Something I find amusing

originally posted by: billxam1
For people that only use their phones, did you know the spelling corrections that appears above your soft keys can be used?

I don't know about everybody else, but I learned how to spell in school. Schools are great for learning reading, writing and arithmetic. At least - they were in my day.

a reply to: Station27

HA! You got it! The 'Van Halen Contract Stipulation'.

Verrry good!!

a reply to: billxam1

I use smell check but sometimes it corrects the wrong worm.

a reply to: Station27

You haven't explored what can be plugged into that power port or bluetoothed. Smart phone not flip phone that is.

originally posted by: Flyingclaydisk
HA! You got it! The 'Van Halen Contract Stipulation'.

Verrry good!!

Yep. I'm a big fan of Van Halen, further betraying my "age group." And I've played Van Halen songs in some of the various bands I've been in. Here's me singing and playing a couple of their songs:

You Really Got Me

Ice Cream Man

originally posted by: Station27
Yep. I'm a big fan of Van Halen,...

I saw them in concert in San Antonio almost 40 years ago.
Excellent concert.

originally posted by: BeyondKnowledge3
You haven't explored what can be plugged into that power port or bluetoothed. Smart phone not flip phone that is.

You raise a valid point.

But, I would ask this: Why would somebody give up everything their PC could do (and has been doing what it does quite well for many years) just to adopt a different device that might or might not suffice for their needs? Would it be because everybody else is doing it, and so people get a smart phone so they'll "fit in?"

Or - if somebody has a smart phone but never first had a PC and didn't know all the things a PC could do, why suddenly do they need to be doing all these things a smart phone can supposedly do, when they never had a desire to do those things before?

I can't figure out what the thought processes could be behind this scenario.

originally posted by: FlyersFan
I saw them in concert in San Antonio almost 40 years ago.
Excellent concert.

Cool! I never got to see them live, and now I never will since Eddie died. That was a sad day for me.

originally posted by: Flyingclaydisk
I find this phenomenon amusing. I originally noticed this on Reddit where longer posts get less reaction than shorter posts. I find the same thing here now too, although to a lesser extent. After some research, I found that the principle reason for this on Reddit is most posters on Reddit use some sort of a mobile device as their primary interface. Longer posts are definitely more challenging to read on a cell phone.

6 second attention span.

a reply to: Station27

I find it more convenient to carry with me than to use a laptop or cloud storage to get entertained or create something on the spot. While there are streaming services, I still carry over a hundred movies and thousands of songs in my phone. I did learn this weekend that I can play videos on a projector 'screen casting' while using the phone screen normally.

You are right about some things being easier on a PC but not many things any more. Any hardware that is USB is most likely compatable with only a simple adapter.

Edit: There are some things only a smart phone can do. You can point the camera at a QR code and read it instantly. How about identifying a rock, a plant just by pointing the camera at it while running an app. Want to find what is in the sky at night, just point the phone at it again while running an app. How about finding a place to eat while traveling? You can compare prices on things and like building materials while out shopping.

A smart phone is more than just a phone, browser, and email app.

originally posted by: Station27

originally posted by: FlyersFan
I saw them in concert in San Antonio almost 40 years ago.
Excellent concert.

Cool! I never got to see them live, and now I never will since Eddie died. That was a sad day for me.

So, get this...I've seen Van Halen numerous times, but one of these times was pretty special.

Sunday, May 29th, 1983...I was standing front row (even in front about 3.000 Marines of the 3rd Battalion 11th Marines out of 29 Palms). We'd been there for two days, and on the 29th we made our way through the crowd while Quiet Riot was on stage. We arrived at the front just before Motley Crue (relatively unknown then). We watched Ozzy Osbourne (snoozer really), and the Judas Priest as the sun set over San Bernadino in the blazing sun. Then, the Scorpions came on stage (incredible show). The headliner that night was none other than Van Halen. The year was 1983, and there were over 1 million people behind us that night. It was the US Festival 1983. One of the largest rock concerts ever assembled, there were over 2x the number of people, that night, than at the 1969 festival, Woodstock (over all three days in total!)

We had driven nearly 1,000 miles across the desert for this one day. Even though we could have seen many other shows in the preceding two days, and the following day, there wasn't much interest. We'd come to see three shows (Motley Crue, Scorpions and Van Halen). Two of the three of us were working in the music industry then, and we had some connections. I was working in radio, and my colleague was working in the recording industy; (our 3rd friend was just along for the ride and to help pay for gas). It was the craziest, best, and most intense thing I think I've ever done (from a music perspective). I remember looking back (before the sun set) over Glen Helen regional park (as it was called then) and there were people as far as you could see behind us, literally an 'ocean' of people. I've never seen so many people in one place ever in my life (before, or since)

The whole event was so crazy, after the final Van Halen set they had to let people out in multiple directions. We got to leave from the front, under the stage and through the back (with media passes). Even got to meet Valerie Bertinelli (Van Halen's wife at the time) on the way out.

Looking back, it's even a wonder to me now we were even able to survive that day. The temperature was in the upper 90's, standing temps, when we started down through the crowd. By the mid-point in the crowd the temps were well over 110F with all the people. By the time we got to the front, the temps were over 115F and there was no air. They were shooting fire hoses of water over the crowd to keep people alive.

It took us two days after that night to actually exit the park. The way they parked everyone was...once you were in, you were in for the duration. Cars parked front to back by the tens of thousands, no aisles, just solid cars. Each car was parked with a small space to camp, and camp we did. It was the single most incredible event I have ever attended in my life, hand's down!

On a side note, David Lee Roth was known for coming on stage with a bottle of Jack Daniels. This was common, but Roth was also under pressure from the band to not get too twisted during concerts. So, we always figured (from previous Van Halen shows we'd been to) that the bottle was actually filled with something like Coke, or Root Beer. During the US Festival, Michael Anthony also came out with a bottle of Jack Daniels. During the song... "Take Your Whiskey Home"...Roth proceeded to chug an entire bottle of (what looked like) Jack Daniels. Obviously, the crowd went crazy. On the side, Anthony had a real bottle of Jack Daniels and he, (grubbing for notoriety), chugged about half of the bottle down. THEN, he sprayed the remaining elements of the bottle out over the crowd. That, was REAL Jack Daniels, and those who got doused by it knew it.

I talk about this day in '83 like it was the greatest day ever, but I am also a realist. It was also one of the hardest days I can recall. The temperatures were absolutely brutal, devastating even. I mentioned the Marines because they were hardened to these terrible and hot conditions. Few others were. We saw one of the best concerts to ever take place in North America, BUT we paid for it. I remember the big DLR kicks, and the high pitched screams. I remember Eddie's guitar mastery. It was all on display, up close and personal. And, there will never be another show like that, ever, in the history of mankind...and we were there. BUT...I would never do that again today.

I was crazy then. And, this is a true story.

If you'd like to see what that night as like...

Well....

Here it is...



Look for me...I was in the front row!!

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

edit...If you really wanna' see Eddie Van Halen in action...skip forward to 27:46 in the video.

This man knew more than just the notes, he understood the "sound", the "rhythm" and the "cadence" of the moment.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

The long and short answer is that those of us that have used PCs for the last 25 years or so are quite comfortable with where they are now. We have used a PC for a generation, have done everything we wanted to with it between running our own TOR server to running 25 gig games. We took the time and energy to learn to code, learn to build websites, learned HTML on a literal paper notepad.

We took the time and energy and focus to learn the game, play the game, exploit the game.

We took the time to research on this sudden horde of all the information available, all at once if you knew where to look.

Hours and hours and hours and sometimes years to hone our craft and our knowledge.

Nowadays people walk around with a minipad with a phone app on it and consider it the same thing because it has a browser.

They can't really do the grand things, but now the average person's attention span is about 22 seconds and they are constantly entertained by TikTok videos and other people telling them what opinion to have, what to wear and what Tide Pods are acceptable eating this season.

We are not going to survive as a society, in my opinion.

Because people cannot read a simple long post without losing interest.

The US Constitution has over 4,400 words and it is the oldest and shortest written Constitution of any major government in the world.

On ATS, it seems to be TLDR.

After that day in 1983, Van Halen slowly fell apart (sadly). Sure, I saw them a couple times afterwards, when the original band was still intact, but their energy had changed. The '83 US Festival was their best hour...and gladly, I was there.

Afterwards there was a litany of (to me) failures. "5150" was 'okay' when it was Van-Hagar, but there was only really one or two hits, and the concert energy was bland. Then there was the Cherone era, which I thought was a huge mistake.

Anyway, I hope you've enjoyed the apex of one of the greatest rock-n-roll entertainment acts which ever existed on this planet, Van Halen.

I wish I could say...'May they live forever!"...but sadly we all know this will never happen.

Take care.

a reply to: Lumenari

...TLDR...

HERE, HERE!!!

Once again, you win the Interwebz!!

originally posted by: Flyingclaydisk
a reply to: Lumenari

...TLDR...

HERE, HERE!!!

Once again, you win the Interwebz!!

I posted a TLDR response, which I thought fitting for the subject...

Once again, glad to see you back and active here.

HTML lol what are we in the 90's

originally posted by: Flyingclaydisk
The '83 US Festival was their best hour...and gladly, I was there.

Man, I read every word of all your comments about that show in 1983. It must have been an awesome experience! I know if I would have been there, I certainly would never forget it. I wonder, though, when you yelled, if the stage mics might have picked you up? Because I would have heard you because I listened to the show being broadcast on the radio! I taped some of it, too. I'll have to listen back to some of it to see if you got picked up. Did you say anything I might recognize? Ha ha.

I had much anticipation when they announced Sammy was joining Van Halen. But the actuality of it was very disappointing to me.

originally posted by: Station27
I don't know about everybody else, but I learned how to spell in school. Schools are great for learning reading, writing and arithmetic. At least - they were in my day.

Nowadays schools don't teach math and reading and history and science .... they spend their time socially engineering and indoctrinating children, and confusing them so much that they don't even know what bathroom to use anymore. Look at the behavior on college campus' this past month. That's not normal behavior. That's a childhood spent in indoctrination and confusion ... not in learning to count and read.