eat food. not too much. mostly plants.

OR
You could ask YELAS if she is in need of a new keyboard........

--YELAS Tue Jan 30 15:47:41 2007

I paid real money for a keyboard and WUV it (Logitech G15) -- I'm never going back to cheapo $4 keyboards except as on an emergency basis. 

I still aspire to get a nice battleship-heavy IBM 101 click keyboard, though.

--LAN3 Tue Jan 30 16:43:35 2007

On a serious note on my part here for a change: Okay, you're decluttering. Here's a suggestion that might help you decide to declutter in a very helpful way that can leave you feeling good.

Check the VA hospitals around you. There are many things they will take for their vets' libraries. So many of those guys are too strapped to buy anything. They spend hours trying to focus their minds on anything but pain during long rehabs.

The old games, excess books, magazines and anything else you're tossing might be something they can use to occupy their minds, and gratefully.

Call ahead. You can hand a box (or several) of books (et cetera) over to the front desk or office rep.; or have the memorable pleasure of visiting some vet's rooms and offering what you have one on one after getting permission from hospital staff.

Many of these guys/gals are far away from home, family, friends and potential visitors--been there, done that. Some may have been career military, and now their careers are over due to life-altering trauma and major injuries.

They are younger, your age, retired. Some went in for the education benefits, and now need to use their minds instead of their bodies to get around this world. They need opportunities, new friends, a clue on where to begin.

I've donated books, magazines, games and more to VA hospitals over the years. Sadly, things that can be easily accessed by hall-walking and bed-bound vets often sit where these things can be walked off with, and are.

A year old magazine with torn and dog-ear'd pages can stave off miserable hours while waiting for test results or pain medication to kick-in. So the need constantly exists for donations to their library and entertainment carts.

This isn't just a far-flung suggestion. Since 1989, I've spent too much down-time in military hospitals; and recently in a VA as a patient again. While I came equipped with my own reading (and writing) material, I've seen the need for donated decent reading material and entertainment first-hand far too often. Local television programming just doesn't fill the void. Boredom is a brain-killer for these men and women. Your donations would be welcome more than you realize ...... Rennie

--Rennie Tue Jan 30 16:45:14 2007

1. Everything has become fing political, and it's really fing annoying. How did breast feeding in public become political?

2. To dispose of electronics in an environmentally friendly way (but will cost money), call 800-WASTE54. I used them to get rid of tons of electronic crap before moving to Chicago.

--The_Lex Wed Jan 31 08:19:31 2007

Well, there's political (in the sense of someone trying to enforce their standards of prudishness) and then there's political, the stuff that verges on the conspiratorial, big industry working to change a science-derived and neutral message to suit their own needs.

--Kirk Wed Jan 31 09:35:03 2007

I can understand what you're saying on an abstract level, but please, elaborate.

--The_Lex Thu Feb 1 08:20:43 2007

Ok, the breastfeeding thing is a local issue. It's political, in the sense that it involves laws and their enforcement, but actually (despite the idiocy of the subject from a civil rights sense) is how politics is "supposed" to work; someone's not happy about an issue, laws get passed around that issue, people argue it... also everyone will probably admit it's a matter of opinion (though possibly religion), and there aren't too many facts under dispute.

Global Warming and Nutrition, you have bigger players, vested interests, who seem to be actively working to undermine fairness and objectivity in reporting. In the case of the meat and dairy industries, they exerted political pressure to get that nutrition board to NOT say "eat less meat" which was one of their real findings. Global warming, you have industry working to continue the idea that it's a scientifically controversial idea, and so therefore proactive attempts to mediate the problem aren't worth risking any financial bottom lines.

So all 3 cases are political, in the sense of people exerting influence and pressure to get their views enacted, but only the latter 2 undermine truth as science sees most likely.

--Kirk Sat Feb 3 07:52:08 2007

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