Sheriff J W Pepper

Here is an autograph I won recently in an eBay auction.  One of my favorite characters from the Roger Moore era.

Never Stop Oil

I'm all for more environmentally friendly policies - but I am so against the activism of Just Stop Oil.  Their stunts are idiotic and counterproductive.  I'd like to see them try chucking orange powder at a US sporting event, or holding up traffic in a US city - I guarantee they'll get their asses kicked or shot to death.  

Gas Pumping

Well done Oregon, you're finally going to end your 72 year ban on self-serve gasoline pumps.  

TV Theme Tunes #36

I remember this show from the 90's.  Though, whilst trying to find this theme on YouTube, I discovered that there was apparently also a show of the same name on BBC1 in the 80's, and an American version of the show that our version was based on.

Hate-watching

I don't generally hate-watch any TV shows.  There are too many good shows to waste time on bad shows.  But I did make an exception recently.  I started watching The Idol.  I purposely use the past tense, because I have given it up after 2 episodes.  It is shockingly bad.  If you've ever seen the film Showgirls, it is that same level of awfulness, cheesiness and cringiness.  Terrible plotting, terrible acting, and simply unwatchable.  How could HBO follow up Succession with this monstrosity?  One of several HBO missteps recently - having inexplicably rebranded their streaming service from HBO Max to just Max and added a load of non-HBO content that I will never watch - it feels like peak TV has officially ended.         

Calling

Sometimes (often?) I feel like I've missed my calling.  Just as an example, I was channel-hopping today and came across this on ESPN:

Is it too late for me to become a professional cornholer?  I'm thinking about ordering a set (hopefully at a reduced price on Amazon Prime Day coming up soon) so that I can make a start on my 10,000 hours to greatness.

A Brief Thought

Only one thought on my mind this evening - how depressingly expensive elderly care is.     

Quadrants

A random post today - but here is a nice image showing the UK split into quadrants with approximately the same population in each quadrant.  I don't really know what kind of conclusions you're supposed to reach from this.  Is this image interesting or is it pointless?

War Films

I was watching a YouTube video of the Top 15 World War II Films, and I was surprised by the #1 film.  It was a film I've never even heard of, let alone never watched.  As someone who likes his war films, this came as a big shock.  The film - Come and See.  A 1985 Soviet anti-war film set in Nazi-occupied Belarus.  This, according to Wikipedia, is "considered one of the greatest films ever".  Well I never, now I think I need to seek this out.  And I see that there is a Blu-ray release of the film via The Criteria Collection - and I already own several films in that collection.  So that's something else to add to my Amazon cart (good timing, as I just got an Amazon gift certificate from some class action lawsuit against Zoom).       

Submarine

Is it wrong of me to say that I don't really care about this Titanic submarine that has gone missing?  The media coverage seems unnecessarily extensive.  Of course any loss of life - if that is indeed what has happened - is tragic.  But it's hard to feel much sympathy for people that can afford the exorbitant cost of this tour.  Especially compared to say, for example, the constantly overlooked daily deluge of gun violence and shooting deaths in the US.  Or if they are indeed drowned, then perhaps a better comparison would be against the vastly underreported scale of shipwrecks and migrant drownings - migrants who I can't even imagine what kind of hell they've been through and for their lives to end so tragically.  The world is so messed up.   

Gas

Guess which state has the most expensive gas (petrol) in the country right now?  Just in time for 4th of July and the week's company holiday - when I plan to do a lot of day tripping.  Yep, Washington state.  Great.  I read somewhere else that Seattle now has the same cost of living as San Francisco.  Yikes.

TV Theme Tunes #35

PBS is currently airing the final season of Endeavour, so it only seems to make sense to pick this theme tune this week.  Another classic.  So good in fact that one of the first albums I ever owned on cassette was called "Pure Moods" and I think it had this on it.

Favorites

I've been eyeing this autograph for a while, and finally got it for a good deal recently.  I believe this is the only trading card he ever signed.  And definitely in my top 10 autographs I own.

Septic Tank

My house has a septic tank.  I didn't know how a septic system works until recently.  But the nightmare has happened, and my system is not working.  I first noticed this a few weeks back, when after taking a bath the water wasn't draining properly and bubbles were coming up from the toilet.  I hoped it might just be a blockage, but feared it might be the septic tank.  And after mentioning it to my landlord, he has been digging in the yard and discovered that there is a problem.  What is basically supposed to happen in a septic system is that all the wastewater runs into a septic tank, the tank separates the solids and the remaining effluent exits into a drainfield where it discharges as groundwater.  However, apparently the pump that is supposed to pump the wastewater from the tank to the drainfield wasn't working.  So the tank was filling up - almost to the point of overflowing.  So if I hadn't said anything, this could have been disastrous - we are talking about my yard being flooded with sewage.  So the pump should be getting replaced in a few day's time, and I think my landlord is also going to take the opportunity to empty the septic tank - something that was probably overdue anyway.  It is going to cost him a fair bit of money, but it could have been a lot worse.  The only problem in the meantime is that it absolutely stinks outside right now.  Like that kind of rotten egg smell that makes your eyes water.  No wonder I haven't seen the rabbits around for a while now - though apparently the moles love the smell because LOADS of molehills have started popping up everywhere.  They have apparently taken this opportunity to launch an all out offensive.  Yes, I am at war again.

Another Moan About Work

If mandating us to come into the office 3 times a week wasn't bad enough, they've announced that the free lunches they were providing on Tuesdays and Thursdays are ending this month.  So even less incentive to go into the office.  Jeez, thanks upper management - you really know what you're doing to help maintain employee morale.  Which is pretty damn low at the moment.  I think the company's R&D outlay is really high right now, so they're taking as many steps as they can to reduce expenses.  So no free lunches is just the start of it.  Things like freezing hiring, not renewing contracts for contractors, etc.  This makes the trip to California last month even more ridiculous - at least they have already reimbursed my expenses for that (and I expensed everything I could - from bottles of water to the gas for travel between my home and the airport parking!).  A lot of the employee questions at the big all-hands meetings are to do with the potential of layoffs.  Upper management are saying that's not on the cards right now, but who knows if and how things are going to change.  Quite frankly with how I feel about my job right now, if they were to offer me a generous severance package I would probably take it. 

Fox News

Yes, this really appeared on Fox News.

 About the only good thing that came out of this is that I learned a new word - "chyron".

Trump

I'll keep it brief.  Guilty of treason, he should be hanged.  But nope, it doesn't matter how many shady things he did while in office (or indeed before and after he was in office) he'll weasel his way out of them all.  And will probably become president again.  America is screwed.   

TV Theme Tunes #34

Milky, milky.

Fool Me Twice

I had another go today at trying to improve my TV and audio setup.  And once again it drove me crazy, and only reinforced my belief that I need to get a new TV.  The problem is that I have too many inputs - cable box, PS5, Nintendo Switch, and my multi-region blu-ray player.  Plus my soundbar.  Now my current TV does in theory have enough input slots to cover this - but what I've discovered is that I can't use all these devices in these input slots.  If I plug my cable box into my TV, then it messes up the audio for other sources.  And if I plug my Nintendo Switch into my TV, then it doesn't output surround sound audio to my soundbar.  To get round this issue, instead I have to plug at least my Nintendo and cable box into my soundbar.  But my soundbar only has one input slot, so I've had to buy a HDMI switcher in order to be able to connect more than one device to my soundbar.  This is all an unnecessary pain in the ass which only results in absolutely tons of wires behind my TV.  And a far from perfect setup, where I can only get the audio to work properly on apps and other devices when I make sure that the cable box is not sending a signal to my TV.  A new TV should fix some of these issues, as will cutting the cord and getting rid of my cable box.  But unless I'm overlooking something - not exactly something beyond the realms of possibility - things really shouldn't be as complicated as this.  Surely there is a market for TVs with built-in quality audio to at least the same level as a decent soundbar setup - eliminating the need for all this nonsense faffing around.          

Everything Everywhere All at Once

I finally got round to watching Everything Everywhere All at Once this weekend, a film which had been lingering on my DVR for ages since I recorded it months ago.  Despite it being one of the most awarded contemporary films (winning loads of Academy awards), I had no idea what to expect.  And it didn't bode well from 2 failed previous attempts to watch it when I fell asleep in the first 10 minutes, and a depiction of Chinese-Americans - not exactly my favorite race.  But I stuck with it this time - and it is a film that you need to concentrate on because there are subtitles and a lot going on - and what did I think?  Well, I was prepared to be disappointed - but nope, it hooked me in and it turned out to be an amazing film.  Very unique, very imaginative and difficult to categorize - science fiction, family drama, martial arts, comedy,.... so many genres, yet it somehow worked.  The kind of excellent depiction of multiverses that Marvel can only dream of.  I don't know of any film that can include a conversation between 2 rocks, a spoof on Ratatouille and a universe where humans have hot dogs for fingers.  The film was divided into 3 parts (Everything, Everywhere, All at Once) - and I think the 45 minutes in Part 2 Everywhere might be some of the best cinema I've seen in a long time.  Just destroyed me emotionally - I think because some of the themes particularly resonated with me.  This film is one that I need to rewatch - because it is an assault on the senses, and so much to take in.  Highly recommended - 4.5 stars.        

Trail Cam Problems

I checked my trail cam this afternoon, and noticed a problem.  We've had some windy weather recently, and my trail cam has decided to take hundreds of photos.  Presumably it is catching the movement of trees, or more likely the movement of weeds close to the lens, in the wind.  So that is a whole bunch of useless photos that I can't be bothered to go through and can just be deleted.  And then for some unknown reason, the jpeg files after a certain day have become corrupted and I can't view them.  Hopefully this doesn't continue to be a problem going forward.  I do have some photos from before the windy weather - eliminating the usual squirrel, rabbit, bird and deer photos, here are a few of interest:

Fridays

Beginning this week, we are mandated to come into the office 3 days a week.  A ridiculous mandate that I totally disagree with – there should not be a “one for all” rule for everyone to abide by.  It is entirely dependent on job function, position and location.  I for one don’t need to come into the office at all to do my job – given the choice I would still come into the office, but only when I choose to do so.  The other ridiculous “strong recommendation” is that we come in on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday – because they are the designated “core collaboration” days.  A totally meaningless descriptor.  Of course, because this is a recommendation and not a mandate – I am choosing to come in Tuesday, Thursday and Friday.  In the hope that the Friday commute would be better (it wasn’t) and that it would be a lot quieter in the office on Friday and I could actually get some work done (it wasn’t, and this was particularly frustrating because there was literally only one other person in one of the cubicles near me who also came in today but who decided to take a teleconference at their desk – totally ruining any chance I had of some peace and quiet).  So frustrated by this – especially since we’re not supposed to have meetings scheduled on Fridays.  I don’t know if this is a one off or not – but if it isn’t then I have to do something about it.  I could see whether Monday is any better than Friday, but something I have previously asked about was to move cubicles.  And I am increasingly thinking this is something I have to do.  A hassle – particularly since I’ve been in my particular location for quite some time, and I think the other primo cubicle locations are already taken.  But people have come and gone, new people have moved into the cubicles around me, and frankly they all have their little quirks that get on my nerves.  Yet another of the many things making me really fed up with my job right now. 

Watches

I have an unerring ability to scratch my watch face.  I was putting on my watch this morning, and noticed a big scratch from top to bottom across the watch face.  How the heck did that happen?  When did it happen?  Surely I would have noticed this when I put on my watch yesterday morning, so did this happen yesterday?  When exactly – surely I would have noticed?  I think the same thing has happened with my last 2 watches – at some point they got scratched up, but I don’t think I noticed the scratch when it happened.  Very frustrating – so what to do?  First thought was to replace the watch.  But that seems excessive, can I fix the scratch?  A quick google search, and it suggests toothpaste could be used to polish out the scratch.  OK, whatever – nothing to lose, so I gave it a go.  And lo and behold, the toothpaste didn’t seem to make a jot of difference and the scratch is still there.  Well that just seemed stupid and a remarkable waste of time.  Can I replace just the watch face?  Not sure how easy that would be, would probably need to go to a local watch repair shop.  Too much hassle – it’s a cheap watch (and from checking Amazon, still cheap), and I think it’s easier to just buy a replacement. 

Tina Turner

I know it's been a few weeks since Tina Turner sadly passed away, and I've been meaning to do a blog post since she is of course one of the few privileged artists to provide a James Bond theme:

This is actually a pretty good James Bond theme - better than average.  Now I want to rank all the James Bond themes, and that is going to take some time to dwell on...

TV Theme Tunes #33

Another one from my childhood - and another one that I don't remember anything about the actual show, but I remember the distinctive trombone theme.

Well-being Reimbursement

My company has doubled our annual well-being reimbursement to $1000.  I don't want to waste this money, so what should I buy?  A lot of the things I'd like - new TV, new sofa, a picnic table - are not eligible.  But there is one thing I want that is.  Apparently better sleep is important enough to be considered for improved well-being, so I would get reimbursed for getting a new mattress.  Which is perfect, as I've not been sleeping well recently and I've already been looking at mattresses online.  And none of the ones I would consider getting are cheap (not helped by the fact that I've got a big king-sized bed!).  

This Morning

Excuse my language, but I don't give two sh*ts about the palaver surrounding Phillip Schofield.  So why am I seeing so many stories about him on the news websites I frequent?  It's ridiculous - especially since he doesn't appear to have done anything illegal.  Well if ITV don't want him anymore, perhaps he could return to host CBBC with Gordon the Gopher?  After all, he's done a lot less than some of the disgraced BBC children's presenters in the past.       

Wordle

Has Wordle upped it's difficulty level recently?  Twice in recent days the answer has been a real streak breaker.  Jazzy (which apparently broke 20% of streaks) and today Nanny (great if you got the N early, not so much if you didn't).  I got both, but each time only on my sixth and final attempt.  That is frustrating as I try to bring down my average.  Still haven't got to a 100 win streak - something always seems to come up that causes me to forget to play one day.       

Alpine Coaster

Washington State's first alpine coaster has just opened.  It's based in Leavenworth - which is a cheesy Bavarian-themed village in the Cascades about a 2 hour drive away.  The alpine coaster is interesting in that it's not like a roller coaster but instead you're attached to a track and you can use levers to go down at the speed you want.  Enjoy the views or go down as quick as you can.  I'm not sure how appealing it is to me - I don't think the views are any better than what you could get hiking in the area.  And frankly I have no idea what the weight capacity is for a ride like this, and whether I could even do it.  But it does have a certain curiosity factor.

Walkout

About 1000 Amazon employees in Seattle staged a massive walkout yesterday afternoon.  Ostensibly to protest climate action and a return-to-office mandate.  However it's hard to feel much sympathy or empathy towards these protesters (even as much as I loathe our similar return-to-office mandate).  The issue is that these are white-collar tech workers rather than blue-collar warehouse workers.  Which means they are inordinately overpaid, and are the reason why Seattle has become so expensive and such a nightmare to live in.  So as far as I'm concerned, I don't give a monkeys about their "tough" working conditions.  Ungrateful so-and-so's.  I hope they suffer more layoffs.