Science fiction, fantasy, mystery and what-not
We thought a black widow spider had started homesteading (websteading?) in the master bath. We go through these drills a few times per year. Per the household spider policy, I tried capturing it without clearly seeing it. The spider successfully retreated.
I haven’t seen it since that day. My guess is that it saw me naked and departed for somewhere else. After all, they’re more afraid of us than we are of them.
Plastic straws are the latest convenience to come under attack. Honestly, I won’t miss them.
I grow up under the impression that straws were for children to drink milkshakes. That was later amended to include smoothies and fraps. But straws for ice tea, lemonade, and water in a restaurant? No.
I witnessed that whole evolution and shift. I remember being in a California restaurant and being asked if I wanted a straw for my ice tea. What? No. I then remember dining with another person in California, and she specifically asked for a straw for her water, and another for her ice tea.
That was the mid-nineties, and I thought it strange. I became horrified and startled by how frequently people asked for straws if straws weren’t given to them. I often asked people in the early years why they wanted a straw. Many didn’t want to put their lips on the glass. Others didn’t like the ice bumping up against their face, nose, or lips. More said that they thought it neater, or more refined.
I guess that’s why I never took straws up; I’m neither neat nor refined. I rarely drink milkshakes, fraps, or smoothies these days. I guess I’ll acquire a metal straw for the times that I do.
It might be my last straw.
Yes, I’m wearing orange today.
I don’t belong to a political party. I support those who will speak truth, and support freedom, justice, and equality for every person. Neither the G.O.P. nor Democratic Party does that well in America in recent years. The Green Party and Libertarian Party try, and they have some good ideas, but lack the political will.
I like what America’s founders set out to do. The Declaration of Independence, Constitution, and Bill of Rights are fine documents, with great aspirations for what we as a nation can be. It is not a perfect document. Neither were the people who wrote and ratified it. As the Preamble says, “We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”
They were forming a more perfect union. It wasn’t perfect, and it isn’t perfect. It was not meant to be never changed, for the founders recognized they weren’t creating a perfect union, and built several mechanisms for change into it. They recognized that not many ideas or plans begin as perfect. You do the best you can to give yourself a place to start. If you want for the perfect plan, you’ll probably never begin.
I support the idea of a more perfect union. I want to secure the blessing of liberty for ourselves and posterity. To achieve this, we can’t support or give in to lies, fear, or oppression. To continue the pursuit of a more perfect union began over two hundred years ago, we must continue to address wrongs and injustice, and change and adjust without abandoning the basic premise that everyone is equal, and have certain rights that others cannot abridge nor abrogate. Until that level, we continue to seek a more perfect union.
Which is why I wear orange today.
Once is a production being performed at the Oregon Cabaret.
Now, I admit, I’m ambivalent about the Oregon Cabaret venue. It’s very tight quarters and the viewing angles aren’t impressive. It’s so tight, you can imagine that you’re traveling on a train, if you have a vivid imagination. But, it has a charming intimacy and they put on some excellent entertainment.
We heard about Once when we were in Denver. See, our United flight was delayed, and wasn’t expected to take off for three hours. We’d been traveling all day. Now we were hungry and had time to burn, so we found a restaurant and ordered food and drink.
Ha, ha, it was so cheap, it was amazing! Just fifty dollars for a margarita, beer, three tacos, and a quesadilla!
Being nosy people, we overheard the people at the next table tell the server that they were going to Medford. Why, that’s where we were going. Where are they from?
The other couple were revealed to live within half a mile of us in Ashland.
What an amazing, small world. We began chatting and mentioned that we’d seen Million Dollar Quarter at the Oregon Cabaret. Had they seen?
Yes, and it was wonderful, they agreed, but better was the more recent production they’d seen, Once.
Once? Well, we’d better check it out.
We did so last night. The Denver couple from Ashland were right: Once is better than Million Dollar Quartet. That’s not to diminish Million Dollar Quarter. Once was sensational, which shouldn’t be overly surprising, since the beautiful song, “Falling Slowly”, won an Academy Award in 2008. Bonus surprise: Christopher Fordinal played Elvis Presley in Million, and Guy in Once.
Olivia Nice as Girl had people crying with her as she sang her last song. The entire cast of Once was impressive, enthralling us with their skills and talents, leaving us to wonder why we’re aren’t so blessed with such skills, and demanding a do-over to our lives. An engaging production, I recommend it.
I was looking at a “On this day in history” timeline. Joan of Arc executed. Andrew Jackson’s duel. First Indy 500. Babe Ruth’s last baseball game.
Seems like May 30th is a good day to make history. Carpe diem.
Have you noticed that the world is sizzling more?
No, this isn’t a climate change post about the world’s increasing average temperatures, melting and disappearing glaciers, rising sea levels, and more frequent and violent storms. We can’t do anything about that, so let’s not talk about it.
I’m talking about marketing sizzle. We can’t do anything about it, either, but many people are already talking about climate change. Not many are talking about the marketing sizzle.
The sizzle comes from that expression, “You don’t sell the steak, you sell the sizzle.” Most companies are selling sizzle. We called it vaporware in the software business. It’s the stuff they tell you is so frigging miraculous that you won’t believe you ever did without it, the stuff that rarely lives up to the promise.
Television shows are big on selling the sizzle. “It’s the most mind-blowing episode ever! You won’t want to miss it!” They’re not usually the most mind-blowing episodes ever to me. I can usually get up during the show, go make a sandwich, feed the cats, and answer the phone, come back and find that I’ve missed nothing of substance, only a little sizzle.
Television is a sizzle pioneer, but all the companies are catching on that they’ve got to sell the sizzle. “Look how fast our car is,” many commercials claim, showing people grinning from ear-to-ear as they race through a city like Jason Bourne escaping his government buddies. “Look how much fun it is to drive! Look how free this people feel.” Weird how there’s no other cars in that city.
Beer and soda commercials aren’t slouches when it comes to selling sizzle. They now love to show healthy, athletic people surfing, singing, playing guitars, mountain climbing, or hiking. Then they stop to have a good old cold soda or brew. None of these people have problems. None are diabetic or overweight. The commercial’s slug rarely address the people, though. They speak of the beverage. “The world’s most refreshing beer.”
They state it without evidence. That’s the way it goes. Sizzle doesn’t need evidence. Just fire it up and let the hungry masses know about it, and they will come and buy, like, “The fastest broadband service ever seen.”
The government is proud about how these companies sell sizzle. They don’t want to do anything to reign in the sizzle. These companies are doing the world a public service. If it wasn’t for the sizzle, we’d be worried about things that don’t sizzle, like the wealth imbalance, corrupt politicians, investigating Russians, rebooting our routers against hackers, rising white supremacy movement, white and male privilege, the contamination of our food supplies, the growing plastic islands in our seas, increasing war and tensions in the middle East, our dwindling fresh water supplies, rising cancer rates, the Italian government and EU economy, or police officers attacking people over parking situations, escalating events in fear of phones.
It’s much better to think about the sizzle.
We began having Internet connectivity issues in the beginning of May. It was intermittent, and service typically returned in a few minutes.
We were planning a trip, and busy with those details, so I didn’t call it in. On the day before we left, the outage was a few hours in the morning. Logging in at a coffee shop, I sent my ISP, Ashland Home Net (AHN) an email through their support website. They said someone would get in touch with me.
They didn’t.
Returning after our vacation last week, we found our connectivity worse. Calling in meant waiting by the phone for return calls and staying home so they can come by and check our systems. But, last Friday, I called it in.
Yes, they could see that we were online but our signal was very weak. This would need to be called into the city IT.
The City of Ashland supports several local ISPs. They do so through a community-owned entity called Ashland Fiber Network (AFN). The city’s support helps reduce the cost, right, and provides an alternative to the big commercialized entities that dominate the field, like Charter, Century Link, Comcast (which all might now be the same company). I use Ashland Home Net to buy local and help defray that cost.
Friday our connection went out in the morning and returned in the afternoon, apparently on its own. I called AHN for an update before they closed for the day. The agent said a ticket had been opened with the city. The city would call us. They would come by.
They didn’t.
Our connectivity came and went through the evening.
Saturday found another outage that lasted several hours. Support was called. Messages were left. Nothing was heard back.
Sunday…the same.
Monday.
Internet connectivity was good in the morning. I returned from writing and walking at about 2 PM. My wife said the connection had dropped at noon. I called it in. The same agent that I spoke with on Friday told me, yes, a ticket with the city had been opened. The city will be calling me.
The hours passed…
I called them each hour to remind them my net was still down and that I hadn’t heard from the city. We heard back from an Ashland Home Net at 5:40 PM. Yes, a ticket had been opened with the city. Unfortunately, they were closed for the day. Nothing could be done.
Our connection returned at 6:53, and then left a hour hour later.
It came back again at 8:50, but dropped at 10:20, and didn’t come back.
We had a connection the next morning, Tuesday. Since I didn’t hear from Ashland Home Net or the city, I called AHN to see what was going on. The agent said the city was backed up. They would get hold of me, but it would probably be another twenty-four hours.
“Really?” I said. “It’s already been ninety-six hours.”
“What?”
“We opened the ticket on Friday.”
“Your records show that the ticket was opened on Monday.”
“No.” I had my notes and referred to them.
“Oh, you’re right,” the agent said. “Okay, I’ll call the city now, and I’ll call you back.”
He did. “The city is sending someone out now.”
The city did. I saw their truck out there. I saw their agent. He went to the side of our house. I waited for him to come to the door.
He didn’t.
I waited for the city to call.
They didn’t.
Our connection was up and remained up, and it has since then. We’ve never heard anything back from the city or Ashland Home Net.
I’m going to give them a call when I get home today. I want to know what the problem was, or is, if it still exists, and what’s been done, or will be done about it.
Then I think I’ll check out other ISPs.
Just in case. Because right now, I’m not too damn pleased with Ashland Home Net, Ashland Fiber Network, and the City of Ashland.
Time for a small vanity project (as if every post made on this blog isn’t a vanity project, right?).
I think everyone has certain movies that they love to watch regardless of others’ ratings and reviews. It’s our dirty secret.
Here is my dirty list. I’ve seen each of these movies at least a dozen times, and have a few of them on DVDs, but I still watch them when they come on. Some of them don’t come on much any more, because they’re old, and in black and white, and a few of them depressed people.
The list isn’t in any order. Each movie has several particularly favorite scenes. Thinking about those, I realize they usually come at the movie’s end. IMDB helped me with the quotes because my memory isn’t that good.
Unforgiven (1992) – “It’s a hell of a thing, killing a man. Take away all he’s got and all he’s ever gonna have.”
Fail Safe (1964) – “You learned too well, Professor. You learned so well that now there’s no difference between you and what you want to kill.”
This Is Spinal Tap (1984) – “I believe virtually everything I read, and I think that is what makes me more of a selective human than someone who doesn’t believe anything.”
A Christmas Story (1983) – “Oh, fudge. Except I didn’t say fudge.”
The Great Escape (1963) – “Cooler.”
Tropic Thunder (2008) – “I know who I am. I’m the dude playin’ the dude, disguised as another dude!”
Being There (1979) – “It’s for sure a white man’s world in America. Look here: I raised that boy since he was the size of a piss-ant. And I’ll say right now, he never learned to read and write. No, sir. Had no brains at all. Was stuffed with rice pudding between th’ ears. Shortchanged by the Lord, and dumb as a jackass. Look at him now! Yes, sir, all you’ve gotta be is white in America, to get whatever you want. Gobbledy-gook!”
No Country for Old Men (1997) – “What you got ain’t nothin’ new. This country’s hard on people. You can’t stop what’s coming. It ain’t all waiting on you. That’s vanity.”
On The Beach (1959) – “The trouble with you is you want a simple answer. There isn’t any. The war started when people accepted the idiotic principle that peace could be maintained – – by arranging to defend themselves with weapons they couldn’t possibly use – – without committing suicide. Everybody had an atomic bomb, and counter-bombs, and counter-counter bombs. The devices outgrew us; we couldn’t control them.”
Fifty First Dates (2004) – “Sharks are like dogs, they only bite when you touch their private parts.”
Bladerunner (1982) – “Time…to die.”
Bridge Over the River Kwai (1957) – “Are they both mad? Or am I going mad? Or is it the sun?”
Love Actually (2003) – “A tiny, insignificant detail.”
Men In Black (1997) – “No, ma’am. We at the FBI do not have a sense of humor we’re aware of. May we come in?”
The Dirty Dozen (1967) – “I reckon the folks’d be a sight happier if I died like a soldier. Can’t say I would.”
Doctor Strangelove (1964) – “Well, boys, we got three engines out, we got more holes in us than a horse trader’s mule, the radio is gone and we’re leaking fuel and if we was flying any lower why we’d need sleigh bells on this thing… but we got one little budge on them Rooskies. At this height why they might harpoon us but they dang sure ain’t gonna spot us on no radar screen!”
What of you? Andy dirty secrets about the movies you watch again and again?
It’s a sign that things aren’t going well, computer-wise, when you try to reach http://www.isitdownrightnow.com to see if a website is having problems, and you can’t reach it because it’s down.
Amazing how frustrating something like the inability to reach one or two sites makes me.
Our utility bill arrived the other day. Coming from the city, this bill includes electricity, water, sewage, and a few other things.
Although there’s a total, of course – this is what I’ll pay – it’s categorized and subtotaled. The top part is about electricity. That part pleased me; it showed that thanks to the time of year and our solar panels, the city was paying us three dollars for our electricity. We owed nothing. That was sweet.
Next down was the water. We’d used less water than last year, but it came out to $45 due the city for water. The rest of the $89 bill due was for sewage, drains, street use, and street lights. That’s sobering, because there’s nothing I can do about any of that, except move to somewhere else.
Overall, I was pleased. To put this take in complete context, we have an eighteen hundred square foot single level stand-alone residence built in 2005. It’s located in Ashland, in southern Oregon. Two humans and four cats live there. All humans are over fifty. Our solar panels are rated at two thousand watts, but due to a number of circumstances, they usually won’t generate that much. I was impressed to see them putting out over two thousand when I checked on them the other day, and reflected on the perfect angle of the sun, ambient temperature, and humidity that coincided to create that miracle.
We depend on natural gas for heating, cooking, and the clothes dryer. That bill is $51 per month. That’s our comfort bill; they usually refund us a few dollars each year.
I post all of this because finding comparisons with others help put it all in context. When I complained to a friend about my water bill late last summer, they revealed that their bill that month was three times as much. Their house is larger by a thousand square feet, but it also has two occupants (and a smaller yard). They did have company stay with them that month.
Overall, my gas, water, and electric bills are not not bad. Hell, on reflection, I spend more on coffee in a month than I do on water or electricity. Food, though…
Well, that’s another post.
