Skip to content

Off Key - General Discussion

A place to talk about whatever you want

2.1k Topics 15.1k Posts
  • Contingency planning

    Pinned pinned
    28
    28 Posts
    756 Views
    wtgW
    @Piano-Dad Yes, I know how to reach you. We do have some folks who signed up and who have either never posted or haven't posted in a long time. I don't want to pester them with updates unless they want to be pestered. You can choose the option to hide your email address from casual observers, but people with superpowers can see that info. Mostly I just wanted to know who wants to be notified if we have a major outage. Additionally, a few folks who signed up early might not have had to provide an email address to create a user ID because registration was open and didn't require authorization by an admin or mod. Eventually we locked the door and deleted all the spammers who had signed up while this was the backup site. I just wanted people to check their profile and see if they have an email addy where they can be reached.
  • Pinned threads

    Pinned pinned
    4
    4 Posts
    285 Views
    S
    Great!
  • Take a swim in the Seine

    3
    3 Posts
    4 Views
    B
    @wtg Environmental authorities confirmed bacteria levels were well below official thresholds. Wonderful!
  • 2026

    4
    4 Posts
    24 Views
    MikM
    Scary Medicaid cuts won’t do it. The party continues down the same path that gave Trump a way back.
  • Dementia is a cruel condition.

    9
    9 Posts
    44 Views
    JodiJ
    I’m sorry. It is sad and exhausting. My father died of it. He lasted 3 months in memory care and he went out angry and violent. My mother is currently in memory care, she’s been there for over two years. I wish I could say it was a wonderful place to be but it’s not. It’s safe. My mom hates it.
  • Bloomscrolling--what's in bloom where you are?

    146
    146 Posts
    3k Views
    rustyfingersR
    @Steve-Miller grrr. No deer here, but rabbits sheared all the leaves off my new serviceberry before I even got it planted. I put a hardware tube around it and it has recovered nicely, so I think it is safe to plant this weekend. In the meantime, I got my first daylily bloom of the year today. This also came from lilylady. It's called 'Mustard and Relish', and it is the tallest of my three varieties (all from her gardens). [image: IMG-4330.jpg]
  • Windows 11

    6
    6 Posts
    49 Views
    S
    When my geriatric desktop (updated years ago from Win7 to Win 10) dies I also also plan to replace it with a used one. I rarely use it these days - just for accounting and taxes.
  • Texas Floods

    4
    4 Posts
    33 Views
    RontunerR
    After media reports & experts warned for months that drastic & sudden cuts at the Nat Weather Service by Trump could impair their forecasting ability & endanger lives during the storm season, TX officials blame an inaccurate forecast by NWS for the deadly results of the flood.
  • Ukraine

    110
    110 Posts
    2k Views
    wtgW
    Former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine John Herbst, in an interview with NV’s Nataliia Rop, explains why Donald Trump blames his predecessor for the war, how his sympathy for Vladimir Putin took shape, and what could eventually push him to put real pressure on Russia. https://english.nv.ua/russian-war/trump-s-mixed-signals-on-ukraine-aid-reflect-deeper-rift-says-ex-u-s-ambassador-50527462.html
  • Jonathan Gruber interview

    1
    1 Posts
    12 Views
    No one has replied
  • It passed in the Senate

    38
    38 Posts
    190 Views
    wtgW
    The Porky Pig bill. https://www.politico.com/news/2025/07/04/from-rum-to-gun-silencers-tailored-tax-breaks-add-billions-to-megabill-00438962
  • Happy Independence Day!

    5
    5 Posts
    36 Views
    A
    To be fair to George 3rd, although he was against your independence, He didn't develop or impose the taxes on the colonies, nor send troops. It was our government, simply trying to finance and administer some kind of order in a vast country; that was far beyond our capability to manage. George was a very cultured and educated family man, before the strain of his role and illness got to him in the 1780's. His thousands of books became the core of our British Library.
  • Is it a requirement?

    1
    1 Posts
    25 Views
    No one has replied
  • 'Alligator Alcatraz", ready for a hurricane. Rain, not so much.

    12
    12 Posts
    70 Views
    D
    @AdagioM, I see your point. There's been a lot of sadism on display in the news in recent memory.
  • Bezos wedding

    11
    11 Posts
    77 Views
    AdagioMA
    @Daniel. I was trying to find just the right emoji for my post to you, but none of them were quite right!
  • Siberia?

    6
    6 Posts
    62 Views
    Big_AlB
    @Daniel. said in Siberia?: As an aside, Big Al, I'm curious to know if you think money buys the most happiness when you give it away? Yes, I do, Daniel. I think it is an idea that was ingrained in me at an early age, particularly by my father. I sometimes accompanied him when he would take a box of food to someone who was out of work or some surplus clothing or furniture to a family who had suffered a disaster. He and my mother donated to causes they believed in, even though we were far from wealthy. We lived on a dairy farm in eastern Ohio with my paternal grandparents and we never had cause to go hungry, but we didn't have a lot of cash to spend on luxuries. My sister sometimes resented some things my father did, saying that he was wasting his time and money on useless bums. Sometimes, that was probably true, but knowing that before doing something to help them wasn't always possible and only became apparent after the fact. That also made me subscribe to the old saying, "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me." I've been fortunate enough in my own life to seldom really be down and out, but I've had enough dry periods that I could wonder where the next dollar was coming from. I have some empathy for those who are closer to that circumstance more often. I can also appreciate how a small kindness can make a big difference in a person's day, whatever form that kindness might take. I also support a variety of civic institutions through donations and memberships because I think they enrich the community and I would be sorry to see than shrink or vanish, Many of them offered free or discounted admissions to youth and students and I think that is valuable. I know I welcomed such opportunities when I was young. Big Al
  • Welcome to America!

    3
    3 Posts
    41 Views
    MikM
    Great history. Good looking ancestors!
  • The whiff of corruption

    2
    2 Posts
    27 Views
    D
    This product came from a time machine that someone used to travel back to the '80's. Lol.
  • California rolls back environmental protection laws for housing ...

    5
    5 Posts
    54 Views
    S
    Exactly.
  • Evolution and guinea pig toes

    2
    2 Posts
    20 Views
    RontunerR
    That was an interesting read - thanks!