Last Commented HowTo Blogs (280)

becomes fallible? Somehow can't open in or outmail here. Also, can't read all your wisdom in responses to my rants. I've asked CS to check things. In the mean time, gmail me with UN of George Soros.

or don't see.
As I scroll up and down the list of members and their blogs, there is a 'dot' indicator showing on the profile photo who is online (green dot) of offline (or inactive) with a grey dot.

Some profiles (4 or 5) have no dot at all.

I'm wondering what settings they have to make them living in a dotless society...

Can we correct typo's on replies on comments ? I make so many lol

The house I'm living in was built 70 years ago and fitted with a septic tank about 10 feet from the back of the house. The city did an upgrade connection to a sewer system shortly before my family purchased it around 60 years ago. The tank remains, but sewer pipe runs over it and connects to a main line at the front of my property. Over the years, we've had very few problems with the system.

The method for sewer lines back then was a series of interconnecting clay pipe in sections (like the photo) about 6 feet long that had a ring of tar to seal the fittings.



Over the years, the ground shifted. Although the pipes were intact, the tar between the joints separated and began to leak. It's not a big problem unless you have a tree near the sewer line where the roots from the tree (seeking water) will grown into the pipe making it crack. The roots continue to grow inside the pipe increasing the chances of things getting snagged, creating a complete blockage.

We had our first issue more than 20 years ago. I called a Roto-Rooter plumbing service to 'snake out' the drain. Unfortunately, he wasn't equipped to do the job. A call to the city got their repair truck and a guy who knew how fix things. The plumbing snake he used had a large diameter rotary cutting head that trimmed off the roots growing within the pipe. The advice was 'get the pipe replaced' as slicing the roots only made them grow back faster. I did and had 30 feet of pipe around the tree replaced with a seamless piece of PVC.

I live on a street and my neighbor lives on an avenue. Their plumbing joins with mine in a "T" connection about 70 feet from the property line. Someone on their side flushed something down the line that blocked up both sewer lines. The city was called and they replaced most of the line with PVC at no charge to either of us.

At least 7 years ago , I did a bathroom renovation and installed a 'new fangled' toilet that uses 1 gallon per flush and (in laboratory tests) can send a load down 50 feet of pipe!
(are you impressed? I know I am) This toilet doesn't clog.

On Sunday, the toilet was backing up. The problem was the sewer and not the toilet. Admittedly, both me and my wife are big users of butt-wipe and go through a mega roll every few days. That was enough to cause a sewer backup. I rarely need to hire people to do repairs that I cannot do and I dumped a gallon of drain opener expecting the problem to be eliminated. Not true. I checked all 3 plumbing cleanouts and see the trouble was in the first 50 feet... the part that hadn't been upgraded.

A trip to Home Depot Wednesday night and a 50 foot plumbing snake had me busy Thanksgiving morning. The clog is gone, my hands are tired of wrestling the snake for an hour, but it's done!

Rubber is a flexible latex product produced from the juice of a rubber tree. In varied process, it's mixed with other chemicals to create different products. The process for a soft latex mattress is different than a rubber tire (tyre) used on a car. Charles Goodyear developed vulcanization in 1839 where he mixed latex, sulfur and heated the mixture to harden the liquid rubber.

Over the years, new uses for rubber were invented. One process is to coat the exterior of a hard plastic object to give it a soft feel without affecting the structure of the inside. I've seen some plastic writing pens with a soft rubberized sleeve to make them comfortable.

One problem with products made with rubber is longevity. Tires have a manufacturing date stamp and people are warned against buying from an unreliable source as many 'new' tires have been been produced years ago and the rubber elasticity declines on an old tire making them unsafe.

I bought an emergency spotlight with a rubberized handle. Never used it. One day before a hurricane, I decided to open the box and try it, only to find the rubber handle was sticky to the touch. I found the rubber feet on my water pic (purchased 2 years ago) leave black marks on the countertop.

My laptop mouse deteriorated within 2 years and I was lucky enough to remove the rubberized surface with 91% rubbing alcohol. I have a very expensive mouse/controller I use in design that has programmable buttons and a 3D wheel. The rubberized surface is also deteriorated and sticky. That was a $300 purchase and they are no longer manufactured. Basically, I'm in trouble if I cannot find a replacement on Amazon or eBay. I dusted the surface with talcum powder so it wouldn't be so sticky and will experiment if I can clean it with alcohol or a solvent to remove the rubberized coating and not destroy the controller.

That said... be cautious of long-term purchases that have a rubberized coating.

I b'lieve it's just to the left of the center of the explosion...kinda like the profile of an alien looking up and to the right.

Does anyone else see this?
If not there - Where the hell's the damned face?!

This'll drive me nuts until I KNOW!

I had an uncle who used his fork with the tines curved down. He was a fast eater and always seemed to take another bite of food before he was finished chewing the bite before it. The rest of my family held their forks with the tines curved up.

We grew up with Black & White TV and having seen many old movies, to me the only times I saw someone eating with the tines up was at home. My parents were friends with a Polish couple who owned a business in New Jersey and came to Florida during the winter. They also held their fork with the tines curved down.

Yesterday, I formulated this blog but ran out of time to do the research and post it. Again, pressed for time, I'll do a short version. My planned title was 'fork you' but 'fork it over' has some humor intended.

YouTube had dozens of videos about table manners and dining etiquette. The one I wanted to post ran on more than 10 minutes.

So... I selected a shorter one for this blog.

All the videos I reviewed said there are two basic styles of holding your fork European and American. Americans are the only ones who hold their forks tines up. I thought the description of how you need a knife to push food onto your fork for the European style sounded less efficient.
Here's my analogy. Winter is coming. Next time you have to shovel snow, I want you to hold the shovel with the curved side down and think about dinner!





Thanks for reading my blog...

Handshakes fascinate me. I think mine is ok, but then I would. Some offer just the fingers, or the vrot (rotting) banana. Some seize a hand as if ringing in the new year.

I'm never sure whether to adjust my handshake to the other person. If I'm offered a glove filled with porridge, for instance, there's that second when I have to decide whether I still squeeze. (And will their eyes pop if I do ). If they're mangling, do we turn it into a version of the arm-wrestle until one of us is forced to his or her knees ...

And did you ever shake hands with either of your parents and realize to your surprise they favour a different style? THAT was weird

I looked on Google and there are dozens of variations, who knew. There's the handshake that asserts, the one that shows total lack of interest, the con-artist (over-long and seeking to dominate) and the passive personality. A hand offered palm up seeks domination, a hand offered palm down seeks to dominate.

Two things I never thought about - the 'senior' person must always offer their hand first - don't force a handshake on a potential employer (I don't think I ever have ) and one social guideline insisted the handshake is maintained - and pumping - all the time you are exchanging names. I know I tend to be a quick-drop, not a lingerer. (Unless I suddenly realize I have to go through the entire complicated 'dancing' handshake of Africa.)

Obviously we all think our own handshake is right, wondered though what you assume about the person offering a 'different' shake (Apart of course from the palm tickle )

Now I live in kissy-kissy land and have learned not to stick my hand out or I find myself poking someone in their stomach as they swoop in for the airkiss on either cheek. That's an issue in itself. Kiss air, touch skin, plant a smacker ...

My Outlook mailbox recently gave itself an upgrade and seems to have lost my email address in the process. Now when I try to sign in it comes up with my skype name, and I can't find how to change that default. It asks me to enter or create an email address and when I enter my outlook address, tells me that name is already in use. Well, duh.

Anyone had this problem, more importantly, anyone know how to solve it?

Tried the following so far -
When I click on support I get the options of user community or support.
If I choose support I am looped back to the first screen
If I choose user community, I can't find the topic of changing the default, and if I try to ask the question, I am told to log in first

So if any of the rather brilliant people lurking on this site know how to solve this small problem, I would be very pleased to know

For the rest of you, have a great Sunday.

Today a year ago the movers picked up all my furniture in Scotland and took it into storage while I packed my camper ready to hit the road. It has been an interesting year.

I've got approx an hour to wait and nothing to read. An hour is too short for some things and too long for others.

Ways of filling time?

(Other than blogging of course)(which can make the minutes pass even slower sometimes)