Drift USA, Drift Masters in Europe, and most other competitions, all aspects of qualification and battles are judged by 3 humans.
Now, it would be interesting to combine all this with overall lap times as you suggested. Door to door would be even more exciting, though passing opportunities may be limited.
The thought of this reminds me of ski-cross, take two similar but not overlapping events and combine them into one wild crash filled spectacle, brilliant.
In a way, yes. But, people have forgotten that RTR has pulled similar cards in the past themselves, only they were able to take maximum advantage and win the OMT. I respect Chelsea's passion and found his outburst amusing, but he and his team would've done the same thing. Everyone is there to win after all!
0. Yuki drove the better weekend, hands down. 1-0 to him.
1. The call to allow Riccardo past was legit at the time. That he did not make an impression on Magnussen is a demerit to him. They SHOULD have swapped places back.
2. I don't particularly care about whether he buzzed another car or whatever else was said by non-entities in the press. (interestingly this is the first time I'm hearing about it, and I watched the whole thing). It's down to the team, and internal only. I also don't think it was in bad taste or unwarranted.
3. He is treated as a man-child with temper tantrums, as that is empirically evident. Full stop.
4. Liam Lawson demonstrated genuine talent, and I'd be a little sad if he never got another opportunity again.
5. You keep trying to put down Ricciardo euphemistically by calling him a journeyman driver, BUT, Yuki hasn't even shown the potential to be a race winner, which Ricciardo has under his belt. IF he was genuinely up for it, there is a clear spot when Perez eventually walks off into retirement (any minute now).
6. He is a Honda backed driver through and through. He wouldn't be in that seat without Honda supplying engines.
As for this bimbo that generated this whine-fest (I'm trying to be gentle here): If SHE feels SO uncomfortable doing her job in her 'WORK ENVIRONMENT' then maybe she needs to, I don't know, run a lemonade stand or something. Her work seems like a screaming metaphor for her being unfit for the task at hand. Maybe she just NEEDS to be poor and miserable cause that's all she references. Making fun of middle class people that actually earn their way into what they think is right for them, is just pathetic. Again, why not go back to the slum, lady?
One of them has a seat in Formula 1, admittedly courtesy of Honda’s influence.
The other one is auditioning / interviewing for the job. And he shows up on Netflix driving a Toyota (!!!!!!!) and whines about not getting the job. Do that behind closed doors, but not on Netflix.
1. Honda is going to perpetually supply engines to Red Bull, or going to have enough of a say for who drives in EACH of the 4 seats their engines support.
2. He 'invited' Netflix or that those drivers have a say in when and where they show up and record.
If you're going to 'read between the lines' you might as well do a good job of it.
Honda has provided the engines for both RB teams for years and years. As a result, particularly after the “works” agreement officially ended (on paper), they get to exert influence over one of the seats. Hence Yuki. From 2026, Honda will be supplying Aston, not Red Bull.
Lawson showed he’s not ready for primetime by appearing on Netflix driving a Toyota. This is, imo, a fireable offense given he’s a nobody who doesn’t have an F1 contract. Absolutely, utterly, unbelievably stupid.
There are still HONDA logos in the same places on all 4 cars. I don't care what the 'works' press releases mean, its all show.
I will choose to disagree about your last paragraph, you're being unnecessarily obtuse and rigid. Its a good thing YOU or I don't make up the requirements for driving in one of those seats, or for that matter Jack - who just throws random guesses and biases out there.
I don’t have Netflix for personal reasons, but things like this are why I watch F1 races and read Racefans.net.
And that’s all.
I would love for there to be somewhere I could go for more, but aside from this place, I haven’t found one yet. So I think I will be satisfied with my lot and just keep watching the races and cheering for McLaren and Haas.
Joe Saward (Green Notebook is free, his other stuff is paid - I subscribe to all of his stuff): https://joesaward.wordpress.com/
Finally … there are many podcasts, but I recommend The-Race, F1 Beyond The Grid (official Liberty content), F1 Nation (more official content), and missed Apex.
I find he reserves his best writing for The-Race, where he also appears frequently on their excellent podcast.
Motor Sport Magazine is apparently for sale, and the price of asking is fairly low. Per BusinessF1, is hasn’t turned a profit in over a decade, and has in fact lost over $10MM since the financial crisis.
I am very much not here to defend Kate Wagner, who has been in the same online circles I am in for years and is famously brittle and resistant to substantive back-and-forth. But to criticize her you don't have to defend the laughable houses she chronicles in her social media. Their owners aren't representative "successful normies," they're the few with the very worst taste.
To put some of these dwellings in car terms, imagine if you took a big normie CUV like a Palisade or Grand Highlander or something and put a vinyl roof, every chrome accessory at Pep Boys, and a fake matte black bull bar on it.
I liked Atlas Shrugged enough to finish it, but I really struggled with The Fountainhead. I skipped a lot of chapters because I just couldn't stand some characters. Also, I had just read CS Lewis' Till We Have Faces and that was phenomenally good, and nothing Rand has written measures up to that.
The Greeks used them to hold up the roof yet provide openness; we use them as decoration and to convery "opulence". I've yet to see a load bearing ionic column in modern design.
If all you have is carved marble, then you might as well make it pretty. I'm sure if the Greeks had something stronger/thinner/lighter to support their buildings (i.e. structural steel) they would have been all over it.
I thought her criticism was funny and interesting (in 2016). Then the mask started to slip and she had to make it known that her blog was some sort of political statement rather than just dunking on ugly houses.
Funny how that seems to happen with all of them nowadays. You can't just comment on art, it has to be some meta societal critique. I'll never forget my art history professor going after a girl in class who tried to put some socialist spin on a landscape portrait -- he said, it's just art, start with what you see and what it makes you feel not everything is political some things can just be observations, and others ugly
The problem is, I’ve bought three houses in my life and in each case “aesthetics” ranks way far down the list of what I’m looking for. I don’t want to buy anything too heinous looking, but location, size, features, and oh by the way, what’s on the market and available rank way far above “is it ugly” in my buying criteria. McMansion critics seem to not understand this. If you want to live in certain places, and buy in at a certain price point, you may have to buy a “McMansion”. Boo the fucking hoo.
They say they hate them, until they have the cash and it's time to buy where they end up in either a McMansion or something even more hideously grotesque.
At least a lot of the wagon guys seem to try and buy any old wagon.
-signed the guy who VW wouldn't let order a brown manual diesel wagon
I wouldn't say that. If you mean size, that's one thing. If you mean tacky that's another. Some of the places she's dumping on have the same esthetic as a double wide on cinder blocks with a hound dog on a chain living underneath it.
Proof that for one moment in her life she wasn't actively trying to look miserable.
Sometimes the wife fantasies about big sq foot mc mansions near her family in Florida. In the end we are happy that we always spent the money on nicer lots that back to public land or nature conservancy land, which is the same thing but with shady payment transfers.
Aw, she's puppy-dog cute! At least in that picture (which is the only one I've seen of her, having never heard her name before today unless she was mentioned in another post here at ACF).
Both mid sized. Bone structure in the same ballpark. In the before pictures she is smiling, happy, doing things to accentuate her attractive bits, maybe using a little makeup to even out her complexion.
So a few more years of FL sun damage, the hivemind shit, being "inspired" by Leena Dunham, I could see it.
At some point you called someone "attractive because they are young" Pic one has that in spades.
I have a post request. Can we have a spotters guide for these auto journos? I enjoy the content but don't actually read any of these magazines. I am having trouble keeping the formerly puppy cute ones, the ones with the thick lower sections, and the women who may have penises straight.
"But to criticize her you don't have to defend the laughable houses she chronicles in her social media. Their owners aren't representative "successful normies," they're the few with the very worst taste."
Buying a tasteful house is a genuine luxury, in the sense that it's almost impossible to do in any cost-representative way. I understand why people end up with McMansions. They're terrified to do it any other way, and even if they could, they wouldn't be able to afford it. I've had two houses built. In both cases I put close to $100k extra into the place to make sure it was not entirely tacky -- a lot of real Scandinavian and Herman Miller furniture, Sub-Z fridge, natural and "modern" materials everywhere -- but I wasn't gonna get CLOSE to building a proper architecture house.
Those Texas McMansions sell for $500k to a million. Want to guess how much it would cost to do a Rocio Romero LVL on a standard lot in Ohio? I don't have to guess. I did the numbers on those and many other similar options.
Ugly houses are sad -- but why be so proud of your Target shorts then dunk on other people for living in the equivalent of Target shorts?
Let's conjecture there are two groups of people causing this to happen. In my hood at least.
The first is developers. They have a bunch of sets of standard plans that they modify to suit the site, while maximizing the metrics that maximize their earnings - specifically, FAR, beds/baths, and sellable featurization ("honey, there's a golf simulator!"). Sometimes these houses are junk, and sometimes, honest to God, the developer hires the right architect and gets it right.
You can see the houses that are owner designed though. These are typically differentiable in a few key ways:
-Over expense in facade material or other external building material, eg stone, cast stone, or brick on all sides of house. Similarly, a new house with a slate roof was specified in such a way by the owner. Ditto standing seam or ceramic roof materials.
-Biggest tell is when the house has an unusual or unique layout and/or sizing that fails to maximize FAR, beds/baths, ceiling heights, etc.
A lot of this stuff could be resolved by hiring a skilled architect, insisting on keeping architectural style consistent throughout the home, and sacrificing a bit of floor area for better design.
I never saw what my cousin did on Cape Cod. He bought a house, knocked it down and started all over again. Then retires a few years later and moves to Las Vegas.
It's perfectly possible to have an ordinary suburban house in a subdivision, even a large one on a small lot, without it becoming a McMansion. It may be boring, but
it's not horrendous. The stuff Kate chronicles is the worst of the worst.
To continue with the car analogy, she's not pointing out every Grand Highlander she sees, just the ones with the over-the-top Pep Boys treatment.
Having said that, I'm in the last stages of building a new house right now, and we deliberately gave up some potential size (it's 2700 sf on a lot where the city would allow 4000) and a lot of Buyers Love These Features! to try to preserve some sense of taste.
"and we deliberately gave up some potential size (it's 2700 sf on a lot where the city would allow 4000) and a lot of Buyers Love These Features! to try to preserve some sense of taste."
You have my respect for that, and I think you'll enjoy having done so.
No lie, I've been considering a vacation based on the locations of Herman Miller stores. I am not saying I'm going to buy a $10k chair, but if I do I am damn well going to sit in one first.
Well spec'd sir, I mainly want to know whether or not I need the regular or tall size, if I end up in central Ohio before I make it to one of the larger metros with a store I'll let you know.
If you ever need a office chair for the home, hit up a used office furniture store. I bought a Steelcase Leap chair in 2013 for around 400 bucks. It was built in 2005. There's 2 versions of the Leap online. Mine looks like the expensive one that starts at 12-1300. The Version 2 is around 600.
Best thing I ever did. I was going through cheap ass chairs from Staples every 18 months because I worked from home. I needed to replace yet another, did the math and thought "If I buy one more cheap one after this one, It will cost more than the quality used one". So, I have a 19 year old office chair that other than one stain mark on it, looks almost brand new.
The place was in an old mill building. Huge building. Guy opens the big sliding doors and it looked the Indiana Jones warehouse filled with artifacts. "Pick one out, roll it out and hit the buzzer on the wall over there". Then he leaves. I had about 20 to pick from in that model. There must have been a thousand chairs in the space. Along with desks, credenzas.
I've had a hand me down desk chair that my mother bought from a garage sale in 1980 that I never paid any attention to since it was never used regularly. Well when Covid had me working from home, I started using it every day assuming I would quickly identify it's short comings and replace it with a modern chair. As it turns out it is still a great desk chair, after a few months I finally took a closer look at it and found a small bronze emblem pressed into the lower side of the back support. It was made by the W.H. Gunlocke Chair Co. in Wayland NY, and here is someone trying to sell the exact chair I have on Etsy for 1k.
"Ugly houses are sad -- but why be so proud of your Target shorts then dunk on other people for living in the equivalent of Target shorts?"
People hate mirrors, or the realization that they live in a glass house.
Most folks also need to consider resale when buying a house, since they do want it to at least be a store of value in addition to a home. It's why I may end up with a McMansion or a "Miami Modern" rather than something unique - we move too often and aren't wealthy enough to build for ourselves.
About 300k to get it there fitted out. Another 200-250k to get it planted. Plus the cost of the land. So $700,000 and you don't have a garage or a basement. But... even the contractors willing to do the work told me I'd wait a year or two and that costs could swing 50 percent. And no bank wanted to touch it. The LVL is for people with trust funds who can spend cash all the way through.
2207. On pre-existing utilities. And I'd put the 750k total cost as being only vaguely reflective of reality. These are the same outlets that told me people were doing LVs for $200k on the ground. And when I called those people, they laughed.
I have been told, sotto voce, that it would be eminently achievable at a reasonable price per foot (by a GC). Assuming you eliminate the cantilever, which I would.
karen and i 20 years ago looked at a new house that had high ceilings with moldings that looked like they were a whole catalog display, and a fireplace built into the back of the staircase from upstairs to the front hall. felt like some kind of joke house.
Edit to totally revise after revisiting that blog:
When the McMansion Hell blog was new, Kate was typically lambasting cost-constrained local-plumbing-supply-company-owner's rural manse. Some of the houses at that time were obviously not architect-designed. They were builder-designed, or owner-built, or added-to-over-time, or just value engineered to hell.
The ones at the top of her website right now (2023-24) do not appear to be cost constrained, and it's beyond me to defend these houses or their owners.
In years prior though, she was often clearly lambasting owner-built homes. No matter how ugly or incongruous the house, the act of building one yourself is a massive undertaking, which can't always be started on ideal terms (unlimited funds, unlimited time, unlimited help from a considerate architect helping to reify and de-uglify one's vision). The new ones shes taking to task aren't even mcmansion hell so much as an-architect-wasn't-involved-in-this-at-all hell
With all this said - its honestly kinda funny when you consider she's putting on airs in a weird way. It's not the typical high-born vs low, but in this case the high-educated-but-broke looking down on the prole-but-successful. That latter group keeps my drains unclogged and AC humming. Out of sheer appreciation for the fact that they maintain everything my family depends on, I generally try to resist the urge to insult their stuff and way of life. The houses shes posted in the past years though (https://mcmansionhell.com/post/727107339532091392/bonus-mcmansion-hell-ye-olde-barrington ) are transgressions against good taste so barbaric even I wouldn't defend them
"but in this case the high-educated-but-broke looking down on the prole-but-successful."
This is the engine behind SO MUCH of Twitter hatred.
They don't hate rich people for being rich. They hate rich people because the path to money doesn't include reading about gender for 8 years in college then being Extremely Online.
Same with all the calls for socialism, because clearly an economic system that gives some rube in the trades more money than a striver with a masters degree is wrong, production of useful goods be damned.
Even worse than their hate is their insidious belief that the successful proles have ZERO redeeming qualities as human beings. The highly educated but broke extrapolate this solely from an external element they can view, whether it’s the prole’s house, car, clothes, or look.
We’re intimately familiar with this. One of my wife’s childhood friends is pretty smart, went to Northwestern (because scholarship money offered there made it cheaper than the U if I her family could not have afforded) and studied ancient Latin studies or some stupid shit (she’s just as white as my WASP ass). Married the college dropout line cook from her summer waitressing job who is 10 years older and still follows Widespread Panic around the country, but he dresses like a hipster and says all the right liberal things. Wrote her PhD thesis on some dead Mexican language. Got a job at a small college in a southern state as an adjunct professor of Latin Studies or some shit. Has a 6y/o trans “daughter”. The couple might make $100k between them.
When we occasionally have them over, the derision just oozes off of them, as if “how can these uneducated monkies have so much and we have so little?” Which, by the way, we are not uneducated by any comparison (BS in accounting from good school + MBA for me, BS in finance from UIUC for my wife), but we chose to go into a profession that, ugh, just deals with money and not intellectual pursuits. How droll and unenlightened. I always make sure Charlie Daniels is playing on the stereo when they come over.
I think you and they need to have a "Conversation". You seem angry about people with intellects higher than yours. </sarc>
Or if your wife agrees, you can get in their grills one last time if they get dismissive. Before that, ask them if they've ever seen this. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHMi-j7W2gM
Then say, you wish MLB had this at the games. Warning, the misses might not approve. NSFW with the W for wife.
"case the high-educated-but-broke looking down on the prole-but-successful"
It's everywhere these days online, these useless admins think they should be running the world because they have a piece of paper and don't understand the real work by others put in to earn the money and positions they're in.
What exactly is her background/family net worth? I don't see a bio other than the tautological McMansion/road bike blogger references. Is she Joe Strummer or Sid Vicious?
Full size Figurines with the pubic hair painted black? Someone did that in Beverly Hills a few decades ago. Buys something and goes to town with the black paint.
So as someone who's moving beyond casual Fernando Alonso follower of F1, it really seems that this weekend's race all came down to the cars more than anything. Almost all the places were grouped by manufacturer and it seems (as can be expected) that things should get more interesting as the cars are refined.
The Tsunoda affair makes total sense in that context, he know he and Ricciardo had equal cars and he was driving it better so getting ordered to let his teammate who was doing worse try the same thing is frustrating, more so given that he's been questioned for a while. Like Jack, I'll admit to doing some obnoxious things out of frustration post-race both rowing and cycling, but thankfully not under this sort of microscope. Sure it'll get played up for the TV drama, but it's to be expected if you've raced before.
It is not atypical for cars to finish in a “Noah’s Ark” formation - two by two - with the field ordered in terms of competitive performance. Some tracks present difficulty in terms of passing (e.g, Monaco), but Bahrain is not one of those.
The thing that makes it interesting is the deviation from the expected norm / outcome and how the protagonists react to that. The first race of the season was a pretty dull snoozer if you only care about watching the cars circulate. But everything involving Christian Horny and Jos and MBS, etc. is legitimate front page news because it’s captivating and 73 million people watch each race, so they are invested in what those characters do.
"The thing that makes it interesting is the deviation from the expected norm / outcome and how the protagonists react to that"
That's why I've been drawn into watching and following more. It's kind of like cycling a few years back when Sky/Ineos were dominating the Tours -- the excitement was seeing who would try and challenge them on that day and what was happening mid pack to create some drama amongst the results.
To me, Bahrain was fun to watch as an opening race to see the split within that "Noah's Ark" and how some drivers like Alonso made a big difference versus his teammate or seeing George Russell stay ahead of Lewis. I'm not invested enough in the personal drama yet, but it's definitely interesting.
He never climbed anywhere near well enough to compete. He was a smaller sprinter, so well suited for one day races and taking more green points mid stage on hilly days. The one-day guy I would've loved to see really take a crack at a GC would've been Alaphilippe and he did quite well before the mudslide incident the one year.
It’s like college football - you tune in not to see Alabama (or another powerhouse) beat their opponent 41-3. You tune in to see how Alabama plays when Ole Miss is driving in the third and is actually leading Alabama 24-17.
Or similar.
Also - Alonso really didn’t outperform Lance in Bahrain. He qualified better and Lance got hit by Nico at Turn 1, which dropped him to the back. Lance recovered to finish just behind Fernando. Part of that is the pace order / Noah’s Ark dynamic.
Agree, you turn in for the drama and ongoing rivalries that make races closer than they should be.
I guess I see the qualifiers as part of racing, so he was a bit better and held it over the weekend. Even if there was a hit. I also only tuned in around mid-way through the race when I got back from my bike ride, so I only saw him and Hamilton a bit apart chasing each other mid race.
Oh I know, but for me it starts with race day and then following the drama gets entertaining once I know the race and protagonists. It’s how I got to follow cycling, because you start realizing how what happens day of is just the result of the politics and drama from the rest of the year
If you want to watch close racing with a lot if talented drivers able to win, IndyCar’s first race is Sunday. And no, I don’t care it’s a spec series with an ancient chassis.
Never liked him and I’m exactly the putative audience. Those fucking doorknob earrings, before he’d won shit.
Give me Prost (about whose childhood I was always free to know nothing). Give me Ironhead (about whose childhood I make certain assumptions which he failed to campaign on).
i've seen a few amazing standouts in regional races thru the decades who didn't have the $. a dozen years before that, guys would've been saying 'you looked pretty good in your tr-2; wanna drive my ferrari tomorrow?' it useta happen!
Obviously he's mixed race. I'm of 100% Eastern European stock and his mom is whiter than me.
His parents weren't Lando, Lance parent's rich. Even RIC parents have a couple of bucks. But, he wasn't poor. He called this a slum. He then backtracked with the usual wishy/washy apology.
Open Thread topic : I've got my and Jack's XS1100 carbs both torn apart on my work bench right now and my mental state has vacillated between "mad scientist on the verge of a great discovery" and "I'm going to put a gun in my mouth"
My buddy and I rebuilt a carb for his CJ. It was tedious and pre-youtube all we had was an exploded view. Got it back together with no parts left over! Then when he was going to put it on the intake he turned it over to look at something and a piece (I think the float valve) fell inside. He visibly flinched to prevent himself from throwing it in a nearby pond. I left.
"I left."
It is truly amazing how much emotion two little words can convey.
Almost poetry.
Yeah you can envision the whole situation beginning to end with that.
Needs a Haiku written that ends in I left.
when a piece fell in
the carb we had just rebuilt
my friend flinched, I left
Wishing you all the best! It’s almost twenty years since I rebuilt my GL1000’s carbs over a few weeks in January/February. I’m still not quite over the trauma, and that’s while having used an excellent kit from Randakk’s Cycle Shack.
That’s how I would feel if I had 8 disassembled carburetors in front of me too.
I can smell the chemtool from here
^ Like you've ever MET anyone as smart as Kamala Harris, Joe Biden, Markwayne Mullin, or John Fetterman?
To some degree it's also been built by the current overeducated "elite" as a way to preserve their own status, while pulling up ladders for others to move up. It makes it very easy to question people's credentials as a "DEI" admit/hire, and actually makes some of this racism happen.
DEI is a way for the current elite to protect their spice.
The spice must flow
I agree. Well, I'm off. Time to milk a cat.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1d2Ac7IoDuc
One of the comments is "THE MILK MUST FLOW!"
There's more mobility than you or I think. We look at our social circle and everyone is mostly where we are -- because they're our peer group. However when looking at data, there's a lot to contradict that.
Former Senator Phil Gramm wrote a book recently "The Myth of American Inequality" where he did a deep dive into that very question using census bureau (and other) data. He broke down households into five quintiles -- lower class, lower-middle, middle, upper-middle, and upper class. Both 2010's and 1970's. Also had an interesting bar-chart in a WSJ op-ed they wrote -- illustrating where each quintile (ipso facto 20%) was vs where their parents were. [Sadly the op-ed is behind a paywall.]
Key takeaways:
1. If we had no class mobility, each group would have had 100% parents in the same quintile as you. And 0% from other quintiles. IT's not.
2. IF we had perfect class mobility, each of the quintiles would have exactly 20% of their parents in each of the quintiles. (i.e. where you are vs your parents would have been pretty random). It's also not true.
3. While a large plurality are in the same quintile as their parents, most move at least one (or more) quintiles. Three to ten percent move from one end to the other in a generation -- both ways.
4. Once you count in transfer payments -- taxes on the upper class and direct/indirect govt benefits to the lower class -- the gap between rich and poor is not as great as you'd think.
5. Once you factor in those transfer payments, the gap between lower class and lower-middle class is not very large. Which provides people in lower middle a powerful incentive not to work at all.
6. Our standard of living has risen so much, that people in the middle quintile today (middle-middle class) would have been upper class a generation ago.
Funny in the last year+ Fetterman has become more tolerable to the right and hated by the left.
Stroke-recovered-Fetterman has been ticking off his tribe lately with his based takes
>recover from stroke
>become more rational
what did he mean by this
https://nypost.com/2014/04/20/how-a-brain-injury-turned-a-college-dropout-into-a-genius/
nice
im going to juggle hammers in the backyard now
fingers crossed
only where there's no competition
I love the fact you are embracing the second topic of today’s ACF and going full “Kate Wagner”.
Please let us know what you get!
At 6’2 I have only driven Miatas with the top down and wish I would fit in one. I don’t think there is a bad choice as Miata is always the answer “if you fit”.
I'm 6'3" and fit in an NC. Don't think I'd fit in ANY of the others.
I think I have only had the opportunities to ride in NA and NB versions. Would love to drive a NC or a new one. Enjoyed the ride, had a great time, but could not make it work. My buddy still owns the NA as his fun car.
The NA is probably the best 'fun car' as it's the easiest to thrash and stay remotely legal.
Love cars you can do this to and look down and still be legal-ish. So much more fun to drive and they don’t put you to sleep. The drive is part of the reward rather than a chore.
Not getting smashed by those around you checking phones, shaving, and putting on makeup make the game Frogger look tame and is a whole different issue.
Six two with surgically-provided 32" inseam, I sit like a six-three or six four person. I fit into NC easily, ND and its worth it.
Would two more inches of torso than you disqualify one (by which I mean me) from NC fitment?
Not unless you need to wear a helmet.
There are seat bracket kits that buy you almost 2" of headroom.
So does this lower the seat rails?
Sounds like that may do the trick.
Yes. The best/most expensive modifies the seat base and retains full function. The cheapest is fixed in position and the newest is a slide and wrench tighten affair.
Another reason to follow or look at specialty groups specific to a car. If it’s an issue someone will try to address it.
I had no idea and now I need to look at used cars……
And if the seat still isn't low enough, you can cut the floor out and weld in a drop panel.
https://www.advanced-autosports.com/products/spec-miata-floor-drop
I don't know if they deal, but SCCA members get "S-Plan" pricing. Don't know if you could drive a better bargain on your own or not.
Most people won't, not on a Miata, but there are also a lot of dealers who won't take that pricing. They have the option to turn it down.
No two Mazda dealers will be alike. You have options and you're not driven by short term considerations. Call every dealer in a 300 mile radius and work the best deal.
Like any other brand dealers are hit and miss. The dealer we bought the CPO cx-5 from was horrible. The dealer I bought my ND club was excellent. If you go for the club with recaros, try them out on a long test drive. Some prefer the stock club seats over the recaros.
I bought my CX-5 from a Benz dealer in North Olmsted OH. I bought my wife's CX-9 at a Mazda dealer in Green Bay. The Mazda dealer compared favorably to the Benz dealer, but they didn't have Aston Martins, Bentleys, or other exotic cars to drool over while we waited for F&I. The Mazda dealer in Escanaba was trash to deal with and they closed down a year ago. Good riddance.
base ND with coilovers/big brake kit would likely be both cheaper and better
Miata leather doesn't wear particularly well. You have to be built for the Recaros or you will hate them. The nannies they have jammed into the GT amount to sacrilege.
I just turn off all the nannies and it's glorious.
My 2022 ND GT is polymetal gray with terracotta leather interior and a six-speed. I plan to keep it forever.
MotoGP kicks off this weekend in Qatar and MotoAmerica runs at Daytona (which is boring. IMO, the long races with pit stops are a bad format).
Get your passes bought and get ready for racing!
I'm getting motorcycles ready for riding season! Much better than sitting on the couch watching others drive fast machinery.
I was out last week - still a little chilly but I take what I can get.
MotoGP hell yea
Is there an official and legal TV subscription one can buy in the US? I know how to find races after the fact, but I'm not a huge fan of watching that way.
MotoAmerica I think is broadcast but I couldn't say where.
MotoGP is NBC/CNBC but I can't find schedule info for 2024.
Oh, rights expired and there's no US broadcaster yet
https://m.gpone.com/en/2024/03/06/motogp/warner-bros-close-to-an-agreement-to-broadcast-motogp-in-america-in-2024.html
https://www.motoamerica.com/broadcast_schedule/?doing_wp_cron=1709757065.2470591068267822265625
Thanks. As I mentioned in another post, F1 and the "Drama" is pissing me off. Really bad. I know of one sight that should have the races within a couple of days.
I don't care if the drama is true, I watch for entertainment coming from the event not for DTS/Netflix reasons. Keep the BS behind closed doors. About the only thing drama wise MotoGP has is where someone will be going next year. I can live with that.
Motogp.com (subscription) has all the races live or spoiler free, as well as practice and qualifying, and the support classes. Worth every penny.
I'm taking off tomorow morning from my winter home in Naples FL, riding my '23 XSR900 up to Daytona for the races. The racing may appear boring on TV, but it's pretty cool in person (standing at the infield edge watching the bikes scream over your head at speed on the banking is a total gas!). The baggers are fun to see too: riders wrestling these improbably large and bulbous looking land yachts into and around corners is a real hoot. Manufacturer offered demo rides and display tents, plus yards of accessory Harley chromesium offer hours of entertainment. The piece de resistance is a trip downtown to the beach to see thousands of fat, bearded, and tatoo'd men (and women!) cruising and walking up and down the boulevard. You'll leave the latter with firm plans to start on a diet and take regular showers. YMMV
Bearded women you say?
Sounds like a good time.
I'm hoping to get out to Mid-O. I think it's the closest drive, but might also be taking the family to Ogden for visiting cousins and seeing UP 4014 Big Boy at the museum.
Budget constraints r real.
Wait, _regular_showers_ ?! .
Damn man .
-Nate
That's "kuh-TAHR," not "KUTT-er."
Thank you, I once got into a heated debate with my sister about this pronunciation...only one of us has been to the country and it wasn't her.
My XO was adamant it was KUTT-er and we sounded ignorant if we said it any other way. Never been, didn't think there was any benefit to disagreement.
kwaiter
Ahh McMansion Hell. That subreddit inexplicably shows up in my feed when I’m on my way to r/StraightGirlsPlaying (highly recommended and highly NSFW btw). It’s full of the kind of apartment dwelling underachievers who don’t understand why moderately successful people with $500k-1M to spend on a house don’t spend $4M on something custom and beautiful.
I used to like that site in the same voyeuristic way that I enjoy those best of Zillow accounts or whatever. It’s interesting to see how others life.
Then again, I also like John Mayer’s cover of Call Me The Breeze (albeit not as much as Skynyrd’s).
When I was a twentysomething I was MASSIVELY arch and critical about McMansions.
then I paid to have a house built
and the scales fell from my eyes
oh so THIS is why we're not building this on concrete pads tension-beamed into a mountainside
If you don’t mind, are you speaking about current or previous house?
I can’t imagine how big of a PITA it is to wrangle contractors for a new built today. I can’t even get anyone out to quote two bathrooms.
Getting people is 80% of the battle
You better believe it. Get someone to come on short notice and you'll name a future kid after them. My uncle was a plumber. He'd blow off promises to his mother and my mom. My dad wanted a gas hot water heater put in. No family discount was assumed. He was going to pay the going rate. My uncle would show up once or twice a week to shoot the breeze with mom over a shot and a beer. Dad said screw it and hired someone else. My uncle was pissed.
I needed my porch roof fixed in the fall of 2022. "No job too small". Yes it was. Got blown off by roofing people.
Called a contractor that I've used for bigger stuff. Gets a guy in a week. Guy and crew show up. The contractor likes to do remodeling stuff. Family business and the brothers like to build custom homes. I asked the guy "How did Jeff (the contractor) get you to do it?" He threatened me on the custom homes.
I'm sure there was a decent finder's fee for Jeff. A week later it was snowing. The porch no longer leaked. Money well spent.
Some of the small job stuff helps if you can see it from the contractors perspective too.
I had a really small thing I needed done and didn't have time for (small chunk of non load bearing wall). Contractor who built my barn squeezed it into his schedule, but it was about $100/hr in cash.
Similarly, if I can string together a few smaller jobs into a day of work for one of his crews, it's easier for him to put on his schedule somewhere.
I agree. But their advertising said different. Literally, "no job too small". None of them said they were too busy. Some never returned calls.
Both. This past house wasn't as much of a struggle as one might think. It helps to live where the trades live. It took 5 months from digging the hole to moving in.
And they are much easier to sell when the time comes, being what's expected. Think leggings and Uggs.
I think we can just call it Minardi, I never stopped.
What is the Verstappen angle with Jos' bizzare post race interview with whatever British paper it was? How could removing Horner possibly help Max?
I get why other Red Bull execs could be out for blood. I don't think Max owes Red Bull any loyalty, but he has a lucrative and stable contract with a team that has a lock on this era in F1. Why get rid of the guy who made it happen? He is the only team boss to achieve dominance in two technical eras, plus a driver's championship at the end.ofnthe one he didn't dominate.
I don't understand.
I’ve tried to follow the whole thing and I just don’t get it. Those texts were hardly scandalous. It read like a girl who was tired of sleeping with a married man.
After seeing pictures of the “victim”, I don’t understand why he’d throw his career away on someone so “mid”.
I think it's related how how "success" in many corporate settings simply comes from sucking to those above you and doing what's asked. Why would a man be any different when he got home?
The majority of successful men are largely there through luck or fortunate circumstances. So they're gonna simp. Because that's what the media taught them, and it's all they've ever known.
Per BusinessF1 he was sort of a late bloomer. Intensely focused on work (young F1 TP) until his late 30s. Plus look at pics of him when he was younger … he has probably visited Geri’s dentist and plastic surgeon.
I think you're over simplifying the first part, they have to do some sort of work to put themselves in that situation in the first place. It's just that they've been rewarded for the simping in too many cases, rather than actually doing something.
Most C-suite people are sociopaths who can toady up and kick down. So they toady to women until they're in control, then they kick... I agree with you.
They are driven by their need for acceptance.
Lol you said “victim”.
Every brat who’s getting less than she hoped to out of whoring is a victim now, and ‘literally’ means ‘figuratively’.
The hell with that.
“And the Louis CK Award goes to…”
It was too late to put victim in quotes after hitting send.
Use the "edit" function.
Can’t on mobile. It’s been since fixed.
Really?
That's strange. Mine works.
Where is this material, I hate 'Journalism' that only talks about how I'm supposed to interpret it, and can't find a link.
https://drive.google.com/drive/mobile/folders/1OlV2wb51s1WhjLFq0Lsp4inRU60qvdhY
Thanks, from a little reading it seems like for a while there was SOME mutual back and forth and then she started resisting. Horner is clearly an idiot for falling for this though...
You can assume that only the parts that show the woman in the least whorish and manipulative light are being shown, as well.
Based on some bad search engine work I think the specimen in question would be worse ranked than his WIFE. WTF?
Joe Saward asked a great question:
Why do the screenshots from the past show things like “CH is typing now” or “CH is active now” ?
Why would she be actively entrapping him in the moment?
I haven't seen a picture of her, but read the texts. They are bad, but paint her in a good light. I figured there's more. Also, women and men can't work together. This whole feminist thing needs to end, but it's men's fault it has happened anyway.
Google Fiona Hewitson.
(Cheers for that Drunko...)
Wow. Having slogged through the sordid lot of it, I don't see how he survives this.
The whole stream of pathetic neediness, capped off with the dick pic ( Do Not Open File #76 !), seems like a hull shot below the water-line.
Putting aside any consideration of HER behavior in this mess, how does anyone come away with any respect for the guy?
I have reached my patience searching for her name or pic. Link?
Fiona Hewitson
In a sane world it would be Max saying, "I know Lewis, that you and I don't get on. But, how much did it cost to get rid of your old man? Did you pay him off, or did you threaten to put him in a nursing home because of dementia?". Hamilton's old man has become a non-person. Maybe he shows up at Silverstone, but everyone says he's not around like before.
I understand "2026" and if RBR are going to have a decent power unit. Other than they've never done one, the PU deal is the same for everyone.
This drama isn't fun. I've clicked on my F1 TV package and have stared at the Cancel Subscription a few times. It's fucking retarded. If I did and get the urge, I can wait a few days and find it in glorious 720P out of places like Russia. Only thing holding me back, it's the Sky TV feed. 80 bucks isn't going to kill me, but I hate giving money to assholes.
Hamilton's dad is a non-person because Lewis hates him (with good reason, if what I'd been told by contemporaries is true) and his attempt to manage OTHER drivers turned out about as well as the same plotline did in Sly Stallone's "Driven".
The best Gina Gershon performance since Cocktail.
Stage fathers are as bad as mothers. They might have gotten their kids to the big show, but the kids are ones that doing the hard work to excel and stay there.
Sit in the background and bask in their success that you did good.
Max supposedly gets on well with his old man. His old man has managed a few times to not end up in prison. There really needs to be a "You're my dad. I love you. STFU. Please". If there was a bomb threat called in at a F1 track, first person I'd be thinking of would-be Jos as the one making the threat.
Kate Wagner writes "When he spoke, it was notable how often he mentioned his father and how deeply-felt his political convictions were.".
Wonder if he speaks disingenuously of both.
The wife saw the rename and looked at me like I had something to do with it.
I also suggested we just call it Minardi, which was before her time watching F1, but she somehow knew what I was talking about and agreed it was a good idea.
There were a lot of tourists I met when I was teaching in Japan who were there for Instagram shots rather than sharing experiences with the people there. It's like a lot of people look at the country and consider it a toy and the people in it like dolls. At 180CM I stand a lot taller than most of the people I met (my father-in-law is particularly short) but it's been a long time since Japanese were "other" enough to me that they were mere dolls. All you have to do is spend some real time with them and you can see the samurai just beneath the surface of the current culture. Anyway, CashVisaBS team did Yuki dirty. Ricciardo sucks. Since Sargent got into early trouble I had only him (Tsunoda) to root for and I didn't think his "tantrum" was childish at all. I'd be pissed off too.
It is interesting to imagine some sort of trans-national alliance against the current regimes. Japan seems to be doing very well at continuing to exist. Perhaps returning to a more historically normal level of population, but retaining its essential character.
My working theory is that only the technology and the names of things have changed since the Heian period. Oh, and how seldom they now kill each other.
Sadly that's everywhere now, people want superficial rather than real experiences. Like how my coworkers and industry friends want to rave about some tourist paella place in Barcelona rather than going to one of the older local seafood places I find. The tourist spot has fancy lights and looks better in pictures
Tourists can stay in the tourist spots rather than cluttering up the good places.
Upper Michigan is just rocks and trees. You can see the same shit in almost every other state in the country, the only unique thing being that it was isolated and uncrowded. Now Pictured Rocks gets 2 million morons every year and those morons have spilled over into the other neat spots. Of course they rarely wander far from their idiotic campers so if you go far enough into the woods you're still alone.
Could be worse. I worked with 2 people who's idea of a travel vacation was Disney World. Every year. For decades. The biggest decision was what resort on the property to stay at.
Disney jackets (Plural), coffee mugs, socks, purses, pencil holders. In an office.
One of them (Female) would go once a year. The other (Male) twice a year.
Oh man, I’ve worked with snd have friends who are Disney types that go annually but they seem to end it there.
I should’ve been clear this was during a business trip to an industry event that’s in Barcelona annually, so I was stuck there WITH them.
These 2 were unique. Worst I've ever seen in that regard. My sis had a woman boss that would take enough family to fill a small school bus to Disney every year. She'd brag on what she would spend. I think the number was 15,000 bucks. That was a few years ago, probably 20 grand now if she's still doing it.
$20,000 would be a an entire "F1 Experience" weekend at Miami for my wife and I PLUS a few extra days on the beach before or after with delicious, expensive meals at nice restaurants and a premium rented car after flying upgraded to at least Delta Comfort+. Fuck Didney Whorl at that kind of price point.
EDIT: changed 15 to 20 to better represent today's inflated price point
oh god thats so lame
My nephew was playing in a College Bowl game in Tampa a few years ago. My sis, his brothers, her ex and some others all went down for the game. One of the days there, they drive to Disney World.
After the visit my sister told the boys, "If you have kids and 'Invite' me along to Disney World to be a baby sitter, you can count me out. This place is a soul sucking hell hole. I'll take your kid(s) at my house, and you can go, but I'm not going". The boys agreed.
That's nothing new, most everywhere in the world has that. "OK everyone, this stop will be 10 minutes long, use it wisely!!!" Click, click, click, click.......
More to prove you were somewhere, than to figure out why it is worth being there.
In Yukio Mishima's last book of the Sea of Fertility tetralogy he makes this very lament. The main character is at some historically significant scenic area in Japan watching people take their pictures and leave. I see it here, too. Few are the people who seem to understand why they are somewhere, or at least have an idea that they're having an actual experience, rather than just insta-whoring it up.
I've come to the conclusion that many believe (or want) the real world to be inside the borders of an electronic display. Be it phone, tablet, monitor or TV. If what is inside that rectangle offends you or bores you, you just turn it off or find something else.
The "Meat World" exists outside of the rectangle. There are real ramifications in life. It is not that easy to control at your whim. There's comfort inside the rectangle. Insta-whoring it up, is giving everyone else the best and cleaned up version of what you want to be reality.
Re: Airsoft, just put a good dot sight on it and call it a day. The shot distance isn't great enough for a scope to have a net benefit.
To my earlier comment, "sucks and rocks" is the domain of that I call watchers. There are doers and watchers and the watchers don't have the requisite experience to make nuanced judgements so they want a binary or high contrast answer. We all watch sports from time to time, but what makes it interesting is having enough personal experience to be engaged and assess the performance of the participants. That's why I don't watch most sports. I have no personal connection to them. I can't understand why the masses are so obsessed with watching others do what they are incapable of and then natter about it endlessly on Monday.
That is why Formula Drift is the only professional anything I follow. I drift, so I love seeing it done at the highest level in the nation.
Because I can do it, just not well. I played rec basketball as a kid. I played front yard football. I played baseball. I play golf poorly, occasionally. So it’s fun to watch someone do it well. And besides, as Bill Burr said, it’s amazing to watch a group of men come together and triumph over adversity. It’s what separates us from chicks, who want to watch other chicks tear each other down.
I agree with you on the watchers, but I think the "sucks and rocks" is also partly a symptom of the "hot take" social media age we live in. Everything needs to fit into 30 seconds, so it's very difficult to have nuanced opinions and explanations. Even for watchers, you can have quite nuanced discussions on the couch or at the bar watching a game/race with friends, it's not so easy online.
I'm using a holo for airsoft, that was more of an "IN MINECRAFT" comment, if you get me.
I think people watch sports for the same reason they watch ballet or go to a concert. Humans like to watch other humans excel at things.
Undoubtedly!
YOU GUYS!! BOISE HAS THE ONLY INEOS DEALER IN THE COUNTRY! TAKE THAT, LOS ANGELES! SUCK IT, ATLANTA! I knew them as "the blue team from the Tour De France," before starting to receive mailers about it from the local luxury dealer. But I SAW MY FIRST GRENADIER YESTERDAY. It's as big in real life as you'd imagine. A huge $70,000 truck that only seats five with a sparse, utilitarian interior? I guess richies will fly in to Boise, pick up a Grenadier, then drive it ~3 hours to Sun Valley to Be Seen.
Now, the more serious question: Was the owner of the Grenadier eating at:
1. The mormon softdrink shop
2. The ramen shop
3. The mexican food joint
4. Or buying shoes at SAS
5. Or buying a BNPL prepaid phone at the wireless store?
(spoiler: I have no idea. No one in the ramen restaurant looked like a Grenadier owner.)
0. Whole Foods
False. The whole foods is downtown. This was at a strip mall on the border of Meridian and Boise, Idaho.
So all of the options you listed are what make up said strip mall?
Indeed, which is what makes this such a puzzler.
He owns the strip mall.
I want a diesel Grenadier so badly. Even if it's a turd and worse day to day than my Expedition. Too bad we get gas only, and I wonder what the markups will look like. It really is what the Defender should've been, while the current Defender is a fantastic Discovery.
And the current Discovery is... an RX350.
…like an RX, only without the reliability or decent resale value.
I suspect the upcoming GX 550 will eat its lunch.
Correctly, I'd say.
False! Taking my Grenadier test drive in SLC before driving it back to Sun Valley (maybe). Also might postpone as we finally got some snow.
The manager there used to manage the rink here, and is well known in town. I expect a pipeline!
Noooo!! Our brief moment to shine in the sun: Gone in an instant.
Ineos now shows 169 places to get them. Including wretched Atlanta and Smog Lake City. :'(
I saw one here around Christmas.
Salt in the wound, Sherman. Salt in the wound.
The Grenadier has gotten middling at best reviews, even from the pliant British press.
Although they may think a rich guy like Sir Jim deserves a kicking, so that they can reserve their praise for the likes of McLaren, Aston Martin, JLR, etc.
Do the ugly Rivian and Hummer 12,000 lb porkers get good reviews? You're well aware people buy these oddball expensive cars because they want a vehicle the hoi polloi don't have--something that turns heads--not because they're good.
Sat in but not driven. They are genuinely a bit weird. Some bits are really nice and other bits look like they come from a tuner shop.
Probably a first generation thing.
Not sure why they're being called 'big'. Smaller than a Defender 110 and look it too. Also smaller than a Hyundai palisade too.
I saw one over on the west side in the Sid Mashburn parking lot about 3 weeks ago. Only one I've seen, wonder if it was the same one.
I have now seen half a dozen of them. The first one was wrapped (as described above), the rest have been SS (so hard to know if they are unique observations).
And an out-of-place BMW gear selector.
I saw one in FL
The Yuki situation sounds similar to the Formula Drift DeNofa-Stuke drama at the Englishtown event last year. DeNofa absolutely dominated the battle (went on to win his first and only championship), but Stuke's crew chief protested the call on a technical rule. Stuke won the protest, resulting in a "one more time" battle. Upon hearing this, DeNofa went over to Stuke's pit and let loose a verbal fury (giving us the iconic line "pack your shit on the fuckin trailer!") In the one more time battle, Stuke crashed into a wall on his first lap, ending is weekend and DeNofa was knocked out by teammate Adam LZ in the next battle.
That story conveniently segues us into my announcement; I hereby declare myself the official (though unasked for) ACF-FD correspondent! I see Moto GP, off-road, and sports car racing updates in the comments, so I thought I would contribute updates on the only professional series of any kind I seriously follow. 2024 will be my 5th year following the championship, and my 3rd year doing grassroots drifting myself. I have 2 friends who drive in the ProSpec series (4 rounds instead of 8, smaller tires), numerous closer friends who work on their crews and have worked on Pro1 teams in the past. Every round is livestreamed on youtube for free, and although some coincide with events I'm driving here in Michigan, I will always catch up and bring the highlights here on Wednesdays; though I will gladly answer questions about FD or anything related to drifting for those who are genuinely curious at any time! Streets of Long Beach kicks this season off April 13, same day as my season.
I've been drifting for about a decade and even used to run some private events here in WV before the lawyers got involved, but I'm taking a hiatus now to try some club racing. I never cared too much for FD, but it is interesting to see the diversity in car builds and engine choices at that level. One thing I'll always love about drifting is that at the grassroots level you could get your friends involved who weren't necessarily into motorsports. I put lots of friends in the passenger seat with a borrowed helmet who had a blast riding along. I look forward to hearing your perspective.
Ah man why the lawyers? I totally understand not caring about FD. It's almost unattainable for a majority of drivers, although still far more than NASCAR, IMSA, or F1, and sometimes the battles are hard to watch because the cars themselves are so extreme now. Everyone making 1100+hp on the widest, stickiest tires they can use and treating FD like sideways NHRA leaves such little room for error, which means there's less room for aggressive driving and style. Still, the battles that are good are very fun to watch.
I've been considering a shift in personal motorsport participation as well. I enjoy drifting but I think I'm ready to move onto club racing soon myself. I also have a wedding to pay for in a year, so I'm considering selling my E36 midway thru or at the end of this season, and possibly picking up a Spec Racer Ford (as recommended by Jack) after the wedding.
My favorite part about drifting though is taking someone for their first laps. I like sharing my passions with others, and that's the best way I've found so far.
I just wish FD had an even faster class with fewer restrictions and way more power. Custom suspension geometries too.
how fast can you go sideways
Meh, I don't care how fast they can go. DeNofa looked back at data from like 2016 and the Irwindale entry and bank today is only like 6-7mph faster, but the cars are exponentially harder to drive. The juice ain't worth the squeeze.
But, I would like to see what an unlimited class could do, lower weight and ideal geometries would be the main advantages there. I want to see aggressive tandems and max style, the velocity is kind of a given to drift the bank of a 1/2mi oval.
The lack of custom geometries is the only one that really bugs me. Being constrained by something designed for a pedestrian car 30 plus years ago at the pinnacle of a pro motorsport field is retarded.
I agree to an extent. I think it would be cool if you could build an ideal ideal car like Forsberg's Altimaniac tube frame monster, but I honestly like that restriction because it provides a challenge to the teams to get a chassis to work with its inherent advantages or flaws. I also like it because it further differentiates the chassis themselves, regardless of driver or engine choice. It's like when NASCAR went to spec chassis and body silhouettes; using factory base chassis is a great way to keep the field varied and interesting.
Also, keeping a stock chassis with stock-ish pickup points is much more in line with the "spirit" of drifting. Yes FD is expensive to compete in, but it's nowhere near most other professional, best in the country motorsports. Opening the rules up would kill that.
I hereby dub thee
Sir Wyatt of Suh Wervin
and will expect your reports on Wednesdays.
I will aim to have them typed up and ready to post promptly (if I'm not elbows deep in Dowtherm SR1 anyway).
Sincerely,
Your Secretary of 'SKEERT
Glad to have you bring this up!
how about a driftrace series where you race on a road course and have zones in the corners where your cars have to be at least at a specified angle to your direction of travel? should i patent this idea?
There are zones they need to fill with the rear outer corner of the car, and clips to hit (not literally) with the front inner corner, and an ideal line to take in between them. D1GP in Japan and FIA drifting have a ton of telemetry computers on board to actually measure the angle, speed, distance from clips/zones, and proximity to the other car (closer is better). The winners are more clear cut based on data, but it's like watching robots drive; very precise, little flare or surprises. In Formula Drift USA, Drift Masters in Europe, and most other competitions, all aspects of qualification and battles are judged by 3 humans.
Now, it would be interesting to combine all this with overall lap times as you suggested. Door to door would be even more exciting, though passing opportunities may be limited.
One of the reasons I like FD is the subjectivity. I like to pick a winner and then see how I compare to the judges.
The thought of this reminds me of ski-cross, take two similar but not overlapping events and combine them into one wild crash filled spectacle, brilliant.
Downhill ice skating is insane too. I think it was called Redbull Crashed Ice or something? Either way, very entertaining for an hour
Looking forward to it. Thank you.
You're welcome, I'm glad there is interest!
based denofa
In a way, yes. But, people have forgotten that RTR has pulled similar cards in the past themselves, only they were able to take maximum advantage and win the OMT. I respect Chelsea's passion and found his outburst amusing, but he and his team would've done the same thing. Everyone is there to win after all!
So:
0. Yuki drove the better weekend, hands down. 1-0 to him.
1. The call to allow Riccardo past was legit at the time. That he did not make an impression on Magnussen is a demerit to him. They SHOULD have swapped places back.
2. I don't particularly care about whether he buzzed another car or whatever else was said by non-entities in the press. (interestingly this is the first time I'm hearing about it, and I watched the whole thing). It's down to the team, and internal only. I also don't think it was in bad taste or unwarranted.
3. He is treated as a man-child with temper tantrums, as that is empirically evident. Full stop.
4. Liam Lawson demonstrated genuine talent, and I'd be a little sad if he never got another opportunity again.
5. You keep trying to put down Ricciardo euphemistically by calling him a journeyman driver, BUT, Yuki hasn't even shown the potential to be a race winner, which Ricciardo has under his belt. IF he was genuinely up for it, there is a clear spot when Perez eventually walks off into retirement (any minute now).
6. He is a Honda backed driver through and through. He wouldn't be in that seat without Honda supplying engines.
As for this bimbo that generated this whine-fest (I'm trying to be gentle here): If SHE feels SO uncomfortable doing her job in her 'WORK ENVIRONMENT' then maybe she needs to, I don't know, run a lemonade stand or something. Her work seems like a screaming metaphor for her being unfit for the task at hand. Maybe she just NEEDS to be poor and miserable cause that's all she references. Making fun of middle class people that actually earn their way into what they think is right for them, is just pathetic. Again, why not go back to the slum, lady?
1-Ricciardo said afterward that he would have swapped back if the team had asked him to; easy to say after the fact, of course.
4-IMO Lawson didn’t come across great in DtS - driving around in his ricer Toyota (!) and whining on Netflix about not getting a drive. Bad attitude.
I don't think he whined at all. Compared to any 2 minutes of the man child Jack is secretly in love with?
One of them has a seat in Formula 1, admittedly courtesy of Honda’s influence.
The other one is auditioning / interviewing for the job. And he shows up on Netflix driving a Toyota (!!!!!!!) and whines about not getting the job. Do that behind closed doors, but not on Netflix.
You make it sound like:
1. Honda is going to perpetually supply engines to Red Bull, or going to have enough of a say for who drives in EACH of the 4 seats their engines support.
2. He 'invited' Netflix or that those drivers have a say in when and where they show up and record.
If you're going to 'read between the lines' you might as well do a good job of it.
Honda has provided the engines for both RB teams for years and years. As a result, particularly after the “works” agreement officially ended (on paper), they get to exert influence over one of the seats. Hence Yuki. From 2026, Honda will be supplying Aston, not Red Bull.
Lawson showed he’s not ready for primetime by appearing on Netflix driving a Toyota. This is, imo, a fireable offense given he’s a nobody who doesn’t have an F1 contract. Absolutely, utterly, unbelievably stupid.
There are still HONDA logos in the same places on all 4 cars. I don't care what the 'works' press releases mean, its all show.
I will choose to disagree about your last paragraph, you're being unnecessarily obtuse and rigid. Its a good thing YOU or I don't make up the requirements for driving in one of those seats, or for that matter Jack - who just throws random guesses and biases out there.
this is the biggest fumble ive ever seen
literally anyone here could do better in the same situation
I don’t have Netflix for personal reasons, but things like this are why I watch F1 races and read Racefans.net.
And that’s all.
I would love for there to be somewhere I could go for more, but aside from this place, I haven’t found one yet. So I think I will be satisfied with my lot and just keep watching the races and cheering for McLaren and Haas.
You’re in luck:
The best and most detailed F1 source (IMO): https://www.the-race.com/
Also good (specifically Mark Hughes): https://www.motorsportmagazine.com/
Also good: https://www.motorsport.com/
Joe Saward (Green Notebook is free, his other stuff is paid - I subscribe to all of his stuff): https://joesaward.wordpress.com/
Finally … there are many podcasts, but I recommend The-Race, F1 Beyond The Grid (official Liberty content), F1 Nation (more official content), and missed Apex.
F1 bores me, but Mark Hughes is superb, as is the rest of that venerable mag (w/has a great digital tablet edition).
I find he reserves his best writing for The-Race, where he also appears frequently on their excellent podcast.
Motor Sport Magazine is apparently for sale, and the price of asking is fairly low. Per BusinessF1, is hasn’t turned a profit in over a decade, and has in fact lost over $10MM since the financial crisis.
You know, I only have so many hours in my day. Why are you posting these things?
Try joeblogsf1. Its free.
I am very much not here to defend Kate Wagner, who has been in the same online circles I am in for years and is famously brittle and resistant to substantive back-and-forth. But to criticize her you don't have to defend the laughable houses she chronicles in her social media. Their owners aren't representative "successful normies," they're the few with the very worst taste.
To put some of these dwellings in car terms, imagine if you took a big normie CUV like a Palisade or Grand Highlander or something and put a vinyl roof, every chrome accessory at Pep Boys, and a fake matte black bull bar on it.
More gables!
So you didn't like anything anyone was designing in The Fountainhead.
I liked Atlas Shrugged enough to finish it, but I really struggled with The Fountainhead. I skipped a lot of chapters because I just couldn't stand some characters. Also, I had just read CS Lewis' Till We Have Faces and that was phenomenally good, and nothing Rand has written measures up to that.
re: columns.
The Greeks used them to hold up the roof yet provide openness; we use them as decoration and to convery "opulence". I've yet to see a load bearing ionic column in modern design.
If all you have is carved marble, then you might as well make it pretty. I'm sure if the Greeks had something stronger/thinner/lighter to support their buildings (i.e. structural steel) they would have been all over it.
I thought her criticism was funny and interesting (in 2016). Then the mask started to slip and she had to make it known that her blog was some sort of political statement rather than just dunking on ugly houses.
Funny how that seems to happen with all of them nowadays. You can't just comment on art, it has to be some meta societal critique. I'll never forget my art history professor going after a girl in class who tried to put some socialist spin on a landscape portrait -- he said, it's just art, start with what you see and what it makes you feel not everything is political some things can just be observations, and others ugly
Professor would have been fired in 2024.
The problem is, I’ve bought three houses in my life and in each case “aesthetics” ranks way far down the list of what I’m looking for. I don’t want to buy anything too heinous looking, but location, size, features, and oh by the way, what’s on the market and available rank way far above “is it ugly” in my buying criteria. McMansion critics seem to not understand this. If you want to live in certain places, and buy in at a certain price point, you may have to buy a “McMansion”. Boo the fucking hoo.
They say they hate them, until they have the cash and it's time to buy where they end up in either a McMansion or something even more hideously grotesque.
At least a lot of the wagon guys seem to try and buy any old wagon.
-signed the guy who VW wouldn't let order a brown manual diesel wagon
slam
dunk
I wouldn't say that. If you mean size, that's one thing. If you mean tacky that's another. Some of the places she's dumping on have the same esthetic as a double wide on cinder blocks with a hound dog on a chain living underneath it.
https://www.themuseatdreyfoos.com/staff_name/kate-wagner/
Proof that for one moment in her life she wasn't actively trying to look miserable.
Sometimes the wife fantasies about big sq foot mc mansions near her family in Florida. In the end we are happy that we always spent the money on nicer lots that back to public land or nature conservancy land, which is the same thing but with shady payment transfers.
Aw, she's puppy-dog cute! At least in that picture (which is the only one I've seen of her, having never heard her name before today unless she was mentioned in another post here at ACF).
Want to see something BEYOND depressing?
You start like that
https://www.themuseatdreyfoos.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Kate-Wagner-900x600.jpg
(if that's her, I'm not totally convinced)
Then as you join the hivemind for real you become this
https://i.ytimg.com/vi/Uc-sRZHzIbw/sddefault.jpg
eventually you wind up as
https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a58ddef7131a5bcf998ff80/429e9687-a0b6-4cab-9836-45fa6a326bf7/headshot+toma%C5%BE+%C4%8Drmej.jpg
I am not 100% sure either.
Both mid sized. Bone structure in the same ballpark. In the before pictures she is smiling, happy, doing things to accentuate her attractive bits, maybe using a little makeup to even out her complexion.
So a few more years of FL sun damage, the hivemind shit, being "inspired" by Leena Dunham, I could see it.
At some point you called someone "attractive because they are young" Pic one has that in spades.
I have a post request. Can we have a spotters guide for these auto journos? I enjoy the content but don't actually read any of these magazines. I am having trouble keeping the formerly puppy cute ones, the ones with the thick lower sections, and the women who may have penises straight.
LMFAO
"Can we have a spotters guide for these auto journos?"
The problem is that I'm read in so many timezones I never know when I might be spoiling someone's lunch.
I'm a businessman. Like van Zant in Heat.
It's a risk I'm willing to take!
mark everything nsfw and send it
Lunch? You’ve gotta be kidding. Lunch is for wimps.
I’d rather you post random Ohio roadkill photos from your travels than any auto journos guide.
I can name one of them who never misses lunch - Alanis.
Too much Chili’s.
alanis king
more like burger king
For the latter, they all do now. Every single one.
Never go full Alanis.
OH GOD NO
Her babies will never lack for nourishment.
calcium cannons locked and loaded
"But to criticize her you don't have to defend the laughable houses she chronicles in her social media. Their owners aren't representative "successful normies," they're the few with the very worst taste."
Buying a tasteful house is a genuine luxury, in the sense that it's almost impossible to do in any cost-representative way. I understand why people end up with McMansions. They're terrified to do it any other way, and even if they could, they wouldn't be able to afford it. I've had two houses built. In both cases I put close to $100k extra into the place to make sure it was not entirely tacky -- a lot of real Scandinavian and Herman Miller furniture, Sub-Z fridge, natural and "modern" materials everywhere -- but I wasn't gonna get CLOSE to building a proper architecture house.
Those Texas McMansions sell for $500k to a million. Want to guess how much it would cost to do a Rocio Romero LVL on a standard lot in Ohio? I don't have to guess. I did the numbers on those and many other similar options.
Ugly houses are sad -- but why be so proud of your Target shorts then dunk on other people for living in the equivalent of Target shorts?
Let's conjecture there are two groups of people causing this to happen. In my hood at least.
The first is developers. They have a bunch of sets of standard plans that they modify to suit the site, while maximizing the metrics that maximize their earnings - specifically, FAR, beds/baths, and sellable featurization ("honey, there's a golf simulator!"). Sometimes these houses are junk, and sometimes, honest to God, the developer hires the right architect and gets it right.
You can see the houses that are owner designed though. These are typically differentiable in a few key ways:
-Over expense in facade material or other external building material, eg stone, cast stone, or brick on all sides of house. Similarly, a new house with a slate roof was specified in such a way by the owner. Ditto standing seam or ceramic roof materials.
-Biggest tell is when the house has an unusual or unique layout and/or sizing that fails to maximize FAR, beds/baths, ceiling heights, etc.
A lot of this stuff could be resolved by hiring a skilled architect, insisting on keeping architectural style consistent throughout the home, and sacrificing a bit of floor area for better design.
I never saw what my cousin did on Cape Cod. He bought a house, knocked it down and started all over again. Then retires a few years later and moves to Las Vegas.
I'm not inviting you over or anything, but you'd like our house.
*switches off engine*
*goes back inside*
*sigh*
It's perfectly possible to have an ordinary suburban house in a subdivision, even a large one on a small lot, without it becoming a McMansion. It may be boring, but
it's not horrendous. The stuff Kate chronicles is the worst of the worst.
To continue with the car analogy, she's not pointing out every Grand Highlander she sees, just the ones with the over-the-top Pep Boys treatment.
Having said that, I'm in the last stages of building a new house right now, and we deliberately gave up some potential size (it's 2700 sf on a lot where the city would allow 4000) and a lot of Buyers Love These Features! to try to preserve some sense of taste.
"and we deliberately gave up some potential size (it's 2700 sf on a lot where the city would allow 4000) and a lot of Buyers Love These Features! to try to preserve some sense of taste."
You have my respect for that, and I think you'll enjoy having done so.
I agree with Jack. Taking up the whole lot like that deny's you so much great outdoors space, which is worth it to us even up north.
I have 8800 square feet under a roof, some of it a bit leaky, but I'm also on 12 acres so it doesn't seem so bad!
It's all about what percentage of lot you have covered!
You're well ahead of the game there.
No lie, I've been considering a vacation based on the locations of Herman Miller stores. I am not saying I'm going to buy a $10k chair, but if I do I am damn well going to sit in one first.
You can also try one at my house -- I have a 2023-build Eames recliner in oiled palisander with green mohair.
Well spec'd sir, I mainly want to know whether or not I need the regular or tall size, if I end up in central Ohio before I make it to one of the larger metros with a store I'll let you know.
Even shorter people enjoy the tall chair more in my experience.
Get the tall.
As they say at at the auction, well bought sir.
https://bethrmartin.com/why-are-eames-chairs-so-expensive
That article reminds me yet again that you can no longer get rosewood which is a shame.
There’s some great restored original rosewood versions out there from restorers who do it right. Just need to be patient when searching.
If you ever need a office chair for the home, hit up a used office furniture store. I bought a Steelcase Leap chair in 2013 for around 400 bucks. It was built in 2005. There's 2 versions of the Leap online. Mine looks like the expensive one that starts at 12-1300. The Version 2 is around 600.
Best thing I ever did. I was going through cheap ass chairs from Staples every 18 months because I worked from home. I needed to replace yet another, did the math and thought "If I buy one more cheap one after this one, It will cost more than the quality used one". So, I have a 19 year old office chair that other than one stain mark on it, looks almost brand new.
The place was in an old mill building. Huge building. Guy opens the big sliding doors and it looked the Indiana Jones warehouse filled with artifacts. "Pick one out, roll it out and hit the buzzer on the wall over there". Then he leaves. I had about 20 to pick from in that model. There must have been a thousand chairs in the space. Along with desks, credenzas.
I've had a hand me down desk chair that my mother bought from a garage sale in 1980 that I never paid any attention to since it was never used regularly. Well when Covid had me working from home, I started using it every day assuming I would quickly identify it's short comings and replace it with a modern chair. As it turns out it is still a great desk chair, after a few months I finally took a closer look at it and found a small bronze emblem pressed into the lower side of the back support. It was made by the W.H. Gunlocke Chair Co. in Wayland NY, and here is someone trying to sell the exact chair I have on Etsy for 1k.
https://shorturl.at/lqGL5
"Ugly houses are sad -- but why be so proud of your Target shorts then dunk on other people for living in the equivalent of Target shorts?"
People hate mirrors, or the realization that they live in a glass house.
Most folks also need to consider resale when buying a house, since they do want it to at least be a store of value in addition to a home. It's why I may end up with a McMansion or a "Miami Modern" rather than something unique - we move too often and aren't wealthy enough to build for ourselves.
How did the Rocio Romero LVL pencil?
I thought the whole point of those was to be “affordable.”
About 300k to get it there fitted out. Another 200-250k to get it planted. Plus the cost of the land. So $700,000 and you don't have a garage or a basement. But... even the contractors willing to do the work told me I'd wait a year or two and that costs could swing 50 percent. And no bank wanted to touch it. The LVL is for people with trust funds who can spend cash all the way through.
I particularly like this house (and the architect’s portfolio in general):
https://www.archdaily.com/804218/the-quest-strom-architects
As I recall, it’s ~2,500 sq ft and cost ~£750K to build in 2015.
2207. On pre-existing utilities. And I'd put the 750k total cost as being only vaguely reflective of reality. These are the same outlets that told me people were doing LVs for $200k on the ground. And when I called those people, they laughed.
The architect himself - Magnus Strom - indicated it was 750K GBP (in 2015).
Obviously we are talking different times, different continents, etc.
But shouldn’t a prefab house represent a material savings vs a custom home of a similar aesthetic?
If anyone offers to build you that house for a million dollars, immediately get them under an ironclad contract for it.
I have been told, sotto voce, that it would be eminently achievable at a reasonable price per foot (by a GC). Assuming you eliminate the cantilever, which I would.
karen and i 20 years ago looked at a new house that had high ceilings with moldings that looked like they were a whole catalog display, and a fireplace built into the back of the staircase from upstairs to the front hall. felt like some kind of joke house.
Edit to totally revise after revisiting that blog:
When the McMansion Hell blog was new, Kate was typically lambasting cost-constrained local-plumbing-supply-company-owner's rural manse. Some of the houses at that time were obviously not architect-designed. They were builder-designed, or owner-built, or added-to-over-time, or just value engineered to hell.
The ones at the top of her website right now (2023-24) do not appear to be cost constrained, and it's beyond me to defend these houses or their owners.
In years prior though, she was often clearly lambasting owner-built homes. No matter how ugly or incongruous the house, the act of building one yourself is a massive undertaking, which can't always be started on ideal terms (unlimited funds, unlimited time, unlimited help from a considerate architect helping to reify and de-uglify one's vision). The new ones shes taking to task aren't even mcmansion hell so much as an-architect-wasn't-involved-in-this-at-all hell
With all this said - its honestly kinda funny when you consider she's putting on airs in a weird way. It's not the typical high-born vs low, but in this case the high-educated-but-broke looking down on the prole-but-successful. That latter group keeps my drains unclogged and AC humming. Out of sheer appreciation for the fact that they maintain everything my family depends on, I generally try to resist the urge to insult their stuff and way of life. The houses shes posted in the past years though (https://mcmansionhell.com/post/727107339532091392/bonus-mcmansion-hell-ye-olde-barrington ) are transgressions against good taste so barbaric even I wouldn't defend them
"but in this case the high-educated-but-broke looking down on the prole-but-successful."
This is the engine behind SO MUCH of Twitter hatred.
They don't hate rich people for being rich. They hate rich people because the path to money doesn't include reading about gender for 8 years in college then being Extremely Online.
Same with all the calls for socialism, because clearly an economic system that gives some rube in the trades more money than a striver with a masters degree is wrong, production of useful goods be damned.
Even worse than their hate is their insidious belief that the successful proles have ZERO redeeming qualities as human beings. The highly educated but broke extrapolate this solely from an external element they can view, whether it’s the prole’s house, car, clothes, or look.
This is a very slippery slope.
We’re intimately familiar with this. One of my wife’s childhood friends is pretty smart, went to Northwestern (because scholarship money offered there made it cheaper than the U if I her family could not have afforded) and studied ancient Latin studies or some stupid shit (she’s just as white as my WASP ass). Married the college dropout line cook from her summer waitressing job who is 10 years older and still follows Widespread Panic around the country, but he dresses like a hipster and says all the right liberal things. Wrote her PhD thesis on some dead Mexican language. Got a job at a small college in a southern state as an adjunct professor of Latin Studies or some shit. Has a 6y/o trans “daughter”. The couple might make $100k between them.
When we occasionally have them over, the derision just oozes off of them, as if “how can these uneducated monkies have so much and we have so little?” Which, by the way, we are not uneducated by any comparison (BS in accounting from good school + MBA for me, BS in finance from UIUC for my wife), but we chose to go into a profession that, ugh, just deals with money and not intellectual pursuits. How droll and unenlightened. I always make sure Charlie Daniels is playing on the stereo when they come over.
I'll buy you a Morgan Wallen CD for Christmas. Charlie Daniels is starting to get hipster appeal.
“Alexa, what’s a CD? Play Zach Bryan on the main floor.”
cant be that smart if she had a scholarship and blew it on latin studies
maybe a phd is easier than i think it is
I think you and they need to have a "Conversation". You seem angry about people with intellects higher than yours. </sarc>
Or if your wife agrees, you can get in their grills one last time if they get dismissive. Before that, ask them if they've ever seen this. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHMi-j7W2gM
Then say, you wish MLB had this at the games. Warning, the misses might not approve. NSFW with the W for wife.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhRdGDquIdo
Gratuitous violence for laughs and pretty women. That would probably trigger them.
"case the high-educated-but-broke looking down on the prole-but-successful"
It's everywhere these days online, these useless admins think they should be running the world because they have a piece of paper and don't understand the real work by others put in to earn the money and positions they're in.
that house is so awful i want to fight you for showing it to me
On the other hand, I'd wager she hasn't assembled so much as a piece of Ikea furniture herself.
What exactly is her background/family net worth? I don't see a bio other than the tautological McMansion/road bike blogger references. Is she Joe Strummer or Sid Vicious?
Has she published photos of *her* house online?
what if she lives in a mcmansion
Exactly! I’m betting she lives in a house as bad looking as the McMansions she mocks.
Full size Figurines with the pubic hair painted black? Someone did that in Beverly Hills a few decades ago. Buys something and goes to town with the black paint.
IIRC she rents.
She ends up doing Google or Bing Image searches or searches Zillow for photos. Then come up with snark. Her snark/smack game needs work.
She's shooting fish in a barrel. The houses she picked are mansions. Tasteless ones.
I’m interested in building on the water in Florida, without a GC. Any experts here?
So as someone who's moving beyond casual Fernando Alonso follower of F1, it really seems that this weekend's race all came down to the cars more than anything. Almost all the places were grouped by manufacturer and it seems (as can be expected) that things should get more interesting as the cars are refined.
The Tsunoda affair makes total sense in that context, he know he and Ricciardo had equal cars and he was driving it better so getting ordered to let his teammate who was doing worse try the same thing is frustrating, more so given that he's been questioned for a while. Like Jack, I'll admit to doing some obnoxious things out of frustration post-race both rowing and cycling, but thankfully not under this sort of microscope. Sure it'll get played up for the TV drama, but it's to be expected if you've raced before.
It is not atypical for cars to finish in a “Noah’s Ark” formation - two by two - with the field ordered in terms of competitive performance. Some tracks present difficulty in terms of passing (e.g, Monaco), but Bahrain is not one of those.
The thing that makes it interesting is the deviation from the expected norm / outcome and how the protagonists react to that. The first race of the season was a pretty dull snoozer if you only care about watching the cars circulate. But everything involving Christian Horny and Jos and MBS, etc. is legitimate front page news because it’s captivating and 73 million people watch each race, so they are invested in what those characters do.
"The thing that makes it interesting is the deviation from the expected norm / outcome and how the protagonists react to that"
That's why I've been drawn into watching and following more. It's kind of like cycling a few years back when Sky/Ineos were dominating the Tours -- the excitement was seeing who would try and challenge them on that day and what was happening mid pack to create some drama amongst the results.
To me, Bahrain was fun to watch as an opening race to see the split within that "Noah's Ark" and how some drivers like Alonso made a big difference versus his teammate or seeing George Russell stay ahead of Lewis. I'm not invested enough in the personal drama yet, but it's definitely interesting.
I kept thinking Sagan would train to be GC, but I am no better at judging riders than drivers.
He never climbed anywhere near well enough to compete. He was a smaller sprinter, so well suited for one day races and taking more green points mid stage on hilly days. The one-day guy I would've loved to see really take a crack at a GC would've been Alaphilippe and he did quite well before the mudslide incident the one year.
It’s like college football - you tune in not to see Alabama (or another powerhouse) beat their opponent 41-3. You tune in to see how Alabama plays when Ole Miss is driving in the third and is actually leading Alabama 24-17.
Or similar.
Also - Alonso really didn’t outperform Lance in Bahrain. He qualified better and Lance got hit by Nico at Turn 1, which dropped him to the back. Lance recovered to finish just behind Fernando. Part of that is the pace order / Noah’s Ark dynamic.
Agree, you turn in for the drama and ongoing rivalries that make races closer than they should be.
I guess I see the qualifiers as part of racing, so he was a bit better and held it over the weekend. Even if there was a hit. I also only tuned in around mid-way through the race when I got back from my bike ride, so I only saw him and Hamilton a bit apart chasing each other mid race.
If you’re only watching the on-track action, you’re missing a lot of what makes F1 special and compelling - the drama, the politicking, etc.
Oh I know, but for me it starts with race day and then following the drama gets entertaining once I know the race and protagonists. It’s how I got to follow cycling, because you start realizing how what happens day of is just the result of the politics and drama from the rest of the year
If you want to watch close racing with a lot if talented drivers able to win, IndyCar’s first race is Sunday. And no, I don’t care it’s a spec series with an ancient chassis.
Lewis Hamilton being where he is in life invalidates his public pronouncements about race.
But his authenticity* moves a lot of merch in a space F1 might otherwise be challenged to enter, you rAcisT!!1!
*As you know, the synthetic kind is better for the environment.
I can't take him seriously with that stupid nosering. I like the outfits, though.
Never liked him and I’m exactly the putative audience. Those fucking doorknob earrings, before he’d won shit.
Give me Prost (about whose childhood I was always free to know nothing). Give me Ironhead (about whose childhood I make certain assumptions which he failed to campaign on).
Canned Ham-ilton. Ugh.
'Canned Ham-ilton'
Gold!
He's a son of Ham too so triple entendre!
wonder how many white boys never got enough sponsorship cash to make the leap because their demographic wasn't compelling enough
i've seen a few amazing standouts in regional races thru the decades who didn't have the $. a dozen years before that, guys would've been saying 'you looked pretty good in your tr-2; wanna drive my ferrari tomorrow?' it useta happen!
A man can dream.
Obviously he's mixed race. I'm of 100% Eastern European stock and his mom is whiter than me.
His parents weren't Lando, Lance parent's rich. Even RIC parents have a couple of bucks. But, he wasn't poor. He called this a slum. He then backtracked with the usual wishy/washy apology.
https://metro.co.uk/2018/12/19/life-really-like-lewis-hamiltons-slum-home-8264477/
6 bedrooms/4 baths. Can't figure out which house based on the link's photo, but supposedly one of these.
https://www.google.com/maps/@51.9216515,-0.2081904,3a,75y,66.34h,81.33t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sIAh6nORsHBks9Xtxgfft3g!2e0!7i13312!8i6656?entry=ttu
Those all look pretty nice actually. Certainly wouldn't end up on McMansion hell.