January 11, 2005
Coming like a freight train: cell phones as credit cards, using radio signals to communicate with the gas pump, the checkout cash register, the movie theatre and even the restaurant check, to pay for goods and services. South Korea already has this function in wide circulation. Frankly, I’m more than ready for all of this disparate, confusing, goofy technology to meld together.

I was over at Dave Daiss’ house the other day and he wanted to show me the latest edited version of our Tombstone footage on a CD. He had to get down on the floor, unplug part of the tv, replace the plug with the DVD unit plug, get the right clicker (in our house we have to utilize three different clickers to get a DVD to play), then make the appropriate clicks on the different clickers to get the CD to play. Afterwards he had to reverse the process because, as he put it, “If I don’t put it back, Doreen will kick my ass.”

Charlie Waters has suggested that we call some of our expired subscription-ers and talk them into coming back home. A very good idea. I read in The New York Times that some senior editors at The Philadelphia Inquirer have been calling former subscribers to beg them to come back. Evidently the paper ran strong editorials favoring John Kerry for president. Ouch!

Little did I know when I got back from Vegas and the Western History Association convention last October and made all those snotty remarks about the Strip and a dirty bomb (it seemed like total hyperbole!), that Osama bin Ladin was even at that time intent on, you guessed it, using a dirty bomb (or a truck bomb) on The Strip. An alarming article in the newest Atlantic by Richard A. Clarke spells out how Osama wants to ruin our economy and the next targets are our amusement parks, malls and Vegas. The scariest part is he came damn close to ruining our economy on 9•11. Many industries, ours included, felt the blast. A footnote in the article sites a Vegas casino operator's statement that after 9•11 the number of Las Vegas visitors dropped to by two thirds. The prediction is that if they are successful at all, we will retreat into our computers for almost all transactions, and then they will go after that.

Got a note from a noted British nipticker, who said regarding our upcoming Tombstone grave article, "Did you know that right next to the Les Moore grave [Here lies Lester Moore, four slugs from a forty four. No less, no more] is the marker for George Atkins, the geezer in whose tendejon near Fort Grant Billy the Kid killed Windy Cahill? Not many people know that.”

Thanks Fred Nolan, who went on to say:

"By the way, if your breath really is baited you'd better stock up on mouthwash (what are you using, worms?) The word is 'bated.' It originated in the 16th Century from the past participle of the obsolete verb 'bate' which means 'to restrain.' Not many people know that, either."

Attacked a scratchboard of Virgil Earp shooting at Sherm McMasters as the latter rides up Third Street, past the Aztec building and into the desert beyond. It is an odd episode because Virgil had just won a shooting contest but missed the fleeing stage robber six times. Some Earp nuts think Wyatt's brother missed on purpose because McMasters was working undercover for the law, or Wells Fargo, or something. Anyway, it's a cool scene and I utilized one of the reference shots I took of Dave Daiss last week and it was fun imagining what the store fronts and buildings looked like on the West side of Third Street running up across Fremont.

Robert Ray just came into my office (3:44 P.M.) and told me the dead disk is at the factory and they said they can save all of the scans on the drive! Going to cost $81 but hey, we'll take it. Man, what a relief!

"If you don't like something, change it. If you can't change it, change your attitude. Don't complain."
—Maya Angelou