Internet Headaches

My No.1 complaint about the internet is to be reading an article, then a pop-up ad covers up the article, which makes you have to X out the ad, so you can finish reading the article. Guess you can call this kind of pop-up a pop-over since it covers up an article. If the advertiser thinks pop-up ads will make me want to look at their ad, then they are dead wrong, since I will never buy a product, from a company that intrudes on my time on the computer.

Another culprit is the spammer who reads your blog and likes it and posting a phony message, about how much they like your blog, then you see it is a business trying to use your blog to advertise their business.

You Tube videos are another headache, when you expect to see a music video, but instead an advertisement starts playing for 30 minutes or 60 minutes. You are a prisoner to the advertiser, since you have no choice, but to watch their ad if you want to see the music video. I hate inserting a link in my blog, to a You Tube video that first shows an ad, since some viewers won’t want to sit there for 60 minutes watching an ad, before seeing the video.

Some websites are interminably slow to open a page, so eventually I will avoid those websites. For instance I have seen some websites take forever to open, but then go to ESPN which opens almost immediately, despite being graphic intensive website.

Then there are the websites, that require you to sign in with your email address and a password, just to view the content of that website. Another pet peeve of mine is going to a website that lets you read only part of an article, then says you have to pay to read the complete article.

There is nothing more aggravating, than to go to a website and start reading, then the page becomes unresponsive and you have to wait till the page lets you start scrolling again.

One thing that often happens on the internet is to go to a website and you get a message saying you need to download a program, before you can view that website. If you have problems downloading the program, then you have wasted several minutes for nothing.

Bloggers like me have another problem, by posting a photo found in a Google search, then go back to that page later and the photo is gone. Copyrighted photos should not show up in a Google search. I have about 925 posts in my blog, so it is impossible to go through each blog to see which photos or videos have been removed by someone.

Charging to view a website tells me it is time to forget about that website. That is why Facebook will not charge to use Facebook, because Facebookers will leave the site in droves, if they start charging. Facebook doesn’t want to tell their advertisers, that millions have closed out their Facebook accounts, so the advertiser will ask Facebook to reduce their advertising rates and Facebook surely doesn’t want to lose revenue.

The only internet service that I would ever consider paying for is if all the email services begin charging, for using their email service. Email is almost certainly the most widely used service on the internet, especially those that don’t use the social media for one reason or the other.

Note: Readers are welcome to list their complaints about the internet in the comments section. Any comments are appreciated.

1968-1969: Years of Assassinations, Moonwalks and Protests

 

 

 

Neil Armstrong walking on the moon.

 1968 and 1969 were years defined by the assassinations of Dr. Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy, American astronauts being the first to walk on the moon, anti-war protests at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago and the New York Jets and the New York Mets were surprise Super Bowl and World Series winners.

 

Super Bowl II would be won by the Green Bay Packers when they defeated the Oakland Raiders on January 14.

 

Mister Roger’s Neighborhood would be seen for the first time on February 19, 1968.

 

March 16, 1968 would be one of the low points of the Vietnam War when between 374-504 unarmed civilians were killed at My Lai by United States troops. 2nd Lt. William Calley was charged with 22 of the deaths and sentenced to life imprisonment, but only served three-and-a-half years of house arrest.

 

President Lyndon B. Johnson announced on March 31 that he would not be running for president in the 1968 election. His decision resulted in the Democrats only having one president elected in the next 24 years, when Jimmy Carter was elected in 1976. It would be 1993 before Bill Clinton took office as the 42nd president and he would become the first Democratic president to serve two complete terms since Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

 

April 4, 1968 started a year of assassinations and demonstrations, when Dr. Martin Luther King was assassinated on the balcony of his Memphis motel room. Ironically only seven days later the Civil Rights Act bill was passed by Congress, which outlawed racial discrimination, which Dr. King had been fighting before his death.

 

Then only two months and one day after the assassination of Dr. King, Bobby Kennedy was assassinated while celebrating a win in California primary during his 1968 presidential bid. Sirhan Sirhan is arrested for the murder of Kennedy.

 

 If Kennedy had lived to win the Democratic nomination, he may have defeated Richard Nixon in the 1968 election. Instead Nixon defeated Senator Hubert Humphrey by half a million votes.

 

The Yippies led by Jerry Rubin and Abbie Hoffman would descend on Chicago and the streets of Chicago turned into a riot zone as the Yippies and other radical groups battled Chicago police, U.S. Army and National Guard, while the Democratic convention was being held.

 

The chaos on the streets of Chicago poured onto the Democratic Convention floor when Senator Abraham Ribicoff denounced the use of Gestapo tactics in the streets of Chicago. His remarks enraged Mayor Richard Daley of Chicago would could be seen yelling at Ribicoff.

 

Anti-war protesters in Chicago may have hurt their own cause. In retrospect they may have protested at the wrong convention since the Democrats were more on their side than the Republicans. The Republican convention in Miami was turmoil free, in contrast to the chaos in Chicago.

 

Richard Nixon would go on to defeat Senator Humphrey in the general election.

 

1969 was another year with many newsworthy events and January 12 of 1969 would see the New York Jets defeat the Baltimore Colts 16-7, after Jets quarterback Joe Namath had predicted the Jets would upset the Colts.

 

Richard Nixon would take office as the 37th president on January 20. The Beatles who had first sang in America almost five years ago would hold their last public concert on January 30.

 

Sirhan Sirhan admits assassinating Bobby Kennedy on March 3. Ironically seven days later James Earl Ray would plead guilty to assassinating Dr. Martin Luther King. Later that month former President Dwight D. Eisenhower died on March 28, 8 years after finishing his second term as president.

 

The first American troop withdrawals of the Vietnam War were made on July 8. Senator Teddy Kennedy would end any hope of becoming president, when he drove his car off a bridge on July 18, in what became known as the Chappaquiddick incident. Mary Jo Kopechne would die at the age of 28 in the submerged car.

 

Two days later on July 20, Neil Armstrong became the first man to walk on the moon, when the lunar module Eagle landed on the moon. It had to be ranked as one of the biggest stories of the 20th century. The first flight by the Wright Brothers in 1903 would have been another major advance in the 20th century. Their flight led to commercial flights by airlines in later years.

 

August 9, 1969 was a day of violence as Charles Manson followers killed actress Sharon Tate and four others. The next day August 10, they would murder Leno and Rosemary LaBianca in their home.

 

August 15, 1969 will always be remembered as the day the Woodstock Music Festival kicked off on Max Yasgur’s farm in Bethel, New York. The promoters were expecting 50,000 fans, but those numbers were very conservative, considering 500,000 fans showed up.

 

August 17 would be another deadly day, this time because of Hurricane Camille which hit the Mississippi coast killing 248 people and causing damage of $1.5 billion.

 

The first ATM was installed in Rockville Centre, New York on September 2, while on the same day Ho Chi Minh, leader of North Vietnam died.

 

The Chicago Eight trial begin on September 24 in Chicago, but was changed to the Chicago Seven, when Bobby Seale a Black Panther was sentenced to four-year sentence for contempt of court.

 

Another New York sports team would win a championship, when the New York Mets defeated the Baltimore Orioles in the World Series. Seven years earlier the Mets had been the laughingstock of baseball when they posted a 40-120 record in 1962.

 

On a lighter note Sesame Street would be seen for the first time on the National Education Network on November 10.

 

While 250,000-500,000 demonstrators were protesting against the war in Washington, D.C. on November 15, Dave Thomas is busy opening the first Wendy’s in Columbus Ohio.

 

American astronauts would walk on the moon, only four months after the initial landing, four months prior to the Apollo 12 landing. Pete Conrad and Alan Bean would both walk on the moon.

 

With the year drawing to a close, a draft lottery was put in place on December 1 and would be the last major event of 1969.

 

A quick rundown of the events in 1968-1969:

 

1968

 

Dr. Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy Assassinated

Unarmed Vietnamese Citizens Killed By U.S. Troops

President Lyndon B. Johnson Announces He Will Not Run For Presidency

Anti-war protesters riot during the Democratic National Convention

Richard Nixon is elected president in general election.

 

1969

 

Richard Nixon takes office of presidency

Withdrawal of Vietnam troops commences

Teddy Kennedy drives car off bridge in Chappaquiddick incident

Four astronauts become first men to walk on moon

Charles Manson followers kill seven in two days

500,000 anti-war protesters attend Woodstock Music Festival

Hurricane Camille kills 248 persons

First ATM installed in Rockville Centre, New York

Ho Chi Minh Dies

Chicago 7 Trial Begins in Chicago

250,000-500,000 demonstrate in anti-war protest in Washington, D.C.

Dave Thomas opens first Wendy’s

Sesame Street shown for the first time on National Education Network

Draft lottery is instituted

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Evolution of Phones: From Wall Phones to iPhones That Convert Speech Into Text

This wall phone reminds me of the wall phone at my grandpa's farm in Allendale Missouri on his 80 acre farm, back in the late 50's.

This rotary phone was seen in most American homes in the 50's and 60's.

This touch tone phone was found in almost any office for many years for office workers with a phone at their desk.

The latest cell phone today is the Apple iPhone 4s which looks nothing like the phones we grew up with over 50 years ago.

I remember back in the old days, when we would have to rent our phones from Bell South, paying a monthly charge to use the phones.

Now after the evolution of the phone from a wall phone, to a rotary phone, then to a touch tone phone found in most offices and also used at home.

It seems like it was only yesterday, when we only used phones to make phone calls and receive phone calls. Nowadays cell phones not only make and receive calls, but allow you to not call at all by using texts to transmit messages back and forth.

Cell phones have become a multi-purpose electronic device that enables owners to listen to music, watch television shows, movies and videos.

They can be used to play games, pay bills, make bank transactions on the phone, take notes, take photos and shoot HD quality videos. The iPhone 4s also can browse the web and remind you of an important event, that is approaching. If you get lost, you can use a built-in GPS to find your way.

The Apple 4s also has an intelligent assistant named Siri which will let you use your voice to ask questions:

It knows what you mean.

Siri not only understands what you say, it’s smart enough to know what you mean. So when you ask “Any good burger joints around here?” Siri will reply “I found a number of burger restaurants near you.” Then you can say “Hmm. How about tacos?” Siri remembers that you just asked about restaurants, so it will look for Mexican restaurants in the neighborhood. And Siri is proactive, so it will question you until it finds what you’re looking for.

This is taking smart phones to a whole new level.

It helps you do the things you do every day.

Ask Siri to text your dad, remind you to call the dentist, or find directions, and it figures out which apps to use and who you’re talking about. It finds answers for you from the web through sources like Yelp and WolframAlpha. Using Location Services, it looks up where you live, where you work, and where you are. Then it gives you information and the best options based on your current location. From the details in your contacts, it knows your friends, family, boss, and coworkers. So you can tell Siri things like “Text Ryan I’m on my way” or “Remind me to make a dentist appointment when I get to work” or “Call a taxi” and it knows exactly what you mean and what to do.

One of the best features is that the iPhone 4s takes dictation, then converts your spoken words into text. If you are sitting at a dinner table, trying to make conversation with a 4s user, it will be a futile endeavor, since they will be too busy using the features of the 4s, to even notice you are in the room.

iPhone 4S takes dictation.

Here’s another amazing way to get things done: just use your voice. Instead of typing, tap the microphone icon on the keyboard. Then say what you want to say and iPhone listens. Tap Done, and iPhone converts your words into text. Use dictation to write messages, take notes, search the web, and more. Dictation also works with third-party apps, so you can update your Facebook status, tweet, or write and send Instagrams.

Summary: We have come a long way from the wall phones of the past, which couldn’t be used to text or send emails, shoot videos or play music, to phones that are the electronic center of what is going on in our lives.

My problem is that I don’t have a cell phone, so still use a regular home phone to make and receive calls. The new technology is astounding, but if you can’t afford it, then it becomes worthless.

We all remember the high telephone bills of the past, when making a lot of long distance calls in a month. Owning a cell phone today may actually be cheaper, if someone was having $150 worth of long distance calls, month after month.

It becomes cost prohibitive to own a iPhone, a iPod and a iPad and a laptop not to mention paying for  monthly cable and internet service.

Old Time Radio 101: Guide To Collecting Old Time Radio Shows

A family gathered around the radio to listen to an old time radio program during the heyday of old time radio.

Ninety one years ago KDKA in Pittsburgh went on the air, becoming the first commercial radio station, broadcasting its signal in 1920.

By the end of 1923, hundreds of radio stations were now broadcasting. An estimated three to four million radio sets were able to pick up the broadcast of the funeral, of President Woodrow Wilson on February 26, 1924.

The Grand Ole Opry will broadcast its first program in 1925, with it being broadcast continuously for 86 years. Sam and  Henry first heard in 1926 would become Amos N’ Andy in 1928 and remain on radio until 1960, to be come the longest running old time radio show.

With NBC being founded in 1926 and CBS starting the next year in 1926, networks were now in place, to broadcast nationwide radio series. The Goldbergs went on the air in 1929 and would run till 1950.

Radio listeners would hear the homespun humor of Lum N’ Abner for the first time in 1931, making this year the 80th anniversary of their first show.

Jack Benny and Fred Allen and other comedians debuted on network radio in 1932 paving the way for other comedians in coming years.

The horror and thriller genre would present The Shadow for the first time in 1932, while Just Plain Bill and One Man’s Family debuted from the soap opera genre. Action heroes Buck Rogers and Tarzan were also first heard in 1932.

Don McNeill’s Breakfast Club first aired in 1933 and would remain on the air through 1968. I can still remember the song from the opening of the show, as best I can remember:

“Good morning Breakfast Clubbers, howdy do you, first call to breakfast to all of you out there, America’s first call to breakfast”.

The Lux Radio Theater would begin its 22 year run in 1934. It was regarded as the best of the theater type shows, in which famous actors would present a film in spoken form.

Bob Hope and Fibber McGee and Molly hit the airwaves in 1935. The shows were debuting so fast, that it is not possible to continue the chronology, due to time and space limitations. There would be at least one new show debuting on network radio through 1959. 1961 and 1962 would be first years with no new radio programming being introduced. Old time radio for all practical purposes died on September 30, 1962 when Suspense and Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar aired their last episodes. They were the last scripted shows broadcast on network radio. Some radio variety shows like Arthur Godfrey remained on the air, non-scripted shows had disappeared from the old-time radio scene.

Television and movies brought about the demise of old-time radio. People that used to gather in their living rooms, to hear old-time radio programs, now gathered to watch television. If they weren’t doing that they were watching movies at the local movie house, or watching movies from their car at a local drive-in movie theatre.

Old Time Radio Shows Can Still Be Heard

Collecting old-time radio shows used to be cost prohibitive, for the most part for collectors. Then MP3 recordings changed all that by letting old-time radio fans listen to as many as 50 half-hour programs on one MP3 disc. Some online old-time radio dealers would sell a disc like that for as little as $4.

That is only reason my collection of old-time radio shows numbers around 18,000. I have a notebook that shows what shows I have listened to and when. With that many shows, there is no reason to listen to the same show twice.

The easiest way to record these shows and drag and drop them into my MP3 player, is to go to My Computer, open up the files on that MP3 CD and drag and drop them into my Sony MP3 player software, which processes the shows, after they are dropped into the icon for the MP3 player. I thought it would be more complicated than it was, but it is relatively easy. While the shows are copying, I write the show dates and titles of the shows I am recording onto the MP3 player, into the notebook.

Online Radio Dealers

Old time radio dealers can be found on the internet to buy the shows from, but the shows can bought at ebay.com for good prices, from most ebay dealers.

It is best buy the shows on MP3 CD’s unless you know how to breakdown a MP3 DVD, which I don’t know how, or you may only be able to play it on a computer. One thing to remember is that MP3 CD’s cannot be played on a regular CD player.

If you do know how to handle a MP3 DVD there is a set of 930 shows of Suspense currently on ebay for $4.89 with a shipping charge of $1.79, which comes out to $6.68 for 930 shows, or about 7 cents an episode.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/SUSPENSE-Old-Time-Radio-Shows-930-Episodes-MP3-/200649713915?pt=Music_CDs&hash=item2eb7a7a8fb#ht_2759wt_932

This is the most informative site for finding great descriptions of each old-time radio show and finding those MP3 CD’s for sale. For instance this is the Great Gildersleeve page which includes a free sample of one of the shows. The website adds previously unavailable episodes every month. It is great that 49 years later after the death of old-time radio, that missing episodes are still being found.

http://www.otrcat.com/great-gildersleeve-p-1337.html

The following online dealer also offers MP3 CD’s with updates, including episodes of shows found recently, that were previously missing.  The best thing about this site is that the price you see is the price you pay, since there is no shipping fees at this site.

http://dadsotr.com/index.html

Thousands of Free Show Online

There are also thousands of free shows that can be listened to online immediately for no charge. This is one of my favorite places for listening to free shows.

You can find 12,369 free shows to listen to. There are 610 free Jack Benny shows alone to listen to and 973 Lone Rangers shows.

http://otr.net/

Archive.org is another great place to listen to free old-time radio shows, but there is also a wealth of other content at the site, that may be of interest to readers.

http://www.archive.org/search.php?query=old%20time%20radio%20AND%20mediatype%3Aaudio

Best Source For Old Time Radio Shows Information

For information on 100,645 old-time radio programs, the best place to search is the Radio GOLD Index. The site features descriptions of  individual episodes of shows, including the stars of each episode and the announcer.

The name of any star can be typed in the search box and a list of any episodes they appeared in will show up on the screen. However, the site will be missing some episodes of shows, so it is not a complete listing.

The best source for information of shows in book form is John Dunning’s On The Air The Encyclopedia of Old Time Radio printed by Oxford Press. The list price is $55, but I found it several years ago at ebay for $25. It was in perfect condition for that price, looking like it had never been opened.

Amazon has 38 reviews of the book with 32 being 5 star reviews and 4 being 4 star reviews. The 840 page book lists the days of the week the show was on, a list of cast members and what networks the show appeared on, in addition to a review of each show, with the more popular shows receiving longer reviews.

There is a Kindle edition of the book for $19.22.

http://www.amazon.com/Air-Encyclopedia-Old-Time-Radio/dp/0195076788/ref=sr_1_12?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1317751599&sr=1-12

Big Brother 13: Fortune Teller Talks, Leaving House Guests Frazzled

SPOILER ALERT: DO NOT READ THIS ARTICLE IF YOU DON’T WANT TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENED SINCE THE SUNDAY NIGHT SHOW OF BIG BROTHER 13.

This post will tell who won the veto on Saturday, what the POV winner decided at the POV ceremony and other developments, which have happened since the show aired on Sunday night.

The post also tells about the eviction which will be filmed on Tuesday for broadcast on the Wednesday night show on CBS.

Sunday’s show left us with Rachel winning the HOH and nominating Kalia and Porsche for eviction. Adam then won the POV on Saturday and elected not to use it during the POV meeting on Monday.

Eviction Will Be Today

The house guests found out yesterday that the eviction will be Tuesday. It will be filmed on Tuesday. The live feeds will likely be cut off at some point today, since CBS doesn’t want the results of the eviction to be known to live feeders, since it would be all over the internet, before the show on Wednesday night. The live feeds should resume after Wednesday’s show.

The fortune-teller at the Big Brother 13 house finally talked last night and gave the house guests some very important information.

Rachel and Jordan presently want Kalia evicted, but that could change before the votes are cast. Personally, I think evicting Porsche would be a better game move, since she may do well in the HOH endurance, with Kalia not likely to do well if it involves any movement. If it is a case of holding on to something, then Kalia could be more of a threat. 

Someone will be leaving the Big Brother house today. We just won’t know who it is till tomorrow night’s show airs on CBS.

Fortune Teller Talks, Gives Predictions For HOH Competition

Fortune teller moved last week and last night Crystal the fortune-teller talked for the first time. She announced that when she laughed, that would be a cue to enter the room.

One of the predictions given by the fortune-teller includes this one about Jeff:

In 2014, Jeff will disappear from society. He will be last seen in the Chicago streets muttering two words, clown shoe

The fortune-teller speaks about 9:30 BBT and tells the house guests the information she is giving will be needed to win HOH. 

Another prediction given last night was this one about Evel Dick:

11:08PM BBT: Fortune Teller: “In 2015 Evel Dick will start a Christmas tradition by bringing gifts to heavily tattooed orphans, changing his name from Evel Dick to old Saint Dick. Leave me now! Leave my parlor room!” 

The house guests became frazzled from trying to remember the different predictions, with some house guests confusing the others with the wrong information being remembered. Adam should do well in this competition, but Jordan said she needed to hear them again, which I doubt will be happening.

            For the complete list of the predictions scroll down to 9:30 PM at this website:

http://www.mortystv.com/big_brother.shtml

American Idol: Scotty, Lauren Alaina and Pia Shown In Debut Videos

Scotty McCreery singing I Love You This Big in his first video that was recently released.

Scotty has been keeping a hectic schedule this summer on the American Idol tour, but found time to release his first video. The tour is a real moneymaker for the American Idol franchise, but it prevents the American Idol winners, from devoting more time to their career.

Lauren Alaina has released her first video Like My Mother Does.

Lauren Alaina may have been second in the American Idol voting, but I can see her becoming a top recording artist in country music. There is no doubt that she was born to sing country music.

She may not sell as many albums as Scotty when releases her debut album later this year, but she will hold her own and should be one of the top country music stars for years to come.

Pia Toscano singing on her debut This Time video.

There is no doubt that Pia Toscano was the best singer on American Idol. She may not have been the most popular though, having been sent home during the fourth week.

For some reason, voters just didn’t connect with Pia and went for the younger Scotty and Lauren Alaina. While the other American Idol singers were still in the competition, Pia was making moves to jump-start her career. She used the time between leaving the show and embarking on the summer tour wisely by singing on television shows, keeping her name out there, even though she had been eliminated from American Idol.

As time goes by we will be able to tell which one of the three singers featured in this article will be the most successful, but for right now I think that Scotty, Lauren Alaina and Pia will all have long careers.

Old Time Radio Poll

The last old time radio show aired on September 30,1962. Next year marks the 50th anniversary of Suspense and Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar being the last old time radio shows to be broadcast.

The poll today breaks down by age groups of people who have heard old time radio shows either live from 1920′s till September 30, 1962 or media such as MP3 CD’s and downloads:

$6,000 Toilet With Touch Screen Remote Control

The Kohler company will introduce a new $6,000 toilet later this month. The toilet will include amenities like an MP3 player and a touch screen remote control.

The innovative toilet should sell well, even at $6,000. There are too many rich people, who like to be first to have a new product, for it not to sell well.

A complete toilet and tank can be bought at Home Depot for about $55. A consumer could buy 109 of the $55 toilets for what it cost to buy the $6,000 toilet.

This link shows what the toilet looks like:

http://www.toptechreviews.net/tech-news/new-kohler-toilet-will-appeal-to-tech-saavy/

Extreme Couponer Being Investigated

Jaime Kirlew, who was recently featured on Extreme Couponing is being investigated for fraud while using coupons.

She allegedly used $4 Schick Razor coupons to buy Schick Shaving Gel. You would think the coupons would be rejected.

This is such a complicated matter it may be better to go to this link, which explains in great detail, exactly how she is using the coupons.

http://jillcataldo.com/node/16170

Funny Facebook Status Updates

Facebookers know that some of the status updates their friends make are off the wall. This post lists some of the funnier Facebook status updates from Geeker’s Magazine.

When someone rings the doorbell, why do dogs always assume it’s for them?

People say that love is in every corner……gosh! maybe i’m moving in circles..

Why is a newspaper ten times more interesting when somebody across the table is reading it?

Yes, I know how to shut up. I just don’t know when.

Me and the gummy bears have a plot to rule the world but shhhhh its a secret.

I thinks my neighbor just caught me stealing his Wi-Fi internet.

¡ǝɯıʇ ǝɯɐs ǝɥʇ ʇɐ ʞooqǝɔɐɟ ǝsn puɐ puɐʇspuɐɥ ɐ op ʎןןɐuıɟ uɐɔ

I married my wife for her looks. But not the ones she’s been giving me lately!

All men are born free and equal. If they go and get married, that’s their own fault

U have 10 fish, 5 drown, 3 come back to life. How many fish do you have? Stop counting smart one. Fish cant Drown.

These status updates are from Squidoo.com:

Tomorrow I’m gonna write a blog post about procrastination.

You have a cough? Go home tonight, eat a whole box of Ex-Lax, tomorrow you’ll be afraid to cough

Why do men chase women they have no intention of marrying? For the same reason dogs chase cars they have no intention on driving.

Wouldn’t it be good if Ctrl+Alt+Del worked for ex husbands

60 percent of users are thinking about leaving Facebook. The CEO of Facebook said it will make changes starting tomorrow. If the percentage of people leaving goes past 80% it will start calling itself MYSPACE.

Japan Devastated By Natural Disasters

This photo shows the utter devastation after an earthquake and tsunami in Japan last Friday. A Japanese girl cries in the foreground after seeing the destruction.

Television coverage of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan last week, pales in significance, after seeing photos of the destruction. A television wide shot can give an idea of the damage, but it really hits home, when seeing a photo like the one above.

It is difficult for Americans to actually comprehend what has happened in Japan. The country of Japan has been hit by an earthquake, a tsunami and the eruption of a volcano since the earthquake hit last Friday.

To make things worse, the adverse conditions have caused six nuclear reactors to experience serious problems, that could result in radioactivity being released into the atmosphere.

So not only are the Japanese people dealing with the aftermath of a horrific earthquake and tsunami, they now are having to worry about being exposed to radioactivity.

In addition, many people are missing and either are dead, or have no way of contacting their families to tell them they are safe.

The day before the 9.0 earthquake (recently upgraded from 8.9), there were only five earthquakes 5.0 or higher reported in the east coast in the Honshu, Japan vicinity.

However, two days before the 9.0 earthquake, 17 earthquakes over 5.0 magnitude, were recorded. One of those earthquakes was recorded at 7.2 magnitude.

Going two days back to March 7 and March there was no seismic activity recorded in Japan on those days.

The 8.9 earthquake last Friday was the first seismic activity recorded last Friday. 13 aftershocks were felt in the first two hours following the earthquake with one registering  a magnitude of 7.1.

Nine aftershocks were recorded the next hour. Yesterday the Honshu, Japan area experienced the only 5.0 earthquakes in the world. There have been 22 earthquakes recorded so far today in Japan.

The complete list of earthquakes in the world measuring 5.0 or higher in magnitude starting on March 7 through today:

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsww/Quakes/quakes_big.php

Wacky Website: Awkward Family Photos

An excited family celebrates a birthday.

The family pictured in the above photo celebrates the somber occasion of someone’s birthday. It looks as moments before the photo was snapped, they learned McDonalds had just sold their last Big Mac in store and only had salads left.

Awkwardfamilyphotos.com has hundreds of photos, that families would like to know were hidden in drawers, never to be seen again. Instead those photos, have found their way onto the internet, where they can be shared with millions of strangers.

This family of four has their eyes focused on the camera in this happy family photo.

So don’t be surprised if that photo you hoped had been destroyed shows up on Awkward Family Photos.

Video of Earthquake As it Happens in Japan

The earthquake in Japan as it happens.

Video of Cars Being Washed Away After Earthquake

This video shows cars and other vehicles being washed away after an earthquake hit Japan earlier today.

Hilo Tsunami of May 22,1960

With Hilo, Hawaii in danger, of being in the path of the tsunami this morning, it reminds me of the 1960 tsunami which hit Hilo.

The aftermath of the May 22, 1960 tsunami that hit Hilo, Hawaii.

Citizens of Hilo who were alive during the 1946 and 1960 tsunamis understand too well the loss of life and damage that are inflicted by tsunamis.

Tulane University website gives some of the details from those tsunamis:

April 1, 1946 – A magnitude 7.3 earthquake occurred near Unimak Island in the Aleutian Islands west of Alaska, near the Alaska Trench. Sediment accumulating in the trench slumped into the trench and generated a tsunami. A lighthouse at Scotch Gap built of steel reinforced concrete was located on shore at an elevation of 14 m above mean low water. The first wave of the tsunami hit the Scotch Gap area 20 minutes after the earthquake, had a run-up 30 m and completely destroyed the lighthouse. 4.5 hours later the same tsunami reached the Hawaiian Islands after traveling at an average speed of 659 km/hr. As it approached the city of Hilo on the Big Island, it slowed to about 47 km/hr (note that even the fastest human cannot run faster than about 35 km/hr) and had a run-up of 18 m above normal high tide. It killed 159 people (90 in Hilo) and caused $25 million in property damage.

May 22, 1960 – A moment magnitude 9.5 earthquake occurred along the subduction zone off South America. Because the population of Chile is familiar with earthquakes and potential tsunami, most people along the coast moved to higher ground. 15 minutes after the earthquake, a tsunami with a run-up of 4.5 m hit the coast. The first wave then retreated, dragging broken houses and boats back into the ocean. Many people saw this smooth retreat of the sea as a sign they could ride their boats out to sea and recover some of the property swept away by the first wave. But, about 1 hour later, the second wave traveling at a velocity of 166 km/hr crashed in with a run-up of 8 m. This wave crushed boats along the coast and destroyed coastal buildings. This was followed by a third wave traveling at only 83 km/hr that crashed in later with a run-up of 11 m, destroying all that was left of coastal villages. The resulting causalities listed 909 dead with 834 missing. In Hawaii, a tsunami warning system was in place and the tsunami was expected to arrive at 9:57 AM. It hit at 9:58 AM and 61 people died, mostly sightseers that wanted to watch the wave roll in at close range (obviously they were too close). The tsunami continued across the Pacific Ocean, eventually reaching Japan where it killed an additional 185 people.

When stationed temporarily on the Big Island for a short tour of duty there, the damage from the 1960 tsunami could still be seen.

The following article from the U.S. Geological Survey, tells about the waves traveling 425-500 miles per hour, and gives more details of the damage, from the 1960 tsunami, that slammed into the Big Island of Hawaii.

For more information on the 1960 tsunami in Hilo, Hawaii.

Choir/Bike Flashmob

Central Station in Brussels, Belgium is the scene of this flash mob, who erupt into song about bicycles. The strangest thing about event is that the singers are singing in English, despite being in a foreign country. However, they could be Americans studying in Belgium.

It is always fun watching the crowd react to the impromptu singing.

Amos and Andy TV Show

Amos and Andy stars Tim Moore (top), Spencer Williams and Alvin Childress.

Amos and Andy was a television series with mostly black actors, that was removed by the CBS network, after protests from the NAACP. The organization said the show portrayed the blacks, in a way to make them appear foolish.

I have known some black people that enjoyed the show very much. The NAACP put the black actors out of work, so doubt the actors appreciated the NAACP becoming involved.

The NAACP did not take action, when the radio version of the show was attacked in a Pittsburgh newspaper in the early 1930′s.

Only 69 episodes of the show were filmed before CBS removed it from the airwaves in 1953, according to the Internet Movie Database.

This is the primary cast of the show as listed by Wikipedia.com:

Amos Jones – Alvin Childress
Andrew Hogg Brown (Andy) – Spencer Williams
George “Kingfish” Stevens – Tim Moore
Sapphire Stevens – Ernestine Wade
Ramona Smith (Sapphire’s Mama) – Amanda Randolph
Madame Queen – Lillian Randolph
Algonquin J. Calhoun – Johnny Lee
Lightnin’ – Nick Stewart (aka, Nick O’Demus)

Jester Harrison who portrayed Leroy during the run of Amos and Andy, later was seen many years later, in the Amen television series.

To me it was one of the funniest shows to run on network television. It is sad that few people today even know about the series, much less actuallyhave seen an entire episode.

In this clip from Amos and Andy the Kingfish signs his wife up for a job without her knowing. She is excited about the job though,  since it pays $8 a day.

The only episodes of the show being sold today, are bootleg copies but can be found online, from various sellers.

Relics of the Past: Eight Track Players

The Stereo 8 eight track player made its debut in 1965 in Ford automobiles and in 1966 in homes.

The eight track player is one technological advance that completely passed me by. When I joined the Army in 1962 record players were still being used.

By the time I had finished my tour of duty in 1966 I knew of eight track players but never used one or had any idea of how they worked. A few years later after going to work, bought my first cassette deck and the eight track players seemed to disappear from the scene.

The popularity of the eight track player lasted till the end of the 70′s, before giving way to the cassette player. Then about 1982 the compact disc started to do to cassettes what the cassettes had done to eight tracks.

The eight track player had a very short life span compared to record players, cassette players and and compact disc players.

Audio systems today may include a record player, cassette player and compact disc player, but I haven’t heard of one that included an eight track player with an audio system.

Compact disc players for the last 29 years have become the primary source of music for listeners today, but have lost some of their market to MP3 downloads into computers which then download the music into MP3 players.

There are presently 254 eight track players for sale at eBay priced from $1.04 to $500. For someone who owns a lot of eight track music they can buy a player at a very cheap price.

The MP3 players are in vogue right now but who knows what technological advance is in the planning stages that could make them obsolete the way eight track players were made more or less obsolete with a few exceptions.

400th Post on Nostalgia and Now

Nostalgia and Now started in April 2009 and the article today by David Gasten was the 400th article posted at the website.

85,039 visits have been made to Nostalgia and Now. 2,102 visits have been made so far this week.

The first full month in 2009 showed 526 visits during May of 2009. The alltime high for one month was October of 2010 when 14,039 visits were made. That happened because an article on the death of Barbara Billingsley who played June Cleaver drew many more readers than usual to the website.

Twelve posts have brought over 1,000 visitors to the website. The following list gives the total visits for each post:

Classic Television: Leave it to Beaver….15,282

Home Page……………………………………………15,115

Dust Bowl: 1930-1940 What Caused It…  4,386

Reality TV: The Little Couple……………..  3,446

Classic Cars………………………………………….2,483

Radio Flyer Wagons: Then and Now……2,075

1950′s Prices……………………………………….2,004

Four Months in Vietnam……………………1,786

From the Past: Burma Shave Signs…….1,717

Growing Up With  Model Trains…………1,629

Drive In Movies Still Operating…………1,593

History of Baby Ruth Candy Bars………1,009

One of the fastest rising posts has been Lizard Lick Towing which was posted earlier this week and is already No.9 among all articles for the last 30 days with  156 visits. Towing News has linked to the Lizard Lick article from their website.

The biggest surprise to me is the large number of visitors who read the Dust Bowl article. I wasn’t really expecting much interest since it ended about 70 years ago. None of us can comprehend how it affected those people and how it affected the states of Oklahoma and California.

None of this would be possible without the loyal readers who have came to the website from Facebook, Twitter and Digg.

I want to think each reader that has visited the site. I have written so many nostalgia posts, that I am running out of topics, and  welcome anyone that has a topic that is nostalgic related, to send any ideas for nostalgic posts to:

Niteowl049@msn.com

Relics of the Past: Commodore 64 Computer

 

Commodore 64 computer keyboard.

It has been 29 years since the Commodore 64 computer was sold in 1982. It became the best selling personal computer ever.

From 1983-1986 it dominated the personal computer market selling between 30 and 40 percent of all personal computers sold during that span.

My mom bought a Commodore 64 computer in the 80′s from a computer store in Alexandria and gave it to her grandkids. If I remember right it cost $159 but the Commodore 64′s were selling at $595 when first introduced. The first models were only costing the Commodore company only $135 giving the company a huge profit margin.

It was not as user friendly as the computers today. We would buy Commodore 64 themed magazines and copy the programs line by line to get them to work on the computer. It was a lengthy process for some of the longer programs but when it worked after all the typing it was worthwhile.

It seemed like the Commodore keyboards were not made that well since the keyboards seemed to stop working in a very short time compared to the keyboards of today. The keyboard I am typing this on has lasted at least five or six years already while a Commodore 64 keyboard might stop working after a year or two at least in my experience using them.

One of my sons has a working Commodore 64 system today comprised of a keyboard, monitor and 1541 hard drive. He uses the GEOS (Graphic Environment Operating System) with the computer.

Today on ebay there are 106 Commodore 64 related products for sale at the website including keyboards, disc drives, monitors, software and other accessories.

We never had access to the internet with the Commodore 64 but if we had the right setup it might have been possible to go online.

Personally I think the Commodore 64 played a large part in the coming computer revolution since it brought computers into the home at an affordable price.

When more powerful computers were introduced Commodore 64 users opted for the new technology and the Commodore 64 gradually faded out of the popularity it had enjoyed during the middle 1980′s.

Even at $595 Commodore’s competitive pricing left Apple and Atari in the dust with the Apple IIe selling for $1,200 and the Atari 800 computer was selling for $899.

There were plans to release a Commodore 65 computer but they never materialized.

The Commodore 64 played a part in helping Americans become more computer literate thus leading to most home in the United States having at least one computer except for those who don’t embrace the new technology and wouldn’t use a computer if it was given to them.

Maybe the Commodore 64 is not a relic in the strictest sense of the word but the last generation has probably not even heard of them.

Archive.org: Great Multimedia Website

Archive.org will keep a reader entertained for hours.

Archive.org is probably the best source for audio and video online this side of YouTube.  The home page for the website as I write this article has a link to an audio version of a Grateful Dead concert at Veteran’s Memorial Coliseum at New Haven, Connecticut on May 11, 1981.

The concert is only one of 803,305 audio recordings at the website.  There are 2,214 old time radio related links to old time radio shows and magazines that were printed during the height of the popularity of old time radio.

One Roy Rogers episode has been downloaded 74,882 times showing that the website is available for downloading many of the old time radio shows we grew up with.

Old time radio fans will love looking at list after list of old time radio shows available for downloading including some of the more obscure shows which have very few episodes in existence.

The live music archive features 88,813 archives while the moving image archives total 451,934.

Avid readers will enjoy knowing that there are 2.694,639 texts including books and ebooks. The new Bookreader at the site includes Origin of the Species by Charles Darwin and is the example shown of how the Bookreader works.

http://blog.archive.org/2010/12/10/2685/

There is an audio version of some books but the one I listened to was not of the best quality and seemed to be a computer generated voice which probably would be tiring to listen to for an entire book.

Most readers may not enjoy the voice and instead opt to read the books without sound. For those that like the audio they should enjoy the feature that highlights the portion of the book being read by the voice.

The Mega Reader iPhone app provides access to the 1.8 million free books at archive.org so they each iPhone user can have their own personal reader.

Each volume of the Warren Report investigation of the assassination of  President John F. Kennedy is available to read.

The site is an excellent source of reading material for educators and students who are looking for books that are no longer copyrighted.

One word of caution: it could take hours just to look at what is available at archive.org. This website may have the most content of any website online and is worth going to the website to see for yourself what is available.

http://www.archive.org/

Internet Services Worth Paying For?

Many internet websites are still free but how long will the free ride last with rumors of free sites becoming pay sites?

With media moguls like Rupert Murdoch clamoring to charge for his newspaper websites will it be the precursor to other websites charging for their content?

Murdoch is finding out it is not easy to implement charges for what has been free content for years. It was 2009 when he first mentioned charging for content but it is now 2011 and as far as I know it hasn’t been instituted in the United States.

However his News Corporation is charging for the online editions of Times of London and News of the World newspapers in the UK.

Murdoch hopes to start charging .99 cents a week for his new digital paper The Daily which is targeted at I Pad users. Latest plans are for the paper to go online in the next two weeks.

The one service that internet users might pay for would be email if the day comes when MSN, Yahoo, G-Mail email services begin charging for their email services.

As much as internet users may like Facebook and My Space they would likely desert the social network websites in droves if they began charging to enter their websites.

It may be financial suicide for the owners of these sites to begin charging since their current advertisers would surely ask for a reduction in their advertising rates since there would be millions of less visitors to those sites plus there would be a huge reduction in sales for the advertisers.

Free email service providers would be the most likely to lose the least if they start charging since so many consumers are so accustomed to having the convenience of email that they would agree to pay a nominal fee to avoid going back to sending letters via the postal service for almost 50 cents a letter.

Only the most ardent and more affluent sports fans would pay for sports websites like MLB.com, NFL.com and NBA.com.

The only other website that may be able to survive charging user fees is a search engine like Google.

Hopefully owners of most websites will understand that the economics of the internet does not bode well for the websites that charge for their services.

Personally the only service I would pay for is for email service as long as there are no free email services still available.