The Martian by Andy Weir

I would be cool with name changes. I don't think any of them will do it, though. I have suggested name changes (both first and last), but my kids are not fond of names that rhyme, or that are oxymorons, or that are puns. I may have accidentally talked them out of it. Even DS, who writes under a pseudonym because his name is so common, didn't like my suggestions for a fake name. I think a name should be memorable, is all. If it is, it helps those of us to have senior moments.

My DD and I are the only two in our family who like Russian tea cakes (aka Mexican wedding cookies) and date nut cookies. She has her own place, and today I am wondering if she will arrive in time to get even the crumbs.

That made me think of something else that will be gone: ties. Thought process: dry cleaner to suits to ties. In case this seems out of left field.

I bought it on Amazon. All I know about it is that DS wants it. He is fluent in Old English (reads, writes, speaks). The author is Matti Rissanen, and the book was his Ph.D. thesis according to Wikipedia. Amazon currently has no copies of this book. I wanted to get DS a time machine to go back into the past (like in Jodi Taylor's Chronicles of St. Mary's series). Alas, Amazon was fresh out of time machines. Still, it would have been a great experience to go with the book.

It's probably from tracking cookies FB put on her computer. Or maybe the library. Or both.

5 Big Changes in Investing From the Last 5 Years https://www.fool.com/investing/2019/12/20/5-big-changes-in-investing-from-the-last-5-years.aspx

The NYT Privacy Project discusses this, and I had to sign up for a free account to view it. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/opinion/internet-privacy-project.html It's not just FB. Tons of companies are putting trackers on our computers via every website we visit. Consumer Reports article - 66 Ways to Protect Your Privacy Right Now - seems to be available for everyone. I didn't have to sign-in to see it. https://www.consumerreports.org/privacy/66-ways-to-protect-your-privacy-right-now/ I use a VPN, ProtonMail, BleachBit, and pCloud file storage. I use the paid versions for all (except BleachBit), and figure the encryption and security offered are better than nothing. I am currently researching how to remove *all* trackers from my computer, so I can do that daily. Standard methods do not work very well. I also have a Windows computer and a Linux computer. Windows is still necessary for Turbo Tax and Quicken, for business reasons. All of my personal financial accounts are recently acquired and will go on the Linux computer only (System 76 -- never been touched by Microsoft). I was already leery about my lack of privacy online, and with internet-connect devices, including my car, when I read articles linked above. Now I am alarmed.

I am the only one in our household who eats the heels. I am also the only one who rarely eat sandwiches.

I read (or listened to) a New York Times series on privacy, and the same thing was discussed, along with how data mining/buyer profiles can be used to manipulate individuals into having preferences they would perhaps not otherwise have. Mind control by governments and large corporations doesn't seem that far-fetched. I was surprised to learn that passive index funds are being managed by AI, and that actively managed index funds are greatly assisted by AI.

I think print newspapers and magazines, landlines, and network tv will be obsolete. Printed books ... maybe. I'd hate to see that happen, even though I do the vast majority of my reading on the Kindle. Most of the books I own are out-of-print and beloved by me, and I prefer the printed version. I also prefer books which are heavily picture-laden to be in print. My preferences will not matter, though. Our mall has been dead for many years. Even during Christmas shopping season, few people are there, although Texas Roadhouse is full of diners during the entire time they are open. I think most people here shop either at Walmart (parking lot always full) or online. Movie theaters -- I think that with the advent of inexpensive super-huge tv screens and streaming services, combined with the high cost of going to a movie, the big chains will die out. Smart homes will be more common as people rank the conveniences of the devices over their privacy concerns.

Maybe gas-powered cars. And maybe cars that don't drive themselves. I read an article about this the other day, but I don't remember where. I do remember the author advised that people not buy new cars now because they will be obsolete before we know it, and all cars will be electric and self-driving. I bought a new car a few months ago, which uses gas and is driven by me. Hard to imagine such big changes coming about so quickly and universally that my car will be obsolete in a relatively short time. My plan is to drive this car until it hits between 200K and 300K miles. I also read an article about self-driving 18-wheelers, and how they are coming sooner than we think, and will make truck driving jobs obsolete. One focus of the article was on how truck drivers need to start retraining for another line of work, sooner rather than later. Hard to know if this is hype or hope, especially regarding self-driving vehicles. But I do know that when I test-drove my car, the salesman showed me how it can stop itself at red lights, and then continue driving by itself, ostensibly for short distances. I was amazed, but this is not a feature I have delved into in the 2" thick owner's manual. I really should read the entire owner's manual. This is a Subaru, and is not a self-driving car. Except sometimes. Maybe? I have a mental block. I think of self-driving cars as cars I drive myself, and self-winding watches (back in the day when I had a watch) as watches I wind myself. It is hard for me to associate the word "self" with inanimate objects, without thinking about it first.

I love the idea of using cloth gift bags. They should be easy to make, which is a requirement for me. I am inspired to buy some Christmas fabrics and make some for next year. I will wrap only the dog's presents. He loves opening gifts, and he is the only "child" in the family. I do miss the days, many years ago, when my in-laws and I would spend hours together, wrapping and decorating Christmas gifts. Those presents were beautiful. My in-laws had artistic talent, and I was their project -- anyone can do this, they said ... but I had a lot of help from them.

I deleted my FB account years ago. Then about six months ago, I set up an account there with a fake name, and no true identifying information. I did it because I was interested in one FB group. That group turned out not to be as interesting to me as I thought it would be, so I didn't use my account more than a few times. When this latest hack was discovered, I decided to delete that account too. In the middle of the deletion process, a screen popped up for me to log-in. Luckily I had read the disclaimers throughout the process. If I had logged in via that screen, the deletion process would have been aborted. I waited a minute or two and the log-in screen disappeared. I wish we had privacy laws in the U.S. The New York Times has a great series of articles about how our privacy has been violated in many ways which are much more extensive than most people realize. That said, I don't actually need FB any more. But if I wanted to participate, I would not log into any accounts on other sites via FB (or Google), and I would not put my phone number on FB, and I would not pay for anything using a payment service via FB or Google (except by gift card). I'm not up-to-date on paying for things via FB, but I vaguely recall that the service is either available or planned for the near future. If I want to see something on FB, I just ask my daughter to pull it up on her phone. Wait! It's always up on her phone. She is not as weird about privacy as I am. Then again, she never had Alexa spout a list of Harry Potter movie suggestions immediately after I said, "Which Harry Potter movie should we watch?". See the problem? None of those words could be mistaken by Alexa for "Alexa". There were two people in the house. Until I asked that question, we were both *silently* reading. Oops. Sorry, I've gone on too long. This is about FB, not Alexa. I know that. But what the heck, I'm going to leave that paragraph here anyway. Yes, even though I'm starting to think ya'll will think I'm the Queen of Paranoia.

Everyone in my family reads on their Kindles, so there is only one physical book being given: The Uses of 'One' in Old and Early Middle English. Books don't appear on anyone's wish lists. We all still read a ton of books, but they are so easy and inexpensive to get when we want them, that books are no longer priorities on our wish lists. Instant gratification likely explains this ... we are willing to wait for our turn for a digital library book, but that's probably because we are in "so many good books, so little time" mode. Kindle Unlimited has expanded our lists of favorite authors, and those books are "free". So waiting for a favorite book by an author whose books we have loved for decades is not a hardship. We are also in the process of decreasing our possessions to those we need, use, and love. Becoming a minimalist is an interesting process. We each have one 36" wide bookcase in our bedrooms, and one in the living room. I'm sure many of you understand how that was a difficult exercise in paring down! Every bit of wall space we had available was formerly covered with bookcases. Mind you, we have only adult children. Their favorite childhood books take up space in their bookcases, and mine. If we had young children, I'd still be in physical book mode for them... for as long as I could get away with it.