@wtg what a great photo!! I'm really sorry to hear about the OTist. The "way" things are said is of paramount importance, and some medical professionals do better than others. There were two people involved in my brother's care who, when delivering a status assessment, were so careless and unkind that I was very tempted to file a formal complaint, but my mother talked me out of it. And btw, their message was basically "give up." It was truly, truly awful. So I am doubly happy that you then had such a wonderful surprise visit! And that his message was "don't give up."

I'm sure I've told this story, but I'll tell it again ... just in case. As an undergraduate at Kenyon, I was pulled into working on the college newspaper (The Collegian) by this guy: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_Winkler_(journalist) He taught me how to write concisely, and instructed me more clearly and personally than any professor did in a formal class. That was my sophomore year, which would have been 1975-76. At that time, this guy was our paper's political cartoonist: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Borgman Borgman lived next door to me that year, but we weren't friends. He was a senior. Borgman went on to the Cincinnati Enquirer where he won a Pulitzer in 1991. We on the paper's staff knew that Borgman was graduating so we pondered whether we were going to have political cartooning as part of our offerings for the 1975-76 academic year. Well, at the beginning of the following term (fall of 76) a young kid (he was a sophomore and I was now a junior!) walks in and says that he would give it a go. Of course, that was Watterson. His stuff was good so we said "sure!" And the rest is history. I wish I had been even more involved in the paper than I was. I sort of treated it as a minor pastime. Here's another person I worked with on that school paper. She edited the paper after Matt Winkler left. She was just let go by CBS as they shut down their storied London bureau. Here's a great NY Times article about her. https://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/20/fashion/weddings/a-proposal-and-a-broadcaster-left-speechless.html We had quite a group ...

And Trump has also found a way to save Hezbollah for Iran.

I think you focussed on the wrong "protagonist." This is the main character ... https://people.com/thmb/F6H7kEQqyBz3oAEfHcl4uRWhMmk=/750x0/filters:no_upscale():max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():focal(749x0:751x2):format(webp)/alan-ruck-ec7ec079f16b4665819b695a35da7fae.jpg

Happy Birthday!

My running days were over with the first joint replacement. But yes, I understand your point about peers - Now I find myself trying to be more aware as I walk and move about as I've entered the age where any of the doctors ask if I've had a fall in the last 6 months...

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@CHAS said: I am younger than Biden and Trump. I don't find that to be particularly encouraging. Beats the alternative.

@AdagioM said: Food people: here’s a recipe for avocado blueberry quinoa salad

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@jon-nyc It is ok folks. Consider the source. Mr. Purity lol

Don't bother They're here

@wtg said: As you say, better in someone else's yard. Yep! BTW I have been monitoring the lack eyed susan's in the front of our house, and I'm convinced that the animal doing the eating is a deer. The reason I think that is because the spots that are eaten are in the middle of the bunch, as if a large creature walked up and bent their head down from a height, rather than at the edges, as you might expect with a small creature sitting low to the ground and chewing at that height. This is my current "plant detector" analysis. I remain hopeful that there will still be blooms come July

The perversion of unfettered capitalism. It's been plainly clear for years and years and years that the inevitable outcome of this system--left unchecked--is a concentration of wealth into very few hands. Meanwhile, in the US, children are left hungry, 90% of the citizens experience financial insecurity, ad nauseating lib. It's gross. Not because of the people who are rich (although so very many of them can be held up as examples of uncaring greed), but because unbridled capitalism is a seriously flawed system. Some day we will overcome the economic destruction ushered in by Reagan.

In New York City, the common pickle is the half-sour, the staple of the Jewish deli, and perfect complement to your pastrami sandwich. There are still a couple of retail businesses that specialize in pickles, filling your container from a barrel. The half-sour is delicious, and most supermarkets carry the jarred Ba-Tampte brand.

Yea, the Albanians aren't happy about this. At all. https://www.npr.org/2026/06/16/g-s1-128162/albania-resort-protests-kushner-trump

Oh, those crazy Norwegian fans: Link to video View from the top: Link to video

Good advice. I am from Swampeast Missouri. In the early 20th century a project to drain the area moved more earth than the digging of the Panama Canal. Drainage still requires year round vigilance. Mosquitoes love it. The mosquitoes stayed.

https://x.com/realdonaldtrump/status/581171685186994176?s=46