Earhart_Light's recent activity
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Comment on How are you dealing with inflation regarding everyday enjoyment? in ~life
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Comment on How are you dealing with inflation regarding everyday enjoyment? in ~life
Earhart_Light Link ParentYay for more CSA lovers! If the concept interests anyone, check around your local area. I'm really fortunate that where I live (in the Northeast US), there are CSA's for produce, but also meat,...Yay for more CSA lovers! If the concept interests anyone, check around your local area. I'm really fortunate that where I live (in the Northeast US), there are CSA's for produce, but also meat, eggs / dairy, grains, apples, and mushrooms! [TBH, I've only done the grains, apples, and mushrooms, but I've really enjoyed the variety!]
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Comment on How are you dealing with inflation regarding everyday enjoyment? in ~life
Earhart_Light LinkSomething I've been doing for quite a number of years is buying a farm share (CSA) each fall. It cuts out the middle-man, so the farmers get more money - and importantly, they get that money up...Something I've been doing for quite a number of years is buying a farm share (CSA) each fall. It cuts out the middle-man, so the farmers get more money - and importantly, they get that money up front, before the growing season, so they have money for their expenses and don't need to borrow from banks. As the crops come in, I get a certain share of it. If the harvest is good, I get extra stuff; and if the harvest isn't as good, well, things would have been expensive at the grocery store anyway.
It cuts out the middle-man on the other end, as well: the stuff I get from my farm share was picked the previous day, at the peak of ripeness, instead of being picked earlier, shipped to a sorter, sorted graded and re-sorted, packaged, sent to a chain warehouse, sent to a store, and then put out for sale. The food that I get has more flavor, tends to last longer, and you usually get versions of things you often don't see in stores - heirloom or unusual varieties of produce. One CSA grew 14 different varieties of basil, another had 7 different types of corn (including popcorn-on-the-cob).
My current CSA is $375 for ten large boxes of veggies during a 24-week growing season. I'd estimate the boxes to be a little under a bushel each, and I choose the weeks I want a box. It also comes with pick-your-own access for higher-manpower crops (for example, I might get 3 pints of strawberries, with a PYO option to pick 3 more pints), or for stuff that they have in large abundance (I usually stock up on peppers and tomatoes at the end of the summer). They also have PYO herbs. I probably get about 15-18 bushels of high-quality veggies for my money, so less than $25 for a really big box of veggies. Sometimes there are extras included outside the box as well - watermelons, pumpkins, canteloupe, honey, dried heirloom beans, etc.
I get my farm share on Thursdays and Thursday night I sit in front of the tv, chopping, slicing, dicing, etc, put everything into storage containers. I also figure out what I want to do with the food. Friday night I go shopping for whatever bits and pieces I need for my recipes. Saturday morning, I spend an hour or two cooking large amounts of a couple meals - eggplant parmesan, 7-layer casserole, french onion soup, stuffed peppers and stuffed tomatoes, zucchini boats, etc, etc. Those get split into serving-sized portions, half of which are frozen (I usually have ~40 servings of 12-15 meals in the freezer at any given time), and the other half are eaten during the week.
Sunday night, I sit down and make ten salads - one for lunch and dinner each day of the week. I'll vary the salads, so they're not all the same. Maybe I'll make a couple sweeter ones by including a little fruit (from a fruit cup, or dried fruit, or cutting up an apple) and using a sweeter dressing, maybe I'll make some a bit fiery with extra peppers and radishes and a more robust dressing, etc. Veggies go on the bottom, lettuce on the top so it doesn't get crushed, dressing in an old pill bottle on the side, and anything crispy like croutons or tortilla strips in a re-usable ziploc on the side.
My goal with each box is to use up everything in those first few days. I don't always manage to include everything in a specific dish, so I do other things: I'll make strawberry preserves and stick them on the shelf, I'll make blueberry muffins or pancakes and freeze them, I'll pickle green beans and cabbage and beets and giardinieri, I'll make marinara or salsa and can it, I'll cook tomatoes down into cubes of tomato paste and freeze them, I'll slice/dice/mince onions, carrots, celery, garlic, etc, etc, and freeze them to be used as ingredients in future dishes.
Once you get the hang of things, it doesn't take "much" time at all: I do all my prep work and package the salads in front of the tv, so I don't really count those as work time; cooking itself is usually 1-2 hours on Saturday and it results in almost all the meals I'll eat for the next couple weeks, specially designed around my tastes (don't want carrots in your pot pies? don't include them!), plus more for the winter. It also means that the meals I'm eating don't have all the extra chemicals and stuff they include in store-bought food, plus I'm not spending a bunch of money on, say, a pot pie that turns out to be 50% pie shell and 40% carrots and potatoes and gravy.
When I look at it directly, yes, $375 is a lot for veggies. But it guarantees the farmers a sustainable income, provides me with a range of high-quality produce with more variety than I might otherwise eat, and gives me the base material for a range of home-cooked meals and snacks that I can eat throughout the year.
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Comment on How are you dealing with inflation regarding everyday enjoyment? in ~life
Earhart_Light Link ParentCheck with your theatre. Some places do volunteer ushering, where you show up an hour or so beforehand, show people to their seats, then sit and watch the play. Occasionally there's a little extra...Check with your theatre. Some places do volunteer ushering, where you show up an hour or so beforehand, show people to their seats, then sit and watch the play. Occasionally there's a little extra work, like putting a "Cast Substitutions" note into the playbill beforehand, or picking up spare playbills afterward, but it's a really affordable way to see a bunch of plays at theatres who do this sort of thing.
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Comment on Hey, monthly mystery commenters, what's up with the hit-and-runs? in ~tildes
Earhart_Light LinkIn the aftermath of rexxit, I applied to tildes (bc the discussion aspects are something I enjoy), kbin (as a possible rexxit alt), and re-joined imgur (gotta get my memes from somewhere!). kbin...In the aftermath of rexxit, I applied to tildes (bc the discussion aspects are something I enjoy), kbin (as a possible rexxit alt), and re-joined imgur (gotta get my memes from somewhere!). kbin approved me right away and it took several weeks for tildes, so I'd already joined communities and stuff over there, where a lot of my posting remains. I still check in here once or twice a month, and occasionally comment if the thread is still fresh, but I almost never get to any replies while they're still fresh and I generally don't necro topics.
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Comment on Reddit pops as much as 70% in NYSE debut after selling shares at top of range in ~tech
Earhart_Light LinkThe enshittification continues.Reddit is betting that data licensing could become a major source of revenue
The enshittification continues.
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Comment on Israel’s ultra-Orthodox don’t serve in its armed forces. That’s getting harder than ever to justify and threatens Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition. in ~humanities
Earhart_Light LinkRight. Because that's what any country looks for in immigration: a very large, very insular, uneducated group who relies on government welfare and only wants to leave because they might be called...Today the Haredi community numbers some 1.2 million, more than 13 percent of Israel’s total population. And because this community has the highest birth rate in the country, its ranks will only swell. [...] Because Haredi men can maintain their military exemption only by remaining in seminaries until age 26, they rarely enter the workforce until late in life and lack the secular education to succeed in it. As a result, nearly half of the ultra-Orthodox community lives in poverty and relies on government welfare. [...] This past week, Yitzhak Yosef, the Sephardic chief rabbi of Israel, declared that “if you force us to go to the army, we’ll all move abroad.”
Right. Because that's what any country looks for in immigration: a very large, very insular, uneducated group who relies on government welfare and only wants to leave because they might be called upon to do their duty to the country that has provided for them all these decades. I can't imagine any country that would pass up this golden opportunity ...
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Comment on I'm thoroughly done with my choices being only "yes" or "not now" in ~tech
Earhart_Light Link ParentOMG, thank you for this! Especially since it works on Firefox android, where I keep fat-fingering onto Shorts (grrr).There's an extension called youtube unhook
OMG, thank you for this! Especially since it works on Firefox android, where I keep fat-fingering onto Shorts (grrr).
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Comment on What rooms would you deem necessary for a house, and how necessary are they? in ~life.home_improvement
Earhart_Light LinkI think a lot of it depends on what type of person you are. Some people like having things visible or they find comfort in clutter and wouldn't much mind not having closets and storerooms; other...I think a lot of it depends on what type of person you are. Some people like having things visible or they find comfort in clutter and wouldn't much mind not having closets and storerooms; other people find it very distracting. Some people like minimal possessions, others like a lot of variety and comfort. Some people need lots of space, some don't; some are happy and safe outdoors; others have issues (asthma, bad neighborhoods). You need to define the things that are important to you.
Myself, I mostly find a place within my price range and within a half hour or so of work, then work with what I have. If there's no closet, I might get a clothes rack or chifferobe or over-the-door hooks to hang the clothes I need to hang. If it's too cluttered-looking for my taste, I can put up a decorative screen in front of whatever is annoying my most; that kind of thing.
I will say that the one thing that's important to me is sound. Lots of constant sound puts my nerves on edge. I need either a quiet neighborhood (or where the noise mostly happens on a regular basis, like the couple hours after school lets out), or good soundproofing. And yeah, I can wear noise-cancelling headphones and white noise machines, but that gets really tedious. So sound is actually the third thing I look at.
I also find that, if I have two floors in a place, I tend to spend my time mostly on one floor, with the other floor existing mostly for either cooking or sleeping. It's nice to have everything on one floor.
The number of rooms also depends on whether you live alone or with other people, whether you plan to have company over, and how neat you are (or how embarrassed you are when you're not neat). If you live alone, don't expect company and aren't bothered if there's a mess, then one room is fine. If you have company over and aren't neat/are embarrassed, it's nice to have a bedroom where you can be messy (or shove messes into) and just close the door when company comes over.
Rooms? Start with one room, no barriers, everything is there in the open. What do you want to segregate off? First is probably the bathroom, for hygiene and vulnerability reasons.
Second is probably the utility room. Now, things like the washer and dryer could easily be located in the bathroom, but you also have things like the hot water heater, and the main electrical panel and whatever HVAC arrangement you have, which are traditionally hidden off in a closet somewhere. You can easily make the utility room where you store the household cleaning supplies, somewhat dangerous chemicals that you want to keep separate, and a small set of tools - a vacuum cleaner or broom, household bug killer, drain cleaner, bleach, etc.
The third and fourth areas to segregate are probably the kitchen and bedroom, though the order that occurs in will depend on the person. Some people hate having an open kitchen, others love it; some people love having a separate 'bedroom' area; others are perfectly content with daybeds or Murphy beds. But if you're designing or building from scratch, you can also achieve visual separation with architectural elements - a half-wall or island to separate the kitchen from the living room, for example, or making a small loft area for a bedroom.
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Ford, UAW negotiators reach labor deal, pending union leadership approval
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Comment on Google sued for negligence after man drove off collapsed bridge while following map directions in ~tech
Earhart_Light Link ParentFrom the Sky News article someone posted above: So it looks like one of those "sue everyone potentially liable and let the law sort it out" suits.From the Sky News article someone posted above:
The North Carolina State Patrol had said the bridge was not maintained by local or state officials, and the original developer's company had dissolved. The lawsuit names several private property management companies that it claims are responsible for the bridge and the adjoining land.
So it looks like one of those "sue everyone potentially liable and let the law sort it out" suits.
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Comment on On this day in 1999 the moon was blown out of the Earth's orbit: Space 1999 in ~tv
Earhart_Light LinkFor anyone who's never seen it, you should check out "Message from Moonbase Alpha", which was created for the 1999 convention. It wraps up the series, and introduces an interesting paradox at the...For anyone who's never seen it, you should check out "Message from Moonbase Alpha", which was created for the 1999 convention. It wraps up the series, and introduces an interesting paradox at the same time :)
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Comment on Short(er) easy reading fantasy series that isn't YA or Discworld in ~books
Earhart_Light Link ParentStephen Colbert to produce Chronicles of Amber tv series.Stephen Colbert to produce Chronicles of Amber tv series.
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Comment on Michigan Republican fake elector for Donald Trump outlined Jan. 6 plan to present Mike Pence with "dueling electors" in December 2020 US radio interview in ~misc
Earhart_Light Link ParentYeah, I don't care - they're still giving power and legitimacy to the national Republicans, and we know the direction the national Republicans are headed in. Or, as my grandad used to say:...many Republicans in the Midwest are mainly only interested in mundane technical issues like attracting business and keeping a balanced budget.
Yeah, I don't care - they're still giving power and legitimacy to the national Republicans, and we know the direction the national Republicans are headed in.
Or, as my grandad used to say: "There's a word to describe all the different Germans who went along with the Nazis because they were interested in improving the economy or providing jobs or focusing on internal issues or dampening crime or were working too hard to care, or any of a thousand other reasons.
"You know what the word is? Nazi. History doesn't care what their reasons were, and neither do I."
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Comment on What have you been eating, drinking, and cooking? in ~food
Earhart_Light Link ParentSince you seem like the type to grow your own basil, may I suggest putting in some lemon basil next year? (I'm particularly fond of Mrs. Burns' lemon basil.)Since you seem like the type to grow your own basil, may I suggest putting in some lemon basil next year? (I'm particularly fond of Mrs. Burns' lemon basil.)
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Comment on What have you been eating, drinking, and cooking? in ~food
Earhart_Light LinkIt's my sister's birthday! Dinner tonight was a creamy pasta with crispy wild mushrooms, feta-crusted baked heirloom tomatoes, cinnamon-roasted baked baby potatoes (I used a bag of mixed exotics),...It's my sister's birthday! Dinner tonight was a creamy pasta with crispy wild mushrooms, feta-crusted baked heirloom tomatoes, cinnamon-roasted baked baby potatoes (I used a bag of mixed exotics), and peach kuchen made with heirloom peaches from a local orchard. We don't eat this way normally, but it's a special occasion, so ... (I am so full!!)
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Comment on I have seventeen people coming over this afternoon for a family do! What are your go to recipes and ready made choices for hosting/ feeding a crowd? in ~food
Earhart_Light Link ParentOh, that sounds delicious! Your poor puppy, though! Congratulations on your upcoming wedding - I hope it goes well, and that you have a wonderful life together!Oh, that sounds delicious! Your poor puppy, though!
Congratulations on your upcoming wedding - I hope it goes well, and that you have a wonderful life together!
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Comment on I have seventeen people coming over this afternoon for a family do! What are your go to recipes and ready made choices for hosting/ feeding a crowd? in ~food
Earhart_Light LinkHey, OP, any updates? What else did you end up making? I hope things went well!Hey, OP, any updates? What else did you end up making? I hope things went well!
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Comment on Batman is a jerk in ~comics
Earhart_Light LinkThe best description I ever heard of this is that Superman is Clark Kent's secret identity, and that Bruce Wayne is Batman's.I always liked Superman in the stories that focus on the fact that he is a normal guy at heart who talks and acts like a normal dude, and Batman seemed like the exact opposite.
The best description I ever heard of this is that Superman is Clark Kent's secret identity, and that Bruce Wayne is Batman's.
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Comment on Marion County Record newspaper raid: the sworn affidavit for the search warrant is essentially just the text of the search warrant in ~news
Earhart_Light Link ParentHoo boy ... As things have trickled out so far: The restaurant owner was trying to hide a old DUI conviction, because that could cost her restaurant a very lucrative alcohol license. She was aware...Hoo boy ... As things have trickled out so far:
The restaurant owner was trying to hide a old DUI conviction, because that could cost her restaurant a very lucrative alcohol license. She was aware that the newspaper was investigating the issue. She was feuding with the newspaper owner because she believed that the newspaper had already revealed her conviction to other people and would soon publish it. [Both of those fears were untrue.]
She's also been driving without a license ("out of necessity", she claims). The local police know about this habit and have refused to do anything about it. That's possibly because the owner of the hotel the restaurant is in gets to raise the rent a really nice amount once the liquor license is approved -- and the hotel owner is the brother of the District Attorney.
The newspaper is also investigating a dozen allegations that the local police chief (who only recently took office) left his last job due to multiple serious accusations of sexual assault. The police chief was also aware of the newspaper's investigation - and one of the computers that they took during the raid has the contact information of everyone who's made an allegation so far.
Nothing's come out about the judge so far; my best guess is that she signed the search warrant based on the kind of informal proceedings that often happen in small towns. For instance, something like the police chief saying, "Yeah, I'll get the paperwork to you later today, I was just passing by and thought I'd grab the warrant while I was in the neighborhood."
The next time you're there, you might try asking the people at the farmer's market (the head farmers behind their stands, and the market people at the info desk) if they know of any CSAs either in the area, or that deliver to the area - there are CSAs that deliver shares to local farm markets, or that have pick-up locations farther out from the farm.