Fresno County Library flattens the curve. Try out Kanopy.

Are you social distancing at home without a paid subscription to any of the popular streaming services? Even though The Fresno County Library is closed, it can hook you up with a free streaming service called Kanopy. It’s been available in Fresno since September 2019.

Kanopy offers hours of films and documentaries you can watch on your “pad” as well as Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, Roku, Android TV and some Samsung smart TVs. All you need is a library card or a university login and internet access. You can sign up here.

AARP would classify most of the films as adult-friendly: “Lady Bird,” “Moonlight,” “The Book Shop,” for example. Kanopy describes itself as presenting “Thoughtful Entertainment.” If you are a true film and documentary fan, you’ll be pleasantly surprised by what you’ll find. I found the 1902 film “Trip to the Moon.”

Of course, this being a site that is library-approved, you’ll find scores of educational films. You can brush up on your Greek with the “Basic Rules of Greek Accentuation.” An oldie, but a goodie. Imagine how thrilled your housebound partners will be when they learn Greek by your side on the only TV in the house.

Or, there’s the ever-popular “Let’s Make Stuffed Baked Potatoes” with Link, who will tell you how to keep your baked potato from exploding. It’s in the kids’ section.

Is there a downside? Kind of. Unlike Netflix, which is a subscription service you pay for, your library is charged an educational licensing fee for films you watch. In many cases, the fee kicks in after 10 seconds of viewing. According to FilmQuartery.org, your library could be charged a $150/year educational licensing fee for the film you are watching. So, if you can find a film on Netflix or Amazon Prime, watch it there. Save your library some money so it can buy other things, such as books. It’s also why the library only lets you watch 10 films a month.

Have fun.

Flatten the curve.

Moments of magic

Today is my mother's birthday. I have her baby picture.

As I continue to sort through and catalog my family photos it has become obvious to me that having a searchable database of all the images can lead to some interesting pairings. Take these two photos, for instance.

 Taken roughly 50 years apart from each other, they show a constant in my life: my mother and father were inseparable. Not glued at the hip like some couples, but inseparable in the sense that whatever happened in their lives the gravitational forces that bound their souls would pull them together again. They were not perfect. They didn’t always agree with each other. They certainly didn’t always agree with me. 

 But somehow they were able to keep their disagreements separate from their egos. Being “wrong” about anything didn’t mean they thought the other was wrong in the head. And if you took it that way when they thought your ideas were not quite right, that became your problem, not theirs. 

 As for the searchable database, I am using an application called PhotoMechanic. We used it at work. I bought a copy when I retired. It lets me add metadata quickly to all my photos (keywords, dates, places).  If you’re consistent, then these moments of magic just kind of appear right before your eyes.

My mother

She was 18 months old.

Meaning of life

The following dialogue should be required watching or reading for every hospital employee, if only because I reference it every time I get juiced up for surgery. It’s good to know my mind wanders to comedy when it loses control (during my first surgery when I was 12, I believed Red Skelton was peering over me in the operating room).

From The Meaning of Life, the scene where the woman is cured of birth.

Hospital Administrator: Ah, I see you have the machine that goes 'ping!'. This is my favourite. You see, we lease this back from the company we sold it to - that way it comes under the monthly current budget and not the capital account.

[The doctors and onlookers applaud.]

Hospital Administrator: Thank you, thank you. We try to do our best. Well, do carry on.

As for the actual procedure, all went well. I am walking without a cane or walker after three weeks. Out buying groceries. A few years ago rehab took a lot longer. New procedures, new meds, less downtime.