Wmcmanus

That is scary, and seems to be a trend among young-ish people. I had lost track of Tom and we were never particularly close to begin with, but it's still a melancholy feeling to know that someone as young as yourself has taken his last breath.

Leave it to me to start this thread. Just got word that a high school classmate died yesterday. Tom McNally was his name. He was the first to die of 102 from our class, at age 51, so I guess we've all been pretty lucky to this point. Quiet guy who became an accountant and did the whole wife and kids thing. He and I and another high school classmate were on the same drinking night bowling team in college, and he never complained about any of my gutter balls.

RIP, Leonard. Sucks when cancer gets someone so young and unprepared to let go of this precious life.

You must have missed it:

Yup, this is perfect. I'm glad you guys get the spirit of the thread. Like I say, it's such a fleeting existence and a lot of people do some pretty cool things with their lives that so many of us never know about.

I'm not sure if the humor translates, but there is a thread with this title on the Big Lebowski forum, which always makes me chuckle. I guess because I have a sick sense of humor but still view life as a precious gift even though I realize that our existence is fleeting. It's not meant to be disrespectful to the newly dead; quite the contrary. The idea is to pause for a moment to honor the lives of those who have touched our lives in one way or another through some form of notoriety or celebrity status (be it music, the arts, entertainment, sports, politics, science, whatever). This way, there won't be a need for threads like the one I started tonight: "RIP L.C. Geenwood" in which 63 people viewed, said "Meh..." and moved on. This is not, however, the place to post if a relative or close friend has passed, for whom you wish to honor separately, or if someone like Michael Jackson or Princess Diana dies suddenly in a shocking way. More of a "some fuck or another" who added meaning to your life, but may or may not be known to others.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2013/09/30/227784232/l-c-greenwood-part-of-pittsburghs-steel-curtain-dies?ft=1&f=&utm_content=socialflow&utm_campaign=nprfacebook&utm_source=npr&utm_medium=facebook He was a good one.

Same with me. Every time I've ever had a problem, I just walk in and they take care of it. "Oh, that new screen will cost you $900. No, sorry, it's not covered under AppleCare. But let me see what I can do for you, Santa." It does have its perks...but I did get the 3-year AppleCare coverage on my new 15" MBP Retina, just to be safe. I know it's not exactly a "news flash" but the retina resolution is crazy good. I ran an HDMI cable from the laptop to the 50" Panasonic VT25 that's in the bedroom of my motorhome. The TV is so close to my viewing position that my feet can touch the bottom of it, and I've always loved watching movies in there for the full immersion effect it has. Didn't think it could be any better. Nope! I was wrong. The retina display blows it away, and I'd imagine that would still be true with the latest and greatest plasma displays (realizing, of course, that the VT25 is no longer the end game). Makes me wonder how the retina display would compare to a ZT60.

Happy birthday, birthday brother!

Damit, Jimmy!!! One day you'll catch me, but I won't know about it! Thanks for the birthday wishes, everyone. You're a bunch of good people. I've been watching a lot of baseball this weekend, enjoying the wind down of the regular season. It's such a great sport; even after 161 games have been played, game number 162 still matters to a lot of teams! Also learned last night that a bottle of Johnnie Walker Blue is good for two birthdays. Or at least half of a fresh bottle is now gone!

The Oatmeal cartoon about religion. http://theoatmeal.com/comics/religion

Caption says: I made fried eggs for you.

^ No, but now it is. Thanks for the assist, Ken.

My cousin and his wife lost their home in the Loveland, Co. flooding. It's located right on the Big Thompson River. They've been there for 30 years. Their home is shown from 4:54 to 5:24 in this video. They had a lot of acreage and it was a beautiful place to be until now. They did have flood insurance and are meeting with FEMA today to see if they can get any help from them. The steel building is actually quite large and contained some rather expensive tools and machinery for his construction business... everything was ruined. Well over $1 million in damages.

Me too, girl. I'm on a highway to hell. If you look closely, she has a guitar.

Inspired by the post above by acidbasement, I decided to make my own Hitler video. There is an ongoing controversy in the "Santa world" suggesting (by the fake bearded guys, who prefer to be called "designer" bearded or "traditional" bearded) that real bearded Santas are inherently "bad" because of their ever growing number and supposed omni-presence in society at large, as well as the terrible things that they do to confuse children. Hope you like it. I know they won't!

Mark Knopfler's new album "Privateering" is available for a first listen here: http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2013/09/04/mark-knopfler-blends-british-folk-american-blues-on-privateering-album-premiere/

Sorry, the album is called "Wise Up Ghost" -- just got to the title track and while it's listenable, it's probably my least favorite on the album.

Thanks to NPR, I'm listening to the new Elvis Costello "and the Roots" album, called Wise Up. Must say I'm quite impressed with the ever expandable talents of the ole boy. It's kind of funky and definitely fun. Just placed my order at Amazon. http://www.npr.org/2013/09/08/219316721/first-listen-elvis-costello-the-roots-wise-up-ghost?sc=fb&cc=fmp

Dolphin seeks out divers for help.

Happy birthday, Jimmy!

http://dangerousminds.net/comments/keith_richards_isolated_guitar_solo_from_sympathy_for_the_devil No wonder The Rolling Stones albums weren't exactly "audiophile" in nature. Lots of 'quiet time' noise and artifacts, which I suspect all get blended into the final mix.