Crashlander: Some Things Are Better Left Untold

I just finished reading Larry Niven's short story collection Crashlander, a compilation of his

Known Space tales centering on ace star pilot Beowulf Shaeffer.  The collection serves as a sort of biography of one of the main characters in Niven's future history series, and knits these stand-alone shorts together with brief bridge chapters.  It also adds a new (well, 1994) Shaeffer short story, Procrustes, and somewhat ambiguously wraps it all up with a "happily ever after – maybe" epilogue, which is frustrating in and of itself.

The original set of stories dating from the 60's and 70's are all great.  The new short story is not, and neither are the bridge chapters.  The older stories are sleek tales, where Shaeffer figures out the key puzzle piece and with a narrow margin moves on in one piece himself.  Procrustes and its surrounding bridge stories are more of a wheels-within-wheels slog of tale, with several unsavory characters that a smart guy like the Shaeffer of the earlier stories would have automatically avoided.  Not worth the small price of the new collection, not worth the reading time.

All of the good stuff can be found in the earlier collections Neutron Star and Tales of Known Space, along with many other excellent short stories Niven produced in the same era.  Give Crashlander a pass, buy and read those two other collections.  Then use your leftover time to read (or re-read) Protector.

Deep Thought for Today

 

First though, a nap.  Then coffee.  Whisky... somewhat later, if at all.

More, later in the week.  These two weeks have been... special.

Bike Wisdom

Busy day today, so here's this morning's dose of bike lore from 2011: 

Some Answers to Just About Any Bike Forum Post I've Read

Heh, remember forums?  (fora? never took Latin)  So much more civilized than today's antisocial media platforms, all optimized for engagement (read: what we used to call flame wars).

Look, that's about all I got for today.  Broke a spoke on the Straggler yesterday; finished the ride and then Kevin had it all fixed before noon (Skunk Monkeys, 41 Market St., Apalach; recommended).  One silver spoke on a wheel of black spokes, the bike is beginning to show some lived-in character.  The new clothes washer will be here shortly today, and brother do I ever have a pile of shorts and jerseys to wash.  Life is good.

Graphic?  Oh OK, here's one sort of relating to bikes, broken spokes, and dental implants.

Well, maybe be a little stupid.  At least, enough to have some fun.

"Strategic Visioning" Meeting Results

Last month I sat on a 20-ish citizen panel to hammer out directions Apalachicola should be taking.  Results were presented at this Tuesday's City Commission meeting, and are also included in the agenda packet – a 24 MB beast, perhaps not to be downloaded lightly.  Anyway, results start on page 4.  If you dare.

Overall a success, but with a meeting name like that it sounds like there'd be psychedelics in the coffee pot.  Now that would have been interesting.  (not that I'm advocating...)  Who names these things?

Thoughts on In-Town Fencing

Stockade fencing discussed over at Jim Kunstler's substack, under his "Eyesore of the Month" column.

Speaking of which, that column is a hoot nearly every month.  Here's the permalink.  Anyway, it's one for the P&Z-interested people to consider.

Test Rode a Moonlander Fat Bike

A friend with one a size or two too large for me let me take his out for a spin around the neighborhood gravel, and damn but it was fun.  It's one of the 1.0 series, not the newer 2.0's, so none of the newer stuff.  In its essentials, it's probably closer to Surly's current Ice Cream Truck: derailleur gearing, 4.8" tires, somewhat normal geometry.  Anyway, here's a pic from the web site:

It was a crazy blast to take on some neighborhood dirt.  One alleyway filled with roller bearing pea gravel that always is a pain in the butt rode about as well as the paved streets.  I didn't have any deep sand to sample, but the pea gravel was enough.  On pavement, the big tires sound like a B-24 bomber, that's kind of cool.  Though for the price on the tires, I don't think I'd take it on pavement any more than absolutely necessary.  On rough descents and ascents, it just... rode.  Keep on pedaling, and it keeps going.  I shudder to think though about something harsh enough to stop it, because that stop's probably going to hurt.  In the meantime though, keep pedaling and the ride is good!

So, am I going to run out and get one?  Eh, it's kind of a specialty tool.  Definitely not an actual current model Moonlander.  At over $4k, I wouldn't get enough use of it to be worth it.  Maybe an Ice Cream Truck at about half the price.  Surly's lower-priced Wednesday option rides on 3.8" tires, and I'm not sure that would give the full-on fat tire float on sand that I'm looking for.  Right now though, I'm not going to sweat it.  I've got a couple of other bikes to move first (got to make room), and the weather's too hot to grind down the beach right now anyway.  Will revisit in the fall.

And on this 5th of July, Please Remember...

And with that, I am back to activities with out-of-town relatives.  See y'all later in the week.