SURF TO YOUR HEART'S CONTENT

 These days (around December 2024), a regular announcement on the NYC subway is about subway surfing.  Someone claiming to be a teenager would say that subway surfing - the act of standing on the roof of a moving subway car - is uncool and definitely unsafe.  That it can kill you.  I don't know how effective that is, to have someone supposedly your peer, but not someone you know personally, to tell you subway surfing is unsafe.  It is totally stupid but kids, many of them, are stupid and will do stupid things.  I have an idea that probably can never be put into practice but let me outline it anyway.

A different, common occurrence in the subway system is people getting onto the track to retrieve things they accidentally dropped there.  It is not too difficult to hop onto the track, but it is really difficult to climb back onto the platform.  Sure, I haven't actually done it, but the typical subway rider doesn't have the upper body strength to easily pull themself up onto the platform.  News stories with happy ending reveal that some Good Samaritans aided the daredevil.  Unhappy stories, well, another life lost over something that may not even be that valuable.

My idea is to build a wall somewhere publicly accessible, with MTA personnel guarding it, and let wannabe daredevils take a shot at it.  With our litigious society, the wannabes would be required to sign some waiver, in case they fall off the wall.  But let them try, most probably won't make it, and in real life would become a death statistic in the subway system.  Publicize such events.  Maybe it's in some wide open space in the subway system, maybe at some local park.  Back to subway surfing.  Same idea, but now make it a subway car, maybe even re-use some real one.  Simulate the motion, low beams, tunnel entrance etc.  Make it seems real, but with foam of course.  Let the stupid kids, under supervision, tackle the challenge, with waivers etc.

Of course it won't happen.  There is no money for it, or at least there's no money for it until the MTA is properly audited and money waste is no longer a thing.  Stupid kids would think it is uncool to even try, better to do something really stupid, and if they don't die, boast about it. 

HOW TO DRIVE IN THE SUPERMARKET

 Adulting has been difficult for both my wife and I.  We need more food and vegetables but no time to go get them.  We finally carved out some time to go to the nearby J-mart Chinese Supermarket on 18th Avenue in Brooklyn where the Waldbaum's used to be.  Many people living in the area had the same idea.

There was a short queue to get into the parking lot, which is somewhat unusual.  But it is the holiday season and the weekend, people need to stock up on supplies for the many banquets and parties in the upcoming weeks.  I got lucky and found a spot right by the edge, the other driver left his spot and I just had to skedaddle right in, no need to make a turn or anything fancy.  Gathered our many reusable bags and away we went.

The parking was busy so of course the inside was chaotic too.  It would be great if people would be more mindful how they drive the shopping carts and how to park them.  Don't block the aisle, don't make your fellow shoppers zigzag through the aisle.  If you have to park, at least look for existing blocker and be on the same side as the blocker.  There usually are some garbage bin for the staff to pick through the produce to get rid of bad parts etc.  Or a stack of bins of produce that is ready to be put out as soon as the stuff is all picked up by customers.  Any time I see a busy aisle in a big box store, with stuff all over and there is little room for customers to walk around, I painfully recall CompUSA, in particular the one on Fifth Avenue near 42nd Street.  What an unpleasant experience that was!

Anyway, sadly, the way some people drive or park their shopping carts inside a supermarket is probably the same way they drive cars on the street.  Just park anywhere that's convenient for them.  Why move a few yards ahead when there's a double-park spot right in front of their house.  Sure, there is another car double-parking on the other side too, people will just have to zigzag around the two cars.

Bravo, Brother!

 I recently upgraded my Internet service and the change came with a new router.  Everything in the house that relied on a network connection to work had to be re-configured.  The cell phones were easy, there was even a QR code for scanning, but I did it the old-fashioned way.  All the computers didn't have much problem.  Then came the Brother Black & White printer, model HL2250DW.  I vaguely recalled last time I configured it, some AOSS protocol was involved.  Supposedly by pressing some AOSS button on the router, the printer would automatically joined the new wireless network.  Perhaps AOSS is no longer fashionable, I don't see anything on the new router that has anything to do with AOSS.  I should point out too that the new Verizon router is very stingy with Ethernet ports  There are only three now.  So there seems to be no way to make the Brother printer join the network, to be available as a wireless printer.  It does have a network port so I connected that to the new router.  Nothing lit up at both ends.  Hmm, just my luck the printer's network port somehow doesn't work.  I happened to have an Apple Time Capsule, which used to be my backup device but it's been supplanted by other devices.  What is good with the Time Capsule is that it has a USB port, connect a printer to it and voila the printer is available on the network.  To the Mac devices, that is.  I think it works over AirPrint technology, which is standard with Mac machines.  My wife uses a Lenovo Windows 11 laptop primarily, so I need to make the Lenovo see the wireless printer somehow.  I installed Bonjour Service and almost splurge $5 to buy some AirPrint program via Microsoft Store.  All the bad reviews changed my mind.  So the approach with Time Machine is a no-go.

I gave the Brother printer manual another read and there is a section about temporarily using a USB connection to join the printer wirelessly to a network.  And it actually worked!  Bravo, Brother, I don't know how that worked but it just worked!