Artificial river/stream, in Stockholm, Sweden.

OC, but not ”my” photo. Posted with permission by the person who took the photo this morning.

Found this on the sidewalk yesterday. Probably (tastefully) arranged by someone, but as it’s late summer in the middle of a heat wave it stood out.

Eiffel Tower lit up to mark change, seen as way of protecting law that decriminalised abortion in 1975.

The French parliament has enshrined abortion as a constitutional right at a historic joint session at the Palace of Versailles.

Out of 925 MPs and senators eligible to vote, 780 supported the amendment, which will give women the “guaranteed freedom” to choose an abortion.

There was thunderous applause in the chamber as the result was announced on Monday; in central Paris, the Eiffel Tower was illuminated to mark the occasion.

The measure had already been passed by the upper and lower houses, the Sénat and the Assemblée Nationale, but final approval by parliamentarians at the joint session at Versailles was needed to effect constitutional change.

The prime minister, Gabriel Attal, told those gathered in the opulent Congress Hall in the palace’s Midi wing: “We are haunted by the suffering and memory of so many women who were not free. We owe a moral debt [to all the women who] suffered in their flesh.

“Today, the present must respond to history. To enshrine this right in our constitution is to close the door on the tragedy of the past and its trail of suffering and pain. It will further prevent reactionaries from attacking women.

“Let’s not forget that the train of oppression can happen again. Let’s act to ensure that it doesn’t, that it never comes this day.”

He added: “I say to all women within our borders and beyond, that today, the era of a world of hope begins.”

Mathilde Panot, an MP from the hard-left France Unbowed, who proposed inscribing the abortion rights in the constitution, told the meeting it was “a promise … for all women fighting [for them] everywhere in the world”.

I posted this previously in [email protected], but that community never seemed to pick up any speed, so I hope more people can appreciate this historic tidbit.

This photo (not mine!) is from downtown Stockholm. It takes place in the late 1980's.

To the right, outside of the field of the picture, is an iconic food hall for international cuisine as well as for Swedish fish and crustacean cuisine. To the right, visible in the picture, is "Sergelgången", which is an iconic street in Stockholm between "Hötorget" and "Sergels torg". Also to the left, outside the field of the picture, is the major concert hall (Konserthuset) with its iconic steps that have been graced by both celebrities and random rubes, for warming up in the sun on the otherwise chilly Stockholm streets.

The camera is focused on an iconic Hennes ("hers" in Swedish) store, that was mainly for ladies' fashion. The company that owned Hennes decided to branch out and bought Mauritz, and they ran both ladies' and gentlemen's stores until they brought them together as "Hennes & Mauritz". They were known for poorly made clothes that broke or got broken after a few uses and washes. Their zippers were nationally shamed as proper trash fashion as they broke after one use. Basically, in Sweden they were known for youth or "poor mans" clothes. Popular among students, but once their buyres could afford decent clothes, these went to a land fill (as even the second hand stores refused to stock this crap).

When they decided to go international, they rebranded as H&M, and later HM.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/1466619

Picked up a “sad veggies and fruits” bag at Lidl today for less than 3 €, and got a pack (more than 1 kg) of red meat (from another grocery store, but locally sourced meat) with a due date of tomorrow for less than 7 €. (And I had half of a sad pepper already)

This will be a wonderful stew that serves at least four, and there will probably be leftovers for lunch boxes that we can freeze in for when we start work after the holidays again.

In the “sad” bag from Lidl we also got organic bananas (which we sliced up and had frozen as prep for smoothies), limes, half a pack of grapes and then some spring onions.

Have a lovely weekend, lovely people!

This is a cross-post from: https://lemmy.world/post/1384725, the original post will be amended and updated over time.

*This list is compiled from different people's suggestions and tips, as well as some asking and searching around. The original post is updated every now and then to remain current, weed out errors or add information. If you have suggestions, updates, comments or additions to this list, you're welcome to comment in https://lemmy.world/post/1384725. *

Worldwide (or available in several countries)

• Too good to go - App-based service that allows restaurants and stores to post unsold surplus food or produce. Very popular, even though the food or produce you get is often random and it can sometimes run out before you manage to pick it up. Currently available in: Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, The Netherlands, United Kingdom and parts of the United States
  [Apps for iOS, Android and Huawei are available from site]
• Phenix - App-based service similar to "Too good to go". Currently available in: France, Réunion island, Guadeloupe islands, Martinique island, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Italy and Hong-Kong
  [iOS apps are country specific, check the site] - [Android app]

Canada

• Flashfood - App-based service that allows grocery stores to post unsold surplus that can be bought for a fraction of the original price. Also available in some US states.
  [iOS app] - [Android app]

Denmark

• yourLocal - App-based service that allows restaurants and stores to post unsold surplus food or produce.
  [iOS app] - [Android app]

Germany

• Mundraub - An initiative to map out free-to-pick fruits, veg, herbs and nuts. Mainly in Germany.
  [Android app]

Portugal

• Fruta feia - This ("ugly fruits") is a cooperative that collects fruits and vegetables that are too small/large or misshapen, and sells them in really affordable boxes.

Spain

• Gratix - A freecycling app that has karma-based self-moderation. According to some sources, people can also give away food freely(?)
  [iOS App] - [Android app]
• Panduru - This is a food waste reduction initiative, where they take surplus bread from bakeries and turn them into pastries that they sell. Currently available in Asturias. Unsure if it's relevant for thrifty/frugal, let me know.

Sweden

• Karma - App-based service that allows restaurants to offer unsold surplus meals at a discount. Currently only used in the major cities(?)
  [iOS app] - [Android app]
• Matsmart- Online grocery store that collects surplus or unsold food items and resells them cheaper.
  [iOS app] - [Android app]

United States

• Flashfood - App-based service that allows grocery stores to post unsold surplus that can be bought for a fraction of the original price. Also available in Canada.
  [iOS app] - [Android app]
• goMkt - App-based service that allows restaurants to offer unsold surplus meals at a discount.
  [iOS app] - [Android app]
• Hungry harvest - Collects surplus or unsold produce and resells them in affordable boxes, they also make preserved items from some produce. Currently available in: Maryland, Washington, DC, Greater Philadelphia, Southern New Jersey, Northern Delaware, and Raleigh, North Carolina
• Imperfect foods - Online grocery store that collects surplus or unsold food items and resells them cheaper. Also has cheaper produce with quirks or irregular shapes and sizes. Works together with Misfits Market.
• Misfits Market - Online grocery store that collects surplus or unsold food items and resells them cheaper. Currently available in 48 states, except for Alaska, Hawaii and Puerto Rico.
• Food rescue US - Connects volunteers, food donors, and social service agencies to ensure that surplus food reaches people who need it most. Unsure if it's relevant for thrifty/frugal, let me know.
• Food rescue hero - A network that connects donors who have fresh, highly perishable food that would otherwise be thrown out to the people who need it most. Seems REALLY similar to Food Rescue US, unsure if it's relevant for thrifty/frugal, let me know.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/1339087

Too good to go is a service that started in Denmark in 2015, and has since spread to more countries. Its concept is to reduce food waste from unsold surplus in the stores, and instead help the stores sell the produce to frugal/thrifty people at a heavy discount, pretty much in "surprise" bags.

According to Wikipedia it is available in mainly Europe and North America:

As of July 2023 the company Web site covered Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States.

I've seen this around in Sweden from the last year, but there are other similar services here as well, so I haven't used Too good to go yet (but I intend to do soon). I've used Matsmart a couple of times which allows me to pick the products I want, and sometimes bought Lidl's discounted fruit-and-veg bags ("Ta vara på") in the store.

I think the concept is really good on a consumer level, even though I can't say for sure just how much impact it has on reducing surplus or if it's just another green washing method for the affiliated companies.

Not my story, but an adorable ex-coworkers adorable daughters. I witnessed it, though.

TL;DR: Take away entertainment, enjoy the store pretty much being down for 10+ minutes during rush hour..

So, she quit her job to open a specialty store with her husband. It goes fairly well, enough to support a family of four. Their two girls are around three and five years old, and they usually attend daycare during the week. The store has a part timer on Saturdays and the store is closed on Sundays so the parents can spend the weekends with their kids.

During the summer, daycare closes for four weeks. Which means that if the store is busy (as it usually is during summer time), both parents have to be in the store during the busiest hours, and the kids are there too during those hours.

Behind the counter is the charging station for phones and the kids play tablet. And if the battery runs out, or the kids misbehave, the tablet is put into the charging station behind the counter. Under the counter they also keep the piece-of-sh-t (POS) enormously slow booting computer that keeps their point-of-sale (POS) terminal connected to the register and inventory system.

The girls played very rowdily in the store one day, and mom confiscated the tablet and put it on the charging station on a high shelf behind the counter. The older girl pushed over a high chair to try to climb and get to the tablet while both parents were busy helping customers, I was in the store as well, waiting for my turn. Mom spotted the girl behind the counter and barked out:
- “You girls know you’re not allowed behind the counter while the register is running!”

Then she took the high chair and put it to the side of the counter, and turned back to help the customers. The younger girl, quick as a squirrel, climbed the high chair, flopped down on the counter and stuck her head down, giggled, then turned off the computer.

The older girl yelled:
- “Mom, the register isn’t running! Can we get the iPad now?”

I think they learned new swear words to add to their vocabulary that afternoon.

From the article:

A volunteer-made project that fights bots on Reddit is shutting down. BotDefense, a tool that helps fight bots in more than 3,600 subreddits and has nearly 150,000 accounts on its bans list, will be going away.

As for why: The community of users and moderators submitting accounts to us depend on Pushshift, the API, and third-party apps. And we would be deluding ourselves if we believed any assurances from Reddit given the track record of broken promises. Investing further resources into Reddit as a platform presents significant risks, and it’s safer to allocate one’s time, energy, and passions elsewhere.

Edit: Replaced the cat tax with a still image.

So this is a tiny and very mild malicious compliance on both mine and a neighbour's part. Might be boring for not-cat-owners (or most people) to read.

Me and my neighbour have cats, and we both live in condominiums some floors above ground level. To keep our cats safe, we both had installed balcony cat nets that covered the whole of the open part of the balcony so that our cats can't fall down and get injured. When the condo's board (much like an HOA) members changed to a majority of retired older people, we got threatening notices demanding that we remove our nets as they were against the rules. The nets were apparently considered ugly eyesores and "as blights upon the community".

So we perused the rules, and discovered that the rules indeed specified that any nets spanning the balcony must have the board's permission (which they would not grant), and we're sadly not allowed to glaze the balconies to close them. However, trellises and privacy screens were ok. So my neighbour inquired about clarifications of the rules and got the following official responses: -Any trellis material (even metal wire) is allowed, as long as it is not classed as a net and does not cover more than 50% of the open parts of the balcony -Any kind of mesh within the trellis, such as fabric, privacy screens, wire or fake/real climbing vegetation is allowed.

After double checking with the municipality's building permit office to see if hardware cloth type meshes would qualify as a trellis and not as nets, my neighbour put up a hardware cloth that covered half the open space and reinforced it with chicken wire. We put up a wooden trellis that covered half the open space, and reinforced it with wire to cover the gaps.

Now, apparently the combo of hardware cloth and chicken wire on my neighbours balcony led to rust fairly quickly just over the spring, it doesn't look pretty. The board members were seething about the even worse eye-sore, but we were in the clear rule-wise. They gave us specific official permits from the board to put up the plastic cat net again, but he has dug his heels in about the rusty mesh combo. He even got balcony flower boxes made of corten steel, and clad his "trellis" with clear plastic to annoy them further.

I don't mind, our cats are safe with the current solution. But seeing the board members seethe every time they pass by the yard and see our balconies feels quite satisfying.

Cat tax provided.