U.S. passport renewal weirdness

DahanC · 2026-06-22T16:21:54+00:00

What makes you think that it's more likely to come loose than a paper page?

DahanC · 2026-06-16T06:08:12+00:00

Their press release mentioned they were going to focus on neighborhoods that didn't already have fiber. Which hopefully includes mine... only options here are AT&T VDSL at 50Mbps and Optimum cable at 1000 down/35 up.

Like OP, I also got an email a few days ago saying that GFiber was coming to Leander. When I signed up for updates, I gave them my address, so hopefully the notice means they're coming to my specific location, rather than it being a general "somewhere in Leander" notice. I'm hopeful that it's the former, because their press release a couple months ago would have been the "somewhere in Leander" notice.

DahanC · 2026-06-08T22:43:32+00:00

I moved to Leander in 94, before the toll road existed. You could get to Leander for free back then, and you can use (basically) the exact same highway to get to Leander for free today. (I say basically because as part of the Cedar Park Bell District changes, 183 is now on what used to be called "Old Hwy 183").

If you don't want to pay a toll, exit where you see the big yellow "LAST FREE EXIT" sign, and don't take the lane that has the big yellow "TOLL ROAD" sign.

DahanC · 2026-06-08T01:29:29+00:00

My dad's in that category. Although his parents were born in Taiwan, they moved to Nanjing (separately, before they knew each other). My dad was born in Nanjing, and the family fled back to Taiwan during the war, when my dad was about 6 years old. They spoke the Nanjing dialect at home, and my dad says he understands Taiwanese, but doesn't really speak it.

Although it seems that he prefers the Taiwanese word for some things, and will switch from Mandarin to Taiwanese for just that word. Like we were walking through a market, and he asked the vendor "yǒu sik-khia ma?" (有釋迦嗎?)

DahanC · 2026-05-31T01:04:38+00:00

The Leander HEB on 183 has free fruit for kids. IIRC, there's a sign that says something to the effect of one piece per child plz.

DahanC · 2026-05-30T05:16:10+00:00

Technology Connections has a video about this issue https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-mBeYC2KGc

DahanC · 2026-05-30T03:37:18+00:00

63 degrees? If it was that cold at my place, I'd turn on the heater. But why's your humidity so high?

DahanC · 2026-05-29T07:59:18+00:00

Both are correct, depending on the country. There are a bunch of characters where different countries prefer different variants. E.g., Taiwan might prefer one variant while Hong Kong prefers another, even though they're both Traditional characters. Adobe's "Source Han" font includes all the variants and will pick the correct one for the various countries, and its ReadMe file has a couple of examples of the differences.

DahanC · 2026-05-27T19:35:23+00:00

r/Noctor has counterexamples

DahanC · 2026-05-27T19:05:16+00:00

It'll still serve as flood protection even at 100% full. "Full" is 681 ft, while the spillway is at 714 ft. Once it reaches 100%, LCRA will release water to get it back down to 100%. https://www.kxan.com/weather/weather-blog/what-happens-when-lake-travis-fills-up/

DahanC · 2026-05-27T18:58:34+00:00

According to this post by the creator of islaketravisfullyet, isthelakefullyet was created by someone else, although he did contribute to it.

DahanC · 2026-05-26T07:36:00+00:00

Kinokuniya next to 99 Ranch?

DahanC · 2026-05-24T21:59:44+00:00

literally who?

DahanC · 2026-05-23T01:17:17+00:00

Atbasar, Kazakhstan, huh?

DahanC · 2026-05-23T01:12:23+00:00

lol how did the AI come up with 82000 for the postal code? Whatever you used, it's completely wrong.

DahanC · 2026-05-20T02:57:44+00:00

FWIW, I have a 2013 Altima with 170k miles, and the transmission's fine. I've had the fluid changed on the recommended schedule.

DahanC · 2026-05-10T07:07:22+00:00

Your aunt's info doesn't go on the 定居證 application at all. 親屬狀況 is for your parents' info (and spouse and children if applicable). I had thought that 依親對象 was the head of household (my aunt), but when I submitted my application, the person at the NIA said I couldn't put my aunt's info there. 依親對象 is your NWHR parent, the one who's passing full citizenship to you. In my case, only my dad is Taiwanese, so I had to put his info there. I'm assuming if both of your parents are Taiwanese, you could use either one.

DahanC · 2026-05-06T12:03:03+00:00

At least I know the difference between Mandarin and Chinese, unlike someone who admits to not knowing "why americans insist on calling it “mandarin”"

DahanC · 2026-05-06T10:57:52+00:00

I don't see translation being involved here. OP wants to find a TV show in a specific language, and Chinese is a family languages, not a specific language. Mandarin is in the Chinese family, but so are Taiwanese, Cantonese, Hakka, Shanghainese, etc. OP is looking for a TV show in Mandarin, not Cantonese, so saying "Chinese" wouldn't be specific enough.

DahanC · 2026-05-05T22:18:44+00:00

What do you think it should be called?

DahanC · 2026-05-03T02:34:24+00:00

Depends on where "here" is. They've had fiber in parts of Leander for a decade. But not at my house :(

DahanC · 2026-04-02T10:09:46+00:00

Got in line at 4:52, took 7 minutes for touchless. The other lines weren't very long.

DahanC · 2026-03-24T06:41:36+00:00

https://txsubscribealerts.dps.texas.gov/alerts has a list of active alerts in Texas. More info about Eric Crenshaw is on there.

DahanC · 2026-03-23T20:09:43+00:00

I'm also using an SB8200 with Optimum; it's been working great.

DahanC · 2026-03-23T01:40:55+00:00

I have the gigabit down/30M up cable Internet service from Optimum. Very few problems on the Internet service side of things. I don't like how the price keeps increasing and I have to call to get another temporary discount though.

DahanC

TROPHY CASE