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EvenBob
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December 20th, 2024 at 6:32:19 PM permalink
Quote: billryan



You get out of Christmas what you put into Christmas. Make it exciting. Adopt a family of someone you know is struggling. Help make a wish come true. Make it magical again. Give a homeless person a warm hat and gloves.
You still have the Christmas magic in you. You need to let it out.
link to original post



Christmas magic when you're a kid comes from the fact that you're extremely naive. Once that's gone it never comes back no matter how hard you try. You have your own kids and you see it happening with them but for you it's mostly just a bunch of work. Christmas is alike heroin. The first high you get with heroin is the best high you'll ever get from heroin. All the rest of the times you do it after that you're just trying to get that first experience again. It's the same with Christmas but no matter how hard you try you can never get that back. You can never be 7 years old again.
"It's not called gambling if the math is on your side."
billryan
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December 20th, 2024 at 7:22:14 PM permalink
Quote: EvenBob

Quote: billryan



You get out of Christmas what you put into Christmas. Make it exciting. Adopt a family of someone you know is struggling. Help make a wish come true. Make it magical again. Give a homeless person a warm hat and gloves.
You still have the Christmas magic in you. You need to let it out.
link to original post



Christmas magic when you're a kid comes from the fact that you're extremely naive. Once that's gone it never comes back no matter how hard you try. You have your own kids and you see it happening with them but for you it's mostly just a bunch of work. Christmas is alike heroin. The first high you get with heroin is the best high you'll ever get from heroin. All the rest of the times you do it after that you're just trying to get that first experience again. It's the same with Christmas but no matter how hard you try you can never get that back. You can never be 7 years old again.
link to original post



You've never experienced the joy of giving, but it is never too late. All you have to do is believe.
The older I get, the better I recall things that never happened
AZDuffman
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December 21st, 2024 at 3:38:00 AM permalink
Quote: billryan

Quote: AZDuffman

Remember when you were a kid and right around now you would be counting the hours until Christmas? In Catholic school you usually started counting days when Advent started, which could be as early as the last Sunday in November. Which was kind of a fun thing since the count started earlier. By the last week you counted hours. Then you got to Christmas Eve Eve, which later became Festivus. That was the big thing as school might only have been a half day and you didn't do much of anything.

Then you get old and it is not a big deal at all. That week after Christmas can be nothing special to just useless killing time depending on where you work and how your business works.
link to original post



You get out of Christmas what you put into Christmas. Make it exciting. Adopt a family of someone you know is struggling. Help make a wish come true. Make it magical again. Give a homeless person a warm hat and gloves.
You still have the Christmas magic in you. You need to let it out.
link to original post



I do some of that but it will never be the same. I worked the last two Christmas days and it really felt like nothing to do so. Calendar magic gives me Christmas Eve and day off this year. I really don’t care as I he ave nowhere to go until later in he day. I don’t decorate at all. I will walk my small town and feel the apocalypse feel you get with everything closed. I do like that feel. It’s like living a movie empty street expecting some black guy to pull me off the street and ask me if I’m crazy walking out there with zombies everywhere blah blah. Then I’ll sit in my hot tub on Christmas Day to know I did. Then kill time.

Counting the hours like when I was a kid? I write the date at work and wonder where the year went.

Side note: Remember when you could not get near your local mall today the Saturday before Christmas? This was the busiest shopping day of the year all the last minute buys. You don’t see that now like in the late 80s.
All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others
billryan
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December 21st, 2024 at 4:01:23 AM permalink
In the late 1970s, my fraternity would be hired to help with traffic and security on Black Friday and the Saturday before Christmas. Traffic at the mall was overwhelming and would sometimes back up on the parkway exits. It was a horrible job, but it was two shifts a year.
The older I get, the better I recall things that never happened
AZDuffman
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December 21st, 2024 at 5:55:22 AM permalink
Quote: billryan

In the late 1970s, my fraternity would be hired to help with traffic and security on Black Friday and the Saturday before Christmas. Traffic at the mall was overwhelming and would sometimes back up on the parkway exits. It was a horrible job, but it was two shifts a year.
link to original post



My local mall it could take you an hour to circle the place for all the traffic. I am sure it was not the only one. That mall is now being torn down. When I was a kid the old people would say how busy downtown was before the mall. Now I tell the kids how busy that mall was. It was a ghost town it’s last 5 Christmases or do.
All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others
DRich
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December 21st, 2024 at 6:06:50 AM permalink
Quote: AZDuffman

Quote: billryan

In the late 1970s, my fraternity would be hired to help with traffic and security on Black Friday and the Saturday before Christmas. Traffic at the mall was overwhelming and would sometimes back up on the parkway exits. It was a horrible job, but it was two shifts a year.
link to original post



My local mall it could take you an hour to circle the place for all the traffic. I am sure it was not the only one. That mall is now being torn down. When I was a kid the old people would say how busy downtown was before the mall. Now I tell the kids how busy that mall was. It was a ghost town it’s last 5 Christmases or do.
link to original post



I don't remember the last time I went to a mall. I I had to guess I may have been to a mall twice in the last 15 years.
At my age, a "Life In Prison" sentence is not much of a deterrent.
EvenBob
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December 21st, 2024 at 6:18:29 AM permalink
Quote: billryan

Quote: EvenBob

Quote: billryan



You get out of Christmas what you put into Christmas. Make it exciting. Adopt a family of someone you know is struggling. Help make a wish come true. Make it magical again. Give a homeless person a warm hat and gloves.
You still have the Christmas magic in you. You need to let it out.
link to original post



Christmas magic when you're a kid comes from the fact that you're extremely naive. Once that's gone it never comes back no matter how hard you try. You have your own kids and you see it happening with them but for you it's mostly just a bunch of work. Christmas is alike heroin. The first high you get with heroin is the best high you'll ever get from heroin. All the rest of the times you do it after that you're just trying to get that first experience again. It's the same with Christmas but no matter how hard you try you can never get that back. You can never be 7 years old again.
link to original post



You've never experienced the joy of giving, but it is never too late. All you have to do is believe.
link to original post



Sure I have, who hasn't. And the so-called Joy of giving diminishes as time goes on, just like everything does. You seem to have all these things in your life that you say bring you Joy yet you are one of the most joyless people I've ever seen. You might have the record on the Forum for being suspended for personal insults and trolling. You even got suspended for 6 months not that long ago. Since then it's obvious you are trying to present yourself in a different way, but it ain't working for me. I don't like you, I'll never like you no matter how you try and paint yourself.
"It's not called gambling if the math is on your side."
billryan
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December 21st, 2024 at 6:44:51 AM permalink
Quote: EvenBob

Quote: billryan

Quote: EvenBob

Quote: billryan



You get out of Christmas what you put into Christmas. Make it exciting. Adopt a family of someone you know is struggling. Help make a wish come true. Make it magical again. Give a homeless person a warm hat and gloves.
You still have the Christmas magic in you. You need to let it out.
link to original post



Christmas magic when you're a kid comes from the fact that you're extremely naive. Once that's gone it never comes back no matter how hard you try. You have your own kids and you see it happening with them but for you it's mostly just a bunch of work. Christmas is alike heroin. The first high you get with heroin is the best high you'll ever get from heroin. All the rest of the times you do it after that you're just trying to get that first experience again. It's the same with Christmas but no matter how hard you try you can never get that back. You can never be 7 years old again.
link to original post



You've never experienced the joy of giving, but it is never too late. All you have to do is believe.
link to original post



Sure I have, who hasn't. And the so-called Joy of giving diminishes as time goes on, just like everything does. You seem to have all these things in your life that you say bring you Joy yet you are one of the most joyless people I've ever seen. You might have the record on the Forum for being suspended for personal insults and trolling. You even got suspended for 6 months not that long ago. Since then it's obvious you are trying to present yourself in a different way, but it ain't working for me. I don't like you, I'll never like you no matter how you try and paint yourself.
link to original post



The Spirit of Christmas runs deep in this one.
The older I get, the better I recall things that never happened
AZDuffman
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December 21st, 2024 at 6:49:58 AM permalink
Quote: DRich

Quote: AZDuffman

Quote: billryan

In the late 1970s, my fraternity would be hired to help with traffic and security on Black Friday and the Saturday before Christmas. Traffic at the mall was overwhelming and would sometimes back up on the parkway exits. It was a horrible job, but it was two shifts a year.
link to original post



My local mall it could take you an hour to circle the place for all the traffic. I am sure it was not the only one. That mall is now being torn down. When I was a kid the old people would say how busy downtown was before the mall. Now I tell the kids how busy that mall was. It was a ghost town it’s last 5 Christmases or do.
link to original post



I don't remember the last time I went to a mall. I I had to guess I may have been to a mall twice in the last 15 years.
link to original post



I saw a piece recently said in the 80s the average person was at a mall once a week now it is twice a year. Sounds about right. I go if I am needing glasses sometimes. I do use one local mall for a meet and pickup place when I am carpooling on gigs so if early I’ll cruise the place get some exercise. Other than that little reason to go head days. I’m n the 80s there was as just more there that you bought.
All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others
EvenBob
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December 21st, 2024 at 6:59:36 AM permalink
Quote: AZDuffman

Quote: DRich

Quote: AZDuffman

Quote: billryan

In the late 1970s, my fraternity would be hired to help with traffic and security on Black Friday and the Saturday before Christmas. Traffic at the mall was overwhelming and would sometimes back up on the parkway exits. It was a horrible job, but it was two shifts a year.
link to original post



My local mall it could take you an hour to circle the place for all the traffic. I am sure it was not the only one. That mall is now being torn down. When I was a kid the old people would say how busy downtown was before the mall. Now I tell the kids how busy that mall was. It was a ghost town it’s last 5 Christmases or do.
link to original post



I don't remember the last time I went to a mall. I I had to guess I may have been to a mall twice in the last 15 years.
link to original post



I saw a piece recently said in the 80s the average person was at a mall once a week now it is twice a year. Sounds about right. I go if I am needing glasses sometimes. I do use one local mall for a meet and pickup place when I am carpooling on gigs so if early I’ll cruise the place get some exercise. Other than that little reason to go head days. I’m n the 80s there was as just more there that you bought.
link to original post



The last time I went to a mall was in the 90s. To give you an idea of what our big local mall is like now, they issued a statement that there is a 3:00 p.m. curfew on any teenager under 18 years old. Reason being malls are now hangouts for small time teenage criminals and they are especially rampant at Christmas time. Their favorite thing to do is 8 or 10 of them go into to a store and grab whatever they can and run away. I won't even tell you who they are, I'll give you three guesses. It's the spirit of Christmas on display for all to see.
"It's not called gambling if the math is on your side."
EvenBob
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December 21st, 2024 at 7:03:02 AM permalink
Quote: billryan

Quote: EvenBob

Quote: billryan

Quote: EvenBob

Quote: billryan



You get out of Christmas what you put into Christmas. Make it exciting. Adopt a family of someone you know is struggling. Help make a wish come true. Make it magical again. Give a homeless person a warm hat and gloves.
You still have the Christmas magic in you. You need to let it out.
link to original post



Christmas magic when you're a kid comes from the fact that you're extremely naive. Once that's gone it never comes back no matter how hard you try. You have your own kids and you see it happening with them but for you it's mostly just a bunch of work. Christmas is alike heroin. The first high you get with heroin is the best high you'll ever get from heroin. All the rest of the times you do it after that you're just trying to get that first experience again. It's the same with Christmas but no matter how hard you try you can never get that back. You can never be 7 years old again.
link to original post



You've never experienced the joy of giving, but it is never too late. All you have to do is believe.
link to original post



Sure I have, who hasn't. And the so-called Joy of giving diminishes as time goes on, just like everything does. You seem to have all these things in your life that you say bring you Joy yet you are one of the most joyless people I've ever seen. You might have the record on the Forum for being suspended for personal insults and trolling. You even got suspended for 6 months not that long ago. Since then it's obvious you are trying to present yourself in a different way, but it ain't working for me. I don't like you, I'll never like you no matter how you try and paint yourself.
link to original post



The Spirit of Christmas runs deep in this one.
link to original post



Go back and read some of your own posts that you were suspended for over the last few years and then come and talk to us about Christmas spirit. Why, it's almost like you have two different personalities. I wonder which one is real.
"It's not called gambling if the math is on your side."
billryan
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December 21st, 2024 at 8:01:53 AM permalink
Quote: EvenBob

Quote: billryan

Quote: EvenBob

Quote: billryan

Quote: EvenBob

Quote: billryan



You get out of Christmas what you put into Christmas. Make it exciting. Adopt a family of someone you know is struggling. Help make a wish come true. Make it magical again. Give a homeless person a warm hat and gloves.
You still have the Christmas magic in you. You need to let it out.
link to original post



Christmas magic when you're a kid comes from the fact that you're extremely naive. Once that's gone it never comes back no matter how hard you try. You have your own kids and you see it happening with them but for you it's mostly just a bunch of work. Christmas is alike heroin. The first high you get with heroin is the best high you'll ever get from heroin. All the rest of the times you do it after that you're just trying to get that first experience again. It's the same with Christmas but no matter how hard you try you can never get that back. You can never be 7 years old again.
link to original post



You've never experienced the joy of giving, but it is never too late. All you have to do is believe.
link to original post



Sure I have, who hasn't. And the so-called Joy of giving diminishes as time goes on, just like everything does. You seem to have all these things in your life that you say bring you Joy yet you are one of the most joyless people I've ever seen. You might have the record on the Forum for being suspended for personal insults and trolling. You even got suspended for 6 months not that long ago. Since then it's obvious you are trying to present yourself in a different way, but it ain't working for me. I don't like you, I'll never like you no matter how you try and paint yourself.
link to original post



The Spirit of Christmas runs deep in this one.
link to original post



Go back and read some of your own posts that you were suspended for over the last few years and then come and talk to us about Christmas spirit. Why, it's almost like you have two different personalities. I wonder which one is real.
link to original post



Stranger things have happened on the Road to Damascus. I'm a very different person than I was five or ten years ago, and vastly different than twenty five years ago. Back then, my destination was of utmost import. Now the Journey is everything.
Satori.
The older I get, the better I recall things that never happened
EvenBob
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December 26th, 2024 at 8:55:52 AM permalink
I'm old enough to remember when hardly anybody used paper towels in the kitchen. In the 1950s we had a roll of paper towels but it was always attached to the inside of the cupboard door that went under the sink. It was that way in most houses. If you spilled something you used a damp dishcloth. If you wiped off a countertop you used a damp dishcloth. You use the dishcloth for everything. It wasn't till the 1960s that paper towels came into their own because of TV advertising. Bounty was not even introduced till 1965 and then that's all you saw in every commercial break, a paper towel commercial. Today Bounty is the number one seller and has been for decades. I buy Sparkle which is the number two seller. Actually the number one seller is off-brand towels sold by places like Kroger and Walmart. But Procter & Gamble who makes Bounty also makes most of the off brands so what's the difference.

A roll of paper towels would last a month in my house in the 1950s, you just didn't use them unless you wanted to get your hand slapped by your parents. They were considered a luxury and not to be squandered. This is one of the earliest body commercials, a new invention from Procter & Gamble it says.

"It's not called gambling if the math is on your side."
Dieter
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Dieter
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December 26th, 2024 at 9:40:56 AM permalink
Quote: AZDuffman

I saw a piece recently said in the 80s the average person was at a mall once a week now it is twice a year. Sounds about right. I go if I am needing glasses sometimes. I do use one local mall for a meet and pickup place when I am carpooling on gigs so if early I’ll cruise the place get some exercise. Other than that little reason to go head days. I’m n the 80s there was as just more there that you bought.
link to original post



I know one of the local casino bus tour companies uses local strip malls as pickup and dropoff points. The malls are happy to appear busier, and might get some trade if people need to pick up a few things on their way home.
May the cards fall in your favor.
rxwine
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December 27th, 2024 at 10:23:54 AM permalink
Remember when you saw the first weird thing on the Internet?
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EvenBob
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December 27th, 2024 at 10:40:54 AM permalink
Quote: rxwine

Remember when you saw the first weird thing on the Internet?
link to original post



Be more specific. What's weird to some people is normal to somebody else.
"It's not called gambling if the math is on your side."
DRich
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December 27th, 2024 at 1:56:13 PM permalink
Quote: EvenBob

Quote: rxwine

Remember when you saw the first weird thing on the Internet?
link to original post



Be more specific. What's weird to some people is normal to somebody else.
link to original post



I agree, I can't think of anything weird I have seen on the internet. I expect to see unusual things online that I will probably never see in person.
At my age, a "Life In Prison" sentence is not much of a deterrent.
AZDuffman
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December 31st, 2024 at 10:53:27 AM permalink
Remember when the NYE ball drop was changed to an apple? It was supposed to showcase NYC but all it did for me was enhance how things were not as good as they were in the past.

All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others
billryan
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December 31st, 2024 at 11:26:50 AM permalink
Quote: DRich

Quote: EvenBob

Quote: rxwine

Remember when you saw the first weird thing on the Internet?
link to original post



Be more specific. What's weird to some people is normal to somebody else.
link to original post



I agree, I can't think of anything weird I have seen on the internet. I expect to see unusual things online that I will probably never see in person.
link to original post




I was late to the internet and was stunned and amused when someone turned me on to People of Walmart.
The older I get, the better I recall things that never happened
rxwine
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December 31st, 2024 at 11:51:13 AM permalink
Quote: billryan

Quote: DRich

Quote: EvenBob

Quote: rxwine

Remember when you saw the first weird thing on the Internet?
link to original post



Be more specific. What's weird to some people is normal to somebody else.
link to original post



I agree, I can't think of anything weird I have seen on the internet. I expect to see unusual things online that I will probably never see in person.
link to original post




I was late to the internet and was stunned and amused when someone turned me on to People of Walmart.
link to original post



I was trying to come up with something, but nowadays nothing I came across in the early years sounds too weird. I was going to offer the site of a guy posting pictures of himself in rubber suits. Circa 1990’s. The site hoping humans would become extinct. Not sure when I saw that second one.
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rxwine
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December 31st, 2024 at 11:54:51 AM permalink
I remember when people got mad about people using “blinking” text on their websites. Also, the windows/mac flame wars.
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rxwine
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December 31st, 2024 at 11:56:50 AM permalink
And discussions of what browser you were using and why the site didn’t look right on another browser.. Netscape?

I do miss the days when there were no ads anywhere.
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lilredrooster
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December 31st, 2024 at 1:38:03 PM permalink
.
hitchhiking - I did a lot of it in my late teens

nobody does it anymore - at least where I live which is near a big city - the fear factor is too great

.



.
the foolish sayings of a rich man often pass for words of wisdom by the fools around him
DRich
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December 31st, 2024 at 2:27:35 PM permalink
Quote: rxwine



I was trying to come up with something, but nowadays nothing I came across in the early years sounds too weird. I was going to offer the site of a guy posting pictures of himself in rubber suits. Circa 1990’s. The site hoping humans would become extinct. Not sure when I saw that second one.



I do remember a site called RateMyPoo. People would take pictures of their craps and others would rate them.
At my age, a "Life In Prison" sentence is not much of a deterrent.
billryan
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December 31st, 2024 at 3:15:36 PM permalink
I was surprised to see hitchhikers when I moved to Bisbee, but it is common there. Most service staff can't afford to live in Old Bisbee, where the jobs are, and the once-an-hour bus stops around 7PM. I occasionally see a hitcher by the truck stops along US Ten,but nothing like a generation ago.
The older I get, the better I recall things that never happened
DRich
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December 31st, 2024 at 6:54:55 PM permalink
Remember when businesses made sense?

I just saw that Taco Bell is selling chicken nuggets. What is the world coming to? At least have the courtesy to call them Pollo nuggets.
At my age, a "Life In Prison" sentence is not much of a deterrent.
lilredrooster
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January 7th, 2025 at 5:17:32 AM permalink
.
some advertising jingles and words from back in the day that stuck in my head:


"When you brush your teeth with Pepsodent you'll wonder where the yellow went"

"Nestles makes the very best Chooooooooclate"_____________(no it didn't)

"Cheerio-eeeey-oes"

"When you're out of Schlitz_____________YOU'RE OUT OF BEER"

"Call Roto-Rooter that's the name - and away go troubles down the drain"

"Winston tastes good like a (clap clap) cigarette should"

"Tareyton - I'd rather fight than switch"_____________"Tareyton is better - Charcoal is why"__________exactly - Charcoal is so very delicious______(-:/

"Come to where the flavor is - come to Marlboro Country______I smoked for about 25 years before I quit - how idiotic - but I was addicted





Last edited by: lilredrooster on Jan 7, 2025
the foolish sayings of a rich man often pass for words of wisdom by the fools around him
lilredrooster
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January 11th, 2025 at 5:19:14 AM permalink
.
the Electric Chair was used for capital punishment beginning in 1890 after several botched hangings
although most states have banned it for various reasons it was used as late as 2020 in Tennessee
there have been several botched executions
Jesse Tafero in 1990 in Florida required 3 shocks over 7 minutes for it to finally end his life as his head and face caught fire
in 1946 the chair failed to kill Willie Francis and the State had to go to Court to able to shock him again which they did and he finally died

it is still available in several States as an option

before the Electric Chair the primary method of execution in the U.S. was by hanging, there were also some firing squad executions

some States still allow firing squad executions and a man in Utah was killed by a firing squad in 2010




.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_chair#Botched_executions
the foolish sayings of a rich man often pass for words of wisdom by the fools around him
AZDuffman
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January 11th, 2025 at 6:08:58 AM permalink
Quote: lilredrooster

.
the Electric Chair was used for capital punishment beginning in 1890 after several botched hangings
although most states have banned it for various reasons it was used as late as 2020 in Tennessee
there have been several botched executions
Jesse Tafero in 1990 in Florida required 3 shocks over 7 minutes for it to finally end his life as his head and face caught fire
in 1946 the chair failed to kill Willie Francis and the State had to go to Court to able to shock him again which they did and he finally died

it is still available in several States as an option

before the Electric Chair the primary method of execution in the U.S. was by hanging, there were also some firing squad executions

some States still allow firing squad executions and a man in Utah was killed by a firing squad in 2010




I have heard that the electric chair looks worse than it feels. But I would take firing squad given the choice.

.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_chair#Botched_executions
link to original post

All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others
AZDuffman
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January 15th, 2025 at 9:12:01 AM permalink
Remember when TV soaps would show people having the phone brought out to them in a fancy restaurant either to make or take a call? Did fancy places actually do this?

And on phones, remember when they made it out like they needed 4 minutes to trace a call? Saw someone get IIRC federal charges believing that, or she was just stupid.
All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others
EvenBob
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January 15th, 2025 at 11:27:38 AM permalink
Quote: AZDuffman

Remember when TV soaps would show people having the phone brought out to them in a fancy restaurant either to make or take a call? Did fancy places actually do this?

And on phones, remember when they made it out like they needed 4 minutes to trace a call? Saw someone get IIRC federal charges believing that, or she was just stupid.
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I've seen them do that in 1940s movies where they would bring a phone dragging the cord behind them all the way out to a table for an important customer. And some movies they would bring the phone with a cord and there would be a phone jack near the table and they would plug it in.
"It's not called gambling if the math is on your side."
billryan
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January 15th, 2025 at 11:35:30 AM permalink
Quote: EvenBob

Quote: AZDuffman

Remember when TV soaps would show people having the phone brought out to them in a fancy restaurant either to make or take a call? Did fancy places actually do this?

And on phones, remember when they made it out like they needed 4 minutes to trace a call? Saw someone get IIRC federal charges believing that, or she was just stupid.
link to original post



I've seen them do that in 1940s movies where they would bring a phone dragging the cord behind them all the way out to a table for an important customer. And some movies they would bring the phone with a cord and there would be a phone jack near the table and they would plug it in.
link to original post



Most Officer's Clubs had jacks and a phone could be brought to the table.
In the late 70s, there was a club in Fort Lauderdale called 305. Each table had a phone and a four digit extension. It seems trite now, but calling a table and speaking to a strange girl was part of spring break.
The older I get, the better I recall things that never happened
rxwine
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January 15th, 2025 at 6:30:10 PM permalink
Sam Drucker always used the old style phone. Trivia. Does that phone have a specific name?



Yes, old style phones often have different names depending on their design, including "candlestick phone," "wall phone," "box phone," "camera phone," "coffin phone," and "rotary dial phone," with the most common term for an old-style phone being "candlestick phone" which refers to its upright stand design
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AutomaticMonkey
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January 15th, 2025 at 8:07:46 PM permalink
Remember "phreaking?" It was playing with the phone, for fun and profit. Being it was popular around the time when modems started becoming widely available it was treated as a subset of hacking, although it wasn't always.

There were looplines (numbers that two or more anonymous people could call and talk to each other), theft-of-service methods (The best known one being the Cap'n Crunch whistle, whistling at 2600 Hz), the payphone hobby where you called and answered payphones in auspicious locations, 800 number stuff, 700 number stuff, other categories of special numbers intended for use by someone other than you, the obscene phone call hobby (which culminated in an in-person encounter with disturbing frequency) and that was all without a modem. It was fun!
billryan
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January 15th, 2025 at 9:04:46 PM permalink
Quote: AutomaticMonkey

Remember "phreaking?" It was playing with the phone, for fun and profit. Being it was popular around the time when modems started becoming widely available it was treated as a subset of hacking, although it wasn't always.

There were looplines (numbers that two or more anonymous people could call and talk to each other), theft-of-service methods (The best known one being the Cap'n Crunch whistle, whistling at 2600 Hz), the payphone hobby where you called and answered payphones in auspicious locations, 800 number stuff, 700 number stuff, other categories of special numbers intended for use by someone other than you, the obscene phone call hobby (which culminated in an in-person encounter with disturbing frequency) and that was all without a modem. It was fun!
link to original post



Around 1979, my best friend got into that, and early bulletin boards. He became obsessed with it and probably avoided jail because his parents refused to get a second line, and his phone use was restricted. With different interests, we drifted apart. Eventually, he opened a beeper store and got in trouble selling cloned phones but avoided prison.
The older I get, the better I recall things that never happened
odiousgambit
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January 16th, 2025 at 1:47:22 AM permalink
Quote: AutomaticMonkey

the obscene phone call hobby (which culminated in an in-person encounter with disturbing frequency)...
link to original post

why did that happen?

Back in those days you didn't have caller ID so you could do obscene phone calls with close to zero risk as long as you didn't keep calling the same person, getting Ma Bell investigators working on the case. I have to say I don't think much of that "hobby", just to be clear

without the caller ID system, movies and TV would show the cops trying to trace phone calls from kidnappers trying to get ransom money. Even though they had it all set up for the phone company to start the tracing process immediately, it took a minute or so [at least they showed it that way] and the crook would always hang up in time. I'm sure we all have seen those movies and shows, but I think it was a factual thing that the police would attempt to do in such cases
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AutomaticMonkey
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January 16th, 2025 at 11:31:03 AM permalink
Quote: odiousgambit

Quote: AutomaticMonkey

the obscene phone call hobby (which culminated in an in-person encounter with disturbing frequency)...
link to original post

why did that happen?

Back in those days you didn't have caller ID so you could do obscene phone calls with close to zero risk as long as you didn't keep calling the same person, getting Ma Bell investigators working on the case. I have to say I don't think much of that "hobby", just to be clear

without the caller ID system, movies and TV would show the cops trying to trace phone calls from kidnappers trying to get ransom money. Even though they had it all set up for the phone company to start the tracing process immediately, it took a minute or so [at least they showed it that way] and the crook would always hang up in time. I'm sure we all have seen those movies and shows, but I think it was a factual thing that the police would attempt to do in such cases
link to original post



I mean back then, it wasn't that hard to find a girl sitting alone at home on a Friday night willing to talk to an obscene phone caller, and sometimes she'd invite you over. Local calls were free so an anonymous caller was probably within a few miles of you. Socialization was different back then and your landline was half of it. Also why I was never shocked or surprised to find out that sending private pics from your phone to someone you just met is within social norms for a certain younger crowd. Kind of the same thing earlier generations did, just with a GUI instead of command line.

The call tracing methods depended on the kind of equipment being used by that phone system and it was still mostly electromechanical switches and from the 60s on the same offices had to accommodate both touch tone and rotary dialing. If it was a toll call there would eventually be a billing record of it, but that wouldn't be dramatic enough for a cop show. I remember after the Bell breakup and when you could buy and install your own phone, all the irregular equipment coming online caused hell to break out on some systems.
rxwine
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January 19th, 2025 at 9:42:25 AM permalink
Diamond, the largest comic company has filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy. I can't remember the last time I saw a comic stand in your average store, not a specialty store. Or know when that stopped happening. Pretty sure they were in the grocery stores at one time.

The below was the first and only "underground" comic I bought from a specialty store. Yup, lost the will to live and never bought another.

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Dieter
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January 19th, 2025 at 10:33:38 AM permalink
I remember seeing comic book displays in grocery stores around 1994.
I remember their absence by 1997.
May the cards fall in your favor.
billryan
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January 19th, 2025 at 10:53:36 AM permalink
Diamond isn't really a comic book company, although they do publish a few comics. They are a distribution company that had an exclusive deal with the top comic companies until covid. Diamond shut down during covid, which allowed DC to void their exclusive deal. Steve Geppi had grown Diamond from a part-time store as a mail carrier to a comic monopoly. At the height of the comic boom, Geppi was a part owner of the Baltimore Orioles and had a multi-building museum in Baltimore's Inner Harbor.
Diamond controls about 75% of the business. Still, they already have a buyer for their profitable game distribution network, and their European operation reverts back to the previous owners if Diamond goes bankrupt.
I've mixed feelings about Geppi and Diamond, but I expect the company will survive in a slimmed-down version of itself.
The older I get, the better I recall things that never happened
EvenBob
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January 19th, 2025 at 10:56:33 AM permalink
Quote: Dieter

I remember seeing comic book displays in grocery stores around 1994.
I remember their absence by 1997.
link to original post



I have not read a comic book since 1963. Before then I read hundreds of them.
"It's not called gambling if the math is on your side."
AZDuffman
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January 21st, 2025 at 2:01:38 PM permalink
Remember Internet Cafes?

Probably more popular outside the USA they could be a godsend. Check your email fast, do this or that business, get out and about. When I moved and go there before my computer it was a lifesaver.
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Dieter
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January 21st, 2025 at 2:42:14 PM permalink
Quote: AZDuffman

Remember Internet Cafes?

Probably more popular outside the USA they could be a godsend. Check your email fast, do this or that business, get out and about. When I moved and go there before my computer it was a lifesaver.
link to original post



I remember Internet Cafes, and "Internet Cafes". The "quotes" version allowed web browsing, but most patrons seemed to be interested in playing illegal slot games on the computers.

The business model makes less sense if a battery powered portable device is the ubiquitous on-ramp to the internet, but makes great sense if you need 75 pounds of hardware wired in to get online.
May the cards fall in your favor.
AZDuffman
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January 21st, 2025 at 4:00:44 PM permalink
Quote: Dieter

Quote: AZDuffman

Remember Internet Cafes?

Probably more popular outside the USA they could be a godsend. Check your email fast, do this or that business, get out and about. When I moved and go there before my computer it was a lifesaver.
link to original post



I remember Internet Cafes, and "Internet Cafes". The "quotes" version allowed web browsing, but most patrons seemed to be interested in playing illegal slot games on the computers.

The business model makes less sense if a battery powered portable device is the ubiquitous on-ramp to the internet, but makes great sense if you need 75 pounds of hardware wired in to get online.
link to original post



When I used one there was no such thing as a smart phone and places still limited you on wi-fi. But in a way it felt "cool" to be in a new town roughing it like that.

I read at cafes in Korea fights could break out with gamers knowing an opponent was in the cafe. In Japan even today they are a substitute for a cheapo hotel room.
All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others
EvenBob
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January 22nd, 2025 at 4:52:32 PM permalink
I remember when Motel 6 was actually $6 a night. 1962, I was in junior high. $6 a night lasted for an entire year and it went up from there every year. My whole family stayed there when it was $6 for one night for a reason that I cannot remember. It wasn't bad. Of course $6 in 1962 is equal to 63 in today's money. But still for a hotel room six bucks was dang cheap. It became the number one hooker destination in our area and probably in lots of other areas. You could get a room for six bucks do your business and be gone.

Money's value at different periods is very hard to figure. For instance a case of Budweiser in 1962 costs about $5. Today a case of Budweiser in my area is about $18. But $6 in 1962 is now worth $63 in today's money. So why did beer and so many other things not keep up with the cost of living.
"It's not called gambling if the math is on your side."
AZDuffman
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January 23rd, 2025 at 4:09:48 AM permalink
Quote: EvenBob

I remember when Motel 6 was actually $6 a night. 1962, I was in junior high. $6 a night lasted for an entire year and it went up from there every year. My whole family stayed there when it was $6 for one night for a reason that I cannot remember. It wasn't bad. Of course $6 in 1962 is equal to 63 in today's money. But still for a hotel room six bucks was dang cheap. It became the number one hooker destination in our area and probably in lots of other areas. You could get a room for six bucks do your business and be gone.

Money's value at different periods is very hard to figure. For instance a case of Budweiser in 1962 costs about $5. Today a case of Budweiser in my area is about $18. But $6 in 1962 is now worth $63 in today's money. So why did beer and so many other things not keep up with the cost of living.
link to original post



In 1940 Pepsi-Cola hit the spot for $.05. That is about $1.15 today. Pretty close on a 12oz can, though hard to compare because it is hard to even buy a 12oz can individually these days. Way back nobody bought an entire case unless they had a vending route. As to Motel 6 back then if you wanted to watch TV you had to pay extra, and there were plenty of other extras. Meanwhile, production of beer has been streamlined since it was back then.

The very early 70s is when most of this seems to have changed. Since then prices on some things went way way up others down in real terms.
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billryan
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January 23rd, 2025 at 7:19:05 AM permalink
I used to own a book that reprinted Sears Christmas Toy Catalog from the 1940s thru 1970s.
Many of the toys were the same price year after year until 1962. Then you start to see slight increases each year, and toys begin to shrink. Marx put out a Fort Apache set every year from 1955 to 1980. It increased prices in 1963 and began shrinking the sets in 1968.
By the mid-1970s, they were bankrupt.
The older I get, the better I recall things that never happened
MichaelBluejay
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January 24th, 2025 at 12:54:25 AM permalink
Quote: AZDuffman

AskJeeves tried to use plain english searches, but it was very primitive. link to original post

This makes me realize that this year is the 25-year anniversary of my parody of Ask Jeeves.
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Joeman
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January 24th, 2025 at 5:26:09 AM permalink
Last night, I was watching a show from the first season of The (New) Price is Right with Bob Barker. The contestant was playing the Any Number game, and the two prizes were a '73 Chevy Vega and an electric stove. It turned out that the stove was $470 and the Vega was $2598. I found it remarkable that today, 50+ years later, you can buy a decent new stove for roughly 2x the cost from 1973, but you'd be hard pressed to find a new car toady for 10x the 1973 price.

FYI, "The Price Is Right -- The Barker Era" is a channel on the free Pluto app.
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avianrandy
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January 24th, 2025 at 7:14:50 AM permalink
It is also on DirecTV stream along with price drew carry let's make a deal with Wayne Brady and best of family feud
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