We're going to find out within a week that every sad story is a fraud. They were never harmed by the ACA. They are 2017's equivalent of Joe (not named Joe) the plumber (not a plumber). There have been stories already about people who turned out to be relatives of politicians who whined about how their healthcare costs went up - only to find out later that they received government funded insurance.

This is a rant about a new pet peeve that has become prevalent lately: autoplay videos on websites.

Only YouTube should do that because the entire purpose is videos and you expect it to play. When I access a news story, I want the option of starting the video myself when I am ready for it or just reading the text.

There are websites that start up videos automatically and they should not. It is so bad that I have quit going to them. The worst offenders are the ones who put a playing video in view no matter where you scroll. I should not have to delete it to stop it.

CNN
Alternet (terrific and interesting articles, but they have autoplay and obtrusive ads that have gotten to bad that they don't even load completely on wireless. The last straw was the time when THREE videos with sound were playing at the same time!)
TV Guide
Many local news webpages

Feel free to whine with me about this or add your own complaint about bad behavior of websites.

The old faucet finally decided to start spraying water out the side.

Here's the deal:
All I want to do is replace the fixture. We don't use the plunger because I've never had one that didn't let water drain out almost as quickly as a non-stoppered sink. The only thing we use the sink for is to wash hands and brush teeth.

All the hoses and pipes under the sink are in excellent shape. I'm keeping them and plan on hooking them up to the new faucet.

Anyone who has a story to tell or some advice (or encouragement / discouragement) is welcome to tell it. I pride myself on minor (amateur) handy skills (I helped install my dishwasher and I built half the furniture in my house so I'm not afraid of scrapes). What worries me most is the pressure on my ribs when I'm working under the sink.

Help me out here. Crowdsourcing is good.

I've heard of cats and dogs who like peanut butter, olives, breakfast cereal, and other things that you wouldn't expect them to like. What surprising foods did your pet (or friend's pet) like?

I had a cat who loooooved mushroom soup. It was so bad that I couldn't open a can of anything without him running over trying to get some.

I had another cat who loved seaweed. When I lived in Japan, I once got a package of the thin flat sheets for making sushi. I left it on the counter and went to work. When I got home, I found the package torn open, most of the seaweed chewed out of it, and thousands of tiny bits of seaweed stuck into the tatami mats with cat spit. I was still finding tiny specks of it months later.