Buying forest land, implementing solar

[swbluto]

Went around the area, checking out local dirt/gravel suppliers. Appears they are a bunch of retail outlets, since I see massive stacks about 100x larger than these guys in the distant NW Houston area. The retail outlets make a lot of sense since it seems like not a lot of people are willing to deliver beyond a 20 mile radius or so it seems.

Anyway, the advice I got from them. Lay down clay, let it dry it so that it's hard, and /then/ top it with 4" of crushed concrete, which they had for $60/yard (The clay was $13/yard) and delivery fee was $65. The minimum for delivery was 6 yards, and I'm doubting I would need that much crushed concrete for a 4" layer, so it looks like I'll be making trips, lol. Still haven't checked out all the suppliers, I should give them a call.

The other retail outlet had a delivery fee of $95, and they offered crushed granite for $65/yard. They're apparently getting fruit trees in March (They sell bunches of trees), so I'll be checking in with these guys around then. Seems like people have been asking them about fruit trees (like me, lol), so they're getting them in, yay. I really just need to check out the local nurseries, this would be easier with some skype credit.

Anyway, I checked out Fry's and their suitable stock was paltry. So, I looked for another supplier and, voila, Micro Center which apparently just opened up in Houston. Checked it out, WOW! Cheaper than online prices and /plenty/ of inventory. The downside is that they are 60 miles away and it appears the tricky part is getting out of Houston, lol, so I'm guessing I would have to push a pickup towards the end of the day [I can't stand bumper to bumper traffic, the constant switching between stop/go pedals is uncomfortable, so I opted for city streets to get to houston's periphery and then I got on the highway.]. They close at 9, so I'd have to leave relatively early for pickup (Maybe 7). So, in the event I have a surge of orders, I know who my local suppliers are. I don't think it'll be 'too surgy', however, because of the timing. The beginning of the month is a poor time to be marketing since bills have just been paid, so sales tend to be slow. But, I guess I will see.

I should do some calculations.

12' width x 20' length x (5/12)' depth = 100 ft^3 = 3.7 cubic yards.

Wait, so I need... 8 cubic yards for the rest of the clay (For one foot depth and side slope). I guess I could use a clay delivery. It's slow work extracting it by hand. I can see why they have excavators doing it, it takes a person a good 6 hours with what an excavator can do in 2 minutes, lol.

So, to finish up the driveway...

clay -> 8yard*$13/yard+65 delivery fee = $169
crushed concrete -> 3.5yard*$60/yard + $40 gas = $250
--------------------------------------------------------------
Total driveway = $419 *1.09 tax = $456 total.

The crushed concrete is $300 per 5 cubic yards. Home depot's peabody gravel was $220 per 5 cubic yards. I wonder if I can get that 'clay topper' cheaper somewhere? Seems like angular rocks is the common thread.

Hmmm... you know... there just happens to be a lot of seeming "waste concrete" on that one property down there. I actually wonder if they are/were "using it" as driveway material... and it's not really "waste concrete" that they just dumped there which is how it appears. Because if it was just dumped there as a waste product... well... I think I could find better uses for it, lol. Buy me a sledge hammer and let's start pulverizing some concrete, lol. But, now that I've learned that recycled concrete material is a popular driveway material, it's suspect that it might be an intended driveway material. But, it's kind of odd because it's not really obvious what was there to begin with if anything. It just looks like a bunch of randomly dumped concrete, no super obvious "driveway" shape.

Man, yellow limes are so good, I want another one, lol.

Update: I suppose I could add the clay, then roll the RV across on the wooden boards when it's dry/hard. But, I sure would feel more comfortable putting in sand/clay, because it seems like clay saturates and gets very "mud"-like in the ability for things to sink through it, lol.

 

[swbluto]

Anyway, it's kind of amazing having since learned more about bacteria and diet. Putting my understanding into practice, my poop still doesn't stink, lol. I've cut back on the grain intake and upped the antibiotic/probiotic fat & food consumption and it appears my intestines are staying clean judging by the smell of their byproducts. It appears that the probiotic/antibiotic fat has had a more significant impact on smell reduction than antibiotic liquids (Like wine, vinegar, lime juice, etc.) and I'm guessing that's because it tends to 'stay with the food' more than liquid, which probably gets quickly absorbed in the stomach/small-intestine, so it tends to act as an ongoing antibiotic throughout the entire digestive tract.

I actually now wonder if antibiotic fats (nuts, fish, blue cheese,etc.) have a more significant impact on smell reduction than probiotic fats (cheddar cheese). If the probiotic fats simply add bacteria to the intestines, it wouldn't seem like it'd necessarily reduce smell, so I guess I will find out soon enough. (Stopped buying the peanut butter, only eating cheddar cheese now.)

 

[Dauntless]

Putting my understanding into practice, my poop still doesn't stink, lol.

Dang, lost your sense of smell now, eh?

 

[marty]

Wow, so, line drawings of women are big stocking stuffers this year, eh?

I don't draw /just/ women. I draw just about everyone, but I do have a certain preference for that gender, yes. For obvious reasons, I'm sure.

It's a popular christmas gift for sure. And...

Oh, let's be straightforward here. I did say "It was one part of the business", the other part is actually making a real product from it. Use your imaginations and figure it out.

OK I give up. What is your product?

x

Wow, the platform was looking out for me! So, this fraudelent buyer was returning the product, I issued a complete refund, and then she proceeded to leave a scathing review in which case I exposed all her iniquity for the public to see, she then 'reported me' to the platform for defaming her character, in which case I deleted my response, then the platform looked into it and completely deleted her feedback! Woah! The platform was looking out for me. Wow, I don't usually expect that of most platforms. [Well, it better, I've already paid the platform some $3000 in fees over the last year, lol.]

Hmm...

You know...

This platform is based out of NYC.

The today show is based out of NYC.

I wonder if someone on the platform let someone at the today show know about it and that's why I'm now getting coverage....

The timing of when her feedback got deleted and this request from the today show seems a little uncanny.

Hmmm... well, it looks like someone thought it was a good idea to retaliate against this evil psychopath. She was trying to destroy my business, and the platform thought it was a good idea to do just the opposite. Amazing, I love this platform.

x

Is "platform" on the internet? What is web address?

I like Micro Center. Drove 200 miles to go there. Bought all the parts for this big computer that I typing on. Micro Center was on the way to go visit my mother.

Do you make sculptures out of pasta?

 

[swbluto]

Putting my understanding into practice, my poop still doesn't stink, lol.

Dang, lost your sense of smell now, eh?

No, lol, it still smells like something. But, it smells like horse manure (From horses that eat grass; I'd imagine corn-eating horses might be a little more stinky), it's not stinky like most human poop, it smells like grass or something.

Anyway, i tried doing a 24 hour vegetable fast but I gave up after 14 hours, when the effects of hypoglycemia started to kick in (Vision going bleary & dizziness at random), so I turned it into a "fruits and vegetables" fast, lol.

Granted, I don't know if I'm in the throes of cardiovascular shutdown or not, and maybe it's not merely hypoglycemia. About 2 nights ago, somewhere during the twilight stage (1.5-3 hours after beginning sleep), I felt this tremendous pressure/pain in my chest that I was barely awake for, and I woke up the next morning wondering what that was. I wasn't really "consciously aware" of it as if I was experiencing fully awake; I was asleep, so my consciousness just /barely/ registered it happening. Don't know how long that lasted, I was asleep, and keeping track of time when asleep seems undependable/variable. I see some possible discoloring on my feet, but I don't really know if its signifying anything. The day before, I was eating peanut butter and rice cakes since that's all I had at the time, so I don't know if that contributed. (Rice cakes have a really high GI.)

Anyway, as to water, it seems I just have to dig down 4 feet, and I hit water no matter how long ago it rained. It seems like the "grey clay" that starts at about 4 feet down keeps the water up regardless of the time of the year. The water is interesting; it slowly seeps there, so if I removed it, it takes about half a day to a full day to fill back up. Meaning, if I want to dig up some drier clay, just pump out the water. $35 water pump at harbor freight. (I might want to get something like that for my garden in the future.)

Anyway, as to my garden, I think I'm going to have lots of carrots and sweet potatoes. Because, I want fresh carrots year round. This idea of running out of carrots halfway through the week is getting old, and the carrots become unsweet/bitter after 3 days or so as the bacteria starts consuming all the sugar before I do, so I think having my own carrot garden might be the solution. It'll probably have to be a large garden. Good thing is, since carrot roots don't exactly go deep/wide into the ground, I don't have to put down a lot of "good soil" like I might for a walnut tree.

Anyway, I was walking around microcenter with my goodies in hand, and this attractive young female was standing around and she saw me walk by and started chasing me, lol. Well, I didn't want to chat, so I checked out. This 'encounter' reminds me a lot of what happened back home, that girl 'chasing' me. (She didn't 'chase me' per se, but she /really/ wanted to get to know me and acted like she found her soul-mate or something.)

Anyway, I was thinking last night... "Could I become a father?"... and the visions started going through my mind. It was comforting yet simultaneously repulsing, those thoughts. I could tell I was stressed, because my breathing was fast and 'unrelaxed' after I woke up, and i was /eventually/ able to calm down my breathing by focusing on doing just that. The fact I could "calm" it down told me it was "stress breathing". (I feared my breath was getting shorter because of 2 nights ago, lol.)

Anyway, doing a profit/loss statement. Found out that my savings isn't as high as it would traditionally be because of 1) food 2) gas 3)Durable goods purchases for the RV/driveway/yard. 1) and 3) are expenses I never had before, so that explains the seeming discrepancy between my revenues and savings. I'm trying to get my food bill down, and I think I can get it down to $120/month. It just that these hypoglycemia events have been freaking me out, so it's compelling me to buy more 'ready to eat' carbs, as opposed to the traditional "you have cook it" carbs, which tend to be more expensive. I don't think that's really the complete explanation, honestly. It just seems like I should be down to 30, but it's been 40 recently since I've been stocking up on /this/ or /that/. Next week should probably trend towards 30.

Anyhow, yes, I just don't have enough money for the driveway which is kind of frustrating. I bought this property and I couldn't really put my vehicles on it because there's a ditch in the way. I think I might just start excavating a hole next to the driveway to speed up the filling in of the ditch. Really, it seems like the insurmountable expense is the stone. I could get clay right now, but what to put ontop of it is another question. I could lay down logs, but hehe, I'm not really sure if I feel comfortable pulling my RV across it (The tiny front wheel definitely wouldn't roll across the logs, it'd definitely need the boards, but I don't think the boards would mate well with each other with the wide difference in sizes between the logs, which would make going from one board to the next difficult. It's too bad there's not just a bunch of sand hanging around here, I wouldn't mind just mixing the sand with the clay and see what happens. Hmmm... well, I guess I could get some buckets and start buying some sand. The local supplier sells sand at $19/yard. And I planned on getting buckets for the concrete anyhow, I guess I could get the clay in and start experimenting with that. The local multimillionaire guy who's now ignoring me since seeing my RV suggested putting sand ontop of yellow clay, so it appears to be a viable approach (I don't really care if he's ignoring me, I care more about if he's calling the cops. The more people think I'm just chilling in my RV, the more comfortable I am. As soon as they suspect I'm running a business in here, I start to become sweaty, because then I think... theft risks...).

So...

1)Start excavating clay right next to the driveway (optional)
2) Buy clay for delivery for "the rest"
3) Buy sand and transport it here in buckets.

Is what I'm currently gravitating to... seems more imminently achievable...

I'm wondering about...

Clay->Sandy clay->Sand

Get delivery for 6 yards of sandy clay, then transport 2 yards of sandy clay and 1 yard of sand by buckets.

Wonder how much buckets I'll need for a cubic yard.

Like, a couple of these. These look like you could fill to the brim and carry it.

20 gallon steel buckets

https://www.walmart.com/ip/20GAL-STL-Trash-Can/38691761?action=product_interest&action_type=title&beacon_version=1.0.2&bucket_id=irsbucketdefault&client_guid=a3e58603-808e-4b0e-8c5a-8fdc63a7bba3&config_id=105&customer_id_enc&findingMethod=p13n&guid=a3e58603-808e-4b0e-8c5a-8fdc63a7bba3&item_id=38691761&parent_anchor_item_id=39953164&parent_item_id=39953164&placement_id=irs-105-t1&reporter=recommendations&source=new_site&strategy=PWVAV&visitor_id=cClwySS8tvMGtoEiAD0EQc

how much is 20 gallons? According to google, .1 cubic yards.

[Update: Found a 31 gallon steel can for $20 at https://www.walmart.com/ip/Behrens-31-Gallon-Steel-Trash-Can/39953164. Not sure if it could be 'carried' if filled to the brim with rock/sand/etc. so not really sure if the 31 gallons is effectively 'fully usable'. According to this site, .15 cubic yards of concrete is 400-500 pounds, lol. http://www.traditionaloven.com/conversions_of_measures/concrete-weight.html)

how wide are these? 1.5 feet and 2 feet tall. So, about 8 could fit in the back of my van. That'd be $150 in trash can costs. Man, so much money I just don't have, lol.

trash cans = $160
clay = $160
Sand/sand-clay = $60
-----------------
$380

Then I have the UPS I need to expand production on generator power, $125. I guess I could run directly off the generator and just never let the generator stop somehow... hmm...

I'm still trying to figure out how to expand my production capacity without the expense of a UPS or similar. I can't really just plug the machines into my battery during gas refills since momentary loss in power resets everything. Hooking up the inverter's ouput to the generator line while the generator is running... that just seems like a bad a idea... but I'm not sure if it's impossible or not. I guess, maybe, I could get a diode on the inverters output to prevent backfeeding into the inverter from the generator. I think SCRs are "AC Diodes"? Have no clue.

Looks like I need some peanut butter /and/ cheese. Man can't live off of cheese alone, lol. I have nothing against that idea, sounds like a good idea to me. Cheese and peanutbutter being the main sources of fat. Let taste be thy guide. Ever since I ran out of peanut about 2 days ago, I've been eating just cheese and... my farts are starting to stink. Hmm... yep... this is slowly confirming my suspicion. Cheese really isn't 'antibiotic' like peanut butter is.

Okay, I think I got it. Maybe, seems probable.

So, I hook up my two 12v batteries in series. 24V.

Then I hook up my two 12v 76A server supplies in series to get 24V, this directly feeds the batteries, ideally at 12.7V split or similar (25.4V total). This then powers my machines directly replacing their 24V internal power supplies. When the generator turns on, the power supplies directly power the load (Demands 24V 45A at max), batteries are just hanging in for the ride. When the supplies turn off, the batteries supply the machines, maintaining continuity. No fear of batteries backfeeding into the power supplies when they turn off because they are meanswell power supplies. Of course, I could be really wrong and end up killing the internal power supplies. But, if I'm totally bypassing them in the generator ON and generator OFF state, I could effectively remove them from the circuit. Now the concern is backfeeding into the server power supplies when the generator is off. I would think that the supplies have backfeeding protection (diode on the output) but... I could be wrong... would seem that they more than likely do considering server supplies are not something to cheap out on, I think? But 77A is a lot of current to be putting a diode on...

Wow, there's a lot of people driving by my encampment today. I wonder why... [I've effectively positioned my RV and van so that I'm off the road; my only fear now is getting my van stuck in the mud and needing to call a tow guy. I'm just really hoping that my cheapo come-along can be of assistance. Somehow, lol.

 

[swbluto]

The link between sucrose/fructose consumption and diabetes is this:

Because the liver plays such an important role in regulating the body's blood sugar, the buildup of fat in the vital organ makes it harder to control fasting glucose levels. It also makes the body more resistant to insulin, straining the pancreas and its beta cells and speeding up the arrival of type 2 diabetes.

But glucose consumption obviously has a role, because white rice consumption ups the risk of diabetes type 2 considerably. "other grains" have a lower risk, presumably because the fiber/bran that it has that white rice doesn't slows down the conversion from starch to glucose by amylase in the mouth/stomach/small-intestine and thus lowers the GI. Seems like parboiled rice is the best rice in this regard. Seems like the elderly black guy rice is parboiled.

 

[swbluto]

I possibly have gravel and sand on my property?

I have heard of people digging their beds out to 6 feet deep and filling them back with layers of the 'perfect' soil. What is the perfect soil layer depths? I have a fertle clay loam on the top 6-8 inches and then below that is about a foot of pure red-brown clay which get very hard when it is dry. Below that is a sandy gravel with small rocks. The gravel layer is some 6' deep (I have a gravel pit), and then it is pure sand. The water table is about 23 feet deep. Would removing the brown clay subsoil and replacing it with screened sand improve my soil for vegetables like parsnips, carrots, tomatoes? If I removed all the subsoil clay and then filled back with the same amount of sand, then add 3 inches of the clay and then the topsoil, then I wouldn't be tilling or plowing up any sand.

Okay, time to start digging. I just need to get a pump to pump out the water and just keep on digging. It'd be kind of nice if I just happened to have all the driveway material I need on my property, especially sand and gravel. That "top layer" is expensive. [Unlike her, the water table here seems to be about 4 feet deep, since the gray clay that starts there seems to be impermeable.]

[EDIT: Oh wait... I think she means the gravel starts about 1.5-2 feet below and is 6 feet thick. Hmmm... yep... definitely no gravel starting within 2 feet here. Just clay and more clay. Yellow clay and then it turns gray about 4 feet down with red streaks throughout it. The gray clay is noticeably harder to penetrate than the yellow clay. Leads me to believe the yellow clay has sand or something in it.]

Well now... time to think some more about this...

https://permies.com/t/55780/Small-gravel-pit-property-income

The calculations are really easy. You have to know how many acres your gravel pit covers, how deep the gravel bed is (called head), then subtract how deep the overburden is (topsoil) and get your number. Mine is 7 acres in size, and with an acre being 42,000 square feet, and the gravel bed being 32 feet deep, I have 9,362,000 cubic feet of gravel.

32 feet down. Wow, I'm not sure if I want to dig a 32 foot hole in my property! Sounds like it'd be f'in dangerous. Wait... I think I'm misreading this... I think he means the gravel layer is 32 feet thick, not 32 feet below the surface. Ok, maybe I don't have to create a humongous hole, lol.

I like how the water table is so high. It means, in case of drought or some such, I just have to tap this hole for some water to water my plants, lol. I could also possibly distill it for drinking water purposes. It looks like kind of gross, though, and even though I know distilling it gets rid of the pale cloudy grossness, the thought of it just perturbs me a little, lol. And they always talk about "Don't contaminate the water table", who knows what's been dumped on the ground here. Not that I think it's really thick with contaminants, but gasoline and the such evaporates just as well as water in a distiller.

Anyway, appears apples with their 38 GI are a good hypoglycemia-preventer. if paired with cheese, even more so, I would think. So, apples with cheese is probably a good late night snack, yes. I still think that boiled sweet potatos are better than apples, though, as a staple because its mostly glucose as opposed to fructose in apples; much less taxing on the liver as a staple food [starches and glucose doesn't tax the liver]. I don't think sweet fruits are the best staple foods, because of the sucrose/fructose that tax the liver. Plantains, which are used as staples in some countries, are better than bananas because it's more starch/glucose than sugar/sucrose. Today has been a fruity day,

Anyway, the water table that starts at 4 feet is kind of interesting. Implies if I dig deeper, I can get even more water in 'storage'. Right now, about half a foot of water is standing there, but if I digged down an extra 5 feet, it'd be like 5.5 feet of standing water, 20x the current water capacity. Don't know how long it'd fill up though; it seems like the rate it fills up depends on the surface area on the walls in the top yellow clay layer. Currently, it takes about half a day to a full day to fill. If I inserted well perforated straws into the side walls of the current hole, that might boost the rate at which it fills up. Seems like it'd more practical to widen the hole if I wanted greater water refill rates. Probably just a better idea to make a long hole as opposed to a fat circular hole if I wanted faster refill rates.

Seems like I could dig a big hole down into the ground for "water collection" (To boost the capacity), and then dig trenches branching off that hole to be "water collectors" (To boost the refill rate). Fan the trenches off the hole like a heatsink or some probably radial like the sun would be good. Or, probably radial like the sun with a little bit of fractaling as it extends out to capture the 'area' more effectively. Radial sun like pattern is probably the most practical to implement.

Update:

Wow, the hunger wasn't going away no matter how much apples, bananas and cheese I ate. I had to go get some peanut butter and see if that would quell it. And, yes, quelled it it did.

The price of the peanut butter went up from 2.00 to 2.50. It's interesting that these prices seem to go up as soon as I start buying them (Limes went up from 10cents to 20cents each at HEB)... I'm guessing it was 2.00 before because the standing oil was unpopular with the folk here (Mix it in, it's fine), but the unnatural canola oil peanut butter (without standing oil) didn't appeal to me at all. I drained a little of the oil this time because it's really creamy after mixing it, and I don't like really creamy peanut butter. I like thickness/substance.

It's interesting that peanut butter quelled the hunger but the cheese wouldn't. Let's compare them.

PB has much magnesium/potassium, cheese has little of each.
PB has unsaturated fats (Antibiotic), cheese has saturated fat (No affect on bacteria) and bacteria cultures (Adds harmless bacteria to the tract, increases 'competition' against the bad bacteria.).
What other differences are there? I don't know, but those might explain the difference... maybe...

So, I guess I will prioritize peanut butter over cheese. The much higher mineral content of peanuts is compelling in its own right.

Anyway, It seems like I made $500 or so this last month [Normally, it would've been $900-1000; but I guess travel expenses, generator gas, food ate up half of that.). I'm being tempted to apply for a job here, sell all the equipment and suddenly have money to work with. But, the 'local jobs' are minimum wage and the high-paying ones are some 30-40 miles away. The distance wouldn't deter me, it's the bumper to bumper traffic getting out of Houston, especially at the time I'd likely be getting out of work that does. I know if I expanded production, I probably could have a greater discretionary income to get things done like building my driveway, but I'm not doing that at the moment because this Today show promotion seems like it'll probably expand production in its own right.

Anyway, I figured out my soil just a little better.

The top 3 inches = topsoil. Roots, dirt
Next foot = brown sand.
Next 2 feet = yellow sand/clay, more clay as you go down. Starts getting a 'sticky texture' this far down, telling of clay.
Below that (3.5-4 feet down) = grey clay with random red streaks.

So, it appears that I do have sand to work with in the top foot or so. Might have a little bit of clay, but obviously not that much because it's not sticky like the lower layers. It appears if I wanted sand from my property, I have to strip out the sand over a wide area. That seems unappealing.

According to the USGS soil survey, my area is:

H1 - 0 to 28 inches: loamy fine sand
H2 - 28 to 60 inches: sandy clay loam
H3 - 60 to 80 inches: sandy clay loam

That sounds about right (The sandy clay loam appears to be more like clay than anything else.). I guess the brown part of the sand comes from the "loam". Anyway, this sounds like it might be somewhat ideal for a banana plant and other not-deeply-rooted tropical plants (Most root vegetables). Of course, adding compost/manure/fertilizer might not be a bad idea. (Adding poop to the soil which the root vegetables grow in that I then eat directly. Hmmm... something tells me I should be washing those root vegetables. Hmmm... maybe that's why the packages at the store are all like "Wash before eating" and I'm like, "Whatever, it looks good to go!" *munch*, lol.).

Fruit trees grow best in well-drained soil with a sandy, loamy texture. They also need deep soil to support their deep root systems. Experts at the University of California recommend planting fruit trees in areas with at least 3 feet of topsoil. Heavy clay soils, overly rocky soils or soils lacking in nutrients can stunt tree growth.

Looks like my soil is just about right. Appears I'll want three feet of top soil for the trees, I wonder what that would entail. I think I have 4 inches of topsoil, which then abruptly changes into loamy fine sand. Anyway, continued with clearing the back today. It's kind of a slow process.

Anyway, I'm restricting purchasing from the rock/soil place until the 8th or so. I would just buy from them immediately on the 7th, but I don't know what kind of workload I'll have. And, subsequently, how much supplies I'll need to buy. I like that microcenters prices are significantly cheaper than my current suppliers prices; implies I would get ahead if I bought in bulk, which I think I might. The largest reason why my savings went below $100 recently was because of resupplies (I usually need to do that about once every month or so; the microcenter supplies can also drive down my operational costs for the next supply purchases.). This next paycheck should be "Almost pure profit"(Minus that week's groceries and gas, about $50.), since there are no impending supply purchases I'll need to make for some time. So, about $300 to blow on whatever. I think I might blow $200 on driveway material, but only after the Today promotion. Anyway, I noticed my competitor had a desireable position on the platform and that concerned me that perhaps she was getting more business than me, but one surefire way to infer that is to look at the recent feedback, and my recent feedback is 10x her recent feedback. So, despite her privileged search position, I'm obviously getting at least 5x the sales. So, I really shouldn't be jealous. I bet you I'm winning the "visibility" game. Well, plus, there's a little secret in my listing that boosts the sales rate by 5-10x. (See... most people are selling a product... which I'm also doing... but I'm also selling information and "help" and I give them a little bit of that high-quality help/information upfront, and promise more of that if they purchase.)

I think I might buy 8 yards of 'sandy clay' from them. It's a little more expensive than clay, but I'm hoping that it's more amendable to turning into a road by adding in marginally more sand (Which I can buy and pick up in buckets. Or possibly extract from yard), if needed. I'm thinking I could get away from stone and create a 'sand clay' road of sorts. If sand clay roads work in South Carolina, I have a strong feeling it'll work in Houston. It rains by the bucket loads in SC.

Well, never mind, started looking more into sand clay roads and found...

Ordinary sand and clay makes a better road than all clay or all sand because they have the tendency to overcome the bad qualities in each other. The sand renders the clay less sticky and clay overcomes the liquid character of sand. From this observation it might be concluded that any haphazard mixing of sand and clay would produce a sand-clay road, but no greater mistake could be made than to assume good results would invariably follow when the proportions used and the principal underlying the mixing is not clearly understood by the road builder. It is manifest that a certain definite proportion must exist between the sand and clay in order that the greatest neutralization of the bad qualities in the clay and sand may be obtained, and the resulting composition produce the best road. It is evident that a deficiency of clay would leave the sand predominating and resulting road excessively sandy. Likewise a deficiency of sand would leave the clay without support ready for rain and travel to produce a muddy road.
The key, Spoon explained, was that "the grains of sand . . . must be in contact with only the voids between the grains of sand filled with clay." The road builder had to vary the amount of clay based on the nature of the sand (e.g., coarse sand required more clay than fine sand):

Okay, so I just need to find the recipe somewhere to get the exact proportions.

But in all cases the grains of sand must be in contact in order to give rigidity to the traveled surface when the clay becomes softened by rain. Furthermore this contact relation must have sufficient depth to support the loads to be hauled over it.
Simply mixing sand and clay in appropriate amounts would not complete the road; "the process is only begun." Each lump of clay had to be reduced to a paste by the addition of water:

Oh, that sounds ominous.

It is evident, therefore, that the road must become exceedingly muddy from top to bottom and from side to side before uniformity of mixture is possible. This is a most critical period in the construction and the stoutest-hearted road builder often loses hope and courage and feels that he has made an utter failure, when he should know and the public should know that this is his opportune time to effect and really is effecting the contact mixture.
During this period, the road builder had to determine if more sand was needed, but could do so "only by observation and experience . . . by closely watching the manifestations." Because the initial mixture was rarely perfect, the road builder had to adjust it "through the puddling process" that usually took one or two years. Often, "the road becomes well nigh impassable during this puddling period."

Takes one to two years of practice/experience to know how to do it right. Hmm... yes, maybe that's why stone is recommended, lol.

Maybe I'll just try to find that "really cheap" lumber yard and create a plank road of sorts ontop of the clay.

I wonder if I really need a 4" layer of crushed concrete ontop of the clay. With the geotextile fabric, maybe I could get away with 3"? Maybe I just need to find a cheaper source of crushed concrete here. $60/yard...

 

[swbluto]

Hmmm... I found this and it made me wonder.

Bad cholesterol is typically found in animal-based products: meats and dairy. This is yet another reason to avoid them, and why doctors suggest sticking to a plant-based diet.

See, I know that "meats and dairy", in particular dark meats and milk, contain sugars that increase the bacterial populations and that might be related to cholesterol. Perhaps these sugars tax the liver just like sucrose/fructose?

So, the question becomes... does saturated fat and cholesterol consumption increase cholesterol?

A good food for this would be cheese. It's both high in saturated fat and cholesterol, extremely low in sugar and high in "probiotics".

I already looked and I remember it finding no assocation between cheese consumption and cholesterol.

So, obviously "meats and dairy" is too broad of a label. It should be, more or less, meats and dairy with sugars, which milk and dark meats have plenty of. How exactly these sugars caused increase cholesterol levels, either via bacteria or via the liver, I don't exactly know but I highly suspect it's one of the two. I know that fructose/sucrose consumption vastly increases cholesterol, but glucose doesn't, and bacteria can readily metabolize glucose/sucrose/fructose, so that suggests that milk and dark meats tax the liver with their sugars, which itself causes high cholesterol. I just didn't know that meat sugars were essentially fructose? Maybe they're not... and maybe the liver metabolizes more than just fructose... or maybe it is... and meat sugars are essentially sucrose or one of its homologs, which gets broken down into fructose in the digestive tract. I'd have to look more into meat sugars. Let's look into milk. It's sugars...

Sucrose - made up of fructose and glucose.
Lactose - made up of galactose and glucose.
Galactose - apparently the same as glucose/fructose - C6H12O2. So one of the three 'essential sugars'. Does the liver metabolize galactose? Because... obviously... cells use glucose and not galactose... so it gets converted somewhere...now the question is where...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galactose#Metabolism

The main pathway of galactose metabolism is the Leloir pathway; humans and other species, however, have been noted to contain several alternate pathways, such as the De Ley Doudoroff pathway.

So what organ is responsible for this pathway?

The Leloir pathway consists of the latter stage of a two-part process that converts β-D-galactose to UDP-glucose. The initial stage is the conversion of β-D-galactose to α-D-galactose by the enzyme, mutarotase (GALM). The Leloir pathway then carries out the conversion of α-D-galactose to UDP-glucose via three principal enzymes: Galactokinase (GALK) phosphorylates α-D-galactose to galactose-1-phosphate, or Gal-1-P; Galactose-1-phosphate uridyltransferase (GALT) transfers a UMP group from UDP-glucose to Gal-1-P to form UDP-galactose; and finally, UDP galactose-4’-epimerase (GALE) interconverts UDP-galactose and UDP-glucose, thereby completing the pathway.

Not much clues there.

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

The Leloir pathway is a metabolic pathway for the catabolism of D-galactose. It is named after Luis Federico Leloir.

In the first step, galactose mutarotase facilitates the conversion of β-D-galactose to α-D-galactose since this is the active form in the pathway. Next, α-D-galactose is phosphorylated by galactokinase to galactose 1-phosphate. In the third step, D-galactose-1-phosphate uridylyltransferase converts galactose 1-phosphate to UDP-galactose using UDP-glucose as the uridine diphosphate source. Finally, UDP-galactose 4-epimerase recycles the UDP-galactose to UDP-glucose for the transferase reaction. Additionally, phosphoglucomutase converts the D-glucose 1-phosphate to D-glucose 6-phosphate.[2][3]

No clues there.

Let's look into this galactose metabolism disorder... perhaps we can infer what organs are involved.

In individuals with galactosemia, the enzymes needed for further metabolism of galactose are severely diminished or missing entirely, leading to toxic levels of galactose 1-phosphate in various tissues as in the case of classic galactosemia, resulting in hepatomegaly (an enlarged liver), cirrhosis, renal failure, cataracts, vomiting, seizure, hypoglycemia, lethargy, brain damage, and ovarian failure

ok, seeing liver and kidney affects here. Suggests it's one of those or both...

Well, I give up. Can't find anyone explaining what organs are involved in this process, but there's high suspicion that the liver mediates the conversion between galactose to glucose, just like it mediates the conversion between fructose to glucose. This suggests then that galactose consumption taxes the liver.

All 3 sugars in milk, then, directly tax the liver. Cheese, where the sugars have been metabolized by bacteria, would not tax the liver. So, that explains the different affects between mlik and cheese in cholesterol levels. All3 sugars in milk tax the liver, whereas cheese has no sugar to tax the liver, so milk increases cholesterol while cheese has no affect. Does the research bear this out? That milk consumption causes increased cholesterol?

This article, http://www.livestrong.com/article/267670-does-milk-raise-cholesterol-levels/, implies that milk causes increased cholesterol, but it wrongly assumes it's because of the saturated fat. That's a common mistaken belief. (Cheese, which is ultra high in saturated fat and cholesterol, has no affect on serum cholesterol.)

It's interesting, I can't seem to find much research on milk consumption and serum cholesterol. It seems that milk possibly gets generalized into "dairy" all the time, which is a bad generalization to make. Cheese is nothing like milk, in terms of its health affects and affects on bacteria. Maybe I'm just not using the 'right' key words...

Well this research paper is also looking in the wrong direction...

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2926059/

Milk contains a large number of bioactive compounds, but milk fat has the largest impact on plasma lipids. The lipid pattern in dairy fat is very complicated and more than 400 different fatty acids have been identified. About 70% of dairy fat contains SFAs of which the majority (45%) are of 12–16 carbon chain length and 2.7% are tFAs (13), and these have the ability to raise plasma cholesterol. Except for the concentration of different types of plasma lipoproteins that can be affected, their size and composition will change in response to different types of dietary fat. For example, it is suggested that larger sizes of lipoproteins are less atherogenic than smaller sizes (25) and some of the fatty acids typically found in milk fat have been associated with less dense LDL particles (26).

Other milk components like proteins, calcium, and lactose have been suggested to affect lipid metabolism directly or indirectly, but the strongest impact on plasma lipids emerges from the intake of milk fat.

But, it does highly suggest that milk consumption does increases cholesterol. They fail the notice that cheese does not, which negates the 'saturated fat' causal hypothesis and, in my opinion, puts sole focus on the milk sugars. Not just lactose, but all three sugars - sucrose, galactose and lactose - which all more-than-likely get metabolized by the liver in the eventual conversion to glucose.

To recap, the liver metabolizes fructose and galactose, but not glucose. That suggests that glucose and the starches (Which gets broken down into glucose by amylase) are the sole foods/carb-types in the carbohydrate family that don't tax the liver. Everything else does. Fruits, milk, meat, anything with sugars. Obviously, the more milk/meat/fruit you eat, the more the liver gets taxed.

I wonder...

if high fruit consumption is associated with liver failure... or 'fatty liver'... maybe it doesn't for some special reason...

Seeing a lot of articles suggesting fruit to 'heal up' fatty liver. But, they are definitely not research articles, so I don't put much credence into that. The "common understanding" seems to be commonly looking at and focusing on the wrong suspect, and making many false assumptions in the process, like possibly... "Fruit heals up livers.". Not saying it's false, but not seeing a lot of clinical evidence that its true. So far, I've found no clinical evidence.

Mean daily intake of total, industrial and fruit fructose was 18.0±8.7g, 6.0±4.7g, and 11.9±7.2g, respectively. Intake of industrial, not fruit fructose, was independently associated with higher WHR (p=0.02) and hypercaloric diet (p<0.001). CHC patients with severe liver fibrosis (⩾F3) reported a significantly higher intake of total (20.8±10.2 vs. 17.2±8.1g/day; p=0.04) and industrial fructose (7.8±6.0 vs. 5.5±4.2; p=0.01), not fruit fructose (12.9±8.0 vs. 11.6±7.0; p=0.34). Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that older age (OR 1.048, 95% CI 1.004-1.094, p=0.03), severe necroinflammatory activity (OR 3.325, 95% CI 1.347-8.209, p=0.009), moderate-severe steatosis (OR 2.421, 95% CI 1.017-6.415, p=0.04), and industrial fructose intake (OR 1.147, 95% CI 1.047-1.257, p=0.003) were independently linked to severe fibrosis. No association was found between fructose intake and liver necroinflammatory activity, steatosis, and the features of NASH.

Hmmm... doesn't seem conclusive... but it is highly suggestive that fruit doesn't cause liver damage. So, there is something special about fruit that doesn't tax the liver as much as dark-meat/milk/sucrose/fructose does. And, I don't actually know if dark-meat/milk taxes the liver, I just assume it does because of its known affects on serum cholesterol, and the known connection between the liver and cholesterol(The liver produces cholesterol), and the fact that milk/dark-meat have sugars that get metabolized by the liver, and fructose/sucrose causes increased cholesterol but glucose does not. Seems like those facts suggests milk/dark-meat taxes the liver. Since there's a connection between liver and heart health, that would imply milk and dark meat consumption is associated with CVD (Which it is according to research) whereas whole fruit consumption does not (Which, according to that food/CVD data table I earlier linked, it does not.). So, this implies that the liver is a mediator between food consumption and heart health. It seems like Staph Aureus is too... seems like there's a lot of mediators in heart health... lungs, liver, staph aureus in the digestive tract, vessel diameter as a function of exercise/physical-activity... which only makes sense... It's tied to so many different systems. The brain could also be tied to heart health... which seems to be. Yes, so many different mediators.

I do highly believe, though, artersclerosis is caused solely by Staph Aureus. But, arthersclerosis is but one mediator of "heart health" (An important one in many cases, but not the only one.). patent vessel diameter isn't just a function of arthersclerosis, but also of vessel diamater, which appears to be a function of exercise, stress/cortisol and food consumption (Less food consumption = cortisol = vasoconstriction. In the longterm, vessel shrinkage. Microvascular issues are common among anorexics.).

In regards to diet, it's important to eat enough (it's better to eat too much, than not enough) and it's important to eat "good food".

In regards to the liver, I actually don't know the exact relationship between the liver and heart. I.e., how a damaged/fatty liver could cause heart problems.

Growing evidence suggests there's a strong link between NAFLD and dangerous plaque inside the heart's arteries. The inflammatory compounds and other substances pumped out by a fat-afflicted liver might promote the atherosclerotic process that damages the insides of arteries and makes blood more likely to clot. This combination may lead to a heart attack or a stroke.

Hmmm... since there's an association between NAFLD and arthersclerosis, maybe there's an association between staph aureus and fatty liver...


https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20492505

Staphylococcus aureus increasingly is recognized as an important pathogen in patients with chronic liver diseases. The purpose of this study was to evaluate clinical features and the outcome of S. aureus infections in patients with chronic liver diseases.

Oh, interesting, staph aureus is thought to cause chronic liver disease. Seems like there''s a high likelihood of an association between staph aureus and fatty liver.

What does a "fatty liver" look like? Does it look anything like pimples, athersclerotic plaques, or impetigo?

Searching google images...

Interesting...

Lemon is a known strong antibiotic, and it's thought to treat fatty liver... does suggest staph aureus causes fatty liver...

Here's a fatty liver...

Oh, look, yellow/white spots... has the yellow/whiteness in pimples and arthersclerotic plaques and the spottiness of impetigo and the 'staph aureus' skin diseases (Carbunkles,boils,etc.). Maybe normal healthy livers have bumps?

No, definitely no bumps and no yellow/white spots. Hmm... this is strongly suggestive that the spots in the "fatty liver" are essentially staph aureus infections. Which, it's already been implicated in chronic liver disease, so this is an extremely strong possibility.

Yep, so staph aureus causes fatty liver AND arthersclerosis. That's the link between liver and heart health. [Not this 'inflammatory compounds' jazz. That's a byproduct of infection, not a cause of the infections' outcomes, like heart disease.)

I wonder if that's why fruit consumption isn't linked to liver damage. It's already explained in my peak bacterial population equation I posted earlier... that equation suggests that the peak staph aureus colony size after consuming a whole fruit would be minimal compared to higher density sugar sources... and that explains the lack of association between liver problems and whole fruit consumption, despite the fact it contains sucrose/fructose. So liver problems = bacteria, not necessarily fructose/sucrose. This would imply that if fructose/sucrose increases cholesterol through the liver, than cholesterol by itself has little causal association with liver damage or heart health, though there might /seem/ to be an association through refined/processed fructose/sucrose containing food consumption. Indeed, that one food/CVD table I posted earlier showed an inverse association between total cholesterol and CVD risk. So...

-Sucrose/Fructose/Galactose causes cholesterol through liver metabolism.
-Cholesterol is not a cause of heart disease. There'd be a statistical association via the connection between refined sucrose/fructose/galactose/glucose consumption and bacteria growth, but not a causal relationship. (That is to say, some forms of "high cholesterol" might be associated with heart disease, but it's not causing it, the bacteria is. Cholesterol is an irrelevant byproduct of liver metabolism.)
-Staph auerues is both a cause of fatty liver and liver disease as well as some common forms of heart disease (Like, arthersclerosis and blockages).
-Consumption of refined carbs, including fructose/sucrose containing ones(candy) and glucose containing ones(refined starches like bread,cracker,setc.), is a cause of staph aureus and thus liver & heart disease. Fibrous unrefined carbs, like Bananas and most fruits, are not a major cause of staph aureus and thus heart disease. I do wonder if excess fruit consumption would be associated with staph aureus colonies... if it has a minor growth affect, then excess consumption might have a 'major' growth affect. Seems if you drink too much coconut water, like I did, you get too much fructose which then causes excess bloating, suggesting high bacteria growth. It then seems possible to growth staph aureus colonies through excess fruit consumption... but .... coconut water isn't exactly a fibrous fruit. The question is about excessive fibrous fruit consumption... not juices...

So, have I ever felt sick to my stomach from eating too much fibrous fruit... nope... can't say that I have...

That's not true of too much sugar. Oh, it's pretty easy to get sick to your stomach from eating too much candy.

 

[Dauntless]

Hey, that's a pretty good trick getting the pictures of your liver like that.

 

[DAND214]

Hey Dauntless is it possible for you to remind me, Not to read this medical journal at night :lol: :lol: :lol: It's getting me concerned with my health Reading about superman here, that can down trees with his bare hands and dig a 10ft deep hole full of water is much more fun to read than Bluito's MJ.

Hey Bluto, what kinds ebike do you ride? haven't read anything about it.

Dan

 

[Dauntless]

Hey Dauntless is it possible for you to remind me, Not to read this medical journal at night

Dan

You mean you want me to put the post its on your screen?

 

[swbluto]

Oh sorry, did the liver pictures gross anyone out? I've always been squeamish about blood.

Anyways, so if the liver produces cholesterol from metabolizing sucrose/fructose/galactose, that would suggest that cholesterol is another energy source that is to be later used by the body. So, does the body metabolize cholesterol?

http://themedicalbiochemistrypage.org/cholesterol.php

And, holy hell, this text is hard to follow but it doesn't look like it. It looks like it's used for vitamin D production (useful) and, past that, it appears to get excreted through bile salts and bile, so it seems to be an end-byproduct of liver metabolism. I think the conversion of galactose/fructose to some energy carrier (trigylcerides) happens earlier. So triglycerides are the energy carrier of galactose/fructose liver metabolism (Which gets converted by the body to glucose as needed), and cholesterol is the end byproduct which gets 'pooped out'.

So the main energy carriers in the human body are...

-glucose
-triglycerides
-fat deposits

I wonder if there's any more...

Anyway, it's interesting that almost all the fruit and vegetable sugars appear to be converted to triglycerides by the liver and later to sugar. I've read that the "liver" acts as a buffer for glucose, and it seems possible that it's arranged this way so that excessive fruit consumption doesn't stress blood sugar levels (And, thus, the pancreas / diabetes). This might explain why fruit consumption doesn't appear to be associated with diabetes (Sucrose slowly gets converted to glucose/fructose in the digestive tract), but refined starch consumption is (Quickly gets converted to glucose) - fruits don't increase glucose immediately, whereas refined starches do. That is to say, triglycerides are useful to prevent damage to the pancreas by excessive serum glucose levels. It's purely hypothetical, but it does explain a lot about why sugar levels don't seem to skyrocket after eating bananas, despite their high sugar content. [Well, actually, the sucrose gets broken down to glucose and fructose, so it should increase serum glucose levels somewhat. It's apples, with its high fructose, that I wouldn't think would cause a significant increase in glucose levels. So, excessive fruit consumption seems to have the potential to increase diabetes risk. I wonder if the research bears this out...)

Interesting...

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2013/09/16/fruit-consumption-diabetes.aspx

According to a new analysis of three cohort studies, published in the British Medical Journal,1 whole fruits—particularly blueberries, grapes, prunes and apples—may in fact reduce your risk of type 2 diabetes. Conversely, consumption of fruit juices was associated with greater risk. According to senior author Qi Sun, an assistant professor in the department of nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health:2

This does suggest that the high fructose in apples doesn't increase diabetes risk because it doesn't increase glucose levels directly -> the fructose gets metabolized by the liver to triglycerides and gets later converted to glucose as needed. So, fructose is a useful energy source, when it comes in the form of a fibrous fruit. Lacking fiber, it easily grows bacterial colonies which causes Staph Aureus infection of the liver/blood-vessels and probably myriad other organs.

Bananas, on the other hand, with its higher sucrose content, might up diabetes risk (sucrose->dietary glucose(& fructose)->serum glucose), but maybe not appreciably. Would have to see the research...

The question is... does excessive banana consumption increase diabetes risk? [The models suggest it might]

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3932298/

There are only two case reports of nutritional hyperkalemia in patients without any predisposing medical conditions or medications. In both cases, patients had previously diagnosed psychiatric disorder.3,4 In an adolescent with anorexia nervosa, recurrent hyperkalemia was caused by obsessive eating of up to 20 bananas per day.3 In another case, a patient with schizophrenia and psychogenic polydipsia was water-restricted but developed hyperkalemia because she replaced water with excessive consumption of orange juice

Seems you can get excessive potassium levels from excessive banana consumption, especially if you have low body weight.

Going back to that mercola article on apples/grape consumption and lower diabetes risk...

I find this quite surprising, as grapes and apples are particularly high in fructose (as you can see in the chart below). It's unclear why the authors observed this benefit here but it's likely that the phytonutrients found in the apples and grapes are more than compensate for any potential fructose toxicity.

Huh, has this author guessed that the high fructose content is precisely why there's a lower diabetes risk? The liver mediates the conversion of fructose to glucose via triglycerides (So blood glucose doesn't become excessive), whereas the glucose in sucrose gets directly absorbed into the bloodstream, directly increasing blood glucose levels and more directly affecting diabetes risk. Mercola seems to be wise... but not as wise as me...

 

[DAND214]

Hey Dauntless is it possible for you to remind me, Not to read this medical journal at night

Dan

You mean you want me to put the post its on your screen?

Sounds great Dauntless

If I worried about what I ate all the time, I wouldn't be able to eat at all.

Dan

 

[swbluto]

If I worried about what I ate all the time, I wouldn't be able to eat at all.

Dan

Uh oh, not eating at all or eating like an anorexic is probably worse than eating 'the wrong foods'. The better choice is to eat too much of the "not wrong" foods.

Whereas... I guess I might be worried about eating the wrong foods, but it's not /really/ about that. It's about /completely/ understanding how foods affect sickness and mortality risks based on accurate models ; that's really the point, developing accurate models that accurately predict mortality and sickness risks, and right now, they're getting pretty darn good. Completely understanding this field is something that it appears very few scientists have yet to achieve, it seems they're all misled by red herrings and unquestioned assumptions (Like, saturated fat is the cause of all evils, etc.), and the public is especially misled by red herrings. (Like... I was only weeks earlier, lol. I naively thought that glucose consumption was "good", because I falsely assumed bacteria didn't metabolize it(wrong; bacteria metabolizes it just fine.) and that it didn't "hurt the liver" because it didn't get metabolized by it(wrong; bacteria hurts the liver, not fructose/galactose liver metabolism.), but not I'm not really convinced of that now. I'm not convinced that glucose/starch consumption is "good" like I once thought. It actually appears like it could be bad for diabetes risk and bacteria, and various research supports this suspicion [white rice bad for diabetes; white bread bad for diabetes; regular potatoes bad for diabetes (Regular potatos don't have a lot of fiber, like sweet potatos).]

I'm becoming convinced that fibrous fructose consumption (in the form of whole fruits, like apples and pears) among the healthier options among fruits, with fibrous unrefined starches (Like, boiled sweet potatos or possibly boiled whole non-gluten fibrous grains. White rice isn't fibrous.) also in that class. But, weighing the risk of diabetes with bananas vs the lower potassium, magnesium, thyramine,etc. in apples... seems like we're comparing apples to bananas, lol.)

Anyway, these are important questions for what fruit trees and vegetables I intend to put in my garden.

And, talking about my backyard. My god, so much plants I have to remove. Clearing out the front driveways didn't seem to be nearly as thorny as the backyard. Oh well, this predicts well for the viability of my crops.

And, egads, I should be getting the server power supplies going today and get everything prepared today for the possible upcoming onslaught. I definitely need to, anyway, getting the power solution prepared for expanded production. I tried running more than 900 watts on my UPS like that one guy on amazon (He ran at 3000watts), and it faulted, so it looks like I need a UPS or another power solution. I'm going to try out "another power solution" and hope to god the batteries don't fry my server supplies. I suppose... I suppose... I could disconnect the server supply from the batteries while I refill the generator. If I could arrange that, that might be ideal. But, I don't think I have a 40 amp connector just hanging around and home depot doesn't just sell those. And, I don't think I have anymore andersons hanging around. It wouldn't surprise me if "microcenter" sells andersons... Well I suppose I'll do some preliminary research on my power supplies first. Have to anyway.

Seems Microcenter does not sell powerpoles. Sad.

OKAY... I think I got it. The "40 amp connector" is going to be jumper cables, yep yep, lol.

Okay, so I think I found a viable plan now with the driveway. Order in some clay to fill it in, then lay down the logs and top the logs with purchased sand. The sand should even out the top for good board placement (So that the boards mate with each other.), while the logs would provide 'structure' to the sand. Hmmm... now that I think about it, the size variation in the logs might make that plan difficult. I guess maybe I'll have to pound the larger logs into the clay to get them at an even height. After a year or two, I'll likely have to replace the logs with stone to account for wood rot.

 

[Dauntless]

If I worried about what I ate all the time, I wouldn't be able to eat at all.

Dan

Uh oh, not eating at all or eating like an anorexic is probably worse than eating 'the wrong foods'. The better choice is to eat too much of the "not wrong" foods.

Today's the superbowl, I'm supposed to be eating too much pizza. Nothing wrong with that. But my allergic reaction from late last year is carrying over into winter here, the cold has eaten my still sensitive sinuses alive. All the coughing has been hard on my intestines. Pizza can be quite the labor of love, but I'm just not up to it this year. I'm eating a spinach/kale salad right now.

 

[swbluto]

If I worried about what I ate all the time, I wouldn't be able to eat at all.

Dan

Uh oh, not eating at all or eating like an anorexic is probably worse than eating 'the wrong foods'. The better choice is to eat too much of the "not wrong" foods.

Today's the superbowl, I'm supposed to be eating too much pizza. Nothing wrong with that. But my allergic reaction from late last year is carrying over into winter here, the cold has eaten my still sensitive sinuses alive. All the coughing has been hard on my intestines. Pizza can be quite the labor of love, but I'm just not up to it this year. I'm eating a spinach/kale salad right now.

Besides the wheat, the cheese and tomatos in pizza is quite good for you. The herbs and garlic is also quite good. So, it's not really /that/ sinful, if you find wheat's affects acceptable (Or... if one just simply doesn't know of wheat's affects, which is the majority of the population. It was me not too long ago, so I'd imagine most people don't know the exact affects of wheat on the intestines and its relationship with bacteria). Wheat will absorb liquids, so if the garlic soaks in (Via, possibly, garlic sauce), it seems like it can possibly negate the harmful affects of it. Drinking red wine with the wheat seems to be a proven strategy in many cultures. I'd have to look into beer's antibiotic properties before arriving to a conclusion. Let me check real quick: http://cryptobrewology.com/home-brewing-tips/does-alcohol-in-beer-kill-bacteria/ - appears that beers with high hops content are effective. And, this post doesn't seem very trustworthy, though - it claims that wine grows bacteria when it's known to the research community that red wine is a potent antiobiotic. Should probably find an actual research paper...

Oh, here we go: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hops

In addition to adding flavor to beer, hops are also used in brewing for their antibacterial effect over less desirable microorganisms and for many purported benefits, including balancing the sweetness of the malt with bitterness, contributing a variety of desirable flavors and aromas.[2]

Appears beer with high hops content is a potent antibiotic that can be effectively used with the wheat in pizza. Coincidentally enough, pizza and beer seems pretty standard for football - what's the going superbowl price for pizza and beer - $20?

Yes, I don't think I'd mind trying out pizza and beer, if only I didn't know how long gliadin binded to the CXCR3 receptor. I wish I knew that and I wish this research information was online somewhere.

You could take out the wheat and have a cheese, tomato, herbs and garlic salad. (There's probably a better liquid carrier for the herbs and garlic than soybean oil. Maybe... virgin coconut oil, lol.)

Speaking of the superbowl, I saw a blimp hovering near downtown houston from the NW Houston suburb I was in 2 days ago. Hey, so, I can officially say I've seen the superbowl blimp, lol. (I would say it's the first time I've seen a blimp, but I did see one down in the florida keys about 5 years ago.)

Server power supply pinout: https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?1524659-Conversion-of-Dell-AA23290-Power-supply (Tested, works fine.)

 

[Dauntless]

Okay, it's gettin' late here, don't be readin' none of the health updates. It could be life threatening.

 

[swbluto]

Oh well, my insights are nothing really new. It's pretty well known advice to eat only whole foods. My insights just answers the question of "why".

Anyhow, the Today show is thanking me for the product I supplied them. I'm guessing they're interested in airing my product because it's interesting to share with the world, and by sharing interesting things with the audience, it helps there ratings. So, it's a win win. I get more orders, they intrigue their audience and it helps their ratings. I thought maybe they were just trying to help me out because of that girl, but I see they have an interest in showing intriguing products/ideas/etc. with their audience so it's really for their own interests. It's kind of cool how it's mutually beneficial like that.

Anyway, I got my power supplies hooked up, now I just need to connect the machines. Need my screwdriver which is in the van and it's dark here, so I will do that tomorrow.

 

[Dauntless]

Okay, you just HAD to bring up the GoodYear Blimp, so this a great moment for a late night ghost story. Ghost BLIMP story.

The picture below is the once and future GoodYear blimp. At the beginning of WWII the government took it away from GoodYear and used it to hunt submarines off the coast from San Francisco. One day it was returning from patrol in the less than airworthy state you see here. It took a bounce off the beach, another off a hillside, then settled across a car the guy was just finishing waxing. Emergency workers pulled the canopy loose to free the crew, but the crew was GONE.

The last known sighting of the blimp with the crew present was over an oil slick. The blimp was circling to investigate, even dropping some smoke bombs to mark the location. Fro 200 feet the blimp descended to at little as 30 feet above the water. Observers said it then "Dropped ballast" and climbed away. It was believed to have climbed as high as 2000 feet, an altitude that would have caused the gas to expand and emergency valves to open. There's some question as to why the crew would have climbed so high and left the blimp in the sagging condition it was seen in as it approached the coast.

But where WAS the crew? Rumors abound of a love triangle, murder/suicide, capture by a Japanese submarine, (How?) but the mystery remains unexplained.

Myself, I don't think it's a tough story to figure out. When the canopy was found, the door was open and bar lock had been removed. A AP system was hanging out the door as it was used to communicate with surface ships, which can be seen in the pictures dangling below the canopy before the crash. It seems to me that, investigating the oil slick and dropping smoke bombs, led to one of the crew deliberately or accidentally opening the door and falling out. The remaining crewmenber deployed the PA to try to contact the crewman in the water, possibly even calling to nearby ships for help. Over the course of this the blimp descended to some 30 feet above the water, perhaps in hopes of lowering a line or dropping an emergency raft. But the "Dropped ballast" probably didn't turn out to be anything that would help the crewman in the water. Most likely it was the other crewman. The lightened blimp then flew away, climbing on it's own to 2,000 feet and releasing some of its' gas before hopping across the shoreline.

I'm sure there's someone here who thinks that UFO abduction makes more sense.

The blimp itself survived and was returned to service. After the war the government gave the blimp back to GoodYear, who returned it to service for more than 50 years. I'm not aware of their being any further UFO contacts with this particular blimp.

 

[DAND214]

Okay, it's gettin' late here, don't be readin' none of the health updates. It could be life threatening.

Thanks Daunt.

Dan

 

[swbluto]

Looks like I just got a Priority Express order from someone who lives/works right next to the "Trump Tower" in NY. Well, isn't that uncanny. I guess I'm a lucky participant... for now... in the "crony capitalist" economy, lol. Just joking, won't know the totals for until later today. Looks like a trickle for now. I actually like trickles more... because I can easily do it with my existing production capacity and won't be forced to experiment with new power solutions. It's just that, oh, the things I could afford if I got a tsunami and I had to work extremely hard. I could get my driveway done, get a pug, get the fencing setup, get some egglaying chickens, get all the fruittrees ordered and planted, get solar implemented and ready for the sunnier months, so much I could do. Cool

Sales broke $200 today so far, that's a good shot in the arm. My average weekly sales were $400 last month, so it's not like "a miracle" or anything, but it's definitely helpful. Will get me at least a few fruit trees.

Update: 10:30 a.m., now upto $275.

Update: 10:50 a.m. - ever skyward! Looks like most people aren't actually ordering for valentines, lol. Oh well, that's better for me, I don't feel as rushed, lol.

Update: 11:00 a.m. - Holy crap! Tsunami alert! lol


Anyway, neighbor drove by my encampment at 8:06 a.m., which woke me up (I fell back asleep about 1.5 hours before that), and I was feeling sick for about a good 30 seconds or so. That sure is an unwelcoming feeling, the dogs shouldn't be driving so early. It's obvious the "work day" for them starts at 8:00 a.m., and I guess the first order of business was a scouting venture. What were they trying to find out? I don't really know... whether they could get through, or whether I was still there, or where I was at with my property... I don't know. Imagine if I was still blocking the road; they might have legitimate grounds to call the cops. Perhaps that's what they were seeking... and not because I'm blocking the road... they just don't want my RV there. But, it's funny, because I would think I have a right to park on the side of the road right next to my property as long as I'm not blocking access (And, I'm not). It was a common practice back in the city where I was! It's hard to imagine that this place out in "the boonies" is worse, lol. I would think people shooting their guns and machine guns between 8-12 p.m. would be a higher priority. I don't like how one of those guns seem to be right down the road from me... And he shoots on more nights than the guy with the machine gun.

It's interesting... the today show must be shown at different times across the nation. 10:30 a.m. at each timezone? Seems like I'm guessing an impulse every hour right at 30 after. And the impulse from 12:30-1 p.m. local time should probably be the largest (The west coast).

Anyway, the ending to yetserday was absolutely beautiful. Man, ending the day on a warm note with the sunset is NOTHING like ending a Spokane day with a sunset. Man, it just feels totally awesome. I now know what people like so much about southern california - the warm sunsets. I love the warm sunsets here, so far. (Summer might be brutal. But, honestly, as hot as it might get here, I have a /strong feeling/ it's never going to be as hot as the 3rd floor of DTP back at Nuke School in Charleston,SC. Total lack of air conditioning, a complete brick building and sun and humidity just about the same as Houston,TX during the summer.)

 

[marty]

Unique Cookie Cutter?




View attachment 1

 

[swbluto]

Maybe, maybe not.

On another note, holy crap, I need to get to work!! lol.

Looks like my "Work hard and be well rewarded" dreams are coming true! lol [I've known for a long time that wealth in business isn't necessarily about "working hard", it's more about being well known. Which is where marketing and gaining marketplace visibility comes in. I have a strange feeling that in many professional circles, in employment roles, the same thing is true. And, of course, doing excellent quality work is a surefire way to get more wellknown.)

I'm looking at trees/bushes. I'm wondering about these berry bushes that seem prolific in this area. I would normally think they're inedible, but oddly enough, I saw a bird just gulp one down and he didn't seem to be vomiting/choking on it, so I'm thinking these are edible berries. It's interesting, too, because of how common they are in this area. I would think if they were really edible, there'd be tons of birds here (Well,actually, I guess there is - they're just spread out because the forest is so large, I guess, so I only notice a few near the road.)

Anyway, the success of the local berry plant makes me think a lot of fruit plants would easily succeed here.

Noticed the new papaya trees on fast-growing trees.com. They mention it fruits year round. Yeah, that's what I'm looking for! Bananas are great and everything, but they fruit like once every 12-18 months. So, what's the benefits to this papaya? Does it have magnesium? Sure does, like most tropical fruit. It even has lycopene!

http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=47

A similar inverse association was found between the men's consumption of lycopene-rich fruits and vegetables such as tomatoes, apricots, pink grapefruit, watermelon, papaya, and guava. Men who most frequently enjoyed these foods were 82% less likely to have prostate cancer compared to those consuming the least lycopene-rich foods.

Yes, so in my tropical greenhouse [it's going to be a temporary greenhouse for the winter time; during the spring/summer/fall, all that's going to be seen of the greenhouse is the support poles. I might even remove those for aesthetics, though I guess that depends on what form the frame takes.], I could be growing watermelons, papaya, bananas, macadamias, lemons, limes, yes, so many different things. [I could even grow cocoa, but they seem a little tricky to work with; you have to limit the high temperatures(<90), the low temperatures(>40), and humidity always has to be at least 80%, and they like 'partial shade',i.e., they like growing in forests and under other trees. Granted... I have most of those key items, except for humidity and limiting the high temperatures. Humidity can be solved with adding water... and limiting the high temperatures during the summer... still haven't figured that out... Oh wait... the forest is cooler during the summer, and they like being under other trees, so that works out. Now I just have to figure out how to boost humidity if they were just 'sitting in the forest'. Uhhh... they just seem like tricky plants to work with.).

I'm actually wondering if I might be able to limit the high temperatures in the greenhouse during the summer. It'd be useful to limit the temperature to the 80s, and I'm wondering if the use of water could help in achieving that. Seems like a theoretical possibility, though the greenhouse would seem to only add to the high temperature for the day, so the greenhouse would seem to counteract the intention of the water. Unless... possibly... I partially shaded the greenhouse or some such.

 

[swbluto]

https://www.liverdoctor.com/dark-chocolate-offers-help-for-cirrhosis/

The participants receiving dark chocolate had a lower increase in post-meal portal blood pressure than those receiving white chocolate.

The scientists believe the antioxidants present in dark chocolate help to minimise damage to the blood vessels of cirrhosis patients, and in that way help to reduce high blood pressure.

Typical antioxidant hokum pokum (I've always been skeptical of 'antioxidants' - sounds like a nebulous new-age concept in health sciences that's used as "an explanation for everything". I'm skeptical of terms/concepts that are used as "an explanation for everything"; seems like another simpleton's way of explaining things he/she doesn't understand. Other terms used in a similar affect: Aliens, God, FSM, etc.). I'll tell you what I believe. The cocoa's strong antibiotic properties kills the bacteria more effectively than just cocoa fat (What white chocolate is), which limits the immune reaction, which limits the release of cortisol during theautoimmune/inflammatory response, which limits vasoconstriction and the rise in blood pressure.

It seems possible, though, that this 'antioxidants' idea plays a real role. Perhaps... when the bacteria is killed... they give up their last breath, and thus some kind of oxygen or something, lol.

I actually do wonder... hydrogen peroxide is antibacterial. And, it has a noticeable "oxidizing" affect. Does that make it an antioxidant?

According to wiki:

The reactive oxygen species produced in cells include hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), hypochlorous acid (HClO), and free radicals such as the hydroxyl radical (·OH) and the superoxide anion (O2−).[60] The hydroxyl radical is particularly unstable and will react rapidly and non-specifically with most biological molecules. This species is produced from hydrogen peroxide in metal-catalyzed redox reactions such as the Fenton reaction.[61] These oxidants can damage cells by starting chemical chain reactions such as lipid peroxidation, or by oxidizing DNA or proteins.[57]

Doesn't seem to indicate that h2o2 is in antioxidant; seems like it's the opposite, it's "producing" oxygen in its reaction with other molecules instead of 'inhibiting' it. (it produces the free radicals listed above. If it's producing free radicals that antioxidants inhibits, that makes it a pro-oxidant.)

 

[fechter]

Hydrogen peroxide is an oxidizer. The opposite of an antioxidant. But it kills germs quite well. Ozone has a similar effect.