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“Memories of Green,” when life imitates art

Someone shared this incredible video on Gab. It’s not often when such a simple video will grab me like this, causing me to re-watch it numerous times. This young man plays “Memories of Green” by Vangelis on some old piano on a sidewalk which appears to be somewhere in the UK. The passing traffic only adds to the melody, emulating the ambience of the Blade Runner movie soundtrack.

Whether this was a spontaneous moment or deliberately planned, this simple moment captures such incredible beauty, evoking a wave of nostalgia for my favorite movie. As others have said in this video’s comments section, it’s a pleasant surprise to see that someone so young would even know this tune.

It’s amazing how such a video can be so profound, striking a chord like this in my heart. As one commenter on this video put it, “This video restored my faith in humanity a little.” Amen.

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Remember Fotomat, the drive-through photo processing booths?

As I was growing up, back in the ’70s, ’80s and ’90s, in the far end of the parking lot of the shopping mall , you’d see a little booth with a drive-through window. A lone employee would be inside (I always wondered how he/she takes restroom breaks). There you would drop off your photographic film for overnight development. So instead of taking your film to the drug store, you could just drop it off at one of these kiosks without having to leave your car.

According to Wikipedia, the film was developed and prints made on-site. I always assumed that the film was sent off to a lab somewhere and then re-delivered to the Fotomat location. It was convenient and I remember in the ’80s how I was in the backseat of that Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme when Mom would drop off film for developing.

With the advent of digital photography, eventually Fotomat went extinct. I hope someday that many big, evil companies like Pfizer and Bayer-Monsanto will someday go extinct and their products never used again.

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Nostalgic screenshot of Fedora Linux circa 2006 I found, plus some Linux memes

While doing a Duck Duck Go image search, I found this image of a Fedora desktop, circa 2006. This looks exactly the way my old laptop did after my friend installed Fedora on it, breathing new life into it. This is just so nostalgic for me. That was my first real experience with Linux. I’ve updated the essay I wrote a few years ago in the Greg’s Life section with the above image.

Another friend shared this article with me. The journalist is rather excited about SteamOS putting a dent in Microsoft’s market share. But since SteamOS can’t just be downloaded for free and put on any random computer, I’m not sure how far it would go. Still, people are getting very sick of Windows. Windows is like Star Wars and Star Trek… it’s like an abusive, violent husband whose battered wife refuses to dump him. “BUT I NEED HIM AND HE LOVES ME!” No, you can do better. He needs you; you don’t need him. Leave him! The way people refuse to leave Windows is like battered wife syndrome.

Here are a few Linux memes I saw recently.

One interesting thing about Win10 was the return of the Blue Screen of Death. I hadn’t seen the BSD since my WinXP days. Good going, Microsoft. I have to admit though that my Mint computer can screw up at times, but usually it’s Steam playing a Windows-made game through the Proton or Glorious Eggroll compatibility tools.