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.

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/

Some people are beyond stupid and ignorant. Big Al

As an adult I was in the office of a high school principal long ago. Cracking down on the kids was what he was talking about. Punishment was obviously was motivated him. Education was not on his mind. I think Burnside is an exceptional principal.

@Bernard I hope everything works out! Private (one-on-one) lessons can be quite expensive, so I can get why you might prefer the group lessons. Also, the group lessons sound like they have an interesting and compelling dynamic, I would be interested in that if we had something like that here. At the uni music program, the only group lessons they offer for non-majors are for very beginning level pianists. I think there's something called a studio class which is a group class and students play for each other (and the teacher of course). It kind of sounds like a semester-long masterclass. But you have to be a music major (or music grad student) to enroll.

So I also officially started working on Don’t Know Why yesterday. It’s a little tricky just because I don’t usually play jazz (or jazz adjacent). But it’s also almost comical how much easier it feels compared to Claire de Lune! DKW is also only 23 measures (not counting the repeats of course), so it’s a third of the length of CdL and that makes it feel easier as well. Having said that, this doesn’t mean I’ll be able to play DKW with the proper jazz inflection. We’ll see. But it’s super fun to play and I really like the arrangement I picked.

Also, Italian plums/prunes are ripe here, and they’re perfect in plum torte. [image: 1787703006044-05f54ea9-19cf-46a5-953a-b4e23e669309-resized.jpeg] Recipe here It’s a mashup of recipes, and benefits from cornmeal being subbed for part of the flour.

A traumatic brain injury can result in the skull hitting or being hit with less than 10 mph or force moving against a stationary object. At least that's what the advocacy group told us after my then 16 year old brother's skull hit the stationary A pillar of a crashed truck at 40 mph with no seatbelt. Anyone who thinks some football players aren't being severely damaged is an idiot.

https://www.inquirer.com/health/measles-deaths-lancaster-county-pennsylvania-20260825.html Pennsylvania reported two measles-related deaths on Tuesday, the first fatalities from the highly contagious disease in the state in 35 years and the only deaths involving the highly contagious disease confirmed nationally so far this year. The deaths occurred in Lancaster County, the center of a major measles outbreak that has sickened nearly 400 people this year, state officials said. Both people were unvaccinated.

We have lots of ticks in my neck of the woods and our public health offers identification for free if you send the ticks to them. We have a conservation area beside my old school so I would take my students there for walks and we would often come back and find ticks on the kiddos. Always dog ticks, thankfully. There are deer ticks in our area (which carry Lyme) but mostly in wilderness areas so I don’t stumble into them.

Lucky you guys! I haven't been and if I did go I would make a pilgrimage to the Place Vendôme. Napoleon's architecture is great. I'd like to see it The main reason I'd like to visit is because of the jewelers who immigrated here from other countries in the late 19th century. It was then and is still today home to many great house's retail spaces and workshops on the upper floors. Place Vendôme - Wikipedia https://share.google/ob1OjxHGN6lh7MlFN

So word is Harry is in trouble with the Feds because he told material lie(s) in his immigration paperwork. My source is LadyC (pen name obviously), who divorced a peer, The Duke of Argyll https://share.google/SJ0k4DAiCBaSkqnHg She's one of the most reliable sources I know. The only one I'd put in the same category is Tom Bower the investigative journalist. She shares what she knows within legal constraints; she's entertaining; and her analytical skill is a joy to witness. Harry, as I've long predicted he would be, is in a bad way.

He needed this too... Dumfries House - Dumfries House https://share.google/y1JUQgQyFMEXFR1qh 9th generation marquess sold his family's house with Chippendale furniture in situ. How could Charles resist? He and Camilla (hers really because I watched her say it) have a narrative that it was a dilapidated property (it wasn't) and it needed to be saved (it didn't), and finally, it was bought by a charity for charitable purposes (do I need to comment). He has scrubbed the place clean and it is an exquisite house.

@AndyD said: Good for them. But McDonald's sucks. Plasticky food in inadequate buns with salty fries. Vanilla milkshakes being the exception, slurp slurp. I had my first taste of their food(I use the word loosely) in my late 20's and it has always been my least liked takeaway. I usually try their 'special' burgers... so Thursday evening having been out, we roll into the drivethru, to be told the heatwave means their shake machine ain't working(?) so I get a Big Arch. Arrives looking a pale shadow of the photo and after a couple of bites turns to mushy cheesy bits ensuring my shirt, trousers and car all need a wash. I just wanted a cold vanilla milkshake. Thankfully MrsA usually prefers KFC. We get a boneless bucket, and I repeat my joke about the bucket coming in useful if the food makes us feel icky. We don't go often. So many better options on which to spend your £20. Burger King 100% agree about McDonald's. Correlation does not imply causation.

I no longer want to live in a large city, not even New York or Chicago. Neither could I afford it. Town and Country as a concept was strongly imprinted on us in the NY, Tri-State metropolis So someone with $$ would of course have a city apartment and a county estate. Well, the estate was as always a house, gardens, and land, of course. This, scaled down, is the kind of house I'd have in a perfect world. I like apartment buildings (and tower houses even better even though don't have them.) However, there are the age, aging, aging in place, and dying (excuse me) factors, as well resource to consider. Hawaii was remote. I couldn't live there again. Why? Access to modern (in a neutral sense) health care. At this age, for me, living in some rural paradise is is not an option. Yes, I like having everything I need close enough, and couldn't live any other way. It's fun to dream, though.

Happy Birthday!

@jon-nyc Beautiful!

@jon-nyc