Welcome to today’s daily kōrero!
Anyone can make the thread, first in first served. If you are here on a day and there’s no daily thread, feel free to create it!
Anyway, it’s just a chance to talk about your day, what you have planned, what you have done, etc.
So, how’s it going?
Made pancakes for the kids this morning. Double batch and no leftovers for me 😑
I've noticed this too as mine get older. Used to be I could count on a few extra bites when getting takeaways or eating out. Now all that's left are empty wrappers :(
It comes in waves. Sometimes my 3 year old will eat 3 big pancakes, and sometimes only half of one (today they had 2).
I've had to occasionally resort to applying the Dad Tax upfront on the 8 year old to get a few extra fries
Yeah I'm gonna have to resort to that in future. Normally there are always leftovers to eat, but it must have been a good batch today.
I'm still a kid at heart. When my wife makes me a stack of pikelets that are supposed to last a week, then leaves them on the kitchen bench, where I walk past often during the day. I do not know where they go, but they are usually gone within a day, 2 at most!!! (must be the dog)
Looks like a lot of IT types on Lemmy NZ by the discussion today (I'm one too). But I've had enough of that in my lifetime, so, another gardening topic:
I've been growing some Asparagus from seed over winter in our sun room and have just got them into the ground. They take a while to establish, so I probably won't start picking them until after next winter.
*removed externally hosted image*
Really easy to grow from seed, just have to wait a bit longer. These have gone into a no dig bed with pretty rough compost, but by the time they establish it will have rotted down well. I'll try to collect some seaweed sometime during summer and add that as well, which is recommended for Asparagus beds.
Netting to keep those hard-working blackbirds from moving the garden bed to somewhere I don't want it.
Blackbirds are my nemesis every Spring. Digging up newly composted beds and destroying seedlings in the process sometimes 😡 Also eating all our berries!
They are lucky I need them to pollinate my feijoa hedge otherwise I would try to eradicate them
I'm trialling a pest netting this spring because the birds destroyed all my seedlings last year. Its supposed to keep bugs out as well - so will be interesting to see how it goes. Of course i'm waiting for the frosts to stop so I can't start putting something in the ground without risk of it dying!
I should really do it too. I keep thinking of doing it every year but then I forget about it. Another reason is I avoid growing brassicas most of the warm season due to white butterfly, so if I actually do it I can get some nice looking brassicas.
Bacillus thuringiensis is the answer, for me anyway, for white butterfly. It's organic approved - from a natural bacteria found in soil.
It's the only spray I use (besides pyrethrum). It disrupts the catapiller and keeps brassicas from being eaten.
You buy it as a powder and mix a tiny amount with water (a drop of detergent helps) and spray about every two weeks. I highly recommend it.
Where do you get your BT from? I've heard of it before, but I feel for a small area preventing them laying eggs in the first place is easier than having to spray when new caterpillar's emerge. IIRC it doesn't do anything until they are already hatched and eating the plant right?
Dipel was the product I couldn't remember the name of, but I can't find it for sale in New Zealand.
I found it on an Aussie Bunning's website: Yates 40g Natures Way Caterpillar Killer Dipel Insecticide but that's not helpful :(
I bought 1kg a couple of years ago, which will last me the rest of my life as long as it doesn't go off - I store it in a cool, dark, dry place. Have only used 20 - 30 grams in the last 3 years.
When I bought it, it was called Bactur Organic from SprayShop. It looks like that has been discontinued and replaced with Genius BT.
This was the most economical way to buy it for me at the time. It has gone up considerably by the looks. If you've got friends who garden, you could share it around to spread the cost - it goes a long way.
I think there is another more generic brand that sells it, but I can't remember what it's called, and they sell very small quantities for the price.
IIRC => Yep, BT produces a protein that blocks the digestive system of the insect/caterpillar, effectively starving it - we don't see any meaningful loss at all. It is not supposed to harm other beneficial insects, and that appears to be true - we don't spray it on bees, but haven't seen any dead bees or reduced bee numbers with its use.
Ah thanks at least there's a place to get it. I have seen small sachets of it sold in M10/Bunnings before, but the price for the small amount wasn't worth it.
I might consider getting the GeniusBT later on in Spring, just to give it a try :)
Yep. We struggled for a year or two trying to keep them of gardens. Just use netting now, and don't have problems. Occasionally "catch" a cheeky sparrow that finds a gap somewhere, but they don't do any harm. When plants are big enough we take off the netting so the birds can have at the bugs. Mostly works for us.
Now I do remember once I had netted my black berries and a blackbird got itself all tangled and ended up strangling itself. Took ages to get it out. I've kind of just given up on stopping them from getting the berries. Just aim to grow enough for both them and us.
I'm still toying with the idea of replacing my OS with linux, in spite of knowing it's a Bad Idea (because of software compatibility). Wouldn't it be nice if companies you pay money to were a little open to the idea of creating flatpaks?
You don't have to replace it completely. Dual-booting is a fine compromise, so is running Windows inside a VM.
I've been running Linux as my main OS for ~15 years now, but still run Windows in some form (and macOS).
Why settle for a single OS? Just use whatever tools are best for the job.
Windows in a VM is a good idea but the way I distro-hop I should probably start with it the other way around. What is your main distro of choice?
I used to use Arch (still do on some systems), but my main these days is Nobara, a gaming and multimedia optimized distro, based on Fedora.
I would try different things to see what I liked but I always came back to Fedora. I haven't heard of Nobara but I like the sound of it; it looks like it bundles all the stuff I usually install the moment the DE is up and running.
If you like trying different things then I'd also recommend checking out BlendOS. It's a unique Arch-based distro that allows you to install and run packages from other mainstream disreos (making use of containers). You can even instantly switch between different DEs with a single command, which is nice for trying out various environments without polluting your system with tons of dependencies.
so is running Windows inside a VM.
How do you deal with licensing issues if you do this? AFAIK you can't do it with an OEM Windows license? (or do you just use "alternative methods")
You can actually use it with your existing OEM license. You may need to copy the ACPI tables from your physical machine to the VM, but personally, I've never felt the need to do so, and I haven't had any activation issues.
Although technically speaking, you'd still be breaking the EULA... not that Microsoft cares or anything.
Hmm OK, maybe I haven't tried that properly or something... will have to have another go at some point. Thanks.
Yeah, not so worried about the EULA, it's not like I'm pirating or anything.
I've been running linux on my laptop for the past 18 months or so. I have a headless desktop machine running windows that I still connect to regularly because it's just easier. But over time I have managed to do more and more on linux as I learn more or find different programs.
What are your must haves that don't have linux versions available?
The Adobe suite for work and the Affinity suite for myself. I use scrivener too but I'm sure I've seen open source alternatives for that and it keeps everything buried in rtf if I get stuck.
I know there are open source graphics programs available but affinity is the best I've used (much better than Adobe) and the forum posts Ive seen about Wine aren't encouraging.
While there are alternatives to many of the suites, I don't think they are comparable.
An option is to dual boot or run windows in a VM. Or like I do, have a separate windows machine that I remote into when I need to do windows stuff.
I've always dual booted windows and Linux, I generally boot into Linux unless I know there's something I need windows for, there's a lot of hardcore Linux enthusiasts on Lemmy that will tell you why you're sub human for using windows but frankly there isn't always a way around it
Honestly, I think being on Lemmy is what put the idea back into my head in the first place. I have a permanent case of grass-is-always-greener so whatever I'm using, I want to be using something else.
Software compatibility really comes down to what tools you use & why. If you have flexibility the same outcomes can be achieved with other (typically) open source alternatives a lot of the time. Gaming used to be a major challenge but has been improving rapidly over the last couple of years.
I have a macbook air for portable computing, a windows desktop for gaming, and another half a dozen linux machines for various other bits & pieces I muck about with - and really other than some games I could use any machine for anything.
Tinkering with alternative software used to be my main hobby but these days I just want stuff that works so have drifted away from it a bit.
Took my parents out into the ocean on our sailboat today and had perfect sailing weather all day. It was a great day had by all!
Pretty cruisey weekend, looked after my sick son for the vast majority of it, went for a sauna today and it always makes me feel really really good
