Did You Know That...

The game of lacrosse originated with Native tribes in North America. Games would involve hundreds of players on each side and could last for several days.

Several important items were invented by Canadians: the zipper, Pablum, the paint roller and the snowmobile.

A man known as "Jackrabbit" Johannsen was one of the first Canadians to get fit; and, stay fit, through the sport of cross-country skiing. He lived to be 112; and, his real name was Herman Smith-Johannsen.

Cell Phone Mayhem

Photo courtesy: cleantechnica.com

When you add your children to your cell phone plan, you better explain what they can and can't do with the privilege. Ed Estarija, of Hayward, California, found that out the hard way after his 13-year-old son downloaded about 1.4 million kilobytes of data in one month. That was something the family's plan with the cell phone company didn't cover; and, Estarija received a bill for $22,000. To his great relief, Estarija said that, after media coverage of his problem the company agreed to waive the bill. He quickly suspended his son's account.

A Very Special Girl

Le Trung and Aiko. Photo courtesy: sodahead

Most guys wish they had that "special girl" in their lives. Le Trung, of Brampton, Ontario, has Aiko, who is a walking, talking "fembot" - a female robot. The inventor says his fembot recognizes faces, says "Hello", and helps him pick what he's going to have for dinner.

"And she likes getting new clothes, just like any woman," he says. He hopes he can find a company to help him fiance further work on fembots with an aim of making them a useful tool to assist the elderly and invalids.

Slipping on Tie-ups

Photo courtesy: lifehacker

Do you have people in your family that have trouble with laces - toddlers, seniors, arthritis sufferers? Do you trip over your laces; hate tying them up; or, seem to break more than your fair share of laces? Whatever your reason for wanting self-tying shoes, read on.

This project is so simple, I can't believe it. It's possible to change all the shoes in the house in one afternoon.

All you really need for this project is a bit of elastic tubing, whether it be inner tube, surgical tube, bungee cord, or anything else you can find. Take the laces out so they can be used as a template. The tubing should be the same length as the laces; and, either trimmed to fit through the holes or a tubing that will fit the holes without adjustment.

Lace up the shoes with the tubing. Have the person's foot in the shoe as you make adjustments to the tightness required of the laces. Once all is comfy, say good-bye to having to deal laces ever again.

Then, you just need to take your shoe laces out, tightly lace up your shoes with the tube, and your shoes will stretch to fit your feet—no tying or long annoying laces required. Hit the link to see a few more pictures and detailed instructions for this incredibly simple hack.

Eating Healthier For Le$$

Photo courtesy: Rodale

The Wall Street Journal recently reported that the price of food staples, including grains, beef, coffee, cocoa, and sugar, have risen sharply in recent months. And retailers like Safeway Inc. and Kroger are indicating that they’ll be passing their suppliers’ price increases on to their customers. That’s sobering news, since most of us are already trying hard to stick to—or even slash—our grocery budgets. And rising prices can make it tempting to grab the cheapest food on the supermarket shelf—or buy from a fast-food dollar menu—without considering the toll that low-quality food can take on our health.

But there are ways to eat healthy and still keep your grocery bill from reaching stratospheric heights. For tips on saving money while food shopping, we turned to Karen Ansel, MS, RD, an American Dietetic Association (ADA) spokesperson who specializes in family nutrition, food preparation, and meal planning. Read on for her expert advice:

#1: Think naked. When you buy those pre-seasoned rice, couscous, or pasta mixes, you pay dearly for those seasonings. Instead of buying boxed mixes, make your own by mixing dried spices with your favorite grains or pasta. Not only will you save money, but you'll also slash sodium.

#2: Go vegetarian. Go vegetarian. Protein foods like meat, chicken, or fish are the most expensive foods on your grocery list. Instead of building your meal around protein, try grain- or bean-based dishes: A recent study found that grains, beans, and nuts give you the healthiest bang for your buck. In the study, people who eat the healthiest diets actually spent less than other people, if they included those staples on their menu. Dry beans and whole grains cost literally pennies per serving, so they help you save big—plus they're packed with fiber, something that most of us don't get enough of. Not ready to give up meat? Try it a few times or meals per week.

#3: Buy in bulk. Stocking up with foods bought in bulk can save you as much as 96 percent, according to the Bulk Is Green Council. Plus, you avoid excess packaging. But to really make it work, you need to know how to store your food until you need it.

#4: Don't toss those veggies. Think those scraps of leftover veggies aren't worth saving? Think again. Instead of tossing little bits of leftover veggies, use them for soups, add them to a single serving of pasta, toss them into a salad, or use them to fill an omelet. In fact, you can save a surprising amount of money by being careful about not wasting food. (Learn how to compost what you don't eat, and you'll spend less on lawn and garden care, too.)

#5: Skip the fortified foods. When you buy fortified foods, you’re paying up for those added nutrients, but in most cases they aren't even necessary. Case in point: Omega-3 fortified foods have hardly any omega-3s compared to what you'd need in a day, so you're much better off spending your money on foods like canned salmon that are naturally rich in omega-3s. Stick with whole, unprocessed foods that are naturally loaded with nutrients.

For more ADA-approved advice on eating well in an affordable way, try these suggestions:

• Buy bagged frozen vegetables and fruit. Since you can take out what you need and freeze the rest, nothing goes to waste.

• When buying produce, choose items with a longer shelf life, such as broccoli, brussel sprouts, cabbage, and carrots.

• Freeze any bread that you won’t be using right away.

• Shop at farmer's markets that offer local, organic food. Going at the end of the market day can pay off with good deals; try negotiating prices with the vendors.

Via Rodale

Quotable Quotes

"Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do."

- John Wooden

Slums Use Solar Power

Bottles of water on a roof in the city’s Kibera slum. The new technology of treating drinking water has also found its way into schools and other public facilities. It relies entirely on the sun’s energy. Photo courtesy: Daily Nation

Clear water bottles line the rusty iron sheet roofs of several houses in the sprawling Kibera slums in Nairobi.

A cursory glance may not reveal much, but this is a simple water treatment process in progress. The Solar Water Disinfection (Sodis) technology uses the sun’s ultraviolet rays and the increased temperature due to exposure to direct sunlight to kill micro-organisms in the water.

“We only need to leave the water out in the sun for a whole day and it is safe for drinking,” says Ms Dushman Abdul, a Kibera resident.

Ms Abdul no longer needs to boil drinking water for her family and as a result, she now saves the money that she would have spent on buying fuel.

Laying out her 10 bottles of water on the roof has become a daily routine for the housewife. This is enough drinking water for herself, her husband and their two-year-old daughter.

Besides incurring an initial cost of Sh15 $0.18 USD) per water bottle — which can be used for six months — the technology is absolutely free, relying entirely on the sun’s energy.

Besides families, the technology is finding its way into schools and other public facilities.

At the Makina Self-Help School in Kibera, for instance, an iron sheet topped rack has been erected in the compound to hold the water bottles as the sun’s rays purify their contents.

According to Mr Benson Muthoka, the deputy head teacher at the school, the adoption of the technology four years ago was motivated by frequent incidents of diarrhoeal diseases, leading to high pupil absenteeism and poor performance.

Mr Muthoka says that over the last four years, such cases have drastically gone down in the school that has a population of 400 pupils. The pupils, too, are encouraged to take the message of the new technology home.

This is one of the strategies being used to treat water in Kibera slums, whose residents are often ravaged by waterborne diseases such as cholera, due to limited access to safe drinking water.

Many of the slum dwellers do not have access to piped water and thus they rely on water from vendors, who claim to fetch it from taps. But this is usually not the case and even when it is from the taps, its safety is not assured since the hygiene of the containers used is questionable.

There is a high risk of contamination even in the pipes. In parts of Kibera, open sewage flows and when the plastic water pipes break at such points, it provides an opportunity for contamination.

“Some of the water storage tanks are usually open, which is a contamination risk as well,” Ms Neema Abdullahi, who leads the team promoting the technology in Kibera, told the Nation.

The Sodis technology is one of those being touted as a simple alternative in treating water at the point of use.

Though already in wide use in other parts of the world, the Sodis method of water treatment has only been in the country over the last few years and is promoted by the Kenya Water and Health Organisation (Kwaho).

Estimates from the Swiss Federal Institute for Aquatic Science and Research indicate that there are about 4.5 million people using the technology in Latin America, Asia and Africa.

In Kenya, besides Kibera slums, Sodis has been introduced in other parts of the country that are facing challenges in accessing clean drinking water such as Mukuru kwa Njenga in Nairobi, Nyalenda in Kisumu, Wajir in Northern Kenya and the flood prone Budalang’i area in Western Kenya.

Plans are underway by Kwaho, in conjunction with the Ministry of Public Health and Sanitation and the United Nations’ Children’s Fund (Unicef), to roll out such simple water treatment and storage methods, including Sodis, use of chlorine tablets, filtering, among others.

According to Ms Lilian Shimanyula, the advocacy and communication officer at Kwaho, all the available options would be promoted as a package, from which one can be chosen.

“We are developing strategies that are workable for scale up to the entire nation,” she adds.

Though the strength of Sodis lies in its simplicity, it has proved to be a drawback as well, since selling the idea to policy makers has been met with skepticism.

“They think that it is too simple to work,” Ms Shimanyula says.

Tests have found out that there is a significant drop in the amount of disease-causing micro-organisms in the treated water.

Besides, use of the solar treatment method does not interfere with the quality of the water such as its taste.

With the disturbing revelations on access to clean drinking water in Kenya in last year’s national census survey, there is need for innovative strategies such as Sodis to address this problem.

However, its proponents argue that this is not entirely a poor man’s technology since the problem of reliable access to safe drinking water also affects many parts of the city.

“It would save the cost of buying mineral water even for those who can afford it,” says Ms Abdullahi.

She adds that past studies have indicated that even water in affluent parts of the city is contaminated.

Via Daily Nation

21 Uses For Vodka

ALL photos courtesy: Life Hackery

If you’re a fan of vodka, you know that its smoothness and versatility make it the perfect drink to pair with pretty much any mixer. There’s no end to the praises to be sung about this uniquely intoxicating alcohol, but did you know that there are plenty of other uses for vodka? It turns out that it’s actually a pretty handy substance to have around.

1. To remove a bandage painlessly, saturate the bandage with vodka. The solvent dissolves the adhesive.

2. To clean the caulking around bathtubs and showers, fill a trigger-spray bottle with vodka, spray the caulking, let set five minutes and wash clean. The alcohol in the vodka kills mold and mildew.

3. To clean your eyeglasses, simply wipe the lenses with a soft, clean cloth dampened with vodka. The alcohol in the vodka cleans the glass and kills germs.


4. Prolong the life of razors by filling a cup with vodka and letting your safety razor blade soak in the alcohol after shaving. The vodka disinfects the blade and prevents rusting.

5. Spray vodka on vomit stains, scrub with a brush, then blot dry.

6. Using a cotton ball, apply vodka to your face as an astringent to cleanse the skin and tighten pores.


7. Add a jigger of vodka to a 12-ounce bottle of shampoo. The alcohol cleanses the scalp, removes toxins from hair, and stimulates the growth of healthy hair.

8. Fill a sixteen-ounce trigger-spray bottle and spray bees or wasps to kill them.

9. Pour one-half cup vodka and one-half cup water in a Ziplock freezer bag, and freeze for a slushy, refreshable ice pack for aches, pain, or black eyes.

10. Fill a clean, used mayonnaise jar with freshly packed lavender flowers, fill the jar with vodka, seal the lid tightly and set in the sun for three days. Strain liquid through a coffee filter then apply the tincture to aches and pains.

11. Make your own mouthwash by mixing nine tablespoons powered cinnamon with one cup vodka. Seal in an airtight container for two weeks. Strain through a coffee filter then mix with warm water and rinse your mouth. Don’t swallow.

12. Using a q-tip, apply vodka to a cold sore to help it dry out.

13. If a blister opens, pour vodka over the raw skin as a local anesthetic that also disinfects the exposed dermis.

14. To treat dandruff, mix one cup vodka with two teaspoons crushed rosemary, let sit for two days, strain through a coffee filter and massage into your scalp and let dry.

15. To treat an earache put a few drops of vodka in your ear. Let set for a few minutes. Then drain. The vodka will kill the bacteria that are causing pain in your ear.


16. To relieve a fever, use a washcloth to rub vodka on your chest and back as a liniment.

17. To cure foot odor, wash your feet with vodka.


18. Vodka will disinfect and alleviate a jellyfish sting.

19. Pour vodka over an area affected with poison ivy to remove the poison oil from your skin.

20. Swish a shot of vodka over an aching tooth. Allow your gums to absorb some of the alcohol to numb the pain.

21. If all else fails, just turn the bottle up and drink it, nothing will matter anymore anyway!

Via Miss Charming.com

There's Animal Products in What??

Image: Composite of pictures by Velkr0, Meneer Zjeroen, Marcy Reiford and Our update, all via Creative Commons. Photo courtesy: TreeHugger.com

If you thought that by quitting meat or at least going weekday vegetarian you were doing your part to avoid the horrors of factory farming, think again.

Even though animal products might not be in as many places as some claim (most tennis rackets are made with synthetic materials now), they spread far beyond just those hidden in food: everywhere from your car to the bathroom and the sky in the 4th of July.

As the Ontario Farm Animal Council clearly puts it, "on average, 98% of an animal is used. From that 98%, about 55% (on average) of the animal is used for edible products and the remaining 45% for inedible by-products."

1. Plastic Bags

Kate Ter Haar via Creative Commons. Photo courtesy: TreeHugger.com

Many plastics, including shopping bags, contain 'slip agents', which reduce the friction in the material. What are those made of? Animal fat.

In a more technical explanation from Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology News: "Although polymers are manufactured from petroleum feedstock, plastics manufacturers often use additives of animal origin to improve material properties and/or to aid in processing of raw polymers" -- which blogger Beth Terry proved first-hand.

Also, watch out for new plastics coming out: Companies like Tyson Foods are experimenting with keratin protein found in chicken feathers to produce plastics, adhesives and non-woven materials.

"Someday disposable diapers or hospital gowns could be made from the materials," said Jeff Webster, the group vice president of the renewable products division to USA Today.

2. Car And Bike Tires

Photo: SamuraiGhost via Creative Commons. Photo courtesty: TreeHugger.com

Even when food can have hidden animal ingredients, you can still take the time to look at the label to see it. With your car or bike tires, it's a little more difficult. But here's the trick: check with the manufacturer if they use animal-based stearic acid, which helps the rubber in tires hold shape under steady surface friction.

The guys at Vegan Fitness forums took the time to call some brands and made a handy list of companies that use plant-based alternatives of the component.

3. Glue in Wood Work and Musical Instruments

Photo: Luz A. Villa via Creative Commons. Photo courtesy: TreeHugger.com

Animal glue (made from the boiling animals cognitive tissue and bones) is apparently the best adhesive for fixing musical instruments made from wood such as violins and pianos. Even though other synthetic glues are used too, hide glue is also readily available and widely used for furniture fixes and wood work: You can even catch a guide on how to use it online. If you're OK with animal slaughter that is.

4. Biofuels

Photo credit: Western Biodiesel. Photo courtesy: TreeHugger.com

Sugar cane and corn are what come to mind at first when we think about biofuels, but over the past years the use of animal fats to produce these has extended.

There's actually beef biodiesel (which Matthew called a "bone-headed idea" last year) and chicken biodiesel to choose from.

5. Fireworks

Photo credit: Mr Magoo ICU. Photo courtesy: TreeHugger.com

It's no news that fireworks fail miserably when it comes to pollution; but, bits of animals in them? Apparently so.

The same component used in the tire industry, stearic acid, is present in the production of fireworks. The book The Chemistry of Fireworks lists this as an ingredient and an article in Wikipedia explains that "in fireworks, stearic acid is often used to coat metal powders such as aluminium and iron. This prevents oxidation, allowing compositions to be stored for a longer period of time."

Even though it can be plant-sourced, you never know. Another reason to ditch the fireworks.

6. Fabric Softener

Photo credit: Mr Magoo ICU. Photo courtesy: TreeHugger.com

It was big news on TreeHugger some time ago: Downy fabric softener contains Dihydrogenated tallow dimethyl ammonium chloride, which comes from the cattle, sheep and horse industry. They sure won't put that in the usual 'all-so-soft' advertising.

7. Shampoo & Conditioner

Photo: Marcelo Guerrero, via Stock Xchng. Photo courtesy: TreeHugger.com

Annie Leonard warned us about the hazardous chemicals in the cosmetics industry, but didn't necessarily emphasis the animal ingredients.

According to PETA, there are more than 20 components from animals that could be in your shampoo and conditioner. The tricky part is when you read "Panthenol", "Amino acids", or "Vitamin B" in a bottle (just to name a few), it can be either from animal or plant source -- making it hard to tell. Companies have even removed the word 'animal' from some ingredients to avoid putting off consumers.

Best way to be sure? Look for vegan brands.

Photo: Festland via Stock Xchng (Royalty free). Photo courtesy: TreeHugger.com

Glycerin is found in animal and vegetable fats, which have a chemical composition containing from 7% to 13% glycerine. When separated from it, it's used in a wide variety of products, including toothpaste.

As I mentioned with other ingredients, when you read 'glycerin' on shampoo and conditioner, it can be either animal or plant based, which is a pain.

But many products from commercial brands like Colgate claim to be animal-free and suited for vegetarians (though the vegetarian product guide is not currently functional on their website).

If you really want to be sure, try and make your own toothpaste at home.

9. White and Brown Sugar

Photo: JadeGordon via Stock Xchng (Royalty free). Photo courtesy: TreeHugger.com

What about hidden products in the manufacture process? Among vegetarians and vegans, it's known that purified ash from animal bones is used in filters to refine sugar by some brands, though there are other companies that use filters with granular carbon or ion exchange systems. What not all may know is that brown sugar is also refined, only to have molasses added after.

You can opt for unrefined organic sugar or choose the brands that PETA says are vegan.

It's important to note that getting to know where animal products go is not just for vegetarians or vegans: These byproducts are very likely not sourced from responsible organic farmers, but from the very frightening and extremely polluting factory farms. So even if you're a conscious omnivore, watch out.

Via TreeHugger.com

A New Use for Wasp Spray

Photo courtesy: montvalehardware

I know some of you own GUNS but this is something to think about...---

If you don't have a gun, here's a more humane way to wreck someone's evil plans for you. Here's an effective tip I didn't know about; and, am passing it on.

For those concerned about being robbed and/or assaulted, a can of wasp spray can be your best friend. If you live alone or deal with cash at your workplace...read on.

Pepper spray is not legal in some areas; and, can have a limited range of spray. Some pepper sprays can reach 20 ft. away; but, many are limited to 8 ft. or so. In my mind, this allows the predator to get too close to me before my "weapon" will work. So, what to do?

Wasp spray can shoot up to 20 ft. away and is a lot more accurate. The wasp spray temporarily blinds an attacker until they get to the hospital for an antidote. You can keep a can on your desk in the office and it doesn't attract attention from people like a can of pepper spray would. You can also keep one nearby at home for home protection.

On the heels of a break-in and beating that left an elderly woman in Toledo, Ohio dead, self-defense experts have a tip that could save your life.

Val Glinka teaches self-defense to students at Sylvania Southview High School in Sylvania, Ohio. For decades, he's suggested putting a can of wasp and hornet spray near your door or bed.

Glinka says about this one tip, "This is better than anything I can teach them."

Glinka considers it inexpensive, easy to find, and more effective than mace or pepper spray. The cans typically shoot 20 to 30 feet; so if someone tries to break into your home, Glinka says "spray the culprit in the eyes". It's a tip he's given to students for decades.

It's also one he wants everyone to hear. If you're looking for protection, Glinka says look to the spray. "That's going to give you a chance to call the police; maybe get out." Maybe even save a life.