It Was 57 Yrs. Ago Today

3 Nov. 1968.Guessing it's much the same show as I saw three+ wks. later at Seattle's Eagles Auditorium on this date in 1968. Opening act: Chicago Transit Authority. I think that was the show when Linda V. (last name redacted as she is still alive & has a Ph.D. & a career) & I first made out.

Wow. Memories. Now I'm really depressed.

Financial Times

Buy Now Before Prices Increase!!

Purchased from the local gang of train robbers in '20 or '21, no doubt at list price.And the current list price. An increase of US$25.00 on a slightly under $50.00 item over four yrs. 12.5% annual inflation? Only difference is the pack is no longer #14 but #148-25, w/ corresponding change in the copyright date.
Was able to get them for $57.59.

Xmas Is Over!

Meaning I finished all my shopping yesterday, w/ a month to go. Were Santa to stuff my stocking w/ another 100 or so bones worth of plastic Chinese crap I would have every possible structure I could want for (or that will fit on) the layout, 'cept for a larger quonset hut for Camp Swampy.Scam alert? Good price (MSRP is US$114.99) cheap shipping, but from "United States WAREHOUSE Brazil?" And no returns? Uh, no. Not to mention "import fees." Image at left is the item, but not the one from Brazil; note it's $19.85 shipping in the contiguous 48. Anyway, I got one for US$79.99, plus $5.10 shipping & $7.80 Calif. tax, which I'm happy & proud to pay. And the seller's in Jersey, sending it USPS; even at the cheapest rate the Postal Sevice is likely to put something from the wrong coast in a 'plane & have it here in civilization ASAP, as opposed to UPS & FedEx, which mean it when they call it ground service. Hey, it's almost amusing to track one's package across the country for days & days.

Another Reminder Of Why I Remain Angry After Sixty+ Yrs.!

If my parents weren't deservedly dead already, I'd have to kill them, not merely for throwing away my comic book collection when we moved to Seattle but for lying to me about it for months. Probably should've killed myself for believing the lying sacks of shit at all, & for not realizing right fucking then that no one can be trusted, ever: "Oh, they were lost in transit for a while ... they'll be here in a month or so ..."

Lying fucking scum, like the idiot squealer who called the police & sent me to psychiatric jail & like everyone the fuck else in this horrid world of shit & pain. No wonder I hate every one of you, even my goddam parents started fucking me, pretty much the day I was born!!Not saying that I had Action #1, or this one, but I did have Daredevil #1. You rotten, rotten bitch & the son thereof. After this kind of treatment, no jury would dare convict me of anything. Not that they'll take me alive, mind you!

Wasn't So Difficult, Was It?

19 mins. w/ an actual human (starting w/ a robot who soon transferred me to "Manny") & activation achieved. Whew. Once I'd given Manny the MAC & serial numbers most of the time was spent waiting for Spectrum/Charter's devil-boxes to finish whatever the eff they were up to. Never takes this long when the computers are getting a credit card number, does it?

Nagonna arse myself to reconnect the Starry router & compare actual numbers, but downloading to the 'phone seems considerably faster.

Out w/ the old ... Must admit, the low profile made it easy to fit almost anywhere.

There's always something ...

Important: Support for Chromecast (1st gen) has ended. It no longer receives software or security updates, and Google doesn't provide technical support. Users may notice a degradation in performance.

I was an early adopter. Now I get to spend hrs. wandering about the iNternet to see if there's a way around this irritation other than giving someone money. I did unplug it, maybe it'll set itself up. Was no Google Home then (Apparently necessary to make one work now.) so we'll see.

Somewhat later: Worked! No silly application needed, a hard reboot, & for all I know I could've just hit the reset button. 

We'll see how long this positive state continues. 

Everything, Part II

Felt lousy, threw up again. Will try to activate the new crap (Third time's the charm?) if nothing I'll have to call them, which will doubtless be interminable. (I don't have that much time left, you bastards.) What an irritating imposition.

Agony/Ecstasy

Still no Spectrum/Charter new equipment activation. (Two items below if you care, & why would you?) Tried everything several times, on the PC & the 'phone; the most informative thing I get is "We're having a problem, please call us", so I'll have to call a humanoid tomorrow. (Is it a human? Even the human "agents" all read from scripts, & ask fool questions you've probably already answered in your original complaint. "Yes, it's plugged in & all the little lights are flashing.") Couldn't call today, as I had to do stuff on the iNternet & so kept using Starry.

On the ecstasy side, on leaving the bunker I was surprised by a package at the door. W/ all the devil-box bullshit I'd forgotten there are two packages on their way, but one wasn't expected until tomorrow & the other by Friday. Today's early arrival is the replacement for this piece of plastic crap.

Where the "magic" happens.

No idea why I didn't get one on a stick long ago (pole adds $10-12 to the lamp price); saves space on the workbench/desk, lights more area, & can be moved to the railroad.

Irony

Decided to get Spectrum iNternet (again) for $30.00/month, half what Starry charges, & because Starry has gone out twice recently. So up to Hollywood (What a shithole of contemporary corporate/chain bullshit it is now. No character at all.) to the Spectrum store, where I traded my modem for a new one that is just like the previous one, & a new router, which will run an extra $10.00/month, so I'm only saving 20 bones. Figures.

Returned home & connected the modem, then to the Spectrum website to see if I could activate it w/o downloading another effin' app to my 'phone. At the website I was greeted by a message claiming there was an outage in the area affecting tee vee, iNternet & 'phone. Dunno about the iNternet, as Starry is still on, but the tee vee's been working all this time. (At one point the 'phone was making white noise, but it's quiet now.) At 2314, the website advises the impacted service is television, & it will be restored asap. Earlier it promised 0030 on the 11th. And it claims my iNternet is connected, which I suppose means the 'modem.

The irony is that because of this alleged outage the activation page doesn't work.

One other little problem, which I didn't notice at the store. No idea what Spectrum is thinking, but their wiring into my bunker is co-axial cable. Do you see a threaded co-ax terminal anywhere on this new-to-me box?

Ah, what was I thinking? The new modem was included because the router connects to the modem's Ethernet port. Can't fool this reporter for long.

Applied power & Ethernet to the router; the green light is steady & the amber one is flashing as they should. Must be connected to something, but the website only shows the modem, not the router. And this:

Plan Unavailable

We're sorry, we're unable to display your plan details. Please try again.

Either still suffering an outage or the system is yet to update my account. May as well wait until tomorrow later today before giving up & calling a human or downloading their app as is suggested. 

Funny, but I'm not (yet) enraged & ready to kill, probably because if anyone but a robot calls it should go to voicemail, & Starry hasn't gone out (as it did last night) so there's still iNternet. But my patience is not infinite.

Serves Them Right To Suffer

Schadenfreude Dep't.

Enough measles on the loose should result in mutations. "Super Measles Kills Millions Of Unvaccinated Morons" would be a fitting headline.

Hot Stove

"Baseball Match, 1894"

Spring training games start in three & a half months. Season starts 25 March, w/ the Yankees at the Giants; all teams will play the next day.

Remember ...

... When A Slice Was A Dollar?

Browser News

Romp & stomp & smash & crash & burn!

Th' hell?

NBC News:
IE 11 is not supported. For an optimal experience visit our site on another browser.
Nikki McCann Ramirez / Rolling Stone:   Zohran Mamdani Is the Mayor-Elect of New York City

Ellie Quinlan Houghtaling / New Republic:   Zohran Mamdani Wins New York Mayor Race in Historic Victory

Alex Meier / WTTG-TV:   Live NYC mayoral election results

CNN:   New York City mayoral election results

Dana / Patterico's Pontifications:   It Was the Democrats' Night  —  It's blue down the line.  In the NYC mayoral race …

Michael Luciano / Mediaite:   Despondent Hannity Says His Friends ‘Are Officially Depressed and Scared’ After Mamdani Victory

Which reminds me, Windows 11 blows goats, mostly in importing pictures, & I haven't the patience to scroll through endless menus looking for the settings I want. Yuck foo, every last micro-peckered corporate soft-dick.

D.V.R.

"Bent over

Doubled up

I did the vom

In a blindo's cup"

— Nation of Sheep, "Doing the Vom"

Image source.

That's Daily Vomit Report. What'd you expect, a list of the horseshit I've got on my DVR? Vomiting is much more interesting than telebision.

That being said, heaved this a.m. w/o the assistance of an iron pill or an excess of Hallowee'en candy, so I decided not to take the iron pill.

"Proof Of Delivery"

Your genial host being snapped w/o his knowledge after taking delivery of US$24.98 worth of paper towels at 1216PDT.

What a fucking dump. Note phonus balonus plastic floor.

Not at all sure I like the idea. Not a bad shot however.

(New) Heater (Almost)

Just in time as it is now consistently under 80°F (26.6667°C) in Southern Cal., as noted here. And two wks. later they actually came back & installed a new heater (Ooooh, shiny!)

& a new electronic thermostat that is doubtlessly monitoring me & my keystrokes as I type.

Only problem is that the walls of this dump are so thick

Built like a brick ...

they don't have chimney pieces long enough to reach the outside, & carbon monoxide flows back from the gap between pieces. They'll have to fabricate a longer piece & return Mon. I just hope it doesn't snow over the wknd.

Not-Death From Above

Possible bird strike. Lose the tail rotor & it's torque city.One hell of a fuel tank not to pop open & explode; two in the chopper & three on the ground hospitalized. Details.

Moving On!

Next stop, Chicago or Milwaukee, as Philadelphia fades in the dust.Also amusing: Both the Eagles & Flyers lost tonight. The 76ers didn't have an exhibition game tonight, but were whipped by the Knicks 2 & 4 October. Spin on a cheesesteak, city of losers!

Friday The 13th Ten Days Early

Don't let the picture fool you, had a miserable day. Everything that I tried went wrong, thanks to human & robot stupidity. Just one example: Used the ATM at the 7-Eleven® two blks. away where I've gotten cash once or twice a wk. for the past 16 yrs., & some fucking robot decided it was attempted fraud. At least the card wasn't completely shut down, forcing a wait until a new one is mailed, & after a 'phone call it was on again.

I nonetheless fully intend to kill the slumlord, & take a sledgehammer to every computer chip I can find.

Tomorrow Belongs To Me

From the August 1941 issue of Harper's Magazine, "Who Goes Nazi?". It's another world (W/ servants!) but most of the types are still recognizable today.

More Sad Good-Byes

The always amusing Ant Farmer's Almanac, the Thinking Man's No-Brainer is shutting down, closing its doors, turning out the lights & so on, thanks to corporate entity Typepad giving up the ghost & pulling the rug from under its customers.However, the present day blogger refuses to die, & Lairbo promises to be back.

So much for loyalty:

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Member since 03/2009

Makes me think I should make an effort to preserve this mess* on DVDs or some other hard medium for all eternity so it can be thrown away as soon as I'm dead.

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*Approaching 25,000 pointless posts over 18+ yrs.