Russell Gumbrecht Obituary (2020) - Salt Lake City, UT

Russell was a nice older man.  He was badly wounded in Vietnam and then developed schizophrenia.  He seemed a little odd, but he was a nice person.  He had a 1519 rating.  He felt like a B player to me.  He played a few times in our chess club and the quick chess tournaments that I ran.

https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/saltlaketribune/name/russell-gumbrecht-obituary?id=2143324

He paid me an exceptionally nice compliment when he said, "I thought that I was a good endgame player, and then I played John Coffey and I found out what a really good endgame player is."

How much coffee do people use in their coffee maker?

I am trying to slowly phase out caffeine, so I am trying to control the amount of caffeinated coffee I use.

"The standard ratio for brewing coffee is 1-2 tablespoons of ground coffee per 6 ounces of water – 1 tablespoon for lighter coffee and 2 for stronger coffee. 

So how does that break down in your coffeemaker?

To fill a standard 12-cup coffeemaker, you will need 12-24 tablespoons (or between 3/4 and 1 1/2 cups) of ground coffee."

https://www.swiftrivercoffee.com/blog/2019/3/6/how-to-brew-the-perfect-pot-of-coffee

It is not clear if the tablespoons they are talking about are heaping tablespoons or level tablespoons.  A heaping tablespoon might be equal to 2 to 3 level tablespoons. 

The instructions on the cans of coffee I purchase say to use one heaping tablespoon for every 6 ounces of water.  That seems excessive to me.  That would be 10 heaping tablespoons for a pot of coffee.  

The way I make coffee is to use just enough to cover the bottom of the filter with coffee.  This means that it is heaping in the middle, less heaping toward the sides.  I measured this as 3 heaping tablespoons on my new coffee maker.  I might sometimes use 4.  This tastes fine to me and does not seem weak.

According to the Internet, a heaping tablespoon of Arabica coffee has 60 mg of caffeine.  Therefore three tablespoons would have 180 mg of caffeine for the entire pot.  By coincidence, this is the amount of caffeine in a large 20 once McDonald's coffee according to the internet.  So that would imply that Mcdonald's is using 3 times the amount of coffee that I am using.

Fwd: 2021 Compare Cities

FYI.

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: John Coffey
Date: Thu, Nov 11, 2021 at 12:09 AM
Subject: 2021 Compare Cities
To: Al

https://www.bestplaces.net/compare-cities/

I compared Columbus Indiana to other cities, like Indianapolis, Kokomo, Bloomington, Louisville, and even Salt Lake City.  Columbus comes out favorably in terms of housing cost, median income, and crime.

Fishers Indiana has lower crime, a much higher average income, but really high housing costs.

--

Best wishes,

John Coffey

http://www.entertainmentjourney.com

World Population Growth

World population growth during my lifetime has been remarkably linear, notwithstanding 5 million deaths from COVID. On the year of my birth, the Earth had 3 Billion people. At the present rate, it will be 8 Billion in four years.

Re: Hobbiton

Now I ride a bicycle for exercise, but when I lived in Salt Lake City I would go on walks of various durations ranging from 20 to 90 minutes.

I walked by this place a few times.  Google street view shows a "no trespassing" sign, which I also saw when I walked by the place, otherwise, I might have walked down the lane.  I wanted to check it out because it is my nature to be curious about almost everything.

I thought that I saw a person getting out of a car who was a dwarf.  Maybe more than one person.  The "no trespassing" sign led me to believe that they wanted to protect their privacy.

https://www.washington.edu/doit/how-are-terms-dwarf-little-person-and-person-short-stature-commonly-used

Around 20+ years ago they completely rebuilt the area south of 2100 south between Highland Drive and 1300 south.  Prior to that, there was a bit of a disused park that nobody seemed to go to.  There was a walking trail that seemingly very few people knew about because it wasn't visible from the roads.  A tiny part of that trail still exists and I used to walk it for fun.

--

Best wishes,

John Coffey

http://www.entertainmentjourney.com

On Wed, Oct 20, 2021 at 12:16 PM Larry  wrote:

Did you ever go here when you lived nearby?

1440 Allen Park Dr - Google Maps

'There's nothing like it': SLC's legendary Hobbitville, known for mysterious past, has a bright future | ABC4 Utah

Passage of time

Good grief, I am astonished by the passage of time. Forty years ago I was a sophomore in college. Thirty years ago this month I started my second full-time job in Indianapolis. Twenty years ago I was a few months at my third and final Salt Lake City employer. Seven years ago this month I was laid off and decided to retire. It has been six years and four months since I moved back to Indiana (and started a chess club in Greenwood.)

--
Best wishes,

John Coffey

http://www.entertainmentjourney.com

Evolution of Star Trek Series Music Theme (1966-2020)

I am less of a music fan than most people.  I think that this video is beautiful, maybe because I am a Star Trek aficionado.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8MkYdtU61Y

Buscuits

Occasionally I make biscuits.  It is clear that the "Grands!" style biscuits, which Walmart has their own cheaper brand of "Jumbo" biscuits, are the best tasting, and I do like them, but it is no wonder they taste good since they have 5 grams of sugar per biscuit.  This might not be an issue for most people, but I want to avoid too much sugar.  So I looked for alternatives.  The smaller biscuits are cheaper overall, not that cost is an issue, and they have 40% less sugar.  It takes 3 small biscuits to equal the weight of one large one, and the label confirms this by listing 3 biscuits as one serving, which has 40% less sugar.

It is the smaller size that is the problem.  The instructions say to "cook until golden brown", but if you do that then the entire biscuit wants to turn golden brown and they can come out too dry.  You can undercook them, in which case they come out white and soft and pretty edible, but I don't like the small size for putting jam or peanut butter on them.  

So this got me thinking.  Since it is just dough, I can make whatever size biscuit I want with them.  I tried combining pairs of biscuits into balls and these turned out like little dinner rolls.  The first batch I overcooked and they were slightly crispy on the outside but soft on the inside, and this was interesting.  In the second batch, I cooked them less and they came out like soft dinner rolls and these were pretty good.

On my third batch, I didn't want to go to the trouble of combining pairs of biscuits into balls, so I just baked the biscuits with one on top of another.  I combined two cans of ten biscuits to get ten double-height biscuits.  Not only was this easier, but I felt like this was my best result yet.  I had to cook them for 20 minutes, but they came out like slightly smaller versions of the Grands biscuits, and they were pretty good.  They aren't quite as good as the high sugar biscuits, but it is a tradeoff.

Even though the instructions tell you to use an ungreased cooking pan, I find it better to use cooking spray to keep them from sticking.  I also tried smearing a small amount of olive oil on the bottom of the pan and this works too.

--

Best wishes,

John Coffey

http://www.entertainmentjourney.com

re: Peak COVID cases

On Sun, Aug 22, 2021 at 3:51 PM Albert wrote:

 I keep hearing more and more reports of people transmitting the disease unaware that they are infected by COVID. This worries me a lot. I enjoy playing chess, but not at the expense of getting sick while doing so.

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: John 

The vaccines are still effective at preventing serious illness, or at least mostly effective.  I am counting on a combintion of vaccination and caution.

I think that it is likely that we will get a new spike in cases worse than anything we have seen before.  If this happens, we might have to shut down the chess club temporarily.  At the very least, mask mandates will come back and many hesitant people will get vaccinated as the death toll goes up.

--

Best wishes,

John Coffey

http://www.entertainmentjourney.com

Ludwig van Beethoven: Ode an die Freude/Ode to Joy 1

I heard this song the other day. I had no idea what the name was. It bothered me that I didn't know. So today, it came to me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-kcOpyM9cBg&t=157s

Beethoven had been almost completely deaf for a decade when he wrote this. It is the final movement to his ninth symphony. At the premiere, he was not aware of the thunderous applause until he turned around and saw the audience.

The European Anthem is based on "Ode to Joy".

Ludwig van Beethoven: Ode an die Freude/Ode to Joy 1

I heard this song the other day. I had no idea what the name was. It bugged me that I didn't know. So today, it came to me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-kcOpyM9cBg&t=157s

Fwd: Booster shots

FYI.

---------- Forwarded message ---------

On Mon, Aug 16, 2021 at 9:18 AM Albert wrote:

Most of the people I've spoken with have shown little interest in taking a booster. In their minds, the benefit of getting a booster is: you still wear a mask, you social distance, and you still get sick. So there are no benefits? What the heck!?

From: John 
To: Albert

Al,

Most areas are not requiring a mask.  Getting a vaccine provides much more freedom to do things that are much more dangerous without a vaccine.  If the vaccine starts to wane after 6 months then getting a booster is going to be part of that.

This sounds like defeatism to me.  It is like saying just because something is difficult, we're not even going to try.

--

Best wishes,

John Coffey

http://www.entertainmentjourney.com

Fwd: COVID-19 argument

From a discussion on Facebook.  This person from Utah takes the same position as someone I know locally...


Jess,

I mean no offense, but I think that everything that you have assumed about this issue is wrong. You have it all backward. You way overestimate the danger of the vaccine, which is essentially harmless, and you way underestimate the danger of the virus. You assume that your immune system will protect you.

The real choice is to get the vaccine or get the disease. The Delta variant has an R factor of 8 to 9. Among the unvaccinated, it is spreading like wildfire.

I have a close friend in Farmington who is anti-vax, and he said that he would rather get the disease than take a chance with the vaccine. Well, he and his wife have had the Delta variant for 4 weeks and they have found it completely debilitating. He is sleeping 15 hours a day and his wife is worse. He doesn't respond to emails, phone calls, and texts because he feels so bad.

A friend of mine in Indianapolis said that he got the vaccine because he doesn't want to inadvertently kill someone else. I completely agree with this reasoning, and the anti-vax people seem selfish to me because they want to make the issue just about themselves. You might be fine if you catch COVID, although I doubt it, but you could spread the disease to other people.

Not everyone who gets the vaccine is fully protected, I have an 81-year-old mother who is the nicest person in the world, but she has leukemia and is immunocompromised. She has been told that her immunotherapy diminishes the effectiveness of the vaccine, and she has also been told that she would not likely survive COVID.

If you make this issue just about your personal freedom, then you might be refusing the vaccine for the wrong reasons. The only way that we are going to get past COVID is if the vast majority get vaccinated or if the vast majority contract the disease. The cost of the latter is too high. Immunity might only last 6 months to a year, which means that people will have to keep getting one or the other.

Best wishes,

John Coffey

crazy anti-coke ad

Yes, maybe you can blame obesity on sugary drinks, but personal responsibility has to assume part or most of the blame.

I'm trying to eat healthily, but I have a tendency to want the foods that I grew up with.  In the 1960s and the 1970s, people ate fried foods all the time and thought nothing of it.  It was normal for us to go out to Kentucky Fried Chicken, Pizza Hut, or McDonald's.  We ate a variety of foods at home, but my mother also made really good fried chicken and this was my favorite.

I grew up drinking sugary soft drinks and didn't start drinking diet soda until I had a weight problem.  The diet soda didn't help, and it caused acid reflux so I had to give it up as an adult.

It wasn't till 2008 that I started listening to Dr. Robert Lustig who said that sugar is a poison.  Sucrose is a disaccharide that consists of one part glucose and one part fructose.  He claims that fructose gets processed in the liver the same way alcohol does.  The body can't use it directly and converts it to an unhealthy form of fat.  Too much of this can damage the liver, and sugar consumption is associated with a variety of health problems.   (He is actually not against fruit, because fruit has a variety of benefits.  Fruit is nature's candy.)

Prior to this, I thought that it was okay to have sugary snacks as part of my diet provided that I count calories.

We used to have long meetings at work, and sometimes they would bring in donuts or snacks as a way to keep people happy.  When meetings would finish, other people would raid the conference room for leftover snacks.  I used to do this too, and there was an informal network of people who kept each other informed, usually by email, about snacks available in the conference rooms.

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Larry

Always Woka-Cola: It's the Real Thing - YouTube

1.5 years of COVID

I wrote this on Facebook...

I was very much aware of how devastating the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic was. It is estimated that 500 million people got the disease, which was one-third of the planet. The exact death toll is not known, but it was estimated to be between 20 and 100 million people. It was worse for children, and in some areas, half the children died. They were stacking coffins in the street because they couldn't bury people fast enough.

This caused me to always wonder if something like this could happen again? I imagined a situation where people might have to seal themselves in their homes for a couple of months. I thought that it would be a good idea to have some food stored away.

In March of 2020, we went from fifty thousand known cases of COVID-19 to a million known cases in just 30 days. Looking at the numbers available on March 31st, which showed rapid exponential growth, I was predicting Spanish Flu levels of infection and death. Like many public officials, the horrible events of 1918 caused me to take this new pandemic very seriously.

I "sheltered in place" for slightly over a year. Initially, I had almost no human contact. I shut down my chess club meetings and encouraged people to play each other online. After a year, I was sick of playing online and desperately wanted to meet in person again. I resumed my chess club meetings once I got fully vaccinated.

For that year, I told people that I was living like a hermit, which was somewhat true. I didn't see family very often. Sometimes we would meet to share resources, like toilet paper and other supplies, but we would keep our distance as much as possible. After a few months, we started to get together more often, like maybe once per month.

In the evenings I would go for walks. I would see my neighbors, and we would talk to each other from a distance of 30 feet.

As result, I spent much time on the phone and on Facebook as a way of communicating with people.

This year of semi-isolation kind of took a toll on me. I was desperate for it to be over. I was so happy to get vaccinated.

COVID-19 is not done with us yet. We have new variants that are more infectious and possibly more dangerous. I have talked to a large number of people who don't want to be vaccinated and I find this very concerning. This creates a greater probability that new variants will arise.

The very contagious Delta Variant has an "R" factor of 5 to 8, meaning that each person infected might infect 5 to 8 other people.

One of my closest friends in Utah and his wife have caught the Delta Variant of COVID. For them, it is totally debilitating and they are into their third week with no sign of it getting better. My friend is worried that he is going to be one of the people who have symptoms that linger for months.

--
Best wishes,

John Coffey

http://www.entertainmentjourney.com

Mask wearing and conservative talk radio

I always enjoyed listening to conservative talk radio, but the universal conservative response to the recent CDC recommendations that everyone wear a mask in public places is one of defiance.  People are saying that they are not going to cooperate.  Without exception, they see the mask recommendations as government overreach to take away their freedom.  They are unwilling to entertain the notion that the government is trying to save lives.  Naturally, they prefer to make their own decisions and not be told what to do.

The situation has changed.  It was pretty reasonable for vaccinated people to not wear a mask a couple of weeks ago, but right now the Delta Variant potentially threatens everyone.  Whereas the alpha variant had an "r" factor of around 2.5, which means that on average an infected person would infect 2.5 other people, the Delta Variant has an "r" factor of 5 to 8.  It is also much more likely to infect vaccinated people.  The reason for the change in the CDC recommendation is a study that said that with the Delta Variant vaccinated people can have as much of viral load in their nasal cavities as unvaccinated people.

I don't particularly like wearing a mask either, but if it becomes a mandate, I am not going to resist it.  Right now, I think that there are good reasons for wearing a mask.

My chess club meets at a Kroger store.  I saw an article saying that both Kroger and Walmart were going to start requiring masks for all customers and staff.  I called the Kroger to confirm this, but they haven't yet seen the change in policy.

BTW, one of my closest friends in Utah and his wife have caught the Delta Variant of COVID.  For them, it is totally debilitating and they are into their third week with no sign of it getting better.  My friend is worried that he is going to be one of the people who have symptoms that linger for months.

--

Best wishes,

John Coffey

http://www.entertainmentjourney.com

Storm

For the 22 years that I lived in Utah, I never experienced weather of this intensity.  However, it seems pretty common in Indiana, with at least one nasty thunderstorm per year, if not several.

--

Best wishes,

John Coffey

http://www.entertainmentjourney.com

Tesla Model Y Auto park feature (by instagram sam.stolt) #Shorts

https://youtube.com/shorts/8Nj94VV9wsM?feature=share

I would love this feature.

Best wishes,

John Coffey

My post on Facebook

Coffee

How Does Film ACTUALLY Work? (It's MAGIC)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCxoZlFqzwA

For most people, film is obsolete.  I remember having a camera as a kid and there was something magical about cameras before technology came along.  

As best as I can recall, I didn't really bother with cameras from my college days onward.  It wasn't till sometime in my early 40's I got the most primitive digital camera possible, that only took 640x480 pictures, which matched some early computer monitor resolutions. I actually had fun with this camera despite the pretty low quality.  Eventually, mobile phones could take pictures even before smartphones.  

In 2008, I got an iPhone 3G which had a 2 megapixel camera.  

In 2010, I got an iPhone 4 which had a 5-megapixel camera.  

In 2012, I got an iPhone 5, which had an 8-megapixel camera.  I still own this phone.  The metal bands around the edge of this phone made it pretty tough, which allowed it to survive a pretty big accidental drop onto the pavement.  This will be relevant below...

In 2014, I got an iPhone 6+ which also has an 8-megapixel camera.  When I tried to participate in an Apple battery replacement program, something went wrong with the phone, so they gave me a free replacement which I still have.

Years later I got an iPhone 6S+ on a Black Friday sale.  It has a 12-megapixel camera.  Because the wi-fi died on in, I bought another one of these on another Black Friday to replace it, which is still my primary phone.  

Today I dropped my iPhone 6s+ and the screen cracked, but I managed to get it repaired the same day for $89.

Star Wars The Bad Batch

https://tv4youandme.blogspot.com/

House littered with computers

This is an update to an article I wrote 2 years ago...

Around 1984 there was an article with a prediction that went like this: "Someday you will throw away computers. Your house will be littered with them. You will get computers in cereal boxes." Thirty-seven years ago, that day seemed like it would be pretty far off.

How exactly has this prediction faired? Well, how many computers do I own? Here is the list...

1. One of the more powerful computers in my home is my iPhone 6s+. It is a powerful computer masquerading as a phone. I bought a second one when the wi-fi on the first failed, so technically I have two. I also have a couple of older iPhones in storage. These could easily be thrown out since they are not very useful anymore.

2. I have an iPad 4. The only reason I bought it was because my iPad 2, which I loved, was stolen when someone broke into my home in Salt Lake City. However, I don't really have much of a need for it. The iPads were originally touted as book readers to compete with the Amazon Kindle tablets, but I don't think that reading books on a full-size iPad is a great experience. You can do all the normal internet stuff with them, but I have plenty of devices that can do that. I think that my iPad's best use is to play audiobooks.

3. About 11 years ago I bought a Microsoft Tablet on a Black Friday sale for $200 because this seemed like a fantastic deal at the time. At the time, it probably was. However, this has been the most useless piece of crap that I own. One could use it to browse the internet and read email, but it is way out of date, and it was never very useful to begin with. It is less pleasant to hold than an iPad. I doubt that I can get any software for it.

4. Recently, I bought an Amazon Fire Tablet, normally $150, for $80 on a Black Friday sale. It is a pretty nice tablet, but there is not anything I can do with it that I can't do on other devices. I bought it so that I could attempt to write Android apps and test them on the tablet.

5. I'm typing this on my 2017 27" iMac. This is a replacement for my late-2009 iMac that has several problems, such as the display repeatedly shutting off. I occasionally still use this machine just for analyzing chess games, which is processor intensive, although my new iMac is plenty capable of doing that.

6. Four years ago I was given a Raspberry PI 3, which is a very cheap small computer the size of a deck of cards. It can run Linux and do normal computer stuff, although it is not very powerful at all. However, I configured it to be a game emulation box that can be hooked up to my TV.

Newer, more powerful versions of the Raspberry PI are available.

7. I own both a NES Classic Edition and a Sony PlayStation Classic. These are both game emulation boxes. Both are good for playing games and both can be hacked to play even more games.

8. I bought three Arcade1up machines. These are 3/4 scale arcade games that you assemble yourself. They are essentially emulation boxes that come with classic arcade games. I like my Star Wars Arcade game the best.

9. Back in the early 2000s, I bought a joystick that can be hooked up to an old-style TV and it plays 10 classic games. As a game system it is not that good, but I still occasionally use it because it does a great job with one game in particular, which is Pole Position.

10. I have an old Sega Genesis with some cartridges that I plan on selling. Over thirty years ago the 68000 processor in the Genesis was considered a mainstream computer processor. I have seen really old mainframe computers that cost a fortune that used this processor. By the 1990s the 68000 processor was only really used in game systems.

11. I was able to fix an old laptop that I gave away to a chess player in need. Then I was able to purchase a refurbished laptop very cheap that is vastly superior. This computer proved very helpful as a backup computer while my iMac was in the shop, but otherwise, I don't really need a laptop anymore.

So I count 18 computers. My house *is* littered with computers, some of which I could easily throw away.

I am not going to count the three electronic chess clocks that I own. I don't know if they use a CPU or just dedicated logic chips.

I didn't count the Star Wars Storm Trooper Robot that I got in a package deal with my Star Wars arcade game.  This device can interface with your smartphone and play games.  I have been trying to sell it for a year.

I also didn't count my robot vacuum cleaners.  I own two, one of which is broken.  I have had these for well over a decade, and the one that works is starting to have problems.

If you own a calculator, which I don't, it has either a 4-bit or an 8-bit processor inside.  It is also a computer, although very limited.

As far as getting computers in cereal boxes, I saw a little handheld game that came in a 2007 cereal box.  It was pretty primitive, probably using a 4-bit processor.

--
Best wishes,

John Coffey

http://www.entertainmentjourney.com

Aphantasia: The People Without a Mind's Eye | 'Out of Mind'

The first three minutes of this video talk about how a few people can't visualize things in their minds.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xa84hA3OsHU

This is an interesting condition because I have always been kind of the opposite.  Very often I close my eyes and visualize things in my mind.

I have played chess in my head many times although with a great deal of difficulty.  I think that I was better at this when I was younger.  Under the right circumstances, I might get a good visual of the board in my head.  It helps to have no distractions.  Even when I play chess normally I am easily bothered by distractions.

Every time I have written a computer program I've tried to visualize ahead of time the different parts in my mind.  Some people might do this on paper but I might spend hours just thinking about it before I write any code.

Housing prices

Although the Zillow estimate on housing value might not be perfect, it is a pretty good judge of which way the market is going.

The housing prices in Salt Lake City have gone through the roof. The house that I paid $130,000 back in 1999 is now estimated to be worth $647,000. I sold it for a fraction of that.

Indiana is not as bad, but it seems recently that prices have taken off. The home I purchased less than 3 years ago is up by 25% from what I paid. My previous home in New Whiteland that I paid $120,000 for six years ago is now estimated to be worth $220,000.

The key point is that I could not afford to move if I wanted to. I would have to sell my home first or make my next purchase contingent on selling my home first.

--

Best wishes,

John Coffey

http://www.entertainmentjourney.com

Columbus, Indiana

I just heard on the radio that Columbus, Indiana is going to celebrate its bicentennial. I was in Columbus when they were celebrating their 150th anniversary. I attended a parade. What a way to remind me of how old I am getting.

--

Best wishes,

John Coffey

http://www.entertainmentjourney.com

Columbus Chess Club anniversary of sorts.

I first went to the Columbus Chess Club 46 years ago *today*. The club started in either 1972 or 1973.

Half a century seems to go by pretty quickly.

--

Best wishes,

John Coffey

http://www.entertainmentjourney.com

What exactly are mushrooms? What are they made of? They're not vegetables?

I am not thrilled with the idea of eating a fungus.  They are pretty good on pizza.  While I was in college I would occasionally eat deep-fried mushrooms, but it has been at least 35 years since I last did that.  Why eat deep-fried mushrooms when you could eat french fries or onion rings?

The bulk of the information is in the first half of the video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gkaJoIIBAVA

Don't be insecure

 

Enthusiam

 

Integrity

 

What Are You Doing With Your Life? The Tail End

This video seems particularly relevant to my life, and prophetic.  It is more of a casual observation, but the shoe fits.

Coroner identifies man found deceased under Anderson bridge | News | heraldbulletin.com

I worked with Eric at two different companies in Salt Lake City. We were friends and sometimes ate lunch together. He once did me a favor by getting something for me at Sam's Club when I didn't have a membership. However, over a decade ago it seemed like he was starting to have mental health problems. It is surprising that he passed away in Indiana. I wouldn't have recognized him from the picture. He was normally clean-shaven and I remember him from when he was much younger and doing well.

At this point, it would be hard to count the number of people that I have known who have passed away.

https://www.heraldbulletin.com/news/coroner-identifies-man-found-deceased-under-anderson-bridge/article_bd9ee9b0-b980-11eb-98aa-176e8afedd83.html

I walked at dusk

Playing The Playstation 5 On A Sony CRT TV

Get a load of this TV.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2EQ8gZ9BgM

I had a couple of 33 inch regular TV's that I got for free and they weighed 156 pounds. Two of us had extreme trouble lifting one of these. I decided that they weren't worth the trouble and gave them away.

Robison Crusoe

The book Robison Crusoe is a little over 300 years old. I read it as a teenager.

It is one of the most widely published books.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robinson_Crusoe

--

Best wishes,

John Coffey

http://www.entertainmentjourney.com

Can't Focus? It's Not Your Fault, You're Being Tricked. This is How.

https://youtu.be/h6bIhubBA_k

I have a problem with YouTube addiction, which I am trying to manage.  My problem is that YouTube has a great deal of content that I find interesting.  I suppose that any form of entertainment is an escape from reality.

It's not you. Phones are designed to be addicting...

https://youtu.be/NUMa0QkPzns  

The following uses very crude language, but he is not wrong:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4t53Y8eBfzI

I'm not sure if this is helpful...

https://youtu.be/q_xm5Weu3nE

#15 puzzle

I used to be fond of the #15 puzzle, and even Bobby Fischer was fond of it. The 19nth century puzzle maker Sam Lloyd claimed that he invented it, but it was actually invented by a 19nth century postmaster named Noyes Chapman.

It seems to me that the puzzle is a precursor to the Rubicks' Cube. Both involve sliding pieces in a limited way. It is possible to take apart and reassemble both in a way that can't be solved. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/15_puzzle

--

Best wishes,

John Coffey

http://www.entertainmentjourney.com

Cataract

I went to a new optometrist in Columbus, who recommends that I have a cataract in my good eye removed.  I'm supposed to make an appointment at South Emmerson in Indianapolis to be evaluated.  I have had a cataract in my good eye for at least ten years.  Since I only have one good eye, Doctors in Salt Lake City recommended that I do nothing until this condition got worse.   According to the Optometrist, I have progressed from stage 1 to roughly stage 2.5.  I am only seeing about 20/40, whereas in the past I was correctable to 20/30, which is about as good as my heavily nearsighted eyes can get.  It appeared to me while driving, especially at night, that my vision was a little off.

I don't know yet when the operation will be, but I am holding off on some other plans I had until I find out.  I am told that this operation might correct my much of nearsightedness.

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Best wishes,

John Coffey

http://www.entertainmentjourney.com

Nice quote

Remember warming up the TV before watching it?

For those who don't remember, on powering up really old televisions the image would start as a dot in the middle of the screen, and then expand. It might only take a couple of seconds to a few seconds to reach full size. The reason for this is that old televisions used vacuum tubes instead of transistors, and these needed warming up. I remember going to a repair shop that had dozens of different types of tubes for replacement parts.

Sometime in the mid-1970s, manufacturers began to advertise televisions that were "Instant On". Since many of these TV's still used vacuum tubes, I noticed that these TV's kept some of the vacuum tubes powered up even when the TV was "off". I could tell because most vacuum tubes glowed. Many old televisions had heat vents toward the back and an orange glow would emanate from these vents. It would light up the wall behind my television.  The TV also put out a great deal of heat.

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Best wishes,

John Coffey

http://www.entertainmentjourney.com

My long distant past keeps catching up with me

My long distant past keeps catching up with me, especially on Facebook.

Leroy Watson

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1:12 PM

Leroy sent Today at 1:12 PM

Are you the one that wrote the BASIC compiler from JRC Software? If you are I just wanted to say I really liked that program and learned a lot from it.

2:40 PM

You sent Today at 2:40 PM

Yes. That was me. I wasn't terribly happy with that program because I thought that I could make it better but I didn't have the time. I am trying to explore the 2068 computer again because I am retired and I have the time. I have an idea for a video game that I want to write. I worked for videogame companies in Utah from 1993 to 2000.

You can now message and call each other and see info like Active Status and when you've read messages.

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Best wishes,

John Coffey

http://www.entertainmentjourney.com

Amish Facts: These Amazing Facts Will Teach You More About Their Culture

https://definition.org/amazing-facts-amish-will-make-appreciate-culture/22/

According to this article, the Amish population in the United States has increased rather dramatically to about 300,000.  I find this number surprising because it means that roughly one in a thousand people in the United States is of the Amish faith.  

There is or was a community of Amish people living somewhere between Scottsburg and Salem, Indiana.  I was born in Salem.  When I lived in Scottsburg back in the 1980s, I saw some of them in a buggy while driving to Salem, even though I didn't take that trip very often.  I would on rare occasion see a few of them in Scottsburg, and I met and talked with an Amish young man in the mid-1980s.   My impression of him was not very favorable.  He seemed to me to be remarkably ignorant, but I assume that his faith does not encourage knowledge beyond what he needs for life in his community.  Because of this, I feel like his faith is repressive, although he no doubt chooses that lifestyle.

How Crash Bandicoot Hacked The Original Playstation | War Stories | Ars Technica

I find this interesting as a former videogame programmer.  When the game came out, some programmers thought of it is as not true 3D, although actually, it is.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=izxXGuVL21o

Denny's

It took me 3.5 days to drive to Salt Lake City in 1993.  I would stop at restaurants that were familiar to me, especially, Denny's, because I had a pretty good idea of what I was going to get.  So I used to really like them and associated them with a good dining experience, but I went to one in Fort Union, Utah around 2014 and I was disappointed.  I had fried chicken tenders and french fries, but this seemed to be the typical type of thing on their menu.  Plus the booths were small and crowded together.  

TV Resolution

A couple of months ago I decided to temporarily swap my 4K 55" smart TV with my Step-Dad and Mom's 40" dumb 1080P TV that I had purchased for them as a Christmas gift.  They need a bigger screen more than I do.  I watch most stuff on my computer anyway.

Comet TV is one of the few broadcast stations that I can get.  It broadcasts re-runs of Sci-Fi TV shows and mostly terrible Sci-Fi movies.  I occasionally watch shows on it.

Unfortunately, Comet TV broadcasts only in 480i, which is also the same resolution as videotape and CRT televisions.  On my 4K TV, it looks absolutely terrible.  Surprisingly, on the 1080P TV that I am now using, it doesn't look so bad.

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Best wishes,

John Coffey

http://www.entertainmentjourney.com

Unlucky last night

I was unlucky last night because I either hit something on I65 that destroyed my tire or I had a blowout. While driving southbound on I65, I heard a loud bang. I didn't see any debris on the road that would have caused this. I immediately pulled over to the side of the road. There was a policeman in the median right where I pulled off, apparently trying to catch speeders driving northbound. I thought that he might volunteer assistance, but I'm not sure that he even noticed me. I was going to call my Geico Roadside Assistance anyway.

I got out of the car and looked at my tires, and none appeared flat. So I thought that maybe the car is still drivable and that I could make it to the Edinburg exit three miles down the road, but after driving another half mile it was obvious that something was wrong with the car.

However, I had a problem with my Geico Roadside Assistance. After calling people for 25 minutes and keeping me on hold, they couldn't find anyone on their network to help me. So they told me to call 911. I called 911, which gave me a number of a wrecker service in Edinburgh, but they couldn't help. They gave me a number of a wrecker service in Columbus who also couldn't help, so the Columbus service gave me the number of Graham Wrecker Service in Franklin which came and helped me by changing the tire. I got home safe after a 90-minute delay.

Fortunately, I have a road hazard warranty on all my tires. The last time I had to wait days for the replacement tire, but I have an appointment for 3PM tomorrow for a replacement tire and an oil change.

What lessons can I learn from this? I felt pretty vulnerable stranded at night on the side of the Interstate with hundreds of cars and trucks going by at deadly speed. It was very frustrating that my Roadside Assistance service couldn't help me. (I'm going to call them back to complain and likely get a reimbursement for my expenses.) It might be wise to know a few wrecker services in your area and have them programmed into your phone. I am also going to investigate whether it is worthwhile to get a different Roadside Assistance service.

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Best wishes,

John Coffey

http://www.entertainmentjourney.com

Johnny Nash - I Can See Clearly Now

First day of spring! I celebrated with a lengthy bike ride. I am optimistic for the future. I can see clearly now the rain is gone ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FscIgtDJFXg

The #1 Factor For Achieving Success (Online)

I really like this video.  Although the speaker is talking about online success, I think that his advice applies to any type of success.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6esv0ceuV64

Re: Koreans Try American BBQ For the FIRST TIME! Pork Ribs, Pulled Pork & Brisket

Speaking of which, I went to a BBQ place in Salt Lake City that had breaded french fries.  I have never seen breaded french fries anywhere else, but they were delicious.

On Mon, Mar 8, 2021 at 10:14 PM John Coffey wrote:

I find this amusing.  I've tried some different kinds of Asian foods, although I don't remember if Korean was one of them, although I think so.  I tried Vietnamese, but I wasn't thrilled with it.  I sometimes would eat at a couple of different Japanese restaurants, one of which had a lot of fried tempura, which tastes great.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0kEXWjMo3dY

As far as I am concerned, the best food I ever had was at a Persian restaurant in Salt Lake City.  The restaurant was in the back of a Persian grocery store.  I also really like beef brisket.