iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

About 20 years ago I remember seeing people with a coffee in one hand, a bagel in the other, and a newspaper spread across their steering wheel. All while at the merging of two highways in south San Jose.

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I remember running the scoreboard in an enduro when the leader had a two-lap lead but then dropped out. Fans couldn’t understand why I stopped advancing the lap counter and still had the stopped car in the lead for a couple minutes.

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Batman day? I thought it was Talk Like a Pirate Day… OMG is Batman a pirate?! Avast, Robin!

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Or is it that life experience teaches one what’s actually important? But hey, resorting to schoolyard behavior! Congratulations! Let me teach you an old internet term: Plonk.

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Apartment blocks being built not far from me. I see no signs of EV chargers. The people who most could benefit from the cost savings of a cheap EV are those in apartment living. It’s a shame. Any new apartment block should have charging available, in this day and age.

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So that’s what all those six-year-olds are doing.

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2016. We did not have children; like to say we have two: she has me and I have her.

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I just remember the 1970s and 80s. Got along just fine as a kid without a cellphone. (Still don’t have one actually. My wife does and that’s enough.) They aren’t the necessity that people who grew up with them think they are. Perhaps we should have public phones again for emergencies though.

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Not at all. Heck, we live on under $40,000 per year. I just think too many don’t realize what’s truly necessary. Wage increase is needed but not to the extent many want to believe. Fewer subscriptions. Maybe one cellphone for the fam instead of one for everyone. Simple things like that.

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A friend of mine was fired from the L.A. transit company after two cars ran into his buses within a six-month period. Neither of them his fault or avoidable. Just blame the bus driver for having a route with idiots about, I guess.

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Coming up to 56! As I say, I am getting old with less and less of the getting.

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Some. But too many today think they should be able to afford hundreds in streaming entertainment subscriptions, GrubHub accounts, and so on, at minimum wage. You don’t need all that stuff. Nice to have? Sure. Incentives for moving on to a better position.

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I was being a bit Draconian, admittedly. I think a couple kids would be a stretch at minimum wage though. There should be incentive to achieve a higher wage, after all. The main point is that too many think that a basic life includes Netflix and so many other truly unnecessary things.

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And in those decades we had a family car. One. No DoorDash accounts. Nothing but antenna TV unless you were rich enough to afford cable, i.e. had something other than a minimum-wage job. It wasn’t “everybody gets all the things”. As you say, a basic life. The definition of basic has skewed.

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I don’t even own a cellphone. It’s a convenience, but not the absolute necessity people think it is. It does limit my charging options somewhat, but I’m able to get about with just my ChargePoint card.

Lifelong motorcyclist (nearly 56 now and never have driven a car). I found that people always start to drift over a bit subconsciously when they begin to think about changing lanes, even before they’ve committed to it. I treat that subtle tell the same as a flashing signal.

When I had to go to a gas station for the first time in two years, to refuel a backup motorcycle, I was appalled. How did I ever think that experience was normal? Stinky, dirty, inconvenient for having to go there in the first place, and the cost per mile was ridiculous.

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It saddens me how many people out and about are either on their phones or have music pumping into their earbuds. No one wants to experience the true moment they’re in anymore.

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Not at an entry-level position. Otherwise, what’s entry-level about it? The notion that a kid fresh out of school on his first job should be able to have all the nice things is ridiculous and unrealistic. You don’t need Netflix, AppleTV, Spotify, two cars, three kids. Things to work toward.

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Heh, got me. GamePass subscription then.

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But not an unlimited family data plan. Unnecessary luxury.

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He shouldn’t have kids or any of those things until advancing to a higher-paying position. A living minimum wage should be for essentials for oneself — food, clothing, housing.

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Ron O’Dell @keeper1st.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

But those bills should not include satellite TV, five streaming services and a family unlimited cellphone plan. Those are luxuries — not essential living expenses.

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To be fair, the UK’s comedy “Waiting For God” was orders of magnitude better.

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Ron O’Dell @keeper1st.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Guess they’re all here in Carson. Two houses within a half mile of each other near me have one each.

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Ron O’Dell @keeper1st.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

I remember stations using duct tape to make a 1 in front of their signs that were not designed for prices over 99 cents. I also remember stations selling by the liter in the big metric push, and people thinking it was just a scam to make gas seem less expensive, so boycotted those stations.

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Ron O’Dell @keeper1st.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

I think the highest attrition sim races I ever competed in were a race with 1967 cars at 1967 Monaco, and one with 1990s Group C and GTP cars at Spa 1966… which was as terrifying as it sounds.

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Ron O’Dell @keeper1st.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

I had (still have?) the world record fastest lap in the BRM P83 at Parco Sempione in GPL — mainly because only a madman would try to drive that wide beast on that narrow circuit.

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Ron O’Dell @keeper1st.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

I keep seeing and hearing “MAGA wants to take America back 50 years!” Dude, 50 years ago my schoolteachers were guitar-wielding hippies, the Women’s Lib movement was in full force, and Republicans were quick to turn on a corrupt president. I think you’re missing a 1 at the beginning of that number…

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Ron O’Dell @keeper1st.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

A few years ago, our local grocery store had floor damage which resulted in this somewhat disturbing warning. Wouldn’t you be more worried if it weren’t?

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Ron O’Dell @keeper1st.bsky.social · 11/07/2026

Mid-July 10 years ago was the last time I saw Tom Brier before his devastating accident. One of the three pieces of sheet music I gave him to sightread and improvise upon that night was Dogsong by @tobyfox.undertale.com youtu.be/OyWQro6q7qo?...

youtu.be

Dogsong (Undertale) sight-read by Tom Brier

YouTube video by Keeper1st

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Ron O’Dell @keeper1st.bsky.social · 02/07/2026

The “heavily automated” features of the Tesla semi are things like traction control. Nothing that would lead to inattentiveness more than any other truck on the road.

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Ron O’Dell @keeper1st.bsky.social · 02/07/2026

No, the vehicle didn’t cause the accident. The sleeping driver did.

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Ron O’Dell @keeper1st.bsky.social · 21/06/2026

Heck, a few months ago I came across the Excel Championship.

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Ron O’Dell @keeper1st.bsky.social · 19/06/2026

Over 100 years ago, in many places it was not Juneteenth that was the big celebration, but Emancipation Day in April. Songs were written about it. Here is one describing the vibrant scene at an Emancipation Day parade, from the great black songwriting duo of Cook and Dunbar. youtu.be/Mur11wNQ5GE?...

youtu.be

On Emancipation Day (1902) with lyrics (warning: period dialect/vocabulary)

YouTube video by Keeper1st

Ron O’Dell @keeper1st.bsky.social · 16/06/2026

Had it! Preferred Atari’s “Indy 500” though. It came with custom paddles that had rotary encoders instead of the potentiometers used in the default Pong paddles, so it could turn round and round without limits. I loved the ice modes especially. Slippy sliding around!

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Ron O’Dell @keeper1st.bsky.social · 12/06/2026

And Tom should not be blue. It’s only the result of faded film. Anything new should have him be his original gray.

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Ron O’Dell @keeper1st.bsky.social · 10/06/2026

He’d wake right up if they just had someone come by periodically to say, “She’s thirteen.”

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Ron O’Dell @keeper1st.bsky.social · 09/06/2026

Not Detroit, but Eugene. These go over 80 mph. Used market value around 10k these days. A bunch still for sale. Insured as a motorcycle (much cheaper). Exposed to the elements but that’s part of the motorcycle experience. Most states don’t require a helmet (it would be unsafe to wear one anyway).