Though I’ve lamented recent changes to Paste’s iOS/iPadOS app, the macOS version remains just about perfect to use. It also remains the only application permanently bound to a global keyboard shortcut (`⌥“) on my aging (Monterey-limited,) Intel MacBook Pro, and its interface continues to delight as much as it did on first call, who knows how many years ago.

Finally got around to – once again – washing DAVÖD as thoroughly as I could last week. Discovered that the crud in all the door sills problem is not coming from car soap at the wash…

why should he.

Below is an excerpt from my just-republished 2019 Volkswagen Atlas Review detailing my singular encounter with capital-r Road Rage in the entirety of my ~year driving for Uber/Lyft.

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My only authentic Road Rage experience in some 5000 miles of rideshare driving occurred on All Hallow’s Eve when I stopped – no more illegally than usual – on the opposite corner from a popular downtown Mexican restaurant called The Nap with hazards and all courtesy interior lights shining. The car immediately behind me hesitated no more than necessary, but the Biggest Big Infiniti behind them (a QX80 – the Atlas’ competitor) just… stopped. There was honking and frenzied, hoarse screaming of what the fuck are you doing? and such.

I responded with pleasantly amused but relatively-encouraging glances at the impersonal black mass of the Infiniti’s windshield through my mirrors. I rolled down the Atlas’ driver’s side window and politely gestured that they go around me, but failed to coax any movement whatsoever from the ugly behemoth through at least two full cycles of the nearby traffic light. There must be some aquatic authority in the bulbous black ass of the QX80, for no one behind it seemed willing to pass either. The driver waited significantly longer than you’d imagine before emerging, huffy. She was wearing a classic poofy black North Face vest some sort of slate gray turtleneck. Nothing below these were stimulating enough to retain any memory of. Uggs?

How positive are you that the truth has absolutely zero consequence: contrasted silver-beige eyeliner and little eye contact, dirty-ish straight blonde hair over a spray-tanned face, exhibiting zero anxious tics or hesitation. She was obviously the New Matriarch, and she was obviously much more of an authority on traffic law than I. As she approached, she scanned the street as one naturally does when they enter a busy one… except it was completely empty, thanks to her blockade. She first informed me that I was “not supposed” to be stopped there. I tried to listen and respond with as much sincerity as possible as I realized all at once that my behavior had genuinely perturbed this woman – that her choice to leave the huge hideous warmth of the guppy wagon to speak as humans to one another required great courage.

I inserted the next logical question which I’d been screaming telepathically: can you not get around me? I began to pity her when I then saw in her face the distinct possibility that going around as a concept had not occurred to her whatsoever. She stuttered a wee bit in retorting “I could go around, but I don’t want to get a ticket.” Here, one of the most fascinating avenues of suburban psychology is explored: Guppy Mom is not being ingenuine with this expression, nor has she had an untoward experience with law enforcement, ever. Guppy Mom did know her excuse was bullshit – nobody has ever been written a traffic citation for carefully circumventing an obstacle in the road. Given the opportunity to interrogate this kernel of entirely uncompromising obedience to utterly delusional traffic law superstitions, I think we’d simply discover a life of unnaturally positive interactions with LEOs. We must conclude, then, that the source of her fear was either myself or the Atlas.

Granted, to her I am still a Young Man, and am therefore instinctively programmed to believe myself more informed than literally everyone – even the very foundational architects of modern civilization. Her Stucco Highness may have felt a representative of these builders (edgy take: she is in fact their servant.) Her own folks surely complain regularly about their distaste for disrespect, and my gig-economy, Austin Powers-looking ass was somehow disrespecting the order laid down by her would be (entirely fantastical) forefathers. Though her expression of her quaint fear of such “ugliness” (if you will) is hard-headed, an ugliest decision of hers (or her kin) idled behind me, its giant seafood-looking mouth gaping, unhinged.

concord

Noun

1. capital of the state of New Hampshire; located in south central New Hampshire on the Merrimack river
   • Synonyms
     • Concord
     • capital of New Hampshire
   • Part of
     • New Hampshire
     • Granite State
     • NH
     • N
   • Is a
     • state capital
2. a harmonious state of things in general and of their properties (as of colors and sounds); congruity of parts with one another and with the whole
   • Synonyms
     • harmony
     • concordance
   • Less specific
     • order
   • More specific
     • peace
     • comity
     • agreement
     • accord
   • Related
     • harmonize
     • harmonise
     • consort
     • accord
     • concord
     • fit in
     • agree
     • consonant
     • harmonic
     • harmonical
     • harmonized
     • harmonised
     • harmonious
     • harmonious
     • proportionate
     • symmetrical
     • consonant
     • harmonic
     • harmonical
     • harmonized
     • harmonised
     • harmonize
     • harmonise
     • consort
     • accord
     • concord
     • fit in
     • agree
     • harmonize
     • harmonise
     • harmonize
     • harmonise
     • harmonize
     • harmonise
     • reconcile
     • harmonize
     • harmonise
     • reconcile
3. the determination of grammatical inflection on the basis of word relations
   • Synonyms
     • agreement
   • Less specific
     • grammatical relation
   • More specific
     • number agreement
     • person agreement
     • case agreement
     • gender agreement
   • Related
     • concord
     • agree
4. town in eastern Massachusetts near Boston where the first battle of the American Revolution was fought
   • Part of
     • Massachusetts
     • Bay State
     • Old Colony
     • MA
     • Mass
   • Is a
     • town
5. agreement of opinions
   • Synonyms
     • harmony
     • concordance
   • Less specific
     • agreement
   • Related
     • concordant
     • concurring
     • agree
     • hold
     • concur
     • concord
     • agree
     • hold
     • concur
     • concord
     • concord
     • consonant
     • harmonic
     • harmonical
     • harmonized
     • harmonised
6. the first battle of the American Revolution (April 19, 1775)
   • Synonyms
     • Lexington
     • Concord
     • Lexington and Concord
   • Part of
     • American Revolution
     • American Revolutionary War
     • War of American Independence
     • American War of Independence
   • Is a
     • pitched battle
   • Region
     • Massachusetts
     • Bay State
     • Old Colony
     • MA
     • Mass

Verb

1. go together; “The colors don’t harmonize”; “Their ideas concorded”
   • Synonyms
     • harmonize
     • harmonise
     • consort
     • accord
     • fit in
     • agree
   • Less specific
     • match
     • fit
     • correspond
     • check
     • jibe
     • gibe
     • tally
     • agree
   • More specific
     • coordinate
     • blend
     • go
     • blend in
   • Related
     • accordant
     • agreeable
     • conformable
     • consonant
     • concordant
     • harmony
     • concord
     • concordance
     • accordant
     • accord
     • harmony
     • concord
     • concordance
     • harmony
     • harmoniousness
2. arrange by concord or agreement; “Concord the conditions for the marriage of the Prince of Wales with a commoner”
   • Less specific
     • arrange
     • fix up
   • Related
     • harmony
     • concord
     • concordance
3. arrange the words of a text so as to create a concordance; “The team concorded several thousand nouns, verbs, and adjectives”
   • Less specific
     • arrange
     • set up
   • Related
     • agreement
     • concord
     • concordance
4. be in accord; be in agreement; “We agreed on the terms of the settlement”; “I can’t agree with you!”; “I hold with those who say life is sacred”; “Both philosophers concord on this point”
   • Synonyms
     • agree
     • hold
     • concur
   • Antonyms
     • disagree
     • differ
     • dissent
     • take issue
   • More specific
     • settle
     • reconcile
     • patch up
     • make up
     • conciliate
     • settle
     • see eye to eye
     • concede
     • yield
     • grant
     • subscribe
     • support
     • conclude
     • resolve
     • arrange
     • fix up
   • Related
     • harmony
     • concord
     • concordance
     • harmony
     • concord
     • concordance
     • concurrence
     • concurrency
     • agreeable
     • agreement

Origin

Middle English : from Old French concorde , from Latin concordia , from concors of one mind , from con- together + cor , cord- heart

English ⇨ Gregorian

1. noun
   Formal : თანხმობა

to live in concord
თანხმობით ცხოვრება

Grammar : შეთანხმება

Thesaurus

Noun

1. disputatious council meetings which occasionally ended in concord

Similar Words: agreement harmony accord consensus concurrence unity unanimity unison oneness concert

Opposites: disagreement discord

2. a concord was to be drawn up

Similar Words: treaty agreement accord concordat entente compact pact protocol convention settlement

I’ve been trying GameTrack’s premium tier for the past month and thought I should at least have one go at the review function… This isn’t actually substantial or useful in any way. You’re welcome.

SO you want me to review Champion’s Online, virtually unprompted, in 2024, eh?

Well, I loved and was very invested in Cryptic Studios at the time (see: [Star Trek Online](https://youtu.be/ghUJm9YWiVc ““Tutorial: Run Star Trek Online on OSX”"),) and Champions was already regarded – in a very misty-eyed, not very practical sense – reverently as very much their baby by the time I arrived in 2009.

I think it was 2011 or so that I decided to commit to Champions – despite how thoroughly uninteresting and unintelligible I found the whole idea of comic book superheroes. In contemporary language, yes it was absolutely super cringe, but I remember admiring how well-established (in a very practical sense) the identity of this title was compared to the product they were building on the same platform with identical tooling that was Star Trek Online at the time.