Rare, Collectible, & Otherwise

Tag: bookstores (Page 94 of 107)

Twitched and Bewitched

It’s so long ago that almost all the names are forgotten, although some may survive through cable TV re-runs. I’m thinking of Bewitched, which was an ABC sitcom that ran from 1964 to 1973. It starred the daughter of actor Robert Montgomery, who was better known than his daughter at the time, but she may have eclipsed him over time.

Elizabeth Montgomery played Samantha Stevens, who was a friendly neighborhood witch. She married a mortal named Darrin and settled into a routine life in the suburbs – at least she tried. Samantha was supposed to give up the witchcraft, but she invariably wound up twitching her nose, which caused magic to happen.

Bewitched enjoyed great popularity, and TV Guide magazine included the program in its 2002 list of 50 best TV shows of all time. Interest in its star has continued as well. A new biography of Elizabeth Montgomery has just been released: Twitch Upon a Star, by Herbie J. Pilato, is based on a series of interviews he conducted with Montgomery as a friend.

I was poking through a newspaper archive on a whim and next to 1955 article about Montgomery’s role in the Gary Cooper vehicle, The Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell, was a column by a nationally syndicated columnist named Walter Winchell. (I told you these were all forgotten names…) Winchell was well-known for his gossip and behind-the-scenes news items.

He gave a boost to an up-and-coming comedian with his July 18, 1955 column, writing that “Johnny Carson is a new comic with an affable manner. If he gets material to match his skill, he will be a Gobel challenger.”

Of course, that doesn’t mean much as a compliment today, but George Gobel used to be famous in his own right, beginning as a singer as a young man. During WWII, he served as a flight instructor at Altus, Oklahoma and later at Frederick, Oklahoma (where I applied for my first radio job – but that’s another story…). When the war was over, he gave up singing and took up comedy. Years later, during a 1969 appearance on the Tonight Show, Gobel recalled his time in Oklahoma, joking about his service in mid-America and telling the host that “There was not one Japanese aircraft got past Tulsa.”

The Tonight Show host at the time – of course – was Johnny Carson and the appearance of both on the same set proved that the columnist Walter Winchell knew a thing or two about comedians. If Winchell had only enjoyed the witch’s long-life-span of Samantha Stevens he might have made mention of Jay Leno, the rising comedian who took over the Tonight Show – one year after the death of George Gobel.

Happy Dazed.

Ahhhhh… the miracle of a good night’s sleep!

After giving up for the night, feeling like an entire day was wasted trying to get the computer network back up and running, I could only hope that things would be better the next day.

Lo and behold!

Fired up. Screens awaiting command. Cautious clicking. Boom!

All the things that ought to be there, are. Another self-curing computer problem completed by waifish elves in the night hours.

I have my fingers crossed though, and I’ve already knocked my wooden head.

Java the hut.

When I hear the phrase ‘Homeland Security’ I think of the hardhat commercial with the Morgan Freeman voiceover imploring us to get Red Dirt Ready. There probably should be more memorable associations, like those color-coded alerts, which brought our awareness front and center to do – who knew what?

Yesterday, I was advised by Homeland Security to disable Java on my computer.

Whoa!

Little terrorists slipping in through that Cup O’ Joe icon? National security threat, right here on my laptop? What gives? It’s GOOGLE TIME!

Turns out, I’m not the only one with some questions about the perceived vulnerability and the consequences of NOT disabling Java. Some bloggers were downright frantic. One fellow related the account of his exploration for information, from Java, from Oracle (which owns Java), and others – first searching for information and then for instructions on how to disable the browser plug-in.

Like anyone else, I worry (a little – I’m not sitting here in the dark wringing my hands or anything) about collecting a computer virus or Trojan or malware application. I also worry about people telling me I need to quit something that I have (apparently) used for some time.

Here is the decider.

Every morning when I fire up the laptop, I get a popup advisory that some program is trying to connect to the internet and – Will I give it permission? No. I won’t. It is Java, every morning. Every morning. Why is Java trying to connect to the internet? It has an update available, it tells me. Now, explain this: If Java cannot connect to the internet without my permission, and I have not granted it permission, then how does Java know it has a handy and necessary update waiting for me?

Something fishy there.

At any rate, the whole click-the-X-to-close-the-box, the daily denial of permission for Java to access the internet (will my harddrive eventually be filled with scads of Java files from the eternal updates?), and the underlying question – why do I need Java anyway? – all combined to prompt me to delete the program on all three computers on my little network. Boom. Outta here.

Right away, I’m clicking like crazy on the Yahoo home page trying to scroll through the top news stories in their slideshow format. Oops. That must have been done in Java. Click click. No more scrolling stories. Dratted national security, anyway.

Another forty-five minutes or so became dedicated to cleanup of other programs – deleting the files for the two scanners I haven’t had connected in years, among others. Those HP files are so big I had time to dry mop the entire store, wait on a fellow who popped in (“I’m not a reader,” he said, “but I’m going to start.” He left without buying a book and I resisted the urge to point out that his reading start would be achieved more easily with a book in hand…) – I even had time to sweep off the leaves from the front sidewalk – before the HP files were removed.

I am Java free, on all three. As I post this blog, I notice that none of my little control buttons are present any longer. More Java, I suppose. They were such handy little buttons. I now feel as though I’m going into Java withdrawal.

Whether or not I remain that way depends, of course, on whether the National Nervousness can be contained, the software cyberattacks can be avoided, and the need for a Yahoo news scroller can continued to be surpressed.

Until then, I can lean back with my cup o’ Joe and know I’ve done my part to make this grand country of ours a safer place to live.

Whew. What a day.

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