WTF-Beta

@AndyD

Oops. Turns out I'm behind the times. Grande used to be Starbucks' biggest size, but now...

The history of Starbucks drink sizes:

https://www.dictionary.com/articles/starbucks-trenta

@AndyD said:

Large Grande mocha

FIFY

I thought he might be in pretty bad shape, but I just read that his wife Elaine Chao left for a trip to China a couple of days before he ended up in the hospital and she didn't feel the need to come back immediately.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2026/07/10/elaine-chao-comments-on-mitch-mcconnells-hospitalization/90876522007/

Don't know what to think.

@shirokuro @bernard

I PMed @axtremus and alerted him about what's going on.

Zucchini pancakes today for lunch. Very nummy.

Hopefully you can see the recipe in the pic:

Tomatoes, cukes, and eggplants. Picking barely ripening tomatoes to beat the squirrels to them. Well, except for the one green one in the middle of the photo; the rats got to it first.

Eggplants getting to a reasonable size, creatures haven't found them yet. Cucumbers under seige; they're next to the tomatoes in the garden, so easy pickin'.

Same as @axtremus here. No FB, no Instagram, and my Google settings are the same as Ax's, including the YT history.

Just checking...something strange is going on with the emoji that @shirokuro posted on my last post. I saw that the forum updated automatically earlier today.

Is anyone else seeing funky code instead of an emoji? @axtremus ?

Worked out perfectly! We had a nice chat with Larry and his wife (she's charming) and got to meet their two daughters.

@dougg Do you do video or audio calls?

Google's doing crap like that, too.

https://www.wired.com/story/how-to-opt-out-of-google-search-new-ai-data-training/

WhatsApp noob here trying to understand how this pup works...I've used Facetime, though not a lot, so not sure what the underlying architectures are of these apps.

I am setting up WhatsApp so we can video call with Mr wtg's friend in Ireland. I installed the app on my Windows laptop and on my Android phone, so I'm connected to a WhatsApp account. I have successfully sent and received chats.

When you have multiple devices associated with an account, will every device get a notification when there is an incoming call? And can I just pick up the call on my device of choice?

...Japan?? Who knew?

President Donald Trump mistakenly said the "Islamic Republic of Japan" fired 111 missiles at a U.S. aircraft carrier "a few months ago."

He made the comments July 8 while speaking to the press alongside Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey.

"We have an aircraft carrier which is one of the most beautiful in the world, it's one of the biggest, the (USS) Abraham Lincoln," Trump said. "And a few months ago, we had, I told this story yesterday, we had 111 missiles shot by the Islamic Republic of Japan."

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2026/07/08/trump-islamic-republic-of-japan-nato-remarks/90850675007/

@AdagioM said:

That’s unusual. Did you feel the earth move?

I did not. And I'm less than 30 miles away from the epicenter.

We've had a number of quakes during my lifetime. Usually they're in central/southern IL, and people in the Chicago area have reported that they could feel them, but I wasn't one of them. Our golden retriever Maggie, OTOH, went crazy one afternoon some years back. We later learned that an earthquake had occurred in central IL right at the time she got goofy. Dogs are amazing.

Nothing like smiling doggy faces to greet you when you come home!

Inside the Ludicrous, Deadly Serious Plan to Take Over Greenland
“We want Greenland,” Trump said. Four men sprang into action to make fantasy a reality.

From Atlantic:

https://archive.is/1oRqb

2.9-magnitude earthquake recorded in Lake Michigan near Illinois-Wisconsin border, officials say

https://abc7chicago.com/post/29-magnitude-earthquake-recorded-lake-michigan-illinois-wisconsin-border-united-states-geological-survey-officials-say/19470991/

No tsunami warning for the lake....

@ShiroKuro said:

How did you find this site?

One of those daily news/interesting stuff newsletters. I don't subscribe to the newsletter anymore but happened to check their site a few days ago and this was one of the sites they featured on that day.

RetroTv is a major rabbit hole....I just showed it to Mr wtg. I think he may surface in a couple of days...

https://ippawards.com/winners/showcase

My personal fave: