ArsTigris🐅🐉

HEY YOU! YES YOU! TAKE THIS SHIT OUT OF LINKS! A screenshot of a link with a question mark followed by a seemingly random string of characters. These are source identifiers. Source identifiers are used to track your activity on a site. Where you came from, what device you use, and even who you talk to. Whether it's written clearly in the url or tied to a random string of characters, it's assigned to your activity. When you send a link containing a source identifier to somebody and they click it, it signals to the website that you two are connected. And that data goes right back to the website operators, and thus their advertisers. Whenever you select "share" or "copy link" on a social app or website, it creates a link like this. If you give even the smallest shit about online privacy, it's important to remove them. Everything after the "?" symbol can be removed without issue, especially sections starting with "si=" or "utm_source="

This thing 🫴

Aaaaand now he has both of them. Sock thief! ☺️

Oliver got hold of one of my socks, so… time to play Keep-Away! 😆

Haha - yeah, pretty much!

Engine bay of a 2009 Jeep Wrangler. The grille is removed, and the cooling system is partially disassembled to replace the radiator.

Blue grille, radiator cover, coolant expansion tank, air box/intake pipe assembly, and old (bad) radiator from a 2009 Jeep Wrangler are propped against garage shelving.

Replaced the leaking radiator in my sister’s ‘09 Wrangler yesterday, and was surprised how easy it mostly was. Looks like a lot going on in the pics, but it really wasn’t bad.

White image with the words "The evolution of the trash icon". On it are seven Windows "Trash icons", each with a year under it. (1995, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2015, 2025, and 2026) For 2025, the "Trash icon" is replaced with the Microsoft Teams icon. For 2026, the "Trash icon" is replaced with the Microsoft Copilot icon.

A forlorn landscape of layered rocks in the foreground, with hills fading into the background haze. At upper top right, a small crescent moon, and a bright star.

Open up this picture fully.

Then look at the surface of Mars.

Then look up to the top right.

Spot Mars' moon Phobos high in the sky.

Then notice the bright spot beside Phobos.

That's Earth.

Some of you have forgotten that only three years ago you were perfectly capable of writing a text, writing an email, telling a bedtime story to a child, and it should worry you that powerful companies have convinced us we can’t do things we’ve been doing since the dawn of time.

First console was an Odyssey III (pong w/ 3 variants), but the one that hooked me was Intellivision. Later, NES, SNES & Genesis radicalized me even further. LOL

A business woman in a grey skirt suit, pointing a rifle at a boxy 90s PC

trying to switch off the AI bloatware that has been pinned to the top of every single menu in every single app

Holly bear stands in a supermarket, looking at days after Halloween candy on sale. She says: "Man what a good Halloween! I love that spooky fall feel-". She is distracted by distant music playing 'Holly jolly Christmas' & asks (afraid) "Wait what was that?"

Holly bear takes off screaming "No! Not now!" as too early Christmas decorations put out by the store move in aggressively towards her. 'I don't know if there'll be snow but have a cup of cheer' sounds in the background louder now as the song continues.

A desperate Holly bear struggles to get through the store's door screaming "HELP! It's got me!!" as her claws scrape the doorframe, she is being pulled back in by the Christmas decorations. Holly Jolly Christmas continues to play louder.

Holly bear is yanked back inside as the door slams on her, trapped in the store. Ominously the last refrain of 'Holly jolly Christmas' seeps loudly through the shut door.

I can feel the Christmas noose beginning to tighten all too soon 🎃🙅🎄 #OldBearComics #TheBearMinimum

Vinyl Halloween “costume” from 1980: a bad polyethylene mask of a licensed character, and a vinyl onesie bearing the copyrighted IP with even worse “artwork”. The “costume” pictured consists of a polyethylene mask of the Star Wars character Yoda, if Yoda were a blue chimpanzee with elf ears. The onesie is blue, and the upper half is decorated with white dots representing stars. A large drawing of what can only be described as Yoda’s overweight second cousin twice-removed is highlighted by a thick yellow border. The logo for “Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back” is printed on the outfit’s upper-left shoulder/breast. Not pictured: the godawful stench of poorly-cured vinyl, cheap plastic, and industrial airbrush paint.

Vinyl Halloween “costume” from 1980: a bad polyethylene mask of a licensed character, and a vinyl onesie bearing the copyrighted IP with even worse “artwork”. The “costume” pictured consists of a polyethylene mask of the cartoon character Strawberry Shortcake. The onesie is patterned like a red & white antique sun dress, and the upper half is adorned with the cartoon’s eponymous title card. The bottom half bears the likeness of the eponymous lead character sitting with a cartoon cat among green leaves. Not pictured: the godawful stench of poorly-cured vinyl, cheap plastic, and industrial airbrush paint. My sister had the absolute misfortune of having worn a copy of this costume as a child.

As Halloween nears, let’s take a moment to reflect on the TRUE holiday horrors Gen-X and early Millennials suffered at the hands of our parents.

Behold the “costumes” my sister and I wore for Halloween in 1980, and despair!
😬

Commodore PET, the first computer I ever used in grade school. Always loved seeing one as a prop in one of my favorite movies!

Update: vet confirmed the crow will be transported to wildlife rehab after initial treatment, then released in the general area where it was found once (s)he’s healed up.

Took it to the local emergency vet, which is a wildlife trauma intake vet. Hoping the crow gets to a good wildlife rehab to heal.

It was a beautiful bird; vibrant bluish-black plumage. Wish I’d got pics, but that wasn’t the priority in the moment. Ah well…

Folks called and asked for help catching an injured crow. Young adult, possible broken right wing.

It was scared, but very gentle & let me approach after a couple minutes. Let me pick it up (carefully to not aggravate the bad wing) & place in a box for transport.

Seaplane rating is a bucket list item for me. Cool consolation prize for your nonrev bad luck!

Review from 3500 feet MSL above Vista, CA looking north.

View west toward the Pacific Ocean from 3500’ MSL above Valley Center, CA.

The Pala Casino Hotel and RV Resort seen from 3500 feet MSL. The wing strut of a Cessna 172 is visible in the lower left corner of the photo.

Aerial view of a quarry in Valley Center, CA I’ve never noticed before. 🙂

A few more photos from today’s flight. 🙂

Cumulus clouds east of Palomar Mountain/Cleveland national Forest. Photo from 3500’ MSL over Valley Center, CA.

Cumulus clouds east of Palomar Mountain/Cleveland national Forest. Photo from 3500’ MSL over Pauma Valley, CA.

Convective activity east of Palomar Mountain/Cleveland national Forest. Photo from 3500’ MSL over Valley Center, CA. The propeller blade of a Cessna 172 sweeps through the frame.

View to the southeast from 3500’ MSL over Valley Center, CA. Distant cumulus clouds are visible, with Valley Center and Escondido in the middle foreground. The blue engine cowl of a Cessna 172 appears in the bottom near foreground of the image.

Today was a practice & “just flying around” kind of day. Convective activity to the east made for some pretty scenic skies around SoCal. Photos from the Fallbrook/Valley Center/Pauma Valley/Escondido area.

Unbelievable footage from NOAA’s Hurricane Hunters inside the eye of Hurricane Erin.

Simply incredible.

With rampant puritanical extremism trying to take over, I want to make it clear:

I don’t care what kinks or fetishes you draw.

If I don’t like it, I don’t look.

I can curate my space and mute words I personally don’t like. You can too.

I would absolutely eat this. Perhaps only once, but still…!

View to the NE in the en route climb toward Big Bear, CA. This was taken around 5-6000’ MSL. I think, anyway - I was busy on the radio most of the way up & didn’t have time to take my own pics LOL. Those *aren’t* clouds in the distance (haze layer). Yuck.

San Bernardino mountains, photo taken as we flew through Angel Pass at 9,500’ MSL en route to Big Bear City, CA. Summer greens and browns paint the mountains, and the azure sky crowns them.

Watercraft on Big Bear Lake as we turned east toward the airport. Photo has been leveled (original was taken while in a turn). I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many boats on the lake all at once before! Not like I see the lake every day, but still… Lots o’ boats!

Me, trying to understand a garbled ATC radio transmission, if the look on my face is any indication. Audio quality on 132.2 was… not great in this area yesterday. 🤷‍♂️ I’m wearing a brown shirt, aviation headset, and black ball cap. Karen, my wonderful copilot and photographer, smiles while she takes our selfie. She is wearing a red shirt & aviation headset, and has a tattoo of a bee & flower on her arm. We are seated in the cockpit of a Cessna 172M. We are near Vista, CA & climbing through ~3000’ MSL. Through the back windows, the shore of the Pacific Ocean and the communities of Oceanside & Vista can be seen in the distance below. A Stratux ADS-B/FIS-B/GPS receiver is affixed to the rear window.

The haze layer yesterday looked gross, but apart from that it was a really nice flight to Big Bear! A bit bumpy on the flight back south, but the air smoothed out by Banning Pass.

Photos by my wonderful copilot, Karen!

Cessna 172 parked at Big Bear City, CA airport (L35). Mountains, other parked planes & clear blue sky are in the background.

Beautiful day to fly to Big Bear! More pics later. 😎

Motorboat Cruise
Peoplemover/Rocket Rods
Mission to Moon/Mars
Skyway
Starcade
Mike Fink Keel Boats
House of Tomorrow/Princess Grotto
Carousel of Progress/America Sings/Star Wars Landing Bay

Probably forgetting a couple…

Gettin my diet back on track, starting right f’ing now.

Also got my bike tuned up and rode about 3 miles today. Not a lot, but it’s a start! Scary to realize how out of shape I am, but it’ll come back.

I lost 90 pounds just by diet & exercise before, so 50 should be a cinch!
😄

About two years ago I injured my back and left knee & had to stop biking. Also let my diet go to shit as lassitude took root. So, no surprise that I’ve packed on close to 50 pounds since then.

Enough is enough.

Werewolf Fury slot machine at Pala Casino in SoCal. The slot machine depicts a black werewolf holding out a fistful of gold coins

Werewolf Fury slot machine at Pala Casino in SoCal. The slot machine depicts a black werewolf holding out a fistful of gold coins, with the game denomination screen shown. The game has vibrant rainbow-pattern perimeter lights.

Werewolf Fury slot machine at Pala Casino in SoCal. The slot machine depicts a black werewolf holding out a fistful of gold coins, having just paid out a $14 jackpot. One of the reels shows three werewolf busts, while the others show various game symbol elements.

My RV & Jeep parked at Pala Casino RV park at twilight. The sky is a rich purple fading to light lavender, with small puffy clouds. Trees are silhouetted in the background. The foreground is lighted by decorative string lights hung from the RV’s salon slide-out.

Stayed the week at Pala Casino’s RV park & found the furry-bait slot machine!
🐺😄

It… it did not treat me very nicely. That $14 win was the biggest one I got in the hour or so I played it. 😓

Bonus pic of my RV & Jeep at twilight. 🙂

View toward Los Angeles from the Catalina airport administration Tower.

Catalina airport Courtyard with tile map of the island.

Beauty and the Beast 😆

Carlsbad flower fields just west of Palomar Airport. Photos taken by my wonderful co-pilot on departure. 🙂

Catalina Avalon Airport seen from the pattern downwind leg for runway 22.

Catalina’s eastern coastline on final to the airport landing runway 22.

Catalina airport

Spectacular skies today; couldn’t resist another trip out to Catalina!