@AndyD Nice! You're lucky to actually have flowers in November. Here everything has died back to the ground except for the odd anemone. Most of the trees and shrubs are devoid of leaves, except for an oak leaf hydrangea that is remaining stubbornly green and a fothergilla which has been slowly changing colors for weeks now.

We watched the first hour of last night's episode this morning while we were having breakfast. Good stuff.

@Piano-Dad said in Pete’s take: Increase the supply of housing FTW. +1 I'd add, imho, there should be many well made smaller houses being built, similar in quality to the housing stock built from concrete block in Florida in the '40's, '50's, and '60's, suitable to local climates. My grandfather bought his family's house in Tampa in '63 for less than $15,000. My father built his family's house (he was an electrician; his friends were carpenters, plumbers, etc.), the same I posted pictures of, in NYS in '73 for less than $25,000. $400,000 for a starter home, many of them new construction and poor build quality? It's the reality of the worsening homeless crisis in the US affecting people of all ages, in all states, from family's with children to people in their '90's, that is unnecessary and galling.

Good links, wtg. I copied them to my email.

Knew a florist who said she sold more roses on the full moon to men with apologies to make.

@ShiroKuro said in Virtual staging: The line between presenting possibilities ("look how nice it would be if you did this!") and deception is tricky, but this one is too close to deception IMO. Yes indeed. But I understand the appeal of virtual staging in a nice home whose furniture has been removed. Staging a home with real furniture adds thousands to the cost of selling your home while putting virtual furniture in place costs a few hundred.

@wtg said in This month's piano recording: Your Zoom H My Zoom H is fine (as far as I know, I haven't taken it out of the box in a while! But it doesn't have a lot of rubber-y plastic IIRC, so I think it's ok) I have several mechanical pencils that have those rubber-y grips that have gone sticky. I didn't throw them out because they're my favorite kind of pencil and apparently not made any more. So if I can find them (I think I know where they are) I'll try this!

Wow! Talk about taking "pay it forward" to heart!!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:The_Conversion_of_Saint_Paul-Caravaggio_(c._1600-1).jpg Margorie Taylor Greene on the road to Damascus

Am adding this to my list of books to read. Watched an interview with the author on Fareed Zakaria GPS this morning. Nicholas Thompson, 49, isn’t wanting for accomplishments—personal nor professional. The CEO of The Atlantic ran a 2:29 marathon at 44 years old, shattering his years-long plateau of 2:43s. Thompson is a former editor for The New Yorker, where he covered the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing, and the former editor-in-chief for Wired, for which he wrote about trying out the recently launched Nike Zoom Vaporfly 4% super shoes. Thompson holds the American record in the 50K for the 45-49 age group (3:04:36), which he ran a few minutes behind his friend, Des Linden, who set the world record in 2:59:54. The father of three prides himself on a close relationship with his wife and his sons, always prioritizing them, but still finding a way to be on top of his work and running games. For example, Thompson, who lives in Brooklyn, never rides the subway to his lower Manhattan office. He runs to and from work, logging eight miles while listening to podcasts and audiobooks. He tries to be as efficient as possible, which is, perhaps, how he managed to write his second book: The Running Ground: A Father, a Son, and the Simplest of Sports (October 2025). https://www.runnersworld.com/runners-stories/a65058548/nicholas-thompson-the-running-ground/ Fareed made the observation that you don't have to be a runner to find value in the book, but I imagine it would be of special interest to runners. @kluurs - have you read it?

@wtg said in Biocomputers: The computers that run on human brain cells It's just a matter of time before we're all connected into the Matrix, I guess.

Some street vendors say they are barely making enough to survive, due to the widespread immigration crackdown in the Chicago area. Community members are stepping in and finding creative ways to help them. "We try to get out at 6-7 a.m., get into the neighborhoods, buy all the products they have so that they can leave and go home and be safe with their family for the rest of the day," said Rick Rosales, a community organizer with CyclingxSolidarity. They are being called "buyouts." Groups of cyclists are riding through neighborhoods across Chicago, and purchasing everything street vendors have, from tamales to elotes. The movement is meant to support street vendors, as many fear being detained, during "Operation Midway Blitz." https://abc7chicago.com/post/cyclingxsolidarity-street-vendors-association-chicago-seek-help-scared-sell-amid-operation-midway-blitz/18152580/ Good riddance. ICE has moved to Charlotte.

The little Italian market I popped into yesterday had DiCecco at $4/lb. The proprietor said next week it will be $8. On the other hand, today I was in my usual Key Foods supermarket and DiCecco was on sale at 2 packages for $5. I bought two but may go back for more. Lately it’s been $3.79/lb. there.

Very interesting. In Hawaii, part of Maui (a large piece of land, actually) is a sanctuary for native plants and animals. There are experts who have catalogued every every type of bird to the point they know when there are only a few of one type left and when a type (species?-- I'm not sure) goes extinct. It's very intense.

Thanks, Mark!

Maybe they still call it “beer” merely for marketing; something like this may not “stand out” at all if it’s marketed as mere “hard liquor.”

@Steve-Miller said in US missing people with 'certain talents': Seems to me Melania came over on an H1B visa. Not sure what her skills might be. Melanie came over to the U.S. first with a tourist visa, then later she obtained an H1-B visa, then later an E1-B visa before she became a U.S. citizen. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-43256318

@jon-nyc said in GOP plan in Utah backfires: Im wondering if, to the extend the Latino swing to Ds this year endures, if Texas might get bitten in the ass by their new gerrymander. That would be glorious. I have seen speculation to that effect. In order to increase the number of red-leaning districts in Texas the GOP has had to split off some voters from red districts, making them only pink, in order to turn existing blue-leaning districts pink as well. In a wave election the GOP could lose both of 'em.