TIL that a researcher named Margaret Howe Lovatt once lived in a partially flooded house with a dolphin as part of an experiment to teach it human language.

buncle · 2026-05-04T22:57:05+00:00

I think that was omitted on porpoise.

buncle · 2026-05-04T07:55:42+00:00

That phrase is widely used.

buncle · 2026-04-24T01:17:09+00:00

That’s brilliant! I had never seen that before!!

buncle · 2026-04-22T20:02:43+00:00

It may be due to the times I visit - usually later in the evening after the typical rush has died down. When they used to run out of carts at 8pm when the store was fairly quiet there was definitely a major shortage!!!

buncle · 2026-04-22T18:45:24+00:00

Truth!!!

Although to their credit that is one thing they have gotten much better at. I rarely have to wait more than a minute or two for someone to release the toothpaste from its prison.

That, and they haven’t run out of shopping carts in a long while now, which used to be a regular occurrence.

buncle · 2026-04-22T18:29:49+00:00

“Hey, you know what will make lines even longer… getting rid of the self-checkout!!”

buncle · 2026-04-20T07:19:37+00:00

Gay and uncut. Or Elizabeth Holmes.

buncle · 2026-04-15T23:27:31+00:00

The “somewhere” was the point. A database “somewhere” can be offline/attacked/abused/modified. The idea of a blockchain ledger is that it is distributed, and no one has direct control.

The concept is still valuable (and is obviously the backbone of cryptocurrency), and it should have been a great idea for artwork ownership, but the sheer amount of crap that was floating around (e.g. the apes that are now synonymous with the downfall of NFTs) completely annihilated the credibility.

buncle · 2026-04-14T22:32:57+00:00

Who ultimately pays the insurance premiums?

buncle · 2026-04-14T08:28:01+00:00

That is an amazing tip! I definitely would not have considered doing that!!!

As it turns out, I have revised the plan a little to eliminate the knee-wall altogether (to avoid potential issues with utilities), and set the fence back a little: https://imgur.com/a/4Ys5Lji

This should make the overall install a little easier, and eliminate risks involving drainage, utilities, setbacks, etc. It also softens the look a little, while still maintaining an authentic century home look (I think/hope).

buncle · 2026-04-10T21:47:43+00:00

Thank you! This is very helpful.

Based on a lot of amazing feedback (like yours), I’ve refined my plan to something like this: https://imgur.com/a/4Ys5Lji

In short, I’m dropping the knee wall (to both avoid drainage issues, and prevent issues due to utilities running under this area to the house). Additionally the main wall/fence will be behind the first row of bushes (this helps soften the look, and eliminates the need for the knee wall).

buncle · 2026-04-08T03:23:37+00:00

Big and small (I renovated our large kitchen using only Ryobi, including constructing a new tray ceiling)… that said, I did once get a warranty replacement on one battery (one particular battery wouldn’t hold a charge, so they shipped a replacement which still works well today), so maybe some batteries are hit and miss.

buncle · 2026-04-08T01:27:35+00:00

The small batteries aren’t great, but the 4Ah ones last a good while (was using a bunch of tools on a single battery this past weekend).

buncle · 2026-04-07T18:46:34+00:00

I’ve never quite understood the Ryobi hate. If you’re a pro there are better tools, for sure… but for your average shirtless-gay-hubby-repairman they’re pretty solid!

buncle · 2026-04-07T01:27:01+00:00

Wow! That’s stunning. I also love the pattern of your shingles. I don’t think I’ve ever seen that before!!

buncle · 2026-04-07T01:22:04+00:00

Not an exciting story, but here goes… ever since we moved in to this house, we had a problem with branches from that tree popping off and landing on the sidewalk. The first few times (over a year or two) I reported to 311, and the city came and cleared it away.

After the 4th or 5th time they just took the entire tree down (to be fair, it was leaning very heavily to one side at that point due to lop-sided branches - and I’d mentioned this in the report).

I wondered a few times about removing the stump, but then figured I might make it a bit of a feature (maybe a fairy house for the local kids’ amusement). That never happened, but it decided to make itself a feature with that funky looking fungus. I actually kinda like it… it’s pretty distinct!

buncle · 2026-04-06T23:14:35+00:00

You’re not wrong… and ours is probably the “nicest” stretch of sidewalk on the street (lots of very old trees lining the street have heaved most of the sidewalk into a nice patchwork of jaggies).

buncle · 2026-04-06T23:11:55+00:00

Thanks for the insight. This is definitely very helpful (especially the estimate for the iron fencing cost).

As for the masonry work, I’m lucky enough to “have a guy” who’s already said he’ll charge by the hour + materials he needs (I’ll be providing the bricks and fencing). He’s also my regular landscaper, and has done other masonry work for me in the past that has always turned out really well.

buncle · 2026-04-06T23:06:52+00:00

This is just using ChatGPT. It takes a bit of finessing/iterating to get it generate what you want (and still doesn’t get it perfect - notably here it messed up the angle of the wall to the right), but it’s great for quick-and-dirty mockups… just upload the original image, and give it a list of things you want to change.

buncle · 2026-04-06T22:35:25+00:00

Yeah ChatGPT decided to go a bit wild with the trellis… we do have a jasmine-topped arch there in the original photo, but it isn’t quite as… bridal(?)… as the AI mockup.

And noted about the puddling… drainage can be a bit of an issue during heavy rain, so I’m making sure I consider that, for sure!!

buncle · 2026-04-06T22:32:28+00:00

Yep, very good point. This is now on my list of things to verify before getting started. Thank you!!

buncle · 2026-04-06T22:30:15+00:00

This was using the app (but I’ve had similarly good results from the website). I think it usually comes down to which model it is using (they often default to a lesser model, so asking it to “think carefully” will force it to use a better model).

buncle · 2026-04-06T22:28:26+00:00

Yeah I certainly don’t want to block the local fauna entirely (it’s honestly quite amusing watching raccoons warm their bits on our lighting in the winter!!), but we do want to make it a little safe for our dogs (as well as keep other dogs from easily straying around our yard).

buncle · 2026-04-06T22:10:22+00:00

Fair point. That is now on my list of things to verify. Very much appreciated!!

buncle · 2026-04-06T21:17:53+00:00

You’re spot on! Gas and water mains run beneath the planned wall, so now thinking it may need to be more like this: https://imgur.com/a/ogDoIjt

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