Around here the CL ad photo would have been staged in front of someone else’s McMansion while they were away at the bank for the day. Not in San Diego. There it poses on sand in front of a chainlink fence protecting an abandoned warehouse. I have to say the art of it won me over. NP (nice photography).

There were two Type 181s cruising around the streets of our capitol here in Antivaxxistan during pre-pandemic times. One was driven by an older gentleman and the other by some hipster. I have not seen either one in a few years. I assume they are dead from either covid or a low speed impact or both.

I’d like a 1.75 acre lot, but a 1.75 acre house would take way more Roombas than I’ll ever be able to afford. 

There’s a Pinzgauer hoarder err.... collector (sorry DT) up in the mountains near where I live. Occasionally he sells one. I almost bit at $7500 about ten years ago, but not for over double that. CP (but barely). 

You left out the Hawai’ian island of Kahoʻolawe which the Navy only stopped bombing in 1990.

NBA.com, “The Sixers can’t wait to test drive the Harden-Joel Embid partnership.” This presumes Harden has a basic understanding of the concept of partnership.

Kawasaki KLR650 thumper. The latest iteration comes with EFI and can be had for $6400. Yes, it’s heavy. But the engine has been in existence since the 80s and you can get parts anywhere in the world. 

Alaska instituted ranked choice voting last year. Think about that. One of the reddest of redneck states in the union passed ranked choice voting and Massachusetts citizens rejected it. So right, basically, we’re doomed. 

I’m a huge fan of Walter the Cat. Those Silverado commercials are the only ones I look forward to on all of TV and its multiverse of separate subscription channels. GM does know how to make good commercials, they just choose not to. 

The irony of having a rooftop tent worth ten times the value of the underlying rig would suck us all into a blackhole of overlanding that would destroy the world with the possibility of us emerging in an alternate universe where everyone lives in a tent perched on 1990s ZJ. So... no roof tent. Please.

I showed that Command Center to my neighbor who is drooling over every Sprinter van conversion in the Whole Foods parking lot. You can’t even buy an unconverted Sprinter around here for that kind of money with that low number of miles on the clock. She didn’t even bother to bid. And now someone else is in command. 

I assume the crab pots stacked on the wharf next to the yacht are for dumping union organizers into the Marianas trench or some other remote locale. An Alaska tradition known as... wait for it... crabpotting. 

Torque wrench. I’ve had the same one for 40 years. I recently bought a bicycle specific one (2-10 nm) because carbon bits are ubiquitous now and cracking them gets expensive. 

I have a friend in Alaska who bought a new Subaru Outback last year. Because Alaska. He finally got tired of pouring money into his ancient Audi Quattro. He drove the Subaru less than 2000 miles before returning it to the dealer, taking his drastic haircut, and buying a used Audi wagon. Money be damned. 

Here’s the short course my ex Subaru mechanic gave me. Ex because I gave away a POS Impreza with 72K miles on the clock just to get it the fuck out of my garage. Anything 2000-2004 good. WRX bad- always hooned to near death by some testosterone-based lifeform. Simple. I would not take a brand new Subaru for free. My…

The rare pointless rigid front/suspended rear setup. (fixed it) And extra stars I can’t actually give for Brompton analogy.

Perfect candidate for an aluminum Oz-style tray.

The “traction control” on my Jeep Wrangler. I have no idea how it operates. It just does its thing and some little squiggly lines appear on the dash panel while I’m going sideways in the snow in 4x4 high (to be clear). Both of my un-nannied-up XJs were way better in the snow than my Wrangler. Not even close. And I’m…

The bike industry is still in a clusterfuck. Try buying tires for fatbikes. Or an eleven speed chain. DT Swiss Wheelsets are non-existent. My favorite LBS has a side room that used to be full of bikes to buy, empty as of yesterday. Another LBS said they had gotten one new bike in and did not expect any new Salsa…

When my kid was young I built up a nice frame with quality Shimano parts. When it was time to upsize it, I just transferred the parts to the new frame. The parts were still good ten years later, some even went to college. I don’t think you could do that now with all the differing proprietary standards and the SRAM v.…