nature just carry on

london 7.37pm 24.3C now, sunny (highest 28.5c) tuesday 2020

nature has been doing its own thing all around me. i look down on the pots of vegetables growing in the courtyard, doing its normal thing growing away like there is no pandemic going on. haha. makes me realise this pandemic thing and isolation and keeping our distance and shutting of businesses is all man made really.

if it were not us trying to stop the spread of this flu like illness, to limit the amount of people it kills;  in an effort to think we are better than nature at it.

because the more so called advance we think our science and understanding disease is, the more we think we can stop it killing us. but i hope we do get reminded now that there are some viruses that just is beyond our control.  once a person catches this virus, it is entirely up to their immune system to stop it, and there is nothing we can do really to cure it, we can only do extraneous, almost superfluous  action, (in that whatever we do wont really hasten the cure). the main thing in our supportive actions is to keep them breathing because of the effect it has on the lungs , otherwise we let nature takes its course, and if the person dies, so be it, if recovers, so be it. 

so all round me, i see nature bursting with life, and growing and flourishing and giving signs that summer is coming or here. with the temperatures rising , tomorrow is forecast to be even hotter. whilst everyone keeping low, and hoping that the virus will peter out.

i got a wordpress blog in my reader, and it tells me that from june 1, they are going to make everyone use their new editor, to write their blogs. so far i have been using the old editor, but i hope that i shall be given a chance to opt for the old classic editor when they make the change, and so can keep on with it. the new editor seems rather complicated, but who knows maybe i might like it better. 

i have been using a lot of broadband it seems

london 6.41pm 7.8C dry night tuesday 2018

i had been out and got back just now. it is a pleasant night out, dry and chilly but hardly any wind so quite pleasant really. i went to the age uk canteen in tavis house, to meet ian, and it was still light at 3pm, by the time we got out at about 5pm it was dark.

i received an email from talktalk saying i have for the second month, exceeded my broadband’s line capacity.  14x in the month i had exceeded the capacity of the wiring to handle the broadband it seems. presumably  so that it slows the wifi down though they did not spell out how it affect the viewing.  i asked simon if he noticed anything when he viewed it, but he said no.

talktalk suggests i pay an extra £5a month to go fibre which will give me 10x more, it seems and at speeds of 30 to 40Mb.  what they dont seem to realise is that i dont have fibre. it is copper wires coming into my flat. so what is the use of subscribing to fibre? fortunately they did say at the end of the email that there is no obligation to upgrade to fibre. 

luckily simon says he does not notice any slowing down of the service at present, so i shall ignore them and leave it be. if it ain’t broken there is no need to fix it.

i asked him how come we are using so much broadband, he said he downloads a lot of iplayer and catch up tv, and chose the HD option to see it…  and it seems HD(high definition) uses a lot of broadband. also he says he download a lot of stuff onto his laptop to watch later and delete afterward he has seen it.

in a way i am glad talktalk has kept to their promise of giving me unlimited broadband, and not complaining about that to me or terminating my contract. some providers place a limit on the unlimited broadband.

nowadays with so much stuff being played by iplayer and catch up tv, our use of broadband has really increase a lot. in the past i only used to use about 40Gb a month. 

talktalk dont tell me how much i actually used now,as they stopped measuring it so i dont know how much i have been using. 

 i got a notification from wordpress asking me to grade how much i would recommend wordpress to others. i said i would recommend it 100%, and it was only when i click that and sent it that i realised i am still using the old editor and have not tried the new one… i might change my mind about recommending it to anyone if i tried the new editor. haha. but i have a feeling i will continue to use wordpress really, and try to work round the new editor, because i think wordpress is the best there is amongst the  websites providing us bloggers with a platform.

 

wordpress

london 11am 3.1C rain monday.

hmm, i noticed that the wordpress do not automatically save what i write in the post. now it seems i have to press the save button if i want to save this post for publishing later.

i wrote earlier about a article i read reviewing the indian ymca meals in their premises in fitzrovia… near warren st tube station. i have been there before, but a long time ago, when they were selling main dishes for £4 or so. and pricing each dish separately, now i read that they have gone all you can eat buffet for £7. and this includes coffee and drink. and now they have only 1hr for lunch weekends, and 2 hrs for lunch weekdays. not long period to eat. seems popular with indian students who make it a sort of community meetup as well. but i lost it, when i tried to get it later. that is why i thought they have removed that function.

I have to remember to keep pressing that saved button now, esp when i want to delay publishing this till later. in the past i could just leave it and know that it will be saved automatically… pity they have removed that function. 

oh, i discovered that it has still retained that function, but notification of it has moved. rather good that they still keep that function. i found out by accident how to  retrieve the post that i have written earlier, but not posted.

but  now i sometimes see that button to retrieve past posts , and sometimes i dont see it. before it just comes up with the button to write a post. now u have to go through a round about way of finding it. sigh, why they want to make it so difficult and change it when it was perfectly fine before.

now and then they do this, maybe to remind us not to take it for granted. most times it runs very well, and you dont have to think about it. just concentrate on writing what you want to write. i think that is the best thing about wordpress. they do it all for you, so u dont have to bother with the mechanics of it. 6.31pm 2.8C dry night.

 

hooray for wordpress

london 4.17pm 10.5C cloudy dry friday 2016

i read the post by wordpress, in my wordpress reader,of their 2016 year in review  and it reminds me how very grateful i am that they are here. i dont suppose people say to them how much they are appreciated. well i am saying it now. haha. it is such a wonderful platform to blog. everything works well, and seamlessly, even to people like me who are not really into the nuts and bolts of keeping up all the finer things that you can play with in the site to jiggle your blog to as much custom make as you want it. the best thing is the sense of community. 

i got a turkey from tesco today. it is a free one that i redeemed with my daily mail points. it is 3.4kg, a frozen one, usually £9. now i am debating how to cook it. it would be nice to have it roasted, but i think i am not equal to the task. unless i cut it into two and roast half. that might make it more like roasting a chicken. and the other half i shall make into a curry. i was surprised to see tesco selling cauliflower, carrots , parsnips , potatoes all for 39p per pack. makes me want to roast them.

i pass by the weatherspoons in victoria and was surprised they are open and full of people it was about lunch time, but there were so much scaffolding hiding the entrance, that looking at it from afar i had thought it was closed. but today i happen to walk under all that scaffolding and saw the entrance , and all those people inside. there was no sign outside to say open, business as usual, to let people know. i am glad they are still open, even open on boxing day and everyday except christmas.

i read their opening hours and i have forgotten if they open at christmas or not. my memory is not as it was. they have a christmas menu, so some of their pubs open on christmas day. i was reminded of my memory and words that affected me strangely when i heard them recited by the marriage registrar as she spoke on our wedding … it brought tears to my eyes. and moved me.

today i read this in my wordpress… an article by patti smith about that day when she sang bob dylans’ song at the nobel prize ceremony. read it and then see her performance. and here is the link to the lyrics of the song. it is a very long song. and seeing her performance, that stumble of hers, makes the song more poignant and moving. she is 70yrs old, and after myself being a bit anxious about not able to repeat after the registrar the marriage vows, i can really feel for her. i think she made the performance very moving… and really shows how fitting and appropriate bob dylan deserve that nobel prize for literature. 

added. 8.37pm 10.8C i went to google his other songs, and their lyrics. and came across this one, girl from the north country with a line or two that was very familiar. where have i heard it before? 

Remember me to one who lives there
She once was a true love of mine

its simon and garfuncle’s scarborough fair, isn’t it? the song here.now who wrote that first i wonder? its a lovely haunting song.

 

have anyone notice their wordpress reader is not working?

london 10.20pm, tuesday 2016

is it just me, or is the wordpress reader not working for everyone else?

london 11.03pm tuesday 2016, ah, it is working now. strange isn’t it? maybe they were servicing it, and shut it down whilst doing it. but i am glad it is working again now.

controlling pop up adverts and videos that automatically start playing

london 7.17am 9.8C rain sunrise 7.32am tuesday 2015

wordpress has a new feature  called discovery which replaces their ‘freshly pressed’.

i think it is really a good idea as it lets us find out new blogs .

i found one called the overspill, it gathers the items of interests all over the net . one of which is that EE is suggesting that mobile users given more control over the ads that comes up, like pop up ads, or videos that start up without warning (it happens with me too even though i get them in my chromebook… sometimes it is a video in the body of the article, which starts when u scroll down to it; other times it is elsewhere and i have to search all over the page to find where that ad is…all the time it is making noise at full volume… very irritating. sometimes the ad wont allow u to close it. when that happens i close the page or backarrow it. 

reading it , it makes me realise i am not the only one affected. haha. it seems i am not the target , the target is all the mobile users. and with their small screens they cannot escape it, as it blocks the whole screen and they cannot do anything else. at least with me, i can just hit the mute button and cut out the noise. the overspill editor said it is ad blocking. i suppose it is but if they dont control the ads, it will mean a lot of us will just switch off the page…(or maybe i am optimistic about the numbers of people who will do that. people like me are few.)

take for eg ads in news videos … before the item appears u are subjected to ads of varying length. with me, if that ad is more than 20secs long i close the whole thing, rather than continue to watch.

i wonder if there are others who do that too… maybe for ads that are 1 minute long.

it would depand on how tolerant they are… but to me, nothing is so interesting that i would sit through an ad of over 20secs.

so now if i am tempted to open up a video, i ask myself do i really want to see it? knowing there will be that ad to wait through. and many times i pass.

maybe i do that because i dont really like to see videos, they take such a long time to make their point. i rather read about it… that way i can quickly skip through till i get to the nub of what they want to say, without all the padding… and if i like the point i might go back and read their arguements or read more details about it.

i wonder if it is only me who do that. perhaps not, since videos are so popular now. maybe it is all due to mobile users, their small screens make it not easy to read, and so easier to see a video of it. 

that overspill page also contains one that explains why prince charles blames climate change for the syrian revolution. it seems drought of a severity that is unprecedented (hence the blame on climate change) cause so many farmers to leave their farm and move to the city to find work, causing price rises. (click on the heading in that link and it will bring u to the original website where a cartoon strip gives a graphic highly dramatic illustration.)

that explains why prince charles blames climate change. when i first read him in a news article, i thought he was overstating the case. personally i think droughts and floods are extreme variations that can happen, afterall dont they used to blame el nino or el nina? in the past those got blamed for any extremes. now they blame climate change. so what  has changed? fashion, i think, it is not sexy to blame el nino anymore. that is old fashioned. 

i have just realised that websites like overspill may be double edged. in that they aggregate news so people get to know of it, but at the same time, by being able to read it off site, these same readers are not directed to the original site. even the link i give is to the overspill site, and not the original website. why dont i link to the original site? too lazy , it involves a lot more clicking of links… i know my bad. 

 

 

the new wordpress editor

london 8.33am cloudy 13.7C tuesday 2015

my word, this new editor is real fast. before it always begins with a boop beep de boob haha. which i find rather fun myself, but i know it irritates others. they complain about it but never realise it is an option that u can disable if u know how.

but this time it just comes up so fast it sort of shocks you. at least it did me when it happened to me first time.

it looked so strange too. and the words are so much smaller. my old man eye sight noticed that straight away. luckily i can make it bigger by selecting heading 3, and i think they realise a lot of people need this option, because now it is placed prominently on the first line of the toolbar. before it was hidden in the second line. now the select colour button is on the second line.

hmm, i can anticipate a lot of people moaning about this new editor, it takes a bit of time getting used to , then u adjust yourself and it does not become strange and u find it may even be better. haha. it must be a great boon to people who like newness, and variety . another thing to play about with. haha. 

oh dear another change of format at wordpress

london 9.17pm monday 2015

i was wondering what to write about, when i opened my wordpress to write it, and i find everything looked very different. it takes a bit of getting used to… i wonder why they changed the format so much and so drastically, necessitating us having to learn all over again. ah well, i suppose it is necessary or so i hope. haha.

i was just thinking of writing a meandering post today like a stream of consciousness…

yesterday i went to the paddington library, and remembered there is a £1 shop nearby that sells razors. but i was unable to find the last set of razors i bought from them, which were 5 razors that can be fixed onto a holder. this time it was 6 disposable razors with its own holder. well, it is difficult to tell if these new ones i bought are longer lasting, and can be used more times than once. the only way is to buy them and use them. haha. it takes me quite a long time to finish them and if they are any good and i want to get some more, it is likely they will not be restocked when the time comes for me to buy some more. so my razors are very hit or miss and i dont have any favourite that i stick to come rain or shine or cost. when i go to the supermarket or boots the chemist and look at their stock of razors i am always surprised at how expensive they are. 

with me, i always find the razors can be used a lot of times, because i only have a small amount of hair on my upper lip and chin. and i dont need to shave every day either. so i do save quite a bit of money on shaving equipment. i find i dont even need shaving foam, just soap can do.

men have to pay full VAT on razors, unlike women who only pay 5% VAT on their tampons. and what is more, some men have to shave everyday, whilst women only need the tampons on average 4days in a month, during their periods… one study said they will use average of 8 tampons a day durng those 4 days, so they dont really use a lot over a lifetime, even though one feminist said they spend a lot of money over a lifetime…i did wonder what women in olden days before tampons were invented, what they use. they were able to cope quite well. makes u wonder if modern women are a very whiney lot. they complain when they are premenstrual, and they complain when they are postmenstrual. ah , glad i am not a woman. 

even then, the feminists have complained and wanted it to be VAT free… even saying mistakenly that men’s razors are VAT free. when they have been corrected that men pay full VAT on razors they dont issue an apology for telling lies.

i know one must not judge a whole group of people by the bad behaviour of some of them, but those few are very prominent feminists , so they really give the whole lot of them a bad name.

perhaps that is why so many men just let their hair grow a beard and moustache. though from  my own personal experience i dont like kissing men with beards so i dont like my lovers having beards or moustaches.

i am surprised more women dont complain of their men folk having beards.  and big bushy beards trap food when they eat. not a pleasant sight.

i read that people spend £100 a month on beauty products. my first thought was that it must mean women,with their makeup and all;  because i cannot imagine how men can rack up that amount… until i realise it is the razors. some of them may have so much hair everyday, they will use up a razor a day. and if they include contact lens as a beauty product, after all, it is to make them look good too instead of wearing glasses, than u can see how the cost mounts up.

today i saw morrisons online website were having shoulder pork for £2/kg, so decided to go there today and buy it.

i nearly miss seeing it, as it was hidden under neath the shelves right at the back.

i bought 2packs, one £4.80, the other £3.70, which is more than i usually buy but i thought i shall be using them anyway and so stock up. they are a good price, the cheapest that i can find on sale anywhere. and they are not fatty either. some of the leg joints costing more have more fat on them. they are meant to be roasted and that might explain why they want so much fat on them. as it is attached to the skin, which people like for the crackling. 

i cut up and freeze one pack(i am able to make 4 portions from it). when unfreezed later, those individual 4 packs can make at least 8meals and as many as 12. so in any dish, using these pork, the pork portion costs from 33p -50p each dish. from this u can get an inkling of why meat in a dish for me can cost so little. 

and made a soya sauce stewed pork dish with the other. soya sauce pork is really easy to do and delicious. if u got chinese dried mushrooms it is even better because the mushrooms soak up the soya sauce and the salt makes them delicious. the mushrooms also gives the stew a lovely flavour. i dont have mushrooms, so did not use them, but the stew is just as nice, since i put in cinnamon. if u got aniseed, and cardomon they can be even better. but it is not necessary, i did not use them as i dont have any.

i did find some powdered mixed spices in a bottle, left over from somewhere so i threw that in. haha. 

i know, this is a funny recipe where half the ingredients i mention i dont use, because i dont have them, but really it is good whether u use them or not. i have found that really a lot of stuff is not that necessary if u have the one important ingredient.  the soya sauce is the important ingredient.

this new format seem to give more prominence to categories, instead of tags. to this day i dont know what the categories are good for, so i never use it. oh well, here goes, posting it right now. 

added, i searched a bit to see what others have said about the new wordpress, and saw this link ,’ introducing  our new editor’. i read it on the newsletter that came in my reader, but did not think it applies to me. after all, they often talk of new looks that people can download to alter the appearance of their weblogs, so i thought it was another one of those. but i see it does affect me, (even though i did not download it) and they call it ‘editor’. 

 

3 yrs with wordpress

london 6.56pm monday 2015,

i just got notification from wordpress 

Happy Anniversary with WordPress.com!

You registered on WordPress.com 3 years ago!

well, how nice of them to remind me. 3yrs allready with them!! and it has been very enjoyable so thanks very much wordpress. 

the new wordpress reader

london 9.16pm monday 2015

i have a wordpress reader where i get to read blogs i subscribe to. i like the reader because i dont have to be sent notification by email which will clog up my email no end.

but today i was thoroughly confused when the whole format by which i get the reader changed and i thought i had accidentally hit a button that changed the format. i was a bit miffed and after confusedly trying to navigate it and make sense of it, i shut it down and hoped that maybe it will revert to the default setting.

well, it was a hope, but i was going to be disappointed.

it did not go away so i started to explore it and as usual when things are new, it takes a bit of trying and erroring. haha. then i read an entry in wordpress in the reader blowing their trumpet about this new wordpress… ah so that is what it is all about. the buggers are tinkering again, i thought.

at first u do get a bit miffed, but i am rather more willing to try it out and give them the benefit of the doubt … so i played with it, and  i can see it is much better really.

there are some bits that are left out, notably a side bar where u can see blogs that others u liked have liked, so it acts as a recommendation… and at first it is difficult to find that button to bring u to the original blog. you can read it  in the reader, but it makes for a stark read… it  is devoid of all embellishments so that it is stark black and white words on a white background and sometimes it does not reproduce images . and sometimes the words fade and you have to go to the original blog. it took me sometime to figure out how to get to it without going via a very roundabout route… but i found how to go to the original blog, (just click on the heading, and keep clicking until it brings u to the original blog.)