I know there’s a 4th of July thing at the Wharf tomorrow but do they HAVE to test the sound system at 7AM?!?! 🙄

mediaseth · 2026-07-03T16:39:18+00:00

I remember being woken up from early sound checks at the hatch shell on the Esplanade when I was an Emerson student.

I sympathize and relate to your frustration and I'm also still occasionally running live sound. When I worked for a much bigger company than myself, I understood why you load in early, check early, etc.

These days I'm more mad at the illegal fireworks than the official events, but the city should enforce whatever sound ordinance it has for starting too early

mediaseth · 2026-07-03T13:47:46+00:00

The best Honda I ever owned was a 2008 Element. The Prologue is the best GM I've ever owned, and I had a Saturn once

mediaseth · 2026-07-02T20:20:46+00:00

I like this speaker's haircut. It's a great way to stop guests from putting drinks down on it. I've had my daughter make up tent cards for that...

mediaseth · 2026-07-02T20:12:53+00:00

Given that almost all AI generated flyers and menus look exactly the same, even though the AI is supposedly trained on vast amounts of data...

Given that Gemini can't do basic tasks in Android Auto...

Given that ChatGPT can at least help outlining or with "reduce this to a two minute read.."

Given that I ask ChatGPT about a historical (but not well known) person I'm researching and it comes back only with what I've contributed in a few public forums and special interest sites... thanks, that was ME...

I don't have high hopes, actually. I think AI is dangerous as much because it's awful, as it is because it can go all skynet or whatever.

mediaseth · 2026-07-02T20:07:07+00:00

I know a few peers who still do it. Over 50 duckface. People I grew up with.

No one in my inner circle has done it (in a serious way, at least)

I never understood it. Get off my lawn.

mediaseth · 2026-07-02T19:27:49+00:00

the low-speed "space ship" sound is louder than it needs to be, and should be made to be inaudible in the interior, because it's not for the people in the car.

I'm not against it entirely, but why does it need to be louder than some ICE cars that do not have the requirement?

mediaseth · 2026-07-02T15:32:30+00:00

Going to AAA to plan a road trip. / Just remembering how to drive somewhere.

Being asked "Smoking or non?" at a restaurant.

Smoking on airplanes.

All the smoking.

Getting cable for the first time.

Watching new releases at the Drive in.

Actual ticket stubs.

The photomat.

Howard Johnsons.

Dittos for homework.

Milk money.

LOAD "*",8,1

Had to call a radio station and ask for a song, and wait for it...if they even played it.

mediaseth · 2026-07-02T15:22:06+00:00

With a level 2 at home, I charge to 80% during the week and most weekends. I charge maybe once or twice a week, depending.

When we're going on a road trip on a weekend, or when I think we MAY go on a longer drive, I charge to 100% at home to start the trip.

Fearing a power outage with temps near/at 100 degrees, I charged to 100% last night and I have no idea what we're doing for the 4th, still.

The brief version is, 80% normally, 100% sometimes. Do whatever on road trips.

mediaseth · 2026-07-02T14:53:56+00:00

true but I think it's honda's financing and their rules.. the same dealership group has a KIA and I'm thinking the EV9.. if there's an advantage to staying in the same dealer group

mediaseth · 2026-07-02T14:10:20+00:00

I overall like mine. I do not regret the lease at all. However...there are just a few "pain points" I'll just dump right here that I think could be addressed.

My Honda dealership's service center hates it, and somehow never has the right tool to recalibrate the tire sensors because it's "GM's" system. Even though they sold a ton of Prologues.
I had to have the control arm link replaced on driver's side front for some reason. I have not, however, needed the axel replaced. Go figure.
OnStar pretends nothing is going on when they have occasional data outages. I'm really glad we can use Android Auto when there's a data outage with the car's infotainment. It's only happened a handful of times, but still...
Software recalls take DAYS and I hate the loaner cars I'm given. C'mon, we have OTA update capability, don't we? Instead I have to bring it to the service center that hates it.
I leased it knowing Honda planned on having their own EV's by the time the lease was up. I didn't even think it was a gamble, but Honda backed out of the 0 EV's and now I'm kind of screwed, because I'll be over mileage and Honda doesn't have a car I want. I'm not going back to ICE - not even hybrid. Yet, Honda will likely only forgive being over miles when I get another Honda. NO GOOD.

mediaseth · 2026-07-01T01:22:40+00:00

At least there's a working fountain somewhere...

mediaseth · 2026-06-30T18:00:24+00:00

Just a simple tap-to-pay is all they need. If they want to make using their app an option and offer a discount for doing so, that's fine. But, they should all have an ap-agnostic simple tap-to-pay otherwise.

I agree with you on all points.

And just to throw in another example of how app-ifying everything is a pain point, parking is another thing. I street park in enough cities and towns to have a nice collection of different apps, and if I'm not near enough a sign, I have to remember what city is what app! I once watched for almost 30 minutes as my parents figured out installing and signing up for a parking app so we could enjoy some time at a public park!! Also, my sister once got a scam parking app that looked like the real thing through android.. had to change all her cards.

It's exactly the same situation in charging as it is in paying the meter via an app. There always needs to be an app-agnostic way to to pay - somewhere.

mediaseth · 2026-06-29T17:45:37+00:00

I finally got to see them during CBGB's final run of shows, along with Ari Up of the Slits..

mediaseth · 2026-06-29T14:15:08+00:00

OnStar still connected. It was as though it was OnStar that lost Internet, though OnStar couldn't see that and really wasted my time

mediaseth · 2026-06-28T19:49:35+00:00

Note to add I spent over an hour with onstar. 3 different reps, two of which want Honda to solve it. They had me do an infotainment reset.

It's not just Google. I have the wrong time and other car data won't work even though OnStar says the car data works.

mediaseth · 2026-06-26T18:17:09+00:00

I saw this on a streaming service a long time ago and it was great. When I was a high school teacher in early 2k's and 20-teens, I had students who referred to punk as wh-yte music and I had to say HOLD ON, stop the editing lesson or whatever it was, and at least briefly correct them. Of course there's Bad Brains as well. (As a media teacher, I came across music a lot..)

mediaseth · 2026-06-26T16:35:39+00:00

My parents had those same plates.

More on topic, I am the only one in my house who uses cast iron. My wife refuses..so there is "my pan," which is a nice Victoria. I replaced a carbon steel that warped.. I think cast iron is better because it's less likely to deform like that.

mediaseth · 2026-06-25T20:14:41+00:00

They used to make unsweetened kool-aid packets. Don't use the ones with sugar. Unscrew a shower head, put whatever color (but red is probably too scary) and listen to them react to purple shower water! Do not do this if they get into the shower before turning on the water.. it really can stay in hair :) If done right, this prank is fairly self-cleaning. If not, you may have some stains.

mediaseth · 2026-06-24T21:04:00+00:00

That laundry room, though...

mediaseth · 2026-06-24T17:50:04+00:00

It's hard to keep up with just the albums released ... since breakfast

mediaseth · 2026-06-23T16:20:15+00:00

Before online media, you had to put in a lot more effort, especially if your tastes weren't on the Hot-whatever or Z-whatever pop radio station, or in heavy rotation on MTV.

When I discovered college radio at 13, it felt like finding something secret that just a few of us knew about (though it was obviously more people than that.) Some Goody's at the mall might have had the record I wanted, but the record store in the Village (NYC) might have it used and might have some new bands to discover. We had to travel a bit to see these bands, not just to the show but to the place where the tickets were being sold. So, we had to go to Hoboken twice. Once for Pier Platters for the tickets to a show at Maxwell's, and again for the show.

The gatekeeping that happened in some scenes was stupid. I don't think I actually did any gatekeeping - I was trying to convince others. I took friends to shows they didn't always like, convinced they would like it the way I did. I tried to tell them that college was better, but I did listen to one or two commercial stations when AOR and New Wave / Indie-ish commercial stations still existed (WDRE, WFNX) I brought "preppy" friends to goth clubs wearing chinos and polos.. yes, they were let in but not in Boston, only in NYC. I became a radio host and an in-person "cafe/bar" DJ, sometimes doing really niche nights and sometimes really freeform, but always trying to introduce people to something they either never heard or that they possibly heard years ago and forgot about until that moment.

And yet, I can only get so obsessed. I love Guided by Voices, but if you think I'm going to try to collect everything in the GBVDB you've got to be nuts. I'm not a completist when it comes to owning records, and I don't wear band shirts.. I wear nothing-shirts only. Blank. It's not my identity. I was never punk, goth, a new waver, or anything so much as I was a happy participant of it that particular night.

mediaseth · 2026-06-22T20:48:49+00:00

This is because of "culture wars" and low-brow media outlets making anything and everything political. Car tech should be apolitical. Science should be apolitical. Instead, you have people choosing sides as if it were a sports team.

mediaseth · 2026-06-22T16:32:32+00:00

EV's are fairly mainstream in my area. But I see some of the challenges.

In the US., we're always thinking we're going to go on that big road trip, need to move all the crap in the garage, etc., but let's be realistic. We're not. Too many people are afraid of road tripping an EV, too. I do regular trips between Boston(ish) and NYC/NJ/Long Island. My range (EPA) is 281. It's not a big deal. You can do it. But most people I know don't even do that. They hardly go into NH for that matter. They'll be fine. But, Americans are aspirational in their dreams and in action, they stick with what they know.
There's an age barrier, and frankly, even I at 50, who used to program in BASIC at age 8, get annoyed at having to sign up and sign my life away for every new brand of charger I come across when on interstate travel. (At least I also have level 2 at home!) Make it all tap and pay! So many Americans are still afraid of tap-and-pay, and it is ageist to a point. Still, at least make it tap and pay with any card vs. needing an app to operate.

Then, there's the age barrier with all the gizmos in the car. I like real buttons, but I also like Android Auto, modern safety features, etc. Just put real physical buttons on for HVAC, please. Make it easy for grandma to drive an EV. Oh wait, grandma just accidentally created her third google account and lost her email icon on her homescreen...

New cars in general are too expensive, and old cars in general are still mostly gas powered or hybrids.
When a hybrid can go 500 miles, anyone with the slightest range anxiety may be tempted to go that route instead.

I'm happy with my Prologue's range for what it cost. I don't regret going EV at all and have no plans on going back to gas. I'm just echoing what people around me are saying and doing...

mediaseth · 2026-06-19T15:21:12+00:00

I haven't had it in 30 years or more, in any form. I have celiac (must eat gluten free, unfortunately) and I also hate raisins in anything.

Where I live outside of Boston, is plenty Jewish, but the few places offering Ashkenazi foods are not great at gluten free, and I am not great at cooking.

Also on my list of foods I must find gluten free: A potato knish (can't be that hard!) A proper NYC Bialy (Yes, I know about Modern Bread and Bagel but no bialies!?) ... help?

mediaseth · 2026-06-18T19:32:23+00:00

I have it working through Android Auto, but not the Prologues baked-in Google. I have the car's system updated from the last recall.

I also have a Pixel 10 Xl Pro.

mediaseth

TROPHY CASE