Notices by Hypolite Petovan (hypolite@friendica.mrpetovan.com), page 4

Cool #Maps thread about the Soviet #Mapping the whole world.

♲ @Pepijn@mastodon.online: 1-x Do you marvel at how #OpenStreetMap or #GoogleMaps can show you the street pattern, all the way to individual houses, of any random village?

Before the age of internet mapping this required a paper map. As most people did not have easy access to detailed maps (house level maps often not available at all) we had a very different view of the world outside our direct area.

This is why I find the history of how the Soviet Union mapped the world so interesting.

#hobby #maps #mapping #USSR #gis

Last month I finally bought the #LEGO #Technic 8880 Super Car set (1994). It came out right in the middle of my teenage LEGO years, and was heavily promoted in all the other Technic sets released at the same time.

And for the time, it was a marvel of engineering: 4 wheel drive with 3 open differentials, independent suspension, 4 wheel steering, a V8 engine with moving pistons, and a brand-new 4 speed gearbox. A life-size version was even built for the Paris Motor Show around the same time, and I got the privilege to see it in person.

Alas, the set didn’t fit in either my birthday or Christmas budget at the time, and it stayed a dream figment for the best part of 30 years. Until last month when I finally got my hands on a second-hand copy of the set.

I was of course afraid that reality would trample that dream to dust especially after I was gifted a 42115 Lamborghini Sián FKP 37 lego.com/en-us/product/lamborg… set by my partner which is in the same vein, but I’m pleased to report some of the original magic is still here.

The building experience is typical of 1990s Technic, with much more parts per building step than entirely comfortable, and several building techniques taking advantage of parts’ flexibility that have since been outlawed by LEGO. But the main advantage the Super Car still holds over newer large scale Technic vehicles is how didactic it is. Its weirdly high stance and airy design with no body panels makes every single feature visually accessible, including during operation.

This was immediately evidenced by my 10 year old kid asking me about the simple but functional gearbox. I was able to show her how it worked by comparing wheel speed with engine speed and point at various exposed gears. Sure, the Lamborghini’s modern gearbox is impressive, but I’d be damned if I could explain how it works to anyone, let alone show most of it given its tight package with body panels hiding the gears including on the bottom.

This makes for me the 8880 Super Car a timeless classic less by its outdated looks than by the sheer “how it works” enjoyment it still provides to this day while modern Technic sets can fall short in that aspect despite more complex features.

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For the love of everything that’s good please stop sharing links to Zach Vorhies’ X thread “analyzing” the #CrowdStrike bug by explaining null pointers exception with no evidence that’s what actually caused the outage. At the end he goes off on his usual rant that only white men should be allowed to code he became famous for in the first place.

He might be technically right but nothing is worth spreading his parting bile further. Several online news article have already taken the bait.

A woman is carrying a “World War Seven” tote bag. After a quick search, I found out

World War Seven is a full service, hybrid creative/production/post/auto-
upholsterer/floral arrangement company [that] also make commercials.

What a supremely distasteful branding from people who learned absolutely nothing about the first (and hopefully last) two. 😖

Spotted yet another massive crew-cab pickup tuck parked on the curb half-humping it with a slew of Trump-friendly stickers on the back window. But also an “Active Firefighter” card displayed in the front window, and the cognitive dissonance was palpable. The are few others voluntary jobs where you directly put your life at risk to save other people, and this is in direct contradiction with everything Trump is, has done or ever stood for, including as a draft escapee.

I was used to this sad and scary political display (car and stickers) from law enforcement officers where the link with a self-serving promise of violence is clearer, but I didn’t expect fire fighting would be a likely outlet for machismo bravado given the obvious community service aspect of it and the absence of likely confrontation with other people.

So I’m disappointed and surprised, this time.

I've not talked about my #LEGO hobby for a while, but yesterday I received my 1000th feedback from buyers and sellers on Bricklink. This earned me a little purple brick next to my pseudonym anywhere it is displayed on the site.

It would probably be more significant if I still had any interest in participating in the community, notwithstanding I have been eyeing the number recently creeping up towards this artificial milestone. bricklink.com/feedback.asp?u=M…

I like using soap bars in the shower for the absence of plastic packaging compared to shower gel, but it’s always been irritatingly unwieldy. It slips, it falls, it eventually breaks apart in tiny bits.

Until my partner got a jute soap bag. Better handling, consistent soap dispensing up to the last bit, with a light exfoliating to boot, it is miraculous of simplicity.

Highly recommended.

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Between the precarious delivery drivers zooming around on e-bikes and the recent conversion of the New York City shared bikes to electric, I feel like either a rube or a hipster pedaling on my non-electric bike. 🤔

And it isn't even a fixie!

I should sue my #cat before the ICC for crimes against humanity for loudly whining at my bedroom door just 40 minutes after I laid down to sleep. However, since the cat is technically American, I don’t want the US to invade the Netherlands over it (real threat).

Feline wins again.