Tuesday Overnight Open Thread - April 21, 2026 [Doof]

Howdy Hordelings! The Tuesday night ONT has arrived. Glad you stopped by. Open thread, as always. What's on YOUR mind tonight?

When ya gotta go...

Built-In Car Toilet: The Future of Comfort on The Road?

Long road trips can be uncomfortable, especially when there’s no easy place to stop for a bathroom break. To solve this problem, Chinese engineers are developing a car toilet that can be built directly into electric vehicles.

Seres, a company focused on high-end electric cars and smart technology, has received a patent for an in-vehicle toilet system. This car toilet is designed to slide out from under a passenger seat, making it easy to use during long drives, camping trips, or when staying inside the vehicle for extended periods.

The system is designed for convenience. Drivers or passengers can activate the car toilet either by pressing a button or using voice commands. When not in use, it stays hidden under the seat, saving space and keeping the interior neat.

To manage odor, the toilet includes a ventilation system with a fan and exhaust pipe that pushes smells outside the vehicle. Waste is stored in a tank that needs to be emptied manually. There is also a heating element that helps evaporate liquid waste and dry solid waste, improving cleanliness and reducing odor.

You know who might not like this idea?

-----

Welcome to the rock? Not now!

All tours to San Francisco's Alcatraz Island suddenly canceled

A day after San Francisco’s Alcatraz Island closed to visitors for a week of repairs at its ferry dock, National Park Service spokesperson Joshua Winchell provided more details regarding what led up to the shutdown — and why another closure is on the horizon.

The island was briefly closed on Jan. 14 so staff could inspect the pilings that secure the dock on the island. “Results from this inspection confirmed the need for repair,” he said in an email. “Additional improvements to the dock and pilings are anticipated later this year, which will necessitate another temporary closure of the island.”

Alcatraz City Cruises makes more than 3,200 ferry trips to the island annually, according to Winchell, transporting 1.5 million visitors per year.

Any of you ever been to "The Rock"? Please share your experience!

-----

There was a discussion on a daytime thread last week about new music. Several Hordelings were of the opinion that there is no new rock music being made. I disagree with that. There is plenty of new rock (and other genres, too), we just don't get exposed to new music the way we used to.

Here's an interesting article on the subject. It is from an Australian perspective, but its points apply globally, I would say.

Streaming platforms give us access to new music, so why are fewer people listening to it?

In 2017, music streaming platforms, led by Spotify, became the dominant form of recorded music distribution in Australia. The shift from a purchase-based (CDs, vinyl and downloads) to an access-based (streaming) economy represented a fundamental change in the music business.

Streaming platforms, with close to unlimited repertoire, enable and encourage passive listening via playlists and algorithmic recommendation. The result is that catalogue music has become the mainstay of the recorded music industry.

The algorithmic recommendations mentioned above are where users have the power / choice as to what to be fed. If you allow the algorithm to feed you tracks related or similar to those on your playlist, you have a better chance of hearing something new (or at least new to you).

What are your thoughts, fellow music lovers?

-----

Speaking of music. This is another interesting topic, I think.

Comparison of $4,000 boutique audio cable to $7 Amazon Basics cable shows audiophiles waste a lot of money — scientific audio equipment analysis with analyzer shows no difference in quality

Should you splash out on those upgraded audio cables to take your music listening pleasure up a notch? Probably not - affordable Amazon Basics RCA cables are more than good enough - confirms audio TechTuber Amir from Audio Science Review. This won’t be a surprise to regular readers. However, it is interesting to see Amir’s $7 vs $4,000 cable analysis using scientific audio equipment – as well as drawing from his personal music listening experience.

Check out the whole thing. Very thorough analysis and comparisons.

-----

Couldn't agree with this more! The influencer culture is asshoe.

-----

Very kewl to see an old baseball glove restored

-----

Smoooooooooth. REAL smooooooth!

DJ Doof - Random Stuff Edition

Weekly commenter stats for week of 4-19-2026

AoSHQ Commenter Statistics:
Number of posts: 99
Number of comments: 21610
Number of unique hashes: 1689

Top 10 commenters:
1 [469 comments] 'TheJamesMadison, discovering British horror with Hammer Films' [66.62 posts/day]
2 [359 comments] 'Bulg'
3 [316 comments] 'Sponge - F*ck Cancer'
4 [279 comments] '...'
5 [274 comments] 'San Franpsycho'
6 [267 comments] ' Braenyard - some Absent Friends are more equal than others _'
7 [252 comments] 'Yudhishthira's Dice'
8 [251 comments] 'Archimedes'
9 [251 comments] 'gKWVE'
10 [236 comments] 'Skip'

Top 10 sockpuppeteers:
1 [167 names] 'Hesh and Heidi's Nautical Nosh' [23.72 unique names/day]
2 [132 names] 'Things I learned here, surprisingly enough'
3 [127 names] 'Quarter Twenty '
4 [57 names] 'Duncanthrax'
5 [53 names] 'Peruvian '
6 [47 names] 'gKWVE'
7 [41 names] 'Moron Analyst'
8 [38 names] 'mikeski'
9 [34 names] 'Count de Monet'
10 [33 names] 'The first telephone reception was by Hungarians working for Bell'

Tonight's ONT brought to you by facts

Doof Enterprises, LLC hopes your level of whelm is sufficient this evening.

Your feedback may or may not be very important to Doof Enterprises. Follow Mr. Doof on X @doof2112 or do the email thing – doof2112 at proton dot me.

posted by Open Blogger at 10:00 PM

| Access Comments