@Axtremus said in Peach growing ain't what it used to be: it's not really a problem. Well, it's not a problem if the store carries the one I want. I often find that the true "no sugar added/no sweetener added" options are sold out, or the store doesn't carry them.

… launch as many as a million satellites to serve as orbiting data centers — 70 times the number of satellites now in orbit. The Dyson Sphere has got to start somewhere.

I’ve spent many summers watering tomatoes and zucchini and getting 10 tomatoes and 6 zucchini for what feels like $100 in water and effort. I’ll just buy my produce, like Mik.

Yuck. Did this have to be a public note? Esp. since it sounds like the note was posted before employees were notified. And then there's this: we're not going to just disappear people from slack and email and pretend they were never here. communication channels will stay open through thursday evening (pacific) so everyone can say goodbye properly Yikes, that's less than a week! He's trying to make it sound so kind, but it certainly seem that way. Also the comments are interesting....

@wtg I’m afraid to click on that link and read the rest…. This is exactly road I’ve been afraid we would be going down …

The Witch 2: The Other One Link to video

I’m reading a book about anti-gravity. It’s impossible to put down.

Indeed. I’m just surprised it is as high as it is, at 84%.

Quite the saga. Emphases mine. MANCHESTER, N.H. — A federal judge is telling New Hampshire that the state needs to get its vehicle inspection program back up and running. The ruling on Wednesday does not immediately change anything for New Hampshire drivers, who currently do not need to get their vehicles inspected. The judge denied a request to pause her original injunction, which ordered the state not to suspend the program. Despite the initial ruling, inspections have not resumed, and the state has not approved a new contract to continue the program. Gordon-Darby, the company that had been contracted to run New Hampshire's vehicle inspection program, sued the commissioners for the departments of Safety and Environmental Services after New Hampshire suspended the program to comply with a new state law to end it. The judge agreed with Gordon-Darby that the state was violating the Clean Air Act by ending the program without a waiver from the Environmental Protection Agency. The state applied for that waiver in December, but the EPA said it could take up to 18 months to review it. The Executive Council has since ended the contract with Gordon-Darby. In her ruling, Judge Landya McCafferty noted that the commissioners said they don't have the legal authority to find a new vendor, but she said the commissioners have the authority to comply with her first ruling. The Executive Council is responsible for finding a new vendor. State officials said the program will remain suspended while they figure out what their next steps will be. As New Hampshire continues to resist the orders issued by the judge, a constitutional crisis is brewing, according to University of New Hampshire law professor Daniel Pi. "Where the state is openly defying the orders of a federal court, and this implicates Article VI of the U.S. Constitution and all sorts of things that just don't get litigated very often," Pi said. "Usually, states kind of understand what the federal structure is and agree with it." For New Hampshire drivers, nothing changes. The state is sticking to its earlier guidance that the program is suspended. That means inspection stations are no longer authorized to issue state inspection stickers, and vehicles are not required to get an annual state inspection at this time.

said in This is so wrong: A Columbia University student was arrested on Thursday by federal immigration officers who reportedly misrepresented themselves by posing as New York police officers looking for a missing child in order to to gain entry to a residential building to make the apprehension. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/feb/26/columbia-student-detained-federal-agents Update: Federal immigration authorities arrested a Columbia University student early Thursday, triggering protests on campus along with allegations that agents had entered the university-owned residence under false pretenses. Just hours after detaining student Ellie Aghayeva, though, the federal government abruptly reversed course, permitting her to walk free after the apparent intervention by President Donald Trump. In a social media post Thursday afternoon, Mayor Zohran Mamdani said he expressed concerns about the arrest during an unrelated meeting with Trump, who then agreed to release her immediately. "I am safe and okay," Aghayeva wrote on Instagram, minutes after Mamdani's post, adding she was in "complete shock" from the experience. https://www.npr.org/2026/02/26/g-s1-111684/columbia-student-arrested-ice-missing-person

Gave up the two landlines many years ago. Never missed ‘em. Switched to a mesh router (EERO). WiFi now works flawlessly anywhere on the property.

From Ting's Feb update: When over 1 million homes lost power during Winter Storm Fern last month, the Ting electrical safety network delivered real-time, neighborhood-level outage data to emergency responders. These insights help prioritize response and reduce risks like home fires, flooding from frozen pipes, and serious impacts for entire communities Link to video

He insists he’s not really a betting man. He's a betting man.

I don't think I've ever balanced my checking account. Maybe once, or twice years ago.

One of my few regrets is selling the best one for $600. It needed service, the price of that was estimated not set but astronomical, around 1k, and I had bills to pay. It would be worth 5k today but I don't care about that. I wish I had changed the strap and just kept it without having it serviced. It was/ is beautiful. C'est la vie.

Link to video Short video about buying a manufactured home and its true costs. Buying land and a new manufactured home was something I considered for a minute. I decided it would be too complex and expensive not to mention these homes are made of new materials that are filled with toxic chemicals and would smell like it not to put too fine a point on it. The attraction was land but all things considered I'm glad I won't be buying a mobile home (words used if built before 1980) or a manufactured home. The safety factor in winds, floods, tornadoes (we had one here!; my first), and hurricanes by itself rules it out for me. There's nothing safe about them. One here got almost reduced to matchsticks during Milton. My roof got torn apart. It started raining in my house a few months later. I had to buy a new roof. It took an entire year to fix the damage I could and to clean up the mess. One in a park across the street actually got lifted into the air and then dumped upside down during the tornado. I see several here that were clearly lifted into the air at some point and landed on their iron rails in a jacked way leaving visible damage and nothing where it should or like it should be. These ended up still being livable. A number of homes have basically been abandoned out 400 total. These are on the market for 10k. The one place I like in this park sold as of yesterday. I always wanted to live in a small concrete block condo building built in the 60's and 70's since I lived in Hawaii. Those apartments were mega $ as you might imagine. I think I would like living in an apartment building. Even before living for almost two decades in Hawaii I wanted to live in an apartment in the City. I thought great. No snow shoveling. Nothing like that. Oh, and I learned that private equity firms often buy land lease parks, decline to renew the leases, effectively putting people in the street, renovate all the units, and then rent them. Yikes!

Here's a bit of fun for you in the style of the TV show, Antiques Roadshow: Good better best. Three paintings, in any order... an acrylic and two watercolours, approximately in sterling, one is worth about 400, one is about 800, one is 1200. But which is which? [image: 1772055648612-20260225_212800-resized.jpg] [image: 1772055666186-20260225_213315-resized.jpg] [image: 1772055677688-20260225_212831-resized.jpg]

An eagle in the garden. So jealous!