What’s your second-favorite way to waste time on the internet?

The ‘70s show with station wagon ambulances?

 

My old man drove one of those for years here in Toronto with a private ambulance service before the city took it over.

 

And firetrucks and paramedics. Its spirit lives on with shows like Chicago Fire and 9-1-1.

 

I've been spending an inordinate amount of time on cruising-related social-media pages and many of the various Star Trek-centric Facebook pages lately, as well as on some for enthusiasts and researchers of marine mammals. I never did that before this year, and I'm not sure what changed. I'm guessing that, like dixiehack, I might've just been looking for some new/added material.

I do know that I've tired of a lot of political stuff, including and especially how our Supreme Court, shockingly, has no ability to do its job like the collection of stand-up judges they're supposed to be. Its members truly, sickeningly, have no ability to use any backbone or any independent and/or bipartisan thought or consideration, and the Court is essentially corrupt because of that, and there's nothing we can do about it. I'm sick of constantly having to be on guard and unable to trust much of TV and even online media news and information that I usually liked to follow previously, so I have been doing less of that lately (outside of keeping up with the Biden/elections thread on here) as a result.

 

Baseball Reference, Pro Football Reference and the other sports Reference sites are a great way to waste, er, spend time. I like to click on the photos of the random players that they have on their front page, and read their stats.

For Baseball Reference, I also like reading the SABR biographies of various players after clicking on their photos. I especially like to do that while falling asleep during the wintertime. Keeps my mind on baseball during the cold winter months.

 

YouTube for food reviews or old sports or old sketch comedy.

Facebook Games: 8 Ball Pool, Goods Master 3D Online, Angry Birds.

Candy Crush Saga if I'm on my phone (Level 3,174 ...)

Google Maps.

 

Chess at mathisfun.com
Old episodes of Firing Line and Behind the Music on YouTube

 

I believe the fire station on Chicago Fire is also "Station 51."

 

When I was a little kid, my favorite TV shows were Emergency! and Adam-12

 

Emergency with Gage and DeSoto and Nurse Dixie and Rampart General were appointment TV for me, but my mom spoiled it by pointing out they saved the big calls for last every episode.

 

When you heard the tones at Station 51 going off for about 30 seconds staraight, you knew some shit was about to go down.
Nowadays, when I hear the office scanner hitting the tones four or five times my ears automatically perk up because of that. Thanks to Emergency! I know that's the signal for something really serious happening.

Fun fact: One of the bedrock rules that Jack Webb had for Emergency! was that every call on the show had to be a call that happened somewhere, some time in real life. So the producers would go through God only knows how many emergency dispatch logs to find actual scenarios.

 

I also was a little kid, and while I never saw “Emergency!”, I do remember having a plastic kids fireman’s hat from the show.