Random Rants : Someone is wrong on the Internet

[Valka D'Ur]

So what kind of animal would you suggest for someone who just wants a natural lawn mower?


(Back when my dad and I still had our house, there were some questions or requests he would resist unless I found the right way to ask. So it got to the point where "It's time to ask Nick about renting a goat" was code for "would you please mow the <censored!> lawn?!". Since Nick was my dad's friend and owns one of the Greek restaurants in town, and they serve goat there, this appealed to my dad's sense of humor. Yeah, it's weird, but it got the lawn mowed.)

 

[Farm Boy]

I would recommend a man with a truck that delivers pea gravel, but that's just me.

Or plant enough trees that they kill all the grass and you develop non-mowed green space. But that usually manages to break code if you're outside small towns. Maybe if you plant some nice perennial wildflowers people won't complain.

 

[Lohrenswald]

By the way guys, the old thread hasn't been archived yet, so your postcount hasn't dropped

Anyway, rant: I can't do anything in Latex

 

[Timsup2nothin]

Anyway, rant: I can't do anything in Latex

There are lots of interesting things that can be done in latex!

Errrrrr.

So I've heard.

 

[Lohrenswald]

I also have only heard that.
It would actually be really practical right now, but I can't even save a file properly, much less do anything in it.

 

[Borachio]

Oh, well.

(Ignore Mr Nothin. He's got a one-track mind.)

I struggled manfully with LateX for a few years. I did quite well with some of it, but images seemed to be more trouble than they were worth.

The learning curve was quite good, though. I think I picked up 90% of what was useful within a month. A lot depends on how you're trying to implement it. If you're just working with the LateX files themselves, that can be a real pain. But if you use a front-end for it like WinEdt, it's relatively straightforward.

I think, now, though, if I were going to be writing a lot of Maths, I'd try the Windows Word Maths platform. I hear it's come on in leaps and bounds in the last couple of years. And can cope with 99.9% of the notation you're likely to encounter in undergraduate maths courses, and no doubt substantially beyond.

You can do an amazing amount with LateX as it stands, I hear. And as it's opensource and practically infinitely moddable, the sky's the limit really, if you're prepared to spend the time on it.

 

[classical_hero]

There are lots of interesting things that can be done in latex!

Errrrrr.

So I've heard.

I'm glad I'm not the only to think that.

My Rant. Since winter is a good time to do burnoffs so that the fuel load in summer doesn't get too bad so we don't have massive out of control fires, but the bad thing is that the winds have blown the smoke northwards and thus we are covered in a haze. Being an asthmatic doesn't help, but hopefully it should clear sometime tomorrow afternoon.

 

[Timsup2nothin]

Rant: Some [deleted] [deleted] is suing the care home where my mom stays.

 

[gay_Aleks]

I know of a fortification in Aragon in which moat they keep some deer, if I remember correctly, for grazing. Or horses. Something like that.

Mmm, venison!

 

[Cutlass]

Three suggestions:

1. Buy an electric lawnmower.

Expensive.

2. Buy a manual lawnmower.

Too much work.

3. Buy or rent a goat.

Goat poop all over the yard...

 

[Cutlass]

I would recommend a man with a truck that delivers pea gravel, but that's just me.

Or plant enough trees that they kill all the grass and you develop non-mowed green space. But that usually manages to break code if you're outside small towns. Maybe if you plant some nice perennial wildflowers people won't complain.

That's the back yard. Can't grow decent grass there for anything. We've got 30+ trees on 1/5 of an acre. And the big ones are more than 3 feet in diameter at the base. But there's a few 100 square feet of almost decent lawn in the front that still needs to be mowed from time to time.

 

[Zelig]

You puny Windows user.

Spoiler :

So what kind of animal would you suggest for someone who just wants a natural lawn mower?

Armyworm

Spoiler :

 

[Kozmos]

So the spoiled little brats decided to trample my secondary vegetable garden and deliberately destroy the fences for no apparent reason. This means war. I took all twenty of their balls. I should get one of those devices that make those high pitched whines that only kids can hear.

 

[Borachio]

You should! I had one of those to frighten cats away. And it seemed to work until I got a bit bored with it, and the battery went flat. It had a setting for children too!

You could also try playing classical music extremely loudly*. It makes them puke, and hurts their little ears as well, I understand.

*Or very softly might work even better. Tbh, I've not researched the matter thoroughly.

 

[Farm Boy]

That's the back yard. Can't grow decent grass there for anything. We've got 30+ trees on 1/5 of an acre. And the big ones are more than 3 feet in diameter at the base. But there's a few 100 square feet of almost decent lawn in the front that still needs to be mowed from time to time.

It's a pretty small lawn. 5 bucks to a neighbor kid might swing a sub 1,000 sq foot lawn. Either that or garage sale lawn mowers and farting around with the maintenance. Depending on which one is less annoying to manage.

The back yard sounds lovely.

 

[Zelig]

Yeah, 1000 sq. feet is small, just use a reel mower. That's like 15 minutes of strolling around at a leisurely pace.

 

[Cutlass]

It's a pretty small lawn. 5 bucks to a neighbor kid might swing a sub 1,000 sq foot lawn. Either that or garage sale lawn mowers and farting around with the maintenance. Depending on which one is less annoying to manage.

The back yard sounds lovely.

The backyard, what isn't trees, it clay, moss, weeds, and hill. Mowing what I do have really isn't that much of a chore, when my machine is working. Except, of course, the hill part. Very little of it resembles being flat.

 

[Farm Boy]

The backyard, what isn't trees, it clay, moss, weeds, and hill. Mowing what I do have really isn't that much of a chore, when my machine is working. Except, of course, the hill part. Very little of it resembles being flat.

Hobbs is a smart guy. He might have had the answer a while ago.

Spoiler :

 

[Zelig]

At my old house we planted same creeping juniper type shrubbery on the hilly parts of the lawn so it wouldn't need mowing.

 

[Phrossack]

Apparently last night some jerks lengthily insulted and then physically attacked some of my friends for their nationality. Fortunately nobody was hurt, but unfortunately the jerks got away.