Good afternoon all. The sun is mostly out and the temperature and humidity are up here near the coast. Swimming in the ocean is on the agenda.
I thought last week was the final stretch for preparing for the estate sale folks to come it but I was off by a week - fortunately in the more easily remediable direction.
I have spent the last four months with departed relatives, some long gone and others more recent. It has been interesting, I have learned a lot, found things I didn't know existed. I am looking forward to getting back to the living,
Thank you - we did! We saw tons of coquina in the surf, so many you could pick them up by the handful. I haven't seen them that thick in years. Although it may be more timing on my part rather than rarity on theirs. I have been concerned that beach renourishment projects may have had a negative impact on their population.
It is beautiful weather outside. I may go take the doggos for a walk. I am sure they'll be happy.
When I come downstairs in the morning, both most often are laying on their backs, all four legs in the air. Although they hear me coming and their tails are a waggin' as well. In their mind, life is good.
Going out to dinner tonight. It was going to be just Katie and I, but then our daughter invited herself and her brothers along. 🙄 Katie then decided to invite the Godparents over, and wanted to surprise me, but as soon as I walked into the room Clair asked if I knew if the Godparents were joining us. She didn't appear to notice the look of annoyance on Katie's face for ruining the surprise. Our daughte invited her boyfriend to join us, but due to logistics reasons he won't be able to attend. Long story short, his car died 8 months ago, and at least 3x a week our daughter takes him to work. He lives 7-ish miles from us, so each trip is a minimum of 16 miles. He wants to move into an apartment 25 miles away: Katie told our daughter she will not be taking him to work if he does. Ironically, there's a decent apartment complex literally a block from where he works.
We are back home, where everything seems to be fine. Not having left a pet here makes "fine" more probable. We learned that we never want granite counters, but a wine fridge would be nice.
Yesterday evening there was apparently an actual dust storm in this area, complete with a dust storm warning (the first I ever heard of) on my flip cellphone (which I missed). I never noticed any strange weather outside, probably because at the time I was in the kitchen concentrating on following a recipe. Possibly there was a wind off the lake keeping the dust away; who knows.
It is slightly chilly today...upper sixties and cloudy...I might turn the furnace on, after two really hot and humid days...sigh...OH...
We were supposed to get severe thunderstorms last night, but if we did, I never heard them...lol
I have a bunch of chores that I don't feel like doing...
I have done one: I ordered some full-sized sheets of Bounty Paper towels ( I hate the select-a-size ones for several reasons), and they sent me the select-a-size, This has happened before, though a different vendor on Amazon...I attribute it to whoever picks the stuff not knowing there are two kinds, as they are packaged the same, was a decent deal, 6 double rolls for only $ 25...I have to box them up and return them via UPS, though it is easy, ,just put them in a box and slap the label on, this vendor doesn't do exchanges, so I just ordered them again through someone else...and that is the only productive thing I have done today...lol
What an interesting frog, that screaming is too funny...and the first video where it walks into something was quite funny..they seem kinda cute in a way.
I looked up herpets because I didn't know its meaning, and all I kept getting was
Actually my point is that this one is *not* a budget frog. The analogous hotel would be . . . I dunno, don't stay in hotels much, but the breakfast buffet is included?
Didn't have time to comment on this yesterday, but regarding Jay's throwdown with implicit bias (well done, BTW Jay; that Marque guy might want to start dusting off his resume if you keep it up), my own confirmation bias tells me that implicit bias training is at least one worthwhile aspect of DEI training (and maybe one of only a very few, though my direct personal experience with said training is admittedly limited to only one instance, which I can say with the utmost confidence and no implicit bias whatsoever was a complete waste of employee time and company money) because, like becoming knowledgeable about confirmation bias (maybe someday I'll tell you the story of my mentioning "confirmation bias" in my answer to a judge's questioning me about my ability to be fair and impartial during jury voir dire for a criminal trial some years ago), it can be carried over into most - if not all - areas of one's personal life with benefits beyond what may be applied in just the work place.
So, now that I've once again revealed my own bias for often taking the long way around the barn to get to the feed lot, here's a little something that showed up in my inbox recently, written by an Epstein not named Jeffrey and therefore, unlike the late Jeffrey Epstein, most likely someone who's worth the air they breathe and the food they eat. Sorry if my bias against child sex offenders, child sex traffickers and perverted, twisted child sex voyeurs is showing. I have no illusions about not being biased in this regard.
Maybe I need more DEI training.
Anyway, the fact is that I thought perhaps at least some among you might find this interesting. And I'll certainly try not to be offended, let my feelings be hurt or feel left out if you find it more interesting than my comment here. But if that's the case, maybe it's y'all that need more DEI training...
I wish. I'm just out on bail while my appeal's pending.
BTW... Do you have any idea how hard it is to find a lawyer who's not so busy working for some guy named Trump that he actually has time to take a case like mine?
My mind wandered to the question of why the French are called frogs. A suggested answer:
"the area where Paris is now located was known as Lutetia which means Mud-land and it was surrounded by swamps. So the occupants lived like Frogs and toads in the swamp. The French nobility that would visit Versailles apparently tended to refer to Parisians as frogs because of the swampy surroundings…and only later did the term get picked up to describe the French in general."
My dog didn't expect it either. With the video playing, out of a slumber his ears perked and then he tried to climb in my lap to see what the heck was making that noise.
I never heard a frog do that before. One of the videos led to a "frog meme" video recommendation, which of course I watched in its entirety, and now I'm frogged out.
Safe travels! And may your kids sleep well on the trip home...unless one is driving, we prefer that one remain awake!
My father fell asleep 2-3 times driving my Aunt Betty home from an ice cream adventure. She lived an hour south of him, the ice cream parlor 30 minutes north of where he lived. he'd pick her up, drive up for ice cream, and back. We had them nap back at his house after the 2nd accident, breaking up the trip.
Her daughter asked Aunt Betty (who was 88) "aren't you afraid to die"?
Aunt Betty informed her "Today is a good day to die. That or eat ice cream, I'm fine either way".
My father was legendary for loving desserts. He used to say there were only two good types of pie: hot 'n cold. At his usual restaurants, when asked if he wanted dessert, he'd nod, but when asked what, he'd tell them "surprise me". After they got used to it, the wait help would do fun things with an existing dessert (e.g. add sprinkles to ice cream), and he'd grin, then thank them.
With my wife Pam, the first time we took him to a Baskin Robbins, he asked her to order for him, "surprise me". Pam looked panicky (so I whispered "doesn't matter what, two different flavors one chocolatey"). So she ordered rocky road and something else with it. Dad loved it, told her she did a great job.
Great example of gratitude, also known as deciding to be happy. Turns out you can make other people happy by being happy yourself. Where does it all end?
If you are ever in flyover country, specifically Indiana, and somewhat northeast of Indy, stop by Ivanhoes Ice Cream parlor in Upland Indiana. Upland is about an hour north of Indy (I-69, go east about 6 miles).
100 different sundaes, 100 different shakes. At least 93 of them delicious.
Is it worth a trip just to get ice cream? Probably not, but if you're in the neighborhood...
I love Indy, and hated moving, but at the time there were no job openings in my academic domain, so I moved to Dayton. I still have friends and family there. I was there two weeks ago walking the Indy Mini marathon.
If you can visit the Indianapolis Children's Museum, I think it is one of the best in the world.
Good Sunday afternoon. I was out of town on retreat until a little while ago. Interesting little critter, as Cynthia's TSAF picks always are.
Good afternoon all. The sun is mostly out and the temperature and humidity are up here near the coast. Swimming in the ocean is on the agenda.
I thought last week was the final stretch for preparing for the estate sale folks to come it but I was off by a week - fortunately in the more easily remediable direction.
I have spent the last four months with departed relatives, some long gone and others more recent. It has been interesting, I have learned a lot, found things I didn't know existed. I am looking forward to getting back to the living,
That's a very interesting point of view. I hope you enjoy the ocean!
Thank you - we did! We saw tons of coquina in the surf, so many you could pick them up by the handful. I haven't seen them that thick in years. Although it may be more timing on my part rather than rarity on theirs. I have been concerned that beach renourishment projects may have had a negative impact on their population.
It is beautiful weather outside. I may go take the doggos for a walk. I am sure they'll be happy.
When I come downstairs in the morning, both most often are laying on their backs, all four legs in the air. Although they hear me coming and their tails are a waggin' as well. In their mind, life is good.
Going out to dinner tonight. It was going to be just Katie and I, but then our daughter invited herself and her brothers along. 🙄 Katie then decided to invite the Godparents over, and wanted to surprise me, but as soon as I walked into the room Clair asked if I knew if the Godparents were joining us. She didn't appear to notice the look of annoyance on Katie's face for ruining the surprise. Our daughte invited her boyfriend to join us, but due to logistics reasons he won't be able to attend. Long story short, his car died 8 months ago, and at least 3x a week our daughter takes him to work. He lives 7-ish miles from us, so each trip is a minimum of 16 miles. He wants to move into an apartment 25 miles away: Katie told our daughter she will not be taking him to work if he does. Ironically, there's a decent apartment complex literally a block from where he works.
Placido Domingo, everyone. Nice weather so far today. Epic Fail will have to mow the lawn after not mowing before we left.
Morning—barely, still…
Supposed to be around 90 later today here in Greater Mar-a-Lago-Land.
What Epic Fail lack in enthusiasm, they’ll make up for in youthful vigor, I’m sure!
They take a lot of long breaks.
Maybe the right word here is semi-epic breaks? Or maybe epic-esque? Or maybe they're just pain old full-on epic?
The breaks overwhelm the action.
We are back home, where everything seems to be fine. Not having left a pet here makes "fine" more probable. We learned that we never want granite counters, but a wine fridge would be nice.
Stone surfaces are hell on fine glass and porcelain…
Also on plain glass. And slick and unpleasant, and it's hard to see spills to clean them up.
Yes! Why do people not think about this?
Yesterday evening there was apparently an actual dust storm in this area, complete with a dust storm warning (the first I ever heard of) on my flip cellphone (which I missed). I never noticed any strange weather outside, probably because at the time I was in the kitchen concentrating on following a recipe. Possibly there was a wind off the lake keeping the dust away; who knows.
It is slightly chilly today...upper sixties and cloudy...I might turn the furnace on, after two really hot and humid days...sigh...OH...
We were supposed to get severe thunderstorms last night, but if we did, I never heard them...lol
I have a bunch of chores that I don't feel like doing...
I have done one: I ordered some full-sized sheets of Bounty Paper towels ( I hate the select-a-size ones for several reasons), and they sent me the select-a-size, This has happened before, though a different vendor on Amazon...I attribute it to whoever picks the stuff not knowing there are two kinds, as they are packaged the same, was a decent deal, 6 double rolls for only $ 25...I have to box them up and return them via UPS, though it is easy, ,just put them in a box and slap the label on, this vendor doesn't do exchanges, so I just ordered them again through someone else...and that is the only productive thing I have done today...lol
And probably someone who wanted the select-a-size got stuck with the full-size one.
Yeah, most likely
What an interesting frog, that screaming is too funny...and the first video where it walks into something was quite funny..they seem kinda cute in a way.
I looked up herpets because I didn't know its meaning, and all I kept getting was
"herpes"...lol
AI is just so much smarter than us, isn't it? /s
Maybe it's off its game due to a (coughs, clears throat) viral infection?
Yeah, it can be wrong and has been and screwed up my trivia counts...lol
I understand it can fantasize also
It tells people what it "thinks" they want to hear.
True. They are inexhaustible sycophants.
https://www.oneusefulthing.org/p/personality-and-persuasion
Why can't more people see the problem?
So, based on that first video, can we assume that Budgett’s Frogs are none too bright?
Not a cat. A frog. Not a cheap low-end frog without many features (which would be a budget frog). A Budgett's frog.
edited for clarity
The Motel 6 of frogs.
Actually my point is that this one is *not* a budget frog. The analogous hotel would be . . . I dunno, don't stay in hotels much, but the breakfast buffet is included?
This is the frog Trump would want if he were into herpets instead of jets.
That image is so weird it made me laugh.
Probably made some others want to croak. Metaphorically speaking - or croaking - of course.
Phil? What say you?
Didn't have time to comment on this yesterday, but regarding Jay's throwdown with implicit bias (well done, BTW Jay; that Marque guy might want to start dusting off his resume if you keep it up), my own confirmation bias tells me that implicit bias training is at least one worthwhile aspect of DEI training (and maybe one of only a very few, though my direct personal experience with said training is admittedly limited to only one instance, which I can say with the utmost confidence and no implicit bias whatsoever was a complete waste of employee time and company money) because, like becoming knowledgeable about confirmation bias (maybe someday I'll tell you the story of my mentioning "confirmation bias" in my answer to a judge's questioning me about my ability to be fair and impartial during jury voir dire for a criminal trial some years ago), it can be carried over into most - if not all - areas of one's personal life with benefits beyond what may be applied in just the work place.
So, now that I've once again revealed my own bias for often taking the long way around the barn to get to the feed lot, here's a little something that showed up in my inbox recently, written by an Epstein not named Jeffrey and therefore, unlike the late Jeffrey Epstein, most likely someone who's worth the air they breathe and the food they eat. Sorry if my bias against child sex offenders, child sex traffickers and perverted, twisted child sex voyeurs is showing. I have no illusions about not being biased in this regard.
Maybe I need more DEI training.
Anyway, the fact is that I thought perhaps at least some among you might find this interesting. And I'll certainly try not to be offended, let my feelings be hurt or feel left out if you find it more interesting than my comment here. But if that's the case, maybe it's y'all that need more DEI training...
https://davidepstein.substack.com/p/fact-checking-and-the-illusion-of
Thanks for the link. Lots to chew on.
Bon appétit.
> for a criminal trial some years ago <
We’re so glad you beat the rap.
Giggle
I wish. I'm just out on bail while my appeal's pending.
BTW... Do you have any idea how hard it is to find a lawyer who's not so busy working for some guy named Trump that he actually has time to take a case like mine?
Tell them you'll pay their bill.
Do I have to tell them that under oath?
My mind wandered to the question of why the French are called frogs. A suggested answer:
"the area where Paris is now located was known as Lutetia which means Mud-land and it was surrounded by swamps. So the occupants lived like Frogs and toads in the swamp. The French nobility that would visit Versailles apparently tended to refer to Parisians as frogs because of the swampy surroundings…and only later did the term get picked up to describe the French in general."
It's a better explanation than their being cannibalistic like these frogs.
Although I suspect some Parisian shopkeepers may have evolved from Budgetts frog.
If I am candid, the frog in the last video seemed stressed or scared. It was interesting to hear but not amusing.
Yeah, I felt bad for it, especially them goading him
I played the screaming video and asked my husband to guess what kind of animal it was and he said, “raccoon?”
This was a fine edition of TSAF. Thank you.
I certainly wasn't expecting that frog's vocals when I watched the video.
Me neither. It was disturbing.
My dog didn't expect it either. With the video playing, out of a slumber his ears perked and then he tried to climb in my lap to see what the heck was making that noise.
I never heard a frog do that before. One of the videos led to a "frog meme" video recommendation, which of course I watched in its entirety, and now I'm frogged out.
Good morning, everyone. We'll be going home today. The youth, of course, are still dead-o.
Thanks for taking the time to enlighten us on a travel day. Safe journey
RE: young dead-os
Drive carefully. Don't want to attract the R.I.P.D.'s attention, otherwise it might turn out to be a little more exciting drive than you'd care for...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWCAI6Zu2Vo
Safe travels! And may your kids sleep well on the trip home...unless one is driving, we prefer that one remain awake!
My father fell asleep 2-3 times driving my Aunt Betty home from an ice cream adventure. She lived an hour south of him, the ice cream parlor 30 minutes north of where he lived. he'd pick her up, drive up for ice cream, and back. We had them nap back at his house after the 2nd accident, breaking up the trip.
Her daughter asked Aunt Betty (who was 88) "aren't you afraid to die"?
Aunt Betty informed her "Today is a good day to die. That or eat ice cream, I'm fine either way".
Not a bad motto to live by.
Give me Lemon Blackberry Swirl or give me death!
My father was legendary for loving desserts. He used to say there were only two good types of pie: hot 'n cold. At his usual restaurants, when asked if he wanted dessert, he'd nod, but when asked what, he'd tell them "surprise me". After they got used to it, the wait help would do fun things with an existing dessert (e.g. add sprinkles to ice cream), and he'd grin, then thank them.
With my wife Pam, the first time we took him to a Baskin Robbins, he asked her to order for him, "surprise me". Pam looked panicky (so I whispered "doesn't matter what, two different flavors one chocolatey"). So she ordered rocky road and something else with it. Dad loved it, told her she did a great job.
Great example of gratitude, also known as deciding to be happy. Turns out you can make other people happy by being happy yourself. Where does it all end?
that sounds wonderful. Is it something I can find in a store locally?
If you are ever in flyover country, specifically Indiana, and somewhat northeast of Indy, stop by Ivanhoes Ice Cream parlor in Upland Indiana. Upland is about an hour north of Indy (I-69, go east about 6 miles).
100 different sundaes, 100 different shakes. At least 93 of them delicious.
Is it worth a trip just to get ice cream? Probably not, but if you're in the neighborhood...
My niece lives in Indianapolis, so I may actually get to Indiana!
I love Indy, and hated moving, but at the time there were no job openings in my academic domain, so I moved to Dayton. I still have friends and family there. I was there two weeks ago walking the Indy Mini marathon.
If you can visit the Indianapolis Children's Museum, I think it is one of the best in the world.
Guess that depends on where you live. These guys have stores and home delivery around the Midwest, sadly not in my area though...
https://www.oberweis.com/dairy-stores/products/product/6779
I certainly go through sugar spike-and-crash cycles. I try to eat as little as possible on a long drive.
Safe travels. The roads were busy yesterday. Friday traffic.
That shouldn't be a problem today in the direction we're going.