So without getting political about it, the attached may soon be of real value. Not crypto-currency; let’s call it comi-currency.
If the attempted use of this gets you in a jam, please don’t come crying to me.

Smile! You’re at the best WordPress.com site ever
March 16, 2023
February 11, 2023
Family Fun, Strange and Pointless, Weird Leave a comment
Using my powers gained as an original inhabitant of the planet Valdosnort, I watched the Super Bowl a day early.
I’m not a big football fan, but the nice thing that will happen tomorrow is that those two groups of brawny and aggressive men will, mid-game, stop, think it over, and decide to go to a movie and have pizza afterwards.
If you are the kind of person who embraces wagering, you can use this advance knowledge to make a few extra bucks. Not that any of us need additional wealth.
February 10, 2023
Art, Guitars and Music 6 Comments
This won’t be a full-blown review, but simply a post to show some photos of my 1981 Les Paul Custom I was lucky enough to find on Reverb.com a few years ago. Bracing myself for Patty’s sweet little “You bought another WHAT?!?!?!?” comment, I waited as best I could for the FedEx guy so I could slide that packing box into the garage unseen. Didn’t work, never has! Wives can smell a new guitar.
Anyway, this lovely unit is darn near mint and so lovely. For the folks who know about such niceties, it has Tim Shaw pickups, and the seldom-seen speed-wind tuners and the diamond-shaped strap knobs. It’s so clean and unmodified; the “gold-plating” on the hardware is still pretty-much intact and that stuff goes away if you just look too hard at it.
It has the low and wide frets, not unlike my old Mosrite, and they don’t bother me a bit.
According to a 1981 Gibson price list I found online, this baby cost $1,049 and another $99.50 for the chainsaw case. Thanks to whomever bought this baby, played it for a month or so, and then slid it under their bed!
Only problem is that it weighs 10-1/2 pounds. Well, I play sitting down, anyhow. ENJOY THE PHOTOS!!!
February 10, 2023
Adventures as a customer!, Art, MYSTERIES!!!, Strange and Pointless, Weird Leave a comment
Slip on these anti-static slippers and turn the temp down; these computers run hot! Plug into an orange outlet and let’s welcome the day by saying goodbye to some old friends:
Goodbye to QuarkXPress, Aldus Freehand, Pagemaker, WordPerfect, Word Star, Ventura Publisher, Harvard Graphics, Corel Draw, Digital Darkroom, ColorStudio, ImageStudio, Aldus Persuation, Lotus 123,Lotus Symphony, StuffIt . . .
And to our old pals, Digital Nation, Apple eVillage, and Compuserve.
It’s been fun, floppy disks, Winchester drives, Zip disks, SyQuest disks, Jaz disks.
I still have my Mac Portable but I waved bye-bye to my Apple IIe, my Apple Newton, my Apple Lisa, and my Timex/Sinclair! I never could afford the Next!!!
My wife made my toss the little aquarium I made from my original Mac after our second replacement beta fish died
February 8, 2023
Adventures as a customer!, Family Fun, Weird Leave a comment
In our former home in Maryland, the Kenmore dishwasher we had was amazing. We replaced certain minor parts in it, like a rack element or a water-spinning arm, but the appliance was over 25 years old and worked well, day in and day out. We could find the parts needing replacement ourselves online and could do the repairs when needed.
The folks who bought our home may still be using that Kenmore dishwasher for all I know.
In our new Florida home, we replaced our dishwasher at the end of November, 2021 with a Whirlpool unit from Loew’s. It got pretty good reviews, it fit the space, and it was white, like our other appliances. We couldn’t find a suitable Kenmore.
The Whirlpool dishwasher cost $496.44 and the install was an additional $175.00.
This new Whirlpool dishwasher has never seemed as good as our old Kenmore, or the Frigidaire dishwasher it replaced. The Whirlpool is noisy, finicky, and the cleaning cycles were very long. Once the machine did its thing, it seemed that the dishes weren’t really clean.
A week or so ago it finally stopped working at all. One month after the warranty expired! Seems like a tired old punchline, doesn’t it?
The repair (replacing the motor) cost us $454.75, which was 91.6% of the purchase price!
So far, so bad. But here’s where it gets good: The very next day after the repair, I got an email from Lowe’s Protection Plus, with this banner promoting an extended warranty on this dishwasher!
As Lincoln used to say, I didn’t know whether to laugh or to cry. But don’t bother to ask me if I’ll ever buy a Whirlpool product again.
Here’s some parting advice to Whirlpool:
Don’t let your customers be in charge of your quality control. They already control your reputation.
February 8, 2023
Family Fun, Food, Strange and Pointless, Weird Leave a comment
I happen to like Moxie soda and no, I’m not from New England. It has a unique taste and isn’t very sweet for a soft drink.
The taste can be an off-putter to some, I guess. Their slogan is “Distinctively Different.” It is that, and I’ve heard that’s from the Gentian root in its recipe. Moxie was originally (it came out before Coca-Cola!) promoted as a “nerve food,” and we all can use that nowadays.
A few years ago, Coca-Cola bought out Moxie, which originally was produced and sold only in New England.
When our kids were little, Moxie (ordered from Amazon.com or elsewhere online) was the only soft drink I could keep in the fridge without it disappearing!!! The kids hated the taste.
The Moxie website states that the stuff is sold in Florida now, at Publix. Not in the ones in our area, and we’ve looked.
So to get it I have to still go online. The 12-pack of Diet Moxie cans I bought this morning was $30.00. Thank goodness the shipping is free with Amazon Prime.
February 8, 2023
William Desmond Taylor
I know; I haven’t posted in ages and I usually post about comics or music, but this month is the 101st anniversary of the murder of film director William Desmond Taylor and I was reminded of a wonderful book centered on that compelling mystery.
This book set off a whole culture of amateur investigators and researchers, still going strong today, and how it came to be a book is also fascinating.
In the 1960s, a well-respected retired film director, King Vidor, got in touch with Colleen Moore, a brilliant actress from his days (1920s-1940s) and said, “I want to know who killed William Desmond Taylor.” Taylor had been a top actor and director, actually living a double life, who had been mysteriously murdered in 1922.
Vidor and Moore
Vidor never completed his investigation and a writer researching Vidor’s career found all this research stashed in Vidor’s Hollywood home’s garage. Anyway, this book started the whole Who Killed WDT deal, which goes on to this day, especially since the Internet got started.
Colleen Moore
So, to whet your curiosity, here’s a great article about Ms Moore, and it’s where I got the photos in this post:
https://classicchicagomagazine.com/colleen-moore-solves-a-mystery/
And here’s a link to A Cast of Killers on Amazon.com. There are other great books about this fascinating case, and an astonishingly informative website devoted to the case (https://silentera.com/taylorology/index.html):
October 16, 2021
October 11, 2021
Art cartoons, digital art 1 Comment
Hey, there! Now that I’m mostly retired and resettled in my old stomping grounds of SW Somewhere-or-other, I’ve decided to start drawing again.
What prompted this insanity was reading some old “Thimble Theatre” cartoons by the brilliant EC Segar. My drawing style, 35 years ago, was like a bad combination of George Herriman, R Crumb, and Segar, and that won’t change. Don’t expect too much!
So here is my first effort: Our backyard oak tree with a squirrel and a blue jay eating peanuts, provided by Patty. Shortly after her first toss yesterday morning, we had—at one time—four doves, three squirrels, a bunny, three woodpeckers, and a blue jay.
Enjoy and more to come!
August 14, 2019
Art, Fountain Pens Yard-O-Led 2 Comments
Shipping a lovely fountain pen hand-crafted with care by a few skilled English artisans back to the factory became an expensive lesson!
How could that happen?
As much as I hate to admit it, I should have looked into the process of shipping something overseas from the US. You can perhaps benefit from my ignorance, and it won’t cost you a dime!
Follow this story here!
Background: This lovely Yard-O-Led pen is a 2001 Viceroy Standard lined fountain pen with a #5 medium nib. Absolutely gorgeous pen! I purchased it used and it just didn’t write as well as it should. It was a hard-starter and railroaded, which means it sometimes made a parallel double line of ink when pressure was applied during writing. I decided to send it back to Yard-O-Led in England to have the pen inspected and a broad nib installed.
If you are unfamiliar with YOL pens, they are crafted with astonishing care by a small operation in Birmingham, England. Made of solid and hallmarked sterling silver, the looks, balance, and obvious craftsmanship of these pens are second to none. I have many wonderful fountain pens, some of which exceed the Yard-O-Leds in price, but nothing comes close to how nice these pens look and feel in the hand.
The nibs are solid gold, plated with nickel, so the nib color matches the rest of the pen. Nice!
Yard-O-Led fountain pens can use either a international ink cartridge or the provided ink converter. The cap is not threaded, but closed with a satisfying click when slipped on. I like that a lot!
First update! The shipping from the US to Birmingham, England, was PRICEY! Even using the cheapest rate offered by UPS, my chosen carrier, the shipping was $135.
I insured the pen for $1,300, and that was probably a mistake. Even though the pen was just being sent to Yard-O-Led for repair, my package was hung up in UK Customs. I had to create an invoice for the package. Then, I was charged by UK Customs $400. YIKES!
Of course, all this took a week of back and forth.
I must say the folks at Yard-O-Led were as helpful as they could be. Once the pen was finally in their hands, I was emailed an extremely detailed list of what was wrong with the nib and feeding mechanism, exactly what needed repair or replacement, and, because of my out-of-pocket costs, YOL very kindly waived my repair fee and the return shipping.
They did not have to do that.
Neither the high shipping cost nor the UK Customs fee was going into their pocket.
The Yard-O-Led staff I emailed with could not have been more helpful and kind. And, though I hate to admit it, I was cranky at this whole situation. So the YOL staff maintained a totally professional attitude while dealing with an upset client who clearly didn’t understand how to ship something overseas in a cost-effective way.
Should I have guessed what would happen with my shipment to YOL? Probably, but I have not shipped to the UK before, and was unfamiliar with the process.
The YOL staff said my repairs, including a week of testing the pen, should be completed and the pen shipped to me the week of Labor Day!
Please check in a few days and I’ll give a review of the pen and how it writes with its new broad nib.
The return of my Yard-O-Led pen!
Wow! My pen came back a couple of weeks ago. Many things prevented me from writing this, and I apologize for that. I could not be happier. First, some photos:
The new nib—broad, this time—rocks! Of course it’s smooth, but it seems to use any ink with no problems and I just love the line width. The line it produces might be a tad thinner than some other broad nibs I have from other makers, but it’s just perfect for me. Starts perfectly, no railroading, and perfect in terms of wetness. Yes!
I’ve used several inks so far, and have settled—for now, at least—on Rohrer & Klingner Verdigris, which I’d describe as a dark blue-green/black. I love it. I got mine from Brian Goulet of Goulet Pens in a sample assortment, and immediately bought a bottle. Great ink and perfect for this pen.
Perhaps I have far too many luxury pens, but this one takes the cake and the others are, sadly, being ignored. This Yard-O-Led is my daily writer now and I can’t imagine that changing. Here’s why:
I told you how well it writes. Beyond that, there is a serene elegance that no other pen I have can approach. Look at the photos of either end of the pen. Classic design and proportions. I find myself just gazing at this thing. It soothes me. Just so perfect!
Another quality of my Yard-O-Led is the oddly satisfying click it makes when you replace the cap. I much prefer a non-threaded cap for some reason, and have few: a wonderful 1990s ST Dupont Fidelio, a 1960s Montblanc 14 (broad italic nib!), my Parker 51s and 75s, but none have this distinct quality when being closed. I guess my Parker 75s come closest to this feel and sound, and perhaps it’s because they, too, are sterling silver. This pen posts perfectly, by the way.
Finally, a huge thanks to Alex Roden, Yard-O-Led’s workshop manager, and Sandra Floyd for the unmatched service they provided for me. Their pride in their product and their commitment to quality are a benefit to Yard-O-Led, and to us—the happy Yard-O-Led owners!