About a month ago I posted (https://www.reddit.com/r/blunderyears/s/oRBVjXV1Ik) about getting called “young man” often as a child because, quite frankly, I looked like a boy. Mom sent me this picture from our Christmas card photo shoot that year. I remember the intense argument to wear this getup instead of a dress, and apparently I won. Definitely not beating the young man allegations.
I know there's been a lot of discussion about how it seems like a lot of books on Kindle Unlimited these days are pretty clearly written by AI. I agree that it can get a bit dicey to claim that an author is AI, especially if they're a newer author who may not have an established presence yet, or may prefer to write under a pen name.
So- who are some KU authors, especially newer authors, who are most definitely humans who are writing their books without AI? I would love to seek them out!
Mena brought me her “wormy” (wand and all!) to make sure that I am well-fed, since I believe she thinks I’m a big dumb cat who can’t feed myself properly. I love how proud she is!
My stats: 34F, 5’4, SW: 201+, CW: 194, GW: 145
I gave myself the personal challenge to log everything I ate and to weigh myself daily for 30 days. I’m active (run 4x a week, bike 1-2x a week, lift 3-4x a week, get 10k+ steps a day) but because my diet was a free for all, my weight crept up on me over the years. I’ve been in a near-constant cycle of losing anywhere from 10-50 pounds quickly and regaining it gradually once I stopped tracking. I’m tired of lacking confidence and feeling heavy and bloated.
My main meals are generally healthy with protein and fiber, but where I was slipping up was having 1-2 beers or glasses of wine a day, snacking in the evening, overeating when going out to eat, DoorDashing too much food on the weekends, and occasional binge eating. I didn’t change my main meals but I did track everything in the LoseIt! app, I cut out the excess alcohol (limit myself to 1 drink and only with friends), and I kept my snacking to a protein shake or protein bar after the gym and a yogurt bowl with stevia and frozen fruit as my “sweet treat” after dinner. I stopped ordering DoorDash and cut back on going out to eat but didn’t stop entirely (never went out solo but would go out once every week or two with friends), and was smarter about portion control and never let myself get to the point of feeling stuffed. There would be a spike from water weight the next day, which you can see in the graph, but I just went right back to my normal eating pattern and it went away in a couple of days. My TDEE is ~2,500, and I ate between 1,800 and 2,000 calories most days to stay in a modest deficit, but some days I ate more (dinner with friends, making sure I was eating enough after a longer or harder run) and some I ate less.
After 30 days, I dropped 7 pounds; I lost 2 inches from my bust, 2 inches from my waist, and 3 inches from my hips; and clothes are feeling more comfortable and I’m less puffy-looking and puffy-feeling. Cutting way back on alcohol has been a huge thing for me, and it’s something I definitely plan on keeping up. I think my evening drinking really contributed to the munchies I had every night. Without it, I’m totally content with my yogurt bowl “dessert.”
My next mini-goal is to go another 30 days of logging everything and weighing daily. August will definitely be more of a challenge, as it’s a busy month for me: I have a dinner reservation I’ve been looking forward to, a wedding to attend, family visiting me, my birthday, and a weekend trip. Another 7 pound loss is probably too much to hope for. But I’m going to do what I’ve been doing- logging everything and keeping myself accountable, staying mindful even if I go off plan, and getting right back to it the next day and trusting water weight will come off. Trying to remind myself that it’s better to strive to consistency than perfection.
I’ve been going to the gym (Planet Fitness) regularly since January and for lower body days I usually stick to the basic leg machines along with dumbbells and fixed barbells. One of my friends recommended the hack squat machine so I tried it today and while I liked it overall, it was absolutely brutal on my shoulders where the pads were sitting on them. I have bruises along both shoulders and they’re pretty painful and raw. How can I make it more comfortable for myself in the future? Or is it something that is just always going to be uncomfortable?
Does anyone else feel like they are being inundated by AI books right now, especially in the WLW romance space? It seems like especially in Kindle Unlimited (yes, I know, Amazon is terrible) most of the books that are coming out are very clearly AI written. I’ll see a book with an interesting premise, look it up, and see that the author has 15 books, all published within the past year and certainly AI. It’s so frustrating and I have a feeling this is only the beginning.
I was walking home from watching the World Cup at a friend’s house last night. There was another group walking past right as I reached my house, and they were being followed by a cat who was weaving in and out of their legs, begging for pets. He did the same with me when I approached. He was skinny, young-looking, and very clearly not neutered. We don’t have many indoor-outdoor cats in my neighborhood and I recognize the ones we do, so I figured this little guy was a stray. I got an extra carrier and 3 people helped me to coax him into it. He spent the night in my bathroom, and wolfed down 3 cans of wet food and some dry food, so he was clearly very hungry. He cried most of the night because he wanted attention, and when I came in the bathroom he purred and purred and crawled into my lap.
I took him to the vet this morning- no microchip. I posted on local Facebook groups and no one recognized him as a lost cat or claimed him. He is very healthy considering how long he’s been outside- about a year and a half old, great heart and lungs, skinny, but healthy coat. He does have bad teeth and will need extractions along with his neuter. I am in an apartment where I can only have one pet, plus with the cost of his care (my own cat has insurance but his would likely be mostly out of pocket for the dentals), I knew it would be best for him to go to a rescue. I found one that could take him today and I drove him there. I cried when I dropped him off but the foster sent me a video of him making biscuits and nursing on a blanket, and I know he is so grateful to be rescued. She called him Larry. I know he is in for the good life from here on out!
In 1974, 40-year-old Gabriel "Gabe" Caporino was an intermediate-level executive in the coffee division of the General Foods corporation, where he had worked for 17 years. He lived with his family in Yorktown Heights, New York, a town in Westchester County about 45 miles from New York City. Gabe, a Navy veteran, was described as a devoted husband and father who had a "warm, loving, and stable relationship" with his wife, his two teenaged daughters, and the rest of his large extended family (his five brothers, three sisters, and a number of nieces and nephews). According to Gabe's wife, there was no evidence that there were any problems major enough to prompt him to walk away from his life.
In March of 1974, Gabe went to New Orleans in order to attend a conference for General Foods executives (a New Haven Register article states he also went to Houston during this trip, but this is the only reference to Houston I could find). During his time in New Orleans, he was staying at the Intercontinental Hotel on Canal Street and had rented a car from Hertz to use while he was there. On March 7, his last night in New Orleans, he called his wife and spoke with her about an upcoming parents' night at their daughter's school and confirmed upcoming dinner plans with friends. He told her that he would be flying back the next day, and that he had arranged for a friend to pick him up at the Newark Airport. He also told her that he was going to the French Quarter to listen to a jazz concert that night.
However, on March 8, his friend called Gabe's wife, Grace, and let her know that he did not show up to the Newark Airport as planned. Grace then called the Intercontinental Hotel, and it was discovered that Gabe's rental car was missing and that his bed had not been slept in the night before. He had also left behind his unused plane ticket, partially packed suitcases, and souvenirs that he had bought for his wife and daughters. The New Orleans Police, the FBI, and private investigators hired by General Foods and the Caporino family launched a search to find Gabe.
About 10 days after March 7, Gabe's rental car was discovered abandoned, parked in a middle-class neighborhood across town from Gabe's hotel. The keys were still in the car, and investigators believed that the car had been parked in the location it was found for at least one week. It had been wiped clean, so they couldn't get any fingerprints from it.
Investigators also discovered that about 4 days after Gabe's disappearance, his credit card had been used to purchase a pair of pants, a shirt, and a camera from a Sears store in New Orleans. The salesperson said that the items were sold to a group of three people (two men and one woman in their early 20s) described as "hippie types." One person purchased the items, but the three were together as a group. When asked for additional identification for using the credit card, the group produced Gabe's Allstate Insurance card. The signature on the store receipt did not match Gabe's signature. The people using his credit card were never identified, and Gabe has never been located, dead or alive. He was declared legally dead in 1979, and his wife filed claims for both workers' comp death benefits and insurance death benefits.
A 2014 article from reporter Andy Thibault for the New Haven Register uncovered fabrications given by General Foods staff in FBI reports related to Gabe's disappearance that indicate that General Foods and the New Orleans PD may have attempted to impede the investigation. According to the report, Jack Ison, the Security Director for General Foods and a former FBI agent, said that Gabe had taken a $16,000 advance and disappeared. Ison also stated that Gabe was having an affair with a woman in Houston, as well as having slept with a New Orleans waitress on March 6 (the day before he was last definitively heard from). However, none of this was true. The Houston woman he was supposedly having an affair with never lived at the address provided by Ison, and while the FBI was told that Houston police had interviewed this woman, Houston police could find no records related to her or Gabe. The New Orleans waitress told New Orleans police that she had spent the night of March 6 with another man (a comedian) and not Gabe. Additionally, the New Orleans police apparently refused to further investigate the forged credit card situation, and a New Orleans police officer tried to get the salesperson to change their story. It is unknown why General Foods would try to smear Gabe's reputation and impede the investigation in the wake of his (presumed) death, because Gabe had apparently been an exemplary employee.
The whole case is, frankly, bizarre. It seems that Gabe didn't just walk out of his life- he seems prepared to head back to his home and family once the conference was over. I couldn't find any information pertaining to if he had plans to go to the jazz concert with anyone (such as other executives there for the conference) or if he was even seen at the concert at all. Were the "hippies" who used his credit card connected to his disappearance, or did they just luck out and find his wallet laying on the ground somewhere, or inside of the abandoned rental car? Why was the car parked where it was (in a residential neighborhood across town), and how did it sit for a week with the keys in it without being stolen? Why would General Foods want to smear Gabe's reputation and try to impede the investigation into his disappearance? There's not too much information about the case, and what information there is seems to have a lot of holes in it.
Sources:
Charley Project: https://charleyproject.org/case/gabriel-anthony-caporino
NAMUS: https://namus.nij.ojp.gov/case/MP1711
Caporino v. Travelers Insurance: https://www.casemine.com/judgement/us/59148ffcadd7b0493456ec01
New Haven Register article (behind paywall): https://www.nhregister.com/columnist/article/Cool-Justice-Fabricated-FBI-reports-detailed-in-11365116.php
Not a helicopter but close enough. It’s a nice summer evening, sunny and not too hot, perfect for sitting outside with a beer and relaxing. But these planes with banner advertisements have been circling the neighborhood for hours. They’re loud and they’re incessant, and they are absolutely ruining the experience. I wish there was something that could be done about this nuisance but apparently it’s not in the city’s jurisdiction to do anything about it.
As part of injury prevention I try to get 2 to 3 30-45 minute lower body strength sessions in every week. It’s done a lot to make me a stronger runner, but something that I’m a bit confused about- when should I be doing my lower body sessions? I’m not sure if I should be doing them the day after my runs or not. My initial thought was yes, but then I’m getting nervous that doing a lower body session on a day that’s supposed to be giving my legs a break from running could ruin the recovery. Should I be doing them on running days instead?
Found about 15 in my bathtub and at least 15 more crawling around on the wood floor outside my bathroom. I thought drain flies at first because they were congregated around the bathtub but they don’t look like drain flies.
I was in Montreal this week with my parents; it was their first time visiting and my second time visiting. I honestly can’t remember any of the food I tried my first time other than Schwartz’s, so I wanted to make sure that we ate at really good places this time, and I scoured this sub for recommendations and we ended up trying many of them. Some are definitely “touristy” but we still really enjoyed them. My parents don’t have the best access to different types of cuisines where they live so a lot of what we ate was new for them and they loved it.
Our favorites were Olive et Gourmando, Arthurs, Keela, Damas (my fave, thought it was excellent food and great service), La Luncheonette, Brigade Pizza, Fairmount Bagel, Bernie Beignet, Kem Coba (the passion fruit and vanilla soft serve was amazing), and Le Pois Penche (I thought it was good but my parents thought it was amazing). The touristy places we hit were Schwartz’s, La Banquise, and Eggspections (probably my parents’ favorite breakfast spot, I thought it was just ok). Siam was the only place we ate at that I wasn’t crazy about but my dad picked it and wanted to go there; we had a really great server though. Montreal has to be one of the best foodie cities, and I’m already talking with some friends about coming back for a food-focused long weekend trip.
I’ve been an A-lister for a month and I love it, but I have seen all the movies I want to see this month. I live in Philadelphia and don’t have a car, and the two closest theaters to me that I can get to on public transit or via bike only have 7 and 8 theaters respectively and play essentially the same movies with maybe 1 difference. Nearby theaters (Cherry Hill, Voorhees, etc.) have SO many more options but the cost of getting there is either more expensive (Uber, renting a car) or more inconvenient (having to take 4 different public transit modes) than it’s worth. For others in a similar boat- how are you getting to the further theaters? Is there a better way of transit that I’m missing, or is my best bet just to rent a car one Saturday a month and hit up 2-3 movies I want to see? I want to get my money’s worth if I can but it’s hard to do it when I have so few options to choose from.