I had a thread leading up to election night about odds on some of the state and national races.  Almost wished I had some money in an online account to bet on some of those races and prop bets.  Some easy money could have been made.

I took the 1.5:1 odds on Trump.  Tried to twist your arm to even get 2:1.  It wasn't that I thought he would win, but I thought there was enough of a chance to take the wager.  Plus gambling is fun!

Guy got 74 million votes, my vote was not one of them, but not a bad showing by a 1.5 underdog. 

@nebish

Not sure if there were opportunities to bet on outcomes of individual states, but that would have been reasonably easy to predict. 

I gave you the odds because I had enough faith in the outcome that the voters would reject a 2nd Trump term. I posted here several times & predicted back in 2018 when the Dems won the HOR that was a reflection on Trump and would repeat in the prez election. It played out that way. What makes this most recent cycle interesting is that the Republicans picked up seats in the HOR in spite of Trump losing. So this only reinforces the "reflection on Trump" rejection concept. This is what makes it a joke that some of the same people that were on the ballot and won their own races are buying onto the Big Lie of fraud in the vote caused Trump to lose. So their victories were fraud free but the guy on the same ballot lost due to fraud...got it...make sense...all logical.

^^

Thought Fuji might come out on my GM post if he was lurking but I don't know how many of our old time members still "lurk". 

Charity Challenge Update

I chose the ASPCA as the charity I’d donate winnings to.

The nominating conventions are long long gone. Hillary Clinton was never going to be a candidate for president. She also wasn’t going to be considered to be a VP candidate. Those were my thoughts on HC, but bigv disagreed and bet me $100.00 that she’d either run for prez or be on the ticket as VP. Plenty of you probably remember the challenges I offered on the election and the willingness of bigv to jump in.

I also had two bets on the presidential election. I took Biden. Fugi and Nebish both took Trump. Nebish wanted odds, and I gave him betting odds.

The election in Nov 2020 as well as the inauguration of Joe Biden in Jan 2021 have come and gone.

I had a good suspicion that when I made the bets that fugi & bigv wouldn’t honor their losses & the charity I chose. To date I’m right. Nothing from those two…crickets. I came on this site trying to collect on Jan 25, 2021 in this thread called Charity Challenge. Not a word sense from either fugi or bigv. Not sure about fugi because he hasn’t posted in quite a while, but who here doesn’t think that bigv hasn’t been lurking this site? Sorry, but a bet is a bet, and it goes to someone’s word. Who here doesn’t believe these guys don’t know they lost a bet and are choosing to ignore a contribution to charity? Words matter, & not following through doesn’t reflect well.

On the other hand, there is Nebish who is a standup guy. He reached out to me in a PM immediately after the inauguration and asked how or who to pay…even before I created the Charity Challenge Thread. I PM’ed him and told him to hold off, as I thought the other 2 would not honor their losses. I told Nebish that if those two weren’t going to honor with a contribution to the chosen charity then I didn’t want him to pay. I just thought that was the right thing to do. Nebish, being the honorable & decent person that he is PM’ed me back later and told me that he’d gone ahead and made the contribution to the ASPCA. Now, that’s someone who I admire & respect. And there’s your difference.

@martind28 I recall V started a thread betting that no one could state what they liked about Biden without mentioning or it being in relation to Trump (or something like that). Everyone proved him wrong, so he moved the goal posts and changed what he was asking for. Every time someone contradicted him, he'd pivot and change the subject so I'm not surprised he'd conveniently disappear after losing another bet. At least I hope that's all it is since AZ got hit pretty hard with COVID. Always a little concerning when regulars stop dropping by.

Well, as the impeachment proved, the GOP/non-voting Trumpers think breaking oaths, promises, & anything else they don't like is acceptable so not surprised at BigV. I don't recall Fuji.

I, too, wonder if there are lurkers who disappeared after the election & also hope no one is sick.

I asked Gina in a thread not to just type random news headlines as though we were too moronic to read a newspaper or get news w/o her, but said I enjoyed her opinions & she disappeared. Pretty sure it would take more than one commenter to send her away after years.

I do miss Mr. Rabbitt who disappeared after being play-penned.

The forum has been trending down in activity for several years.

I think other outlets like facebook and twitter have likely taken active members from here.  Then I wonder about the news paper comments sections, there is just more action other places.  It is kind of a domino effect, as one or two people leave here and activity drops and then one or two more leave, activity drops more resulting in even more people not dropping by.  Kinda have wondered too just how many people are using the web on a desktop or laptop with conventional keyboard.  I just isn't very easy or fun to get into a lengthy multi-point discussion with somebody using a phone or tablet touch screen. 

Certain people who have been active a long time, I don't know how you just make a clean cut and say I'm not going there any more.  I would think several people come and just never log in to see what is up.

It's too bad.  I'm not always active year round, but it was nice 'back in the day' whenever I wanted to get back into it I knew there would be discussions happening and ready to happen.

I don't care that much what people post or believe, so long as they post something we can talk about.  Too many are gone now to really make debate and exchanging of ideas or proving/disproving beliefs to work.

@nebish

I was thinking the same thing while reading this thread. HTN created a community that has led to meet ups and pre-show parties where many of us developed personal friends, not just faceless usernames. I recall the political discourse increased as the band began to slow down. After the band called it quits, the politics seemed to eclipse the music discussion, and the political chatter got increasingly less civil (mostly thanks to a few rotten eggs). No doubt it was a turn off for many in the community who just wanted to talk music, but also many have migrated to facebook and other social media platform where the rest of their friends and family connect. Plus, those platforms are made for mobile, whereas the old HTN site wasn't very mobile friendly. I myself rarely dial up this new HTN on my mobile devices.

So now there are fewer points of view here, but there are also fewer trolls. The discussion might be a little more one-sided now, but at least it's a discourse and not a shouting match. I still come here out of habit and to chat music with the people who still hang out, but if people were coming to HTN just to talk politics they were here for the wrong reasons. And if they left HTN just because of politics then the music wasn't enough of a draw anymore.

Things change.  Things evolve.  I've changed and evolved. 

Rule of thumb just keep it real and just be real, respect others even those you disagree with and hopefully you can earn some respect back from them (although it doesn't always work like that).  I can learn from other people here ,we can all learn something or atleast gain some perspective on something different if we allow it.

I really like all the members we still have posting, but I can't blame anyone for not wanting to post much any more, it's just not really worth it.

Some pretty smart people have passed through here and are still here.  We used to have some really good discussions.  Every now and then it still happens, but not that often.

Do you remember when some members here would break down solos and write about the music? I couldn't understand it but I should did enjoy reading about it. I remember a guy named Glenn White way back when... And there was a guy out in CA too that knew music and posted some real good stuff. Can't remember his name though. 

@porkchopbob

You & nebish make a lot of good points. SM has killed a lot of discourse. Why have a conversation when you can just "like" an instagram photo? I never got facebook at all - especially people posting family pictures w/o privacy limits so anyone anywhere in the world could see your kids/grandkids? I can't believe the number of friends I have who actually believe their 501 facebook "friends" really think it's stupendous that they got a new red SUV or worse, that 100% of those "friends" are really who they say they are.

The very last thing I want to do on my phone is text a comment & one of my recent legal educational topics was "How to run your legal practice from your phone." I have a former colleague who does that & she NEVER stops working; she really is 24/7/365. 

I lurked on this site about music for a long time w/occasional posts. I saw the original ABB lineup & subsequent iterations & offshoots, but my musical tastes have changed & I'm not interested in the music of the adult children of the original members. I do like suggestions of new artists or taking a fresh look at old ones. I have to say there have been A LOT of RIPs in the past few months which is sad.

I admit the legal troubles of the former president piqued my interest & Covid info-sharing was very helpful - especially from people in various medical fields. And the quizzes - what's your favorite_______? are fun during Covid. I'm still working from home.

Still, SM is draining sites like these. I'm kind of pleased there's a pause in the action in the world right now. Yesterday, I read an account of a typical Biden day. He has coffee w/his wife, comes to work w/his briefcase, is pleasant to people, his 2 rescue dogs lie in front of the fire in the fireplace of the OO while he works, & he goes home at a reasonable hour. It sounded so NORMAL. Actually kind of hopeful.

I think things will pick back up at least as Covid restrictions are lifted & we can actually go somewhere to have something to talk about.

Posted by: @cyclone88

@porkchopbob

You & nebish make a lot of good points. SM has killed a lot of discourse. Why have a conversation when you can just "like" an instagram photo? I never got facebook at all - especially people posting family pictures w/o privacy limits so anyone anywhere in the world could see your kids/grandkids? I can't believe the number of friends I have who actually believe their 501 facebook "friends" really think it's stupendous that they got a new red SUV or worse, that 100% of those "friends" are really who they say they are.

The very last thing I want to do on my phone is text a comment & one of my recent legal educational topics was "How to run your legal practice from your phone." I have a former colleague who does that & she NEVER stops working; she really is 24/7/365. 

I lurked on this site about music for a long time w/occasional posts. I saw the original ABB lineup & subsequent iterations & offshoots, but my musical tastes have changed & I'm not interested in the music of the adult children of the original members. I do like suggestions of new artists or taking a fresh look at old ones. I have to say there have been A LOT of RIPs in the past few months which is sad.

I admit the legal troubles of the former president piqued my interest & Covid info-sharing was very helpful - especially from people in various medical fields. And the quizzes - what's your favorite_______? are fun during Covid. I'm still working from home.

Still, SM is draining sites like these. I'm kind of pleased there's a pause in the action in the world right now. Yesterday, I read an account of a typical Biden day. He has coffee w/his wife, comes to work w/his briefcase, is pleasant to people, his 2 rescue dogs lie in front of the fire in the fireplace of the OO while he works, & he goes home at a reasonable hour. It sounded so NORMAL. Actually kind of hopeful.

I think things will pick back up at least as Covid restrictions are lifted & we can actually go somewhere to have something to talk about.

Great post & keeping it real. I think a lot of us "older types" can identify with much of what you posted.

@cyclone88

Social media played a part in chipping away at the activity here, but I think part of that migration is due to the success of this site. People met up in life like for reals, so they developed friendships independent of the site. I see HTN old-timers on facebook because I met them at the Beacon or Wanee because they are friends of mine.

I think the dissolution of the band had much more to do with the activity waning here. There is less to chat about. People came back here last March during The Brothers MSG show (some just to complain), but I doubt we will get any event like that again. There are plenty of specific forums that continue to see discussion like the gear page, steve hoffman, and probably many more that I am not aware of. I think those continue because facebook isn't really built for discussion, people tend to scroll past blocks of text unless it's a topic they seek out.

Social media is an easy scapegoat. If anything there is more transparency on facebook since the HTN people I know I can see and they post under their name, rather than an anonymous handle - unless "cyclone88" is really your name 😉

Facebook is what you make of it, if someone wants to invite 500 people into their virtual circle, that's up to them. As they say, you can't change the people around you, but you can change the people around you.

Got the rest of the ice off the driveway the old fashioned way!  Great workout, but kinda sucked.  A cold one two three or more awaits me.

But one of the first things I did was check the forum...even though I know it will probably just be some collection of the same 6 people, guess I still like that.

I want to say one thing about facebook for you cyclone.  I made an account...fake name, fake birthday, no friends, I have no profile picture, I don't look for people I know to friend them - what I use it for is to follow certain groups about certain topics and actually I am finding it incredibly informative.  Things like avalanche awareness in Colorado (not related to the hockey team, the real thing!), certain weather topics, snowmobile clubs that post trail reports, some search and rescue related posts.  I live in Ohio and don't get out to Colorado that often but I find facebook a really useful tool to keep tabs on things out there.  As for things in Ohio...I don't have any need or interest in looking at or reading about that on facebook I get enough of that in the news.

So that is how I use facebook.  No politics, no social stuff like 'hey try this restaurant' or 'look where I am at today' or 'watch this stupid video' - I've found a way to be an anonymous user and get some value out of the service.

One other thing is if you used craigslist at all, it sucks now.  I use it for auto parts and vehicles.  It is just about all dealers now and searching for anything yields a bunch of junk results.  Facebook marketplace is taking that over.  I haven't listed anything yet, I have had my friends list things under their account and I have found some things for sale my friends have bought that they otherwise wouldn't have found.  So that is another useful aspect of facebook if people look to buy and sell stuff.  Much safer than craigslist too.

Facebook has been a shitshow the last 4 -5 years with all the political posts .... there are ways to limit it, but it's a pain.  Lately though I joined 3 groups - Calvin & Hobbes, Steven Wright Quotes, and the Far Side.   I now enjoy my timeline much more - just find myself laughing out loud a lot more .... There are quite a few Allman Brothers and Allman Betts related groups out there ... too many actually - hard to keep up with them.

The more insidious part is how they tailor your feed based on what you view and interact with .... so you tend to eventually only see things that you "agree" with - which is how people get trapped in anever ending cycle of say Qanon stuff .... 

My feed and my life have been much calmer since Jan 20th ...  

@martind28

I didn't know I was older until Covid announced the elderly were 60+.

@porkchopbob

You're probably right - the March 2020 MSG concert the day before NYC closed probably had a negative impact & people now also know each other & communicate other ways. I don't know anyone on here mostly because it never occurred to me to ask someone at a concert how to keep in touch. 

Someone else mentioned search algorithms & I - w/no social media - get suggestions every time I do a google search. They're ALWAYS wrong & annoying, but I guess it works or companies wouldn't pay for the ads.

My outlook on life is much calmer, too, since the Impeachment verdict; I wanted to see him out & over.

Someone else mentioned search algorithms & I - w/no social media - get suggestions every time I do a google search. They're ALWAYS wrong & annoying, but I guess it works or companies wouldn't pay for the ads.

Me and a friend were working up a cover of "Get Out of My Life Woman". He's a huge Dead Head and only knew the Jerry version, and kept playing it that way. He insisted it was the most well-known because it came up first in his Google search.

He was blown away when he saw that in my Google search the Jerry version was buried on like page 3 behind pretty much every else who ever covered it. It's no wonder people can't agree when their AI gives everyone different answers.

Posted by: @cyclone88

@martind28

I didn't know I was older until Covid announced the elderly were 60+.

Well, cyclone - The giveaway was that you said you saw the original band. So that tells me you're no spring chicken🙂.  I too had the chance to see the original lineup. The first time was late 1970. The second time was summer 1971 where I had front row tics, and I think I paid $6.00 for those seats. I still remember that show. Openers were Cowboy - Boyer & Talton who have always been one of my early favorites. Those were the days!

Posted by: @porkchopbob

Me and a friend were working up a cover of "Get Out of My Life Woman". He's a huge Dead Head and only knew the Jerry version, and kept playing it that way. He insisted it was the most well-known because it came up first in his Google search.

He was blown away when he saw that in my Google search the Jerry version was buried on like page 3 behind pretty much every else who ever covered it. It's no wonder people can't agree when their AI gives everyone different answers.

I only know the Jerry version! Things learned.

@martind28

Sounds like 2 great shows. That's the ABB I saw & like to remember. What I should've said was I never considered myself "elderly" or an "older American" until >60 were lumped in w/the 90-somethings.

I sometimes wonder if my appreciation for the ABB would've been as strong had I not had the privilege of seeing Duane. I've never seen any band since (& I pretty much saw everyone back in the day) that had that magic.

@nebish What? That's like the worst one haha

Temporary music-related hijack. Solomon Burke's was always my favorite.

@nebish What? That's like the worst one haha

Temporary music-related hijack. Solomon Burke's was always my favorite.

That's what friends are for, thank you sir! I actually have two of those albums and it never registered.

Posted by: @nebish

' - I've found a way to be an anonymous user and get some value out of the service.

I’ve done the same with Instagram so I can follow people who have the same horticultural interests as I do. Outside of that I have zero use for SM. Even LinkedIn is trash now. 

Twitter, much to my surprise can actually be quite X rated!

And by X rated, I mean porn!

I can't imagine being a parent raising a child these days.