respublica

Important products for gray hair.

I'm not going to hide this, I have gray hair. lots of it. So this headline had me click the link to see just what gray hair needs. My first thought was they'd be products to hide gray hair, something I"m not especially interested in doing. But, no, it seems as though graying hair has special needs to avoid thinning and drying out. I have not had either of these issues so, we'll see. They recommend using coconut oil for moisture, purple shampoo to alleviate hair turning yellow which I do not believe is much of an issue, toners to alleviate dullness, color extending shampoos to brighten hair, Leave in treatments ( I have no idea what the are), quality styling tools (no thank you), bristle brushes to smooth out tangles and serum to get rid of frizz.

So this strikes me as rather nutty, I plan to just continue doing what a normally do, wash and dry my hair and forget it.

News I did not want to read

It seems there is an outbreak of Listeria in several states including Illinois which has as its source grocery store deli meats and cheese.

"Deli counters and food processing facilities can be a common source of listeria infection, the CDC said, as listeria can easily spread between food and equipment or surfaces and can be hard to remove."

But the oddest part of this story is this: "Most of the people identified in the outbreak so far are of Eastern European descent or speak Russian, the CDC said."

I don't know quite what to make of all this except the outbreak seems to be small.

This is one crazy idea

Story headline: "Can You Use a Leaf Blower to Clean Your Dryer Vent?"

My first thought was "oh no way." And, the explanation of how to do this did not change my mind. If you've ever used a leaf blower you know a good amount of force comes out of it. I could just picture the vent hose flying all over the laundry room. But, if anyone wants to try this, here is how they explain.

First thing was what you must have or not have with your dryer:

A removable grill on the outside. This must be removed or else the lint being expelled will become trapped and compacted at the front of the grill, causing a blockage. This can be especially dangerous, as dryers are a leading cause of house fires in the US. Our is under the front porch against the foundation. No way it is removable. I do reach under there with a vent lint brush occasionally to get lint out as much as I can.

And, only use this on vent tubing which can be formed into a straight line. If the first two things are what you have, here is what you can do.

Remove the outside grill cover. Unplug the dryer and remove the tube from the back and straighten it out into a line. Fasten the leaf blower to the tubing with air duct tape. (who knew?) Then, use the blower's lowest power setting first, working upwards in strength in 30 second to one minute bursts until all lint has been expelled.

I cannot even imagine doing this. I'd much prefer taking the old vent hose off and putting on a new one, or hiring someone to hang the new one.

I can just imagine going to the basement and doing this and Dale upstairs hearing the leaf blower start up down there.

 

They make things too complicated

This explanation of the fastest and easiest way to defrost fogged up car windows sort of made me laugh. This doesn't seem all that easy. I have copied it below.

"The first step is to turn the heater up to the maximum temperature, to make sure as much heat as possible is heading to your windows. Next, turn on the air conditioning, as this will make the air inside the vehicle much drier - a crucial step in clearing the windscreen quickly.

Once the air con is on, turn off the air circulation - this button can often be found with a car icon featuring an arrow pointing backwards. Next, open the windows just a touch - and voila! The windscreen should be clear."

I went out to my truck and Dale's car to check for an arrow and neither of them have an arrow pointing backwards.  When we find our windows fogged up, we just turn on the fan with a bit of heat and wait til they clear.

 

A new way to put the new bag in the trash can

I don't know if this idea makes things easier or more efficient, but I'm going to try it. The picture with this article looks like our kitchen trash can as do the bags. The advice is to put the opening of the trash bag over the can opening, then push it down rather than shaking it open and putting it in bottom-up. This kind of eliminates all the unfolding followed by securing to the top.

I'll try this a new bag after tomorrow's trash pickup.

Cleaning up

A breaking news story from People Magazine lets us know about an exciting early Amazon Black Friday sale. Of course I looked at this really really early Black Friday thing. Amazon is getting seriously early with this sort of thing which is normally the day after Thanksgiving. And what is the headliner?

Vacuums. They are the focus of this big sale. I mean, seriously, is everyone looking for a new vacuum? Are so many floors in our homes begging to be cleaned? And, who doesn't have a vacuum? We actually have at least 3, one for each floor and a shop vac for the basement and garage.

Here is a vacuum listed as one of the best. The Inse Cordless Cleaner on sale for 99.99 regularly 569.99! What?! That is quite the sale which tells me this may not be the best after all.

Now they've come for our art

There are as many home decorating ideas as there are home owners. Maybe more. This article uses the theory of Feng shui to advise us on how to hang our pictures in the bedroom. Feng shui sometimes called Chinese geomancy, is an ancient Chinese traditional practice which claims to use energy forces to harmonize individuals with their surrounding environment.

In any event, one Feng Shui expert recommends not hanging pictures vertically in your bedroom. "If you're looking to create a relaxing or serene space, such as in a bedroom, you may find a wider piece of art to evoke these feelings." "A vertical  piece may work best in a space that needs more action, such as an entryway or office." We should also consider colors.

Earth is the element of stability and nurture and can be brought into a space in the form of light browns, yellows, and neutral tones.blue and green are also great choices. 'Water is the element of tranquility, wisdom, and wealth and should be brought in with plenty of blues and sea greens."

This is pretty much beyond me, our bedroom is mostly blues of several shades and white. I'm content with this.

 

Can you spell Avocado?

A woman in England with much too much time on her hands has begun picking up dropped grocery lists she sees when shopping. She's up to 300 pickups written on everything from old envelopes to old receipts to actual plain paper. One thing in common with many of the lists is the wrong spelling of Avocado. It seems most of us can't spell it correctly.

Can you? I'm not linking this article because there you have to register to read,  But if you're fine with doing that, here is the story.

This could well be true

One of my Facebook friends posted this today, originating from a Jeff Grinnell. After googling this guy, it seems he does exist. In any event, the could be history of the width of railroad tracks is very interesting.

A history lesson for people who think that history doesn't matter:

What's the big deal about railroad tracks?

The US standard railroad gauge (distance between the rails) is 4 feet, 8.5 inches. That's an exceedingly odd number.
Why was that gauge used?

Well, because that's the way they built them in England, and English engineers designed the first US railroads.
Why did the English build them like that?

Because the first rail lines were built by the same people who built the wagon tramways, and that's the gauge they used.
So, why did 'they' use that gauge then?

Because the people who built the tramways used the same jigs and tools that they had used for building wagons, which used that same wheel spacing.
Why did the wagons have that particular odd wheel spacing?

Well, if they tried to use any other spacing, the wagon wheels would break more often on some of the old, long distance roads in England . You see, that's the spacing of the wheel ruts.
So who built those old rutted roads?

Imperial  Rome built the first long distance roads in Europe (including England ) for their legions. Those roads have been used ever since.
And what about the ruts in the roads?

Roman war chariots formed the initial ruts, which everyone else had to match or run the risk of destroying their wagon wheels. Since the chariots were made for Imperial  Rome , they were all alike in the matter of wheel spacing. Therefore the  United States  standard railroad gauge of 4 feet, 8.5 inches is derived from the original specifications for an Imperial Roman war chariot. Bureaucracies live forever.

So the next time you are handed a specification/procedure/process and wonder 'What horse's rear came up with this?', you may be exactly right. Imperial Roman army chariots were made just wide enough to accommodate the rear ends of two war horses.

Now, the twist to the story:

When you see a Space Shuttle sitting on its launch pad, there are two big booster rockets attached to the sides of the main fuel tank. These are solid rocket boosters, or SRBs. The SRBs are made by Thiokol at their factory in  Utah . The engineers who designed the SRBs would have preferred to make them a bit fatter, but the SRBs had to be shipped by train from the factory to the launch site.  The railroad line from the factory happens to run through a tunnel in the mountains, and the SRBs had to fit through that tunnel. The tunnel is slightly wider than the railroad track, and the railroad track, as you now know, is about as wide as two horses' behinds.

So, a major Space Shuttle design feature, of what is arguably the world's most advanced transportation system, was determined over two thousand years ago by the width of a horse's rear.

And you thought being a horse's ass wasn't important? Ancient horse's rears control almost everything.

Would you do this?

Somewhere in Yosemite National Park there is a popular climbing area that brave (or foolhardy) people love to go. A section of one of these areas is a ledge 2000 feet up and supposedly used by climbers to take a rest and enjoy the view. My first thought was "this is nuts" and my second thought was, "how does he get off?"

I read this article but still do not know why anyone would be up on this ledge, known as the Thank God Ledge so named because climbers can take a rest. Not restful looking to me.