Cheap Curiousities and Expensive Ones

Byrichard
Reading Time: 2 minutes

Mobile Phones

We are in a pandemic and I am between contracts, two reasons for which having an interest in the latest mobile phones is a futile pass time. I tried to revive my old Android phone and succeeded. I sometimes find it hard to get the phone recharged, and when it is recharged I need to keep it charged. This time I had a bonus problem. No data connection

I tried to connecting to wifi, no luck. I tried using the mobile phone’s data connection, no luck. I tried using one phone as a hotspot. No luck either. Restart the phone, no luck. In the end I tried a factory reset and the problem was resolved. Data worked both on wifi and 4g. The phone is old, but at least it allows me to play with Android when I want to.

Nettle Tea

I read that Nettle tea tastes of various things, honey, grass, slightly minty, spinach and more. The combination of those tastes didn’t sound appealing, except for mint and honey. I also wanted to see what they taste of. I spent an entire 2.95 for twenty tea bags and I tried it. When it’s dry it smells like hay, and when you smell it in boiling hot water it smells quite bad, like fish, or some other unpleasant smell. I then tasted it and it tastes like it smells when it’s dry. Hay. It’s like drinking the smell of a barn. You can see why people mix it with other flavours. Now I have one less thing to be curious about.

Jungfrau Tea

Jungfrau Tea, named after the mountains is made from seven herbs. It is made from a combination of round leaved mint, citrous thyme, orange mint, fennel seed, Lemon balm, Achilles Yarrow and mauve. I am confused by the lat one. The taste is definitely different. It has texture and I consider that it could almost be good. I have not added sugar or anything else and it has had time to sit so I may not be getting the full experience.

For more info

The Pandemic

I try not to write about the pandemic too much. We are stuck in a loop where governments make mistakes, and people who don’t follow international news go along with it. We are four or five waves into this pandemic in Switzerland and it is only possible to remain positive if we expect little from our governments. England, Switzerland and Sweden have governments that are trying to ignore the problem, and pretend that it is endemic as soon as possible.

Meanwhile in most of Asia the pandemic is under control and there is less human suffering. Europe and the US are suffering, and yet other nations are not. Some people say that it is because in the West we have selfish cultures where the individual is put on a pedestal and community is ignored, while in Asia there is community spirit, and this helps to control the pandemic.

Either way, Covid-Zero should be prioritised over the fool’s errand of endemicity.

Now you understand why I avoid writing about the pandemic.

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Moving Sugar Beet

Byrichard

For a few weeks you see piles of sugar beet at one end, or another of fields. They stay that way for a while, until it rains for some reason. When it rains those piles of beet are loaded into hundreds of tractor trailer loads and transported to the train yard. The closest to Nyon is in Eysins.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_BbmPT3Ut9A&feature=youtu.be
A tractor lifting a trailer to unload sugar beet into a machine to load train wagons.


During this time you see two things. Tractors going back and forth from the fields to the loading yard all day long filled with sugar beet and muddy roads. I don’t know whether they wait for the rain to clean the sugar beets before moving them, or if the wagons just happen to be free when the rain falls. In either case the roads around this train stop are covered in mud. It’s dangerous for scooters and bikes at this time of year.


Sometimes you see six to eight tractors with their loads parked with a sheet of paper with “25m3” or some other reading. Apparently the farmers drive their tractors to be unloaded and seem to leave them there either because it’s lunchtime, or because they are waiting for the train or loaders to get more wagons ready.


It would be interesting to pick up one or two sugar beets that fell by the side of the road during transport and try to process the beets to make sugar.


I walk almost every day, and by walking I see the seasonal changes in fields, and the different stages of different plants. We can all get in cars, drive for an hour, and walk for an hour but I prefer to walk locally, to see local seasonal changes, and to avoid spending money on petrol. I also like to reduce my carbon footprint, by driving less.


That’s it for now.

Five Storks In A Field and A High River

Byrichard

Rain filled river


It has rained enough to fill the rivers now. I walked in the rain for an hour and a half and might have crossed one cyclist and one other person. I did count five herons in a field.


Hay balls in a field on a rainy day. Spot the five herons.


In one location several roads are saturated by rainwater flowing off of the fields.


Shoes in high water on a road.

A Growing Fear of Wolves

A Growing Fear of Wolves

Byrichard

More Wolves

In Switzerland they reintroduced wolves and they are thriving, to the point where a collection of 17 packs of wolves became a pack of 35 wolves. As the number of wolves increases so does the probability that humans will fall victim to wolves. They are thinking of reintroducing them to Ireland too.

“Wolves create a landscape of fear that keeps deer moving, it keeps deer away from the roads, it keeps deer up in the highlands where we want them, not down in our fields or in our gardens,” he says.

Reintroducing wolves also takes away the freedom of hikers, walkers and children. The more wolves are around, the more likely it is that humans will fall victim to these wolves. If they behave like foxes or cats then I have no problem. If they behave like domestic dogs we will need to walk with fog horns, pepper spray or big sticks. If wolves are reintroduced it is no longer safe to walk alone, and that is all I do.

The very argument for introducing wolves, to frighten deer, is the same argument for why they should not be reintroduced. Europe is densely populated. If we introduce predators humans will encounter them more and more regularly, and eventually people will be attacked. We don’t introduce sharks to swimming waters. Why do people think it’s okay to reintroduce wolves?

Fear of Dogs, Fear of Wolves

Dogs attack humans regularly. I have been threatened by dogs at least five to ten times during my walks. I have never been bitten but I have changed where I walk because of my fear of dogs. If dogs were not cruel, sadistic animals, I would not fear wolves. If I knew with certainty that wolves behave like foxes then I would feel safe. Foxes usually slink away, or sprint away, depending on whether they know they have been seen. If wolves behave like foxes then I am less afraid, but I still don’t want to walk in woods alone anymore.

Loss of Freedom

By reintroducing wolves we remove the freedom for people to walk alone. We also decrease the safety of children to go out alone. There was a recent petition where 25,000 or more people signed against the culling of wolves in Switzerland but the article doesn’t address the key point. Are the people who sign petitions to keep wolves, hiking alone in the woods? Are the people who want wolves around stuck in cities, where there is little to no risk of seeing wolves?

Carry an air horn, bear spray, or something to ward off nearby wolves.

And Finally

Are wolf attacks rare because wolves are rare, or are they rare because wolves, like foxes fear humans. If attacks are rare because wolves behave like foxes then I am not afraid. If attacks are rare, because wolves are rare, then I do not find this reassuring, especially with growing numbers. I am tempted to walk with pepper spray, an air horn and trekking poles.

Roman and Greek Mythology

Roman and Greek Mythology

Byrichard

I was looking for this type of information online and I found a few websites that provided such information. This one is useful because it is full of Greek and Roman mythological people so it serves as a good resource.



I found it at one of the phone boxes turned into a book library locations.


My intention is to skim through this book and slowly to get a good overview of the complex topic. I didn’t know that Musée was a name, not just a place.


Idle Lumber Empire – Thoughts

Idle Lumber Empire – Thoughts

Byrichard

Many weeks ago I was encouraged to download Idle Lumber, but for weeks I didn’t bother to play the game. I don’t like new games, because I’m old, and I liked games where we bought the game, and then we could play for hours, with no instructions, unless we read the fabulous manual. With modern games they force you to RTFM rather than play and experiment.

Luckily this game isn’t awful, in this respect, so I have played it for two or three days and upgraded to new factories several times. I think the game play is good. It has just the right amount of actions to render it addictive. Until you take an overnight break and find that you need to tell the lumber trucks to go and pick up lumber every few minutes, and then you see that it’s a pay to win game.

You have a set number of actions you can do, and then you need to do boring, repetitive tasks, over and over, for hours. That’s why the game feels unhealthy, and addictive, rather than an actual game. I want games that allow you to do new things, to progress, and not to need to pay a few francs here, and a few more there. I want games where you play, without having to pay to progress.

Pay and It Plays for 10 Hours

There is an option where you can pay 10 CHF and it will play for ten hours, so you’re not stuck staring at a screen for hours in a row. In theory the game autoplays for two hours. If you log in every two hours the game requires less of your attention to be played.

The Premise of the Game

The concept of the game is simple. You cut down trees, and plant new ones. You debark the trees you cut down and then you buy machines to cut them into rough logs, then bigger blocks, before turning them into planks and sanding them. As you progress you upgrade each machine but at some point you need specific “staff members” to be able to upgrade that machine, and that’s where another aspect of the pay to win game comes in. Clash of Clans makers SuperCell made millions taking advantage of business men with money to blow on such games.

Defeating Themselves

We have all given in to the desire to pay, to win, and then found that by paying, we saved a few minutes or a few hours. Within seconds of game play we hit another wall. It’s that wall that makes it easy to resist paying for pay to win games. Get burned once, and you’ll never be careless loading the oven of pay to win games. (I might be comparing pay to win games to oven cooked food).

And Finally

If you have watched Big Timber, or are going to watch Big Timber then I recommend playing both at the same time. One easily complements the other. It’s a fun game, despite becoming repetitive after being played for too many hours in a row. In effect that’s a feature, because it makes it easy to stop playing for countless hours in a row, too often.

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