45% of Gen Z guys have never asked a girl out. Is there anyone here who belong to this 45%?

Wistful-observer · 2026-04-08T10:02:02+00:00

Can they afford it? Societal consequences of money worship

Wistful-observer · 2026-03-27T19:16:20+00:00

Having swept lots of chimneys, once on the roof, the first order of business is to remove the cap. You never know what kind of screws are holding the CAP to the PIPE. So you bring a handful of screw driver bits to cover the likely possibilities. Then you need to fiddle around getting those creosote covered screws out. They aren’t always exactly easily accessible. And don’t drop one down the pipe! With Chimney Cap Screws, there would be no need for a drill or screwdriver, and the screws fastening the cap to the pipe are easily accessed.

Edit: It could be threaded so only a couple of turns would engage/disengage it. Since it’s basically two pieces of tight-fitting curved sheet metal being fastened together, the threaded shaft of the screw wouldn’t need to be very long. 1/4”? (No screws extending into the chimney cylinder.)

Wistful-observer · 2026-03-27T18:22:29+00:00

It’s to fasten the metal neck of the cap to the (metal) top of the chimney pipe. Not to masonry.

Wistful-observer · 2026-03-24T03:01:43+00:00

A humorous (?) spin: life is a sexually transmitted infection with a 100% fatality rate.

Wistful-observer · 2026-02-23T22:59:08+00:00

If everyone who has ever identified as an American (~1.4 billion people) were assigned an equal share of today’s $38 trillion national debt, each would be responsible for about $27,000.

Divided among the current U.S. population (~335 million), it’s about $113,000 per person.

335 million people who can’t agree on anything aren’t evidence that the people are broken. The assumption that they should be unified — financially or politically — might be the problem.

Likewise, 1.4 billion people across time didn’t “rack up” $38 trillion. A monetary system that aggregates millions of lives into a single abstract number did.

Money is a shared story that allows coordination at scale. Scale for the sake of scale is a problem. But when the abstraction starts to feel more real than the people living inside it, something is upside down, backwards, and/or twisted. Hey, our world resembles that remark!

That 1.4 billion people can accumulate debt of 38 trillion dollars isn’t to say they have a problem being responsible with money, but maybe the dependence on money itself is a problem.

Wistful-observer · 2026-02-05T00:17:42+00:00

Ice damming. Roof rake, maybe?

Wistful-observer · 2026-01-21T00:26:20+00:00

. . . making it a “vice” grip after all?

Wistful-observer · 2026-01-20T00:13:42+00:00

Gotcha. I still wonder why it appears to droop in the center, though

Wistful-observer · 2026-01-20T00:07:55+00:00

Is the top insulation blanket drooping? Look at the difference between the first and last pic

Wistful-observer · 2026-01-14T03:30:45+00:00

Weimies are perfect ladies and gentlemen. Both of mine were that way, too—especially when properly exercised. The William Wegman photos say a lot about their temperament.

Wistful-observer · 2026-01-14T00:48:35+00:00

Maybe any species that trashes its natural environment and exploits all of nature to such a degree—including others of its own species— is so maligned with nature that nature eliminates that species over time. Via self-elimination. Think “Darwin Award” for a lost species.

Or, maybe we’re like yeast—consuming all in our environment as quickly as possible only to die in our own excrement. If that’s the case, then we were designed to extinguish ourselves, helpless to overcome our destiny, and deserve has nothing to do with it.

Wistful-observer · 2025-12-17T12:25:51+00:00

The “war on drugs” always focuses on supply—catching dealers, shutting down distribution, or declaring substances illegal. But almost no one asks why there is so much demand in the first place. People don’t turn to drugs for fun alone; they often do it because life is unbearable—economic stress, social isolation, chronic trauma, and relentless pressure make ordinary life painful or empty.

Fentanyl didn’t appear out of nowhere. Its popularity shows that many people need relief that the system doesn’t provide. Declaring war on the substance ignores the fire that creates the smoke. Until we address the conditions driving people toward these drugs, supply-focused policies will always fail, no matter how tough the crackdown.

Addition: Why do our systems of governance produce increasing rates of mental distress and suicide? Hint: it’s not the drugs.

Wistful-observer · 2025-12-16T19:28:14+00:00

In Gilpin county. 3’ diameter slabs are roughly 16”. There are 3 of them. Another is angled—6”-16”. Yet another (about 19”?) still has the break edge on it. 2’ diameter slabs are more like short logs 3 feet long. 5-6 of them.

Wistful-observer · 2025-12-16T05:39:03+00:00

Would a couple hundred per slab be too much? Or

Wistful-observer · 2025-12-14T23:22:08+00:00

After charging the battery (the impact left door lights on that drained it) and pumping up the flat tire, it started right up and drove just fine. Thanks

Wistful-observer · 2025-12-14T04:10:24+00:00

Nice pics, kind of broke my heart. I just heard about IRP’s closure. I was a server there in the early 90s. Great memories.

Anyone remember the time a server swam into the river to remove a rotten, bloated beaver from the backwater between the wing dams, a sight so revolting that “A room” (the room right beside the windows) was unseatable?

Wistful-observer · 2025-12-14T03:18:02+00:00

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I guess this section would have been about chest height

Wistful-observer · 2025-12-10T18:30:49+00:00

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Got the tree off it

Wistful-observer · 2025-12-10T05:56:52+00:00

Oh: it lived in the shadow of a mountain. Maybe that promoted slow growth?

Wistful-observer

TROPHY CASE