Don't worry, lead isn't that toxic. It takes a lot more exposure than the occasional handling to get heavy metal poisoning from it. But yes, odd to use lead as a weight (or put a weight in, perhaps it's a heat-sink?) it's fairly expensive. It could be a lead alloy which makes it more malleable, though a small peice of pure lead like that I'd expect to be easily bendable, but not compressable like clay.

They haven't transferred the money to anyone else. An ethical investment fund just selects businesses that meet certain criteria, e.g. no weapons manufacturers or tabacco companies. They haven't given a penny back to anyone, not even made a donation to e.g. a non-royal family charity or good cause, as far as I'm aware. They've just changed the source of funds for the renovations that this particular income was reported to being used for.

I think that depends on how you define 'civilisation'. My inclination is that most people would say civilisation has ended if life is drastically different to how they perceive their life/world they live in. Think 'civilisation as we know it' rather than a dictionary definition.

However, I disagree that it's not an existentisl threat, if only on the basis of possible crop failiures on a massive scale (reduced crop yields are a global issue already). Don't underestimate the impact of food shortages on everything else, we in the west have become accustomed to easy access to food.

A couple of posts back on my feed was about nasa sending a video of a cat via a laser beam. Can't help thinking they've been intergallactically rick-rolled!

Me too, dammit!

I recorded a film off the tv channel Sy-Fy a few years backcalled AfterDeath (not the 2023 film that comes up in a search). It's possibly not that obscure, but I believe it was a low budget film so maybe not at all well known. Anyhow, it didn't record all the film for some reason so I have never seen the end (last 15min or so), but despite the clear lack of quality it had an interesting premise (a group of young people who wake up in a beach cabin but apparently in the middle of some quasi-nowhere). I was intrigued as to how the approach to playing out the scenario would end but maybe I enjoyed it more for not having been able to see the ending if it was z bad one!

Every once in a...

The smell is enough for me in the morning!

I drink decaf and it still has the same effect for me.

That's one contented puss-cat :) we have a mini Schnauzer called Winter :) he's no baby at 13, though still gets called puppy/puppa as he's small even for a mini, plus still young at heart!

Fabulous photos and a beautiful owl, but those snowies...!

Jeff, leave it will you?!

I'll 2nd what hexagon said about going to a library or similar place. Trying to work around other people who are working helps to focus the mind and reduce distractions. If you can go to a library, this may be a good place to set up better practices, e.g. thoses others have suggested, first, then set up a work-only zone at home you can transfer that feeling of focus and work to.

I think the point is, not that we are completely different people, one moment to the next, but that we should embrace change rather than fight it. Life and the world around us is constantly changing and we are better off for changing with it.

Re your hypothetical letter, you can only address it to the persona you last knew, so to speak. Upon renewed communication, you'll learn how that person has changed, and maybe you will too a little or a lot.

I stand corrected! At least in terms of the commodity price. A product made from a raw material can become relativly cheaper through mass production or bulk buying. Also factor in weight re transport costs etc. I've always had the impression that it had a good value, if not mega pricey, at least in a way that made it unfavourable for uses like this.

I think i can see everything in Jerboa. 3 colons then 2 colons either side of the text.

Come to the UK and marvel at our range of privatised services. It's poetry in motion! Not that I'd dare think what would have happened in the past 13 years of glorious Conservative 'governance' had anything been in public ownership...

We have price caps in the UK. They're not perfect but they have stopped us from paying a lot more than we would have this past year. And the UK is definitely no (did you mean to say?) utopia. Or do you think a price cap to protect consumers is something from a distopia?

No problem, we all have slightly different ways of describing things!

You can get tree protection orders for single or groups of trees. I have a feeling you can make an application to get them protected without them being on your land.