My wife's father became a conservative after a heart attack. There's definite evidence to brain damage causing personality changes.

8ish years ago I worked at an Air Force base (contract) with a group of guys to replace every computer on the base with an HP laptop that we installed a Win 10 image on made by USAF IT guys. I wonder how those laptops held up over time and what they're looking at for upgrades now.

All we did was image them and verify that they booted, the uninstall the old equipment and verify that the new system booted properly after installation then we were done, we didn't have CACs to log in. We even did SCIFs, but they were shut down while we were present.

Just wondering.

The only reason that I log my books read is to easily recommend books to friends or others later. I'm a librarian and that's useful to me. The professional angle, though, is irrelevant: I was logging and recommending before I got the job.

I read approximately 66 books last year: biography, historical, sci fi, manga, etc.: lots of women authors. I didn't break it down by gender, though. I should consider that. I did switch to comfort reads as my brother was dying and will be continuing that for the near future.

and three lenses to complement my Mamiya RB67 when I don't want to carry heavy. I usually have my Canon R6 Mk 2 when I'm shooting along with my Minolta flash meter for those Mamiyas.

But I'm weird. And my iPhone 16 gets plenty of work.

I needed to cut my stay short by two or three days, and because I booked direct on the hotel site and not through a third-party site, I had no problem. They said if I had not booked direct, they could not have stopped the charge because of the site wanting their commission cut. At the same time, you have to look at whether or not you're booking a non-refundable room rate or you may be stuck regardless. You still have to be a savvy shopper.

I can imagine a cluster of tape writers as I've seen one. At Apache Point Observatory, during the initial phases of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, they were gathering so much data every night that they were streaming it on to like six DLT tapes. Those were then shipped daily to University of Washington. Rinse, repeat. It was a pretty neat rack installation.

I'd love to see trailers for fake movies, if it were done well. Like for that Orson Wells(?) movie that never got made, I think there was also a gangster movie trailer that circulated, I don't remember the details. I think that could be a lot of fun. But I doubt they'd ever get that creative.

My wife and I toured it ten years ago, they were still assembling Phaetons there at that time though they weren't in production that day. It was a very cool production plant, all the tools were electric, and the system was designed to lift the car or whatever was being worked on to the correct height for the worker to minimize ergonomic difficulties. I believe it was the last year for the Phaeton and it was going to be switched over to a more mass-market car.

I'm saddened that it's no longer going to be a production plant, I was hoping to see it again some day. But things change. As I said, very cool place. I didn't take any interior photos of it as nothing was really going on.

I work for a university branch campus. We have public patron cards available for $5 a semester (spring/summer/fall) that gives you full borrowing privileges for books and DVDs and public computer access, printing is extra. The only thing that you don't get is interlibrary loan and library database access. Sadly, we just removed our audiobook collection. I expect our music CD collection to go next.

Isn't that what Meta won a court case arguing last week? Better not let the judge see this!

When I moved to the area as an adult 20 years ago and started taking some classes there, I needed remedial algebra as I hadn't used it in the 20+ years since I'd left high school, and it came back pretty quick. They require everyone to take tests in math and English. And yes, the number who need remedial education is truly frightening. The primary and secondary education system in this country has been methodically destroyed over decades, and it's going to be a long slog to reestablish it - if it ever happens.

Heh. Reminds me of Wizard's Guide To Baking.

I just find the cost of D&D to be a bit stultifying. And you can count on them dumping the system in 15 or so years to get everyone to repurchase it and shore up their profits. Yes, it's theoretically open source, and there's absolutely no reason you can't continue playing the older versions of the system. I've always had an aversion to any game, such as Deadlands, where each class needs its own rule book.

Regardless of whether or not this survey/study may be flawed, there's no doubt that long-term gaming helps with mental acuity and building community: it's a cooperative, creative endeavor that is very mentally stimulating. I'm not far from retirement, and while I don't expect we'll be moving to a retirement community or home, I definitely hope to engage in more gaming when that happens.

Of course, I do have the advantage of having worked in the industry at Flying Buffalo Games in the early '80s, they made Tunnels and Trolls and the Nuclear War card game, among many other goodies.