Saturday, February 27, 2016

My prediction about Bernadette Maryann Rostenkowski-Wolowitz's baby's gender and name.

My prediction is based on Carol Ann Susi, known to us as Debbie Wolowitz, Howard's mother and the the wonderfully funny actress who played her and died year before last. It would really be a shame if producers didn't make a tribute to her, someone unseen that contributed so much laughter to the show.

My prediction then is a baby girl. Her name could be any of the the above names. Obviously the child will be a Wolowitz, but any name such as Carol, Ann, Debbie or fudging it to be even Susie. However Deborah, as many know, was the only judge, who was a woman, in the Bible. Her story is told in Judges and the name is perfect for both the Jewish and Christians. It makes sense that their baby would be named after her.

The name could also be a bit humorous too, calling her "Little Debbie". That would be perfect!

Tuesday, February 23, 2016

Amazon Prime Streaming: Create a link to a specific time in a video.

I just figured something out! I'm so proud! :D

I'm always wanting my husband to see certain scenes of things I watch. I mean, I can give him the link to the show and then tell him where to look, but it's even easier if I can just create a link to that very point, like YouTube does.

I finally figured out how. It does it different than YouTube but it's similar. Consider this link:


The above link is for The Americans Season 3, Episode 13. So B01A2Z8WUW is the episode. You can get that by right clicking on the Play button for the episode. Autoplay=1 means it will auto play. I haven't tinkered with it to see if I can get it to load, while paused. &t=2408 is the time it will skip to. No, it's not military time (there is no 2408, it's 0008). It's the time in seconds. So the time it will skip to is 40 minutes and 8 seconds. You just have to calculate how many seconds.

Are you math challenged, then (at the time of this writing) here is a calculator that will figure that out for you.

Alternatively, there is an easy way to get the link. Play the video and find the place you want to link to. Close the video (not the page) and then right click on the Play button. It will automatically give you the time stamped link.

Sunday, February 21, 2016

Thoughts on The Americans Season 3 (spoilers may be present)

Well it's rather funny. I bragged earlier in this post how the violence wasn't really all that bad. Sure they shot people and you saw bullet holes, but if you can watch CSI this one was okay. Not so much anymore. The first few episodes of the season had some pretty yuck stuff going on. Not really blood and guts, but disturbing things none-the-less. I wasn't sure I wanted to continue watching it but once I got past the dental thing it seemed to improve. By the end, there wasn't much. So fair warning, to those who haven't watched this and are reading this to decide if you will.

By far, one of the most interesting episodes has been "Stingers".There is a hidden gem at imdb that will help you find fan favorite episodes. Apparently I'm not alone in this. Take a look at this. Clearly that's a fan favorite and I agree with the fans too that "The Colonel" is another best, too. I was so impressed with how easily Claudia took that guy down. Wow.

Blogger issue

Dear Google,

Please stop ignoring problems from other things you support (or really don't). Stop spending all your energy into Google Play or Voice Detection. I mean, those are all well and good but your treatment of people like me is disappointing. We don't seem to matter much.

This is a problem that I've had for a good long while. Long enough that you should have fixed this by now. There is really no excuse not to fix it.

The Maltese Falcon

Quick! Go here and get tickets for The Maltese Falcon, an excellent film today! You won't regret it. I highly encourage you to do this. Expand your senses, so to speak.

Saturday, February 20, 2016

Announcing the new Magnolia South Classic Film Awards!

I'm a classic film buff. I have a favorite genre, but I'll watch almost anything. The one thing I can't get myself to really watch, and I need to try and try again, are Westerns. I'm just not a classic Western film fan (yet).

Before I go on, let me announce what I consider to be classic film. It's true that there are what some call "modern classics" such as films in the 70s or 80s. In fact, some will even add the 90s and 00s to that too. For me, the end date is 1959. When 1960 begins, I feel that the golden era of film is (mostly) over, with only a few exceptions. It's clear that television made a huge impact on film making. There just wasn't the depth of substance they used to have. All the stories had been told. All the firsts were finished. The only thing that seemed landmarks were new techniques, or allowances (like nudity). Otherwise, it had been done already. For this reason, the films I will usually talk about will be in my favorite eras: the 1930s and 1940s but there will be exceptions. I won't rule out the 50s or even 60s, but they have to be spectacular!

Rambling About K-cup Coffees

I have fallen in love with the convenience of k-cup coffees. I actually have this brewer, so it's not a Keurig. I've used this Keurig and this Keurig though and to be 100% honest, my cheapo off brand version is just as tasty. I'm 100% dead serious.

The problem that is then presented is the cost of the k-cups. Those are downright expensive! Sure, I could go another route and get something like these (though my cheapo brewer actually comes with its own, a better buy than a Keurig in my opinion), but then I'm back to grinding my own coffee and so then I may as well use a regular coffee maker.

With that in mind, my quest for the best but cheapest k-cups is rather difficult. I found this article that was not what I really wanted, but it did name a company. Interested, I went to the Angelinos.com website and found the real truth. Yes, you can still get it (at the time of this writing) for only 39¢/cup but you have to buy 192 all at once at the whooping price of $74.95.

Monday, February 15, 2016

"Stay tuned to find out more...." Um. No.

Have you ever thought how silly the news sounds these days? They give you 25% of the weather then have the nerve to tell us that we have to wait to find out the rest.

Seriously?!

Gone are those days where you didn't have much choice. You either had to wait to find out or you didn't find out. They were in control and they knew it. They had this power over you like the horrible school master who ruled with an iron fist. They had but not now.

Now I sit in a suspension of disbelief when they have the gall to tell us to wait. No! I'm not going to wait at all. I'm going to turn off the TV and head to my computer. It'll take me all of five seconds to click the bookmark and tada! Now I can see what the weather is. It makes me want to take a selfie with my computer's weather and post it on Twitter @myTVstations and scream, "Guess who isn't waiting?! Screw you @myTVstations!

The Americans (Season 3) now available on Amazon Prime

I began watching The Americans back in December of last year. I'd heard of it but it's one of those short-season shows and those are hard to find. They start during weird times and end during weird times so finding it takes work and I don't like anything that makes me work to find it.

Lucky for them, they decided to allow Amazon Prime to host Seasons 1 and 2. When I saw it there, I remembered that being a show that I had wanted to see but never managed to. 

Let me just say for a moment that I never just decide to watch a series. I sit down and watch a few episodes, maybe. If it doesn't get me on the first try, then it's unlikely that I'll watch it. There are a lot of Breaking Bad followers out there but I didn't think the first episode was all that great. In fact, I found it rather annoying. Guess who didn't get hooked?

Netflix and getting tired of the same 'ol thing.

I hope you all had a romantic Valentine's Day. I'd like to say that I did, but I didn't. It's no fault of my own, nor my husband's but we have extenuating circumstances so that is that. Either way, I hope you all did have a fine one indeed!

I'm not alone in saying that Netflix's streaming service isn't what it once was. There were a number of great films and television shows at one time. They even helped you filter out what you never would watch, ever in your life. They ditched that idea (I cannot fathom why) and now they've ditched entertainment too.

For this reason, I cannot find anything good to watch anymore. I've had to resort to Googling what's good on Netflix. It's too bad that there isn't a really good list out there.

I came across one article and because the title isn't dated, I'm assuming that the list will change monthly. To get my point across, I sent it to archive.org. Let me immediately say that I validate my purpose there in saying that because it is a list of pop-culture popular movies at a certain time, it's archive worthy. That said, the list, while valuable due to its commentary on the films folks are watching, it is a terrible one. This is the archive link in case the page changes. This way if next month, if they clear it and rewrite the page, you'll still be able to look at what I was looking at.

Saturday, February 13, 2016

The history of the church, for dummies.

It is important for all Christians to understand the history of the church. I'm often surprised by so many who have absolutely zero idea how we got from Jesus to today. Even my husband was mistaken and he's pretty good at getting Christianity, even if he doesn't believe as strongly as I do.

First off we start with the Jewish faith. All Christians are Jews, but not all Jews are Christians. For that matter, all Muslims are Jews too, since they too branch off the Jewish faith. That's right. It may surprise you to know that the Muslims believe in Torah. Yes, it doesn't make sense for them to hate Jews so much, since they are Jewish by foundation, but alas they do.

Anyway, both of those are ancient. The Christian faith does not branch off the Muslim, but only the Jewish. I'm a visual learner so let's look at it like an organizational chart, shall we?

Friday, February 12, 2016

Why vocal atheists suck and cannot be trusted.

I read a bunch of self-proclaimed experts on Christianity every day. Christians are scorned because they sin. Well, I have news for those folks. They have no idea what they're talking about.

Christianity isn't about being perfect. Christianity isn't about not being human. In fact, let's take a look at an angry Jesus.
And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves, 
- Matthew 21:12 KJV
For those silly atheists who clumsily try and quote the Bible saying, "Well, Jesus said to turn the other cheek, so you're supposed to let me walk all over you." You couldn't be more wrong.

What those ridiculously unintelligent people fail to see is that the Bible is not an American Law book. That is, it's not about what is fair. It's about what is right. Sure, Jesus said turn the other cheek, but anyone who can read can figure out he meant when it doesn't matter. When it does matter, you need to stand up.

I'm sick and tired of atheists trying to squash Christian freedom of speech. The problem with vocal atheists is that they are a hateful bunch. They really are. Look at what this group tried to do. Thank God their efforts were wasted.

They even lied, saying that the cross received tax dollars and they couldn't even prove what they were saying. They were slanderous and personally, I would have sued them for everything their little organization had.

So why do I call them vocal atheists? Because they open their mouths against Christianity. They say it's offensive. For that matter, one time I was told by one that raising a child in the church is child abuse. Seriously! He actually said that to me.

They also do not apply their protests equally across the religious board. They reserve their anger for Christians only. These are the people who will be cast into hell. We'll have the last laugh.
But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death. 
- Revelation 21:8 KJV
The unbelieving. That will throw them into the lake of fire, or hell. Good.

The thing is, that lawsuit proves that they are liars, they want to squash free speech and they have no idea what they're talking about. It's all we need to know.

Good bless you all!

Thursday, February 11, 2016

Review of Yahtzee at cardgames.io

Before I get to it, let me just say that despite what I say and complain about here, I still love the game, the author and the website. The games aren't something we have to download. They're not something we have to have an account for. They're not something that requires us to watch ads for. They are just the old fashioned games and that's that. For this reason alone, they're all worth playing. I give the author, Einar Egilsson, kudos for giving us these great games for free.

I've played others, but this one is about the Yahtzee game. There are similarities in the other games, but those are for another post on another day. I just want to talk about this one today.

Normally I'm an option girl. I want options. I want to be able to choose single player vs. other players. I want to customize my cards and backgrounds and so on. These are plain and options are limited. I'm okay with that. They're clean, free and ad free. For this reason plain is good here.

The Man in the High Castle - Where New Berlin REALLY is

If you've seen the show and you Google it, you're going to see a map. The map is one of the biggest things about the show. However, don't believe everything you see.

With interest I read Val Nolan's blog post about it and there is a sentence that is incorrect. He says,"We see on a map that St. Louis is now New Berlin." Sadly, this appears to be a misconception by a lot of people, here's another example. The funny part is that a little knowledge about St. Louis, geography and reading maps will demonstrate how very incorrect that assumption is.

Let's take a look at both maps, one from today and the one from the show. Yes, they are marked all over, but so what? I'll explain in my little Geography class here. You can click on the images to enlarge them and I encourage you to do so, in order that you can see it clearly.

Tuesday, February 09, 2016

Waffle House Facts, Taiwan's Golden Dragon Tower and the news.

I always have opinions. I'm loaded with them. It doesn't mean I'm right, or you're wrong or whatever. It means simply that I'm opinionated. It means that I should be able to speak freely in this society. If I want to insult someone, I should be able to. If I want to compliment someone, I should be able to. I am a firm believer in the freedom of speech and I will exercise that right to the fullest.

Many times though I don't actually have an opinion. I'm indifferent. Wait, not many times. Some times. Whatever. It happens. Moving on.

News comes in waves. Some days there really isn't any major news. It's the same thing every day. I've no problem with that, but those days are repetitive. I don't really have opinions on those days. Today, there isn't really much.

We'll start with something fun. As I've mentioned before, I see a ton of "fun facts" far and wide on the web. Most of which aren't fun and nearly all fall into two categories. They're either incredibly uninteresting or they're something I already knew. Rarely do I come upon an article that's actually interesting and things I didn't know, but also fun. This article on the Waffle House is fun for me.

One thing that stands out for me are the number of waffles vs hash browns per minute. My family and I have said all our lives that people go to Waffle House for the hash browns, not the waffles. For this reason it should be more appropriately named the Hash Brown House. lol!

Here's something that bothers me. You see, there are rules in journalism. The media is supposed to report facts without opinions. If they add opinions, then it's called an editorial, not an actual news article. BIG difference. What I expect to see in an article are facts, not suspicions or rumors. When you start seeing those, then it turns into tabloid journalism. A reputable news agency will state what are facts and what facts are not yet known.

Consider CNN's article whose title is long: "3 arrested for roles in construction of collapsed Taiwan apartment tower". Now keep in mind that by the time you read this, it may have been updated or fixed, so here is the archived article as well. It is a snapshot of the page as I'm reading it when I write this. Now the first thing to notice is its length. Including captions, twitter, instagram text and article text that is on the page, this article totals 2,411 words. However, the part that pertains to the actual headline is only 332 words long. Look at all that filler. Of course, I was including captions in the first one and not the second.

Either way, the article is clearly propaganda. There are no facts that support why these people were arrested. Cans are suspicious, but it doesn't say that authorities cite this as the reason for the arrest. In fact, it doesn't say anywhere what authorities said. It's all speculation. Maybe there was faulty construction, but maybe it's the tallest building, or maybe the ground was unstable there or maybe there were more people in the building than others. I just think that if you're going to report something, back it up with facts or state very clearly that it is unknown. Don't give us sob stories to support your theory.

I am the kind of person who believes in survival of the fittest. I'm not the fittest, so do not wrongly suppose that I'm being high and mighty here. I'd probably be the first to die in a disaster. Well, that's something I have to live with. However, sometimes being clever can save your life. Knowing how to outsmart someone or something is key in survival. Now there I have an edge, I believe. Democrats will probably disagree but who cares? I believe it and that's all that matters to me.

That said, I think the best way to fix the population problem in this world is to remove all warning labels off of everything and let stupid protesters do stupid things to themselves. I have no sorrow for those who are willing to kill themselves over their beliefs. Let them go so we don't have to listen to them anymore. Do I sound dispassionate? Maybe. However I live a life where I believe we're responsible for ourselves. For this reason my doctrine is if they're dumb enough to do it, let them.

For this reason, I feel no sorrow for the man in this article, "Man Dies After Setting Himself on Fire Outside Kensington Palace". Fine. Good riddance. What cracks me up more than anything is the first line of the article. They apparently believe as I do since it says, "The royal family was not at the palace when the incident occurred." Well, thank goodness for that right? That was definitely the first thing I'd want to know. :/

Did you know that New Orleans isn't the home of the Mardi Gras? It isn't. Tell that to journalists today. For those of you who don't know, today is Fat Tuesday. This is the celebration of the beginning of the end of Mardi Gras. I won't go into the details but suffice it to say that Mardi Gras is all over the news. I challenge you all to remind them where Mardi Gras originates and is still held to this day!

Answers to questions no one is asking:

"Katie Holmes Interview: Matt Lauer Brings Up Tom Cruise's Fiery Response From The Past, How Does She React?"
"Why Yahoo Couldn't Adapt to the Smartphone Era"
"Why does Kobe Bryant like LeBron James now?"

Congratulations are in order for the Broncos on their win this past Sunday. Perhaps Peyton Manning can quit teasing the NFL fan community by saying he's going to retire..... every year.

Gloria Steinhem is a bitch. There, I said it. She is and that's that. She condescendingly told women that "there is a special place in hell" for women who disagree with her. Tell me that's not a bitch like attitude. There is a special place in hell all right. It's got her calling card too. That's where I also stopped reading. I've decided she's not newsworthy after all.

News that citizens figured out for themselves and wondered why it took officials this long to figure it out too:

"Islamic State will continue to target the U.S., top intelligence officials say"
"US intelligence chief: we might use the internet of things to spy on you"
"'Happy Birthday' Headed to Public Domain"

How was your day?


Monday, February 08, 2016

The Big Bang Theory's big secret in "The Valentino Submergence"

We are in season 9 and it's been a great 9 years so far! Last Thursday we were surprised by the teaser of this week's upcoming episode.


To my surprise, there isn't much people are saying about it. I'm not sure why, but I can say for certain what I think. I wrote an email to my husband today with my thoughts on the subject and thought I would share it here.

Sunday, February 07, 2016

Thoughts on Season One of The Man in the High Castle (Season 1 Spoilers)

Amazon is, I'm sure, celebrating its decision to continue The Man in the High Castle, an Amazon exclusive series available for streaming. It brings to life a question that many have asked. What if Hitler had won the war? How terrible would it be? We all know the quick answer to that: hell on earth, but how many of us have sat here really thinking it through?

Well thankfully a couple of authors have done this for us. Philip K. Dick wrote the novel of the same name. There is another one too that is popular written by Robert Harris called Fatherland. Sadly the cover that is presently at Amazon is a play on the wonderful CGI from The Man in the High Castle. It used to have a different cover, but that's another topic.

Let me just say right now that this will contain spoilers. It's better that we get that out there right now. Right? Right!

Now let's talk about what you see first, the opening title sequence: WOW!


It's very creative and I could talk about it for  three times as longer than what I'll call "the intro" actually is. To begin with, it's dark. Not just emotionally but visually. The map is not this bright map that you can compare to Google maps.