arduinna

Posted by Paul Rogers

https://www.mercurynews.com/2025/09/22/does-mondays-bay-area-earthquake-increase-the-chances-of-a-bigger-one/

https://www.mercurynews.com/?p=12215991

It’s a common question after an earthquake shakes the Bay Area and jolts people’s attention.

Does this mean a bigger one is coming?

Sometimes. But not usually, experts said Monday, after a 4.3 magnitude quake centered in Berkeley woke up thousands of people across the Bay Area at 2:56 a.m. early Monday morning.

“There is a small chance that this is a foreshock to something larger,” said Angie Lux, a seismologist at the UC Berkeley Seismology Laboratory. “But there is a less than 1% chance. It could happen but it is not really statistically significant.”

According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the chance of a smaller quake, with a magnitude 3, occurring in the same area in the next week is 16%. The chances of another magnitude 4 are 2%. And a magnitude 5 or above? Less than 1%.

Larger earthquakes usually produce larger aftershocks, she noted. When an aftershock is larger than the first quake, it becomes the main quake, and the earlier quake is described as a foreshock.

That happened in 2019 during the Ridgecrest Earthquake, which occurred in near the desert town of Ridgecrest in Kern County. On July 4 that year, the first main shock, a 6.4 quake, hit at 10:33 am. It was followed by more than 1,400 aftershocks, many of them small. But the next day there was a 5.4 aftershock, and four hours later, the largest quake, a 7.1, shook the rural area.

“A 4.3 earthquake like the one today is not a big earthquake,” Lux said. “When there is a big quake, large aftershocks are expected because it has affected a large portion of the fault. This affected a smaller area, so there is less likelihood of it triggering a larger quake.”

Sarah Minson, a research geophysicist with the U.S. Geological Survey’s Earthquake Science Center at Moffett Field, noted that quakes 4.0 and above are relatively rare.

During the 56 years from 1967 to 2022, there were 279 earthquakes in Bay Area counties that were magnitude 4 or above, she noted. That’s about 5 per year. Many of those have occurred in rural areas, like northern Sonoma County near the Geysers, or in unpopulated portions of the Diablo Range.

“In most earthquakes, the largest aftershock is one unit lower than the main shock,” she said. “So if you have a 4, the most likely aftershock is going to be a 3 or a 2 that you don’t even feel.”

Monday’s quake, the largest in the Bay Area in nearly three years, caused no serious damage or injuries. It occurred along the Hayward-Rodgers Creek Fault. The last major quake there was in 1868. Historically, geologic studies have shown a major quake has occurred on the fault about every 140 to 170 years on average .

Monday’s event should motivate people to bolt bookshelves to the wall, put putty under valuable vases and china, and set aside some supplies in an emergency kit, like 72 hours of water per person, Lux said.

“Everybody wants to know when the next one is going to happen,” Lux said. “We don’t know. But we know we live in earthquake country. Don’t get scared. Be prepared. One day it will happen.”

https://www.mercurynews.com/2025/09/22/does-mondays-bay-area-earthquake-increase-the-chances-of-a-bigger-one/

https://www.mercurynews.com/?p=12215991

sjmerc_ca_feed

Posted by Associated Press

https://www.mercurynews.com/2025/09/22/california-high-speed-rail-trump-administration-funding/

https://www.mercurynews.com/?p=12216074&preview=true&preview_id=12216074

By Josh Funk | Associated Press

The Trump Administration wants to redistribute $2.4 billion it pulled from California’s high-speed rail project as part of a new $5 billion program announced Monday to fund rail projects to boost passenger rail traffic nationwide.

The new program’s rules for states and others wanting to participate remove any mention of diversity or climate change dating to the Biden administration. The new program will also put a priority on projects in areas with higher rates of birth and marriage and projects that improve safety at railroad crossings.

The Trump administration has removed climate change and so-called DEI language from other grant requirements, and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy took a jab at that Biden-era language and California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s rail project in his announcement.

“Our new National Railroad Partnership Program will emphasize safety – our number one priority – without the radical … DEI and green grant requirements. Instead of wasting dollars on Governor Newsom’s high-speed rail boondoggle, these targeted investments will improve the lives of rail passengers, local drivers, and pedestrians,” Duffy said.

The biggest chunk of this money the Federal Railroad Administration announced comes from the $4 billion that was pulled from the California project. The rest of the money comes from a combination of what was announced last year and what is in this year’s budget.

President Donald Trump and Duffy have both criticized the decades-old California project for its cost overruns and many delays that have kept the train that’s designed to connect San Francisco and Los Angeles from becoming a reality yet.

California officials said they will fight this effort to redistribute money they believe should be going to their project. They had already filed a lawsuit challenging the Trump administration’s decision to pull federal funding from the state’s high-speed rail project

“The FRA’s decision to terminate federal funding for California high-speed rail was unlawful, unwarranted, and is being challenged in federal court. Now, their attempt to redirect a portion of that funding, currently the subject of litigation, is premature,” said Micah Flores, a spokesman for the California High-Speed Rail Authority. “The Authority has been prepared for this possibility and will take imminent legal action to block this misguided effort by the FRA.”

The focus on areas with higher birth and marriage rates reflects Trump’s executive orders that make spending that benefits American families a priority in his administration, according to an FRA spokesman.

The Federal Railroad Administration said railroad crossings are important to address because more than 200 people a year are killed when trains collide with vehicles or pedestrians at crossings. That has long been something the government and railroads work to address but it is costly to build bridges or underpasses that allow cars to safely bypass the tracks.

Even though the money is targeted toward improving passenger rail, some of it will almost certainly go to improvements on the nation’s major freight railroads because Amtrak uses their tracks for most of its long-distance routes across the country.

The administration also said it would give priority to projects that improve the traveling experience for families by adding amenities like nursing mothers’ rooms, expanded waiting areas and children’s play areas in train stations.

Applications for this money are due by Jan. 7.

Associated Press writer Sophie Austin contributed to this report from Sacramento, California.

https://www.mercurynews.com/2025/09/22/california-high-speed-rail-trump-administration-funding/

https://www.mercurynews.com/?p=12216074&preview=true&preview_id=12216074

queenlua

When, in the course of human events, one reads a little bit too much of Marilynne Robinson's incredible prose, and then plays a little bit too much Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, and thus gets the two very different types of work all muddled in one's head, and is thus seized with the need to go spit out many thousands of words of Clair-Obscur-fanfiction-in-the-style-of-Marilynne-Robinson, but becomes aware partway through the project that one's understanding of the culture and structure of the Paris Conservatory during the Belle Époque era is incredibly thin, and this lack of understanding is really becoming awkward given that one has gone and invented an entire subplot involving multiple professors at aforementioned conservatory in one's fanfiction based on a passing mention in canon that "oh such-and-such character went to conservatory" and literally nothing else—well, it thus becomes necessary to go read a well-regarded biography of a contemporaneous French composer to amend that lack of knowledge.

Which is how I found myself reading Gabriel Fauré: A Musical Life by Jean-Michel Nectoux (translated by Roger Nichols).

("You really have a knack for nerd-sniping yourself," a friend observed dryly when I explained my present pitiable state of affairs. Yeah I sure do, huh.)

As I've been reading this primarily for convoluted fanfiction research purposes, what follows should not be construed as a review or anything even approaching one (I haven't even finished reading the book yet!), but, more of a... thinking-aloud session? Because there's a great deal that's amused me, and also a great deal that's made me very ponderous, and also stuff that just straight-up confused me (recall my aforementioned staggering lack of historical/contextual knowledge)... and yeah the only way I know how to think these days is via blog posts, apparently.

( Read more... )

Oh, also, one last funny bit about the translation: there's a bunch of words that are left with the French spelling, for no particular reason I can discern? The funniest of these is "rôle," which is always spelled the French way, even though there is no semantic difference to be had there. Whatcha trying to prove with that little hat over the O, lol. Though I guess The New Yorker still spells coordinate and cooperate as "coördinate" and "coöperate" so. I guess we all have our little spelling hangups :P

hannah

The first day of fall. Rosh Hashanah beginning a new year. And giving blood, too. It took me just over six minutes, which isn't bad except for how I know I can do better than that. I'll keep hydrating and hitting the treadmill.

I'm also going to leave the bandage on until bedtime, as usual. It's yellow, so I feel like I should pick a dress for tonight's dinner that'll really make it pop.

Current Mood: accomplished
Current Music: Big Machine - The Goo Goo Dolls

modzilla posting in

fffx

I hope your assignments are, by and large, well suited to you!

Sometimes you and your recipient are not a great fit. Or sometimes you're excited about a request during sign-ups, and the moment you get assigned to it, you wonder what you were thinking. So: swaps.

If you would like to swap to any other participant, please get in touch before 11:59pm EDT, Thursday 25 September - mod.modzilla@gmail.com. Most swap requests can be granted.

After that time passes, you can still swap your assignment in the following circumstances:

-The request you want is a pinch hit. You can swap to any pinch hit until the January deadline.
-Your assigned recipient has an incomplete letter. You are welcome to swap to another recipient, whether they are a pinch hit or not, until the January deadline.

I think I've responded to all the swaps requests I've received so far - please contact me again if I've missed replying to you.

fail_feed

Posted by Ben Weiss

https://cheezburger.com/42496773/new-hire-overhears-coworker-say-she-wont-last-3-months-employee-sticks-it-out-and-confronts-coworker

No one likes a gossip, especially at work.

Sure, it's fun to hear someone spill a little tea every now and then, but what happens when you suddenly overhear people talking about you? Let's just say it's not that fun anymore.

This new hire had the unfortunate experience of working alongside the biggest gossip in the entire office. This coworker's mother was also an employee at the same company, so clearly, she felt that she was able to get away with being wildly unprofessional in the workplace. On the new hire's first day, she overheard the coworker gossiping about her and claiming that there was no way she would last more than three months on the job.

Of course, this is the kind of comment that sticks with you, but I guess there's nothing like proving people wrong to get you motivated. The author managed to stay at the company for years despite secretly planning her departure every other day. Still, she waited until the coworker left the company. By the time it was her coworker's last day, the author took the opportunity to give her a piece of her mind. On top of that, it seemed like she did last longer than three months.

Now, this isn't exactly something I would condone for other miserable employees out there. It seems that the author was motivated into staying at a miserable workplace environment just because of an unnecessarily passive-aggressive comment made by a coworker. If you feel like you need to change workplace environments as soon as possible, don't stifle those feelings just so you can prove a random coworker wrong. That mentality ultimately gives more power to the coworker than to yourself. Most folks stay in toxic workplaces due to financial constraints or because they view their position as a stepping stone for the next opportunity. Staying just for a random coworker, who isn't even a decent person, should not be part of one's professional priorities. Protecting yourself, your agency, and your wants and needs is what's most important.

After all, there is a reason why they call it at-will employment in the first place. Let's not forget that employment is a two-way street between the employer and the employee, not the random coworker who sits near you! Do yourself a favor and learn from this person's mistakes: never forget your agency in an at-will employment environment!

https://cheezburger.com/42496773/new-hire-overhears-coworker-say-she-wont-last-3-months-employee-sticks-it-out-and-confronts-coworker

xkcd_feed

https://xkcd.com/3145/

Some lava around the piercing site is normal, but keep an eye out for spreading earthquakes and eruptive activity that might indicate rifting.

https://xkcd.com/3145/

trobadora posting in

sid_guardian

Just a reminder that

guardian_wishlist reveals are in two weeks, on 6 October (Reunion Festival).

If you've been meaning to take a look at the requests and make a little something or two, all wishlists are tagged for fandoms and media and open for receiving gifts. (Previous years' tags are labelled with their respective years, so check the plain fandom and media tags at the bottom for this year's wishlists.) Wishlist comments are screened.

Gifts must fit the requests and not include any DNWs. Prompts are optional. There are no minimums. Gifts must be unique to the recipient.

For posting guidelines, links to the Wishlist Spreadsheet and AO3 collection, and more information about the fest, please check the Rules/FAQ post.

shipperslist

( You're about to view content that the journal owner has marked as possibly inappropriate for anyone under the age of 18. )

trobadora posting in

guardian_wishlist

Just a reminder that

netgirl_y2k

Renfield - Nicholas Hoult! Awkwafina! Shohreh Aghdashloo! Talk about a movie that was less than the sum of its parts!

A Working Man - I have had a soft spot for Statham ever since Spy. This was fine, but the peak dumb Statham action flick is still the The Beekeeper.

Shazam! Fury of the Gods - A kid says a magic world and turns into an adult man with superpowers was a cute premise for a movie; a grown man says a magic world and turns into a different, worse adult man less so.

Thunderbolts - Er...why did this look like it was filmed in a cupboard?

Becky/Wrath of Becky - Killin' nazis in the woods!

Sisu - Killin' nazis in the snow!

Red Sonja - Was this film good? Good grief, no. Was the film excellent? Hell yeah!

Heathers the Musical - Candy Store is a bop. Do the kids still say bop?

What should I watch next? Killin' nazis optional but obviously preferred.

wychwood

( 72. Everyone In My Family Has Killed Someone - Benjamin Stevenson ) A great gimmick, but I didn't like the protagonist enough to stay with it.

( 73. Gathering Moss - Robin Wall Kimmerer ) I do have some arguments with this book, but it's honestly fascinating.

( 74. Buried Deep and Other Stories - Naomi Novik ) A delightful set of stories - including one in her new world, which I'm looking forward to seeing once it's out!

( 75. The Private Lives of the Saints - Janina Ramirez ) Power, politics, and prayer; early mediaeval saints were very powerful people, and could be used in many ways in life and death, and Ramirez did an interesting job of looking at some examples of that.

( 76. Life on Earth - David Attenborough ) There's a reason these series (books) are such classics.

( 77. Lake of Souls - Ann Leckie ) Leckie does so many different things, and I like almost all of them.

( 78. Saturnalia - Lindsey Davis ) I think it's probably me, but I just did not enjoy this.

( 79. The Cricket Term - Antonia Forest ) I have a complicated relationship with these books, but I do enjoy them.

( 80. A City on Mars - Kelly and Zach Weinersmith ) I knew that Elon Musk's alleged Mars colony was in no way a viable prospect in this decade, but I hadn't understood quite how much work is absolutely still needed. A must-read for anyone who thinks living in space would be cool.

( 81. The Moonlight Market - Joanne Harris ) Sort of... disappointing? Harris is a pretty big name, but I've not been terribly impressed thus far.

( 82. The Far Pavilions - MM Kaye ) This was lush and beautiful and astonishingly compelling for something this long.

( 83. All Systems Red - Martha Wells ) A good start to one of my favourite series.

( 84. Evelina - Fanny Burney ) Politeness should not require people to put up with violent assaults! It's OK to say "no" and stick to it!!

( 85. Batman: Wayne Family Adventures vol 1 - CRC Payne and Starbite ) An absolute delight; looking forward to reading more of this!

lifehacker_feed

Posted by David Nield

https://lifehacker.com/tech/how-to-watch-pornhub-even-if-its-blocked-in-your-state?utm_medium=RSS

We may earn a commission from links on this page.

The internet is changing rapidly, and the (rather large) chunk of it devoted to adult entertainment is no exception. Porn sites in an increasing number of U.S. states must now verify that their users are adults by requiring them to submit a government-issued ID or some other suitable method of proving their identity. Understandably, this is not necessarily something everyone wants to do every time they visit an adult site.

In response, Pornhub, as well as other sites under its parent company Aylo, have gone dark in some of these states in protest. As such, many users across these states are now searching for the best VPNs (virtual private networks) to install on their devices so they can still access the site.

What states have blocked PornHub?

As of the end of September 2025, 24 states have put these age verification requirements in place: Louisiana, Utah, Mississippi, Virginia, Arkansas, North Dakota, Texas, Montana, North Carolina, Idaho, Kansas, Kentucky, Georgia, Nebraska, Indiana, Alabama, South Dakota, Arizona, Wyoming, Oklahoma, Florida, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Missouri.

Additionally, an age verification bill has passed in Ohio, effective Sept. 29, 2025.

Bills are also pending in an additional 14 states: Oregon, Nevada, New Mexico, Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Hawaii, and Maryland. State-level legislation aside, the federal SCREEN Act (2025) could bring in country-wide measures if it passes into law. Further, the Supreme Court has upheld Texas' age verification law, setting a precedent that could impact attempts to challenge these laws in the future.

It's a shifting landscape, as laws are proposed and appealed in each state, and the best resources for keeping up to date that I've found are from the Age Verification Providers Association (which is pro-age verification measures) and the Free Speech Coalition (which is against them).

On one side is the argument that kids need to be protected from adult content online, and on the other is the argument that free speech is paramount and kids will find porn anyway—perhaps through sites that have fewer safeguards and rules around adult content than Pornhub.

The Louisiana exception

Pornhub can use LA Wallet in Louisiana. Credit: Lifehacker

Pornhub owner Aylo's issues with all of this legislation are that age verification systems are ineffective, and an invasion of privacy for those aged 18 or over. Instead, the company is calling for user ages to be verified at the device level, perhaps through the app stores managed by Apple and Google, for example. Lawmakers in Texas have already passed legislation requiring app stores to verify ages before users can download any apps, not just ones with age-restricted content.

Louisiana stands out as the one state where Aylo sites, including Pornhub, are cooperating with an age verification system to keep adult content available to users. That system is known as LA Wallet, the digital driver license app that's already active in Louisiana, and which provides robust ID verification. One of the reasons Aylo has kept Pornhub open for business in Louisiana is that LA Wallet can work anonymously: It's a bit like using a two-factor authentication code. Through this mechanism, Pornhub doesn't know who you are, but does know you've been verified as an adult through LA Wallet.

For now, other states are lagging in introducing similar tech. They either don't have digital ID systems like LA Wallet, or have systems that aren't as simple to use for the purpose, or as respectful towards user privacy. And so the stand-off continues: Both state governments and Aylo want users to have to verify their age to access Pornhub, they just want to go about it in different ways.

How to watch Pornhub if it's blocked in your state

Whatever your position on age verification laws, remember that the best VPNs can connect your computer to a server in a different part of the world—making it look like you're located somewhere other than where you actually are. So wherever you are, if you want to access porn sites that are blocked, a VPN is your new best friend.

That's just the start, though, when it comes to the benefits of installing a VPN. These software tools hide your browsing activity from governments, law enforcement agencies, and whoever is providing your internet connection. Generally, VPNs make it harder for companies to track you, and give you more security and privacy (though not total anonymity) online.

With that in mind, Lifehacker has covered the best free VPNs, the best paid VPNs, and the best free VPNs for Android in the past, but I'd like to highlight a couple of recommendations here—if you want more suggestions for your internet browsing needs (adult site-related or not), follow those links above.

The best free VPN: Proton VPN

Proton VPN doesn't put any bandwidth restrictions on free accounts. Credit: Proton

We've written in glowing terms before about how good the free Proton VPN is, and it's a great pick if you don't want to spend anything. Its appeal starts with Proton itself: It's committed to privacy, was started by scientists in Switzerland, and is siloed from the big tech names (like Google, Apple, Amazon, and Microsoft). It's a name you can trust.

There are also surprisingly few restrictions for a free VPN. The two main limitations are you can only connect from one device, and you don't get to choose which country's servers you connect to. That's it—it's not painfully slow, like a lot of free VPNs. If you do need more flexibility in your VPN connections and features, there are paid upgrades available too.

Add in the ease of use you get with Proton VPN, the support for a broad range of devices, and the reliability you get from servers around the world, and it's difficult to beat in terms of a free VPN. Sign up here for a Proton account, if you don't already have one.

The best paid VPN: NordVPN

You can connect to more than 100 different countries with NordVPN Credit: NordVPN

You've got a lot of excellent options to pick from when it comes to paid VPNs, and there's no app that's far and away above the others—but we're going to highlight NordVPN here, which we recently compared to ExpressVPN. It's fast, it's flexible, and the software it offers across multiple platforms is more polished and intuitive than with a lot of its rivals.

You get lots of features with NordVPN, from split tunneling to DNS customizations to support for the super-private Onion network. While you can easily use the software with just a couple of clicks (or taps), there are numerous advanced features available if you want to dig a bit deeper—you can even have a dedicated IP address (though it costs extra).

Pricing for NordVPN starts at $12.99 a month, but you can get some pretty significant discounts if you pay for a year (or two years) up front. That's enough to get you up to six simultaneous connections, and you can sign up here to register and download the apps.

https://lifehacker.com/tech/how-to-watch-pornhub-even-if-its-blocked-in-your-state?utm_medium=RSS

duskpeterson

Most of the official documents of the Koretian government are locked away or in active use, but the outer chamber of the historian's room boasts a magnificent chart of the bloodlines of the previous rulers of Koretia. You will see that there are two main bloodlines; both were cut off by wartime casualties, although the last surviving direct descendant of the second line died surprisingly recently. See the section of this book on Valouse for more details.

The Jackal's previous bloodline is unknown, but the Koretian ruler has established a new bloodline by selecting a young kinsman as his heir. The kinsmanship is dually established through a wardship and through a blood-brotherhood of an earlier generation.

[Translator's note: With his usual reticence, the Ambassador fails to cite plainly his own connection to Koretia's royal line. That connection is mentioned often in Empty Dagger Hand.]

sjmerc_ca_feed

Posted by Robert Salonga

https://www.mercurynews.com/2025/09/22/santa-clara-teen-killed-in-weekend-collision/

https://www.mercurynews.com/?p=12215716

SANTA CLARA — A teen driver was killed in a two-car collision on Lawrence Expressway on Saturday night, police said.

The crash was reported at 9:36 p.m. in the northbound lanes approaching Benton Street, according to the Santa Clara Police Department.

An initial investigation found that a 16-year-old Sunnyvale boy was driving a Honda Accord carrying two teenage passengers, when he changed lanes to the left too closely to a Toyota Camry traveling in the other lane, causing the left rear of the Honda to hit the right front end of the Toyota.

The impact caused the Honda driver to lose control and hit a traffic signal pole, police said.

When police officers arrived at the crash site, the driver was still inside the wreck while his two passengers had gotten out.

The Santa Clara Fire Department tried to revive the boy, but he died at the crash site, police said. His name was not publicly released pending his formal identification and notification of his next of kin by the Santa Clara County Medical Examiner-Coroner’s Office.

The two passengers in the Honda suffered minor injuries. The Toyota driver, also a teen, stopped at the scene.

There is no indication that police cited or arrested anyone in connection with the crash. Police said the Honda driver “appeared to be traveling over the posted speed limit, but the speed is not known at this point in the investigation.”

Anyone with information about Saturday’s fatal collision can contact Traffic Investigator Scott Wilson at 408-615-4764. Anonymous tips can be submitted at 408-615-4847.

https://www.mercurynews.com/2025/09/22/santa-clara-teen-killed-in-weekend-collision/

https://www.mercurynews.com/?p=12215716

goddess47 posting in

no_true_pair

Title: Supply and Demand
Fandom: Stargate Atlantis, Stargate SG-1
Pairing/Characters: Jack O'Neill, Rodney McKay
Word Count: 166
Content Notes: none
Prompt:

no_true_pair September 22 - Rodney McKay & Jack O'Neill - grocery list

Link to fic: Supply and Demand (on AO3)

lifehacker_feed

Posted by Pradershika Sharma

https://lifehacker.com/tech/adobe-acrobat-classic-microsoft-office-pro-2021-stacksocial-sale?utm_medium=RSS

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication.

You can get a three-year license of Adobe Acrobat Classic (valued at $324) and a lifetime license of Microsoft Office Professional 2021 for Windows (valued at $219.99) together on sale for $89.99 on StackSocial right now. The bundle is only available to U.S. customers, though. The Acrobat license works on both Mac and Windows, while the Office license is limited to a single Windows PC. And because these are digital codes, delivery is instant, and once redeemed, you can use the software offline without the monthly costs that come with subscriptions. If you’re someone who doesn’t want to deal with cloud tie-ins, recurring payments, or limited trials, the upfront structure of this deal is straightforward.

Adobe Acrobat Classic is the desktop-only edition, also labeled as Acrobat Pro 2024. It’s not tied to cloud services, which means everything from editing text and images to converting PDFs into Word, Excel, or PowerPoint happens locally. That’s especially useful if you work with sensitive files and don’t want them traveling online. You also get tools to password-protect or redact documents, along with a refreshed interface that makes features like creating forms or extracting specific pages quicker to find. There are limitations, including no AI Assistant add-on and no browser or mobile support, but if your workflow is mainly on a desktop, those missing pieces might not matter. Plus, the three-year license means you can lock in access without thinking about renewal until 2028.

On the Microsoft side, Office 2021 Professional offers the familiar full suite: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Publisher, Access, and OneNote. A free version of Teams is included as well. This isn’t Microsoft 365, so you don’t get ongoing cloud-based perks or syncing, but the trade-off is that you own the license outright for one PC. For many, that’s enough, especially if you just need reliable offline access to the programs you already know. The applications themselves include some refinements, like quicker ribbon navigation and more customization for documents and presentations, but don’t expect radical changes from earlier Office versions. The real appeal lies in stability: you buy it once, install it, and it works without recurring fees. Put together, this bundle feels like a pragmatic option for anyone who spends most of their time drafting, editing, and managing documents without needing constant cloud integration.

https://lifehacker.com/tech/adobe-acrobat-classic-microsoft-office-pro-2021-stacksocial-sale?utm_medium=RSS

goodstuffhappenedtod_feed

https://goodstuffhappenedtoday.tumblr.com/post/795417697744764928

1five1two:

Cream coloured courser and her chicks. Seyed Babak Musavi.

https://goodstuffhappenedtoday.tumblr.com/post/795417697744764928

goodstuffhappenedtod_feed

https://goodstuffhappenedtoday.tumblr.com/post/795408260333191168

therottenkingsreckoning:

tevruden:
null-the-feral-moff:
whitebookposts:
justanotherweirdarchaeologist:
jaubaius:
Found in a 120 year old time capsule.
Full VDO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IoDj4mXdqmc

Worth it.

I’m sorry I might sound like a madwoman for going on a rant about this but man, it’s…
I don’t know how to express it but just the thought of some person, 120 years ago, taking a photo of their cat, which back then wasn’t easy - they didn’t have phones with cameras, each photo required a lot of time and dedication, so not only the person “wasted” a whole photo on their cat, they also did their fricking best to save this photo and carefully put it into an envelope to preserve it so that people in the future will know that there was this cat and it looked like this and it’s owner thought the cat looked lovely that day so much that they decided to take a photo of it and then they loved the photo so much that they went out of their way to preserve it for future generations like “hello people from the future! this is what my cat loos like!” because they loved their cat so much they wanted people from the future to know about it is… crazy to me… and here we are, 120 years later, long after the cat and it’s owners passed away, looking at an old photo of a cat and gushing about it. The cat died so long ago and wouldn’t even know it existed if not for the owner that loved their cat so much that they decided this photo was worth preserving and put it into a time capsule. and seeing now how people dedicate whole blogs to their cats and take countless pictures of them just to show to other people really hits because you realize that in the end, people from today aren’t that much different from people that were 120 years ago. We all just love our cats and want people to look at them.

I bet this woman was imagining the photo may be seen by like… a family some day. But no. It survived till the age of the internet. It has now transcended the original media. It is now being seen by far more eyes in far more places than the media she chose would normally allow.

I hope the taker of this 120 year old photo is PROUD.

The youtube video has a closeup of the negative, so I processed it digitally and:
THEM!!!

And the SECOND photo:
A KITTEN

and a dog! and they’re friends! 💕💕💕💕

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Posted by Etai Eshet

https://cheezburger.com/42512645/colleague-melissa-tries-to-claim-credit-for-coworkers-idea-gets-called-out-in-front-of-manager-mid

Every office has at least one self-appointed headline bandit, and last week's team meeting featured a vintage rendition of the classic: pitch theft served warm, with zero garnish. The assignment was to solve a client communication mess, which for me meant sacrificing a few nights to build a practical framework so simple I thought it would at least survive the whiteboard intact. Meet Melissa, who listened over coffee, nodded energetically, then tried to roll out my solution as her own like it was a PowerPoint freebie she found on the sidewalk.

Workplace brainstorming is supposed to run on trust and collaboration, but there's always someone ready to treat casual sharing like a sweepstakes entry and see if nobody's paying close enough attention. Credit is the only office currency more slippery than department lingo, and the loudest advocates of "we're all on the same side" are usually the first in line to cash someone else's intellectual paycheck.

https://cheezburger.com/42512645/colleague-melissa-tries-to-claim-credit-for-coworkers-idea-gets-called-out-in-front-of-manager-mid

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Posted by Daniel Oropeza

https://lifehacker.com/money/how-to-sign-up-for-prime-day-2025-invite-only-deals?utm_medium=RSS

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Did you know you can customize Google to filter out garbage? Take these steps for better search results, including adding my work at Lifehacker as a preferred source.

Not all Prime Days deals are open to just anybody. Since 2023, some of the best offers in Amazon's annual sale are invite-only—meaning you have to sign up for them in advance of the sale going live, and hope you get chosen to receive the discount. These deals have become a common fixture for Amazon's major sales, including this past summer's Prime Day.

With Prime Big Deal Days 2025—the fall version of Prime Day—kicking off on Oct. 7, you can expect to see more invite-only deals popping up around the site. Here's how to find and sign up for them, so you have a fighting chance at scoring some great offers.

Who is eligible for Prime Day invite-only deals?

Only a select number of products will be available via invite-only deals. You'll be able to spot them by the "invite-only" banner visible on the product page. As Amazon explains, you must be a Prime Member to sign up for the invite-only deals, and when you sign up, you're essentially requesting an invitation to purchase the deal, which will come by email—but only if you're chosen to receive it.

Here are the steps to sign up:

Find an "Invite-Only Prime Deal" that you want to purchase. You can find these deals listed on the Deals page once Prime Day begins.
Navigate to the product detail page.
Select "Request Invite." If you are not a Prime member, sign up for Prime to be able to request an invite.
You will receive an email notification confirming that you requested an invite. The confirmation will be sent to the email that is on your Amazon account. If you don't have an email on your account, add one by navigating to Your Account > Login > Security.

How to know if you were approved for an invite-only deal

Keep in mind that just because you requested an invitation doesn't mean you'll receive one. If you are selected, you'll receive both a push notification in the Amazon app and email notifying you during the sale. If you're not selected, Amazon will also let you know you didn't get one. You can only buy one of the products that you were invited for, but you can request as many different product invitations as you want. The invitation will last as long as Prime Day lasts (four days this year), or as long as there is stick remaining.

Invite-only deals are usually some of Prime Day's most impressive offerings. Last year, for example, Amazon sold a 43-inch 4K Smart Fire TV for just $99, and you'll likely see similar deals this year.

Here are more tips to shop smartly for Prime Day, using Alexa to remind you about deals to signing up for deal alerts so you receive notifications related to your Amazon searches and recently viewed items.

Our Best Editor-Vetted Tech Deals Right Now

Apple AirPods Pro 2 Noise Cancelling Wireless Earbuds — $199.00 (List Price $249.00)

Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge 256GB Unlocked AI Phone (Titanium JetBlack) — $699.99 (List Price $1,099.99)

Apple iPad 11" 128GB A16 WiFi Tablet (Blue, 2025) — $299.00 (List Price $349.00)

Roku Streaming Stick Plus — $29.00 (List Price $39.99)

Deals are selected by our commerce team

https://lifehacker.com/money/how-to-sign-up-for-prime-day-2025-invite-only-deals?utm_medium=RSS

thisbluespirit posting in

rainbowfic

Name: Calla Island
Story: Starfall
Colors: Vert #4 (Waypower); Warm Heart #3 (Jealousy)
Supplies and Styles: Portrait
Word Count: 5053
Rating: PG
Warnings:
Notes: 1313, Calla Island; Viyony Eseray, Vollo Hyan, Lynah Allin, Eollan Barra, Tess Hyan. The first part of a continuous sequence. (It's divided into 5 sections at the moment, but it might wind up at 6).
Summary: Viyony visits Calla Island, the ancestral seat of the Allin family.

( Calla Island )

marycatelli posting in

book_love

Stiff Upper Lip, Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse

The continuing adventures of Jeeves and Bertie.

( Read more... )

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Posted by Michelle Ehrhardt

https://lifehacker.com/tech/macbook-oled-could-be-coming-soon?utm_medium=RSS

Did you know you can customize Google to filter out garbage? Take these steps for better search results, including adding Lifehacker as a preferred source for tech news.

If there’s one area where MacBooks lag behind Windows laptops, it’s gaming. But if there’s another area, it’s display technology. Yep, while Apple still stands behind its trademark LCD “retina” displays, Windows machines have been adopting OLED and touchscreens for years now. Luckily, according to industry experts, MacBook owners will soon be able to plan on having better screens, too.

The latest rumors come courtesy of TF International Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, as well as Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, both of whom have reliable track records reporting on Apple products. While this isn’t the first time Apple has been rumored to be updating its laptop displays, we’ve now got a timeline update.

According to a post Kuo made to X on Sept. 17, the MacBook Pro will be the first MacBook to receive an OLED update, and as a bonus, the new screen will also support touch. The upgraded model is “expected to enter mass production by late 2026,” although as is par for the course with these leaks, the post didn’t point to any particular sources to back this up. However, if you read between the lines and look at Kuo’s past spot-on speculations, it’s likely an anonymous source from within Apple.

For a little bit of assurance, Gurman, who also frequently relies on such sources, was quick to agree with Kuo’s assertions in his weekly Power On newsletter this weekend, pointing to his original reporting on the topic from 2023. However, the reporter also added that the actual release date might be closer to early 2027, depending on how quickly Apple can get supply out. He also clarified that, technically, the revamp was planned for this year, but was moved back “due to OLED supply issues.”

As for the rest of Apple’s MacBook line, neither expert has updates on that end, although Gurman speculates that “if touch resonates on the MacBook Pro, I expect it to eventually come to other Macs as well.”

While the benefits behind a touchscreen laptop are fairly self explanatory, OLED is higher on my personal wishlist. The technology’s self-illuminating pixels will help with contrast, yes, but like on the iPhone, they should also aid with battery life. That’s because, while current MacBooks rely on a backlight that spans the entire display, parts of an OLED screen can remain off when not in use.

It’s notable that Kuo and Gurman’s proposed timeline also matches with the release of the iPad Pro just last year, which upgraded to an OLED screen for the first time. Given that iPadOS 26 also revamped the iPad user experience to be much more like using a MacBook, it’s likely Apple is currently planning for more parity between its product categories.

On that note, Kuo’s post also reminded readers that a potential lower-cost MacBook that uses an iPhone processor could be in the works for later this year, although specifics are still largely in the dark at this point. The analyst, however, did say this model would likely not include touch support, although that could change in the future.

As for other rumored Apple products, also still largely in the dark is a potential foldable iPhone, which Gurman says “will be the star of Apple’s 2026 product lineup.” As predicted by my colleague David Nield, the reporter’s sources are increasingly telling him that “users should imagine two titanium iPhone Airs side-by-side,” but pricing and release date specifics are still up to the imagination for now.

https://lifehacker.com/tech/macbook-oled-could-be-coming-soon?utm_medium=RSS

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