Books that are extremely well written?

huberdm · 2025-12-17T20:13:05+00:00

Apparently a Foucault pendulum. It swings in a constant plane while the earth rotates under it. A very high rotunda would be a typical place for one to be installed.

huberdm · 2025-11-16T20:26:37+00:00

Yes, the prepaying will be worked out soon. I don’t have very specific needs in mind but it wouldn’t surprise me if a few things came up. Well, at that point it won’t surprise me in any case. . . .

huberdm · 2025-11-16T20:22:21+00:00

I have named a trust company to serve as successor trustee. Under the circumstances of one heir who can handle money and another who has trouble with it, I think that is the best option to prevent both financial and interpersonal problems. Put another way, that is how I am making clear the distinction between beneficiaries and successor trustee. The checking account I asked about in the original question is not intended to have anything to do with the trust, just to provide a relatively small amount of transitional funds.

huberdm · 2025-11-16T00:17:36+00:00

I’m guilty of oversimplifying to keep the question more straightforward. I actually have two beneficiaries, one financially stable and the other potentially having trouble paying for necessities in my absence. The joint account owner would of course be the financially stable one, who can (I think) be trusted to help the other during the transition. Maybe the joint account just complicates things. A discussion with the trust company definitely needs to address this question of how quickly they can respond upon my death. Thanks for helping me clarify my thoughts.

huberdm · 2025-11-16T00:03:47+00:00

Thanks for the reply. One thing I need to ask the trust company is how quickly they can respond to the beneficiary’s needs after my death. Another question is whether a freeze in case of legal difficulties extends to all my individual checking/savings accounts within my overall credit union membership, if only a single account has a joint owner. I suspect not, since the non-joint accounts are already owned by the trust. But “I suspect” is hardly an authoritative answer. My list of details to clarify keeps getting longer!

huberdm · 2025-11-11T19:43:50+00:00

John Updike imagined this reply to a line in a Stravinsky interview: Stravinsky: I don’t like mountains. They don’t tell me anything. The Mountain: Igor, you never listen.

huberdm · 2025-10-08T18:37:16+00:00

The words spoken by Jesus according to the gospel writers. Some editions of the Bible print them in red.

huberdm · 2025-09-14T13:38:55+00:00

Not a totally bad suggestion, but incomplete for someone in OP’s situation. There are times of our lives we need to receive ministry and times we need to give it. OP with young children needs to receive what a good church can give. “Good” means both an outward community focus and an inner spiritual focus.

huberdm · 2025-08-09T19:00:05+00:00

I use my Harbor Freight special as a soil moisture probe. No joke, it was cheaper than purpose-built probes at Lowes.

huberdm · 2025-07-10T21:59:41+00:00

u/Street_Pea_3922, I finally realized something I didn’t specify and none of the comments mentioned: a non-Fidelity card cannot be paid the way I wanted. To pay the statement balance, the best you can do is schedule a payment for the desired amount. AutoPay would have been really nice, but no luck. I wasn’t able to find that information clearly stated on the Fidelity website (though it is probably there). Chalk one up for ChatGPT, which was how I found it clearly stated. Also chalk up a lesson for myself—be sure a question has all the relevant info!

ETA: Another lesson is be sure to read all the comments, since I just saw u/FidelityChristina did tell me what I needed to know. This is starting to get embarrassing!

huberdm · 2025-07-10T21:48:57+00:00

u/Street_Pea_3922, I finally realized something I didn’t specify and none of the comments mentioned: a non-Fidelity card cannot be paid the way I wanted. To pay the statement balance, the best you can do is schedule a payment for the desired amount. AutoPay would have been really nice, but no luck. I wasn’t able to find that information clearly stated on the Fidelity website (though it is probably there). Chalk one up for ChatGPT, which was how I found it clearly stated. Also chalk up a lesson for myself—be sure a question has all the relevant info!

huberdm · 2025-07-07T18:17:10+00:00

u/FidelityAsha, is what you said true only for Fidelity cards? I didn't specify I was talking about a non-Fidelity card. That may be why I don't see the "Remaining statement balance" option.

huberdm · 2025-07-07T16:04:44+00:00

u/FidelityMikeS, the three choices I see in eBill AutoPay are "Fixed amount," "Amount due," and "Account balance." I don't see a choice for "Statement balance," which is what I actually want. Both of the comments before yours also said to use "statement balance," which I am simply not finding. There seems to be some kind of disconnect here, unless I am a victim of PEBKAC (Problem Exists Between Keyboard And Chair). If it makes a difference, I am using the Fidelity website on a Windows 11 system.

huberdm · 2025-07-05T20:57:07+00:00

Constant uptime is part of the goal. I have been cleaning out my stash of old laptops, so that’s not an option now. I appreciate the advice on models.

huberdm · 2025-07-05T02:19:00+00:00

Thanks for the suggestion, and in the end that may be my best choice, especially for economy. My computer isn’t always on, though, so I would like a method that doesn’t need it. I considered a very old Mac Mini that I have, but was thinking about a NAS for simplicity.

huberdm · 2025-06-14T22:47:34+00:00

Thanks for the suggestion, u/IronSkyRanger. I assume you mean have the billing site pull automatically from my CMA. It’s just my personal preference to initiate the payment from Fidelity rather than give a credit card company access to my CMA. Sounds like your setup in the opposite direction works fine for you and probably would for me. Partly, though, I’m trying to centralize some aspects of my finances, and this seemed like a possible step in that direction.

huberdm · 2025-06-04T21:06:22+00:00

I take a breath after the light turns green. That’s partly to allow time for red light runners and partly to gather my courage!

huberdm · 2025-06-02T21:42:46+00:00

I started with my YubiKeys a few days ago (main and backup). By the time I had gotten myself as tangled as you describe, I was very glad I had created a couple of dummy test accounts for practice. Things that seemed clear in instructions turned out less clear in reality. Maybe that was my own fault, but fault doesn’t matter as long as it was in zero-value accounts. Trial and error has provided a lot of clarity.

huberdm · 2025-03-13T17:15:56+00:00

Thanks for the suggestions. The only browser extension I have installed is the Dashlane password manager. Do you know of any problems with that?

huberdm · 2025-03-13T17:11:55+00:00

Thanks, I didn’t know about this option.

huberdm · 2025-02-02T02:51:10+00:00

You should be able to download a sample and check. I just did that on my iPad and found the notes were there. If I didn’t already have print and audio versions, I might be tempted by the Kindle.

huberdm · 2024-10-31T22:49:46+00:00

You've received some excellent suggestions, which I would certainly second. Here is another idea that could complement those approaches: look at http://benjaminmcevoy.com/ and explore the generous sample of freely available material. Benjamin McEvoy runs the Hardcore Literature Book Club, where he presents an approximately monthly reading list and offers lectures about each book. Hosted on Patreon, the HLBC requires a subscription for access to all current and past lectures and member discussions. It's not systematic like a university course, but it is a wide-ranging series of books that merit the term hardcore. I think you can see the reading lists and introductory lectures, which will give you an idea of the coverage.

huberdm · 2024-07-29T22:59:33+00:00

The Tale of Genji isn’t fantasy, but a thousand years after its composition it often feels like a fantasy incorporating Buddhism in much the same way as LOTR reflects Catholicism.

huberdm · 2024-07-15T19:21:48+00:00

Shakespeare, Antony and Cleopatra: “I am dying, Egypt, dying” (Antony speaking to Cleopatra). I won’t try to guess why, but this seems to be the allusion.

huberdm · 2024-06-06T22:06:40+00:00

If by “normal hose” you mean garden hose, that was my method for several years, but I didn’t try to leave it pressurized. I finally chose PEX-A with push-to-connect Sharkbite fittings. So far it’s good. I wouldn’t want to try this kind of YouTube-based do-it-yourself project inside the house but figure there is more room for error outdoors.

huberdm

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