I'm binging on Sherlock (Cumberbatch & Freeman series) at the moment. Got to series 4 of House (Hugh Laurie) and needed a break

OK, I took a dry leaf out of the jar and just bit a piece off directly, and chewed it a little. Definitely a camphor flavor. And bitter. FWIW, it is from Penzey’s, and they claim it is of high quality.

Sorry to hear this is happening to him. Hope the medication is effective!

You sign a contract with the agent, now called a Buyer’s Agent. This is fairly new, BTW. If you don’t end up buying anything you owe the agent nothing. If you do buy something, the agent’s commission will have been built in to the price you paid so you really don’t see it. Why don’t you call the guy who listed the condo you like and ask him how it works? I’m sure he’d be happy to explain everything to you.

So, I guessed 3/3 for acrylic vs. watercolor (wasn't hard) and guessed 1/3 prices. Thanks for the guessing game, Andy.

That’s what happened when I tried planting grocery store green pepper seeds The plants I got were very small with only one or two tiny peppers.

I apologize for my tangent. The topic is obviously the cabinet. I think there's "nobody home" in this government. The knowledgeable, capable people are in the Pentagon and intelligence. They have been ignored. Both houses of Congress are corrupt and useless. This isn't the Supreme Court's finest hour, either. I'd like to think that this administration is aberrant and there will be a return to some kind of normalcy but I don't know.

American media is censored. Link to video

@AndyD Beautiful things!

Oh no. I’m sorry to hear this. Pulling for speedy and quick recovery.

Trying again. Link to video

I heard about the tornadoes and monster hailstones on the morning news today. The band of storms have reached us today but so far just occasional heavy rain and some thunder, without the severity your area has experienced. I hope our luck holds. Big Al

Remember that I'm thinking about the back side of the pedal - which makes a lever idea possible because we want to push UP the back side to lift the dampers. That way it will be pushing between the floor (support) and the underside of the back of the pedal. Getting the mechanical linkage to wrap around behind could be an interesting challenge, which is why I like the idea of a solenoid (like in a player piano system) connected to a pedal or knee switch to activate. It would be "all or nothing" which is simpler than a servo that would allow for half pedal and more sensitive movement. Again, because it is a grand piano, there is access to the back of the pedal to apply lift between that and the floor.

Works great. Never have to pay to sharpen, which I do regularly.

Social services suck. This reminds me of social workers. Social workers suck. This reminds me of non-profits. Non-profits suck. They are private businesses in all but name. They give themselves very large salaries and help people in need in a nominal way. Charities suck. Same set up. They give themselves very large salaries, etc There was a St. Pete con artist who started a non-profit LLC to manage $100,000,000.00 in pooled trust assets for the disabled and their families. He walked off with $100,000,000.00. He was sued but the money was gone. The disabled individuals and their families recovered nothing. I can easily see social services abandoning a child. I'm not buying the stupid non-explanation. Fwiw, I think about how much money non-profits take in and consider the fact that society's problems they are meant to mitigate if not solve not only continue unabated but continue to worsen. I'm reminded of when hospitals dump patients in the street under cover of darkness. We seem to live in a vicious society that feels the need to hide its true nature with a false veneer of caring for its own sake. Social insurance programs are what work and those are being attacked here and in Europe in various ways. Why? Greed, once again. I'm not trying to be cynical. This is only what I have observed over several decades.