How Many Squares Do You See?

From Boom 99.7 on Facebook

Feel The Breeze, Smell The Manure

"Israel’s outgoing civil defense chief predicts monthlong war, 500 dead after strike on Iran" on the Washington Post

Just Learn

This is my response to "Go to trade school, young man" by Patrice Lewis on World Net Daily:

In my not so humble opinion, everyone who is capable needs to get some form of post-secondary education.  The United States has one of the best systems of adult education in the world.  Of course, that is partially due to overburdening children's schooling with noneducational requirements.  The real question is what form that education should take.

If you truly want to do something which requires a college degree, by all means, go to college.  If you truly want to work in a trade, go to trade school.  If you don't know what you want, try out different things before committing.  For example, if you think you might want to work in house construction, try volunteering for Habitat for Humanity.  And don't be afraid to try new things, even things you don't like.  I hate doing my own taxes, but I took the H&R Block introductory tax course so I could do them better, and I found to my surprise that doing other people's taxes was enjoyable.

Even when you have a career, don't stop learning.  The brain is like a muscle, the more you use it, the better it works.  Studies have shown decreased rates of senility in people who keep their minds active.  You can take courses which further your career, or find something for an interest you have or a hobby you enjoy.

If money is an issue, consider taking one class at a time while you're working.  It may take longer to get your degree but not necessarily to get your degree paid off.  You also aren't taking such a big risk if you decide you don't like the field you've chosen or can't find a job in it.

Solar Food Dryer

"How to build a solar food dryer that works!" by Homeinsteader on TheSurvivalistBlog.net

A Prime Example of Ecotechnics

India's Living Bridges

Reporting

A famous food critic walks into a certain restaurant.  The waiter takes his order and takes it back to the chef and tells him who it is for.  The chef nervously prepares his meal and the waiter promptly takes it out to him.  The waiter asks how his meal is.  The critic replies, "This would make great dog food."  When the waiter goes back to the kitchen, the chef asks what the critic said.  The waiter replies, "He said, 'Great'".

The Joy of Wood

Sixbears in the Woods has a great daily blog.  Every day is an interesting read, but his past two posts really get at the joy of wood and fires.

New Post: Prepaid Arbitration

Assuming that I set up the scheduling correctly and Blogger doesn't glitch, there should be a new post on The Long Ascent: Prepaid Arbitration.  Since it's been so long since I've posted there regularly, I thought people might like to know.

Veggie Porn

"10 Naughtiest Vegetables on Earth" by Julian London on OrganicAuthority.com

Diet Tip: Leftovers First

Here's a simple little trick that has helped me lose weight: if you make more servings than people who are going to eat them right away, put away the leftovers before serving. That way I'm not tempted to just finish it off so I don't have to put anything away.  If I am truly hungry, I can pull one out and eat it, but I rarely do.

Things To Think About

Dave Pollard revealed some really deep thoughts in his post, "The Ten Hardest Questions" on his blog, "How to Save the World".

Kitchen Tip: Nuke Your Sponge

This is actually two tips in one.  If you use a sponge to wash your dishes, when it stops looking, feeling, or smelling clean, stick it in the microwave for two minutes.  This will sterilize it and make it like new again.  (Sorry I can't remember where I picked up this tip.)  Also, when the sponge gets too ragged for dishes, I use it to clean up around the kitchen.  After I nuke that sponge, I go ahead and wipe out the microwave; nuking the sponge helps loosen everything that splattered or overflowed.  (That tip comes from my mother.)

Intro to Paul Wheaton

For anyone who is not familiar with Paul Wheaton or Permaculture, I suggest you check out "Grow wild: Paul Wheaton's at the forefront of a permaculture revolution" by Erika Fredrickson in the Missoula Independent.  Then if you like that sort of thing, head over to the forums at Permies.com, where they talk about bone sauce, homesteading, and Permaculture, all the time.

Itty Bitty Multitool

This looks cool!  I think I'll be getting one of these next time I order from Amazon.com:

"Gerber Shard Review : A Low-Cost and Effective Addition to Your EDC Kit" by Dan from BladeReviews.com.

Counterfeits and Knockoffs

Dan on BladeReviews.com has an interesting rant on "YouTube’s Counterfeit Culture".  I think there is an important distinction between counterfeits, which claim to be a certain brand, and knockoffs, that only look and work like it.  If something is truly innovative in how it works or looks, the creator should protect it with a patent or a design patent.  If not, then cheap imitations are okay, as long as you know what you are getting.  Nonessential things you can afford to skimp on.  Stuff that you are relying on to survive, you want to know you have the best quality possible.

Inflation AND Deflation

People involved in the financial world are worried about deflation, people involved in the real world are worried about inflation.  Guess what?  They're both right.  The value of paper assets is way out of proportion to the value of real assets.  The way that gets correct is for paper assets to fall in price and/or the prices of real goods to rise.  The last couple times this happened the process ended when the price of gold was about equal to the price of the Dow Jones Industrial Average.  Since we're at around $1500 an ounce for gold and $12000 for the DJIA, we have a long way to go.

A Moving Story

I don't normally follow Pumpkin, Pie, Painter, but I happened to stumble across a very intense story entitled "Our Dying Dog and a Prayer" by Farmer's Wyfe.

Avoiding Reality

James M. Dakin wrote a thought-provoking article entitled "We Don’t Need No Stinking Reality."

Patterns of Community

Following Chris Alexanders A Pattern Language, leavergirl posted an interesting article on patterns of community at her Leaving Babylon blog.

Not Always Right...

This is a hilarious website about bad experiences with customers: Not Always Right.  Don't worry, they have companion sites for employees, lovers, and family.