“Welcome. The zucchini canning yesterday was almost completely successful. I blew the bottom out of one jar because I should’ve changed the water between the 1st & 2nd batch. The jar was too cool for the temp change. You can see the result in the video.”
Our World
A visit with Occam’s Razor
This is the Rumble live stream link.
Occam’s Razor Gardening, Cooking & Canning Ep 72
Welcome. 13C this morning. The sun is getting up later. 6 Weeks left for Summer. Just over 10 weeks of growth for anything that doesn’t harvest above ground, except for hardy plants like Kale, which I have yet to eat yet as my other garden foods have kept me full and busy. I should make some crispy kale.
The beetle egg laying on the squash leaves seems to be diminishing, so they might be coming to the end of their life cycle. A zucchini got away from me and grew a little too big, but we’ll try to pickle it anyway.
Cat’s and hearing aids
X has a great desire to bat my Rexton Reach hearing aids around. I think he resents that I can now hear his out of sight escapades.
While it’s only been a few days the aids are becoming a welcome part of my routine, they pair easily with my phone.
They fit the ear well and I am told have a robust design so that perilously thin wire that connects the ear bud to the aid body could tow a trailer.
Still experimenting with balance and sound levels though the default set up is pretty good.
Sound level, directional hearing and balance are easily controlled through the Rexton app.
My risk of being run over by a truck is lower as I now can hear them coming again.
The only drawback so far is that no equivalent of a windsock exists so in a stiff breeze you get that irritating crackling wind whoosh. 1st world problem I know.
I barely notice them otherwise as they sit well on the ear without need for adjustment once placed.
I am still hoping to reduce the “tinniness” of my own voice, some of that comes with time, some just from finding that volume/balance sweet-spot and ear bud placement.
At any rate it is not that big a deal as it’s minor and only a sometimes thing.
As it stands I am manually adjusting volume settings etc. from the default each morning when I put the aids in.
However once I find something I like the “Rexton Assist Robot” can make it an automatic setting always with a discard option.
Oh and Mask Mode is a ray gun setting that allows you to fry anyone wearing a mask.
Kidding.
It just helps un-mumble mask wearers.
So far so good. I am happy with the aids so far.
It’s a Miracle! I can hear again!
I picked up my Rexton Reach hearing aids from Costco today.
After a bit of measurement and set-up which involved some woman screaming at me in German we paired the aids to my phone and I was off to the races.
The app allows me to pick up my calls or stream podcasts etc.
Popping the aids into the ear canal is easy enough, if things are too loud you shoved ’em in a little too far. The little rubber tips (see pic above) are soft and malleable. I don’t notice them at all. You get a lifetime supply of these as needed courtesy of Costco.
I am pleasantly surprised at how discreet they are, you have to look hard to know they’re there.
The directional hearing feature accessed in the Phone App works as advertised. I can if I wish focus on the person/people in front of me or capture the room.
Then I learned all about changing the “bug screen” aka “filter” and how to use the tool to manage this monthly task. The good news is the screens come preloaded on the tool and replacements are free forever.
Charging is easy peasy and the case itself will hold 3 full charges without needing to be re-juiced.
There’s a tinny sound to my own voice, lessened by a volume adjustment which should dissipate over a few weeks.
I am surprised at the sounds I pick up now and simply never heard before.
I can now hear my keyboard click as each key is pressed.
Costco has great prices, aftercare and warranty etc. Worth a look.
Slouching Toward War?
“I saw this from InstaPundit reader Bart Hall and it got me thinking:
I notice interesting military trends which more than hint at a pattern, at least from an historical perspective.
Taiwan, Japan, and Australia are seriously arming up. South Korea, Philippines, and Vietnam … less so, but significantly.”
This was an interesting response from Grok when I asked it to draw the 7 Trumpets.
Sexual Politics
Why men and women are diverging ideologically, even as they become more alike economically and educationally.
In most wealthy nations, women have steadily closed the gap with men in education, income, and professional achievement. Today, they earn the majority of undergraduate and graduate degrees, including doctorates. More than half of all STEM degrees now go to women, and their presence in the tech industry has grown—from 31 percent in 2019 to 35 percent in 2023. In major metropolitan areas like Boston, New York, Los Angeles, and Washington, D.C., women under 30 now match or outearn their male peers.
Given these gains, one might expect that as men and women converge in education and income, their cultural values and outlook on the world would also grow more aligned. Yet the opposite seems to be happening.
Pupils to be taught that feeling low is not a mental health issue
Children will be taught that “worrying and feeling down” are normal and are not mental health conditions, as concerns grow over a sharp rise in young people on sickness benefits.
Revised relationships, sex and health education (RSHE) guidance issued to schools this month instructs teachers not to encourage self-diagnosis of conditions such as depression or anxiety.
The changes come as a result of growing concern over the number of young people who are economically inactive or have mental health conditions.
Related … Has AI caused the jobs recession?
Where All the Men Have Gone
In a recent New York Times article titled, “Men, Where Have You Gone? Please Come Back,” Rachel Drucker laments what she calls “a collective shift” in men, a “slow vanishing of presence.” So many single men, she writes, aren’t “sitting across from someone on a Saturday night, trying to connect.” Instead, they “have retreated from intimacy, hiding behind firewalls, filters and curated personas, dabbling and scrolling.” She adds, “We miss you.”
Conrad Black: The West dominates. Don’t believe lies to the contrary
It has become something of a cliché to assert as an evident fact accepted resignedly, that the West is in decline. But it isn’t. The West is essentially the Americas, Central and Western Europe, Israel, Australasia, and Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, arguably the Philippines and beleaguered elements in South Africa. Obviously, some of these places are in better condition than others. A degenerating society is one that has lost the will to defend itself from both external and internal enemies and where belief in the value of the society or civilization and loyalty and pride in the country have eroded to the point where there is legitimate doubt that they can be sustained under any pressure. No part of the Western world has achieved such a condition.
Gen Z Isn’t Just Online — They’re Living in Parallel Realities
There was a time, not long ago, when Americans — regardless of region, class, or politics — shared a common cultural foundation. From the Saturday morning cartoons children watched to the nightly news programs adults relied on, mainstream culture was both a mirror and a glue: it reflected our values while keeping us tethered to the same national experience. That era is over.
We have entered the Age of Alternative Culture, an era defined by fragmentation, algorithmic echo chambers, and cultural isolation masquerading as global connection.