Running Bear’s June 2025 Coffee Shop

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chadbag said:
There is a "station" online in Germany called "Radio Bob". They have a ton of different sub-stations like progressive, pop, jazz, blues, metal, hard rock classic rock. etc. (That sort of thing -- that list I just made up). They have like 20 different sub-stations. They're on most of the online streaming sites I think like Apple Music and the others but I think you can also connect to them directly. You have to endure an occasional ad (they're part of a worldwide ad network so the ads are for where ever they think you are located -- not German ads) but its not many ads at all. I occasionally willl listen to the progressive station and they play a lot of stuff you never hear anywhere else, though they repeat as well.

They don't have regular DJs speaking in between songs and stuff but there is the occasional jingle for the station and that's in German.

It's worth checking out.
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Have you heard of Radio Garden? You can stream live radio nearly anywhere in the world that has a transmitter. It's free and the only ads are the ones the radio stations play.

There are hundreds of German, Austrian, Swiss, French, etc., etc., stations available. The only downside is that there is no memory for the stations you like to listen to so you have to bookmark them.

I listen to a lot of Swiss mountain folk music, German Schlagersahn, etc. Great stuff. It will tune stations anywhere in the world. If you have a VPN, connect to the country you are listening to and even the commercials are local to where you are listening.

Radio Garden - Berlin
 
westtexjohn said:
Auto dealerships also collect this personal data when you go in to purchase an automobile. They can set a "range" of dollars to work a deal already knowing what you can afford, your net worth, according to their calculations.
Remember........What goes out on the net, stays on the net.

Headed out to train room to turn on the A/C. Should be cooled down in about 30 minutes.

Everybody take care........John
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Almost all of the new car dealerships here use fixed pricing. The buying process doesn't take all day anymore. It's kind of like MAP pricing. We don't have sales tax either.
 
bnsf971 said:
I used to play Youtube on my phone, until they started with the unmerciful ads. It will stop a song in mid-note, play several ads, then go back somewhere close to where you were when the ads started.
The last straw was when I was working and had my hands full. Mid-song, an ad started playing. Then another ad, and another ad, followed by another ad, then yet another ad. By the time I was able to get to my phone and hit "skip ad", I'd listened to 16 ads spanning nearly 10 minutes. I never did hear the end of that song, which is why I am a combatant in the Youtube Ad War.
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Yep, drove me nuts. And being in Japan, their ridiculous, too silly ads make me just turn it off. I use duck player for u-tube now and no ads get through. Sometimes the video won't play, but I'm okay with that. I think the content maker ticks that in their setting so that they can make money off the ads. I used to watch sarahntuned but I think he ticked that.
 


I've had a frustrating problem for a while now. As I mentioned, my son is a missionary in Japan. He'll be done at the end of November. He's been trying to get access to his online university account, his personal Gmail account, etc. and has run into the problem. They all want him to verify. He's asked me to log in using his laptop and his browser that he always used (so should have cookies or whatever) but they all want him to verify. Probably because it's been a while since he logged in (like almost a year and a half).

The problem is that they all want to send a code to his phone number. A phone number he no longer has. We stupidly let his phone expire, since it was not being used, and did not realize all the accounts that it was attached to. I've tried to get the phone back as it's not been recycled to someone else yet, but it's past the deadlines for that to happen. An online search of it claims it is controlled by T-Mobile, though we were on Mint (which is now owned by T-Mobile). I had a friend who is high up locally at T-Mobile corporate and he's tried to see if his tech people could help, but due to FCC changes in policy, they can no longer let the customer choose from open numbers when opening an account or even assign numbers themselves from the list -- it has to be done randomly from the lists of available numbers.

I was able to get the university where he is at to set up a process for him to change the phone number connected to the account because they have a help desk. We don't have it done yet as I just talked to them today but we have the ball rolling.

The problem is his Gmail. There is no Google support for individual Gmail users. If you can't verify you eventually end up on a help screen that says to "create a new Gmail account." He'd lose his whole life up to now. It's stupid that they have no way to contact support in extreme circumstances or ways of getting around this. If anyone here has contacts at Google / Gmail who might be able to help, please let me know.

I've not found any support number and when trying to verify none of the help pages ends up with a support channel.
 
logandsawman said:
I use injector cleaner every time she begins to act up a little
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One thing I watch for when I go get gas is if the gas truck is there refilling the tanks. They tend to stir up the water when they pump and if you pump at the same time, you get some of that, as well as the cr@p that was at the bottom. I don't get gas during that time.
 
chadbag said:
I've had a frustrating problem for a while now. As I mentioned, my son is a missionary in Japan. He'll be done at the end of November. He's been trying to get access to his online university account, his personal Gmail account, etc. and has run into the problem. They all want him to verify. He's asked me to log in using his laptop and his browser that he always used (so should have cookies or whatever) but they all want him to verify. Probably because it's been a while since he logged in (like almost a year and a half).

The problem is that they all want to send a code to his phone number. A phone number he no longer has. We stupidly let his phone expire, since it was not being used, and did not realize all the accounts that it was attached to. I've tried to get the phone back as it's not been recycled to someone else yet, but it's past the deadlines for that to happen. An online search of it claims it is controlled by T-Mobile, though we were on Mint (which is now owned by T-Mobile). I had a friend who is high up locally at T-Mobile corporate and he's tried to see if his tech people could help, but due to FCC changes in policy, they can no longer let the customer choose from open numbers when opening an account or even assign numbers themselves from the list -- it has to be done randomly from the lists of available numbers.

I was able to get the university where he is at to set up a process for him to change the phone number connected to the account because they have a help desk. We don't have it done yet as I just talked to them today but we have the ball rolling.

The problem is his Gmail. There is no Google support for individual Gmail users. If you can't verify you eventually end up on a help screen that says to "create a new Gmail account." He'd lose his whole life up to now. It's stupid that they have no way to contact support in extreme circumstances or ways of getting around this. If anyone here has contacts at Google / Gmail who might be able to help, please let me know.

I've not found any support number and when trying to verify none of the help pages ends up with a support channel.
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Yeah, I can't get back into the Veterans Administration website because of that. Tried for a month working with login.gov, id.me, and va.gov. VA just blames the other sites. And calling them from here gets expensive.
 
chadbag said:
I actually asked one of the DJs of our local classic rock channel that question. This was a few years ago and he is no longer there but they go out and broadcast "live" from car dealerships and stuff and he was at a local dealership so I stopped by to say Hi. I asked him that same question, more or less. The answer is that they do extensive song testing. They'll bring people into a room and play a bunch of songs and then get their reaction/ratings/rankings. A song has to get a certain number of points in their ranking system to make it on the radio rotation. Which is why such utter turds as "Blinded by the Light" make it. (That was the song I was specifically asking him about).

I guess a couple times a year they revise the acceptable list and do this sort of testing.
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This is the reason why I don't play stuff from other folks - streaming, radio, etc. I make my own playlist and run them all day. Have a few that are 12 hrs in duration.
 
RhB Michael said:
Have you heard of Radio Garden? You can stream live radio nearly anywhere in the world that has a transmitter. It's free and the only ads are the ones the radio stations play.

There are hundreds of German, Austrian, Swiss, French, etc., etc., stations available. The only downside is that there is no memory for the stations you like to listen to so you have to bookmark them.

I listen to a lot of Swiss mountain folk music, German Schlagersahn, etc. Great stuff. It will tune stations anywhere in the world. If you have a VPN, connect to the country you are listening to and even the commercials are local to where you are listening.

Radio Garden - Berlin
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That's cool. I'll look into it. The "Radio Bob" I mentioned is streaming only. It's not a real radio station as far as I can tell and the fact they have a bunch of sub-stations for each genre tells supports that.
 


FAMILY GUY_DOG_2.jpg
Good morning! It's 64°F and raining. 🌧️
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DINER_COFFEE MUG.png

Today is Flag Day in the US!
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Well, howdy there internet peeps and those with ratchets, nurses or otherwise, It's Troy again.

Rainy dreary day here in the NE-Indiana Fort. One week away from the MIL's 90th Bday party. (she hits it in three days) but the party will be between her 90th and my wife's 60th.

Already made the grocery run this morning. After I worded some words in the new book. I just looked at the word count for today, and was only at 495. So I added about 50 just now to get over the 500 mark.

I've been on a two-month dry spell. My brain hasn't wanted to come out of the dark place caused by, well... [waves vaguely at the world].

I'm hitting the "screw it!" point and will be working some real world references into my sweet little cozy mysteries.

So, I celebrated word count with a couple of donuts on the way to the grocery.

Got Sweetie a watermelon. She goes through about 1 per week this time of year. Trash day is Monday, so I try to get them on the weekend, in order for her to dissect and gut the mellon, putting the scoops of it's flesh into tubs in the fridge. She dines on it throughout the week.

Sleep Schedule:
Still all over the place. Yesterday I slept most of the night, until 6:30. Fell asleep right again after the loo runs.

Last night, not so good. Got up at 3:30 after a strange dream.

I did have a dream that my mother (who passed last year) was calling me from a hot air balloon that had taken off without the pilot. So wife and I were racing across the countryside trying to meet here wherever it was going to come down. I somehow knew it would land in a cemetery, but woke up before the landing.

So, I made a pic on AI celebrating Crazy Granny in her balloon ride.
Crazy Granny balloon 1.jpg
 
Good Morning All. Clear and 71°, might hit 90° today. Partly cloudy and low to mid-90's for the rest of the 10 day forecast, as we edge out of our humid season.

Not much change in the routine that I have settled into. Yesterday was mow after the dew dries, pick Tomatoes and do garden maintenance in early afternoon, gather and stack firewood in between. Today though will start with household duties including the dishwasher and a load of laundry. Mowing is not in the picture today, but weedeating is. I am having to adjust the schedule a bit, to allow for an hour of pool time between train shed time and supper prep. Some days get an extra half hour in the pool after mowing. Then there's forum time!

While I still haven't confirmed where Thursday night's light show originated from, if it was indeed coming from the casino, that's 25 miles away! One of the displays that I posted had the name of the closest city to the casino, Lawton OK.

I did nothing out in the train shed yesterday, except for re-stocking the beer fridge. Unusual day when I don't even pick up the throttle and run something.

Karl - Keep it up with the recovery, especially the train room part. Waiting on pictures though.
Louis - Blackfoot is a really underappreciated band. Nice to know that you like them.
Chad - Buried somewhere in my "record room" is that Chuck Mangione album. I never realized that it hadn't been released on CD or digitally. Yes, I have a record room with over 1500 LP's and another few hundred CD's. I've been a music buff since the 60's and I have hearing aids to prove it! My daughters when younger hated that room, since it meant that they had to share a bedroom with each other. Ironically after both graduated from college around 2004, they shared a one bedroom apartment for about a year.
Dave - I am also bugged when I see layouts with trucks parked when there is no access. I also cringe when I see residential houses with the front door opening to a railroad track and no road in between. But it's someone else's layout so I don't comment.
John - I only buy automobiles from "fixed pricing" dealers, to avoid the all-day interaction from the slimey salesmen.

Sleep - I tend to sleep well enough, despite the bathroom breaks. But I never feel like I have had enough. Overnight sleep and afternoon nap combined usually add up to 7.5 hours. I tried Melatonin for a couple of years, but found no difference when I stopped about four years ago. One thing that I learned, is not to look at a clock when I do get up to pee. That helped immensely when I broke that habit.

Today, as Bill pointed out, is Flag Day here in the US. It's also the US Army's 250th birthday, and of course Mr Ego's 79th. That's DJT to you oversea visitors.

Everyone have a superb Saturday. I'll be a-grilling later on.
 


If you like easy listening music, check out Lucy Thomas. She is a young singer who had 3 albums at the age of 16. On some things her sister sings with her and is 5 years younger if I remember correctly. Lucy is 20 or 21 now if I remember right, the song Smile their mother joins them. Lucy is a phenomenal singer
 
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