Photos identified

Ron on February 23, 2019

One nice thing about throwing stuff on the internet is sometimes someone looks at it.

Last week I got an email from the grandson of the mystery couple in this picture:

The man in front is Fred J. Ackermann, RPh, and the woman on the left is Helen Campbell Ackermann. Fred was the pharmacist and partner of my grandfather Walter Coulter in the restaurant and pharmacy at the corner of Sloane and Detroit in Lakewood, Ohio. He also confirmed my assumption that the other couple are my grandparents.

Measure for Measure

Ron on January 21, 2019

“If the old fantastical Duke of dark corners had been at home, he had lived.”

Act IV Scene iii

My year of (not) reading

Ron on January 5, 2019

2018 wasn’t a great year for reading as my Goodreads reading challenge shows.

Last year was the first year I had a tablet, which I thought would increase my reading time. Paradoxically it only encouraged me to download a lot of public domain books that I skimmed but never finished.

Also, I listened to few audio books last year.

2019 will be better. Or not.

Walter Coulter 1918-1983

Ron on September 9, 2018

The Coulter family moved to Lakewood, Ohio, from Wayne County in the early 1900s. They opened a drug store and restaurant at the corner of Detroit and Sloane in 1907.

Walter Coulter was born on September 9, 1918. He grew up in the family business. His proficiency in the kitchen made him a natural candidate to be a cook in the army.

Walter married Helen Kennedy on September 20, 1941. Their three children were born in 1943, 1955, and 1965.

Sticky Fingers

Ron on July 4, 2018

Sticky Fingers: The Life and Times of Jann Wenner and Rolling Stone MagazineSticky Fingers: The Life and Times of Jann Wenner and Rolling Stone Magazine by Joe Hagan
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The life that Jann Wenner lives is a caricature of the Baby Boomer generation: hope and idealism in the ‘60s fostered by pot, LSD, and the Beatles. Then cynicism in the ‘70s in the wake of Watergate and Vietnam. The ‘80s brought cocaine and the lure of easy money on Wall Street. Then booze and glamorous vacations in the ‘90s and beyond.

Joe Hagan gives all that in Sticky Fingers, along with fabulous tales of Hunter S. Thompson, Tom Wolfe, Cameron Crowe, Annie Leibovitz, John and Yoko, Mick Jagger, and a cast of A-list celebrities. One thing that’s missing is any sense of an interior life. You get the sense Jann Wenner doesn’t have one. And you might be right.

A bio of Jann’s long-suffering wife Jane might have the gossip and glitz plus some actual emotion. Would be interesting to find out.

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Getting a 404 in Vagrant?

Ron on March 8, 2018

Are you continually getting a 404 warning after vagrant up?

The following line in your vagrantfile should do the trick:

Vagrant::DEFAULT_SERVER_URL.replace('https://vagrantcloud.com')

Thanks to  Val on github for the tip.