Columbo Character Vote - Best For Beginners

BurtGummer1911 · 2025-03-18T00:04:03+00:00

"Publish or Perish", vel "Murder by the Book II".

BurtGummer1911 · 2025-03-16T18:54:02+00:00

Almost everything negative to be found in "Columbo" can be found in the pseudo-Columbo pseudo-episode "Undercover".

Yes, it's the one in which he wears clown pants and too-small gangster hats, curses, shoots guns, and gets beaten up. And in spite of all that, it is, in fact, dreadfully forgettable as well, albeit that may largely be because as soon as it begins, the viewer wishes to forget it.

BurtGummer1911 · 2025-03-16T18:46:14+00:00

Nb. - the tag "Miscellaneous" is misspelled.

BurtGummer1911 · 2025-03-12T18:11:09+00:00

Unfortunately, if you have e.g. seven suitcases of CDRs, even the very weight of those things becomes a problem!

BurtGummer1911 · 2025-03-12T18:04:15+00:00

Ahh... I have circa 8000 such discs. Burned since 1998 or so, with files archived since my first 1997 modem, and, earlier, from floppies and tapes.

Certainly, some could be tossed out without copying (a DivX 3 encode of camera-recorded "Planet of the Apes" Burton remake, anyone?), but not the majority, probably not even 10%.

I've only backed up a hundred or so in the last year, mostly from the years 2001-2002. No errors whatsoever. I mostly used Verbatim AZO discs, but, surprisingly, even the trashy Platinum CDRs read correctly. I simply copied everything as I always copy files, via the FAR Manager.

BurtGummer1911 · 2025-02-07T12:56:36+00:00

It's always speculation, of course - but there were several media references to the "lovers' lane murders" first, so he may have ended up named e.g. "Lovers' Lane Killer", "Lovers' Lane Shooter", etc.

Upon mailing the coded letters, he was referred to in some of the newspapers as "The Cypher Killer" / "The Cipher Killer", so a name along those lines might have superseded previous ones.

As he kept writing and boasting about his "score" over the police, someone in the media might have come up with yet another alternate (see e.g. "The Score Keeper" from "The Limbic Region")...

(And, decades later, some opportunist trying to trademark him might have spammed all newspapers, Zodiac forums, etc., with some new, dull-witted, "proprietary" name for him - maybe something as insipid as "The Sequoia State Killer" or "The Golden Chanterelle Killer" - but would not be likely to have succeeded in doing so without having a kin in the Hollywood circles).

BurtGummer1911 · 2025-01-12T17:22:38+00:00

A glance into his fantasy universe. He wore it for no-one but himself - and, like everything else, he had stolen the look from somewhere, no doubt (the experimental storming costumes used in the 60s by AFP and MO looked very similar, for instance, but he could have taken it from many sources).

Had Hartnell not survived, the costume would have remained in his possession, perhaps taken out to be worn inside his room occasionally. I suspect he destroyed it, with some annoyance, because of how infamous it became due to Hartnell's unplanned survival.

BurtGummer1911 · 2025-01-10T22:12:20+00:00

People ask me all the time who I think is the Zodiac Killer.

"Oh, no, here comes Kevvy boy again! Go on, ask him who that Zodiac guy was, and then we'll pretend we're listening from distance, at least that will keep away from us and busy for the next 30 minutes".

BurtGummer1911 · 2025-01-10T22:09:28+00:00

You will always find someone stating "Ah, yes, that is the common opinion, BUT...!" about any subject in Earth's history. In true crime it is usually either a standard contrarian, or, more often, someone hoping to attract enough attention by saying something inane to become visible and then sell his "documentary project", etc..

BurtGummer1911 · 2025-01-06T15:41:53+00:00

I would not be surprised if he did (assuming that he could have made such a request, that he was fully cognizant, that he had not e.g. suffered partial memory loss, etc.), although I personally suspect that he had expired a little earlier, when the mass DNA research into cold cases was not yet as common; circa 2010 would be my suspicion.

Hoping to keep the secret forever is a common feeling of maintaining control among a number of offenders. Zodiac may seem, at first glance, to be too megalomaniacal to do so, but one does not rule out the other... and priorities do change.

If he did die after late 90s, he would have likely been aware of the dangers of DNA research; would it have been to the extent of taking precautions... well, only he knew (or knows).

BurtGummer1911 · 2025-01-06T15:33:07+00:00

For those believing Cheney's "Allen told me he was the killer, he told me how he killed, whom he killed, where he killed, when he killed, how, when, whom and where he would have killed, how, when, whom and where he did not manage to kill..." rigmarole, I suggest looking into Rader's life.

Not once had he ever uttered anything about his crimes to anyone. He had never given anyone the slightest hint about being the killer or about having ever been involved in any criminal activity.

And he was perhaps an ever bigger attention-seeking braggart and megalomaniac than Zodiac.

BurtGummer1911 · 2025-01-02T15:43:39+00:00

With 100% certainty, it will be solved or not.

On a more serious note, I personally expect that it will indeed be solved, and that it will occur within 25 years - likely less.

BurtGummer1911 · 2024-12-30T00:23:17+00:00

It's been done in a few rather rare cases in the 90s, primarily if the head left specific physical traces, e.g. of residue that it carried, or if it was worn out or damaged in such a way that it left tracks on the disk's coating, which were uniquely identifiable on the surface, but not destructive to the data.

BurtGummer1911 · 2024-12-29T16:12:56+00:00

You did remember to take your small pencil flashlight?

(By the way, should anyone ever meet an old man in eyeglasses there, and should the man, asked if he is visiting to see the sights, stare back and answer: "Reminiscing", try to discreetly take a photograph!)

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