Good to hear you indulging in feel good (& practical) things after the last few years. ipads are quality. You got a list of things? This week I got us a new mattress, which, you may be surprised to hear, is immensely satisfying (maybe its my age) Been on my list to buy since Covid; previous one lasted 20 years, became like an uncomfortable dromedary whichever way you flipped or turned it Higher, firmer yet bouncy, wife kinda fell off the edge getting up the first morning. She's fine, it was slapstick funny

Next we’ll send the Tate brothers. Poor Britain.

@DougG said: Great, now Jon’s last post expects me to come up with a rhyme for “lits”. I’m pretty sure there isn’t one. Could this be the end of the word association thread?

@AndyD said: Looking forward to hearing you learn & play it Shirokuro. thank you!! I'll struggle along beside you. Yay! It's good to have a partner! (Partner in crime in struggle)

Sadly, my Thai basil. Now the leaves aren't much good.

That baby alpaca is too cute. If you're on 80 in eastern Iowa, don't miss The World's Biggest Truck Stop! You'd enjoy it.

Lits

Link to video Omg!

Yes and seems so random as always.

@jon-nyc said: [image: 1786805318857-screenshot-2026-08-15-at-09.07.28.png] Yes, and Madonna took the first "selfie" in "Desperately Seeking Susan." I mean this as a cultural phenomenon, strictly speaking. People have been pointing cameras at themselves and others for a long time. Lol!

Well, they were a communist country for the better part of a century. I will make a note to unpack my smallest violin to play for the oligarchs whose assets are seized. I know the subtext is- "Putin bad!" 10 years of Trump the Ubiquitous and- "Putin bad!" have made a long 10 years. I know this is a legitimate news story but Russia didn't practice "capitalism," either before the break up of the USSR, or after.

Interesting. QEII had them. Assume she could have had any breed. That's a recommendation. Not a dog person. Wouldn't know where to begin.

Never heard of him though the character looks familiar. I only saw RHPS once.

@Daniel said: I haven't learned to use my fire extinguishers (I know - super dumb) yet or my very unusual trap door. Unusual trap door? Fire extinguishers have become extremely easy to use. Latest ones I was trained on, you: Pulled a locking ring to release a pin Pointed nozzle at fire Squeezed lever The powder type spray dealt with all types of fire. (No more turning a big heavy cylinder upside down for water spray No thoughts about not holding the funnel for icy pressurised gas)

So I made the mistake of thinking that closing my Spectrum account would be quicker if I did it over the phone. Oh boy. They put me through to their account retention dept. Bastards. It all started out fine and I thought I was just speaking with someone who would take my directive, tell me what I owed, and close my account. What a spiel she went through. It was insulting. She seemed to forget that I had already switched providers and was only interesting in ending my relation with them. After 3 or 4 times of telling her I was in no way interested in what she had to offer I said, in a well-raised voice (I was fed up) that I'd go to my local office and hung up. The clerk at the local office actually sympathized with me. Apparently Spectrum has been hemorrhaging customers. I looked it up when I got home... Spectrum lost 172,000 internet subscribers in the second quarter of 2026. This follows a loss of 120,000 internet subscribers in the first quarter of 2026. Can't say I'm all that surprised.

[image: 1787875504424-img_5060.jpeg]

Yikes - pricey... I'm sure knock-offs won't be far behind. I've seen a number of printed t-shirts but would prefer a fabric with a design - button shirt...

Not a good choice of thread title on my part…I thought adding the tag would help but it probably didn’t… What got my attention in the article was the idea that websites may be specifically tailored to get picked up by AI. Sort of the next generation of SEO. And that people either won’t take the time or maybe don’t even think to investigate what sources the chatbot used. The possibility for mischief explodes with AI. This post was linked in the Guardian story and flushes it out more: https://responsiblestatecraft.org/israel-influence-chatgpt/