• Storage

    From JOE MACKEY@1:135/392 to GEORGE POPE on Sat Jan 15 07:36:10 2022
    CP wrote --

    I lost all my old time radio files (had some good ones -- several seasons of the Bickersons, & lots of Laurel & Hardy's full radio shows)

    I love The Bickersons, with Don Ameche. Not so much with Lew Parker.
    I had a cat once named Blanche. She was a b/w long hair that looked like Sylvester, the cartoon cat.
    She was a stray and already had one cat, Molly, a tabby I got at the
    shelter.
    I couldn't find the seconds former slave (dogs have masters, cats have slaves) and resisted naming her. You know what happens when you name an animal.
    Nearly a week passed and I knew she was going to stay but no name. I
    name my pets after their personality.
    One night I was dead tired and she came up wanting some attention. My
    first thought was "Blanche, let me sleep" like John would say.
    That became her name, Blanche Bickerson DuBois. The DuBois was after
    Blanche DuBois from the play/movie A Streetcar Named Desire who had depended on the kindness of strangers.
    Re: your lost OTR shows you can check:
    https://otrrlibrary.org/version1.html
    https://www.otrcat.com/old-time-radio-listener-s-gift-guide#downloads
    https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/jack-benny
    For some shows. The library is the best site.

    Same. I can't commit myself to watching X in a Y time frame.

    In the olden days I would borrow a tape from the library, free, unlike
    other rental places one had to pay, and intend to watch it. But it seemed every one of the three days I had something happened to keep me from doing that.

    I only insist on ewatching all in a franchise in order & usually in close time to each (I'll spend a week watching one a day maybe, or binge for a weekend)

    I use IMBd to get the dates on shows, unless its marked S01E01, etc.
    Characters come and go, referenced later, etc and unless in order that
    often makes no sense.
    I can also watch the characters revolve and become defined as the one the viewer came to know.
    I'll watch two half hour shows but usually only one one hour show at a
    time. Unless the one hour show is a two parter.
    I also like to watch the shows on the days they originally aired.

    Lots of good stuff out there I've not found yet. Can't find any free online sources for older(pre-1980) TV series.

    Almost all the shows I watch are pre-1990. Unless its a particularly
    long running program, such as Columbo, which went from the late '70s to the mid-90s.
    Plus a few shows I wasn't interested in during the '90s but am now.
    Joe
    --- Platinum Xpress/Win/WINServer v3.0pr5
    * Origin: Fidonet Since 1991 www.doccyber.org bbs.docsplace.org (1:135/392)
  • From George Pope@1:153/757 to Joe Mackey on Mon Jan 17 11:54:06 2022
    One night I was dead tired and she came up wanting some attention. My
    first thought was "Blanche, let me sleep" like John would say.
    That became her name, Blanche Bickerson DuBois. The DuBois was after
    Blanche DuBois from the play/movie A Streetcar Named Desire who had depended o
    the kindness of strangers.

    Very cool -- you still have her?

    Re: your lost OTR shows you can check:
    https://otrrlibrary.org/version1.html https://www.otrcat.com/old-time-radio-listener-s-gift-guide#downloads https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/jack-benny
    For some shows. The library is the best site.

    Thank you so much; I'll check all!

    I'm enjoying Z-Lib.org very much -- thanks to Augie. . .

    But only books, no movies.

    my local library has physical DVDs for 7-day borrowing (up to 5 at a time)

    I tried, twice, but giove up now, as I never seem to fit them in to my schedule or remember I have them until I get the $2/day late notification in my email (they ultimately don't charge fees, as of last year(01/01/2021) -- these are just to slow us down & bring to our attention that other users like stuff, too)

    I only insist on ewatching all in a franchise in order & usually in close
    time to each (I'll spend a week watching one a day maybe, or binge for a weekend)
    I use IMBd to get the dates on shows, unless its marked S01E01, etc.

    I prefer the format in Wiki for episodes of a series, & match those up to s01e01 etc for my torrents; if an old proggy, I can often get entire seasons or an entire series in just one download.

    Characters come and go, referenced later, etc and unless in order that
    often makes no sense.

    Exactly. I'm used to watching fave sitcoms in random order in reruns when bored,but with tv on. . . they're comforting old friends (there was recently published a study on this)

    Rarely I discover a new series, not8 yet seen, then go get s01e01 & go from there if it was as good at the start as what I'd just seen (a British drama -- Murder in Paradise or some such was the last to do this, about a UK Bobby sent to one of the British territories in the Caribbean set in the days they were run by an appointed-by-the-Crown Governor)

    The ear4lier oners were B&W.

    My mom only watches B&W movies or tv now (has that right, & someone set her up with Amazon Prime & TV, so she can find most anything, any time now)

    I only watch Perry Mason on the rare Friday night I'm stil up at midnight.

    I love the show, but that's enough to keep me going. .

    I can also watch the characters revolve and become defined as the one the viewer came to know.

    Yup, love doing this, especially in going tback top s01e01 of aseries I formerly watched regularly(weekly) but ony discvovered part-way through (e.g. season 3)

    I'll watch two half hour shows but usually only one one hour show at a
    time. Unless the one hour show is a two parter.

    I do this, too, as longer than that & my internet-retrained attention span wavers &/or my bladder shouts up at me, warning of a potential leak in the dam. . .

    I also like to watch the shows on the days they originally aired.

    I'm doinhg that on thursday, as that's when all my fam is watching (mainly for Ghosts, but they like the others that play new then, too); then I'll rewatch on my downloaded copies, & catch stuff I missed the first time around, because of background noise, etc.

    Almost all the shows I watch are pre-1990. Unless its a particularly
    long running program, such as Columbo, which went from the late '70s to the mid-90s.
    Plus a few shows I wasn't interested in during the '90s but am now.

    Do you subscribe to a package of old shows? I see ads constantly for one here, but $4/month extra for TV is a waste, to me. . .

    --- BBBS/Li6 v4.10 Toy-5
    * Origin: The Rusty MailBox - Penticton, BC Canada (1:153/757)
  • From JOE MACKEY@1:135/392 to GEORGE POPE on Wed Jan 19 06:06:02 2022
    CP wrote --

    Blanche DuBois from the play/movie A Streetcar Named Desire who had depended om the kindness of strangers.

    Very cool -- you still have her?

    No, she passed to Rainbow Bridge several years ago.
    The landlord, who took over shortly before, doesn't allow pets so she was
    the last one.

    Re: your lost OTR shows you can check:

    Thank you so much; I'll check all!

    I'm sure you will find a lot of shows you would like.
    The OTRR library has the sound, certified series, in order, etc.

    Rarely I discover a new series, not8 yet seen,

    I've seen a few new shows, (post 2000) but they seem to use to many
    special effects and whiz bang graphics for me. Same with movies.

    to one of the British territories in the Caribbean set in the days they were run by an appointed-by-the-Crown Governor)

    Ah, the good old days. :)

    I do this, too, as longer than that & my internet-retrained attention span wavers &/or my bladder shouts up at me, warning of a potential leak in the dam.

    I am often able to follow a program with just the sound. I can imagine
    the character driving somewhere, for example, without watching him drive somewhere. That was developed listening to OTR.
    Sometimes programs are just radio with pictures. :)
    Now watching a detective/mystery show video is important when revealing a unspoken clue for example.
    People are constantly amazed I don't even own a tv set.

    Do you subscribe to a package of old shows? I see ads constantly for one here, but $4/month extra for TV is a waste, to me. . .

    Nope, only free ones.
    Joe
    --- Platinum Xpress/Win/WINServer v3.0pr5
    * Origin: Fidonet Since 1991 www.doccyber.org bbs.docsplace.org (1:135/392)
  • From George Pope@1:153/757 to Joe Mackey on Fri Jan 21 16:01:38 2022
    CP wrote --
    Blanche DuBois from the play/movie A Streetcar Named Desire who had depended
    om the kindness of strangers.

    Very cool -- you still have her?
    No, she passed to Rainbow Bridge several years ago.

    damn, sorry. . . I hads a perfect pet, too -- Punkin, also passed on. . . I've never missed a pet so much -- she was the pefect blend of cat, dog, playful, & cuddly, & alweays knew which to beat any given time.. .

    She wasn't fond of strangers, but if I introduce her to them properly, she'll always behave & treat them with as much love, or lack, as I do. . .

    The landlord, who took over shortly before, doesn't allow pets so she was
    the last one.

    Bummer -- I think banning pets is now illegal here.

    We have a righ tvto "quiet enjoyment" of our home & for many, that includes a pet.

    There can be set reasonable restrictions (not higher than floor x, e.g., & maximum number); bottom line: if your pet(s) inr=terfere with another's quiet enjoyment, then you get your warnings. . . (enough of those, or a particularly flagrant event, can result in eviction)

    I've seen a few new shows, (post 2000) but they seem to use to many
    special effects and whiz bang graphics for me. Same with movies.

    Agreed & video games; I saw a buddy trying out a new whizbang game & it looked p[rtetty boring -- just repetitive stock effects & no plot that I could see (sure, you had goals, but that's different -- a good game, like a good movie, should be a story that draws you in, so you can, in your imagination, replace anyone & experience the events in some real way. . .

    This is how my mom & I describe old Star Trek vs new:

    The old had excellebnt character develpoment & interactions -- this is EXACTLY what that sort ofg personi would say in that sort of situation!

    & you coud see, these were proper method actors who were fully into he momenty/character we see. I only recently learned of "micro expressions" -- they define genuineness.

    When I play poker(& other games) my micro expressions(supposedly unconscious effects of internal thoughts & feelings) match exactly what I'm trying to portray.

    When I have the crappies cards possiuble, it's possible that an expert tells reader has put me on the best one or second possible best! Because, to me, I actually DO have that hand. . .If I were single, I'd have already embarked on a life of traveling & playing poker. . .

    But the world has changed & these back country games are even more lethal than in the frontier years. I knew a former dealer for these Hells Angels-run illegal casino clubs. . .

    Sometimes programs are just radio with pictures. :)

    Pretty much as TV began -- they grabbed the best of radio & put them to work in Hollyweird (although it was still Hollywood then) creating am industry.

    Somne made the cut/transition & did well, others just disappeared from memory. . .

    Now watching a detective/mystery show video is important when revealing a unspoken clue for example.

    yup, they force the view onto you, by designing the program AEROUND the visuals.

    I'm especiallyl awed by those giys who could make ANT sound effect, uwithout technology, on demand, to make a radio show (whether a short comedy, or a longer story("The Shadow" I used to listen to in the '70s, & others.)

    People are constantly amazed I don't even own a tv set.

    I'm not amazed; more impressed & jeaouos. I have family, so I can't arbitrarily dump cable & only use the tv for wireless playing of stuff I download onto the computer. . .

    Do you subscribe to a package of old shows? I see ads constantly for one
    here, but $4/month extra for TV is a waste, to me. . .
    Nope, only free ones.

    Ytou've got good stations on the free waves, then. . . only one of ours sets aside timefor the oldies.

    They tried to kill the free tv a while back by legally forcing all tv broadcasting to be digital. But it didn't take long untilo a $15 device worked to decode these into content for your old rabbit-ears sporting portable!

    I found a brilliant wya to get a lot more free tv & better quality than some of my neighbours' cable connections.

    I hooked up my antenna screws on the back of my tv to a co-ax converter(just a wee U-prong & a coax connector, about 3" long) & plugged into the cable socket
    -- now the entire 7-storey(72 unit) building is my rabbit ears antena! (I'm out in a townhouse now & have, as per above, cable, but it was fun to sidestep Big Cable for a while!)

    I've looked into satellite,. but the subscription fees (& decode fees) made it not worth the hassle of purchase & installation for me. . .

    I loved finding/making deals, like when, in dialup years, I found an ISP that charged $8/mnonth for unlimited connectivity & data, from 22h00-08h00 -- I milked that deal well & goodly! Still have, somewhere, some of the Gigs I downloaded over a 12K modem in DOS. . .

    Another, better known ISP, was offering "unlimited minutes" for $20/mo (was about average cost then for limited hours); this was grand fun until they redefined, partway through, "unlimited" & started booting people for camping -- there was an outcry (digital/virtual,. but it was there!) & reparations were made, but they officially got rid of the unlimited account type & gave us vets of the old one a sharp discount on the new, competitive, pricing. . .

    Online people can get up in arms & effect change, like in eBsy's formative years, they learned to not make sweeping changes without consultation/approval from their regular(pro, etc) users

    & how about that airline who dragged the doctor down the aisle & out from his fully paid for seat -- overnight, that air,line's s6tock dropped $1.1bn!!

    They'd have been better off bribing him with $250,000,000 to take a private Lear to his destination, to arrive even before the other flight would even arrive, to see his patients on time, as scheduled!

    Dumbasses got the painful public spanking they deserved!

    --- BBBS/Li6 v4.10 Toy-5
    * Origin: The Rusty MailBox - Penticton, BC Canada (1:153/757)
  • From George Pope@1:153/757 to Daryl Stout on Wed Jan 26 16:34:02 2022
    George,
    damn, sorry. . . I hads a perfect pet, too -- Punkin, also passed on. .
    The one my wife and I had when we got married, had to be put down about
    a year and a half before she died. I'll bet he's waiting at the Rainbow Bridge for me, wanting a belly rub, and a treat. <G>

    Took me a second to place that pronoun & "year and a half before she died." but caught the later "he's" reference to your cat. :)

    How do you put a cat down 18 months before it dies or know that's the predicted death date?

    Pets are wonderful!

    Proven to lead to longer happier lives; which is why some old age homes have a house pet; & why others especially do not. (they make a lot of money on re- using the same bed or room in the same month/day)

    Well, didn't give notice before dying, so there goes the deposit, & the new resident pays 2 months' rent to move in often the same day as the other guy died.

    --- BBBS/Li6 v4.10 Toy-5
    * Origin: The Rusty MailBox - Penticton, BC Canada (1:153/757)
  • From JOE MACKEY@1:135/392 to DARYL STOUT on Thu Jul 14 05:36:18 2022
    Daryl wrote --

    Microsoft keeps putting stuff on to slow it down, so you'll buy
    a newer, faster computer.

    Yep.

    Remember all the rush when Windows 95 first came out??

    I have a 95 disk in my collection.

    So many found out the truth of "being guinea pig beta testers" for the operating system (I wasn't one of them, thankfully). <G>

    I got a almost new pc with 95 on it, cheap. Well, actually free. The
    case was damaged in an accident but the innards still worked just fine. The business just tossed it and I was standing by the dumpster catching it.
    Had it for several years.
    That replaced my 286 I brought used, which replaced my Commie.
    Joe
    --- Platinum Xpress/Win/WINServer v3.0pr5
    * Origin: Fidonet Since 1991 www.doccyber.org bbs.docsplace.org (1:135/392)
  • From Daryl Stout@1:2320/33 to JOE MACKEY on Thu Jul 14 13:13:00 2022
    Joe,


    I got a almost new pc with 95 on it, cheap. Well, actually free.
    The case was damaged in an accident but the innards still worked just fine. The business just tossed it and I was standing by the dumpster catching it.

    When Arkansas Children's Hospital in Little Rock was discarding all their
    old computer hardware, a friend of my brother's (I didn't know him at the
    time) got an 8088 XT, with 640K of RAM, a 3.5" and a 5.25" floppy drive,
    a monochrome green monitor, a mouse, and a keyboard, with DOS 3.2 on it.
    That became the birthplace of The Thunderbolt BBS in May, 1992.

    That replaced my 286 I brought used, which replaced my Commie.

    Was that a computer from Russia?? <G>

    Daryl

    ... Don't lend people money. It causes amnesia.
    === MultiMail/Win v0.52
    --- SBBSecho 3.15-Win32
    * Origin: The Thunderbolt BBS - Little Rock, Arkansas (1:2320/33)
  • From JOE MACKEY@1:135/392 to DARYL STOUT on Fri Jul 15 07:08:08 2022
    Daryl wrote --

    When Arkansas Children's Hospital in Little Rock was discarding all their old computer hardware, a friend of my brother's (I didn't know him at the time) got an 8088 XT, with 640K of RAM, a 3.5" and a 5.25" floppy

    Marshall has semi-annual yard sales where items that had been replaced
    are offered for sale to the public in a silent auction.
    One time I was in a open on four sides building to get something for parking. (The building housed mostly mechanical equipment such as mowers, plows, etc).
    In one area were pallets of old computers, keyboards, etc. I asked why
    they were there and told "for the yard sale". Sheesh. Stuff sitting in
    pretty much open area of dirt, dust, rain, etc and they expected to sell those.
    A fella who ran a pc repair shop I know (knew him from his bbs years
    ago) would buy some of pc's to part out. About all they were good for after a week or so.
    I brought some stuff from the sales.
    One is a heavy as iron four drawer maple desk from a dorm room, $5.
    My computer desk, with hutch, $15.
    And a few other odds and ends.
    One time they had something like 100 new in the box, never been opened, iPads that were given to the university and never used. Missed out on one
    of those.

    That replaced my 286 I brought used, which replaced my Commie.

    Was that a computer from Russia?? <G>

    Yep. Could only write in Cyrillic. :)
    Joe
    --- Platinum Xpress/Win/WINServer v3.0pr5
    * Origin: Fidonet Since 1991 www.doccyber.org bbs.docsplace.org (1:135/392)