Archive for April, 2017

A new toy and a couple of horror stories

Tuesday, April 18th, 2017

I recently was given an old Windows XP laptop. As XP is no longer maintained or secure, I’ve decided to play with a Linux-based OS, specifically, Elementary. It ought to be educational.

I’ve also run across a couple of horror-related items.

In the first, Warner Brothers is being sued for big money over the “Conjuring” movies, by an author who claims he has a prior, exclusive, contract with the people who provided the source information. The fun part is, apparently the only way WB can win is by proving the existence of ghosts and witches.

The other involves a family who got together to play a horror-themed desktop game, and ended up with more excitement than they expected. I have a friend who says he has a similar story about watching The Exorcist the first time while attending a conference at Walter Reed.

Catching up a bit

Wednesday, April 12th, 2017

It’s been a while since I’ve posted anything here. I’ve been busy at work, I’ve been dragged down by my seasonal allergies (when I’m congested, I can’t use my CPAP), and I’m just getting over a bout of food poisoning (my own fault, embarrassingly). They’re all just excuses, though. I haven’t felt motivated to post, and that’s the real reason.

I did want to mention this past Monday evening, though. I have a number of Jewish friends and acquaintances, and I was invited to a Passover Seder that was held at a local community college. It was a nice evening; I had fun, met some nice people, and ate some interesting food. Couldn’t sing along with anything, but I did get to do a reading.

The amusing (if offensive) portion of the evening was on the way into the venue, though … the local chapter of The Gideons was passing out New Testaments just outside the entrance. Legal, I know, and I’m not arguing that it shouldn’t be; I’m saying it was tasteless and offensive. I know it was important from their point of view, but I still think they shouldn’t have done it.