Ideas

Reducing the amount of sodium we eat can take on increasing importance as we age. Tomatoes naturally contain a negligible amount of sodium. However, tomato products, especially marinara or pizza sauce, often contain large amounts of added salt. This spreadsheet includes such examples, as well as no-salt-added (NSA) products.

Baking great bread is not hard. Getting it into a size for sandwiches is harder. This article is completely revised, and the bread recipes that follow rely upon it. I now make all my bread with half the normal salt, and it's yummy.

This bread is not to be missed – especially toasted – and it has more fiber than 100% whole wheat.

This, my first PMDO recipe, was developed to compensate for the expected closing of Rainbow Bakery in Cranston, the last Jewish bakery in Rhode Island. This version has been updated for a slightly lighter, less dense loaf, with an option to include some whole wheat.

This spreadsheet recommends when to pay extra for organic produce and when to buy or avoid domestic or imported produce. (Updated from 2021.)

Summary — Vegetables:
Organic: Kale,* Collard* & Mustard Greens; Peppers (bell & hot); Celery.*
US Organic: Green Beans.
Imported or Organic: Spinach (frozen).
Imported Organic: Spinach (Fresh).*
NONE: Potatoes* (but buy any sweet potatoes), Spinach (canned).
* OK Exceptions (three tiny servings a day): Basil (I[imported]-NO[non-organic]), Cauliflower (I-NO), Celery (US-NO), Cucumbers (I-NO), Collard Greens (I-NO), Kale (I-O), Snap Peas (I-NO), Potatoes (O), Radishes (US-NO), Spinach (NO, US-O), Tomatoes (fresh, US-NO).

Summary — Fruits:
Organic: Blueberries, Strawberries (frozen or fresh*), Watermelons. Grapes,* Peaches* & Pears.*
Organic or Imported: apples.*
* OK Exceptions (three tiny servings a day): Apples (US-NO[non-organic]), Grapes (NO), Peaches (fresh, NO), Pears (NO), Strawberries (fresh, US-NO), Watermelon (I[imported]-NO).

The methods used in this recipe, and knowledge of your tools, can be applied to many foods, to consistently produce very good results quickly. The key is to partially cook in the microwave oven to save time, and then finish in a gas grill or an oven.

The key is to partially cook in the microwave oven to save time, and then finish in a toaster oven.

Our Draper Lab friend Peter Volante gave my Dad a copy of a copy of a handwritten letter containing these instructions from his uncle, of Volante Farms in Needham. I think Dad used this, but I have not. Volante Letter

The 1926 copyright on the hard-to-find Revised Edition of Louis Untermeyer's This Singing World has expired, so I am allowed to provide here these favorites from the Century Edition of the classic anthology that five generations of my family have enjoyed. It's Free! — I hope you enjoy it, too!

Additional Materials:
• Order paperback book at cost — eligible for free Prime shipping after printing.
• I plan to post readings from these favorites.
• The full book is also available from this page.

The 1926 copyright on the hard-to-find Revised Edition of Louis Untermeyer's This Singing World has expired, so I am allowed to provide here the complete Century Edition of the classic anthology that five generations of my family have enjoyed. It's Free! — I hope you enjoy it, too!

Additional Materials:
• Order hardcover book at cost — eligible for free Prime shipping after printing.
• Publication Notes contains details of how I did this.
• A book of my favorite selections is available from this page.

The 1924 copyright on When We Were Very Young has expired, so I am allowed to reproduce here my favorites from A. A. Milne’s classic, with decorations by Ernest H. Shepard. I hope you — and your grandchildren — enjoy them!

S/M/L/XL sizing of briefs serves most men poorly. Unless your waist is 33 or 37 inches, seek out a store brand of briefs, sold by the numbers, such as berkleyjensen or Stafford. [Updated from May 2020]

Many older men have difficulties with urination. Here is a plan that can help with this.

Much better than the manual or a video, these 144 still photos, with detailed captions, show the details of assembling a new Sole E95 Elliptical. I spent about nine hours methodically assembling and photographing mine, with a couple of breaks. You won't see my mistakes, but you will see how to avoid them. With this resource, you might expect to do the job in four hours.

These photos should apply to the E35 and E98 as well, and possibly to other models.

Reportedly, non-Dell toner will work until it fails, getting grayer.

This article compares using and configuring onboard sound on a desktop computer to an external digital-to-analog converter (DAC). The primary consideration is convenience when using both headphones and speakers, and switching between them. Sound quality is secondary, because the sound on the motherboard is Realtek ALC1220-VB, perhaps the best available. The DACs considered are ifi Zen DAC, Soundavo HP-DAC1 and Audioengine D1. All of these affordable units should produce sound at least as good as the onboard sound.

This tale includes some key mistakes, lessons learned, gory details that might prove useful, and a successful conclusion after nine months.

A home computer cloud backup saga. Three popular programs are compared. IDrive, the winner of many prominent comparisons, finishes dead last. It appears the reviewers have not actually used the products as their personal solution over an extended period.

All the units at Canton Point should have interconnected smoke alarm systems. Three of the devices in our unit failed in the same week; this is normal and to be expected. This is my experience as a resident of the Canton Point Condominium, replacing his own alarms. Your mileage may vary.

Online access to an account usually requires entering a username and password. There my be further passwords, such as your mother's maiden name or the name of your first pet, but these are still passwords - something you know. Any account protected only by passwords may be penetrated — from anywhere in the world — if there is value in it for the perp.

What you need is a second line of defense, a second factor. Two-factor authentication (2FA) requires something you have, in addition to something you know. Often this is your phone.

If you live in Canton MA, the odds are high that your local bank does not offer 2FA, or that you do not have it enabled. Local banks are listed and compared.

How to Play Piano by The Great Courses employs traditional piano teaching methods. I discuss this program, and why I need something different. Candidates to run on my Android tablet include Flowkey, Simply Piano, Yousician for Piano Synthesia, Jeremy See's arranger piano course, and PianoForAll. I have brief sections on Skoove, Playground Sessions and Piano Marvel, which would require an Apple tablet or other platform. (Skoove has a new Android app, but I abandoned it early.) Nobody should use the free Zebra Keys — it uses Flash, which would put your computer at risk.

Low notes on my DGX-670 may not rhyme with the octave above; low chords may be discordant. This article investigates the problem, which is likely to be present on other affordable digital pianos.

An arranger piano is a digital piano with 88 full-size keys and substantial one man band capabilities. The three main competitors in this niche are the Casio PX-S3000, the Yamaha DGX-670, and the Korg XE20. If you won’t use the arranger functions, better value can be found in other pianos. (The PX-S3100 has been announced.)
Download Supporting Excel Spreadsheet

Oct 2021: Update to my Korg B2 experience (from Sep 2021). Second update, to DGX-670 speaker frequencies.

Dec 2021: Speaker section rewritten to reference "Piano Notes, Speakers & Headphones."