insert pun here

Broken Glass
Use a dry cotton ball to pick up little broken glass pieces - the fibers
catch ones you can't see! A piece of bread works too.

No More Mosquitoes
Place a dryer sheet in your pocket. It will keep the mosquitoes away.

Squirrel Away!
To keep squirrels from eating your plants sprinkle your plants with cayenne
pepper. The cayenne pepper doesn't hurt the plant and the squirrels won't
come near it.

Newspaper weeds away
Start putting in your plants, work the nutrients in your soil. Wet
newspapers put layers around the plants overlapping as you go cover with
mulch and forget about weeds. Weeds will get through some
gardening plastic they will not get through wet newspapers.

Flexible vacuum
To get something out of a heat register or under the fridge add an empty
paper towel roll or empty gift wrap roll to your vacuum. It can be bent or
flattened to get in narrow openings.

Reducing Static Cling
Pin a small safety pin to the seam of your slip and you will not have a
clingy skirt or dress. Same thing works with slacks that cling when wearing
panty hose. Place pin in seam of slacks and --
voila -- statics gone.

Measuring Cups
Before you pour sticky substances into a measuring cup, fill it with hot
water. Dump out the hot water, but don't dry the cup. Next, add your
ingredient, such as peanut butter, and watch how easily it comes right out.

Foggy Windshield?
Hate foggy windshields? Buy a chalkboard eraser and keep it in the glove box
of your car. When the
windows fog, rub with the eraser! Works better than a cloth!

Reopening envelope
If you seal an envelope and then realize you forgot to include something
inside, just place your sealed envelope in the freezer for an hour or two.
Voila! It unseals easily.

Reheat Pizza
Heat up leftover pizza in a non stick skillet on top of the stove, set heat
to med-low and heat till warm. This keeps the crust crispy. No soggy micro
pizza. I saw this on the cooking channel.

Easy Deviled Eggs
Put cooked egg yolks in a zip lock bag. Seal, mash till they are all broken
up. Add remainder of
ingredients, reseal, keep mashing it up mixing thoroughly, cut the tip of
the baggy, squeeze mixture into egg white. Just throw bag away when done
easy clean up.

Expanding Frosting
When you buy a container of cake frosting from the store, whip it with your
mixer for a few minutes. You can double it in size. You get to frost more
cake/cupcakes with the same amount. You also eat less sugar/calories per
serving.

Reheating refrigerated bread
To warm biscuits, pancakes, or muffins that were refrigerated, place them
in a microwave with a cup of water. The increased moisture will keep the
food moist and help it reheat faster.

Conditioner
Ladies use your hair conditioner to shave your legs. It's a lot cheaper than
shaving cream and leaves your legs really smooth. It's also a great way to
use up the conditioner you bought but didn't like when you tried in your
hair

Goodbye Fruit Flies
To get rid of pesky fruit flies, take a small glass fill it 1/2" with Apple
Cider Vinegar and 2 drops of dish washing liquid, mix well. You will find
those flies drawn to the cup and gone forever!

Get Rid of Ants
Put small piles of cornmeal where you see ants. They eat it, take it "home,"
can't digest it so it kills them. It may take a week or so, especially if it
rains, but it works & you don't have the worry about pets or small children
being harmed!

Take baby powder to the beach
Keep a small bottle of baby powder in your beach bag. When your ready to
leave the beach sprinkle
yourself and/or kids with the powder and the sand will slide right off your
skin.

logic problems

here are some logic problems that i copied from another blog. logic problems are one of my favorite things, and i would almost pay large sums of money for a good one. in the list below, these are all new and fresh to me except # 14. coincidentally, i heard it during the same "50-miler" where we stumbled upon the tragedy of Eagle Lakes. (i think it was a few days after). we were hiking and someone told the problem, and for hours, about 8 of us hiked along discussing it. brilliant. for my fellow hikers: bring some logic problems along for your next hike. there is something beautiful in thinking and discussing this stuff when hiking. perhaps its something similar to the disciples walking along discussing the parables Jesus himself told.

the blog i got these from lists the answers. but in my love for logic problems, i have not looked at the answers yet. part of the love is the love of actually trying to figure it out. but to save some of you the temptation, i will not post the source for a while. in the meantime lets discuss.

1. You are given two ropes and a lighter. This is the only equipment you can use. You are told that each of the two ropes has the following property: if you light one end of the rope, it will take exactly one hour to burn all the way to the other end. But it doesn't have to burn at a uniform rate. In other words, half the rope may burn in the first five minutes, and then the other half would take 55 minutes. The rate at which the two ropes burn is not necessarily the same, so the second rope will also take an hour to burn from one end to the other, but may do it at some varying rate, which is not necessarily the same as the one for the first rope. Now you are asked to measure a period of 45 minutes. How will you do it?
2. You have 50 quarters on the table in front of you. You are blindfolded and cannot discern whether a coin is heads up or tails up by feeling it. You are told that x coins are heads up, where x is greater than zero and less than 50. You are asked to separate the coins into two piles in such a way that the number of heads up coins in both piles is the same at the end. You may flip any coin over as many times as you like. How will you do it?
3. A farmer is returning from town with a dog, a chicken and some corn. He arrives at a river that he must cross, but all that is available to him is a small raft large enough to hold him and one of his three possessions. He may not leave the dog alone with the chicken, for the dog will eat it. Furthermore, he may not leave the chicken alone with the corn, for the chicken will eat it. How can he bring everything across the river safely?
4. You have four chains. Each chain has three links in it. Although it is difficult to cut the links, you wish to make a loop with all 12 links. What is the fewest number of cuts you must make to accomplish this task?
5. Walking down the street one day, I met a woman strolling with her daughter. “What a lovely child,” I remarked. “In fact, I have two children,” she replied. What is the probability that both of her children are girls? Be warned: this question is not as trivial as it may look.
6. Before you lie three closed boxes. They are labeled “Blue Jellybeans”, “Red Jellybeans” and “Blue & Red Jellybeans.” In fact, all the boxes are filled with jellybeans. One with just blue, one with just red and one with both blue and red. However, all the boxes are incorrectly labeled. You may reach into one box and pull out only one jellybean. Which box should you select from to correctly label the boxes?
7. A glass of water with a single ice cube sits on a table. When the ice has completely melted, will the level of the water have increased, decreased or remain unchanged?
8. You are given eight coins and told that one of them is counterfeit. The counterfeit one is slightly heavier than the other seven. Otherwise, the coins look identical. Using a simple balance scale, can you determine which coin is counterfeit using the scale only twice?
9. There are two gallon containers. One is filled with water and the other is filled with wine. Three ounces of the wine are poured into the water container. Then, three ounces from the water container are poured into the wine. Now that each container has a gallon of liquid, which is greater: the amount of water in the wine container or the amount of wine in the water container?
10. Late one evening, four hikers find themselves at a rope bridge spanning a wide river. The bridge is not very secure and can hold only two people at a time. Since it is quite dark, a flashlight is needed to cross the bridge and only one hiker had brought his. One of the hikers can cross the bridge in one minute, another in two minutes, another in five minutes and the fourth in ten minutes. When two people cross, they can only walk as fast as the slower of the two hikers. How can they all cross the bridge in 17 minutes? No, they cannot throw the flashlight across the river.
11. Other than the North Pole, where on this planet is it possible to walk one mile due south, one mile due east and one mile due north and end up exactly where you began?
12. I was visiting a friend one evening and remembered that he had three daughters. I asked him how old they were. “The product of their ages is 72,” he answered. Quizzically, I asked, “Is there anything else you can tell me?” “Yes,” he replied, “the sum of their ages is equal to the number of my house.” I stepped outside to see what the house number was. Upon returning inside, I said to my host, “I’m sorry, but I still can’t figure out their ages.” He responded apologetically, ‘I’m sorry. I forgot to mention that my oldest daughter likes strawberry shortcake.” With this information, I was able to determine all of their ages. How old is each daughter? I assure you that there is enough information to solve the puzzle.
13. The surface of a distant planet is covered with water except for one small island on the planet’s equator. On this island is an airport with a fleet of identical planes. One pilot has a mission to fly around the planet along its equator and return to the island. The problem is that each plane only has enough fuel to fly a plane half way around the planet. Fortunately, each plane can be refueled by any other plane midair. Assuming that refuelings can happen instantaneously and all the planes fly at the same speed, what is the fewest number of planes needed for this mission?
14. You find yourself in a room with three light switches. In a room upstairs stands a single lamp with a single light bulb on a table. One of the switches controls that lamp, whereas the other two switches do nothing at all. It is your task to determine which of the three switches controls the light upstairs. The catch: once you go upstairs to the room with the lamp, you may not return to the room with the switches. There is no way to see if the lamp is lit without entering the room upstairs. How do you do it?
15. There are two gallon containers. One is filled with water and the other is filled with wine. Three ounces of the wine are poured into the water container. Then, three ounces from the water container are poured into the wine. Now that each container has a gallon of liquid, which is greater: the amount of water in the wine container or the amount of wine in the water container?

if youve actually read all these, then maybe you would appreciate this site devoted to riddles

eagle lake

since im a dork, i must have been a Boy Scout right? Right.

and starting at the prime age of 14, i used to go backpacking each summer for about a week a "50 miler" they called it because, well, we went 50 miles.

the second year i went, we went to this area that is northwest of Lake Tahoe in California. all of our 50 Milers were in the Sierra Nevada mountains. i was on google maps earlier looking at the old marching ground and i noticed Eagle Lakes. i couldent help but laugh. and if only we had google maps back then. see, on our second or third day out we were planning on staying at Eagle Lakes. we had hiked all day and finally got to the place. then when we arrived we planned to pump water as we always did. we used water purifiers and pumped water from lakes.

these water purifiers have filters in them that filter out all kinds of things. so when we arrived, we were very disappointed at seeing the lake a large algae grown nasty fester of a goiter on the wilderness. and all the trees within about 10 ft of the lake were dead. imagine that. i think we called it "hell lake" or something like that. we spent more time cleaning our filters than we did pumping water at hell lake. and it was hell.

on the other hand, not far away is one of my favorite places ever, Downey Lake.

songs for Christmas

reminder

today Sufjan Stevens releases his new collection of Christmas songs in
Songs for Christmas.

get it. you wont regret.

generation "one-up"

it seems that these days everyone is trying to do something to "one-up" the next guy. this is particularly true with our generation. (i understand the dilemma i may encroach upon by using the phrase "our generation" but other than Charlie Brown, i think i can safely presume no one older than 37 reads this blog. and if you are 37, you were probably about 11 in 1980.)

i would like to call us generation "one-up" today. somehow this seems related to growing up in the 80s. in the 80s, Music Television (MTV) was introduced, Compact Discs were introduced (CD's), 8 tracks were gone, records were dying. faster cars came. better cars. cars designed not only to meet ones basic transportation needs, but also to look "cool" or "radical." (there was a new clever Cadillac commercial i saw the other day that reminded me of this.) and fashion. so many outfits to try and wear. so many crazy things. this wasent too new of an idea, but the doors flew open in the 80's and 90's with fashion in my opinion. with the introduction of malls a few decades prior, for the first time people shopped for fun. not just for necessity. but the 80s and 90s also brought the internet. and this brought mail order shopping to the next level. now people could search online department stores, and have the latest and greatest products shipped to their door. and with the internet came chatting. and chat rooms. we were all kids in chat rooms wanting to be noticed, saying the most clever and/or outrageous things to be noticed. to be special. and then we started our blogs. which continue today. some of us have more practical websites and ideas, but really...whats it for? there came google and del.icio.us. and ebay! and there came news online and virtual magazines. oh and let me remind you...the 80s brought Video games. oh deer. us little kids (and parents got in on the action as well) would sit around for hours hacking away at Super Mario Brothers. trying to "beat" one another. every two hours you would hear someone in the household say "i beat your score" and on it went...

and on it goes.

so here we are. generation one-up. we are at the point where people are starting to do silly things to stand out, to be noticed, to one up each other. you know what im talking about so i wont divulge. and i admit, i fall into the trap. im writing a novel in a month. its crazy and stupid. i would like to say that im doing it as a personal experiment to see if i can do it and what its like. cause i am. but i also cant honestly say there is zero pride in the progress. weve all been conditioned to some point. admit it.

and so this brings me to todays picture, brought to you by the letter U and the number 4. this man took a Polaroid picture every day since about 1989. his wall measures 30 meters. impressive. how will you one-up him?

slate

just read this article. im a little typed out though....so just read it.

(and you might want to go here too: http://www.slate.com/id/2150150/)

9

oh boy oh boy

today! the new Damien Rice album came out. "9" its called.

hold it close to your heart. i am.

listen to it here: http://www.warnerbrosrecords.com/damienrice/

progress 6 #2 - Desmond Dekker

Desmond Dekker was born on July 16th, 1941 in St. Andrew, Jamaica. He was a Jamaican ska and reggae singer and songwriter. He was one of the first Jamaican artists to have international hits, even before Bob Marley. The main group he was with during the first part of his musical career was The Aces. Desmond grew up in Kingston, but when his mother died, his father moved him to St. Mary and then to St. Thomas. It was here he apprenticed as a tailor. After this he moved back to Kingston where he worked as a welder and sang around the work place for his co-workers. Eventually he auditioned for some record labels and landed a deal.

But im writing a novel these days, and im pretty "typed"out right now. so here is Desmond's big hit of 1968, The Israelites. The song was the first to make it to the top of the Singles Chart in the UK, and also made itself to the top ten singles chart in the US. Additionally, Desmond became the first Jamaican performer to enter U.S. markets with pure Jamaican music.

did you vote today?

just keep in mind when you go home today after you nice office job and you contemplate voting tonight, while you eat microwavable popcorn, watch the Simpson's and complain to your neighbor, mr. jones about his lawn being dis-orderly:

the majority of almost 20 million people in the Republic of Mozambique, located in southeastern Africa, live in poverty. over 50% of the people earn $1/day working hard labor. few have adequate clothing, very few have good education. the life expectancy is about 45, AIDS is everywhere.

in the last 30 years, over a million people died from fighting and famine in war that ruined their economy and countryside. they are left with these reminders fresh in their lives with landmines and amputees everywhere. in 2000 and 2001, they were hit with floods that affected over a quarter of the population and destroyed much of its infrastructure. in 2002, a severe drought.

these people wont get a new Sony PS3 for Christmas. some wont ever see an ipod or a computer. they dont get to snuggle in a down comforter at night. and everyone lives in fear their children will have AIDS before the age of 12.

and do you know what they do when its time to have a say as to what will happen to their country....they vote. after years and years of... excuse me, bullshit, their government adopted a democracy in 1990. and these people who really know life, take advantage of it. above is a picture of the voting lines.

so what are you doing tonight?
and dont say "nothing"
please.

mail order (brides?)

i was looking up some info on the FTC regulations for mail-orders and noticed this about mail order brides.
via wikipedia:

The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) reports that "...marriages arranged through these services would appear to have a lower divorce rate than the nation as a whole, fully 80 percent of these marriages having lasted over the years for which reports are available." The USCIS also reports that "... mail-order bride and e-mail correspondence services result in 4,000 to 6,000 marriages between U.S. men and foreign brides each year."

and the plot thickens

maybe you didnt know, but Britain has a DNA database with criminals DNA stored.

The database, set up in 1995, has expanded to 3.6 million profiles, making it the largest in the world.

now thats something. apparently, they now store data on innocent people.

read about it here.

API

google has this sweet thing called "google maps API"

im experimenting.

hopefully this will lead to many good things. for now...enjoy a little map where you can select a city and find out its population.

look on the sidebar.

Memories by Eisley

i stumbled across this video of Eisley's video of Memories recently. i must say, i like this band. ive never really listened to them before but the trio of harmony between Leigh Nash and the sisters, Stacy and Sherri DuPree, is incredible. and whats more incredible to me is that they are so young. imagine in 5 or 10 years what they will create. Eisley is a Christian band, and although their lyrics are not blatant about their faith, there are hints of faith and love and Christ. brilliant. people often ask me where are the "good" Christian bands. i will try to do my best at introducing you to what i consider the good ones. and no, Kenny G is not one of them. not in my book.

He was throwing grain into the ground below, ground below
With dreary circles of his arm, going slow, very slow
His cap pulled down roun' his ears to
hide the smile and watery tears

My loving wife it's so wonderful
how small seeds gracefully do grow
into beautiful things that spring from these rows
With their musical names and musical sounds

Dreary birds parade across the dreary sky, but down below
the woman absent mindedly begins to sow, how she sows the
seeds her husband loved so much, but he's no longer
here with us

But her life is so beautiful
as memories continue to grow
into beautiful things that spring from these rows
With their musical names and musical sounds
Beautiful things that spring from these rows
with their musical names and musical sounds, and musical sounds

Distant though I am
orange, gold, and green
firing, flaming, colors surround me
I'm always wondering where you are.
I'm always wondering where you are.
Darling shouldn't I be the one
Wondering after all I am the one who is gone
I'm always wondering where you are.
I'm always wondering where you are.
Darling shouldn't I be the one
Wondering after all I am the one who is gone
I'm always wondering.
I was just wondering.
I was just wondering.
I'm the one who is gone
Who is gone

But, there's beautiful things that spring from these rows
With their musical names, and musical sounds
Musical sounds