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!

Certainly. the question is if it pops how much does it drag the rest of the market down.

Doubt this a surprise to the CIA and FBI and others. Do the robot vacuums still smear dog poop when they run into it? Happened to a friend.

Bikes are gold in many parts of the world. A local bike organization here in Chicago collects, refurbishes, and ships bikes to various international organizations. https://workingbikes.org/

Wonder if there will be a rule that says a stroller must float on water right side up with up to a 40 lb. payload.

I wonder if I'll have one of those again. I'll check. I hope so.

@wtg said in A new Grindr ad just dropped: He probably got up close and personal with a few too many toilet seats. And syringes filled with heroin. I'm not against "drugs." The pharmaceutical industry certainly isn't against "drugs." It's your body. I believe you can do what you want with it. But after witnessing certain drugs shatter what was once a beautiful mind like a pane of glass being thrown on concrete, I know it can go wrong and when it does go wrong, it goes very wrong. It's truly disturbing to witness.

I really don't want to know.

Saw those in Missouri. Don't see them in Colorado or Arizona. A doctor in a nearby town noticed that the local barefoot kids that were treated for worms did not get the disease Starlings spread.

[image: 1771868382157-tinfoil-hats-bob-and-c.jpg] We have ours