Stephen Leaf

As the asker doesn’t use Linux, this won’t really be helpful to them, but I saw linux and I’m a huge linux geek of 23 years now.
I wrote a script way back in 2005 to do just this and its a bit overkill but hey its got options!

This script uses MD5 hashes so if the files are *exact* matches it’ll identify it and allow you to either move them to a dups dirs or delete them. It’s from my earlier days so it only handles 1 match a time and doesn’t let you choose which of the 2 to remove.
I wrote it to clean up an old photo library so they were not exactly organized anyway, so removing either of the duplicates didn’t matter to me.

While I don’t remember any names, I do recall seeing an image duplicate checker a *long* time ago (I’ve not ran windows since XP days!)

(I’d attach it but apparently even a .txt extension isn’t allowed.)
Dupchecker:
#!/bin/bash # Author Stephen Leaf # Version: 1.1 # Date: 2005-04-17 # Last updated: 2011-07-03 # # This script will recursively md5sum all files within the given argument # and show a list of files which are safe to remove. # finally it will prompt you for deletion. VERBOSE=false CHECK=false MOVE=false DELETE=false FILE="files.md5" LFILE="files.lst" CFILE="files.md5" VERSION="1.1" cleanUp() { # if [[ $CHECK != true ]]; then # rm -f $FILE || exit $? # fi if [[ $VERBOSE == true ]]; then rm -f $LFILE || exit $? fi } parse_cmdline() { # Referenced mozilla-launcher script. while [[ $# -ne 0 ]] ; do if [[ $1 == -* ]] ; then case "${1#-}" in v|-verbose) VERBOSE=true shift 1 ;; d|-delete) DELETE=true shift 1 ;; m|-move) MOVE=true shift 1 ;; c|-check) CHECK=true CFILE=$2 shift 2 ;; f|fileout) LFILE=$2 shift 2 ;; mf|md5out) FILE=$2 shift 2 ;; h|-help) echo "dupcheck by Stephen Leaf version $VERSION" echo "Usage: $0 [Arguments]" echo " --md5out, -mf [file] Sets the output file for the MD5 hashes." echo " --fileout, -f [file] Sets the output file for the file list hashes." echo "                      Only used in verbose mode." echo " --check, -c [file]   Checks md5 of files listed within a MD5 file. (default: files.md5)" echo " --delete, -d         Deletes duplicates automatically" echo " --move, -m           Moves duplicates to ./dups automatically" echo " --verbose, -v        Make the output more verbose" echo " --help, -h           This Help Message" exit $? ;; esac else DIR=$1 shift fi done } hashFiles() { echo -n "Hashing... " if [[ $VERBOSE == true ]]; then find $DIR -type f > $LFILE NUMFILES=`cat $LFILE | wc -l` POS=0 while read line do POS=`echo "$POS + 1"|bc` md5sum "${line}" >> $FILE PERCENT=`echo "${POS}0000 / ${NUMFILES}"|bc|sed -e "s/[0-9]\{1,2\}$/\.\0/"` if [[ $PERCENT < 1 ]]; then PERCENT="0$PERCENT" fi echo -ne "\rHashing... ${PERCENT}%" done < $LFILE echo else find $DIR -type f -exec md5sum {} \; > $FILE echo " ...done" fi } moveFiles() { # Create it if it doesn't exist if [ ! -e "dups/" ]; then echo "Creating ./dups/" mkdir dups fi echo "${DUPS}" | while read count hash file do # Move the file and force an overwrite. echo -n "Moving ${file} ... " mv -f "$file" dups/ && echo "Ok" || echo "Failed" done } deleteFiles() { echo "${DUPS}" | while read count hash file do echo -n "Removing ${file} ... " rm -f "$file" && echo "Ok" || echo "Failed" done } parse_cmdline "$@" if [[ $CHECK == true ]]; then md5sum -c $CFILE else if [ -e $FILE ]; then echo "Removing existing hash file and filelist." cleanUp fi hashFiles DUPS=`sort $FILE | uniq -cdw 33` if [[ $DUPS != "" ]]; then echo "These files are duplicates and can be safely removed" echo "  Count Hash                              File" echo "${DUPS}" echo echo "`echo "${DUPS}" | wc -l ` Files found." if [[ $DELETE == true ]]; then deleteFiles elif [[ $MOVE == true ]]; then moveFiles else echo echo -n "Would you like to delete these files? (y/n): " read del if [[ $del == "y" || $del == "Y" ]]; then deleteFiles else echo -n "Would you like to move them into ./dups? (y/n): " read move if [[ $move == "y" || $move == "Y" ]]; then moveFiles fi fi fi else echo "No duplicates where found." fi echo -n "Cleaning up tmp files..." cleanUp echo " done" fi

Used one for years, then we bought a house with one built in. So we got rid of the stand alone one, then 3 years later we decided to move, didn’t think anything of it.. till we went to warm up leftovers and remembered we didn’t have one anymore.
It’s been 4 years since then and we’ve still not bought a new one. The house we’re in right now doesn’t have very good electrical so it wouldn’t be a good idea anyway, likewise we have no counter space.
Most of the leftovers I bring to work and eat cold. Of the leftovers we eat at home warm, we use a toaster oven or the main oven/stovetop to warm up. Usually involved a toss leftovers in, set to 350 and set a timer for 30mins. Summertime its a gamble on weather, but we try to use the sun oven whenever possible.
Wish I had read this thread much earlier, so many good ideas!

Laptop wise, I loved my MacBook, easily lasted me 7 years and I gamed on it all of those years. I did end up replacing it as I was still gaming at that time and things were starting to get a bit more sluggish.
I built a desktop back in early 2000s bought the biggest, heaviest dullest case I could find having to tell the retailer I wasn’t interested in a case with lights that’d keep me up all night and who was going to care about lights under a desk anyway several times. Within that case however I’ve had 2 motherboards the most recent lasting me now over 10 years. Had to replace the heat sink/fan before the processor! It runs as a media/storage server. Love seeing fellow Linux users! It runs head-less behind a chair only recently out of curiosity and fun changing from running Gentoo to a customized LFS with crude package manager written in bash in a sort of portage-ish fashion.

We us a variety of online stores

Sun & Swell

Life Without Plastic

Zero Waste Store

Also discovered Who Gives a Crap for toilet paper. Never once thought I’d say a Toilet paper company is fun.
For Loose Leaf Tea: Arbor Tea most of it is organic and it comes in home compostable packaging.

We’re down to 1 trash bag a week which has made getting rid of the previous owner’s trash we keep finding all over the property much easier. My area does not have any recycling. So we burn what we can, compost as much as we can (added a new bin this year up to 3) and save all the scrap metal we find, I feel like I have enough to keep a blacksmith going for a while if only we knew one..
A problem we do have is while glass isn’t plastic and can easily be reused, there becomes a point where you just have too many jars and no way to recycle it without driving 2 hours away.
And thinking about it while typing this out. We are in the process of building a house, or attempting to rather as we barely have enough time in between work and kids. Using the glass jars as a window for our bathroom and shower area. This is a rather short-term solution tho. I feel like I need to make glass/metal working friends! Southern Missouri permies I’m looking for you!

We started making our own soap, and in turn, laundry soap after moving to our current house. The electrical and plumbing is terrible so a washer/dryer was no longer a valid option (makes for a lot more space tho!)
I tried going “poo-less” in Feb 2021. So far I don’t think I’ll ever go back, wife and kids are just now starting to do the same. None of us are having any issues with our hair. And no one can believe I don’t use it anymore.
We’ve tried baking our own bread and have yet to have good luck with making a fluffy sandwich bread. So we’ve started making a ton of different kinds of flat breads instead.
As meat prices rose, we started buying even less meat than we already did. My wife and I don’t drink milk anymore, kids still do tho. I’ll echo the longing for a more sustainable packaging for yogurt and cottage cheese tho! We’ve heard there is a dairy farmer in the area, but have yet to visit him.
We’ve used water bottles for years and only recently since moving to Missouri heard about a Berkey Filter, no more plastic filters. Apparently they don’t sell them in Iowa where we use to live due to regulations/laws about them having to pay for the state to certify them but each configuration requires a new test/payment to the state.

As we continue down the path of using as little plastic as possible we keep making small changes in how we do things but something’s we now do end up taking a bit more time to do, something we already don’t have much of. Most of these changing have been more cost-effective, which is making it so I don’t have to work as much. So eventually it’ll turn around? :D

2nd year attempting to even grow them. Just grabbed a bag from walmart and stuck them in the ground.
Found out I had grown both soft necked and hard necked varieties, which has only yielded a modest 9 scapes of my 36 I pulled up.
You know your a newbie when you have no idea what a scape is when reading about them and find out only after growing and plucking off a few thinking WTH is this?
now I love them! We’ve thrown them on pizza, chopped them finely and mixed into melted butter, still have a few. This thread will be closely watched for a while :)

Anne Miller wrote:

Rachel Royce wrote:Very interesting thread. Thank you!

We have a lot of plantain in the yard. To infuse the oils do I use the leaves, the flower stalks, flowers? Do I have to dry them first or use fresh herbs?

My preference is to use the plantain leaves fresh, though I have not made a salve.

It will be interesting to see how others use the plantain leaves whether fresh or dry or the seed head.

We’ve been using the leaves. We have 1 plant outside our door that this year has produced leaves larger than my hand!
For the salve we dry it out in a mesh bag for a few days. then crumble it up into the olive oil. This year we just set the jars on the stove as we baked and cooked. Just did a full day of baking random stuff before it got too hot outside. Recipe we found said to put it into a double boiler setting(like jars in a crockpot of water) and set it to keep warm for a few hours.

Last year I remember running around identifying everything in my new yard after we moved and got settled in.
I set eyes on a familiar one I hadn’t known the name for: Plantain. Coincidentally I had just gotten stung by a mosquito and read it could be used for insect bites. Tried it out and worked so well I read up more on it and have made a olive oil, plantain, beeswax salve for over a year that we use on everything.

My son loved this series. He’s only 3 but kept asking for “the castle show” was sad it was so short. But it ended up inspiring quite a lot of play time building his own castle out of everything: blocks, sand, rocks, etc.

Use to be a high tech junkie, then I realized I spent less on the low tech stuff and it generally lasted longer and performed nearly as well— so long as I knew what I was doing. Sure things would take longer (ever tried to make a meringue with only a hand whisk? Your hand/arm will hurt before you get those pretty peaks)
But I also found I enjoyed them more. I use a Scythe, I want a Sickle.
Don’t own a leaf blower anymore, I found either I don’t know what I’m doing, or its just generally easier to rake them by hand. Less noisy and the kids enjoy helping out or the opposite and scattering them everywhere via jumping/running through them.
Don’t own a snow blower thankfully I have less snow then where I use to live and its more reliable just using a shovel, again quieter doesn’t jam, safer.
Our new house is slowly turning us “Amish-ish” as my wife puts it. Electrical is slowly dying, not a single outlet in the kitchen works anymore except the oven and fridge. So manual coffee grinder (good for giving the kids something in the morning while your making something else), pour over for brewing coffee, no microwave, hand crank egg beater, stove top hand crank popcorn popper (kids love this one!)
Hand saw, generally safer for me and I don’t have working outlets outside. Hand planer this has been very useful for repurposing the fallen apart deck, giving new life to the bad looking but otherwise perfectly good pieces of wood.
I do own a battery powered drill, but for most applications I’ll just use a manual screwdriver. Something’s like drilling a hole or screwing in a screw that doesn’t have a pilot hole it’d be silly to not use it. I have looked into other lower tech variants however, but for the moment its not worth the money and its still working fine, no need to replace it.
No dishwasher, its turned into a kid’s chore and she loves doing it, she’s only 5!
No washer or dryer, the plumbing didn’t work and if the washer doesn’t may as well not use a dryer. Clothes are said to last longer drying on a clothes line, and its free!

Lower tech stuff is quieter, more reliable, more kid friendly, lasts longer. I’m slowly turning this house into a 1900s era home and it feels more homely.
I do miss having more time to do “stuff” but usually that “stuff” didn’t involve my family. Now we work together more and when I’m scything I can talk to my kids and not have to worry as much about them getting too close and the mower kicking something up. They know to watch my swath and generally stay away unless I’m whetting.

If I were to define “Low Tech” it’d be simple construction if electrical otherwise an easy to use simplistic non-electric tool. The distinction is only there as just saying “non-electric” could include my wind-up pocket watch and not include a simple lightbulb, or electrical switch.

While I did actually bake 2 loaves and noted this in the images as well. They are 2 separate occasions and I can see how it would get confused as such. The first batch I only remembered the photos at the end and got a finished photo, the 2nd batch had 1 loaf and pizza crust and I got the entire thing photographed.
The tops of the loaves do look different. If needed I can take more photos as we have been making 1-2 loaves a week. Last 2 loaves however have came out a bit too hard and thus have been turned into bread crumbs. Worked great for meat loaf and chicken strips tho!