Lookin

This morning the following email tidbit I received about TV transmissions roused my ire.  I've been beginning to experience concern that my hearing may be diminishing.
A case of the mumbles: If you find yourself turning on the subtitles to watch TV, you aren’t alone. About 50 percent of Americans — and the majority of young people — watch videos with captions on most of the time. Dialogue really is getting harder to understand, experts say, as TV speakers get thinner and weaker. And unlike traditional broadcasts, which adhered to a set volume limit, streaming services each have their own audio standards.
Brian X. Chen, a Times tech writer, tested some technological remedies: Most helped, but none fully solved the problem.

I think the issue is less to do with the speakers built into televisions (though obviously speakers mounted in an extremely thin panel aren't going to be great) and more to do with audio mixing and downmixing.  More recent shows are mixed with surround sound in mind, and if the mixer doesn't properly consider how the mix will sound when downmixed to smaller stereo speakers built into a television set you can end up listening to something where the music queues and other sounds are too loud relative to the dialog.

Me as well.  Even though I am now 49 people often mistake me for 48.

The other night I watched a documentary on fentanyl use in Appalachia.  The takeaway for me was that, once you get addicted to fentanyl (which is not hard to do) your life ping-pongs between feeling miserable or getting the next cheap hit.  It's very hard to come off that drug.  The folks who were interviewed did a good job of describing just how awful they felt when the dose wore off and the desperation until they got the next hit.  They said that in the small West Virginia community where they lived about 40% of the people were addicted and that included young men who lay around all day getting high, never having worked.  In their area, it was pretty easy to sit around in cheap housing being addicted to fentanyl and a couple of other opiates.  There really weren't many streets to sleep on, although there was an abandoned house where addicts hung around and got high.
In San Francisco, I guess the equivalent to abandoned houses is the streets.  So that's where the addicts hang out.
If I ever became a fentanyl addict, there's a good chance I'd look for a cheap place to live and get high, until I'd spent my last five bucks and found myself on the street.  That drug and some of the other additives would just take away all of my initiative and hope.  I don't judge the people on the streets, as the only difference between them and me is that, inshallah, I haven't become hooked on opiates.
San Francisco has tried, is trying and will continue to try solutions.  They can't solve the pipeline of street drugs which I understand come through legal border crossings.  So they tried 'safe injection centers', where deaths could be avoided and sanitary needles provided.  These services were illegal under State law and Governor Newsom recently vetoed a bill that would make them legal.  I believe there are some private organizations trying to provide those services, including counseling to those who want treatment.  
To reach the non-addicted homeless, there was a woman who rented a warehouse and put tents inside so that those folks who did not feel good about communal shelters could pitch a tent inside the warehouse and keep all their possessions with them.  I recall it was very successful but there were some issues of liability and it closed.
I even recall a program a few years ago to put toilets on the street so folks wouldn't have to drop a loaf on the sidewalk. 💩
San Francisco has its homeless problems right out on the street where anyone can see them.  Personally, I think when you've got a problem it's good to keep it out in the open so that people can help find solutions.  San Francisco has solved problems in the past, including problems that made a lot of folks uncomfortable.
I'm hopeful that San Franciscans will find some solutions for their current problems too and I'll turn to pessimism as a last resort.
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Kudos to all the green thumbs.
Artificial greenery has perished in my care.

I saw your night lights and I have three in my garden so I just took a picture of this one. My last dog is buried under this little statue with the light that comes on every night. He died in that spot in 2021 so I made a little garden to commemorate him. He loved that yard and spent many seasons there.

Courtyard area

k

It's always possible to cherry-pick news stories to suit one's narrative. This can also be done to present a more positive narrative. Here are headlines from this past week that present a more optimistic narrative:
From the San Francisco Business Times:
"San Francisco Sees Siginficant Jump in Return-To-Office Study" "IKEA on Market Street Set to Open This Month." The story mentions that "San Francisco is the first pioneering U.S. site for the company's new urban-centric format..." From the San Francisco Standard:
"Out-of-Town Zillow Users Are Lusting After San Francisco Property" "Downtown San Francisco’s Return to Office Highest Since Covid" Interestingly, the San Francisco Chronicle is really, really negative. I had a hard time "cherry-picking" any positive stories from that source.
My earlier observation that vast majority of the city looks great also implicitly acknowledges that some areas do not look great. And yes, the Federal Building on 7th Street is an awful blighted mess. 6th Street had traditionally been the City's "Hamsterdam," but it has become marginally better in recent years. Meanwhile, 7th Street has declined. Seems like the trouble has migrated towards 7th.
The design of the Federal Building doesn't do any favors. Generally I like modern architecture, but that building is just butt-ugly. It's built like a fortress, and was further fortified after 9-11, so its perimeter is a no-man's land that is conducive to nefarious acts. I didn't know that policing of the building is handled by Federal Protective Services. We all know that there are legal limitations to prohibiting people from camping on the streets, despite the blight it brings, thanks to that frustrating court decision. So I suppose the Fed's hands are tied on that one. But it seems like the drug dealing could be cleaned up.

Yet a lot of tax dollars from California go to fund states in the middle of the country and particularly in Appalachia and the Bible Belt allowing them to balance their fiscally irresponsible budgets. 
What a childish analogy? Are you actually celebrating the fact that one of the motors of this country has so many self-inflicted problems? 
They and us? San Francisco's social experiment includes taking the government off your bedroom, marriage equality, recreational use of pot, etc. You have benefited from the acceptance of that social experiment! 
Unfortunately, some employers can still fire gay men in this country but most of the predicaments of "SF social experiment" have been adopted by the rest of the nation and most of the world! 

Neglect of infrastructure problems and too much investment into cooperate interests for fast profit might be a reason~ Seattle is an even bigger example of building for profit at the expense of the quality and safety of the local citizens and city as a livable habitat~ Emerald cities built on foundations of decay~  
 There’s a number of cities that I work in where clients will not meet after sunset because of safety concerns~ Seattle is one of them~ 
 Seattle cleaned up a part of town recently because there was a big sports event happening but, the rest of the city is crazy with capital Cray~   
 Emperor City’s New Clothing~   
 Building over the problems doesn’t mean they go away…   
 It reminds me of times back in the late 80’s and early 90s where entire neighborhoods were built on top of garbage dumps that had pockets of methane forming beneath the ground due to the garbage left underneath the foundations of the homes… Entire homes would burst into flames and explode when people turned on their stoves, lit cigarettes, used their fire places~ 
Seattle neighborhood outraged after homeless install swimming pool, puff fentanyl in broad daylight
WWW.GOOGLE.COM The expanding homeless encampment in the Highland Park neighborhood of Seattle has continued to anger neighbors after... Recent Seattle fire in pics below… 

40 years and 1500 feet apart: Two Madison home explosions, but no likely connection
FOX47.COM MADISON, Wis. -- Tuesday night's headline is one that the city of Madison has seen before: a... I was at the University of Wisconsin Madison taking courses towards my medical degree and one of the women I was in a class with suddenly stopped coming to classes. It’s because she was in one of the homes that was built on top of a garbage dump and exploded after her husband lit a cigarette~ Tragic~   
 Pure negligence on the part of the developers. As if nobody had never before heard of garbage producing methane~ She and her husband were severely burned and she withdrew from medical school~   
  In the number of cities within the states, mental illness, drug use, and homelessness are left to fester and grow within the city, as programs are defunded and dismantled~   
 It’s in so many cities across the nation~ 
 They are not new concerns… they’ve just perhaps been left unattended for a long time~   
 I’ve been running a homeless provision program between Seattle and Portland since 1990. Situations there were actually better tended to prior to 2016… Mayor Vera Katz of Portland developed several successful programs for the homeless but, after she left, the care and provisions dropped and the situation took a turn for the worse~   
  I still provide food, clothing and other services for the homeless and their pets in Portland at various times of the year~ I still feel safe in Portland day or night but, I’ve pretty much stopped my provisions in seattle due to safety concerns~    
 I think that has also become part of the difficulty in serving the community: safety~ at least, from the perspective of my own experience safety has become a provision issue~ 
 

Seems to me that, given greater gender fluidity, the use of gender-specific pronouns will fade over time.  It's easy enough to keep track of preferred pronouns for a friend or relative, but it's not so easy to keep track of preferred pronouns for the dozens or hundreds of people someone interacts with on even a somewhat regular basis.
Unless, of course, the pronouns become part of one's name.  Joseph could become Joseph-he-his-him.  But that might lead to an invitation to "Just call me Joe-he-his-him."  
I do believe that folks should be able to ask others to use preferred pronouns, just as I believe folks should be able to ask others to use a preferred name.  It's certainly a courtesy I'm willing to respect.  But I think it would likewise be courteous of the other person to overlook a mistake on my part if I get it wrong.
I expect gender fluidity will become more common over time (another post for another day), so I think the likely solution will be gender-neutral pronouns.  Till then, I'm willing to try my best to get it right for everyone I meet or communicate with.  But I will ask for a little patience and understanding when I mess up.
In the meantime, if someone asks me to specify my preferred pronouns, I'll just say, "Surprise me."  

Good morning and a happy Saturday! Looking warm and steamy here in Kansas.  What are your plans for this day?  Gym time here, mowing on the agenda.  Bookings later, but plan to enjoy the day and clean up the new Camaro.  Hello from one of my 3 beagles, “Scout-Scout”.

Some fires have a fire-front that takes all before it but often (here at least) the damage is done by ember showers that blow tens or hundreds of metres, or even kilometres from the fire and set completely random buildings ablaze and destroy them. You can see half the houses in an area destroyed, with no apparent reason why one was burnt and one or both of its neighbours were not. It must be heart breaking to see your house gone when others survived at random. You would have a feeling of 'Why me' that you would be spared if the whole neighbourhood were gone. It's nice that that church offered a brief moment of joy in an increasingly grim situation in Lahaina.

I had my landscaper plant a garden in memory of my grandma. It’s thriving but I hate every plant he chose and can’t wait to have it redone in the Spring. This time I’ll be more involved. I maintain a snake plant that has been in my family since the late 1950’s and an aloe plant. 

Some say Florida is where some things/some people go to die. Plants come to my balcony to do the same.
I could almost swear I hear tearful goodbyes when I put a plant in my cart at Lowe's.

Unfortunately, living in an apartment limits me to my windowsills, but I do enjoy my plants.  This article made me smile the other day:
Rich With Tropical Plants, Flatbush’s East 25th Street Named Greenest Block in Brooklyn
Lined with lush front gardens, tropical flowers, manicured hedges, and leafy overhead trees, it’s clear why a block of Flatbush’s East 25th Street – between Clarendon Road and Avenue D – has been named this year’s Greenest Block in Brooklyn. This morning, East 25th Street residents gathered on their block, alongside local officials, neighbors, and other gardening enthusiasts, to be celebrated as winners of the annual competition, run by Brooklyn Botanic Garden.
The Greenest Block in Brooklyn has been running for almost 30 years and is designed to promote city greening, streetscape gardening, tree stewardship, and, importantly, community building.
“We don’t take this lightly. Everyone that you see standing here played an integral role in where we are,” homeowner and 300 East 25th Street Block Association member Carol Reneau told the crowd. The title isn’t unfamiliar to the block association and residents: today’s win was the fifth time the block has been crowned victorious in the competition’s history.

Carol Reneau stands in front of her garden
Most recently, the block took home second place in 2022’s competition, tied for first place in 2021’s socially-distant edition, and was awarded the top prize in 2016.
Reneau said the greening of the Flatbush block was not just done for aesthetic and practical reasons, but as a way to build community amongst neighbors and those passing through. “We’ve shared many interactions, conversations, and exchanged ideas through greening,” she said.
“Greening has also helped us to understand the deeper connections and roles that pollinators, recycling, being a good tree steward, conservation, the temperature, air quality, and human beings have with each other. Lastly, greening has enabled us to put our differences aside and work towards a greater cause for future generations.”
Pauline Green, who moved to the block in 1995 and has helped fellow residents learn the art of gardening, said over the decades she’d lived there, the block’s residents had made it what it is. “It’s just a better way of life. I’m from Jamaica, I’m from St. Ann, the garden part. I have a green thumb, my last name is Green, so it’s in my DNA,” she smiled.
Pauline Green in her garden
While Green’s garden is full of healthy foliage and grasses, something she said she prefers over blooms, the vibrant pink hibiscus steals the spotlight in her front yard. She said this year it was showing off, “it’s the first time it’s had so many blooms.” Overall, the theme for her garden this year was plants of the Caribbean.
Another local on the block, Julia Charles, said Caribbean plants were a common sight along the stretch of East 25th Street, and were an attractive selling point when she moved to the block from the Rockaways ten years ago. She said the block had a beautiful way of interweaving the Caribbean plants and New York natives, and that was largely thanks to the block’s gardening committee.
“They indoctrinate you honestly, when you come on the block it’s not if you’re gonna garden, it’s when you’re gonna garden and how soon,” she laughed.
Julia Charles in front of her garden
“I think it’s beautiful. You know, it’s definitely a labor of love. It’s not based on how much money you could pay your landscaper. It is based on people really caring about the community, not just their personal homes, but the community at large.”
Brooklyn Botanic Garden president Adrian Benepe, who hosted the event, said the East 25th Street block topped the pool of 119 competitors, which spanned Brooklyn’s neighborhoods. “This is a championship team,” he said. “They know how to play ball.”
Benepe said the residents of East 25th Street clearly showed their protection and care of the block’s trees – evidenced by the lush overhead coverage, educational signs along the block, and trees at all stages of life – an element that was given special consideration with this year’s theme: “Power of Trees.”
Referencing the record breaking temperatures, Benepe said trees are essential in the fight against climate change. “They capture our pollution, the carbon, they absorb it and they store it until they die. And they cool – we’ve learned so much about the cooling power of trees.”


Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso reiterated the importance of trees, and the role they have to play in achieving climate justice and positive health outcomes in Brooklyn’s neighborhoods. “On certain days, it is 10 degrees hotter in Brownsville than it is in Park Slope. So think about that, if it’s 90 degrees in Park Slope, and they’re struggling there, it’s closer to 100 in Brownsville,” he said.
Norine Medas of the Rockaway Parkway Merchant Association, which won the greenest block commercial category for its block of Rockaway Park between Conklin and Flatlands avenues, shared how community organizing has seen the planting of five trees on the Canarsie block. She said the association first entered in 2021 and was only able to enter one block because “there was only one tree between Farragut Road and Glenwood. This year, with the help of our community – this is a collective effort, we entered five blocks,” she said.
“The work that we are doing is for our children who we’re teaching, we’re changing the dynamic of what our children see, we want them to see life growing vibrantly in Canarsie. We want to thank our seniors who have worked tirelessly to allow us the opportunity to be able to live in Canarsie.”


East 25th Street residents took the crown from repeat winners, Crown Heights’ Preserving Lincoln’s Abundant Natural Treasures (P.L.A.N.T.), which spans Lincoln Place between New York and Nostrand Avenues. P.L.A.N.T won the competition in 2021 and 2022.
This year’s runner up for the Greenest Block was Crown Heights Keepers, a block of Eastern Parkway between Bedford and Franklin avenues. Benepe said the block was a “remarkable new role model” in that it wasn’t a block of private homes, but of large apartment buildings which residents had found creative ways to green.
Third place saw a tie between two Bed Stuy blocks: Stuyvesant Avenue Block Association, Stuyvesant Avenue between Bainbridge and Chauncey streets, and 200 Decatur Street/Stuyvesant Avenue Block Association, for the block of Decatur Street between Lewis and Stuyvesant avenues.
National Grid’s Leadership in Sustainability Award was awarded to The New East 26th Street Block Association in Flatbush, which spans East 26th Street between Clarendon Road and Avenue D, just one block over from the competition’s overall winners.
Check out the full list of winners in all categories here.


https://www.brownstoner.com/brooklyn-life/greenest-block-brooklyn-east-25th-st-flatbush-2023/

... or a Persian carpet and a helpful lady's maid.  Poor Mr. Pamuk... but he did go on to better things in Sicily according to The White Lotus

Just be sure and keep the smelling salts handy.  

I noticed that it has been 4 years since @MsGuy posted here. I really liked his posts.

Just be sure and keep the smelling salts handy.  

ok, it's been two years since I last posted it......we have some newbies who'll get a kick......first posted in 2006......the reason for the picture becomes evident
 
 
can't say I miss Rockhard in the traditional sense of the word/sentiment, but his legendary thread involving a desperate search for a just-right pair of underwear can't be missed.....read the whole thread!...... and @Lookin for god's sake, don't ever leave!!
https://www.companyofmen.org/topic/14096-somebody-please-help-me-with-my-underwear/

Seems to me that, given greater gender fluidity, the use of gender-specific pronouns will fade over time.  It's easy enough to keep track of preferred pronouns for a friend or relative, but it's not so easy to keep track of preferred pronouns for the dozens or hundreds of people someone interacts with on even a somewhat regular basis.
Unless, of course, the pronouns become part of one's name.  Joseph could become Joseph-he-his-him.  But that might lead to an invitation to "Just call me Joe-he-his-him."  
I do believe that folks should be able to ask others to use preferred pronouns, just as I believe folks should be able to ask others to use a preferred name.  It's certainly a courtesy I'm willing to respect.  But I think it would likewise be courteous of the other person to overlook a mistake on my part if I get it wrong.
I expect gender fluidity will become more common over time (another post for another day), so I think the likely solution will be gender-neutral pronouns.  Till then, I'm willing to try my best to get it right for everyone I meet or communicate with.  But I will ask for a little patience and understanding when I mess up.
In the meantime, if someone asks me to specify my preferred pronouns, I'll just say, "Surprise me."