There has been a few stories in the news of late about city pipes and clogs and suggestions as to what should and should not go down the sewer. The stories always are told from the perspective of OF COURSE one shouldn't...but unless one has lived where there is a private well/sewer system I am sure most never gave it a thought. I think it was stretched to the limits with disposable baby wipes. From there we morphed into "flush-able personal hygiene wipes" now paper towels in the bathroom are all the rage. We are a disposable society and then SHOCKED when our oceans/landfills/sewers are full of garbage. Malls at Christmas especially give me pause. Where does all this merchandise end up--in the end?

Maddielee, the spammer doesn't take over. A thread is resurrected with a vague post like "I have something like that, it's good" or whatever vague meaningless statement. Then the spammer comes back and edits the post to add a spam link. The limit to edit posts is one week. It takes at least two flags to make spam disappear. Spam links might be links to real companies who have chosen disreputable agents to do their advertising, but a lot more seem to be from Eastern European counties linking to malicious websites, trying to get your info to sell, selling inferior and mis-advertised products, and other bad stuff. My objections are 1) identifying the bad guys, 2) keeping the site clean so you can trust a link from a known member, 3) (not that I have a great love for Houzz or anything) it cheapens their site and turns away people who come here for real info and have to wade through lots of junk. Lucille, I concentrate on posts made by someone who just registered. I have never had a problem with someone recommending a service or product, unless they own the company. If someone says "Pro" I check the phone number and address by Google. Usually the bad guys have made up locations with non-existent towns and mismatched phone numbers, zip codes and the like. I once did have a real location, and auto body shop for someone claiming to be a KD business. The vague comments now seem to be more relevant somehow, and some are longer than they used to be. The ones I am watching, I either post 'following' or I 'like' the post. Both methods let me find the post days later to check for the spam edit. I try my best to delete my 'following' posts and my requests for flags as soon as the offense is removed.

I was talking with an employee of a very large investment management and retirement planning company. We were talking about how to reach younger people to impress upon them the value of retirement planning. Some of the younger people I work with seem to have an air of why bother, I'll never be able to afford to retire. Our employer gives us a very nice contribution and doesn't even require an employee match. I was surprised to hear that they have trouble getting some younger folks to take any role in managing that free money. We're talking an internet savvy group, and he said there is subset who never even make an online account - they never look at what they're given, they never log in to make changes to the initial investment account, etc.. I thought AI had a role to play in reaching those folks and teaching them some valuable life skills. He said the company is trying, but the challenge is that investment management and retirement planning is proving to be difficult to handle in a chat GPT way. They're of course trying - but he said right now, what the computer gives out in response to some questions is absolutely terrible advice.

@lucille First - this was something my mother said and said often enough that it was engrained in both my sister's an my memories. I am not sure that I would take this quite as literally as you did. My mom was definately a strong woman with strong viewpoints. She got frustrated with people who wouldn't or couldn't adapt or those who resisted change. Her mother left the Amish Church and joined the women's suffragist movement, wanting women to have the right to vote and to have a say in their own life, not be the property of their husband or father or brother. My mother followed suit, ensuring that her daughters, as well as her sons were well educated and capable of supporting themselves without dependency on a spouse. We knew that saying "I can't" or having a defeatist attitude would bring about great disfavor with my mom. She expected us to do our very best and believe in our ability to do anything we wanted. She insisted that every summer we try at least two new activities. I took lessons in everything from tennis to baton twirling, ballet and tap, art, horseback riding, rifle range, woodshop, basic plumbing, archery and music. My mom actually had a large number of Amish friends and relatives. She understood their viewpoints and values and the restrictions imposed by their religion. She also kept photo albums with pictures of all of their kids. The Amish are not allowed to have pictures of themselves, but the moms all wanted to see the pictures of themselves as kids and their husbands as kids to see who their children favored. There were also a few of the Amish women who would come over and borrow my mom's vacuum cleaner and a long extension cord so they could vacuum their rugs. The men usually had a generator in the workshop so they could use electronic tools, but the women were restricted to a broom for cleaning. The long extension cord just leveled the playing field. They also enjoyed watching television while they ate lunch with my mom. She understood that the rules of their community did not allow certain things, but she didn't mind helping her fellow women with breaking the rules and even sometimes get them to change their rules. She had one friend who was had large breasts and her dress seams under the arms would split open. My mom explained that she needed darts in her tops to accommodate her breast size. This wasn't to show off your figure, but to allow you to wear clothing that fit. The woman took this back to her community and women who needed darts were allowed to add them to their clothing so that the dresses wouldn't tear when they needed to reach for things or move certain ways. My father, who was not from an Amish family, but was a physician. He met with the local Amish bishops and helped change the views on vaccinating children for preventable diseases like polio. While the Amish are still considered an under vaccinated community, the church does not forbid vaccination and at that time encouraged members to be vaccinated. It may take the Amish a lot longer to conform to the rest of society, but they too are changing. I do see more and more farmstands with battery operated calculators. You wouldn't have ever seen that when I was a kid. I have to admit that as much as I admire some things about the Amish community, I also have issues with their strict adherence to gender roles, their lack of tolerance for gays and their subservient expectations of women. Example - I grow tomatoes every summer. In June and the beginning of July I will only have enough for my own use, but by the end of July I have far more than I can use. I will tell my neighbor that she is welcome to come over and pick tomatoes for her family. My plants are 5 feet from the property line. She can't just come over and pick tomatoes. She has to ask her husband's permission first. Really - he can see you, he can see where you are. If he calls your name you are within earshot. But she isn't allowed to do this without asking. She also has to ask if I offer her some things that I am giving away "I have some pie plates that I was going to run down to the thrift shop - would you or one of your sisters want them?" "I could really use some more pie plates, let me go in and ask Joshua if it is okay." I want to scream every time I hear this response.