Carol the Dabbler

Thanks, J.P.! Looks like they got the late-40s look just fine. And I'm tentatively heartened by this paragraph near the end: Bookish is the latest UKTV Original drama for Alibi. Other recently announced series include I, Jack Wright, written by Chris Lang and starring Nikki Amuka-Bird and John Simm. The Red King, starring Anjli Mohindra, Adjoa Andoh and Marc Warren, is currently airing on Wednesdays at 9pm, with all episodes available as a boxset. ... specifically that last little bit. But there's also this bit near the beginning: As international partner, Beta Film is handling the world sales. Which makes me wonder just how / if the US will be served. An article in The Guardian says this: The Red King is on Alibi on Wednesdays at 9pm; season-one box set available on Sky, Virgin and Now. ... which also puzzles me. I've heard of Sky and Virgin, but thought they were broadcast companies rather than box-set vendors.

They don't seem to realize that I was NEVER using their site to STORE my photos (merely as a place to hotlink from). Their latest email has the threatening subject line "We can't keep waiting for a response from you." Then the message concludes with the same old "If you wish to view any cherished images you may have saved, you must login to your account immediately." Whatever. And besides, "login" is a noun. The verb is two words, e.g. "You must log in to your account." Collins (my favorite trans-Atlantic dictionary) succinctly defines "login" [here] as "the process by which a computer user logs in."

I can say only that they still have at least one NON-PAYING member left. *sigh* Memories . . . .

Actually, it was mentioned [here] last year, but the good news could still be making the rounds.

I had never heard of anyone named Book, so I checked Find a Grave (where you can search a database-in-progress of cemeteries), and found that the surname Book is found roughly as often in England as Gatiss is -- i.e., not common, but certainly not unheard-of. Please keep us posted!

Just came across this: Sherlock star Mark Gatiss is writing and starring in a British TV drama about a bookshop owner who helps police solve crimes. Bookish will be a six-part series for UKTV crime drama network Alibi set in post-war London in 1946. Gatiss [....] is the creator. The series will follow Gabriel Book (Gatiss), an “erudite and unconventional” sleuth who cracks mysterious cases from his antiquated bookshop, using the thousands of books that line his shelves to provide him with the knowledge that he needs. Around him are a gathering of “loveable, damaged misfits who he informally protects, cajoles and mentors.” Sounds delightful! Only problem is, will it ever be available outside the UK?

Photobucket has just raised their threats another notch: Inactive Photobucket Account - Immediate Action Requested We are sending this notice regarding your Photobucket account associated with the email [xxxxxxxxx]. We are currently in the process of deleting free legacy accounts and yours will be deleted soon unless we hear from you. If you wish to view any cherised images you may have saved, you must login to your account immediately. Either click on the link or type Photobucket.com into your browser and login. Don’t remember your account password? No worries, just click this link to create a new one or visit photobucket.com and follow the instructions. If you need further support, please check our Help Center. If you prefer to just delete your inactive account, please follow this link. After nearly seven years of vague threats, they're gradually getting more specific. I like that term "legacy account" -- makes me sound kinda important, as in they wouldn't be where they are now (wherever that is, exactly) if it hadn't been for volunteers like me who helped them test their website.

That sounds almost self-contradictory -- but presumably quite descriptive!

Thanks, Bev! Judging by the reviews on TripAdvisor over the past 12 months -- 100% positive, roughly one per month, and only about half from Sherlock fans -- the place is doing pretty well.

I had to go and say that, darn it! Got another "nobody" call about 9:00 this morning, though I'll admit I didn't give them much time to respond before hanging up. Just a few minutes later, there was another call that sounded the same at first, but then (with no bleep, by the way) a woman asked if we were interested in selling our property. I have no idea why anyone would choose to sell via some random stranger, rather than contacting a reputable local agency -- but they apparently get enough takers to make it worth their while. Unless, of course, what they're actually after is detailed info about your property -- though most of that is readily available through the county offices.

You have my sympathy! My standard tactic is to ask them who's calling, and unless by some miracle it's a legitimate call, I say (very nicely, no point in blaming an employee -- or even a recording) "Sorry, you must have the wrong number. Goodbye." <click> Back in 1992, we were trying to sell our house, and our agent insisted that we get voice mail -- so we did. One day I was expecting a VERY important house-sale-related phone call, so I stayed in the house all day (didn't even step out to check the mailbox), left the bathroom door open so I'd hear the phone ringing, and most certainly did not make any calls. Not a peep from the phone. Finally around four in the afternoon I decided to call them to see what the delay was about -- and when I picked up the phone, there was a stutter dial tone, meaning that there was a message. It was from them, of course, wanting me to call them back right away. Which I did, of course, and we got the house sold. But I have never since been tempted to get an answering machine or voicemail. Despite these spates of spam calls on our landline, we almost never *knock on wood* get any on our cellphones.

Still haven't gotten any additional "nobody there" calls (knock on wood) since March 16 -- over three weeks -- but a few days ago I decided to see what the internet says about the term "ghost calls," and it's not quite what I understood that phone-company rep to be saying. The consensus seems to be that it's usually one of those places with a roomful of reps -- one of whom will normally be added to the call almost as soon as you say hello -- except that something went wrong. Maybe they simply forgot to turn off the system when all the humans went home, or maybe it's a malfunction of that company's equipment (rather than the phone company's). Whatever the problem was, they apparently have it fixed, at least for now.

I agree (which is why I said "many" rather than "all" or even "most"). In general, yes. But based on (a mercifully few) people I've known, they can -- maybe when others don't play according to their rules -- occasionally become violent. That's true of most people, I suppose, but with these few the violent spells seem a lot less understandable to me, with a whole lot more WTF.

Probably not, since such terms are judgmental rather than descriptive. It seems to depend on which expert you listen to -- what I've read recently is that the two categories have a great deal of overlap, and may soon be combined under a new name. They also say that many of the best surgeons are what you term psychopaths -- which is what enables them to cut confidently into the living flesh of a fellow human without any of the qualms that most people would feel. Well, if you or I did that, it would presumably qualify as evil -- but we wouldn't do it, nor are we capable of understanding why somebody else would do it. So we label it as "evil," but that merely describes the behavior, it doesn't explain it, nor does it offer any clues on how such a person could be healed. Life imprisonment (with no chance of parole) is basically our era's equivalent to burning at the stake -- it virtually eliminates any chance that the killer will strike again, which may be the best we can do at present.

Thanks for posting that -- I'm not familiar with the book, but judging by the article you linked to, it should be an interesting story. I somewhat disagree with him calling Moriarty evil, though. As I understand the terms psychopath and sociopath, they describe people who have no inborn sense of empathy, so that other people are judged only by what help or hindrance they're likely to provide. So from Moriarty's point of view, he's presumably just doing the logical thing, and judging by the Ripley trailer, so is Ripley. Hopefully there will eventually be a DVD, but Netflix doesn't seem to do those very often.

@Hikari -- Did you do anything different when you posted the above? I use the Light theme, and see the text as much fainter (and a bit smaller) than in earlier posts on this thread (also fainter than in your earlier posts elsewhere). Added: ... but this post turned out perfectly normal. P.S.: In case anyone is interested in reading more of the thread that your lengthy quote came from, it's here.

How true! And that's what keeps fiction writers from running out of plots. I suspect he'd do fairly well, yes -- but I doubt he'd win 100% of the time. There's simply too much random chance involved in sports -- which way a ball bounces, whether players get injured, whether the referee happens to notice an infraction of the rules, etc. Anyhow, hello, Diana91, and welcome to Sherlock Forum!

When the phone rang this morning, I assumed it was another of those, but said "hello" anyhow, just in case -- and it was an actual real-live woman from the phone company, wanting more information on what's been happening. When I explained, she said, "Oh, we call those 'ghost calls' -- sometimes the equipment decides to pretend there's a call." They're sending a technician out tomorrow -- though those oddball problems can be hard as the dickens to pin down, so I wish them luck. Also, the problem may have evaporated already, considering that we *knock on wood* haven't gotten any "ghost calls" since just one on Saturday morning.

Yup!

Hmm, hadn't thought of that possibility. Do stalkers normally operate only during business hours, though? After a busy week, we haven't heard from ours since yesterday (Saturday) morning. And I can't imagine why anyone would stalk either of us. I've heard that some "nobody there" phone calls are simply checking to see if the number currently belongs to anyone, but you'd think that once or twice would be sufficient to answer that question! We do have such a phone, but we didn't realize that feature was still working (the display is *very* tiny) till Alex had a close look at it just now. So yes, we'll give that a try, assuming that the calls resume. The results may be meaningless, though, because A] it's *very* easy for a caller to avoid sending their number, and B] with the right equipment it's a piece of cake for them to spoof their number.

Oh, right, Pi Day would be the day before the Ides of March -- which in turn is only two days before today -- Happy St. Patrick's Day, everybody! Is there a way to link to those?

Back on topic -- there's a bit more info online now. Here's the official synopsis (from this article) -- The mystery thriller series SHERLOCK & DAUGHTER puts Sherlock Holmes (David Thewlis) out of his comfort zone, mysteriously unable to investigate a sinister case without risking the lives of his closest friends. Enter: young American Amelia (Blu Hunt, “The Originals,” “The New Mutants”). After her mother’s mysterious murder, she learns her missing father may be the legendary detective. Despite wildly different backgrounds and attitudes, the pair must work together to solve a global conspiracy, crack her mother’s murder, and find out for sure if she really is Sherlock’s daughter. That same article also mentions another potential Holmes-universe program, Watson (see this thread).

The people who brought you Elementary have a new current-day Holmes-universe series in the works, namely Watson, wherein Holmes has died (murdered by Moriarty), and Watson has returned to medical practice. Watson is played by Morris Chestnut, a middle-aged black American actor. I have no idea whether his Watson is supposed to be American or British (likewise the show's Moriarty), but these producers did a good detective series (albeit not your usual Holmes) with Watson as an Asian-American woman, so I'll be interested to see how this one turns out. Here's how the Hollywood Reporter describes the series (in this article) -- . . . a medical show in which Watson resumes his career as the head of a clinic dedicated to treating rare disorders. Moriarty (who killed Holmes) will be a prominent character in the series that CBS says features a “modern version of one of history’s greatest detectives as he turns his attention from solving crimes to solving medical mysteries.” Hopefully this series will run on CBS broadcast stations (rather than on streaming). I've never seen Chestnut in anything (because I rarely watch anything new these days), but judging by the photos I've seen and what little I've read about him, he could play a good, solid down-to-earth Watson. If he and the scripts capture the spirit of the canonical Watson, I'll be happy to watch -- and even if they don't, it could still be an interesting show. (Not sure why they've included Moriarty, though -- other than everybody else does.) In case you didn't see the news, there's also a new Holmes series coming on the CW network (see this thread).

A week or two ago, we started getting weird phone calls -- at least I guess they were phone calls. The landline would ring, and I'd pick it up and say hello, and -- nothing. It sounded like the nearly-silent background of a regular phone call, but nobody said anything. It started out just once every day or two, then every day, then more than once a day, sometimes a couple times just a few minutes apart. I finally called the phone company yesterday (Friday), and they said they'd send someone out on Monday to see if maybe it's some sort of equipment malfunction. I had already tried calling the landline from my cell phone, though, and that worked fine, so it's apparently not some legitimate caller having trouble getting through. Also, the calls start around mid-morning and stop in late afternoon, so it's apparently not caused by some phone-company equipment going haywire. Which pretty much leaves somebody (or somebody's automated equipment) calling us but not saying anything as the only explanation. Could conceivably be one of those don't-put-an-agent-on-the-call-till-someone-answers kinda things, but those typically go *bleep* very quickly and an actual human comes on almost immediately (though I've started hanging up as soon as I hear that distinctive *bleep*). These calls aren't like that. The first few times I stayed on plenty long enough for someone to start talking, if they were going to. Anybody got any other guesses?

And as a followup to our pizza discussion: Happy Pi Day! (March 14 = 3.14, sort of, approximately -- at least in the U.S.)