Done! (roof painting, that is)

— Posted inUncategorized — 1 min read

Just a quick "breaking news" report to say that I finished putting the last bit of second top coat on my roof exactly at 12.30, 31 March NZDST (23.30, 30 March GMT). 😀

I've got a couple of translation jobs to do right now, but will post a full report of the final stage in due time. Thank you everyone for your encouragement and support. :happy:

[Update]
Now completely in the gloomy wet weather, writing about roof painting seems not quite relevant. So I will just add this update to conclude my Project-R reporting.

I have finally uploaded the last of the last lot of photos to album, Project-R. The album is now concluded, and arranged in ascending chronological order (the oldest first). If you want to skip the earlier photos and see the newest ones, click the image.

To all my Northern Hemisphere friends. When are you going to start your painting project? 😀

:coffee:
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  1. Originally posted by debplatt:

    I am using my cellphone. It takes me much longer to type on it than a real keyboard, so by the time I've thumb-typed a lengthy comment, I discover there have been a couple intervening comments that I didn't see.

    It's the government who intervenes. It's them! :yikes:Funny how you got into a discussion about politico-economic developments under a post about roof painting 😆

  2. Originally posted by ersi:

    It's the government who intervenes. It's them!

    😆 Watch out, Deb! They are reading your texts. :rolleyes: Originally posted by ersi:

    Funny how you got into a discussion about politico-economic developments under a post about roof painting

    We do this all the time, Eric. :p At least Deb hasn't whipped out her favourite animated gif of Milla Jovovich whipping out her shotguns to shoot them all down … yet. 😆

  3. Originally posted by debplatt:

    At which point an elderly guy in the audience said, "Yeah, but I can't eat an iPad."

    Good for him!!! Fortunately we have farmers in my area. I buy meat, fruit, and vegetables during season and freeze them. It's a big expense at the time, but saves money on the yearly food bill.

  4. Originally posted by SummerAngel:

    Fortunately we have farmers in my area. I buy meat, fruit, and vegetables during season and freeze them

    My local tramping friends sometimes get boxes of fruits from orchard when they are out on excursions. I think some of them still bottle or make jams. Once I managed to make quite passable quince jelly. But the trouble with home made jams and preserves is that they taste so good that you tend to eat too much and they don't last long. :pNow the petrol price is also very high and I don't go out of town much, so hard to get cheap bulk fruits. 🙁 (The quince was free from someone's backyard :))

  6. in South Africa, Apple ™ products are far more expensive than other similar products. :left:. That is one of the main problems I have with Apple ™ goods. :down:. The argument that they are 'better' than other products really doesn't hold water in my opinion because the only reason a Macbook ™, for example, is 'better' than a similar spec laptop running Windows ™ is the operating system. :left:.And even that can be debated as it depends what you're using it for as to which operating system will do the job better. :awww:.For my purposes, any operating system will do just about the same, so I choose Ubuntu which is the cheaper option for me. (replacing Linpus Lite that was installed on my netbook when I got it.)It's actually hard to compare groceries from one Country to the next because some products will have to travel further to some countries and different countries provide different levels of subsidies, price controlls etc. :sherlock:.

  7. it all depends on who is subsidising who. :left:.At one time there was some complaints from our local sheep farmers about imported Australian mutton and lamb being too cheap. :left:.Fruit farmed in Tzaneen (northern part of South Africa) is cheaper in Jo'burg than in Tzaneen.

  8. And about Windows, that's exactly my point. :up:. For you, Windows is needed because there's no simple way to do what you need in Linux. (at least, not 'out-the-box' :left:)For me, it wouldn't make much difference. (although I do find Windows confusing on the odd occasion that I'm forced to use it. :faint:)

  9. Originally posted by qlue:

    For my purposes, any operating system will do just about the same, so I choose Ubuntu which is the cheaper option for me. (r

    I have tested a few distros. (My favourite was OpenSUSE) But practically no Linux can meet my requirement (bilingual work environment). I need to be able to enter English text in one window of one application and Japanese in another semi-simultaneously. In Windows input language is set per app-window basis. Linux only allows to set language as user environment for entire desktop :down: Originally posted by qlue:

    It's actually hard to compare groceries from one Country to the next because some products will have to travel further to some countries and different countries provide different levels of subsidies, price controlls etc.

    It's still doesn't make sense when Made in NZ cheese is cheaper bought in London than at my local supermarket. 🙁

  10. Originally posted by qlue:

    it all depends on who is subsidising who.

    Well, the problem is NZ calls itself a free trade country and, therefore, no one is (supposed to be) subsidising for NZ producers or consumers. That's why very little has been done when the country's largest dairy cooperative, Fonterra, says the dairy price is right against the international market standard, meaning NZ consumers have to pay the international market prices even for the locally produced agricultural produce.

  11. Originally posted by qlue:

    For you, Windows is needed because there's no simple way to do what you need in Linux. (at least, not 'out-the-box'

    There is NO WAY WHATSOEVER to do what I need on Linux, which is to set language per application window basis. By design Linux treats language as a desktop environment parameter. Switching input language in Linux means changing configuration of the entire desktop. It is theoretically and categorically not possible to do what I need in Linux.

  14. Same with me, not many of the applications I use run on Linux or mac…

  15. MM, I'm hearing that you can now toggle different keyboard input mechanisms in Ubuntu using iBus which I believe is included in the default installation now. What I'm reading is that there is a language toolbar to switch languages, and that you can further use a keyboard shortcut of your own choosing to activate the keyboard for another language. You can find more about it here: http://berithroad.blogspot.com/2011/01/sbl-hebrew-keyboard-for-linux.html At the beginning he's talking about how to create/customize a keyboard layout for ancient versions of Greek and Hebrew, but toward the end he says how to switch easily between different keyboards for different languages.

  16. That's been standard at least since Jaunty. :left:.And you can use a hotkey instead of the toolbar applet which is probably more convenient for regular use. :up:.

  17. Originally posted by debplatt:

    toggle different keyboard input mechanisms … there is a language toolbar to switch languages,

    Originally posted by qlue:

    a hotkey instead of the toolbar applet

    I have known all those things for at least five year. No matter how it is done, and how you think easy it is to do, the principle is the same:Originally posted by mimi_s_mum:

    Switching input language in Linux means changing configuration of the entire desktop.

    ENTIRE DESKTOP!Unlike Linux, Windows allows setting of input language per application process. You know I do translation for living, don't you? Translation involves looking up terms in source language, researching the accuracy of found terms and expression in target language, and composing translated text and typing it out in target language. When I work, I normally have two instances of Opera running on two separate profiles with different input languages; one for Japanese look-up and one for English research. I may also have some pdf resources and also can set input language separately for each window: Japanese for Japanese-English glossary documents, English for relevant guidelines and papers as reference to the style of English in given topic. Once set up I have NO need to switch input languages during work session.If I were running a Linux, I would have to switch language every three minutes or even more often! Imagine what it would do to my work efficiency. :rolleyes: After all Linux was designed by a monolingual person, who never thought someone could use more than one language at a time.

  18. I doubt if this would allow two applications to be open at the same time with two different languages working on them though

  19. Which is why I agree that Windows is the right setup for you. :up:.One thing to remember though, and it's a common misinterpretation, is that the problem is not with Linux. Linux is only the kernel and has nothing to do with the desktop environment. The 'input switcher' mentioned is part of the Gnome desktop environment. It may not even work in the other desktops. :left:.The type of feature that Windows has to allow different instances to use different inputs simultaneously could be built into a desktop. But no Linux desktops that I know of have that. :left:.And it's not likely to become a feature anytime soon in my opinion. Only if someone like yourself needed such a feature, and had the necesssary know how to do it, would they them fork a prefered desktop and add this feature. Since Gnome (for example) is actively developed by a community that mostly use latin alphabet languages, this feature is not needed by them and is thus unlikely to even occure to them. :awww:.Your work is a rather specialised work and you are fortunate to have an operating system that helps you to do it more efficiently. :hat:.I've always said that there is no 'best' operating system, only the best option for any specific job. :up:.

  20. Originally posted by qlue:

    Linux is only the kernel and has nothing to do with the desktop environment.

    Isn't it the kernel that dictates input language to be a parameter of a desktop environment?Originally posted by qlue:

    Your work is a rather specialised work and you are fortunate to have an operating system that helps you to do it more efficiently

    Like I said, the devil I know well 😀

  21. Language input is mostly sorted out in software. :sherlock:.The kernel deals mostly with the hardware, receiving codes from the keyboard and making them available to the software. You may be right there to some extent, I don't know enough about this to be sure. But I do know that you can override anything in software. The graphic environment has seperate settings to the text-only environment. The different desktop environments for Ubuntu have limited overlap between them. For example, I never could get KDE to connect to a modem. But under Gnome, Lxde and Xfce, the connection was always automatic in Ubuntu. (some other distros required additional dialup software not included with the standard install) Windows is only a desktop environment running under MSDos in it's inception. (although the two have become inextricably co-joined) you can also get KDE for 'Windows' (runs directly under Dos without launching Windows at all) but I suspect that it will not support the ability to open seperate instances with different input methods. :sherlock:.The thing is, someone like you is way too busy doing your work to mess around with actively developing software and operating systems. And someone who has the time to devote to active development won't consider your needs as important. :awww:.Linux distros are developed by unpaid volunteers after all. :left:.This is actually an interesting use-case. I really must investigate further and see what needs to be done to add this type of function, or develop a better solution if possible. :up:.Interesting to note thoug that, by default, Opera only allows one instance at a time under Ubuntu. :sherlock:. (can be reconfigured though)

  22. Originally posted by qlue:

    someone like you is way too busy doing your work to mess around with actively developing software and operating systems. And someone who has the time to devote to active development won't consider your needs as important.

    Ah! The case of Nerds vs Geeks face-off :DOriginally posted by qlue:

    Interesting to note thoug that, by default, Opera only allows one instance at a time under Ubuntu. . (can be reconfigured though)

    Same in Windows by default. But then there is this tweak … 😉

  23. Your link is weird! :sherlock:.Anyway, It can be done in Linux as well. :up:. (but that's really not the issue, is it :awww:)

  25. Originally posted by mimi_s_mum:

    After all Linux was designed by a monolingual person, who never thought someone could use more than one language at a time.

    This is not right at all. Linux was designed by a native of a country where there are two official languages, and he belonged to the minority language (8% of the entire population or so). What is true though is that he never designed any of the GUI desktops for Linux, just the kernel.Anyway, why are you discussing Linux now under a blog post about roof painting :confused: 😆

  26. Thank you for putting me right, Eric. My statement was based on a hearsay I heard a long time ago that Linus Torvalds was reported to have said he had no interest in multilingual support (or something along that line). Originally posted by ersi:

    why are you discussing Linux now under a blog post about roof painting

    Shouldn't we? :p 😆Someone asked a similar question once at this post about my health issue. 😀

  27. … A very long series of comments ago : Originally posted by mimi_s_mum:

    a top exporter of meat, fruits and vegetables

    But I confirm that you can find organic food New Zealand up to here in France, a bit late … :doh:

  28. I think the majority of food produced here is not organic, although to me that sounds weird, how can food not be organic?

  29. Originally posted by darkesthour:

    although to me that sounds weird, how can food not be organic?

    Inorganic food sounds scary… :ko:

  30. We never get any organic food from New Zealand :left:… that I know of.

  31. Hmmm. Usually not green around here. Instead the bread gets white fuzz with blue highlights. I'm told I can avoid this by sticking the bread in the fridge, but then the frost-free fridge sucks all the moisture out of it. :awww:

  32. Exactly, although some candy that the kids like is probably totally inorganic 😆

  33. Originally posted by mimi_s_mum:

    like very airy hokey pokey

    … I thought the hokey pokey was a dance?

  35. Originally posted by debplatt:

    "rock candy"

    A "larva lava candy" is sold at tourist shops near Mt Fuji. That was quite yummy (full of sugar, of course).

  37. Personally, i like chemicals in my food, it tastes better :chef: 😆

  38. Originally posted by mimi_s_mum:

    "larva lava candy"

    Here's picture 😀

  42. When I buy bread, I prefer the loaves with chemical preservatives. I'm the only one eating bread for the most part, so an entire loaf can last me a couple weeks. Or just two days if there are no preservatives. :awww:

  43. That's very convincing looking lava. :eyes: I am afraid that eating it would scrape all the enamel from my teeth. :worried:

  45. :eyes: I know that song and dance. I thought that was a dance about hokey pokey candy/toffee!

  46. I thought that freezer would also suck all the moisture from the bread. :confused:

  47. Originally posted by debplatt:

    I'm told I can avoid this by sticking the bread in the fridge, but then the frost-free fridge sucks all the moisture out of it.

    I usually freeze the whole loaf after a day. When I eat I tease apart pieces and stick them in toaster still frozen. A little longer time toasting and I get quite satisfactory toast. 🙂

  49. Originally posted by debplatt:

    freezer would also suck all the moisture from the bread.

    Not a lot if you keep the loaf in bag without much air.

  50. Well, it's definitely worth trying. As it gets warmer and warmer, it will be harder for me to finish a loaf of bread before it gets fuzzy. Last summer Dee joined me and helped me out. This summer I believe that she and her roommate are trying to lease an apartment next to her university.

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