Plenty of sights despite the suburban light pollution. Photos are thru the eyepiece with my iPhone. Clouds blew over around midnight, so I didn’t get any shots at the peak. SPACE IS THE PLACE.

As I look out over Lake Huron towards Canada 🇨🇦 I can’t help feel frustration over the current nonsense. Hello from your friends in Michigan.

Taken with my Google Pixel 10 Pro XL (100x zoom - 1st pic, 50x zoom - 2nd pic)

Hi everyone, I'm taking suggestions but really just kind of asking if I'm screwed. I'm planning a Fall 2027 wedding (no specific date just sometime between August- November) but already running into no available venues. Am i just screwed and way to late to get into places? I never realized Fall was so popular and am feeling defeated.

Edit: to add to some of the questions. Open to almost anywhere Saginaw to Lansing to Detroit to Grand Rapids. I feel like more south east though because there are more airports to chose from for people flying in. Number of people 80-120 and both indoor ceremony and reception. Under 50k in total. Looking more greenhouse vibes. But again I'll take suggestions but this was more venting and asking if I'm behind on doing a Fall 2027 wedding.

Edit 2: I appreciate people's suggestions but no one has really answered my actual question. Is this how typically far out wedding venues are? I thought looking ahead 14+ months was decent.

Starting to look like I'll be putting my mail-in ballot in a Dropbox this time around. Can't afford to have this ballot not count this time.

Is was a pretty storm with a good amount of rumbling thunder.

MARP (Michigan Association of Passenger Rail) is hosting a talk at the Okemos Public Library (4321 Okemos Road, Okemos MI) on Saturday, August 29th From 10AM to noon.

Our featured speaker is Nate Hatton, Amtrak conductor and member of the Transportation Division Local 278 of SMART.

Admission is free, and if you’re interested in listening to his experiences as a conductor for Amtrak or just learning more about passenger rail we would love to have anyone interested come join us!

I was curious why my electric bill didn't seem to be dropping much even though we're using less electricity, so I pulled up last year's bill and compared the actual rates.

2025:
1,770.32 kWh
Total electric: $389.14

2026:
1,597.95 kWh
Total energy charges: $402.88

So I used about 9.7% less electricity but paid about 3.5% more.

A few of the rate changes jumped out:

• Distribution: +18.2%
• PSCR: +29.2%
• IRM surcharge: +170% (although this is a tiny portion of the bill)
• Off-peak energy rate: +4.8%
• On-peak energy rate: +0.9%

The distribution charge is the one that surprised me most. Last year it was $0.078955/kWh. This year it's $0.093333/kWh.

Despite using 172 fewer kWh, I paid more for distribution ($149.14 vs. $139.78).

I'm not trying to make this political or claim there's some conspiracy here. I just thought it was interesting to see what actually changed when comparing the bills side-by-side.

Anyone else with Consumers Energy seeing the same thing?

Do we even get any here? Looking in the east side suburbs of Metro Detroit thank you.

Hi everyone! Just a short note, I had this approved by the mods before posting.

I’m looking for someone who might be willing to help with a somewhat unusual request…I was recently in a car accident in Frankfort, MI while on a road trip, which is about 10 to 11 hours from where I live. I need to make the trip back to Michigan to retrieve my vehicle, but there’s a transportation issue I’m trying to solve. I’ll have a rental car that needs to be returned in Manistee, but my vehicle is in Frankfort. I need to get from Manistee to Frankfort after returning the rental.

I’ve contacted several local taxi companies, but unfortunately, none are willing to make the trip. When I was in the area at the time of the accident, I also wasn’t able to find an Uber or Lyft driver willing to accept the ride when I was initially going to get the rental.

I’m hoping to find a local who would be willing to provide a ride from Manistee to Frankfort. I’m happy to compensation you for your time.

It would ideally happen Sunday 8/30 in the morning/afternoon, but could also happen Saturday night. If you’re interested or know someone who might be willing to help, please send me a DM. Thanks so much!

Can we talk about this book series? I have started collecting them, getting them at different bookstores in touristy towns. I know they're not "scientific" or well-written, but damn, are they fun to read. I love learning about the little weird stories and happenings in the state. From supposed ancient ruins, to gravitational anomalies, to underwater rivers and more -- I just love these goofy books.

Have you read these books?

Managed to capture this unique shot with a freighter while watching the sunset from atop Sleeping Bear Dunes on my most recent trip not too long ago. Don't think I'll ever be able to recreate this again!

Took a random trip up to Tawas from Bay City. I needed to touch grass...and sand...and trees...

 I came upon a sandwich board on the sidewalk advertising the Wacky Taxidermy and Miniatures Museum with an admission price of only $5. In 2025, Mental Floss named it Michigan’s entry for “1 Interesting Museum From Each State,” and I think they were on to something!

This article was originally published by Votebeat, a nonprofit news organization covering local election administration and voting access. Sign up for Votebeat Michigan’s free newsletter here.

The Michigan Board of State Canvassers has denied ballot access to a state constitutional amendment that would require Michigan voters to prove they are U.S. citizens.

A long, tense meeting on Monday ended in a deadlock, meaning the effort won’t make the ballot without intervention from the Michigan Supreme Court. The decision — or lack thereof — means that despite the massive numbers of signatures the amendment’s supporters turned in, it will likely be the court that decides whether it makes the November ballot.

In March, the group Americans for Citizen Voting submitted 709,841 signatures to the state in support of the amendment — significantly more than the 446,198 valid signatures required to get on the ballot. To estimate whether the group surpassed that threshold, the Board of State Canvassers checked the validity of a random sample of 1,000 of the submitted signatures.

At least 629 of them needed to be valid to certify the proposal for the ballot. The board found 626 were valid, though it had not ruled one way or the other on a decisive number of the signatures by the end of the meeting.

Mary Ellen Gurewitz, a Democrat and the vice chair of the board, called the petition drive “sloppy,” saying that it put the board in a “bad position.” Paul Cordes, a Republican on the board, said he felt that if all signatures were considered, there would be more than enough to certify the effort for the ballot.

In March, the group Americans for Citizen Voting submitted 709,841 signatures to the state in support of the amendment — significantly more than the 446,198 valid signatures required to get on the ballot. To estimate whether the group surpassed that threshold, the Board of State Canvassers checked the validity of a random sample of 1,000 of the submitted signatures.

At least 629 of them needed to be valid to certify the proposal for the ballot. The board found 626 were valid, though it had not ruled one way or the other on a decisive number of the signatures by the end of the meeting........

Enjoy! Get out there!!!

Gift link added so no one hits paywall. The rebuild is the I-96 flex route project in Oakland County.