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Post by cheerypeabrain on Oct 19, 2017 19:37:54 GMT
We can't all like the same things can we meduck? Jeff liked it too....
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Post by mickthecactus on Oct 19, 2017 19:51:33 GMT
He has impeccable taste...
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Post by kerouac2 on Oct 19, 2017 22:16:01 GMT
I read today that marriages are becoming much more mixed because of the internet, which is logical. People are meeting who are not at all from the same town, company or cultural background. What was a bit surprising on the other hand was to also read that internet marriages last longer than traditional ones because there is much less interference and manipulation by one's family, friends and social circle because they have nothing substantial to latch onto like the person's history or skeletons in the closet, unlike people that everybody knows.
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Post by bixaorellana on Oct 20, 2017 0:02:35 GMT
In a way, internet marriages might be more old-fashioned, since the partners often spend a good deal of time corresponding before meeting for the first time.
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Post by kerouac2 on Oct 20, 2017 4:01:16 GMT
I can also add that since so many of my original 'real life' friends from the past have died prematurely, the majority of my friends in real life now were originally met online, either on the internet or on the minitel (internet's ancestor in France). Absolutely all of them are people that I would have had little or no choice of meeting otherwise, and I have been friends with a few for more than 30 years because no matter where they might be in the world, we never lost touch.
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Post by cheerypeabrain on Oct 20, 2017 9:41:30 GMT
Son No. 2 met his Finnish GF online. They were playing an internet game thingy and she sent him a private message asking to meet on Facebook. They Skype daily, argue online, eat 'together' via webcams and have visited each other a few times.
Son is not in a position financially (or health wise) to make more of a commitment which is a shame. I can see his GF coming over here to live with us before too long...but she has to find a job here before she can apply to live here. Better get it sorted before brexit...
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Post by kerouac2 on Oct 23, 2017 13:11:44 GMT
In a study, it was found that "No" is the most common word used by people who talk in their sleep. It is used in 21% of their sentences.
People awake say "no" only about 0.4% of the time in their speech.
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Post by whatagain on Oct 23, 2017 19:12:38 GMT
That gives food for thought. I'd say we should say not more often. I learnt to say no. Wish I had done it before my burnout ! 2 of my best friends are really easy guys. I call them to invite them and if they don't feel like it they just say no. I get used to it and love it now. So easy.
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Post by kerouac2 on Oct 31, 2017 5:44:58 GMT
Vikings absolutely never wore helmets with horns on them. They were invented by Richard Wagner as a costume for an opera.
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Post by questa on Oct 31, 2017 5:56:16 GMT
Oh those horns are so necessary to increase height and show power . Can you imagine the Valkyries in poke bonnets and frilly aprons?
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Post by Kimby on Nov 1, 2017 2:34:12 GMT
In a study, it was found that "No" is the most common word used by people who talk in their sleep. It is used in 21% of their sentences.
People awake say "no" only about 0.4% of the time in their speech. Mr. Kimby talks in his sleep and MOST of his words are “no” or “oh, no”. He usually doesn’t remember the dream, just a sensation of dread. (He’s not overly fearful in real life.)
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Post by tod2 on Nov 2, 2017 17:46:47 GMT
I'm in the club Kimby.. I talk and talk on most nights. Sometimes get violent and use swear words like "Bastard!" I don't remember most of the encounters but sometimes do. Unfortunately Mr. Tod has been attacked... I've asked him repeatedly to wake me up but most time he does not.
Pee Ess: NO, is the word I use all the time during the day in conversation, even before I have even considered the evidence...it ticks him off no end.
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Post by rikita on Nov 4, 2017 0:59:16 GMT
an example rather than fixed numbers, as there will be quite a bit of variation, but: a relatively full used diaper (size 5) weighs about as much as 8 empty diapers, and as more than 50 of those small plastic bags they use for fruit and vegetables at the supermarket.
in case you want to know the reason for me learning this (and weighing a full diaper) - i read an article about a town where people pay for their garbage disposal by weight of garbage, and some families are protesting that this is unfair to someone with children (or elderly people with incontinence). someone commented on the article that he disagrees with the complaint, as these families produce more garbage, so they have to pay more, even if the garbage is produced by kids (his tone suggested that he disagrees with reproduction, anyway) - so i thought i'd like to know how much of the extra money families pay is really for the extra garbage, and how much is for urine.
(considered posting that in a comment there, but you have to sign up for that, and i didn't want to, so instead i am sharing with you)
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Post by kerouac2 on Nov 4, 2017 4:50:16 GMT
I had never throught of that kind of discrimination before -- people who can flush waste down the toilet vs. those who must "collect" it. I sometimes flush inedible leftovers down the toilet, too, which also reduces the garbage in the bin. It would be interesting to know which is more expensive and/or ecological -- sewage treatment vs. waste disposal.
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Post by bixaorellana on Nov 4, 2017 4:54:07 GMT
an example rather than fixed numbers, as there will be quite a bit of variation, but: a relatively full used diaper (size 5) weighs about as much as 8 empty diapers, and as more than 50 of those small plastic bags they use for fruit and vegetables at the supermarket. in case you want to know the reason for me learning this (and weighing a full diaper) - i read an article about a town where people pay for their garbage disposal by weight of garbage, and some families are protesting that this is unfair to someone with children (or elderly people with incontinence). someone commented on the article that he disagrees with the complaint, as these families produce more garbage, so they have to pay more, even if the garbage is produced by kids (his tone suggested that he disagrees with reproduction, anyway) - so i thought i'd like to know how much of the extra money families pay is really for the extra garbage, and how much is for urine. (considered posting that in a comment there, but you have to sign up for that, and i didn't want to, so instead i am sharing with you) This is the best thing I've read all day!
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Post by bjd on Nov 4, 2017 6:52:59 GMT
Our garbage collection services were more or less privatized without it being made publicly known. The suburb I live in, although right next to Toulouse, is part of a group of other communties because of political decisions made by a former mayor. Anyway, when we first moved there, garbage was collected three times a week and they picked up everything, including green refuse from gardens. This was locally run and was part of your local taxes.
Then, they gave us two kinds of bins: one for household garbage and one for recycling, as well as a box for glass. Household garbage twice a week, recycling once, and glass used to be once but now is no longer picked up but you have to take it to a glass collection point. Supposedly they get more glass that way but I don't believe it. This all is run by Véolia, a private company, so the garbagemen work every day of the year except Christmas, New Year and May 1. Garden refuse is no longer collected, you have to take it to the dump yourself, and if you are an old lady who has a house with a garden but don't drive, well, too bad for you. Payment was extra, twice a year.
Now, starting this year, we have fees for every time you take the garbage out. A chip was put on the garbage bins and it's read on the truck each time it is picked up. Not only do we pay for collection as a "service, but every time the bin goes out, it costs about 2€. You have the right to take it out once a month, but pay more if you take it out more. Of course, this being France where people are not very civic-minded, there was lots of talk about people putting their garbage into neighbours' bins, etc. Or in summer when it's hot, what if you eat fish? Do you leave the stuff in the bin until it reeks?
Recycling is still free, for now.
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Post by kerouac2 on Nov 4, 2017 7:27:31 GMT
In Paris, lots of people stick their trash either in bins for other buildings or just in a small municipal bin if they can fit it in. My mother's nursing home had huge bins (imagine the number of diapers they use every day for 130 residents!) and it seemed as though half the street would stuff their rubbish into the nursing home bins for a very simple reason -- if you don't take your own bin out, you don't have to take it back in at 10pm. This was especially true for the small buildings with contracts for somebody to take the bins in and out. Young men would arrive on motor scooters to take the bins out, but if they could fit all of the trash from the building into another bin, they didn't have to come back later to take it in.
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Post by rikita on Nov 4, 2017 10:56:51 GMT
signed up after all to post under the article, as it surprises me none of the comments there consider anything about how the main part of the weight in dirty diapers is the urine ...
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Post by bixaorellana on Nov 4, 2017 15:45:14 GMT
this being France where people are not very civic-minded, there was lots of talk about people putting their garbage into neighbours' bins, etc. France has not cornered the market on this kind of behavior. I lived in a small community in Texas where a local apartment complex was forced to lock its dumpster because the volume of unauthorized use left no space for the residents to use. they gave us two kinds of bins: one for household garbage and one for recycling, as well as a box for glass. ... A chip was put on the garbage bins ... One has to wonder how much was invested in the two kinds of bins plus the fancy chips plus the software for reading the chips plus the bookkeeping involved, all of which you all are paying for with no say-so in the matter. But let's hear it for privatization. Re: diapers ~ I lived in a subdivision in Louisiana with a great proportion of baby-producing residents. On garbage day I would note that often garbage can lids or garbage containers were left in the street, but not consistently nor in front of every house. At my house, the empty rolling garbage bin was always neatly returned by the garbage men to exactly where I'd left it. I've always tried to be polite about garbage -- double-bagging anything stinky or leaving warning notes for the garbage men if there was broken glass or something particularly heavy. One day I idly glanced out the window as the garbage truck passed by the house of a neighbor with two toddlers. (remember, this was in Louisiana: hot & humid) The garbage man took the lid off the can, then reeled back gagging. Mystery solved as to why my baby-free house had its garbage can treated better.
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Post by mich64 on Nov 4, 2017 16:47:42 GMT
Most bins or dumpsters here have a lock and the staff responsible are shown where the garbage lock key is when employed as it seems it the garbage duty is usually assigned to the new hire. The problem started because of people bringing items not taken at the curbside pick up so it became common to bring whatever to work and throw it in the bin. Once companies realized employees were not heeding memos or posted signs that the bins were for company waste only, the resolution was to lock them. Recycling has eased the problem and they have also opened a place to drop of electronics, paints, oils and most people are now used to taking their waste there.
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Post by kerouac2 on Nov 4, 2017 18:04:54 GMT
When I was in the Dordogne this summer, I was in one of those towns that uses the "underground chamber" system for its waste, with just a very small protuberance at street level for a large storage space underneath. I have always thought that these seem to be a very good idea aesthetically, but I confess that I have never seen exactly how they are emptied. I had a little bit of rubbish that I wanted to put in one, but I quickly discovered that one had to have a key or a code or something to obtain access. Obviously there were little street bins as well, so it wasn't difficult to get rid of my stuff in one of those.
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Post by Kimby on Nov 5, 2017 0:01:14 GMT
this being France where people are not very civic-minded, there was lots of talk about people putting their garbage into neighbours' bins, etc. One trash day last summer, I took some last-minute garbage out to my wheeled 95-gallon container at the street to find that a neighbor who was in the process of moving had dumped a whole load of discarded clothing in the unused space in my container (and I learned later, also in most of our neighbors’ cans, too.) I didn’t mind, though, as we share the same shoe size and I scored 3 pairs of good barely-worn tennis shoes. Dumpster-diving in my own dumpster!
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Post by questa on Nov 5, 2017 4:44:02 GMT
My state holds some records for waste treatment. Every house, flat and place of residence is issued with three green wheelie bins. The 2 big ones have lids of yellow (for anything that can be recycled...plastics, tins, papers, pizza boxes etc) and green (for garden waste, kitchen scraps, animal droppings in biodegradable bags and anything compostable) The third bin is smaller with a red lid and is for waste not covered...(polyurethane packing or boxes, paint cans that have dried out, vinyl or carpet off cuts)
Around the suburbs are free drop off places for e-Waste and appliances like freezers and stoves. Each household is entitled to two curb pick-ups a year of "hard waste" ( furniture, bedding, old sports gear and accumulated junk. This only takes a phone call to arrange and is free.
The jewel in the crown in South Australia's recycling is the 10 cents refund we get for each drink container returned to the recycling place. The drink containers vary from usual cans, bottles and cardboard fruit boxes to yakult bottles and local wine bottles. Just about everyone collects and cashes in. My flats have a common bin and our petty cash gets +/- $20 per month.
Yep! we are pretty proud of our rubbish system and clean city.
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Post by kerouac2 on Nov 5, 2017 5:18:26 GMT
In Paris you can get anything bulky picked up free of charge. You are assigned a code number which you are supposed to tape to the item and a time to put it out on the street. Even though most people seem to use the system quite well, one can still find unlabeled mattresses or old cookers outside, generally in the dead of night. The fine is quite high if you get caught.
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Post by bjd on Nov 5, 2017 7:19:02 GMT
We used to have "non-regular" garbage picked up twice a year, but now it's only once, in October. This year they were supposed to come on a Tuesday morning, so everything had to be out by Monday night. Since they didn't turn up until Thursday, much of the "better" stuff had already been taken away by passers-by.
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Post by rikita on Nov 5, 2017 7:56:51 GMT
Re: diapers ~ I lived in a subdivision in Louisiana with a great proportion of baby-producing residents. On garbage day I would note that often garbage can lids or garbage containers were left in the street, but not consistently nor in front of every house. At my house, the empty rolling garbage bin was always neatly returned by the garbage men to exactly where I'd left it. I've always tried to be polite about garbage -- double-bagging anything stinky or leaving warning notes for the garbage men if there was broken glass or something particularly heavy. One day I idly glanced out the window as the garbage truck passed by the house of a neighbor with two toddlers. (remember, this was in Louisiana: hot & humid) The garbage man took the lid off the can, then reeled back gagging. Mystery solved as to why my baby-free house had its garbage can treated better. i'd say it depends though - if they were careless with the garbage i suppose it is understandable (though still not quite right), but if the problem was just the fact that the garbage they produced was more stinky because it was diapers, even though they were put in there correctly, then it seems unfair to punish them for that ...
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Post by rikita on Nov 5, 2017 7:59:53 GMT
big items here are only picked up for a fee (there is a yearly free pick up in some other parts of germany though), but can be brought to a specific place for free at any time. i was surprised it was free when i brought our old sofa there, i had expected it to cost money ... i suppose a lot of people might not use this, as they don't know it is free - but i suppose others are lazy. and then of course some might just not have access a car (it took me a while to organize someone driving the sofa there for me, as it only fitted in my dad's car, not in my brother's or my mother's) ...
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Post by mickthecactus on Nov 5, 2017 9:49:30 GMT
That sounds very good Quests.
However we are told that pizza boxes can’t be recycled as the oil off the pizza prevents it.
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Post by onlyMark on Nov 5, 2017 10:06:01 GMT
When we lived in Germany I did some decorating and had a few empty pots of paint to dispose of. I may be exaggerating but it felt like I had to wait six weeks for a special truck to visit the area and then seemingly undergo an interrogation as to why I really needed to throw them away.
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Post by patricklondon on Nov 5, 2017 11:15:06 GMT
Putting rubbish into other people's bins... In the UK, it's more likely to be when someone hires in a skip (dumpster) for building or landscaping works. They notoriously attract other people's unwanted big items. I confess that decades ago when I finally cut down the diseased tree in my parents' back garden, the bits sat there for months before my mother spotted that someone down the road had a skip outside, and we snuck the bits of tree down there in the middle of the night (well, after dark, anyway). My local authority allows two free collections of big items (mattresses, furniture) every year (the last mayor charged £15 a time), if you can't get them to the tip yourself. Fortunately, ours is quite close so for smaller recyclables like electricals, computers and old paint tins, I could get them round to the tip on my bike. A lot of my neighbours are still too lazy or disorganised to take advantage of this and just dump the lot with all the other refuse, or worse still, carefully sort out their recyclables and put them into plastic bags before putting them into the recycling bins.....! My blog | My photos | My video clips My Librivox | "too literate to be spam"
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