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RTDNTOTO 🐻 Random Thoughts Deserving No Thread Of Their Own 19 (2024)

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Doohickie said:
Don't talk to me about being old if you don't know what this is.
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Antenna Rotator
 
Looks like my uncle's antenna rotator except he had numbers for the TV channels taped in the right position for the best reception.
 
There are still a few rooftop antennas up and about on houses. I wonder if they are still used, or if the homeowners just never got around to taking them down.

We still have a roof-mounted satellite dish (that we use), and even those are disappearing.

Jim
 
I finally met that Jonathon guy Planit was talking about meeting at NPC. He works up in our CMs office as a management intern.
 
My grandfather built my mother's house in 1952. We didn't even have a TV yet, but he mounted a galvanized steel pipe through the roof ridge with a down turned 90 and fed the flat wire up through it to feed the coming antenna.
He was proud of that design and told me it was the only such antenna mount "in captivity"
 
michaelskis said:
I hope all is good at the @Maister house. I hear they received some nasty weather late yesterday.
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Our house survived. No one in my immediate family was hurt. We're temporarily housing some folks who can't live in their homes. The rest of the city was not so fortunate.
www.cbsnews.com

National Weather Service confirms EF-2 tornado hit Portage, Michigan, on Tuesday

Weather officials say the tornado reached an estimated peak wind of 135 mph and touched down near the intersection of S. 10th Street and W. R Avenue. It traveled for about 11 miles, damaging home roofs and sidings.
www.cbsnews.com www.cbsnews.com
 
luckless pedestrian said:
Once I had to stand next to the tv with my hand on it to get better reception so my dad could watch something lol
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"Thanks, kiddo, you're doing great! No, no, now, you gotta hold that wad of tinfoil higher OK? That's it! Right there, don't move! Now listen, if your arm starts to feel, you know, numb you can take a break...if you can get your sister in here to make the transition seamless, OK? Daddy loves you. You're blocking the left side of the screen, now...Ooof!"

Had many conversations like that. Sometimes us kids made a kind of chain, holding random objects at different angles. Those were the days.
 
ursus said:
"Thanks, kiddo, you're doing great! No, no, now, you gotta hold that wad of tinfoil higher OK? That's it! Right there, don't move! Now listen, if your arm starts to feel, you know, numb you can take a break...if you can get your sister in here to make the transition seamless, OK? Daddy loves you. You're blocking the left side of the screen, now...Ooof!"

Had many conversations like that. Sometimes us kids made a kind of chain, holding random objects at different angles. Those were the days.
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My pet peeve was when someone in the room when change the channel during an ad. Reason being--they'd start watching something else and you'd lose the flow of the first show. This was long before you could just skip them.

Why not just have a book or something else to do during breaks? (For me, it was browsing the World Almanac. Don't know how many random facts I picked up over the years doing that.)

Jim
 
In related news, how many of you remember the days of playing "movie roulette," where you just showed up at the local megagigaplex and bought tickets to whatever the next movie starting was?

Or, for that matter, having to call and listen to the big long announcement of the movies and showtimes and waiting for them to get to the one you wanted to see, then hope you weren't interrupted or disconnected and have to call back? (You had to do this because your father took the newspaper--and corresponding movie listings--into the master bathroom, which was off limits.)

JIm
 
jumbach said:
In related news, how many of you remember the days of playing "movie roulette," where you just showed up at the local megagigaplex and bought tickets to whatever the next movie starting was?
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There is a local movie place & in the early 90's it was $1.50 a ticket. We'd go on Thursday night (that's when the new movies were rotated) no matter what was playing & decide which to watch when we got there.
 
Planit said:
There is a local movie place & in the early 90's it was $1.50 a ticket. We'd go on Thursday night (that's when the new movies were rotated) no matter what was playing & decide which to watch when we got there.
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Mine like that was called "The Sandcastle" and I've never missed anything so bad now that you made me think about it! It was a two-theater place. Me and Randy used to ride our bikes to the Sandcastle to see movies. Growing up was....pretty awesome mostly. :)
 
We had Valley West Mall. My brother and I rode our bikes a few miles to see 50 cent movies on Tuesday. The theater floor was super sticky, but the movie was good. After, there was an arcade in the mall that took the rest of our money.
 
SlaveToTheGrind said:
Just came across this gem from Run-D.M.C. Why I don't recall hearing before, I don't know. As a kid form the 'burbs, yes, rap was not my main music preference (I'm a classic rock and metalhead fan). Did not know about Run-D.M.C. until they joined with Aerosmith. Still, good old school rap, which even I can appreciate.

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Ah! Memories.

I was studying abroad in Europe when this came out and the music video was all over TV there. You'd hear it in the clubs a fair amount as well.
 
jumbach said:
In related news, how many of you remember the days of playing "movie roulette," where you just showed up at the local megagigaplex and bought tickets to whatever the next movie starting was?

Or, for that matter, having to call and listen to the big long announcement of the movies and showtimes and waiting for them to get to the one you wanted to see, then hope you weren't interrupted or disconnected and have to call back? (You had to do this because your father took the newspaper--and corresponding movie listings--into the master bathroom, which was off limits.)

JIm
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Growing up, I had a bunch of friends who lived in the neighborhood right behind the little shopping center with our local 3-screen theatre. We would go there basically every Friday evening, whether there was anything we wanted to see or not. In the summer, we probably went at least two or three times a week because the matinee showings M-F were $1. So we'd go up there with $5 and bring in a bunch of candy from the candy store across the street, have our $1 for a movie, and then usually have enough left over for a slice of pizza and drink at the pizza place in the shopping center. (Typing that out makes me feel like my dad who would tell me about going to the movies with 50¢ and having enough for the bus to get there and back, a beverage and two movies plus he would get to see the newsreel and whatever the current serial was dagnabit!). Because we went so often, we saw EVERYTHING. and lots of things we saw multiple times. I remember the spring/summer when Major League came out it seemed to be playing all year long and my buddy and I loved it so I'd estimate we probably saw it at least a dozen times. Totally appropriate for an 11 year old!

When I was older and in high school they opened a fancy new theatre a little further away. A friend worked there as an assistant manager during the daytime one summer so another friend and I would go up there around 11:00 a.m. when the first movie of the day would play. We'd buy one ticket and then when our movie was finished, we'd just go walk into whatever was starting up next and we'd do that usually until around dinner time when our friend was getting off of work. We'd go back a day or two later and see a few more movies. Lots of crap movies I've long since forgotten.
 
WSU MUP Student said:
Growing up, I had a bunch of friends who lived in the neighborhood right behind the little shopping center with our local 3-screen theatre. We would go there basically every Friday evening, whether there was anything we wanted to see or not. In the summer, we probably went at least two or three times a week because the matinee showings M-F were $1. So we'd go up there with $5 and bring in a bunch of candy from the candy store across the street, have our $1 for a movie, and then usually have enough left over for a slice of pizza and drink at the pizza place in the shopping center. (Typing that out makes me feel like my dad who would tell me about going to the movies with 50¢ and having enough for the bus to get there and back, a beverage and two movies plus he would get to see the newsreel and whatever the current serial was dagnabit!). Because we went so often, we saw EVERYTHING. and lots of things we saw multiple times. I remember the spring/summer when Major League came out it seemed to be playing all year long and my buddy and I loved it so I'd estimate we probably saw it at least a dozen times. Totally appropriate for an 11 year old!

When I was older and in high school they opened a fancy new theatre a little further away. A friend worked there as an assistant manager during the daytime one summer so another friend and I would go up there around 11:00 a.m. when the first movie of the day would play. We'd buy one ticket and then when our movie was finished, we'd just go walk into whatever was starting up next and we'd do that usually until around dinner time when our friend was getting off of work. We'd go back a day or two later and see a few more movies. Lots of crap movies I've long since forgotten.
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We would buy a ticket to a movie, then stay and see 2-3 more that same day. The ushers in the hallways didn't get paid enough to care, but this was probably technically stealing. (Statute long up.)
 
Homeless woman was living inside Michigan rooftop store sign with computer and coffee maker

Does this beat living in a van down by the river ?
 
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fringe said:
"...when I awoke the dire wolf,
Six hundred pounds of sin,
Was grinning at my window.
All I said was "come on in"...---Grateful Dead, Dire Wolf
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Perfect song for the comic.

Don't murder me. I'm begging you please don't murder me. PLeeeeease don't murder me.
 
Afraid of Heights posting on FB
The "Thank God Ledge" in Yosemite National Park, California. Thank God Ledge earned its name because it’s a crucial feature that bridges two pitches on the Northwest Face of Half Dome. Without it, the established route would be unclimbable.

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JNA said:
Afraid of Heights posting on FB
The "Thank God Ledge" in Yosemite National Park, California. Thank God Ledge earned its name because it’s a crucial feature that bridges two pitches on the Northwest Face of Half Dome. Without it, the established route would be unclimbable.

442392809_837522968417897_2594019860297925419_n.jpg
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Pass, thanks. Yikes!!
 
There is a bridge in Fair Oaks, California, called the "Bridge Street Bridge." (It used to be on my 50K bike run decades ago.) The street is named after the bridge, which is named after the street, which is named after the bridge, etc. ad infinitum. This is why my brain explodes.
 

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I'll be at 40 hours in 30 minutes. I will RJ at that moment.

I have a bike trip planned at Presque Isle for Monday, but there's a big chance for rain. I'll pass; I'm a fair weather cyclist.
 
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