From CoolTools today:

“Get Human is a website that helps you get through to a real person when you are stuck in an automated phone tree and can’t find a way out. For Fortune 500 and many other companies, they tell you the phone number to call or the words to say to get a human (agent, representative, etc). One important feature is that the site also has a notification if the number they had listed is no longer working ( when the companies push back). Finally, they offer instructions on how to get a call back, and when email is a better choice.

Something this simple has saved my sanity many times. I’ve used it for several years, and rely on it. It’s wonderful.

— Judy Baxter

https://gethuman.com/

“Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm.” -Winston Churchill

I’ve been on this small piece of land for 40 years now. A lot of mistakes and false starts along the way. I’ve built and torn down about 4 chicken coops, 3 greenhouses, at least 2 small buildings, and a geodesic dome. I’ve done and undone countless projects because I was in too much of a hurry or didn’t think things out in advance. The sign that used to hang behind the counter at Golden State Lumber sure resonated with me: : “If you didn’t have time to do it right in the first place, how come you have time to do it over?”

   I’ve done presentations titled “The Half Acre Homestead” at the Maker Faire last year and at the North House Folk School this year, with pictures of the garden shredder, grain grinder, table saw, and on and on. What you can produce on a pretty small piece of land. Here are a few recent things:

Chickens: Our new flock of mostly Golden Seabright and Auracana bantams is a month or two away from laying eggs. I’ve dispatched 21 roosters. Skinning rather than plucking saves a lot of time. I’ve just learned how to “spatchcock” (butterfly) poultry for barbecuing (check the word on Google for instructions).

These home-raised birds taste way better than even “free-range” commercial chickens. Way different flavor, less fat, bones dense. I vacuum-seal them with  Foodsaver “Gamesaver,” and freeze. This model is a big improvement over previous Foodsavers. (The trick with meat, fish, or sealing anything with liquid: freeze for a few hours before vacuum sealing; this eliminates liquid being drawn to the sealing area.)

Pickling: My 3rd batch of sauerkraut is the best. Made with our own red cabbage and salt, nada mas. My olives (salt, vinegar, water) have turned out great after 3 months; no lye. Lesley’s been making all our own (sour dough) bread and now, Kombucha tea.

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Dear Lloyd

Summer greetings!

i have been trying to find a builder who would be able to build a small room (6×12) on wheels for me and have contacted quite a few of the builders in your books and have not been able to hire anyone yet.

i wonder if you have a suggestion…there must be someone who would love to do this. i need to use very healthy materials as i deal with extreme chemical sensitivities and so i will use materials like coconut oil, pure bees wax , and woods that i am not allergic to…like wormy maple, alder, hopefully i can work with someone willing and loving not to use any glues, store bought windows, sheet goods as my health is important now. there must be someone who would love to do this and i have spoken to many in your books and many are very busy! and not willing to change their building way.

Much Love and light,

Marta

I asked Marta for additional info:

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 All nice, except for the two A-frames. Click here.

Above: Mendocino county, California, by Foster Huntington

Friday morning on Sirius Radio’s “50s on 5” station:

1. Bobby Marchan, “There Is Something on Your Mind” Lovely operetta.

2. “The Wah-Watusi” by The Orlons. Let’s see you  hold still to this one. The ’50s had a lot of bubblegum pop, but also tons of wonderful singing like this.  Shoo-bop, shoo-bop…

3. “Walk Right In” by the Rooftop Singers. Sit right down, daddy let your mind roll on…

4. And then the “Lion Sleeps Here Tonight” by The Tokens. It’s such an unusual song. I always wondered about it. Beautiful singing, some semi-yodeling, Brooklyn boys in 1961. A little Google-noodling-around and I unearthed a treasure—thrilling to find the original of a great song:

5. Solomon Linda was a South African Zulu musician, singer and composer who wrote (improvised) the song “Mbube” in 1939, which “…became the basis for Mbube style of isicathamiya a cappella popularized later by Ladysmith Black Mambazo.” There’s a great story with this song, involving as well, Alan Lomax, Pete Seeger, the Weavers, the Kingston Trio, and the Tokens with their big hit (#4 above).

Linda “…is credited with a number of musical innovations that came to dominate the isicathamiya style. Instead of using one singer per voice part, the Evening Birds used a number of bass singers. He introduced the falsetto main voice which incorporated female vocal texture into male singing. His group was the first known to use striped suits to indicate that they were urban sophisticates. At the same time, their bass singing retained some musical elements that indicated traditional choral music…” (Wikipedia)

Photo: Solomon Linda and the Evening Birds in 1941. From left to right are: Solomon Linda (soprano), Gilbert Madondo (alto), Boy Sibiya (tenor), Gideon Mkhize (bass), Samuel Mlangeni (bass), and Owen Sikhakhane (bass).