Friday, 28 July 2017

By on July 28th, 2017 in personal

08:13 – It was 68.9F (20.5C) when I took Colin out at 0700, bright and sunny. Barbara is due back from Winston around lunch time, with the loot from her Costco run. Colin and I did have PB&J sandwiches for dinner last night, although we were unable to find any wild women and parties, as usual.

With Barbara away, Colin and I spent the evening re-watching classic movies that Barbara refuses to watch. First up was The Thing from Another World (1951), starring the delightful Margaret Sheridan, who alas died young. That movie gets my vote as the second-best movie of any genre that was made in the 1950’s. (The best, of course, was Invasion of the Body Snatchers.) Second up was Tarantula, with Leo G. Carroll.

Colin liked the first one better. Giant carnivorous vegetables don’t bother him, even though this one ate dogs, but he doesn’t like giant spiders that stomp on automobiles.

The US21 Road Market, AKA the 100-mile yard sale, starts today and runs through Sunday. Actually, it’s longer than 100 miles. It nominally runs from Harmony, North Carolina to Wytheville, Virginia, which is about 90 miles, but in reality it continues south of Harmony. There’ll be tents, tables, and stalls set up the full length of the road, probably several hundred of them, most in clusters.

Last year, Barbara and I bought a 30-year-old TroyBilt 7HP rototiller, made in the US back when TroyBilt was till a top-notch product. We spent $50 having the B&S engine torn down and rebuilt, and it’s as good as new. This afternoon, we’ll probably head over to the nearest cluster and see what’s on offer. That’s within easy walking distance, in the parking lot across from Grace’s house.

67 Comments and discussion on "Friday, 28 July 2017"

  1. Harold says:

    How could you leave out the original “Thing”, “Them”, and “Earth vs. the Flying Saucers” with effects by Harryhausen? That last had a tremendous effect on me when I saw it in re-release at age 5.

    Ever since, I have figured that big parabolic dishes on deuce & 1/2 could save us from about any extraterrestrial threat.

  2. Greg Norton says:

    With Barbara away, Colin and I spent the evening re-watching classic movies that Barbara refuses to watch. First up was The Thing from Another World (1951), starring the delightful Margaret Sheridan, who alas died young.

    “The Thing From Another World” is overdue for a reappearance on “Svengoolie”. His research is always meticulous.

    MeTV has a cool slate of shows on Saturday night, but I believe that they are sub-channel broadcast only, no cable.

  3. Ray Thompson says:

    MeTV has a cool slate of shows on Saturday night, but I believe that they are sub-channel broadcast only, no cable

    I get them on my Comcast cable.

  4. Robert Bruce Thompson says:

    “How could you leave out the original “Thing”, “Them”, and “Earth vs. the Flying Saucers” with effects by Harryhausen? That last had a tremendous effect on me when I saw it in re-release at age 5.”

    Eh? The first one I mentioned was the original Thing. As to “Them”, it’s also on my best list. It’s been so long since I re-watched “Earth vs. the Flying Saucers” that I’m not sure where it’d rank. And you forgot Gene Barry in 1953’s “War of the Worlds”.

    “Ever since, I have figured that big parabolic dishes on deuce & 1/2 could save us from about any extraterrestrial threat.”

    Well, duh. Of COURSE they can.

  5. Harold says:

    My favorite bit in 1953’s “War of the Worlds” was watching Jack Northrup’s Flying Wing bomber in action.

    And for some reason, KRONOS (1957), has always stuck in my brian with it’s bizzare cubist monster stomping unstoppably allong.

  6. MrAtoz says:

    And for some reason, KRONOS (1957), has always stuck in my brian with it’s bizzare cubist monster stomping unstoppably allong.

    Kronos is one of my favorites. I bought a SciFi/Fantasy DVD pack years ago that had a lot of these movies. I also loved the old Japanese Kaiju movies. Especially with the cute girls. Day of the Triffids scared the shit out of me.

  7. MrAtoz says:

    Oh, yeah, Invaders From Mars scared the shit out of me, too.

  8. Robert Bruce Thompson says:

    Dementia 13, although that was 60’s. And, of course, Night of the Living Dead, by the recently-deceased George Romero, which was filmed not far from where I lived at the time. I knew a few of the people who were hired as extras for it.

    I think I’ve commented before that that one was truly frightening. In the late 60’s, teenage couples loved horror movies because it gave the girl an excuse to be all over the guy, for “protection”. But the couples coming out of that movie looked like sex was the furthest thing from their minds. All of them, girls and boys, simply looked stunned.

    Of course, this was also a time when lots of those teenage boys were being sent to Viet Nam, where they learned the true meaning of horror and what it was like to have people actually trying to kill you.

  9. Greg Norton says:

    Oh, yeah, Invaders From Mars scared the shit out of me, too.

    John Carpenter’s “The Fog”, running as a “movie of the week” on ABC, back before cable was commonplace. That flick still freaks me out.

  10. dkreck says:

    Me-TV is on Spectrum (former Charter/Brighthouse) here as well as a sub-channel over the air. Yeah their Saturday nights aren’t too bad for commercial tv. Let’s see, about Perry Mason time.

  11. Dave Hardy says:

    I guess I gravitated more to the horror flicks than the sci-fi.

    My all-time fave being The Exorcist, of course.

    Plus The Shining, and The Sixth Sense.

    I didn’t much go for those 1950s and 1960s sci-fi movies and shows, but enjoyed The Twilight Zone, and its spin-off Night Gallery.

    Seemed to have many other interests back in those days, though, what with the local hippie drug culture, the rock concerts in Boston, and the ongoing twin national disasters of the war in SEA and the riots in the cities. And I spent a fair amount of time for a while with my stamp and coin collections and building model planes, ships and tanks.

    Sunny w/blue skies and temps in the 70s through Monday, looks like. I’m still recovering from my unplanned hike over in the “city” yesterday and will delay mowing the back yard another day while hoping the neighbor kid makes an appearance to do it. If not, I’ll probably hit it tomorrow instead, so that if I collapse out there, wife can dial up an ambulance for me.

    Meanwhile I have some minor cleanup to do inside here and a dump run to make on the way to the airport to get her later this afternoon.

  12. Bill F. says:

    Can’t leave out “The Blob” featuring Steve McQueen.

  13. Bill F. says:

    “Psycho” is the first movie I remember truly bothering me. “The Shining” is the only movie I have ever seen that was as good or better than the book. “Sixth Sense” was great. “Twilight Zone” and “Night Gallery” are very good. The first “Alien” was pretty intense. And, of course, “the Texas Chainsaw Massacre”. I saw that when it came out at a drive in. I think I grabbed my girl friend more than she grabbed me. I still avoid that movie when I see it on the guide… But, the Rob Zombie movies are fun – partly because of the awesome sound tracks.

  14. Robert Bruce Thompson says:

    Ah, drive-ins. I wonder if there are any at all left. There used to be one not far from Winston, up near Mt. Airy, but I think it closed years ago.

  15. Harold says:

    Memphis has a 4 screen Drive-In. http://www.malco.com/cinema_shows_summer.php
    I used to work summers at my families drive-ins reparing and replacing the pole-top speakers.

  16. Bill F. says:

    We used to hit the drive-in regularly. As a kid, my parents liked them because they could bring a bag of homemade pop corn and a cooler of Kool-Aid and we were happy. There was usually a double feature and we would be asleep by the time the other movie came on.

    I went often in high school also. It was a cheap date. I am sure I took every girl I dated up through college to at least one drive-in movie.

    I just realized that my wife and I have been married for close to 30 years and have never been to a drive-in together. Tempus Fugit!

  17. Greg Norton says:

    Ah, drive-ins. I wonder if there are any at all left. There used to be one not far from Winston, up near Mt. Airy, but I think it closed years ago.

    The drive in near our old house in FL is still around, but its existence is constantly under threat from property taxes and low attendance.

    http://www.ruskinfamilydrivein.com/

    In case the name sounds familiar, Ruskin used to be home of the most productive tomato fields in the world … until an Amazon warehouse replaced the tomatoes a few years ago.

  18. nick flandrey says:

    we’ve got one we go to at least once a year, Showboat Drive In. Current run movies, and a good way to get a couple kids who fidget and a small group of adults together for an evening.

    n
    http://www.theshowboatdrivein.com/

  19. MrAtoz says:

    Man, we hit the drive in for a lot of movies. Fill up a cooler with drink, sandwiches and snacks.

  20. Dave Hardy says:

    We had a drive-in up here at the Saint Albans/Swanton town line on Route 7 but it was pretty much dead by the time we moved here and has since been taken down and the property partly taken over by the adjacent auto dealership. Sic transit gloria mundi.

    “Will someone buy me a beer?”

    My next-younger brother and I had a very dark and bitter laugh over that today, with a long and miserable rant from me, of course. But the next brother down is still, inexplicably (60 years old), employed in IT and doesn’t wanna hear it. My theory is that he’s always been willing to put up with unlimited amounts of shit and will work 7×24, if necessary. A couple of years ago he was working TWO full-time IT gigs down in his AO in eastern/central MA and sleeping via five-minute catnaps.

    For anyone still employed in IT: if I could, I’d buy ya’ll a CASE of beer each. I don’t envy you anymore.

  21. CowboySlim says:

    “Will someone buy me a beer?”

    Yes, absolutely!
    Two weeks from tomorrow at the Kennedy Meadows General Store:
    http://kennedymeadows.store/
    https://www.google.com/search?q=kennedy+meadows+general+store&oq=kennedy&aqs=chrome.1.69i57j69i59j35i39j0l3.5076j0j8&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

    Top drawer steak or chicken dinner and Messick Family Singers:
    https://www.facebook.com/themessickfamilysingers/

  22. dkreck says:

    Great offer Slim but I’ll stick to this side of the mountain (been there – it’s a great place). Kernville or McNally’s at Fairview lot shorter drive.

  23. lynn says:

    “Senate follows House, puts sanctions on Russia, Iran, North Korea”
    http://www.ogj.com/articles/2017/07/senate-follows-house-puts-sanctions-on-russia-iran-north-korea.html

    “The US Senate passed a bill imposing sanctions on Russia, Iran, and North Korea two votes short of unanimous approval 2 days after it was approved by the US House. Sens. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) cast the only nay votes in the July 27 balloting for HR 3364. The measure won House approval by 419 to three votes 2 days earlier (OGJ Online, July 26, 2017).”

    I swear, we in the USA are the world’s biggest busybodies. And Rand Paul is channeling his dad, I approve.

    BTW, these sanctions do nothing but hurt small businesses like mine. Large businesses just sell stuff out of there Canadian office. Or Barbados office.

    If someone is truly messing with us, send a fleet and drop bombs on them until they cry uncle. Or kill them all off, I don’t care.

  24. ech says:

    Texas Chainsaw Massacre

    Which one? It’s been remade. My brother was on the crew of the 2003 remake.

  25. lynn says:

    “Davis Imam Addresses Controversy Surrounding Sermon”
    http://sacramento.cbslocal.com/2017/07/27/davis-imam-speaks-about-controversial-sermon/

    Why isn’t this lying sack of feces on a slow boat to Iraq ? He is a guest in the USA and talking about killing Jews and Christians.

  26. CowboySlim says:

    “Kernville or McNally’s at Fairview lot shorter drive.”

    OK, Kernville sometime. SIL’s mother and boyfriend live nearby. We visited last year and had a great time at the Kernville saloons with C&W bands. We need to get back there!

  27. Greg Norton says:

    BTW, these sanctions do nothing but hurt small businesses like mine. Large businesses just sell stuff out of there Canadian office. Or Barbados office.

    Get a mail drop in Barbados. 🙂

    Let your congresscritters know about your dissatisfaction. Both TX Senators voted for the sanctions as well as most of the House delegation.

  28. lynn says:

    Let your congresscritters know about your dissatisfaction. Both TX Senators voted for the sanctions as well as most of the House delegation.

    What was that song ? Oh yeah, pissing in the wind.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZDBXm11WXY

    One of our senators is a RINO and I can’t figure out what the other is, conservative one day and a moderate the next.

    My house rep, Pete Olson, is more conservative than me. But he is a chicken hawk also.

  29. Bill F. says:

    “Texas Chainsaw Massacre

    Which one? It’s been remade. My brother was on the crew of the 2003 remake.”

    The original one – it freaked me out bad enough that I have not watched the 2003 version. I am sure it was fun to be on the crew though.

  30. CowboySlim says:

    Roger that, lynn!

    I got plenty many Jerry Jeff Walker…..love that LA Freeway and Navajo Rug……!

  31. Bill F. says:

    I’ve got most of Jerry Jeff’s albums. Under appreciated troubadour.

  32. medium wave says:

    It’s always been my opinion that a person’s use of profanity is inversely proportional to his or her intelligence. Is anyone here besides me disturbed by Scaramucci’s obscenity-filled rant?

  33. SteveF says:

    It’s always been my opinion that a person’s use of profanity is inversely proportional to his or her intelligence.

    Similar to height-weight ratio (aka BMI) as a measure of health, it’s quick and easy and not too bad as a general rule. It’s no more than a general rule, though.

  34. Bill F. says:

    “It’s always been my opinion that a person’s use of profanity is inversely proportional to his or her intelligence. Is anyone here besides me disturbed by Scaramucci’s obscenity-filled rant?”

    Sort of – but profanity used in the right situation is useful.

  35. Robert Bruce Thompson says:

    “Sort of – but profanity used in the right situation is useful.”

    No shit.

  36. medium wave says:

    … but profanity used in the right situation is useful.

    Granted, but coming out of the mouth of a member of the nation’s (supposedly) highly-educated elite? I’ve met longshoremen who were more genteel.

  37. SteveF says:

    And RBT wins teh intartubes today.

  38. lynn says:

    And RBT wins teh intartubes today.

    +1

  39. Robert Bruce Thompson says:

    Oh, goody. I haven’t won for a long time.

  40. paul says:

    But he is a chicken hawk also.

    Ah…. likes ’em young, eh?

    Other than hitting 106 today and laughing at the dogs… I go out to do chores, they have to go out with me. And they turn right around and want back in. So back in and then Penny has a fit of whining because I’m outside…. it appears that some genius dug up a fibre cable. Again. https://fast.com/ says I’m at 330 Kbps. Which is better than earlier when it was so slow Thunderbird would connect and time out.

    No Amazon movie tonight. Woe is us… gonna have to shove a DVD into the BluRay machine. 🙂 The horror!

    On the Roku, PlutoTV is ok. Plenty of commercials in better quality than the movie but they do indicate how many commercials you are about to be buffered through. App works fine on my phone.
    I found Tubi TV last night. Looks good. Nice selection. Lots of “older” movies, as in maybe at least 10 years old. The app works nice on my phone, too.
    Both have commercials but otherwise free.

    I’m having fun with the Roku.

    We’ll probably surf the over the air stuff anyway. Plenty of new to us stuff there.

    I found a FB group called “Cord Cutting Tech Support”. Seem like nice folks but sheesh… they are flooding everything off of my wall. Oh well.

  41. Bill F. says:

    “Granted, but coming out of the mouth of a member of the nation’s (supposedly) highly-educated elite? I’ve met longshoremen who were more genteel.”
    I can’t argue with that… What do you think Hillary was saying on election night?

  42. nick flandrey says:

    @paul, finally, I’m not the only one who uses the street definition of that phrase. Always bugs me to hear it applied to politics. Although, Paul Wilson says the world is run by pedos and I can’t find fault with his arguments.

    Re: profanity, I’m always amused when the press gets spun up over a business leader or politician who uses profanity. These are the same guys who are ok with pedos walking the streets of NYC and his ‘rape island.’

    They act like the people who rise to power aren’t people. They are somehow above normal human levels. Well fuck that. Ever listen to old LBJ? That disgusting fuck would force people to have meetings with him while he was taking a shit.

    Yeah, try to elevate the tone of discourse, but FFS, people are people.

    Also, Mooch or Mook or Scaredycat or whatever was quoted in a private conversation with someone he thought he could trust. If so, and if it’s not all stage managed, his choice of where he lets his hair down makes him more suspect in my mind than the words he used. Cock block is a PERFECT descriptive phrase too, nothing else quite captures that sort of move….

    n

  43. nick flandrey says:

    “What do you think Hillary was saying on election night?”

    Pfphhhttt… phfhuutt… [drool] … [startles awake] … FUK THAT ORANGE FUK! I OWN HIS ASS! THIS FUKKING ELECTION WAS MINE!!!!! AAARRARRAARRGGGGGG…..

    Huma, get over here and make me feel better, NOW!!!!

    n

  44. lynn says:

    But he is a chicken hawk also.

    Ah…. likes ’em young, eh?

    Uh, no. I did not even know that chicken hawk has more than one meaning. But I see that chicken hawks don’t serve and Pete served for many years. So, I take back the chicken hawk description for Pete.
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chickenhawk_%28politics%29

    Pete Olson is a former Navy pilot sub chaser. To him, everything looks like a target.
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pete_Olson

  45. lynn says:

    https://fast.com/ says I’m at 330 Kbps.

    https://fast.com/ says I’m at 13 Mbps. If my Peplink 30 could do pairing instead of just load balancing, it would say 26 Mbps since I have two DSL lines at the office.

  46. medium wave says:

    They act like the people who rise to power aren’t people. They are somehow above normal human levels. Well fuck that. Ever listen to old LBJ? That disgusting fuck would force people to have meetings with him while he was taking a shit.

    Yeah, try to elevate the tone of discourse, but FFS, people are people.

    Soooo, normal people use casual profanity? I seriously doubt you ever heard your mom drop an F-bomb or the like; my late parents, both very intelligent people, certainly never did. *I* curse only extremely rarely, which makes it that much more effective when I do (and I warn my listeners beforehand.)

    One of the reasons I visit this blog daily is the well-informed, highly-intelligent, and profanity-free discussion of a wide variety of topics.

    Call me a pearl-clutcher if you will, but I have no respect for users of casual profanity.

  47. paul says:

    Yes, I know “chicken hawk” has at least two meanings. Just messing with you.

    Doing my part to drag the conversation into the gutter. Trying to save SteveF some work. (A running joke with the neighbors.)

    As for that fancy pants Peplink critter, I’d replace that chunk o’ junk for something that pairs. And for me, that would involve another wISP set up and I would get maybe 6 Mbps total. BUT the secondary would be from another tower. So, back up. Sorta.

    Once upon a time all we had was dial-up. Local companies. Then the dial-up went wISP. So, Tstar, Moment, 281, Zcom, and another or two I forget, all wireless. Along came Pegasus. They bought someone. Then Pegasus became Skybeam and that is now Rise. And as far as I know Rise is it now. Zcom might still be around but not in my area. Yeah, tstar (first local ISP) and momentum (second local ISP) show as IP names but the companies are gone.

    It’s a mess. But hey, 3 or so meg down compared to 256k when I first went wISP ain’t bad. Beats the hell out of redialing over and over to get a good 26.4 connection on the modem.

  48. SteveF says:

    Eh? I’m a running joke with your neighbors? I’m torn between pride at my notoriety and abashedness at the reason for the notoriety.

  49. paul says:

    Soooo, normal people use casual profanity? I seriously doubt you ever heard your mom drop an F-bomb or the like; my late parents, both very intelligent people, certainly never did. *I* curse only extremely rarely,

    Casual profanity? As in a sprinkling of “damn” into the conversation? That’s on prime time TV. Nothing I would have been allowed to watch when I was kid.

    Can’t say that I’ve ever heard my Mom drop the F bomb. A few S bombs, yeah. For stuff like the toilet just overflowed or the fridge fan motor is –that– far from burning down the house.

    Dad? Oh hell, he lied about his age and did Iwo Jima and Korea and ‘Nam. Allllll kinds of cuss words. Heh, Marines.

    Mom did Mensa for a few years. Decided they were actually very boring and really just wanted the money for the membership dues. Dad did 8th grade, because that’s all you needed back then, went back in the late ’70’s and got a GED. Both were wicked smart. They both went to PanAm aka Taco Tech about the time I graduated HS. Use that GI Bill or something like that. Dad did maybe 3 years. Mom went on and got her Masters. Hence, “Massa Mommy”.

    They built 2 houses from the slab up. Ok, didn’t pour the slabs but they did all of the iron work in the slab.

  50. Dave Hardy says:

    I plead guilty on the profanity usage rap; comes from always being around a bunch of guys since my teens, esp. military and police and criminals. And now every week with the vets combat support group. I try to keep it down to a reasonable level but I often just blurt stuff out; I’ve been a bad influence on the wife in this regard, too.

    I’m pretty well educated and well-read and my BMI is bullchit but there it is; I still spout short Anglo-Saxon profanities daily.

    And I see the elites in the WH and environs are busy playing musical chairs again and stabbing each other in the back. An updated version of the Wars of the Roses, I guess, or maybe they’ve all been bingeing on Game of Thrones.

    I pay only the most cursory attention now to this crap and meanwhile am accelerating the meatspace contacts daily; if they bring this stuff up, I just nod politely and change the subject. We’re all screwed to varying degrees, and we’re all “made” to certain degrees, too. I plan to keep a low profile and mind my own biz and try to do the right thing as best I can. Got enough on my plate with this house and household and family as it is.

  51. paul says:

    The running joke with the neighbors is “how long it takes for the convo to go into the ditch”.

  52. medium wave says:

    A few S bombs, yeah. For stuff like the toilet just overflowed or the fridge fan motor is –that– far from burning down the house.

    Emotional reactions to trying situations: Not casual use.

    Using F-bombs as effin’ punctuation in every effin’ sentence that comes out of your effin’ mouth: Casual use.

  53. paul says:

    Using F-bombs as effin’ punctuation in every effin’ sentence that comes out of your effin’ mouth: Casual use.

    Totally understand.

  54. lynn says:

    As for that fancy pants Peplink critter, I’d replace that chunk o’ junk for something that pairs. And for me, that would involve another wISP set up and I would get maybe 6 Mbps total. BUT the secondary would be from another tower. So, back up. Sorta.

    The peplink 30 was only $300 or so and meets our needs. Load Balancing is ok. I think that pairing devices are much more expensive though. And problematic. My biggest problem that the peplink solved is that I saturate one of the DSLs for ten minutes when uploading a new software image to the website (110 MB). Nobody could download email or such while I was uploading.

    I’ve got fiber at the front of the office property. AT&T wants $1,000/month, IIRC, to get me a 10 MB/s burstable. No thanks for now, money does not grow on trees around here.

    I used to have a WiMax modem at 6 mbps on the peplink 3rd WAN channel but that went away when Sprint converted WiMax to LTE. I’ve been meaning to get a Verizon LTE modem for the 3rd WAN channel but haven’t done it yet.

  55. lynn says:

    “N. Korea leader says ‘all US’ within range after missile test”
    https://www.yahoo.com/news/n-korea-launches-another-ballistic-missile-us-160151910.html

    Is it time yet to nuke XXX airburst XXXXXX carpet bomb this loudmouth’s missile facilities ?

    Hat tip to :
    http://drudgereport.com/

  56. ech says:

    I’ve got most of Jerry Jeff’s albums. Under appreciated troubadour.

    I saw him in the 70s at a benefit with a number of Austin bands, Doug Sahm, Ray Wylie Hubbard, pre-Parrothead Jimmy Buffet, and Willie Nelson.

    The next two Texas artists I want to see live are Robert Earl Keen (who was a year behind me at my high school) and Bob Schneider. Keen is country and Schneider is an Austin rock/country/folk fusion. Keen in particular is in the “storytelling” country tradition.

  57. lynn says:

    Keen in particular is in the “storytelling” country tradition.

    I quit dipping a long time ago and now it is gross to me. Great song though ! My brother still dips and you’ve gotta watch those spit cups around kids.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TK2WEPdbmUc

    I thought Keen sung “Everclear”. But that is Roger Creager. BTW, never, ever, ever start drinking Southern Comfort with Coke and then shift to Everclear. Don’t ask me how I know this.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67BnSw1VtDY

  58. nick flandrey says:

    Pretty casual use of profanity here. Wife too. Wife’s parents too. My parents are 10-15 years older than hers and very rarely F bomb, but otherwise, yep. Casual profanity.

    On the other hand, we are trying to break the habit/make sure it doesn’t start/ with the kids saying “Oh my God.” That actually really bothers people down here that wouldn’t look at you twice for saying something like “Well, shit on a stick!” /soft female southern accent.

    I do try to moderate my use and keep my language (all of it) appropriate to the surroundings. Grad school was fun because I was surrounded by people that could understand the words I wanted to use. ‘Course I ended up sounding like a grad student.

    I usually substitute letters here, mainly to avoid triggering any nanny filters do keep RBT from getting on some software block lists. That would be bad form.

    I understand that some people are bothered by it, but it’s just words. That’s the attitude I’ve taken for the last 30 yrs.

    And like visible tattoos on females, I’ve accepted that the world is full of stuff I would rather avoid, but can’t, so … meh, I don’t let it bother me.

    Having precocious and very verbal kids, and having worked with devout Mormons for a couple of years has made me more aware of my own swearing, and cut it back some, but words like cr@p can’t seem to stay in. Easier to give up ‘d@mn’ while working than cr@p, and even the Mormons said cr@p.

    As for judging people for using it, and especially making a call like inverse to intelligence, well, that’s just gonna bite you right on the ass some day, the same way judging wealth by clothing or vehicle does. There are lots of people out there who use those sorts of things as camouflage (in either direction), or as weapons. Better IMO to let it just pass on by.

    nick

    (even in rap music it’s as much cultural as anything else, when you look at successful performers.)

    Richard Pryor a moron? George Carlin? Eddie Murphy?

  59. medium wave says:

    As for judging people for using it, and especially making a call like inverse to intelligence, well, that’s just gonna bite you right on the ass some day, the same way judging wealth by clothing or vehicle does.

    It’s a criterion, but not my only one.

    Richard Pryor a moron? George Carlin? Eddie Murphy?

    All three intelligent persons consciously using profanity to elicit a desired response from their audience, as opposed to the moronic majority mindlessly scatter-gunning anyone in close proximity.

  60. Greg Norton says:

    The peplink 30 was only $300 or so and meets our needs. Load Balancing is ok. I think that pairing devices are much more expensive though. And problematic. My biggest problem that the peplink solved is that I saturate one of the DSLs for ten minutes when uploading a new software image to the website (110 MB). Nobody could download email or such while I was uploading.

    lftp offers a setting to limit the transfer rate for uploads/downloads.

    Cygwin has lftp as one of its standard packages if you don’t want to mess with Linux.

    Blizzard and some of the other game manufacturers incorporated libtorrent to distribute patches, but that protocol can set off alarm bells with some IT admins.

  61. pcb_duffer says:

    [snip] What do you think Hillary was saying on election night? [snip]
    I, for one, would dearly love to hear that audio / see the video.

  62. dkreck says:

    Never heard much profanity growing up. Dad rarely and mom never. Dad more often when just around the guys. ’68 did my first summer stint in the fire department. Couldn’t have a meal without a ‘pass the fuckin’ salt’.

  63. Ray Thompson says:

    I, for one, would dearly love to hear that audio / see the video.

    As would I. I am willing the bitch queen was spitting bullets and words that would make a sailor blush. She is not known for being nice when she fails to get her way.

  64. Robert Bruce Thompson says:

    Same for me. My dad occasionally used “hell” or “damn”, but that was about it. I remember hearing my mother swear only once, my mother’s mother never, and my father’s mother frequently. In her early- to mid-20’s, she’d been in the army as a nurse during WWI and had served in army hospitals in France.

    I do remember my mother being shocked when my younger brother, aged about 5 at the time, swore in her presence. She was driving us over to her mother’s house, when another car almost hit us.

    My brother exclaimed, “Jesus Christ!”

    My mother: “Billy!”

    Billy: “I’m sorry, mommy. I thought that son of a bitch was going to hit us.”

  65. nick flandrey says:

    Ha!

    WRT the peplink and load balancing…

    when I looked at it for my client, bonding (true bonding) is only available on the provider side. If your provider won’t or can’t do it, the load balance is the best you’re gonna get. It is a huge improvement to take the two dsl lines and balance as one will saturate pretty quickly.

    n

  66. JimL says:

    I never once, in 45+ years, heard my Dad swear. My mom, a little.

    I strive to provide my children with the same upbringing. They’re learning to explain their thoughts & feelings with “nice” language. If they ever do swear (okay, when they do swear), I want them to be expressive.

    They all have enormous vocabularies for their ages.

Comments are closed.