social.outsourcedmath.com

Cass diaspora

Welcome to # for Tuesday, March 1


Well hello! The Pluspora Pod has officially closed so many Plusporans have had to migrate accounts if they want to stay in the Diaspora and for some people the Pod rules are very important so today let's talk about community and getting along.

I'm fortunate enough not only have always had good neighbours, but bad neighbours haven't wanted to provoke authorities. There was a drug house down the street but no one knew until it was busted. Gatherings (Olympic torch, convoy protest) keep moving and are kept within bylaw hours. Feel free to share your on or offline disruption story. Our worst neighbour probably didn’t even know how we were affected because we weren’t adjacent to where they were. They would start their welding truck at 4 a.m. and because of where it was parked we could really hear it and diesel exhaust would leak in through our ensuite bathroom window. Luckily it didn’t last long.

I try to keep things light but this is your thread so … there’s always an element of randomness. Grab your beverage preference (pixel or not) and enjoy the space.

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Greetings… Ahoj! Aloha! Bom dia! Bonjour! Bună! Ciao! G’day! Geia sas! Günaydın,
صباح الخير , בוקר טוב 你好! Hi! Hei! Hello! Hallo! Hei! Hola! Howdy! Halō! Kamusta! Kia Orana! Kon’nichiwa! Mabuhay! Moi! Namaste! Ni Hao! Neih hou! Pagi! Saluton! Sawasdee! Shwmae! Γειάσας! Terve!😄

@Andrew Pam
@Whuffo
@David Sterry
@V. T. Eric Layton
@Michael Hughes
@tom grzyb
@Tom Wroblewski
@The Lazy Fox
@Michael Keukert
@su ann lim
@STORMZ OV KREATION 🌩️🌩️🌩️
@stefani banerian
@Lily J
@smellsofbikes@diaspora.glasswings.com
@Phil Landmeier (ᚠ)
@Shelenn Ayres
@7sleepers Music
@robb
@Rob Anybody
@Richard
@Michael Warburton
@Susan ✶✶✶✶
@pianomad
@Peter Lindelauf
@papyjeanclaude@diaspora-fr.org
@Griff Ferrell
@Michele Hax
@Olav ᚢᛚᚹ
@Nora Qudus
@Muse
@Mudhooks
@Miguela

@David Calderon

@Klaus Lademann
@Kenny Chaffin
@Karl Auerbach
@David "Kahomono" Frier (he/his)
@Justin McCubbin
@Joyce_Donahue
@Joseph Teller
@Joltrast
@Jodi K
@Jerry Lumpkins
@Sam Smith
@Jess Nut
@Jesse Thunder

@Ninja FKK
@Alrekr Jarnhandr
@Jacob Clayton
@Isaac Kuo
@Rodrigo Mesa
@Hans
@hackbyte
@Guy Geens
@Griff Ferrell
@Garry Knight
@garpu@diasp.org
@That Harp Guy
@Frank Valls
@V K
@Atari (Fritz R.)
@Paul Ferguson

@Don Little
@Di Cleverly
@dianea
@Daniel
@Deb Zaccaro-Rojas
@debo@diaspora.permutationsofchaos.com
@Dean Calahan
@David Amerland
@Dave Higgins [New Active Account]
@Daniel
@David Calderon
@Corinne Howell
@cobalt
@Clara Listensprechen
@Chuck Dee
@Christoph S
@Christian Nalletamby
@Cats of Commons 💫
@Cass M
@Carsten Raddatz
@Bob Lai
@s banerian
@Atari (Fritz R.)
@Cristóbal 明日照
@Αντισθένης
@Amanda Gordon
@alysonsee (Fca)
@Alexander
@Matthias Vos 💉💉💉
@999999999
@0mega 🕱 [hz]
*@Drew McCarthy
*@vincent@pluspora.com
*@UnclePirate (Stan McCann)
*@Meep
*@thisisnewme@pluspora.com
*@Lisa Stranger
*@Terry Poulin
*@Sheila Nagig
*@shar@pluspora.com
*@Samps
*@Dave Chinner
*@Amanda Park
*@Susan ✶✶✶✶ [Defunct]
*@Philip Setnik
*@Octave Auguste
*@nilajones@pluspora.com
*@mongrel_shark@pluspora.com
*@Martha McDougall
*@Mari Thomas
*@libramoon@pluspora.com
*@Lesley
*@Lee Rothstein
*@Katherine Bond
*@Jon Alcibar
*@John Hummel
*@johndouglasporter@pluspora.com
*@John MacLeod
*@Joe Dillmon
*@Holly Jahangiri
*@Gregg Taylor
*@Ghoulam BELHOCINE
*@Griff Ferrell pluspora
*@Kay Simpson
*@Foryouwhynot IB
*@Paul Ferguson
*@peer of eyes
*@Eoraptor
*@Jeff Sexton
*@doug t
*@Digital Dinosaur
*@Diane S
*@Dean Barnett
*@Krinny J
*@Cade Johnson
*@Olaf
*@bruce_shark@pluspora.com
*@BB
*@Allan Hurst
*@Alistair McHarg
*@Aline van Wijk
*@Adrian Colley
*@Dave Sutton
*@Nora Qudus

If we’ve missed you on this serendipitous who’s who list of active # and # visitors, just yell! 💕
#checkin #CheckIn-eers @Foryouwhynot IB @libramoon @alysonsee (Fca) @Dave Sutton @Αντισθένης @UnclePirate (Stan McCann) @Meep @Alistair McHarg @Sheila Nagig @Olaf (gone to dapor.net) @Jeff Sexton @Cade Johnson @katherinebond @Paul Ferguson [old account] @pianomad @Joltrast @Olav ᚢᛚᚹ @John Douglas Porter @Andrew Pam @Ghoulam BELHOCINE @robb @Lisa Stranger (moved to glasswings) @peer of eyes @V. T. Eric Layton @Daniel @Lee Rothstein @Lesley @Joe Dillmon @Miguela @Kay Simpson @John Hummel @Susan ✶✶✶✶ [Defunct] @Klaus Lademann @aline @7sleepers Music @Martha McDougall @Michael Warburton @Vincent55 @John MacLeod @Nora Qudus @Griff Ferrell pluspora @Cats of Commons 💫 @Adrian Colley @Stuart Richman @Gregg Taylor @Muse @Terry Poulin @doug t @Ninja @Drew McCarthy @bruce_shark @papyjeanclaude @Daniel @Lily J @nilajones @Alexander @Jon Alcibar @mongrel_shark @Samps @V K @Philip Setnik @Eoraptor @Amanda Park @away @David Amerland @Di Cleverly @Dave Chinner @shar @Cristóbal 明日照 @Mari Thomas @Krinny J @Diane S @Octave Auguste @Michael Hughes @Holly Jahangiri (Moved to Glasswings) @0mega ☣ [hz] @The Lazy Fox @hackbyte (friendica) 13HB1 @Jerry Lumpkins @Frank Valls @Allan Hurst @Carsten Raddatz @Kenny Chaffin @Cass @Tom Wroblewski @Whuffo @That Harp Guy @Garry Knight @Don Little @Christian Nalletamby @Deb Zaccaro-Rojas @su ann lim @Jess Nut @Michael Keukert @Christoph S @𝕕𝕚𝕒𝕟𝕖𝕒 🏳️‍⚧️🦋 @Bob Lai @Joyce Donahue @Peter Lindelauf @cobalt @debo @tom grzyb @Nora Qudus @Jesse Thunder @Digital Dinosaur @Corinne Howell @garpu @999999999 @David Sterry @Justin McCubbin @Hans @Jodi K @Phil Landmeier (ᚠ) @Shelenn Ayres @Paul Ferguson @Clara Listensprechen @Karl Auerbach @Michele Hax @Mudhooks @Susan ✶✶✶✶ @Richard @s banerian @smellsofbikes @Isaac Kuo @David Calderon @Amanda Gordon @Joseph Teller @Matthias Vos 💉💉💉 @Guy Geens @Dave Higgins [Backup Account] @Rob Anybody @Griff Ferrell 💙💛 diasp.org @Alrekr Járnhandr @Chuck Dee @Sam Smith @David Calderon @Dean Calahan @Jacob C @Griff Ferrell @stefani banerian @malenkov
Isaac Kuo diaspora
Hey folks - I've been experimenting with a system to preserve pluspora Public posts and comments. You can view and search posts already federated over to socialhome.network WITHOUT signing up for an account.

However, image URLs will be broken when the pluspora.com server goes offline.

So, I've set up my spare web server to serve up ONLY the images I've copied over. Currently this only includes my own personal uploads. Later on, I'll add images from others on a strictly opt-in basis.

However, you'll need to download your images first. The steps are:

1) Go to your Pluspora Edit Profile here: https://pluspora.com/user/edit

2) Scroll down to the bottom

3) Select the Export Data - Photos option. It will take some minutes to prepare, and then you can download the zip file.

This gives you a zip file containing the images you have uploaded to pluspora.

Later, you can either have these images uploaded to my web server, or you can set up your own personal web server. My spare web server I'm using is

chumblehome.centralus.cloudapp.azure.com (23.99.139.146)

You can then point pluspora.com to this IP address by adding the following line to /etc/hosts (hosts file location is different for Windows)

23.99.139.146 pluspora.com

And voila! Magically all the image links will still work, which means the SocialHome copy of your profile page will still be good - and it's searchable by tags, user, and so on. (All without needing to sign up for a socialhome account!)
Karl Auerbach diaspora
Am I first?

Bad neighbors? Could it be me? The worst we have right now is a student house that was taken over by a bunch of 20-somethings who build race cars (all Subaru based) and test them on our streets.

I've had bad neighbors elsewhere - when I was in law school and living in an apartment in Santa Monica downstairs were two guys who played Hotel California endlessly - and because they were passed out sprawled in their doorways nobody was going to turn it off.

Then in Berkeley I lived under Jump Her and Thump Her - that's from Shakespeare. He rode a Harley - a Harley scooter, never knew those even existed. But he had the full leather paraphernalia. And every afternoon we'd see him park, walk into our building, go up the stairs, and then some loud crashes and then those sounds well known in the thin-walled, hormone filled, student ghetto.

I also in Santa Monica lived under Barbi Dahl. Yup that was her name. And she clearly was "in the business".
Isaac Kuo diaspora
tl;dr - Please download your "Photos" zip archive from pluspora.
Idunno--I'm still getting on Pluspora and I still have a stream, and I still can share, oddly enough. This just now happened on Pluspora:
I'll see if it even shows up in my new digs.
As of this typing it hasn't shown up in the JD stream and I know it takes at least 10 minutes to make it to Outsourced Math. Hmmm.
Joyce Donahue diaspora
Don't get me started on bad neighbors - I've lived in this apartment for 20 years and seen more than a few! Highlights include:
- The first neighbors next door kept to themselves, but people came and went from their apartment at all hours... until the wee hours one morning when the cops broke down their door and I was catapulted out of a sound sleep at the ruckus... only to see police and a big drug-sniffing dog in the hallway through the peephole. Yep. They were drug dealers.
- The people who followed brought their niños, a lot of crrumbs and food in the hallway and the inevitable cuchrachas that I have been battling ever since. They were really nice, though. 😀
- A couple sets of neighbors later, there were two underage girls who apparently had someone else sign the lease. One had a boyfriend who was so loud and abusive I finally had to call the cops because I was afraid he would kill her. The landlord banned the guy because he was frightening the rest of us. Eventually, the girls moved. Another neighbor told me she was living with the guy and he was still abusing her.
- Things actually haven't been too bad of late - just the people down the hall with the constantly-barking chihuahua who got out one night and barked for hours in the hallway.

Actually all this has taught me tolerance for the normal sounds of daily life, which are mostly pretty excusable. Because I live alone, the sounds of humans are actually a bit comforting. I do draw the line at late-night parties, though.
Joltrast friendica
Checking in 🙂
Well, something I shared from here made it to Pluspora just now..without my avatar tho. Hmmmm.
Christoph S diaspora
Good morning, so far I am lucky. Not much contact with my neighbors but they are nice and silent. The current neighbors at one side of my parents are a bit more difficult. They would let their dog barking for hours when they are away
Bad neighbours, I was spared more or less.

One exceptions. One, I had a Blockwart-type neighbour couple on the ground floor of my shared apartment. Which meant on the way to the 4th floor everyone would inevitably pass by their door from or towards the staircase. So they saw and overheard every single thing that happened. We lived upstairs, three twentysomething students.
The neghbours _tried_ to play nice though, and superficially act like good neighbours. And it felt like that, an artificial and thin facade. E.g. for weeks after we indulged in hormone-fuelled parties they'd make clear I understood they knew everything people had talked about, and were hinting towards me at who left with whom and what they were talking about on their way out, with unconcealed interest in any follow-up information. An uncomfortable situation, because when you got home often the guy'd open his door and want to interact. Geez.

Funny episode, these same neighbours had a son who already had left his parents' house. He came to visit them every now and then and would stay for a day or so. This one time he came by motorcycle, and it sure looked impressive and brand-new. He behaved like he'd show off a five-digit investment.
I don't understand a thing about the hardware, however the bulky, strong build and high-shine chrome parts suggested a Harley (look-alike, surely, wrong label). That thing made made me burst out in laughter over breakfast on the 4th floor when he drove off: that thing sounded like a tiny whiny lawnmower! Must have had a severely underdesigned engine, the farthest from a saturated, low blubber noise you'd expect.

This certainly helped break the illusion that downstairs family had any power over the house.
Kenny Chaffin diaspora
I left a message for the housing code enforcement people just last evening for the second time since the beginning of the year. I'm afraid I'm going to have to move and had not planned on doing such. 🙁 It could be much worse but mostly the cars taking up both sides of the street...more or less precluding any friends, family, visitors or delivery vehicles parking near my house. That plus yesterday afternoon one of the 'new residents' was working on both his rat-trap BOOM-BOOM car speakers... FUCK!!!! ENOUGH!! I don't want to start a neighbor war so trying to stay anonymous but.... FUCK!!
Kenny Chaffin diaspora
So yeah absolutely a prime topic subject for me! Damn! I've been here 20 years and only had a neighbor problem once before (terrorists next door literally on the Homeland Security Watch List apparently) then dogs barking after them. This current issue seems to be the worst in some ways. Arrrrgh!
Kenny Chaffin diaspora
@Karl Auerbach Yeah, Harley Scooter! Woo-Hoo! I had one of those when I was a teenager way before scooters were 'a thing.' Even did my paper-route (anyone remember those?) when my Honda was broken down. 😀
Joseph Teller diaspora
We go thru cycles of good neighbors and bad. Since we own (and have been here for 23 years) we've seen them come and go and a lot of changes in our neighborhood. Right now we're not in a bad situation with neighbors. Our only 'problem' neighbor is a renter next door who's dogs are a bit too noisy in their back yard at times, but that's only on warm days (her dogs are not outside on days like day where its 20F).

I'm sure the summer will bring its usual frustrations (our back fence has an athletics field on the other side, we get a lot noise and light pollution late into the night during the summer from the organized sports teams and their fans.

There were bad years in the past... but its been a decade or so since we had any violence in the neighborhood or vandalism issues to worry about. This was a rough neighborhood when we came in, as in there was a fatal shooting at a basketball game in the bleachers on the other side of the park. And just 4 blocks from here is the low income housing unit that the Boston Marathon Terrorist Bombers lived in before that event.

The worst crime we've had here in recent years was porch pirates cruising the neighborhood, as they know there's a combination of working class people, students and elderly folks in the neighborhood so packages may sit for hours or even overnight and not get brought in, and a limited number of properties that actually have cameras etc. Usually those pirates are people from outside the neighborhood though...
John MacLeod diaspora
I'm confused -- if Pluspora is closed, how am I still here? And all the rest of you?
Kenny Chaffin diaspora
...oh and there was a big drug bust at a house a couple of blocks away from me a couple of years ago...
Kenny Chaffin diaspora
@John MacLeod clearly not shut down yet if you are logging in posting there...
Richard diaspora
Nazis, drug addicts, criminals in between stints in prison, mentally ill who are always calling the cops, etc, etc. What made them bad neighbours was that they didn't keep their malfunctions on their side of the fence.
Joyce Donahue diaspora
Oh, by the way, everyone, "Happy" Mardi Gras/Fat Tuesday. Eat, drink and be as merry as you can be in this grim time.
Kenny Chaffin diaspora
As far as bad neighbors....I'm always a bit fearful of confronting them directly and escalating the problem....but getting the authorities involved can be an issue too...
su ann lim diaspora
Haha! yes, happy Mardi Gras!

Wow, the Pluspora sunset seemed to be very sudden. I'm so happy to see so many of you on the other side of the change.

@John MacLeod I'm going to send you an invite right away to Glasswings. It appears Pluspora is partially shut down...
su ann lim diaspora
Oh wait, @John MacLeod you already have a Non-Pluspora account and we're already connected. 😂
Joyce Donahue diaspora
Agree, @Kenny Chaffin I rarely call the police. Last time, though, it was a very loud drunken party during COVID lockdown, when some idiots down the hall brought back half the people at a bar at the early pandemic closing time of 10 pm. Way too noisy for a weeknight and too many people gathering... I really didn't want to call, but by 1:30 am, it was finally too much.
Jodi K diaspora
I had several bad ones.

1) Guitar man - who played and played and played and never got any better
2) Shtupping woman - who liked to have sex late at night - noises from that, plus the bed scraping along (making a sort of concrete mixer noise) kept waking me up
3) Toilet man - he didn't know how to use one. The result landed on my head and turned my bathroom into a sewage plant.
4) Party guy (later iteration of toilet man) - who had loud parties lasting into the night
Whuffo diaspora
I guess I'm fortunate; when we have excess from the garden, we share it with our neighbors and they do the same for us.
Griff Ferrell friendica
Oh my word, I can't believe some of the neighbors you guys have had. We have been really fortunate, and have never had bad neighbors like that. I mean occasionally we'll have a neighbor that won't mow the yard... That's about it.

So to everyone with bad neighbors, you have my sympathy.
Isaac Kuo diaspora
BTW, if anyone's still confused - pluspora is still up. It is expected to go down by the end of March, but I don't know with any more precision than that.

In the meantime, it is possible to download your Photos zip archive, and I ask that you please do so.

I've been working on a continuity plan, which I have already successfully tested with my own data. It will be strictly opt-in, but you'll need your Photos archive downloaded BEFORE pluspora goes down.
No unfortunate neighbours here, fortunately.

However, motorcycle couriers do sometimes use the pedestrian cut-through opposite our house to access the new development behind our street without going around by road; which is a bit of an arsetrumpety thing to do given it has a blind bend in it and connects to a nearby primary school.
su ann lim diaspora
@Isaac Kuo you're right in that some Pluspora functionalities are still there, but some aren't, hence, the need to speedily migrate to a new pod and do any downloading that one needs to do.

If you notice buddies who may not know about the impending closure yet, please invite them to the pod you're on, as an interim measure. Don't worry about duplication, at least they'll know we're thinking about them.
Nora Qudus diaspora
Out side of slobs I have been lucky with neighbors nearly all my life ( since I am not dead yet I say nearly) right now I have no neighbors of note I think the cabin on the beach is an Air&B so folks come and go with no frequent activity until summer then it is like 2 weeks a new car. I never see them...the turkeys and other wildlife are the only people who visit. Even when I was in an apartment while at university in the middle 90s the complex was quiet....it was know as a party university but I never say any evidence the frat/sorority places were in another part of the town. I lead a charmed life others I know/knew lived in neighbor hell.
Isaac Kuo diaspora
No pluspora functionality is missing. It had already been purposefully closed to new account creation for some time already.

The export option for your profile info may be a bit flaky, but that's normal for diaspora. The export option for your Photos seems more reliable.
We're semi-rural with 1 acre plus lots so we have a lot of elbow room. Several years back the closest neighbors put a tv out in their garden and other outdoor speakers. This meant listening to golf on tv or easy listening music with their speakers distorting while out in our own garden. We're talking Herb Albert and the Tijuana Brass here. Anyway, one day when my wife was in town I cranked my studio monitors to full volume, opened the windows, and played Purple Haze followed by the rest of the Best of Jimi Hendrix for a while. Then I went to have a chat with Ray over the fence about whether he really wanted to listen to OUR music all day long. That was peacefully resolved by no one playing loud music in their backyard.
@Cass MCould I be added to #?

I Like to think I have been a good neighbor, in spite of having dogs that bark. We try to keep their noise to a minimum, while allowing their limited freedom of expression.
Our neighborhood has been ok over the last 28 years. One drug house a block away( shut down years ago after several raids ), one frequent 911 caller ( on themselves and family, mental issues), and one murder and a couple of fires. We did have one guy who threw parties with live bands, or opera karaoke (!). He's aged out of that phase.
M.A.D. theory 101. Mutually Assured Deafness.
Isaac Kuo diaspora
@stefani banerian Thanks so much! I'll keep everyone up to date on the continuity plans on my profile.

I've tested my cute little hack and it works, but I'm also working on some better options if we can figure things out. The ideal thing would be the framasphere solution, but at a minimum my cute little hack will work.
Neighbors? BAH!

My father used to always say that tall fences make for good neighbors. ;)

Seriously, though... I'm relatively lucky. Many of my neighbors are life-long neighbors on this block. Even the newer folks are all good people. It's a relatively peaceful neighborhood.
Regarding the imminent shutting down of Pluspora.com, if any of you out there reading this have not found a new pod yet, here's an invitation for you to join the diasp.org pod:

https://diasp.org/i/81480ee5861a

The software used is identical, so you won't see much difference between your old Pluspora.com and diasp.org. You'll just have to add all your Pluspora contacts to your new diasp.org account and you'll be off and running...

Hope to see you in my stream soon! 😀

This is Pluspora.com:

Image/photo

This is diasp.org:
pianomad diaspora
enter image description here
@Rodrigo Mesa We should have been neighbors. Still listen to Bad Brains at loud volume, this time with a subwoofer (absolutely required for dub).

As a student, one year I lived in a building where my upstairs neighbors seemed to throw loud drunken parties every weekend (at one party, someone vomited over the balcony onto my car).

I got permission from my roommates to exact revenge in the early morning hours after one of their parties, when they were surely passed out. I aimed my speakers at the ceiling and blasted Ligeti’s Requiem to wake them up. (Most people unfamiliar with Ligeti will still know this excerpt from the scene in 2001 where the apes wake up to the monolith.)

If I’m gonna be an asshole, at least I try to be original.
Bagpipe 'music' more is "better".
Jodi K diaspora
@pianomad I think that piece is grounds for justifiable homicide.
libramoon diaspora
where I landed: libramoon@diaspora.glasswings.com
@Cass M

So far as I know the Pluspora pod REMAINS OPERATIONAL through the end of March, though people are are STRONGLY encouraged to migrate off it AS SOON AS POSSIBLE..


That said, SO LONG AS IT IS UP you WILL be able to ARCHIVE YOUR DATA should you choose to do so.

I strongly recommend people stop posting new content to Pluspora, other than indicating where you have moved to.
Your post reads:
The Pluspora Pod has officially closed
https://diaspora.glasswings.com/posts/7825edb07b45013a5b02448a5b29e257

The Pluspora Wiki states:
The site is slated to go offline by the end of March but we encourage everyone to backup their data by Feb 28th and make an alternate diaspora account as soon as possible, due to instability within the pod. All pod data will be deleted from the server when the pod goes offline and be non-retrievable.
https://sites.google.com/talesfrombabylon.com/pluspora/home

I'm going with the latter.

Similar information at the shutdown announcement by @Di Cleverly here:

https://diaspora.glasswings.com/posts/f09b32d07568013a3ddf005056264835

Unfortunately, sorting out rumours and confusion is part of crisis communications. It's easy to get things wrong, and I've made my own errors, and welcomed (and welcome) corrections.
Michele Hax diaspora
I've lived in my semi-detached brick home since 1987 and have never set foot in my neighbor's home. They have never come to mine. It is so bizarre. We do small talk, but that's about it. I don't think I had their phone number until this summer when we had a roof issue in common.
Kenny Chaffin diaspora
@Michele Hax yes...isn't that weird....I know my neighbors by name, in passing, etc, but never been in their houses nor they in mine...
Cass diaspora
Ah, must have gotten mixed up with another pod.
@Cass M The Joindiaspora pod will shut down on 4 March 2022.
@Cass
Joltrast friendica
*Waves in Esperanto*
su ann lim diaspora
@Michele Hax I have neighbours of both kinds. The folks across the road are closer than family while the couple on one side didn't reply to hellos for a looong time. I'm not sure what happened but we talk over the fence now. The neighbour on the other side I assist everyone once in a while. She's in her nineties and still living in her home, with help.

@pianomad O.O Oh my!
Michele Hax diaspora
@Kenny Chaffin, have you wondered if things would have been different had you made an effort? I would put cards in their mailbox on holidays, hang little treats on their door for the kids. I guess the answer is that it wouldn't have made a difference. I do try to look in their windows when I can. lol

@su ann lim, I've always wanted to live in a real community. My good friend lives by the inner harbor and she knows most of her neighbors. Book clubs, community garden, beautification and art projects, help with the local school, on and on. I must admit, I'm very jealous. I guess having one family makes it worthwhile. So sweet of you to help your elderly neighbor. That's who you are.
I lived next door to a bagpipe player during my first year at university. Rather pleasant all things considered.

I'm on brief-conversation acquaintance with most of my near neighbours and have been in a few of their houses. As neighbours aren't something one chooses, I don't greatly expect to be extremely close to them so see it from the perspective of it being good I'm not an utter stranger.
Cass diaspora
I've found the best way to moving into a new build area really helps you feel like home sooner. You end up talking with neighbours about yard work, fences and settling in. Then as people move in and out you meet them too. I'm chatty though so, as I walk around I say hi and there's always weather to talk about.
When I moved into the apartment I went from door to door and introduced myself, because I wanted them to know I cared who they were. There's not many, and we are on good terms since. 😀
Michele Hax diaspora
I guess it's too late for me? I also think if your houses are closer together (I know, could my house attached to theirs be any closer?), it's easier to make connections. @Dave Higgins [New Active Account], I guess I'm thinking it would be nice to know them on a level that when an emergency arises they're dependable.
@Dave Higgins [New Active Account], I guess I’m thinking it would be nice to know them on a level that when an emergency arises they’re dependable.
That's about my baseline: I want them to be happy to help if something major comes up, take my feelings into account when deciding to turn the music down, take in parcels if a delivery driver comes while I'm out, and that sort of thing; but I don't have a need to socialise with them beyond a brief conversation if we happen to see each other.
A good motto for our neighborhood of 68 houses is "reclusive but friendly." Think it's a function of population density or lack thereof. Between our house and our immediate neighbors, there's a long laneway that goes to two other lots owned by one household. Come Covid 19, a mildly annoying couple several houses away started walking their rodent-like dog on the laneway twice a day. If we were in the garden, that meant having inane conversations in passing twice a day. Or being obliged to overhear other gossipy conversations. It felt like a really irritating intrusion compared to the former low-to-no traffic. Nowadays, when I hear the clink of the laneway gate and know they're coming, I just nip into our woodshed in the middle of the garden and suck on my nicotine vaper or fire up a doobie until the coast is clear.

The mistake this couple made was thinking they were going to convert our "reclusive but friendly" street to Ontario cottage country where, they said, you'd just make a batch of cookies and "drop in" on people. And gossip. Rolling potluck dinners and the like. I have a feeling they pissed off their former neighbors and that's how they wound up on our street. I'm quite a sociable person when it's my choice. Not when it's forced on me. Most of us are living on one acre lots for relative privacy and until this couple showed up, our street was basically gossip free.
I know most of my close by neighbors pretty well, and there have been attempts at neighborhood get togethers ( bbq's caroling, halloween, etc ).
As the number of children has gone up over the last few years things has channged for the better.
There are still folks who appear to want nothing to do with the hood, which is their privilege.
Cass diaspora
I hear ya @Peter Lindelauf - people with long driveways usually don't really want to live in their neighbour's back pockets🙂We have gotten pretty good at knowing when to pretend we don't see them.
Michele Hax diaspora
@Peter Lindelauf, you mean you're backing out of our hippie commune plans?

@Mark Wollschlager, do you give out the real good stuff at Halloween?

@Dave Higgins [New Active Account], exactly!! Guess I'll have to get one of those red button necklaces with emergency alerts.

@Cass M, yes! Thank you so much for your diligence in keeping us all together. HUGS (Hope all is going smoothly 🎶 on the road again. Be Safe.
I was too young to be a hippie and I'm not going backwards now, @Michele Hax. Ha.
@Michele Hax Full sized candy bars for the adults and older kids, smaller ones for the ...smaller ones.. This year the suggestion was made to have a table/bowl out at the end of the driveway, and the visiting time was set. We were going to hide, but my wife decided to sit at the table to check out the costumes. The kids seemed to enjoy themselves.
More of a counterculture//back to the lander in the Rockies myself. You know, an outhouse with a copy of the Whole Earth Scatalog instead of Sears.
Cass diaspora
We've done the table for the last couple years. It works well.
You're never too young to be a hippie. It's an attitude, not an era. ;)
Mudhooks diaspora
Disruptions… Ottawa, three weeks of havoc in the down town core. Luckily, I don't live downtown but friends do.

At least they will be compensated if they sign on for the class action lawsuit that was launched by a local lawyer. The lawsuit is naming every singe identifiable protester, whether they were with the convoy or a protester that refused to leave.

I don’t know how many are named so far but the lawsuit is intended to bankrupt them. The City is also seeking compensation for the extra policing, the cleanup, the destruction of property, the bylaws broken, the loss of business… an entire laundry list of effects.

They want the confiscated trucks sold to recoup the expenses.

Serves the fuckers right.

So far, at least three of the main organizers have been refused bail.

We are still waiting for Randy Hillier MPP to be arrested for federal and provincial felonies for counselling the protesters to continue after the deadline to leave AND for terroristic threats and possibly for more serious crimes involving promoting violence, etc.
Karl Auerbach diaspora
@Mudhooks - Bankrupting them is an interesting goal - it is right out of t****'s playbook of engaging in endless expensive litigation and motions to drive the other side into conceding or abandoning the fight.
Mudhooks diaspora
@Karl Auerbach So, the people of Ottawa don’t deserve to be compensated for three+ weeks of 24/7 truck and train airhorns, shitting on their streets, terrorizing them (including children playing in their schoolyard), threatening physical harm including rape for wearing masks, harassing restaurant and store staff for requiring masks, forcing some businesses to close to protect their employees, bringing the downtown to a complete halt including the entire downtown bus system so people couldn’t get around, preventing home healthcare to get to the disabled and elderly whose lives depend on daily care… and more and more and more and more…

Not to mention seeing national monuments including the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier trampled on and the National War Memorial pissed and shit on.

I couldn’t give a shit about the truckers. We have plenty of protests in the city. Not a single one has prevented people from going about their daily lives and threatened their personal safety and well-being. I have protested many times over the decades. Not once had those protested impacted the city or the lives of citizens.

Protests have limits, as stated in the Charter.

They outstayed their welcome by 2.5+ weeks.

And the city deserves to be compensated for the amount spent on policing, the cleanup, the wear and tear on our streets, and more…

And the repair necessary to the Tomb…

We don’t give a shit about the squatters or what they lose.

They can end up destitute and living on welfare.
Karl Auerbach diaspora
@Mudhooks - I want the truckers to pay, pay, and then pay again.

(I am looking forward to the day when long distance truckers have become nothing more than a chapter in a history book, having been obsoleted by self-driving trucks.)

My point is that they ought not to complain that they are on the receiving end of lawsuits given that the use of the legal system as a coercive hammer is a favorite tactic of their godhead, t****.
Mudhooks diaspora
Ah. My apologies @Karl Auerbach I misunderstood.
Karl Auerbach diaspora
No apologies needed. Misunderstandings are a fact of life. A big problem with our electronic media is that such things occur so easily and innocently, and escalate so quickly.
Michele Hax diaspora
@Peter Lindelauf, that qualifies. Do you knit sweaters out of the lint from your dryer? lol Like @V. T. Eric Layton says, never too young to wear a bandana while truckin' around in your striped bellbottoms.

@Mark Wollschlager, address please. This could fall. into the awful neighbor category. Sitting on Mark's porch, eating the big candy bars, and throwing the wrappers in the neighbor's yard.
@Michele Hax, as a crocheter, that idea intrigued me - but I don't know how to spin the lint into yarn, so... about all I can do with my dryer lint is make firestarters or handmade papers out of it. (I should do that, again - it's been a while. Recycling lint and old papers into...new paper...is kind of fun. Any parent who hasn't done this with their kids, using crayon wrappers, hasn't really lived.)
Michele Hax diaspora
@Holly Jahangiri, it's a real thing??!! So funny. Years ago my friend, a real city girl, moved to Maine and what I thought was a joke is actually true. lol I have a full bin downstairs. Any takers? Sounds like you can do a lot of cool things. Holly, we need to see photos!
Michele Hax diaspora
Nice to meet you, btw! Or did we already cross paths?
Cass diaspora
Lint can go in the compost if you're not into spinning🙂 is there a crochet gang here? Maybe I need to update tags!
Michelle, recycling the lint is a real thing, but you'd have to ask someone who spins yarn if it's worth trying to make a sweater of it. Not sure if the fibers would be right. Paper, though? Definitely.

Nice to meet you, too. Don't think our paths have really crossed.
Depending upon your clothing choices, a lot of the dryer lint could be non-compostable synthetics. "Fleece" is a major contributor to dryer lint.
Now dog hair, there is a renewable inexhaustible resource in my house. The undercoat fiber is the finest stuff. My wife does not think that felting it would be a useful exercise, but over the course of a year at least a vest could be made.
@pianomad - the choice of music is, indeed, original. My version of musical operant conditioning, back in the 1980s, involved propping the speakers against the drywall, pumping up the bass, and playing either bagpipers playing "Scotland the Brave" or The Irish Rovers "Here's to the Horses." Worked every time.

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