> CP wrote --
>>>Blanche DuBois from the play/movie A Streetcar Named Desire who had depended
> om the kindness of strangers.
>> 
>> Very cool -- you still have her?
> No, she passed to Rainbow Bridge several years ago.

damn, sorry. . . I hads a perfect pet, too -- Punkin, also passed on. . . I've never missed a pet so much -- she was the pefect blend of cat, dog,  playful, & cuddly, & alweays knew which to beat any given time.. .

She wasn't fond of strangers, but if I introduce her to them properly, she'll  always behave & treat them with as much love, or lack, as I do. . .

> The landlord, who took over shortly before, doesn't allow pets so she was
> the last one.

Bummer -- I think banning pets is now illegal here.

We have a righ tvto "quiet enjoyment" of our home & for many, that includes a  pet.

There can be set reasonable restrictions (not higher than floor x, e.g., &  maximum number); bottom line: if your pet(s) inr=terfere with another's quiet  enjoyment, then you get your warnings. . . (enough of those, or a particularly  flagrant event, can result in eviction)

> I've seen a few new shows, (post 2000) but they seem to use to many
> special effects and whiz bang graphics for me.  Same with movies.

Agreed & video games; I saw a buddy trying out a new whizbang game & it looked  p[rtetty boring -- just repetitive stock effects & no plot that I could see  (sure, you had goals, but that's different -- a good game, like a good movie,  should be a story that draws you in, so you can, in your imagination, replace  anyone & experience the events in some real way. . .

This is how my mom & I describe old Star Trek vs new:

The old had excellebnt character develpoment & interactions -- this is EXACTLY  what that sort ofg personi would say in that sort of situation!

& you coud see, these were proper method actors who were fully into he 
momenty/character we see.  I only recently learned of "micro expressions" --  they define genuineness.

When I play poker(& other games) my micro expressions(supposedly unconscious  effects of internal thoughts & feelings) match exactly what I'm trying to  portray.

When I have the crappies cards possiuble, it's possible that an expert tells  reader has put me on the best one or second possible best! Because, to me, I  actually DO have that hand. . .If I were single, I'd have already embarked on a life of traveling & playing poker. . .

But the world has changed & these back country games are even more lethal than  in the frontier years. I knew a former dealer for these Hells Angels-run  illegal casino clubs. . .

> Sometimes programs are just radio with pictures.  :)

Pretty much as TV began -- they grabbed the best of radio & put them to work in Hollyweird (although it was still Hollywood then) creating am industry.

Somne made the cut/transition & did well, others just disappeared from memory.  . .

> Now watching a detective/mystery show video is important when revealing a
> unspoken clue for example.

yup, they force the view onto you, by designing the program AEROUND the  visuals.

I'm especiallyl awed by those giys who could make ANT sound effect, uwithout  technology, on demand, to make a radio show (whether a short comedy, or a  longer story("The Shadow" I used to listen to in the '70s, & others.)

> People are constantly amazed I don't even own a tv set.

I'm not amazed; more impressed & jeaouos. I have family, so I can't arbitrarily dump cable & only use the tv for wireless playing of stuff I download onto the  computer. . .

>> Do you subscribe to a package of old shows? I see ads constantly for one
> here, but $4/month extra for TV is a waste, to me. . .
> Nope, only free ones.

Ytou've got good stations on the free waves, then. . . only one of ours sets  aside timefor the oldies.

They tried to kill the free tv a while back by legally forcing all tv  broadcasting to be digital. But it didn't take long untilo a $15 device worked  to decode these into content for your old rabbit-ears sporting portable!

I found a brilliant wya to get a lot more free tv & better quality than some of my neighbours' cable connections.

I hooked up my antenna screws on the back of my tv to a co-ax converter(just a  wee U-prong & a coax connector, about 3" long) & plugged into the cable socket 
-- now the entire 7-storey(72 unit) building is my rabbit ears antena! (I'm out
in a townhouse now & have, as per above, cable, but it was fun to sidestep Big  Cable for a while!)

I've looked into satellite,. but the subscription fees (& decode fees) made it  not worth the hassle of purchase & installation for me. . .

I loved finding/making deals, like when, in dialup years, I found an ISP that  charged $8/mnonth for unlimited connectivity & data, from 22h00-08h00 -- I  milked that deal well & goodly! Still have, somewhere, some of the Gigs I  downloaded over a 12K modem in DOS. . .

Another, better known ISP, was offering "unlimited minutes" for $20/mo (was  about average cost then for limited hours); this was grand fun until they  redefined, partway through, "unlimited" & started booting people for camping -- there was an outcry (digital/virtual,. but it was there!) & reparations were  made, but they officially got rid of the unlimited account type & gave us vets  of the old one a sharp discount on the new, competitive, pricing. . .

Online people can get up in arms & effect change, like in eBsy's formative  years, they learned to not make sweeping changes without consultation/approval  from their regular(pro, etc) users

& how about that airline who dragged the doctor down the aisle & out from his 
fully paid for seat -- overnight, that air,line's s6tock dropped $1.1bn!!

They'd have been better off bribing him with $250,000,000 to take a private  Lear to his destination, to arrive even before the other flight would even  arrive, to see his patients on time, as scheduled!

Dumbasses got the painful public spanking they deserved!

--- BBBS/Li6 v4.10 Toy-5