Thursday Thirteen

Today, I offer you a glimpse of my Facebook feed, along with personal commentary where warranted:

1. NBC News tells me that protestors hit former president Joe Biden with thrown objects while he was visiting a university in Dublin. People everywhere have lost their manners and their boundaries, haven't they?

2. A prepper advertisement. I see a lot of these, for some reason, even though I constantly X them out to try to make them go away. Apparently, prepping for the end times is really big business. I recently saw an ad for a "Library of Alexandra" which was a very large external hard drive one could hook into a phone to retrieve Wikipedia and other information they thought important to survival after the internet dies. (It did not require internet access.) Other prepper ads are for ready meals, solar batteries, all kinds of stuff.

3. A Cardinal News story about a case in my county that a man has filed claiming Freedom of Information Act violations made by the Board of Supervisors in June 2025 should stop an incoming data center. The pleading states that in approving the performance agreement, the supervisors did not inform the public prior to voting what, exactly, it was they were voting on. A judge in a hearing on Tuesday denied the county's request for dismissal, and the case moves forward, with another hearing next week.

4. Lots of Veterans Day posts (I'm doing this on Wednesday, November 11, Veterans Day). This is the day to thank the folks who served in the armed forces in some capacity. My father served, as did several uncles and my father's father.

5. A post from Hollins University, my alma mater, about National First-Generation College Celebration Day. More than 46% of all active Hollins undergraduate students are first-generation students. I was the first person in my family to obtain a college degree, so I guess I was a first-generation student, too, only nobody made a big deal out of it.

6. A notice about the 7th Annual Tinsel Trail. This is a "trail" of decorated Christmas trees in the county seat. I have visited it every year. I'm not sure where they will put the trees this year since the courthouse area is under construction.

7. A post from The Atlantic stating that publishers have every right to challenge businesses that exploit their work—but the Wayback Machine has become collateral damage, the Internet Archive founder Brewster Kahle argues. The Wayback Machine collects and saves websites and other pages so that they aren't lost. I have used it a few times, but I also do not find it particularly helpful.

8. A post from Emilio Piano, a piano player who apparently plays piano in open spaces and sometimes brings in other musicians. He seems especially drawn to younger musicians and encourages them. I like to hear him play and his videos are well done.

9. A post from Roanoke Growth and Development about a proposal for 100 more apartment dwellings off Orange Avenue in the city. I have been perplexed by the number of apartment units going up in the area. When I was growing up, the goal was to own a home. Oh, the things I have learned from being a homeowner! I can fix faucets, repair parts of a dishwasher, jiggle a light socket back to life (not recommended), and replace the hot water heater element if I have to. Now that I'm older, I prefer to hire someone to do these things, but in my younger days I managed many things. Do many of the younger folks not want to deal with leaking faucets or mowing the yard?

10. A map of states where one can legally own an otter. This is not information I knew I needed to know.

11. A post about a food drive by the Lawrence Companies, located in my county. They're looking for 2000 pounds of donations, which they will match. Approximately 1 in 10 people in Botetourt County don’t always know where their next meal is coming from. Pick up an extra can of beans and take it to their location on US 11.

12. A NOVA/PBS video that shows two birds figuring out how to reach a peanut. The results of this experiment open up questions about what intelligence looks like in the animal kingdom. I've known for years that animals are smarter than we give them credit for. Watching them out of the window all the time shows me that they are very curious, very creative, and intelligent creatures.

13. First Alert weather from WDBJ 7. It might be cold this weekend. I can't imagine why, since it's November. We've yet to turn the heat on, it's been so warm.

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Thursday Thirteen is played by lots of people; there is a list here if you want to read other Thursday Thirteens and/or play along. I've been playing for a while, and this is my 984th time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday. Or so sayth the Blogger counter, anyway.