How ProPublica figured it out.
https://www.propublica.org/article/donald-trump-jr-wedding-umar-kremlev-reporting
W
wtg
@wtg
Posts
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The bride's parents didn't fund this wedding -
Probably bots and spammersUptick in registration requests recently, at least five or six a day.
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Adopt a Tuscan Olive TreeSomething seemed a little too slick about the site. There are interesting discussions on reddit about these kinds of operations. Apparently some of them may be total scams, and others aren't entirely truthful about the story.
And there is a separate shipping fee to get your bottles. Not sure about tariffs, but I'm guessing yes.
Bottom line: Caveat emptor.
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How Costco became a 'third place'They have some pretty cool products in the UK. The deli platters look way more interesting than ours.
https://services.costco.co.uk/deli/
And look at this Hot Buy!
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Gas prices -
Gas pricesGas prices going up quickly around here. I bought gas at Costco for $4.39 early in the week and it's up to $4.89 today, up 20 cents since yesterday.
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How Costco became a 'third place'the crush of the unwashed hoards
We go to a warehouse that is five minutes from our house, but there are a couple of others within 15 minutes or so that we go to occasionally because they do carry different products than our store does. Each warehouse has its own personality.
The one in the town where rich people live is our least favorite. The members and the employees all seem to have the same sour attitude and it's pretty unpleasant to shop there. People fight over parking spaces and the employees look haggard and are rude to customers.
There's another one in a middle class suburb where there are a lot of Indians and Pakistanis, and where we can get a wider variety of the food products from those countries. It's insanely busy but everyone is really nice.
The third one is in an area that is multi-ethnic, with lots of Southeast Asians and that is near a suburb that has a large Jewish population. They have the best selection of foods I'm not likely to see anywhere else. The place is crazy busy, too, and has the feeling of a market. But in a fun way.
Bottom line: The rich people are entitled snobs and make everyone else miserable.
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Parsing health gizmosEric Topol does a deep dive on the new improved Apple Watch.
On September 9th, Apple announced it was revamping its Apple Watch Health Sensing System, rolling out a Readiness score (0 to 10), and increasing the frequency of heart rate variability (HRV) outputs 24-fold. This can be viewed as upping its competition with various other consumer wearable sensors. These “readiness scores” as a composite of multiple metrics, with heart rate variability (HRV) being front and center for most. The majority of Americans are now using wearable sensors, which equates to well over 100 million adults. HRV and Readiness scores are increasingly being marketed as a measurement of autonomic nervous system health, a digital marker for future disease, a clock for biological age, and a holistic metric to promote healthspan and even longevity. (Apple also introduced a new longevity tab and “Health Age”.) None of this has been proven. In this edition of Ground Truths I am going to review what we know about heart rate variability and readiness scores.
My takeaway: No Apple Watch or other wearable for me. And I'll still eat my ice cream.
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Adopt a Tuscan Olive TreeNever heard of it, but I poked around and see there are a bunch of places that are doing the same thing.
I wonder if you have to pay a tariff on the oil they send you!
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If you go to France..@Mik Made me think of Retro Bistro!
Apparently I follow all the rules re eating steak frites, despite not being raised in France....
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Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drugswtg said:
Yea, this is a statin that I had never heard of, pitavastatin. And this is the generic, not a brand name. Not sure why it costs more than other statins. Mr wtg tried several of the others (simvastatin, atorvastatin) many years ago and couldn't deal with the side effects. The cardiologist said this one seems to have fewer side effects and he thought it was worth a try.
After three months on the lowest dose of pitavastatin, Mr wtg's total cholesterol is down to 135. His LDL dropped to 79 from a high of 122. The original goal was to get his LDL down below 70, but when we talked to the cardiologist a few days ago after the lipid panel came back, he said the most recently issued guideline (for someone like Mr wtg who has had a stroke already) is an LDL of 55. Talk about moving the goalposts!
This statin has been way more effective with no side effects for Mr wtg. The max dose is 4 mg; he's increasing from 1 mg to 2. Hopefully that will do the trick.
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SwitzerlandOTOH, maybe you should just eat your cheese...and ice cream....
https://www.npr.org/2026/07/13/nx-s1-5884664/zeke-emanuel-optimize-health-long-life
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How Costco became a 'third place'Oh yea...big draw is the optical department. I know some folks do online prescription glasses but I like the in-store model better. Decent glasses at a fair price.
And toilet paper and paper towels. Laundry detergent. Kitchen stuff like aluminum foil, parchment paper, Ziploc bags. Vinegar, which we use as fabric softener and for household cleaning chores.
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How Costco became a 'third place'My uk summary:
Big & overly busy, crowded even despite size, always long queues at the tills, buy in bulk so need storage.Easy parking.
Good for food generally.
Some interesting products. Cheaper even after membership fees, yet I always come out having spent £100-300. So it encourages spending.
Very little seating in the cafe/takeaway, they want you to pay and go.I really dislike it, worst shopping experience in the UK
Our warehouse is one of the smallest in the Chicago area and doesn't tend to attract as many people as a lot of the others do. Our store on a weekend isn't as busy as the others are on a weekday. A few months ago Costco initiated Executive Member hours; we can get in an hour before the warehouse opens to Gold Star members. I'm there at 9 and out by 9:30 (I do self-checkout and I'm wicked fast!).
We don't get stuff at the food court (portions too big, nutrition is lousy), so not an issue for us.
We've known some of the employees since this location opened 20-some years ago. Friendly folks.
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How Costco became a 'third place'@jon-nyc - It depends on what you buy. For us...
It's one-stop shopping for us for a ton of stuff. As far as quantities, we have a basement with a freezer and a pantry area for the non-perishables.
Our shopping habits have definitely evolved as we've gotten older. We've shifted buying of perishables in the veg and fruit category to other stores because Costco quantities didn't make sense anymore; we just don't eat as much as we did in our younger youth and we don't entertain. We freeze butcher shop purchases like chicken and beef. Since Mr wtg's stroke I find I don't have as much time to cook, so we have turned to some of the prepared stuff, both the Costco products and other fresh and frozen entrees. Tinned fish (they even carry Fishwife now), chili, pasta sauce, Indian simmer sauces...they are constantly bringing in new items that we really like.
Not being fashion mavens, a lot of our wardrobe comes from Costco. Shirts, pants, socks, loungewear, and shoes are all from Costco. The step-in Skechers are $30. Such a deal!
I also order stuff from costco.com. All my raised garden beds came via Costco at a deep discount off regular retail.
We don't buy much in the way of electronics, but when we do, it's from Costco. Laptops, iPads, SimpliSafe monitoring system, TVs.
Also gasoline. Costco is usually 25 cents a gallon cheaper than other stations. The pharmacy is hard to beat on price, both for prescription and OTC products.
We have an Executive Membership which gives you 2 percent back. The annual check covers the cost of the membership and we get another hundred bucks in our pocket.
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Brooks Falls Salmon CamBrown bears gorging themselves on salmon.
https://explore.org/livecams/brown-bears/brown-bear-salmon-cam-brooks-falls
Multiple views. Seems to be a resource hog, takes forever to load.
https://explore.org/livecams/brown-bear-multiview?livecam=56Story:
https://www.npr.org/2026/09/18/nx-s1-5973938/fat-bear-week-2026-bracket
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Word association threadalligator
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How Costco became a 'third place'Mr wtg and I love shopping at Costco, so I totally get it!
On the surface, Costco is a popular spot for Americans to stretch their grocery dollar, but it also feeds a deeply human need. As physical community spaces disappear and social bonds fray, the warehouse giant has emerged as an unexpected anchor for connection.
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SwitzerlandOur first authentic Swiss meal. “Raclette” which is both the name of the cheese and how they prepare it (poured over bread and/or potatoes, sausage and/or bacon on the side) There is nothing here not to like.
Oh man, that raclette looks fabulous. I'm so envious!!
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Word association thread
