My dad is single-handedly keeping the postcard business afloat. Every trip no matter how minor produces one, and sometimes he randomly sends old ones leftover from trips when he is just at home. My kids do like it though, so it’s appreciated!
My MIL still uses a decade-old Garmin GPS system despite having a smart phone. I'd say something if I thought I had even a 1% chance of changing her mind.
My Mom has a smart phone and doesn’t know how to use map apps. Not helpful when we’re traveling, as I’m the one driving. She used to do all the navigating on our family car trips - Dad drove and she’d open the Mobile Travel Guide(c)! 🗺️
My mom got a TripTik from AAA for our cross-country move in '75. I can remember her in the front passenger seat discussing what was coming up next with my stepfather.
We drilled the kids into writing thank you notes (cannot deposit the check until you send a TY note!). Apparently they still send notes to the grandparents, but they send us a text msg or an email. My nephew sends TY notes.
Replaced AT&T with an $100 Ooma (now ~$60) for home service about a dozen years ago. Was paying 5 now 6 dollars/month for nationwide service. Thing paid for itself in no time.
Landline at home and at the family cabin in Sonoma County.
At home - it's the same phone number since the house was built in 1908. I'm not giving it up, even though it's now fiberoptic and no longer copper wire.
At the cabin - cell service in the canyon is non-existent. Ergo, a landline is essential for contacting emergency services (or anything else). Funny thing is, I can remember going to that cabin and not having a phone available. If you wanted to make a phone call, you had to go into town to use a payphone (another bygone thing).
we originally had a land line because of frequent power outages, then Verizon converted everyone in the neighborhood to fiber optic for everything (like 10+ years ago). My wife insisted she wanted to keep it, fair enough. At this point we mostly have it to give to doctors and the pharmacy, I think given another 3 years or so the missus might decide it's not necessary any more.
I saw the pope issued some edict forbidding surrogacy because it commercializes pregnancy and it just got me thinking where this area of healthcare will go over the long term. It seems like some sort of artificial womb is inevitable, first used by rich ppl and eventually adopted as standard. Would reduce maternal mortality to zero, help in part to address inequities between men and women, and allow easy monitoring/treatment of fetus in utero. I mean, this would be in a few hundred years, not in our lifetime, but the surrogacy thing seems to be a short-term transitional state as we move to a completely artificial womb.
"commercializes pregnancy" - that was and is not only possible but occurred and occurs without surrogacy. Another case of confusing technique with principal.
I sort of get what he means - there is something gross about rich people paying poor people to carry their kids through pregnancy. I think if you view it through the lens of rich/poor it does seem a bit unjust. I think the reality tho is ppl do it bc they can’t have kids (eg gay male couples) not bc they are entitled or just choosing not to be pregnant, which his reasoning seems to imply
Yeah totally. I think directionally I like Papa Francisco because he chooses to focus on poverty and environmental issues and cares very little about “the rules”. But IMO the church needs to do the following to avoid drifting into irrelevancy:
Books on people’s shelves in their homes. It used to be that you could kind of get a sense of the person by seeing their bookshelf, but now it’s all spare and empty and boring
You should come to my house. I have about 60 feet of full bookshelves in my living room (plus more in the bedrooms). I just did a big clearout to make room for the new influx of books. My sister in law runs three Little Free Libraries so she always gets my purged books.
If I ever build my own house, it will absolutely have an amazing library.
The bookstore is one place I still spend money. But my bookshelves are all full so everything I read now ends up in ever growing piles on the floor. Shelves and piles are in my bedroom so no hint of my personality for visitors.
The folks that moved in above me had bookshelves built in their living room. He’s a history professor at IU so I can guess what I can find there.
We have built in bookshelves but my wife thinks it looks cluttered to have actual books in them so we shove them in storage or under beds, etc. That is partly why I notice this at other folks’ houses - it seems like my wife was right in the sense that this choice is in keeping with general trends in interior design, but just bums me out. I like seeing books and thinking about them and don’t particularly care what my house looks like, esp on inside
One of the first things Mr CG did in the house was build bookshelves in the living room. They’re packed with old volumes shared with photos, Mr CG’s art, sheet music, and um, CDs I can’t bear to part with 🙄. Mr CG went to audio books years ago. I prefer print, so those are stacked in my office where I need to install bookshelves!
One killed, two injured in avalanche in the gully area of Squaw Valley/Palisades ski resort. This is the GS Bowl area if you ski to left off the chair of KT-22.
I had been checking the avi forecast earlier in the week as my friend was leading a group out to a warming hut this past Mon-Wed (all made it back safe despite hiking out in terrible conditions yesterday). There were numerous reports of wind slab avalanches and ongoing threat of wind slab avalanches on several aspects due the wind changing directions over the past week or so. There was also reports of a persistent slab from an hoar layer buried from a prior storm, beneath the wind slabs. Seems like the signs were there but this incident makes me wonder what Palisades did to trigger these avalanches before setting people loose on this run. Either way, very tragic and sad.
Family member does avalanche control at a big resort. Lots of team members getting sick right now, so I wonder if there were staffing issues. Also fyi for those that don't realize-- these folks who work with dynamite on a regular basis, protecting lives, get paid peanuts. The big resorts need to pay professional wages for skilled and experienced labor. Lots do it for love of the mountain, but come on giant resort conglomerates, do better by your people and your patrons.
When my family had a house in Olympic Valley, we knew some folks on the avalanche prevention crew. They were dedicated to their jobs. They'd go lay charges and mortar cornices and just below the cornice and you would always hear the dull booms of the charges going off during early mornings after heavy snow. And sometimes they would close off runs because of avalanche risk until they could address the issue. However, I got to imagine that avalanche prevention is an art, not a hard science. And I'm surprised that someone got killed on the western side of KT-22, which is a much broader bowl and has more places to escape than the eastern side, which has some death chutes.
I think that is part of the problem with a wind slab or a persistent layer, it ends up being a pretty wide avi, cutting off escape routes. I am not nearly as knowledgeable as the experts, but that is my understanding. It also makes you wonder how they failed to trigger it if it was such a weak and wide slab. If they detonated in the area, seems like it would have triggered pretty readily.
Trump, after declaring that he would speak at his civil fraud case and then backed out, decided to speak. He spoke for about five minutes, going over some greatest hits of his campaign sound-bites, but didn't do his defense much good. Just a bunch of denialism before the Judge cut him off.
Trump Lawyer Alina Habbababba: "He didn’t kill anyone. He didn’t get charged for it. But they’re using hypotheticals to frighten America." Officer Brian Sicknick unavailable for comment.
I do think his Jan 6 involvement is a bit of a gray area and SCOTUS will say it’s not clearly an insurrection within the intended meaning of the 14th Amendment and he’ll be back on the ballot
That is the beauty of blowing dog whistles. The master manipulators are great at this, which is why Stewart Rhodes never set foot on Capitol grounds, believing he could escape criminal liability. Unlike Trump, however, Stewart was too intimately involved in the actual planning and logistics of the Oath Keepers participating that day.
I’m sure it’s a winning issue in R primary though. If he gets the nomination he will just say different shit in the general. I don’t think he has any conception of being ideologically consistent
I like the type of player we’ve added with Matthews and Brady….smaller, quicker guys with some speed, to go along with Grizzell, Merriweather, Endries, etc. Nice.
Bears come from way back (20) to upset up and down and beat up Colorado. Saw the last 3 minutes of that (it was tied when I got to it, so the decisive moments were still to come).
Straw hat band sounded like Cal had won an NCAA tournament game. The few old blues camera caught (there were apparently more out of market Buff fans in Haas than Bear fans) didn't seem to show as much excitement as the average Big 14 12ths or ACC fanbase does during the pregame warmup layin drill. When was the last 2 game conference winning streak for Cal? It seemed like it would have generated a little more enthusiasm.
Yeah totally. Bama is a good program, but they were in the peloton before he came over and you’d have to assume there is at least a 50% chance they return there within 2-3 years, given similar trajectories of other teams when their coaches leave (eg Miami, FSU)
The only reason I'm not preparing to wave goodbye to those chumps is that it might dent the neighborhood to lose those teams. Otherwise, have fun ruining the neighborhood in Alexandria!
Something old fashioned that a friend/family member still uses/has
My dad is single-handedly keeping the postcard business afloat. Every trip no matter how minor produces one, and sometimes he randomly sends old ones leftover from trips when he is just at home. My kids do like it though, so it’s appreciated!
My MIL still uses a decade-old Garmin GPS system despite having a smart phone. I'd say something if I thought I had even a 1% chance of changing her mind.
My Mom has a smart phone and doesn’t know how to use map apps. Not helpful when we’re traveling, as I’m the one driving. She used to do all the navigating on our family car trips - Dad drove and she’d open the Mobile Travel Guide(c)! 🗺️
my wife would still have us using AAA triptiks if she could get away with it
My mom got a TripTik from AAA for our cross-country move in '75. I can remember her in the front passenger seat discussing what was coming up next with my stepfather.
I still write physical thank-you notes. It seems as though I am the only one who does anymore.
I do! Mailed my Christmas/bday ones today (a little late, but not late enough to be embarrassing).
Same here. I often coordinate presentations for statewide conferences and always send a thank you note to those who volunteer to present on a subject.
+1!
We drilled the kids into writing thank you notes (cannot deposit the check until you send a TY note!). Apparently they still send notes to the grandparents, but they send us a text msg or an email. My nephew sends TY notes.
🙏💵🤑🫰🫰
We've got two 18 year old Panasonic plasma TVs, still going strong.
Fountain Pen. I use one. detest new fangled pens.
Are you an ink stained wretch?
1. Land line. We have one at the house in the foothills because cell service is sketchy (WiFi calling only) and WiFi goes down when we lose power.
2. Checks. Thanks Mom!
Replaced AT&T with an $100 Ooma (now ~$60) for home service about a dozen years ago. Was paying 5 now 6 dollars/month for nationwide service. Thing paid for itself in no time.
we still have a land line. I tend to use it to make calls when home. we get occasionally odd phone connectivity on cell in the house.
Yeah I went many years without one but I got land line service added on to my fiber plan during pandemic bc my cell reception at home is spotty
Landline at home and at the family cabin in Sonoma County.
At home - it's the same phone number since the house was built in 1908. I'm not giving it up, even though it's now fiberoptic and no longer copper wire.
At the cabin - cell service in the canyon is non-existent. Ergo, a landline is essential for contacting emergency services (or anything else). Funny thing is, I can remember going to that cabin and not having a phone available. If you wanted to make a phone call, you had to go into town to use a payphone (another bygone thing).
we originally had a land line because of frequent power outages, then Verizon converted everyone in the neighborhood to fiber optic for everything (like 10+ years ago). My wife insisted she wanted to keep it, fair enough. At this point we mostly have it to give to doctors and the pharmacy, I think given another 3 years or so the missus might decide it's not necessary any more.
Holiday Cards.
I still send them but the list of who I send them to is ever shrinking.
Wall phone. I have one at home.
New
I saw the pope issued some edict forbidding surrogacy because it commercializes pregnancy and it just got me thinking where this area of healthcare will go over the long term. It seems like some sort of artificial womb is inevitable, first used by rich ppl and eventually adopted as standard. Would reduce maternal mortality to zero, help in part to address inequities between men and women, and allow easy monitoring/treatment of fetus in utero. I mean, this would be in a few hundred years, not in our lifetime, but the surrogacy thing seems to be a short-term transitional state as we move to a completely artificial womb.
"commercializes pregnancy" - that was and is not only possible but occurred and occurs without surrogacy. Another case of confusing technique with principal.
I sort of get what he means - there is something gross about rich people paying poor people to carry their kids through pregnancy. I think if you view it through the lens of rich/poor it does seem a bit unjust. I think the reality tho is ppl do it bc they can’t have kids (eg gay male couples) not bc they are entitled or just choosing not to be pregnant, which his reasoning seems to imply
The pope isn't concerned with the challenges faced by gay males.
Yeah totally. I think directionally I like Papa Francisco because he chooses to focus on poverty and environmental issues and cares very little about “the rules”. But IMO the church needs to do the following to avoid drifting into irrelevancy:
1. Cut it out with the Anti-Gay stuff completely.
2. Let women be priests.
3. Let priests be married.
What’s something that has disappeared over the past 10 years?
Apropos: Fruit Stripe gum is going away
https://www.cnn.com/2024/01/10/business/fruit-stripe-gum-discontinued/index.html
Never like Fruit Stripe gum. Looked good, but the flavor died out real fast.
Hated to hear that.
ESPN Emmys lol. I can't explain it but this is the most ESPN thing ever.
https://theathletic.com/5193316/2024/01/11/espn-emmys-fake-names-college-gameday?source=user-shared-article
Callable customer service.
Toys R Us
Although they pop up in a lot of Macy’s now
Pinkberry.
Still one at SFO!
Books on people’s shelves in their homes. It used to be that you could kind of get a sense of the person by seeing their bookshelf, but now it’s all spare and empty and boring
You should come to my house. I have about 60 feet of full bookshelves in my living room (plus more in the bedrooms). I just did a big clearout to make room for the new influx of books. My sister in law runs three Little Free Libraries so she always gets my purged books.
If I ever build my own house, it will absolutely have an amazing library.
Nice!
The bookstore is one place I still spend money. But my bookshelves are all full so everything I read now ends up in ever growing piles on the floor. Shelves and piles are in my bedroom so no hint of my personality for visitors.
The folks that moved in above me had bookshelves built in their living room. He’s a history professor at IU so I can guess what I can find there.
We have built in bookshelves but my wife thinks it looks cluttered to have actual books in them so we shove them in storage or under beds, etc. That is partly why I notice this at other folks’ houses - it seems like my wife was right in the sense that this choice is in keeping with general trends in interior design, but just bums me out. I like seeing books and thinking about them and don’t particularly care what my house looks like, esp on inside
One of the first things Mr CG did in the house was build bookshelves in the living room. They’re packed with old volumes shared with photos, Mr CG’s art, sheet music, and um, CDs I can’t bear to part with 🙄. Mr CG went to audio books years ago. I prefer print, so those are stacked in my office where I need to install bookshelves!
DBD Street Journal
Thirty-one year old Austrian heiress vows to give away 90% of her inheritance. Don't cry for her. She'll keep $421m.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-67935463
I wouldn't cry for anyone giving away their money. That's their choice.
Keeping $421 million for yourself still affords an opulent lifestyle.
An other-world issue I have no ability to relate to.
Who, among us, would?
Twist? He's a lawyer. They are mostly rich doctors' brothers in laws.
Zuckerbot: "I wonder what the poors are doing today"
https://www.instagram.com/p/C15Lck4SfpS/?utm_source=ig_embed&ig_rid=ceb82dff-3b1b-481e-878b-b64474bc345c&img_index=1
Remember when ppl said he should run for prez? Seems crazy now
Weather
One killed, two injured in avalanche in the gully area of Squaw Valley/Palisades ski resort. This is the GS Bowl area if you ski to left off the chair of KT-22.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2024/01/10/avalanche-palisades-tahoe-california/72178609007/
I had been checking the avi forecast earlier in the week as my friend was leading a group out to a warming hut this past Mon-Wed (all made it back safe despite hiking out in terrible conditions yesterday). There were numerous reports of wind slab avalanches and ongoing threat of wind slab avalanches on several aspects due the wind changing directions over the past week or so. There was also reports of a persistent slab from an hoar layer buried from a prior storm, beneath the wind slabs. Seems like the signs were there but this incident makes me wonder what Palisades did to trigger these avalanches before setting people loose on this run. Either way, very tragic and sad.
Family member does avalanche control at a big resort. Lots of team members getting sick right now, so I wonder if there were staffing issues. Also fyi for those that don't realize-- these folks who work with dynamite on a regular basis, protecting lives, get paid peanuts. The big resorts need to pay professional wages for skilled and experienced labor. Lots do it for love of the mountain, but come on giant resort conglomerates, do better by your people and your patrons.
This is going back decades, but aren't ski areas supposed to send out crews to safely trigger avalanches in order to avoid what happened at Palisades?
Safety should be top priority.
When my family had a house in Olympic Valley, we knew some folks on the avalanche prevention crew. They were dedicated to their jobs. They'd go lay charges and mortar cornices and just below the cornice and you would always hear the dull booms of the charges going off during early mornings after heavy snow. And sometimes they would close off runs because of avalanche risk until they could address the issue. However, I got to imagine that avalanche prevention is an art, not a hard science. And I'm surprised that someone got killed on the western side of KT-22, which is a much broader bowl and has more places to escape than the eastern side, which has some death chutes.
I think that is part of the problem with a wind slab or a persistent layer, it ends up being a pretty wide avi, cutting off escape routes. I am not nearly as knowledgeable as the experts, but that is my understanding. It also makes you wonder how they failed to trigger it if it was such a weak and wide slab. If they detonated in the area, seems like it would have triggered pretty readily.
OUR CRUMBLING DEMOCRACY
Iran seizes an oil tanker in retaliation of the US doing the same thing last year
https://www.cnn.com/2024/01/11/business/oil-tanker-boarded-armed-people-iran/index.html
Trump, after declaring that he would speak at his civil fraud case and then backed out, decided to speak. He spoke for about five minutes, going over some greatest hits of his campaign sound-bites, but didn't do his defense much good. Just a bunch of denialism before the Judge cut him off.
https://www.cnn.com/politics/live-news/trump-civil-fraud-trial-01-11-24/index.html
Trump Lawyer Alina Habbababba: "He didn’t kill anyone. He didn’t get charged for it. But they’re using hypotheticals to frighten America." Officer Brian Sicknick unavailable for comment.
https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/4400333-trump-lawyer-goes-on-defense-after-assassination-comment-he-didnt-kill-anyone/
If the ruling goes in Trump's favor, Biden could do the same thing. As long as he doesn't kill anyone.
I do think his Jan 6 involvement is a bit of a gray area and SCOTUS will say it’s not clearly an insurrection within the intended meaning of the 14th Amendment and he’ll be back on the ballot
That is the beauty of blowing dog whistles. The master manipulators are great at this, which is why Stewart Rhodes never set foot on Capitol grounds, believing he could escape criminal liability. Unlike Trump, however, Stewart was too intimately involved in the actual planning and logistics of the Oath Keepers participating that day.
He’s watched enough mob movies to limit his involvement in these things to mere suggestions
Apt hypothetical, since Trump's lawyers are claiming his speech on January 6th was part of his official duties.
Despite it being a losing issue, rapist claims credit for overturning Roe v Wade
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/jan/10/donald-trump-abortion-election-republicans-iowa
I’m sure it’s a winning issue in R primary though. If he gets the nomination he will just say different shit in the general. I don’t think he has any conception of being ideologically consistent
If you are the Biden Campaign, you just play the clip on repeat, ad infinitum, ad naseum, to the end of the earth, 24-7, so on and so forth.
I don't know if that will help him with women voters who have been punishing the GOP for abortion bans at every opportunity.
DBD AV CLUB
CAL
Go Bears!!!
Cal gets a transfer commitment from NMSU's leading WR last year
https://twitter.com/_jonathanbrady6/status/1745478711644938350
Like the nickname!
BALLGAME
I like the type of player we’ve added with Matthews and Brady….smaller, quicker guys with some speed, to go along with Grizzell, Merriweather, Endries, etc. Nice.
Seems like a vote of confidence for our QBs which is nice to see
Bears come from way back (20) to upset up and down and beat up Colorado. Saw the last 3 minutes of that (it was tied when I got to it, so the decisive moments were still to come).
Straw hat band sounded like Cal had won an NCAA tournament game. The few old blues camera caught (there were apparently more out of market Buff fans in Haas than Bear fans) didn't seem to show as much excitement as the average Big 14 12ths or ACC fanbase does during the pregame warmup layin drill. When was the last 2 game conference winning streak for Cal? It seemed like it would have generated a little more enthusiasm.
ELSEWHERE IN COLLEGE
NCAA President Charlie Baker: Nobody can say Michigan didn’t win national title ‘fair and square'
https://apnews.com/article/ncaa-michigan-baker-f3812a0dc88d1f0814aaf252b992a979
Keep thinking that "leader" couldn't be or look any worse...
Nick Saban to retire
Apropos: doesn't seem like Dan Lanning is interested in the job
https://twitter.com/CoachDanLanning/status/1745490828850815112?t=IB3DD3xDWW9oxe-yACOpvg&s=19
I don't think it's an exaggeration to say this is the end of an era, just in terms of the run he managed at Alabama.
It's an understatement.
Yeah totally. Bama is a good program, but they were in the peloton before he came over and you’d have to assume there is at least a 50% chance they return there within 2-3 years, given similar trajectories of other teams when their coaches leave (eg Miami, FSU)
Figure this next HC will suffer with unrealistic, post-Saban expectations.
Something tells me Alabama is here to stay as an SEC blueblood in the NIL/transfer portal era, though.
PRO
Wink Martindale rage quits as DC from NY Giants. There are reports that he'll either join the Eagles staff or a reboot of Tic-Tac-Dough
https://www.nj.com/giants/2024/01/will-wink-martindale-join-eagles-and-stick-it-to-giants-brian-daboll-in-2024.html
I have always wondered -- is he related to the real Wink Martindale?
Jacksonville unveils four different plans for their Moneypit of the Future
https://www.news4jax.com/news/local/2024/01/10/4-firms-submit-bids-to-assist-in-stadium-of-the-future-developments/
Aaron Rogers out for the rest of the season. Pat McAfee's season, that is.
https://www.cnn.com/2024/01/10/business/aaron-rodgers-pat-mcafee-show/index.html
Hard to root for a guy who continues to show so much ignorance and who continues trolling the American public with so much stupidity.
Head injuries are rough, man! Maybe he can donate his brain to (pseudo)science
Rodgers is rushing out to do just that, right now...
Quite a gig, getting paid over $1M to troll the public.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/dereksaul/2023/10/12/pat-mcafee-show-has-paid-aaron-rodgers-over-1-million-for-appearances-report-says/?sh=7b120dc566af
drive that traffic...
I had no idea.
Alexandria Wizards/Capitals?
https://wjla.com/news/local/dc-council-discusses-future-of-downtown-chinatown-capitol-one-arena-if-washington-wizards-capitals-move-to-alexandria-virginia-district-of-columbia-monumental-sports
They can be the Alexandria Wizards of Washington.
Like the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.
The only reason I'm not preparing to wave goodbye to those chumps is that it might dent the neighborhood to lose those teams. Otherwise, have fun ruining the neighborhood in Alexandria!
Wizards is I think the dumbest name in NBA. I dont disagree with moving away from Bulkets, but man, what a squandered opportunity
That's one of several reasons why they are the "Whizzers".
Is that related, in any way, to Cougin' it?
No. To Coug it, you actually have to, or have recently had, have a realistic chance of winning and relevancy. So there is actually something to lose.
Washington major sports franchises seem to have a dearth of imagination when it comes to franchise names.
Capitals
Red-potato-skins cum Commanders
Nationals
Bullets cum Wizards
At least Wizards makes the franchise name alliterative.
Apropos: in Asia, they love to apply the Latin term "cum". So you'll be reading something and, like a shot, it always surprises you
At least the others make sense though. Wizards is just random
Pete Carroll out at Seattle
https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/39280057/pete-carroll-expected-seahawks-coach-sources-say
Belichick out as well….see below ;-)
Awwww...I won't be able to boo Cheatey Petey anymore.
[Schefter] Pats to fire Bill Belichick
https://twitter.com/AdamSchefter/status/1745416259242434885
"Part ways" is vague enough that it might not be a firing, but a mutually agreed separation. For all we know, Belicihick may be retiring.
My guess is they told him it’s time to go, do you want to say it’s mutual or no?
Probably true. Even so, given the fact that Belichick is 72 years old, it would not surprise me to find that's he's retiring.
Vrabel?
What about Vrabel?