January 2011

How Germans Build Their Homes

31 January 2011

When I was in Germany I visited a development that was under construction. Looking at houses is always fun. What they were doing surprised me. Those houses were incredibly well built. I’m talking about steel-reinforced concrete walls with heavy tile roofs and massive foundations.
I couldn’t tell if they were designed for surviving a war or [...]

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Food Storage Salt

28 January 2011

Salt is an essential nutrient, and putting some on the shelf is a very good idea.
How important is salt in our diet? Well, let’s put it this way, one of only 4 things we can taste is salt. That’s how important it is. Some of the first trade routes in history were for trading salt.
Some [...]

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Dream Garage

27 January 2011

Garages take up a lot of space in our homes but hardly ever get any thought put into them. They are just an unfinished box to store the car and lawnmower and maybe some tools.
The worst problem most garages have is a near complete lack of adequate light. There is a bulb or two in [...]

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Dream Bedroom

26 January 2011

How you arrange your bedroom can make a big difference in how you feel.
One winter morning I woke up in serious pain. My shoulders were stiff and sore, I could hardly turn my head. A hot shower and a regular doses of pain reliever got me through the day. After scrapping the snow and ice [...]

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Alarm dogs

25 January 2011

A fully trained guard dog costs $30,000. That’s a little out of our budget. I’ve noticed our neighbors that have big dogs like shepherds and danes and dobermans   but I never seem to hear them
The dogs that make the most noise, for the longest time are the little dogs dachshunds, poodles and the like. [...]

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I do not want civil discourse « Don Surber

24 January 2011

There is grown-up work to do now. Liberals ran up the federal credit card, destroyed the American medical system and undermined the rule of law — which is the foundation of capitalism — with a bunch of unconstitutional fiats from the president and his bureaucracy
via I do not want civil discourse « Don Surber.
Remember that [...]

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Camden, NJ is in real trouble. But maybe not the kind you think.

21 January 2011

African villagers could get money for monkeys be it zoos or medical experiments, by putting a hole in a hollow log and leaving some nuts in it. They make the hole small enough for the monkey to get their hand in but small enough that they can’t get it out without dropping the food. The [...]

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Sinks

20 January 2011

My wife is telling me we need at least 3 sinks in our dream home. One for the kitchen, that is under mounted for easier cleanup and with a garbage disposal. I would add that it needs to have two basins so we can do hand washing and rinsing. I would prefer stainless steel, since [...]

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The Wrongness of Extreme Parenting

19 January 2011

Amy Chua’s Why Chinese Mothers are Superior article set off a firestorm. On several levels, are the Chinese actually superior, is America in decline and all the rest.
Now you have David Brooks’ Amy Chua is a Wimp counter-point.
To recap: Amy’s children must: play piano or violin, get As, be #1 in all subjects except gym [...]

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The Emergency Radio

18 January 2011

The emergency radio doesn’t look like that big of a deal but is really important because it can help you find out what is happening and the old saying knowledge is power is fully in effect.
The old Emergency Broadcast System was replaced by the Emergency Alert System. So instead of only a couple of stations [...]

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