Retro Nice Times!
Remember when you had to change the TV channel by turning a knob? Back when your only choices were whatever was showing on a very limited number of stations. And night owls got stuck with a video of the American flag waving and a test pattern.
Joey Cato has created a place where you can bask in the nostalgia of simpler times in the form of what appears to be an ancient analog TV. My Retro TV’s offers random clips from old TV series, specials, news items, and commercials. The TV has a power button that you must click to get it started, then there’s a knob you can click on to change the channel and be shown something different, even imitating the fuzz and buzz when it changes. You can pick what year you want to watch during any of the decades from the 1950s to the 2000s. Joey Cato also created My Retro Tunes which has music videos from the 1950s to 2019.
On My Retro TV you might find a clip from Barnaby Jones or stuff like this newsreel from 1962.
Thank you to Reader for sharing this really fun website.
Courtroom Nice Times!
Appearing in court can be a stressful time, especially so for juveniles and also for adults in recovery trying to get their lives back on track. Those dealing with trauma need special attention in these situations and in 2021 North Carolina Supreme Court Chief Justice Paul Newby created a task force to find ways to minimize additional trauma for those going through the court system.
The final report from that task force in 2023 recommended changes that might seem small but they were big for those who needed them. Things like simplifying the legalese and removing graffiti from holding cells. One judge, Sam Hamadani, was given financial assistance to improve her Juvenile Justice and Adult Recovery Courtroom. With help from artists the dreary room was transformed with colorful and serene wall murals. They added a room just for the kids with books and art materials, and headphones to shut out the noise. For the adults there were resources explaining the court system and freshly painted benches. They even slightly raised the temperature in the holding cell to make it less harsh.
The Public Defender for Wake County, Deonte’ Thomas, is happy with the improvements in Hamadani’s court, saying,
The pendulum of justice swings back and forth, and unfortunately, we’re in an era right now where it’s more on the side of ‘punish, punish, punish.’ But that is not what courts are for generally, and even more specifically for juveniles, that should not be what it’s about. It’s about correction, rehabilitation, second chances.
Those things make a difference in all of our lives.
Thank you to JCfromNC for this story.
Wildlife Nice Times!
There are lots of interstate highways across the country and they are in places where wildlife also needs space to move. It is a dangerous and deadly situation for both animals and humans. In an effort to reduce the collisions Colorado gave the critters their own overpass. And not just any overpass, this is the largest man-made wildlife crossing in North America.
The project was funded with $22 million from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and $8 million from the state of Colorado. But in a surprise twist the cost came in at just $15 million. Considering there are nearly 4,000 vehicle accidents with wildlife yearly in Colorado the benefits favor both man and beast.
Utilizing fencing to direct the wildlife to underpasses and the new overpass, Colorado has seen crashes between animals and vehicles drop by 91 percent! The 209 x 200 foot crossing has allowed pronghorn and elk to move freely and back into areas they had been avoiding. Not just the big animals use it, so do the small ones like foxes and frogs — with piles of wood put in place to allow the little critters to cross without getting eaten by predators. CDOT will be adding plants; the current drought has slowed down progress on the plan for vegetation to be included.
There are plans for more of these crossings all across Colorado. Brandon Marette, a biologist from the Colorado Park and Wildlife department said this,
“One of the most heartwarming moments for me was when CDOT sent me a picture of an elk mama taking her calf under I-25. All the hard work for six years, all came to fruition in that one moment. That elk with her calf was just standing there in safety, getting to the other side of I-25.”
Thank you to ElderlyLoudCatWomyn for this story.
Funny Commercial Nice Times!
I must be in the front row!
That line may ring a bell, it was from Bob Uecker (Mr. Baseball) for Miller Lite, one in a series of ads he did for the beer company in the 1980s. This year’s World Series has the Tampa Bay Rays taking on the Milwaukee Brewers; Bob Uecker started his professional career playing for the Brewers from 1962-63; he ended his career announcing for the Brewers, spanning from 1971 till 2024. The team will be honoring him before the start of the Series on October 23.
Obama is back!
President Obama in Cleveland supporting Dr. Amy Acton and Sherrod Brown and he is classic Obama, this is the good stuff, shoot it right into my veins! I signed up to go but so did another 100,000 or so people, and I did not get the notification of where it was being held. Instead I watched it live on YouTube.
Sherrod introduces President Obama at 42:31. Describing Trump’s decorating of the White House:
"like Saddam Hussein opened a Cheesecake Factory"
This is Obama at the top of his game, give it a watch and stand up and cheer when he really gets going.
Wonkers’ Nice Times!
From Dave’s Not Here: “A neighbor had hip replacement surgery and is recovering at home. I made a batch of homemade chicken noodle soup, and we carried it over. We all talked a bit and caught up for a spell.
Couple hours later the phone rang. ‘That was the best chicken noodle soup I’ve ever had,’ neighbor said. Geez, I was only going for tasty. This made my week!”
From cynmac: On 9/25/2026 cynmac met Grandmaster Flash at the book signing for his memoir.
From ziggy: As requested, here is another one of my animal pencil sketches, a baby gorilla.
Random Recommends!
On this, my birthday weekend; Random Recommends! 1986’s The Fly, co-written and directed by the maestro of body horror, David Cronenberg. A remake of the classic 1958 film of the same name, the premise is the same: A scientist experimenting with teleportation slowly turns into a grotesque hybrid of man and fly after a test goes wrong. But there are no goofy fly masks here, no sir! There’s so much I love about this film: the legitimately tragic love story between Seth and Veronica; the effortless chemistry between Jeff Goldblum and Geena Davis; Howard Shore’s music swerving between nerve-wracking and heart wrenching; Chris Walas and Stephen Dupuis’s fantastic special effects (on par with Rob Bottin’s work in The Thing); and Cronenberg’s refusal to offer easy answers or happy endings. For me, a true classic and one of Cronenberg’s best. Available with subscription on Hulu, Disney+, Peacock and Philo; $3.99 in the other places.
The song referenced in the title is (I’ve Had) The Time Of My Life by Bill Medley and Jennifer Warnes. You will most likely remember it from Dirty Dancing.
As we near Halloween, we finish with two badass women covering Season Of The Witch (originally by Donovan). The first is by Alanis Morissette, the second by Joan Jett.
Please send Nice Times suggestions, personal nice times, and original art to ziggywiggynicetimes@gmail.com. It can be all levels of Nice Times! As you can see Nice Times is a community project, keep sending your suggestions, also be sure to include your screen name so I can give you credit! Thank you.
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One thing—40+ years later I am still ashamed:
My uncle was paraplegic and used those crutches to get around, and we were at his home for Easter or something. I didn’t like what he was watching so I just changed the channel. He had to get up to change it back. My parents were so humiliated at my manners. My uncle loved me very much and never brought it up, but I was so embarrassed later.
The Fly is one of those rare remakes that is better than the original. Probably because creature films in the 50s were big on concept, but often short on execution.