The tragedy of the botched U.S. exit from Afghanistan

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President Joe Biden has shown his true incompetent colors with his abrupt exit from Afghanistan. No one wanted the ‘West’ to be there indefinitely (except maybe contractors making a fortune from it), but there were certainly better ways to leave without guaranteeing the death of tens of thousands or more Afghans and others including Americans. … Read more

Samsung Gear Fit 2 / 2 Pro won’t charge

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So I got a Gear Fit 2 Pro recently. Love it. Have had a couple of fitbits before which I liked but either had issues syncing or I lost or broke them, and decided I wanted a change, but find all the current smart watches too clunky. It’s been great but just today I went … Read more

The internet has become an unending avalanche of shit

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I have to say something. And yes, I guess I’m contributing to the steaming pile. With infinite competition for mind share, eyeballs and clicks, touches, swipes, everyone’s doing it. Doing what you ask? Adding ‘content’ to the internet to get noticed. Personally and professionally (is there a difference anymore?) content is published on websites, social … Read more

Tribute to John Spencer, British snooker player

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I just finished reading “Out of the blue, into the black”, John Spencer’s excellent autobiography, published in August 2005. Sadly he died just 11 months later at the age of 71. As a child in the 1970’s, I watched snooker on television, and was particularly mesmerized by John Spencer. He was tall, slim, handsome, always … Read more

Another drip coffee maker! Cuisinart DCC-2600 14 cup

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[amazonify]B00005IBX9:right[/amazonify][amazonify]B001NGO27W:right[/amazonify] So the Mr. Coffee coffee maker I had finally quit. It wasn’t expensive, but still annoying that it just died. It was probably about 3 years old. I liked that it had a green backlit fairly large analog-style (hands) but LCD clock. It had a thermal carafe which meant no burnt coffee from it sitting on a warmer, but the caraffe was heavy and hard to open, so this time I decided to go back to a glass carafe coffee maker.

Good friend recommended the Cuisinart DCC-1200 12 cup maker, which had very positive reviews but I looked a little more and found a 14 cup model that looked like it had a nicer looking design. I ended up buying a ‘refurbished’ one from Abe’s of Maine for just $59.95 + shipping. Shipping was pricey at $12.19 but I still saved nearly $30. It came quickly and looked just like new. Note: It did say refurbished by Cuisinart themselves and that the warranty is 90 days. Perhaps a non-refurbished one has a longer warranty.
So how is it so far?

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If you loved the Apollo space program, get this

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[amazonify]B003NOGNPQ:right[/amazonify][amazonify]B000XJ5TPE:right[/amazonify]Last night I watched In The Shadow Of The Moon, with some of the surviving astronauts, telling, in their own words, what the Apollo program and moon landings were like, interspersed with tons of footage of the events themselves. It was wonderful. While the space stuff is great, it was also very personal, and you … Read more