My Y2K story

Y2K+25! Can it have been a quarter century? There was such a fraught public build-up to that fateful night of December 31, 1999, and now it’s remembered—if at all—as a mere blip.

To refresh memories, the issue was that from time immemorial (the 1950s), computer programmers had encoded dates with a two-digit year, thusly, e.g.: 76-07-04 for July 4, 1976. The problem that eventually had to be faced was that by the time the turn of the century arrived, computers would need to distinguish between, say, 2001 and 1901. A two-digit year made that impossible. It was a serious problem and threatened havoc in many areas of life and work, basically anywhere dates needed to be recorded and compared by computer systems.

The problem was widely recognized and started being addressed and tackled by governments, businesses, and the tech industry in the mid-1990s. Lots of resources and manpower were allocated with a serious sense of urgency, and the efforts were overwhelmingly successful. But by far most of that work happened outside of the public eye.

Mrs. Random was working in a local multi-branch credit union as their main IT person, and it was her responsibility to certify that all systems were “Y2K compliant”—that all dates had four-digit years and that all files and data and programs would gracefully transition into the year 2000 without hiccups. Therefore, because of her position and the memos and magazines she read, she had a good perspective on how seriously the banking industry and tech industry were taking the “Y2K Bug.” To her it was obvious that everybody was busy solving the problem in plenty of time, and that there would be no disaster, no apocalypse, and that all critical systems would survive and continue to function properly.

But of course, because all of this work was largely hidden from the public and not easily explained to the layperson, the Y2K issue became very ripe for media exploitation and sensationalization. The world wide web was still young and exciting, and naturally it helped spread fear, uncertainy, and doubt—along with the tradional news media and tabloid press. (Surprise, surprise!) Not a few people became public prophets of doom and advocated an extreme prepper stance in the face of the looming deadline.

I was working at a natural foods store with a large bulk foods department. Many people ordered mass quantities, stockpiling huge amounts of canned goods, dried beans, flour, nuts, etc. etc. I know one family who moved to a very rural area with their guns and food and supplies, fairly certain that society was about to fall apart.

Personally, I was uncertain. Since I was on the internet constantly (tying up our phone line with our 56K modem lol), I thought it might be possible that there could be big problems, but I didn’t see the use in moving out into the country. I felt that neighbors would pull together and help each other, and my basic faith in human nature wouldn’t let me think that there would be any serious threats of violence in the city. Mrs. R was somewhat amused at my lack of faith in the system, I think. But we did buy extra chocolate and wine, and we made sure we had some basic redundancy in food staples, and I think we stored a couple gallons of water under the stairs. But that’s stuff you’d want in any “natural” disaster, so it wasn’t really extreme.

Of course, December 31 came and went, with only the expected big 2000 fanfare of round-the-world celebrations, covered nicely on TV and various websites. That’s not to say there weren’t any Y2K problems, but they were very minor in the worldwide scheme of things.

We stayed overnight at the credit union—well at least until 1 a.m.—because Mrs. R’s bosses wanted her to be there on hand to verify all systems remained operational into the new year. While she did her normal month-end and year-end jobs, and then conducted after-midnight Y2K-related tests, I was logged into Internet Relay Chat (IRC) talking with Australians, who were hours already into January 1 on the other side of the International Dateline. “We’re fine here, mate!” was the general consensus.

Basically, long story short: Y2K happened and everything was fine and everybody forgot about it within a year.

At the grocery store, we let people bring back their hoarded foodstuffs and graciously gave them their money back. I was a little appalled at that, but in retrospect I see it was good business and a good neighbor attitude. We did not shame them; we wanted their continued business :)

So that’s my Y2K story! Happy New Year! I am ready for 2025 and whatever lurks beyond the odometer flip.

That pen is toast

December 18, Dorris Ranch

I had an ultimate pen once, a Waterman fountain, with five bottles of ink, including black, brown, red, blue, and green—but with fancier names. I loved that pen and used it for hundreds of pages—freewriting, journals, letters, and doodling. The ink was water soluble, and I learned the hard way that if the paper got wet, the writing smeared and disappeared into a blur. NOT the kind of pen and ink to address mail with! This was back in the 1990s, and eventually I drifted away from writing with my fountain pen. It sat unused for years. I did revive it early in my typewriter collecting phase (2017), but then it sat again. At some point the mechanism for drawing fresh ink into it failed, broke. I think I'd let it go dry once too often. Or it just wore out after lots of use. A decorative piece on the end of the pen had also fallen off by then. Anyway, though I still have the parts in a ziploc bag, that pen is toast. I just wanted to write about my ultimate pen on the penultimate day of 2024. Thank you for reading.

De-Xmas’d

Radio Free Random's "Studio B" ensconced within the randomness of our library

O noes, I didn’t blog yesterday. Some streak ended I guess. Who cares! Anyway, it’s been all about RFR the last couple days. Check my Mixcloud page for recent marathon streams.

Mrs. R has de-Xmas’d chez Random quite a bit, including the big one today: de-Treeing. It’s now out in the yard debris bin in tiny pieces. We’re done with that holiday. Onward to New Year’s and January. The tree was occupying our “Empty Space” where previously my paintings-that-need-to-be-gone were sitting. I sent a goodly stack of them to the dump last week—and will be sorting further—but in the meantime I suppose they’ll go back to the Empty Space. Well, actually, I guess we need to talk about that. Currently they are sitting on the old recliner in the library. I guess they’re not hurting anyone there. No cat has wanted to use that chair for months.

Back to radio. I set up a tiny Studio B in the library, and that’s where last night’s and this morning’s long shows originated from. It’s fun to be downstairs sometimes while broadcasting. I can putter around and still interact with the listeners and DJ the music. Today’s puttering involved going through my books and culling out a few to sell or donate: “a few” turns out to be a stack about 3 feet high! The need to de-book and de-typewriter (and de-etc.) has become a priority now, with my new commitment to Swedish Death Cleaning and all. I am a one-quarter Swede. 😎

The weather was traitorous today. We were supposed to get “excessive rain” according to The New York Times. But I think they must have been referring to the overnight precip, which was indeed excessive! Today has been horribly glorious, with the sun taunting us mercilessly. We could have hiked! We still could, but it’s getting late. The sun will start dipping and it’ll be dusk before we know it. I guess I’d rather continue to putter here inside. The kitchen needs attention badly, e.g., etc., fwiw.

Okay, there’s a blog. Type atcha later.

I read lots of old books

Dec. 16, Thurston Hills Natural Area, BPA transmission tower

Hello blog. A week on from the URL switchover and I’m still liking Blogger aka Blogspot. It’s a little bit loosey goosey, but that’s charming and random-positive. Like, I’m not always sure why formatting happens in certain ways, but I’m starting to learn. Clicking between HTML and Compose views is helping shed light on mysteries.

* * *

Radio Free Random: I have re-upped Mixcloud Pro for 2025—the whole year. If you think in terms of “real” radio, it’s a damn cheap license to broadcast (and covers copyright fees). The total price at $15/month would be $180, but the Mixcloud annual discount price is $135. Well worth it if I’m going to be on the air at least weekly. This week I had three broadcasts. Go to RFR’s Mixcloud profile page for a list of archived recordings.

* * *

If you read on Kindle (or a Kindle app) and buy books for your device, check out ereaderiq.com, a site where you can build a list of books or authors to watch for price drops. I’ve been using it for years, and it’s quite a treat to be alerted to the fact that a $15.00 book, for example, has suddenly dropped to $2.00!

If you are a reader of ebooks on any device, note that January 1st is Public Domain Day in the United States, and a bunch of new (old) books will be entering the public domain—and thus will be free—no cost—to download. Explore Project Gutenberg for public domain titles. I read lots of old books, and there is no reason (except maybe fancy new formatting, new illustrations, or added commentary) to pay money for ebooks over 100 95 years old.

In 2025, books by William Faulkner, Ernest Hemingway, Virginia Woolf, Dashiell Hammett, John Steinbeck, Agatha Christie, Robert Graves, and many many more will added to the US public domain. (I use the amazing Calibre software to ensure that my newly downloaded ebooks are in the correct format for the Send-To-Kindle feature on the Amazon website.)

Rampant depravity and violence

Fern Ridge Wildlife Area, looking north from near Tern Island (shot with new TG-7 camera)

I finished Jack Kerouac’s Big Sur a couple days ago. Appended to the end is a poem called "Sea"—which I also read and liked—that he composed sitting on the beach over the course of his time at Big Sur. It feels rather Joycean in its wordplay—using French, Spanish and made up words in addition to English. It's pretty cool. Here’s a review of the book, with photos of Mansanto’s (Ferlinghetti’s) cabin and the scary bridge, both of which feature large in the novel.

* * *

Inspired by my journey through The Silmarillion (at 15% now), with its creation story and lists of begats, I have started reading the Old Testament. Even though I was raised in a heavily Bible’d religion, I only ever memorized isolated verses and read key doctrinal chapters and summaries of various Bible stories. I never read the complete Bible. Now, many decades after leaving the church and embracing a much more agnostic (but still admittedly “spiritual”) view of life and the cosmos, I’m curious about what is actually in that ancient patchwork collection of texts.

I’m culturally Christian if not personally a believer, which I suppose makes me even curiouser. And man oh man, just in the book of Genesis, I’ve found some real humdingers! Rampant depravity and violence, much of it committed by supposedly godly people! For example, I didn’t know that Lot’s daughters got him drunk and raped him! And more than one man was killed for basically looking at someone wrong, or saying the wrong thing. I could go on, but I won’t. Basically there’s a lot of crazy shit in just the first book of the OT. I’m well into the book of Exodus now, still tallying murders and deviant behavior.

* * *

One last thought, random and unrelated to literature: when I was growing up in the '60s, we didn’t have supermoons or atmospheric rivers or bomb cyclones. I don’t think we even had El Niño or La Niña yet—not that I recall, anyway. The moon and the weather seem to have acquired marketing departments sometime in the last decade!

Simpler is better

We spoke with Mrs. Random’s oncologist today. She’s “go” for chemo tomorrow—carboplatin and gemcitabine. Next week it’s gemcitabine only. Then she’ll be done with chemotherapy, yay! He wants to see her for a follow-up appointment in four weeks to get a final blood test and set up every-three-weeks Keytruda infusions (for a year, I believe). That’s the immunotherapy drug, as a preventative. Next, within four to six weeks after the last chemo infusion, is surgery: bilateral mastectomy. That will allow analysis of the tumor. Best case scenario: it’s already completely dead tissue. In any event, hitting it with chemotherapy drugs since last July will have made it much smaller than it was when discovered, making its complete removal from her body much easier. She’s opting for a double mastectomy simply to eliminate the chance of any more breast cancer (she had it before in 2010)—as well as maintaining symmetry; and she’s not going for any reconstrutive surgery or any prosthetic options. These are personal choices, and different women have reasons for different choices, but there is wide agreement that simpler is better!

Yuleness

Random Xmas Breakfast 2024

Merry Christmas! Mrs. Random made a little feast for breakfast: cranberry scones, breakfast sausages (Applegate Farms brand from the Capella Market freezer aisle—a tad sagey for our taste but we ate ‘em), a peeled navel orange half each, and goat cheese frittata. Yum! After breakfast, we opened presents from family, friends, and ourselves. Always fun. My Christmas gadget this year (picked out by me, as per usual) was an OM Systems TG-7 camera. If you followed my old blog over at Wordpress(dot com), you are aware of my recent lust for this thing. I opted for the RED version over the black (which pleased Mrs. R).

TG-7, getting its battery topped off

[Later…] I was already starting to write a paragraph about how wimpy we are—not going outside today, sitting on our butts, etc. But, lo! We did goad ourselves—and behold! We DID go outside! And forthwith we drove ourselves to the west end of Royal Ave. and hiked out to the first ford, near Tern Island, and back! I shot 188 images with the new camera; just now transferring them to my hard drive for inspection. We feel much better about ourselves having braved the wet and wind. It wasn’t so bad once we were out in it.

Birdhouse poles, Fern Ridge Wildlife Area

TG-7 close-up test in our backyard

Dark Energy ‘Doesn’t Exist’: Scientists Reveal a ‘Lumpy’ Universe Driving Its Own Expansion

https://dailygalaxy.com/2024/12/dark-energy-doesnt-exist-scientists-reveal-a-lumpy-universe-driving-its-own-expansion/

"For decades, the enigmatic concept of dark energy has been central to cosmology, serving as an explanation for the accelerating expansion of the Universe. However, researchers at the University of Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand have proposed a revolutionary alternative: dark energy might not exist at all. Using a new approach to analyze supernovae light curves, the team suggests that the Universe’s expansion is not uniform but instead “lumpier” and more varied than previously thought."

Discussing our octogenarian years

Fleur and Griffin today

Back in the middle of October, Mrs. Random started teaching me her household finance/budgeting system. By now, I’ve gotten a pretty good grasp of it, even if I forget little details now and then. We’ve gone through two end-of-months and are about to go through an end-of-year process. Today I noticed something she’d done on the December spreadsheet that didn’t make immediate sense to me, so we got into a conversation about that particular thing—her reasoning, etc.—and then one thing led to another and before we knew it, we were talking about “old age,” which isn’t that far off!

I’ll be eighty in fifteen-and-a-half years, with her just a couple years behind me. By then we’ll definitely want to be very much downsized from where we are now—both in terms of possessions and living space. If we stay in this house, we’ll likely want to have the upstairs remodeled so a caretaker/caregiver could live up there. Otherwise, and I think probably more likely, we would want to move to a smaller, one-floor domicile. In any event, we want to be free of most of the responsibilites of house upkeep, yard work, and so on.

Strange to be discussing our octogenarian years! But time does sneak up. Both of Mrs. R’s parents were still doing pretty well when they hit eighty, but within the next five or so years both experienced dramatic decline, her dad (RIP) mainly physically, but he definitely suffered some delusions during his last couple years; and her mom mainly in the memory department. She is down to bare minutes of recall ability in daily life. Both of my parents still have their marbles, but my mom experiences chronic pain and is using a walker, and my dad is slowing down for sure. Inevitably, at some point, the human body/mind complex starts disintegrating, to put it bluntly. We think it would be best for us to prepare for that impending reality as gracefully as possible, especially since we are childfree and can’t depend on offspring to assist and/or goad us!

Whoville vs. Italian Futurism

Watching How The Grinch Stole Christmas (1966) tonight—particularly an early scene where the Grinch complains of the “noise, noise, noise, noise” made by the Who girls and boys with their toys on Christmas morning—what came to my mind, and made me chuckle, was Italian Futurism, specifically the composer Luigi Russolo and his Intonarumori.

Electro Whocarnio Flooks

First, from the Grinch cartoon:

For, tomorrow, I know all the Who girls and boys

Will wake bright and early. They'll rush for their toys! 

And then! Oh, the noise! Oh, the noise! Noise! Noise! Noise!

There's one thing I hate! All the NOISE! NOISE! NOISE! NOISE! 

And they'll shriek squeaks and squeals, racing 'round on their wheels.

They'll dance with jingtinglers tied onto their heels.

They'll blow their floofloovers. They'll bang their tartookas.

They'll blow their whohoopers. They'll bang their gardookas.

They'll spin their trumtookas. They'll slam their slooslunkas.

They'll beat their blumbloopas. They'll wham their whowonkas.

And they'll play noisy games like zoozittacarzay,

A roller-skate type of lacrosse and croquet!

And then they'll make ear-splitting noises galooks

On their great big electro whocarnio flooks! 

[https://ninjamonkeyspy.livejournal.com/585154.html] 

Luigi Russolo (left) and his assistant Ugo Piatti with their Intonarumori.

And now from a post about Russolo’s instruments:

The Intonarumori were a family musical instruments invented in 1913 by italian futurist painter and musical composer Luigi Russolo. They were acoustic noise generators that permitted to create and control in dynamic and pitch several different types of noises. 

Each instrument was made of a wooden parallelepiped sound box with a carton or metal speaker on its front side. The performer turned a crank or pressed an electric button to produce the sound whose pitch was controlled by means of a lever on top of the box. The lever could be moved over a scale in tones, semitones and the intermediate gradations within a range of more than one octave. 

Inside the box there were a wooden or metal wheel (whose shape or diameter varied depending on the model) that make a catgut or metal string vibrate. The tension of the string was modified by means of the lever allowing glissandos or specific notes. At one end of the string there is a drumhead that transmits vibrations to the speaker. 

There were 27 varieties of intonarumori with different names according to the sound produced: howling, thunder, crackling, crumpling, exploding, gurgling, buzzing, hissing and so on. 

[https://thereminvox.com/stories/instruments/intonarumori/]

Productive puttering

Dec. 15, Arlie Park

We had hoped rain would fall to quell any possible guilt we might feel about staying indoors today, but it didn’t begin to precipitate until dusk. I don’t think we feel guilty anyway. The last few days have been busy—hanging around inside the house felt good. And I actually got some productive puttering done, in addition to transmitting six prerecorded hours of Radio Free XMAS. I washed and dried laundry, cleaned up the kitchen, backed up my nearly full multitracker SD card, and gave it a fresh format for the new year. I also progressed to 83% in Big Sur, while hosting little Fleur on my lap; and binned a stack of my paintings that I don’t want anymore—that I'm quite sure nobody else wants, either. Plus I played with Betty and Fleur and took a nap with Mr. Griffin! It’s been a good day; and it’s only 5:30 p.m. I think we’ll watch the How The Grinch Stole Christmas (original 1966 TV version) after dinner. That’s a solid pre-Christmas tradition, and we've gotta do it either tonight or tomorrow night!

aka Radio Free XMAS

December 18, Dorris Ranch

I was yesterday years old when I heard about Christmas Adam. It was mentioned in a New York Times article Mrs. Random read. The term’s origin is obscure and obvious at the same time. I like it! Now we have special names for four days in a row: Christmas Adam, Christmas Eve, Christmas, and Boxing Day. Actually, to be fair, we already had Christmas Eve Eve and Festivus for December 23, and I just read about Tibb’s/Tipp’s Eve (Newfoundland). Plus, there’s HumanLight, a humanist holiday. But I’m liking Christmas Adam. It’s suggested to eat ribs today. lol.

Back in 2020 I served as a pandemic DJ on KWVA for a few months, making shows at home and uploading them to the station’s Google Drive. I just located the three 2-hour Christmas shows I made, only one of which was actually aired. I’m currently spinning those recordings on Radio Free Random aka Radio Free XMAS, and considering just looping them through Xmas Day—we’ll see. I worked hard on them, and I think they’re good shows! Tune in to the signal here: https://mixcloud.com/live/radiofreerandom

UPDATE: I did not loop the KWVA Christmas shows. But you can listen to them here:  https://www.mixcloud.com/radiofreerandom/radio-free-xmas-20241223-162105/
Sound starts at the 20 second mark.

A revival year

Only two more candy bags are left on our Advent Calendar, the one that Mrs. R's Aunt Sally needle-pointed for her when she was five. One bag is remaining for Christmas Adam (tomorrow) and one for Christmas Eve (Tuesday). We've been very good this year and remembered the ritual every day. As I mentioned in the post linked above, we stopped this tradition several years ago after we kept forgetting for several days in a row, and ended up opening multiple packages on one day. It was an indication that we really weren't into it anymore. But 2024 is a revival year for our Advent spirit, and we've proven to be worthy of the revival.

Swarm today was excellent and awesome. lelulaserlight and I rocked it for two sets (30 minutes and 40 minutes, respectively), and then we snacked and dined and desserted on Mrs. Random's culinary creations. Also, we opened Christmas gifts. I got a cool Celtic-design (Two Ravens) long-sleeved t-shirt from Mrs. R—a perfect wardrobe addition for the cold part of the year—and lelu gave me a diced-based Everyday Adventure kit ("Shake Up Your Day!") and a photobook!

The book lelu got me is fabulous: Helen Levitt, a 168-page hardcover volume published in 2008 by powerHouse Books, Brooklyn. Helen Levitt (1913-2009) was primarily known for her New York City street photography.  Here's some prose from the publisher: "Her final book: Helen Levitt, was released in conjunction with a retrospective exhibition at Germany's Sprengel Museum Hannover, the exhibit included her most iconic works, intermixed with never-before-seen color work. Combining seven decades of New York City street life with her seminal work in Mexico City, Helen Levitt's self-titled compilation features the master works of an incomparable career."

Kerouac and me

I’ve got eight more days to finish Jack Kerouac’s Big Sur, which I’m borrowing as an ebook from the Eugene Public Library through the Libby app (or is it vice versa?). Now at the beginning of chapter 31, or 66%, I’ll make it easily. Big Sur features Kerouac (“Jack Duluoz,” the first-person narrator) suffering encroaching madness amidst alcoholic decline—but his prose flashes as brightly as ever, deepened by experience, pain, and sadness. The book documents a 1961 final trip to northern California—Jack flush with cash earned from his hit novel On The Road. (The text of Big Sur can be read online here.)

I don't have much in common with Mr. Kerouac, but we both created our own baseball solitaire simulation games as kids. He used a spinner. I used three six-sided dice, modeling my system on my buddy Greg's. But I abandoned my game when I bought the Sports Illustrated baseball board game, which came with charts for the 1971 Major League teams. I spent hundreds of hours playing it, making my own custom leagues and schedules—and I still get it out from time to time to play a game or three. My SF Giants lost the 1971 NLCS to the Pittsburgh Pirates, who went on to defeat the Baltimore Orioles in a fabulous 7-game World Series. My favorite all-time player Willie Mays was still with San Francisco, nearing the end of his career (finishing with the New York Mets in 1973). Pirates All-Star Roberto Clemente was killed a year later in the off-season (December 1972) when a chartered plane crashed taking supplies to survivors of a massive earthquake in Nicaragua. I was 12 at the time. 

Rickey Henderson, 1958-2024

Man of Steal

During the years I followed the Seattle Mariners (most of the 1990s), I got to see Rickey Henderson a lot on TV. His at-bats and on-bases never failed to provoke extreme anxiety. Easily the most exciting player I've ever watched.

From Wikipedia: "He holds MLB records for career stolen bases, runs, unintentional walks, and leadoff home runs. At the time of his last major league game in 2003, the 10-time American League (AL) All-Star ranked among the sport's top 100 all-time home run hitters and was its all-time leader in walks. In 2009, he was inducted to the Baseball Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility."

He died Friday. RIP Rickey.

On our electronics and stuff

Yesterday at Dorris Ranch, Springfield, Oregon

Solstice night here chez Random. We’re relaxing, all of us—humies and kittehs—in the living room with the (gas) fireplace on. Fleur’s on my lap, Betty’s stretched way out with her front paws inching within a couple feet of the fire, and Griffin is next to the fire with his head on the base of the floor lamp—a hard pillow but he seems to like it.

We have Christmas Swarm tomorrow—lelulaserlight’s coming over in the late afternoon. She and I will rock out for a couple hours on our electronics and stuff. Then a snack and dinner feast courtesy of Mrs. Random, and then an exchange of presents.

I’m quite enjoying Blogger/Blogspot. It feels less restrictive and less structured than Wordpress (dot com) as far as what you can do with it. Greater ability to compose more creatively and design a little more chaotically—I suppose is what I mean. I need to dust off my HTML knowledge! For the first few years of my blogging career—1999 through 2007ish—I rolled my own website, adding and tweaking and removing features on a whim. Maybe I can revive a bit of that spirit here at AKA Mr. Random.

Today in radio history

The biggest continuous chunk of the day I spent On The Air—four hours and forty-five minutes spinning tunes for my rabid fan base :) Chat was fun and wide-(&weird)-ranging. Basically it was a big random musical variety show, including a 45-minute unplanned set of punk covers, i.e. punk bands covering popular non-punk songs, which I blame on Bryan from Indiana, who goaded me into playing Me First & The Gimme Gimmes. Once goaded, I could not stop. Thanks Bryan! Here's the show if you're inclined to experience some fresh Radio Free Random:

River toast

 

Happy solstice, random blog readers! Our Dorris Ranch walk went well yesterday, with dry weather and old friends. We toasted the solstice a few hours early, next to the river, continued our meander around one of the looping routes, and returned to the parking lot where we occupied a nearby picnic table with goodies. It was great to get caught up with people we haven’t been seeing much of lately. All of us are retired, so a daytime weekday meetup was perfect.

Betty

I changed my mind

Okay, okay. I know I said I'd keep posting on the old blog until the end of the year, but that's not gonna happen. I'm HERE, man. Moving in and getting used to the new place is just too much fun. So I'll make one final post over there with the link to this blog and just be done with the Wordpress site. Of course, I'll leave it there as an archive. But as of this post here, I'm just going to blog at AKA Mr. Random.

Let's test a couple things

Dec. 15, Suzanne Arlie Park

First photo of the new blog era. Now I want to try a Mixcloud embed, specifically my most recent Radio Free Random pop-up show from Wednesday...

Hmmm... play button doesn't work in the preview. Maybe it will if I go ahead and publish.

This is a beta phase post and may be modified multiple times. Please stand by.

UPDATE: player works!

Next, a YouTube...

Now I want to try an indented quote. Does Blogger have that option?

Society is produced by our wants, and government by wickedness; the former promotes our happiness positively by uniting our affections, the latter negatively by restraining our vices. The one encourages intercourse, the other creates distinctions. The first is a patron, the last a punisher.

Indeed! And that was Thomas Paine from his classic Common Sense (1776).

Alrighty, that's enough for this post. I do like that with Blogger, there is one date heading for all the posts on that date. If I think of other things to test out, I'll put them in a new post. Bye for now.

Comments enabled

 It took a bit o' wrasslin', but you can now comment on this blog. Do it! ;) 

Now, a decade later

Hello World! This is me reviving this site for regular blogging. It used to be "Mr. Random's Photos" and I've left those posts here, all from 2015. That blog was born from my enthusiasm for a new camera, the Canon S120. I still have that camera and have loved it so much and it's gotten so worn and haggard that I got another one, barely used, virtually pristine. Now I have several cameras, including a couple in the micro four thirds system, with a collection of M43 lenses.

If you're here visiting from Mr. Random's Blog of Randomness, welcome to my new blog, "AKA Mr. Random"! I will probably continue posting at the old blog until the end of the year but also add posts here in order to get used to working with Blogspot quirks.

The main reason I'm switching URLs is that Google's Blogspot offers unlimited photos, whereas Wordpress.com limits you to a fixed storage amount (1 GB for free accounts such as mine). Also—quite important to me—the image quality is just better over here.

More to come... Thanks for reading!