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.

there will Never Ever be another Simpsons episode like Homer's Enemy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tq-qU_GCCLI

I had seen at least part of the episode "Homer's Enemy", but never gave it much thought.

I only on rare occasion watch the Simpsons, but I enjoy it, and I especially enjoyed the early years.  I had never seen the show until I had a chance in the 1990s to work a little on a Simpsons videogame, so I took an interest in it.  

There is an almost universal consensus that starting with Season 9 Episode 2, "The Principal and the Pauper", with an absurd storyline about Principal Skinner being an imposter, the show went into decline.  

I am amazed that the show has lasted 32 seasons.  In one of the episodes celebrating something like the 500th episode, there is some text in the end credits that says, "Think of all the things you could have accomplished if you hadn't watched this show."

Happier times, maybe

Our family used to go to this place, and I loved it.  I remember the food being pretty good.  Sometime between 1974 and 1977, while I was in Jr. High School, there was a tornado that hit Columbus, Indiana.  I remember it well.  It tore the roof off of the King's Table building while people were inside dining.  The restaurant reopened (I think) but eventually went out of business.  That location is now a gas station.

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Best wishes,

John Coffey

http://www.entertainmentjourney.com

Letter to a national Timex Sinclair Computer User Group.

Hello,

My name is John Coffey.  I was a Timex-Sinclair enthusiast in the 1980s.  I wrote some utilities and things that I sold. Around the beginning of 1986, I finished and self-published a videogame called Diamond Mike.  I no longer have a copy of this game, although if one were to turn up someplace, I would love to get a copy.

Also in 1986, I ported the Diamond Mike game to the Atari ST, with slightly better graphics, and I do have copies of this, although I don't own either computer anymore.

In 1993, I went to Utah to work for a videogame developer.  I would eventually end up working for a company that made satellite communication systems.  I retired from this company and returned to Indiana.

I am currently trying to learn software development on iOS and Android.

Just as many people are still enthusiasts for the 8-bit era, including writing new games for the Atari 2600 or the Nintendo Entertainment System, I feel that the potential of the 2068 was never fully realized, and I have ideas for 1 or 2 games that I want to develop for it.  This is not for profit.  I only want to do it because I love the 2068 computer.

To do this I would need to get an emulator, learn to use it, and maybe find an assembler that I can use.  Back in the 1980s, I wrote my own assembler, and a compiler, but I don't have any of these anymore.

This project would not do me much good if there were no 2068 enthusiasts around anymore.  I want to write something that I can share with other people.  

Best wishes,

John Coffey

First COVID-19 vaccination

A couple of hours ago I got my first COVID-19 vaccination. It was the Pfizer vaccine, which is the one I wanted since I was able to make an appointment for my next vaccine just three weeks from now.

I didn't even feel the shot. This was no worse than a flu shot. However, my arm immediately started feeling sore. It still feels a little sore, but not very much. Afterward, I had to wait in an observation area for 15 minutes which was no problem.

ATARI ST Diamond Mike v2 0 By John Coffey & JRC Software

This video shows the gameplay of Diamond Mike on the Atari ST.  In 1986, I ported the game from the 2068 computer to the Atari ST computer.  The graphics are a little better on the Atari ST.

Some of the later levels not shown here are more visually interesting and more complicated.  It is not clear if the person showing the game fully understands how to play the game.  It appears as if he doesn't.

The demo appears to be running on an Atari ST emulator.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h139l3H2rnk

An American Original - Timex/Sinclair

In the early days of computing and videogames, magazines devoted to specific systems were very popular.  By 1986, the Sinclair and Timex-Sinclair lines of computers were a dying brand, but they had a very devoted set of followers, of which I was one.  The primary feature of the Timex-Sinclair 2068 computer was its relatively low price of $200.  Compare that to the Commodore-64 introduced in 1983 at $595, which is around $1600 in today's dollars.  Other brands of computers were higher.  Most of these were way too cost-prohibitive for me, so I went with the cheapest model, but I happened to very much like the brand.

I did an internet search for a videogame I wrote in 1985/1986 called, "Diamond Mike".  I found a magazine that I had completely forgotten about where I had a quarter-page ad on page 34 for the game, along with another quarter page of products that I was selling, most of which I don't remember selling.  I think that I had entered into some kind of partnership with another company to sell their products.  The wording of the ad looks somewhat unprofessional like it was written by me, which it was, but this was typical of these relatively obscure magazines of the time.  I think that I had the advertisement typeset by a professional printer because in those days we didn't have modern computers to help us do that.  The game was in color, but the magazine was black and white, so the advertisement is Black and White.

The magazine did a "review" of the game on page 4.  Essentially they were scratching my back for buying advertising.  The wording of the "review" isn't that different from my advertisement, and they also said a few nice words.

https://www.timexsinclair.com/article/an-american-original/

The graphics capabilities of the 2068 computer were not as quite good as the more expensive brands, and since I did my own artwork and I am by no means an artist, the graphics of the game are pretty basic.  This was typical for many computer games of the time.  What I could do well is write efficient code in "machine language", which is the internal language of the CPU chip.   An honest review of my game would have said that it was an imitation of another game called "Boulder Dash", but when "Boulder Dash" was ported to the 2068 computer months later, its code ran too slow.  They didn't do a good job on the port.  They should have gotten me to write the game.

This kind of work eventually led me to get a job in the videogame industry.

Snow

Yesterday I had to dig my car out, with some help from the neighbors, to go get some groceries. I had to dig out the tires twice to get the car back into the garage. I tried a couple of times to shovel the driveway, but it kept snowing so I gave up. I might try again tomorrow, but I have kind of resigned myself to staying home. It is supposed to all melt on Sunday and Monday, although we might get some more snow Sunday night.

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Best wishes,

John Coffey

http://www.entertainmentjourney.com

Water Moccasin Attack

As if there aren't enough things trying to kill me, I would have to worry about fishing.

https://youtube.com/shorts/IZyD7Fy9B7s

As a child, I went fishing several times with relatives on my mother's side.

Salad

How Microsoft Flight Simulator Recreated Our Entire Planet

No need to watch the whole thing.  I think that this program is awesome.  I will shortly have a game membership with Microsoft where I will be able to run this simulator on my computer.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0w7q1ZFfsxs

How To Never Be Boring In Conversation

I probably fail on all 4 points ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8BAGGEM4AwQ

AMC theater chain

Before the Dark Times, I had an A-List membership at AMC theaters where I could see up to 3 movies per week for $20 per month. Not a bad deal, but I typically saw only about 1 movie each week.

AMC suspended this program back in March when their theaters were forced to close, but they reopened their theaters in the summer at which time they informed me that I had till December 1st to reactivate my membership. They have a weird rule that if you quit the program then you have to wait 6 months to get back in, so I don't necessarily want to quit, but at the same time I don't want to go back to movie theaters until a vaccine is widely available.

Fortunately, they just extended the deadline to March 1st.  I am hoping that things will be much better by then.

For the last eight months, there were rumors that AMC is on the verge of bankruptcy. I imagine that this applies to many businesses. AMC is owned by Wanda Group, which is a Chinese company located in Beijing.

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Best wishes,

John Coffey

Amazon.com: Fire HD 10 Tablet (10.1" 1080p full HD display, 32 GB)

Last year I was watching the rave reviews for this $150 Amazon tablet. When they had it on sale for $100 during Black Friday week, I figured that was a great deal, but I also figured that I didn't really need another tablet. This year it is only $80 for the Black Friday sale, so I decided that for that price I could use it to test Android apps that I want to write.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07KD8R6HD?fbclid=IwAR1UP1JvLhHEmXl-T_iJGQSGgF29RE1xLJgOADhw5RPd3qLyy-5PriZPRiA&th=1

The Challenger Disaster: STS-51-L Helicopter Camera

I recently watched a 4 episode documentary on Netflix about the Challenger disaster.  This event happened at an important time in my life shortly after the death of my father in 1986.  The documentary demonstrates that people knew there was a problem and made poor decisions because they considered the risk to be minor.

I just happened to come across a video on youtube that shows the disaster from a slightly different perspective than what I have seen before.

https://youtu.be/YV-75Hg0nMc

Vacation?

I'm not one much for travel. I used to love to go places when I was younger, but less so now that I am older. However, when this pandemic is over, or reasonably under control, which could be as much as nine months from now, it might be interesting to take a vacation. I have no idea where, but a change of scenery would be nice. There is quite a bit of the country that I haven't been to yet.  

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Best wishes,

John Coffey

http://www.entertainmentjourney.com

Human Behaviors that Dogs Hate and Wish You Wouldn't Do

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbuT_TY51_E

These are interesting.  I like dogs, but not only am I allergic, but a dog would be too much investment in time for me.  

religious discussion on Facebook (just FYI. I mean no offense to anyone.)

Andrew Porter

My advice: don't count on the elusive pipe dream that "science" will one day achieve through human effort the immortality that God says can be attained only by believing in His Son Jesus Christ. "And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment." (Hebrews 9:27)

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• John Coffey

  I mean no offense to you, but I am not a Christian. Like all the other 4,300 religions on the planet, there is no credible evidence that any of them are real. I lean toward pantheism, but I think that it is impossible to know, making me a pantheist leaning agnostic.

  I take comfort in knowing that there is no answer. Why? Because it means that this life matters and what we do here matters, and it is not just some test to prepare us for the next life. It also means that life is what we choose to make it, and not what others tell us life should be.

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• John Coffey

  Regardless of what one believes, the technological trends that are already in motion will continue.

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• Andrew Porter

  No offense taken, my friend. I know you are not a Christian, but I also know that you have always been respectful toward those with whom you disagree. That attitude is becoming rarer and rarer in our culture - I salute you for it. But on what basis do you assert that "this life matters"? On your world view we live, we die, and we're done. So what? I came to the firm conclusion, purely through logic and observation, that there MUST be a Creator. Taht's a crucial starting point, but it's not enough. From there, I investigated thoroughly and came to believe what I do about the Bible, etc. Without God, there is no ultimate purpose. Everything is senseless, random, nothingness. I don't believe that for one second, and furthermore I would not want to live in a purposeless universe. "For what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood from His workmanship, so that men are without excuse." (Romans 1)

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• John Coffey

  I don't know why you would already know that I am not a Christian, not that it matters, but I find it a curiosity that you already understood this.

  Just for clarification, my position is far more nuanced than what you claim I believe. None of what you said describes accurately what I believe. I lean toward pantheism. There could be a higher power, but I think that it is impossible to know.

  That doesn't offend me. You seem deeply religious. I understand. I have been there. I have nothing but the 

  best wishes

  .

  John Coffey

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• Andrew Porter

  I knew this from this and several other fb posts I've seen from you over the years.

  I didn't mean to misrepresent your position. Feel free to correct/clarify where I did so as I would prefer to address one's *actual* beliefs/position rather than some unintended straw man.

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• John Coffey

  I don't want to get into a lengthy discussion. I will just try to clarify since you asked.

  I want to believe that there is something beyond this life, but I think that it is impossible to know. I am content with not knowing since I don't think that we can know. I prefer to base my beliefs on what we can prove, and if there is something beyond that then great.

  If there is no God then life still has a purpose. We can be here for each other. Pantheism appeals to me logically because if the entire universe and God are the same thing then we are all connected. This belief leads to empathy for others.

Andrew Porter
Thank you. I won't press the issue per your desire not to have an ongoing discussion here on fb. If you ever *want* to discuss these issues further - online or in person (preferred) - I would be open to have that discussion with you. Best regards!

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Best wishes,

John Coffey

http://www.entertainmentjourney.com