On the high hotel room price, people key in wrong stuff. Zillow says we bought our house for $300.
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Our Actual "BOOTH MONKEY" !
Some time around Christmas last year, we found this pair of stuffed monkeys under a seat
after one of the shows. (It's a 'mama monkey" with a mini monkey clutching onto her back)
We have assigned seating, but unfortunately the people sitting in the seats near where it was
found all paid cash, so we couldn't identify them through their credit cards. We've been holding
on to it since December, and nobody has ever claimed it or inquired about it at Lost And Found.
. . so, today, we adopted it as our official "booth monkey" We're trying to figure out a name for it.
BoothMonkey.jpg
It's an ironically appropriate mascot, since, haven't almost all of us, at one
time or another, known at least one projectionist with 'a monkey on his back'?
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I was in a home improvement store the other day and saw these interesting
electric outlets which had a built in USB charger with self-retracting cables.
I started thinking about them more when I got home and I looked for more
info online. They're available from multiple sellers, but I was most amused
by this badly photoshopped image on e-bay:
One picture shows (correctly) that the device is
basically the same size as a standard USA electric outlet.
USB_Outlet1.jpg
The 2nd photo in the e-bay listing makes it look HUGE!
(or maybe this was just a very small bed and nightstand)
USB_Outlet2.jpg
You might also notice that in one photo the ground pin is at the
top, and in 2nd one it's on the bottom. In the USA, I believe the
electrical code is agnostic about the orientation of the ground
pin, although in practice, in residences the outlets are usually
installed with the pin at the bottom, but in most commercial
installations, the outlets are installed with the ground pin on top,
which is considered safer, since it is less likely that a foreign
object falling onto the outlet would short out the two 'hot' prongs.Last edited by Jim Cassedy; 05-13-2026, 02:56 PM.Comment
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I don't know if this is something codified or just an informal convention, but when we moved into our current home, there was one outlet in each room that was "flipped" - ground pin at the top. This was to indicate that it was controlled by a light switch on the wall next to the door. The idea is that you plug a stand or desk lamp into this outlet, and can turn it on and off from the wall switch along with the ceiling light/fan.
I've installed quite a few combined NEMA 5-15 and USB charging outlets around the house. All of us, the cats included (Feliway devices), were charging so many devices all the time, that we were living with a permanent demonstration of what inspired the nickname "wall wart." I even found one 65W USB C outlet charger, for the odd occasion when I need to use my field laptop quickly at the kitchen table. It was a bit pricey, but worth it for the speed advantage.Comment
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Our house is old enough that almost all the outlets are two prong. There are GFCI outlets in the kitchen and bathroom, and I THINK the ground pin is connected (I should check that). I think I read somewhere that it is legal to install GFCI outlets without a ground wire if the outlets are labeled as such. They are still effective since the GFCI measures the current difference betewen line and neutral and does not care about current through the safety ground. On charging stuff, especially if it is charged every night (like my phone and watch), I use the wireless charger. I have seen too many USB connectors fail from constant use.Comment
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And I've destroyed a few by tripping over them. That's why I always thought
Apple's "mag-safe"™ connectors were a brilliant idea. At some point I discovered
that you could buy 'magnetic' cables & adapters to fit various phones & tablets,
and I invested in a good set for most of my devices. I know I've saved both a
tablet and a blue-tooth speaker from possible destruction using the adapters
I got when either myself, a guest, or the cat tripped over the the charging cable.
> Hey Harold- the 1926 house I rented for about a decade here in San Francisco
had a few areas on the first floor, including the garage and small bathroom, that
still had two-prong outlets, which were fed by the original knob-and-tube wiring.
Last edited by Jim Cassedy; 05-13-2026, 10:17 PM.Comment
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Meanwhile you can jump in a time machine, as our booth is starting to feel like it probably used to a bit in the glory days of film. Still 3 more in route. 14 prints screening in as many days (with a DCP festival breaking it up slightly, although even one of the prints is for them). Going out with a bang before rennovation closure.
IMG_7640.jpgIMG_7641.jpg
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The Goldberg cases in the foreground of the first pic look like they withstood several direct hits from the ayatollah's drones! The red Deluxe box that is only still a box because it's been mummified in packaging tape is a familiar sight from my Egyptian days.Comment
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