Category Archives: Paul

March 22, 2022 · 23:43

Ceiling Aurora

For Christmas I got a wonderful little thingamabob, a night light that projects “aurora” on the ceiling.

“Aurora-like” might be more accurate, but it’s lovely and I like it a lot. It’s sort of like a kaleidoscope in night light form, constantly shifting and sending out varying curtains and streamers of red, blue, purple, and green light all over the ceiling.

The blue spot on the right is from the night light built into a fan. Combined, it’s quite the effect.

It’s not nearly as bright as this makes it seem – we do need to sleep, after all. But the lights are quite visible, especially when your eyes get dark adapted, and it works well as a night light (which is, after all, its original function) when my middle-aged body has to wander out of bed several times a night.

Very pretty. Very peaceful. Very relaxing.

And I’m a lot less likely to break a toe at 3:13 AM! We’re all happy about that.

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Filed under Art, Paul, Photography

March 21, 2022 · 20:48

Beware The Birthday App!

It’s spam. It’s phishing. It’s bullshit and potentially dangerous.

And it also seems to be more clever than the run of the mill spam and phishing trash that’s out there today, flooding our inboxes and spam filters. You know…

Stuff like this is easy to spot as spam and trash, even when the odd one slips through and ends up in my inbox instead of the spam filter. Lots of emojis, a gazillion different fonts and “clever” misspellings to try to get through the spam filters, all trying to get you to click on a deal that’s just too good to be true or a mindless threat to catch the unwary.

But these!

  • Since it WAS my birthday and…
  • Since both folks mentioned by name (the image cuts off their last names in order to protect their privacy) WERE friends of mine and…
  • Since I DID get other email greetings and e-cards from other friends this weekend…

…it seemed quite plausible that there was a new app folks were using and it just was being incorrectly flagged as spam! I could have mistakenly clicked on either of these!

Except for one teeny, tiny little detail.

Both of the friends mentioned are deceased and have been for a while.

Maybe I got “lucky” in that the clever little bot in question picked two friends at random (I’m assuming it scraped my friends list and my birthday from Facebook) who were highly unlikely to be sending me birthday greetings from the Great Beyond. Maybe you won’t be so lucky.

So, beware the “BirthdayApp” spam. It’s working hard to try to fool you. I don’t know exactly what it does to you if it gets you to click on it, but I really hope you don’t find out the hard way.

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Filed under Computers, Paul

March 19, 2022 · 23:09

Another Year 2022

I went to my first professional rugby game tonight, the LA Giltinis hosting the San Diego Legion.

A fun game, with the Giltinis winning 26-13. I only understand the big picture on the rules and I’m totally ignorant of about 99% of the nuances and fine details, but it was still a fun experience!

The Los Angeles Coliseum has hosted two Olympics, the LA Rams, at one point way back the LA Dodgers, and for decades the USC Trojans. It seats 93,607 currently. The Giltinis drew maybe 2,000 today, so it’s an interesting experience in a stadium that big.

It was a fun day.

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Filed under Los Angeles, Panorama, Paul, Photography, Sports

March 13, 2022 · 20:37

What DOES Starlight Taste Like?

An unusual quirk of mine – I don’t drink coffee.

(I’ll pause for the wailing and shocked outrage to calm down.)

My caffeine substrate of choice is Diet Coke. I drink a couple a day, which is a lot better than in my youth when I could drink six, eight, ten or more a day. Ah, youth…

I was intrigued when I heard that Coke has a special new flavor for a limited time. “Coke Starlight.”

They had some in the grocery store finally this morning. Okay.

I’m pretty sure it won’t actually taste like space. I base that conclusion on the fact that smell and taste are closely associated, and we actually DO know what space smells like. Short version, a little like cordite or gunpowder, or maybe burnt steak. I’m willing to bet in advance that won’t be what Coke aims for with this.

Let’s give it a try!

Um… probably not going to be my favorite, but not bad. Despite the fact that this version is “Zero Sugar,” it tastes quite sweet. The flavor to me was familiar, but it took a couple of swigs before my brain could ignore what my eyes and hands were doing and filter out just what the taste was.

Cupcakes with vanilla frosting. To me at least, that’ exactly what it tasted like.

So, experiment concluded with acceptable results. Not something I’m going to regret seeing gone if it truly is a limited time special edition, but if someplace doesn’t have Diet Coke, this would be an acceptable substitute for a meal.

And SO MUCH better than Diet Pepsi as a substitute. Bleah! That crap is horrible!!

 

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Filed under Paul, Photography

March 12, 2022 · 22:25

Movement

I lesson I’ve learned but need to remember and use in times of need has to do with being “stuck.”

Let’s say things aren’t working, or at least, not working well.

Something needs to change, but you’re not sure what.

You’re caught up in the “fog of war,” so to speak.

You’re concerned that you could do the wrong thing and make things worse.

So, you do nothing, which in and of itself could well be making things worse.

What to do?

Move.

Maybe you’re not moving in the ideal direction.

There’s a potential for you to be moving in the worst possible direction.

But if you do a quick gut check, think about what you know and don’t know, and make your best possible decision, the odds are it will be at least somewhat better.

And even if it’s not fantastic, even if it is worse, you can see that from a different perspective and correct course.

Triangulate. Get new data.

Change the variables.

Flip the problem on its head.

Get some tiny part of the puzzle taken care of and set aside, see what new avenues that opens up.

It’s like playing a game where every move affects all other potential moves.

Somewhere in there is a solution, a path.

But if you can’t see that path now, MOVE!

Find a different perspective, the view that will show you the next part of the maze.

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Filed under Deep Thoughts, Paul, Photography

March 1, 2022 · 23:53

March Madness & The First Strike Option

I had every intention of starting off friendly, cooperative, maybe even upbeat with March. Just like I did with February. Look where THAT got me, but I’m an eternal optimist. Let’s start by encouraging March to be the very best March that it could be!

That approach lasted all of about ten seconds.

March had other plans, and announced its presence with authority…

(In case it’s too subtle, I’m the guy in the white shirt, March is in the brown shirt.)

I did NOT see that coming!

You might remember that last night I was trying to finish uploading payroll at the end of an extremely long day. I was writing a post because I had gotten booted off of the payroll site about 22:30 because they had shut down for “maintenance” but would be back “shortly.” I (foolishly) assumed “shortly” would be some time period, say, of less than an hour. SURELY less than two hours. WRONG! After I posted I kept trying until after 01:30 before I gave up and went to bed.

After something on the order of maybe four hours sleep, I was back on the computer and finishing data entry, looking and feeling my best. Semi-conscious at best, I managed to get it done and avoid that disaster. (Folks tend to get cranky when they don’t get paid on time. Go figure!)

Still without a shower, breakfast, my other four hours of sleep, or anything resembling a civilized existence, I was leaving my computer to go get at least two of those things when I noticed the count of unread emails in my personal email. It should have been on the order of a dozen, not ten times that. WTF?

There’s a flood of emails from Match, the dating website. As I said, WTAF??!!

Someone has obviously set up a new account on the dating site and put in the wrong email address. This has happened before with several kid’s education type sites (online math & science tutoring) and with several French websites. (I don’t speak French, so that’s my first clue in that case.) Match is a new one.

However “Kate” described herself she must have hit all of the hot buttons for every middle aged, (presumably) single, horny black guys in the Deep South. They ALL want to meet “Kate!”

Alas, none of their passionate attempts are going anywhere, much like most of the red-feathered finches in the back yard, hopped up on hormones and the endorphins that lengthening days bring. All of those guys are now ending up in my Spam file, and they won’t even make it to there once I set up a filter to simply delete them.

I attempted to contact Match through their customer support email address. There’s five minutes of my life I’ll never get back! They sent a standard response with several dozen FAQ’s and answers, none of which had anything to do at all with my issue. Thus, the kill filter!

From there the rest of the day was “nibbled to death by ducks” levels of stupid annoyances.

The MLB owners and players aren’t even talking and the owners have started cancelling games, so I’m seriously pissed at both. Probably 3/4 owners and 1/4 players, but still.

The Russians continue to try to provoke WW3 and I’m horrified that their next tactic, even if it’s not lobbing nukes at everyone, might be horrific crimes and autocracies against the Ukranian people. If that doesn’t depress the crap out of you, I don’t know what will.

And an Illinois house that I’ve been seriously lusting after on Zillow, like a LOT of house lust, got sold. We weren’t ready to pull the trigger and that opportunity is waving at us as it pulls away.

So, March…

We are not off to a good start, you and me.

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Filed under Death Of Common Sense, Paul

February 26, 2022 · 23:45

Hey MLB – READ THE ROOM!!!

An open list of suggestions to the MLB Players Association and owners, who are currently involved in a months-long pissing contest which is delaying the opening of spring training camps and threatens to very soon delay or eliminate a chunk of the regular season —

As I said above – READ THE ROOM!!! In case it might not be obvious to all of you chuckleheads, we, the American and baseball-loving public, are ***NOT*** in the mood for your shit right now.

  • Russia is invading Ukraine while Madman Putin threatens worldwide destruction.
  • It’s year three of COVID, where we still have over 1,800 deaths PER DAY in the United States, but the CDC is bowing to political pressure from morons and cultists and reducing mask useage mandates.
  • It’s year seven of the GOP revealing itself as a fascist cult and enemy of democracy in the United States.
  • The aforementioned fascist, white supremacist, anti-science, anti-knowledge, anti-democracy cultists are trying to ban and burn books, ban medical care regarding abortion and medical treatment for trans folks.

Given all of this, we’re exhausted, frustrated, and furious. We need a break. We were really looking forward to going to the park, sitting in the bleachers, having a beverage and a couple of hot dogs, and catching a game.

But again, it’s the greedy billionaires vs the greedy millionaires, debating once again which group is the most clueless and selfish.

Guess what, guys? WE DON’T CARE ABOUT THE DETAILS. We really and truly don’t.

But we’re going to care a LOT for completely different reasons if you don’t pull your heads out the bodily orifices where you’ve stuck them. If we don’t actually have baseball to go to in April, if we don’t have a way to shut out all of the things above for a couple of hours, if you can’t see common sense and compromise, we’re all going to be mightily pissed off.

We’re not going to be pissed off at the players. We’re not going to be pissed off at the owners. We’re going to be pissed off at ***ALL*** of you.

You think you’ll get by because you have massive TV and radio contracts… which are worthless if you’re not playing games. You have massive naming rights on your stadiums… which are worthless if no one’s in the stands.

Consider also all of those who rely on you for jobs at your stadiums, parking, office staff, and all of the tens of thousands of suppliers and merchants near your stadiums. Bars, restaurants, and so on.

It’s been one thing when you’ve pulled this stunt before, in relatively good times. We got by, although your finances and attendance and popularity always took a hit.

No worries! The fans will always come back! Right?

But these aren’t good times, relatively or not. Things sort of suck right now. We need a pick me up, we need a break – and you’re going to pile on just to prove that you can be more petty and shortsighted than the other guys?

Think very, very carefully about that decision. Take a look at what’s going on in Ukraine and ponder how badly Putin has miscalculated. Your decisions are inconsequential compared to Putin’s mistakes, but for those who love the game, who need the game, and whose livelihoods depend on the game, they’re non-trivial.

Don’t screw up.

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Filed under Deep Thoughts, Freakin' Idiots!, LA Angels, Paul

February 18, 2022 · 23:48

Three Days

Hey! It’s a three-day weekend! I literally didn’t even realize that until it came up in a meeting this afternoon.

And I don’t have to go to the hangar! That gig’s done!

I don’t even know what I’ll do with myself.

Maybe (hold on, this is going to be a radical concept!) read one of those books that’s been sitting there.

Maybe (buckle in!) watch a movie or a couple episodes of a TV show that I started years and years ago.

Maybe (inconceivable!) I’ll just sit and watch birds and clouds.

Let the adventure begin!

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Filed under Castle Willett, Paul

February 7, 2022 · 00:05

One Of Those Days

It’s never a good thing when “something” wakes you up at 02:27 and you can’t quite put your finger on it laying there in the dark.

Then you realize that you’re up to your eyeballs in “dark” – what happened to the light from the clock, the cable box, the night light, the light from the kitchen night lights… Well, the winds are HOWLING again, so I guess that’s not too surprising? It’s tough to make sense of things when it’s 02:28.

Okay, the power’s out. But why is there still light from the street lights? Maybe they’re on a different circuit of some sort?

By the light of the ever-present cellphone, I got into some sweats and went exploring, cautious of the possibility that there might be a loose wire down out there. And the first immediate odd thing is that there are houses up and down the street with lights.

Is it us? Check the breaker box, toggle the master circuit breaker, doesn’t make any difference.

A closer examination shows that the houses on either side of us are dark, and the two houses directly across the street. But everyone else is fine.

Watson, by the power of logical deduction, I have determined that something has gone wonky on the power pole across the street. Wouldn’t it feed those five houses and not any of the others?

Having some idea of what’s going on (or at least an educated guess) I get on my phone to put in an outage report with DWP. Then I fall asleep out on the couch. Fitfully.

My only real concern is the two refrigerator/freezer units. But as long as we keep the doors closed, they should be good for a bunch of hours.

At about 05:00 I hear a truck outside and go hustling out. But it’s not DWP, it’s Spectrum. Their driver says that he was sent out because there’s a cluster of several houses here that have gone offline. Yep, that would be us, but I think we need DWP. He’ll have Spectrum follow up with DWP.

I check my phone again and find that DWP has left several voice mails, but been blocked because, A) It’s the middle of the freaking night, and B) they’re calling from a number that’s not in my phone books, so my phone is treating them as spammers. Okay, yes, that’s what I’ve programmed and it’s a good little robot phone, but timing is everything. I call DWP back and they want to know if I still need help. Yes, thank you, that would be why I put in an outage report. (How come the cable company knows about this and they don’t?!)

About 08:45 the DWP rolls up and I go out to let them know what I know. Uh, duh, dude, and the guy points at the power pole. (Okay, trying to be helpful, but I was probably being a stereotype from some ad.)

Well, THERE‘s your problem! That cable on the left isn’t supposed to be hanging loose like that.

We sit around for a while waiting for a truck with a bucket lift on it, then it’s time to be rescued from the Dark Ages.

On the side of the transformer, up near the top, there’s a bump or wart. That’s where that wire should connect. So they grab that dangling wire (carefully), unscrew the clamps on that bump/wart and clean out the debris, strip an inch or two of insulation off of the end of the dangling wire, and insert it into the side of the bump/wart thing. There was a very satisfying ZZAAAAAAAPPP!! and flash. They clamped the bump/wart thing back down, and we were again on speaking terms with with the electrons.

Then I went to get breakfast and got stuck behind the long-winded, annoying dude from Hell.

Then I got home and found out that they had messed up my breakfast order.

And DAMN IT, I took too long to type this out, it’s after midnight! As of yesterday I had another streak of 245 days in a row posting on the site, and while this will count in my head, it breaks the streak so far as WordPress is concerned.

SHAZZBATT!!!

 

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Filed under Castle Willett, Paul, Photography

February 4, 2022 · 23:41

Revelations On A Long Friday

Question everything.

I just tonight realized that the version of the Bowie song “Ashes to Ashes” that I love is not actually by Davie Bowie. I had always thought that it was a live version or something, but always believed it was him. Nope, it’s a Tears For Fears cover.

Gobsmacked. It’s going to be a hell of a weekend.

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Filed under Music, Paul