We Can Guess If You’re a Millennial or Not Based on What Fast Food You Eat

Just in time for the school year to begin (the first day was Monday), I ran out of color quizzes. (We never did get a black quiz, but I believe we hit all the other major colors.) So, it's back to finding other quizzes. Today... 

We Can Guess If You’re a Millennial or Not Based on What Fast Food You Eat

Spoiler alert: they can't. Because I got: 

You're A Millennial!

24% of players got this result!

You are definitely a millennial, born between the years 1981 and 1997.

Uh, no. I remember 1981. I was in fourth/fifth grade. That makes me Gen X. 

So, let's see how badly they mangle your generation. I don't think I have very many Millennial readers, so most of you should not get this result. Let me know in the comments how badly they got your generation (or if they actually guessed correctly). I'm very curious. 

13 Things I Learned This Summer

As my summer comes to a close (school started Monday), I find myself reflecting on the season that was. While I didn't do much this summer (besides flying to Ohio), I did learn a few things along the way. Here is a list of some of the tidbits I picked up, in no particular order (and for Thursday 13).

1. Trashie.io 

I was in the car with my father, driving back from lunch, when the ad came on the radio. (I couldn't find a link to the ad, but here's their YouTube page.) An easy way to dispose of old clothing so it doesn't end up in a landfill. (And you earn gift cards per each bag you send in.) Sign me up. 

I have sent in one bag and one electronics box. It does cost, so that's a con. But I've been meaning to clean out my closet, and this makes it easy for me. It's just what I needed. 

2. Midnight Burger

Before my flight, I went in search of podcasts to download so I had something to listen to while crocheting on the plane. And I found this gem. It's currently in its fifth season, but I'm still on season one. 

Midnight Burger is the name of a diner that opens at six every evening. Where it'll be when it opens is anyone's guess. 

I did not expect to find a radio-play-type sci fi show podcast, but, then again, I am a total newbie with regards to podcasts, so I didn't know what I'd find. 

3. Apple Pay

On a whim I set up the wallet on my iPhone. And now I use my phone to pay for everything. It really is very convenient, although I understand why some might not want to use it. 

4. Airplane ticket on Apple Watch

I got an Apple Watch back in November, mostly to track my steps for the WeWard app. It turns out that there is so much more I use my watch for. 

When flying to Ohio, I added my tickets to Apple Wallet (as I had done in the past), and lo and behold, my boarding QR code just popped up on my watch. I did not know it did that. Now I know. 

5. Middle nephew is interested in astronomy

Just being in the vicinity of the family that I don't get to see that often teaches me so much. Middle nephew is now 16, and just in passing his mother mentioned how he's thinking of studying astronomy when he goes to college. And that just blew my mind. (I had similar aspirations at his age. Note the name of my blog. That's not an accident.) 

You better believe I asked him some follow up questions. I hope he does pursue the study. (Things got dicey for me in my twenties, and while I finished my bachelor's in physics, I did not go on to my masters as I had originally hoped to do.) 

6. Deadly Dowagers

While in Yellow Springs, Ohio, we ended up in a comic book store. They had a section of games. And I found this one. I was going to leave it behind, but SIL convinced me to go back and get it. We were going to play it, but we never did get around to it. Maybe next year... 

7. There's a castle in Loveland, Ohio

I already wrote a blog post about this. It was fascinating. If you missed the post, please check it out. 

8. Packing serving size containers

I don't know why this never occurred to me before. Game changer. 

I like ice cream. But I don't like scooping it into a bowl. Silly, I know. But, that is enough for me to not get ice cream unless it's in a smaller (and more expensive) container. Then it occurred to me that I could get the ice cream and repackage it in smaller serving-size plastic containers. 

It makes it so much easier. For me. I do something similar with cereal. This is more a neurospicy hack than something most people would even bother with, but it was new to me this summer, so on this list it goes. 

9. Making s'mores in an air fryer

We got an air fryer about a year ago. I've been learning how to make things in it. 

Put one marshmallow on a graham cracker. Set the temp for 375 degrees F. Let it heat until the marshmallow turns golden brown (about 3 minutes, but I watch it). Take out of air fryer, and put chocolate and second graham cracker on top. Squish and eat. 

10. Poaching eggs in the microwave

I learned scrambling eggs in the microwave a few years back. Why not try poaching them? 

I've only done this a couple times, but I learned quickly to poke holes in the yolks as the first time I tried it one of the eggs exploded. All over me. It was a mess. 

I've been doing 3 minutes in the microwave (in water), but I like my eggs well done. And covered, because exploding eggs. 

11. Jack in the Box and In-N-Out developed drive thrus at about the same time (but independently)

The Food that Built America has been a favorite of mine for a few years now. The current season started recording on my DVR in March (maybe February or April? I wasn't paying attention), but I didn't start watching the episodes until June. That was one of the tidbits from one of the episodes. 

12. Europeans love ranch dressing

I enjoyed seeing travelers enjoying the U.S. during the World Cup games. And this cracked me up. There were news reports of people trying to check this in with their luggage. 

I can't stand the stuff personally, so send it all overseas. I'm good with that. 

13. FAA regulations mandate pilots must retire on their 65th birthday

I learned this while eating lunch in Nashville Airport, but I already blogged about that. 

Blogging Maintenance

School started back up this week, so this is my last blogging nuts and bolts post of the summer. So, a few reminders: 

Now is a really good time to refresh your sidebar. When was the last time you went through and made sure all the gadgets were working? Is there anything there that's out of date? You should check it out periodically, so why not now? (Or find a time of year when things are slow for you and set yourself a reminder to do it then.) 

I've spent this summer trying to figure out how to help those bloggers who can't log in to comment on Blogger. If you've had this issue and figured out how to fix it, why not write your own blog post about it? I guarantee there are bloggers who would appreciate the insights. 

I collected all my blogging nuts and bolts posts into a page with a link at the top of this page. Feel free to reference it whenever you have need. 

And if there's any topic that you would like me to address, let me know in the comments. If I can answer the question, I will. Vacation weeks throughout the school year I will be in need of topics to blog about. Also, I'll need topics for next summer.

Happy beginning of the school year to those who celebrate. 

Unsurprising Turn of Events

Just a little post today to link to an article: Opinion | Executive Order on Vaccines Bypasses Evidence-Based Process That Has Kept Kids Safe.

If I had more time, I'd spend it writing a longer post bemoaning the anti-vaxxers. I might even have pondered the anti-science people and how the regime is pandering to them (although, I think many of them believe some of this stuff). There are studies that show right-wingers are more likely to react to things from a position of fear, and the whole anti-vaccination push feeds into those fears. 

I have such high hopes for myself when it comes to writing Tuesday blog posts, and then when it's time to write the post, I chicken out. Maybe next week? 

I might be a bit scarce this week as school started, and, well, I have a feeling this week is going to be kind of busy for me. Explanations should be forthcoming next week.

The Next Step

Step 1: Complete oval to desired width of sweater. 

✅ Complete.

Step 2: For back of sweater, continue working the top half of the oval until the color of yarn is the same color as the outer round of the front oval. 

While working the top half, flatten the side of the oval. 

And... That's my next little puzzle. I know the basic formula. As I get to the edge, I work shorter stitches. Each row I'll start further back as the edge becomes flat rather than curvy. But I have to eyeball it, and this is not quite right. 

I have some wiggle room as this part will be in the seam. 

Anyway, the back needs a bit more length while the front is going to have a deeper neckline. I kind of have it worked out in my head, but we'll have to see if the actual physical piece works out the way I planned. 

At least I have now completed the ovals. Now it's just a matter of figuring out how to assemble them. Progress. 

The Reluctant Sweater: 

• Questionable Quality
• Planning and Research
• And It Begins
• Watching the Increases
• Second Sock Syndrome
• The Wavy Second Side
• Which Way Now?
• Vacation Crochet
• Modifications
• Pondering
• Summer Crochet
• Slow Going
• Doing the Math

The Color Quizzes: What's White?

I bet you thought we were done. Nope, not quite. There is another color we have not hit yet (via Quizly). White. 

What's White?

I got 19 out of 21. A few of these weren't as obvious as you'd think. How did you do? Let me know in the comments.

Teacher Reels 13

School starts back up next week. Now that I've had the summer to kind of cleanse my palate (so to speak), it's time to remember what I'm in for. (Not that I'll necessarily have work next week, but...) This is a Thursday 13.

1. Mr. Jahn @JahnifestDestiny

Can confirm, sometimes it's just fun to listen to them talk. 

2. Amanda & Zach Smith @amandasindallas

How was your day? Nice he gets to give a snapshot. I could totally see a kid doing this.

3. Educator Andrea @educatorandrea

"Wandering around asking people for Cheetos and Takis while we're reading about the Holocaust..." Been there.

4. MyTeacherFace @MyTeacherFace

Sometimes we can say the weirdest things. Teenagers...

5. Mr. Firth @Mister_Firth

Sometimes we really are in tune with the kiddos.

6. Gabe Dannenbring @gabedannenbring24

"Stop touching each other." Yup. And "It's on the board." Said frequently. 

7. Sam Salem @samuelsleeves

He's a sub and a comedian. And I absolutely want to do this. (The thing in the video, not being a comedian. I'm no comedian.) 

8. Mr. Moore Taught Me @MrMooreTaughtMe

Yup, everyone absolutely chimes in. Well, the ones that we're not talking to.

9. Levi Hawk @levihawk_teaching 

They absolutely think they're hiding their phones. They're not. They're obvious.

10. Coach Russo @MrRussoHealth

I mean, I haven't seen a dab in a while, but the rest of this...

11. Talana @Talanagram

Can confirm. Asking a class to quiet down does not work. 

12. Gregisms @Gregisms

The elementary kids say the darndest things.

13. Philip Lindsay @Mr_lindsay

I have yet to meet a student who says they're locking in actually lock in.

Why do I do this job again? 

Feed Reader Accessible

Whenever I get a comment from a blogger I have not met before, the first thing I do is to add them to my Feedly. (I talked about this last year.) Whether or not we end up regularly interacting, it's easier to have access to the latest posts without my having to search for them every time. (I especially do this in April, because otherwise I would not be able to keep up.) 

But this doesn't always work. 

I already wrote about how I can't do this if I can't find a link to the blogger's blog. But I ran into another issue not that long ago. I easily found the blogger's blog, but Feedly could not add the blog to my roll. 

Uh oh... 

When I'm visiting other blogs, I use my feed reader. They're all collected in one place for me. I don't have to go searching. I don't have to keep track of anyone's schedule. If a blogger who's been dormant suddenly reappears, I see the post. If a blogger took some time off, I'm not hitting up their blog daily only to find no new post. 

The system isn't foolproof. Sometimes the feed reader won't update in a timely fashion. I generally have my posts publish at 6 AM Pacific Time. I've had my posts show up hours later. But generally, to keep up with dozens of blogs, the system works well enough. 

Unless I can't add the blog to my feed reader. 

I went looking for an alternative. Did the blogger have an email subscription? No? 

So, how am I supposed to remember to check this blog? I'm going to have to hope that they comment on my blog when they have a new post?

This is why today I'm asking you: is your blog is available to add to a feed reader? 

It is generally a good idea to have ways for a reader to keep up with your blog. If you look at my sidebar, you'll see several options for mine. 

"Subscribe To" is one of the options when setting up things for the sidebar. "Follow By Email" is via Follow It. I created an account, and they provided this graphic for the sidebar. (I did a post about adding gadgets to the sidebar a while ago.) 

The "Followers" is also a selection in the sidebar tools. "Follow on feedly" and "Follow me on bloglovin'" I got from both of those readers. If you click either of them, it'll help you add my blog to your account there (or you could set up an account there to follow my blog and all the other blogs you follow). 

Since everyone blogs differently, I've tried to have as many options as I know about so other bloggers can keep track of me easily. (If there's another option I don't have, please let me know in the comments so I can add it there.) 

And so, it might be time to check to see if your blog can be accessed by the feed readers. 

Is your RSS enabled? Blogger help has an article for your reference. 

Go into "Settings" and scroll down to "Site Feed". 

As you can see, I have "Full" enabled. You have a choice:

"Full" means that if someone goes to the feed reader, they can see my full post. "Until Jump Break" and "Short" mean that the feed reader only shows a short portion of the post. I generally click through and go to the actual post on the blog, because you can't leave comments on the feed reader. But, some might just read the post and not interact, so I can see why some might not want to enable "Full". 

And that should do it. It's easy enough to check that it works by uploading your blog to the feed reader of your choice. (It's a good idea to do this as it's a good check for you. I've caught issues with my blog a few times.) 

Do you use a feed reader? How do you keep track of the blogs you follow? 

Women Losing Jobs

Why were July's jobs numbers so terrible? Because women are losing jobs. Women lost 32,000 jobs in July while men gained 9,000. 

I guess making America great again means relegating women back to housework. 

Remind me why feminists are the problem. 

Doing the Math

I did not do a whole lot of crocheting last week, but I did do a bit of math. Decisions were made. I've decided that side one is the back...

...and it's about an inch away from the oval being complete. That's one more round (maybe two). 

Which means that side two is the front. 

It's not quite as far along as the back, so it's going to need at least two, maybe three or four, more rounds. (Working both sides at the same time was definitely the right call.) 

Yes, both sides are a bit wavy, but not nearly as bad as they could be, and I think they'll flatten out as the sweater is worn. That is, I'm no longer worrying about it. 

So, how am I going to turn both of those ovals into a sweater? I'd attempt to explain, but I doubt it'll make any sense. That's what pictures are for. 

I'd love to say that the ovals will be finished by next week, but I can't say that for sure. Considering the heat and my general slothishness lately, it might not happen. (Then again, it's not really that much more, so it is possible.) 

The Reluctant Sweater: 

• Questionable Quality
• Planning and Research
• And It Begins
• Watching the Increases
• Second Sock Syndrome
• The Wavy Second Side
• Which Way Now?
• Vacation Crochet
• Modifications
• Pondering
• Summer Crochet
• Slow Going

The Color Quizzes: What's Yellow?

We've just about finished off all the colors (via Quizly quizzes). So, this week's color should be no surprise. We're at yellow. 

What's Yellow?

I got 18 out of 20. I did know quite a few of these (and not as many did I get via process of elimination). 

How well did you do? Let me know in the comments.

Difficulties or Excuses?

Wednesday. The continuation high school. Computer aided drafting.

Wait. A subbing day...?

Yes, it is still technically summer. The first day of school is in about a week and a half. But the continuation high school starts early (mid-July), so this time of year there's always a chance that I might get to work. If something pops up, I grab it. 

I've covered this teacher's class many, many times, so I knew the drill. They had projects. (They work on Solidworks, completing various drafting activities.) They get their credit upon completion of the assignments, so if they goof around, it's only hurting their own graduation. 

Third period. Joey's task was to program a robot to "dance" to a song of his choice. 

Joey? He explained that he needed Mr. G's help. 

This happens all the time. I asked Joey if there was some way we could figure it out. He booted up the computer (which ran an old Windows because that's what the robot was connected to), and connected to the necessary software. The robot moved. But, as Joey attempted to add to the program, he could get nothing to "stick". Every movement he input disappeared as soon as he tried to get it to work. 

I am sure that we're missing something obvious. But as I'm unfamiliar with the software, I don't know what that obvious thing is. Sigh. 

I'm used to these students making excuses, so I try to push a bit. 

Sixth period. Two girls were "concerned" that I was "standing too close". I was just making sure they could log in. Then Elian had all sorts of excuses as to why Instagram was on his computer rather than the CAD software. 

I gave them time to get their music set up. But Elian was still not working. Why? He said he was done. 

On a Wednesday? 

Generally, the teacher gives an assignment for the week. Most of them slow walk it, finishing by Friday, maybe. The rest of the classes, it didn't look like the kiddos were doing much, but it was the kind of fiddly work that doesn't look like much. They were enlarging their screens to the point that they were looking very closely at detail. And making minute changes. 

I've watched kiddos work in this class before. That is the sort of thing I expect. 

Elian? Done? 

I mean, he could be. It's possible. But unlikely. 

But, if he doesn't complete the project, he doesn't get credit. It's his grade. 

I left a note that Elian said he was done. And I left it at that. 

If he's scrambling in May to get credits done, he can remember the goofing off he did in July. 

And now back to my summer vacation.

For a Commenting Profile That Won't Stick

Have you ever tried to comment on a blog post only to have your profile not load? No matter what you do, you can't get the site to recognize you, so you're stuck commenting as "anonymous" (if the blog actually allows anonymous comments, otherwise you're just out of luck). 

No, sorry, I don't have a fix for you. A few weeks back, I attempted to tackle the issue by asking if you had your cookies enabled. Alas, I don't think this solved the problem (but if you haven't tried that, try it first). But I was reminded of something a school IT guy told me. They search and research and ask various people in the hopes of finding someone who has fixed an issue. 

While visiting my brother last month, I asked him the question. He did not have an answer for me, but he was able to articulate a question and input it into Google's Gemini. (Yes, I hate AI, but it gave an answer. It has to be useful for something.) 

So, if you're stuck and have tried everything, there's one more thing to try. 

But first I'll post the answer just in case some of you find it useful. 

The question: Mac user reporting that their profile won’t stick. When they try to log in with user and pass, it doesn’t log them in. It vanishes. Is this more of a browser issue?

Because we were wondering if it was a browser thing (as some of you have reported that one browser works just fine while you have issues with another), we included that information. And Gemini replied that yes, it most likely is. This is good news as if you're having commenting issues, it might be a great time to download a different browser and use it instead. The answer Gemini gave: 

Yes, this is almost certainly a browser issue, specifically tied to how Mac browsers (most notably Safari) handle cross-site tracking and cookie authentication.

Blogger frequently drops users into a "login loop" or vanishes the session immediately after authentication because it negotiates between two separate domains: [www.blogger.com](https://www.blogger.com) (the dashboard) and blogspot.com (the published content). If the browser blocks the communication between these domains, the session data won't stick.

So, basically, when you go to log in (so Blogger recognizes you), your info vanishes because of how the browser communicates with the website. Gemini gave some suggestions on how to fix it. 

1. The Safari Culprit: Cross-Site Tracking

Safari has an aggressive native privacy feature called Intelligent Tracking Prevention (ITP). If they are using Safari, it routinely blocks the cross-domain authentication tokens required by Blogger.

The Fix: Have them go to Safari > Settings (or Preferences) > Privacy and temporarily uncheck "Prevent cross-site tracking".

After unchecking it, they should clear their history, restart Safari, and try logging in again.

This is for the specific Mac issue. If you're not on Mac, skip this and move on to #2. 

2. Third-Party Cookie Restrictions (Chrome / Arc / Brave)

If they are using Chrome or a Chromium-based Mac browser, strict settings or extensions might be blocking third-party cookies, which prevents the Google authentication state from transferring to Blogger.

The Fix: Have them check chrome://settings/cookies and ensure third-party cookies aren't completely blocked, or add [*.]blogger.com and [*.]google.com to the allowed sites list.

This is for Mac, but it is probably similar for Windows-based systems. Then...

3. State/Onboarding Profile Corruption

Sometimes the login "vanishes" because the Google account is successfully authenticating, but the Blogger backend is bouncing them because the profile lacks a required Display Name or is stuck in an onboarding state.

The Fix: Have them open a new tab and go directly to [https://www.blogger.com/onboarding](https://www.blogger.com/onboarding) or [https://www.blogger.com/profile.g](https://www.blogger.com/profile.g). If it forces them to enter a display name, completing that step will instantly fix the dashboard drop-out.

I wonder if the above is anyone's issue. I'm sure someone is having that issue. And finally, the "quickest triage step": 

Have them try to log in via a completely different browser (like Firefox) or an Incognito/Private window with all extensions disabled. If that works seamlessly, you've confirmed it's a localized cookie/privacy setting on their primary browser.

I hope this helps. If you're having this issue and this helps, or if you're having this issue and this doesn't help, please let me know. I'll keep my eyes and ears open and if I come across another way this could be solved, I'll let you know. 

Withholding Help

It's three times harder to get disaster relief funding under the current regime if you're living in a blue state as opposed to a red state. It's not supposed to work like that. It doesn't matter who your reps are or who your governor is, you should get help if a disaster befalls you. I would not wish such a thing on my worst enemy, and yet, here we are, dealing with the fallout of a manbaby throwing a tantrum about helping fellow Americans in need. 

FEMA said yes, but the manbaby said no, so it became no. And now, with the wildfires in Oregon, the senators are demanding why FEMA won't help them out. Why are we paying into a system that denies helping us when we need it? 

(Although, the same could be said of our healthcare system...)

Since we can't rely on the government, it's time to look into mutual aid organizations. Donate if you can. When you hear about disasters in blue states, make sure to amplify any group that's helping, as that might be the only help that's coming. 

And make your displeasure known to your representatives. They know this is wrong. Remind them that they work for us, not the other way around. It's their job to stand up against the executive branch. They're supposed to be a check, not a rubber stamp. 

Slow Going

Sorry, no new pictures this week. Just side 1:

and side 2: 

from last week. 

The big problem with doing something like this is that the early rounds make it look like it's building quickly, as each round is short. Now, the rounds take a while, so it doesn't look like much is happening each round. Or rather, each oval. 

But I made some important decisions with regards to how I'm going to make this sweater-shaped. I'd explain, but it won't make much sense in writing, and I don't have visuals yet. 

First it needs to be the width I want. Each round adds about an inch. I'm over halfway done, but it still feels like I'm crawling. 

And, at this time of year my palms and the soles of my feet sweat, so that makes for uncomfortable yarn work. (Although, crochet is way easier than knitting.)

I feel a bit lighter with a plan in place. Now, if the weather would just cool off a bit, I might feel like working on it more.

The Reluctant Sweater: 

• Questionable Quality
• Planning and Research
• And It Begins
• Watching the Increases
• Second Sock Syndrome
• The Wavy Second Side
• Which Way Now?
• Vacation Crochet
• Modifications
• Pondering
• Summer Crochet