Great article - to go further on the points about construction, don't reject furniture because the fabric is worn or even stained. If it's a quality chair or sofa, reupholstering is not that hard a thing to learn to do. Even if you aren't that handy, having a really good piece professionally reupholstered is often worth it. And slip covers are always an option for sofas with stains (but no odor - don't buy smelly stuff!)
Also, look for solid wood items - coffee tables, bookcases, etc. Very easy to repaint, or even sand down and refinish to match your decor.
I find it easier to find simple, good quality, well-constructed furniture at your average garage sale or on Craigslist than at a furniture store. They just don't make 'em like the used to!
I recently purchased some excellent quality used furniture from a church member who was purchasing a new home and wanted to decorate it with new furniture as well rather than transporting the old. After a visual inspection of what she was offering: an elegant living room couch, a coffee table, dinning table w/chairs and hut to match, I purchased on the spot and came back to pick them up the next day. My investment, a mere $525. Was I excited!
My daughter made a similar purchase from someone who also wanted to upgrade and walked away with a complete living set for $300. My granddaughter, who recently moved in to her first apartment, and is inexperienced at the shopping game made mistake number 1 by purchasing a living room set made out of seemingly pine lumber and is already complaining about the investment. Next time she plans to consult with us before making similar purchases.
These are excellent tips and I will share them specifically with her for future reference.
Seriously, these are some really interesting ideas. On the idea of juicers or chopping things up, I highly recommend the Magic Bullet. I received one of these for XMAS from my mother and it has made my life (the life of a bachelor!) MUCH easier.
If it's a seals container, no lid, then its fine. Here in the states, we don't do as much tea as other parts of the world. I still can not wrap my head around what it looks like. I did google it, but the best I can think of, my great grandmother had a rooster tea kettle that whistled. I can not remember if it had a lid.
3 liters is a small container. To break it down and refill every run will be time consuming. Try to use the kettle as a steam generator. the water steam that comes of would coil thru the mash and heat it up quickly, in a larger container. That would heat up and start to steam off alcohol. You could have another worm coming off that as your product. It is a shame we can not post pictures here. It would help to see this set up(and share the kettle with us yanks).
And as regards the heads/ fusels/ methanol debate, as everyone already knows, the whole thing is a myth. They don't exist.Every good poteen-maker/ moonshiner knows that the REAL reason we discard the first shot-glass or so is to appease the leprachauns!!!!
If you're only running 2 litres through at a time, it shouldn't be a problem. Stick a few glass marbles or something in it to absorb some of the heat and stop it foaming. And let it settle clear or use finings first. But with 23 litres you're going to have to run it through, what, 12 times?? More, if you double-distill it to get it stronger/cleaner......And even if you're using a turbo yeast that'll give you a 20% wash, you'll only be getting about a half bottle of good stuff at a time. Having said that, it's still enough to sit and unwind with every evening, isn't it???
It was a warm spring morning in Oakwood Forest, and entrepreneurship was in air. Bear and Fox decided that today would be a good day to start a company.
Bear hired ten squirrels for his company and made one of them CEO. He paid both the worker squirrels and the CEO squirrel one acorn per day. Fox did the same thing, hiring ten squirrels (nine workers and one CEO) and paying each of them one acorn per day.
Business was split equally between the Bear's company and Fox's company.
Business continued as usual, until one day Fox had a brilliant idea. He decided to pay the CEO squirrel 10 acorns per day. The CEO squirrel didn't do any more work than he used to. He just got fat. But the other squirrels started working like crazy! They came to work early, ate lunch on the job, and worked late into the night. Some of them slept at the office. Others stopped going on vacation. All of their squirrel spouses grew quite upset and most of the squirrels working at Fox's company had sad squirrel divorces. All to have a better chance of being picked as the next CEO. But business was booming and Fox's company, with its highly productive worker squirrels, drove Bear's company out of business.
This is called "Tournament Theory" and it explains why CEOs (and Partners, upper management, etc.) are paid so much more than average employees.
We have all heard the warnings about methanol, and most people realize that it is not such a big concern. There are comments on this thread, in fact, that point that out. Actually, it can be stated more bluntly that methanol is no concern at all.
Methanol is often mentioned when individuals have concerns about discarding the fusel alcohols in the "heads". Breathe deeply and relax, because methanol is not even a fusel alcohol. Fusel alcohols are "higher order" alcohols. Methanol has one carbon atom, while fusel alcohols have a backbone of at least 3 carbon atoms. Basically they are larger molecules (which often implies higher boiling points). In fact, ethanol has a backbone of only 2 carbon atoms. Knowing this, it should be obvious that it is smaller than the fusel alcohols (and follows the trend of having a lower boiling point). Most of the fusel alcohols are in the tails.
It seems possible that any remaining belief that methanol is a fusel alcohol which may be produced by fermentation of sugar could be the result of an actual fusel alcohol with a VERY similar name; methionol (a.k.a. 3-(Methylthio)propanol; 3-Methylthio-1-propanol; or 3-Methylthiopropanol). It is a common product of fermentation. This seems like a very easy thing to have people confused. Also, just because they sound similar doesn't mean that they have extremely similar chemical characteristics.
Okay, I have a little more information I would really like to share (in other posts), and then I will post a little wrap-up and try to provide some practical applications of my ramblings. Few people would care to hear any of this, but I hope the people reading this thread may appreciate it even just a little.
Next post coming ... well ... soon (after I sleep I guess)!
I would like to add a little more technical information here that may be helpful. I am no expert, and do not claim to be. I am simply a chemist who would like to fill in a few gaps here. I'll try to break this up into a few posts.
Fermentation of sugar to produce ethanol certainly yields other compounds, which most of us refer to as fusel alcohols (or fusel oils because of the minor presence of organic acids, aldehydes and esters, some of which may seem "oily"). Getting to the point quickly (trying to hold your interest!), the fusel compounds are ALMOST ENTIRELY concentrated in the "tails".
The only fusel compound to bother with in the "head" fraction is Acetaldehyde (an aldehyde, not an alcohol), with a boiling point of 20.2 °C, 68 °F. The boiling point of ethanol is
78.4 °C, 173 °F. So Acetaldehyde distills in the initial fraction (the "head"). This isn't so bad, because very little is produced. It isn't great for you, but your body metabolizes ethanol into acetaldehyde anyway. Some research indicates that acetaldehyde is most responsible for hangovers, whether it's in your beverage or produced in your body. Basically, it's nice to remove, but you don't need to get rid of unnecessary volumes of "heads" by any sort of random guess method.
But if I had to choose one (it's hard since I find myself marking a lot of your articles in my RSS reader), I would have to choose your recent article on pet care. It's the type of article that is important and relevant, yet rarely discussed.
I signed up with UserTesting.com a couple of weeks ago and I am happy to say that I was approved and did my first job for $10 this morning! So, it is possible =)
I did a google video search of a "vicious dog barking" and found a great one about 2 minutes long. Nice deep growls and serious barking. I then downloaded it and played it on Real Player very loudly, hit the "continuous play" option, and VIOLA, I am a security dog owner. Obviously since I own my home and am a safe noise distance away from other neighbors, I can do this without upsetting people around me. The only folks who hear it are the ones standing near doors or windows of my house. It makes them think twice. It's free and uses stuff you already have.
Make a regular floor light into a security light by buying a screw in motion sensor adapter for your flood lights in the backyard. Keep the light on all the time, and it will only light up when you need it (when you are out there or Tyrone the Crackhead lurks). These are cheap and easy- screw into the light socket before you screw in your bulb. $10-ish
My local phone company installed a not that pricey security system and monitors it, and my fire alarms for $14.99 a month. That's cheap and it's armed always. I am very safe in my house in da' hood.
I bought cheap ($65) glow in the dark keypad entry bump-proof deadbolts for all my external doors. I type in my numerical combo and I don't have to fiddle with keys (leaving me vulnerable to attack from behind at night). People walking by see the keypad and they are intimidated by the sophisticated looking security; they even comment on it.
I give homemade jellies and jams to my neighbors and try to be very polite to them. Contractors working on my house have reported my neighbors come over to ask what they are doing messing with my house. Never underestimate the power of the social network. You do not have to be best pals and have beers together. Just have each others' backs. Homemade strawberry jam or something else homemade= $5. People you can trust= priceless.
I too work at Target and they are CHEAP to their employees! Ive been there for over a year and still make $8.50 an hour with no pay raise and I started at $8.50. I obviously CHOSE to work there by my own free will, yes but only because the economy is still pretty bad and finding a new job is difficult so I deal with the low pay. I do however think its only fair for a pay raise after a year! I work any hours they give me, never call out and have willingly cross trained throughout the ENTIRE store. So not only do I know where pretty much any item is I also am the one picking up left behind starbucks cups and snotty tissues that are left on my just folded and cleaned tables and shelves. Not only do I pick up behind the messy masses and their at times dreadful offspring, I also have to listen to those same screaming , spoiled children all day (yes this also happens at Target, not just Walmart)! I not only stand on my feet hours on end I also lift all the heavy fixtures the clothing is on from sky high shelves (I loath heights btw) to set up tables that the folded clothing is on only to spend time folding the whole thing so neatly and return 5 mins later only to find it looking like hurricane Katrina hit it! Seriously Ma'am????? That size medium shirt WILL still look the SAME no matter how many colors you decide to unfold and then so rudely throw on the shelf or some cases the floor! MOST (not all) Target shoppers are CUSTOMERS and I do call them that because they ARE NOT guests in my book, some are just as bad as the "kind of people" who everyone says shops at Walmart. I hear people say to their kids "Dont worry about picking that up, that is what the sales lady is for". In my opinion they are never a guest, if they continue to act accordingly. A guest of yours wouldnt come into your home and throw trash all over your living room or ransack your closet, cupboards, or drawers and leave it a total mess. SO until that stops I will never call a those types of CUSTOMERs a guest. How lame to get " wrote up" over that. So to anyone who thinks I dont deserve $12 an hour because I'm a retail worker....well not to sound rude but **** you. I pull double shifts, work 11 days in a row without a day off at times and I still cant afford my monthly living costs! Yes I do love the quality of Target's items and the way the store looks but its true most of everything is made overseas and is sprayed with AWFUL smelling pesticides at customs before we sell it! Yep those clothes you dont wash before wearing are covered in chemicals to kill the insects from China or any other foreign country they buy from. Bet ya didnt know that. I'm not saying anyone is bad for shopping at either place. I go to both haha! The ecomomy is crappy and you gotta go where you can afford. Some people dont have jobs or make very little and need to feed or clothe their family and maybe Walmart or Target is all they can afford. My whole reason for writing this because I think Target and Walmart needs to treat us hardworking employees to better pay and benefits. MOST of us really do deserve it. Hmmmm, or maybe I just need to try and find that computer job haha. Oh and I dont hate every one who comes into Target...just be polite and try not to leave trash or mess up everything in your path. I dont think people realize how late we stay after we close to clean up everything. Peace to everyone, and the right to free speech!
Hahahah! Too bad if your car has great cooling! Maybe after a visit to the car repair garage they will mess it up enough for this to work.
I've heard this before from my favorite car repair guy in california
Many california car repair shops are cheap enough for anyone to consider.
Great article - to go further on the points about construction, don't reject furniture because the fabric is worn or even stained. If it's a quality chair or sofa, reupholstering is not that hard a thing to learn to do. Even if you aren't that handy, having a really good piece professionally reupholstered is often worth it. And slip covers are always an option for sofas with stains (but no odor - don't buy smelly stuff!)
Also, look for solid wood items - coffee tables, bookcases, etc. Very easy to repaint, or even sand down and refinish to match your decor.
I find it easier to find simple, good quality, well-constructed furniture at your average garage sale or on Craigslist than at a furniture store. They just don't make 'em like the used to!
Bananas in skins can be frozen as is. Take then out when you need them for breads etc.
I would only use fresh prime fruits for canning and jellies etc.
Veggies can be cooked up quickly and then frozen, or blanched and frozen.
I recently purchased some excellent quality used furniture from a church member who was purchasing a new home and wanted to decorate it with new furniture as well rather than transporting the old. After a visual inspection of what she was offering: an elegant living room couch, a coffee table, dinning table w/chairs and hut to match, I purchased on the spot and came back to pick them up the next day. My investment, a mere $525. Was I excited!
My daughter made a similar purchase from someone who also wanted to upgrade and walked away with a complete living set for $300. My granddaughter, who recently moved in to her first apartment, and is inexperienced at the shopping game made mistake number 1 by purchasing a living room set made out of seemingly pine lumber and is already complaining about the investment. Next time she plans to consult with us before making similar purchases.
These are excellent tips and I will share them specifically with her for future reference.
Seriously, these are some really interesting ideas. On the idea of juicers or chopping things up, I highly recommend the Magic Bullet. I received one of these for XMAS from my mother and it has made my life (the life of a bachelor!) MUCH easier.
Now I have some more ideas.
Mike
My current favorite article is Beyond the Slow Cooker: 10 Eco- and Budget-Friendly Household Helpers That Progress Left Behind.
I'm looking at moving soon and it's helped me think about what I want to have for cleaning supplies and appliances.
People apply the card using your addresses becuase you have given them all over the internet.
This bank is used to verify paypal accounts for people in paypal restricted countries.
Netspend is the only 100% online legal us bank i know of, i have deposited over $10,000 dollars with them and still everything is fine.
wake up people
These are used by people who want to verify their paypal accounts using a US bank.
Since netspend does not require any identification upfront, people get addresses from the internet and use them to open netspend account.
Nespend is 100% legit and a good online bank.
If it's a seals container, no lid, then its fine. Here in the states, we don't do as much tea as other parts of the world. I still can not wrap my head around what it looks like. I did google it, but the best I can think of, my great grandmother had a rooster tea kettle that whistled. I can not remember if it had a lid.
3 liters is a small container. To break it down and refill every run will be time consuming. Try to use the kettle as a steam generator. the water steam that comes of would coil thru the mash and heat it up quickly, in a larger container. That would heat up and start to steam off alcohol. You could have another worm coming off that as your product. It is a shame we can not post pictures here. It would help to see this set up(and share the kettle with us yanks).
And as regards the heads/ fusels/ methanol debate, as everyone already knows, the whole thing is a myth. They don't exist.Every good poteen-maker/ moonshiner knows that the REAL reason we discard the first shot-glass or so is to appease the leprachauns!!!!
If you're only running 2 litres through at a time, it shouldn't be a problem. Stick a few glass marbles or something in it to absorb some of the heat and stop it foaming. And let it settle clear or use finings first. But with 23 litres you're going to have to run it through, what, 12 times?? More, if you double-distill it to get it stronger/cleaner......And even if you're using a turbo yeast that'll give you a 20% wash, you'll only be getting about a half bottle of good stuff at a time. Having said that, it's still enough to sit and unwind with every evening, isn't it???
It was a warm spring morning in Oakwood Forest, and entrepreneurship was in air. Bear and Fox decided that today would be a good day to start a company.
Bear hired ten squirrels for his company and made one of them CEO. He paid both the worker squirrels and the CEO squirrel one acorn per day. Fox did the same thing, hiring ten squirrels (nine workers and one CEO) and paying each of them one acorn per day.
Business was split equally between the Bear's company and Fox's company.
Business continued as usual, until one day Fox had a brilliant idea. He decided to pay the CEO squirrel 10 acorns per day. The CEO squirrel didn't do any more work than he used to. He just got fat. But the other squirrels started working like crazy! They came to work early, ate lunch on the job, and worked late into the night. Some of them slept at the office. Others stopped going on vacation. All of their squirrel spouses grew quite upset and most of the squirrels working at Fox's company had sad squirrel divorces. All to have a better chance of being picked as the next CEO. But business was booming and Fox's company, with its highly productive worker squirrels, drove Bear's company out of business.
This is called "Tournament Theory" and it explains why CEOs (and Partners, upper management, etc.) are paid so much more than average employees.
Moral: pick your own acorns.
Please send information on how to sell hair.
He was joking, duh.
We have all heard the warnings about methanol, and most people realize that it is not such a big concern. There are comments on this thread, in fact, that point that out. Actually, it can be stated more bluntly that methanol is no concern at all.
Methanol is often mentioned when individuals have concerns about discarding the fusel alcohols in the "heads". Breathe deeply and relax, because methanol is not even a fusel alcohol. Fusel alcohols are "higher order" alcohols. Methanol has one carbon atom, while fusel alcohols have a backbone of at least 3 carbon atoms. Basically they are larger molecules (which often implies higher boiling points). In fact, ethanol has a backbone of only 2 carbon atoms. Knowing this, it should be obvious that it is smaller than the fusel alcohols (and follows the trend of having a lower boiling point). Most of the fusel alcohols are in the tails.
It seems possible that any remaining belief that methanol is a fusel alcohol which may be produced by fermentation of sugar could be the result of an actual fusel alcohol with a VERY similar name; methionol (a.k.a. 3-(Methylthio)propanol; 3-Methylthio-1-propanol; or 3-Methylthiopropanol). It is a common product of fermentation. This seems like a very easy thing to have people confused. Also, just because they sound similar doesn't mean that they have extremely similar chemical characteristics.
Okay, I have a little more information I would really like to share (in other posts), and then I will post a little wrap-up and try to provide some practical applications of my ramblings. Few people would care to hear any of this, but I hope the people reading this thread may appreciate it even just a little.
Next post coming ... well ... soon (after I sleep I guess)!
I would like to add a little more technical information here that may be helpful. I am no expert, and do not claim to be. I am simply a chemist who would like to fill in a few gaps here. I'll try to break this up into a few posts.
Fermentation of sugar to produce ethanol certainly yields other compounds, which most of us refer to as fusel alcohols (or fusel oils because of the minor presence of organic acids, aldehydes and esters, some of which may seem "oily"). Getting to the point quickly (trying to hold your interest!), the fusel compounds are ALMOST ENTIRELY concentrated in the "tails".
The only fusel compound to bother with in the "head" fraction is Acetaldehyde (an aldehyde, not an alcohol), with a boiling point of 20.2 °C, 68 °F. The boiling point of ethanol is
78.4 °C, 173 °F. So Acetaldehyde distills in the initial fraction (the "head"). This isn't so bad, because very little is produced. It isn't great for you, but your body metabolizes ethanol into acetaldehyde anyway. Some research indicates that acetaldehyde is most responsible for hangovers, whether it's in your beverage or produced in your body. Basically, it's nice to remove, but you don't need to get rid of unnecessary volumes of "heads" by any sort of random guess method.
Okay, more in my next post.
As I said in post #69, this kettle has no lid...the only opening it has is just the spout with the whistle-cap on it.
But if I had to choose one (it's hard since I find myself marking a lot of your articles in my RSS reader), I would have to choose your recent article on pet care. It's the type of article that is important and relevant, yet rarely discussed.
Thanks for maintaining such a wonderful blog!
I signed up with UserTesting.com a couple of weeks ago and I am happy to say that I was approved and did my first job for $10 this morning! So, it is possible =)
I did a google video search of a "vicious dog barking" and found a great one about 2 minutes long. Nice deep growls and serious barking. I then downloaded it and played it on Real Player very loudly, hit the "continuous play" option, and VIOLA, I am a security dog owner. Obviously since I own my home and am a safe noise distance away from other neighbors, I can do this without upsetting people around me. The only folks who hear it are the ones standing near doors or windows of my house. It makes them think twice. It's free and uses stuff you already have.
Make a regular floor light into a security light by buying a screw in motion sensor adapter for your flood lights in the backyard. Keep the light on all the time, and it will only light up when you need it (when you are out there or Tyrone the Crackhead lurks). These are cheap and easy- screw into the light socket before you screw in your bulb. $10-ish
My local phone company installed a not that pricey security system and monitors it, and my fire alarms for $14.99 a month. That's cheap and it's armed always. I am very safe in my house in da' hood.
I bought cheap ($65) glow in the dark keypad entry bump-proof deadbolts for all my external doors. I type in my numerical combo and I don't have to fiddle with keys (leaving me vulnerable to attack from behind at night). People walking by see the keypad and they are intimidated by the sophisticated looking security; they even comment on it.
I give homemade jellies and jams to my neighbors and try to be very polite to them. Contractors working on my house have reported my neighbors come over to ask what they are doing messing with my house. Never underestimate the power of the social network. You do not have to be best pals and have beers together. Just have each others' backs. Homemade strawberry jam or something else homemade= $5. People you can trust= priceless.
This one of my favorite:
Knowing When To Walk Away: Financial Planning For An Unknown Ending
I too work at Target and they are CHEAP to their employees! Ive been there for over a year and still make $8.50 an hour with no pay raise and I started at $8.50. I obviously CHOSE to work there by my own free will, yes but only because the economy is still pretty bad and finding a new job is difficult so I deal with the low pay. I do however think its only fair for a pay raise after a year! I work any hours they give me, never call out and have willingly cross trained throughout the ENTIRE store. So not only do I know where pretty much any item is I also am the one picking up left behind starbucks cups and snotty tissues that are left on my just folded and cleaned tables and shelves. Not only do I pick up behind the messy masses and their at times dreadful offspring, I also have to listen to those same screaming , spoiled children all day (yes this also happens at Target, not just Walmart)! I not only stand on my feet hours on end I also lift all the heavy fixtures the clothing is on from sky high shelves (I loath heights btw) to set up tables that the folded clothing is on only to spend time folding the whole thing so neatly and return 5 mins later only to find it looking like hurricane Katrina hit it! Seriously Ma'am????? That size medium shirt WILL still look the SAME no matter how many colors you decide to unfold and then so rudely throw on the shelf or some cases the floor! MOST (not all) Target shoppers are CUSTOMERS and I do call them that because they ARE NOT guests in my book, some are just as bad as the "kind of people" who everyone says shops at Walmart. I hear people say to their kids "Dont worry about picking that up, that is what the sales lady is for". In my opinion they are never a guest, if they continue to act accordingly. A guest of yours wouldnt come into your home and throw trash all over your living room or ransack your closet, cupboards, or drawers and leave it a total mess. SO until that stops I will never call a those types of CUSTOMERs a guest. How lame to get " wrote up" over that. So to anyone who thinks I dont deserve $12 an hour because I'm a retail worker....well not to sound rude but **** you. I pull double shifts, work 11 days in a row without a day off at times and I still cant afford my monthly living costs! Yes I do love the quality of Target's items and the way the store looks but its true most of everything is made overseas and is sprayed with AWFUL smelling pesticides at customs before we sell it! Yep those clothes you dont wash before wearing are covered in chemicals to kill the insects from China or any other foreign country they buy from. Bet ya didnt know that. I'm not saying anyone is bad for shopping at either place. I go to both haha! The ecomomy is crappy and you gotta go where you can afford. Some people dont have jobs or make very little and need to feed or clothe their family and maybe Walmart or Target is all they can afford. My whole reason for writing this because I think Target and Walmart needs to treat us hardworking employees to better pay and benefits. MOST of us really do deserve it. Hmmmm, or maybe I just need to try and find that computer job haha. Oh and I dont hate every one who comes into Target...just be polite and try not to leave trash or mess up everything in your path. I dont think people realize how late we stay after we close to clean up everything. Peace to everyone, and the right to free speech!
I like the simple, easy to do ways to save money.