When I first moved from St. Louis down to here to Knoxville, I was still using 56k dial-up to my St. Louis provider, but they got me set up with a local bank down here to dial into them to get on the Internet. I saw no reason to change for several years.
Debi's son moved in with us after college, while he was landing a job, and he's the one who had the cable installed. I helped him pay for the cable box and router, and after a couple of months he connected my wife's computer in the house to the router.
I did some things on her computer, but still spent my days up in my garage office using my 56k dial-up, which was fast enough for the e-mail and the other things I was doing at the time.
Right before he moved out to Nashville for his job there, I installed CAT5 cable, 200 feet, from the house to the garage and took advantage of having cable. Then after the hailstorm, I replaced the CAT5 with CAT5e. Didn't see a difference in them other than the price. At that time Comcast was only 6mbps, but once they moved us up to 16mbps and then 30mbps, I was glad I opted for the CAT5e. I now have a gigabit router, modem, and switches, but I still only get about 60mbps most of the time.
I still have my phone wires up here too, but they are connected to the Ooma box down at the house.
Every time AT&T got our bill up to over 30 bucks a month, I told them to turn me off. And they would drop it back down to 30 bucks again, so I kept the landline while Debi's mom was alive. Then I cut AT&T off completely. The Ooma was working just great and was free. I didn't add the extra services on it until over a year or two later.
I don't watch TV myself, haven't for over 40 years. My wife is the TV watcher, hi hi.
She does record a couple of shows that we watch while eating dinner.
I'm only in the house from like 5:30 to 7 pm then back to my office again.
I'm also usually working on a jigsaw puzzle with only one eye on the TV.
Currently Satellite Internet is too expensive and still very slow compared to cable.
But with them shooting up a dozen new satellites every month, I'm thinking it won't be long before we have gigabit satellite and low prices heading our way. I'll have to wait and see if that comes true or not.
One thing that does irk me a little bit, is our city is providing free WiFi to their project areas, but you have to live in the projects to get the access code, and each person has their own access code tied to their computer. If they change computers, they have to get a new access code. Comcast has WiFi boxes on utility poles all around the commercial areas, and a few in residential areas which we can use for free as a Comcast Internet customer, but I've never had the reason to do so.
When we first got DirecTV, we got a DVR and a few other things.
Later, they changed out our equipment and it required their WiFi box connect to our Router, which is one reason we had to buy a WiFi router. Now if you record a show, it is on their equipment, and when you want to watch something, it is not local but on their equipment and is streamed in, sometimes with many pauses during the show to reload the next part.
I consider it a downgrade, even though the price went up.
When it went up again, Debi cut them off and went back to Comcast Cable TV again.
We have two indoor Digital Antenna's and we get many stations, some we thought we could never get. Trouble is, no way to record them. So you have to watch what is on when it's on. I checked into DVRs but they don't work like they used to. And are way too expensive!
Happy Pi Day
Forum rules
Post a new topic to begin a chat.
Any topic is acceptable, and topic drift is permissible.
Post a new topic to begin a chat.
Any topic is acceptable, and topic drift is permissible.
Re: Happy Pi Day
There are a lot of choices for amusement today that were not available even twenty years ago. When we were looking into other people's houses during our search for a new home I was amazed at the variety of entertainment setups I saw. Some homes didn't seem to have as much as a television, or it was concealed into some furniture to make it less obvious. A couple homes had entertainment networks. One guy had a server with at least a dozen wires connected to the I/O ports. That home also had a cinema theater down in their basement. Entertainment can get very complicated or be downright simple. I guess my idea of computer fun is somewhere in the middle. Everything I need to keep amused is within arms reach. The television is in the great room where my wife of many years spends most of her time. If something special needs to be watched, I've not had any problems finding somebody to stream it to my desktop. Then again, I don't consider too many thing special and worthy of being watched.
Someday I might be inclined to take better advantage of surveillance technology. I like the idea of being able to watch what is going on in my home while I'm on the road somewhere. Doing that, however, would require me to change some ideas I have about network and Internet security. Remote monitoring is just a cool idea and not a necessity at this point. Maybe I'd change my mind if I won the lotto. Then again, maybe not. LOL
As far as the home LAN goes it can only be as fast as the slowest element. You might have a gigabyte network in terms of hardware, but normally you need to pay your ISP a lot of money to get those kind of speeds delivered to your house. Spectrum promises us 100 MHz download speed but I rarely see that. I know the download server has a lot to do with it, but I also know Spectrum (part of the Sprint network) throttles traffic when their big customers need the bandwidth more than I do. They try to argue their case by sending us to their special test server to check on the speeds. That server is always running at max, but that is not the same server that delivers us normal network data. The normal route is heavily regulated in which case it doesn't matter how fast your home LAN happens to be.
Someday I might be inclined to take better advantage of surveillance technology. I like the idea of being able to watch what is going on in my home while I'm on the road somewhere. Doing that, however, would require me to change some ideas I have about network and Internet security. Remote monitoring is just a cool idea and not a necessity at this point. Maybe I'd change my mind if I won the lotto. Then again, maybe not. LOL
As far as the home LAN goes it can only be as fast as the slowest element. You might have a gigabyte network in terms of hardware, but normally you need to pay your ISP a lot of money to get those kind of speeds delivered to your house. Spectrum promises us 100 MHz download speed but I rarely see that. I know the download server has a lot to do with it, but I also know Spectrum (part of the Sprint network) throttles traffic when their big customers need the bandwidth more than I do. They try to argue their case by sending us to their special test server to check on the speeds. That server is always running at max, but that is not the same server that delivers us normal network data. The normal route is heavily regulated in which case it doesn't matter how fast your home LAN happens to be.
Re: Happy Pi Day
My son had a theater in his basement that was awesome! But the thing was, unless you sat in the very back of the room, you wore your neck out trying to watch it.
When they first came out with the large screen and projection TVs, they used to tell you that you didn't want one that big in that size room. They were right!
Now the audio system that went with his movie room was more than I could imagine. Trouble is, very few movies are in 4-channel stereo. I remember the demo tape that came with my first 4-channel stereo. It sounded like someone was walking completely around you, or driving a car around you, or a plane going in circles over your head. Amazing what they could do with the sound effects. But the novelty wore off right away since most records or tapes didn't have that kind of separation.
A few of the horror type tapes I bought did, but they were expensive too.
I just downloaded yet another new copy of Firefox. The download speed was 35kbps, not 30mbps, but that was because that was all the faster they were sending it to me. Took 45 minutes to download a copy of Firefox, hi hi.
Comcast is always throttling downloads! But I do usually get 75mbps on most small downloads, and on the larger ones I don't get the burst speed so it is more like 45 to 50mbps.
Although I have a gigabit LAN here now, I've never seen data go from my office to the house or vice versa at more than around 500mbps or about half.
Now in the old days, if you had a 10mbps connection on a 100mbps LAN it would drag the whole LAN down to 10mbps. But they no longer work that way. Unless of course you are sending or receiving from a 10mbps device, then that is slow. But you could be downloading something from a 100mbps device at the same time as from the 10mbps device in two separate processes, and you would still get the 100mbps downloading at the same time as the 10mbps was downloading.
I no longer have anything here that slow since the last of my older computers died.
You have to also consider, my modem and router are down at the house, and there is 200 feet a LAN cable between it and my office switch. When my old 4-port 100mbps switch died, I replaced it with an 8 port gigabit switch, and the speed difference between the two switches was like night and day.
I would be happy if I got a 25 to 30mbps download. But after getting the new switch it jumped up to over 50 mbps right away, and kept going up so that now I usually get around 75mbps downloads. But some places I connect to are downright slow to begin with, like the Firefox download I mentioned above at 33kbkps, crazy slow. The site must have been super busy.
When they first came out with the large screen and projection TVs, they used to tell you that you didn't want one that big in that size room. They were right!
Now the audio system that went with his movie room was more than I could imagine. Trouble is, very few movies are in 4-channel stereo. I remember the demo tape that came with my first 4-channel stereo. It sounded like someone was walking completely around you, or driving a car around you, or a plane going in circles over your head. Amazing what they could do with the sound effects. But the novelty wore off right away since most records or tapes didn't have that kind of separation.
A few of the horror type tapes I bought did, but they were expensive too.
I just downloaded yet another new copy of Firefox. The download speed was 35kbps, not 30mbps, but that was because that was all the faster they were sending it to me. Took 45 minutes to download a copy of Firefox, hi hi.
Comcast is always throttling downloads! But I do usually get 75mbps on most small downloads, and on the larger ones I don't get the burst speed so it is more like 45 to 50mbps.
Although I have a gigabit LAN here now, I've never seen data go from my office to the house or vice versa at more than around 500mbps or about half.
Now in the old days, if you had a 10mbps connection on a 100mbps LAN it would drag the whole LAN down to 10mbps. But they no longer work that way. Unless of course you are sending or receiving from a 10mbps device, then that is slow. But you could be downloading something from a 100mbps device at the same time as from the 10mbps device in two separate processes, and you would still get the 100mbps downloading at the same time as the 10mbps was downloading.
I no longer have anything here that slow since the last of my older computers died.
You have to also consider, my modem and router are down at the house, and there is 200 feet a LAN cable between it and my office switch. When my old 4-port 100mbps switch died, I replaced it with an 8 port gigabit switch, and the speed difference between the two switches was like night and day.
I would be happy if I got a 25 to 30mbps download. But after getting the new switch it jumped up to over 50 mbps right away, and kept going up so that now I usually get around 75mbps downloads. But some places I connect to are downright slow to begin with, like the Firefox download I mentioned above at 33kbkps, crazy slow. The site must have been super busy.
Re: Happy Pi Day
The last movie I went to see in a theater was Pirates of the Caribbean which had to be something like 15 years ago. The second to the last movie theater I attended was to see the movie called Chicago. Johnny Depp didn't impress me all that much but we were with a group of people and I have to say I somewhat enjoyed that last movie experience. The movie Chicago, however, is pretty much what convinced me never to go to a movie theater again. We went with another couple and the theater was half empty. They insisted on sitting about three rows back from the screen which we had pretty much to ourselves. The screen was huge especially from that close distance and about the most uncomfortable movie experience I can remember. I did not watch most of it. My eyes were down to the floor and my hands over my ears. I had no doubt in my mind that a seizure was imminent if I actually looked up at the screen. The flickering was horrible, although the other folks with me didn't seem to mind or could not see it for some reason. The sound exceeded the 120 dB threshold of pain generated by a jet aircraft taking off; I'm certain that was the beginning of the end of my high frequency hearing. I did recover somewhat but my ears were ringing the entire evening. There was a lot of singing and dancing in the movie, but that's all I can tell you I remember of it. It took a lot of courage on my part to go see the Pirates movie several years later, but I've not been inside a movie theater since then.
I don't suppose a home movie theater would be as devastating, and I can see myself enjoying some video games on a screen of that proportions. At one time Logitech made a surround sound 5 channel audio system for just over $100. I still have it unpacked from our move down here to Missouri. It was an amazing system considering the size and the cost, but they also had a 7 channel system. I would have bought that instead because the motherboard on my computer back then supported 7.1 channel audio. In think that's the standard now and days for Intel chip sets. Duke Nukem sounded amazing on that audio system, but I could only use it's full potential when my wife was not in the house. She had issues with the floor and walls vibrating. Or something. Now I have some studio quality audio monitors which are fine for my old ears, but they do lack bass frequencies. I could get a woofer I suppose, but for what I listen to it would not be worth the investment.
Most of the major software distributors, such as Mozilla Firefox, use mirrors for downloading. That slow speed is typical on the first day of a new release but I can frequently get around it by stopping the download, cleaning the browser cache, and waiting a minute or two. The second attempt is usually from some other mirror site and more often than not faster. If it's a REALLY popular program you might have to wait 24 - 48 hours for the distribution servers to catch up with demand.
I don't suppose a home movie theater would be as devastating, and I can see myself enjoying some video games on a screen of that proportions. At one time Logitech made a surround sound 5 channel audio system for just over $100. I still have it unpacked from our move down here to Missouri. It was an amazing system considering the size and the cost, but they also had a 7 channel system. I would have bought that instead because the motherboard on my computer back then supported 7.1 channel audio. In think that's the standard now and days for Intel chip sets. Duke Nukem sounded amazing on that audio system, but I could only use it's full potential when my wife was not in the house. She had issues with the floor and walls vibrating. Or something. Now I have some studio quality audio monitors which are fine for my old ears, but they do lack bass frequencies. I could get a woofer I suppose, but for what I listen to it would not be worth the investment.
Most of the major software distributors, such as Mozilla Firefox, use mirrors for downloading. That slow speed is typical on the first day of a new release but I can frequently get around it by stopping the download, cleaning the browser cache, and waiting a minute or two. The second attempt is usually from some other mirror site and more often than not faster. If it's a REALLY popular program you might have to wait 24 - 48 hours for the distribution servers to catch up with demand.
Re: Happy Pi Day
I HATE indoor movie theaters, always have.
Debi finally talked me into going with her to a movie, and she will never make that mistake again, hi hi.
They had nothing but problems that night. Someone forgot to flip the switch to start the movie, and after a bunch of us began complaining, they finally flipped a switch, but all we got was another round of advertisements. The show was supposed to start like at 7 pm, and didn't start until after 8 pm, and the next show was supposed to be at 10 pm, but our show was not over until after 11 pm. Plus the show turned out to be lousy on top of it, hi hi.
Back in the VHS tape days, I used to rent movies from a place where you could rent 7 at a time, and keep them for the whole week. They gave us an appointment schedule that was easy to keep. Did that for like four years, then they suddenly closed down. I wish they closed down a week earlier when we had some decent films to keep, hi hi.
The only nice TV speaker system I had consisted of four small speakers and one floor speaker the bass. But it worked in conjunction with the two front speakers. Two of the speakers were behind us on each side of the room. It worked great for about a year, then started cutting out and making popping sounds. The whole shebang ended up in the trash.
I still have my stereo system from my house, all the individual large component pieces and turntable. I have two large speakers too, stored here in my office closet now for 20 years, hi hi.
Debi finally talked me into going with her to a movie, and she will never make that mistake again, hi hi.
They had nothing but problems that night. Someone forgot to flip the switch to start the movie, and after a bunch of us began complaining, they finally flipped a switch, but all we got was another round of advertisements. The show was supposed to start like at 7 pm, and didn't start until after 8 pm, and the next show was supposed to be at 10 pm, but our show was not over until after 11 pm. Plus the show turned out to be lousy on top of it, hi hi.
Back in the VHS tape days, I used to rent movies from a place where you could rent 7 at a time, and keep them for the whole week. They gave us an appointment schedule that was easy to keep. Did that for like four years, then they suddenly closed down. I wish they closed down a week earlier when we had some decent films to keep, hi hi.
The only nice TV speaker system I had consisted of four small speakers and one floor speaker the bass. But it worked in conjunction with the two front speakers. Two of the speakers were behind us on each side of the room. It worked great for about a year, then started cutting out and making popping sounds. The whole shebang ended up in the trash.
I still have my stereo system from my house, all the individual large component pieces and turntable. I have two large speakers too, stored here in my office closet now for 20 years, hi hi.
Re: Happy Pi Day
I sold my component stereo system before we moved to Missouri. That system had some amazing sounds from those ten (or maybe twelve) inch speakers. There were four and only two were active. I never did understand how unconnected speakers could add to the sound quality just by being in the same box with the active speaker. There was a truntable, AM/FM radio receiver, CD player, cassette player, an amp and an equalizer all in the same wood cabinet with a glass front door so that you could see all the cool looking lights. While I got rid of the components for a whopping $20, I kept the cabinet. Today it holds a lot of my computer stuff. I'm pretty sure I could mount a motherboard in there and replace the black steel box I am now using. Maybe some day when I decide to build my last computer that's what I'll do. The cabinet has to be at least 50 years old and looks nearly as good as it did when I bought it. It would make a fine home for a desktop computer. LOL
We had a Blockbuster store down the street from our old home. Wife would go there and rent movies all the time, but when they folded up the business she never rented anymore from anybody. We had a DVR down here when we first moved in, but that only was because it was free for the first year of cable service. She never used it even once so we traded it in for a normal black box and reduced our monthly bill by a few dollars.
I don't know if I'd like a cinema room in my basement but I can see a desktop with three monitors surrounding me. LOL Not sure what I'd look at if I had such an array, but it certainly would look cool.
We had a Blockbuster store down the street from our old home. Wife would go there and rent movies all the time, but when they folded up the business she never rented anymore from anybody. We had a DVR down here when we first moved in, but that only was because it was free for the first year of cable service. She never used it even once so we traded it in for a normal black box and reduced our monthly bill by a few dollars.
I don't know if I'd like a cinema room in my basement but I can see a desktop with three monitors surrounding me. LOL Not sure what I'd look at if I had such an array, but it certainly would look cool.
Re: Happy Pi Day
I had two vertical stereo cabinets with glass doors. And between them was a lower cabinet where the turntable sat.
I had all the separate components too, cassette tape decks, equalizers, tuner, amp, etc.
I packed away my stereo equipment and took it to moms before our auction, and now it sits here in boxes in my office, where it has sat now for 20 years, hi hi.
I fully intended to get all set back up again as I finished the house, but the first heart attack really put the damper on a lot of things. I still tried though and got the kitchen finished, but then had the second heart attack and no more work since then.
I don't think I've ever been in a Blockbuster store, since we had our super fair and easy to deal with guy.
I also wanted to get my Ham Radio Station set up here in my office like I had it back home, but never got around to it.
I had all the separate components too, cassette tape decks, equalizers, tuner, amp, etc.
I packed away my stereo equipment and took it to moms before our auction, and now it sits here in boxes in my office, where it has sat now for 20 years, hi hi.
I fully intended to get all set back up again as I finished the house, but the first heart attack really put the damper on a lot of things. I still tried though and got the kitchen finished, but then had the second heart attack and no more work since then.
I don't think I've ever been in a Blockbuster store, since we had our super fair and easy to deal with guy.
I also wanted to get my Ham Radio Station set up here in my office like I had it back home, but never got around to it.
Re: Happy Pi Day
Initially, when we first moved in, I had plans to make at least the Command and Control Center a close duplicate of what I had left behind. The router and the LAN attached to it was simply a matter of turning on the power and connecting the cables. Absolutely nothing changed there. Everything else in this house, however, did change and is not conducive to duplicating anything I gave up to get here. There is no Ikea store anywhere near so that I could furnish the room properly. I might be able to get them to deliver from STL, but none of the desks I looked at in the current catalog would fit this room. Thus nothing could actually come close in terms of furniture.
Once I sold the component stereo system we missed the ability to listen to music. To compensate for all that I bought a small compact system all in one box, except for the speakers. It didn't sound anything like the system I sold, but it did provide background music when we wanted it. That system is stashed away in storage too but it has potential. I might be able to rig it up in the current CCC so that I can listen to some light classical music while I type these messages. I also thought of putting that system in the hall closet and having speakers installed in all the rooms of the house. There are times when the wife actually turns off the TV and just wants to relax and read her Kindle. I thank the gods that there is nothing stopping me from wiring up the house with music except a lack of ambition. Then again, I only know where the access door to the attic is located. I've never been up there. In fact I don't even have a ladder that would reach that trap door. That makes it hard to install ceiling speakers.
Once I sold the component stereo system we missed the ability to listen to music. To compensate for all that I bought a small compact system all in one box, except for the speakers. It didn't sound anything like the system I sold, but it did provide background music when we wanted it. That system is stashed away in storage too but it has potential. I might be able to rig it up in the current CCC so that I can listen to some light classical music while I type these messages. I also thought of putting that system in the hall closet and having speakers installed in all the rooms of the house. There are times when the wife actually turns off the TV and just wants to relax and read her Kindle. I thank the gods that there is nothing stopping me from wiring up the house with music except a lack of ambition. Then again, I only know where the access door to the attic is located. I've never been up there. In fact I don't even have a ladder that would reach that trap door. That makes it hard to install ceiling speakers.
Re: Happy Pi Day
Believe me, I understand. The best made plans of mice and men often go astray.
I saved a bunch of old style picture frames I had collected from houses over the years.
I did sell all the real wood ones, but kept all the plastic ornate design ones.
I had planned on painting them all white, then brushing gold over the raised areas, and selling them all as a group collection.
They are still here, stashed everywhere, some in the attic, some in the garage, and some delicate ones in my office closets.
Been there for over 20 years now, hi hi. And probably so brittle if I touch them they will fall apart.
When we had to replace the TV, the internal speakers don't sound very good. This is why we bought an external speaker system, which didn't last very long. Got tossed. Debi don't mine the TV speakers, but I think they are dreadful.
And now with my health going downhill so fast. I honestly doubt I will get around to having the ability to sell much of the old Ham gear I have here, most in their original boxes too.
I saved a bunch of old style picture frames I had collected from houses over the years.
I did sell all the real wood ones, but kept all the plastic ornate design ones.
I had planned on painting them all white, then brushing gold over the raised areas, and selling them all as a group collection.
They are still here, stashed everywhere, some in the attic, some in the garage, and some delicate ones in my office closets.
Been there for over 20 years now, hi hi. And probably so brittle if I touch them they will fall apart.
When we had to replace the TV, the internal speakers don't sound very good. This is why we bought an external speaker system, which didn't last very long. Got tossed. Debi don't mine the TV speakers, but I think they are dreadful.
And now with my health going downhill so fast. I honestly doubt I will get around to having the ability to sell much of the old Ham gear I have here, most in their original boxes too.
Re: Happy Pi Day
I once bought a lithographic reproduction of a genuine work of art created by a well known artist. It's even got a serial number and certificate of authentication. This purchase was made with a bonus issued by my employer. The cell phone business was growing by leaps and bounds at one point and I happened to be part of the team. I knew this bonus was exactly that and never expected to see another so that I wanted to spend the money on something lasting. I don't recall the exact price of the lithograph but at the time of purchase my oldest daughter worked in a framing shop. She personally made the frame and used museum glass (never heard of it before that time) to protect the work of art. The frame alone was in excess of $700 and that was more than the lithograph was worth at the time. It might be interesting to see if I can find a price for it all in today's market because this purchase was made more than thirty years ago. Bev Dolittle created some very interesting paintings back then, but to be honest I know nothing about her or what became of her work. Hopefully she is highly respected and her artwork is very valuable these days. LOL
I have a few goodies in storage but there is nothing of great value to be sold. When I move on to a greater existence I expect my family to gather and rummage through my collection of stuff, but most of it will end up in a landfill. The real story about me is right here in this black box I am using to send you this message. I doubt if anyone will even find what I have in computer storage and much less save it if they do find it. Some of the photographs might be interesting, but more than 90% of them most likely would not be recognized for what or who they are. I have an old semi-automatic keyer in a box down in the basement. It will be found, I'm sure, but nobody will ever be able to figure out what it is or why I saved it. I literally talked to people around the entire globe with that bug.
I have a few goodies in storage but there is nothing of great value to be sold. When I move on to a greater existence I expect my family to gather and rummage through my collection of stuff, but most of it will end up in a landfill. The real story about me is right here in this black box I am using to send you this message. I doubt if anyone will even find what I have in computer storage and much less save it if they do find it. Some of the photographs might be interesting, but more than 90% of them most likely would not be recognized for what or who they are. I have an old semi-automatic keyer in a box down in the basement. It will be found, I'm sure, but nobody will ever be able to figure out what it is or why I saved it. I literally talked to people around the entire globe with that bug.
Re: Happy Pi Day
I had a few photos preserved in sealed conservation glass, the conservation glass is only on the front, and sounds like what is also called Museum glass. Blocks UV and is anti-glare, while being crystal clear. But they were not in frames per se. They did have the border piece to prevent chipping of the glass. I suppose they were sorta like thermo-pane in a way. The face of the picture did not touch the glass though, but how they were made, I don't know for sure. Seems like it cost me 150 bucks each for the ones I had in the sealed storage, and only like 75 bucks each for the ones just framed with the edge piece.
I wonder what ever happened to the things I sold on eBay now that 25 years have passed since then.
We had a few plastic toys that were stored, but the plastic itself deteriorated, self-destroyed, nothing but flakes left, hi hi.
I guess the heat and cold of the attic or garage rafters did them in. It sure wasn't sunlight hitting them, hi hi.
But the old steel toys I had put in boxes are all still like the day I packed them away. Only a couple of things left now.
Mostly things that belonged to Debi or her niece. Stored by her dad.
I wonder what ever happened to the things I sold on eBay now that 25 years have passed since then.
We had a few plastic toys that were stored, but the plastic itself deteriorated, self-destroyed, nothing but flakes left, hi hi.
I guess the heat and cold of the attic or garage rafters did them in. It sure wasn't sunlight hitting them, hi hi.
But the old steel toys I had put in boxes are all still like the day I packed them away. Only a couple of things left now.
Mostly things that belonged to Debi or her niece. Stored by her dad.
Re: Happy Pi Day
It does indeed sound like conservation glass is what I was told is museum glass. I am not sure if the lithograph I have is in a sealed container, but it does in fact look that way. My daughter, the one who made the frame, will be here next week. I will ask her if she remembers much about the construction of that frame.
My youngest daughter acquired a couple very old toys from the parents of her husband. They never threw away any of the kids ' toys and what she now possesses came in what looks like original boxes. From what I understand the collection of toys was huge and in very good condition. They were kept indoors for their entire lifetime. Several years ago the parent of my wife's husband died. His brother and him had the task of going through all the possessions left behind, including this toy collection. They did not want to be bothered selling any of it or finding out what it was worth. It all got tossed. I didn't think it would be proper to ask them if I could have that collection but would have taken it if they offered it. For all I know it was all junk, but the few items I saw were collector quality.
My youngest daughter acquired a couple very old toys from the parents of her husband. They never threw away any of the kids ' toys and what she now possesses came in what looks like original boxes. From what I understand the collection of toys was huge and in very good condition. They were kept indoors for their entire lifetime. Several years ago the parent of my wife's husband died. His brother and him had the task of going through all the possessions left behind, including this toy collection. They did not want to be bothered selling any of it or finding out what it was worth. It all got tossed. I didn't think it would be proper to ask them if I could have that collection but would have taken it if they offered it. For all I know it was all junk, but the few items I saw were collector quality.
Re: Happy Pi Day
You wouldn't believe what I found in some of the REO houses I bought at auction.
You know they were foreclosed on and everything dumped out on the street.
But they rarely if ever go up into the attic areas to see if something was stored up there, unless it had pull down steps.
One of these houses, I didn't even see a hatch to get into the attic at first. There was none inside the house itself like usual.
But up in the rafters of the garage, I notice a little wooden door and climbed up there. Had to anyhow to run some new wiring to ceiling lighting. I don't think any of the families who lived there in later years ever looked up there either. We found all kinds of things that I would date as prior to the 1930's, most of it ruined of course. But we found all kinds of metal toys, and several boxes of old bottles. And a few boxes of ceramic figurines. What books and clothing that was up there was all deteriorated, dry rotted, etc. so they just went straight into the dumpster. I took everything else home to resell. Some of those metal toys had sharp edges on them, like what you would expect to find on 1920's toys or earlier, but none were in very good shape once I got around to cleaning them up a little.
I found an old check writing machine in one house, and it was really old, 1910 to 1920 era. It did fetch about 85 bucks if I recall, and it was not working either. In another house that had an oil furnace and large oil drums in the basement. We found case after case of small can openers under those oil drums. I suppose who ever lived there must have sold something that they put one of these in each box of goods they sold. Turns out they were not worth anything.
Heck, the folks who got my house in Creve Coeur would have found in my attic, about 20 boxes of safety pins made for use with award ribbons, about 5 or 6 buckets of old radio tubes, old Christmas ornaments we never used on our trees, and a few old toys not worth anything. I sold anything that was worth something at our garage sale before the auction. I think there were also some old ice skates up there, and perhaps some roller skates too, the old clamp onto your shoe type.
I know the things I had preserved, only a few were in the sealed double glass. Most were only behind single with a spacer.
You know they were foreclosed on and everything dumped out on the street.
But they rarely if ever go up into the attic areas to see if something was stored up there, unless it had pull down steps.
One of these houses, I didn't even see a hatch to get into the attic at first. There was none inside the house itself like usual.
But up in the rafters of the garage, I notice a little wooden door and climbed up there. Had to anyhow to run some new wiring to ceiling lighting. I don't think any of the families who lived there in later years ever looked up there either. We found all kinds of things that I would date as prior to the 1930's, most of it ruined of course. But we found all kinds of metal toys, and several boxes of old bottles. And a few boxes of ceramic figurines. What books and clothing that was up there was all deteriorated, dry rotted, etc. so they just went straight into the dumpster. I took everything else home to resell. Some of those metal toys had sharp edges on them, like what you would expect to find on 1920's toys or earlier, but none were in very good shape once I got around to cleaning them up a little.
I found an old check writing machine in one house, and it was really old, 1910 to 1920 era. It did fetch about 85 bucks if I recall, and it was not working either. In another house that had an oil furnace and large oil drums in the basement. We found case after case of small can openers under those oil drums. I suppose who ever lived there must have sold something that they put one of these in each box of goods they sold. Turns out they were not worth anything.
Heck, the folks who got my house in Creve Coeur would have found in my attic, about 20 boxes of safety pins made for use with award ribbons, about 5 or 6 buckets of old radio tubes, old Christmas ornaments we never used on our trees, and a few old toys not worth anything. I sold anything that was worth something at our garage sale before the auction. I think there were also some old ice skates up there, and perhaps some roller skates too, the old clamp onto your shoe type.
I know the things I had preserved, only a few were in the sealed double glass. Most were only behind single with a spacer.
Re: Happy Pi Day
I can imagine that you discovered more than one unintended time capsule when you were doing renovations. Finding anything of value would be a bonus.
Speaking of time capsules, when we built our house the contractor mentioned that some folks like to bury something in the concrete under the front door step. I guess he has seen some strange things encased in concrete, but we never gave the idea much thought ahead of time. Since we had a few days to think it over wife and I collected some items and placed them in a small metal container. One was a new quarter from the year the house was built. I had business cards printed on my computer to give to people who needed our contact information so that one of those went into the box too. There were a few other items but one in particular stands out. Wife decided to enshrine an unopened tin of oysters simply because that is what she liked to eat. We laughed it off and as far as I know to this very day there is a can of oysters (or what is left to them) under the front door step at the old house. I don't know how long it will take, but I am certain that concrete foundation will crumble some day. There is a very remote chance that somebody in the very distant future will find that box of goodies with the oysters inside and wonder why in all hell it is there. I'd love to see the expression on their face.
Speaking of time capsules, when we built our house the contractor mentioned that some folks like to bury something in the concrete under the front door step. I guess he has seen some strange things encased in concrete, but we never gave the idea much thought ahead of time. Since we had a few days to think it over wife and I collected some items and placed them in a small metal container. One was a new quarter from the year the house was built. I had business cards printed on my computer to give to people who needed our contact information so that one of those went into the box too. There were a few other items but one in particular stands out. Wife decided to enshrine an unopened tin of oysters simply because that is what she liked to eat. We laughed it off and as far as I know to this very day there is a can of oysters (or what is left to them) under the front door step at the old house. I don't know how long it will take, but I am certain that concrete foundation will crumble some day. There is a very remote chance that somebody in the very distant future will find that box of goodies with the oysters inside and wonder why in all hell it is there. I'd love to see the expression on their face.
Re: Happy Pi Day
When my dad had his house built in 1949. Him and mom made like a time capsule in a large glass jar and placed it on top of a main sewer pipe inside the walls, which ere lath and plaster back then.
When they were moving out in 1966, knowing the house was going to be torn down, he busted into that wall and pulled it out. He didn't open it, he place it inside a wall at their new house, where it still is today.
My brother and I wrote some messages and put them into coin collecting plastic tubes and put those into a wall also as the house was being built. I suppose they are still there too.
Grandpa supposedly put a big earthen jar inside the front towers on his porch, but when I lived there, I moved the tops off far enough to look inside and they were empty. So perhaps he meant the towers of the sign out front. Clarence and George were there the day those two towers came down, and nothing was inside them either.
The whole place was demolished and turned into a shopping center and although a few family members watched, they never saw anything that might be worth going after. Except for an old Hires Root Beer boxed kit to make your own root beer. But once touched, it basically fell apart and nothing inside was any good, hi hi.
When they were moving out in 1966, knowing the house was going to be torn down, he busted into that wall and pulled it out. He didn't open it, he place it inside a wall at their new house, where it still is today.
My brother and I wrote some messages and put them into coin collecting plastic tubes and put those into a wall also as the house was being built. I suppose they are still there too.
Grandpa supposedly put a big earthen jar inside the front towers on his porch, but when I lived there, I moved the tops off far enough to look inside and they were empty. So perhaps he meant the towers of the sign out front. Clarence and George were there the day those two towers came down, and nothing was inside them either.
The whole place was demolished and turned into a shopping center and although a few family members watched, they never saw anything that might be worth going after. Except for an old Hires Root Beer boxed kit to make your own root beer. But once touched, it basically fell apart and nothing inside was any good, hi hi.
Re: Happy Pi Day
Perhaps the custom of hiding time capsules inside walls of a building is more common than I ever thought it would be. It was convenient in our case in that we had the house custom build. These spec homes I live among today would not have had the personal touch of a custom home. Although, the one I live in was a display home so that the builder did indeed put a couple extras into it. What he did was nice but nothing compared to what I would have specified.
Time capsules are an interesting item, to be sure, but they are mostly without significance. A hundred years from now if anyone finds the box we buried it would mean nothing to them. Perhaps it would evoke a smile, but they would have no clue who put those items there nor would they understand the significance of any of them. The coin might be worth something more than 25 cents, but who cares? Does it really mater what went on in this space 150 years ago? It would perhaps to the family who settled this land, but preserving the past seems pointless from the present day's perspective.
Time capsules are an interesting item, to be sure, but they are mostly without significance. A hundred years from now if anyone finds the box we buried it would mean nothing to them. Perhaps it would evoke a smile, but they would have no clue who put those items there nor would they understand the significance of any of them. The coin might be worth something more than 25 cents, but who cares? Does it really mater what went on in this space 150 years ago? It would perhaps to the family who settled this land, but preserving the past seems pointless from the present day's perspective.
Re: Happy Pi Day
There are like 5 time capsules on the Kirkwood HS grounds, clearly marked.
Plus when they built the new Des Peres City Hall, a huge time capsule was placed in there, it contains the entire history of the town of Des Peres, plus small notebooks from many of the original families, or copies of those notebooks actually. I don't know what all else they put into it, but they made a big hoopla about it, hi hi.
Due to the folks who ramrodded that operation, I know my name will be in there for some of the things I did for the BiCentennial Celebration, namely photo's of the float we built using one of my old cars. The car was well hidden so you didn't even know there was a car under there, hi hi. I was active in things going on in our city back then, 1976, even though it had changed so much, mom and dad moved out in 1966 to Ballwin.
Apparently time capsules have always been something folks did.
When they got rid of the old one room schoolhouse, they found one near the cornerstone of the building. Albeit, it was a wood building, but still had a single slab of stone set in the corner with some names and dates on it. Under this they found the sealed in tar crockery box. I don't remember what all was in it, a list of the students who would attend the first class when the school was finished, and a few other things.
Plus when they built the new Des Peres City Hall, a huge time capsule was placed in there, it contains the entire history of the town of Des Peres, plus small notebooks from many of the original families, or copies of those notebooks actually. I don't know what all else they put into it, but they made a big hoopla about it, hi hi.
Due to the folks who ramrodded that operation, I know my name will be in there for some of the things I did for the BiCentennial Celebration, namely photo's of the float we built using one of my old cars. The car was well hidden so you didn't even know there was a car under there, hi hi. I was active in things going on in our city back then, 1976, even though it had changed so much, mom and dad moved out in 1966 to Ballwin.
Apparently time capsules have always been something folks did.
When they got rid of the old one room schoolhouse, they found one near the cornerstone of the building. Albeit, it was a wood building, but still had a single slab of stone set in the corner with some names and dates on it. Under this they found the sealed in tar crockery box. I don't remember what all was in it, a list of the students who would attend the first class when the school was finished, and a few other things.
Re: Happy Pi Day
You probably are correct to note that time capsules have been around for ages. When you think about it, those pyramid structures in Egypt which served as tombs for royalty are in essence time capsules. Artifacts from that era were placed near the deceased to ease their journey into the realm of the dead but they also reveal a lot about the society that did such things thousands of years ago. The walls of some caves where our cavemen ancestors lived still have markings on them describing that era. What could have been the purpose of those pictographs? Did the creators do it just for us to wonder why? LOL Whatever the reason the writing has been on the walls since the birth of the first human.
And now for something entirely different.
Well, it's not too different in that we have talked about this on previous occasions. You have questioned more than once in these forums the reasons why cancer treatments cannot be tagged onto specific cancer cells the same way as radio active x-ray markers are for diagnostic purposes. The answer is not simple, but I recently ran across an article describing some research on that exact method. The method involves the use of mRNA, the same stuff many people believe is irreversibly toxic in the present variety of anti virus vaccines. Apparently the mRNA approach is not new. The mRNA molecule is known to be naturally produced in certain patients and has been tested for it's ability to fend off certain cancers. That particular research was well underway when the current pandemic descended upon us and those cancer research labs had to redirect their efforts to finding a response to COVID-19.
The article might be a longer read that you care to pursue, and it deals with things you are not amenable to. I found it extremely interesting and thought that it could possibly add to your understanding of what mRNA is all about. The fact that it also is being used to target specif cancers might make it worth reading just for that reason. https://www.sciencefocus.com/the-human- ... a-vaccine/
And now for something entirely different.
Well, it's not too different in that we have talked about this on previous occasions. You have questioned more than once in these forums the reasons why cancer treatments cannot be tagged onto specific cancer cells the same way as radio active x-ray markers are for diagnostic purposes. The answer is not simple, but I recently ran across an article describing some research on that exact method. The method involves the use of mRNA, the same stuff many people believe is irreversibly toxic in the present variety of anti virus vaccines. Apparently the mRNA approach is not new. The mRNA molecule is known to be naturally produced in certain patients and has been tested for it's ability to fend off certain cancers. That particular research was well underway when the current pandemic descended upon us and those cancer research labs had to redirect their efforts to finding a response to COVID-19.
The article might be a longer read that you care to pursue, and it deals with things you are not amenable to. I found it extremely interesting and thought that it could possibly add to your understanding of what mRNA is all about. The fact that it also is being used to target specif cancers might make it worth reading just for that reason. https://www.sciencefocus.com/the-human- ... a-vaccine/
Re: Happy Pi Day
Yes it was a very long read, but most interesting!
I doubt either of us will live long enough to see diseases, viruses, and other things finally wiped out.
But perhaps by then, people will be gone and robots running the show.
I doubt either of us will live long enough to see diseases, viruses, and other things finally wiped out.
But perhaps by then, people will be gone and robots running the show.
Re: Happy Pi Day
I don't know if it is possible to wipe out any disease. We know, however, that vaccines have nearly eliminated the likes of polio, measles, hepatitis, rubella, smallpox and others. An interesting observation I read recently is that smallpox is the only disease globally eradicated. The effectiveness of large scale vaccination is thus well known. The article I cited suggest it might be possible to eradicate cancer using mRNA because it can target specific types and families of disease cells. While that is great news for future generations, I have to agree with you that old codgers such as you and I will not likely live long enough to benefit from these new techniques. You might be right about the robots too unless they can come up with a vaccine that eradicates stupidity. 