This weekend I learned that the German chocolate cake is not German in origin, but was in fact named for an American baker, Samuel German, who came up with the recipe as a way to use the semisweet dark chocolate he had…formulated would be the correct word, not “invented,” I guess. You can’t really invent chocolate.
I learned this while baking one, for an impromptu party thrown for an ex-editor. I also learned that “impromptu” and German chocolate cake don’t really go together. It’s a recipe that, if you’re devoted to scratch baking as I am, is pretty damn complicated. But it was the birthday boy’s favorite, and so I did my duty. Then I left my phone behind, so I’m enjoying a phone-free Sunday morning, and that’s a very good thing.
But it can’t last forever. I’m heading back over to his apartment in a bit to pick it up.
Work this week will be pretty wild, as we tick down the days to the Detroit Jazz Festival, the world’s largest free jazz festival, a phrase I probably wouldn’t have added before I started working on the social-media team, but that’s social media — marketing, not necessarily journalism. However, the job puts me face-to-face with great musicians and I get to hear some wonderful music in the bargain, so it only feels like work some of the time. It’s a good gig for the semi-retired.
Which is, as usual, my way of advance-apologizing for spotty blogging until we wrap on Labor Day.
That little factoid about German chocolate cake is the sort that sometimes gets me called something like “the walking encyclopedia” when I step out of journalism circles, where everyone is a walking encyclopedia. It goes with the job. “Did you know Dolly Parton had a disco album?” I remarked in a non-journalist text string last week after she died, and it happened again. I can’t help it, as I sit in a firehose of information all day. But today I found myself looking at the fresh New York Times and Free Press on my kitchen table and said, “I’m out.” You have to unplug from time to time, or your brain explodes. (Plus I already read much of it in the last few days, where the Sunday content is trickled out over the web. When our excellent newspaper carrier retires at the end of the year, I may cut back on one or more of our newspaper subs. Or I may not. Advertising in the print editions still supports many of them. I won’t be a party to killing a legit news source, even if they employ Mitch Albom.)
That said, I found a few stories to share today before I clock out:
We all remember the OMG SATANIC CHILD ABUSE IN DAYCARE CENTERS panic of the ’90s, right? Here’s an absolutely infuriating story about a woman who was swept up in it, served YEARS in prison for a crime she never committed, was finally released, and later received a formal exoneration, which would enable her to get compensation from the state of Ohio. However:
The exoneration cleared the way for Ms. Smith to seek compensation. She fantasized about being able to help her children — to pay off her eldest’s house and car and hire a lawyer to extricate her struggling youngest from legal trouble and child support debt. Maybe there would be enough, she hoped, to fulfill her lifelong dream of visiting the Vatican.
Ohio law is intended to make compensation for exonerees straightforward and quick, especially when the local prosecutor poses no objections. Under the law, Ms. Smith would receive at least $1 million. Mr. Tomlinson told the court he believed she had been wrongfully imprisoned and deserved recompense.
But then she ran into opposition from the state attorney general, Dave Yost, who stepped in and had Mr. Tomlinson’s statements stricken from the record.
[The original prosecutor] Mr. Rosenbaum, for his part, advanced a new argument: The exoneration should not have occurred, he said, because it had cleared the way for Ms. Smith to sue him and several others involved in her prosecution.
They were joined in their opposition by Tony Cillo, a Republican who had recently defeated [the prosecutor who supported the exoneration] Mr. Tomlinson, a Democrat, in his bid for re-election. Mr. Cillo called the exoneration “one of the most flagrant frauds upon the entire state of Ohio” and a conspiracy to “acquit and pay” Ms. Smith.
Mr. Yost’s office declined to comment on pending litigation, and Mr. Cillo did not respond to requests for comment. Mr. Rosenbaum said, through his lawyer, that he had “prosecuted all his cases with the highest ethical standards, and the prosecution of Nancy Smith was no different.”
Yost, and all the rest of these terrible, terrible people, are slimy pieces of crap. A long read, but worth it.
Speaking of terrible people, Lucian Truscott’s Substack on Pete Hegseth is worth your time.
Finally, Dolly’s death got me thinking about Whitney Houston, for some reason. “I Will Always Love You,” a sweet song about leaving behind a lover (or maybe Porter Wagoner — accounts vary), is one thing in her voice, and quite another in Whitney’s, whose every recording carries the subtext of look what a belter I am. Not only that, she ushered in an age of belters that we’re still living through. Some years back, on a long drive, I cued up a Spotify playlist of various versions of “Lush Life,” a sad song about drinking yourself to death over a broken heart. The more recent the recording, the more likely it is to be belted by a singer who seems not to have actually read the lyrics. What do you think about this? Discuss.
I’ll be here this week, unless I’m not. Carry on.
FDChief said on August 30, 2026 at 10:52 am
I wrote a whole piece about the Parton vs Houston versions of I Will Always Love You back in 2012.
“The performance is…well, it’s what Houston did. The quivering vibrato, the swooping, breathy phrasing, and of course the “big moment” – it comes with the key change at 3:19 in the video – the pause, the breath, and then the soaring blare as Houston’s voice rises and swells in a cresting wave of throbbing emotion. That was her style, and although she wasn’t the only singer of her era who used it she might have been the best known and the most influential.
That belting style is now nearly inescapable when you hear power pop sung in public. You hear now it every time you turn on “American Idol” and any one of it’s many imitators, or encounter one of the many pop-song belters trained in the post-Whitney Era. It’s as if every single jazz and pop vocalist between 1950 and 1980 had been instantly turned into Barbra Streisand.
But…here’s the thing. Check out the lyrics to “I Will Always Love You”:
“If I should stay,
I would only be in your way.
So I’ll go, but I know
I’ll think of you ev’ry step of the way.
And I will always love you.
I will always love you.
You, my darling you.
Bittersweet memories that is all I’m taking with me.
So, goodbye. Please, don’t cry.
We both know I’m not what you, you need.
And I will always love you.
I will always love you.
I hope life treats you kind
And I hope you have all you’ve dreamed of.
And I wish to you, joy and happiness.
But above all this, I wish you love.
And I will always love you…”
Got it? Is that a sad song, or what? “Bittersweeet memories”? “We both know I’m not what you need”? This sucker is about loss, my God; heartbreak, the death of a precious love, desolation, the long, slow, agonizing draught of bitter gall you know you will drink the rest of your life as the one you can never forget recedes in the rear-view mirror.
This is fucking tragedy, man.
But Houston’s version – and all the other belters’ that have followed her – makes a kind of joke out of that. The emotional throb and gush, the soaring finale…she’s not standing there heartsick and grieving that she will always love you; she’s hurling her challenge to the skies – she WILL always love you, goddammit, and she’s not ashamed who knows it.
Now.
Here’s the woman who wrote and first sang this song, Dolly Parton, doing the tune exactly twenty years earlier than the Grammys,
Excuse me for being partial, but for my money that’s how you put over a hearbreaking song; simple, clean, her voice as clear and sharp as a winter night and as crushingly empty. There’s no strength in Parton’s version, no power, no hope. She knows she has lost everything, and the sweet clarity in her voice makes the pain of that loss utterly unbearable.
But you hear much more of Whitney than Dolly in pop singing today. So while I am sure that there are those who were fond of Ms. Houston, or loved her, I cannot and do not pretend to share in their grief.”
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annie said on August 30, 2026 at 11:16 am
I feel the same way about Aretha Franklin. Some songs are not meant to be belted out and she often manages to kill the song (and not in a good way).
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nancy said on August 30, 2026 at 12:02 pm
FDChief, exactly my thoughts, and very well-said. As for Aretha, I can only say that both women came from a gospel background, and that’s how you do gospel. But it’s not always called for.
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basset said on August 30, 2026 at 1:02 pm
She was a national treasure, no question. There’s a movement on to name the Nashville airport after her, started some months ago and has of course picked up a lot of speed since then; we’re for it.
I have to go against the grain here, though, and say that I never liked “Jolene” – begging and weakness just don’t seem to fit, I’d prefer that she was playing a stronger character, something along the lines of Loretta Lynn’s “Fist City,” not “please don’t take him” but “get outa here or get your ass kicked”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YgylOni0JSI
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Mark P said on August 30, 2026 at 2:33 pm
I heard an old interview with Dolly Parton, possibly an old Fresh Air, in which she told about writing I Will Always Love You. She said she wrote it for Porter Waggoner. She had committed to five years on his show, but stayed seven. He was quite upset about her leaving, and she felt bad but still committed to pursuing her solo career. So she wrote the song as a kind of a goodbye for him.
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Sherri said on August 30, 2026 at 2:40 pm
Since her death, I’ve been listening to Dolly’s early, sad ass songs, like “Down From Dover”, “The Bridge”, and “Daddy Come and Get Me”, which make “Jolene” seem cheerful.
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Julie Robinson said on August 30, 2026 at 3:52 pm
Vocal histrionics serve the singer, not the music. I want to hear all the notes, not just the melody, and how they interact as they blend or clash. Whitney popularized the style and it seemed to impress on those awful competition shows, but to my ears, it’s shallow and boring. You know what’s harder than belting and swooping? Carefully listening to the music, singing on pitch, and creating harmonies.
The same thing is happening on Broadway now, with audiences wanting shows full of belting. It’s taking a toll on the performers, as the human voice wasn’t meant to do that eight times a week.
I have made German chocolate cake from scratch and it is a pain. But the difference between drecky canned frosting and the real thing is huuuuge.
Our big excitement today was getting our flu shots. We stopped to pick up a scrip for Mom and they weren’t busy, so we took care of it. A nurse friend told me the flu season is already here, early this year. The pharmacist told us they’ll get the new Covid formulation some time this week and we’ve got appointments set up for that now too.
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Dave said on August 30, 2026 at 3:56 pm
I didn’t know any of Dolly’s early songs, I remember the Porter Waggoner show being on via syndication and you can find it if you search around. I had never heard “The Bridge” until just the other night when we watched a show about her that was made in 2019. Pregnancy and suicide, all in one song.
It is said that Dolly and Porter had many loud arguments as time went on but Waggoner was the boss and said as much in the documentary we were watching and Dolly couldn’t shake it. There were lawsuits after she left the show and whoever was on NPR being interviewed just this past Wednesday said that Dolly got less protective of Waggoner, not deflecting criticism of him and not speaking of him quite so kindly like she had in earlier years.
Struck by another memory, anyone of a certain age from Central and Southern Ohio, as well as Central Indiana, probably remembers Midwestern Hayride, a country music show originating from Cincinnati, shown on the Crosley stations, think of a localized Hee Haw. I see it has its own Wikipedia entry and Dolly did appear on it but I was not aware that it became as nationally broadcast program for a period of time
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Brandon said on August 30, 2026 at 3:59 pm
Whitney’s rendition was meant to be a declaration of undying love from Rachel Marron to bodyguard Frank Farmer. Both Dolly’s original (how would Elvis have treated it?) and Whitney’s cover can exist together and be appreciated.
I’d compare it to the theme song of A Different World, sung in the first season by Phoebe Snow, and in seasons two through five by Aretha Franklin (the sixth and final season had a bouncy version by Boyz II Men). I prefer Phoebe Snow’s version to Aretha’s belty one. It’s very bluesy and mellow, meant to evoke the world of a liberal arts college.
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Deborah said on August 30, 2026 at 4:51 pm
FDChief, very well said. I’m calling her St. Dolly from now on. If you’re gonna be a Christian be a Dolly kind, not a Donald kind (got that from Bluesky).
Just got back from Trader Joes where Jolene was playing in the store when we first arrived.
Tonight we’re having a get together with the condo neighbors, we go back to Chicago Wednesday where that day the high in Chicago is going to be 94º. Oh boy, can’t wait to go back to an un-airconditioned unit for 90 degree temps with high humidity for a few days. Aside from that horrendousness I’m looking forward to being back in the hustle and bustle of the city on the lake, but I’ll miss the mountains as I always do.
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David Cook said on August 30, 2026 at 4:52 pm
Thanks for the reminder, Julie. I have to get my flu and Covid shots before Brainworm Bobby changes his crazy-assed mind.
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Julie Robinson said on August 30, 2026 at 5:05 pm
She was also encouraging us to get hepatitis B shots, in a series of two, a month apart. I want to research that a bit, but we’ve learned we don’t do great getting two in a day, so it’ll wait.
And our daughter preached about Dolly this morning in passing, as someone who practiced her faith humbly and in love. I also heard that Dollywood hires performers who don’t match the cookie cutter standards of the Orlando parks, especially Disney. If you’re gay or trans, express yourself with colorful hair/piercings, or just don’t fit the size 2 uniforms, you’re welcome at Dollywood for who you are, as you are. It makes for great loyalty.
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alex said on August 30, 2026 at 7:29 pm
The first time I ever took notice of “Lush Life,” it was Linda Ronstadt performing with the Nelson Riddle Orchestra. She didn’t belt that one out. In fact, I thought she had a rather wispy voice for an album full of big band-era torch songs, but she introduced me to a lot of music that I wouldn’t have known about otherwise and I found her quite listenable.
And yes I remember Dolly dallying with disco. “Baby I’m Burnin'” was her big disco hit.
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Pam H said on August 31, 2026 at 8:56 am
The story about the wrongly convicted Ohio woman details exactly why I now hate this state. The red stain has penetrated very thoroughly. Without hearing the words first, I could have recited exactly what those various lawyers would say, especially “flagrant fraud” and “conspiracy”. The only missing word is “rigged”. Mr. Rosenbaum with his “highest ethical standards” is shouting so loudly that one assumes he is trying to convince himself of that. I hope that woman receives the compensation that she deserves and the lawyers can go to hell.
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Jessica W said on August 31, 2026 at 1:36 pm
I’ve made a lot of German chocolate cakes over the years for birthdays and other hellsapoppin’ occasions. One way to make it easier is to use (real) whipped cream for frosting and between the layers.
Also, I recommend a video DP made of getting her flu shot. I can only hope it convinced some of her fans to get theirs.
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Peter said on September 1, 2026 at 5:00 am
Some years back, my wife made a German chocolate cake out of a box to bring to a friend. Once the cake had cooled enough to put on the frosting, she put the cake at the back of the kitchen counter so it wouldn’t tempt our small child, and went out to the back yard to pull some weeds.
When she came back the cake and the platter were gone. She was ready to read the riot act to our son when she noticed that the dog had some frosting on his fur; she found the platter under the couch and figured out that the dog ate the entire cake, licked the platter clean, and pushed it under the couch to hide the evidence.
She knew that chocolate is poisonous to a dog, and the dog was lethargic, although that could have been from eating an entire cake. Panic stricken, she called the vet, and his first question was – did you make the cake from scratch or was it from a box? It was from a box, she said, and the doctor said no problem at all – and now you know how much real chocolate is in one of those cake mixes.
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Peter said on September 1, 2026 at 5:15 am
I have to hand it to the inmates who are running the asylum these days – there’s so much grift, incompetence, racism, and good old fashioned evil going on that it’s hard to keep track of it all.
Specifically, the South Carolina senate primary. Yes, there have been plenty of articles noting that Darlene Graham isn’t exactly the sharpest knife in the drawer. Kind of a shame such a lightweight got elected when her opponent was so much more qualified.
Or was he? only a few articles pointed out that Ralph Norman’s claim to fame was that he wanted Trump to declare “Marshall Law” after January 6th. His main speech during the last days of the campaign was that he couldn’t understand why Trump was backing Darlene when he had been such a loyal supporter all these years.
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basset said on September 1, 2026 at 6:49 am
Looks like the Nashville airport is indeed gonna be named for Dolly… the governor and the airport authority both say they’re for it, could happen at the authority meeting later this month.
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Icarus said on September 1, 2026 at 10:33 am
The mayor of my city (Olive Branch, MS) is getting his ass handed to him because he made a statement that lowering the flag should be reserved for “military heroes, fallen first responders, presidents, major national leaders, or circumstances of tremendous national importance.”
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Brandon said on September 1, 2026 at 7:12 pm
https://nypost.com/2026/08/30/us-news/mississippi-mayor-ken-adams-argues-against-lowering-american-flag-for-dolly-parton-after-her-death/
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Brandon said on September 2, 2026 at 2:05 am
I wrote a whole piece about the Parton vs Houston versions of I Will Always Love You back in 2012.
@FDChief, was this an article?
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Julie Robinson said on September 2, 2026 at 12:49 pm
We watched 9 to 5 last night, and aside from how much things have changed and how much they haven’t, it’s pretty bizarre. But the song is a true ear worm and I need to go listen to other music to get it out of my head.
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Dave said on September 2, 2026 at 3:56 pm
Completely off topic and nothing to do with anything here but if anyone was a fan of Second City Television, the half hour shows produced in Toronto starting fifty years ago with Katherine O’Hara, Eugene Levy, Andrea Martin, John Candy, and the rest of the cast, six seasons are now available to watch on Netflix. I thought that show was hilarious.
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alex said on September 2, 2026 at 9:36 pm
I loved SCTV! I thought it was better than SNL.
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ROGirl said on September 3, 2026 at 5:30 am
SCTV over SNL all day, not even close.
I have a soft spot for bluegrass music, and Billy Strings is a perfect antidote to the slick Nashville product that gets churned out for mass consumption.
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ROGirl said on September 3, 2026 at 7:07 am
The grim reaper has taken the wrong person again. Gloria Steinam has died.
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Deborah said on September 3, 2026 at 7:35 am
It’s sooooo hot in Chicago, yesterday’s high was 92° or 93°. Can you imagine being in a high rise with no AC in this? Today’s high will “only” be 89°. Then back up in the 90s. I’m not coming back from NM earlier than mid September from now on. I have Drs appointments that I couldn’t get in the spring, that’s why I’m back now.
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Dorothy said on September 3, 2026 at 8:36 am
We stayed a night in Cleveland last Saturday to see Hiroshima and the Yellowjackets at Cain Park. There were two other acts but we’d never heard of them. And weirdly enough, they did NOT open the show! The had the Yellowjackets first, then Hiroshima. The Yellowjackets are going to be in Detroit on Saturday.
We left the concert early (we stayed for the first two acts) because (1) we are old and were tired and (2) the guy behind us was getting progressively drunker and louder, and had this ear piercing whistle he did after every damn song. I could not tolerate listening to him any longer than the three hours we’d already spent in front of him. We didn’t see very many empty seats so we could not go and sit elsewhere even if we weren’t tired. And we had a long walk to get to our car. Anyway, we had a nice time and Cleveland was nice except the bed at the Tru by Hilton was pretty uncomfortable. Still, it was nice to get out of the house for a little trip.
I can’t recall the details because I heard so many anecdotal stories about Dolly Parton this past week. But after she split with Porter Waggoner, there was some issue of ownership of his songs. And at some point Dolly bought them back for him I think…? Did anyone else hear that? Even though he was shitty to her at the end of their professional relationship, she was kind to him later when he needed some financial help.
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susan said on September 3, 2026 at 11:07 am
The reaper also took Cassandra Wilson. Too young…
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susan said on September 3, 2026 at 11:08 am
Cassandra Wilson Harvest Moon
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alex said on September 3, 2026 at 1:27 pm
Fucking God is even a worse shot than Thomas Crooks.
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ROGirl said on September 3, 2026 at 4:15 pm
Severe thunderstorm with heavy wind has been blowing through my area and of course the power went out. Branches are down in my front yard and on the street, nothing is damaged. The back yard is OK.
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Suzanne said on September 3, 2026 at 4:26 pm
So Maria Bartiromo is out at Fox News.
I may sign up for Kalshi so I can bet on how long before she is announced as the new White House Press Secretary.
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Julie Robinson said on September 3, 2026 at 6:13 pm
Ooh, Suzanne, you could be on to something! Does she have to make her hair blonde first? And get a facelift?
Very proud to say my Republican mother was a charter subscriber to Ms.
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alex said on September 4, 2026 at 2:41 pm
Looks like Bartiromo got shitcanned for leaking some unflattering internal memoranda about Trump to the White House. He may very well be done using her at this point.
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Jeff Gill said on September 4, 2026 at 4:55 pm
Lyz Lenz on her Substack, “Men Yell at Me”:
Okay, so this week the Grim Reaper failed the assignment again, taking beloved writer and environmental activist Wendell Berry and feminist icon Gloria Steinem. Can that bitch not read a shopping list? This is what happens when you get a male shopper for your UberReaps.
[this is in lieu of my reposting a 2,500 word rant here from my Facebook feed, on memory care and REITs…]
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Deborah said on September 5, 2026 at 3:09 am
Jeff G, I’m not on FB anymore, how can I read that rant, especially about memory care?
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David C said on September 5, 2026 at 5:58 am
I only read one Wendell Berry book and I couldn’t tell you which one. But I though he was a bit of a nut. Sorry Wendell, I’m not going to hew my own whatever by the sweat of my brow from wood from the back forty. I like living in town and division of labor and if that ever goes away, so will I.
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Jeff Gill said on September 5, 2026 at 9:21 am
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1BorpBuh23/
And an update this am: https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1HqHqD5E1Q/
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Deborah said on September 5, 2026 at 11:46 am
Well Jeff, your link let me read part of the original, I got up to where the guy sawed off the signage, but I could read your full update, I think it was the full update anyway. I got the gist and wow, what a horrible predicament. The dementia center we’re working on, called Mindhaven by the way, will have its work cut out for it helping families in those kinds of situations.
Mindhaven will have an event on October 29th that we’re calling “First Look”, there will be about 100 people there and I’m currently working on what that will be at the building site. I wish our website was up so people could start to see what Mindhaven is all about. We think it’s going to be quite helpful once it’s in operation, at least we hope so, it has been in a planning mode for 6 years and has quite a team of experts in a lot of areas.
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tajalli said on September 5, 2026 at 12:02 pm
Deborah, to easily access FB posts/links, set up a bare bones account with your first name and a middle or whatever name, and don’t bother with the rest. Or have fun with tongue in cheek entries like works at “pulling your leg” or high school “contact high”. Then you’ll have direct access to links without feeding the AI machine much of anything of value and that’s the end of it.
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Deborah said on September 5, 2026 at 1:22 pm
Thanks, tajalli, good idea.
I hate that I still have an Instagram account and follow quite a few people on it. I never post but I love to watch the art reels, watching people making things is relaxing to me. I tried to quit Instagram but that only lasted for maybe a year, if that, or at least it felt like a year, and I missed it. It can be a day wrecker if I don’t discipline myself.
I also have a Substack account, I subscribe to way too many people on that. I realize it has a Nazi problem but I never have to see that, so I ignore it. Again, I never post, I don’t even know how that works.
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jim said on September 5, 2026 at 5:54 pm
Jeff: so sorry. Our mother is at a facility in New Palestine which does have a memory care unit, and the care has been excellent. It was just sold by New Perspective to Story Point effective September 1. I pay all the bills but wasn’t informed, but the facility staff is unchanged and has really helped in the transition.
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Jeff Gill said on September 5, 2026 at 10:03 pm
StoryPoint just bought a major location here in Granville; so far the word there is good for residents and staff alike. My sister is our mother’s power of attorney, and since she and two brothers live in Indiana, that’s where my mom will be, but now/soon up south of Noblesville.
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Deborah said on September 6, 2026 at 8:02 am
Bike the Drive is happening on Lake Shore Drive right now in Chicago and it’s gloriously quiet. They have it every year on Labor Day weekend, at least I think it’s that day every year. Sometimes we’re still in New Mexico. We’ve never had bikes here so haven’t done it ourselves, it looks like fun though. I’m not sure how many miles of LSD it goes, I should look that up. I wish it was permanent, wouldn’t that be great? Oh how I wish Chicago could be more like Copenhagen or Amsterdam.
Edit: https://bikethedrive.org/event/
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Icarus said on September 6, 2026 at 10:25 am
Deborah, thanks for the reminder. I’ve done Bike the Drive at least twice, and it is fun. I probably would have done it more, but I spent most of my summers marathon training with Long Runs on Saturday, which required getting up at 5 am to beat the heat. I was a group leader at the downtown CARA site, which met at Monroe Harbor. So Sunday was my day to catch up on sleep.
Labor Day weekend was usually the Soldier Field 10 miler on Saturday, and Taste of Polonia throughout the weekend.
Next weekend would be German-American Fest in Lincoln Square (not to be confused with Maefest in May) and my old Lincoln Park volleyball group had their annual picnic. A long day of volleyball at the Forest Preserve, followed by an after-game party at some random bar. Then the next day I’d go run the Chicago Half Marathon in Hyde Park at the Museum of Science and Industry.
Good times. I really miss Chicago.
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Deborah said on September 6, 2026 at 1:08 pm
Jeff, here’s an article in the Santa Fe New Mexican about problems finding/keeping staff in nursing homes https://www.santafenewmexican.com/news/local_news/staff-shortages-cited-as-biggest-factor-in-new-mexico-nursing-homes-falling-short/article_201242ee-a406-406c-a994-98361d4819c6.html
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ROGirl said on September 6, 2026 at 3:17 pm
My power has been out since Thursday at 4. DTE and tree cutters have been in my neighborhood for 3 days, yet they still haven’t managed to restore power to everyone.
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jim said on September 6, 2026 at 4:19 pm
Jeff G, I wasn’t specific enough (especially given Nancy’s OP). I was referring to New Palestine Indiana, just SW of Indy on SR 52.
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Deborah said on September 6, 2026 at 5:01 pm
No way… https://www.santafenewmexican.com/news/local_news/trump-social-media-post-proposes-renaming-new-mexico-new-america/article_c6acf701-26fa-4fe5-8b81-416bb50b218c.html
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MarkH said on September 6, 2026 at 5:46 pm
Bassett @ #4 – Or, Sissy Spacek as Loretta in Coal Miner’s Daughter:
“Woman, if you wanna keep that arm you better get it off my husband.”
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basset said on September 6, 2026 at 6:51 pm
Jessica Lange as Patsy Cline in “Sweet Dreams,” responding to a creep making advances:
“I’d like to get in your pants.”
“You can’t, there’s already one asshole in there.”
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Deborah said on September 6, 2026 at 8:09 pm
Have you folks seen all the jokes online about the racist asshole who got duct taped to his seat on that American Airlines flight. Lordy, I have a stomach ache from laughing so hard.
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Jeff Gill said on September 6, 2026 at 9:47 pm
Jim, I know New Pal — my wife lived there a few years as a child, in fact — and the location you mention holds up well. Thank you for the thought! We’re heading to a spot a little closer to my late father-in-law’s house which we still own. It has been a boat anchor for two years, which might yet turn out to be an aid to us after all, off 92nd St. east of Hague Rd. The place we’re taking my mother is off 146th just as you get up 37 into Noblesville.
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