The 30th anniversary of spam

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A major annoyance of the Internet world turns 30.

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Where is 56th and Wabasha? "Meet Me in the Morning" Dylan Mystery Solved

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Short version The lyric is not "Fifty-sixth and Wabasha", it is actually "Fifty-six and Wabasha", referring to the intersection of old Minnesota Highway 56 and Wabasha Street in Saint Paul, Minnesota. If you listen, you can hear Dylan sing "fifty-six", rather than "fifty-sixth", particularly on the take that was released as the B-side to "Duquesne Whistle". Minnesota Highway 56 no longer intersects Wabasha Street, but from 1963 to 1974 it did intersect Wabasha Street, at what is now (in Feb. 2021) the intersection of George Street and Cesar Chavez Street in St. Paul, or possibly South Wabasha & Cesar Chavez.  Long Version "Meet Me in the Morning" is the first song on side two of Bob Dylan's celebrated 1975 album  Blood on the Tracks. In the opening lines of the song, according to the lyrics on Bob Dylan's official site (https://www.bobdylan.com/songs/meet-me-morning/), the narrator invites the listener to a rendez...
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Random harlot generation table in AD&D Dungeon Master's Guide

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GenCon Indy approaches, and so I'm not posting much. I hear D&D co-creator Gary Gygax will be at the convention this year. If I run into him, I want him to autograph one of the most ridiculous pieces of gaming weirdness ever to make it into a mainstream AD&D publication. I'm speaking, of course, about the infamous random prostitute generation table in the 1st Edition Dungeon Master's Guide . That book included a random encounter table for cities; "Harlot" is one of the entries. Here is the Harlot entry, reproduced in facsimile for your delectation: Sadly, subsequent editions of the Dungeon Master's Guide lack such useful prompts to the imagination. Dungeon Masters are now forced to improvise descriptions of harlots, should such be encountered by an adventuring party. Unless, of course, the Dungeon Master owns a copy of the 1st Edition DMG or is lucky enough to see this blog post. In the interest of fairness and gender equality, this table should be...
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Bob Dylan - Rough and Rowdy Ways Tour - Oakland, Fox Theater, June 11, 2022

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 As usual I splatter my thoughts in no particular order: The whole darn show, recorded from within someone’s phone lock bag:  https://youtu.be/nwK8kAVNrrI Better recording here:  https://youtu.be/wrrPZU_-jjA  (this one appears to have been removed) A recording of the previous night:  https://youtu.be/P-yNR855s3g    I loved the show. My attention was fixed the whole time. Oh my God they ended with a cover of Grateful Dead's "Friend of the Devil" which was amazing. (Better recording:  https://youtu.be/YZj3pjskjPU  Bootleg recording, from same source as above:  https://youtu.be/TmNBhpQtqz8 ) From my post on Expecting Rain :  Oh My God, they closed with "Friend of the Devil" on the June 11th Oakland show! Crowd went berserk! The version was absolutely beautiful, one of the best sounding songs of the evening. I was stunned. I was expecting "Every Grain of Sand" (and now I want to hear that live), because I'd read the set lists and I knew...
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