Time to decide which candy I don’t like that I will buy for Halloween. It will give me something besides read to do while the Portland Marathon is clogging up the neighborhood. This year’s route is taking the runners along the street on the north edge of the apartment complex where I live. Good thing I wasn’t planning on going anywhere today.
As you can see by Itzl's concerned look, this group is for us to check in at to let people know we are alive, doing OK, and not affected by such things as heat, blizzards, floods, wild fires, hurricanes, tornadoes, power outages, or other such things that could keep us off DKos. It's also so we can find other Kossacks nearby for in-person checks when other methods of communication fail - a buddy system. Members come here to check in. If you're not here, or anywhere else on DKos, and there are adverse conditions in your area (floods, heatwaves, hurricanes, etc.), we and your buddy are going to check up on you. If you are going to be away from your computer for a day or a week, let us know here. We care!
IAN is a great group to join, and a good place to learn to write diaries. Drop one of us a PM to be added to the Itzl Alert Network anytime! We all share the publishing duties, and we welcome everyone who reads IAN to write diaries for the group! Every member is an editor, so anyone can take a turn when they have something to say, photos and music to share, a cause to promote or news!
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Pigs were first domesticated in the Middle East. Modern pig DNA shows very little evidence of this.
Speaking of pigs, they’ve been spotted (and it’s verified) using tools.
Augmented reality glasses may end up replacing technical manuals.
A sword found at a dig on Majorca is generating considerable puzzlement. It was an unexpected find, since the site has been being excavated since the 1950s.
Well, it’s about —ing time for this (Terry Pratchett fan, what can I say?). Too late for me, and I’m blessed with a strong constitution so I never had much trouble anyway, but holy crap! men can be idiots.
People in China were farming carp 8000 years ago.
Bats talk to each other as individuals. Lots of arguing, apparently.
The London Stone is a mystery; it’s been in the city for a minimum of 500 years, apparently.
It seems World of Warcraft has added archaeology as a skillset.
Somebody at Stanford has developed a prototype gel to prevent wildfires. I wonder what foresterbob thinks of this.
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They’ve been installing new elevators in the parking structure closest to the Central library for at least six months. Two of the towers have been nearing completion for several weeks and on Wednesday I drove to the library because one of the books on hold for me couldn’t wait till after the Marathon (also, I had several to turn in). There was a sign at the entrance that the elevator at SW 9th & SW Morrison was working (northeast corner of the structure). The new towers have two elevators each and I thought that meant that the one tower was usable. No. One elevator. Period. For the entire structure. They haven’t finished working on the second new tower and they’ve already blocked off the other two to start work on them. The new stairs are available, but the rails are very open and I do not like heights.
I went back a couple days later and both elevators were working in the one tower. I hope to never again have to park above Level 5 because the new elevator tower is all very open and I do not deal well with higher than that.
My grandson was home sick on Thursday. And Friday.
The kitchen project continues. I even got my winter supply of cocoa mix made.
A couple-of-paragraphs news item in the last Willamette Week was that three different unions representing workers in the Pacific Northwest have settled new contracts. This eliminates the immediate possibility of strikes at many of our (Oregon) state colleges and universities, Fred Meyer and other Kroger stores, and Kaiser.
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My oldest-and-dearest died about 6 ½ weeks short of four years ago. I miss him. He was the best friend I ever had in my life and I don’t have another relationship even remotely the same.
He used to follow me home. My first husband didn’t believe I wasn’t inviting him every time until he met us on the bus one day and followed us home.
We could talk every day and find new things to say, and not speak for a couple of months and then pick up in the middle of a conversation.
My friend and I used to throw Friday the 13th parties together. Not themed, just a good excuse. One evening a few days before one of our parties, he was at my place making his chili so it could sit and get acquainted with itself before the party (some of his friends insisted he put a biohazard label on the pot because it was always so spicy). He was using me to help taste for seasoning when my husband got home and decided we were going to have chicken curry for dinner (also rated lethal by people who knew us). Now, mind, this was all delicious; but it was also an experience that, so to speak, burned itself into my memory.
He loved my girls and enjoyed it even more than I did when one of them topped his jokes.
I miss him.
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My second trip to the library was to pick up more books on hold. There were two waiting when I checked in the morning, so I decided I might as well go get them — and turn in a set I had that I had decided to splurge and buy for myself. As I was walking out of the room where the holds are shelved, I passed a cart with an assortment that hadn’t been shelved yet, so (anybody surprised?) I checked — and there was a book for me. This makes twice in all the years I’ve been doing that that I found a book for me when I checked a cart as I passed.