Life, the Universe and Everything

 It's easy to embed a YouTube video on your web page by inserting something like this into the HTML: <div class =" youtube_responsive "> <iframe allow =" accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture " allowfullscreen ="" frameborder =" 0 " src =" https://www.youtube.com/embed/amgybZEP-TI?enablejsapi=1 " title =" YouTube video player "> </iframe> </div> What's more tricky is doing things with it once it's there. For example, you might want it to start playing automatically and if you Google, you'll find lots of (mainly) old stuff about how to do it. Unfortunately, those techniques don't work any more because YouTube "depreciated" them. That's why the title of this post about stopping a video playing says "in 2025" because it may become out of date - although my technique is quite brutal and I'm not sure that YouTu...

My doctor's surgery offers free parking for patients in a nearby commercial car park. The reception desk has a touchscreen where patients can enter their car registration number so as to avoid getting a ticket. Unfortunately, this touchscreen ignores my fingers so I have to ask the staff to enter my registration which they do, albeit with some condescension given that I look like a doddery old person apologising for having the "wrong sort of fingers" Turns out that I really do have the wrong sort of fingers! I  found this article which says: Touch screens have become increasingly used for many personal technologies. However, older adults have trouble using touch screen interfaces. The general assumption is that older adults struggle with touch screen devices because they are unfamiliar with the technology and that with practice, they will become proficient. This study provides evidential support of a probable physiological barrier contributing to some older adults’ touch...

 One of our local pharmacist shops - part of a national chain offers recycling of the blister packs many tablets come in nowadays. Ostensibly, it's a great idea but I'm wondering if it's just a token gesture? For a start, the box in the shop has a tiny slot for posting your used blister packs into. Recently, they've added signs banning bulk drop-offs and stressing that you can only recycle your own packs. It's almost as if they don't want the scheme to be too successful! You'd think they'd be delighted to welcome the output of local Care Homes, etc. The slot provided is even too small and fiddly for my personal pharmaceutical debris - although I do produce a lot. I'm wondering if the scrap value of  these packs is just too low and if it's more about being seen to do the right thing?

This is a 'black' cherry tomato that's well worth growing outdoors in the UK. It's  sweet and when cooked has a superb rich flavour. However, it's tricky to harvest at the right time so I've written this guide to make it easier. Most tomatoes start green and stay that way for quite a few weeks as they grow towards harvest size. Not this one! It quickly turns from green into a very dark blue/black cherry. An easy mistake is to harvest at this stage. It's still really a green tomato .  Here's three pictures of the same (unripe) tomato  A casual view Underside shows some green Inside is green and not nice Here's a truly ripe fruit Has a red patch and no green Inside, red and delicious 

 This hardy* Fuchsia isn't rare - lots of garden centres have them. At fist sight, they look quite good with cream/grey/green leaves and decent red flowers but in late May/early June, they have a lot of red on the leaves like this!  Catch it even earlier and the new shoots are a dark chocolate red. So, to summarise, it offers the standard hardy Fuchsia characteristics,  in leaf and flower from around June to December plus a couple of months of  chocolate, red and purple foliage before that. *Yes, it is hardy in Gloucestershire, UK but not quite as hardy as some. I lost one out of three plants last Winter.

 I don’t have a broken ankle, but my partner recently broke hers. Most of my experience before this was at school where there always seemed to be someone who’d broken something and had a nice white cast which we gathered around to autograph. It seemed like a trivial rite of passage for the unfortunate few. Turns out that a broken ankle is quite a big deal. To start with, you can’t put any weight on it for about 6 weeks.   If you have a job that requires you to be walking around, it’s just about impossible for several months. The NHS doesn’t provide you with a wheelchair and in any case, one wouldn’t be particularly useful if you have a substantial number of steps to reach your front door. You’re not totally immobile, the NHS does give you crutches and for the first 6 weeks or so, you can make some progress relying on your good leg to bear a lot of the weight. A major irritation with crutches is what to do with them when you’re NOT using them. Wherever you “park” them, they...

This is a one off gardening "discovery".  Take a look at these two Fuchsia 'Genii" plants photographed today...     The one on the left has been planted in a sunny bed for several years.  The other one was in a pot in a fairly shady location for a similar period - until about a month ago when I moved the container into the sun. As one might expect, the "shady" plant has mainly green leaves rather than the yellow-green in the sun.  It didn't have many flowers either.  Now that the previously shaded plant is in the sun, this seems to have triggered lots of flowering. This suggests that the way to get a great floral display from a Fuchsia is to keep it fairly shady and then expose it to bright sunshine when you want a display? Of course, the display may be short-lived!