u/girugamesh_2009

I purchased a couple dozen Sterno-style (brand: Gas One glycol fuel) flame canisters ca. 2020.
I've had them on the very bottom of a storage shelf, in their original packaging (a cardboard flat with stiff plastic wrap over top) since.
Do these have a shelf life? Any risk of leaks over time?

Any conversation regarding portable fuel cannisters is welcome!

>>>EDIT: Thanks for the responses and advice! I hope this thread can help others looking for the same information.

I don't bake much, but I do consume bread, tortillas, English muffins, cornbread and occasionally cakes (via boxed mix) from the store shelf.

I've just started to explore baking. I spent the weekend mixing and storing "make ahead dry mixes," including for pancakes, cornbread, brownies, cake, and pizza dough. I figured that if I had half the battle won already, I'd be more likely to bake from scratch versus buying a box mix going forward.
I also baked bread for the first time since middle school this morning. It turned out great!

While I'd been researching recipes for these endeavors, I got mixed up in talk of FMF and the nutritional benefits--if it's utilized pretty immediately after milling.
Firstly, whole wheat sounds excellent, freshness sounds excellent, avoiding additives sounds excellent, and it seems relatively inexpensive (I found a cheap electric mill and a reasonable berry source online).

But...that mill --> oven pipeline--that means no future "make ahead mixes," doesn't it?

So I'd be needing to make the milling process a part of the baking process every single time, yeah?

Pros in the way of FMF include:
Wheat berries keeping for decades (with wheat prices projected to skyrocket very soon--seems like a good investment to make now)
Increased nutritional benefit if taken up within days to weeks after milling
No additives that I'm not in control of
Guaranteed freshness

Cons in the way of FMF include:
It's not already ready already--milling must happen as part of the baking/cooking process, lengthening time and possibly acting as a deterrent
No make ahead mixes--another friction point
Learning curve--I've got a few books titles written down and have been lurking for a bit, I get there's a world to learn and tweak, but it doesn't seem like rocket surgery to make edible product

Am I missing much? What say you about my concerns, interpretation, and prospect for milling versus depending on store shelf flour? Is it as potentially massively inconvenient as I think it is to freshly mill your own flour at home?

I'm considering moving into grinding wheat berries for flour in light of the wheat prices predictions coming out recently. I live in BFE and have nowhere local to source them.

I've also never worked with berries. I have a grinder in mind, but can anyone recommend the best berry for general use? My limited knowledge leads me toward hard red winter wheat berries.

Any vetted brands or sources for berries that you can stand by? I've been looking at Palouse because they claim to be certified glycosaphate free. But the price is significant.

Any additional discussion regarding wheat berries is welcome, and thanks!

I live in an area with pretty direct access to the Mississippi River. I know it's far from potable.
But in a long term water crisis, it feels awful to think I have access to unlimited water that can't be consumed. Straight up, anyhow.

I recently became aware of the importance of potable water and know enough to be stocking bottles. My apartment living situation limits how much I can reasonably store. So, if needed, how could I make use of that river flowing near by?

I picked up a couple of Life Straws during the pandemic, but I was never totally comfortable that I could just go down to the beach and start sucking through them. Could I?

I've read about the Sawyer Squeeze on here also. Is that enough to just dump raw river water in and drink what comes out?

Any resources would be very much appreciated. Any additional conversation on drinking untreated river water is also welcome!

EDIT:
Thank you for all of the information, the explanations, the links, and the humor.
I'll plan to avoid drinking out of the river.

I've been paying for my RD sub with a pre-loaded PayPal Mastercard credit card for years. I've never had an issue. I'm US based.
Today, even though it's loaded with more than enough funds, I'm getting an error message when I submit my payment that reads

The transaction has been denied

You can pay with another payment method.

Authorisation declined

I'm checking in here to see if anyone else has had a similar problem lately.

Thanks for any insight.

I eat a lot of steam-in-the-bag veggies and rice and realized that I'm surely eating plastic when I microwave in them as intended.
I'm looking for an alternative that will let me be as lazy, but less compromised.

Anyone have experience with this, perhaps with a plastic-free microwave steamer? Most of what I'm finding is a glass bowl with a plastic insert or just a glass insert.

Thanks!

I have a laptop and a 10 year old Dragon Touch tablet that I use to read pirated .PDF and .EPUB format books. Both are cumbersome; the laptop due to the size and the tablet due to running slow as hell and having other issues.

I have quite a backlog of books that I'd like to dive into, but hardware discomfort is a major sticking point for me.

I read image-heavy books, mostly cookbooks, old magazines, and technical manuals. So a text-only or black and white reader is not a good option for me.

I've been running a ~10 year old version of Aldiko on my tablet and it's all I know.

Tell me, seasoned sailors, what's your go-to device and program for reading .PDF and .EPUB image heavy books? I'm eying a cheap Chinese tablet on Temu right now but I don't even know where to start with e-reader programs. Ideally, I wouldn't do much personally with the device and would alright if it didn't connect to the internet.

Thanks!

I haven't stayed in a hotel in over a decade, in part due to being afraid of bed bugs. I acquired bed bug bites the last time I stayed in one (in 2016), and was very lucky that containing and repeatedly washing and drying my clothes seemed to knock out any threat I may have taken home.

I'm staying overnight in a small town, Mom & Pop hotel next week and I'm highly anxious about the risk.

I know the following:

1. Check mattresses, especially along the seams and the box spring, immediately for bugs, nymphs, or droppings.

2. Do the same with pillows.

3. Hang all belongings from hangers.

4. Put all belongings that can't hang in the tub.

5. Don't put anything on the floor.*

6. Seal any cloths in plastic bags and immediately wash them in hot water & dry them hot upon returning home (and discard the bags)

Is all of that good advice?
What am I missing for maximal prevention/protection?

Thanks very much in advance.

*Another person will be sharing the room and plans to use an air mattress that I own and sleep on it on the floor. I am very concerned about this but don't know what I can do to protect them and to prevent contamination of the air mattress. I will also be brining linens from home to cover the mattress.

I am completely naieve when it comes to self hosting, but from what I'm gathering lurking here, it's the only answer to how things are going.

Can better-informed members of the community share resources for beginners to get going on this?

Thanks for any spoon feeding you can provide!

TL;DR

I've started a new job for a small company that does not provide health insurance coverage.
My income is about to kick me off of Medicaid.
I've looked at my options through Get Covered Illinois with a projection of my yearly income, and the rates are unreasonably high, considering the monthly dues, deductible, and max out of pocket amounts I'm being offered.

I'm ignorant on alternatives. Do Farm Bureaus or other independent entities offer health insurance? Can anyone share what they do to insure themselves "affordably"?

Yeah, I know the health insurance situation in the US is terrible right now and that nothing is truly cheap anymore, that's why I'm reaching out on Reddit. I appreciate any info you have!

I was going to sell them, but I'm in a situation where I can only make so much money a month and so selling things is a bad choice for me right now.

What the Hell do I do with 15 Wii boards?

Last night, without prior warning that I'm aware of, the city council voted unanimously to fund and allow the installation of 3 Flock cameras in town.
I talked to council to confirm this and they're excited because the police force believes this will give them an edge on crime control. They weren't open to discussing my criticism of the decision.

I'm at a loss as to what to do. I've been here 20 years and don't wish to leave, and I also realize that soon there will be nowhere left to "run" because they're putting them along most main roads and, from what I've seen on this sub, even out in the wild.

Does anyone have experience in fighting this? As I check social media pages dedicated to goings on in town, no one seems to be reacting to this. We're very rural and I don't understand why anyone things we need this shit in the first place.

I'm just venting. I feel crushed and I feel paranoid and I feel helpless.

I'm a single person household and make $1700/month.
Currently, I qualify for Medicaid in IL because I gross <$1799/month.

This month, I'm being made to work 2 extra days (it's a 5 week month, and the extra 2 days are the 29th and 30th of June) in order to cover someone else's vacation time. It's not negotiable with my employer.

That puts me up to a gross of $2,125 or $326 over the limit.

I expect to get fewer hours than average in July and for this to ultimately even out.

Should I expect this to be an issue for my Medicaid eligibility? Do I need to pre-emptively contact my local office to make them aware?

To complicate things further, my most recent paycheck (for hours worked in May) was about $200 short of what it should have been due to an accountant's error. My boss plans to add that $200 to my next check (for hours worked in June). I expect this will make it look like I'm closer to $500 over the limit for June.

Any advice on how to proceed appropriately is appreciated. Thank you!

Anyone have a tip on how to contact a human rep at eBay?

I've been on a run around with AI Chatbots and links that circle back to the same page that lacks an actual contact link over and over again.

Any advice on how to have contact with a person is appreciated.

I've made this thread as an invitation to share why you enjoy Baywatch and to post when you're having a good time engaging with the show!
I will request that if you are posting a story or cast change spoiler, you mark it appropriately for the sake of anyone watching the show for the first time (like me).

I'm watching the show from the beginning very slowly. I've been watching it off and on for about 2 years.
I only allow myself to watch Baywatch while exercising at home. That's the pact I have with myself.
I'm on S3 and just finished episodes 7 & 8 ("Showdown at Malibu High" and "Point Doom"), and man, I was so depressed when I finished S2, knowing that >!Shauni & Eddie were leaving!<, but I'm really having a blast with S3 so far!

Watching Baywatch is a joy. The scenery is beautiful, the cast is beautiful, the plots are fun, the characters are people you'd want to have for friends, the acting is great for this sort of program, the 90s fashions, interiors, and attitudes thrill me, and I even enjoy the "cheesy" remaster soundtrack. (So much so that I'd like to find it and listen to it while driving because so much of it is pleasantly upbeat.)

Baywatch makes me feel upbeat. I feel good while watching the show and even for awhile after. I know every season is different and some are more divisive than others when it comes to perceived quality, but no other show leaves me feeling so good. I feel motivated. I feel like I want to prioritize health and style when I watch it. The workout and chase scenes make me ride my stationary bike a little faster lol.

I hope I'm not alone in this. I want to hear from others about what it does for you!

As the title suggests, I'm running Graphene OS on a Google Pixel 9a and have KDE Connect loaded on both it and a laptop PC running Windows 11.

The two devices are connected via KDE Connect and can share media, use "find my phone," and does well with other features, but I can't figure out how to set the system so that my PC is alerted when my phone gets a text message or misses a call.
I also can't figure out how to send a text (via my phone) from my PC.

Any help on this is appreciated.

As the title suggests, I'm running Graphene OS on a Google Pixel 9a and have KDE Connect loaded on both it and a laptop PC running Windows 11.

The two devices are connected via KDE Connect and can share media, use "find my phone," and does well with other features, but I can't figure out how to set the system so that my PC is alerted when my phone gets a text message or misses a call.
I also can't figure out how to send a text (via my phone) from my PC.

Any help on this is appreciated.

Previous thread got deleted because I linked to specific products with questions about them, so I won't be direct this time.

I've got a shelf picked out, I've got trays and seeds at the ready, but I'm hung up on lights. I'm not going to drope $100/light for 4 lights.

Can anyone recommend me some budget lights that work and won't burn my house down? (I've been looking at lights on Temu and Amazon and a lot of them look the same and reviews indicate that there are soldering concerns with the wiring on some products.)

Vevor brand is also selling a set up for $85 on Amazon that includes a 4-rack shelf, 3 lights, and spill guards. I figure if I'm looking at $50-100/light, I may as well get the whole shebang for less than that.

Thanks for any direction in how to do this without overspending.

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