Congrats to your mom!

We had a downtown dept store in my hometown that used pneumatic tubes for their cash system. None of the salespeople had cash registers but pnuematic tubes that they would send the money to the main office and they would send the change back through the tubes. It was open until the 1990s, believe it or not.

I think it was the big Salvation Army store in NYC that had pneumatic tubes into the 2000s, although I think the cashiers did make change.

The hotel I stayed at in DC had the mail chute thingies. It wasn't pneumatic, though, you just dropped your postcard in the slot by the elevator shaft and it fell all the way to the box on the ground floor.

I love those things! My old office building had them. Also, in the last few years, I stayed at a hotel in DC with manually-operated elevators, which was cool, except for the fact that they both broke when I was there, and I was staying on the second floor.

all praise zool. mac is sleeping over at the grandparents' house, so I am going out for drinks with a friend. MUCH NEEDED!

Hooray!

I just napped for like three hours, which is crazy, and now I'm all confused about what time of day it is. I seriously almost just made coffee. Yeah, no.

Now I'm watching some official tell The People not to bring gas grills inside, even if they lose power. He also said not to turn on the (gas) stove and open the door, which just seems like crazy talk -- although I realize that's probably technically not safe. What else are you supposed to do when the heat goes out??

le nubian, the last time I had mine done, it was a few hours. I could see OKish after about 2-3 hours, but it was 4-5 hours before it was really all gone. I might be an extreme case, though--it was a HUGE difference for me, not just sensitivity, but bad vision

Go, ita's mom!

On my wish list for our Forever House are a fireplace, a screened porch, and a really high-quality dishwasher.

Fireplace, claw-footed tub, ENOUGH BOOKSHELVES AND CLOSETS, and maid service. Those are on my wishlist.

All of the above, plus a full pantry and serious working kitchen. Also, a full-sun garden area outside would be good.

The font Hillary Clinton used for her resignation letter was TERRIBLE. I had a strong negative reaction to it.

I have heard this. She used, what, Poor Richard or something?

BT, you just reminded me that I meant to repost these two font-related rebuttals here. Thanks:

Heh. I especially like the second one.

The font article was pretty interesting. Apparently, if you use a hard-to-read font, then (unsurprisingly) it makes the reading experience more unpleasant. It also makes whatever one is reading seem more complicated and/or difficult. However, the reader also winds up understanding it better. Using an unpleasant font improves comprehension. (The suggestion is this is because it slows the reader down and prevents them skating over on pattern recognition. This may also be why it makes the subject matter seem harder: generally, it really is harder, but when we glide by on an easy font, the stuff we miss tends to be stuff we think we already know or understand.)

In conclusion, this semester I may try typing up all my notes in Papyrus.

Way to go, mom of ita!

When my eyes get dilated it seems to last the rest of the day, but that's probably not really true. I thought that sentence might be helpful when I started it, sorry.

I lived in a building that had, well, not full-on manually operated elevators, but an elevator you had to pull the gate closed yourself. We lived on the third floor, moving in (and probably out, but I only remember moving in for some reason) took forever.

That's some dedication to learning right there, bt.

My co-op building just sent me a letter about the assessment they’re charging to get the elevators fixed. But the note was written in Baskerville, and it made it somewhat better.

I thought that sentence might be helpful when I started it, sorry.

okay, you made me laugh so that really was helpful.

meara, I'm on hour 3 and my vision is improving, but it is still blurry. I made it home okay driving around town doing errands, but I can't fucking read properly. I had to go to the "I am blind" setting on the kindle.

So at a guess the new ones are much better than propane and slightly better than natural gas, but only at a guess.

This is close to my guess as well, but I don't have the hard data. I may look and see if I have the specifics on the stove I'm using, because I would be interested in knowing. I doubt I would make far different choices at the moment because of finances, but I would like to know.

Liese, how hard is your water?

My water is naturally very soft. So much so that we have to warn people to use less shampoo than they expect.

I have a kettle that is dedicated to stove use; it's specially made to not take damage if it boils dry. There is some very minimal buildup, but not enough that I don't also use it as my main cooking kettle.

I just watched the first episode of Downton Abbey, and I have a question: Lord Brantham says that he can't break the entail, because it would destroy the estate. What does that mean? I get that the title would pass to the cousin while Mary would inherit the property, but what's the problem that he sees with that?