Here's a moment from the bus, and something I've never seen or wondered about before.

Most buses have external bike racks, in front of the driver and windshield, where up to two passengers can stow their bikes before they get on. When they get off, they holler to the driver, "I'm getting my bike," so the driver waits while the biker goes in front of the bus to get his/her bike and pedal away.

It's routine, but today a guy wearing a bike helmet rang the bell, and shouted to the driver, "Let me get my bike," and the driver pointed out, correctly, that the bike rack was empty.

This caused some extended wailing, because helmet guy said he'd put his bike in the rack when he got on. The driver said he remembered it, too, but someone had gotten off a mile ago, and taken the bike.

Guy in a helmet was seriously Pissed Off and he'll probably never see his bike again. And all this mere days after I watched [Pee-wee Herman get his bike stolen](../Neverending Film Festival/NFF-113). It's like a crime wave.

If you want to steal a bike, I guess this would be an easy way to do it. The driver is steering through traffic with handlebars in his eyes all day; he can't reasonably be expected to know whose bike is whose. Ring the bell, get off the bus and take a bike. Unless the bike's owner is watching, you'll get away with it.

The toilet seat was loose, always slipping to the left, and after letting it annoy me for months I finally snatched a table-knife from the kitchen and used it as a screwdriver, to tighter the big plastic screw that attaches the seat to the porcelain. It took a minute or so, and I forgot to wipe off the knife before putting it back in the drawer. Now I can sit and poop without worrying that the seat will suddenly slide off and bloody my testicles.

That's not much of a story, but not much is going on in my life. I sit in the recliner and watch movies. A few times a week I take a bus ride to go do something, usually to eat at the diner. That's life, and it's wonderful, but tragically in another tab on this very computer I'm midway through filling out an application to work at the post office.

Here's the news you need,
whether you know it or not

• Congress prepares to take up bill preventing rail strike

A rail strike could cripple the economy, and also, so fuckin' what? Is America the economy, or the people? I think it's the people, and people have a right to strike, and what they want — sick leave — is entirely reasonable.

• New York City to involuntarily remove mentally ill people from streets

Re-building all the mental hospitals shuttered by the Reagan administration — a primary reason we have so many nutzoids on the street — would be a good idea, but this ain't that.

This is just telling the cops to make snap decisions on who gets taking for forced 'evaluations at a hospital, where they'll then be let go, because nobody's paying for the help these people need.

And asking cops to do this is just about the dumbest and most dangerous thing any city could do.

• Republican leaders denounce Trump's dinner with white nationalist Nick Fuentes

Check your calendar. It took seven days after the dinner was reported, before any Republicans other than Liz Cheney spoke out.

• Puerto Rican towns sue Big Oil under RICO alleging collusion on climate denial

• US cable TV companies quietly bled another 785,000 paying customers last quarter

I haven't had cable for years, but the memory burns strong, of an impossibly awful monopoly with never a thought about customer service. The more customers they lose, the bigger my smile.

• Left-wing voices are silenced on Twitter as far-right trolls advise Elon Musk

• Tampa International Airport wants you to name the big flamingo

• Global floods and droughts will intensify sooner than expected, studies show

And it never stops, never stops, because climate change isn't 'coming', it's underway. It'll kill billions, and we're not doing squat about it.

• 5 Connecticut police officers charged after Black man left paralyzed following ride in police van

And it never stops, never stops, never stops, never stops, never stops, never stops, never stops, never stops, never stops, never stops, because all cops are bastards, or they know who the bastard cops are and do nothing about it, which is the same thing.

• McCarthy warns Hannity that Republicans might not waste a shit ton of time "investigating" Hunter Biden if he isn't elected Speaker

And it never stops, never stops, never stops, never stops, because Republicans are the enemy of common sense, common decency, simple truth, and democracy.

Links I liked

• I've managed a remote team for 10+ years. Here's why we don't use productivity monitoring software.

• Lithofayne Pridgon: Jimi Hendrix's original "Foxy Lady"

• How to stay counter-culture after culture has collapsed

• Worm charming

Mystery links
Like life itself, there's no
knowing where you're going

• click

• click

• click

♫♬ Mix tape of my mind ♫

• "DaVinci's Inquest" — Tim McCauley

• "Good Morning, Starshine" — Hair

• "Macarena" — Los del Río

• "Ride Captain Ride" — Blues Image

• "The Voice" — The Moody Blues

The End

• Wilko Johnson

• Ronald D Kern

11/30/2022
Tip 'o the hat to Linden Arden, ye olde AVA, BoingBoing, Breakfast at Ralf's, Captain Hampockets, CaptCreate's Log, John the Basket, LiarTownUSA, Meme City, National Zero, Ran Prieur, Voenix Rising, and anyone else whose work I've stolen without saying thanks.
Extra special thanks to Becky Jo, Name Withheld, Dave S, Wynn Bruce, and always Stephanie...