Carded

It’s not easy keeping up with new terms. Here’s another: “Nomophobia” — the fear of being without one’s mobile phone. Amazing how eerie it feels when one realizes the cell has been left home. Until the ‘90’s we all got along without them.

Headline from newsmax.com: “Visa, Mastercard Stopping All Russian Transactions.” American Express has also stepped up. I hope it’s as significant as it sounds.

Also from NM: “Germany Advances Natural Gas Plans to Cut Russian Exposure.” The country is retreating from its foolish concessions to environmentalists. It may even bring its nuclear reactor back on line. Kudos.

I’ve ceased buying a beloved product since it put “Be Less White” on the side of its cans, so this NM headline makes me very happy: “Three Ukrainian Retailers Drop Coca-Cola Over Russian Connection.”

Headline from foxnews.com: “Russian authorities arrest hundreds after massive anti-war protests spring up across the nation.” Also: “Hundreds of Russian Orthodox clergy urge to ‘stop the war’ in Ukraine.” Unfortunately, it would not be surprising if Putin, ex-KGB, tore a page from Stalin’s book and massacred many.

RIP actor Tim Considine, 81, whose career may be surprisingly substantial to all but baby boomers with long memory. There are “only” 42 titles under his name at IMDb in a career that spanned 1953–2006. As usual, that figure doesn’t begin to tell his story. He was in 185 episodes alone of My Three Sons as the elder brother, 26 of The Adventures of Spin and Marty, at least 30 of three incarnation of The Hardy Boys, 39 of The Mickey Mouse Club and 19 of Annette, as in Funicello. He also made guest appearances on popular prime time fare such as Gunsmoke, The Fugitive and Bonanza. And he has five writing credits, two episodes of My Three Sons, two of Tarzan and one of Combat! His older brother Mike, who survives him, happened to be on an episode of the latter that ran last night on Heroes & Icons. Tim also directed an episode of My Three Sons. He is a father of two. Well done, sir. Thank you.

I was almost glad rain put the kibosh on the floating book shop today, as it allowed me to get the annual pain in the butt car inspection out of the way. I was expecting a big bill, as my steering has been stiff in the early going on cold days. I wonder if Ralph, the manager, just wanted to save time for work on other vehicles and gave the old Hyundai just a quick once-over. Fine with me. I was anticipating forking out a grand, the seed of which was probably planted by the ad for repair insurance Ice T hawks. The tab was $82 and change for minor work such as new windshield wipers. The best thing is the weight off my mind. Silly how something like that nags one. I also washed my three windows. Hours later I don’t see any streaks — amazing!

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