AND… WE’RE BACK!

tacky-tv

What an ordeal.

Once Verizon bumped off its FIOS service to Frontier Communications on April Fool’s Day (appropriately enough) stuff happened.

We started hearing an unidentifiable *beep* from somewhere in the house, but it was of such short duration we couldn’t pinpoint the source. We timed it, and the missus and I positioned ourselves in various spots every 15 minutes attempting to triangulate it with no luck. We were hunting for an electronic cricket and after unplugging/dismantling every thing we knew that could beep, it kept recurring.  We thought we we’d been pranked by a friend, cursed him while searching likely spots he might have hidden a quarter-sized “beeper.” No dice.

On a whim I opened up the FAU closet and found the culprit. There was the Verizon FIOS equipment, and every 15 minutes it was telling us that its backup battery was dead. Bastards.

BEEP

So I reset the alarm, yanked the battery. Silence for 24 hours, and then it began again – every fifteen minutes.  Hitting the reset button daily was a temporary solution, but we could finally get some sleep without that infernal beeping.

Perhaps it was just a coincidence, that I’d only imagined that the Utoobage was stuttering. Nah.

Then BAM.

Nine days later, our landline and internest access crapped out. The landline came back, but internet access and WIFI was dead. I called Frontier Communications. Technicians would be out the following day between 8AM and 6PM (a tight window) so I took the following day off without pay, as did the Frontier Communications techs who didn’t bother to show up or call to cancel the appointment.

Buh-bye, Frontier Communications.

NO FC

Time Warner Cable has been deluged with calls from disgruntled Verizon / Frontier Communications subscribers to set up new services, so we waited it out.  Three “appointments” later, Time Warner Cable finally came through this morning.

I never realized how much we depend on internest access, and having to watch TV only added to the torture. Instead, I watched “End Of The Century” and “The Imitation Game,” and read Elliot Carson’s excellent book “Joe Rochefort’s War.”

Anyway, we’re back. Thanks for your patience, and we’ll try to make up for lost time.

Bunk

[Related post here, and no, that’s not me in the .gif.]

Honka Chicka Hot Links

HonkaChica

Wallington Chevron sells Seattle Propane, and it’s a gas [via].

Daddy’s really thirsty.

Perspiration goes “Poof.”

Google “Run Hog Face” and this is one of the image results.

This is awesome. And so is this.

https://twitter.com/DRUDGE/status/718893221242347520

That should outrage everyone regardless of one’s political affiliation. Integrity in journalism is dead. Welcome to the world of Pravda.

[Top image found here.]

 

 

Saturday Matinee – USS Hartford Breaks The Ice, Remi Gaillard & Ray Charles

ARCTIC CIRCLE (March 10, 2016)
USS Hartford (SSN 768) surfaces in the Arctic Circle near Ice Camp Sargo during Ice Exercise (ICEX) 2016. Servicemembers and civilians assigned to Arctic Submarine Lab clear ice from the hatches to allow for surface access. ICEX is a five-week exercise designed to research, test, and evaluate operational capabilities in the region [via].

Remi Gaillard’s Blind Man [via].

Ray Charles was the best. Have a great weekend, folks. We’ll be back here tomorrow, rain or shine.

1964 Soviet Taxi Prototype

1964 Soviet Taxi Prototype 5

Even a babushka with a baby carriage full of pea soup fits in, without a drop spilled. The car never made it to production, but the concept is interesting, given the state of automotive manufacturing in the USSR at the time.
[Click the images below for full size.]

This unique test car was designed in 1964 based on components of “Moskvich-408”. It successfully passed performance tests in Moscow and was recommended for serial production In Yerevan, but due to different reasons it didn’t go this far…

[Caption with more photos here.]

Saturday Matinee – The South Memphis String Band, Bascom Lamar Lundsford & The Allman Bros. Band

The South Memphis String Band is a bit traditional and a bit unorthodox in their approach to country bluegrass and blues. Here’s their version of “Jesse James.”

“Jesse James” was first recorded by Bascom Lamar Lundsford in 1924. He played and promoted traditional Appalachian folk music and styles from the previous century.

The Allman Brothers‘ version of “One Way Out,” recorded live on 2 November 1972 in Hempstead, New York:

“Ain’t but one way out baby,
Lord I just can’t go out the door;
Ain’t but one way out baby, and
Lord I just can’t go out the door;
‘Cause there’s a man down there,
might be your man I don’t know.”

Here’s a brief history of the song with links to earlier recordings.

Have a great weekend, folks. More fun is on the way.

The .Gif Friday Post No. 429 – Manufacturing Matchbox Cars in 1964

MATCHBOX CARS 1

MATCHBOX CARS 2

MATCHBOX CARS 3

MATCHBOX CARS 4

MATCHBOX CARS 5

MATCHBOX CARS 6

MATCHBOX CARS 7

MATCHBOX CARS 8

MATCHBOX CARS 9

MATCHBOX CARS 10

[This collection of .GIFs was found here. More on Matchbox here.]

Happy Maewyn Succat Day!

St. Patrick Stained Glass

aka Saint Patrick.

[Image found here. For more St. Patrick’s Day stuff, click here and follow the links.]

Hot Links Of The Apocalypse

Captain Beefheart

Meatball Parade has earworm potential.

The Mumble Song by the Charioteers.

Clark Terry mumbles the best. (Wait for the punchline.)

This is a big crack.

If someone calls you a punk, brat, jerk, dunce, fool, rube, bum, barbarian, cretin or a bunghole, he/she probably doesn’t know the source of those terms of endearment.

Flibberty Jib describes this Presidential Election cycle perfectly.

Captain Beefheart’s Ten Commandments.

Scantily-Clad Hot Links

kathakali-artist-makeup-kerala

“You cannot take any people, of any color, and exempt them from the requirements of civilization — including work, behavioral standards, personal responsibility and all the other basic things that the clever intelligentsia disdain — without ruinous consequences to them and to society at large.”Dr. Thomas Sowell

Everyone who saw the Superb Owl L Half-Time Show with the abhorrent tribute to The Black Panthers must read this.

This is how you sing You Belong To Me.

How to excavate a buried VW Microbus Single Cab with some really annoying music.

R.I.P. Lenny Baker 1946-2016. Dennis Green passed on last September. The guys were talented.

U.S lice infestation map mirrors Hillary’s popularity. Go figger.

[At top is the cropped image of an Indian Kathakali artist by photographer Joshi Daniel.]

I cat hear you.

cat hearing aid

[Found here.]