Straggler - One Month Review & Commentary

One month along with the new Surly Straggler and I'm still digging it.  The initial comments (with picture!) from last month still hold.  The further comments I can make are:

• pro: I really like the 1x11 SRAM Apex drivetrain.  And everything else.  Almost.
• con: It's been a little bit of a struggle to keep the disc brakes in alignment, between the comfy-but-flexy steel frame, pain-in-the-ass horizontal rear drop-out, and quick-release axles.  I've finally got it dialed, but this bike could really benefit from having thru-axle dropouts and hubs.

So here, a month after getting mine, Surly updates the bike for the first time in its 10 year run, and what does the new version have?

Thru-axles.

It now comes in two component levels, which are a $300 and an $800 price jump up from mine.  The older version is still available, but if you're looking, go with the new.  The thru-axles alone are worth the price jump, though there are some other nice upgrades and improvements to the geometry as well.

Anyway, here's a review at Singletracks online magazine, here's the new Straggler page (with links to the two versions from there), and a link to the old (*sigh*) Straggler page.

Thru-axles.  Straggler shoulda had 'em years ago.  But I will get by.

More 70's than Jimmy Carter on a Moped

My copy of 1973's Buckingham Nicks arrived today, and after two listens through it's pretty good and about what I expected.  That is to say, it is very much in the mode of the eponymous 1975 Fleetwood Mac album, but more country-ish guitar driven and of course missing all the touches the rest of Fleetwood Mac brought to that album.  Fans will immediately recognize the one song that was later re-recorded by the full band, and there are a number of guitar moves that were recognizably recycled later on as well.  The whole feel though is that of an early-mid 70's artifact.  For example, Without A Leg To Stand On has a real Cat Stevens vibe.

Here, have a real review by a real reviewer at Louder Sound.

Hey, if you like it you like it, and I like it.  After years of hearing snips and scraps of the album on various nooks of the internet, it's great to have the entire thing in hand.

Not Really Fall Yet

Even though today's the fall equinox, it's not really feeling like fall just yet.  Nor is the extended forecast all that promising:

Eh, we'll see.  In the meantime, preparations for fall fun continue:

• new gravel bike, pretty well tuned in now – check
• hiking clothes coated in permethrin and air-dried – check
• next up: getting radios dialed in for trail fun; more on this as events unfold – in progress

Onward, and back to work.

Coffeeneuring for 2025?

Starts October 11th.  This fall is not quite so crazy as '22, '23, or '24 (so far) so this might actually happen here this year.  Or not.  Details at Chasing Mailboxes.  More, and commentary on the matter later.

Sentience, Self-Awareness, and All That

Last month I listened to Nicholas Humphrey's interview on the Jim Rutt Podcast, and it was a real eye-opener.  So much so that I ran out and got a copy of Humphrey's book Sentience, read it, then listened to the podcast episode again.

Initially what captured my interest was the phenomenon of blindsight, where someone has lost the conscious ability to see due to brain damage, yet retains some vestige of vision at an unconscious level.  Here's a short video clip of a test subject, sans visual cortex due to stroke or injury, successfully navigating down an obstacle-filled hallway.  After such tests subjects often insist that they simply walked down the hall, having no conscious memory of dodging around objects.

This and other similar observations have led Humphrey to surmise that humans along several other candidate species have the capacity for conscious sensation layered onto a more primitive unconscious perception.  This follows naturally into some ideas about the meaning of self, others, and what is commonly termed theory of mind.  I won't further belabor the ideas, but simply refer you to the above-linked podcast for a much better brief introduction.

BTW & because someone's gonna ask: LLMs, conscious or not?  No, none, not at all.  Barely touched on, not even under consideration here.

One rough patch in this material is the lack of a brief glossary.  Humphrey and Rutt bemoan in the podcast how most conferences on these topics spend the first half simply trying to define the terms they're using.   Rutt mentions that he's now on the board of the California Institute for Machine Consciousness; go dig around at that site, maybe you'll find something glossary-ish.  Or perhaps keep a notepad at hand while reading in order to assemble a DIY glossary.  When I get around to a re-read, I'll do just that.

Anyway, they're making good progress, getting much farther than the old Turing Test, Chinese Room scenario, and those sorts of things.  Interesting stuff.  I won't even begin to publicly speculate if or how this bears on numerous observer-centric problems in physics, such as the measurement problem.  However, I wouldn't be surprised if Humphrey's lines of research ultimately converge there as well.

Flat Tire Wednesday

Grr.  And on the new gravel bike too.  Just one of those little thorns that causes a slow leak.  You finish the ride, but overnight it leaks down and the next time you go to ride you get a flat surprise.

While patching I took a little time and installed an ancient set of Spinskins.  On the old gravel bike these reduced the flat rate from one every two weeks to one every decade or so.  (YMMV)  Too bad they're not made anymore.  However, looks like Panaracer is making something comparable, so if these poop out I'll pop for a set.

Or maybe just convert to tubeless.  Honestly for these little thorn-pricks, tubeless + sealant gives effortless protection on the mountain bike.  Damned mess though if you get a real slash.  Let's see how this goes.

BTW, wicked thorn.  Presta valve cap shown for reference, and those grid squares on the workbench are 1/2".

ps: Nah, my bike came with the cheaper wire-bead Knards.  Not tubeless ready.  Maybe next round of tires.

New Statue of Franklin for Franklin County

In the sheltered north-west nook between the main building and the massive front stairs on the Franklin County Court House (a definite consideration here in hurricane country), a new statue of Benjamin Franklin was dedicated today by Gov. Ron DeSantis.  Full Story at WOYS's blog, but similar statues of the Founding Fathers are being dedicated all over Florida in counties with corresponding names: yes, Franklin, and also Jefferson, Washington, Hamilton, Madison, and Monroe Counties as well.

Walking around the statue this evening, it's well done.  Seemingly life-size and more or less at ground level, it gives the impression of standing in front of the actual man.  Though I must say, I vastly prefer my picture (inset; click to embiggen) to the one at WOYS.  Click through and compare for yourself.