DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Senoufou
Date: 12 Jul 23 - 02:48 AM

Stilly, that tree has been trimmed by our handy neighbour quite a few times, but it zooms up again in no time. Also, in autumn the lawn is covered in dead leaves. I emailed my husband in Africa yesterday, and he agrees to its being entirely removed.
We have a beautiful birdbath which could be placed where the tree used to be, in the middle of the garden.
A neighbour across the road always has the Bramley apples off that tree, plus the rhubarb from our vegetable plot and the pears (I planted a pear tree on the little cemetery where three of our cats are buried).
She'll be miffed, but it is our garden after all!

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Donuel
Date: 12 Jul 23 - 05:22 AM

A fine video on the benefits of decluttering is called 'The Minimalists' on Netflix. People over stuff and decluttering techniques are their themes.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 12 Jul 23 - 03:14 PM

Today is supposed to be a scorcher, so this morning I had the timer on and dragged the sprinkler to keep the squash, tomatoes, and cucumbers going. The rest of it can get hot and dry.

A couple of years ago after our prolonged power outage my sister recommended a portable power pack that is enough to run a lamp and a radio and charge her phone. Then a few weeks ago a library coworker on FB complained that her car battery needed a jump and the retired IT dept head from our library recommended to a portable power pack to start the car. Research shows it does that plus everything my sister's device does, and I found it on Prime Day. Sometimes being prepared means you'll never need to use the device, but if a $90 purchase means the power won't go out or the car need a jump, that's a good investment.

My newest titanium knee gets it's one-year checkup today. These prosthetic knees have certainly improved my ability to do what I want in the last couple of years. It's a tough surgery and when I was getting ready for the second one I would occasionally ask myself if I was really going to go through with it, knowing how tough the next six weeks are after, but I did and I'm glad I stuck to the plan.

Is everyone feeling better today? I'm still treating the allergy symptoms, and have times during the day when the congestion catches up with me. Charmion, do you have a fashionable pair of sunglasses you can wear to cover the shiner? Dorothy, how's your energy level? Jon, I hope you're comfortable and feeling productive.

Senoufou, it's good you have a source of apples! That was the main thing. I'm glad you have neighbors to help with both the pruning and the sharing of fruit.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 13 Jul 23 - 12:40 AM

Thanks, SRS. I’m reasonably comfortable.

I’m not feeling productive but am finding little things to keep me occupied some of the time. I have put kodi on mum’s laptop and installed the plugin for the hdhomerun which I think will remain on the network. This will give her live tv and I thin the ability to record. I’ve also set up Windows Workgroup and nfs file sharing on it. This isn’t really needed at the moment but both services are at least ready to go if anyone did want to map a network drive to another computer here.

I’ve also set the shares up on the Windows partition on my laptop. And added the Android and Linux virtual environments. I might have a play with them sometime. One thing I don’t think I’ve noticed before is that the Windows (at least 11) Terminal has a built in ssh client. That’s handy for Linux users where a lot of admin on remote computers is performed over ssh. I used it today when setting up the Windows Workgroup as I needed to check the Samba server settings on the living room PC.

Back to mum’s laptop. I’m wondering if one of the carers can do the hand over for me. Me doing it would be awkward for me as I’d have to do in bed and mum would have difficulty getting in a suitable position with her wheelchair. There is one of my carers* I’ll ask when I see her next. I just want mum taken through startup/log on, see a couple of apps opened and closed, and then laptop shut down. I’ve printed some instructions for mum and this but I think she needs to be shown too.

Well I say my carers but (and this might my make my request easier) they are now both mum’s and my carers (dad’s carers are a different company). Someone from Social services called a few days ago and spoke to dad, mum and I. She felt that mum needed a bit of practical help and arranged that my care company give mum ½ hr twice a day while they are visiting me. Mum’s a bit unsure of this at the moment but I hope she will come round to finding it useful and I do think she could do with some extra help.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 13 Jul 23 - 03:45 AM

Tiny Forests ??? Tiny Forests are densely packed patches of native bushland the size of a tennis court, right in the heart of our cities. These urban wildlife oases are a unique nature-based solution, reconnecting people with nature and helping to mitigate our urban climate and biodiversity challenges. Using an established planting method (called the Miyawaki method) that includes soil enrichment, diverse indigenous plant selection, and a dense planting structure; Tiny Forests are supercharged, growing up to 10 times faster than traditional forests, and becoming up to 100 times more biodiverse than monoculture forests ....


Tiny forests are springing up in urban areas to combat climate change. This one measures just 10m x 10mAs the race to discover new ways of sequestering carbon dioxide from trees quickens, creating tiny forests is something the Wollongong City Council is spearheading.
Wollongong's Botanic Garden curator Felicity Skoberne says they are following the lead of Japanese botanist Akira Miyawaki by planting tiny forests.
"The Miyawaki method was about putting forests in urban areas, and that's what a tiny forest can do," Ms Skoberne says.
She says growing a tiny forest does not take long, with the Wollongong Botanic Garden's taking just 10 months to grow from 30 centimetres to more than 3 metres high ...

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 13 Jul 23 - 10:12 AM

There is a really dense form of Permaculture that I've seen documentaries, about how it can be used in very dry areas, I think in Israel or Palestine, maybe Lebanon, where both the density of the plants and the multiple heights of the plants involved creates its own microclimate. I suppose my back of the back yard is my little microforest; I'm working on letting some of the better native trees (that live longer and grow larger) get established and slowly remove the invasive "trash trees" that compete with them.

107^o forecast today. It's a surreal morning, overcast, like the heat is waiting to pounce on us. My thermostat is set at 80^o during the day and 82^o overnight. Trying to not run any big appliances during the day. I have enough power strips around, I should turn off the power to all of the "vampire" devices that drain power unseen with their ready lights and quick start modes.

So much to do. I need to make a list and even if I don't prioritize, just cross stuff off as it is finished. Remind myself that I am moving forward. (I did toss a bunch of stuff in this morning's trash that I am never going to use and is too old to donate, so I am still decluttering, if not also upcycling at every turn.)

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 13 Jul 23 - 11:02 AM

I have a bad case of sciatica, against which paracetamol is useless but which can be tamed a little by ibuprofen, which I'm not supposed to take. So I'm taking ibuprofen, dammit. And I'm now on my eighth dose of cellulitis in three years. It comes on extremely quickly but I'm getting nifty at recognising the onset symptoms and, because of my cooperative GP, I always have a little stash of antibiotics to hand - time is absolutely of the essence. Apart from that and my perennial bad back, I'm completely hunkydory, guys! And we did have a lovely week in Taormina in Sicily. I'm glad we're not going in the coming week as the temperature is forecast to be in the "high forties..."

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: keberoxu
Date: 13 Jul 23 - 01:27 PM

"Trash trees", I love it!
Does that include various types of "scrub"?

That latter word appears in Regency romance novels as an insult,
particularly towards men who fall short of being
ready, willing, and able to do an honorable thing.
"he is just a scrub!"

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 13 Jul 23 - 03:18 PM

There's a subset of trees and shrubs in the greenbelt behind the house that isn't native, it is escaped stuff like ligustrum, also called privet. Spreads everywhere (it does smell nice and birds love the berries) and crowds out more durable native plants before they're big enough to grow over the top of it.

Then there are native trees like hackberry that are weeds everywhere around the yard and garden and when allowed to grow large are usually full of mistletoe and are always clobbered by web worms in the summer or fall. I need the bank to stay intact so most big things are staying, but as the oaks back there grow, I'll trim out the limbs on nearby hackberries that are slowing them down.

Today I decluttered myself of one of the MOST ANNOYING things that MS Word has done for ages. I think it was a default setting, that if you let it automatically select a whole word (when you mouse over) it grabs a lot more than you want. They used to have a "smart selection" thing where you could click and grab a word and click again and grab a sentence or paragraph, but I think that went away (or it has to be set somewhere else). Anyway, I fixed it. It will save me all of the wasted time many times of day of trying to get just what I want and not everything else in the table or paragraph.

Granola is in the oven. Dishes are washed. Hell's Front Porch is right outside my door, so I'm not doing much in the yard till near dark. I seem to be responding to weather extremes by staying home. Too cold? Too hot? Too wet? Don't go anywhere. In the summer it's what I mentioned before - I go walk from the heat to the museum to scan, and their air conditioning is set to frigid, so I'm sweaty and I need a sweater (which I keep forgetting). I guess this is my retiree brain saying "you went out when you had to go to work for 40+ years, now you don't have to."

Steve, do you have anyone telling you that maybe there is some underlying condition that is allowing the cellulitis to come back so often? I'd be asking my doctors about that after as many times as you've had it.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 13 Jul 23 - 03:26 PM

Mum's laptop has been handed over to her and Claire had a run through things with her this morning. It wasn't that successful as mum has lost her glasses but I've got some more reading glasses on order for her from Amazon and Claire says she will go through things with mum a few times to help her get started.

I've got another laptop due tomorrow as dad has decided he'd like to do the same as mum. He didn't want a 17" one so his will be 15.4" model. I think he's right on this. The smaller size probably is more suitable for his workspace on the living room table and whereas I considered eyesight when selecting a 17" for mum, it's not an issue for dad.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 13 Jul 23 - 05:38 PM

Yes I've discussed it with quite a few doctors, two GPs in Bude and several doctors at our regional hospital. The received wisdom is that once you've had it, you're far more prone to reinfection, and this is the upshot of the lymphatic system in the affected part of the body being damaged and less resistant to further bacterial incursions. My instincts cause me to dispute this, as my second attack was in a different leg. I can't help thinking that a residual infection stays quiescent in the body after the first attack. It's possible for people who suffer repeat infections to be prescribed long-term low-dose prophylactic antibiotics, but I've yet to find a doctor who'll do that for me. As long as I have a full course of antibiotics in reserve plus an extra strip, I can cope quite well.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Charmion
Date: 13 Jul 23 - 09:23 PM

Fashionable sunglasses, Stilly? Hell, no! I wear those jeezly great black goggles that fit over one’s normal walking-out spectacles. They have the great virtue of being both cheap and ubiquitous — every drugstore sells them — and they do, indeed hide the shiner. That, by the way, is slowly improving; after attaining peak purple on Monday, it is now a broad ring around the eye, with the white lids almost shining in the middle. Strange.

The stomach ailment I had is now formally identified as Norwalk virus; outbreaks have been popping up around Perth County and the Kitchener-Waterloo area all summer. My innards are still a bit wonky, but nothing to fret over as long as I drink enough water.

I’m ready for this summer to start being pleasant. Any time now will do.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 14 Jul 23 - 01:14 PM

Those goggles you describe are my favorites; I've used them for years, they are big enough to fit over everyday glasses. I like the way the earpiece is wide but has a tinted window so I have more peripheral vision while still blocking the glare. That's the worst part about regular sunglasses, the brightness on the side.

How does your Norwalk virus spread?

We still hear occasional fireworks exploding this far out from the fourth, but while they tend to be loud, they're infrequent. The days are pretty quiet, too hot for most yard work and not even as many people out driving around.

In the front yard I set up a child's wading pool with bricks in the middle to keep the solar fountain from drifting to the edge and draining the pool. I'll add a few more stones for bird perches. I'm thinking about rearranging my office desk so I can see out the window more easily to watch the birds. I rearrange the office every 12-18 months, and in the process I clean up a lot of dust puppies.

Time to start making some pickles and canning tomatoes. Maybe after dark when there is less demand on the power grid. And after I find some fresh dill.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Donuel
Date: 14 Jul 23 - 01:56 PM

Under the heading Health, Aspertame was a sweetener that Monsanto invented and sold the patent 15 years ago. Its not that it causes cancer but if exposed to heat over 100F it turns into formaldehyde.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 14 Jul 23 - 05:09 PM

Aspartame Is a Possible Cause of Cancer in Humans, a W.H.O. Agency Says
The F.D.A. and the powerful beverage industry protested the new findings, and a second W.H.O. group stood by its standard that the sweetener is generally safe.

The International Agency for Research on Cancer, or I.A.R.C., said it based its conclusion that aspartame was a possible carcinogen on limited evidence from three observational studies of humans that the agency said linked consumption of artificially sweetened beverages to an increase in cases of liver cancer — at levels far below a dozen cans a day. It cautioned that the results could potentially be skewed toward the profile of people who drink higher amounts of diet drinks and called for further study.

Still, people who consume high amounts of aspartame should consider switching to water or other unsweetened drinks, said Dr. Francesco Branca, director of the W.H.O. Department of Nutrition and Food Safety.

But, he added: “Our results do not indicate that occasional consumption should pose a risk to most.”

Nutrasweet hits my gut hard and it has the same effect as that gallon of prep they give you prior to a colonoscopy. I've avoided it for years and when I accidentally was given some I figured it out a couple of hours later.

Decluttering paper-wise, I have reduced the final contents of the hall filing cabinet into two thick envelopes of papers for the kids, childhood records of all sorts that now should be with them. I will suggest to them that they go through and for documents they might want to keep, make a scan and file it somewhere safely as backup.

Now, do I want to move that black 2-drawer cabinet next to the other black file and let it be a matching part of the support for that computer desk (a sheet of furniture grade plywood), or do I want to keep the bright orange file because it is already in place and it locks? I have a key around here somewhere.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 14 Jul 23 - 05:20 PM

Please don't scaremonger. Formaldehyde is produced naturally in the body by a number of metabolic processes not involving aspartame, and the amount produced by the metabolism of aspartame is trivial. In any case, formaldehyde does not enter the blood circulation and is rapidly broken down. Personally, I try to avoid artificial sweeteners (stevia turns my gut into a cement mixer), but the evidence for aspartame and cancer is so slight as to be negligible.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 14 Jul 23 - 05:29 PM

It is not negligible. It's dreadful stuff, go look up the history of some of these artificial sweeteners.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Charmion
Date: 14 Jul 23 - 06:48 PM

Wikipedia has an excellent article on Norovirus that will tell you more than you really want to know about Norwalk and its relatives. I think my adventure with it might have been the result of eating unwashed strawberries. They smelled so ambrosial I popped a couple off the top of the punnet in the car on the way home. I won’t do that again any time soon.

As for Aspartame, I’ll go with the experts’ advice — typically found in the last para of any news story — that you have to eat a hell of a lot of it to put yourself into a danger zone. I seem to remember them saying the same thing about cyclamate.

If it doesn’t agree with you, don’t use it. If you don’t like it, don’t use it. If someone you know has a dozen-a-day Diet Coke habit, that person has worse problems than the cancer threat from Aspartame.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 14 Jul 23 - 07:10 PM

"It is not negligible. It's dreadful stuff, go look up the history of some of these artificial sweeteners."

Sorry, Stilly, but Charmion (as ever) has it exactly right. I totally agree with you about artificial sweeteners and wish they'd never been invented. If I ever eat those ghastly sugar-free mints you can buy in supermarkets, I get the farts and bellyaches worthy of awards. And I've told you about my stevia misfortunes. If I buy cordials to get me through summer gardening heat, I look for the full sugar versions (which are getting harder to get). But the plain fact is that there are dozens of things which are far more harmful than aspartame, and in far less quantities than the bucketloads of aspartame you'd need to do you any harm. Once again we are being subjected to tabloidistic, sensationalist nonsense. Twitching antennae are crucial.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 14 Jul 23 - 11:00 PM

Dad's laptop came this afternoon and is just about ready to give to him. The missing bit for now is that I need to add a printer. I'll have to do the same with mum's as I forgot about it. Getting any wanted files from the old machines transferred to follow sometime.

Thinking printers. My Epson photo inkjet got moved out into a shed during the clear up of my room and I'm wondering if it can be accommodated indoors somehow. I hope it's still OK as in my experience, the inkjets get clogged up beyond nozzle cleaning if they don't do any printing. My policy became to send a print job through once a fortnight if the printer had been idle. I have it as a recurring task on my computer list.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 14 Jul 23 - 11:17 PM

We will have to agree to disagree on this topic. Saccharine has been around longer than any of the others and has been shown to be generally benign (you'd have to feed lab rats so much of it to make them ill that it doesn't reflect any consumption in the real world) but some of these other non-nutritive sweeteners (NNS) came along when some less savory chemicals were being invented.

The problem with many of the "generally assumed to be safe" chemicals and products is that while they test them in mammals, whether rats, rabbits, dogs, or humans, that research totally overlooks the gut flora that is impacted. Studies show that remote tribal populations living in non-westernised areas without processed food have a huge diversity in their gut flora; ours is greatly diminished. It's why Roundup (glyphosate) is so obnoxious - farmers literally drench their wheat fields with the stuff to kill the grain so it will dry on the stalk before it is harvested, but the residual chemical comes through our food. Artificial sweeteners are much the same way.

Effect of sucralose and aspartame on glucose metabolism and gut hormones is a scholarly journal article from 2020.

Don was cherry-picking with his formaldehyde remark, though his accuracy is under debate:

In the small intestine, digestive enzymes break aspartame down into methanol, phenylalanine, and aspartic acid. These metabolites are further broken down into formaldehyde and formic acid,19 each of which follows a natural metabolic pathway to be metabolized just as they would from other dietary sources.

I've skimmed quickly through this article, but it's one I plan to look at more carefully this weekend. They review the possible impact points of these NNS and look at studies and literature. A good starting point for more research.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 15 Jul 23 - 12:41 AM

Jon, you've reminded me that I haven't used my inkjet for a while. I printed a couple of email receipts with color logos to use the various jets. No weird lines, so it seems to be in good shape.

My garden is producing tomatoes and cucumbers so I picked up feta cheese this evening to make my tomato/cucumber/feta (more or less equal parts) salad. Tomorrow I'll slaughter the water bill by dragging the hose around the six stations it takes to water the produce part of the yard. We can (legally) water here on Wednesdays and Saturdays; any other times are by hand with a hose or after dark with a discrete sprinkler when people can't see the watering happening.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Dorothy Parshall
Date: 15 Jul 23 - 09:08 PM

Dupont:

But only a few more days! I ordered, received and R installed new filters for both the air cleaners here. Also ordered and received replenishment of the Pau d'Arco. I know I need more every four hours when my throat starts to feel iffy. Ordered and received 24 loaves of bread!! Yep, Fed up with trying to get to a store that has the sorts we like... I have half in the freezer here and will take the other half to Beaver where there is room for them!

AND the lawn care team showed up Friday and did a number on the yard! Mohawks from a few minutes away, they listened to what I wanted and did a great job, leaving me patches of yarrow and made the place look very middle class in spite of me. Some nifty machine cleared the nice stone walk in the back yard totally! and the concrete demarcation in the parking area as well. Hadn't seen them for a while. The local rabbit was enjoying some nibbling this morning and there seem to be more birds than usual - able to get at the under-story?

I can get to the veg bed more easily. The soaker hose which has been at a slow drip since early June has kept everything healthy and the cherry tomatoes are producing, also the couple wax bean plants. Squash flowers are beautiful and hopeful! Lots of buckwheat volunteers; I wonder what I shall do when it is ripe - to harvest and figure out a way to shell it???

Such a relief to have that done. I did not want R to be fined by the City.

This malaise is finally almost gone. Each day a bit better; today I actually packed up the remaining pottery and mopped the K floor, went out and pulled some weeds and admired the garden. Like have a haircut when it had gotten quite out of hand!

The gut is not 100% yet. And I seem to have a new version of cough which MAY be caused by certain foods; now trying to solve that mystery. Some of the coughing fits border on frightening as I gag ... Well what next!

Dishes are done, laundry is done. Yard is done and I can go home - Maybe Monday or Tuesday.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 15 Jul 23 - 11:38 PM

Dorothy, are you keeping a basic food diary? My food record for years has been via the MyFitnessPal app on my phone, as I track the amount of calcium and sodium each day. A simple calendar with the foods and notations on the days you have symptoms may help you identify any culprits. I hope you're completely better very soon.

Your yard sounds great; it's so hot here that it's difficult to get out to do much of anything. Tonight I've dragged the hose and sprinkler around the vegetable garden and before watering I treated everything in general but the cucumbers in particular with some soap and Neem to knock out aphids, then put up some chicken wire and wire garden edging pieces for the cukes to climb on.

I am wondering about this bread that you love so much you buy a case at a time. How would you describe it? Does the bakery have a description you can share?

Charmion, your experience with unwashed fruit is depressing - but probably too often the case with how far produce has to travel. I have a couple of types of "eco soap" products here for spraying on and washing off, but am most likely to simply run a soapy dish scrubber with Dawn over the surface of fruit or veggies before eating. I'll keep it up. And I have never before seen or heard the word "punnet." The online dictionary says we mostly use "berry basket" here in the US. I don't think I've even called them that, just fruit basket or clamshell (if it has an attached cover).

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 16 Jul 23 - 04:38 AM

Punnet is in common usage in the UK. Lots of punnets of strawberries will have been sold at Wimbledon over the last fortnight. Their website suggests 38.4 tons of the fruit are sold during the tournament each year. There must be a fair number of gallons of cream sold to go with them too.

I’ve struggled with bread recently because of the Co-Op online shopping I’ve been using. They have been out of stock of all 30 bread items at least once and I’ve also had the situation where all I can find are loaves sliced too thick for us.

I’m not quite sure what to think about using Co-Op. I don’t think they are among the cheapest for the products they sell, their range is quite limited and there are a few “out of stock” problems. On the other hand, they have a low (£15) minimum order, low (£1.99 for us) delivery charge, I can get a delivery within 1 or 2 (they don’t deliver Thursdays) days and their drivers will just walk into the kitchen and place the bags there. This probably makes them the best option.

Part of the problem here is that I can’t get around well enough to check what is needed and I can’t persuade mum with her dementia to write down items that we are running low on to make an order with. The result is that I make a best guess weekly order but am likely to have to make one or more extra orders when I’m told “Jon, we are out of this…”. Thinking about it now. Perhaps it’s something I could speak to mum’s/my carers about. They might be willing during one of mum’s ½ hour sessions to help mum compile a shopping list for me.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: JennieG
Date: 16 Jul 23 - 05:01 AM

We buy fruit in punnets in Oz, too.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 16 Jul 23 - 07:39 AM

"Aspertame was a sweetener that Monsanto invented"

Aspartame as a possible sweetener was an accidental discovery in 1965 by an employee of GD Searle. Monsanto didn't buy GD Searle and form the Nutrasweet company until 1985.

From Wikpedia

Aspartame was discovered in 1965 by James M. Schlatter, a chemist working for G.D. Searle & Company. Schlatter had synthesized aspartame as an intermediate step in generating a tetrapeptide of the hormone gastrin, for use in assessing an anti-ulcer drug candidate. He discovered its sweet taste when he licked his finger, which had become contaminated with aspartame, to lift up a piece of paper. Torunn Atteraas Garin participated in the development of aspartame as an artificial sweetener.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 16 Jul 23 - 08:11 AM

I wash all bought fruit and veg in running water before we use them, including oranges. The only exception is mushrooms, which washing can spoil. Just brush off any residual growing medium with the thumb. I never eat them raw because I don't like them raw. I don't bother washing lettuces, rocket, tomatoes and beans that I've grown myself as I don't use pesticides and life's too short to worry about whether some minibeast or other might have peed/pooed on them. In fact, I have a penchant for munching them fresh-picked as I do the gardening. I'll pick a bunch of rocket and give it a gentle bash with my other hand to dislodge those pesky flea beetles that make tiny shot holes in the leaves, and scrutinise the innards of lettuces for slug babies, and that's it.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Donuel
Date: 16 Jul 23 - 08:45 AM

Nutrasweet was neither nutritious or good for you. I am glad Jimmy Shattler, a human, was involved :^/ There are worse things.
I remind folks that Monsanto also manufactured Frankenseeds.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 16 Jul 23 - 10:52 AM

I use organic pest control (Bt, Neem, soaps, and Spinosad, primarily) so I do rinse off my vegetables before using, but usually a swish through the dishwater in the kitchen sink is sufficient. It's raining right now - setting up the rest of the day to be cooler but very humid. And it's the day I'm going to finally start processing some of my tomatoes. I don't have a huge crop, but I like to can a few just because I can't eat or use them all right now. Foods engineered to be drenched in Glyphosate during growth are best avoided, but at this point, almost impossible to even identify (especially grains). One must assume most of them are tainted and try for organic products with less contamination.

My goal this summer is to power wash the bird baths and the wading pool (with bricks, a rock, and a solar fountain) every other day to keep the algae down. I have a nozzle that works to peel that off of concrete and plastic surfaces. I put mosquito dunks in them also. The garden needs weeding but the turf area is fairly dormant; I need to occasionally water the tree areas but one thing I can do is move the wading pool with the fountain to different parts of the yard and when emptied, water another tree or shrub zone.

In the house I have unpacked my new Stanley Jump Starter with Compressor that is also a portable power supply for general household use in power outages. I have a small portable air compressor in the car for emergencies (that runs off of the old-style auto lighter port - now a days you never see the actual hot thing to light cigarettes, but I must have eight power ports through the length of the car for powering various passenger devices.) I've found those little compressors at estate sales over the years and made sure the kids had them in their cars. I'll have to consider if this new device would go with the car (maybe in cold weather - the time of year most likely to confound the battery). At any rate, I'll read the booklet then charge the device.

I also have a couple of new power supply/surge suppressors (I meant to order one, saw a second on the order and removed it, but that apparently didn't stick.) I'll offer some of my older power strips on Freecycle; they work but aren't as handy (these have USB type A and C charging ports). I had the guest room in mind for this, with people who arrive with everything from O₂ machines to run at night and phones, tablets, and computers. I'll be able to put a couple of USB cables in the room and lessen the deployment of wall wart chargers. (Apple/Mac users will have to figure out if this setup works for them.)

The dishwasher is set to run with a bunch of canning jars in preparation for this afternoon's canning. I have a large oscillating fan on a stand that comes out from behind the Kitchen Queen this time of year to help cool the stove area. Meanwhile, I don't do as much cooking for myself this time of year and was happy to find some of my favorite Aldi crackers in single type sleeves (not just the assortment box I usually find). Crackers with cheese or hummus is a nice summer lunch or dinner.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 17 Jul 23 - 12:35 AM

First canning session of the summer today, tomatoes in a small batch of just four pint jars. These are the really ripe perfect ones that get blanched, cored, peeled, and cut in half or left whole. For 20+ years I've diced my tomatoes and canned them, but when I tried to talk about it on one of the Official Facebook Canning groups last year I got blocked. It seems they frown on dicing. Oh, well. Less work to do them whole, but less density of tomatoes also (which is, I think the issue they have with dice - but sauce and other things are even more dense.) I might end up with a case of tomatoes canned this year; others will be made into sauce and I'll freeze them. I use more sauce than anything, so I might as well make most of them that way.

The heat has truncated the garden production; some years I have an entire kitchen counter covered with huge tomatoes by now. We had a nice rain today, but more high heat in the forecast means fruit won't set (it has to be under 80^o overnight for most tomatoes to set fruit.) That said, I'm enjoying the garden again this year and have used a lot of the produce. Cooking, canning, and salads. If I can get my hands on some fresh dill I'll make refrigerator pickles. I should find a recipe for pesto (the pine nuts were $25 a pound at my bulk grocer, so a recipe with a different nut is called for.)

More cat sitting coming up in a week, and plant sitting for next door. We've talked about putting a gate through between our back yards, making visits for the dogs (for Cecil) and watering easier (for me), and as I work on the fence, now is the time to figure one out if we're going to do it. Only three panels left. I'm thinking a Hobbit sized gate set in the middle of a panel. YouTube must have some suggestions to offer.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 17 Jul 23 - 12:09 PM

Canning is a messy process and there are lots of pots and bowls in play. I was considering smaller pans for processing a smaller batch, but it is the height of the pan that is important (you need 1-2" of water over the top of the jars being processed.) I managed to use a smaller stockpot (the one that comes with the colander for easy blanching) and washed and put away several others. Next comes the steam juicer (which reminds me that I probably completely missed picking grapes again this year - another thing I run through the juicer). I'll make sauce because this system allows the easy removal of skin and seeds in one move, after the juice is drained off. Still, lots of tools and bowls and pans to wash when it's over. (When I do a single jar at a time I use the asparagus steamer, but tomatoes process for 40 minutes per pint, meaning you have to keep an eye on that pot and keep topping it off.) Canning is a gift to my future self. It's such a pleasure in mid-winter to open a jar of the sauce from the summer before.

Zoom meeting today, I may not make it, I have things to do in the garden that can't wait till later when everything is wilted. Gardening takes precedence over docenting.

The kitchen table is stacked with papers needing managing, filing, or shredding. Something to do after it is too hot to work outside. I put two bottles of water in a cooler on the porch and every morning I top it off with fresh ice and new bottles if they were taken. In the past a couple of regular delivery folks have stopped to get water even when they didn't have deliveries here, because they know about that cooler, and that is just fine (they've told me about it later when we meet on the porch). The mail carrier has a cooler in his truck, but needs to keep restocking. It's a brutal time of year to work outside and the Texas Lege just approved removing required water breaks for outdoor workers. Makes no sense at all.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Charmion
Date: 17 Jul 23 - 04:26 PM

I just got home from a meeting and sat down with a cold drink. Both cats were aboard before I had time to put both feet up. I think they missed me.

The black eye is still improving, now reduced to about half the extent it had achieved last Monday. Everywhere I go, people want to know what the other guy looks like.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 17 Jul 23 - 07:14 PM

There is quite a YouTube rabbit hole to descend when one is formulating the method to build something. As hot as it is today, this is a better use of my time than baking my brains in the yard, though I did spend a few minutes replacing a washer on the hose stand in the front (it stopped leaking at that point, but it is now always on). Water is turned on/off at a regular faucet, this is a free-standing hose stand that is connected by hose and is where I hang a big length of hose to drag over to the garden. Must shop around for the proper washer to restore that fixture.

I was reading an article in today's local paper about the number of unhomed folks who are living rough in the wooded areas over near where I go to my vet's office. If you know where to look you can see the tent and awning encampments. I just pulled it up on Google maps - easy to find when you know what you're looking for. It's a rough business, the employees at the Homeless Coalition are mostly social workers and health care administrators. They do accept donations.

This afternoon I made another batch of my cubed tomato, cucumber, and feta salad. Dish it up and add a couple of tablespoons of Italian dressing and it is a great start to dinner. I also have chickpeas soaking to make hummus tomorrow. Cool food for hot weather.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Charmion
Date: 18 Jul 23 - 12:10 PM

Ah, Stilly, you're being disingenuous again.

"It's a brutal time of year to work outside and the Texas [legislature] just approved removing required water breaks for outdoor workers. Makes no sense at all."

Sure it makes sense, when seen through the "shrink government" lens preferred by today's rightest of right-wingers. The Texas legislature is currently committed to getting government out of the way of private enterprise, which to them apparently means cutting any and all regulations that don't directly benefit the people who give large sums to the Republican Party.

Oh, did I say that with my outside voice?

Sorry, not sorry. But maybe I should take a break from American news media.

Stratford is not large enough to attract homeless folks from outside the Huron-Perth region, so we don't -- yet -- have tent camps or shanty towns in this area. I'm always shocked by the prevalence of homeless people on the downtown streets of Toronto, where certain major parks have effectively become semi-permanent refugee camps. Because of the way taxation power is allocated in Ontario, Toronto can't afford the measures required to tackle the problem effectively; that would take a major infusion of provincial and even federal funding that just ain't forthcoming. I wonder sometimes if widespread rioting, or maybe a general strike, might get those levels of government to stop pretending that, like pandemic disease, homelessness is everybody's problem.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Charmion
Date: 18 Jul 23 - 02:23 PM

Sorry, I miswrote myself in my rant above. Reloading …

I wonder sometimes if widespread rioting, or maybe a general strike, might get those levels of government to *realize* that, like pandemic disease, homelessness is everybody’s problem.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 18 Jul 23 - 04:00 PM

This afternoon I had a reminder that I really do need to pick up around here more often. The nextdoor neighbor called; her visiting granddaughter had some gardening questions. This is the granddaughter who was one-year-old when I moved in here in 2002. She is now married and putting in her own garden. They came over, we looked around the beds, and I brought them in to retrieve a few small bottles of things to send her home with. Duplicates I haven't used up yet, but good for this year at least for a beginner. I guess this means I did some decluttering with that tour. I also gave her one of those spray nozzles with the long tube for any sized container you want to use it with. At one point I realized (and said) that this is what a gardening bag lady house looks like. You have trouble throwing out containers because you can use them for something in the garden. After they left I dished up a bowl of my homegrown cucumber and tomato with feta salad for lunch. I'll be making some Italian style tomato sauce with my homegrown tomatoes, onions, peppers, herbs, and garlic this afternoon. All of the flavors of my yard.

I was sorting out stuff from the file cabinet when the call came and I'll return to that for now. It's 109^o right now.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 19 Jul 23 - 01:13 AM

Much of the evening was spent reducing several pounds of homegrown tomatoes into juice and sauce, with a sink full of dirty bowls and pans, and a batch of skin and seeds that will go to the compost. In the past I've dried the skin and seeds to pulverize for seasoning (and a great source of lycopene), but it's time consuming and I still have a bunch in the freezer from a couple of years ago.

This is one of those things that is difficult to describe to the layperson. If I were being paid, the hours I spent doing this would add up to enough cash to buy a whole bunch of canned tomatoes or sauce. I have three quarts of juice and just over a quart of finished tomato sauce (I added onion, green pepper, garlic, garden herbs, salt, pepper, and olive oil to make an Italian tomato sauce). But considering the hours spent maintaining the garden, it is all part of the whole enterprise. Consider this a gift to my future self. I have two and a half pint jars of sauce cooling in the fridge and I'll freeze them tomorrow. After all of that it's too hot to process jars in boiling water (40 minutes for pint jars). Homegrown tomatoes have so much flavor and nutrition and this sauce, when thawed in the fall or next winter, will be used for something wonderful. Never mind the huge water bill for the garden.

Meanwhile, this morning I sprayed the garden with Surround WP (Kaolin clay, finely ground) so the grasshoppers will be repelled. It makes the leaves look like they were whitewashed and reflects the sun off of them, so they withstand the heat a bit better.

The dishwasher is loaded with bowls and materials from this evening. I've spent time cleaning the steam juicer and other large objects, the rest will soak and finish in the morning.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 19 Jul 23 - 01:49 PM

Charmion, there are cities in Texas that have rules about things like water breaks, but last legislature also passed a law (or was it a constitutional amendment? They tinker a lot with the state constitution) saying the cities and counties can't make rules like that for their own areas. They really are pulling the whole state into the dark ages.

The extra two-drawer file has been sitting in the hall for a couple of days to see if I think of anyplace else where I might use it. Nothing is coming to me. Nor has the key for the orange locking two-drawer cabinet turned up.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 20 Jul 23 - 12:46 PM

Yesterday only short posts were going through - I wasn't able to share a remark about the garden and the freezer - I'm using a lot of the garden stuff and being careful to draw down freezer contents that went in before I started watching sodium. I'm pacing myself with a few processed foods and I won't be buying as many things like tortillas; the few I use I can make myself and be sure they're low salt.

This morning I cleared the counters and scrubbed Formica and backsplashes on the stove side of the kitchen, to start a cleanup that is overdue. I'll clear an obstacle in the back hall later - since no family members are interested in the filing cabinet I could put it on one of the free sites, but then I have to wait for someone to approve the post and it will be faster to take it to Goodwill. In another declutter move, one of my magazine subscriptions expired and I'm going to call in and ask to take advantage of one of the "digital only" offers. I never read the paper version, but it has come to the house every week.

This weekend we have a "weak cold front" coming through, meaning it will lower the temperatures by about ten degrees during the day. Then back up again. Ugg.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 21 Jul 23 - 11:28 AM

I've given myself the assignment to solve the office desk question this afternoon - part 1, will I swap the orange cabinet for the black, and part 2, will I move other pieces of furniture around just for a change (and a better look out the window.)

Starting this weekend I'll be watering plants next door while they're taking a grandchild on a road trip, and she said it would be easier for them if I just put a hole through the fence and came in that way and don't have to fool with the padlock on the gate on the other side of the house. I love that we're so comfortable that a hole in the fence is the preferred transit mode. I'm still thinking about a gate that could go in there for as long as we're both in these houses. I might have to turn that stretch back into fence if one or the other parties moves. YouTube has many videos that show how to make them, and I'm almost there.

An interesting note on the New Yorker subscription - when I called she said she didn't have any offers as low as I was asking for, so I should just renew using the web page I'd found that offered it. "Really? It'll let me do it that way?" Yes - so I clicked through, paid my money, and got it for $50 instead of $99 or the print and digital "deep discount" of $169. It opens new possibilities for some of these publications. (Don't forget to turn off automatic renewal or it will charge you the larger amount next year.)

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Charmion
Date: 22 Jul 23 - 12:07 PM

It's a beautiful, sunny day in Perth County, Ontario, after a cool night tinged with the whiff of woodsmoke that has become the signature scent of this summer. The Canadian Armed Forces are now involved in the wild-fire effort, in the form of airlift to move people and supplies in Quebec and British Columbia, and two companies of infantry deployed to the fire front in BC.

To a large extent, Canada's public response to major natural disasters hasn't changed much over a century -- when it gets bad enough, call out the Militia.

If this year is a sign of things to come, that unwritten policy has been overcome by events. If the Fantasians still want to invade us, they now have two golden opportunities per year: flood season and fire season.

On the home front, with respect to digital subscriptions: I'm all for them. After Edmund died, I changed all the news media to the on-line versions and decided to stop buying novels on paper. After more than two years, this choice has allowed me to cut back the contents of my recycle boxes by about three quarters, so they now go out to the curb only about once a month. Over the same period, I have reduced the fiction section of the real-life library from five 80-cm six-shelf bookcases to two 60-cm six-shelf bookcases. I still chug through three newspapers per day and consume prodigious quantities of fiction, but I have ceased to stuff my living space with the evidence of my habit.

Now, if only I could give up Perrier water ...

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Charmion
Date: 22 Jul 23 - 01:21 PM

I am contemplating travel to the States, which means getting a COVID booster. Sigh.

Huron-Perth Public Health would like everyone to put off their next booster until the autumn, so it's still at maximum effectiveness when the COVID and flu seasons set in. I must be needled and tested before crossing the border at the end of September.

That means phoning up the Public Health Unit and convincing the gate-keepers that I am sufficiently special to be needled early. I hate that.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 23 Jul 23 - 06:02 AM

I’m still just messing around with the laptop. My brother told me of a couple of programs he’s been using so I had a look at VS Code and JupyterLabs. I thought I’d have a play at putting some simple charts in Jupyter notebooks. These little plays can eat up hours as I struggle to find out how to do things. I managed (there’s little in the way of code but it still took me ages to get the animation working properly) to do this and this and I think that will do me with this.

On to other things... Mark and family are supposed to be visiting this week. I'm not sure if I'm looking forward to this or not but there are things I want to discuss with Mark (and Paul when I seem him). Plus there a few tasks he may be able/willing to do.

It's mum's birthday on Monday. I ordered her this slate clock with the Welsh lettering on the face but it hasn't arrived. It may just make Monday's post but I've just ordered a box of chocolates on Amazons to try to ensure I've got something to give her on the day.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 23 Jul 23 - 02:57 PM

I've added more books to my tablet, though I keep reminding myself that it will be a one-time use because I can't give them to anyone else to read. Books I think I might want to share I still buy on paper.

Jon, those are clear animations - how are they put to use on websites? Stored elsewhere and linked from the host, or is there something you can load and host it yourself? Is your jonbanjo site on your computer as server, or is it from an Internet provider somewhere?

I've shifted and nudged and come to the conclusion that the only way to approach an office furniture reorg is to do a full shutdown and unplug everything. There are too many moving parts (to be knocked over and broken.) Sometimes things can come and go without much fuss, but this isn't one of those times. And if I move the computer desk, I'll have to move the TV, though the radio can stay where it is. If I got really ambitious and tried shifting the old computer and it's file cabinet desk 90 degrees I could even start having to move stuff on the walls - perhaps a bit too much. Whatever is done, this will give me a chance to once again mop the floor, see if there are things hidden in plain sight to toss, and to curate the books that appear behind me in Zoom meetings, etc. Dusters and vacuum cleaner will need to be at the ready for this operation.   

Working on the fence some today, it's mostly too hot for that, but I may finish this latest panel tomorrow morning. I started chiseling out a tree root in the way of the end post (it can either be straightened or it needs digging out and replaced.)

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 23 Jul 23 - 05:10 PM

SRS, Jupyter, matlibplot, numby and other related packages are pretty good software. They are quite widely used by scientists and others doing work such as data analysis and presentation.

My simple charts were written in python and put in a Jupyter notebook. A package called matplotlib produces the charts. As an example, I’ve changes the data a bit since posting the link but this is pretty much the code I used for the rotating pie chart.

  %matplotlib agg
  import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
  from matplotlib.animation import FuncAnimation
  from IPython.display import HTML
  
  labels = ['R', 'V', 'I', 'B', ' G', 'Y', 'O']
  explode = (0.01, 0.01, 0.01, 0.01, 0.01, 0.01, 0.01)
  colors = ['red', 'violet', 'indigo', 'blue', 'green', 'yellow', 'orange']
  nums = [10, 22, 20, 18, 16, 14, 12]
  plt.rcParams["animation.html"] = "jshtml"
  fig, ax = plt.subplots()
   
  def update(num):
      ax.clear()
      ax.axis('equal')
      ax.pie(nums, explode=explode, labels=labels, colors=colors, autopct='%1.1f%%', shadow=True, startangle=434 - num * 2)
      
  ani = FuncAnimation(fig, update, frames=range(179), interval=50, repeat=False)
  HTML(ani.to_jshtml())

The Jupyter notebooks provide code cells (various languages supported) and markdown cells. Markdown provide something similar to HTML. So you can have a mixture in a document. The next thing for me was to export the notebook to html. I used nbconvert for this:

jon@jonlaptop:~/pyjupyter> jupyter nbconvert --no-input pies1.ipynb --to html

--no-input tells the program not to include the code in the html.

That done, I just uploaded the html pages to jonbanjo.com which is hosted by Web Hosting UK.

For a little play today, I decided to have a quick look at getting data from spreadsheets and databases. For the database one, I used a mariadb I’d created a few years ago for the King James Bible. The task was to find our how many times the word “Jesus” occurred in the 4 gospels. Here is my attempt. Again, html produced by converting a Jupyter notebook, this time leaving the code in place.
--
I used to host folkinfo from home mainly because of the requirements of the abc routines I used. Mandolintab.net managed to host the abcconverter part on what I think was shared hosting but it couldn’t be done with my current web hosts. Without the folkinfo need, I’ve avoided having any home hosted stuff.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 23 Jul 23 - 06:19 PM

Jon, I've had just enough exposure to coding that I recognise you have to set up lines with spaces, brackets, parenthesis, symbols, etc. and do it in the right order. Beyond that, I wouldn't know how to set it up, so, just enough information to know this isn't likely to be something I would attempt. But thank you for showing us!

Charmion, good luck getting the COVID jab. It seems to be dropping of of the general radar, but come fall when flu season rolls around I'll be asking for the new flu vaccine and about any COVID updates. I think that is what the CDC has planned, update it the same as flu.

The next set of pickets are treated with wood preservative and leaning against the back fence beside where they'll go soon. After this panel I must figure out the whole gate or no-gate thing. I was in the shade of the garage with the door open and a fan running, but I'm staying in for an hour to completely cool down before I head next door to water.

I finally found a sprinkler I started searching for weeks ago (it fell off of the stone wall into the irises) and will use it to direct water into the cucumbers and chard this evening.

Trash goes out tomorrow, and with it goes a ceramic pitcher (kind of like that) I've used for years to hold various wooden spoons and other utensils. I knocked it over a couple of times, breaking off the handle and cracking it. Time for a replacement, so I picked up a small restaurant supply stainless steel bin. I was in to buy sausages and spotted the bins, otherwise I'd still be living with the chipped pitcher.

Two immature blue jays just visited the bird bath outside my office window. I need to work with the ceiling light off so they can't see me move when I lean to look out at them.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 23 Jul 23 - 11:39 PM

I deployed a new power strip with USB ports in the sewing studio, and in the process liberated a couple of small charger blocks (the ones that come with phones and tablets). And because I was checking out power strips in other rooms, I found two more chargers in the office. They're now in the basket labeled for spare headphones and adapters. Funny, I couldn't find any of these a couple of months ago when I was trying to match up tablets with their chargers. Two power strips were accidentally ordered on Prime Day, but I have so many of these around the house I need to see if there are any more old ones I can retire.

A friend just offered to send mail to my post office box and sent it out before telling me he was going to do it (to do with getting recent first class mail to take in when I renew my library card - if you use mail to prove your address, it has to be recent). He sent it to a post office box address that I got rid of 20 years ago. Whoever has that box has never returned mail that was misdelivered there (it has happened before). But - the box number he used was wrong, one digit short, so there is a chance it could be returned. Slim, but a chance. Good intentions gone awry. [slaps forehead]

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 24 Jul 23 - 11:58 PM

The kitchen table is almost clear, the peninsula is looking better, and the tall table has less clutter. Not finished, but better. I'm thinking about having a friend over for some caprese salad and a bottle of reisling. I think I owe her a couple of meals by now. We may also make a pie, because she has struggled with making crusts.

I've signed off of the 10" Amazon Fire tablet and spent time this evening moving files to the Samsung tablet, including setting up the Adobe Digital editions permissions. (Years ago @BatGoddess told us about the free digital books from the University of Chicago every month. I don't often read the whole book, but I try to download each, they always sound interesting.) See if this gets you to this month's free book. Adobe Digital Editions is free to set up, and it is an authorization platform for downloading and reading these books. It works great on a tablet or smartphone. I should have gotten the non-Amazon tablet a long time ago - they look great but are really limited in what they can do other than offer Amazon products.

In the garage today I dug around for the existing fence hardware that I kept after dismantling the old gate that was here when I moved in (we took the fence apart to build the new garage behind it.) I have the brackets for a new post (if I put up a gate) and I have heavy duty hinges for the gate. The latch isn't the best one to use in this spot, so that might have to be new.

Plugging along.

Subject: RE: DECLUTTER * Health/Home Ecologic-Innovation *2023
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 25 Jul 23 - 11:46 AM

Have you used SQL, SRS? I used one statement in the bible count example and wondered if you had with Access (although that has GUI methods for most things) or other database. In case you haven’t: There are a few differences depending on the database used but it is the standard for querying and manipulating relational databases and if say, you knew how to query an Access database, you’d pretty much know how to do the same with MySQL, Oracle, MS SQL server, etc. The Mudcat forum will use a fair bit of SQL behind the scenes.

Dad is hospital again. I can't remember if I posted this but he was taken in and sent home on Sun 16th. He has been up and down since then with occasional slurred speech, confused speech and problems with one arm. We had been in touch with his GP and were waiting for a home visit but problems led to an ambulance call out yesterday evening. He had got himself in a position in his chair where he was leaning so far to the left, he looked in danger of falling out of it. His carers managed to get him straight but couldn't get him on his Ross Return and were worried about his arms.

I hope the hospital do get to the bottom of what's going wrong this time.