Old Time Radio at OTRCat!

Thursday, September 28, 2017

A reverent consideration of the bunny.

This may be most...unexpected...from me.

Bless me brethren...

Hugh Hefner is dead.
He took a magazine concept sold at seamy bookstalls, just down from THAT theater across the tracks, added tonnes of erudition and professional photography, and made a legend of it.

"I read it for the articles."
Old gag.
The first Larry Niven story I ever read as a callow yout' was in a Playboy magazine, so yeah.

I am...impatient with the whole porn industry. I am not a reader of Playboy...too many problems with it, and too many opportunities to cause someone to stumble, nor do I encourage its reading. I MUST say, though, what I must laud Mr. Hefner for.

What he did, he did with excellence.

He took a dreadful market of pulp-printed dirty magazines, with dreadful stories, and turned it into art. He sought the best writers of the day. The prettiest women, the coolest cars.

Excellence.

The ex-Methodist-Sunday School teacher rejected the religious niceties, but exported the Doing With All Your Might.

So, Mr. hefner, I salute you for your striving for Doing It Well. I pray in your latter days, you returned to the savior of your youth, and took full advantage of His Excellence.

I wish that those in the churches could have caught your vision for excellence.

Monday, September 11, 2017

A Tumulus of Typing

We understood hurricanes, tornadoes, and ice storms just fine when I was a kid, without on-the-spot weather reader histrionics on telly. Live OR green screen.

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That's IT!
I don't care if you use a rotisserie, or wrap it around a tin can with a light bulb on inside...You are COOKING bacon.
Not hacking it.

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Vaal was a vegan.

The Ten Commandments in the Worlds of 'Star Trek' - You ...

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Spent the wee hours mugging. Not street larceny, nor making rude faces at passersby (who are not in evidence during the wee hours), but making pretty coffee mugs for customers.
Such a varied life I have.

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Whoa!
Those green Nyquil caps pack a palooka's punch to a glass jaw.
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Vocabulary mavens: I'm looking for the word used "for when an animal (of the illustrated variety) is depicted gleefully offering himself up to be eaten by people".
There is a specific term which is eluding my memory.

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Well hallelujah! I got the Roku menu voice to go away!
Amazing what a shotgun can do!


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I recall that "W" was excoriated for not landing so as not to take resources away from Katrina rescue efforts. Now Mr. Trump DOES land to check on the situation, and he is excoriated for not doing enough.
Were I President, I would let my people do their jobs, and keep to my business. Of course, I would then be excoriated for not caring.

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The "Trump is Hitler" thing renders the actual Holocaust as meaningless except as a political bludgeon. The Holocaust Victims, ALL of them, then have no worth except as pawns in political rhetoric.
And Der Fuhrer smiles....

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Posting against "hate" does little more that bolster the progressive moves against "thoughtcrimes". If I kill you dead, you are no deader if I "hate" you vs. my killing you in a fit of anger. My thoughts are my own. I would suggest not joining in the anti-hate rhetoric, as it will ultimately be used against you.
Because disagreement with MY opinions = "hate".
And please to note that nowhere am I "encouraging hate". I am warning against linking arms with those who would destroy you.

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Since the South is the Big Burr under the US saddle, I have two ways to solve it. Both must be implemented.
1- All those who are unhappy living in the South MUST move out of the South, if only for their own mental health.
2- The United States, so as to punish the Southron miscreants for things their forbears may have done, must eject the Southern states from the Union. We clearly do not deserve to be part of it. This must be done unilaterally, and instanter.

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Here's the deal. There are CERTAINLY bad people who want to soak others with high prices during an emergency like in Houston. OTOH, it's the way economics works. Small supply=higher prices.
This provides an odd benefit, by discouraging hoarders from buying up the limited supplies of, say, water, enabling more people to get some, albeit with some grumbling about the price.
Houston gas prices will go up as well, because the refineries are down. It's likely to take awhile for repairs to be made, and the gas to flow again.
There are SOME gougers, but in main, it's just the way it works.

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I did research. Apparently this is how it's done:



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The essential error that the "Confederates were traitors" people make is not understanding the "states" part of "United States".
The assemblage of states was the overarching thing. The States were sovereign, and had agreed to be united in a mmmm...confederation. Those who had a grievance could opt out, as secession was not illegal.
We, with our post-Lincoln federal behemoth, have little way of understanding this.

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I've got a friend online, hight "Ed Kramer". He has a YouTube channel archiving the history of computer graphics, from creaky radio station logos to "The Last Starfighter" and pretty fractal thingies. TV, movies, gaming type stuff...CG is his thing. Allow me to encourage you to subscribe to his YouTube channel (Basement Tapes) He is writing a book "The Wizards of Hollywood" about the history of CG in Tinseltown, and his publisher wants to see more YouTube activity. So subscribe and watch. It's all great fun!

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THIS CONTAINS LIFE SPOILERS

I'm sorry.
The celebrities we grew up with were adults when we were kids.
Now that we are *ahem* mature, they are elderly. This has a natural consequence: we will likely outlive them.
Just wanted us all to be aware, and not be surprised.

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Anyone in the mood to watch "In the Year 2889"?
Naaaaahhh. Me neither.


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On what planet is wishing that someone "*bleeps* up his eyesight" after glancing up at the early eclipse considered a good and laudable thing?
No matter WHO it is.

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Best eclipse quote, from my nephew Garrett:
"I have not seen this many people outside since the release of Pokémon GO"


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I slept through 96% totality, which any other time would be called "twilight". (I DID see the diminished illumination through my window when the Dread Dormomoo woke me to see the thing, and I grumbled and waved her off.)
I was mildly disappointed to see that civilisation was not cast in ruin...then I remembered the last two weeks.
So, did the super-werewolves leave anyone alive, and did California solar power limp through the gloaming?

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"I disagree with your politics. I hope bad things happen to you."

Welcome to 2017.


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The imbeciles in Nazi outfits are not on a level with the horror-mongers of WW2. To even equate them with Nazi Germany is to belittle the millions who were killed by the Germans in the Second World War.
These are little more than cosplayers, lacking even the style of Hugo Boss. I would be far MORE worried about the ready acceptance of "But". "I believe in freedom of speech, but...."
There are vast amounts of "but" out there, and at some point, YOUR preferred group can be in those same sights.

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All said, I am DONE with arm-flailing foodists whose major argument is "IT HAS CHEMICALS IN IT!!".
You know what a solvent is? It melts things. Dissolves them.
Water is the virtually universal solvent. AND YOU'RE DRINKING IT!!!

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Aldi rolls into town. 28 cents for a dozen large eggs.
WalMart lowers eggs to 30 cents for a dozen large eggs, because no-one is gonna drive blocks to save 2 cents on a dozen eggs.
This, kiddies, is how economics works.

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I cannot tell how much I appreciate the sage "bend over and kiss your bum good-bye" advice in comments about surviving a nuke.


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That Jesus did not set up a chain of "Five Loaves and Two Fishes" diners appears to have meaning.

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