Useful gadgets that make life easier for MEcfs patients and carers

Yep - I used to have a lot of computers and computer related equipment. Judging by the reaction of my most recent visitor (an electrician I had to let in, who broke my hot water, by changing a perfectly working thermostat for one which didn't, in fact, work) I still have a lot, he seemed a little stunned by my ability to still browse and watch tv while he had the mains off lol.

But it's all a lot smaller, requires less wiring, uses less power and is generally less of a PITA to keep running.

Of course the downside is that when something fails I lose more functionality.

 

Eh, it's now officially illegal in the Netherlands too, since 2014:
https://tweakers.net/reviews/3499/wat-betekent-het-downloadverbod.html

I think we still pay this tax though so that's a bit weird

 

That's fine, I only download from a legal source - it's called the internet and I pay a man with a beard to use it, got a contract and everything Surely a man with a beard, loads of vans, trains and a balloon wouldn't be selling me something that was illegal? What do you mean he made all of his seed money selling knockoff vinyl, in violation of copyright laws

edit - I may have to delete this, despite it being common knowledge, and on the BBC and everything, I cannot find a source on google for it, and he may have better lawyers than I do

 

I'd love one of these. Would make a massive difference I think.

The thing that's helped me most are silicone ear plugs. They really do block almost all noise out and I tried foam ones and so on but silicone has been by far the best for me. They means I sleep much better. No more heart racing due to small noises at night.

 

I have wooden shutters on my bedroom window and thought it already kept the room pretty dark but there was a gap where a neighbour's security light shone in. I had a wooden strip nailed to the shutter to close the gap and the difference has been huge. Having near-total blackness has been a real help to my sleep, I think, and I highly recommend that those with insomnia, especially, do what they can to get their bedrooms as close to pitch-dark as possible.

 

Me too! Have to change them every 1-2 weeks though, they're best when they're new and soft. After a while they get harder so don't block out noise so well. I bought about 10 packets of 3 pairs each and have been using them for months.

 

Same here, I guess mine last about a week. I use these ones
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B0...TF8&qid=1509148390&sr=8-18&keywords=ear+plugs

My local pharmacy sells them cheaper.

 

These are mine:



Yours are a lot cheaper. I must have gone by the reviews on German amazon when I bought my first batch. I'm just about to buy my second, so I reckon I'll shop around a bit this time.

EDIT: As you can see, mine have the added advantage of being completely invisible. Dunno what's going on there. They're called WELLNOISE anyway.

 

Just bought some of yours so I can compare them. May well save me a fortune!

 

Well, the EU says it's illegal. The Netherlands smiles politely, ignores the EU, and continues to charge the tax while completely failing to enforce the EU's laws in regards to downloading

From a legal standpoint, I think they'd have a lot of trouble enforcing it. Anyone can pull out the receipt for something with electronic storage from a couple weeks ago, point to the line for the pirating tax, and ask them if they'll be refunding millions of euros

Spend money and other resources tracking down and pissing off people downloading a bunch of TV shows which aren't made or available in the Netherlands, or make a lot of money taxing it? Hard call And even the anti-piracy group that tries to start legal actions in the Netherlands explicitly limits themselves to Dutch films.

 

The tax was presented as a compensation for the artists if someone would like to make a private copy of something they already bought, of course we all renamed it to "pirating tax" so that it feels better while downloading

IIRC Brein (association for the Protection of the Rights of the Entertainment Industry of the Netherlands) is going further step by step by chasing and bringing to court:
- big uploaders
- the rest of the uploaders
- big downloaders
- etc.
And they now have the tools to do it, they have been pretty successful with the first group but I'm sure people will always find ways to work around it though

 

I can't help noticing........

 

Yet again this is a cooking related thingy

Air fryers - don't believe the hype - these things can cook chips reasonably well by modern standards, but a fryer with beef dripping produces much, much, better chips, but they are good enough. You can cook some types of sausages in them at the same time and the fat out of the sausages will help make the chips a bit crispier. Fresh sausages tend to leak more sugar, sugar makes everything stick, so frozen sausages are better in an air fryer.

For a low effort, safe, fairly high calorie meal that's an alternative to justeat on those days you can't manage anything else, they do a reasonable job, bung the stuff in, turn on, go lie down, 30ish minutes later a loud beep, passable junk food.

They can also cook roast potatoes and yorkshire puds, again don't believe the hype, they can't cook fish, prawns, stir frys etc, not well enough so you'd want to eat them anyway.

Second up is halogen ovens, for some things a halogen oven is easier and produces a better result than a conventional oven. I found it particularly good for macaroni cheese.

In fact that was all I ever ended up cooking in it so it's currently back in it's box in the loft. It didn't really meet my needs, and the main bowl is glass, and it's heavy, and difficult to balance for cleaning unless you have more strength in your hands than I have.

I can see the market, I can see that for some people they would be good, again one of the main features is they turn off automatically so safer than a conventional oven, but unless that is really important to you, and you love macaroni cheese........they can cook fish, potatoes, lots of stuff, most stuff you would cook in an oven, if it'll fit in, it'll cook it - but it is more of a grill than an oven.

oh...and the glass bowl, it gets hot, really quite hot, not surprising but worth noting. Bad things may occur if you forget this.

 

One of my favourite things is my Fisher Space Pen. It's based on technology that was developed for astronauts and it's great for writing in bed or lying on the sofa when I can't sit up at all, as it can write at any angle with no effort. Mines about 25 years old now and still going strong. The refills last ages too.

Another thing that helps me a lot with comm's is the plug in headset on my landline so I can chat for a bit longer. I also use a phone provider that effectively filters nuisance calls for free.

 

I can also recommend the space pen...it's nice and shiny and compact as well