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Capsule (Full commentary found immediately below Lead Picture):
Part of my interest in creating a series of “Hey, Dom!” videos has to do with my increased self-esteem.
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Lead Picture (Story below in Thumbnail section)
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Photo Credit:
Cover of Astounding Stories, January 1930
H. W. Wesso (Hans Waldemar Wessolowski) / Astounding Stories (Clayton)
Read more on the blog www.existentialautotrip.com
The blog? A daily three to four-minute excursion into photos and short texts to regale the curious with an ever-changing and diverting view of a world rich in gastronomy, visual art, ideas, chuckles, stories, people, diversions, science, homespun, and enlightenment.
Observing with wit and wisdom, Dom Capossela, an experienced leader, guides his team of contributors and followers through that world, an amusing and edifying conversation to join.
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Commentary
Wednesday, August 7, 2019
Part of my interest in creating a series of “Hey, Dom!” videos has to do with my increased self-esteem.
Having to do with the way I feel about my looks.
With vanity.
I have a large dose of it.
I have written before about my feeling unhandsome.
Lately, however, that has changed.
I’m more comfortable with the way I look.
Three reasons.
The summer sun has given me color.
A teeth-whitening program (Crest, $47.00 for seven days, has made my teeth cleaner and so brighter.)
And the weight gain I have been fighting so assiduously has actually benefitted me by rounding and fleshing out a face that formerly had been unattractively attenuated.
So, with enhanced self-esteem, three scripts ready, technology learned, a friend-techie on hand, I will, on Thursday evening, pump out three 1-2 minute videos, two comical, one of a more serious note.
Needless to say, you will receive them.
Hoping you like them.
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News re: existentialautotrip
Wednesday, August 7, 2019
Repeating what’s in the commentary: the photo shoot happens on Thursday night.
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Weather
Wednesday, August 7, 2019
Today in Boston will be 82* and a feels-like of 86* with a risk of a thunderstorm.
While today and tomorrow pose threats of thunderstorms, I still deem this current stretch to be a perfect summer season.
Yayy!
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Monday’s Dinner posted on
Wednesday, August 7, 2019
Today we bought curry plates from a restaurant and then proceeded to doctor them using coconut cream, additional curry, additional cumin, and a touch of cayenne.
Not bad.
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Tracking Postings – Tracking Time
Wednesday, August 7, 2019
Our 488th consecutive posting, committed to 5,000.
After 488 posts we’re at the 9.76 percentile of our commitment, that commitment a different way of marking the passage of time.
Note how quickly we are approaching the 10% mark.
Feels like we’re just getting started, but we are close to 10% done.
10 xs 10 and then what?
Wow!
By the way, our posts are always done by 6.00am the day of, but are usually available by 6.00pm of the night before.
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Chuckle of the Day:
Wednesday, August 7, 2019
I was warned this was a tough bar.
The doorman asked if I had any weapons on me.
I said I didn't so he gave me a few to choose from.
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We love getting mail.
Contact me at domcapossela@hotmail.com
Wednesday, August 7, 2019
This from Sally C:
So, Dom, you are missing my historical tidbits? Well, today I have one, only slightly tongue-in-cheek, and slightly less distant in the past as my usual scraps.
I met yesterday with the youngest son and widow of the murdered police officer about whom my next book will be. As always, an emotional but fulfilling experience. This family has been through hell, and yet they forge on, determined to make a difference by service to their communities. The officer in question, Maine State Police Trooper Charles C. Black (end of watch - July 9, 1964) was a meticulous man who kept a small typewriter in his cruiser, on which he prepared various reports while he waited for this or that in his job. He mounted it on a piece of plywood so as to create a stable base on which to type. (The younger set who enjoy this blog may not know that manual typewriters took considerable finger-force to operate.) Trooper Black's colleagues poked a bit of fun at him for this contraption, but yesterday, we all realized, as the details of this little story unfolded, that he pioneered the laptop!
(Thoughtco.com reports that the first electronic laptop was designed in 1979 by one William Moggridge for Grid Systems Corporation, but the first fully functional one was designed by Manny Fernandez of Galivan Computer in 1983.)
To wander a bit further back into historical roots of electronic things, Thomas Jefferson invented a device that may have been the inspiration for our electronic Windows today, when we can have several files open on our monitor screen(s) at once. When he did research, he often had half a dozen books open on the table at once. (Those of us who took our term papers seriously in the pre-computer days are familiar with this technique.) To reduce clutter, he created a table-top lazy-susan affair with four sloped surfaces on which to place open books. With a push of a finger, he could turn from one book to another and read the pages easily. This item is at his house in Virginia, Monticello. Jefferson invented a lot of things, but since he preferred to share openly what he learned with the rest of the world, rather than clutch his genius possessively to himself, he never patented a single one. Lincoln remains the sole president with a patented invention, having created a bellows device that, once inflated, could raise a grounded boat enough to float it off a sandbar.
There, Dom! I hope this satisfies you! 😁
Sally
The Grid Compass was designed in 1979 by a Briton named William Moggridge for Grid Systems Corporation. It was one-fifth the weight of any model equivalent in performance and was used by NASA as part of the space shuttle program in the early 1980's. As far as technical specs, it featured a 340K byte bubble memory laptop computer system with a die-cast magnesium case and folding electroluminescent graphics display screen.
Gavilan Computer
Manny Fernandez had the idea for a well-designed laptop for executives who were just starting to use a computer. Fernandez, who started Gavilan Computer, promoted his machines as the first "laptop" computers in May 1983. Many historians have credited the Gavilan as the first fully functional laptop computer.
Sally
Web Meister responds: Sherlock Chetwynd is lucky to be your brother. Nicely done, my dear.
The changes in layout during 1960, showing the January, February, September and October title layouts
Source (WP:NFCC#4)
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Today’s Thumbnail
Wednesday, August 7, 2019
Analog Science Fiction and Fact is an American science fiction magazine published under various titles since 1930.
Originally titled Astounding Stories of Super-Science, the first issue was dated January 1930, published by William Clayton, and edited by Harry Bates.
Clayton went bankrupt in 1933 and the magazine was sold to Street & Smith.
The new editor was F. Orlin Tremaine, who soon made Astounding the leading magazine in the nascent pulp science fiction field, publishing well-regarded stories such as Jack Williamson's Legion of Space and John W. Campbell's "Twilight".
At the end of 1937, Campbell took over editorial duties under Tremaine's supervision, and the following year Tremaine was let go, giving Campbell more independence.
Over the next few years Campbell published many stories that became classics in the field, including Isaac Asimov's Foundation series, A. E. van Vogt's Slan, and several novels and stories by Robert A. Heinlein.
The period beginning with Campbell's editorship is often referred to as the Golden Age of Science Fiction.
A tip o' the hat (U.S. President Calvin Coolidge, 1924
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Acknowledgements
Wednesday, August 7, 2019
Always thanks to the Microsoft team at the Prudential Center for their unflagging availability to help with a constant flow of technological problems.
Thanks to Sally C who so frequently enriches our posts.
And to 61+ jokes for providing the material for today’s chuckle.
Always thanks to Wikipedia, the Lead and the Thumbnail sections of the Blog very often shaped from stories taken from that amazing website. They are truly worthy of public support.
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Good Morning on this Wednesday, the seventh day of August, 2019
I missed a couple of issues.
Gonna find them.
Been searchin’.
Our lead picture was the cover of Astounding Stories.
Our commentary is on self-esteem.
We posted a Boston weather report and the ‘ticking calendar’ as illustrated by the growing number of posts as calendar markers.
Our Thumbnail sketched Astounding Stories.
We posted a chuckle and a piece of mail from Sally C.
And we thanked appropriate people.
And now? Gotta go.
Che vuoi? Le pocketbook?
See you soon.
Your love.