Coffee DOES count!

OK, I take it back: I apologize to anyone I've ever told, that "coffee and tea don't count toward our liquid intake, because they're diuretics."  

 

 

I learned something new this week, while researching things to do about a medical condition I've been fighting for the past month. Firstly, yes it's true that caffeine is a diuretic, so that part was never wrong. But in the course of all my searching, I've learned something new to me: Modern medical research has concluded that the fluid in your coffee or tea easily balances out the mild diuretic effect of the caffeine. It absolutely counts toward keeping you hydrated and flushing out your kidneys and gall bladder. Which is a great idea for me, these days...

 

So drink up, enjoy your morning latte (which DOES count toward all those glasses of water we're supposed to be drinking), and forgive me for my years of spreading old information!

Of course, as my cousin mentioned, fluid intake is one thing, and the effects of caffeine itself are another thing entirely. Don't forget that the FDA recommends limiting your daily caffeine to 400mg, unless you're a fan of irregular heartbeat, chest pain, and stroke. And, of course, for those that are sensitive to it, adverse effects on sleep, especially when drinking caffeine late in the day.

 

Here's a good reference from the Mayo Clinic for the curious.

Memorial Day 2026

My mom, dad, and uncle all served and survived, but many of their comrades did not. Today, I am honoring the fallen heroes who served right alongside my family and gave everything.

 

Pretty sunset

 We enjoyed a beautiful sunset this evening!

 

Frightening diagnostic details of TDS

I ran across this TDS "revised definition" online and couldn't resist sharing:

 

Revised Clinical Definition: Trump Dependency Syndrome (TDS)

 

Diagnostic Overview:

A cognitive condition characterized by the total suspension of personal ethics, logic, and long-held civic principles in favor of an unwavering allegiance to a single individual. Unlike traditional political support, TDS involves a "reality-decoupling" where the subject views a leader’s erratic behavior and factual errors as evidence of superior genius.

 

Primary Symptoms:

• Fact-Refractory Logic: An immediate, involuntary rejection of peer-reviewed science, documented history, or video evidence if it contradicts the leader’s current statement.

• The "4D Chess" Delusion: A persistent belief that tantrums, policy reversals, or obvious mistakes are actually part of a brilliant, invisible master plan.

• Ethical Elasticity: The ability to excuse personal conduct (infidelity, crude language, or financial opacity) that the subject previously spent decades condemning in others.

• Hyper-Defensive Deflection: When presented with a specific policy failure, the subject reflexively shouts "What about...?" to protect the ego from acknowledging reality.

 

Behavioral Indicators:

1. Science Aversion: A deep-seated suspicion of experts and data-driven institutions, replaced by a reliance on "vibes" or unverified social media posts.

2. Tantrum Normalization: Viewing childish outbursts and professional bridge-burning as "strength" or "authenticity" rather than a lack of emotional intelligence.

3. Institutional Erosion: A willingness to dismantle the guardrails of democracy (free press, independent judiciary) to satisfy the whims of one individual.

 

Conclusion:

True derangement isn't found in those who notice the emperor has no clothes; it’s found in those who describe the fine silk of the emperor’s invisible suit while shaming everyone else for being "blind."

Mother's Day 2026

Wishing a wonderful Mother’s day to all my mom friends! 

License plate MISREADERS

Here's yet another disturbing example of bad data entry causing huge problems downstream. The title of this article is a misnomer, but the actual subject is even more concerning. Becoming the subject of police scrutiny and automatically and wrongly being assumed to be guilty of something, should be a huge concern to all of us. The fact that they don't have a straightforward way to feed back corrections into the database is perhaps the worst part of this disaster. As always, what sounds like a useful approach to law enforcement can be surprisingly bad, when human error isn't factored into the design. 

 

I was looking into this issue a little more, and I found something even more frustrating: This isn't always just a computer being "dumb." It’s a human policy. Some police departments intentionally list a suspect's plate both ways, for example as "BOB123" and "B0B123" in their warrants, to ensure they don't miss the suspect. In doing so, they effectively "criminalize" the innocent owner of the second plate, turning their commute into a gauntlet of potential police confrontations. 

 

As always, y'all be careful out there! Here are some suggestions, for those who are more likely to have this issue:

• Check your plate: If you have an "O" or a "0," be aware that you might be a victim of "Plate Alias" errors.

• Demand transparency: Ask local councils about the "misread rates" of the ALPR cameras they are buying with taxpayer money.

• Be Prepared: If pulled over, understand that the officer might be acting on "hot list" data that they believe is 100% accurate, even if it's a data entry error.

 

Littleton Fire Muster 6/13/2026

They'll be hosting a Fire Muster in Littleton on June 13. I stopped into one of these years ago, when walking Mandy with Ken, and it was a lot of fun to see the old and new fire engines and other apparatus. Fun fact: The first recorded fire muster occurred in 1849 in Bath, Maine, involving five hand-powered pumps, or "hand tubs".