Sure enough, bingo was better than usual, determined by the middle of the month when people have more disposable income. You must play to win and a few people still get caught by the rule that you must bingo on the last number called. (For clarity, you cannot miss a number, find out later it was called and then bingo.) A few new faces, overawed by the show, and upon hearing the sammyzonk, saying, “What on earth was that?”Where I could normally care less about northern weather, I’ve been watching the upper part of the “City of New Orleans” route. Just my luck that this is going to be an early and cold winter. Examining the fares, it will cost nearly as much to get from here to New Orleans. On the other hand, if one went from here to Chicago by train, then it would be luxury the whole way. The downside is that I know New Orleans but not Chicago, and winter is already setting in up there. You see, in 1999 I had to wait for an hour on a frozen street corner for a late ride, and I swore never again. See today’s photo.
The new $99 Sylvania computers are all over the place. I’ve seen a dozen people using them, always on-line. Despite its tiny form factor with a 7-inch screen, I saw one dude successfully speedtyping away. At that price, I’ll get two. One problem with a laptop is I cannot master any technique of outputting two different pieces of music. They’ll play, but on top of each other. I need a system that outputs to separate ports so I can crossfade between the music.
What I have not yet seen is anyone listening to tunes on these netbooks, as they are called. The closeup pictures show a headphone jack, although why they aren’t making that into a USB standard is a mystery to me. The eighth-inch plug is, I realize, a standard, but always a bad one if you ask me.
Reading a library book y’day tells me I cannot tell cars apart if they were built much after 1985. Prior to 1975, there seems to have been dozens of car manufacturers. I viewed car pictures from Poland, Japan, England, Russia, France, Germany, Italy and even Egypt. The latter was called a “Gamilla”, causing a smile. In Arabic, it means beautiful, but connotatively means "somewhat sex". It looks like a boxy Rambler. Marketing, Suez-grade.
I had been looking at some aspects of the moving assembly line, a telling feature that was lacking in all the auto companies that folded or were absorbed. Even Hitler sent a man to examine the American factories, who promptly reported back that there was not enough private capital in all of Germany to match the feat. Hence, the German car plants were built with government money and the world eventually got such luxury vehicles as the Tiger tank.
Noting the recent censorship of Harry Potter, I skimmed a 300 page booklet called “Harry Potter and the Bible”. Some professor not worth mentioning was going on about how children would idolize the black arts instead of Christianity. That’s the thing about religion, each wants to be the only unquantifiable. Rowlings, the authoress, admits she knows nothing of witchcraft and based her ideas on British folklore.
She added that she did feel seven was a lucky number and that is why she wrote seven books. To the professor, this is numerology and suggests Rowlings is akin to a devil-worshipper. Her books are choking little children’s minds with the occult, he says. Yet, the biggest objection he actually states are the two cases where Potter disobeys rules in the first book about the philosopher’s stone. (Changed to sorcerer’s stone in America.)
Potter sneaks out of the dorm at night. And he violates orders not to fly a broom in the games. Potter is caught both times and rewarded, which bends the professor’s nose out of shape, unmistakably to the far right. Holy childhood gullibility, we had best not let them kids learn about hedge fund salesmen or they’ll grow up to be personal injury lawyers. Harry Potter and his minions are on the loose.
So that wanker "Dr." Suess had better clean up his act.
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