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I used to spend hours pouring over the https://ikeahackers.net/ site - but never actually hacked much of our furniture (no more than adjusting the height, or changing handles/worktops).

As cheap as Ikea was, being in London in my 20s just as Freecycle started, meant we ended up with a lot 'vintage' furniture for free or next to nothing - some we still have now.

As a note, if you click on the 'time ago' to the right of the posters name on a post you like, you can get to the post specific screen where you can favourite comments.

To add to this, in the same way that Rome and the Roman Empire in some ways lived on through the Catholic Church, I think the 'church of capitalism' will mean that the American empire lives in far far into the future, and retains some of its power.

Totally agree!

I'm only on the edges to be honest and watching others - I'm not as technical as I once was, and I don't have the time I'd like to invest in this right now - too many competing hobbies.

Looking forward to the day this becomes very very easy for the likes of me.

What will we feed the farmed fish (at the moment they are mainly fed wild caught fish and fish oil). Would be amazing if we can feed them something else, but currently wild caught is cheaper, and closer to their natural diet.

Intrigued, I checked my cupboard for the brands we have:

* Alva (from Sainsburys) - 75p - Sardina pilchardus - Packed in Morocco, caught in Eastern Atlantic Ocean

* 'The Fishmonger' (from Lidl) - 59p - Sardina pilchardus - Packed in Morocco, caught in Eastern Central Atlantic

* Kingfisher (from Lidl) - 49p - Sardina pilchardus - Packed in Morocco, caught in Central Eastern Atlantic

Really? I need to look into how much sardine I can get for a £1.

Here in the UK, for my lunch I've just had a 49p tin of sardines in tomato sauce from Aldi - I used to each smoked mackerel about 3 days a week for either breakfast or lunch, then some years ago turned to tinned. Then in the last year tinned mackerel moved to £1 a tin, from 50p before, so I gave sardines a go and I love them even more.

I usually have the ones tinned with tomato sauce, then 60g full fat Greek yoghurt, 100g carrots, 100g cucumber then cherry tomatoes and green salad. A really delicious and filling lunch, at less than 400 calories and with over 25g of protein. Plus costs less than a £1 a meal. Just not one to eat on my office days...

I had been feeling rather proud of this, especially avoiding meat for lunch, but maybe I need to find a different protein source.

Very much this - we are firmly at the centralised stage - when I have truly local AI running on my devices, my cost will be the energy they use - if I use open source models. I follow a guy on instagram who is doing this today, with old mobile phones and Raspberry Pi - for now I'll stick to my free Perplexity account, but looking forward to being self-sufficient one day.

An amazing book - well worth a read - I found a first edition years ago, and hadn't expected it to become quite so valuable.

Luckily you can read the entire book on his daughters site, or at least you could in the past.

Unrelated but similarly enjoyable is: Shrimpy: A Record Round-the-World Voyage - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shane_Acton

Love this - I'd wanted a little site that helps me see which of the top ~100 cocktails I already have the ingredients to make, and which I need to make a purchase to be able to sample: https://iba-world.com/cocktails/all-cocktails/

When I had more time and money, I planned to try to make one a week, across two years - but I rarely seem to drink these days.

I always wondered that - but will it be economical to have the plants not working in the months of the year that the energy isn't free?

Interested in this as I haven't heard of this from an all population point of view, do you know which European countries this is? I know many have a national DNA database but that is limited to those charged with crimes (or suspected of in some cases, in some countries these are removed later).

This is so off-topic to corals, but I feel I need to address your two comments - one you are saying housewives don't do any labour? My wife isn't currently in paid employment but likely puts in more hours per day supporting our family in a multitude of different ways, thank I do at work/commuting. Despite this unseen labour, I know many housewives who do find time for creativity a multitude of different ways.

Re unemployment - back when basic necessities were met, the KLF wrote a book about about going on the dole and unleashing your creativity: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Manual

The only thing I did take for a long time was Fenugreek seed extract, but recently read long term us is potentially toxic, so stopped that, but I really liked how that made me feel.

I find magnesium great - but I also like 5-HTP which I find also helps me sleep if I take it with a little food about 30 mins before bed. I find I feel a lot calmer when taking it - and it helps my ADHD - though I don't take it for too long, as I never like to take anything for too long.

My children's school ran a great small bonfire and fireworks night that was well attended and received (and raised funds for the PTA/school).

Sadly after a conversation with the school's insurance company, we haven't been able to run one since due to the cost of cover.

Given the incident widely reported incident here in the UK, some years ago, I think people are more aware of the risk that running one of these events entails: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_M5_motorway_crash#:~:text...

It is used interchangeably here in the UK - most tradespeople or theatre folk say is as gaffa, as in boss.

eBay seems to have the X4 new and delivered for around £52 here in the UK - and AliExpress is a little cheaper - but I was put of AE by the warnings that the firmware could not be updated... Not sure if that is true, I've resisted looking into it too much.

I already have a standard and a backlit Nook Simple touch, so I really should just use them more before I buy another device

Stunning, and amazing to consider that these were painted by firelight/flaming torch.

If you've not watched the Herzog classic "Cave of Forgotten Dreams" - I highly highly recommend it - the paintings are amazing.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cave_of_Forgotten_Dreams

I was recently remembering my son's obsession with trains, buses and dustbin lorries when he was 2 to 5 - a friend tried to explain it as akin the the passion people would have felt for mega-fauna of the past. Did children of the cave-ages obsess over mammoths in the way he did over our local bus?

To me the Nokia N95 was close to a perfect phone, only the E61 or 62 then the E72 could beat it, especially for the price at the time.

I still like to think of a parallel time line where Symbian actually had a good and usable app store, and developers had been supported.

Correct spelling here in the UK version I'm reading - Quote: Because centuries of ploughing destroyed the original floor and hearths, its true purpose remains a mystery

---

I wonder if they localised the spelling for audiences outside of the UK or if it was one of the many Gruniad spelling mistakes?

Wow, that is a strong union!

Great summary here of the kind of things people are arrested for and a bit more about the laws this refers to https://open.substack.com/pub/monkdebunks/p/are-30-people-a-...

Apparently it was common in pre industrial Britain https://www.bbc.co.uk/future/article/20220107-the-lost-medie...

Really? Man that's a shame, you used to be able to 'buy' them at the post office for £5 - so I'd get at least £50worth a month and spend them around east London, I seemed to find it hilarious at the time - but after a quick chat I don't remember anyone refusing them anywhere.

Back in the 2000s/10s I had a little jar of various £1 and a couple 50p I was certain were fake. Interestingly the fake £1 I got most frequently were -from- vending machines - I wonder if those refilling them slipped them in?

Sadly not sure where they are now, they were also mixed in with a good few £5 coins I bought, I used to love paying for things with a £5 coin. Hope I find them again!

They all work for me now, maybe it was getting hugged to death?

The 'all articles' section really is a dive into what happens when you allow unfiltered posting - it's a shame that it isn't clear how many individuals are creating this hateful and otherwise inappropriate titles - is it just 1 or 2 people, or has this been posted to 4chan or somewhere and there is a concerted effort to disrupt the site?

Shame there isn't a way to flag pages for removal. I was going to point my kids at this site, and it could be a great learning tool for schools, but not currently something I'd share.

The rough cost to provide free breakfast and lunch to all students in the US is $30b - so as the go says, less than $55b.