(Part 2) Top products from r/longisland

I was almost finished reading "The Big Oyster" by New Yorker Mark Kurlansky and wanted to get to the end before posting this.

I, along with 132 Amazon readers, rate it 4.4/5 stars. It is the history of our New York region, INCLUDING Long Island, from a unique and really interesting perspective: that of the oyster.

I saw it recommended on another Reddit thread, and being a personal history buff who prefers to read about history from angles other than just those that quote dry dates and events, found it really enjoyable, informative and fun.

The author starts with a naturalist's perspective of the whole New York harbor at the time of Henry Hudson and brings us up to the present day. There is considerable mention of the oyster beds of the north shore and the Great South Bay, of the native Americans of our area and their middens (including some middens that are still buried in Manhattan).

I found out how Peter Stuyvesant lost his leg, that the Lenape Indians believed that each star in the sky is a footprint made by a loved ones walking to heaven after death (now I look at the Milky Way differently), that the oyster filled the harbor and every entrance to LI sound and Great South Bay with massive oyster reefs & was a main source of food for the poorest of the poor, etc.

It was a treat to read about the history of our area from a completely fresh perspective. If you want to check it out, just get it from your library (or request it.) 61% of the Amazon readers rated it 5/5 stars.

Have been growing a garden since probably June 1999 with my Dad. It slowly expanded into around to around a 60 plant garden.

I won't retype what everyone else has already said but will add that getting some fish emulsion for tomatoes really helps it, don't over water and put some chicken wire around your plot(Buried ~2 feet deep).

We grow: Tomatoes, eggplant, cucumbers, basil, oregano, and peppers(Avoid late season and arid climate ones). Plant a sage bush nearby to get a steady flow of bees.

If you are are beginner try growing some cherry tomato plants, they are pretty hard to screw up and are very good.

Read this

You want a burr grinder. The one I linked is pretty good and under $50.

Do not get a blade grinder, please for the love of coffee.

This. Historical societies can be a great resource. A friend of mine is very active in the one in Wading River where I grew up, and she has photos and old postcards from all over those two towns, from very early on. Much of it went into a book that I bought a while back: https://smile.amazon.com/Shoreham-Wading-River-Postcard-History/dp/0738592455/

This is the dashcam I recommend

https://www.amazon.com/Transcend-Drivepro-Camera-DashCam-TS-DP550A-64G/dp/B07R9ZXG8S

You power it permanently with this kit. All you need is double sided tape and some tools. It is easy to route the wire under the plastic trim in 99% of cars so that only a tiny bit of wire is visible coming out from behind the trim where your rear view mirror is and it just hangs loose to the dashcam.

https://www.amazon.com/iiwey-Hardwire-Dashboard-Navigator-Detector/dp/B07VR5QWMD/

Take the thing with you when you leave the car. Only wire it to be on when your car is started and be careful where you leave it in your car. I had one stolen. The app for it sucks but it is easy to get video if you bring it to your computer, it acts like a USB stick when you plug it in.

BTW this is the book I mentioned in my post:

Doggin' Long Island - The 30 Best Places To Hike With Your Dog In New York's Playground

New York Fahgettaboudit, This is the bike lock I use, its expensive but its pretty much the only lock you'll ever need. Just the look of it alone is enough to make robbers look the other way.

I've heard that Diatomaceous Earth works amazingly well for getting rid of pests. I would give that a shot first.

Just get this, it works amazingly well

https://www.amazon.com/Sawyer-Products-SP657-Permethrin-Repellent/dp/B001ANQVYU/ref=pd_sim_200_2?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B001ANQVYU&pd_rd_r=K842VP7MQXY90JD2SXCF&pd_rd_w=6hPUJ&pd_rd_wg=7TYtW&psc=1&refRID=K842VP7MQXY90JD2SXCF

Glue traps are expensive, so my brother uses Gorilla duct tape. Believe it or not, it's really effective!

https://www.amazon.com/Black-Gorilla-Tape-1-88-Roll/dp/B000CSS8UE

Just set out long rolls of Gorillia duct tape in the corners of your basement and by any humid areas, like windows.

If you're serious about cooking, knife sharpening is an invaluable skill. Get yourself a steel and the shittiest old chef's knife you can find in the back of your parent's silverware drawer. Then do what Gordon Ramsey tells you to until that knife is sharp and you're confident enough to do it on your good knife. My knives are as sharp as the day I bought them and it's never cost me more than a $10 steel and 30 seconds of my time before and after using them,

Try the Babylon Cheese Cellar


EDIT: TIL you can order cheese off Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Grana-Padano-Aged-Over-months/dp/B000ZV7CWI

Are you aware that there is a picture book about the old Adventureland? I don't own it so I can't check for you but perhaps theres a way to contact the author?

https://www.amazon.com/Adventureland-Images-America-Christopher-Mercaldo/dp/1467121703

found it

Long Island Press article:

https://www.longislandpress.com/2019/04/30/in-floyd-harbor-author-joel-mowdy-brings-mastic-beach-to-page/

Order your copy here:

https://www.amazon.com/Floyd-Harbor-Stories-Joel-Mowdy/dp/1948226111/ref=mp_s_a_1_1_sspa?keywords=floyd+harbor&qid=1556793997&s=gateway&sr=8-1-spons&psc=1

borrow this book from the library and take some day rides.

Most welding helmets have adjustable shades/darkness from #9 to #13. It would be a little silly to go buy a $45 welding from Harbor Freight just to view the eclipse, but you can buy the glass at most hardware stores for around $10 (usually come in a 5"x5" sheet)|

Edit: for everyone looking you can buy these sheets of lens
https://www.amazon.com/US-Forge-00097-Shaded-Welding/dp/B00164VP26

We mix Garlic Barrier w peppermint oil and water in a sprayer and it's been doing the trick for us for 2 summers.

What was wrong about what I said? Just because your teachers have decided to downplay the horrors of socialism/communism doesn't mean the atrocities didn't happen. https://smile.amazon.com/Black-Book-Communism-Crimes-Repression/dp/0674076087/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3GO9A5TY0HPFO&keywords=little+black+book+of+communism&qid=1571055902&sprefix=little+black+book+of+c%2Caps%2C169&sr=8-1

Heh, I'm home now, not on mobile and got a closed look at the actual data and numbers, to compare it to the EPA data. Some quotes from the article:

> The Nuclear Emergency Tracking Center has issued a Radiation Alert for Mattituck, NY on Long Island after local background radiation levels spiked 156 times higher than normal on March 14, but quickly returned to normal.

The NETC doesn't appear to have any tracking sites on long island (at least not public, because I see what appears to be EPA sites). However it seems they sell sites you can setup, so maybe those are what they mean they are tracking. And they don't seem to have issued any active alerts which BTW are based solely on a single stations readings. The site looks like a crazy person made it too, bible verses quoted as a warning on the home page? UFO chat in the forums. That doesn't looks like a legit site backed by science.


> According to local Geiger Counter equipment, the one-year average background level of radiation in Mattituck is only about 10 counts-per minute. Yet on March 15, the radiation level suddenly skyrocketed to 1565 Counts-Per-Minute (CPM)

The Yaphank data from the EPA above shows an average of 2500CPM with with a spike that's over 5000CPM, that data looks average, and inline with NYC. 10CPM sounds like a bogus number, and the EPA plots their data on a log scale, with a full order of magnitude of variation appearing in normal data. Couple that with the fact that the NETC seems to get their data from crazies buying detectors, I wonder if a crazy put a smoke detector on their detector (or bought some yellowcake to play with), I doubt this is a controlled environment and individual stations are unreliable.

> Pursuant to an ORDER dated December 10, 2010 by federal judge Donald E. Walter, sitting at the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York in Brooklyn, the former owner of this web site, radio host Hal Turner, divested himself of ownership and control of this - and all other - internet web sites. Mr. Turner is barred by court order from owning or contributing to the content of web sites until October, 2015. As such, Hal Turner has nothing to do with the ownership, operation or content of this web site.

The creator of the website seems to be a crazy


> We have been made aware that a small local newspaper, "The Suffolk Times" has run a new story about this on its web site today, and possibly in print issues. They prominently quote US Environmental protection Agency (EPA) spokesperson Elias Rodriguez, who said “We don’t have any validated data that would indicate a cause for concern.” The EPA did not test for radiation in Mattituck, NY and the EPA has no radiation monitoring stations in -- or near -- Mattituck, NY. THAT is why they have "no validated data."


> One final note, the Suffolk Times places great emphasis on the fact that the source of our story "is not a government agency" as if that has any bearing on the facts. It does not. To put it bluntly, most of us already know that the federal government - in general -- is one of the largest collections of liars on the planet. What gives our story credibility is that it is NOT based on government information!

We already know the government is liars? That's why you don't agree with the EPA when they say they have no "validated" sources?

I think that proves my point, the current operators are also crazies and the data has not been professionally analyzed and it hasn't been validated. I don't trust any of this data. I think a blogger needs to get back on their meds.