Our local car wash recycles 99% of its water. It loses 1% to evaporation. It's considered highly preferable to go to one of these instead of washing your own car. Especially in my area, where it's not just about water conservation, but also because our storm drains empty into the SF bay.

I'm still trying to figure out why deer testicles are offensive. I know a 10 year old boy who can essentially field dress a deer as long as someone else does any heavy lifting. Building custom-made hunting gear and spending summer living in the woods the entire time, hunting, is his family's business. What's wrong with a boy knowing what animal testicles look like? :confused1:

Continuing to pray for mercy. :grouphug:

Beats me. Hmmm.

Welcome to Coffee Talk with Linda Richman. So was Chaz Bono under less scrutiny due to staying lower key (no VF cover, etc), because he's less famous overall, or because he transitioned to a male and they have less scrutiny in general? Talk amongst yourselves. Sorry for the SNL reference. :tongue_smilie:

We were writing at the same time. I think the media will become more aware and once the brouhaha is over, there will be more "backlash" articles posted. Maybe there already are, but I haven't looked. It won't be in VF, though. I could see an interesting long article in The New Yorker, though.

Adding that I think when someone is very used to being marginalized and disenfranchised, and someone from their community "makes it" and becomes well-known, that's a scary thing to have happen. It can feel like that person is not an authentic voice for the community somehow, that their movement has somehow become commercialized, or worse, that people will think that the community is now fully accepted and is no longer marginalized, thanks to a magazine cover.

I think for lots of issues, not only transgender ones, it takes all types to make things move forward. Ideally, a cause would have people who are doing difficult work "on the ground", people who donate money even if they can't donate time, and well-known people who bring awareness to an issue. I think people are savvy enough to realize Caitlyn has all kinds of advantages other trans people don't. When Angelina Jolie talked about her having her breasts and ovaries removed, she had a platform to help other women know they weren't alone. But I don't think anyone thought that meant everyone who wanted the same surgery could afford it or had insurance to cover it.

A couple of resources: Best book I've seen on the topic if you live around the coast from San Luis Obispo upwards. PDF of Cal's Dept of Landscape Architecture's sample garden designs in San Lorenzo (Bay Area)

We had a brown lawn during both the 1970s and 1980s droughts. We had to re-install turf later. I tried to get my parents to do something else but the yard was a sore subject in the family so they took the easiest path. Right now we haven't watered our yard in months, but we're on the coast so it's surviving. I think you're in the Central Valley, where it's much hotter. Some water companies are offering rebates for lawn replacement. The replacement is for natives in our area, other areas may be different and subsidize artificial learns, rocks, etc. Google your water company + subsidies and see if anything comes up. Or call them. ETA: Meteorologists are predicting a wetter winter and if it were me, I would keep the brown lawn and wait until winter to see if it comes back before making any effort or spending any money.

Btw, I've always been a big fan of Caitlyn Jenner, although not enough to make me watch the Kardashians! (Do we still go with "Caitlyn" if we're referring to a time when she was still "Bruce"?) I'm a bit of an Olympics buff. Here's a fun documentary from the 1970s, in case all you remember about Jenner during that time is the Wheaties box: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=feezbQ9BJwc

:grouphug: :grouphug: :grouphug:

I think the issue of garbage coming up during benign searches has become much less of a problem. When I first started using Google (1996?) the pornographers were masters of handing Google their own behind. They had all kinds of white words hidden in white backgrounds and crazy meta tags so their search results would come first or second. One time I searched for Wells Fargo, got a porn site as the top hit, searched the page's HTML source, and it had "Wells Fargo" hidden in it like 1000 times. Google knows how to handle that now. Literally billions of dollars were riding on people actually finding what they were looking for and the search engine not turning into a smut directory. So it turns out Google got a lot of really smart people working for them and it's hardly a problem anymore. When was the last time you typed in what you were looking for and got lots of porn links instead? Also, you can turn on safe search and lock it in with a password if you have a Google account. I can't speak to the cell phone thing. My kids don't have them. The type of stuff you can search out these days does scare me. Not just porn, but violence like snuff films, etc. (Of course, when I was a kid, someone at our school had a VHS copy of "Faces of Death" and that was passed around, as were those sex talk phone numbers.) But you really do have to search it out, it doesn't just pop up when you search for "skinny jeans" or "Abraham Lincoln." But it used to, so I understand where people are coming from. But they need to update their technical knowledge.

I think it's funny that we have a celebrity, a former Olympian, as a transgender model on the cover of Vanity Fair and all the discussion revolves around hair, fashion, photoshop, age, etc. Yes it's persnickety, but in some ways it shows we've come a long way. This is probably not the discussion we would have been having 10 years ago.

I have no idea what the cutoff is in my school district. I did have to choose grades, though, to fill out the CA private school affidavit. They ask how many children in each grade. I just picked what I thought was best. I didn't report either of them for K (not required, more hassle) so I just picked 1st grade in the year I thought was best and upped it each time I filed. Other than that, I don't really bother.

No, it's a good idea. Sunshine is a disinfectant. :) They can either choose to fix it or dismantle the ineffective security theatre. People have a right to know about security issues so they can plan accordingly. If your computer system had a huge security flaw, would you want to know about it through the news media? You might not choose to take action, but would you want to know and decide for yourself? Or would you want the company to hide it so you didn't know you were not as secure as you thought?

You might do better to post on the high school board or the college board. Hope that helps!

Not feeling great (chronic illness, new diet) and DH is leaving the country for a while. Will try and muddle through. Need to find list of educational programming for bad days. Trying to figure out food because I've been eating my own stuff based on my new food restrictions and he's been cooking for himself and the kids. I'll have to do the kids' food and my own while he's gone. Also, need more sleep.

She looks good, but I think the hair looks a bit ratty. We know that's not her real hair, so if VF is going with fake hair, why not something that looks better? Maybe it's just me. Otherwise, she looks great.

Yeah, it's not really a show you can have on in the background. You pretty much have to follow along the whole time or you can't figure out the plan. I watched Season 1 way back when the DVD first came out. Someone gave it to me as a gift and it sat around collecting dust until I was sick for a few days so laid on the sofa and binge-watched the whole thing. (This was pre-kids.) I never watched later seasons and I am now. I especially liked Season 4.

Continuing to pray. :grouphug:

I doubt it does. That would be a huge security hole.

Both articles (yours and mine in the OP) mentioned a trend in "poverty p*rn". What in the world? :confused1:

I didn't finish any books this week. I made progress on The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, Acceptance (last book of the Southern Reach trilogy), and I read a few poems by John Donne. The real reason I didn't finish any books, though, is that I've been binge watching 24. Ridiculous, but addictive. I haven't read the book but went to see the movie with a friend of mine. It was so depressing the only thing she muttered on the drive back was, "It's a good thing there's not a bridge on the way home."

Yeah. I think they agree to be in a documentary, which gives the producers access to all of their financial info. Then the producers show up with the briefcase of cash and they have the chance to decline if they don't want the money or the show. I 'm not sure though.