Category: Fourre-tout

Santa Claus was gracious enough (despite my naughty behavior) to drop a little present in my sock. It is called an Amazon Fire TV Stick, and it is supposed to give you free access to a trove of TV channels.

The (scant) instructions accompanying this gizmo said that the installation would be a cinch! No sweat! Really! You just plug this device into one of your TV’s HDMI port and follow the instructions shown on your screen.
A five-year-old could do that!

Well, not exactly… First of all, due to the scarcity of HDMI ports on today’s TVs and the increasing number of devices plugging into that TV, it is difficult to find a free port.

The real purpose of this gadget is to break free from Comcast’s tyranny and allow you to pick what specific channels you want to watch.
But you have to be careful. Most of the channels proposed by the Amazon Fire TV Stick demand a monthly subscription; if you are not careful, you might end up paying more than what Comcast is presently charging you.

The trick is to “jailbreak”. To escape what is imposed on you and allow you to make independent choices.
First, you need to install on your TV set a special program called a “downloader”; this application will give you the opportunity to download and install little known channels. Those are often free and won’t charge you anything for watching their offerings.

As I said earlier, you need to do some reading and experimenting before being able to enjoy this gizmo.

Any time I need more information about a product, I turn to my computer and ask a query it. And after a few false leads, I hit the jackpot. I found a site called Troypoint (troypoint.com/firestick-apps) that will guide you step by step to make your Firestick work as intended.

It is a rather lengthy process but ultimately, it will take you to the Holy Grail. To watch as many movies as you want without being nickeled-and-dimed for it.

The dominance and the relevance of the cable industry are being increasingly questioned. According to the experts, Comcast is losing speed and altitude and might have to change significantly to stay aloft.

In the meantime, if you are intrepid enough and want to have access to more movies without disbursing more dinero, invest $35.00 in the Amazon Fire TV Stick and go for it.

Bonne et heureuse année a tous ?

Alain

May all your troubles last as long as your New Year’s resolutions!!

The year 2020 is almost upon us and we are presently bathing in a felicitous Capricorn (December 22 – January 20) interval. If you pay close attention, you might notice that people are extra jolly this time of the year. We Capricorns will take some of the credit. Thank you.

To refresh your memory (and your Zodiac lineup), Capricorn is a Latin word for “horned goat” and it is depicted as a mythical creature that is half goat and half fish.

The Capricorn originally had goat legs because he is connected to Pan, the god of nature who also has goat legs. Pan was a loafer; among other things he liked to play panpipes and cavort with nymphets.
The Capricorn finally got a fishtail because one day, during a gathering of gods, the meeting was interrupted by Typhon, a monstrous serpentine giant. Extremely scared, and to confuse Typhon, all of the gods morphed into different shapes and ran; Pan himself jumped into a river, and to confound the monster, he reshaped his legs into a fishtail. And that’s why the Capricorn is now a horny goat with Billy goat legs.

As you can see, Capricorns are resourceful, disciplined, dependable and trustworthy.

Famous (and infamous) Capricorns are legions… Joan of Arc, Benjamin Franklin, Al Capone, Elvis Presley, Louis Pasteur, Richard Nixon, Mao Zedong, Martin Luther King, Steve Allen, Stephen Hawking, Giacomo Puccini, Elizaveta Petrovna (Empress of Russia), Greta Thunberg, etc.

Maybe lesser known Capricorns, but closer to home, we have William Lavelle, Jacques Gautier, Jean-Claude Bunand, Carlos Couto, Margo Efron, Bart Zachofsky, Mark Shirkey and your humble chronicler.

Capricorns are a sturdy lot. They are resilient and opinionated.

“I don’t like to bother people, says a man who drove himself to the ER with a nail in his heart.”

Spoken like a true Capricorn!

 Among the major presidential candidates, Pete Buttigieg is the only Capricorn. He is a smart guy, becoming the mayor of South Bend, IN, at age 29, and he is a good debater.

I would definitely endorse him if he became the Democratic candidate. It seems to me that he is the type of guy would walk to the ER with a nail in his heart. Our actual figurehead would be incapable of doing this because he cannot walk and tweet at the same time.

“The most compatible signs with Capricorn are generally considered to be Taurus, Virgo, Scorpio, and Pisces. The least compatible signs with Capricorn are generally considered to be Aries and Libra.” 

All right then, Sanders is a Virgo, Biden is a Scorpio. Any of these two will do.

Bidy/Butti (Biden/Buttigieg) has a nice ring to it.

Alain

Christmas is a baby shower that went totally overboard. ~ Andy Borowitz

I believe so Andy. But let’s start from the beginning…

Christmas is an annual event commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ. It is observed on December 25 by billions of people around the world… whether they are Christians or not. Even the Chinese (keen traders) have now taken to celebrate that holiday…

So far so good, but we are also told that “Jesus came into the world to atone for the sins of humanity…”

To atone for the sins of humanity… Um… I don’t mean to be rude, but this is a very tall story… a skyscraper of a story…

I am a doubting Thomas; I cannot help it. I don’t buy fanciful stories without direct personal experience. So, I will recuse myself from believing that tale and propose my own (true) version of the creation of Christmas.

Christmas Day was in reality created by a cartel of merchants to boost the sales of frankincense and myrrh. And they did well; especially after choosing Jesus (a nice Jewish boy) as a poster boy.

They did so well, that after a while all the other merchants jumped on the bandwagon and promulgated the story for their own benefit.

I did not want to deflate your balloon, but you will have to admit that this story is much more plausible than the one peddled by evangelists.

There is no question that merchants played a significant part in promoting this day and they all benefited from it.

The true miracle Of Christmas though I that so many nations with so many different beliefs finally managed to agree on something… without any blood spilling!

So, are we square on that story?

My French cousins have a saying « Les petits cadeaux entretiennent l’amitié.” Small gifts nurture friendship… it is true, but I will hasten to add that big gifts corrupt.

I think that we have gone overboard with the gift-giving business. A child today gets so many presents that he does not know what to do with them all. We are therefore corrupting them with the belief that bigger is better.

Call me a party pooper, but I feel (as seen on TV) that a single well-chosen present per child is the right way to celebrate Christmas.
Anathema! will cry all the merchants. Crucify that heathen for his heretic beliefs!

Since all the shopkeepers will undoubtedly put a price on my head, you will not see me for a while. I am in hiding, wearing a rug and dark glasses.

But from my secret underground location, I still want to wish you un Joyeux Noel and a happy New year!

Alain