Buying forest land, implementing solar

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Well, if you were me, I would like to know what to look out for and intestinal bleeding is something that could be important to recognize.
 
I think we need pictures here.

Just kidding, please no.

A number of things can cause dark stools. Foods high in iron tend to do it.
 
fechter said:
I think we need pictures here.
Ok.
cp_dinuguan_1.jpg

Was your BM as dark as this, bluto?
It's Dinuguan, a Filipino delicacy. Made of pig blood and offal. Very tasty but if you eat it your BM will turn black as if you have a bleed.

fechter said:
A number of things can cause dark stools. Foods high in iron tend to do it.
Eating a can of spinach, for instance, which he mentioned he's done before.
 
Oh, maybe that's it. Eating 1.5 cups of dry peas, 4 TBSP of cocoa and 2 cans of spinach in a single day. Ok, yep, the iron content is rather high there, I'll admit, lol. Apparently took 3-4 days to clear from my system.

Ok, the pug-friendly kayak is secured. Next step, securing a pug. Looks like supply has been picking up, so here I go. I noticed a wide variance in the "looks" of these pugs - I'm thinking some of them are mixes with chihauhaus or something. So, instead of looking for proof of lineage (KC registered and all that), I'm just going to try to choose the cutest looking ones, lol.

And, I'm guessing my customers have been enriched by their tax refund. Or maybe the mid-month paycheck; Denver wages are fairly high, so that'd make sense.

I think I'm going to get the water drums on saturday, if I can, more than likely. But, after I increase my infrastructure tomorrow probably, I might be able to leave relatively early.

The post office rejected two amazon orders, so apparently I need to get a PO box. Hypothetically I'm supposed to get a free one, but I'm willing to pay to keep my privacy.

They refused delivery because the boxes were too heavy and he didn't want to pick it up, lol. And, he cites that "The post office doesn't make any money off UPS deliveries, so we're not supposed to accept them for general delivery. We make exceptions sometimes [but not with YOU, lol.]." I clarified if I would get any package from any carrier because I have bad experience with PO boxes; fedex couldn't deliver to the one back in charleston, so they delivered the contraband on base [by contraband, I mean specific to the school; it was perfectly legal in the USA.], precisely where it wasn't supposed to be, lol. He said yes "Because it's supposed to be /your/ address.". Cool, I guess this particular tiny post office makes exceptions for people like me, lol. [It probably helps that 90% of the people in this zip code have PO boxes because of having 'undeliverable' physical locations.]

So, going to do that tomorrow and hopefully get my Amazon packages. Amazon is actually the cheapest sometimes; Walmart is often the second cheapest (But, you have to pay tax. Most times, you have pay Amazon for tax, anyhow, so I guess they're pretty much equal. Normally I'd choose walmart over amazon because of no membership fee, same price and usually relatively fast shipping. But, sometimes it's not an option when the vehicle is inoperable.).
 
nicobie said:
Do we really need to know the color of your shit? :|

It's not about our need to know, it's about his need to TELL. Oh,, dude, you forgot to record the sniff test. For this to work, you'll need to sample the pervasive quality of all of them for comparison. This is not a good one to be too hasty with, a long, leisurely sampling makes the best test. You need to reach the point where you can identify the aromatic blends. . . .

(Taking pride in the great assistance to him I've provided, here.)
 
That's right, I have a need to tell some potentially vital lifethreatening symptoms that could otherwise go unrecognized. I don't have definitive proof I had upper GI bleeding, but I was getting pain in the upper right stomach quadrant at the same time the feces was black and I was getting intermittent chest pain, lightheaded and short of breath, so the combination of symptoms are there. And, my ECG was looking fine though hearbeat was fast. So, GI bleed seems to be more likely than "heart problems". So, just letting everyone know just in case anyone comes down with similar issues.

That "feeling like I'm dying" wasn't without merit. GI bleeds is how a lot of people die.

Also, since abdominal bleeding symptoms are usually an indication of a more serious condition, it should be treated right away.

Like cancer. Or...

hemorrhoids, peptic ulcers, tears or inflammation in the esophagus, diverticulosis and diverticulitis, ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease, colonic polyps, or cancer in the colon, stomach or esophagus.

Anyway, people just won't stop throwing their money at me! Damn it, stop making me rich. :lol: I kid, business has been nice lately, but I'm still wary of the future, I really want to become 70-80% self-sufficient, lol.

Anyway, it's a bit nice I have two distinct craigslist populations in reach. I got my kayak yesterday from the smaller one (He informed me he paid $80 for the paddle. Me thinks it's a bad idea to spend $50 more money on a "rad design"; I certainly don't waste money like that.). I stopped bothering with older listings, instead, I put on my price filters to get more relevant search results and then sort by newness. I put the shortcuts to it in my bookmarks bar, so I can keep tabs on updates through the day. (It seems the older ones have a tendency to not respond, so I'm assuming they've been too lazy to delete it.)

Wow, someone mentioned "Still waiting for a live action Ghost in the Shell" in a thread a couple years old, so I googled wondering what's been happening and /bam/ it's playing /right now/ in movie theaters. Well, that was a shocker!

So, yep, let's hope it's playing this weekend.

Oh no, today is the last day it's playing in the 3D format, lol. Well, good thing I found my "good" tshirt yesterday (As opposed to my dirty workshirts. People have been giving me "the eye" with that shirt on, lol.), I guess I'm stopping work early today.
 
DAND214 said:
WOW, You gonna make laps in your pond with the kayak?
wish we had pictures! I guess we will ever know if you really exist.

Dan

I need to spend my free days digging out the pond and building up my mountain to get it kayak worthy. But it'll get there eventually (Assuming I can.).

I want to build a mountain so I can get my daily climbing quota in. (Guidelines are 1000 ft. per day, but I can't get it done on my existing clay mound when it rains; becomes like mud.) But, it looks like building a mountain takes a /lot/ of time to do by hand, lol.
 
It’s called lauric acid, and in a study published in the journal Cancer Research, researchers at the University of Adelaide discovered this component completely exterminated more than 90 percent of colon cancer cells after just two days of treatment in a colon cancer cell line (CRC) in vitro. The study also reports/cites studies that postulate and indeed support the position that lauric acid can induce cancer cell death both in vitro and in vivo. For this study, the researchers used the rat small intestinal cell line as a model of normal intestinal epithelial cells, which again, “demonstrated that lauric acid induced considerable cell death.” Although there is still much to learn, there is obviously some potential here.

Ahh, cool, I had suspicion that coconut had a protective affect against digestive system cancers since I noticed it seemed the period of darkness (upper GI bleeding) stopped after resuming my coconut consumption. I suspect coconut saved my life, at least so far.
 
Bluto, you shouldn't be digging, especially in your poor health. Cut back on the landscaping, driveway building, pond digging and just about everything you talk about. YOU are one real sick individual. Just put up or better yet, ask you neighbor to put up you screen suit you say you have so you can rest. We sure wouldn't want something to happen to you, now would we :mrgreen:

If you put as much time doing what you say you are doing instead of posting all the time, you would of had your "paradise" done by now. Even the solar panels with a satellite dish and big screen tv in that big air conditioned green house.

I think the reason you are sick all the time is what you are eating or maybe it's all in you head.

Dan
 
Well, just got my screen suit yesterday, so this is morning is the first opportunity can use it. I would work on the driveway, but the recent rains means I can't handle the clay for another 2 days or so, so I'm looking at clearing out the back. But, morning is also a good time to get business tasks out the way as the fanned spot is the only relatively comfortable spot during the afternoon, so I planned on doing maintenance and increasing infrastructure this morning. Better to increase infrastructure sooner rather than later.

Anyway, Ghost in the Shell 3D was pretty good. My neighbors were becoming a little colonial in their seat ambitions, violating the buffer zone that was specifically planned beforehand (But, maybe someone was late.), and started commenting on it. Yeah, me, not moving; I'm a bit territorial too, in the sense you're not taking the seat I bought. The scenes in the movie followed the animated film quite well, though the script was altered and lacking the philosophical depth of the original. Maybe "dumbed down" is a good description. I'm not really sure why the script was altered (Did they /have/ to or did they think it was a good idea?). It did have a bit of cyberpunk elements to the script (A key element), so at least that wasn't thrown out. The puppetmaster when played as a human (And with this particular script), comes across as more of a retard rather than a glitchy cyborg.

Anyway... I'm not really certain if it's just "the way it is" this far from Houston proper or what, but it seems like 90%-95% of the commerce in Houston is along highways, strip malls at the highway exits and on Highway service roads. At least that's what I've observed along I-45, Conroe, and Tomball. I suppose Conroe does have a "main avenue" of sorts, but it only contains I'd say 20% of the commerce of the town. This is a big difference with the West Coast, where much commerce was mostly along the slower "main avenue(s)" in the city (True of Spokane, Seattle and most anyplace I've been). I guess the fact that Houston has so much highway might lead to this, retailers trying to capture that highway traffic as people drive to their farflung towns. Anyway, it just feels like it lacks a soul, has no character. But maybe that's just true of the regions 30-60 miles from Houston proper, I'm pretty sure they have some slower main avenues with much commerce closer to Houston Proper, like in West Houston where the gentrified Memorial City is. And, I assume elsewhere.

Anyway, my immediate area has character, the towns do anyway; the area is imbued with the footprints of the locals. I guess the strip malls and commercial developments at the highway exits between the towns and Houston proper is the "Soulless" area, lol.

And this particular family along the main avenue whose german Shepard chases me, and I've confronted a couple times on foot (More like me warning it with words.), seems they have me identified. The looks I've been getting just driving by, wow. Jeez, I don't really have anything against you guys (Other than the fact you guys are like most of the retards along this main avenue and don't contain their dogs like responsible neighbors.), but they sure know who I am, lol.

I've thought about suing everyone along the main avenue. But, that would be calling the kettle black a little bit if I were to claim violation of the HOA agreement, lol. So, maybe I'd sue them for being a neighborhood annoyance, lol. I don't really know if that'd stand up in these courts (Probably not), but I'm sure it would in many other places. Anyway, maybe I could pay a lawyer to handle the case for me and leave my name out of it, lol. Now I'm starting to think I'm thinking like a rich person, lol.

It'd would just be nice to bike to the store without german shepards and pitbulls chasing me, lol.

I just think suing them would be a more friendly gesture than killing their dogs like others in the area have done. And, it'd be potentially more permanent, too. Dead doggies are replaceable, but injunctions are forever.

And, I've clocked these dogs, they can run about 16 mph at full sprint. Luckily, no dachshunds, which can run 23 mph.

Update: Started at 10:00 and as of Mar 11:10, maintenance and infrastructure increase has been completed. Need to increase distance between the generator and RV and RV airflow, plan on getting all necessary equipment later tonight.

This morning, I felt like I was getting that "crushing jaw" pain that I've heard described in articles online. I later foundout my body was really craving salt, I surmise I got in 1500mg yesterday, don't know if sodium deficiency was playing a role. The difference last night was those rude people at the movies and the fact I ate two chicken sandwiches; first large exposure to bread in about 2 weeks. I ate it with wine. Anyway, I found out from an article that acetic acid (Like in vinegar) blocks absorption of starches into the bloodstream, and that wine has a large amount of acetic acid. So, that could explain why the french are skinny; drinking wine with their meals reduces starch absorption into the bloodstream. As to them being "healthier", that might play a role and the antibacterial properties of wine likely plays a strong role. Anyway, japanese sushi rice is typically prepared with vinegar, so could help explain them maintaining good health despite high GI consumption. And, from my personal experience, vinegar and salt makes rice taste soo good, lol. (They also add a little bit of sugar)

Anyway, I see imagery of lizards in a lot of Mexican art. And, I just saw a green gecko(or carolina anole?) climbing ontop of my table. Yeah, this is kind of cool, didn't see these critters back in Washington state.

Oh, lol, due to the two packages getting rejected by the postmaster, my prime shipping speed has been downgraded from 3 days to "4-5 days". Well, that's a sound argument that Amazon prime doesn't benefit me at all when it comes to shipping speeds, and if there's no benefit, then what's the point of paying $99 for the privilege of being a member? Yep, it's gone from "a strong feeling" to a "Definite feeling", lol. I think the "2 day" benefit is for people who buy like 2 packages a month, lol.

Anyway, one of the cool things about my kayak is that it being 10' long, it can fit inside my van. Nice, don't need to bother with straps, no decrease in fuel efficiency. I could just drive to the lake right now and start paddling, lol. (I'll probably do that someday soon, just need to get somethings done.)
 
Interesting, saw an ad for "Can you deadlift your bodyweight? Life insurance for weightlifters.".

Curious, suspect the life insurance companies have mortality/health statistics on this particular demographic. Googled and found many results from the life insurance companies on this.

Special Rate Life Insurance for Weightlifters - Health IQ. Lifting reduces your risk of heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and arthritis while strengthening bones and improving sleep.

Yep, that's what I thought. Given Jack Lelaine's extreme fitness and longevitity, I knew that muscular strength was probably important to good health.

That's why I think "Holding back on the hardwork" with health problems isn't necessarily a good idea, at least not in the longterm. I think it's important not to "overdo it" in the shortterm, but neglecting it altogether is risky in the longterm.

And, I think building a pond and simultaneously creating a mountain is a good lifelong project to gain muscles and maintain them for life.

And, while grocery shopping today, I remember that insight I had, as to why this one particular organic cocoa powder tasted so delicious compared to its competitors - They didn't press out the cocoa butter and sell it separately so it contained more fat making it taste better. Anyway, while looking at cocoa powders at the store, I noticed that the ghiradelli cocoa powder (I always loved ghiradelli brownies) had 3x as much fat as the other cocoa powders. So, I'm suspecting that ghiradelli will taste a bit better; it should, it's about $1.50 more expensive.

Anyway, I'm going to try to pick up the rainbarrels tomorrow morning all the way in downtown Houston.

And, I just figured out the technique for getting UPS to delivery to PO Boxes. (Seems to be the bane of anyone online with PO boxes.)

It goes like...

Name
Address of Post Office
BOX XYZ
city,state zip

Don't mention "PO", as long as there's a valid street address for the post office on the first line, it's no problemo and will process like any ordinary address. Of course, it might help that this is a "tiny town PO", so I can (probably) get away with this addressing style as they know me by name.

Update: (Next morning, apr 21,2017)Oh yeah, baby, the ghiradelli cocoa is tasting pretty good. Anyway, found a water tank supplier in Conroe which is a lot more convenient location to access (Not only is it closer, the traffic levels also doesn't mean I'm wasting half the day trying to get out of Houston, lol.). I just need one water tank to get these showers going,

As to keeping algae under control, I guess maybe I'll use chlorine. But, then I don't think it's a good idea to give to gardens (If it inhibits algae growth, it likely affects other chlorophyll based plantlife.). So, thinking I'll try the "block the light out" methods. I'm thinking tarp will likely work (The people used pond liner, but I'm getting tarp anyways; seems you can't really have too much of it in this area.).

So, need to get.

-IBC water tank
-several tarps (Got two piles to cover, might as well pick up another for the tank) from wallie world.

Anyway, the only notable thing today so far was sitting in bed after getting up and it felt like some kind of immense pain was brewing deep in my chest. It subsided pretty quickly after I stood up, not really sure what it was, but I have suspicions.

The greenhouse was feeling 3x lighter than I last remember it (When I picked it up from Walmart back in Spokane). Methinks I've definitely gained a bit of functional muscle. My muscles aren't really "showy" like you see with bodybuilders, but they are definitely strong.

UPDATE: Okay, it's now 1 p.m. and I just got back from picking up the IBC water tank. 275 gallons for $80. This will be intended for use with the garden and temporarily for use with showering (Until I get a shower barrel; a white barrel painted black, salted? I don't know if salt is suitable for algae prevention, but I'd prefer it over chlorine, that's for sure. Okay, just checked, salt does not prevent algae.) and I might pick up another one, I will have to see what my actual water needs are when I start gardening, and expand as need be. The IBC water tank pretty much filled the entire back of the van. (The IBC water tank is designed to fill up a standard truck bed and my van is built on a chevy truck platform.)

While driving there, I noticed a place about 8 miles east of Conroe that sold plastic barrels and metal barrels and all sorts of barrels for $20 each. Wow, didn't see this guy on craigslist! Methinks I'll have to help him advertise online. (His place is "Call-Mark Appliances".)

Anyway, doing it again, I would definitely avoid the Conroe and especially Lake Conroe area after 11 a.m., so definitely an "as early in the morning as possible" kind of thing. Left at 10:20 a.m., came back at 1 p.m., so about half as much time as going to downtown Houston.

Anyway, my kayak isn't really well camaflouged in my backyard; the bright blue kind of shows through 100 foot of leafy brush. So, yes, will need to improve the hiding of my things soon enough. It seems that hiding is my only realistic security plan while I'm away; being gone in the middle of a weekday is also a relatively good time (People are working, it's not 3-4 p.m., so the ATVs aren't going by yet.)

http://www.foodrenegade.com/chlorinated-showers-baths-kill-gut-flora/

This website shows that chlorinated water enters into the body affecting the biota. So, I guess I might be looking at another way to control algae. Looks like a UV filter would work, so I guess I /could/ possibly create a solar powered self-contained pump+UV filter mechanism on the "shower barrel" to keep the water clean of algae and bacteria. Might want to use the same technology on the drinking water barrel. Heck, I could source the shower and drinking water from the same barrel with this method, keeping the components cost down.

Well, except I'd want to keep the "cooler" water barrels (For drinking and cooking) separated from the "hot water" shower barrel.

So, yes, I thought about my occasional preference for fruit with a liquid feel to it (Like, grapes, apples, pineapples,watermelon,etc.; not bananas) and I just realized that ants seem to have the same love for those same fruits. Because, ants won't attack bananas, but they will attack the hell out of a watermelon, lol. Yep, so methinks that those fruits are possibly special. Just don't know exactly how; seems that bananas have all the same important nutrients as other fruits.

Anyway, I was wondering about soda's bacterial properties yesterday. It seems like it's pretty acidic (Maybe it's just the carbonation), so I wonder despite the abundance of free sugars, it might not be as prone to growing bacteria like I suspect? I don't really know. Guess there's one way to find out; pour coke into an agar petri dish with existing staph aureus and strep mutans colonies and see what happens to colony sizes. I'm missing a bit of important equipment, like a capable microscope, lol. Staph aureus is quite small. (.5 um)

Anyway, my neighbor is starting to shoot his 22 in the forest in front of my property, and he seems to be shooting as if he's arcing around my property. I don't know if he's just hunting on ground he never really hunted from before just because he feels like it, or because he's encroaching in the area near my property for some reason (As in, to give a warning; my generator is working at 60% load, which is a little louder than its previously normal 40% load.). He definitely seems to be shooting a bit more frequently, about once every 1-2 minutes. He usually shoots one or two different times a night, often multiple shots in quick succession, as if he was shooting an animal.
 
Ooboy, thank goodness I got out of the navy. With the huge runup in Nuke school numbers about a few months after I entered school, I had a foreboding feeling that the Navy brass was preparing for a potential war. Little did I know it was North Korea that it was preparing for, but, it'd make a lot of sense with their greater insider knowledge that they'd know things of this nature. Anyway, yes, I would've been on an aircraft carrier, possibly the Carl Vinsson, but thank goodness I got myself kicked out, lol.

Anyway, the significance of the runup is that it takes 1.75 years to train nukes, so they have to prepare ahead of time. Anyway, the huge run up was at the beginning of 2015, so 21 months later would put it at the end of 2016, and it's now early 2017. The timing makes a lot of sense.

I sure hope my foreboding feeling proves wrong. And, my classmates are probably on ships somewhere.

(And, if it does happen, there's good suspicion it was planned at least a couple years before. By whom? I don't know. Possibly not obama, perhaps there's planners with more power than the president. Who would that be, I don't really know. I might suspect it's the profiteers of war, the defense contractors and the big banks who own them, but that's merely an unproven suspect. But, it would make sense that the people who have much to lose/gain depending on the longevitity of the American economy, the big banks, would have sizable influence in its planning and defense thereof. It doesn't make sense that they'd just stand by while watching a couple American ,cities get nuked and the economy going down the drains.)

Anyway, thinking about health, I ate 3 bananas earlier and now I'm getting some acid reflux. Yes, I think I'm going to limit myself to 2 bananas at a time at most for any meal. Anyway, I have suspicion that bacteria might be ultimately responsible for reflux, but I don't really know. Maybe it's not, because cocoa obviously didn't do the trick, but spinach and molasses would because of the calcium content, so it's likely a PH thing. Getting the proper balance between carbs(?) and calcium. Ideally, I would have ready access to spinach but, wow, I don't know why the organic stuff is so expensive. I would think I could easily grow spinach all the time with a $400 investment or so, and recoup back my "spinach budget" in a year or two (Young leaves are often consumed, and take 2-3 weeks to grow, I think?). I know i would have to control the pests to prevent leaf damage (There's a bunch of leaf eating insects in this forest, one looks like a tiny green worm that likes to drop down from the leaves using their own thread, just like a spider.), but I would think that'd be
possible with those nets. Keeping those green guys out doesn't seem like it'd be hard.

Anyway, the IBC tank is now on my property and I need to secure it to a tree or something, lol. I then need to install netting to capture the rain. I planned on getting some kind of rainproof plastic (Maybe like a tarp? Might be a better idea than giant plastic sheeting.) and have it funnel down into the IBC tank and then tie the ends of the plastic via rope to the surrounding trees (Or install poles if needed). This seems like it'd be a bit more economical than other designs I've seen (Like a large metal frame that holds the plastic into place.). I probably need to put some kind of screen on the entry point into the IBC tank (Or on a pipe attached to the IBC tank), so that mosquitos don't lay their larva and bugs don't get inside.

I still need to surround the IBC tank with a tarp to see what kind of size I can get away with (To block out the sunlight).

And, I just installed an exhaust fan of the opposite side of the RV where the intake fan is. Circulation has improved immensely through the RV, this is good.

This tank would work for showers and gardening, but not suitable for drinking/cooking. I need to get barrels for that (I could just get an IBC tank, but I want something a little more portable. And, something that'd need less of a 'rain funnel' footprint to better capture the sky.). For the drinking/cooking water rain barrel, I should probably use a "food-safe" polyethylene sheet of some sort. What is tarp made of?

polyester coated with urethane, or made of plastics such as polyethylene

I guess I'll have to look at the packaging. If it proves difficult to find locally, I guess I'd buy it online.

Okay, just found out the tiny green worm that likes to hang by thread from a tree is actually an "Oak leafroller", which means I have oak trees in the area. Oh, let's identify the oaktrees! It just seems like they eat every leaf, but I could be wrong.

It looks like I have "water oaks". And, there appears to be another type of oak here (It appears to be a "Live Oak"). And yet another species of hardwood tree with small, pointy leaves. The diversity of trees here, compared to back home, is pretty amazing.

And, I just did some rainwater calculations.

Every square foot in collected area equals .62gallons per inch of rain. So, a 4ftx4ft area woudl produce roughly 10 gallons of water. It looks like I could probably get away with a cheap 6x8 tarp for the 55 gallon drums. (Rainfail here is usually 3-5"/month). A 275 gallon tank could benefit from a larger collection area, maybe 12x18 wouldn't hurt.

Anyway, let's calcualte what kind of collection area I'd need to fill a 20' long 10000gallon pool in a months time.

gallons per month = monthly precipitation * .62 * (square feet)
square feet = gallonpermonth/(monthlypreciption*.62) = 10,000/(.62*4) = 4032 sq ft = 63.5'x63.5'; In otherwords, create a circle around the pool with a radius of 35 feet or so?

So I'd need to collect rainwater from 1/3 of my entire property to fill a 10,000 gallon pool in a month. Well, that's certainly ambitious. I wouldn't say it's impossible, but there'd be a lot of work in setting up the plastic and efficiently collecting it. But, creating a 35' radius circle in the back wouldn't be impossible. It might be difficult to implement.

And, I think I need to make it habit to use my arm muscles in some serious capacity on a daily basis. Seems like carrying that heavy sandblaster cabinet and transporting it made my headache go way and I'm feeling chipper.
 
OMG, I had this attributed to Sixpence None the Richer. It's actually from some guy from 1986!

[youtube]J9gKyRmic20[/youtube]

Jeez, second song I've found that I thought was modern but was actually an 80s hit. The first was No Doubt's "It's my life", which was actually made by Talk Talk.

And, today, I found Kirsten Dunst's music video, the only one she's ever created. (As far as I know, she's not a musician, so it kind of surprised me.)

[youtube]C0X3CLJVMJU[/youtube]

Cool, it looks like she has a vague attraction to Akihabara (Electronics town) that I've had. And, wow, what was that 3 seconds of dizziness that just hit me?

Today's been kind of weird. 4 hours of sleep, haven't felt sleepy since (usually I would go back to sleep for 2 hours or so), but yet I have a headache that feels like I didn't get enough sleep, and it feels like the headache kind of comes and goes (Seems like its more palpable when I'm moving.), and some vague feeling of numbness in my left hand that would come and go early this morning. Then that 3 seconds of dizziness. My ECG looked mostly fine earlier, so I don't know what's going on. Well, and either what feels like puffs of air spontaneously coming out of my esophagus or some kind of palpitation. And that occasional nausea/squished feeling in my head, seems amplified during excitement. The only thing different I did yesterday night diet wise was that I ate 2 spicy mcchickens with the bread an all.

Anyway, looks like she might watch some anime. That sky blue hair color that's so common in the field.

Learning about the Fifth Ward on wikipedia, near downtown.

Between 1990 and 2000 the Hispanic population of the Fifth Ward increased from around 19% of the population to around 31%.[15] In 2000 the median annual income was $8,900. 62% of its residents lived below the poverty line. 9 of 10 school-aged children qualified for free or reduced lunches. The commercial streets had several empty buildings and vacant lots. Lisa Gray, a journalist in the Houston Press, stated in a 2000 article that the existing businesses "run mostly to dingy mom-and-pop oper.tions, grim little grocery stores and cheerless liquor stores. There's no McDonald's, no Fiesta, no Target, no Wal-Mart. It's turf where national chains fear to tread."

lol, that sounds just like my little town! Except, I think that's mostly because it's little, not because of its "Fifth Ward" quality. A median annual income of $9000 would definitely put me in the top quartile. (I think the median annual income here is a bit higher. I suspect the average person here is a full time $12/hour worker, so median annual personal income of $24000?)

I actually do wonder about the compensation for the people in the mexican grocery store. I have suspicion they aren't earning standard wages for the area, or possibly not even minimum. But, I don't really know.

And, looking at craigslist, it seems I picked one up at a good time. Haven't really seen any new inventory that appeals to me over the last week.

And, the $80 paddle I got is actually pretty nice. Unlike the $25 walmart models, it's featherweight, and the paddle design is cupped to provide more propulsion. Featherweight seems like it'd be pretty important (More energy going into propulsion, and less just trying to lift the paddle out of the water, lol. So less fatigue.)
 
swbluto said:
Interesting, saw an ad for "Can you deadlift your bodyweight? Life insurance for weightlifters.".

Is that your plan for not living through this? A movie, 'Night of the Living Bodybuilders.'

So Kristen Dunst has music videos. What's the one where she's sneaking out in disguise but the guy follows her? Winding up in the elevator crashing to the ground while they're a bit indifferent to it all. Don't know the name of the song and there's just too much crap that pops up on YouTube to keep looking. Not one of the great videos of al time, but her music wasn't up there either. Just can't bring myself to obsess over her because no matter how good looking she is, I just don't see her as a woman for me. Not like, say, Zooey Deschanel, whom I've met and she really is as nice as she seems.

[youtube]ibPzU-ldvfc[/youtube]
 
I didn't say I was a big fan of Kristin Dunst, but I'm definitely a fan of the theming of the music video. Whether that was /her/ idea or the japanese producer's idea, I don't know, but it's a good suspicion that it was the japanese producer's idea and not hers, lol.

But, I'll admit, I like my dogs with a bit of better-than-thou attitude. It's always fun challenging them.

Anyway, I noticed the tracks near the side of the road going around my RV were getting a little muddy when it rained, so I started laying down this cobble stone I have to firm it up. And, I didn't intend to make the road look more appealing, but WOW, this stuff looks nice, lol. It reminds me of the cobblestone roads you see in Ancient history films and just have that pleasant/ancient look to it.

If I could, I would lay cobblestone all along the road in front of my property. But the remnants of the old pavement make that difficult; I'd have to remove it, I would think.

And, I think I've found a pretty strong link between a particularly irritated spot in the gum next to back right molar and the right jawbone pain, and possible vascular affects on the right side of the brain. The vascular part is hypothetical, but it could partially explain some left sided phenomonon of possible ischemic origin. I cleaned it out extremely well yesterday night and all that jaw pain almost immediately disappeared. It was a bit weird feeling the disjointed nature of my jaw without the pain, leading to me to believe that the joint pain isn't from the disjointed jaw, but a particularly irritated gum near the right back molar. And, I don't know how it'd be linked, like blood vessels supplies the upper jaw?

According to https://www.slideshare.net/RamezMaqsood/blood-supply-of-the-jaws-and-teeth

It's the Posterior superior artery.

And according to this picture.

posterior_superior_alveolar_artery.png


It appears to branch off the external carotid.

And the external carotid supplies the temporal artery, which passes by the temples, which I've felt pain there a few times for unknown reasons (And it was particularly felt right after the suspected nocturnal ischemia one night.).

So, I have pretty good suspicion the bacteria in the gumline near this tooth is affecting my external carotid. To what extent, I don't know, but I don't really like it, lol.

Anyway, seeing what's been happening recently with congress/president in the last decade or so, and seeing how presidents have become more dictatorial in response, I wonder...

If dictatorships naturally arise when "congress"/"parliment" becomes too divided and subsequently stagnant and ineffective. I don't really know what was happening back in 1930s germany, but with the malaise brought upon by the vienna treaty(whoops, I meant Treaty of Versailles. Vienna was in response to Napolean's napoleanic wars.) and the great depression compounding it, methinks there was probably a lot of bickering in congress(reichstag) between the national socialists and the communists, making them ineffective, until Hitler rose to power and started getting things done. I wonder if that's what might be happening in America, the great recession leading to the stagnant bickering between the political parties which naturally propel a dictatorship. It does seem like poorer countries tend to encourage dictatorships, probably because poor conditions leads to too much bickering between the representatives to get things done. When everything seems to be going alright, seems like there's peace and harmony between the parties, and things can get done.

Wow, first order (Remember, I get these orders all across the nation). Location is about 12 miles from me.
Second order, comes from Spokane.

Wow, the orders I've been getting out today have been hitting close to home, lol. Anyway, just kind of bizarre.

Anyway, saw two bluebirds today. Those tend to be pretty rare; the redjays are far more common.

And, I think the gunshots I was hearing that seemed like my neighbor was arcing around me, was actually coming from the multimillionaire neighbor down the street, lol. When the generator was kicked upto 60-70% load, he could then hear the generator and he started shooting. I didn't really know why was he shooting until I heard him fire 5 shots in one second, and that was a key sign "Oh, he's irritated. It's not just target practice.", so I rearranged the generator so that he couldn't hear it, and the gunfire ceased. Lol, I guess the people here communicate with their guns. You might ask "Why did have it pointing so that he'd hear it?" Answer: I didn't know he could hear it. He certainly didn't do anything when it was at 40% load for many months.
 
Wow, who would've thought.

Running a business is like my own student debt relief plan. I can spend as much as I need to ensure I show "no income", which qualifies for no student payments, and I can do that year after year, and then all is forgiven, my networth is so high, no taxes, wow. It's hard to believe that running a business would be a /legitimate/ ticket out of the tax/government-debt system, but I guess the government rewards businesses in America.

I didn't really think of that angle when claiming losses this year, but man, it seems like a good plan, now.

I might just need to cash out by the time my student loans get forgiven (I.e., own no US-registered or discoverable assets) and keep the IRS's filthy hands off my cash, and I effectively escape the tyranny of the US government (I call it, "Financial oppression".). Wow, now my juices are flowing, lol.

And it's all completely legal.

Now I just need to figure out how to use gold as a consumable, lol. (I burn it off for energy, lol.)

Anyway, I need to start keeping an expense journal, because unlike in past years, more of my expenses are local purchases, and I need to keep track of that to claim deductions. If I don't keep track, more dollars will be unaccounted for, opening them to taxation.

And, I need to download my ebay/amazon expenses for the past couple years (Or get a screen capture or whatever). Especially eBay, they like to clear out their history after 2 years. Just in case I need to substantiate proof of purchases.

Doing a simple "not including foundation" based on the costs of sheds...

A similar structure would likely have a $/sqft of $599/64sqt or about $10 sq. ft.; So a 300 sq ft. A-frame shack or traditional gable structure would likely be $3000 to construct (The A-frame might actually be cheaper; It'd have to be a tall A-frame, however, to have appreciable usable ground level space, so it might not really be that cost effective based on usable area.). And, a house like my parents, 2000 sq. ft., would be about $20,000 to construct. I wouldn't build a house without insulation, though, unless it were a warmer temperate climate like here.

And, today was a pretty nice day for these parts. It was the high 60s and radiantly sunny. The combination was pretty wonderful, because the sun made it feel pretty warm, while the air wasn't making you sweat. Anyway, Spokane's summers are like this, but the thing is, it never really gets hot and the winters are horrible, so it's a bad tradeoff in my opinion. Anyway, I immediately understood why columbia's capital, Bogota, is the most popular/populated; sunny 68 degrees feels just right, while keeping the bugs at bay. It seems like the bugs really come out in full force past 74 or so and increasingly so past that.

So how much would it take to create a roman courtyard building?

Let's see. Each side if 50 feet long, courtyard is 30 feet wide, hall is 10 feet wide. So the area is...

2*(50x10)+2*(30x10) = 1600 sq. ft.; so about $16,000 dollars to construct. Of course, there's then the terra cotta roofing and the... stucco(?)... walls and the such, so that'll probably push it up a bit. Maybe $20,000. Then of course, the cobblestone paths, the garden and the grecian themed statues and what not... probably add on another $6000 or so. So, about $26,000 in materials to construct a roman courtyard gardens villa. Maybe in a couple years, lol.

So... coming back from wally world (I picked up a screen to use to keep out mosquitos from the IBC tank and also go locks to lock it up.), I was driving down the main street and some guy was walking down the road(I'm guessing near his property) with a lantern in one hand and what looked like a pistol in the other. :shock:

OMG, I sure hope there isn't some creeper with a pistol in hand prowling the neighborhood at night. That's the kind of thought that would give me nightmares about this place.

And... now the next day... I'm actually wondering more about that structure. A traditional house doesn't have the wooden beams exposed, and it seems they usually cover it. If one were to cover it with plywood, that would effectively double the plywood cost which would increase the structure cost by... 60%... I think?

Maybe that's why my figures are so much lower than traditional houses. The doubling of materials to improve internal appearance (Well, plus it's to hide the insulation as well as the wooden beams.). If I were to account to add internal sheeting, that would increase the materials cost from $20,000 to $32,000 and the total project cost would be about $40000?

I just get the feeling I can make exposed posts look good in the context of roman theming. That'd be an unjustifiably high price to pay to improve the appearance of the wooden beams when it seems there should be much more economical ways to improve appearance. Like partial concealment with a circular cover with roman-decorations on it, so at to make it seem like a sort of support pillar.
 
Strep mutans grows off of sucrose (metabolizes it directly), so it'd be curious to see how honey interacts with strep mutans since it is mostly sugar.


http://aem.asm.org/content/78/2/536.full

AH = artificlal honey
NH = natural honey
TSB = tryptohan soy broth

Overall, NH supported significantly less (P < 0.05) bacterial growth than AH at 25 and 12.5% concentrations. At 50 and 25% concentrations, both honey groups provided significantly less bacterial growth and biofilm formation than the TSB control. For bacterial viability, the results for all honey concentrations except 50% NH were not significantly different from those for the TSB control. NH was able to decrease the maximum velocity of S. mutans growth compared to AH. In summary, NH demonstrated more inhibition of bacterial growth, viability, and biofilm formation than AH. This study highlights the potential antibacterial properties of NH and could suggest that the antimicrobial mechanism of NH is not solely due to its high sugar content.

There we go, apparently strep mutans can't effectively utilize the sugar in honey for some reason. So, honey >> sugar.

Another curious research angle with honey is diabetes.

https://www.dietvsdisease.org/can-diabetics-eat-honey/

One small experimental study on healthy subjects found that although 75g of honey did raise blood sugar and insulin levels in the first two hours, 75g of pure glucose raised them both significantly more (3).

Similarly in type 2 diabetic subjects, honey also had a much smaller impact on blood sugar levels than pure glucose.

Oh, yes, because post meal blood sugar = glucose absoprtion + bacteria growth. This would explain the big difference between free sugars and honey despite the tiny difference in GI values (60 vs 58).

Here's the study they got that from.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15117561

Honey decreased cholesterol (8%), LDL-C (11%), and CRP (75%) after 15 days

Wow, a 75% reduction in CRP is quite significant, because CRP is a direct indicator of bacterial activity (CRP is a measure of inflammation and as already learned, systemic inflammation is caused by bacteria. Think of inflamed tissue with a cut; sometimes there's inflamed tissue, sometimes not. The difference is the invasion of bacteria.)

Anyway, I was wondering about honey because it seems that honey has a longterm "filling aspect" unlike other sugary sources. I ate honey with my coconut and stopped when the honey didn't taste as pleasant.

Well, met a new resident today. Lives in a camper, helps around the town and he wanted to electrify his bike after my neighbor told him about mine, lol. Anyway, he let me knows there's thieves in the area, and he came to check out my property , so I'm thinking I might now be in someone's sights, lol. So, even though my security is kind of high already, I might just have to make it a little higher. I.e., securing the gascans while I'm gone. Which is kind of a pain (They tend to spill when taking tight corners with the van.), but not impossible. And, I'm going to review my outside items a little more closely to review what's of value and needs to be secured (I just quickly emptied the boxes out of the back of the van into existing piles on my property; I needed to pick up the 275 gallon IBC tank.). Anyway, I think I might go kayaking tomorrow morning. Maybe not.

And, West End Girls. What's so special about London's West End Girls that he created a popular track about the demographic? Are they high status? Are they prostitutes? I've read it's Londons' "Entertainment district", so I'm thinking prostitutes, but it's hard to imagine someone would create such a compelling song about prostitutes. Are these the pretty and sophisticated "upper class" females of London that every boy of London wants? Or is he yodeling about Bar girls? He does talk about a "Downtown dive bar".

A church for down-and-outers and those who romanticize them, a rare place where high and low rub elbows—bums and poets, thieves and slumming celebrities. It’s a place that wears its history proudly.

So, the east boys are "The low" and the west end girls are "The high". So he's yodeling about pretty high status females.

And, it's now 5:38 p.m. and I just had some fun practicing my swordmanship on the crowd of lovebugs that seem to love my generator exhaust. I hit many of them, and witnessed one go down just like a plane that just got broke in half and corkscrewed to the ground. Looked closer, looks like it was cut clean through the middle (The other guys I hit, I suspect they just get "pushed"). These things are harmless but they like to land on me, so they annoy me. They're called lovebugs because they're most often seen with two combined together flying around. Apparently after mating, they're stuck to each other for a few days. Anyway, nope, never saw this insect before coming here and it seems like they really started picking up in the last month or so. The mosquitos have been here ever since february.

And, I'm going to continue clearing out the back tomorrow morning. And, work mornings and evenings. Should be possible with the mosquito suit. Hopefully, I can get it cleared in less than a week and start getting the garden plots setup. I'm kind of abandoning the driveway right now since being on the side of the road /right/ on my property, I essentially feel like I'm on my property. And, there's so very few days where it's suitable to work on the driveway (Though, it should be suitable tomorrow, but gardening is a higher priority.).

And, I'll also need to clear out a path for the fence, so I'll do that after clearing the back. I will probably resort to using my neighbors property to hide my kayak, lol.

And, the day after tomorrow, I'm going make a trip to conroe that morning to pick up the 4x 55 gallon drums. For drinking water and shower water, I could probably get away with 3.

1 - current drinking/cooking water drum
2 - shower/clothes-washing water (Painted black and put in a sunny location to keep it warm.)
3 - backup water drum to supply any of those two.

Carrying a /huge/ reserve doesn't seem important with the regular rainfall.

Anyway, I need to fit what I can fit to the IBC tank opening, so I can implement the screen. Can't seem to find information on the top hole, only the spigot.

And, I think I just figured out the importance of fresh fruit vs. other sources of carbs (Like cooked dried peas and honey/raisins, what I've recently trying to subsist off recently). I feel tired as /hell/ without eating fresh fruit, but I go back to normal after resuming (I just consumed a package of mandarin pieces I had.). And, I think I'm going to put more emphasis on the ones with a liquid component, you know, the kind of fruits that ants eat. It's just those fruits tend to be expensive compared to bananas, calorie for calorie; I wonder why?

And reading the theories on songlyrics.com, the drug explanation seems to have the most explanatory power to me. I first thought "the questions" were the kind of questions a west end girl interested in an east end boy would ask prior to courting, but... most of the lyrics didn't make sense with that explanation. But then someone mentioned drugs, and that suddenly made A LOT of sense, especially the lines about "Which do you choose, a hard or soft option?". So, the story is about impoverished east end boys pushing drugs onto west end girls, and the questions are the back and forth exchange between buyer and seller to determine seller reliability (How often do you get it?) and how much the buyer might be willing to pay ("How much do you got?). Yep, drugs explains the entire song, and fits the mood of the melody. And, no surprise, drugs have made for a lot of great songs.

Anyway, it's interesting how hard it is to decipher the background/inspiration of the lyrics judging from how many people got it (Just that one person apparently). Yes, so he was one of the greats in terms of subtleness.

Or looking at it again... it might be referring the individual experience of one particular drug user (The madman with the gun who takes drugs), and the "west end girls, east end boys" is really just something entirely else (Them courting). Basically, he might be explaining the nature of the kind of people who go to a "dead end" dive bar, the paranoid druggies seeking drugs and the boys courting girls. This would fit with the description of a divebar according to that one writer above. So, it's not necessarily "one or the other" like the most commenters suggest, it's everything. (Except the cold war explanation; that doesn't make any sense)

The courting explanation only makes sense because he didn't mention anything about boys meeting boys, and many drug users are boys. And, I wouldn't think he'd be referring to drugged out west end girls going mad in a restaurant and putting a gun to their head.

So, the idea that's making sense to me now... he's describing the personal experience of one "East end boy" paranoid drug user in London who goes to a deadend divebar, possibly to buy drugs, but also where he meets west end girls. This is where the "high meets the low", the low being the drugged out east end boy and the high being the west end girls. And the 'getting saved tone' when he mentions the west end girls does suggest he's "finding a way out of this deadend druggie lifestyle" by meeting these west end girls at the divebar.

And, I really think the next thing I should do along with the getting the garden started is setting up a shed. I need more space to expand my business, and dedicating the entire shed to it would be kind of nice. I want to expand my business because I want more income, because I need more income to build my terra cotta roman villa, lol.
 
Look how long without an extensive post, or a post at all. Think this is it? I mean, all those symptoms. He might have died of fright. If so, it's a self inflicted wound.
 
Hi, still here (I've just been updating the previous post yesterday, thus, no 'new post' yesterday). This morning was a little iffy, but I'm still here. Tried out my mosquito suit, that was pretty awesome, got more cleared from the backyard. I think I'm going to continue at evening time. I've moved onto the "Cut everything down" except for the tiniest guys, pull them up. I'm just going to dig up the roots for everyone else (Except for the large tree stumps; I'll likely leave them there. They might become useful somehow.) using the paulskie axe at some later date. I'm doing that way so I can get it done faster; trying to pull every little sapling up by hand is time consuming, and only 20-30% of them want to pull up. Cutting them is a very fast procedure, and digging them up with the pulaski is pretty thorough.

Moved the generator to a new position to reduce fumes, fumes have been significantly reduced. It's nice working and breathing in fresh air.

Fixed the wheelbarrow, found the missing screw.

Yep, nothing really new.

Update: 11:00 a.m., continued my arm exercises. Meaning, going around and swinging my sword at leaves and lovebugs. Got one, tumbled to the ground. It's not exactly the most efficient way of getting these buggers, but it's pretty fun and good for arm strengthening (And, generally, just keeping physically active. Sitting in my chair in my RV all day isn't good for health, which what I seem prone to.). I can tell you, back in Spokane, there wasn't exactly a lot of opportunity to swing at flying pests; the only flying pests back there were wasps, lol, not exactly the kind I would want to be swinging my sword at, lol.

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2017-04-benefits-brain.html

Oh, interesting, foot impact during walking/running is a large cause behind systemic arterial flow increases. Apparently walking/running has a greater impact on systemic artery flow than bicycling due to "foot impact".

You probably know that walking does your body good, but it's not just your heart and muscles that benefit. Researchers at New Mexico Highlands University (NMHU) found that the foot's impact during walking sends pressure waves through the arteries that significantly modify and can increase the supply of blood to the brain. The research will be presented today at the APS annual meeting at Experimental Biology 2017 in Chicago.

Until recently, the blood supply to the brain (cerebral blood flow or CBF) was thought to be involuntarily regulated by the body and relatively unaffected by changes in the blood pressure caused by exercise or exertion. The NMHU research team and others previously found that the foot's impact during running (4-5 G-forces) caused significant impact-related retrograde (backward-flowing) waves through the arteries that sync with the heart rate and stride rate to dynamically regulate blood circulation to the brain.
In the current study, the research team used non-invasive ultrasound to measure internal carotid artery blood velocity waves and arterial diameters to calculate hemispheric CBF to both sides of the brain of 12 healthy young adults during standing upright rest and steady walking (1 meter/second). The researchers found that though there is lighter foot impact associated with walking compared with running, walking still produces larger pressure waves in the body that significantly increase blood flow to the brain. While the effects of walking on CBF were less dramatic than those caused by running, they were greater than the effects seen during cycling, which involves no foot impact at all.
"New data now strongly suggest that brain blood flow is very dynamic and depends directly on cyclic aortic pressures that interact with retrograde pressure pulses from foot impacts," the researchers wrote. "There is a continuum of hemodynamic effects on human brain blood flow within pedaling, walking and running. Speculatively, these activities may optimize brain perfusion, function, and overall sense of wellbeing during exercise."
"What is surprising is that it took so long for us to finally measure these obvious hydraulic effects on cerebral blood flow," first author Ernest Greene explained. "There is an optimizing rhythm between brain blood flow and ambulating. Stride rates and their foot impacts are within the range of our normal heart rates (about 120/minute) when we are briskly moving along."


Read more at: https://medicalxpress.com/news/2017-04-benefits-brain.html#jCp
 
swbluto said:
Oh, interesting, foot impact during walking/running is a large cause behind systemic arterial flow increases. Apparently walking/running has a greater impact on systemic artery flow than bicycling due to "foot impact".

if you're riding over bumpy ground, you can still get some significant impact to the feet and spine but it probably won't be synchronized with your heart rate. Still, I think there are beneficial effects to this kind of repeated impact. It has been shown that impact will help strengthen the discs in the spine over time and can make them thicker, reducing the likelihood of nerves getting pinched. If you have a disc that's blown out, impact can be bad if it's above a certain level.
 
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