Me at age 4 months

Photo taken in the front yard of our post-wartime (1946) government housing in Arlington, Virginia.  The address was 3422 A South Utah, which I see on Google maps is still a housing complex (our unit was under the red dot).

I'm held by my mom, who had to retire from her career as an American Airlines stewardess when she became pregnant with me.  Dad was a Navy lieutenant stationed stateside.  Mom's sister Ona, on the right, was in the WAVES.   

Posted to share with family and as a relief from doomscrolling.

Washington D.C. turning blue

I found this on Facebook, but also found confirmation (without a photo) at Northern Virginia magazine.  Since the image was provided by Trump, it could be altered.  The color is "American flag blue. That’s the color of the industrial-grade pool topping that is going to applied to the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool as part of renovations on the century-old monument."  Here's how the reflecting pool used to look:

In any case, the discussion thread at the source immediately focused on how this foreshadows the "blue wave" coming in the mid-terms.

My first hospital bill

When I was two years old I fell ill while my family was visiting relatives in the small town of Ada, MN (west of Leech Lake and Itasca, near the ND border). I was hospitalized for four days. Above is the complete hospital bill (I've photoshopped out my mom's name, but the rest is undoctored). How things have changed, not just re pricing, but in terms of the complexity of billing.....

Reposted from 2007, because the more I think about this, the staggering change is in the complexity of billing.  

Addendum:  I may have posted this one before as well.  It's from 13 years later (1961) for orthopedic surgery at the Mayo Clinic to correct some of my polio deformities:

Surgeons fees $375.  Three xrays $54.  Seven blood tests $29.  Grand total $648.  Balance due after Blue Cross Blue Shield insurance: $75.   How things have changed...

Patches in plywood - Dutchmen or biscuits?

Image edited for size, color, brightness, and contrast from a garish photo at the whatisgthisthing subreddit.  The discussion thread is reasonably focused and includes an explanation of termionology:

"They’re called Dutchmen, they’re shaped like footballs to cover long knots or splits.... That’s not a Dutchman. Dutchmen are also called bow ties because that’s what they are shaped like.  This is a biscuit.... No. It’s a Dutchman. A Dutchman can be any shape and is used to hide blemishes. A bow tie is a Dutchman key and is used either for decoration or to stop cracking. This may be the same shape as a biscuit but it’s not a biscuit because of how it’s used. Biscuits are for joining wood... Can confirm, I work maintenance at a fulfillment center and if a conveyor belt suffers damage one of the options is to cut out the damaged section across its entire width and then lace in a length of new belt to fill the gap.  We commonly do 8 ft Dutchmans to allow the entirely of the patch to be inside the pulleys of the main drive and still have both lacing visible and accessible, should the lacing fail then the Dutchman isn't all wadded up in the drive..."

And as to why one would cut knots our of plywood: 

"Knots in wood are much more dense than the stringy, normal wood. When they make plywood, they layer thin strips (plys) of wood together and glue them to one another like a wood-and-glue sandwich. The problem arises when there is a dense, brittle knot on either of the two exposed plys on the plywood sheet. Shaving a slice of a dense knot gives you a super brittle portion that often ends up crumbling out in crumbs.

Think of it like having a sheet of paper with a small section of equally as thin glass embedded into the paper. You can bend the paper portion, cut the paper portion easily with scissors, but the little glass portion has different properties. It's more dense, but you can't bend it or stress it or else it will shatter."

Hat tips to the commenters.  More at the link.  I know this is TMI, but I'm desperately trying to keep my mind off that clusterfuck of the U.S./Israel/Iran war ruining the world economy.

Addendum:  As I continued on this topic, I found an entire Wikipedia page on Dutchmen.  Evidently the term is used regarding replacement/repair material in a wide array of otherwise unrelated professions: woodworking, masonry, shipbuilding, railroading, theater, boilermaking.  The etymology and connection to the Netherlands remains unexplained in what I've read (maybe it's an allusion to putting a finger in a leaking dike).

A longwatch about cybersecurity

A link to this video was sent to me this morning by a reader in response to my post yesterday about an online extortion attempt.  I've only watched part of it so far, but I think it's worth reposting, especially in light of recent information regarding Anthropic and its Mythos AI model.

Over-the-top online extortion

Here's the text of an email I found today in my spam folder:

Call was lost, as usual.

Ok. I don't have much time, so let's get straight to the point.

I want to make you an offer that you can refuse, but only once.

Here's what I have:

Your complete personal information: full name, date of birth, home address.

Your social security number and driver's license details.

All your email account login credentials, including this account.

Other login details and your private messages.

A multitude of files found on your devices.

Access to your bank accounts.

The details of your credit cards: number, expiry date, and cvv.

I have compiled this entire package into a single folder. I can and intend to do two things with it. It is up to you to decide which one:

I will send this entire package to darknet markets, where other criminals will buy it.

It is unknown how they will use this information. They may purchase something illegal in your name, or they may not, but you will definitely not like it.

Or you can buy it from me for a small fee of 600 usd.

Changing the entire package of documents and data is very expensive, very time-consuming, and unsafe.

I already know that you have just read this text. Do not try to ignore this.

I only accept payment in bitcoins at the exchange rate at the time of transfer.

Transfer money here: [redacted for posting]

After payment, I will delete the folder containing your data, and you can continue living as before or, if you don't trust me, take your time changing all your data. It's more profitable for me if you pay me. It's easier and better for everyone.

This is a unique offer. Take advantage of it. I will wait for 1 day.

The "from" address was one of my own email addresses.

The south celestial pole

This was the Astronomy Photo of the Day, showing a time-lapse image of the sky as seen in the Southern Hemisphere, looking toward the south celestial pole.  Discussion at the link.

Very interesting

Copied from Facebook.  I hope I or a reader can find reliable documentation online.

Just realized it gives new meaning to the old phrase "you can't step into the same river twice" previously meaning the river changes.  But now it also means "the you changes..."

1987 cartoon. And the "Strait of Schrödinger."

Credit Chris Clarke for finding this old Gary Larsen premonitory cartoon and posting it on Facebook.

Addendum:  I can't resist adding this "dad joke" I also found on Facebook.

I'll see myself out...

A Brief History of Kinetic Sculpture Racing

Found by reader smittypap, who posted the link in a comment at my previous post about art cars.

Another example of people having fun.  No war posts today.

Removing a facade from an old building

There is informed discussion scattered through the comments at the oddlysatisfying subreddit post.  Huge windows used to be assets re light and maybe heat during an earlier era of industry, but became maintenance liabilities in more modern times.

I agree with the top-rated comment at the source: it's like removing a carpet and finding a hardwood floor.

Some elevators have "Yes" and "No" buttons

I probably should travel more, because I've never seen an elevator panel like this.  The rationale is explained in a lucid and fairly concise comment thread at the whatisit subreddit.

The Roman emperor Commodus

Interesting.  You learn something every day.

An "art car" parade (Houston, 2025)

The video is almost two hours long - a thorough documentation of the parade, apparently without any commentary, best approached for casual viewing by clicking along the scrubber bar at the bottom.  Here are a couple screencaps:

I found the video after reading about the phenomenon in The New York Times:

This was not just a car. It was an art car — a vehicle transformed into a kinetic sculpture, built from imagination and, often, from what others had thrown away.

“I can’t drive past trash without pulling over,” said Mr. Polidore, 50, a longtime elementary school art teacher who writes art curricula for the district. “When I’m stuck in that hellacious Houston traffic, I’m scanning the side of the road for any parts of cars that have gotten thrown off in wrecks and I’m grabbing them.”...

The rules remain minimal. “Whether it’s been painted, welded, sculpted, dropped, chopped, beaded, smashed, crashed, lit or lifted, art cars come in all shapes, sizes and forms,” read this year’s brochure. “The only rule is that it must roll!” And across the city, in garages, driveways and schoolyards, artists have been working for months to ensure that theirs will.

But what might make Houston’s art car parade so special is the fact that many of the artists are children... Over 50 of the cars that roll on Saturday will have been made in Houston classrooms, a striking fact at a time when arts funding in schools continues to shrink...

In Houston, where driving is nearly unavoidable, the art car offers a kind of inversion, a reminder that even the most ordinary object can be remade into something strange, expressive and communal.

Or, as Ms. Soto put it: “Art cars are chaos. Good chaos.”

TL:DR - People having fun.  Something this world needs more of.

Addendum:  If this topic interests you, I encourage you to browse some of the art-car-related posts at Just A Car Guy, including this video of the Houston art car parade.

Good news for home distillers of alcohol

As reported this week in The Guardian:

A US appeals court on Friday declared a nearly 158-year-old federal ban on home distilling to be unconstitutional, calling it an unnecessary and improper means for Congress to exercise its power to tax.

The fifth US circuit court of appeals in New Orleans ruled in favor of the non-profit Hobby Distillers Association and four of its 1,300 members.

They argued that people should be free to distill spirits at home, whether as a hobby or for personal consumption including, in one instance, to create an apple-pie-vodka recipe.

The ban was part of a law passed during the US’s post-civil war Reconstruction era in July 1868, in part to thwart liquor tax evasion, and subjected violators to up to five years in prison and a $10,000 fine...

More information at the link.  Image cropped for size from the original, credit Diana Vyshniakova/Alamy.