Get off my LAWN! "Grumpy Old Farts"

[alaskaleftybass]

I don't know about '75, but I can tell you that I was less than 48 hours away from being sent to Pakistan in '71. Remember the war between India and Pakistan in '71? And India making friends with the Sovs trying to get nuclear power plants? And Pakistan losing in a major offensive and Bangladesh being created from East Pakistan?

Yeah, fun times.

And peeps wonder how we can still are friendly with Pakistan.

I've always wondered if we were spooled up in Europe just so it could be "leaked". India mounted its offensive quickly. Saved me a trip to the danger zone.

Thanks to all you GOF's for your service to the country and, across the pond, The Queen.

 

[Deleted member 268085]

Prior to Froggy and Midnight, Andy Devine* was Hopalong Cassidy's sidekick "Jingles".

* Why does "Devine" make me think of this?

View attachment 3964845

This is more like how I remember Divine. Met her at a couple of parties in Chicago in 1980. [My second wife was dating a woman when I met her, and she introduced me to a number of amazing people.]

 

[alaskaleftybass]

I prefer Andy Devine... for old fashioned entertainment.

 

[Charlie Tango]

For the last 30 years of my career, I worked in computer and information security - that which government officials and journalists like to call cyber security. It is already relatively easy to wirelessly hack things like pace makers and the like. That means a nefarious person could murder you by using malware.

Things will not get better until the medical device manufacturers take security seriously and design it in from the start.

My pacemaker communicates wirelessly to a box that used to plug into the phone line on the night table next to the bed, but now talks to the nearest cell tower. It reports monthly on its health and status. This allows electrophysiologists to bill for an office visit without having to actually see patients. It also potentially allows some random farking 14-year-old kid to turn it on or off, or change its settings. But I can't be going around worrying about that.

 

[Charlie Tango]

AFAIK no-one has yet been bumped off by someone deliberately messing with their pacemaker, and if someone did want to bump off someone with a pacemaker there are plenty of easier / cheaper / more traditional ways to do it. For example, a Taser. Vlad prefers slipping something nasty into your cup of tea (or glass of vodka) or just poisoning you on a park bench in Salisbury - but he didn't realise just how close Porton Down is to Salisbury and how good the boffins there are at their jobs.

Compare and contrast to how many lives have been saved / extended by pacemakers.

You just need a decent-sized magnet. Slap that sucker over the pacemaker and make 'em dance.

 

[Charlie Tango]

Keep in mind that along with artificial intelligence you get artificial stupidity.
I suppose if you factor in human fallibility disaster is almost a foregone conclusion.
Ecce machina.

Oh, you don't even need artificial intelligence to get oceans of stupidity. I have convinced myself that things that contribute to the increasing stupidity of my fellow citizens include no longer teaching cursive writing in schools, cutting school-based music programs, art programs and civics courses, less emphasis on reading (actual books) for pleasure, teaching to the standardized tests, the rise of social media and concomitant diminution of print news ("Oh, I get my news from Facebook." In the words of John McEnroe, "You cannot be serious!"), the over-scheduling of children's activities, helicopter/bulldozer parenting, economic inequality, and on and on. And in the immortal words of Ron White, "You can't fix stupid."

 

[Charlie Tango]

I prefer Andy Devine... for old fashioned entertainment.

Me, too. I haven't thought of him in years.

 

[the harp unstrung]

But I can't be going around worrying about that.

annual physical...some things I didn't recognize...just became a 'guest' of Medicare.
..needed a testosterone number for my (prostate dr)...prostate is 5 yrs gone...
Unrelated...she hooks me up...and asks "Tom, have you ever had a heart attack?"
I answered "No!". She says, "I beg to differ."

 

[alaskaleftybass]

I remember reading that book (by Hal Lindsey and a second author I can't recall) one Saturday evening at college. It was alarming in some ways, but reminded me that almost every generation has thought they were living in the biblical "end times" given a composite of world events. As sobering as that book was for some, reading national security intelligence reports and analysis is worse IME....and yet we're still here, albeit in general not treating people or the planet any kinder!

Two things, Mr. @Al Kraft . I think Hal Lindsey is now selling watches on HSN. .....treating people or the planet any kinder....... totally agree. Sadly it's the Western Philosophy... own the land, mass produce, manifest destiny... individual sacrifice for the good of all... look at what happened in the Dakota's. Big Oil wanting to run pipelines through sacred grounds... we both know the list could go all day. I am thankful that the young people are finally putting their phones down and making their voices heard--something must have clicked in their head, making them realize--hey, we're going to inherit this mess! We better do something about it!

 

[the harp unstrung]

Two things, Mr. @Al Kraft . I think Hal Lindsey is now selling watches on HSN. .....treating people or the planet any kinder....... totally agree. Sadly it's the Western Philosophy... own the land, mass produce, manifest destiny... individual sacrifice for the good of all... look at what happened in the Dakota's. Big Oil wanting to run pipelines through sacred grounds... we both know the list could go all day. I am thankful that the young people are finally putting their phones down and making their voices heard--something must have clicked in their head, making them realize--hey, we're going to inherit this mess! We better do something about it!

HoF Post!!!

 

[alaskaleftybass]

Hey, all--- what is the deal with the air in Texas.......? I just looked at a live feed of SpaceX waiting for a launch. The sky looks filled with what looks like smog.........?

 

[Charlie Tango]

annual physical...some things I didn't recognize...just became a 'guest' of Medicare.
..needed a testosterone number for my (prostate dr)...prostate is 5 yrs gone...
Unrelated...she hooks me up...and asks "Tom, have you ever had a heart attack?"
I answered "No!". She says, "I beg to differ."

After my heart attack and first bypass operation at the age of 40, the surgeon told me that what saved my life (the left anterior descending artery was 100% occluded -- the aptly-named "widow-maker") was the fact that I'd had a previous heart attack sometime in my 20s, as nearly as he could figure, based on the development of collateral arteries that had grown across from the right side, enough of which were situated below the big blockage that I didn't die. I've spent the past 28 years trying to remember even feeling vaguely bad in my 20s. (That was a long sentence, that was.) He said it could have happened in my sleep, or I might have felt like I was coming down with the flu for a couple of days. I dunno, I just live here. One foot in front of the other, that's all we can do. And live intentionally. And be silly. That helps.

 

[StereoPlayer]

This is helping me pass the time these days. Today is a "Hop" test of a prototype of a starship design. Be patient, it takes a while. They are using a single Raptor Rocket engine. The final starship will have 31 raptors! Elon on his way to Mars by making history.

Scrubbed for today. Tomorrow is the next try.

 

[the harp unstrung]

After my heart attack and first bypass operation at the age of 40, the surgeon told me that what saved my life (the left anterior descending artery was 100% occluded -- the aptly-named "widow-maker") was the fact that I'd had a previous heart attack sometime in my 20s, as nearly as he could figure, based on the development of collateral arteries that had grown across from the right side, enough of which were situated below the big blockage that I didn't die. I've spent the past 28 years trying to remember even feeling vaguely bad in my 20s. (That was a long sentence, that was.) He said it could have happened in my sleep, or I might have felt like I was coming down with the flu for a couple of days. I dunno, I just live here. One foot in front of the other, that's all we can do. And live intentionally. And be silly. That helps.

Lord Mr. Ford!!

Two HoF posts in half an hour!!

 

[the harp unstrung]

That WAS a long sentence, that was!
...but a Good one!

 

[GwenOnBass]

annual physical...some things I didn't recognize...just became a 'guest' of Medicare.
..needed a testosterone number for my (prostate dr)...prostate is 5 yrs gone...
Unrelated...she hooks me up...and asks "Tom, have you ever had a heart attack?"
I answered "No!". She says, "I beg to differ."

:: blink blink ::

Be good to your body

Oh, you don't even need artificial intelligence to get oceans of stupidity. I have convinced myself that things that contribute to the increasing stupidity of my fellow citizens include no longer teaching cursive writing in schools, cutting school-based music programs, art programs and civics courses, less emphasis on reading (actual books) for pleasure, teaching to the standardized tests, the rise of social media and concomitant diminution of print news ("Oh, I get my news from Facebook." In the words of John McEnroe, "You cannot be serious!"), the over-scheduling of children's activities, helicopter/bulldozer parenting, economic inequality, and on and on. And in the immortal words of Ron White, "You can't fix stupid."

Especially when it's by design.

This is more like how I remember Divine. Met her at a couple of parties in Chicago in 1980. [My second wife was dating a woman when I met her, and she introduced me to a number of amazing people.]

View attachment 3964925

A debt of gratitude to John Waters. I would have never thought about running away from home over cha-cha pumps without his prescient insights.

 

[GonePlaid]

Prior to Froggy and Midnight, Andy Devine* was Hopalong Cassidy's sidekick "Jingles".

* Why does "Devine" make me think of this?

View attachment 3964845

Close, no cigar. Andy Devine played "Jingles", Wild Bill Hickok's sidekick on The Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok TV Show, starring Guy Madison as Wild Bill. Ran from 1951-1958.

 

[SoulReflection]

Close, no cigar. Andy Devine played "Jingles", Wild Bill Hickok's sidekick on The Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok TV Show, starring Guy Madison as Wild Bill. Ran from 1951-1958.

I think I caught in 1958 when I was ten and just after my parents bought a TV (B&W)!

 

[GonePlaid]

I think I caught in 1958 when I was ten and just after my parents bought a TV (B&W)!

Yeah, I think I started watching it in '51. Thus, once again, proving I'm a documented olde phart.

 

[GwenOnBass]

I have memories of my mother listening to the radio. Very unclear to me when we got televisions.