u/No_Consideration_339

The heat of summer has cooled and it's finally fall. So here's the latest campus fashion update!

Young men continue to wear shorts that are quite short and rather tight. A significant difference from the oversized basketball shorts and cargo shorts of several years ago. Jeans are almost completely absent from young men's wardrobes, except for farm kids/ag students. For long pants most men seem to prefer jogging pants/sweat pants of some variety. No khakis or chinos. T-shirts and hoodies still rule as tops.

Young women have almost completely abandoned the short pleated "tennis" skirts that were so popular just a couple years ago. They are back to shorts, or loose fit (often ripped or distressed) jeans, usually with tighter tops. Just when I think shorts can't get shorter, they do. Not a lot of leggings/yoga pants yet, but they may come out again in cooler weather. Women too tend towards t-shirts and sweatshirts as tops, but in cooler weather are more inclined to have a sweater on. I've noticed more extra fuzzy sweaters this year and warmer colors like orange. Women's clothing tends to be better fitted than before. The overly loose styles of a few years ago have given way to tighter and fitted styles.

So what are the fashion trends on your campuses?

It appears my mini-split came with a cat. Is this a usual feature? How will this affect the cooling? The cat does not respond to the remote. Is this a bug?

https://preview.redd.it/5yks3qntt4mh1.png?width=1152&format=png&auto=webp&s=a90896fad0efc2863877bbf65fc4dfdd16b4178d

US freight rail needs regulation now more than ever. Natural gas trains sit on this bridge almost everyday and video does good job showing how deteriorated it is. Am I naive to think this is egregiously unsafe or is this standard practice?

For those in the US, the Union Pacific Big Boy steam locomotive has been on a coast to coast tour. It's the largest operating steam locomotive in the world and is a pretty cool thing to experience. It's been widely reported and thousands of folks have been trackside to see it. With that many people, it's almost inevitable that there will be people in the way of whatever photo or video you plan to take. But the worst offenders have been oblivious boomers.

Story one. I was set up at a nice small Illinois town yesterday and we had a well developed photo line of a dozen people. Tripods, video and still photos. Literally 10 seconds before the train arrives, oblivious boomer steps in front of all of us with his phone. Words were exchanged and he finally moved back but what sort of person sees a bunch of cameras pointing a certain direction and decides to step right in front of them?

Another incident was in another small town where a boomer is standing literally right in the middle of the tracks. Amtrak came up behind us moving along about 79mph. If we hadn't yelled at him to get off the freaking tracks, he would have been a cloud of pink mist. He even tripped and nearly fell getting off the tracks! Ugh. Safety last for him.

I saw folks putting coins on the tracks (won't work and is actually dangerous), Putting their heads down to listen to the rail (also doesn't work and is dangerous) and way too close at almost every road crossing. You get better photos further back. With a few exceptions, the worst offenders were all boomers. Just totally oblivious to anyone else and even basic safety.

I’m in town for the weekend. Any good vegan restaurants around? Especially breakfast? Or even vegetarian breakfast options? I have that alpha gal tick thing and can’t consume mammal products.

I'm in an apartment and don't have a hose or space to wash my car. So I'm stuck with car washes. What are the best (and cheapest) local options?

Is Huntsville deep south, or mid south? Appalachian south? Military south? Tennessee valley?Something else?

I don't live local but I've visited and will be visiting again next month. I've been continually confused about the vibes Huntsville is giving off.

I’m in the central US. I usually play in the evening and before bed. Which means I can travel to Japan or Singapore and get some cool stuff. But it’s like 3-4am in Europe. But yesterday and today I had some free time in the early morning, so noonish in the UK. Wow! So much great stuff in the air! I picked up at least a half dozen new aircraft and several (!) Spitfires! If you haven’t already traveled to the UK in mid afternoon GMT, you need to.
Anywhere else in Europe I should check out?

Had the trial today. We couldn't agree on a settlement so it went to trial. Ex is asking for everything but clearly doesn't deserve it all. I'm trying to be more equitable. Even in cross examination it wasn't that bad. But there's a couple legal questions involving ownership of property that need to be researched and addressed. Which means no decision for 4-6 weeks at least. Ugh. Well, at least I have the car for my trips next month.

None of this is fun. But we all can do it. And I'm increasingly thinking I'll be a better and stronger person on the other side.

Not much to say. I haven't seen her since November of 2024 when I moved out. It's been 16 months since I filed. We both have lawyers. We'll see how it goes. No kids thankfully, but I do want some of the cats. Any good vibes are appreciated. At this point, I'm really just wanting to get on with my life.

There's a proposal floating around that IT wants to eliminate all computers in classrooms and just leave a video cord of some sort on the podium. The projectors and screens would still be there of course. All instructors would have to carry laptops to each class and use them for teaching the course.

Anyone do this? Is it as dumb as it sounds?

EDIT: You all have changed my mind, at least somewhat. It sounds like the devil really is in the details. A one plug, USB-C dock type solution that incorporates sound, video, and power would be workable and not much if any change in convenience from what we have. An extra monitor on the podium would be even better!

A child today asked me this question.

"What would the flame look like if you collected every fart in the world from every person for a whole day?"

So how much methane would this be? and how many homes could you heat or gallons of water boil?

It's roughly 2pm. I've been grading since noon. When can I have a beer?