Most liked posts in thread: What's new Pussycat too?

Better late than never, Matt.

It must have left here around Dec 10th, I reckon, so it's taken about a month to reach you Stateside.

Whatever - you can enjoy a good Yaarkshire brew anytime, mate!

After all, if it's good enough for him...

 

Here, here, here, Matt.

All that and more.

The comedian in the picture is our PM, Mr "Rich Tea" Sunak himself!

Ban them all back to the bad comedy club that they have all previously been thrown out of and yes, like you mate, I mean the politicos. Prats and pillocks, the lot of em. Not a statesman/states person among them worthy of the name.

We are currently absolutely and utterly spoilt rotten for utter rotten apples in our Houses of Parliament and on your Capitol Hill / House of Representatives etc.

Never mind - pop the kettle on, feet up and have a brew is the sure-fire cure all and English answer to most things short of all-out Nuke war.

 

I added a paragraph between seeing 'like'reactions from @Andy Barr and @nysavant and then decided to erase that bit after. Not that I felt I wrote anything that I regretted, just that it was just continued ranting that was unnecessary considering the response to @Paul "Mclaneinc" Irvine that I originally intended. That part ended in the last paragraph above.

The rest was just trivial superfluous stuff beyond my intent. And not even humorous. I'm trying to cut down on ranting and over descriptive, attempting to get back to brief yet descriptively accurate writing as I was taught in journalism class as a part of my English degree.

The long writing is for novels, even so, to be as detailed and descriptive as possible in the shortest amount of words. That's the way to keep it interesting and/or entertaining and keep the reader reading. Otherwise you bore or confuse the reader and tend to lose your own point or story plot as well and may end up repeating things due to the lack of focus. And in the end much more work in rereading, rewriting and editing.

Even this post explaining my intent is far too long, and started out as an edit above, and I felt it being a separate subject of explanation, it needed to be in a separate post.

 

Those prices you paid were almost charity shop ones, Al.
You did brilliantly well and it's always good to hear that some quality retro bargains are still out there waiting to be tracked down - well in, mate.
Yes, once I get some of these vidz, sounds and lights all kicking in together then I'll do a film review type wotsit and post it up on here.
Wishing Richie well with his 1050 repairs (weirdly, coincidentally, call it what you will... spookily, two of my local retro micro pals - Shaun and John were also chasing the self-same Feebay ad that Rich won - mind, they just need a 1050 box for one of their drives so that it adds to its "completeness" etc. Wonder what the odds on that are - I spotted the ad and flagged it up to them... they dither a bit and... Rich sails in and wins it unbeknown to him of all the interest in E Yorks... LOL!
That's life, guys...
Have a top weekend one and all.

 

Nowt wrong with being organised, but Tony takes it to the extreme, my head could not put up with that amount of control, when I was manager I had to do admin, but I had my little, non complicated system, Tony on the other hand just makes it more complex

If he keeps it up he may become a customer of the service he works for

 

Very nice, Al.

Do give us a demo then of your fave stuff on this machine and why it's the dog's danglies as I aint a Scooby about these things.

Have a great weekend, mate, and here's to the Red Devils turning the Mags over Sunday... UNI-TED!

 

The Codheads. Never heard that nickname before, brilliant!

I do love a good FA Cup underdog story. It's the romance of it all. Ever since I was a youngling watching Saint & Greavsie on telly at lunchtime on cup final day it always gets me excited for the game. I suppose back then it was one of the few matches you actually had the chance to watch live on the old telly box.

My two English teams are Portsmouth and Norwich, hopefully get a visit to see the latter when Iatter when I'm on holiday end of next month. Oh yes, massive Melchester Rovers fan as well

Do you have a favourite Scottish side Andy?

 

Wow, all that from falling off a bike, he must have been hammering it. The collar bone bit sounds dead painful, my mate fell down his stairs and broke his, complained about the pain constantly afterwards. A while back my daughter sent me a YT clip of people out for a ride in the UK, the road was obviously very iced up and as they all one by one tried to turn the corner, boom, down they went, must have been around 20 in the end at various times.

 

Feel for you guys, Paul. You just don't need this crap but it always seems to come the good guys' way. As you say, we could all do with a pleasant, hobbyist, humorous, putting the world to reet, random ramble down retro lane talking shop n shite ;-) , so...

Here's to Al's virtual hospitality tent being full of Atari, Oric and TRS-80 lunatics / Owners for his Easter get together over at:
Easter Atari Owners Meet
Monday, 10 April · 8:00 – 9:00pm (GMT)
Google Meet joining info
Video call link: https://meet.google.com/ipp-mfiv-ycj

I'm busily downloading the Goggle-eyes s/ware now to my 486 laptop running Windows 98 and I';m getting some groovy early errors...



and the ol classic:



Should be good for one month next Thursday!!

 

So far, in-laws are ok, wish I could say the same, feel like crap again, I wish I knew how to shake this thing, just keeps going in circles. Coughing is back, throat is sore, nose starting to run, everything aches. Went to get electric and the woman in the shop stared at me like I had 4 heads. I don't think I look that rough?

A bit on the red side, but that is just my dry skin flaring up.

I think my neighbour's husband has gone to pick the family up from the parents, so looks like it will be bang central later

 

Brilliant, a man after my own heart - I love those Lucasfilm classic titles too for the Atari 8bit, mate.
If I spot Koronis Rift at a good price, buddy, I'll get it for you as a thank you for all the fixes and help/great deals you've done for me down the years, Rich.

The disco light came back today - you might have seen some flashes going on in the b'ground last night lads as I faffed about with a much older unit that's been kicking about in me garage for yonks.

The one I sent Rich, I believe, is one of the more modern "mini LED spot moving head gobo units".
It does all the panning, tilting and swivelling you could wish for but does it LIGHT UP - does it fek but that didn't stop Richie having a good old skeg and trying to sort it to which I'm very grateful for his efforts.

I've now got a USB > DMX (disco light control interface) which I've tried with the faulty beast as I have the "Freestyler 2" software which commands it to do the tilting and panning - AND LAMP LIGHTING - etc but it still won't play ball so clearly the thing has some kind of deep-seated firmware/hardware fault but not to worry - was Rome lit in a day?
I think not.

I will get another and sell this as spares/repairs/exchange it with some disco retailer etc.
As you can see in the clip below, fellas, all it's done is re-whet my appetite for whizzy lights and virtual DJ software and to think that maybe a future party can be sound/light controlled by some dude on the laptop will once more be a distinct possibility, partly thanks to Rich for keeping the energy & positive vibes flowing as it were.

Cheers again for trying for me, Rich, and here's the "light" in action, lads:

 

Yep... they look like they're really drying out nicely on that wet line, mate.

I was also expecting Hell Boy to come screaming through at any moment pulling it all off the line and then trying to eat it and chow it all down.

Clearly they don't have a clue.

About anything.

 

As you've said all the way along, Paul, fecking barmpots the lot of em. Clueless cretins.
Wish they'd get the fek out of there and leave you decent folks in peace.
Amen.

 

I lurve it, Paul - a case of if you can't beat em - join em - but always OUTDO EM!

Top scores there, mate.

I make it at least a 14/10 - on the Richter Scale ;-)

 

Bunch of tossers, fellas... DWP, lousy neighbours and barstewards sending brown thanks envelopes.

One solution - a Rush album on with the volume over 15%!

 

Good to hear you are a nice neighbour, Matt, not a great many left..

From looking at the Sat image of your place, I'd love to live there, actual freedom from neighbours and greenery all around. The only thing that puts me off is what I've said before, snakes, me and them just don't mix. I've felt and held an anaconda, but I just find them repulsive. Just a me thing. They have been here a lot longer than we have so are higher up the food chain which is ok with me, I just simply don't like them..I'm most likely being silly, I've been to the States many times and not seen a single one but a mate who moved from the UK to Florida says they are a bloody nuisance and finds them every where.

 

We have snakes here, including poisonous one like Rattlers and Copperheads. I've had to shoot a few since living here. My Husky, Beaux, has been bit by one of each since living here and gotten swollen up and sick for several days, but they aren't as deadly to dogs as they are to people. Nothing that is going to eat you or squeeze the life out of you though, and emergency services can basically react and get out here just in time with some anti-venom should you be bitten, though it's probably faster and safer, if you can, to drive to them instead of waiting on them.

But it's not an everyday worry, especially in the main yard area I keep kempt, as they don't like being in the open and prefer tall grass. All my dogs are a great alarm system against them should one wonder to close to the house. Simple precautions like wearing cowboy boots in the woods or fields will keep you protected from their fangs should you be standing or walking. But before you sit to rest, one checks the perimeter.

But yeah, it's nice being out and away from the populations and there is far less crime to worry about, as thieves and other trouble makers don't generally make their way this far out of civilization looking for booty. They stay in the populated areas. We keep our house and vehicle doors unlocked with no worries, etc. it's so safe.

And most people are very well aware that those of us who live out here keep guns on hand and DO NOT wait for police to help, but take the law into their own hands as we have citizen defense laws like the right to "stand your ground" and shoot someone dead in situations of a clear and present danger and you are on your property and they are trespassing. So that is a crime deterrent in itself, the criminals knowing what we have and what rights we have.

You do have to get used to hearing gun fire on a nearly daily basis as most out here hunt and just target shoot for practice since guns are totally legal to open carry in the state too, you only need a license to conceal-carry. Not many are stupid enough to try stuff when the majority around them are wearing guns in holsters. But while you may suddenly jump at the sound of an unexpected gun shot, though one isn't living in fear, it's not like constantly hearing gun shots in the cities where you know it is one person shooting at another.

But believe me and others who actually live in the real world here, when we say it is much, much safer if all the citizens are carrying firearms, than if they were banned, in which case the criminals, who pay no attention to any laws, will still get guns no matter what on the black market, leaving only the law-abiding citizens unprotected due to gun laws, as it is only them that obey the gun laws.

You may have the occasional domestic disputes and even rarer shootings with some of the drunken rednecks in the area, but that happens among themselves and doesn't effect the neighbors. On the other hand, on a nearly daily basis there are shootings and murders and all sorts of crime constantly on the news for the city of Tulsa.

But most of our neighbors are good folk who watch out for each other and their properties and are of the type that if the shit hits the fan, like an invasion from China or Russia, that we'd all ban together making defenses and plenty of well armed citizens to share what they have and put up a good resistance, with or without our military's help. If you ever saw the movie The Postman with Kevin Costner, or the TV series Jericho, those are pretty realistic as far as people and communities banding together if the U.S. government or civilization in this country falling. Plenty who know and can teach survival tactics and living off of nature.

 

Cheers for the info Matt, I know what you mean re the criminal element playing by their own rules, I just worry that it seems remarkably easy for people with known serious mental health issues to get a gun. Sometimes I think the gangs are less of an issue for people as much of the shooting is at other gangs, whereas the mental health shootings tend to be totally innocent folk and worse still, children.

I'm not saying the crims don't kill innocent folk, they do, but many of the shootings are revenge tit for tat gang on gang crime. I know I'm compacting the effects way too much, but making headway against gun crime would take a huge thread.

Yep, remember The Postman, a good gritty Western..

Not sure I'd feel at ease around snakes etc, maybe I'd relax a little after a few years but the notion of sitting down accidentally by a rattler sunning itself gives me the willies..

 

I get what you mean regarding mental health. But the main stream media never mentioned the fact that out of the last 5 mass/school shootings where the guns were legally obtained, that 4 out of 5 of the shooters were on prescription drugs with mind-altering side effects. They would not have been sold those guns if medical records are flagged for not just mental illness, but what medications people take that might be mind altering to otherwise stable people were required along with criminal records in a background check. The rest of them over the past decade or so were illegally obtained by theft from a family member (rare) or purchased on the black market (common).

What you definitely don't hear from the media at all are all the instances in the U.S. where law-abiding, gun carrying citizen pedestrians are heroes in using their guns in stopping/preventing crime and violence or rescue victims/potential victims from a violent shooting, stopping or killing the criminal. That happens far more often with legally obtained guns than crimes committed with legally obtained guns. But the truth is out there if you dig for it a bit.

 

With the last point, I can see a firm reason, not wanting to create a trend for vigilantes. Don't get me wrong, sometimes it NEEDS a person to step over the line to defend the innocent, but they can't promote it as an active good thing for obvious reasons. As for the initial thing, we need to shut down the loop holes that allow people with problems that can affect their mental state, be in an already known medical condition or an effect of medication.

All of this seems to stem from a country's standpoint on gun control / it's constitution on the right to bear arms. Here in the UK we can have weapons for limited capacities and under quite strict control, whereas the States has a more open system depending on the state where it's your right to possess a weapon. So when the Brits see video of a child on a shooting range firing an MP3 or any weapon, there's a natural WTF because we have a different viewpoint on arms. That does not make it wrong for a US child to be taught the correct use of a gun, but at the same time we ALL should be thinking why a child of 5 or 6 is allowed to hold and shoot a gun but yet we don't trust the same child to use a sharp knife or boil water etc etc.

Obviously, I'm not advocating any of those things for young kids, we do have to remember that a child of that age isn't totally responsible.

The whole gun argument is riddled with issues that need fixed, everywhere.

It should never be used to target a whole country, purely the wrong individuals within. Should I ever want a gun (no thanks, it's not what I can do with a gun, it's what others can do if they got their hands on it) I could go down the many back channels out there and get a weapon used in Eastern Europe without any real problems as long as I had the cash. That same problem is worldwide, there's always someone who can supply if the cash is right. This is almost impossible to stop.

The only real thing we can do is tighten the reigns on just who can legally get hold of a gun. It won't stop some random killings as a person can just suddenly turn if the situation forces them that way. Our biggest issue isn't those that legally can get guns, but rather those who DO illegally get guns deliberately for criminal use.

 

Believe me, the vast majority of American parents teaching their 5 or 6 year old how to use a firearm, has most definitely also been taught the correct usage of knives, boiling water, starting fires, etc. Just like the Pioneers 200 years ago. It's an entire life philosophy of learning to take care of one's self and being self or family defending and reliant and independent and survivalists. Strong family values, ethics and morals are also instilled in the children with these types of parents.
As you said, it's a completely different mentality and philosophy of life.

 

As long as those values and ethics are decent, then it can work. Sometimes the same practices almost form cult like status, we as humans must avoid that.

Mind you, I'm commenting on things in the USA and over here we have just seen the introduction of Draconian laws to suppress any people that resent the new King. Banning items being carried that could bind you to tables etc like super glue and straps that wrap around things. Utter madness.

They arrested loads of people before and during the coronation simply because they verbally expressed and / or wore signs that simply said they didn't support the King. So much for democracy in the UK. I'm not a monarchist, before we really got to know the royal family they had a sheen of being proper nice people, but with freedom of information now much swifter we got to see the dark side of these folk. Now we see what really goes on, consorting with perverts, financial scandals, affairs galore, possible deadly intent and numerous other stuff. That glossy sheen has gone.

 

By the way, just as another example of the gun culture indicative to the U.S., a bit of trivia:

Civilians in the U.S. own close to 400 million firearms, according to a new survey released this week*, and the total number of firearms owned by private citizens vastly exceeds the police and military's 4.5 million. This is of course the same U.S. military who's spending of ~800 billion per year. Any Chinese or Russian military invasions need to worry about our civilian population even more than our military!





* https://americanmilitarynews.com/20...mpared-to-militarys-4-5-million-survey-shows/

Do we have a bigger problem than other nations in regards to criminal mass-shootings and murders? Of course! But not if you take into account citizen gun ownership per capita vs. other nations that allow citizens to own guns and their ownership per capita vs. murders and shootings. Going by that yardstick that the liberal media ignores and even attempts to hide, U.S. shootings have a smaller percentage. it's growing, everyday, but It's not about gun ownership, it's about the falling morals and ethics of those gun owners directly related to lack of family stability and values, morals and ethics running rampant in our society. You can bet your bottom British pound that the per-capita percent of U.S. citizen gun ownership was the same 50 or 100 years ago, but such things as mass-shootings and other violent crimes were almost non-existent and it was due to high family values, morals and ethics that we once had and once reinforced in school teaching that have been thrown away and there is far more depravity and debased minds in these days than then because of it.

Guns don't kill, people kill and if some how guns can be eliminated from society, due to the same depravity and debasement of society, these criminals will just use other instruments of death for their mass murdering and moral, ethical and law abiding citizens are the ones left without a way to defend themselves because they obey the laws criminals ignore, and still obtain guns on the black market.

 

It's not a perfect world and never will be...That might even be a good thing...