georgez5il, I can sympathise to a very limited extent with the way that you feel about this particular posting, but cannot agree with your conclusions regarding being unable to answer the query in its totality. I feel that some information is better than non, and that other posters' are subsequently given chance to pick up the slack so-to-speak. I am also in favour of group involvement and this post gives an excellent opportunity for precisely that. Apologies for sounding a bit "preachy" on this one. ;-)

FrozenMyst, There are lot of medications out there for fish. Be sure you check the smytoms and facts of what medicine you should get. I hope your Betta's home is NO smaller then 1 gallon of water with filtration. Or is he swimming in his waste like so many Bettas end up? If he is, water changes are needed. I have heard of pros and cons of distilled water. I would get purifed water. You can get that at your local fish store or market. Or make your own...Aqua Pharmecutical Tap water purifer. You can find it on ebay or at Dr. Foster & Smith. I use it for my 10 gallon aquarium and Orchids. You need to get one of those cheap water test sticks to see what condition the water is. I thought I had bought purified water from the market and when I tested it is was no better then the tap water. Theresa

Only can answer a few of your questions: I've always had curtains with tub/shower combos. The trick is to seal the curtain edges to the tile/tub. This is best done with a thinner liner (a heavy one can be used, but might want to put a shampoo bottle on it to keep it there). Start the shower and point the head away from the open edges. Get in and by this time the tile will be a little moist. Run your wet hand along the back of the liner and stick it to the tile, tracing it down and over the inside corner of the tub. Never a water problem in 20 years. Had to train my DH how to do it when I married him though. We've had pocket doors with latches on the inside only. You can find the hardware at any home depot or lowes in the replacement door and window hardware areas for closets, patio sliders, casement windows, etc and install them yourself.

Primer: Pre-ferment is a method by which a small dough is made of yeast, flour and water, to develop the activity and flavor of the yeast, usually overnight. "Ferment" refers to the yeast activity in the final bread dough. Biga (Italian) and levain (French) are pre-ferments. Usually, however not exclusively, bigas are made with commercial yeast, and levains are made with sourdough starter or saved levain starter. Those distinctions refer to the origins of the words. Many bakers use the words interchangeably. If you're not sure, just say "pre-ferment" and you're covered. Similarly, banneton, a woven basket, usually lined with cloth (French) and brotform, a coiled basket, less often lined with cloth (German) are used interchangeably for both types. In English, you can say "bread form" or "dough basket". Many people say "proofing basket", but I don't care for the word "proof" as a synonym for "rise". I'm not old, but I remember proving cake yeast before dry yeast was stable, but fresh yeast could have died. The yeast was proven (i.e., "proofed"), when the biga rose. The rises of the main dough were a given unless something really bad happened. Nowadays, people just toss in dried yeast and expect it to rise, and it does, so they proof in the baskets. This is a persnickety quibble that has no real meaning to anyone but me. :) Hydration refers to the weight of water in the dough based on the amount of flour, and is usually expressed as a percentage. The flour is always 100%. If there are different flours in the dough, then they have partial percentages, e.g., 95% unbleached white flour and 5% whole wheat (a substitute for European style bread flour). Add them up and they equal 100% because the flour is always 100%. This allows one to discuss, clearly, the amount of water in the dough, which can be more useful than adjectives such as loose, wet, sticky, tight, tacky, etc. If you have 1000g total of flour in your dough, and your recipe calls for 68% hydration, you would use 680g of water. If you have 650g of white flour, 120g of whole wheat, and 30g of rye flour, for a total of 800g flour, 68% hydration would mean 544g of water. These percentages really only apply to what's in the bowl. When you do your stretch and folds on additional flour, you're changing the percentage. When you wet your hands to do them, you're also changing the percentage. So they make it easier to talk about baking, but every baker is still going to have slightly different results. Factor in environment--flour absorbs humidity from the air, and also releases it and dries out. It also has a fat component, though much less with white flour, especially bleached. (Put your white flour in a half full, air tight container for a year (i.e., trapping in some air so oxidation will take place), and even the bleached stuff will smell rancid when you open it up (personal experience talking).) If you oil your surfaces, hands, etc., a trace of oil can also be added, mostly negligible, but sometimes a few drops can make a big difference. With all of those factors, as well, the percentages refer to the basic recipe, and the rest is whatever works for you. Like S&P to taste. Experience is king. Repetition is important. Getting a feel for it is crucial.