Hey! Dan da Dan is great! I’m not being defensive! I’m fine!

I don’t understand, but it speaks to me

I remember being absolutely blown away that you could see planes in the sky

Two years ago I became a first time homeowner. I’m moving in 6 months and am going to keep this property and rent it out. I cannot afford to buy another house almost anywhere in the US. I will be renting. However, I closed on this place with 3% interest and pay $1500/mo for the mortgage, plus about $250 for utilities. Round up to $1800/mo. Anyone buying at today’s interest and value with 20% down is looking at a mortgage of about $2300/mo, before utilities.

I absolutely resent this market, but I refuse to let this place go into the hands of anyone like Blackrock. And since I don’t care about maximizing profit, I can keep the rate on the lower end and help someone live here for a few hundred a month less than they could with a new sale. I can rent it for $1700-1800/mo to cover incidentals and repair and still let a renter live here for less than a new mortgage.

I’ve been toying with the idea of counting every dollar the renter pays against the mortgage and selling to them at the difference when (if) rates come back down.

Certainly not ideal, and a little bit apologetic, but in this situation it’s about as close as I can get to a win-win. Or least lost-least lost.

Le Pétomane

Edit: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_Pétomane Dunno why I only shared the name.

I read those stories like 20 years ago. Good to see them coming up again! Is he still writing?

Objects in mirror less attractive than they appear.

Honest typo. I keep using the swipe keyboard even though it sucks

I honestly have no idea if there are pictures because I listened to it, but it does have a pretty accessible breakdown of their anatomy, physiology, and evolutionary biology. Like David Attenborough, but with more words instead of video, and more of the author’s story.

Check out the book (or audiobook) Endless Forms by Seirian Sumner! It’s a fascinating exploration of the different kinds of wasps and their role in their environments. For example, some figs can only be polite (typo: pollinated) but a certain species of wasp and some wasps use antibacterial compounds to coat their nests.