The siding is redwood. You can't tell now but it is mid-century modern. In 1973 when the summer cottage on the site was demolished and the house was built the roof was completely flat. The sloping roofs you see now were a later addition.

My mother once said in the prosperous times they were always creating federal holidays. The prosperous times she referred to are a distant memory. Date to eat? Wouldn't you have to keep your agenda to yourself? That seems all kinds of awkward and messed up.

said in [Jane Goodall's post mortem message to the world] Like talking to her. (post/18388): Jane Goodall's beautiful last words now available (here on Netflix) - recorded before her death, in an interview only prepared on condition it only be made public after she was no longer physically present. So valuable and helpful. https://www.netflix.com/watch/82053197?trackId=2597

It’s been nice knowing you, Doug!

Ooh, thanks for this, I'll listen tomorrow. it's suddenly very fall-like here.

Thank you, Nina. I bought Clorox discs and 3 bottles of a Clorox spray that kills MRSA and even COVID. I sprayed down the bathroom, opened the back door, and didn't come back until it dried. We don't share dishes. We don't wash each other's clothes. I try to stay away from him and after today I'll try even harder.

I thought it said iconic floods! Chicago is one of the world's great cities. There's no two ways about it.

I'm very glad you posted that story. It reminded me of what it was like to be young and foolish and still live to tell about it. I grew up in an area where most cars were big domestic sedans and the earliest compact cars were Chevy Corvairs and Ford Falcons. The most exotic vehicle was a Renault Dauphine that a high school friend's father owned and a VW Beetle that my high school math teacher drove. When I arrived at university in 1963, I was amazed at the number of sports cars around, especially the smaller British cars like the TR-3s, Austin Healeys, MGs, and so on. There was even a Jaguar XK-E or two. I could understand the allure of such cars. About 10 years later, when I met my wife, she was driving an Opel 1900 that she had bought in California and drove back to Pittsburgh when she decided to return east. We made some memorable road trips in that car. One of my favorites was a ride up the Blue Ridge Parkway on the cusp of spring with the trees in full leaf in the lower portions and just beginning to leaf out at higher elevations. It was like driving through almost the entire season over a couple of days. I'm also reminded of the following: There was a young man from Boston Who had a cute little Austin He had room for his ass And a gallon of gas But his balls hung out and he lost 'em. Big Al

@Daniel said in The hidden world of First Wap: So Bernard, do you have a house phone and no cellphone? I have a cell phone but it's off 99% of the time. I pay roughly $5/mo. so it's available for travel emergencies, or when I need to receive a code for 2-factor authentication. I find cell phones awkward, too small, too noisy, and too complex. But even my home phone is rarely used. I'm so not a phone person. The one in our house when I was growing up was unavailable when we were children, and as teenagers could be used to confirm meetup times, but not for general chin wagging. I use my camera for taking pictures and my video camera for videos. I own no other electronics. That would make a cellphone a reasonable option.

@Steve-Miller said in YouTube just ate TV: It’s the only TV I watch these days. Just curious if you pay for YouTube. Do you pay a subscription fee for YouTube?Do you occasionally pay extra to stream live sports on YouTube? (Yes, YouTube is my primary source of TV and I pay subscription for YouTube to get rid of the ads.)

Some interesting bogleheads discussion about selecting a successor trustee. https://www.bogleheads.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=423874

Saying hi from Linux Mint! It went reasonably well... about 6 attempts, but three of those were because I kept going back to make sure I wasn't overwriting what Windows calls my "C:" drive. A few hitches with compatibility but easily fixed. It was almost like being at work again. One glitch was quite alarming (it was fatal) because it couldn't write the boot partition, but again, that was a compatibility problem that was, after some fretting, an easy fix. So, $35 for a 512 Gig flashdrive from which to install Linux and 2.5 to 3 hours work and waiting. Much better than forking out for a new PC or MAC (which I seriously considered). And when I want (unlikely) or need (probably) to go back to my Windows PC, it's still here. Bye, Windows. It's been an interesting 40 years.

Those utility offers are often a great deal. I insulated the attic at one house for exactly what the utility rebate covered. Even better was the water company offer to swap older toilets for new ones. I swapped out 6 toilets in the apartment building, mostly because the old ones were shot.

Edit as of late Thursday: University of Pennsylvania and USC have joined the “no, thanks” list. The battle for academic freedom and institutional sovereignty in higher education continues to play out as another university has rejected a White House offer for expanded access to federal funding in return for agreeing to a series of demands. Brown University on Wednesday declined an offer by the Trump administration to join a compact that would potentially give preferential funding in exchange for a list of changes to school policy, including no longer considering sex and ethnicity in admissions and capping international enrollment. The letter was sent to nine universities at the beginning of the month. The compact is aimed at “the proactive improvement of higher education for the betterment of the country,” according to a letter sent to the universities. Out of the nine offers, only Brown University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have rejected the proposal. Other schools – a mix of public and private universities – have either said they are reviewing the compact or haven’t commented publicly. https://www.cnn.com/2025/10/16/us/trump-universities-compact-funding