"Yellow!"

[bermbits]

(That's how my wife and I answer the phone when the other is calling.)

That said, "Hi!"

I was feeling thoughtful this afternoon and posted a rather lengthy and random post on the Fans of BF site on Facebook where it was promptly taken down by them for some reason. Something is amiss in the stars as another post elsewhere earlier in the day was also removed. That one I figured out. There was a question asking about favorite DJs growing up (back in the 60s), and one name I mentioned was Dick Summer in Boston. Until I changed it to Richard, it got removed. Ironically, the post below mine was referring to talk show host Rush Limprichard (less formally stated there), and that was fine. Go figure.

Anyhow, I wrote what's been happening since my retirement as well as other random thoughts. I believe my rejection came from a link I included that didn't have that little padlock up in the corner.

(1) I retired in 2008 and had a couple of great years doing nothing! As my wife is way younger than I am, she was (and is) still working, and I felt a bit guilty saying goodby every morning, so I picked up a part-time job at a free advertising newspaper. As is happening to much of the print media, the issues got pretty skinny, and my few services were no longer needed. That gave me another couple of years off. Unfortunately, during the Covid thing, my wife's pay went from really bad to even worse as her salary is tied to enrollment (private school/academy), so to help stem the financial bleeding and stop falling further behind, a year and a half ago, I became a three-day-a-week Walmart associate. Other than being on my feet for eight hours, it isn't that bad. I see lots of former students and colleagues. I am hanging in.

(2) I am nearing the end of my 77th year and am seeing way too many passings. I understand I could have twenty seconds or twenty years left - none of us knows, so I have pretty much been living in the here and now. I see every day as a gift (that's why they call it 'the present'), and when it's time, it's okay for me. As Woody Allen said, "I am not afraid of dying. I just don't want to be there when it happens." Einstein said, "“Energy cannot be created or destroyed, it can only be changed from one form to another,” so I am planning to be a musician the next time around (unless I end up an indistinct orb).

(3) My short-term memory isn't so hot these days but ask me anything about the 60s.

(4) My short-term memory isn't so hot these days but ask me anything about the 60s

(5) I will close for now with a recommended short story that got me to think, but I am still not sure I fully understand it. With no agenda other than I found it fascinating. It's called "The Egg" by Andy Weir. It's only three pages. I think it gave me hope.

Anyhow, to anyone who sees this, stay well!

[ocelotl]

¡Amarillo!

Whoa. Just came back from reading your recommendation, Dave. Won't give any spoilers, so the rest of people can read it.

Since we're trying to let some memories around here given the condition of this forum. I'll take my chances here.

Covid thing ruined the last company I was working for, so, I found myself semiretired at 49 three and a half years ago. ¿Was it what I expected? Not by a long shot. ¿Have I given up? Obviously not, getting busy trying to rebuild a career and updating given current age discrimination around, has been entertaining. Hopefully the background plan "just in case" turned for the time being my main income source and can remain on my feet, just keeping expenses to the basics. Lately most work has been consisting on coding courses, 3D modelling training, reading about current processing units and devices, and building a few things that were left in the background for "when I will get more free time".

The good point about forums is that we can express ourselves as in an informal chat in the park or at a casual meeting. Lately so called social networks have become naive and quite limiting, being that Zuckerberger's place has become a moralist censoring ad board, and Musk's place tends to enforce immediacy and bluntness.

Glad to be around. Greetings to all from the old Anahuac.

[yogi]

Welcome to both of you, especially Dave who we have not had the pleasure of seeing here for a long time. It surely would be nice if there were more people posting in these forums because frankly I have lost track of some very good friends over the years of my retirement. Dave's update is most welcome news because it answers the question I had about what happened to some of those old friends of mine.

I could write a Bible-length editorial about all the things I see wrong over at Facebook. I've stopped visiting that site on a regular basis and only go there to update the fan group page for Brainformation. Most of my family and a few friends are there all the time and my posting something innocuous on my birthday is how I let them know I'm still alive. As Juan noted, the quality of Facebook, and now Twitter (aka X), has taken a nosedive particularly during the last year or so. I'll never forgive Zuckerberg for conspiring with the Russians to get the Orange Cheeto Man elected nor E Musk's turn to full on Nazi. Both Facebook and Twitter have been taken over by men who are brilliant but dangerous with all that money and power that goes with it. If you are fed up with all their shenanigans I would indeed recommend that you spend more time right here where it is relatively peaceful and quiet. I know that sounds like a lame request for more participation here, but the reality truly is that "less is more" at least in the case of Brainformation.

As you all know the passing of my friend Gary, hereon known as Kellemora, has had a profound effect on me and the operation of this website. Gary was the last person to come here on a regular basis and chat about whatever Grumpy Old Men chat about. He was 75 but not retired and was involved with a plethora of activities up to the very end. As many retired people discover, their purpose for being changes when they leave the workforce. Gary provided a means to keep me occupied and to discuss things in which we both had an interest. Being a distant friend was ideal in that we could talk about things that could not easily be said face to face with closer friends and relatives.

In my case Gary's friendship and this website became personal. Originally my intention here was to get to know people from all over the world in an open forum format. Back in 2004 that was a grand idea and welcomed opportunity for most people looking for unique ways to break the boredom in their life. Believe me, the greatest nemesis of retirement is boredom. Brainformation rode the wave of success and was quite an interesting place as our {ARCHIVE} sites demonstrate. Most of what we have done here over the last 19 years is in those archives. We have evolved, obviously, and some might rightly suggest we move on to something else. Well, I'm not sure what to do with all this history because it represents a large part of my interests over the years. Like your old job, it's not easy just to walk away and forget it all ever existed.

So, maybe, just maybe we can repurpose this old place. Perhaps the attention now should be on whatever it is that old guys (and gals) do when they reach their Golden Years. It certainly is the right environment if not the state of the art social network like those other places.

I'll close this lengthy post with a little story about how MY retirement came about. I worked at Motorola for 36 years and was prepared to go a full 42 years until I reached the age for full Social Security benefits. I am proud to say that Motorola the company invented what we know as cell phones. They were so good at it that the rest of the world decided to jump into the same market. To make a long story short the time came when Motorola was the only company to manufacture cell phones in the USA. The only choices were to move production outside the country where labor costs were less, or to get out of the business entirely and shut down the company altogether. Fortunately they decided to move production and keep the company alive. I retained all my retirement benefits as a result of that decision. However, 40,000 people worldwide lost their jobs to offshore outsourcing. I was one of them. Our division of the company ended up moving to several different parts of the world, and Mexico was one of them. I eventually ended up training the people who would perform my job in Mexico. They came up to Chicago to learn so that I never had the pleasure of visiting Mexico.

Juan and I, somewhere in these forums, talked about our experiences with a machine made by a company called FaultFinder. It's all vague to me now and days, but it is very possible that he used or saw in operation the very machines that I worked with in the Chicago area for many years. At the time we talked about it I was amazed how connected this small world really is. What are the odds that a guy 3200 km away from me would work on the same machine AND be a member of this website? Amazing to think about.

[yogi]

For what it's worth, here is the link to The Egg story: http://www.galactanet.com/oneoff/theegg_mod.html

The surprise for me in reading that story is that I've come to some very similar conclusions many years ago. However, I could never explain my version as well as in the short story. It's a great read and I thank you Dave for the suggestion.

[ocelotl]

Somehow I was expecting a follow up from other people... Too bad it has still not happened.

I want to let you an image I got using my still unaluminized main telescope with a solar funnel of today's eclipse. Mind that I hadn't prepared much since I wasn't expecting to see anything due to cloudiness, yet it was good to have this. Taken October 14th, 2023, at 11:23 CST from Northwest Mexico City (19.6 degrees north, 99.2 degrees west)

[yogi]

Thank you for sharing the awesome photograph of the eclipse. I am guessing it was not total in your part of the world, but the posted image is impressive nonetheless.

I must agree that it would be very welcomed if more people from our FB support group would stop by and drop a comment or two. While it is a welcomed occurrence, I truly did not expect anyone to actually do that. In fact it was a surprise to see Dave's post. This is not the first time I tried to generate some interest in this Brainformation website. Clearly it's not relevant in today's world and the forum idea has passed its prime more than a decade ago. However, you, Dave, and I do share a common interest in that we are all old timers and retired. It is possible to use what is left of Brainformation to just hang out and chat once in a while. That's pretty much what Gary and I were doing. None of us were that thrilled with Facebook.