November 15, 2017

Yesteryear
One year ago today: November 15, 2016, Adso’s big date.
Five years ago today: November 15, 2012, a DNS script?
Nine years ago today: November 15, 2008, Cowboy Mike bombs.
Random years ago today: November 15, xxxx, WIP

           Howdy from downtown Nashville. At the public library, where you spend half your free parking allowance trying to find the entrance. That guy walking past the sign looks just like me, but there’s more to it. It’s deep in one corner of parking level 4N, once you step inside, you are in a stairwell. But that’s it. Eventually, somebody will walk through one of the metal doors and you’ll figure out that is the way in. Well, he won’t really walk through the door, but you know what I mean. And the computer section is nicely located up six long flights of stairs. There are no elevators. It’s the heart attack route.

           I was up at 5:30, from a dead sleep at the WM Hotel (Murfreesboro). It was an hour to get underway, since I waited the full interval for the taps to begin dispensing warm water. The security told me the downtown I wanted to see was 13 miles away. He had a deep accent, it was 30 miles and two hours. The traffic was not that heavy, like Miami, where the delay was the bad roads and bad drivers. The road signs are pretty useless, so I drove by instinct and wound up with a parking spot a half block from the strip and two blocks from the library.
           Turns out I was on a street called Lafayette, the Murfreesboro Pike. It reminded me of Denver, you know, ten blocks of brand new pavement followed by ten blocks of axle-bending potholes.

           The downtown is nicely torn up by construction crews, but I was able to get in a full morning by making random turns. One was to the main door of the Johnny Cash museum. He didn’t really live in Nashville itself, but they like to claim he did. I sprung for the ticket and once inside who do I bump into but his youngest brother, Tommy Cash. I explained JR was my hero, and how I did an entire Johnny Cash set on bass. For that, I got Tommy’s autograph and met his charming wife. Super charming.
           It was down to 44°F overnight and the chill was still around when I had breakfast at the Broken Egg on Commerce. Biscuits and gravy, go for the side order unless you are famished hungry. There is a neat coffee shop inside the Johnny Cash museum. I strolled down the strip past Tootsies, Honky Tonk Central, and the Blue Bird. Don’t wait as long as I did to see this street, but then again don’t think because I took a while getting here that I didn’t see anything else.

           The library is free, but you only get an hour on the meter, so see you later. Back already. I sprung ($7.50) for the extra parking and came back. I was intrigued, see photo, by all the hype around this device. It is being called the next big thing, but so are a dozen other inventions. Why this one? Because of the lack of information. I know that it is some type of sensor. What you are actually looking for is the dark spot at the center, the rest is mounting hardware.

           I wonder if it is that camera reviewed here a short while ago. They are claiming 50 billion of these will manufactured by 2020, so if they are a camera, you can kiss any remaining privacy you have goodbye. Every move you make of every day will be on file somewhere. Remember, I’m the guy who predicted Google will, by mid-2018, have the option to blackmail 95% of every computer user in America. Well, of course they will not call it blackmail, but if you have a Google account of any kind, you’re on the hit list.
           And I’m still blocked out of my blog. They won’t reactivate by phone, either, since the phone is not in my name. Google has never been content to be ordinary azzholes. They are out to be the supreme azzholes of the universe. If you aren’t using IXQUICK, you should be.

           Later, I went to see the movie, “Geostorm”. Interesting enough, with all plain-looking actors. And one semi-babe who is never seen in a tight outfit. Lots of FX, some bikini scenes in Rio, but no close-ups. The movie had most of the stereotypes, such as the teenage daughter from a previous marriage who is so well-adjusted it hurts. As usual, the current Hollywood mentality went overboard to make her look as plain-Jane as possible. I’d driven ten miles for coffee afterward but Starbucks has killed the roadside diner. Every place else you try to grab just a coffee, they try to up-sell you, which has never been the right atmosphere for a coffee shop.

Picture of the day.
Laguna Colorada (Bolivia).
Remember to use BACK ARROW to return to blog.

           Now, the Nashville library is NOT a quiet zone. This proves once and for all that Miami libraries do not have an absolute monopoly on ignorance. It only seems that way. If you complain about the noise in Nashville, the staff will tell you there are “quiet rooms”. You know, like it's some kind of special favor they do for fussbudgets like you. Duh, staff, hello. There are no computers in the quiet rooms. We get it. They are millennials who think you are impressed by how tolerant they are of noise, but what part of “library” don’ they understand? I complained and was told they have an “open policy” about noise, that they are a new kind of library. WTF? I’ll bet there’s not one sane person who hears the word library who imagines a scene of noise and confusion.

           Well, millennials, allow me to explain something. You cannot be 'neutral on noise'. If you don’t ban it, you are actively siding with anyone who wants to create a nuisance. Sit down and shut up, I’m just telling you like it is. When you side with people who are bothering others, that makes you equally pathetic. Oh, one more thing, Nashville downtown library. I found your elevators. Down a hallway, where they cannot be seen from the lobby. Even the staff didn’t know they were there.

           Thus Nashville library gets one star. Before they start calling your accusers racist or something, I’d point out another thing. These complaints about lack of noise and putting public computers on the third floor of a building with stealth elevators are not mere protests. These are issues at an entirely different level and that seriously bring to question your abilities to be the custodians of public money. If you do not grasp the concept of silence and freedom from distraction and have no need for these things, you maybe should seek a career as airport ground staff.
           The Nashville library also discourages complaints by not having any complain forms available and instruction you to compose formal letters of grievance. Instead, I gave them a verbal complain and used my writing time to fire off some postcards, as shown in the nearby picture. Trivia. Postage stamps contain a pattern of florescent ink that allows the post office scanner to pick out fakes. Man, this postcard photo, that was one tricky one to slip past the censors. They are sensitive about putting such things on the Internet, which is an astute awareness lacking in millennials.

           You get extra reading today because it is cold. I went for the first time in my life into a Krispy Kreme and was diverted by the donut machine. That’s right, I’ve never been in one that I can remember. At $1.09 each, I could imagine them as printing money. But it also means half my retirement has been stolen by the politicians. Prices have nearly doubled since 2012 and tripled since 2016. I can see where soon $5,000 per month will be barely an existence. In my books, inflation is caused by politicians, not economic forces.

           Thank goodness my assets are inflation-proof, but I still have to pay the same for my consumables. If prices were at 2006 levels, it would be like tripling my income. And Nashville is not cheap. You could spend a hundred bucks there on the pony rides. It was drizzling all day, and cold. I have my Aussie storm jacket, roomy yet stylish. Which brings me to another topic I thought to bury deep in today’s post.

           Other than Cpt. Highliner, is there anybody I resemble out there? All day, people have been reacting like they recognize me until they get up real close? I kept waiting for one to say a name. It was exclusively white people, but it happened ten or fifteen times that I spotted. It took me ages to walk to the Ryman theater because their address is misleading. The building is on 5th, but the entrance is on 4th. This is where occurred the incident that persuaded me people were mistaking me for somebody. The blonde wicket lady asked for my name, entering in on-screen and then stopping. It was just a glance, but it was that moment that said, “Oh, that’s not who I thought you were.”
           Since I’m not on any wanted posters and I don’t advertise much, what gives? I dunno. One time long ago a similar situation happened in Everett, where I had a passing resemblance to some guy who won two million in the lottery. The people at work ribbed me all that day. Say, speaking of millions, here’s a booklet I found at the Thrift. Get rich sooner than I think? Well, I was thinking of by noon tomorrow, so check on me, say, a little past one.

ADDENDUM
           Murphysboro, as in “Holy Murphysboros, it was cold overnight. I had the flannel, the fleece, and the mini-quilt and still felt the chill. Most of Nashville is a river valley and the fog means cold shivers outside. This morning there was no view over a half-block and I put on a tee shirt to keep out the chill. It was breakfast at White Castle, where I can’t remember if I’ve been before. I looked at the wallpaper of the 1950s. In that era, all the teens tried to look like their parents, and succeeded only too well. Nowadays, the opposite is the case, but without the success. Think that one through.
           Listening to the news, SpaceX reports its twentieth good landing. Give that company a fraction NASA’s wasted funding and get mankind to Mars now. And not more old-lady complaints of sexual abuse. Who doesn’t notice the one thing they have in common is they are the ones that didn’t make the grade. I’ve got some free but excellent advice on which careers to avoid if you lack what is required in the sex-pot department. Don’t go into:

                      Actressing
                      Modelling
                      Cheerleading
                      Stripping
                      Personal secretarying.

           And never, never, go to a “job interview” with a single man in a hotel room late on Saturday night. It seems women who do that require almost exactly twenty years to figure out that rich men don’t generally marry, well, you-know. And did you get that “big news” from New Orleans? Two women are running for mayor. That was the town that had the first black mayor, wasn’t it? Anyway, no work of whether the candidates are educated, competent, honest, or anything like that. It makes not difference to the media. Only that they are women.


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