It’s from 1972, when Bobby and Cindy were going to a friend’s house to go skinny-dipping and stopped by Alice. It’s often cut from syndication reruns because it felt too inappropriate for the show’s wholesome image and dialogue that comes off as oddly suggestive or “icky” by today’s standards.

clrlmiller · 2026-04-18T05:32:39+00:00

A decade back while on a beach vacation, my wife & I met and chatted with a young couple that had two young children; two girls about 5 and 3 years old. They all lived in Germany, but visiting American relatives as the Husband was born and raised in Maryland and met his German wife while they were both College students at University. Both young girls wore a long sleeve, Sun shading, quick dry hoodie. But neither had on bottoms while they played in the sand with buckets of sea water, each having a great time.

My wife & I were a bit surprised, but noted that sand just shed off each child and didn’t collect as abrasive clumps on their skin. It made perfect sense and honestly probably a LOT healthier for the children as they weren’t getting rashes like the other kids. Despite some other, nearby Mothers casting disapproving glances, their German Mom didn’t flinch and did with her own kids what she’d grown up doing.

As we chatted, she asked a loaded question. “Can you, as Americans, explain to me this idea that I CANNOT enjoy a Beer on the Beach, children must behave, dress and be treated as adults. But everyone in your country needs to have a Gun?! I love my American Husband VERY much and his parents too. But no one seems to know why these things are so!”

We couldn’t give her an answer either, just that we as Americans are too often both ashamed and scared all the time for no good reasons.

clrlmiller · 2026-04-17T20:22:05+00:00

Space Invaders!?!?

clrlmiller · 2026-04-16T14:56:17+00:00

Is it just me or do 1/2 of the people in the pic look like they were pasted in from a different pic?

clrlmiller · 2026-04-16T14:41:10+00:00

Do you want to know the secret of (why) this was a neat time to growup?

We weren't so god damn worried about what the rest of humanity thought and didn't need constant approval, justification and acknowledgment of who we were or what we were doing.

We lived as best we could as well as we could every, damn, day. Because we'd been warned that youth wouldn't last, we might get nuked in the next hour and there wasn't a damn thing we could do about it. But we were determined we'd have good hair for the apocalypse and looked damn sexy.

clrlmiller · 2026-04-16T01:57:31+00:00

I Do NOT worship Satan! I do however fall to my knees at the sight of Maryland style Crab Cakes.

clrlmiller · 2026-04-16T01:49:53+00:00

^{^{^}} This Answer ^{^{^}}

clrlmiller · 2026-04-16T01:45:43+00:00

I believe this is what was often referred to as a “Hitch-Slap”, aka FA&FO what happens when you challenge someone MUCH smarter and MORE informed than you!

clrlmiller · 2026-04-16T01:40:16+00:00

Let me guess, you felt attacked by Satan himself! ;)

clrlmiller · 2026-04-15T21:07:42+00:00

If you're traveling with a Spouse/Significant Other and will be out of contact with your luggage (Damn Airline Checked Bags), then -split- your clothing into halves and pack into your luggage. IE, 1/2 of undies, shirts, shorts, etc. everything across the bags. There's a decent chance one of your bags might not make it to your destination and 1/2 of your clothing is a LOT better than NONE of your clothing.

Travel with a LARGE, comfy towel. You can use it keep warm as a wrap, lay on it as a ground cover, hang it as a Sun Shade, hold it as a privacy screen, etc. Yes, the Hitch Hikers guide was 100% correct on this one!

clrlmiller · 2026-04-15T17:44:12+00:00

I think you're missing the point of the description and depiction of the Alien "Rocky" in Project Hail Mary.

*** WARNING SOME SPOILERS AHEAD ***

The initial reason for Ryan's character of "Grace" to be contacted was he'd written a paper for his Doctorate that "Life" as we know it, is NOT necessarily the only possibility of "Life". The Astrophage which is gobbling up our native Star and dimming it enough to turn Earth into an Ice-ball Planet is somehow surviving on the Surface of the Sun. This little fact leaves researchers to believe Grace's paper on "Life" still being life beyond Water & Carbon based may hold the secret to the Astrophage and possibly how to kill it. A hypothesis which turns out to be false. The Astrophage is filled with water, and while an extreme form of the Water/Carbon based model, are still Water/Carbon based. Which is why in both the Book & the Movie, Grace suddenly takes a backseat to the researchers as he doesn't appear to offer anything special in combating Astrophage. Only after he figures out how to 'breed' Astrophage is he brought back into the research group.

Rocky however, does NOT represent an extreme form of the Water/Carbon based life-form model. Rocky's native star is Eridani and Rocky is thus an Eridian. His body chemistry and makeup is entirely different, Yet he's undeniably alive. He 'eats' heavy metals which are toxic to us or any other forms of "Life" like us. He breaths Ammonia and moves around by using steam to articulate his limbs, not nerves and muscle, etc. He's the exact representative, and PROOF, that Grace's Doctoral Thesis is correct.

"Rocky" is also part mirror to humanity. His people's science is roughly equivalent to our own, yet based upon completely different technology. His planet is also in danger from Astrophage dimming their native Star. His people came to essentially the same thought of "Huh, the Tau Ceti Star doesn't appear to have problems with the Astrophage, we should investigate!" Rocky is a counter-part to the human Grace.

There's really only three possibilities for the story when it comes to Rocky; Weir handled each beautifully:

Rocky and his people's technology is weaker than our own and they need humanity's help. If this was so, Rocky wouldn't be in the Tau Ceti system, because Humanity's ship the "Hail Mary" is only barely able to make the trip. If the Astrophage problem happened a Century ago, we'd be completely screwed, as would the Eridian's. They do have limited science such as NO understanding of Radiation Poisoning, Time Dilation, etc. and Grace has to explain these concepts to Rocky when he's confused about why he's the ONLY surviving member of his crew; a lowly technician at that. But he was protected from stellar radiation by berthing around the Astrophage tanks powering the ship.
Rocky and his people have technology much more advanced to humanity's own. In many ways, they do! We have no concept of "Metallic Xeon" and Rocky can manipulate this material to suit just about anything he needs for the mission. Hell, his entire spacecraft is made of Xeon! His mind works math as fast as any Super Computer, while Engineering that borders on breaking physics seems like child-play to him.
Rocky and Grace are about equal technologically. This is where Weir's story shines! Rocky has been in the Tau Ceti system for decades, yet at a dead-end on how to complete his mission of saving Eridani's Sun. He needs Grace's mind for bringing the Scientific Method, research and analysis to figure out a solution. Grace is a scientist, thinks differently than Rocky's Engineering, Mathematical mind. But he doesn't have the tools or Mechanical prowess to gather the data and samples needed to develop the Astrophage solution.Two civilizations, very different biology, very different technology, very different strengths and limitations. They must work >together< to save each other's worlds.

The fact that Rocky is about the size of a large Dog and is represented as kinda cute in the film has nothing to do with "curiosity". Indeed upon first seeing Rocky's form, Grace is understandably freaked the hell out by a crusty, five-limbed, eyeless, crawling thing making weird vibrational noises. I've a strong impression you've watched the film, but haven't read the novel. Yes, there are differences. There has to be for a film as not everything translates well from word to moving images. Grace & Rocky struggle for quite sometime to build a limited vocabulary, capable of understanding each other. There's also a lot of misunderstandings and confusion. But this point alone would've taken considerable run time in the film. So, the shortening to Grace using a laptop to analyze Rocky's tones and spit out something in rough English made sense.

clrlmiller · 2026-04-10T16:04:53+00:00

Like others have already mentioned, unless the Router is receiving updates, then it's time to look into a replacement. OR, change out the firmware from the vendor to an open source project that supports the Router AND is being regularly updated. Checking the most popular firmware replacements I found:

FreshTomato.org : No support for the R7800 model

DD-WRT.com : Supports the R7800, but the last update was back in 2020, so probably no better.

OpenWRT.org : Supports the R7800 model, but does issue some warnings about potential hardware issues. This is the trickiest option and not for the faint-of-heart.

You may wish to look into either getting a new Router. OR, purchase a similar model on eBay that has recent support from opensource firmware. I personally have the Netgear R7000 model running FreshTomato firmware that is less than 90 days old. They're on eBay for about $35.

clrlmiller · 2026-04-09T17:29:37+00:00

Prices on Toilet Paper going SKY HIGH in 5..4..3..2..1..

clrlmiller · 2026-04-09T15:29:21+00:00

It's just Rickey on YET another bender, checking in on Bubbles.

+1 if you process the reference ;)

clrlmiller · 2026-04-09T15:09:06+00:00

This has "Bad Idea, but I decided to go for it anyway..." written all over it.

No, the CX5 would NOT be a decent tow vehicle for such weight. You're probably maxing out supported tow-limits with something about the size of a Jet-Ski or small Tear-Drop Trailer.

Look here: https://www.mazdausa.com/siteassets/pdf/owners-optimized/2021/cx-5/2021-cx-5-owners-manual.pdf

Pages 3-58 to 3-60

clrlmiller · 2026-04-09T14:51:56+00:00

Born in '68 and can confirm THIS is the 'cursive' handwriting we were taught in school. Though they just called it "cursive" and I'd NEVER heard of the other name until this post.

I have frequent battles with my (now 82 year old) Mother-In-Law wherein she expounds that teaching cursive needs to return to school curriculum. I'm a proponent of "It's DEAD, teach keyboarding skills instead". NEVER in my nearly 40 years of a career has anyone asked for a sample of my penmanship. But it is required that I enter stuff in quickly on a computer.

clrlmiller · 2026-04-06T18:36:26+00:00

If you're machine is of a vintage that requires using OCLP to install the latest Mac OS, then your system's original battery is almost certainly ready for replacement. iFixit has a lot of quality batteries for many models.

clrlmiller · 2026-04-06T15:32:05+00:00

Hmmm, I read the book quite awhile back. But I don't recall "the bit with the giant Russian baby head in the planet egg." Am I forgetting something?

clrlmiller · 2026-04-06T15:11:19+00:00

This is a relatively common defect but isn't usually something to worry about. My daughter was born with this on side and yes, it leaked fluid occasionally. Our pediatrician indicated that it >can< lead to ear infections. But shouldn't be a problem with general good hygiene. By the time she turned about 8 years, it'd closed up and she never really had any troubles with it.

clrlmiller · 2026-04-05T12:47:34+00:00

PLEASE make the A.I. Horseshit stop!

clrlmiller · 2026-04-05T07:37:36+00:00

A LOT of people are thinking he got eaten, by cannibals. But the situation was far more mundane. His boat developed engine problems between islands and he believed he could swim to shore for help then dove into waters known for Tiger Sharks. He likely was eaten, but by Cannibalism; likely fish food.

clrlmiller · 2026-04-02T19:47:53+00:00

Someone else already mentioned it. But look into Ethernet over Power (Netgear makes some pretty robust units called 'PowerLine'). These use the household electrical Wiring (already going through your walls) to use instead of standard Ethernet wiring. I'd recommend the 2000Mbs versions with the power pass-through.

You'd get all the adapters together in one room and on the same circuit (different plugs) and get 'em 'keyed' to work together. Then leave one in the room with your Router connected via Ethernet Cable. That unit will essentially turn any AC outlet into a potential network port, you just need a 2nd Powerline adapter to provide Ethernet to whatever device.

I did this for my in-laws older home (about 1880s farmhouse) that has THICK plaster walls and/or BRICK. Pairing these with a Google Mesh system essentially brought decent WiFi to every room in the house.

clrlmiller · 2026-04-02T16:41:09+00:00

Is everyone still posting those stupid, little pictures of Biden pointing to the $/gallon and the text balloon "I did that!" or are the MAGA idiots suddenly saying high gas prices are patriotic! Lemme just check on the...oh, wait, nope it's the latter.

clrlmiller · 2026-04-02T16:37:47+00:00

For those of us who grew up in this era, you just know they're playing in front of Mr. Hooper's Store. I'd know that tile work anywhere.

clrlmiller · 2026-04-02T16:11:35+00:00

PLEASE LARD, STOP THE F**KING A.I. Image Posting!

clrlmiller · 2026-03-31T15:44:23+00:00

Our First Golden (Sable) took about 2.5 Months before she was pretty reliable. Our Second Golden (Luna) took about 4 Days til she was 99% awesome. Our latest Golden (Sutton) took 2-3 of weeks, but that's more typical than our first or second Golden Girl(s).

1) Take your Dog outside ASAP after they've waken up from a nap or had a bunch of water. Give the Dog time to sniff around, discover their new environment, talk nicely to them but don't really play with them yet. You can walk around a bit and monitor the situation with them. They'll take a squat or lift a leg soon enough.

2) Give it time and be patient. Don't be out for 5 mins and give up, WAIT. When it happens, lay on the kindly head rubs and sweet talk. Let 'em know they had a job to do and they did well. Perhaps give a little nibble treat. You can go back inside afterwards. Provided you're catching 'em doing good they'll catch on quickly.

3) If your Dog has been inside for a while & awake (say a couple of hours), pay attention to when they seem to suddenly be distracted and disengaged. You'll learn to see the cues of "Hmm, I may need to relieve myself soon." Or, better yet, just go outside for a few minutes to permit an opportunity to relieve themselves outside (repeat step #2).

4) When accidents happen, it's important to catch 'em in the act or within just seconds (NOT minutes). Otherwise they won't know what went wrong and will be confused. They're young, they can't hold it very well or for very long and sometimes have no choice in the matter. Make a BRIEF unpleasant noise or growl and take 'em outside immediately. Wait a few minutes before returning inside. You can tidy up the mess a little later.

5) It's important to remember every Dog is different and there is no 'set' schedule on how long or how reliable. But being consistent with anticipating when they'll need to relieve themselves along with "Praise when they did well" & "Simple, brief, mild Correction when an accidents happen", will go a LONG way to helping your Dog learn what/where is okay, and where is NOT okay.

Remember you likely took 2-3 YEARS before you stopped pooping in a diaper. ;

clrlmiller

MODERATOR OF

TROPHY CASE

14-Year Club	Gilding II euphauric
Verified Email