On 2024-08-18 1:42 a.m., RonB wrote:
> On 2024-08-17, CrudeSausage <crude@sausa.ge> wrote:
>> On 2024-08-17 3:31 p.m., rbowman wrote:
>>> On Sat, 17 Aug 2024 08:55:58 -0400, CrudeSausage wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>> Or they might be tempted into looking for a job. I've seen the kind of
>>>> garbage that goes to Walmart and I don't consider many of them
>>>> productive members of society.
>>>
>>> Considering what they pay illegal alien chicken pluckers at Tyson, they
>>> couldn't even afford Walmart. I'm not sure Walmart workers can even afford
>>> Walmart.
>>>
>>> Personally Walmart is my store of last resort so I may visit once or twice
>>> a year. It does tend to look like pork on parade so I guess the clientele
>>> isn't going hungry at least.
>>>
>>>
>>>> Blackberry used to produce their phones in North America, but then the
>>>> iPhone showed the world what could be and Johnny Dipshit decided that he
>>>> needed to spend his entire life on a phone.
>>>
>>> https://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffreycarr/2011/01/13/do-you-know-who-
>>> manufactured-your-blackberry/
>>>
>>> Maybe 'assembled in North America' but I'm not certain about that. Perhaps
>>> the rebooted Blackberry will be better although I'd bet on Vietnam or
>>> India rather than onshore.
>>>
>>> https://www.engadget.com/5g-blackberry-keyboard-global-flagship-american-
>>> made-peter-franklin-175112005.html
>>
>> I guess those Blackberry phones slated to come out in 2021 never
>> materialized. I'll be honest and say that I would have wanted to have
>> one if it didn't use Android, but I guess those days are over.
>> Regardless of how much of a failure the BBOS phones were, I rather liked
>> them.
>
> My favorite phone was a Blackberry Q10. I would still be using it if they
> would let me. (I used it right up until they told me it wasn't supported any
> more.) I didn't want Android, although the Q10 would run older Android apps
> through emulation.

And the Android support was a response to the poor sales those devices
got in comparison to generic Android units. There is a decent
docu-series about the Blackberry made here in Canada called Blackberry.
It's three 45-minute episodes but it gives you an idea of how it got
developed, how they were responsible for allowing more than a set number
of users on the cellular network and how the unveiling of the iPhone
doomed them. Let's just say that when Blackberry had the number one
handsets in the world, they coasted and thought that switching the
trackball on the phones to a trackpad was innovative. When the iPhone
came out with a huge touchscreen and third-party apps, it was over.

--
CrudeSausage
Catholic, paleoconservative, Christ is king

On 2024-08-18 1:54 a.m., RonB wrote:
> On 2024-08-17, rbowman <bowman@montana.com> wrote:
>> On Sat, 17 Aug 2024 09:38:39 -0400, CrudeSausage wrote:
>>
>>> Unfortunately, when it was time to upgrade from my the LG G6 which was
>>> no longer receiving updates and kept reminding me that I was insecure
>>> through Google Pay (got it in 2018, it received its last update in 2019,
>>> stopped using it in 2021), the only options my provider made available
>>> to me were Androids and iPhones. It was between a Samsung, a Google, an
>>> Apple or some obscure brand. I did my research and got an Apple because
>>> it was the only brand allowing me to hold onto my phone for more than
>>> two years in terms of updates. A few weeks after I got it, Samsung
>>> announced that they would provide their phones with four years of
>>> updates, so I guess I wasn't the only one annoyed with the two-year
>>> support.
>>
>> My Nokia 4.2 I bought in May of 2020 is still working fine. I use Mint
>> Mobile so it was BYOD. I don't 'spend my entire life on a phone' so as
>> long as it works I don't care about updates. It's Android 11 and was last
>> updated in 2022.
>
> My main phone is a Pixel 3a (2019). I use the Tello $10 plan (unlimited talk
> and text and 2 GBs of data, including HotSpot). I basically only use the
> data when the power or Internet goes down. My secondary phone is now an
> iPhone 4s that my nephew sent me. That one is on the Hello Mobile plan, $5 a
> month for unlimited talk and text (to 60-some countries), plus 500 MBs of
> data (no HotSpot). I carry that one when I go out (when I remember to take
> it with me). I like the small size. Both of these use the T-Mobile network
> because it has the strongest signal in my area.
>
> Mostly I use my Pixel for talking to my dad (who lives alone and is some
> 2,000 mile away) and for playing pinochle. No social media apps at all. The
> 4s rarely gets used, but I feel I owe it my nephew to keep it active (he put
> a new screen in it and I installed a new battery).

Considering how I never talk to anyone, having a phone is entirely
pointless and I would be better off with an iPod. However, people now
expect you to have a cell phone so even if all you had was a land line,
they would assume the number is tied to a portable device.

--
CrudeSausage
Catholic, paleoconservative, Christ is king

On 2024-08-18 2:02 a.m., RonB wrote:
> On 2024-08-18, CrudeSausage <crude@sausa.ge> wrote:
>> On 2024-08-17 6:45 p.m., rbowman wrote:
>>> On Sat, 17 Aug 2024 18:20:53 -0400, CrudeSausage wrote:
>>>
>>>> On 2024-08-17 3:00 p.m., rbowman wrote:
>>>>> On Sat, 17 Aug 2024 08:41:27 -0400, CrudeSausage wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>> Considering how people in my part of town live, I wouldn't be entirely
>>>>>> against a social credit score. They might finally make their stops,
>>>>>> use the appropriate traffic lanes and demonstrate common courtesy. Of
>>>>>> course, these things would also be possible if people converted to
>>>>>> Catholicism, attended church and learned to be humble.
>>>>>
>>>>> Yeah, sure. Most of my extended family were Catholic and I never
>>>>> noticed a lot of humility.
>>>>
>>>> That's because they weren't practising Catholics. It's the same with
>>>> every religion: some take it seriously, some just say that they are.
>>>
>>> No true Catholic? Is Bergoglio a practicing Catholic?
>>
>> If you are a Catholic and understood the lessons you've learned as a
>> child and a teenager then you would know that the current Pope Francis
>> does not follow the traditional doctrine. The faith seems to have been
>> corrupted sometime at the beginning of the 1960s and Pope Francis is the
>> result.
>>
>> I can count a handful of times I applauded one of Francis's actions, but
>> many more times that I questioned his decision.
>
> He's made no _ex cathedra_ pronouncement. No post-Vatican II pope has. So
> nothing binding on Catholics in morals or dogma.

He's also been way too open to homosexuals and migrants. At the very
beginning, he really wanted us to believe that the people forcing their
way into the United States, Canada and Europe were simply looking for a
better life. Even when it was clear that it was a bunch of useless men
looking to take advantage of the welfare state and commit crimes, he
didn't change his mind.

I've been reading rumours that there are stockpiles of weapons in a
number of abandoned factories that are intended to be given to those
migrants to eventually cause total mayhem in whichever society let them
in. I wouldn't have believed it if the state didn't treat these people
better than it does the locals.

--
CrudeSausage
Catholic, paleoconservative, Christ is king

rbowman wrote this copyrighted missive and expects royalties:

> On Sat, 17 Aug 2024 08:41:27 -0400, CrudeSausage wrote:
>
>> Considering how people in my part of town live, I wouldn't be entirely
>> against a social credit score. They might finally make their stops, use
>> the appropriate traffic lanes and demonstrate common courtesy. Of
>> course, these things would also be possible if people converted to
>> Catholicism, attended church and learned to be humble.
>
> Yeah, sure. Most of my extended family were Catholic and I never noticed a
> lot of humility.

The name-changer and convert to Catholicism Shady JD does not seem to have a
lot of humility.

--
Be careful of reading health books, you might die of a misprint.
-- Mark Twain

CrudeSausage wrote:

>Or they might be tempted into looking for a job. I've seen the kind of
>garbage that goes to Walmart and I don't consider many of them
>productive members of society.

Hey, I shop at Walmart! 8)

When a 8oz bag of spinach costs $4 at the "normal" grocery store (much
less the "upscale" grocery store) and Walmart sells a 10oz bag for $2,
you can bet I'm shopping at Walmart.

--
'The rule of thumb remains the idea of "You Get What You Paid For"' -
lying asshole "-hh"

On Sat, 17 Aug 2024 22:48:05 -0700 (Seattle), Relf wrote:

> Once I'm king of the world ( given Joel Crump's permission ),
> I'll force everyone to use email.

Works for me... Even with messaging apps like Slack I can prioritize and
respond when it's convenient.

On 2024-08-18 8:09 a.m., Chris Ahlstrom wrote:
> rbowman wrote this copyrighted missive and expects royalties:
>
>> On Sat, 17 Aug 2024 08:41:27 -0400, CrudeSausage wrote:
>>
>>> Considering how people in my part of town live, I wouldn't be entirely
>>> against a social credit score. They might finally make their stops, use
>>> the appropriate traffic lanes and demonstrate common courtesy. Of
>>> course, these things would also be possible if people converted to
>>> Catholicism, attended church and learned to be humble.
>>
>> Yeah, sure. Most of my extended family were Catholic and I never noticed a
>> lot of humility.
>
> The name-changer and convert to Catholicism Shady JD does not seem to have a
> lot of humility.

My humility does not extend to progressive atheist homosexuals who seek
to dismantle the entirety of the society Catholics built.

--
CrudeSausage
Catholic, paleoconservative, Christ is king

CrudeSausage wrote:
> On 2024-08-18 8:09 a.m., Chris Ahlstrom wrote:
>> rbowman wrote this copyrighted missive and expects royalties:
>>
>>> On Sat, 17 Aug 2024 08:41:27 -0400, CrudeSausage wrote:
>>>
>>>> Considering how people in my part of town live, I wouldn't be entirely
>>>> against a social credit score. They might finally make their stops, use
>>>> the appropriate traffic lanes and demonstrate common courtesy. Of
>>>> course, these things would also be possible if people converted to
>>>> Catholicism, attended church and learned to be humble.
>>>
>>> Yeah, sure. Most of my extended family were Catholic and I never
>>> noticed a
>>> lot of humility.
>>
>> The name-changer and convert to Catholicism Shady JD does not seem to
>> have a
>> lot of humility.
>
> My humility does not extend to progressive atheist homosexuals who seek
> to dismantle the entirety of the society Catholics built.
>
now stick your tongue out and flounce away

On 2024-08-18 10:54 a.m., chrisv wrote:
> CrudeSausage wrote:
>
>> Or they might be tempted into looking for a job. I've seen the kind of
>> garbage that goes to Walmart and I don't consider many of them
>> productive members of society.
>
> Hey, I shop at Walmart! 8)
>
> When a 8oz bag of spinach costs $4 at the "normal" grocery store (much
> less the "upscale" grocery store) and Walmart sells a 10oz bag for $2,
> you can bet I'm shopping at Walmart.

I should have been clear and said that not all Walmart shoppers are like
that. I've been there and seen a few normal people, but it is definitely
not unusual to see people who look and act like they just came out of an
asylum.

--
CrudeSausage
Catholic, paleoconservative, Christ is king

On Sun, 18 Aug 2024 06:16:09 -0000 (UTC), RonB wrote:

> But if you really want to read about the errors of Modernism (within in
> the Church) you need to go to Saint Pope Pius X. Error within the Church
> are much more dangerous and came to their fruition at the Vatican II —
> and continues to spread its poison within the Church today.

Or you can go from SSPX to SSPV... The Bishop of Helena doesn't permit
TLM in the diocese so if you're going to be an outlaw might as well do it
right.

On Sun, 18 Aug 2024 06:42:26 -0400, CrudeSausage wrote:

> All I can tell you is that I've taken a liking to the Tomorrow's World
> approach which is to make Christianity a personal thing. You read the
> Bible and they will provide you with the tools to understand it.
> Requiring a priest and a mass to get from you to God to them is
> unnecessary.

Not the BBC science TV shows I take it.

On Sun, 18 Aug 2024 08:09:30 -0400, Chris Ahlstrom wrote:

> rbowman wrote this copyrighted missive and expects royalties:
>
>> On Sat, 17 Aug 2024 08:41:27 -0400, CrudeSausage wrote:
>>
>>> Considering how people in my part of town live, I wouldn't be entirely
>>> against a social credit score. They might finally make their stops,
>>> use the appropriate traffic lanes and demonstrate common courtesy. Of
>>> course, these things would also be possible if people converted to
>>> Catholicism, attended church and learned to be humble.
>>
>> Yeah, sure. Most of my extended family were Catholic and I never
>> noticed a lot of humility.
>
> The name-changer and convert to Catholicism Shady JD does not seem to
> have a lot of humility.

Nor do (did?) Biden or Pelosi.

On Sun, 18 Aug 2024 06:02:08 -0000 (UTC), RonB wrote:

> He's made no _ex cathedra_ pronouncement. No post-Vatican II pope has.
> So nothing binding on Catholics in morals or dogma.

No, but his 'instructions' are damaging enough.

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/pope-francis-again-turns-screws-use-
traditional-latin-mass-2023-02-21/

and other actions like excommunicating Vigano and firing Strickland.

On Sun, 18 Aug 2024 05:57:47 -0000 (UTC), RonB wrote:

> But, at least, the Catholic Church has the _ideal_ of humility. Hardly
> anyone lives up to it, except the saints.

They don't make them like Therese of Lisieux anymore.

On Sun, 18 Aug 2024 09:54:53 -0500, chrisv wrote:

> Hey, I shop at Walmart! 8)
>
> When a 8oz bag of spinach costs $4 at the "normal" grocery store (much
> less the "upscale" grocery store) and Walmart sells a 10oz bag for $2,
> you can bet I'm shopping at Walmart.

Sell your soul for a bag of spinach? I'm not as bad as my nephew. He'll
sit in the car rather than walk through the door. Other than that he's a
SF liberal as far as I can tell but something about Walmart burns his
butt.

On Sun, 18 Aug 2024 05:39:16 -0000 (UTC), RonB wrote:

> I go there too much. I should drive a little further and go to Winco.
> Amazon is actually my "store" of last resort.

There is a Walmart on my way to town that I drive by.

Rosauer's is one of the stores I frequently hit. After ShopKo folded they
put in a Winco which is directly across the street. I've been there a few
times. If your recipe calls for goat or tripe WinCo has you covered :)
Seriously, I sometimes get a taste for liver or braised chicken giblets
and WinCo is the only place that regularly carries them.

Amazon certainly is sort of my store of last resort. This county is 2600
square miles and has a population a little over 100,000 so it's not a
major market. The big box stores have moved in over the years but anything
a little out of the ordinary is unobtanium. I try and then I go home and
order from Amazon.

The worst case was when I got the first Yaris. It didn't have a radio so I
went to the local car radio shop. It was a new model so they didn't have a
dash kit and said they could kluge something up. I went to the Yaris forum
and got the correct Metra number. They ordered it from their supplier.
Days passed and it didn't arrive. They ordered it from another supplier.
More days passed with no kit.

So I ordered the radio, harness, and dash kit from Amazon. It was on the
deck two days later. I installed it following the excellent directions on
the forum. Hey, I tried to support local business.

On 2024-08-18, rbowman <bowman@montana.com> wrote:
> On Sun, 18 Aug 2024 05:39:16 -0000 (UTC), RonB wrote:
>
>> I go there too much. I should drive a little further and go to Winco.
>> Amazon is actually my "store" of last resort.
>
> There is a Walmart on my way to town that I drive by.
>
> Rosauer's is one of the stores I frequently hit. After ShopKo folded they
> put in a Winco which is directly across the street. I've been there a few
> times. If your recipe calls for goat or tripe WinCo has you covered :)
> Seriously, I sometimes get a taste for liver or braised chicken giblets
> and WinCo is the only place that regularly carries them.

I haven't shopped at Rosauer's since I was a kid in Great Falls, Montana.
It's not there anymore, but when ValueMart went out of business in Great
Falls (maybe everywhere), Rosaur's moved in. When I moved to where I'm
living now (near Boise) a Rosaur's had just closed a few months earlier.
We're about four blocks away from where they were. Trader Joe's moved into a
little section of the old Rosaur's.

Winco is getting pretty big now in California (even moving into Texas), but
I remember when they were small — and used either the name Waremart or Cub
Foods. There's still a few of their stores that have retained the Waremart
name, now called "Waremart by Winco" it appears and, I think, at least one
Cub Foods. I think sometimes companies keep one location running with their
old name so they retain that name.

Winco is usually less expensive than Walmart and definitely Fred Myer
(Kroger). Albertson's is ridiculously expensive. They took over a ShopKo
location up the road and built a showcase Albertson's that's huge.

> Amazon certainly is sort of my store of last resort. This county is 2600
> square miles and has a population a little over 100,000 so it's not a
> major market. The big box stores have moved in over the years but anything
> a little out of the ordinary is unobtanium. I try and then I go home and
> order from Amazon.
>
> The worst case was when I got the first Yaris. It didn't have a radio so I
> went to the local car radio shop. It was a new model so they didn't have a
> dash kit and said they could kluge something up. I went to the Yaris forum
> and got the correct Metra number. They ordered it from their supplier.
> Days passed and it didn't arrive. They ordered it from another supplier.
> More days passed with no kit.
>
> So I ordered the radio, harness, and dash kit from Amazon. It was on the
> deck two days later. I installed it following the excellent directions on
> the forum. Hey, I tried to support local business.

Unfortunately your experience with local stores is pretty much my
experience. And there's no excuse for it here. I live in a relatively large
shopping area. We have a Best Buy, Staples, Office Depots Targets — quite a
few businesses. I go to these places to buy something they have advertised
and they tell me "we can order it online for you." I just kind of shake my
head and say to myself, "If I wanted to order online (and pick it up at the
store), I would just order online not bother going to the store." So, yeah,
I often end up with Amazon (but not for the lack of trying). It's almost
like these places want their Brick & Mortar stores to fail, so they'll have
an excuse to close them down.

--
[Self-centered, Woke] "pride is a life of self-destructive fakery, an
entrapment to a false and self-created matrix of twisted unreality."
"It was pride that changed angels into devils..." — St. Augustine

On 2024-08-18, CrudeSausage <crude@sausa.ge> wrote:
> On 2024-08-18 1:42 a.m., RonB wrote:
>> On 2024-08-17, CrudeSausage <crude@sausa.ge> wrote:
>>> On 2024-08-17 3:31 p.m., rbowman wrote:
>>>> On Sat, 17 Aug 2024 08:55:58 -0400, CrudeSausage wrote:
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>> Or they might be tempted into looking for a job. I've seen the kind of
>>>>> garbage that goes to Walmart and I don't consider many of them
>>>>> productive members of society.
>>>>
>>>> Considering what they pay illegal alien chicken pluckers at Tyson, they
>>>> couldn't even afford Walmart. I'm not sure Walmart workers can even afford
>>>> Walmart.
>>>>
>>>> Personally Walmart is my store of last resort so I may visit once or twice
>>>> a year. It does tend to look like pork on parade so I guess the clientele
>>>> isn't going hungry at least.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>> Blackberry used to produce their phones in North America, but then the
>>>>> iPhone showed the world what could be and Johnny Dipshit decided that he
>>>>> needed to spend his entire life on a phone.
>>>>
>>>> https://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffreycarr/2011/01/13/do-you-know-who-
>>>> manufactured-your-blackberry/
>>>>
>>>> Maybe 'assembled in North America' but I'm not certain about that. Perhaps
>>>> the rebooted Blackberry will be better although I'd bet on Vietnam or
>>>> India rather than onshore.
>>>>
>>>> https://www.engadget.com/5g-blackberry-keyboard-global-flagship-american-
>>>> made-peter-franklin-175112005.html
>>>
>>> I guess those Blackberry phones slated to come out in 2021 never
>>> materialized. I'll be honest and say that I would have wanted to have
>>> one if it didn't use Android, but I guess those days are over.
>>> Regardless of how much of a failure the BBOS phones were, I rather liked
>>> them.
>>
>> My favorite phone was a Blackberry Q10. I would still be using it if they
>> would let me. (I used it right up until they told me it wasn't supported any
>> more.) I didn't want Android, although the Q10 would run older Android apps
>> through emulation.
>
> And the Android support was a response to the poor sales those devices
> got in comparison to generic Android units. There is a decent
> docu-series about the Blackberry made here in Canada called Blackberry.
> It's three 45-minute episodes but it gives you an idea of how it got
> developed, how they were responsible for allowing more than a set number
> of users on the cellular network and how the unveiling of the iPhone
> doomed them. Let's just say that when Blackberry had the number one
> handsets in the world, they coasted and thought that switching the
> trackball on the phones to a trackpad was innovative. When the iPhone
> came out with a huge touchscreen and third-party apps, it was over.

Like a lot of corporations, Blackberry rested on their laurels. But I still
found the Q10's OS superior to Android and iOS — and would still be using it
if I could. Just a nicer design. I also liked the OS that Palm went to for a
short while before they went belly up. I think it's still being used in a
few smart TVs. WebOS, I believe. (I owned a couple different Palm
smartphones, including a Treo, Centro and Pixi (that ran on WebOS). HP
bought what was left of Palm with big plans, and then let them die on the
vine.)

When Blackberry was still huge and Nortel was floundering, Blackberry wanted
to buy Nortel, but the Canadian government wouldn't let them. Why? I have no
idea. Probably because they had already been bribed by Lucent (formerly a
division of AT&T) to let that sale go through. Things might have been
different for both companies if that sale had been allowed.

--
[Self-centered, Woke] "pride is a life of self-destructive fakery, an
entrapment to a false and self-created matrix of twisted unreality."
"It was pride that changed angels into devils..." — St. Augustine

On 2024-08-18, chrisv <chrisv@nospam.invalid> wrote:
> CrudeSausage wrote:
>
>>Or they might be tempted into looking for a job. I've seen the kind of
>>garbage that goes to Walmart and I don't consider many of them
>>productive members of society.
>
> Hey, I shop at Walmart! 8)
>
> When a 8oz bag of spinach costs $4 at the "normal" grocery store (much
> less the "upscale" grocery store) and Walmart sells a 10oz bag for $2,
> you can bet I'm shopping at Walmart.

Same here, but Winco is usually cheaper, sometimes signficantly cheaper (if
you have one in your area).

--
[Self-centered, Woke] "pride is a life of self-destructive fakery, an
entrapment to a false and self-created matrix of twisted unreality."
"It was pride that changed angels into devils..." — St. Augustine

On 2024-08-18, CrudeSausage <crude@sausa.ge> wrote:
> On 2024-08-18 10:54 a.m., chrisv wrote:
>> CrudeSausage wrote:
>>
>>> Or they might be tempted into looking for a job. I've seen the kind of
>>> garbage that goes to Walmart and I don't consider many of them
>>> productive members of society.
>>
>> Hey, I shop at Walmart! 8)
>>
>> When a 8oz bag of spinach costs $4 at the "normal" grocery store (much
>> less the "upscale" grocery store) and Walmart sells a 10oz bag for $2,
>> you can bet I'm shopping at Walmart.
>
> I should have been clear and said that not all Walmart shoppers are like
> that. I've been there and seen a few normal people, but it is definitely
> not unusual to see people who look and act like they just came out of an
> asylum.

Weirdest I've seen, not only in Walmart, is people wearing flannel pajamas
to the store. What the heck is that all about?

--
[Self-centered, Woke] "pride is a life of self-destructive fakery, an
entrapment to a false and self-created matrix of twisted unreality."
"It was pride that changed angels into devils..." — St. Augustine

On 2024-08-18 2:52 p.m., rbowman wrote:
> On Sun, 18 Aug 2024 06:42:26 -0400, CrudeSausage wrote:
>
>> All I can tell you is that I've taken a liking to the Tomorrow's World
>> approach which is to make Christianity a personal thing. You read the
>> Bible and they will provide you with the tools to understand it.
>> Requiring a priest and a mass to get from you to God to them is
>> unnecessary.
>
> Not the BBC science TV shows I take it.

If you're asking about the show, it plays in syndication every week on
channels that are usually over-the-air. I am sure you'll find it rather
easily under the name "Tomorrow's World" in your broadcast listings.
Trust me, it's worth checking out. Similarly, it is worth reading their
free material.

--
CrudeSausage
Catholic, paleoconservative, Christ is king

On 2024-08-18, CrudeSausage <crude@sausa.ge> wrote:
> On 2024-08-18 1:54 a.m., RonB wrote:
>> On 2024-08-17, rbowman <bowman@montana.com> wrote:
>>> On Sat, 17 Aug 2024 09:38:39 -0400, CrudeSausage wrote:
>>>
>>>> Unfortunately, when it was time to upgrade from my the LG G6 which was
>>>> no longer receiving updates and kept reminding me that I was insecure
>>>> through Google Pay (got it in 2018, it received its last update in 2019,
>>>> stopped using it in 2021), the only options my provider made available
>>>> to me were Androids and iPhones. It was between a Samsung, a Google, an
>>>> Apple or some obscure brand. I did my research and got an Apple because
>>>> it was the only brand allowing me to hold onto my phone for more than
>>>> two years in terms of updates. A few weeks after I got it, Samsung
>>>> announced that they would provide their phones with four years of
>>>> updates, so I guess I wasn't the only one annoyed with the two-year
>>>> support.
>>>
>>> My Nokia 4.2 I bought in May of 2020 is still working fine. I use Mint
>>> Mobile so it was BYOD. I don't 'spend my entire life on a phone' so as
>>> long as it works I don't care about updates. It's Android 11 and was last
>>> updated in 2022.
>>
>> My main phone is a Pixel 3a (2019). I use the Tello $10 plan (unlimited talk
>> and text and 2 GBs of data, including HotSpot). I basically only use the
>> data when the power or Internet goes down. My secondary phone is now an
>> iPhone 4s that my nephew sent me. That one is on the Hello Mobile plan, $5 a
>> month for unlimited talk and text (to 60-some countries), plus 500 MBs of
>> data (no HotSpot). I carry that one when I go out (when I remember to take
>> it with me). I like the small size. Both of these use the T-Mobile network
>> because it has the strongest signal in my area.
>>
>> Mostly I use my Pixel for talking to my dad (who lives alone and is some
>> 2,000 mile away) and for playing pinochle. No social media apps at all. The
>> 4s rarely gets used, but I feel I owe it my nephew to keep it active (he put
>> a new screen in it and I installed a new battery).
>
> Considering how I never talk to anyone, having a phone is entirely
> pointless and I would be better off with an iPod. However, people now
> expect you to have a cell phone so even if all you had was a land line,
> they would assume the number is tied to a portable device.

Mostly I talk to my dad. Almost every night for up to (and sometimes over)
two hours. He's 91, lives alone and needs the company.

Other than that, I call my family (usually short, "what is that brand you
wanted?") type calls when at the store. And if I have to settle something
with some company, I'll bypass the worthless chats, emails, etc., and find a
way to actually talk to a someone. Sometimes it's hard to find a number with
a real person at the other end, but I'm persistent. I come from a generation
where you could actually walk into a local office and settle things with the
company, instead of going thorough the BS rigmarole you have to go through
these days. A process that never seem to get anything settled. A phone call
is as close as you can get to that now. And even that requires persistance
and sometimes up to an hour of waiting on the phone.

--
[Self-centered, Woke] "pride is a life of self-destructive fakery, an
entrapment to a false and self-created matrix of twisted unreality."
"It was pride that changed angels into devils..." — St. Augustine

On 2024-08-18, rbowman <bowman@montana.com> wrote:
> On Sun, 18 Aug 2024 05:57:47 -0000 (UTC), RonB wrote:
>
>> But, at least, the Catholic Church has the _ideal_ of humility. Hardly
>> anyone lives up to it, except the saints.
>
> They don't make them like Therese of Lisieux anymore.

Or even like my former priest, Father Wolfe, who I think might be a living
saint.

--
[Self-centered, Woke] "pride is a life of self-destructive fakery, an
entrapment to a false and self-created matrix of twisted unreality."
"It was pride that changed angels into devils..." — St. Augustine

On 2024-08-18 5:37 p.m., RonB wrote:
> On 2024-08-18, CrudeSausage <crude@sausa.ge> wrote:
>> On 2024-08-18 1:42 a.m., RonB wrote:
>>> On 2024-08-17, CrudeSausage <crude@sausa.ge> wrote:
>>>> On 2024-08-17 3:31 p.m., rbowman wrote:
>>>>> On Sat, 17 Aug 2024 08:55:58 -0400, CrudeSausage wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>> Or they might be tempted into looking for a job. I've seen the kind of
>>>>>> garbage that goes to Walmart and I don't consider many of them
>>>>>> productive members of society.
>>>>>
>>>>> Considering what they pay illegal alien chicken pluckers at Tyson, they
>>>>> couldn't even afford Walmart. I'm not sure Walmart workers can even afford
>>>>> Walmart.
>>>>>
>>>>> Personally Walmart is my store of last resort so I may visit once or twice
>>>>> a year. It does tend to look like pork on parade so I guess the clientele
>>>>> isn't going hungry at least.
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>> Blackberry used to produce their phones in North America, but then the
>>>>>> iPhone showed the world what could be and Johnny Dipshit decided that he
>>>>>> needed to spend his entire life on a phone.
>>>>>
>>>>> https://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffreycarr/2011/01/13/do-you-know-who-
>>>>> manufactured-your-blackberry/
>>>>>
>>>>> Maybe 'assembled in North America' but I'm not certain about that. Perhaps
>>>>> the rebooted Blackberry will be better although I'd bet on Vietnam or
>>>>> India rather than onshore.
>>>>>
>>>>> https://www.engadget.com/5g-blackberry-keyboard-global-flagship-american-
>>>>> made-peter-franklin-175112005.html
>>>>
>>>> I guess those Blackberry phones slated to come out in 2021 never
>>>> materialized. I'll be honest and say that I would have wanted to have
>>>> one if it didn't use Android, but I guess those days are over.
>>>> Regardless of how much of a failure the BBOS phones were, I rather liked
>>>> them.
>>>
>>> My favorite phone was a Blackberry Q10. I would still be using it if they
>>> would let me. (I used it right up until they told me it wasn't supported any
>>> more.) I didn't want Android, although the Q10 would run older Android apps
>>> through emulation.
>>
>> And the Android support was a response to the poor sales those devices
>> got in comparison to generic Android units. There is a decent
>> docu-series about the Blackberry made here in Canada called Blackberry.
>> It's three 45-minute episodes but it gives you an idea of how it got
>> developed, how they were responsible for allowing more than a set number
>> of users on the cellular network and how the unveiling of the iPhone
>> doomed them. Let's just say that when Blackberry had the number one
>> handsets in the world, they coasted and thought that switching the
>> trackball on the phones to a trackpad was innovative. When the iPhone
>> came out with a huge touchscreen and third-party apps, it was over.
>
> Like a lot of corporations, Blackberry rested on their laurels. But I still
> found the Q10's OS superior to Android and iOS — and would still be using it
> if I could. Just a nicer design. I also liked the OS that Palm went to for a
> short while before they went belly up. I think it's still being used in a
> few smart TVs. WebOS, I believe. (I owned a couple different Palm
> smartphones, including a Treo, Centro and Pixi (that ran on WebOS). HP
> bought what was left of Palm with big plans, and then let them die on the
> vine.)
>
> When Blackberry was still huge and Nortel was floundering, Blackberry wanted
> to buy Nortel, but the Canadian government wouldn't let them. Why? I have no
> idea. Probably because they had already been bribed by Lucent (formerly a
> division of AT&T) to let that sale go through. Things might have been
> different for both companies if that sale had been allowed.

I miss having a Canadian alternative for just about I buy. I can buy
local, Quebec or Canadian food and watch Canadian football, but that's
about it. :)

--
CrudeSausage
Catholic, paleoconservative, Christ is king

On 2024-08-18, rbowman <bowman@montana.com> wrote:
> On Sun, 18 Aug 2024 05:59:04 -0000 (UTC), RonB wrote:
>
>> Ugh. I think he's more Masonic than Catholic. And he's definitely NOT
>> humble.
>
> I remember a social climbing cousin showing up at a famity picnic with a
> Masonic ring. It did not go unnoticed but that was before the Masons
> captured the curia.

I remember when Dole ran for president. The old priest at brother's parish
in Portland told his flock that it would be a mortal sin to vote for him
because he was a Mason. One of the flock, who was more Republican than
Catholic, cornered the old priest, and said, "Surely we can agree to
disagree on this?" The old priest said, "No. We can't."

Even a few years ago, when I was taking a traditional priest back from Twin
Falls to Boise (can't remember how I got involved, but I was going to Boise
anyhow) we stopped at a Wendy's for lunch (which was across the street from
the local Masonic Lodge). The priest crossed himself when he saw it. I'm
happy to report that that Lodge was torn down and it's now the site of a
Maverick's convenience store.

--
[Self-centered, Woke] "pride is a life of self-destructive fakery, an
entrapment to a false and self-created matrix of twisted unreality."
"It was pride that changed angels into devils..." — St. Augustine