Enshitification warning: #Arstechnica manages to push bandwidth-wasting autoplay video in a way that bypasses Firefox’s setting to disable autoplay.
I recently read a complaint about the opposite. Someone deleted their Proton account and their handle was made available 1 year later. They were rightfully angry because the next user would potentially start receiving mail from things like the original user’s bank. The new user could perform password resets on accounts where the original user had not yet changed the email address on file.
I cannot create a new post. Sorry to crash in on this thread. If this comment posts, it means I can write comments but not create new posts. When I try to create a new post, I fill out the title field, hit tab, and the title clears as soon as I leave the field. So the create post form has become unfillable.
I am aware that that happened in Oregon once, and even though the parts per million after one person’s bladder is empted into a tank of thousands of gallons is negligible, they emptied the whole water tank which covered a whole city and refilled it, and sent the guy a water bill for that.
I suggest watching the “how beer saved the world” documentary. It shows how they used filthy stagnant pond water with duck shit in it to brew beer, which was safe after the brewing process. But note the beer container is not part of the brewing process.
The water is not much of a risk. But filled bottles sit in warehouses with rats. Rats urinate on the bottles. This is why Europeans don’t drink directly from the bottle. I’m not sure why Americans are content drinking direct from the bottles.. maybe US warehouses are rat-free.
In Europe they charge 10¢/bottle for simple bottles and 40¢/bottle for the fancy clamp-down style. Then that gets refunded when they are returned. It’s a bit of a hassle because some brewers do not participate, in which case the reverse vending machine rejects the bottle which means you then have to carry it to a glass recycle bin. The brewers that do not participate use a thinner more fragile glass that would be unfit for reuse. So consumers have to stay on their toes and keep track of which brewers participate. Can get quite tricky with the obscure artisinal brews.
Ireland is introducing the same concept for plastic bottles of charging a fee for them then returning the fee in a reverse vending machine. I can’t imagine reusing those. They must be recycling them.
I doubt anyone does. I certainly do not. It would not be environmentally optimum to do so.
There is a stat that if you wash a typical dishwasher load worth of dishes by hand (with avg faucet output of 1 gallon/min), you will consume:
- 20 gallons of water if you are a novice
- 8 gallons of water if you are skilled
While a dishwashing machine uses ~4—5 gallons of water. So dishwashers are actually good for the environment. I will clear of any bulk waste before loading a dishwasher, but I do not hand rinse because it would be wasteful.
It’s essentially the same when returning bottles for reuse. People count on the industrial cleaning to do the full job (though I started the thread to get an idea of to what extent it really can be relied on). The refund for the bottle return is the same whether the bottles are clean or dirty, so there is no incentive for anyone to pre-clean them in any way.
Thanks.. looks like I got my answer. Not a single bottle rejected!
It doesn’t take long for mold to grow on empty beer bottles. Considering beer bottles get returned for a refund, you have to assume that the brewery will make an effort to reuse as many as possible.
I toured a brewery once and they showed us the big industrial bottle washing machine. They said the bottles get scanned for cracks using a laser, and rejects obviously get tossed. The question is: what about mold, which adheres quite well to the corners of the glass? I wonder if the laser also detects bottles that didn’t get clean. Or if they just figure the temps would kill everything and just be considered safe enough from there.
Government to introduce historic new law to protect future generations of young people from the harms of smoking.
I think it was the prime minister (or spokesperson) who made this very clever argument: (paraphrasing) “we are not taking away choice… cigarettes are designed to inherently take away your choice by trapping you in an addiction.”
I’m not picking sides here, just pointing out a great piece of rhetoric to spin the policy as taking away something that takes away your choice. Effectively putting forward the idea that you don’t have choice to begin with.
(sorry to say this rhetoric was not mentioned in the linked article; I just heard it on BBC World Service)
I’ve wanted to play with packet radio for a while now. It’s a shame the article pimps a Cloudflare site (winlink). It’s fitting in a sense though because there is a ban on using encryption over the ham radio bands. So the emails over packet radio must inherently be exposed to the world anyway.
breathability is the key criteria for clothing. Polyester and synthetic fabrics are nearly all terrible at this compared to natural fibres.
Natural fibers cannot be grouped together in this way because there is a huge variation.
This is where cotton fails and synthetic microfibers come out ahead. Cotton retains water, swells when wet, and suffocates as water tension spans the threads that are thickened by the swelling. Synthetic microfibers wick moisture away, and do not swell when wet, which gives excellent breathability. Cotton is fine as long as you don’t sweat. Or exceptionally, if it’s extremely hot in some windy situations the water retention can be a plus. I used to don cotton and hose myself down before getting on a motorcycle on a hot dry day. The evaporative cooling effect worked wonders with the high relative wind. But outside of that niche, such as sports, microfibers are king which is why sporting goods shops fetch high prices for high tech synthetics. As someone who sweats profusely more than normal, cotton is a non-starter in warm climates. Evaporation from soggy cotton simply cannot keep up with the rate that I add sweat. So a cotton t-shirt gets soaked in sweat and remains wet the whole workout session, and for days thereafter.
I used to wear tighty whities which made my gear sweat. Switched to Pategonia boxers and wow what a difference in breathability.
Wool and synthetics are similar w.r.t. comfort hence the term “smart wool”. But indeed natural wool is pricey and non-vegan.
Doesn’t sound familiar, but maybe there is more than two.
(edit) just had a brief look at bombas. They seem like a great product but I didn’t see notice of a lifetime warranty.
Voting with your money works. But only when there are good options to vote for.
There are a couple BifL sock makers, but no BifL underwear makers. That’s the problem. If someone made loose-fitting stretchy aramid boxers with a drawstring that lasts 1+ lifetimes, people would pay $100/ea for them.
HUGE amounts of clothes are being trashed, many of them new; never worn. I wish I kept the link around. There were several articles in the past few years showing massive piles of clothes along the coastline of some poverty-stricken countries, with all the dyes leeching into the ocean. Fast fashion is the culprit.
Probably what disgusts me the most are political campaign t-shirts. Surely it’s the worst instance of obsolescence by design in clothing. Andrew Yang claimed to be an environmentalist yet his campaign t-shirts were made of non-sustainable cotton. Attempts to spotlight that were censored by Reddit.
If it’s OK and just doesn’t fit I donate it.
All the charities collecting clothes in my area are fussy. They want no flaws, and they want clothes to be cleaned. Apparently there is no infrastructure for repairing them or even simply washing them. Neighbors don’t bother.. they just stuff a trash bag with clothes and put it out with other trash. Sometimes someone notices that and tears open the bag and rifles through it for stuff. I’ve moved into places where the previous tenant just left clothes and blankets behind. I dumped them in the clothing donation bins anyway, without washing. But it’s dicey.. I could just be adding to their burden and have no idea if the clothes and blankets get used.
Patagonia boxers are made using recycled plastics and they also accept worn out boxers for recycling. Patagonia is the only boxers I have found that are very loose fitting (baggy in fact), silky feeling, yet stretchy, yet moisture-wicking all at once. Nothing like this seems to exist in Europe.
So here’s a debate: synthetic vs cotton
Synthetic boxers can be recycled and can be made from recycled plastics. But every time synthetic clothes get washed they shed microplastics which most sewage treatment centers cannot filter out. You would have to buy a special filter to attach to your washing machine. Researchers in Ghent discovered that the bacteria that loves perspiration also loves synthetic clothes but not cotton. This is why synthetic clothes get stinky fast and thus need more frequent washing than natural fibers.
Cotton production consumes absurd amounts of water (2700 liters of water to produce 1 t-shirt). And when you wash it, hang drying takes /days/ (whereas microfibers hang dry in a couple hours). So people use energy wasting tumble dryers when cleaning cotton. But cotton has the advantage of being biodegradable. You can simply compost/landfill finished cotton as long as it doesn’t have harmful dyes that leech out. There is also a cotton t-shirt that is claimed to wearable 7 times before each wash. IIRC it’s blended with silver for anti-microbial effects.
The environmental debate can go either way depending on which problem you want to focus on, but cotton is clearly lousy performing underwear considering how it retains water and gets soggy. The only natural fiber that performs well for underwear is wool (ideally Marino from what I’ve read). But the prices on that are extortionate. €60+ for one pair of wool boxers, and they’re tight fitting.
Anyway, the OP’s thesis is lost. There is no BifL boxers AFAIK.
There are BifL socks though, called “Darn Tough” which have a lifetime warranty. They have 1 competitor but I forgot the brand. Both use marino wool.
update
Patagonia plans to open a store in Amsterdam.
I have a shopaholic aunt who is said to wear things she buys once on avg. She could open her own 2nd hand shop (or if she moved her stock to Europe she could open ~6 2nd-hand shops). Many women in my family are inflicted with this disease to varying degrees. It’s a gender-specific disease that I think men are immune to.
I quit using a dryer. Hang drying will help elastics last longer. Though it still breaks eventually.
When you repair them, are you sewing new elastic onto them? i thought about just threading a shoe lace since some boxers us that drawstring design anyway.
cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/3036509
> There is apparently a printer that can use spent coffee or tea leaves to print. I love this idea but I would not buy a printer when so many are being thrown away. I pull them out of dumpsters with intent to repair them. So the question is, can they be hacked to work with coffee or tea? > > Canon actually disclosed how to hack their cartridges as a consequence of a semiconductor shortage due to coronavirus. So this suggests #Canon could be a candidate for this hack. Has anyone tried it? How precisely do we have to match the viscosity of homemade ink to the original ink?
I needed expensive custom orthotics. Of course making a costly medical modification to flimsy shoes is a terrible idea. The orthotic maker gave me this advice: buy leather shoes and make sure the inside is also leather. It was great advice because when the interior heal of the shoe is some kind of fabric it’s not long before the material forms a hole and the plastic skeleton is exposed.
I found some ugly tennis shoes (didn’t care); had 3 stripes (i think that’s Adidas). They were all leather inside and outside except the sole. They lasted like over a decade. The outer sole was the first to wear out. I can probably have them resoled.
But in general, if you go into a place that makes medical orthotics they will have the advice you’re after, and perhaps have specific recommendations.
Theoretically there is just one material more durable than leather: aramid (aka Kevlar™). Not sure if anyone is on the ball with making aramid shoes though.
- The right to be unplugged includes the right to be free from banks as banks increasingly force customers online. There is also a #WarOnCash underway. So even if you make the ethically absent minded decision to pay for your food electronically, the least you can do is pay the tip in cash. (the war on cash is war on privacy)
- Electronic tips are also subject to siphoning off by banks. When you tip by card, you also tip Visa, Mastercard, or whatever scumbag credit network is in play because their fee is a percentage of the whole transaction. The electronic transaction may be free to you but it’s not free to the business. I don’t know if the restaurant pays the whole fee and transfers 100% of the tip to the server, or if the server shares the hit. But if this is not McDonalds but some small local business, it’s better to give the full amount to the business anyway.
- Data protection: when you tip electronically, that creates a record not just attached to you but to the server. If you respect /their/ privacy by way of data minimization, you tip in cash.
- Environmental protection: banks are lousy for the environment. (ref: Banking on Climate Chaos, bank blacklist and Wired article)
- Terminal tipping is a swindle (esp. in Europe). Tipping is not only optional in the most pure meaning of the word (not expected), but tipping amounts are lower in Europe meant purely to indicate service quality. Even a tip of €1 is a complement. But terminals suggest American proportions (e.g. 20%). It’s a scam. I think I’ve only seen this in tourist traps. The ownership is happy to make their staff happy by pushing a tip request in a way that deceives the public into thinking it’s out of their hands.. that the technology is asking for the tip. This fucked up scam is training restaurant patrons to overtip w.r.t. the culture (a culture that the locals don’t want to drift into Americanism). In the US it’s not exactly a swindle, but you have less control over the amount nonetheless. Sure most people like the math-free convenience but IMO that does not justify it. And certainly the ~15—25% amounts are excessive when there was no table service.
- Sometimes servers pool their tips to then tip a portion to the kitchen staff who did well enough to make the servers look good. Cash tips make that go smoothly. I was once in a rare situation where I needed to pay by card and I also wanted cash back. The server explained to me they do not give cash back because of that tip pooling that they do, saying that sometimes they do not get enough cash tips to properly treat the kitchen staff.
I don’t really know the guy but I’m sure he is quite busy. He also runs infosec.exchange and a Threads-defederated variant of that, and an onion mirror, and fedia.io. fedia.io is on kbin/mbin and thus very buggy and he seems to put a lot of energy into chasing those bugs. IIRC he mentioned his bills are like $3k/month for one of or all of those nodes. Wouldn’t hurt to ask but the question should probably come direct from the interested admins. Maybe they could hire him.
More often than not, admins are interested in alternatives. When they hear there are no gratis alternatives, they shut down. CF is deceptively gratis. That is, the gratis plan is for relatively low consumption. When a service comes under attack which then leverages the defense admins signed up for, Cloudflare taps them on the shoulder and says: hey, you’re exceeding the bandwidth of the gratis plan.. time to switch to premium. So the “free” evaporates.
Slightly more clever admins will use CF DNS and maintain their site in a non-proxied state (sparing their users from Cloudflare exclusion and over-sharing). Then when an attack hits they just have to flip a switch and CF is put into play. That switch can even be scripted to happen automatically.
Even more clever admins (e.g. infosec.pub) are very knowledgeable about how to do security properly without offloading their security problems onto everyone else.
You could fill a book on the harm Cloudflare does. To describe the walled garden, they have designed Cloudflare without a login so that people in the included group don’t even know they are participating in digital exclusion and supporting a walled garden by a tech giant. The gate is invisible. Those of us in the excluded group see a deceptive block screen that says it’s doing a security check but in reality it’s doing nothing but showing a non-stop spinner. Some people get a CAPTCHA which is often broken (always broken for me).
By default, Cloudflare blocks access to the following groups of people:
- users whose ISP uses CGNAT to distribute a limited range of IPv4 addresses (this generally impacts poor people in impoverished regions)
- the Tor community
- VPN users
- users of public libraries, and generally networks where IP addresses are shared
- blind people who disable images in their browsers (which triggers false positives for robots, as scripts are generally not interested in images either)
- the permacomputing community and people on limited internet connections, who also disable browser images to reduce bandwidth which makes them appear as bots
- people who actually run bots -- Cloudflare is outspokenly anti-robot and treats beneficial bots the same as malicious bots
If you are in the included group and get access to a Cloudflare site, CF is a man in the middle who sees all the traffic. The padlock you see only means that your traffic is secure from you to Cloudflare (not to the host you think you are visiting). Cloudflare sees your userid and password, your DMs, everything. CF has grown to take ~20—30% of the web. So probably around roughly ¼ of your web activity is all seen by that one corporation which operates in a country without privacy safegards. So in addition to the above list of groups of people who Cloudflare blocks from web access, there is a group of privacy enthusiasts who block CF as they refuse to disclose ~25% of their web traffic to CF.
As for the disproportionate size, I think that is somewhat inevitable, even with a Federated platform.
It’s only inevitable to the extent that it’s inevitable that you will have admins who don’t grasp the philosophy. Admins who embrace the principles of decentralization close registration before their user count gets excessive (lemmy.ml demonstrated some restraint in this regard though some would say they should have closed reg sooner). Others will carry on, and bring in Cloudflare to supercharge the capacity which brings the problem that Cloudflare itself is centralized. They have effectively joined the centralized walled garden and brought a disproportionately large number of unwitting users into that exclusive venue. I say “unwitting” because sh.itjust.works and lemmy.world does not disclose to the users the fact that they are in a walled garden and that they share all the traffic with a US tech giant. Their greed is why there are disproportionately small nodes. It is sh.itjust.works and lemmy.world who decided to exploit all the individuals who individually decide they want to be in the same place where everyone else is, which ruins the balance and keeps small nodes overly small.
Many posts are in a Q&A format, and if a bot were to crosspost all the content here, any answers here wouldn’t necessarily make it back to the OP. Had you considered this?
I didn’t necessarily mean to imply that a bot would do the job, but indeed a bot would make sense. The purpose of copying traffic out of the centralized walled garden into a free world instance would be to feed info to those who have chosen the ethical venue. The purpose would not be to feed the giants in any way. So if it’s a personal question post that does not enrich the commons with information then the post could be removed by the bot operator. Or if the question likely provokes an interesting chat then it could be left alone. Responders who want the OP to see the response could simply mention them in the response and the OP would get a notification.
Yeah it would be nice if it were organised to some extent, like crossposting everything between the two for redundancy since each node would have different lifetimes, but get people to comment in just one. Though the rules are different. The German one bans all advertising.
cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/7480359
> There are now two BifL communities in the free decentralized world: > > * !buyitforlife@slrpnk.net > * !buyitforlife@discuss.tchncs.de > > Perhaps each wants to mention the other in the sidebar?
There are now two BifL communities in the free decentralized world:
Perhaps each wants to mention the other in the sidebar?
cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/3235018
> A new bike has been recently introduced which is designed with the goals of products in the 1960s-- rugged, simple, built to last. Nothing is flimsy on this bike. Even the fenders and sprockets are thick. The design focus was two main goals: robustness and simplicity so owners can fix it themselves. The gears are internal, which seems to reflect ruggedness being prioritized over self-repairability. Derailers are inherently fragile and cassettes wear down relatively quickly and also would impose a thin chain. The internal gears enable the chain to be thick and wide. > > The website is in French but I machine-translated the “about” section: > > >A Bruxellois, magnet to travel by bicycle in town, activist in several environmental associations and working in the design and manufacture of cycles since 2014, established the SUGG srl in 2021 to provide simple, solid, practical, fast, fun, designed and assembled bicycles in Brussels with high quality components often produced in Europe. > > >The SUGG bikes are aimed at young people from 9 to 99 years of age who wish to move by bike without assistance and prefer to exploit the powerful resources often ignored whose nature has given them. Indeed, with no electric assistance, SUGG bikes are more economical, light, ecological, simple, reliable, durable and fun. At SUGG, the efficiency and ascent qualities of the bike are optimized by the choice of geometry and components. It's fun! > > >A few objectives of SUGG: to contribute to the improvement of life in our cities thanks to less air and noise pollution, calm and friendly streets, intelligent and respectful traffic, efficient, beautiful and funny movements; to participate in the fight against unemployment in our regions, on the one hand by repatriating the design and assembly in us and on the other hand by procuring the parts with manufacturers not too far away from us > > I don’t have one myself but if I wanted a bomb-proof bike that would last my whole life, this is probably what I would get.
Some frequent travelers are refusing to fly the Boeing 737 Max – the plane under scrutiny for safety flaws that have come to light following the Alaska Airlines incident. Here’s why they would ‘absolutely not fly that plane.’
cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/7280291
> If you scroll down to Torleif Stumo there’s a quite interesting story. I was amazed that an aircraft that started to taxi returned to the gate and reconnected to let a passenger exit who discovered he was on a 737 max -- and that the airline rebooked him at no extra cost. Then I realized after my speed-reading what I missed: this guy was the brother of a passenger who was killed in the Ethiopian Airlines flight. I wonder if it was Ethiopian Airlines that he was gave him the extra sympathetic treatment. > > The article starts with another passenger demanding to exit after the gate disconnected, upon finding he was on a 737 Max. They omitted how he was treated w.r.t costs. I’m sure all airlines probably have in their contract of carriage a clause that allows them to change aircraft and presumably the passengers have no rights. I say that because you aren’t even guaranteed a layover. E.g. if your ticket is from New York to California via layover in Vegas, and for whatever reason the airline needs to reroute you last minute connecting in Detroit instead, the contract of carriage allows them to make changes is substantial as that and passengers have /no rights/ in that regard so long as the airline reaches the final destination on the correct day. > > booking sites withhold aircraft > --- > It always annoys me when a air travel booking site withholds the aircraft info. I used to be able to find the matching flight on matrix itasoftware but that site seems to be getting less reliable (random acts of tor hostility). The article mentions an effort underway to change that.
Foods high in Lutein and Zeaxanthin include dark leafy greens, peas, summer squash, pumpkin, brussels sprouts, broccoli, asparagus, lettuce, carrots, and pistachios.
cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/6374430
> Couple people in my family have become diligent about taking vitamin supplements daily for eye health. They’ve been taking “Vision Defender” by “Intelligent Formula”, which apparently just contains 3 ingredients: > > * Meso-Zeaxanthin > * Lutein > * Zeaxanthin > > One of them went to the driver license authority and took the eye test without his glasses, passed, and was able to have the corrective lenses restriction removed from his license. It’s pure anecdote.. I wouldn’t put too much stock into vitamins having that effect. But noteworthy nonetheless. They pay $30 for 90 capsules (Amazon, sadly). > > On the other side of the pond, there are a couple vitamin cocktails, one called “Nutrof Omega by Théa” and the other “PreserVision 3” by “Bausch+Lomb”. They both lack the Meso-Zeaxanthin (which is supposedly important yet rarely mentioned) but have more stuff than “Vision Defender”. All the following ingredients are in Nutrof Omega, and > “PV3”-tagged things are also in “PreserVision 3”: > > * (PV3) lutein and zeaxanthin (for the protection of the macula region of the retina from oxidative stress and signs of aging and can increase visual ability) > * (PV3) omega-3 fatty acids (support retinal health) > * (PV3) vitamins C, D and E, zinc and copper (help protect cell constituents from oxidative damage) > * (PV3) zinc (contributes to the maintenance of normal vision) -- but counteracts copper to some extent > * selenium (key antioxidant and also supports the action of vitamin E and zinc) > * resveratrol (anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant effects, and protects retinal cells from oxidative stress) > * manganese > * B complex > > They both have a €33 price tag for 60 tablets at most pharmacies. Over 50¢/day is a bit much but at least it’s from a pharmacist and does not feed Amazon. Exceptionally, one pharmacy sells Nutrof for €22. > > Apparently vitamin A is missing from both of those supplements, which Harvard claims is relevant. But there are many other supplements.. if someone finds something more complete plz mention it. > > So then I looked for relevant foods: > > 1. Dark Leafy Greens (Spinach) > 1. Green Peas > 1. Summer Squash > 1. Pumpkin > 1. Brussels Sprouts > 1. Broccoli > 1. Asparagus > 1. Romaine Lettuce > 1. Carrots > 1. Pistachios > > Regarding the “crowdsourcing appreciated” topic line: it would help the thread if folks post other multi-vitamins with the list of ingredients, since none of the 3 I mentioned are complete. >
La chaîne de supermarchés Lidl lance le projet « Bon appétit, Zéro gaspi » dans tous ses magasins belges. Cette initiative a pour but de limiter les pertes alimentaires et doit permettre à Lidl de réduire de 25% le gaspillage alimentaire (par rapport à 2015) d’ici à la fin 2020 et de 50% d’ici à 202...
This is the machine translation (Argos Translate) of Lidl’s “zero waste” announcement:
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The revenues generated by this initiative will be fully donated to the Belgian Federation of Food Banks
Monday, 10 February 2020 — The Lidl supermarket chain launches the "Good appetite, Zero gaspi" project in all its Belgian stores. The goal of this initiative is to limit food losses and to allow Lidl to reduce food waste by 25% (as compared to 2015) by the end of 2020 and 50% by 2025. The discounter sells products that are always consumer-friendly at broken prices such as cartons of fruit and vegetables of 3kg for 1€, meat and fish to be consumed the day for 0,50€. Revenues generated by "Good appetite, Zero gaspi" will be donated to the Belgian Food Bank Federation. Broken price products to stop food waste
The "Good appetite, Zero gaspi" initiative will significantly reduce the food losses of the ensign. “By 2020, we aim to reduce food losses by 25% compared to 2015 and 50% by 2025. Since today, the "Good appetite, Zero gaspi" project has been implemented in Belgium, where every day we present to our customers different food products that are always consumer-friendly at a small price:
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1€ for dry products with slightly damaged packaging and cartons of 3 kg of fruit and vegetables
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€0.50 for all types of meat, fish and pastries to be consumed on the day
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€0.20 for dairy and ultra-fresh products (compound salts) to be consumed on the day. »
Philippe Weiler, Lidl Sustainability Manager
Lidl Belgium has a structural agreement with federation of food banks in Belgium. The revenues generated by this initiative will be donated to these two associations. Lidl wants to be a state-of-the-art sustainability supermarket by 2020
Lidl has recently presented a new sustainability strategy composed of 20 ambitious goals by 2020, and a goal is dedicated to food waste. Philippe Weiler: "To achieve this goal, we must both fight food waste and revalue food surpluses. »
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Ideally the staff should notice that something expires today and put a zero waste sticker on it which marks the price down to €0.20 or €0.50, depending on whether it’s meat or veg. The problem is they are not diligent about spotting the expiring food. And worse, there are inconsistencies:
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Lidl store 1: if you point out an expiration date of today to the cashier, they will ring it up under the zero-waste pricing (€0.20 or €0.50). The sticker is not needed.. just there to highlight the low price customers. So while standing in line it’s wise to check dates for stuff expiring today to lower the price.
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Lidl store 2: they are apparently deliberately not putting the zero waste sticker on things expiring today. If you point out the expiration to the cashier, they refuse to alter the price. They even called the manager over who said “no zero waste sticker, no discount”.
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Lidl store 3: sloppy about which sticker. Sometimes meat gets the veg price (€0.20) and often veg gets the meat price (€0.50). And the cashier refuses to correct mistakes.
So unfortunately every store is different and #Lidl HQ says that’s expected.
I have no idea what happens when something expires on Sunday, when they are closed (I saw a pastry on Saturday that expired on Sunday but didn’t think to ask for zero-waste pricing). They certainly will not sell something that is past the date under any circumstances.
update --- I’ve found there are differences based on the item involved as well. Shops are not at all fast and loose with the zero waste discount if it’s a pie which goes from €5.50 to 50¢.
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Lidl store 1: Refused to give me zero-waste pricing on a pie first thing in the morning, but they allowed the zero-waste pricing on a salad and some pasta. They said they will only markdown the pie in the afternoon. Next day I found another pie expiring that day. It was 1pm but they blocked me again, saying it had to be after 4pm. The goal posts keep moving!
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Lidl store 4: Refused zero-waste pricing on a pie mid day, but said after 5pm they would.
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Lidl store 5: Was there shortly after 5pm and happened to find a whole pie with the zero waste sticker (50¢). That must be very rare.
update 2 ---
- Lidl store 1: found an item on Saturday that will expire on Sunday. Zero-waste pricing refused.
update 3 --- None of this matters because we should be boycotting Lidl anyway.
Foods high in Lutein and Zeaxanthin include dark leafy greens, peas, summer squash, pumpkin, brussels sprouts, broccoli, asparagus, lettuce, carrots, and pistachios.
cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/6374430
> Couple people in my family have become diligent about taking vitamin supplements daily for eye health. They’ve been taking “Vision Defender” by “Intelligent Formula”, which apparently just contains 3 ingredients: > > * Meso-Zeaxanthin > * Lutein > * Zeaxanthin > > One of them went to the driver license authority and took the eye test without his glasses, passed, and was able to have the corrective lenses restriction removed from his license. It’s pure anecdote.. I wouldn’t put too much stock into vitamins having that effect. But noteworthy nonetheless. They pay $30 for 90 capsules (Amazon, sadly). > > On the other side of the pond, there are a couple vitamin cocktails, one called “Nutrof Omega by Théa” and the other “PreserVision 3” by “Bausch+Lomb”. They both lack the Meso-Zeaxanthin (which is supposedly important yet rarely mentioned) but have more stuff than “Vision Defender”. All the following ingredients are in Nutrof Omega, and > “PV3”-tagged things are also in “PreserVision 3”: > > * (PV3) lutein and zeaxanthin (for the protection of the macula region of the retina from oxidative stress and signs of aging and can increase visual ability) > * (PV3) omega-3 fatty acids (support retinal health) > * (PV3) vitamins C, D and E, zinc and copper (help protect cell constituents from oxidative damage) > * (PV3) zinc (contributes to the maintenance of normal vision) -- but counteracts copper to some extent > * selenium (key antioxidant and also supports the action of vitamin E and zinc) > * resveratrol (anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant effects, and protects retinal cells from oxidative stress) > * manganese > * B complex > > They both have a €33 price tag for 60 tablets. Over 50¢/day is a bit much but at least it’s from a pharmacist and does not feed Amazon. > > Apparently vitamin A is missing from both of those supplements, which Harvard claims is relevant. But there are many other supplements.. if someone finds something more complete plz mention it. > > So then I looked for relevant foods: > > 1. Dark Leafy Greens (Spinach) > 1. Green Peas > 1. Summer Squash > 1. Pumpkin > 1. Brussels Sprouts > 1. Broccoli > 1. Asparagus > 1. Romaine Lettuce > 1. Carrots > 1. Pistachios >
I pulled money out of the wall in France and rejected DCC to ensure my bank does the conversion. The ATM had a dysfunctional receipt printer, and (unlike other ATMs) the ATM was not smart enough to mention the broken printer before the withdrawal.
Then the bank statement in the US only showed the USD amount, not the euros. Seems a bit off because I think when ATMs do a conversion they are obligated to show both currencies and the conversion rate. Why would the same transparency not be required when banks do the conversion? IIUC, the law seems to be here:
https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-12/chapter-II/subchapter-A/part-205/section-205.9
And indeed I see no mention of foreign currency in the disclosure requirements.
#askFedi #lawFedi
cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/6493902
> Solarpunk travel is intended for /sustainable/ travel, right? So where can we discuss travel with no sustainability relevance? I only consider proper decentralized non-Cloudflare instances. This is what found as free world venues for travel chatter: > * !solarpunktravel@slrpnk.net ← sustainable travel focus > * !traveltips@feddit.uk ← Europe focus > * !travel@eviltoast.org > * https://lemmy.globe.pub ← whole instance devoted to travel > > The places other than !solarpunktravel@slrpnk.net are ghost towns but that’s nothing that can’t be fixed with a bit of cross-posting. I suggest putting them in the sidebar as related communities.
Apple and Google are no friends of environmentalists, in part because:
- Apple demonstrates contempt for #rightToRepair.
- Google uses AI to help Total Energy find new places to drill for oil.
Including “_optout” in your SSID expresses your non-consent for Apple to keep track of your wi-fi access point. Including “_nomap” in your SSID expresses your non-consent for Google to keep track of your wi-fi access point for streetmap purposes. I believe “_nomap” must be at the very end, but Apple supposedly treats “_optout” appearing at the end OR penultimate position in order to not force mutual exclusivity with Google’s string.
Anything we can do to avoid feeding Google and Apple are a form of individual climate action -- however minuscule in effect.
In every pantry in the world, a spice cabinet is found. Inside, there will be the standard basil, oregano, crushed red pepper flakes, salt, pepper, among many others. Spices allow folks to flavor their food in the way they like. They add so much complexity and nuance to a dish that would otherwise f...
cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/6224624
> If you incorporate these ingredients in your cooking, your left-overs will last longer: > > * honey > * salt > * garlic > * sugar (only in high amounts according to feedback; small amounts shortens the life) > * ginger > * sage > * rosemary > * mustard > * cumin > > From other articles: > > * black pepper > * mustard seed > * turmeric > * cinnamon > * cardamom > * cloves > > Acids mentioned by others: > > * vinegar > * citric acid > * lemon/lime juice
In every pantry in the world, a spice cabinet is found. Inside, there will be the standard basil, oregano, crushed red pepper flakes, salt, pepper, among many others. Spices allow folks to flavor their food in the way they like. They add so much complexity and nuance to a dish that would otherwise f...
If you incorporate these ingredients in your cooking, your left-overs will last longer:
- honey
- salt
- garlic
- sugar (only in high amounts, according to feedback)
- ginger
- sage
- rosemary
- sage
- mustard
- cumin
Additionally from other articles:
- black pepper
- mustard seed
- turmeric
- cinnamon
- cardamom
- cloves
Acids mentioned by others:
- vinegar
- citric acid
- lemon/lime juice
I just had some harissa get moldy after just a couple weeks in a jar in the fridge. I was surprised. I suppose it implies a lack of the above ingredients.
There are a lot of elections this year -- in Europe in particular (24 countries iirc). Just wondering if any environmental orgs like Greenpeace publish sample ballots or lists of endorsed political candidates.
In the US, sure it’s obvious. Environmentalists would have to vote for the strongest opponent to republican candidates. But in Europe it’s not so clear cut. I think most countries have ~5+ parties to choose from.
Over the counter remedies are costly in Europe (€9 for a bottle of cough syrup). And like prescription drugs, they just slap an arbitrary expiration date on the pkg.
My bottle of cough syrup which expired Dec.2019¹ is nearly empty. I took a risk and took swigs from it over the past few days. No issues. Potency was likely reduced but it wasn’t useless - coughing frequency cut down noticeably for a brief period.
I did everything wrong and got away with it. It’s dicey that it’s in liquid form (which ages quicker than meds in solid forms). I also stored it in a room that gets quite warm in the summer. I always drank straight from the bottle.
Research
It’s interesting to note that the US military doesn’t want to stock up on meds and throw them away upon expiry. It would be a huge cost waste impacting public money. So the “Shelf Life Extension Program (SLEP)” was undertaken by the FDA for the Department of Defense. The findings go as far as to test drugs that are 28—40 years past expiry:
- Based on stability data, expiration dates on 88% of the lots were extended beyond their original expiration date for an average of 66 months. Of these, roughly 12% more lots remained stable for at least 4 years after the expiration date. Of these 2652 lots, only 18% were terminated due to failure.
A lot of the advice is what you would expect.. vaccines and biological meds don’t hold up. Anything that’s crumbled and stinky is toast. Perhaps not so obvious: some anti-biotics can become dangerous.
Freezing cough syrup is a bad idea but refrigeration is sensible.
- The Dec.2019 is technically irrelevant the moment the bottle is opened. Manufacturers only guarantee expiration dates on unopened packages.
Note these two communities are essentially the same:
Mods might want to mention the other community in the sidebar as a related community. Note ATM both communities are on respectable proper decentralized nodes (e.g. neither are on Cloudflare).
As I entered a building supply store someone was smashing all the ceramic tiles that were on the wall. He was about ¾ through them all. I said: hold on.. I’ll take those sample tiles that are still on the wall. I can find a purpose for them even if each one is a different color. He said he could not justify to his boss giving them away and that he would get in trouble. He asked if I wanted to buy them. But a mixed bag of random tiles is worth close to zero to me without having a project in mind. Of course the problem is the business makes nothing off them if they give them away and they risk losing a sale if someone does a project with them that otherwise would require a purchase.
The bizarre thing is this happens every year because (like clothing) the tiles go out of fashion annually. Most are solid colors so hard to get my head around how a solid color tile would go out of style so quickly especially when a vast majority of them are very neutral colors (which are quite forgettable). Who walks into your kitchen and says “dude, you’re out of fashion.. those tiles are over 1 year old?”
Along the same lines, Amazon destroys copious amounts of goods that are still new in packaging instead of selling them to an overstock specialist or donating to charity. An Amazon insider told me it’s because the warehouse space is limited and they prioritize whatever stock moves the fastest. So the slower moving stock gets destroyed just because of a space issue. They told me management is very strict about who has access to the area where these products get staged for disposal. They make sure to select someone who will follow through and won’t take the stuff home or give it to someone who will put it on eBay (they don’t want to compete for sales with a competitor selling their own dumped stock).
That’s like reason# 50 why I boycott Amazon.