Yes, we did mean to post that data breach post, but we have a question for y'allβ¦
Should this become a regular thing? Right now we post or boost any and all recalls we hear about regardless of how small or local they are, and we aren't exclusive to the US, we post any. So, with that in mind, data breaches impact one's life just as much as recalls do, so should we expand our focus? Is there anything else you think would be on brand for us to post?
Let us know. Oh, and always feel free to mention us if'n you're posting news about a #recall
Yes, we did mean to post that data breach post, but we have a question for y'allβ¦
Should this become a regular thing? Right now we post or boost any and all recalls we hear about regardless of how small or local they are, and we aren't exclusive to the US, we post any. So, with that in mind, data breaches impact one's life just as much as recalls do, so should we expand our focus? Is there anything else you think would be on brand for us to post?
Let us know. Oh, and always feel free to mention us if'n you're posting news about a #recall
Groups representing farmers, solar installers and other organizations are suing the USDA after significant rule changes to the Rural Energy for America Program.
KPMG Friends and Family for Literacy (KFFL) is partnering with Little Free Library to build book-sharing boxes to be placed at community-based organizations.
Which of course will likely get out of date before the end of the year, as I'm always trying new things, along with owning three domain names and having hosting issues here.
That said, my active accounts are⦠@Chuff Music Share is now repurposed just for music videos since I have a very diverse taste in music, and am always finding something new @Chuff² is really my main account, memes, boosts, occasional original posts, very busy, though the queue function should spread things out a bit ( #gotosocial really should add a queue function, properly implemented, its an awesome moderation tool) @Wandering Cactus is where I post short videos, usually not more than one or two videos a week
And of course this place where I post long form stuff, discussions of things going on in my life, or discussions of other things that interest me.
EDIT Well, that's embarrassing, made a typo in the ID of my main account, fixed I think, although Friendica doesn't feel like working with me on embedding it in the edit
Maybe I should've put a bit more in here? Mind you, not much more, just about this server, its accounts, and its future.
This account is obvious, and obviously its not dead, but it really serves three purposes for me, RSS reader, Diaspora connector, both of which are really neat features of #friendica that aren't commonly found on the #Fediverse , and it also serves as lightweight combo version of @ChuffΒ² and @Chuff Music Share , with boosts of stuff that I'm particularly fond of on those. @KΔpitan is the admin account here, I believe in keeping a separate admin account so admin matters don't get lost amongst personal stuff @Recalls which is kinda self explanatory, no? I just link to any recall news I find online, whether its one grocery store in my town, a massive worldwide manufacturer recall or just a single store in some part of the world I've never visited. We also welcome contributions, if'n you post recalls to your account, local, worldwide, regional, whatever, feel free to mention us, and we'll boost it.
There's also an after dark account, but that's secret.
Laughs, "Ok, couldn't resist on this last post about the trip. Last text post, there'll be more videos uploaded when I get to it, having a lot of #Loops problems with both Android and desktop uploads, so those videos will happen at some point⦠Prolly."
Any how to get serious and talk about the trip.
First leg, Huntsville In a lot of ways this was the most stressful, starting with the drive itself, after all, Tunnel Hill, IL or thereabouts, where Vik's family lives, a mere 160 miles, is the furthest I'd travel thus far, so I had some range anxiety to get over. But, when its your grandmother's 105th birthday party, you find a way to do it, its a milestone and who knows how much longer she'll be here. She's surprisingly strong still, although she does need a nap every two hours or so, no idea how she managed the whole party. Speaking of the party, not really fun for me, I'm not a people person, and boy was that party peopley. Plus I know so few, I haven't really done a good job of keeping up with the family, and its grown, I'm the first kid of my generation by a decade, my dad was the first son of seven (and for a laugh, my uncle Peter filled his name tag out to read #6 Peter), and I was the first child born to his generation, the next was in the early eighties, so I have cousins who have kids, and I think a few of those kids have kids. I guess that makes me an uncle? Great uncle? As if I didn't already fell old. Any how, so yeah, hung out with a small amount of family at Grams before the party, then the party, and then hit the road the next morning forβ¦
Leg 2, Myrtle Beach Well, if'n we want to get pedantic, Surfside Beach, South Carolina, just south of it. Stayed at the Holiday Inn Resort, and while calling it a resort is a stretch, it was a great stay, and one of the best of the whole trip. The restaurant kinda sucked though, went their the first night for a burger and fries, the service sucked, and while the burger was fine, it was nothing special, but it sure was over priced. And then there's the breakfast buffet that you have to pay for, I was unpleasantly surprised to find out that its the standard IHG breakfast that's free at most of their hotels. Seriously, don't both with the restaurant, there's plenty of better food right down the street, Bruiser's Burgers was great, and right up the street is Manny's Deli, both I highly recommend. There's also plenty of pancake house/diners right there by the hotel, though I didn't try any as I'd prepaid for breakfast at the hotel. That said, the reason for going there wasn't food or sightseeing, though we did that, Gay Dolphin might be one of the strangest stores I've ever visited, whole in the wall cross between a thrift store, jewelry store, souvenir store and I'm not sure what else. Also got a historical tour in, though the main reason I was there was to scatter my husband and mother in law's ashes. Being scattered in Myrtle Beach was her last request, something my husband hadn't gotten to before his passing, and considering how close he was to his mother, I felt it only made sense to scatter some of his there with her. The original plan was to do that off the piers over the course of two days, but considering its a violation of Federal law, that had to get scratched, so we scattered them at Myrtle Beach State Park instead. Most were scattered along the trails throughout the woods, we spent a rainy day roaming them for a couple hours, though we did discreetly scatter some from the pier and also some on the dunes.
And then there was oneβ¦
One last leg, leg 3, Lancaster There was actually supposed to be a fourth leg originally, three would be a visit back to Jersey where I used to live, but I scratched it, I felt the trip was just getting too big, too expensive. Prolly wasn't a bad idea though, as this was when the nor'easter hit. Yeah, an electric car, the Jersey shore and a nor'easter, that combo couldn't possibly be bad, could it? This one went different than planned. Some went as planned, since we don't have a Chevy dealer worth a damn in STL, I got my Bolt serviced there. And we spent tons of time hanging out with my mom, couldn't really picture it, I tend to keep to m'self and all, and listen more than I talk, but what do you know, really had a great time. Also went and looked over houses at Lancaster Log Cabins, really love their tiny homes, you would think 400sq ft would seem too small, but its all in the layout, and theirs are really nice. The railroad and railroad museum didn't happen because they were closed for the first half of the week. Also Zook cabins doesn't seem to have a display area so I scratched that plan. Yeah, less than a perfect visit, but the important happened, which along with those things, was seeing how I felt about the area. I'm not leaning heavily towards relocating there, though cost is still an issue, I could grab land near Vandalia, IL for half the cost, but I like the idea of being close to family, hours instead of days close.
Of course all good things have to end sometime, so after five nights at a Fairfield Inn that I'd not recommend, I hit the road for two long days of driving home. Mind you, I could've made it shorter, I could've paid the tolls and taken the PA Turnpike home, but where's the fun in that? Instead I took mostly PA 30 to New Stanton, with a charge stop on the way at Chambersburg, slow, scenic, my idea of fun. At that point we jumped on I70, and mostly a straight shot home aside from going around major cities to avoid traffic and/or road construction. First night went far too long, and involved going through a construction zone that's terrifying to drive at night, especially when your night vision sucks, but what few hotels at my charge stop were mostly sold out, and stupidly expensive for any remaining rooms, so an hour or so drive to Reynoldsburg was required. Couldn't charge at the hotel as expected as the chargers use some weird network I've never heard of that basically doesn't work. That's a double edged sword, inconvenient to charge in the morning, but as it happens, the nearest Ionna was one of their showcase rechargeries, so it was cool to visit one. Lounge isn't real impressive, badly lacking in food options there for whatever reason, but still a neat place. Also let me avoid a lot of the rush hour traffic too. Nothing much of note until I got home, aside from Electrify America being a dumpster fire as usual.
Annnd, that's about it, spent last night and today getting the most important stuff done, and starting to recover from the trip. Over all, a great experience, and any range anxiety I had is gone. I could use a good alternative to A Better Route Planner, that thing glitched up so much on the trip, but its really the only option for EV route planning, TomTom is supposed to be able to do it, but their app swears Chevy doesn't make electric cars. If that ever gets fixed, maybe I'll try that as an alternative.
A few days ago I wrote about the anti-SLAPP motion filed by βRecklessβ Ben Schneider against Bricks & Minifigs (BAM Franchising) over the ridiculous RICO suit they filed against himβ¦
So, this leg got bumpy... Well, it was always going to be since I decided to avoid the turnpike, something that went pretty much fine once I switched to TomTom as ABRP is still a dumpster fire. Mountains were fun, watch the range drooop as I go up, and then by the time I hit the bottom, my range is higher than when I started climbing. Problems came in Ohio, where I stopped in Cambrige, and found out that hotels are few and far between in Ohio outside of major cities like Columbus. So, that mean driving another 70 miles in the dark to Reynoldsburg, a suburb of Columbus, through a construction zone that's terrifying in the dark.
So, as I said I was supposed to charge in Cambridge, but only did a partial as the hotel has chargers... From some company that I've never heard of, that wouldn't validate my card, so... Well, charging in the morn here, maybe by the time I"m done, the traffic will be better, because its terrible. Either way, I'm at a showcase Ionna Rechargery complete with lounge. Can't say the lounge is impressive, I don't need to eat, but there's not much to offer here, one small machine with a shelf of snacks and few shelves of drinks. At least I have somewhere to sit and type this.
As to the rest of the trip... Had fun spending time with family, didn't realize how much I missed them. Found a great Chevy dealer, Faulkner in Lancaster, if'n you're having trouble with your dealer, consider a repair vacation to Lancaster, they'll take care of you, and there's plenty to do while you're there. Stayed at the Fairfield Inn in east Lancaster, wouldn't recommend it, for the price, steeply discounted because of how long I was staying, it was fine, but I'd say this is a 2 star hotel, its badly in need of a remodel, especially new furnshings. Only Marriott property I stayed at during the trip, and definitely didn't leave a great impression, HIlton's were the best, IHG were hit or miss, didn't realize that Holiday Inn Express is considered a 2 star hotel. If you're not in a rush, State Route 30 is a great way to leave Lancaster if'n you're going west, you can take it all the way to New Stanton, completely avoiding the PA Turnpike which is a toll road, and its very scenic. Also it runs through Gettysburg as well as the 9-11 museum, so there's plenty to do even on the way home. Didn't get to do the sightseeing I want, Strasburg Railroad was closed as was the Train Museum, which somehow I"ve never gotten to the museum despite multiple trips out there, Strasburg Railroad was going to be done because its fun and I do it every time I get out there.
Not much else to say, for those who wonder if'n travel is possible with an EV, this trip will be around 2000 miles by the time I get home, all done in a Bolt EUV, just requires a lot of apps, I've charged at Ionna, Red-E, Tesla, Chargepoint, EVGo and Electrify America stations, plus you need ABRP for route planning, it mostly just sucks on navigation. Oh, and Plugshare can come in handy for finding stations in your immediate area when you don't need navigation. Technically you could use it for navigation, but that would require you to figure out how far you can safely go along your route and pick out chargers, ABRP calculates for charger reliability, elavation changes, climate control usage, all the things that effect your range, which is so much easier, and if'n you don't like what it picks, you can change it.
EDIT Had to post this later, seems #Fedilab has a bug, it wouldn't post do to a JavaScript error, so posting at the first Indiana stop via browser.
I've always had mixed results from the sub (sub , sub ) brand offerings from the major hotel chains. Franchise management is often lacking. I'm unfamiliar with EV travel, is the ABRP app required for preconditioning before a charge? I have heard of such things.
@Mark Wollschlager Yeah, franchises are nev3r consistant, but a goid start is to always stay at 3 stars or above, minimum standars are usually higher and inspections more frequent.
Nooe, preconditioning is handle by the onboard navigation app, however thst's frequently biased to networks they have agreements with. ABRP is a general purpose navigation app, but designed for electric cars, and theoretically knows every charger, you just set a few things so it knows what's compatible and what you like to use
The thing with stars is they can be gamed, and often enough a bare bones, well kept place with a lower star rating beats a 3 or 4 that needs work but has 'amenities'. And my all time favorite, the 3-4 that's undergoing renovation during your stay.
@Mark Wollschlager True, but it also gives you an idea of what to expect, for example 2 star is where Motel 6, Super 8 and such sit. Holiday Inn is better in amenities, but condition, and service is very inconsistent, which is prolly why they wound up on that tier.
over promising and under delivering. This summer I stayed in an older ( it had been closed for a couple of years ) place that reopened last summer as a boutique adjacent hip-ish place. They had a number of cool amenities, fire pit/outdoor relaxation area, bike rentals, cozy lobby with games and an espresso bar . But the rooms were still the old rooms with a 'flip' and some new furniture. It was fine, and somewhat cheaper than the Residence Inn I usually stayed at. One and a half steps above a 'motor court' as all the rooms were on the inside. Both were 3 star and the Residence Inn was far nicer. I have stayed in the least expensive places in that town and, well, those were a lot worse.
@Mark Wollschlager Oh god, boutique/hip hotels, no thanks, I skipped one of IHG's hip hotels in Myrtle Beach even though it was cheaper and closer (really loved the resort I stayed at, even if'n calling it a resort is stretching it). I do have to say my experience with Hilton has been pretty solid, over the years I've stayed at Hampton Inn, Tru, Hilton Garden Inn and Home2, and never had any issues with them. However, the combo Tru and Home2 was bizarre, looked like they took a page from Yum Foods, half the hotel was decorated as a Tru and the other half a Home2.
Yeah, Tru is a trip. My rooms have been about as small as possible with no storage. The lobby is a hoot with all the different types of seating. I think I counted 10 unique types of seating, plus cushions for sitting on the floor. But they had a pancake machine, Woot!. The first one I stayed at in Louisville, KY was hosting a wedding, so fun times abounded. I've been in a couple of dual hotel buildings, When the lobby is on different floors it's a bit less confusing.
@Mark Wollschlager That's one of the things that was weird about the combo, I guess someone wanted a suites option, something that Tru doesn't offer, and wanted regular rooms, which Home2 doesn't offer, so they combined them, and had one front desk and split the hotel in half between the designs.
Chuckles, "Always love situations created by not reading the fine print, reminds me of a story I read where a mistress wakes up bound. Why? A bet against another mistress, the other mistress bet that she wouldn't lose, while she bet that she'd win. Problem? They tied."
Actually been, got here Friday night. This leg hasn't worked out fully, but the most important part has happened, been spending time with family. Hotel got a little sketchy, luckily I realized how much of a problem getting a room would be, so I reserved earlier than normal, and scored a good deal. Until here, I'd been staying mostly at IHG properties, but occasionally hitting HIlton when necessary. IHG is giving me double points, so I figure that'd pay for a room or three on the trip, unfortunately points don't go far. I switched to Marriott here, and was lucky that a five day stay got me a steep long stay discount, $134/night, after all the Lititz Holiday Inn Express was asking $240/night or so. This place isn't great, but the important parts for me are fine, after all, a hotel room is mostly just a place to store my body when I'm not using it.
Strasburg Railroad and the Railroad museum didn't work out, they're closed until Wed, and that's when I'll be starting home. Lancaster Log Cabins did work though, and very well, I really like their designs, and a 400sq ft tiny home will definitely work for me. Unfortunately the Sierra won't work for me, the changes I want can't be done there, all plumbing is on one side, and that's the only way they do it. The changes I want could be done on site, but the closet I want wouldn't match the rest of the place most likely. I can however get it unfinished which is something I'd prefer. Most likely I'll go with the Rancher, the layout works well, far better in person than the plans look, it has a washer in the main bedroom (optional), not perfect, but acceptable. It also happens to be cheaper, which is great. Thanks to a flyer at the hotel I also found Barry's Car Barn, its a small museum displaying part of a private car collection. Kind of a mixed bag for me, its heavy on Chevys, the typical muscle car models, I've seen those, so while nice cars, nothing real special. However, they do have a really nice collection of old motorcycles, and those are fascinating, heck, one is so much a motorcycle as a transition device, it was a motor and wheel that you bolt to a bicycle. Just wild seeing the lineage from bicycle to motorcycle, unlike cars, the timeline is very visible. Also getting the car fixed has been mostly good, they couldn't sort out the brake issue, parking brake sometimes struggles to engage, and in the winter it freezes on, they couldn't find that, but they did find the front end and turn signal problems, and those are the two biggest issues, so the car is finally getting properly fixed.
So far the trip has been great, if anyone needs a hotel recommendation for Myrtle Beach and doesn't mind not being in Myrtle Beach, I've got one for you, its just in Surfside Beach, one town south. Hotels have generally not been great, the Holiday Inn Expresses have been really hit or miss, Hampton was great, the Fairfield in I'm at is alright, but definitely falls short in the details. I think overall Hampton has been the best experience, and I have the feeling that others in the HIlton family would make me equally happy.
The idea of a youngster vacillating between whether to become a magician or join the Central Intelligence Agency may sound implausible, but those two working environments have deeper commonalities than it would seem.
Another collaboration with gorgeous visuals from R.E. Ryan. TRANSCRIPT OF CARTOON This cartoon has four panels. The same bespectacled, bearded man appears in all four. PANEL 1 The man walks past seβ¦
Weβve moved past cops doing stuff because a dog gave them permission to do it. Now, weβre at the post-truth era of policing, where cops will do stuff because a machine told them to do iβ¦
Bellarome
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Mark Wollschlager
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