Modern Vespa

Loving the continued improvement of scammers. Got two well constructed ones recently (both probably from the same source)

First was an telling me I had won a portable battery charger and I only had to fill out a survey and pay postage.

Second was I had won the opportunity to test power tools appearing to be from a shop I had actually bought from yesterday! Yet again asking to fill a survey first to make me feel comfortable before springing the trap.

Both were so beautifully crafted, clearly written by someone who has english as their first language unlike the usual nigerian prince crap (or by ChatGPT).

Not hard to see how many people fall for this shite and get their details stolen.

Welcome to the First Time COVID Club! I got it for the first time earlier this year. Yes, although apparently quite a bit less deadly than it used to be.

Just wrapped up day 9 of my "wandering" road trip.

I've coverd about 2500 miles. I'm near the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and really enjoying riding in this area. I grew up near here so the roads are somewhat familiar, but I haven't lived here in 44 years.

I've had one mechanical issue with the old chopper. I stopped for fuel in Fisk, Missouri and found my battery completely dead. I got a free replacement from an O'Reilly Auto Parts store about 12 miles from the filling station (only purchased the battery 3 months ago). After installing the battery, I ran though all the diagnostics to ensure the problem was simply a bad battery and not a charging issue. Everything checked out. I was back on the road in 90 minutes. Couldn't have done it without the help of a total stranger who drove me the 24 mile round trip to the auto parts store to replace the battery. It gives me hope when so often we seem to be fighting/arguing about political philosophy these days.

Very nice photos!
BTW, I have that same multimeter.

Being laid up after surgery is covered in the pissing you off thread.

But fun story....paperwork snafu had everyone "confirming" last week at preop that it was an ACL reconstruction on the left knee. It's the right knee. First two people i corrected argued with me lol. Youre right i wouldnt possibly know which knee hurts thanks for reminding me. Gov't-run health care knows best lolol.

ANYWHO.

The fun bit....mrs grabbed a sharpie this morning before we left the house and decorated the left knee accordingly.

OR staff were keen to the story already and i got a lot of laughter when i was getting prepped. Other peoples' nurses even came over just to get photos for friends

Made a frustrating scenario into a good laugh for everyone first thing in the morning.

Surgery went off without a hitch, ACL was a textbook replacement, MCL was okay but a tear in the meniscus also got fixed while they were in there.

Oh and they gave me a shocking amount of oxycodone. And in the same breath lamenting the horrible opioid epidemic among military and veterans...(it's going to the walgreens down the road in a couple days, using a half pill to get to sleep the first few nights only).

That's awesome! I wrote "NO!" with a sharpie on my right knee in March, 2023 when I underwent ACL reconstruction, MCL cleanup, and meniscus repair on my left knee. 😂

Best of luck with your recovery! Take advantage of any PT insurance will pay for. You strike me as the determined sort, so you'll be back up before you know it.

Oh… and I used the oxy for two nights after surgery so I could get to sleep. After that, I flushed it (not literally).

Excellent! I had a fairly major surgery in May, and they gave me a shockingly small amount of oxycodone. Most of the pain management was ibuprofen and acetaminophen.

Glad they got you all fixed up. You'll be doing high kicks in no time!

That was quick, seems like you were just in Nevada yesterday. People don't get me when they find out were I go on my rigid. You do! That's what these bikes are all about! Love that water wheel.

In your Leg Warmers.

Thank you! looking forward to being on two wheels again by the time we get back from Italy in late October. I'm still active duty (technically AGR with the reserves, which is "Active Guard/Reserve" and identical to Active Duty Military i just report through the Reserve chain of command instead of the RegAF--Regular Air Force) retiring at the end of September, 1 October is my first day as a free man and yes gummies will be ingested

But thankfully i just have to wait three duty days for the referral to "be analyzed" (someone has to get off their gubmint arse and read the damn thing) then I start PT. And the nice part is, i just schedule through the therapist directly once i've started, so i can keep going after I retire and no issues shall arise (mostly cause my status change will be as quiet as a church mouse lol). Yeah, now that the nerve block is wearing off i think a half-pill tonight and one tomorrow night until I can remove the brace/bandage and start using the ice machine (pumps supercooled water through a sleeve that goes around the leg) instead. Those should help with the pain mgmt and then i'm told in a week or so i can have a small nightcap (1oz of non-barrel-proof berbs) but i'm also going to ask about zzquil instead.

Yeah, that sh#t is like gold now. Used to be able to call my dentist and he'd phone in a prescription for penicillin (he's old school) and hydrocodone. Now you can get run over by a car and they'll tell you to take Tylenol.

They gave me oxycodone after two Hernia operations.

I took a few but they never relieved the pain, so I stopped taking them.

I think I still have them in a drawer somewhere.

You can have them if you want.

Just kidding about that last part.

Bill

We dodged Oxy as our drug buying agency was

But I have a dear friend in the US who is a long term user who is going through the things you'd expect a long term user to go through.

Wait...you're not in Sturgis?

I kid. Keep the reports coming, I love it all.

Oof. Sorry to hear about your friend. Hoping they can pull put of it as soon as possible. That stuff is seriously bad business.

On the up side the "functional side effects" of sedation and narcotics have worn off and i was successful this morning.

WOOT! Congrats!

Congratulations, from someone who knows exactly how you feel.

After my Scooter accident, I was sent to a nursing home for an additional 60 days to learn to walk again. Th original ICU and Hospital had me on two 1000mg tablets of Oxy ever four hours. Side effects: #1 I never knew if it was day or night. #2 (no pun intended) I was unable to defecate for nine and a half days. The nursing home doctor was confounded when I asked to be taken off the prescribed regimen and opted for 1/2 of the original dose. Fortunately, things turned out well and my bowel functions returned. I was really full of it.

Speaking of pain killers…

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/beer-is-a-25-per-cent-better-pain-relief-than-paracetamol-new-research-says/RLWU3P6OEOE3KVBO5LANV4E6MY/

I'll literally go anywhere but Sturgis the first week of August. Any other time of year, it's beautiful there.

Well, Duh!

Classic Elon

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2023/07/tesla-exaggerated-ev-range-so-much-that-drivers-thought-cars-were-broken/

Regarding painkillers, my wife is allergic to codeine and codeine-based medications, so Oxy is a no-go for her. When she's needed pain killers stronger than OTC solutions, she usually gets prescribed Tramadol. If she needs something stronger, they prescribe morphine. The last time they gave her morphine, she only used one or two pills. She was afraid she'd end up relying on them and getting addicted. Like WLeuthold, the remaining pills are in a drawer or cabinet somewhere.

Seems Robot ain't a fan of some of Piaggio's designs

Note: i haven't watched the vid

A Henry Rollins interview cheered me up today.

Article focuses on alcohol, but hops has medicinal use as well, with extracts used for musculoskeletal formulations.

But I guess we've got to do the actual field research to sort that out....

Yesterday was a Very Bad Day(tm) and my wife ended up in the hospital after suffering a stroke while driving. When I got to her I feared the worst - or second worst anyway. It did not look good, not even a little bit.

After the stroke team and her neurosurgeon worked their magic - they swear it's not, but I know better - today she's almost back to normal. There will be some recovery and all, but that's cheering me up beyond belief today.

I know the feeling - so glad she's doing so much better!

Topical!

Oh, gee, thanks, Jess...

...for reminding me to schedule my colonoscopy appointment.

Looking forward to "evacuating both the god and the devil out of me in one propulsive motion".

Such fun.

Purely in the interest of the furtherance of scientific knowledge, I did some field work last night…

Chris from CLE

Neighbours over the road at war with each other over parking on the road (to be fair, it's a bus), and who (doesn't) mow the little strip of lawn that arguably the back house is responsible for. Two old ladies (who should be in church given their outfits) shrieking expletives at each other.

Popcorn and lawn chairs next time.

Are you selling tickets ?

I like it when it gets physical.

I saw this exact bike there on Aug 3rd. It had a 'sold' sign on it. I had asked about the sticker without knowing about the video. Makes me wonder if the sticker was removed at the request of the new owner or they took it off to help sell it.

They also had a used black 946 on the showroom floor.

What is cheering me up. My daughter is moving out of her god awful apartment building and getting a new apartment in a nice area.

Backstory: My daughter loves Minneapolis and wanted the classic look of an old brownstone building with wood floors, built in cabinets and beautiful woodwork. When she moved in ten years ago, the building was populated by other young kids just out of college. Since then, the place has turned into a crime ridden crack house with police arriving almost every other night to gun shots, in bulding homicides, and drug dealers everywhere.

What happened - the landord (owns multiple buildings) filled up the place with Section 8 (housing) tenants. To our out of the USA forum followers, Secton 8 is government subsidized rent paid for low income people. Not to disparage any group, but these people, in her builidng, are bums and drug dealers.

My daughter has paid parking right behind the building. Her car has had the side windows smashed in and recently the windshield smashed wih a hammer and the hood key job scatched. Three people have been shot dead in the building in the last year - there is screaming every night, and they pound on her door yelling open up.

My daughter knows the management group well after living there for so long.
Two things have occured. (1) the city of minneapolis demands each landlord provide a percentage of Section 8 tenants. Her landlord, to keep his other buildings nice, dumped all he Sectoin 8 into her building, (2) since the Minneapolis George Floyd "Burn Down Riots" the city council has under funded the police. The police are just not available. When my daughter called the police last week - they told her "They have been to her building to much and will nolonger come out unless someone is shot".

So I am cheerful - she is getting out.

Bob Copeland
Note: The Minneapolis City Council are one collection of funny thinking people who do not know how to run a railroad.

Wow Bob! She would've been safer and gotten a better nights sleep in prison. Glad she's out of there. That's unbelievable.

E-scooter rental in Melbourne has just been banned 😀

https://www.9news.com.au/national/victoria-city-of-melbourne-move-to-ban-escooters-from-melbournes-cbd/6a933cab-c4e0-4f88-94ee-47e5d165f320

Oh, that's just great. More of those damned things here!

I read on Slashdot today that a parking lot of Waymo cars honk at "each other" in the night. I don't know if I should think it's cute, or to be afraid.