Saturday, May 31, 2008

Get Started with Composting [How To]



 
 

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compost_scaled.jpgWired's How-To Wiki guides newcomers gently into the soft terrain of composting, a great way to recycle biodegradable goods and create some of the best growing soil around. You can get started with something as simple and low-cost as a trash bag, the authors note:

Just fill it up with a good mixture of browns (paper and plant pieces) and greens (kitchen scraps), soak it down, punch a few air holes and wait three months. Viola! Compost.
The wiki has more detailed advice for those who want to keep a tidier pile, or learn more about what makes for great material—one easy-to-find example, as previously posted, is non-glossy, low-color junk mail. Are you composting? What's your setup? Let us know in the comments. Photo by normanack.
Compost [Wired How-To Wiki]


 
 

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Saturday, May 24, 2008

Group Wants Wi-Fi Banned, Citing Allergy

and i'm allergic to taxes. and chores. and doing dirty dishes...

 
 

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via Slashdot by CmdrTaco on 5/24/08

54mc writes "A small group in Santa Fe, New Mexico is claiming that the city is discriminating against them by having wireless networks in public buildings. How are these buildings discriminatory? Simple. These people are allergic to Wi-Fi. And they're suing the city." I've been trying to sue people for the streetlights that I'm allergic to as well.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.


 
 

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Friday, May 23, 2008

The Secret History of Star Wars

have you seen this?

 
 

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via Slashdot by samzenpus on 5/21/08

lennier writes "How exactly did George Lucas develop the script for the first Star Wars? Why were the prequels so uneven when the originals were so good? Did he really have a masterplan for six, nine, or even twelve episodes, and why did the official Lucasfilm position keep changing? And just how big an influence were the films of Akira Kurosawa on the whole saga? Michael Kaminski's The Secret History of Star Wars, Third Edition is a free, thoroughly unauthorized, e-book that brings together a huge amount of literary detective work to sort fact from legend and reveal how the story really evolved. Download it or have your nerd credentials revoked."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.


 
 

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Bloglines - Linkworthy: May 20, 2008

Bloglines user ncaut (nc_aut@yahoo.com) has sent this item to you.


Family Hack
Get the most out of your time, money and mobility.

Linkworthy: May 20, 2008

By Michael Davis on stuff

Here are some great links to help you get the most from your money. Enjoy!

  • Top 10 Amazon Power Shopper Tools
    A great list of tools for you Amazon nuts. We especially like "Subscribe & Save". We use this service for items like laundry detergent and diapers. Amazon.com waives the shipping fee, gives us 15% off their regular price, emails us before each shipment (with an option to cancel), and charges us only when they ship. Plus we get to see our favorite man in brown on a regular basis. Which leads us to our next link.

Speaking of getting good deals. Don't miss 5 Ways to Get 90% OFF Designer Kid's Clothes'. It's one of our most popular.

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Post from: Family Hack

Linkworthy: May 20, 2008

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Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Dealing With Frontier's Bankruptcy [Frontier]

i hope we don't need to use this...

 
 

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via Consumerist by Profio on 5/20/08

Now that the airline with the fuzzy animals on their planes has also declared bankruptcy, you might be in the same position as reader Scott. Scott had Frontier cancel his flight and send him an email with a link to get a refund. While it's nice that Frontier made the refund option easy, a refund doesn't get Scott any closer to his destination, and a second ticket would cost Scott a bit more than he initially paid. Thanks to a little bit of research and 35 minutes on the phone, Scott was able to get Frontier to rebook him on a different airline. Find out how, inside.

I thought that you guys might be interested in this. In April, we booked a flight to Missoula, MT for June on Frontier Airlines. Now, we get this e-mail telling us that the service from Denver to Missoula has been canceled. Note, the e-mail offers a weblink where you can get a refund.

Here's the problem. First, most travelers (including myself) don't want a refund for a flight ticket, they want to get to their destination. Second, I checked the "Contract of Carriage" (http://www.frontierairlines.com/frontier/pdf/Contract_of_Carriage.pdf) which includes Rule 240 that lists the policy for flights that have been discontinued. The hierarchy of options for a traveler is: 1) get another flight on Frontier, 2) get a similar flight on another airline or 3) get a refund.

Seems like Frontier was trying to avoid having to rebook thousands of passengers on other airlines by simply providing a refund. For most goods and services refunds are fine, but airline tickets rise in price as the travel date gets closer. I searched for comparable flights and found that the cheapest ticket I could get was 75% more than what I paid in April.

Anyway, the e-mail also indicated that "should I need to contact customer service" I could call the 800 number. There was NO mention of possible rebooking. Of course I called the number, held for about 18 minutes then actually talked to a person! After another 35 minutes I was rebooked on United. No complaints there. However, I think that most people will simply click the e-mail, get a refund and be forced to pay exorbitant fees for late fares. I think this is pretty tricky by Frontier. They should have at least mentioned the fact that the flights could be rebooked.

Nice one, Scott. The airline provided the solution most advantageous to them and least helpful to you and you got what you wanted by being informed, proactive, and polite. And it just took half an hour! Having problems with any of the many failing airlines? If Scott's approach doesn't work for you, you can check out some different tactics here.

(photo: ATIS547)



 
 

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Clean Cast Iron Cookware with a Potato [Kitchen]

i'm not sure i buy this advice at all.

 
 

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cast_iron.jpgThe dinner was a success, the guests are gone, and your cast iron pans—well, they've seen better days. The TipNut blog suggests pulling out a spare potato and going to town on your sauce-crusted cookware:

To remove rust, slice a fresh potato in half and cover the cut end in liquid dish detergent. Rub the rust spots away with the potato, rinse clean, dry, then apply a light layer of oil to the cookware.
Hit the link below for inexpensive cleaning tips for other kinds of cookware. Photo by cybrgrl.


 
 

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Email Etiquette Pages Explain So You Don't Have To [Netiquette]



 
 

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mail.pngWhy waste time schooling clueless email senders one by one when you can build a web site to do it for you? A recent trend among email-overloaded web developers who don't want to explain the basics of email etiquette to frequent senders is to set up a web page that does it instead—then reply to senders with a link to the page, or just include it in their signature. Merlin Mann's Thanks, No turns down unwanted email; Mike Davidson's five sentences explains why his email messages are so short; and now Brett Kelly's BCC, please asks that bulk senders use the BCC field to hide his address from everyone else on a big list. The question is: would you ever actually use any of these explainer pages?

Gawker Media polls require Javascript; if you're viewing this in an RSS reader, click through to view in your Javascript-enabled web browser.


Ever send or receive one of these explainer pages? Did it work? Tell us about your experience in the comments.


 
 

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Turn a Hallmark Music Card into a Cereal Box Speaker [How To]

i wonder if this would work with a talking twix ad from 11 years ago...

 
 

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cereal_speaker.jpg
Instructables poster Justin Seiter didn't let a slightly cheesy but expensive Hallmark card with audio go to waste. Using a glue gun, a junky set of old headphones, electrical tape, a utility knife and a mini-cereal box, he created a speaker for his iPod (or any stereo-jack-accepting device). It might not power your home theater, but it gets stereo sound from the headphone wires and might make for a geek-pride spare speaker in a bedroom or bathroom. Hit the link for full instructions on piecing your childhood breakfast favorites and throwaway electronics into modern audio accessories.



 
 

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