Paul Anka bringing an old school style as host. With a name for the band suggested to Brian Epstein by John Lennon, the Cyrkle with their big hit by Paul Simon, “Red Rubber Ball”. Lesley Gore looking like she was expecting to be on Lawrence Welk. Peter and Gordon singing Paul McCartney’s “Woman”. And much, much more!
Shuffle Off to Buffalo
This was the big one that made the Depression bearable, and showed MGM it wasn’t the only studio that could produce musicals. Warner Brothers’ 42nd Street, released one week after FDR was inaugurated.
He Alone Could Break It
“Nobody knows the system better than me.
Which is why I alone can fix it.”
– Donald Trump at the 2016 National Republican Convention
So this self-proclaimed stable genius, who knew more than everybody else about everything, and was always five steps ahead of the pack, was done in by a rigged election.
The Democrats, who are supposed to be so inept and clueless, were able to coordinate a massive, surreptitious fraud initiative across numerous states to unseat Trump.
Even if you buy into that nonsense, wouldn’t you rather go with the team that was able to outmaneuver him so effectively, despite twice failing to get an impeachment conviction?
Support Your Local Public Library
Banned book display at my town’s library.
Forward as a Backup
This blog/site was down for a while today. Note: going to dograt.com is the same as accessing www.dograt.com.
C:\WINDOWS\system32>ping dograt.com Pinging dograt.com [173.254.3.155] with 32 bytes of data: Request timed out. Request timed out. Request timed out. Request timed out. Ping statistics for 173.254.3.155: Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 0, Lost = 4 (100% loss)
I don’t know why it was down. Stuff happens, as I know all too well from my many years working with computers, enterprise class as well as consumer grade. It came back briefly before crashing again, but now it seems to be holding. While it was down, SMTP continued to work.
C:\WINDOWS\system32>ping mail.dograt.com
Pinging mail.dograt.com [173.254.3.155] with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 173.254.3.155: bytes=32 time=55ms TTL=54
Reply from 173.254.3.155: bytes=32 time=58ms TTL=54
Reply from 173.254.3.155: bytes=32 time=55ms TTL=54
Reply from 173.254.3.155: bytes=32 time=61ms TTL=54
Ping statistics for 173.254.3.155:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 55ms, Maximum = 61ms, Average = 57ms
Although I had no direct access to my mail service via IMAP, I forward everything to Microsoft Mail. That made it possible for me to continue directing e-mail through my domain. The Department of Redundancy Department in action.
A Very Late, But Nice, Surprise
I’ll say it again. I keep Verizon FiOS TV for only one reason.
Q: Do I need a Cable TV or Satellite TV subscription to use Watch TCM?
A: Yes. You must be subscribed to Turner Classic Movies at home through a cable or satellite TV provider in order to use Watch TCM.
Not only can Turner Classic Movies be watched live in HD with WatchTCM…
… after airing, movies are available for on-demand viewing.
TCM is on FiOS TV standard definition channel 230. Having TCM available only in SD, unlike other cable TV providers, I haven’t watched channel 230 since WatchTCM became a reliable online platform.
Tonight I was stunned to see TCM appearing in HD on FiOS TV channel 730. Verizon sends me all sorts of messages and promotions, but there was nothing from them at all about this long overdue upgrade. It doesn’t really matter to me anymore, because of WatchTCM. I’m nonetheless very pleased they’re finally offering TCM in HD because it was something I had wanted for a long time. I’m recording Thunderbird 6 right now.
Update – February, 2025: Verizon has forced a replacement of the DVR with a Fios TV One. TCM picture quality is terrible. It’s obvious even on my 32″ 720p bedroom TV, let alone the JVC projector, when comparing Fios TV against Watch TCM on a Roku stick. TCM needs to become a streaming subscription service on its own.