The Red Brick Times

Happy New Year mookies.
Posted 11:39 AM by whatley (0) comments

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Happy new year and thank you to the blog. I would like to express my appreciation to all of those who came to solstice (or thought about it). It was that best party of the year and maybe more. My house has been occupied by myself, Alice, her mother, and our dog for more than a decade. The largest group previously to occupy this house was on the occasion of the death of Alice’s father fifteen years ago. Alice’s mother, Dorothy, just passed away at the age of 88 on Memorial Day this year. We have gradually reoriented our home to the point that we can have a social life and invite guests. This solstice was the realization of this new life style. Some estimate that 50 or more people were present at this celebration. This may well be a first for this 50 year old house. I am so glad to see so many of us coming back together after 30 plus years. I look forward to many more celebrations of our earthly rotation around the sun.
Posted 8:58 PM by Ray (0) comments

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Well, if you insist on being christmas, go and listen to Dr. Demento to put it all in perspective. Things like "I don't Have a Christmas Tree (Soylent Night)" by an ex Devo, and "The Twelve Days Of Christmas" excerpt by the Mushroom Tabernacle Choir. Not to be confused with the Norman Crapernapple Choir. Joyeaux Noel, Bon Chance, Au revoire.
Posted 4:18 PM by Andy (0) comments

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Greetings!

Please accept with no obligation, implied or implicit, my best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low stress, non-addictive, gender-neutral celebration of the winter solstice holiday, practiced within the most enjoyable traditions of the religious persuasion of your choice, or secular practices of your choice, with respect for the religious/secular persuasions and/or traditions of others, or their choice not to practice religious or secular traditions at all...and a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling, and medically uncomplicated recognition of the onset of the generally accepted calendar year 2003, but not without due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures whose contributions to society have helped make [insert country or area of choice] great (not to imply that [country or area of choice] is necessarily greater than any other country or area of choice, and without regard to the race, creed, color, age, physical ability, religious faith, or sexual orientation of the wisher.

This wish is limited to the customary and usual good tidings for a period of one year, or until the issuance of a subsequent holiday greeting, whichever comes first. "Holiday" is not intended to, nor shall it be considered, limited to the usual Judeo-Christian celebrations or observances, or to such activities of any organized or ad hoc religious community, group, individual, or belief (or lack thereof).

Note: By accepting this greeting, you are accepting these terms. This greeting is subject to clarification or withdrawal, and is revocable at the sole discretion of the wisher at any time, for any reason or for no reason at all. This greeting is freely transferable with no alteration to the original greeting. This greeting implies no promise by the wisher to actually implement any of the wishes for the wisher her/himself or others, or responsibility for the consequences which may arise from the implementation or non-implementation of same. This greeting is void where prohibited by law. Wisher is in no way responsible for the content of this message.





Posted 11:48 PM by Russ (0) comments

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Roll your own CD. Downloadable country, blues, gospel and jazz recorded in the 20's and 30's. The Roots Music Listening Room
Posted 3:50 PM by whatley (0) comments

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Hey Ralph, see this yet?
Posted 10:52 AM by whatley (0) comments

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From tRBT Continuing Education Department: Refresh your knowledge of driving etiquette through this short tutorial. (loads kinda slow, be patient)

From the NewsDesk: I just today noticed that the time stamps on comments were an hour off from EST. Now fixed (I think). Also, tRBT has received a generous donation to help with yearly hosting expenses! Woohoo!
Posted 3:44 PM by whatley (0) comments

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A 30 second social commentary called Technical Difficulties. God, I love the web sometimes.
Posted 9:38 AM by whatley (0) comments

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Russ you are masterful in your web dexterity. The map to solstice is sublime in it's simplicity and acuracy. Mapquest Rules. I wonder what people will bring to this heathen pot luck. Will we be overwhelmed with BREAD? Should we expect another beanless celebration? How many will offer deviled eggs to the gods? I will guarantee a ham. It will be here if nothing else. Those who have a food item to bring should come forward and speak for their place in the impending gluttony.
Posted 6:12 PM by Ray (0) comments

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Solstice December 2002
Several people have come forward to host this year's event. Linda has reluctantly agreed to allow someone else stand in the spotlight. Many of us have hosted. None has done so more consistantly or more graciously than Linda Tarry. Linda was the first hostess of a winter solstice. You may remember that it was held at my place on Columbia Avenue when my parents were away in Florida. Was that 1972? We survived. My parents are doing quite well just around the corner, now, on Miami Ave. Linda's life is very complicated and not well suited to hosting a large party. Alice and I have asked for the priviledge of hosting the solstice at our place. We have never considered hosting previously. Since the passing of Alice's mother last spring we have full use of the house. We have completed several remodelling chores. Never before have we even considered having more than two visitors. Now we can accomodate a larger group. We will have the winter solstice celebration here!
Linda will come here to celbrate. All of the schoolhouse gang are invited. I ask that any who expect to attend call and tell me how many are coming and what dinner contributions they will bring. We have never been real carfull about this but it is helpful to know if your are feeding 10 or 50. Call or leave a message at 440 988-4295.
If anyone knows how to make a map available please post it.
The address is:
190 Sipple Ave.
Amherst, Ohio 44001
Posted 9:53 PM by Ray (0) comments

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In the past two weeks my computer here at work has twice been infected with some of the most malicious spyware that I've ever seen. It started off with something called Xupiter that, in the background and completely on its own, 1) added a new toolbar to my browser, 2) changed my search and startup pages to itself, 3) created a new folder on my hard drive and installed files there, 4) ran those files at bootup and installed them into memory (which also made them impossible to delete in the normal manner), 5) made it impossible to reset my browser settings back to where they were and, last but not least, 6) sent god knows what information about me back to itself everytime I accessed the internet. I finally got rid of that (I'll show you how) then this morning I booted up, went to tRBT, and got a popup ad that screamed "Your computer isn't safe! Click here!". Now wait a minute. There ain't no popups on tRBT. You guessed it. Another piece of spyware called DownloadDriver (I think) had completed steps 3, 4, 5 and 6 above. Its mission was to generate popups where none should be. Tracking cookies (Gator comes to mind) are bad enough but now it's like you don't own your own computer anymore. May the folks who write this stuff and the site owners who put it on their pages like landmines burn for all eternity! There. I feel better.

So anyway, here's a particular page on a site called "SpywareInfo" that I found to be extremely helpful in dealing with both of the above. It has a link to a free utility called "SpyBot S&D" that worked for me and that I highly recommend. SpywareInfo is a great site. Browse around there to learn more.
Posted 9:52 AM by whatley (0) comments

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I was fortunate to be the bearer of good tidings to Linda today. I got to call her to tell her that her December house payment had been made for her. "Oh," she said, "who do I have to thank for this?" "Just some of the Schoolhouse Gang," I replied. Linda cried. Good people are not so hard to come by. Sometimes you simply have to ask.
Posted 4:50 PM by Sally (0) comments

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World Sousveillance Day. Record the lens that records you.
Posted 10:31 AM by whatley (0) comments

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I've so far managed to completely ignore the fact that I turned 50 a couple of weeks ago. Trust me, that's the best way to deal with it. Then, just last Saturday, my state of "ignorance is bliss" was shattered. I got an official invitation to join AARP. Oh shit oh dear.
Posted 10:17 AM by whatley (0) comments

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