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billryan
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November 7th, 2024 at 5:26:02 AM permalink
Quote: lilredrooster

.
the real Eliot Ness when he was fairly young:

.



.
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He died in his early 50s before the show made him a household name.
The older I get, the better I recall things that never happened
rxwine
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November 7th, 2024 at 1:07:32 PM permalink
Remember when Starbucks had electricity?

Heh, I just went in a new Starbucks and noticed, no outlets. I don't usually plug anything in, though I have on occasion. Maybe the drain has been more than they expected. Or maybe people are bringing larger batteries and taking large charges. Or maybe this was just an oddity.
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AZDuffman
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November 7th, 2024 at 1:22:16 PM permalink
Quote: rxwine

Remember when Starbucks had electricity?

Heh, I just went in a new Starbucks and noticed, no outlets. I don't usually plug anything in, though I have on occasion. Maybe the drain has been more than they expected. Or maybe people are bringing larger batteries and taking large charges. Or maybe this was just an oddity.
link to original post



Maybe 10 years back I remember hearing how SBUX was going to cover outlets at some stores. It was a store by store thing. Some places had too many people making all day "field offices" but it was only certain ones. The rest they said they had no issues so why PO good customers?

SBUX was founded to be a "third place" for people to spend time. That is in the past, they soon might not even have tables.

Sad to see as I like to get some work done at these places.
All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others
Dieter
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November 7th, 2024 at 1:31:12 PM permalink
(snip!)

Quote: AZDuffman


SBUX was founded to be a "third place" for people to spend time. That is in the past, they soon might not even have tables.

Sad to see as I like to get some work done at these places.
link to original post



I usually conscript a table at a fast food place.
It's often not quiet, but headphones help.
McDonald's seems to be the pickiest about a 30 minute time limit; Arby's seems almost grateful that someone is there.
May the cards fall in your favor.
billryan
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November 7th, 2024 at 2:07:23 PM permalink
When I lived in NY, you could always grab Wi-Fi from any McDonald's. Does anyone know if the Wi-Fi works when the store is closed at night?
The older I get, the better I recall things that never happened
AZDuffman
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November 7th, 2024 at 2:38:34 PM permalink
Quote: Dieter

(snip!)

Quote: AZDuffman


SBUX was founded to be a "third place" for people to spend time. That is in the past, they soon might not even have tables.

Sad to see as I like to get some work done at these places.
link to original post



I usually conscript a table at a fast food place.
It's often not quiet, but headphones help.
McDonald's seems to be the pickiest about a 30 minute time limit; Arby's seems almost grateful that someone is there.
link to original post



Indie coffeehouses seem to like people there. I use them before I use SBUX if possible. Or the local library. When you have to work the field enough you get to learn the places.
All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others
EvenBob
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November 7th, 2024 at 4:35:04 PM permalink
I looked it up and the article I read said Starbucks is trying to discourage loitering and encourage the grab and run customer. Apparently people sitting there for three or four hours using their electricity is it making them money anymore.
"It's not called gambling if the math is on your side."
AZDuffman
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November 7th, 2024 at 5:31:06 PM permalink
Quote: EvenBob

I looked it up and the article I read said Starbucks is trying to discourage loitering and encourage the grab and run customer. Apparently people sitting there for three or four hours using their electricity is it making them money anymore.
link to original post



Pretty much all QSR places are trying to go all takeout or at least as much as possible. Times have changed.
All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others
Dieter
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November 7th, 2024 at 6:39:58 PM permalink
Quote: AZDuffman

Quote: Dieter

(snip!)

Quote: AZDuffman


SBUX was founded to be a "third place" for people to spend time. That is in the past, they soon might not even have tables.

Sad to see as I like to get some work done at these places.
link to original post



I usually conscript a table at a fast food place.
It's often not quiet, but headphones help.
McDonald's seems to be the pickiest about a 30 minute time limit; Arby's seems almost grateful that someone is there.
link to original post



Indie coffeehouses seem to like people there. I use them before I use SBUX if possible. Or the local library. When you have to work the field enough you get to learn the places.
link to original post



The indie shops in my old neighborhood aren't conducive to this plan. Either the tables are too small, the place is too busy, or there is a general "no wifi, put your devices away and socialize with each other" policy.

Food courts have plenty of room, but they tend to be noisy and lack convenient outlets. Fast food chain locations tend to have outlets available, as the district manager comes in and uses the booth in the corner every other week as an office for paperwork, interviews, and meetings.

Honestly if I need an outlet for more than 45 minutes at a stretch, I'm heading to a library or borrowing someone's conference room.
May the cards fall in your favor.
AZDuffman
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November 7th, 2024 at 6:51:23 PM permalink
Quote: Dieter

Quote: AZDuffman

Quote: Dieter

(snip!)

Quote: AZDuffman


SBUX was founded to be a "third place" for people to spend time. That is in the past, they soon might not even have tables.

Sad to see as I like to get some work done at these places.
link to original post



I usually conscript a table at a fast food place.
It's often not quiet, but headphones help.
McDonald's seems to be the pickiest about a 30 minute time limit; Arby's seems almost grateful that someone is there.
link to original post



Indie coffeehouses seem to like people there. I use them before I use SBUX if possible. Or the local library. When you have to work the field enough you get to learn the places.
link to original post



The indie shops in my old neighborhood aren't conducive to this plan. Either the tables are too small, the place is too busy, or there is a general "no wifi, put your devices away and socialize with each other" policy.

Food courts have plenty of room, but they tend to be noisy and lack convenient outlets. Fast food chain locations tend to have outlets available, as the district manager comes in and uses the booth in the corner every other week as an office for paperwork, interviews, and meetings.

Honestly if I need an outlet for more than 45 minutes at a stretch, I'm heading to a library or borrowing someone's conference room.
link to original post



Seems I have had better luck with indie places. Really, they should know that they are a field office for various professions and that is a decent hunk of their business. One town I worked for a bit we made it a point to scat out as the lunch rush came in. Because of that they loved us. People in the town joked about us using it as an office.
All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others
Dieter
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November 7th, 2024 at 7:14:15 PM permalink
Quote: AZDuffman

Quote: Dieter

Quote: AZDuffman

Quote: Dieter

(snip!)

Quote: AZDuffman


SBUX was founded to be a "third place" for people to spend time. That is in the past, they soon might not even have tables.

Sad to see as I like to get some work done at these places.
link to original post



I usually conscript a table at a fast food place.
It's often not quiet, but headphones help.
McDonald's seems to be the pickiest about a 30 minute time limit; Arby's seems almost grateful that someone is there.
link to original post



Indie coffeehouses seem to like people there. I use them before I use SBUX if possible. Or the local library. When you have to work the field enough you get to learn the places.
link to original post



The indie shops in my old neighborhood aren't conducive to this plan. Either the tables are too small, the place is too busy, or there is a general "no wifi, put your devices away and socialize with each other" policy.

Food courts have plenty of room, but they tend to be noisy and lack convenient outlets. Fast food chain locations tend to have outlets available, as the district manager comes in and uses the booth in the corner every other week as an office for paperwork, interviews, and meetings.

Honestly if I need an outlet for more than 45 minutes at a stretch, I'm heading to a library or borrowing someone's conference room.
link to original post



Seems I have had better luck with indie places. Really, they should know that they are a field office for various professions and that is a decent hunk of their business. One town I worked for a bit we made it a point to scat out as the lunch rush came in. Because of that they loved us. People in the town joked about us using it as an office.
link to original post



Oh sure.
It depends on the market. The indie shops around "here" tend to be near campus or the hippie enclave, and tend to be smaller places. The chains tend to be near the business districts and have roomier tables, and more of them.

If they have an open mic night and people dancing with tambourines asking for change out front, I'm not hopeful about setting up camp, even if the free trade vegan carob brownies are... passable.
May the cards fall in your favor.
AutomaticMonkey
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November 8th, 2024 at 2:20:14 AM permalink
Quote: rxwine

Remember when Starbucks had electricity?

Heh, I just went in a new Starbucks and noticed, no outlets. I don't usually plug anything in, though I have on occasion. Maybe the drain has been more than they expected. Or maybe people are bringing larger batteries and taking large charges. Or maybe this was just an oddity.
link to original post



At the Atlantic City bus station all of the 110 VAC outlets are sealed off. They told me the reason why is the bums come in to charge their devices, but there are a lot more bums than outlets and they have fights over them.

However I noticed the 208 VAC outlets for the floor machines are still available so I guess they figure if you are smart enough to bring an adapter you are smart enough not to have fights over an outlet.
Dieter
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November 8th, 2024 at 6:25:05 AM permalink
Quote: AutomaticMonkey

Quote: rxwine

Remember when Starbucks had electricity?

Heh, I just went in a new Starbucks and noticed, no outlets. I don't usually plug anything in, though I have on occasion. Maybe the drain has been more than they expected. Or maybe people are bringing larger batteries and taking large charges. Or maybe this was just an oddity.
link to original post



At the Atlantic City bus station all of the 110 VAC outlets are sealed off. They told me the reason why is the bums come in to charge their devices, but there are a lot more bums than outlets and they have fights over them.

However I noticed the 208 VAC outlets for the floor machines are still available so I guess they figure if you are smart enough to bring an adapter you are smart enough not to have fights over an outlet.
link to original post



Thanks for that.
I currently have an adapter to turn a lightbulb socket into a two prong outlet in my "bag of tricks", apparently I need to add 240v to 120v adapter plugs as well. Any clue if these are the usual "RV" type plugs? (I'm guessing it's NOT 208 volt; that's usually a three phase configuration.)
May the cards fall in your favor.
lilredrooster
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November 8th, 2024 at 10:46:00 AM permalink
.
he got insulted in front of his girlfriend
it made him mad
he decided to get even
with help of Charles Atlas and for a very reasonable price he got himself a powerful physique
just 15 minutes a day
"oh Joe, you're a he-man now" she said
mail the coupon in right now______!!!




.


.
the foolish sayings of a rich man often pass for words of wisdom by the fools around him
odiousgambit
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November 8th, 2024 at 10:57:15 AM permalink
I liked the ones where the bully kicks sand into the 99 pound weakling's face

well, I wasn't rooting for the bully, but it told a story I got familiar with, and the good guy wins in the end
the next time Dame Fortune toys with your heart, your soul and your wallet, raise your glass and praise her thus: “Thanks for nothing, you cold-hearted, evil, damnable, nefarious, low-life, malicious monster from Hell!”   She is, after all, stone deaf. ... Arnold Snyder
rxwine
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November 8th, 2024 at 11:14:47 AM permalink
Quote: odiousgambit

I liked the ones where the bully kicks sand into the 99 pound weakling's face

well, I wasn't rooting for the bully, but it told a story I got familiar with, and the good guy wins in the end
link to original post



Dynamic Tension.

Quote:

The exercises described in the course didn't use weights, rather they used bodyweight exercises and dynamic tension exercises. The course called for certain types of movements done in isometric fashion like push-ups, where you hold yourself in a push-up position for a given time.

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lilredrooster
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Thanked by
odiousgambit
November 8th, 2024 at 11:16:50 AM permalink
Quote: odiousgambit

I liked the ones where the bully kicks sand into the 99 pound weakling's face

well, I wasn't rooting for the bully, but it told a story I got familiar with, and the good guy wins in the end
link to original post


this is the sand in the face ad

I chose the other one because it was in color





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the foolish sayings of a rich man often pass for words of wisdom by the fools around him
billryan
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November 8th, 2024 at 11:32:39 AM permalink
Quote: lilredrooster

Quote: odiousgambit

I liked the ones where the bully kicks sand into the 99 pound weakling's face

well, I wasn't rooting for the bully, but it told a story I got familiar with, and the good guy wins in the end
link to original post


this is the sand in the face ad

I chose the other one because it was in color





.
link to original post



Cutting some of those ads cost the owners hundreds of thousands of dollars. Many were on the back cover or interior of comics like the early issues of Spiderman, Fantastic Four, The Avengers and the like. A comic like FF1 that is worth $60,000 would lose 90% of the value without the coupon.

Each coupon has a unique code so it can be tracked to the book it came out of.
The older I get, the better I recall things that never happened
AutomaticMonkey
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November 8th, 2024 at 12:13:24 PM permalink
Quote: Dieter

Quote: AutomaticMonkey

Quote: rxwine

Remember when Starbucks had electricity?

Heh, I just went in a new Starbucks and noticed, no outlets. I don't usually plug anything in, though I have on occasion. Maybe the drain has been more than they expected. Or maybe people are bringing larger batteries and taking large charges. Or maybe this was just an oddity.
link to original post



At the Atlantic City bus station all of the 110 VAC outlets are sealed off. They told me the reason why is the bums come in to charge their devices, but there are a lot more bums than outlets and they have fights over them.

However I noticed the 208 VAC outlets for the floor machines are still available so I guess they figure if you are smart enough to bring an adapter you are smart enough not to have fights over an outlet.
link to original post



Thanks for that.
I currently have an adapter to turn a lightbulb socket into a two prong outlet in my "bag of tricks", apparently I need to add 240v to 120v adapter plugs as well. Any clue if these are the usual "RV" type plugs? (I'm guessing it's NOT 208 volt; that's usually a three phase configuration.)
link to original post



No that is single phase. 220 VAC like in Europe is rare in the US now, because you can derive both 110 VAC and 208 VAC single phase off the same 3-phase mains in the neighborhood. 3-phase service is usually found only in industrial buildings rather than residential or commercial.

Fortunately most chargers now have global input, 90-277 volts, any frequency including DC. So all you need is an adapter to make the pinouts compatible rather than to convert any voltages. I also like to have one of those light socket adapters in motels. A surprising number of motel outlets do not work because they are being plugged/unplugged several times a day sometimes and they have a limited lifespan when used that way. I guess that is another good reason to not let the public use them, they are going to get the contacts gouged out after so many cycles.
Dieter
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November 8th, 2024 at 1:21:41 PM permalink
(snip!)
Quote: AutomaticMonkey

I also like to have one of those light socket adapters in motels. A surprising number of motel outlets do not work because they are being plugged/unplugged several times a day sometimes and they have a limited lifespan when used that way. I guess that is another good reason to not let the public use them, they are going to get the contacts gouged out after so many cycles.
link to original post



This brings up one of the odd tales from tech support. One of our office guys (back in my tech support days) had a weird set of intermittent problems.
It turned out to be a worn out outlet. It was fine sometimes, but then disconnected sometimes. Under load, there was enough thermal expansion in the outlet that the contacts didn't contact. Then it would cool down, start working again, and then warm up.
Hospital grade outlet devices are spendy, but they definitely hold up to abuse. I can understand why a motel might not want to pony up for the good stuff.
May the cards fall in your favor.
lilredrooster
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November 17th, 2024 at 5:23:07 AM permalink
.
my post re the Gladiator figure made me remember the original great Gladiator move "Spartacus" with Kirk Douglas that won many awards

when I saw it I was just a little kid and I loved it





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the foolish sayings of a rich man often pass for words of wisdom by the fools around him
rxwine
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November 17th, 2024 at 7:30:13 AM permalink
"Stab to the right" I think that was a Roman tactic. When two opposing armies meet, guys on one side fight the guy in front of him, but the other side bypasses the shield stabbing the guy to his right. Or maybe it was to his left. It's just like football plays, but with swords and spears. Sometimes they work, sometimes they don't.
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billryan
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November 17th, 2024 at 7:37:07 AM permalink
I am Sparticus!
The older I get, the better I recall things that never happened
billryan
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November 17th, 2024 at 7:40:46 AM permalink
I am Sparticus!

It's been years since I watched the Kirk Douglas movie, but there was a great Sparticus series on cable a decade ago. Sadly, the lead actor died while making the series, and his substitute never quite clicked,in my opinion.
The older I get, the better I recall things that never happened
lilredrooster
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November 17th, 2024 at 8:53:16 AM permalink
.
yt offers a good portion of the movie free of charge
this is another great scene:

Spartacus says - "I've never had a woman" and then when the Romans want to watch "I am not an animal______!"

I had forgotten how great this movie was

below the vid is an ancient painting of Gladiators
.








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the foolish sayings of a rich man often pass for words of wisdom by the fools around him
rxwine
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November 25th, 2024 at 2:30:20 PM permalink
Doesn't mean much to me, but maybe computer wonks will appreciate.

Quote:

Gene Buckle recently unearthed a 86-DOS version 0.1-C floppy disk, reportedly the operating system’s oldest known, still accessible iteration—one that predates even the earliest public version of MS-DOS.

[Related: Yes, the Pentagon still uses floppy disks for nuclear launches.]

Contrary to what many may think, MS-DOS wasn’t actually the creation of Microsoft—the then-newcomers licensed the disk system from a company called Seattle Computer Products (SCP) in 1981. Before Microsoft’s “MS-DOS” rebrand, SCP first called their OS “Quick’n’Dirty Operating System” (QDOS), but soon swapped over to the more marketable 86-DOS name. It’s this earliest version, stored across 9 files, that Buckle found late last month while archiving a backlog of over 400 8-inch floppy disks gifted to him a few years ago.

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billryan
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December 2nd, 2024 at 4:39:13 PM permalink
Cruising by the border, listening to Satellite when the DJ did a block of 1960s anti-war songs- Sky Pilot, Christmas in the Jungle( heartbreaking song about a gi who is killed while writing this letter), and Little Becky's Christmas list( Becky asks Santa to bring her dead big brother home from Vietnam).
Thinking back, I can remember Christmas 1964 and Christmas 1967 when my Dad was there to celebrate, but 1966 and 1968 are blurred.
I can only imagine sitting in traffic, listening to these songs and knowing your loved ones were in peril.
The older I get, the better I recall things that never happened
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