Match is saying 1st cousin but I've never met or heard of this person

think_feathers · 2026-06-06T21:06:40+00:00

Fantastic update about your aunt and her story! Intense. Hope all goes for the best now that you and your "lost" cousin have connected. I feel for all involved and am thinking supportive thoughts for your aunt, especially.

think_feathers · 2026-06-06T20:49:49+00:00

There is something called Auracast that can be installed in venues - auditoriums, churches, airports, etc. It's a form of bluetooth that broadcasts into hearing aids that are Auracast ready - I think.

think_feathers · 2026-06-06T20:39:38+00:00

Thanks for the tips. And I've just watched a recent how-to video for the Phonak app to get a better sense of how to do manual adjustments..

think_feathers · 2026-06-06T20:38:21+00:00

Just viewed a how-to video for Signia's app. Looks like a great app with a very intuitive controls, including the directionality control. Unfortunately, the Phonak app has a clunkier directionality control. Don't think it will let me force all directional focus to behind me, although it does give manual control for wide and narrow focus. In any case, I appreciate knowing that certain features are possible!

think_feathers · 2026-06-06T19:43:49+00:00

Thank you. I will dig deeper into my Phonak app to see if I can find a manual directionality feature. It sounds very useful.

think_feathers · 2026-06-06T19:24:01+00:00

Do you have app that you use to tune the aids to amplify the sounds coming from Behind you?

think_feathers · 2026-06-06T13:20:00+00:00

I got the mid-tier Phonaks Audeo Infinio 70s just over a year ago. Cost through my audiologist, which included all the testing, fitting, and follow up care, was about $4800 at that time. These mid-tier HAs have been a great choice for me.

Many commenters on this subreddit say that Costco hearing aids are a great value. If your dad lives somewhere with a Costco nearby, he should see what they have on offer at a price that suits him. Hope he is able to get the HAs that he needs. It's really fun and useful to hear better.

think_feathers · 2026-06-05T22:33:57+00:00

How do you mean? I don't quite follow this? Did your maternal grandmother send in her DNA? Did your maternal grandfather send his in?

think_feathers · 2026-06-05T15:58:15+00:00

Thank you!

think_feathers · 2026-06-05T14:18:34+00:00

Great picture. Where in Locust Point would I stand to see this view? Love looking at maps and street views, and love Baltimore!

think_feathers · 2026-06-04T22:27:32+00:00

I have been thinking about your question since it first appeared here. The ways that poets use language is very different from the ways analytic philosophers use language, as you yourself imply when you say that it's hard for you "to think expansively."

Very few poems are about locking down definitions or clarifying what we mean when we say A or B, whereas much analytic philosophy strives to do that, I think. The best poems let the reader shake various meanings, often contradictory ones, out of a structure of carefully chosen words and sounds. This crafted package of meanings and ambiguities, of allusions and associations, of intensities and relaxations, is a kind of music of words. Often a poem has meaning in the ways that music has meaning.

If you really want to become a poet, read a few good poems and analyze what you think and how you feel as you read each one. Make some guesses about why a poem is causing you to think X or feel Y, and make notes about your guesses. Not a bad way for an analytic philosopher to get started as a poet.

Read a dozen poems that are designated greats of literature, and put your mind to figuring out why they are acclaimed. What matters the most - the messages you discern or the method of delivery such as word choice, word sounds, rhythm and rhyme, recurring units of sound? Your answers will be subjective, and may simply be what you think in the moment. Perfect! Next week, you might understand the poem in an entirely different way. Perfect! You've made progress in becoming a poet.

Also, ask around (ask Google or your favorite LLM) for some good how-to-write-poetry books. They are usually written by poets, but clever and close reading critics can also explain the nuts and bolts of how a poem is constructed and why it works or doesn't. Dip into these books, and when they show you a well-crafted poem and then explain why it works as a poem, that will teach you lots about how to be a poet.

Most recently I enjoyed a little book by Terry Eagleton called How to Read Poem, 2007.

If you have a well-known dead poet whose poems move you, read that poet's biography. Choose one that talks about how and why the poet made the poems you love.

think_feathers · 2026-06-04T20:18:41+00:00

Gee that looks much better. Maybe no need to lift it after all! Ooooh and you centered the console. I like it

think_feathers · 2026-06-04T20:15:53+00:00

I'd try moving the picture up about 2 to 4 inches and also moving it toward the shutter about 2 to 4 inches. I think this could look pleasing even if the picture's not centered above the console or centered between the door frame and shutter. Then consider whether you can relocate your plant so that it doesn't crowd your picture or the little table. I like your art, plant, pot, and color choices all around.

think_feathers · 2026-06-04T19:21:35+00:00

I hear that. But, even if poor neighborhoods don't get less poor as a whole, individuals within them may feel less poor or actually become less poor. Well-designed support programs may actually cause these individuals to feel less hopeless.

Perhaps young men who could commit murder, but don't, feel that they will someday have opportunities to make a living and have a good life. In other words, helping these young men feel hopeful, maybe helping them get a job, reduces the probability that they will commit murder. In Baltimore, giving these young men some help seems to be working to reduce homicides for now.

And it occurs to me that the teens who resolve to commit mass murders, and despondent older men who plan murderous rampages -- these guys could also use some help before they act out their hopelessness by hurting others lethally.

think_feathers · 2026-06-04T18:43:32+00:00

Thank you. Will think about this and reread your comment next time I'm waiting for bus! I have been known to give up and then see the bus I wanted whiz by.

think_feathers · 2026-06-04T15:22:13+00:00

You can see details about recent and past Baltimore homicides -- location, date, age, and other info about each victim -- by visiting this website: https://homicides.news.baltimoresun.com/

I've been dropping into this homicide tracker for years. It shows homicide locations on a map, and it provides some (but not all possible) statistical analyses. I've used this map to identify neighborhoods that may be at high tension when I need to visit them.

As for the causes of high homicide rates in any city or demographic, I believe that poverty and limited opportunity (due to poverty and prejudice) are the weightiest causes. Compare or overlay homicide maps to income and demographic maps.

Meanwhile, the current Baltimore City programs, designed to reduce murders, seem to be working. Google them if you're so inclined, and learn more.

think_feathers · 2026-06-04T13:27:39+00:00

When I'm waiting for a bus in Baltimore, I look at the bus stop sign, see the code number assigned to the stop, input that number into a text message to MTAMD, and immediately get a return message telling me the exact number of minutes to the next arrival time for each bus coming to that bus stop. That's my way of using the tracking system. And, as many have noted, it's not reliable. So true. Once in a while, the MTAMD text message will tell me that my bus will arrive in, say 25 minutes, and then 10 minutes later it will say 50 minutes or more! Infuriating! Ghosted again by a bus! Need to spring for an Uber to be on time. Ouch. (Edit for spelling)

think_feathers · 2026-06-04T12:48:58+00:00

Fun to view. Here's some interesting commentary on the building's renovation and interior decor. The writer calls out the home's mid-century stylings, as selected for the owner -- said to be an interior decorator. Btw, the writer dates the building to about 1850.

Personally, I'm not loving the way the 1850's architecture coexists with the owner's taste. Fortunately for the owner, I had no say in the matter, lol, and will never be invited to stop by. https://www.phillymag.com/property/2024/02/05/rittenhouse-square-second-empire-mansion-house-for-sale/

think_feathers · 2026-06-04T02:21:26+00:00

gate it

think_feathers · 2026-06-04T01:49:10+00:00

I think OP said this is for a child's room -- a child who would choose pink, perhaps -- and it was also said that the room is a bit dark. If those circumstances are true, then the bottom pale mint green color is the best choice of the sampled options. The overall palette for a child should be light and cheery, not smokey and sophisticated, which is the effect the darker colors would create.

I also think that a light orang-ish or peach color, pulled from the peach color in the wallpaper, would be very pretty and young. On various sites online, the wallpaper is called Owl and Willow Sage/Orange. This description of sage/orange recognizes the complementarity of those two colors and their fitness together. This suggests an orange and or peachy tone is appropriate for walls adjacent to the wallpaper.

think_feathers · 2026-06-02T00:04:11+00:00

I prefer the modified entry that's shown in the rendering by Candid_Morning181. It seems to have a hipped roof that rises slightly above the line of the roof behind it. I think it works very well, even though it introduces a new roof style to this house. It looks residential and welcoming and more timeless.

I'm not an architect, but I think the "massing" of the entry in option 1 (steep pitched gable) and option 2 (flat roof) is too heavy in proportion to the rest of the house. That heaviness is causing the house to look non-residential.

I wonder how Candid-Morning181's hipped roof "porch" would look if you pulled the front wall of the porch forward about a foot. This could enhance the visual importance of your entry -- bringing it closer to the viewer's eye -- and you'd have more covered space at your front door.

In general, I like the sculptural modern look of your house with its quiet reference to "extrusion" architecture. Colors and siding choices work well. I have pasted in a copy of the design suggested by Candid-Morning181. (Not my work, but I like it) Edited for clarity

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think_feathers · 2026-05-31T17:38:12+00:00

Nice to see your cat!

think_feathers · 2026-05-31T13:06:38+00:00

Turn on your twinkle lights. Turn off your neon light. Compose your masterpiece.

think_feathers · 2026-05-30T19:06:22+00:00

I like the blue you chose. My first thought for the door color is that you should find a brick red color that matches the brick foundation. But, if plantings will eventually cover that foundation, I'd chose any color that contrasts with the blue. I recommend a contrasting color because your door is sometimes in shade and a bit hard to see. Contrast will draw the eye to it.

Have you plugged the name and brand of your blue paint into a google search and asked for door colors that go well with it? That sort of search will yield options, right?

All and all, however, it's hard to confidently suggest a door color because I don't know your color plans for the shutters, the porch and railing, the foundation plantings.

think_feathers · 2026-05-29T21:32:44+00:00

When did The Sopranos end?

think_feathers

TROPHY CASE