Personal

You Have Kept Those Papers, Haven’t You?

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Huh, what papers? Your archives, of course.
For some of you these may now be all electronic but for those just a bit older most will still be paper based: copies of letters written and received, journals, photos, school papers, etc.
This geologist who recently Looked back at buried treasure reminded of this and the fact that I am tempted daily by the boxes of papers and other archival materials scattered about the house:

The hidden gems of my portfolio were definitely the reflections. Reading these gave me a chuckle. It was nice to see that as I progressed through high school, the writing quality (and the handwriting) improved dramatically.
and
Everyone remembers disecting in high school, whether you enjoyed it or not. I definitely enjoyed it. The lab was fairly standard. It had diagrams with organs that the student had to identify, along with basic questions that involved looking inside the rat. In fact, when I sniffed the paper, I can still smell traces of the formaldehyde where the rats were stored at. Ah, the memories!
Yes, the memories and the history. Save your archives. If not for you then for that child, grandchild, nephew, or ?, who will be absolutely fascinated by the treasure.
Via Tangled Bank #8 and Pharyngula.

Protect yourself against Identity theft

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I just received this from my brother and thought some of you might find it useful.
__________________
The next time you order checks have only your initials (instead of first
name) and last name put on them. If someone takes your check book they will
not know if you sign your checks with just your initials or your first name
but your bank will know how you sign your checks.

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Death Don’t Have No Mercy

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A few hours ago our neighbor died. He was a 50 year old man who had fought a brave fight against cancer for the past 6 months. He left a wife and 2 daughters. Our kids grew up with their kids. His daughters and our daughter and another who moved away many years ago started our block’s annual summer barbecues. When word came of his passing all the families – adults and children – newcomers and longtimers – gathered in the cooling evening to share our grief, to share our joy of having known Rick.