I use a blender. I try to avoid adding water, but occasionally it is needed to get the scraps to chop up nicely. The problem then is, that adding a slurry to the bin usually means it goes anearobic and very smelly within a day or two. So if things end up too wet, I add in some coconut coir to soak up the moisture and let it sit a bit whilst stirring occasionally, until I get a thicker and crumbly consistancy. Actually, I prefer to use leachate rather than water, might as well get the new sraps off to a good microbially active start. Blending can cause a lot moisture to be released in a rush, try blending old watermelon!

I'm biting the bullet and looking for a new receiver with at least six HDMI 'ports'. I don't think we will be 'streaming' anything unless the offerings improve for our 'demographic'. LOL Today AT&T emailed me, touting their "U-Verse" -- which sounds like it would replace the DirecTV HD-DVR they already provide us, bundled with landline and internet. The promo seems aimed at people who need 24/7 'connectivity' via hand helds...or music. I doubt they have any wider selection movies on offer than what I saw on Amazon and Netflix. Any DVD's we get from the library that are longer than a movie have two-week check-outs. We're in town a couple times a week anyway, so detouring a block to the library is easy. We still sometimes check out 'real' books, too. LOL

first of all you will have to have a wifi network set up in your home so that you have the ability to stream anything. IF you are not on high speed internet you won't be able to do it. So if you have high speed internet such as cable, fios, some dsl etc, and you also already have a wireless router set up for your home network and it is in range of the device you will use to do the streaming, and you have one of the various devices that will do the streaming such as a Roku box, certain blu ray players, certain xboxes, other specific streaming devices (there are many out there including Sony, western digital,RCA), and if you have a tv compatible with such devices, then you can also do netflix streaming if you have a netflix account. There are many other websites that do streaming media that do not require a subscription you can get stuff free from them. Now if you do not have a wireless router set up and you can string an etherenet cord from the computer area to the tv area you can use the streaming devices hard wired too but in most cases that is not very practical . Also some of the very new tv's now come capable of this too. Here is a little video comparison of some streaming devices for you What is the best streaming media player? you can google how to use streaming media player for lots more info and options.

Thank you all! Your responses made my decision easy. I just purchased the Roku from BB. The sales person failed to mention the HDMI cable was not included, so I cannot yet report on the ease of set-up. I had no idea BluRay doubled as a media streaming device. I'll keep that in mind if we use this enough to get another television, or upgrade the current TV. We only have one small television in the house, so I appreciate everyone's expert advice!