I bought more bricks than I needed. This is preferable to buying fewer bricks than needed. If it is an insut to say someone is a few bricks short of a full load, it is surely a compliment to say you're a fellow whose load abounds with surplus bricks. Also, I've never heard "load" as a unit of measurement for bricks, but my brick experience has been scant until lately. I can always take them back for a refund, but it’s probably the cost of gas to get to the place.
When I bought the bricks the helpful fellow in the yard used a device I’d never seen. It could pick up ten bricks at a time. I later learned that the technical term was a carrier. I left the bricks in my car, assuming that the masonry guy would have a carrier, or, perhaps, a hod. At this point I asked myself exactly how I knew the word Hod. But I did. It had been sitting in a little drawer in the hippocampus waiting for this very moment.
He had neither carrier nor hod, so I helped him bring the bricks up the long steps, albeit grudgingly. This does not reflect well on me, I know, but he knew there would be 60 bricks to bring up, and brought no tools. He did a good job, though, fast, clean, and now all the sundered and busted bricks in the patio have been replaced. (Except one, which was hiding under a pot. Bastard.) Turns out the total amount of required bricks was 48. So I’ll put the behind the shed for the next owners.
(Sigh of despair)
I have been searching through Amazon for a good new backpack. Brown. Or rather, coffee. We are coming to the Brown season, and my wardrobe will adjust accordingly, so I can cut a dashing figure on my lone jaunts to gym and grocery. It goes without saying that everything on Amazon is generally and specifically junk, brought to you by XIWRT, or FGVMN. Nearly everything described as “leather” is not. It is PU Leather, a regrettably term indeed, suggesting that the stink of the slaughterhouse still clings. It’s Polyurethane Leather, “A type of synthetic leather.” So not leather. It’s often called “Vegan Leather,” to give it an ethical cachet.
What I want is something with structure, not a vague bag. I do not want too many compartments. Before I die I believe I will pack the perfect bag, with snacks, a tray-table phone stand, space for a tightly compacted travel pillow, and an easily accessible pocket for cords and batteries. Every time I think I’ve got it right I find myself hunched over on the plane, digging in the bag for something I thought was there because it should be there, but is actually here, because I've switched contexts on the zippered pockets. (Which are called "nests," I have learned. File that one away with Hod.)
I was also looking for a smaller cord / dongle bag. They come in two sizes, I've learned: tech-nerd overkill who wants triple-redundancy and every possible iteration of USB, and someone who has one (1) cord and earbuds. I am the former and am trying to winnow. Neatness. Order asserted in the few areas available. But . . .
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Don’t get me started on these things. They come in different colors, which means you’ll have to commit to a color scheme. Light brown for USB-C, dark brown for USB-A, and so on. Then you’ll have to remember it. |
Of course the manufacturer has their own store page, with three, count them THREE products.
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Here is the text for the product:
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If you don’t like this price point or quantity, there are dozens of others from which to choose, and eventually you tire of the whole thing and just close the page without buying anything. I wouldn’t be surprised to find that’s 80% of Amazon traffic among core users.
We continue with a small amount of manufactured enthusiasm to explore the trademarks of 1925, because no one else is. NO ONE!
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All I can think of The Day the Earth Stood Still, except the giant robot is a Kluxer. Wonder what happened to this company? Maybe they come up with another product that had a more distinctive name. Actually, they'd been making their signatre product since 1913. |
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I’d never heard of this one:
It’s a horror / mystery anthology introduced by . . .
He’s in HELL! Well, no.
There’s a reason I’d not seen it:
"The Veil" was a USA horror/supernatural anthology television series hosted by and starring Boris Karloff and produced in 1958 by Hal Roach Studios. Production was abandoned after a pilot and ten episodes had been made, which were never broadcast nor shown in syndication. However the episodes were later compiled into three feature-length films which were broadcast on late night TV in the 1960s and later released to VHS home video.
We start on a hot urban stoop in a hot urban night. If you’re an old radio guy, you know exactly who this is, just from this piece of dialogue.
Harry B.
He’s in every other radio Gunsmoke, I swear. Did only three on TV. Born a year after the end of WW1, and made an appearance on Star Trek. And not the original! TNG.
By the way, we have a bit of inadvertant documentary. The marquee shows Man in the Shadow . . .
Directed by Gene L. Coon, who of course was deeply involved in . . . Star Trek. It's a 1957 movie, according to imdb, but seems to have been released in 1958. It's easy to look for listings in the newspaper archives, and match them against cinema treasures, and voila, the theater above is the RKO Hillside. Right?
If we use that sign on the right, which you know says LOANS, then we can identify this street:
Rather sad today.
The building on the left . . .
Is the Garfield, which has been empty since 1991. Last news was in 2023, when it was sold, with plans to turn it into a hotel.
Anyway. Interesting credit:
You know there's a story behind that.
Wish I could tell you what it is. Also:
Roach was president of the Hal Roach Studios for some time, but was ousted in 1959 when he and Alexander Guterma, who attempted to create an empire of the studio, Mutual Broadcasting System, and others, were both indicted on federal securities violations.
Died at the age of 53. His more famous father outlived him by 20 years.
It's the Diner!
That will do for today. Matches and a free Substack await; it'll be up around eleven. Thank you for your patronage, as always.
