Bloglines - Harnessing The Power Of Luffas For Shade And Sponges

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your dream come true!

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GroovyGreen.com - Start Today :: Save Tomorrow GroovyGreen is an online magazine made up of writers and videographers passionate about the environment and sustainability.

Harnessing The Power Of Luffas For Shade And Sponges By Michael d'Estries on regular If you're a regular reader, you no doubt know we here at Groovy have a fascination with the seemingly magical properties of the Luffa. Not only can it be harvested to create the sponge-like scrubber most people love in the tub, but it can also help shade your home and keep things cool in the heat of summer. Just ask John Lawvere — an entire side of his trailer in Arizona is shaded from the sun with several Luffa vines. Additionally, he makes some extra cash from his crop by selling the "sponges" for $5/each come harvest time. Says John, "I teach Physics at a community college in Tucson, AZ. My remodeling/plumber friend helped me a lot at building supports for Luffa vines. We have an idea about building structures over parking lots (near apartment complexes and other businesses) to save those people money on air conditioning while producing a valuable crop." Not a bad idea, right? We applaud John and his amazing "Luffa Tunnel" — something he says "convinced my girlfriend's mother (in Belarus) that I was a good man." Ha, nice. For our original classic, "How To Make (And Grow) A Luffa", click here Copyright © 2008 GroovyGreen.com - Start Today :: Save Tomorrow. This Feed is for personal non-commercial use only. If you are not reading this material in your news aggregator, the site you are looking at is guilty of copyright infringement. Please contact michael@groovygreen.com so we can take legal action immediately. Plugin by Taragana ShareThis Comments

Nuclear Scanning Catches a Radioactive Cat On I-5

 

 

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Nuclear Scanning Catches a Radioactive Cat On I-5

via Slashdot by kdawson on 3/24/08

Jeff recommends Seattle Times columnist Danny Westneat's story from a community meeting with Northwest border control agents. Seems their monitoring for dirty bombs from the median of Interstate 5 caught a car transporting a radioactive cat. "It turns out the feds have been monitoring Interstate 5 for nuclear 'dirty bombs.' They do it with radiation detectors so sensitive it led to the following incident. 'Vehicle goes by at 70 miles per hour... Agent is in the median, a good 80 feet away from the traffic. Signal went off and identified an isotope [in the passing car]. The agent raced after the car, pulling it over not far from the monitoring spot.' Did he find a nuke? 'Turned out to be a cat with cancer that had undergone a radiological treatment three days earlier.'"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

 

 

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Use A Price Book To Save Money On Groceries [Budgeting]

 

 

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Use A Price Book To Save Money On Groceries [Budgeting]

via Consumerist by Chris Walters on 3/21/08

For the ultimate in pricing transparency when shopping for groceries, use a price book. Frugal bloggers everywhere write about it like it's the GTD of grocery shopping, and our own reader marsneedsrabbits suggested it in a thread earlier this week:

The solution to all this is a price book. It costs whatever a cheap notebook costs you, and saves a surprising amount of money and starts saving you money immediately.

If you're detail oriented and ready to start cutting costs at the supermarket, here's more info along with links to downloadable forms, spreadsheets (for those spreadsheet junkies), and advice.

Faye Prosser at FamilyCorner writes, "A price book is simply a list of the items you use regularly and the best prices they sell for in the stores where you are willing to shop." That's it. While it's got a sort of "duh" obviousness about it, the power of such a list grows the more data you put into it, especially when you're finally able to easily compare unit prices for groceries from different stores and at different times of the year:

After a while you'll have an excellent price record of the things you like to buy. If you add dates to the entries you will begin to see the sale pattern for that item. You don't need to include everything you ever use in the course of a year, just those items you buy regularly. You can price items for as many stores as you want or just the main store at which you shop.

J.D. at Get Rich Slowly has a great introduction to the concept and several good links to get you started, and below are few more useful ones we found:
 
Printable price book forms:
http://organizedhome.com/make-price-book-save-money

More advice on how to set one up:
http://www.stretcher.com/stories/05/05mar14c.cfm

Downloadable spreadsheet:
http://www.uncommonwaytowealth.com/excel-finance-spreadsheets/grocery-savings-spreadsheet-price-book/

"Use a Grocery Price Book to Slash Your Food Spending" [Get Rich Slowly]
"Developing a Price Book" [Family Corner]
(Photo: Simon Shek)

 

 

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fyre chief thinks this is funny: Cooks Illustrated Recipe: Boiled Water

fyre chief thinks you might enjoy this.

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Cooks Illustrated Recipe: Boiled Water

Cooks Illustrated Recipe: Boiled Water
by Cooky McKitchener

Like many people, I enjoy the moist aroma and sinus-soothing vapors from a pot of boiling water. But it is often difficult to get a roiling boil just the way you remember it as a child. In my quest to perfect boiled water I began by collecting a dozen different recipes ranging from family hand-me-downs to restaurant standbys. But none of these recipes produced a water boil precisely as I remember it. Some were too slow and too dilute while others were dense and tough. All of the recipes shared a few typical ingredients, such as water. But otherwise they had little in common.

In my first effort to produce a reliable boiled water, I began with a cylindrical steel container, or “pot” as often called for in traditional recipes. Placing the pot four inches away from the flame, the water did eventually come to a boil, but it took six hours. This might have been acceptable in our grandparents’ day, but many of us no longer have so much time to spare. I then moved the pot closer, a mere two inches from the flame. Indeed, the water boiled in just three hours – a big improvement.

Still, tasters said that the boiled water exhibited a “metallic” tang. I suspected this off-note might have been imparted by the steel container or “pot” itself. Next, I removed the pot from the equation, pouring the water directly into the flame. As I’d hoped, the water boiled almost instantly, exhibiting just the warm vapor I was looking for.

Although direct contact with the burner did boil the water quickly, testers found it difficult to get close to the liquid without having their faces burned off by the gas flame. Clearly I needed to find another way.

I then remembered a vessel I’d received as a gift from an ex-mother-in-law that has been kept in a remote storage locker for many years. I drove there in my car at a speed of 30MPH. After observing that it was taking a long time to get there, I increased my speed to 60MPH. This worked well and I arrived at my destination in half the time.

The vessel is constructed with a layer of ceramic enamel enrobed over an iron core. It can hold about 8 quarts of liquid and weighs 400 pounds. I strapped the container to a trailer hitch and returned to the test kitchen.

Because of the vessel’s weight, I used a winch to lift it onto the burner. Once in place, I filled it with water and lit the stove. Voila! In just about ten minutes, there was a perfectly boiled pot of water. The steaming vapor had just the level of moisture I’d remembered, and because of the enamel coating, the boiled water did not take on any unwanted flavors.

BOILED WATER
1 heavy enamel-coated iron pot with winch
8 quarts of water

Lift pot onto burner and fill with water. Turn burner on high and wait ten minutes. Serve immediately.

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From http://www.iwritefunny.com/2008/03/10/cooks-illustrated-recipe-boiled-water/

Bloglines - Alison's take on digital storage

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Ask Moxie Opinions. Lots of them.

Alison's take on digital storage By Moxie Yay! Alison the Archivist is back, with a post on digital storage:  First things first. I want to make it clear that digital files can be maintained over the long term. Digital information is not hopelessly ephemeral. I believe that most of our current misgivings about the longevity of digital data spring from the fact we have historically treated them as short-lived, transient objects. We make copies of files willy-nilly all over our computers. We send them all around the world via email. Digital storage is inexpensive, so when we run out of room, we just buy more—a luxury that we do not have in the physical world. We do not often consider digital files even to be the same type of animal as paper letters or paper photographs. For many of us here in the Moxieverse, though, we now recognize that we possess digital files that are neither disposable or ephemeral. We are creating unique and indispensable records of our children's youth with our digital cameras. We do not have space to store all of our children's glorious artworks, so we scan them, hoping to find a place for them in the digital realm where none existed in the physical world. What are we to do? How are we to ensure that some of this precious evidence of a time now passed will persist? First, we should be clear about our timeframe. How long do we want these files to last? You'll note that archivists rarely (if ever) use the words "forever" or "permanent." We are too privy to the effects of time on information. Instead, archivists consider how things might best be kept for the long term, or on an on-going basis. I make this distinction because it is important for all of us to set our expectations at a reasonable level. What we are trying to do with both our most precious physical and digital records is keep them in the best possible manner so that they will last as long as possible. This is not the same as expecting them to last forever—a quite unreasonable expectation. We will do the best we can, knowing that our descendents will take up the same mantle and make their own decisions about how they wish to proceed. Enough with the theoretical ramblings. We all have a pretty good, innate understanding of what paper can and cannot be expected to do. We've used it our entire lives. It has been passed down to us by the past and we have seen how it deteriorates. On the other hand, digital files often seem hidden, tricky—the domain of other people "who know more about such things." Given the vast number of digital files that surround us, now is the time to shed such preconceptions. The moment has come to acquire a better, basic understanding of what digital files need to thrive so that we can move forward without trepidation. So, how to proceed? Well, unfortunately, the one thing we should not do is to apply this innate understanding of how best to store physical objects to our decisions about storing digital objects. Let me explain. In order to increase the life expectancy of a piece of paper or a photograph, the most prudent thing to do is to place such an object in a very cold, very dark, humidity-controlled environment. In fact—if you will allow me to exaggerate my point here for effect—to make a photograph last for the longest period of time possible, it would be best if you were to keep it in its cold, dark place without ever looking at it or touching it. Looking at a photograph exposes it to light which degrades the print even just a little, while touching the photograph exposes it to all the dangers inherent in physical manipulation, such as oils from the skin being transferred to the print or any accidental ripping or bending. This is the exact opposite of the way that we should treat digital objects if we want them to last for the longest period of time possible. We need to open them, look at them on all sides, make sure they are still readable. It is not wise just to dump all of your most precious digital files on CDs or DVDs and put them on a shelf in the same way you might store a box of old photographs. The photographs do well in the dark. Digital objects do best in the "light," and the reason to keep them visible is two-fold. First, as I mentioned in my original post, the physical medium on which we store our digital files is as subject to degradation as everything else in the physical world...CDs, DVDs, magnetic tapes, hard drives, whatever. Every type of digital storage has a panoply of ways in which it could fail, just like all physical objects. The scariest part of this process is the fact that it is not always patently obvious when digital storage devices are on their way to failure. Like your car, sometimes they give hints of an upcoming breakdown, but other times, they just die in the middle of the road. But when digital devices do fail, they tend to fail utterly. The second reason that we need to maintain an active connection with our digital data is that both the file formats and the storage formats we use to maintain our digital information periodically become obsolete.** As mentioned by one of the commenters to my original post, if you have all of your files on old iOmega Zip disks but you no longer have an iOmega Zip drive, no matter how perfectly those disks still function, they will you no good if you cannot retrieve your information from them. As for old file formats, did anyone here use PeachText back in the day? Trying to open those files now is a tough prospect. Commodore 64 files with no Commodore 64? If you don't have the hardware or the software to read your data, you don't actually have the information at all. So, in summary, the longer you leave your digital files alone without looking at them, the greater the risk that the information will not be useable when you go back to find it. Scared? Well, don't be. Again, just like everything else in life, maintaining your digital records is a question of risk management. Ask yourself how much effort are you willing to put into the process of maintaining your data for the long term. You make these types of decisions already with your physical stuff, you just may not think about it so much because of your innate understanding of the way the physical world works. For digital stuff, we probably have to be a little bit more proactive for the moment, but, hopefully, this will all become old-hat in the future. OK, I hear you all saying, bring on the practical tips for this balanced approach towards digital recordkeeping!! As with my last post, I have no suggestions that involve actual brands or products. I'm afraid you will all have to evaluate what's on the market for yourselves. Moreover, you are not required to follow all (or even any) of my suggestions. Pick which ones fit into your lifestyle. Adapt them. Riff on them. Feel free to decide that you think all of this is too much bother and accept the fact that you may lose digital information. Or, feel free to follow them all to the letter, and know that you still might lose some data, just like you know you may lose those precious photos in your attic due to unforeseen circumstances. Whatever you do...pick a system that you will be happy to maintain, and don't just follow someone else's mandates. This is your information we're talking about. You get to decide what to keep and how to keep it. I am hoping to provide you with information that gets you thinking. 1) Controlled redundancy is a very good thing. You should consider storing multiple copies of your digital records on separate storage devices (say, on a designated hard drive at your house, and also a set of CD's stored off-site). By doing this, you will greatly reduce your risk of loss, mainly because you have made two copies—no other fancy reason. Remember, though, keeping your files in two places means that you need to keep your eye on both copies on an ongoing basis. 2) I like to use hard drives for my long-term storage because I don't like to spend hours plopping CD after CD into a drive to check each and every one of them. 3) Whatever type of storage medium you've chosen to use—say a hard drive—you should seriously consider copying your data onto a new hard drive every once in a while, say every three to five years, in order to help ensure that the physical medium is as fresh as possible. The same goes for CDs, DVDs...anything. And, do feel free to use the phrase, "I'm currently refreshing my digital storage media" in conversation. It impresses people. 4) When you do refresh your digital storage media, or indeed at any time that pleases you, take a moment to look at what you have stored there. Does it include everything you want it to include? If not, add or remove what you desire. Do you still have all the hardware and software needed to read and understand all of your stored information? If not...lesson learned. If so, do you foresee having the necessary hardware and software available the *next time* you do this operation? If not, update your choice of storage medium and/or decide which files should now be saved in newer file formats. When you do this, make sure that all of the information you were once able to see and use in the old files can be seen and used in the new ones. 5) Do not delegate the responsibility of storing your files to any online company who does not promise to take care of them until you tell them to stop. This includes Flickr, Snapfish and all those kinds of sites. If and when these guys go out of business, *poof* there goes your data. Over time, we may find that we don't have to go back and check in with our data so often. But I don't think we'll never be able just to put digital data into "cold storage." I also think it might be clearer now why we are finding that digital files are more expensive to store over the long term. When you wish to ensure that your digital data is usable on an ongoing basis, it is much more labor-intensive to maintain, both mentally and physically, than paper records. Finally, allow me to mention that there are those who feel that, given the reality of this situation, it might just be best to keep every single one of your digital files. These folks suggest, "Why think about it? Just backup the whole lot. Storage is cheap and we can just search the text of the files to find what we need." This solution may work for periodic computer backups, but it is a risky way to move forward with the information we want to keep for the long term for a variety of reasons. Let me just offer you offer one or two. How do you find a picture with a text search? If you save every digital picture you ever took...how are you going to find the one of Aunt Sara? Finally, if you never take the time to remember what it is that you've stored, you may very well end up with a lot of useless ones-and-zeroes because you no longer have the software to interpret your files. You may certainly choose to follow this path if it pleases you; I just want to point out its risks. How do you pick what to keep and what to purge? Again, I'm afraid that's up to you. These kinds of decisions are made in the precise same way for both the digital and physical worlds, because, at its heart, you are dealing with the same thing: collecting, expunging, remembering, forgetting, embracing, letting go, thinking about the future, coming to terms with the past. Information  is meaningful. That's a lot of words, I know, and I haven't even answered all of your questions. I invite all of you to discuss this further in the comments, and I especially invite responses from my fellow archivists...I know they'll have more to say on this topic! Alison **Those of you who have old slides might have just perked up your ears. Yes, regular-old slides are indeed becoming obsolete in just this same manner. Kodak no longer makes slide projectors and it is becoming harder and harder to find a working machine. If you wish to enjoy looking at your slides, therefore, reformatting them as digital files makes an awful lot of sense. But please, consider keeping the old slides once you have had them scanned. In future, you may wish to have them scanned again when the technology improves. Think of your digital scans as copies of the original, not as a replacement

Bloglines - Build Your Own Water-Powered Car For Less Than $200

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GroovyGreen.com - Start Today :: Save Tomorrow GroovyGreen is an online magazine made up of writers and videographers passionate about the environment and sustainability.

Build Your Own Water-Powered Car For Less Than $200 By Michael d'Estries on perspective Wow. I'm more shocked over how God-awful this website looks and less surprised by the content. I've long understood water-powered cars from a 'what-if' perspective and less from a technical point of view — but can't seriously judge whether this gizmo (which boosted some guy's Toyota Corolloa to 61.13 mpg) actually works. If you can get past a page layout that screams 'SCAM' and 'WHIZ BANG BOOM!' all in one sentence, and have $200 to blow, hey — go for it. Here's a bit of the technology pulled from the site, Again, water is supplemental to gasoline. However it is possible and VERY EASY to extract energy from water to run your car on water too. I have a water-to-energy converters running in my cars since 2006. YOU CAN TOO. I'm about to tell you about a SIMPLE technology you can have right now, called Water4Gas. It's one of the most PRACTICAL free-energy devices, marked by extraordinary simplicity and effectiveness. We have developed devices that use a little electricity out of your car's battery, to separate water into a gas called HHO (2 Hydrogen + 1 Oxygen). HHO, also called Brown's Gas or Hydroxy, burns beautifully and provides TONS of energy - while the end product is just WATER! Mobile Magazine says HHO provides the atomic power of Hydrogen, while maintaining the chemical stability of water. Apparently, the inventor of this system, Ozzie Freedom (ed note: yea, we're pretty sure that's an alias too…), shows it off from 12pm-1pm every Saturday in LA. Has anyone even heard of this? I'm truly laughing over how much crap is on this page — but I'm willing to keep an open mind — barely. Take a look. Copyright © 2008 GroovyGreen.com - Start Today :: Save Tomorrow. This Feed is for personal non-commercial use only. If you are not reading this material in your news aggregator, the site you are looking at is guilty of copyright infringement. Please contact michael@groovygreen.com so we can take legal action immediately. Plugin by Taragana ShareThis Comments

3 Ways To Find Amazon.com Free Shipping Fillers [Amazon]

 

 

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3 Ways To Find Amazon.com Free Shipping Fillers [Amazon]

via Consumerist by Ben Popken on 3/17/08

Amazon gives you free shipping if you buy over $25 of qualifying goods so people will sometimes search for "filler" items, little cheap doohickiesand to toss in to bring the total up. Here's three quick ways to find them, courtesy of WiseBread:

1. Add the secret code
After you search on Amazon for what you want, add &emi=ATVPDKIKX0DER to the end to find an item that gets you Super Saver Shipping.
2. FillerItem
Put the amount you need to spend to reach SSS in the box and select the categories to search within.
3. FreebieVille
A list of fillers from $1-$5.

Filler strategies for Amazon's Free Super Saver Shipping [WiseBread] (Thanks to Chris!)
(Photo: funny strange or funny ha ha)

 

 

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