Supplies Needed:

One transparency (Ink jet used here as I have an ink jet printer)

Your printer

The Image/words/etc you want to turn into a rub on

a popsicle stick, or a rub on applicator

Item you wish to apply the rub on to (cardstock/patterned paper)

Step One:

Print your image. You need to make sure

A) Your printer is set to print on a transparency

B) That you print on the SMOOTH side of the transparency.

C) Remember to click mirror image in your settings (either printer or program)

Step Two:

Let it dry about 10 mins or so before handling.

Step Three:

Apply your rub on to your project.

Voila! You are done!

This works awesome on Cardstock & Patterned Paper.

If you do not cut your transparency like I did, then you can re-use it.

Enjoy:)

I went ahead and fancied up my rub on.

Supplies Used:

Red Stickles

Glimmer Mist (Red & Pearl)

Frame

White Cardstock

Credits: Digital Image - Rhonna Farrer.

Finished Project:

Anyway, for those of you who don't know, an Earth Box is a really cool way to grow plants in dirt without a lot of mess and fuss. It's basically like wick hydroponics, except you use dirt (both as the wick and the growing medium). The bottom of the container is divided off and filled with water. One or more columns of dirt are extended down to the bottom of this to absorb water and transport it up to the rest of the container, which is filled with dirt. Plants go up top, and a cover of some kind is generally put on with holes only for the desired plants so that bugs and weeds are discouraged. Finally, a fill pipe goes from the top down to the bottom so that water can be fed directly into the reservoir rather than through the dirt.

It's a nice self-contained and simple to use system. You can't overwater and the only way to underwater is to let the reservoir go dry. Another advantage the cover gives is it reduces water loss from evaporation so you grow plants using less water. It's just a nice solution in many ways.

Now the guys who make the original - which is definitely a very nice product and I'm not suggesting anything else - just don't make one big enough for my taste. So I saw the Instructable on how to make a bigger one and I liked the idea. Since this was right around Mother's Day and my mom likes gardening, I decided to make one for her.

For starters, this is a lot cheaper than a commercial Earth Box and offers a lot more root space and growing surface. My mom wanted tomato plants, so we're not exactly using this particular box's full potential, but for my money the big feature is the much larger water capacity.

Quick word of warning - the finished product is enormously heavy.

I can't stress this enough. I didn't weigh it or anything, but it is significantly heavier than it looks. There is no smart reason to try to lift it yourself. Get help or simply drag it (and even then be cautious. Back injuries suck.) Even better, fill it wherever you want it to be so you don't have to move it at all.

You can listen to my advice or not - whichever you prefer. Just don't come crying to me if you give yourself a hernia.

Let's get to it. You'll need:

• 2 Rubbermaid bins (I use 18gal size). $4.50 at Walmart (Don't use sterilite, it's a PITA to drill or cut.) You only need 1 lid, but the lids come with them so you might as well get two and use the other for a TV tray or something. I'm thinking of building a laptop docking station out of mine (rather than buying one for $250 from HP, the robbers.)
• Something roughly 1/3rd the height of the bins that can be used as a dirt column. I used a couple ziploc cup things seen below. $2.50 at Walmart. (There are much cheaper alternatives, I was just frustrated and in a hurry and didn't care about saving a dollar or two.)
• PVC pipe or similar, taller than your bin. I got 2 feet so it was easier to reach without bending over as much. $2 at hardware store. (Have them cut one end crooked.)
• Dirt. If you have good dirt use that. If not, buy some. Get good stuff.
• Fertilizer. Whatever you like, I used coffee grounds from Starbucks - it's free.
• Plants.

Optional:

• Cap for PVC pipe. Not sure how much this was, the cashier forgot to ring it up so I got mine for free. Oops.
• Pantyhose. Probably not even all that helpful, honestly. I just had the idea and decided to try it out. Used an old pair my wife didn't need. Asked her first to avoid long-term couch-surfing.
• Trellis. If you're going to grow something that gets tall and needs support, a trellis is a good idea. The one I got didn't have a price tag on it and to be honest, I didn't pay attention to the total at the register. They're cheap. (like a dollar or something).

Tools:

• Box cutter. Not the ideal choice for cutting a rubbermaid, but it works. A small electric saw would probably work better and be safer, but a knife works. Just don't stab yourself *cough* like I did *cough*. Oh, and don't do something dumber than me, like use a circular saw or chainsaw or something.
• Power drill. There's other options here too. Like above, be smart. No guns.
• Measuring tape. Though for this you could just as easily use a piece of paper and mark it at the length you need. It's not actually important to know how long anything is, only how long it is compared to other things.
• Marker. Sharpie, grease pencil, whatever works.

So assuming you build it the way I did and you've already got your tools, the whole thing should set you back about $16-18 plus the cost of dirt, plants, etc.

Assembly

Now for the fun part. Pick out a spot with enough room and gather up all your stuff.

Bins, cups, measuring tape, check.

PVC pipe and cap, check

Old pantyhose, check.

"Trusty" thumb stabber. Check.

Power drill, check. Other supplies not photographed individually. Sue me.

So let's have a look at the cups. These are just some ordinary food storage containers I found.

They come with screw-on lids.

We don't need these. I set them aside, I'll probably find a use for them on some other project.

Measure a cup from UNDER the lip to the bottom. You can use something else if you like, it just needs to have a lip around the top. Remember this measurement. Alternately, get a piece of paper and mark it with at the length of the cup.

Now measure from the bottom of one of your Rubbermaid bins and mark slightly more than the length of the cup. This isn't rocket science, you just want it a tad taller than the cup (say 1/4th inch or so). Make marks all the way around the bin.

Connect the dots. I never realized just what a pain it is to operate a digital camera left-handed until I took this picture. In case you're wondering, I'm using the cardboard backing off a long airstone package to draw the straight lines. (It's from a DWC project I'm building as well.)

It should look something like this. Now for the dangerous part - cutting along the line. I know they all say "always cut away from you, never towards you". It's good advice. I don't follow it, but it's good advice. I advise you to follow that advice. Here's why:

I'm an idiot, but I'm a lucky idiot and this wasn't too bad. I've done much, much worse before. Like I said, don't do this. It hurts. (And if you think this is annoying, wait 'til my wife reads this and realizes that I was, at one point in time, bleeding.)

Anyway, assuming you don't stab yourself and bleed out before the paramedics arrive, it should end up looking basically like this:

We don't need the top part, so you can do whatever you want with it. We also don't need to photograph our toes to further illustrate our flagrant disregard of basic safety protocols concerning shoes, knives, and power tools, but we do that anyway. 'Cause we're rebels. Yeah.

Grab the bottom and flip it over so it looks like this:

See the two little dimples mine have? I decided to use those as reference points for my holes.

Put the cup where you want it and trace the diameter. Do the same on the other side. (Make it vaguely evenly spaced.) Again, not rocket science.

Something like that. Make sure that your circles are smaller around than the lip on your container, or that if they aren't that you don't cut all the way out to them. It's "don't stab yourself" time again, but this is a little easier since you're dealing with a hole in a smaller bit of bin. Still, don't stab yourself.

Okay, here you see the progression of opening the hole. First, just cut a rough opening and don't worry about getting close to the lines. Next, open it up a little and cut radial cuts out from the hole to the line. Then carefully cut nearly to the the line around, connecting the radial cuts and removing those bits. Finally, check your fit. Above, you can see it's still a little too tight. So we'll open it out a bit more.

Doesn't have to be perfect. Below you can see we've got a decent fit.

Just do the same on the other side.

Now get out your drill and stab a bunch of holes in both of your cups. If they're like mine and made of a really stiff plastic, make sure you don't push hard (ie at all) or you'll crack it. The cracks aren't a problem unless they start connecting together and making big holes.

Here you can see where some of the holes are cracked a bit, but not too bad. You don't need a lot of holes, just enough that the cup is really, really bad at holding water. Clean up all the little bits stuck to the cups, then check your fit again. No reason, it's just fun.

You can see here on the right that I pushed too hard and stabbed a big hole in that cup. Not what you want to do, but it's not the end of the world - especially if you're playing along with the next step.

Cut the two legs of a pair of pantyhose to about twice the length of the cups.

Then dress your cups so that the "socks" are on the inside with the tops wrapped around the outside.

Pop them into place - you'll probably have to make sure the hose don't "ride up" when you do.

Here you see top and bottom views.

Now grab your PVC pipe and use it to trace a hole at one corner of this piece and the lid (precision not vital, but scroll down to see how it all fits so you get the holes basically aligned. Close is close enough.)

and the lid...

More stabby work.

Assemble as below.

Now take your assembled "thing" (the reservoir) and jam it down into the bottom of the other bin. It won't want to go, but just keep insisting and you should win out. The edges will bow inward but that's okay.

Note: make sure that the angled "uneven cut" end of the pipe is down. It doesn't have to be steeply angled or anything, just not flat enough to form much of a seal at the bottom. You want water to flow out easily.

Should look something like this, except my foot won't be there if you're building it. (Still barefoot, still a rebel. Yeah.)

Cut some holes in the lid for your plants (I borrowed the PVC again for that). Now test your complete assembly.

Looks good. Ready to move it to where it's going to live and pack it full of dirt.

Now for this box it's going to live outdoors (they work best outdoors, no worries about leaking) but it was raining and I didn't want to do this in the rain, so I did it in my mom's dining room right next to the back door. If you're going to do this over carpet, make sure you're not going to get in trouble for dirt in the carpet. Or (more responsibly) just clean up afterwards so no one knows/cares.

Above you can see the cups packed full of mud. Just take your dirt, mix in some fertilizer and water, and pack it in pretty tight. Don't get crazy, but make sure there aren't any air pockets or empty space.

Just keep filling it from there. If your dirt is really dry and fluffy, wet it down a bit so that it's as dense as it's likely to get when moist. You don't want the dirt to compact as water is introduced later, which would cause your plants to "sink" down away from the lid. A little of that will probably happen, but you want to avoid it as much as you can.

Quick note on soil/dirt:

A lot of gardeners, farmers, etc love to get persnickety about the difference between "dirt" and "soil", with the latter being superior. I use the terms interchangeably. Do not simply dig up some dirt from your backyard unless you're absolutely certain it's good soil and isn't packed full of unwanted bugs and nasties. At the same time, don't go get some sterilized soil either. Plants like company and the normal beneficial fungi and bacteria in soil are vital to healthy plants. I got my soil from a family member who grew up on a farm and hasn't grown grass in his back yard in 50+ years. (His entire back yard is a vegetable and flower garden. He has arguably the best soil in 100 miles and 3 compost piles to keep it in tip-top shape.)

Here you can see the bin nearly full. Check the fit of the lid from time to time to make sure you're not packing the dirt around your pipe wrong (you could make it fit badly later, just check to save yourself the trouble). On the left you can see the blue rubbermaid the dirt came out of and below is the bag of "Grounds for your Garden" from Starbucks.

You can see here that this isn't store-bought dirt. It's packed full of vegetable matter and even a few sprouts of some kind. Doesn't really matter, since only the tomato plants will have holes allowing them to reach the light. The living organisms in the soil will break the other stuff down into food for the plants.

Mix in your fertilizer as you go. Some people recommend a layer on top, you can do that if you like, but I didn't. If my mom's plants need any help I'll mix up some hydroponics nutrients for her to add to the reservoir or I'll go over and foliar feed them for her. I always prefer to err on the side of not enough fertilizer since it's infinitely easier to feed more than to unfeed.

Once your box is full:

Put the lid on and then stick something down into the dirt through the holes. I used steak knives because that's what was handy. Then take the lid off and plant your stuff where the knifes (pencils, sticks, whatever) are. You can start from seed if you like, or use small plants. You can't use big ones. Trust me.

You can try and use big ones if you like, but you're not going to be able to feed them up through the holes without seriously molesting them and then they'll be grumpy with you for a week or so. Just use small plants, it's easier (and cheaper). Get them planted and make sure your dirt is topped off, then very carefully lower the lid and gently coax the plants up through the holes. It's probably a good idea to give them a little water beforehand, but not vital.

Once it's all closed up, drag it to it's new home (if it's not there already) and drill your drain holes.

Hah! Bet you thought I forgot that part!

Actually I almost did when I was building it but then I realized this was actually a good thing. It's a lot easier to drill them after the bin is filled since you don't have to worry about dirt coming out the holes while you're filling.

Here you can see me filling the bin from the hose. It holds a LOT of water, which is why I got a PVC pipe big enough I could just stick the hose in it. All that water on the top and sides is from rain - this is why I didn't do the work outside. You want to drill your drain holes at roughly the same level as the top of the reservoir. Better a little low than a little high.

Here you can see the drain holes I made. You can do them all the way around, but it's really unnecessary. They don't need to be very large, either. Mine aren't even quite the same height. Just fill until you see water come out, then stop. You can't overwater because it just comes out when it's full. I didn't measure it, but I'd say this holds at least 5 gallons of water.

If you thought it was heavy before, it's even heavier now.

Optional Features:

As you can see above, I put a trellis on this Earth Box because it's growing tomatoes. I simply drilled three holes in the top for the legs, then stabbed them down into the dirt. It's not rock-solid, but if it needs to be steadied further I'll just drill a hole at each corner lip of the lid and tie some twine from the top to the corners to steady it.

I also added a bit of "weed mat" my mom had left over from a rock garden to the top, stabbing the legs of the trellis through that as well. This was to make it even harder for bugs or weeds to get into the soil and cause problems. If you do this go ahead and duct tape the edges down - I had to do that later because the wind had it flapping around and bothering the plants.

Finally, I put a cap on top of the fill pipe.

This is a picture of a test fit before I went to my mom's house. The objective here is just to keep stuff out of the reservoir. Realistically there isn't much concern about that kind of thing, but I figured that it'd be easier to just deny access than to try to get something out if it went in.

But if some leaves or rain or whatever went down the pipe it wouldn't be a big problem.

That's it.

Like I said, this is based off an Instructable I linked at the top of the page. I modified it slightly but it's not really "my idea".

I'll probably update this with some more pictures later on to show how the plants are doing.

We've been busy doing the band thing and all that jazz. See, this is why I'm posting right this moment because of said band news. We've been swamped with projects here in the Commune that its hard to keep up!

Lately, we here have been bitten by the "skramz" (what a really dumb term) bug and its evident with the future releases that are gonna pop up the next few weeks. Like that 4-way split.

Yes, 4-way split. Bands in this are Ana Pascal, Two Houses, canopies & grapes, and The Kate Dollenmayer Collective. If you're fast enough (meaning not retarded) you'll notice that 2 of those bands are new names here in the Commune.

canopies & grapes (yes, its lowercase) is an acoustic/emo project from two friends of different bands, namely Ana Pascal and Laguna band Kzario. It was born, so they say, when both were high and playing tunes to pass the time. Oh and disclaimer, it may be acoustic but its wayyyy far off from your Suckboard Confessional BS. Recorded with a very lo-fi touch, its something you might hear when actual emo bands play acoustic songs (think Thoughts Paint the Sky minus the full band setup). Or at least, that's what those fuckers we're hoping for.

While, The Kate Dollenmayer Collective is a collective (no shit, Sherlock!) of people playing really fucking sloppy hardcore, or what some would call "emo violence" (YET ANOTHER STUPID TERM). Its like these dudes are playing for the first time with real instruments, making them either a really easy to hate band (Musicbanter.com's HC/Emo forum loathes these guys) or some band that you could brag about to your "false emo" friends. There's no middle ground. The premise here is, they make music with whoever is there, with whatever equipment available. So it could be 2 people playing or easily 10, if possible. These fuckers wear their Emo Summer hearts on their sleeves, its embarrassing and at the same time enthralling to listen to. I'll be putting up their 3 EP in a couple of days, which we are releasing as a floppy disk for physical copies. Keep your eyes and ears in your pockets.

Also, Two Houses. These 3 dudes are playing screamo sorta in the vein of those 2 man screamo bands (Ezra Joyce, Allegory of the Cave/Cheer Up!, etc.) last Kev (the guy from defunct Means to No End and the also defunct zine Unamused) and I spoke. But they're 3 now, so I really don't know. What I know is, is they're from Lucena and part of the Sleepy Eye Collective -- kinda like a Lucena version of PKi! minus being assholes -- and they're here to take names. Lots of names.

The split would have 2 songs from each band. Ana Pascal would record shit for this exclusively.

Now that's out of the way, on to other news. Remember that weirdo noise band a few posts back? Yeah, the dudes with the morse code for a name. We still don't know the band member's names, and it looks like they have no plans in telling us. Although, what they did tell us is: they are working on new stuff. More expiremental noise stuff with an album tentatively titled The Traveler's Guide to the Tempest. Sounds fucking epic. And knowing (well ok, not really) this band, its bound to be epic. Also, it promises to be more "out there" compared to their first release For Daniel, Laura, Ian, and Paul. They finished up 2 songs and is now up on their Myspace. You should really go listen to their track Purple in the Morning, Blue in the Afternoon, and Orange in the Evening. Its a mind fuck. You don't know if they're planning to go all "psychedelic" on you or continue the old school shit of Joan of Arc. And there's actual vocals. Dunno if you'll call that singing though.

As for the compilation -- This is not the OC, This is BF -- its been in a hold up. But we promise that we'll work on it really soon. Like really, really soon. And I think folk-pop band Save the Sea Monkeys! are game with contributing a track of theirs. Still need to talk to them. So far people in it are: arthaus*, Happy Boy, Spazzkid, Dead Chasing Daylight, Cosby Sweater, Don't Bogart the Can... Man, the Treblinka Love Scene, Sarcasm, flukeofevolution!, Laptop Avengers, El Explorador, and Legarda. So yes, Save the Sea Monkeys! is tentative (although they said yes already, still need to clear things up) as well as Kill Cathari. Still need to talk to Jeri about their recording and stuff.

And lastly, Charles Manson and The Manson Family. Yes that Manson, and yes that Family. We've been rocking their "apocalyptic bard" (tag from last.fm, fucking hilarious) tuneage around these parts a lot lately, and after reading Helter Skelter (found a SECOND EDITION PRINTING in Booksale) people are just going bat shit. No, we have no plans in killing anyone. What we do plan is a Commune wide project focusing on good ol' Charlie boy and his fam. Concept albums and EPs about anything Manson related! Holy shit! We're all going to hell for this. First release would be The Kate Dollenmayer Collective's Charles' Will is Man's Son Volume 1. They're working on it as we speak. Next release? Who knows!

Behind my apartment building lies Boulder Creek. Along Boulder Creek you can find these nice little dirt pathways which are supposed to provide you with a nice little nature walk. Usually they are filled with trash, broken glass, passed out bums, and burn out high school drop out kids though. Boulder has just given up on these people though and most just jog right by it all as if all of it never existed.

This place in my backyard seemed like a pretty perfect place to set up a solo slalom track so I cleaned up about half a gallon bucket worth of broken glass shards and a trash bag full of burger wrappers and beer cans out there before moving all the dead fall from the trees (which was crazy due to our last winter here in Boulder where it snowed more than I can ever remember). Then all I had to do was clear out a rough sketch of the course with a shovel and start riding it in.

You begin in the neighbor's alley way which is paved and makes for an easy place to get up to speed. You roll up a curb and into the first turn which is a wide flat turn (now rutted in pretty well):

Come in too hot and you blow the turn and beef it on the loose over hardpack surface. Too slow and you just suck. Follow that up with turn 2 which is a slightly tighter flat turn that you can (and should) pedal out of:

And then things tighten up a bunch. Turn 3 is a tight rut now with roots in the entrance and exit of the turn. Also, there is a shrub which I had hacked down before but now one stick points out of it. If you are leaned over far enough, the stick whips the piss out of your right hand/arm. I'd remove it but in a weird masochistic way, it is kind of rewarding to know you are leaned over far enough to whack your arm on a stick that is only about a foot off the ground.

Immediately after that you have to swap it over pretty quickly to get set up for turn 4 which is another tight one. i cant seem to do it without breaking out the rear tire to get around it, pedal hard out of turn 4 across the regular foot path and into turn 5 which is scary turds:

Turn 5 is kind of sketchy. It's always been dug in as a rut so there  is something there to support you through the turn but the "flag" for the turn is a 6 inch diameter tree. There is some bark missing from the tree on the incoming side... you might guess how it happened. Here I go around it like a wuss cringing and hoping like hell that I leaned in enough to make the turn but not so much that I destroy my shoulder and face:

And if you have made it this far you sneak in a pedal stroke or two across the foot path again and into the soft dirt/sand at the end and plow into the moto rut for the fun at the finish:

You can lean the bike over so far here that you can make secondary ruts with your inside crank/bb, rotors/brakes, and just once, I dug my bars in and beefed it pretty hard.

The whole thing takes about 10 seconds or so I'm guessing. I am not sure though as I just havent cared to time it. This thing is all about having fun and it's right outside my back door. Plus it's a better use of the land than say- a big trash can.

-Kevin

(Photos thanks to my awesome lady friend Stephanie)

Finally fed up, God said, "THAT'S IT! I have had enough. I am going to set up a test that will run for two hours, and from those results, I will judge who does the better job."

So Satan and Jesus sat down at the keyboards and typed away.

They moused.

They faxed.

They e-mailed.

They e-mailed with attachments.

They downloaded.

They did spreadsheets!

They wrote reports.

They created labels and cards.

They created charts and graphs.

They did some genealogy reports

They did every job known to man.

Jesus worked with heavenly efficiency and Satan was faster than hell.

Then, ten minutes before their time was up, lightning suddenly flashed across the sky, thunder rolled, rain poured, and, of course, the power went off..

Satan stared at his blank screen and screamed every curse word known in the underworld.

Jesus just sighed.

Finally the electricity came back on, and each of them restarted their computers. Satan started searching frantically, screaming:

"It's gone! It's all GONE! "I lost everything when the power went out!"

Meanwhile, Jesus quietly started printing out all of his files from the past two hours of work..

Satan observed this and became irate.

"Wait!" he screamed. "That's not fair! He cheated! How come he has all his work and I don't have any?"

God just shrugged and said,

"Jesus Saves."

Have I mentioned that I'm into arts and crafts? Oh. I have?

I've come across a ration of rad how-tos in the past week. These projects totally ring my bell; how about you? And, if you do do-it-yourself, lemme know.

• Silk screening made easy, via Wardrobe Refashion, via ThreadHeads
• Repeat pattern tutorial, candlesticks and plates–cum-cakestands, and fabric-festooned office supplies, all via Design*Sponge
• Buttoned up hair-tie how-to, via Bluelines
• Non-plastic sandwich wrap how-to, via The Small Object
• Blah magazine holders get a makeover, via two straight lines
• Not quite a how-to, but some great inspiration for a patchwork marmoleum floor, via Apartment Therapy

And, from me, a quick way to display cool cards and other flat memorabilia: binder clips! (Image above.) Simply set the card inside the arms — you can clip the bottom of the card for stability, if necessary — and presto! Instant, easy mini-art display. Rotate your cards when the mood strikes.

Fun Fact: The example above is a Small shot of the aforementioned Parthenon postcard. See the address? See the Greek? Boffo.

Anyway στο θέμα μας. Είδα κάποια sites τώρα τελευταία (από το προηγούμενο post και μετά) που μου άρεσαν και θέλω να σας τα δείξω (ναι, μπορείτε να τα βρείτε και στο del.icio.us). Για τα linux-boys (πρόσθεσε και εμένα) έμαθα ότι η Fedora distro, μπορεί να γίνει bootable και μέσω USB Flash-sticks. Για τα Mac-boys έχω και για εσάς νέα. Όσοι δεν το ξέρατε μπορείτε να βάλετε στο Sleep τους Μac σας με ένα μόνο e-mail. Επίσης το blog αυτό το MurphyMac σας το συστήνω για να το βάλετε στον Google Reader σας ή στο Bloglines ή τέλως πάντων γενικότερα σε κάποιον reader. Παρέχει πολύ ωραίες συμβουλές και γενικότερα γνώσεις όχι μόνο για Mac. Τέλος εάν είστε πάρα πολύ nerds & geeks, πιάνουν τα χέρια σας (εκτός από το πληκτρολόγιο :P ) και έχετε όρεξη για δουλεία, μπορείτε να κάνετε τον δικό σας homemade Projector. Groovy DIY dude!

How to Water Your Lawn Efficiently

For many, a lush, green lawn is a symbol of proud homeownership as well as a pleasant place on which to relax or play. Lawns, however, require a lot of water--water which, depending where you live, may be in short supply. This article discusses some strategies you can use right now to reduce your water use and keep your existing grass healthy. To learn about other options to make your lawn more environmentally friendly, or to discover sustainable alternatives to lawns, please explore the related wikiHow articles.

Warnings

• Watering in the evening is not recommended. It reduces evaporation (like watering early in the morning), but because the above-ground portion of the grass plant stays damp all night, it can encourage the development of turf-grass diseases.
• Newly sodded or seeded lawns require more frequent watering than mature lawns. Established lawns with patch diseases may also benefit from more frequent waterings.

(original article)

More Info:

The shorts I was seeing in stores weren't cutting it. Either they were too short (hello ass cheeks), or too wide, or too big. Or my number one complaint, made my non-existent ass look non-existent.

I think I might cut up my white jeans as well. They're stained at the bottom from tucking into my black boots. Yeah, very stupid of me. And doubly stupid not to treat the stains immediately.

Actually, I am generally against wearing black to weddings, even if the dress code is black-tie formal (as I get many stern looks from miss manners, I'm sure), but I think shoes are definitely an exception, mostly because there is usually not a lot of black to them (strappy heels are the most common evening shoe) and because most people do not associate black shoes with solemn mourning in the same way as black clothing, at least not in this country. Plus, most of the black evening shoes that you'd pick from to go with your wedding dress are going to have something else to them: rhinestones, beads, crystals, metallics, sequins, lace or glitter (even if it's just minimally) - which makes the shoes less dreary and a lot more fun! (P.S. If you clicked on the link above to view the uber-gorgeous, uber-expensive sequin example, check out this more affordable (and equally cute) version!).

One more great thing about black shoes, is that you won't have to worry about trying to find shoes in the exact shade of ecru to match your dress (I've read that there are over 200 different versions of white used in wedding dresses - to the chagrin of brides everywhere). Luckily, as my friend Jessica always says, "sparkles match everything!"

So, I have some gorgeous options in black for you below that I'm sure would complement any wedding dress. Starting off, Oh... Deer! covered these black stiletto pumps in sequins so while at first they look fairly basic, then they catch the light and it's a party! (imagine them sparkling from flickering candles). Second, I've chosen these lightly beaded Caparros slingbacks; just by varying the width of the straps, they've almost made it look like a bow for the side of your foot (I can do fun and flashy, but the simple minimalist in me favors clean styles when they're done so right). Last in row one, these heels by Nine West may look like your average rhinestone shoes, but they're actually trimmed in glinty silver chain! However, the strap over the toes is a wedding-appropriate black lace, so for the bride looking for something slightly edgy, these might just make you and your mother happy (I'm told it is possible ). 

In the second row, the intricate, vine-like metallic trim on these Max Studio heels seems to me like a pretty and more wearable version of the Miu Miu teacup pumps. Your friends will be dying to know where you got them and won't believe they didn't cost as much as your wedding dress. Next up are these luxe gold and black d'Orsay heels by Enzo Angiolini which I have to preface are not going to work with every wedding dress. Silver and crystal sparkles are so close to white they almost don't count as a separate color and can match most any wedding dress hue - even those leaning towards gold tones. But, with a bright metallic gold color on a black shoe, you are then dealing with 3 different color spectrums which can be more difficult to use. However, there are tons of wedding dresses in pearly-gold hues and just as many with gold threading or bead detail, so in these cases, a gold and black shoe can coordinate nicely. I think these Enzo heels, with the tapered gold bands on the side, have a bit of a retro cool feel.

For my crafty tip-of-the-blog, the very last pair of shoes by Max Studio are adorable, right? They're also simple to fashion yourself (I call that couture!). First, just get a pair of plain black d'Orsay heels (that means the back and front of the shoe's upper are not connected & also that they exist! Shoes without a back won't work for this project). They will also need to have a removable ankle strap (connected by a loop of leather instead of to the sides of the shoe). You might even already have a pair in your closet. Okay? Now throw the ankle strap away! The next step is to get a pretty double face satin ribbon in your color choice (something blue?). Fold it in half, and put the fold under the toe area of the shoe, fold facing the heel. Separate the two pieces of ribbon at the fold, slip the opposite loose ends through and pull tight. Last step: thread one end of the ribbon through the hole for the ankle strap (this will keep your bow from falling down) and tie a bow! If you can easily slip your foot in and out of the shoes with the bow tied, you can sew or hot glue the knot of the bow so it will stay put (satin ribbon is slippery), otherwise, just use a pin. 

P.S. If you have any crafty wedding ideas (especially those involving shoes - but we'll take anything just this once), please feel free to share!

If you've always wanted one of those bolero/shrug wraps but ever found the right one, now you can make one! This is a great tutorial with easy steps to make one from an old turtleneck! And also, if you don't have a sewing machine, get out your video cameras, because now is your chance to win one!

Thanks! :)

Antena Wifi con espumadera (2008): Harto de tener que apañarmelas para coger Wifi cuando duermo dentro de la furgo, me puse a husmear un poco por Internet y me encontré una serie de experimentos sorprendentes en todos los sentidos, como es habitual en la red. Sin duda este invento es de los mas útiles a la par que sencillos y baratos, logrando ampliar la recepción de las señales que circulan en nuestras ciudades de una manera a veces espectacular. Por ejemplo el día de la prueba en Gijón, conseguí conectarme a un hotel con Wifi abierta que estaba casi a 1km y medio en linea recta sin ningún obstáculo visual, cosa impensable para el adaptador wifi de serie en la mayoría de los portatiles. En mi caso, el adaptador Wifi Usb no me costo mas de 10 euros ya que lo he comprado de segunda mano, pero aun asi son fáciles de encontrar en el mercado por menos de 30 euros. Haz la prueba!!!

Algunos ejemplos:

http://www.instructables.com/id/S6DYYLZF44CI890/

http://www.usbwifi.orconhosting.net.nz/

Platinumontherise has this adorable froggie hairbow and clippie set

listed right now, and it's a great price! Only $6.00! Wow!

little_bitty_boutique is offering this super sweet halter set!

I love this fabric! It's perfect for summer! Isn't the oversized

ric rac a nice touch?

Booak Boutique has a darling little boys camo patriotic short set available this week,

I don't know how she keeps up and lists so much but everything is very cute!

Daisy-Head-Maisy (hey that's me! LOL!) is offering these sweet

Ladybug Picnic flip flops and they've got free shipping too!

Speaking of pink ladybugs...how cute is this???


It was created by tiny*jewels, fly on by & check it out!

Who doesn't love a sock monkey? m2mboutique is offering

this cute 2 piece set, an appliqued tee and deco jeans!

So enough about my hardtop for the time being, time to actually get back into the original purpose of last fortnights post. So this week we’ll start by looking at the stock intake tract. For the unenlightened out there (predominately classmates I’d hope) engines work by burning fuel,; to burn fuel you need oxygen; the more oxygen you can cram into the cylinder, the bigger the bang; the bigger the bang the fast the car goes. So to get the most air into the cylinders, the intake tract needs to be as free flowing as possible.

To see if my improvements actually made a difference, I wanted some stock measures to compare back to. Problem was, I don’t have access to a dyno and really couldn’t be bothered paying for a session, so I instead used acceleration times. 0-100km/h is fairly well recognised across the automotive industry as a decent performance benchmark but it relies heavily on a consistent launch. Not being a robot, I couldn’t guarantee that, so I instead chose to use 20-80km/h, using only second gear and full throttle. That way I “should” be able get consistent times. After a quick drive with a friend and a stopwatch, we managed to conclude that my car did 20-80 in 6.8 seconds.

Air first enters through a small snorkel on the right hand side of the engine bay, near the shock tower, which then leads into the airbox. A small resonator is attached to the side of the snorkel, presumably to kill induction noise but it also robs power, so that was easily the first thing to go. I’ve read published articles stating that from real world dyno testing, removing that whole snorkel assembly and widening the hole into the stock air box has added up to 5 kW! 10 minutes work with a Demel and removing two 10mm bolts for 5kw is something I’d do any day of the week. Hell, if it was cumulative, every day of the week (hehe)

Once air hits the airbox it does a sharp 90° turn, flows through the filter and then does another 90° turn as it leaves the airbox. Obviously, sharp turns are not good for free flowing air, so this is another segment that has to go.

From here air runs through the Air Flow Meter (AFM) and along the front of the engine before it turns and runs into the plenum. Another resonator is plumbed in here and other have found through testing that this actually manages to fill out a torque hole that would otherwise appear around 4000rpm.

Testing the restrictiveness of the stock MX5 intake system has been done many times before, by people with much more skill than me, so I decided to skip this part and let Matt King from Autospeed explain it instead.

Taken from Autospeed.com               Article by Matt King

Using a water manometer the pressure drop was measured just before the throttle body at the PCV return-line connection. In a 2^nd gear WOT run to redline, a maximum pressure loss of 42cm H₂O was found, occurring at about 6000 rpm and not at peak revs (7200 rpm) as one might expect. This pressure drop was considered significant enough to make improvements worthwhile.

The question, though, was where exactly this pressure loss was occurring. To determine this, pressure readings were taken at several points along the intake system, as follows:

1. In the bottom of the airbox (after the intake snorkel, but before the filter)
2. In the top of the airbox (after the filter)
3. At the inlet to the airflow meter (after the outlet duct/bend of the airbox)
4. At the outlet of the airflow meter (the start of the long duct across the engine bay)

The pressure loss found at those points was as follows (cm H₂O):

1. 8cm
2. 11cm
3. 25cm
4. 37cm

From this we can see the pressure restrictions caused by each component (cm H₂O):

This quickly points out some interesting facts: Firstly, the popular drop-in, reusable type of filter is clearly going to have almost no effect, gaining at best a maximum of 3cm pressure improvement. (Note that the filter tested was already quite old and dirty - and yet 97 per cent of the restriction was not from the filter!) Secondly, the duct across the engine bay, despite its length, flowed quite well. The tuned length of this part, and the existing resonator box, were regarded as desirable to keep.

Since 59% of the total restriction came before the airflow meter, putting the common cone-style filter onto the airflow meter should improve matters by getting rid of the stock snorkel and also that nasty, restrictive, right-angle bend in the top of the airbox. However, this still leaves a noticeable pressure drop caused by the airflow meter itself. It also means that the engine will be sucking hot, low-density air from right next to the exhaust manifold.

And back to Joe…

Since fitting the common pod filter onto the AFM removes 59% of the stock restriction and it is fairly easy to do, that’s exactly what I decided to do. I started by removing the pick-up snorkel, there’s only two bolts to undo and it’s off. The next step is to remove the airbox, again its only a matter of removing five or so bolts around the bottom of the airbox and the four nuts that connect it to the AFM. The air box should just lift out of place and we’re almost there. Attaching the pod is even simpler, all it needs is one screw to hold the filter to the adaptor plate and then reattach the four nuts to secure the adaptor plate to the AFM.

Now comes the only complicated part in the entire process, making a bracket to hold the AFM in place. I cut a 25mm thick piece of square steel tubing to the right length and threw it in place as a stop gap measure. It bolts directly to the AFM and then to one of the brackets that previously held the airbox (I even used the original bolts). I never intended on leave it there for a long period of time, but until I figure out how I want the rest of the intake to go, it will do.

After everything was in place I went for a drive. After letting it warm up we broke out the stopwatch again. Now I know it doesn’t sound like a huge difference but we managed to get a consistent 6.7 seconds compared to the pervious 6.8. A real life difference for very little money and effort, I’m ok with that J

Pictures are below and before people whinge at me about the filter being so close to the exhaust, I ordered a heat shield about a week ago and it should be here any day now.

For the software, head on over to Zoneminder.com and check out the documentation and wiki.  I used Debian to run the Zoneminder software, but there are several how to's for other Linux distributions.  If you do use Debian and a decTOP, be aware the only way I could get Debian installed on the decTOP was to make a bootable network install of Debian on a USB drive.  For some reason, the Debian installs I tried from an external CD-ROM drive always failed.  I would highly recommend using Debian with Zoneminder, because once you have Debian running, installing Zoneminder is simply a matter of adding a repository to your sources.list file, and doing an 'apt-get update;apt-get install zoneminder' command.  If you run into any problems, be sure to check the Zoneminder forums and wiki for help.

Since Debian and Zoneminder are free and developed by volunteers, be sure to make donations to both projects if you find the software useful.

Debian Donations: http://www.debian.org/donations

Zoneminder Donations: http://www.zoneminder.com/donate.html

It'll be a hot item come 2015. Just wait...

Photos to come!

Faz sentido, já que lá é tudo em versão miniatura, com uma enorme crise de falta de espaço.

The result is some serious cuteness.  Check it out...

Make the most of the long hot summer by drying your excess fruit and vegetable crops.Sunshine, drying is free and easy. It is easy to do and you will find the end product so much tastier than the bought variety. You will also know that no chemicals or preservatives have been used in its preparation.

Peel and slice fruit and either sun-dry or dehydrate in electric dryer, depending on the weather.

To sun-dry

Use a solar dryer, or, place fruit on stainless steel cake coolers (aluminium leaves black marks on fruit which would not be very good for anyone's health) in full sunlight for approximately two days, taking them inside at night so the fruit does not absorb moisture with any dew.
Can also use pieces of shade cloth placed on trays. Turn the fruit over after a few hours of strong sun and then check every three or four hours, turning over the thicker pieces if necessary.When sun-drying it is best to cover with fly screens or tulle to discourage flies and beetles.

We have also used the shelves out of our electric Nara dehydrator when sun-drying in case the weather changes for the worst. Can then finish off the drying in the dehydrator without handling the fruit. We dry fruit which is seasonal ( mangoes, jackfruit) for our own use, and we dry bananas, pawpaws and fruit we have fresh all year round to sell at the market.

Fruit Leather

To make fruit leather, place plastic sheeets cut from oven bags on dehydrator trays. Blend fruit in blender, pour onto plastic sheets and spread with back of a spoon to about a quarter inch thick in centre and a bit thicker on outside edges. Peel off when dry and reuse plastic sheeets again.
Some successful leather combinations are : pawpaw, banana, passionfruit; pawpaw, honey, carob; pawpaw, banana, coconut; mango, yoghurt, banana.

How to Prepare Sliced Fruit for Drying

Mango - peel and slice in quarter inch slices.
Banana - peel and slice, in quarter inch slices lengthwise or across.
Jackfruit - open jackfruit and remove segments. Open each segment by cutting with knife on one side. Remove seed (suitable and yummy for coooking) and flatten to dry.
Carambola or Five Corner - slice across in star shaped pieces and dry. (Tastes similar to dried tangy apple).
Coconut - husk and de-shell flesh from mature coconut. Grate as fine as desired and layer about half inch thick in a suitable tray for sun drying, or on dehydrator trays with plastic sheets. Stir around every two hours until dry. Be careful if drying in a windy spot as we have had coconut and herbs blown away when dry because they are so light. (Very annoying I might add).
Watermelon (The sweeetest of all dried fruits). Slice thinly, seeds and all, and dry as for other fruits.

Store the dried fruit in plastic bags in airtight containers. After a day or two check the bags for any condensation which will mean the fruit is not dry enough.

Happy drying , healthy living.