Roberta Ecks
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robertaecks.bsky.social
Roberta Ecks
@robertaecks.bsky.social
Writer, retrotchnologist, owner of many typewriters and yet fond of digital widgetry, too. An amateur monkey pusher in re human origins. Most of all, a friend of cats. I block AI.
He must be one hell of a tipper.
November 17, 2025 at 1:35 AM
...The b escaped. "It's supposed to *not* shake your bones," etc. Though both had solid-rubber tires (or worse), the large, tension-spoked front wheel of an Ordinary provides a degree of cushioning for the worst bumps.

Pneumatic tires (and chain drives) helped make safety bikes practical.
November 17, 2025 at 12:52 AM
The caveats are that "a majority of the actual voters" and "a majority of those qualified to vote" are far from synonyms, and it only takes a tiny majority to flip between red and blue.

In the past 50+ years, higher turnout = Dem victory. My GOP parents hoped for bad weather every Election Day.
November 16, 2025 at 8:56 PM
Many do, especially in recent years. It's not impossible the term lingered -- my Dad called the refrigerator an "icebox" most of his life -- but an Ordinary isn't a boneshaker. It's supposed to *not* shake your ones. That was the point of 'em to begin with.
November 16, 2025 at 8:38 PM
Strictly speaking, a "boneshaker" precedes the Ordinary and has two wheels of about the same size, pedals on the front wheel, a rudimentary frame and no suspension. The wheels are much closer than a modern "safety" bicycle.

Big wheel ordinaries are an effort to get more speed and a smoother ride.
November 16, 2025 at 8:15 PM
That is...not ribs....
November 16, 2025 at 5:48 PM
That seems needlessly cruel to coroners and brain researchers.
November 16, 2025 at 5:46 PM
(It's also apparently impossible to steer.)
November 16, 2025 at 5:45 PM
The interesting thing to me, and it's of a piece with the puzzles, ambiguity and internal contradictions of the series, is that Ordinary, as equipped, is nearly impossible to mount or dismount. Was it intentional? I don't know.
November 16, 2025 at 5:43 PM
This deadly chaos is the enemy, even more than the politicians and fools who long for it. If it comes, it will leave damage for generations afterward. I'm no longer sure we will prevent it but we had damned well better try. 5/end
November 16, 2025 at 5:40 PM
Arguably, the ending is a little too easy -- but it's miles and years from the ending of the larger (and, I hope, fictional) story it is told within, a story whose beginnings we never learn but can see all around us, a story written in blood and fire and loss. 4/5
November 16, 2025 at 5:40 PM
...and only too likely. This is the future some of our fellow citizens think they want, bloody, divided and lawless, where "what kind of American are you?" is a life or death question and it's fatal to be too foreign in the wrong place at the wrong time. 3/5
November 16, 2025 at 5:40 PM
One one level, the basic plot is "A Star Is Born" with street combat; on another, the divided future, with real war burning, people far behind the lines ignoring it, power cuts and water shortages nearer the lines, with quiet atrocities and fighters hardened to them feels only too real... 2/5
November 16, 2025 at 5:40 PM
Don't give 'em any ideas.
November 16, 2025 at 5:05 PM
That'd be a no.
November 16, 2025 at 4:52 PM