Something very creepy from Facebook

I am, unfortunately, still on Facebook. I shouldn’t be, but nevertheless I remain. Recently, Facebook did one of the most disturbing things it’s ever openly done to me.

As you may know, I have two daughters. Since many of my Facebook friends are friends because we met through school, many of them ALSO have daughters. As you may also know, it is very traditional to post pictures of your children on the first day of school. So I click the like button on a lot of these photos, because I am congratulating my friends on being one year closer to their darling babies leaving them forever… I mean on getting the dirty little leeches out of the house again after a long and grueling summer of them being around, ALL THE TIME… I mean… Never mind.

As I was saying, I hit “like” on a lot of back to school photos. One day I saw a picture of two girls smiling on the porch that I didn’t recognize. “Oh, must be someone I don’t know well and haven’t seen in a while”

No.

Facebook decided to post to my feed a public photo from some person I’ve never heard of. And it kept doing it. It had decided that what I “liked” was teenage girls smiling on porches.

I forgot I can math

When preparing a budget proposal for a client condo association, I have to propose an amount to contribute to reserves. If you want to be able to get a loan under Fannie and Freddie guidelines, the condo association for a long time had to contribute 10% of total condo fees to reserves (so if you have $9000 in expenses, $1000 to reserves, $1000 = 10% of $10,000).

This year it’s going up to 15%. I’d been guessing – $5,000? No, that’s 14.77%. $5100? That’s 15.36%. $5050? You get the idea. It’s annoying.

Then I remembered algebra. I literally majored in math in college. My favorite class was Fundamental Concepts of Algebra. So I got out a piece of paper (actually an envelope from a Verizon bill out of the recycle bin) and worked it out. It took a minute to shake the cobwebs off but I quickly determined that if you set the reserves at (3 * expenses)/17 gives you 15% of the total. This is amazingly simple and I can’t believe it took me this long to work it out.

Stay in school, kids.

Spectacularly unchanged in sixty years

The Spaniard in Kinsale. If you don’t see the giant colorful mural on the side, not pictured here, I bet a regular in 1966 could walk up in 2026 and not notice a difference, aside from local fashions and modern cars.

A building with dark shingles. The sign reads "The Spaniard" and features a man dressed in what one presumes is centuries old Spanish fashion

And here it is just a few weeks ago.

A building with dark shingles. The sign reads "The Spaniard" and features a man dressed in what one presumes is centuries old Spanish fashion

I kinda new this one would be my favorite as soon as I looked it up online and saw how little it had changed. My one regret is we were short on time and I didn’t have a chance to go inside. I wanted to hand the bartender the printed copy of my grandmother’s photo.

Previous in the series.

Ireland, 1966 to 2026 – this one HAS changed

This one took the help of the good people of Reddit, who found the spot within a few hours even though I think I posted in the middle of the night over in Ireland. Downtown Cork.

Butchered animal carcasses hang in the window of a place called "O'Flynn's". Next door is a clothing store called "Johns"

It has changed quite a bit. I leave the butcher-to-fashion-store jokes as an exercise for the reader.

A Tommy Hilfiger store next to a phone store

Previous post in the series.

Bowe’s – 1966 to 2026

Here is the second in the series of photos my grandmother took in 1966 that I have attempted to recreate on our trip in 2026.

A row of buildings. First is PJ Kilmartin, and I think the rest of the sign says "accountant" but not sure. Next is Bowes, #31 (the address). The next building's sign isn't legible
Bowes, Dublin, Ireland, 1966

This one has changed a bit over the years but is still quite recognizable.

A row of buildings. The first one is a bar painted bright red. Next is Bowe's. There is a man with his hand on his head in front of a roll up door beyond Bowe's
Bowes, Dublin, Ireland, 2026

The clock is a nice addition, but the small signs beneath it are not as cool as the old sign.

You grammar pedants can discuss how in both versions, “Bowe’s” is written with an apostrophe on the sign right above the windows but without on the signs higher up. This means something, I’m sure.

Previous post in this series

Ireland – 1966 and 2026

I recently digitized a roll of film my grandmother took on vacation in Ireland in 1966. I can tell she it was her roll and not my grandfather’s because every single one of the photos is shot horizontally EXCEPT a picture of her in front of a waterfall.

In anticipation of our trip to Ireland a few weeks ago, I printed copies of a few of her photos and tried to recreate them. The Where Was This Taken Reddit sub was enormously helpful.

First, this shot of downtown Dublin

Wasn’t too hard to recreate, and it hasn’t changed a lot.

Some new trees. The walkway extension over the water.

Next we have the famous O’Connell Monument in downtown Dublin.

A statue of a man on top of a large pedestal. A group of young men sit at the base
A statue of a man on top of a large pedestal. People sit at the base. He has a seagull sitting on his head

The seagull and the Burger King are new. Otherwise, sixty years hasn’t done much. Again, the trees are bigger.

Next post in the series.