Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category

a mouse perches on a frog in waist-deep (for a frog, anyway) floodwaters—a small sign of the early arrival of annual summer monsoon rains.

I’ve had this link in my bookmarks ever since I found it on National Geographic. Part of me is wondering why this hasn’t been made into a poster already. It would sell by the millions. The picture is so crisp and clear it looks like something someone might of done with 3d models or Photoshop. It reminds me of the Hippo and Tortoise story from the Tsunami. Everyone I’ve shown it to was amazed and thought it was cute.

I recently got one of these white noise machines. They are quite expensive, around $50, but they work very well. The 980 model has two speeds and you can twist the top and sides to change the sound to make it louder or more muffled. Whether you live in a noisy apartment, have a noisy office, can’t sleep at night, or use it for your infants room, it does it’s job well. Some people put them in the baby’s room and have one of those voice monitors so they know when they are awake. I used to just turn my ceiling fan on full blast, although you can’t do that in the winter. The noise it makes isn’t irritating and repetitive, unlike most white noise CDs out there.

I usually only like to wear hats if I’m riding my bike or doing work outside. But one thing I’ve noticed is that the the ones with the little plastic snaps, usually end up breaking after awhile. I’ve noticed that the thicker your hair is the more it seems to put stress on those notches. Its also probably because I usually wear hats backwards. So, I found about these Flexfit baseball caps, they look like fitted hats but have a elastic band inside that expands if need be. They come in just a few sizes so you don’t have to remember your hat size. Just another one of those inventions that make you think, “Why didn’t I think of that?”.

I got one of these for Christmas a few years back and at the time I was like, what do I need this for? It was ugly and seemed too big for my desk and figured it would end up in my closet for awhile. However, I did realize I was always unplugging my printer, scanner and other peripherals when I didn’t need them. So I decided to put it on the side of my desk, rather than under my monitor. They are really handy devices, since you don’t really need power to everything at once, just power what you need, and when you’re done with the computer, just turn them all off. I was recently looking for another one, for my TV, DVD, VHS, Stereo system and realized it seems most of the manufacturers that made them are no longer doing so. Belkin and Fellowes seemed to have stopped. I’m sure if they made them in something other than dirty beige, they would sell better. A lot of them look like something from the 80’s with big clear red led switches on the front.

Most electronics use way too much power when they are off. The “One Watt Plan” in the UK, will hopefully be adopted in the US, until then you can help out and use one of these devices for more than just computers and cut your electricity down some.

I wrote a letter to the Postmaster General asking, ‘Why are we not allowed to reuse Priority Mail boxes?’ I’ve known several people that have had their boxes opened and were not allowed to mail them, because they were Priority Mail boxes flipped inside out. If you are familiar with the boxes that are approximately the size of a VCR, those boxes can be flipped inside out easily so they won’t show anything on the outside (they brown on the inside). However over the last 3 or 4 years, they have been printing “USPS” or “Priority Mail” all over the inside of the boxes in black ink, so you can’t flip them inside out and reuse them.

Priority Mail boxes are free as long as you send your package priority mail, but I don’t see the harm done in simply reusing a box. After all, reusing an item as much as you can should come before recycling it.

Apparently some law was passed in 1999 regarding this. The USPS replied to my letter with the following information:

Effective September 9, 1999, Domestic Mail Manual (DMM) C010.6.2 and E120.1.4 was amended to clarify standards for items mailed in United States Postal Service Express Mail and Priority Mail packaging. This revision states specifically that items mailed in Express Mail and Priority Mail packaging provided by the United States Postal Service must be charged the appropriate Express Mail or Priority Mail rate, regardless of how the packaging is reconfigured or how markings may be obliterated.

To this day I’ve never used a new Priority Mail box to mail something and don’t plan to. I keep old boxes and packaging around, often peeling off mailing labels or slicing the edge to flip it inside out. Even manila envelopes with bubbles can be reused, if not just for the bubbles. Of course you probably don’t want the packaging to look too sloppy when you sell something on eBay, but you can take a little time to make it look nice and help out the environment.