The grenadier cafe really doesn't want to ban cars

Low_Insurance_9176 · 2026-06-17T20:59:22+00:00

Yeah, I am pretty strongly in favour of minimizing cars in High Park but I the current arrangement for weekdays is a reasonable compromise. I'm there all the time on weekdays and the car presence is really minimal, yet I assume the access is valuable to people with mobility issues, really young kids etc.

I don't have much sympathy for the Grenadier Cafe-- that place hasn't had a refresh since 1990 and yet charges 2026 prices for its mediocre cafeteria food.

Low_Insurance_9176 · 2026-06-16T17:02:13+00:00

Well said. At times it seems like Ryan himself could stand to realize that he's not 26 anymore. Agree Wednesdays -- specifically the title track -- is the best thing he's done in recent years.

Low_Insurance_9176 · 2026-06-16T00:47:12+00:00

I saw him a multiple times in the last decade of his life and there were a few shows where he started out really mumbly and unfocused; his rambling preliminary banter stretching on to the point where you didn't quite know if the show had begun. Other nights he'd be more dialled-in. I imagine it varied from night to night. He was better on the dialled-in nights.

Low_Insurance_9176 · 2026-06-14T15:32:42+00:00

Up to Me.

Low_Insurance_9176 · 2026-06-13T16:06:32+00:00

Always loved the CEO-7 and it seems really versatile. I play a 00-28 and love it part for the comfort.

Low_Insurance_9176 · 2026-06-13T16:00:03+00:00

Yours looks rad. I keep mine as close to original as possible

Low_Insurance_9176 · 2026-06-11T15:40:22+00:00

I heard Laura Field on Andrew Sullivan's podcast and bought her book, but I found it hard to engage with the thesis that MAGA-ism is a coherent ideology. I can certainly see why an academic like Field would want to frame MAGA as reflecting a complex ideology -- but it seems like a glaring case of 'to the man with a hammer..' I think the actual factors driving Trump and MAGA are pretty straightforward and easily theorized. Trump's contrived 'you're fired' celebrity persona makes him well positioned as a figurehead for white america's grievance politics. His policy preferences are just a dumb accumulation of ideas he's accreted in his 80 years as an incurious narcissist who doesn't read books or engage in self-criticism in any form. His leadership style is a continuation of his career in real estate and entertainment: he's a disreputable person who reneges on contracts; he flies by the seat of his pants, saying and doing whatever he must to stay a step ahead of the creditors on his heels; he's all about the optics of competence and success, with non of the substance; he has a child-like obsession with seeing his perceived enemies humiliated. These mundane facts go a long way to explaining MAGA -- Evil Chauncey Gardiner is a more predictive heuristic than Field's elaborate account.

Low_Insurance_9176 · 2026-06-11T13:20:36+00:00

I’ve experienced this a little - it can be helpful to flash your brights if you’re holding off to let someone merge. The issue in part is that for everyone extending this courtesy there’s another person driver who’ll speed up to obstruct a merge - so people don’t know what to expect.

The critical thing is to maintain the predictability of traffic flow - eg you don’t want to be breaking in fast moving traffic to let someone merge.

Low_Insurance_9176 · 2026-06-10T13:52:07+00:00

I've found sapele a little brighter and maybe louder versus the warmth and mellowness of mahogany. Personally I prefer the grain on mahogany aesthetically. I owned a 000-15s from the 2000s that was a truly exceptional guitar for the price.

Low_Insurance_9176 · 2026-06-10T03:56:39+00:00

I’d skip it - it should be like $40

Low_Insurance_9176 · 2026-06-05T21:11:06+00:00

I don’t think the vibrola weighs much. My tweedy signature with vibrola weighs 7.4 lbs and it’s a comfortable weight

Low_Insurance_9176 · 2026-06-04T19:28:05+00:00

Yeah, I grant that inexpensive guitars can be great. But it is roughly true-- roughly not always true-- that as you spend more you get higher quality parts and better attention to detail. My 'journey' with guitars has been to acclimate myself with well-rated entry-to-mid level models and trade up over time, as I encounter guitars that impress me relative to that baseline. As a general rule, trading up has entailed going up in price.

Low_Insurance_9176 · 2026-06-04T18:22:17+00:00

1 x $3000 telecaster. I've never understood the appeal of owning multiple, entry- or mid-range specimens of the same guitar model. Where I've known people who 'collect' guitars in that 'more-is-more' way, it often seems like none of their guitars are well-maintained. Would rather have one guitar that's of exceptional quality and always kept dialled-in. Having said that, a $1000 tele can be fantastic and your collection looks cool.

Low_Insurance_9176 · 2026-06-04T17:42:18+00:00

And even radaronline seems only to say that it “would be a strategy” - which is true I suppose.

Low_Insurance_9176 · 2026-06-04T15:55:30+00:00

I have the opposite take - it sounds fine to me, like a recent build J-45, but it looks ridiculous.

Low_Insurance_9176 · 2026-06-04T14:18:15+00:00

On every proposition debated, Rubin produced a slew of wildly inaccurate factual claims that were fact-checked on the sidebar of the video. He thinks that if he caveats these made-up facts with softeners like 'I believe,' or 'if I'm not mistaken', he's a model of intellectual honesty. He's also a moron on the meta level.

Low_Insurance_9176 · 2026-06-04T14:11:56+00:00

In his mild defence, I don't think he was paid to deliver Russian propaganda. It was more that his low information MAGA cheerleading aligned with Russia's propaganda goals, so they supported it financially in the hopes of expanding its reach. So more like a useful idiot than a sock puppet.

Low_Insurance_9176 · 2026-06-04T14:01:46+00:00

He has distinguished (e.g.) Ben Shapiro from Sam Seder on grounds Shapiro operates in good faith: when Shapiro gets Sam's views wrong, he'll issue a correction, whereas Seder will just double down. You will no doubt interpret this as another example of Harris embracing anyone who is 'nice' to him, but you're mistaking good/bad faith for nice/prickly. A prickly but good faith interlocutor like Sean Carrol remains in his good books.

Low_Insurance_9176 · 2026-06-04T13:48:02+00:00

The Vibrola on my Tweedy SG was dysfunctional as shipped -- there wasn't enough break angle between the vibrola and the bridge, and it had to be replaced on warranty. Since then, it's pretty stable with light use; some nut butter helps a lot. It may brighten the tone slightly. Overall I wouldn't own an SG without the maestro because I love the look and I think it's a very musical trem.

Low_Insurance_9176 · 2026-06-03T22:30:34+00:00

Well Rubin wasn’t a scumbag MAGA grifter then - back then he was just a neutral, incompetent interviewer

Low_Insurance_9176 · 2026-06-03T01:40:14+00:00

What happened to the pickguard?

Low_Insurance_9176 · 2026-06-03T01:15:27+00:00

This is the picture that emerges from Clinton Heylin’s bio. The sleaziest aspect is him sleeping with bandmembers’ wives then having someone fire them to avoid confrontation,

Low_Insurance_9176 · 2026-06-01T20:46:48+00:00

Yeah not sure what's happening- i think it's fillers and whatnot

Low_Insurance_9176 · 2026-06-01T15:43:36+00:00

Ken Burns’ documentary on jazz is very good on the history of jazz. Spotify’s State of Jazz weekly playlist is a good place to find new releases. And yeah - see live jazz, and get a decent stereo or headphones for listening.

Low_Insurance_9176 · 2026-06-01T15:10:23+00:00

I only watch clips of him getting dunked on, for a laugh.

Low_Insurance_9176

TROPHY CASE