A center for homeless residents was set to close. Then Rick Steves stepped in.
Steves' FB post:
Global Moderators
Forum wide moderators
Private
Posts
-
Rick Steves to the rescue -
This old dog learned some new tricksI made a sweater just like mine for Mr wtg; we are sweater twins.
A friend stopped by today when Mr wtg and I were wearing our sweaters and said we should have done a Christmas card with a photo of the two of us wearing them. We said we don't have any friends to send cards to, and she came up with the brilliant idea of simply sending Christmas cards with our sweater photo to random people. We got a good chuckle out of the thought that the recipients would be trying to figure out where they know these two oldsters from....
-
That 60 Minutes piece about CECOTTranscript of the 60 Minutes piece. Be prepared for a tough read.
https://www.thenation.com/article/society/cbs-news-60-minutes-bari-weiss-cecot-segment-transcript/#
-
Who's cooking / baking for the holidays?Christmas dinner at @bernard 's!! All the goodies look fabulous, in particular the Christmas cake.
We're having our Lithuanian Kūčios (Christmas Eve dinner) tonight. Various types of herring, beet and bean salad, Salad Olivier, šližikai, (poppy seed biscuits with poppy seed milk), and kisielius (cranberry kissel). Tomorow is a bit up in the air.
Lithuanian Christmas traditions:
-
I bought myself a Christmas presentIt just arrived!! OMG it is a thing of beauty!! I can't wait to
start lifting weightscook in it....
-
One reason they were holding up the release@Piano-Dad said in One reason they were holding up the release:
Alternatively, they're just truly incompetent.
I cast my vote for that option.
Details on the "how to":
Epstein Files Hacked And Posted To X
“Trump’s DOJ is so incompetent that they don’t even know how to properly redact PDFs,” Brian Krassenstein, political commentator and journalist, tweeted the day the agency released the files. You might be inclined to write this off immediately, given that Krassenstein is known for his anti-Trump stance. In this case, however, that would be a mistake. As well as providing the evidence in a series of tweets that showed the highly redacted documents as well as the unredacted versions, Krassenstein went on to explain precisely how the Epstein files could be hacked.
While it is common to read about hackers using PDFs in attacks, the portable document format is susceptible to attack itself. The shocking truth is that it was ridiculously easy, employing straightforward methods that have been known for years. That the DOJ was seemingly unaware of the PDF bugs that have been exploited to do this is concerning from a national security viewpoint at the very least. I am surprised, given that the DOJ has shown technical competence in operations with the FBI in the past, such as remotely deleting files from thousands of U.S.-based computers.
I have reached out to the DOJ for a statement, but in the meantime, here’s how the hack went down.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/daveywinder/2025/12/24/epstein-files-hacked---all-you-need-to-know/
-
I wonder who will serve the eviction notice (and other animal antics)About the bear in Altadena...a trap was set and a bear caught. Problem is, it wasn't the bear living under the house....
https://people.com/trap-to-catch-bear-living-under-california-home-captures-wrong-animal-11873747
-
One reason they were holding up the releaseLooking for volunteers.
https://www.cnn.com/2025/12/23/politics/justice-department-redactions-review-epstein-files
-
Who’s decorating for the holidays?@ShiroKuro Everything looks beautiful!!
-
Who’s decorating for the holidays?No ornaments, but seeing the lighted tree in the screen room as I work in the kitchen is nice.
Tree with a fraction of ornaments that I have. In the living room.
Favorite ornaments:
Mom's favorite candle. Snowman in the background was a gift from my best friend's mom.
Christmas mice:
The caroler and pine cone candles pre-date me.
Mr wtg's grandma used to do ceramics:
Lots of sweet memories of Christmases past....