Pretty Good Joke

Tom, Bob, and Steve were all on their way to Guiness' World Records. 

Tom said, "I have the smallest head in the world!  I'm going to beat the record!"

Bob said, "I have the smallest arm in the world!" 

Steve said, "I have the smallest penis in the world; I'm going to beat the record!" 

After going in to claim the new world records...  They came out and talked about their success. 

Tom, "Man!  I beat the record; I have the smallest head in the world!" 

Bob, "Awesome!  I have the smallest arm in the world!" 

Steve, with an angry look, "Who the HELL is Justin Beiber?!" 

Compost Secrets

FINISHED COMPOST in just 3 WEEKS!  

It's about the time of year again when the fresh air and earthy smells get you inspired to grow your own vegetables and perhaps even recycle your scraps into compost.  If you've never experienced this feeling or never tried either of the aforementioned activities, then you are missing out on a great life experience.  I have been doing my own garden now for about 13 years, and my advanced experience ranges from conventional gardening to hydroponics to composting to soil amending to selling my produce and plants.  I would like to reveal my secrets to all of you about how to get finished compost in just 3 WEEKS rather than an entire year.  With the following 7 easy steps, I am turning out 30 gallons of fresh, organic compost every month, and I'm having to GIVE it away to friends.  I pick up bags of leaves from neighbors' curbs, and the local Starbucks just gives away bags of used coffee grounds. 

1.  Your pile should be a minimum of 3' x 3' x 3'. 

2.  Use a bin made of chicken wire or preferably one of those black plastic bins you can buy at the store.  Those bins absorb the suns rays and help trap in heat and moisture to speed up the breakdown process.  I have 1 black plastic bin and one chicken wire bin.  If using a chicken wire bin, be sure to cover the pile with a tarp to keep in moisture and prevent the nutrients from being leached away. 

3.  Layer your pile like so: carbon, nitrogen, carbon, nitrogen, carbon.  Carbon being dead, brown materials such as dead leaves/grass, cardboard, paper, etc.  Nitrogen being green organic material that will decompose such as green leaves/grass, vegetable/fruit scraps, used coffee grounds.  (Just no meat, fats, or oils)


4.  Keep your pile moist but not soaked.  If you grab a handful and squeeze, it should maintain the mold of your hand without water coming out of it.  If it doesn't take mold, it's too dry.

5.  The biggest secret: turn your pile twice a week.  Most people might turn their piles maybe once a month or none at all.  The good bacteria in the pile will die off with lack of oxygen, but turning your pile will renew the oxygen throughout the pile.  Personally, I keep 2 separate bins.  I just shovel the entire pile into the 2nd bin, which ensures everything is properly aerated.  It's a lot of work (good exercise), and the center of the pile is usually pretty warm which will further your sweating, but it's great exercise.

6.  If you did everything right, by the 2nd week, most of the material will be no longer recognizable, and as you continue to turn the pile, you will smell fresh, rich earth.

7.  By the end of the 3rd week, most of  your pile should be ready to shovel out into buckets, bags, or your garden.  The remaining parts can be left in your bin.  They contain good bacteria that will speed up the next pile, so leave them in there as you start over at step one.  Happy gardening!

Funny Friday #3

TGIF!!  This week was pretty long to me.  Enjoy some pics to help you end this last day of hell! 

Solid State Hard Drives - They've Finally Done It!

Tired of hearing your hard drive spin inside your computer?  Even the quiet ones aren't completely silent.  Also, that spinning uses extra power that could be saved: if you invested in a SSD (Solid State Drive).  By now, everyone probably owns a USB Jump Drive of some kind, but now you can replace your internal hard drive with the same kind of technology.  It's a storage device that does not require spinning disks within itself.  Also, you may remember when a 1 GB hard drive existed and was the same size as hard drives today (just much lighter).  Now we have 32+ GB thumb drives that are a FRACTION of the size.  In the picture above is a 120 GB SSD for only $230 at NewEgg.  That may seem like a lot, but regular hard drives that size were once that price too.  (It will come down in time)

Right now, they have all the various sizes of conventional spinning hard drives even up to 2 TB.  However, I would never spend $8,200 for one.  That is the current price tag at NewEgg right now.  But it's a great advancement in technology. 

The pros are that magnets do not affect SSD, the use 1/2 to 1/3 power, make absolutely NO noise, runs cooler, faster start up and data accessing times, no defragmentation required (my favorite!), and no moving parts means virtually no mechanical failures!  I look forward to seeing the sizes in hard drives grow exponentially in the near future. I wouldn't be surprised if we saw a petabyte (1 PB) within the next decade (that's 1,000 GB)! 

Sources:
120 GB at NewEgg.com
2 TB at NewEgg.com

Sometimes Alcohol IS the Answer...

I'll just leave this here... 

Buy this T-shirt here. 

Namechk

Have you ever been curious exactly how many sites with which you've registered?  Or maybe you've forgotten which ones over the years.  I stumbled upon a website that has all of the most popular sites' logos on one page, and it instantly shows you which ones have your username used and which ones do not.  It's kind of interesting to see, because I had forgotten registering with a few of them.  It can also let you know if your username is taken for them.  It's worth a 30-second look at least.

http://namechk.com/

Charge ANY Cell Phone Wirelessly! PowerMat - Good Idea Gone Bad?

Charge ANY cell phone and other wireless devices without the hassle of wires!  Simply set your phone on this magic mat and have your cell phone charge so effortlessly!  Right?  Wrong...  I was so excited of this product and almost bought it - until I read the details and reviews.  You'll see that it's not quite this simple and that there are many compatibility issues.  Most of the reviews say that the device is not yet ready for prime-time, so before you spend a good $80 on one, at LEAST read my blog and follow up with the reviews that support it.

The PowerMat requires that you insert a "tip" into the power port of your device.  It's basically the part of a normal-wire charger that goes into your phone, but without the wire.  The tip makes contact with the mat, and it charges from there, not just it's flat-back against the pad like it makes you think upon first glance.  Many reviews also say that it doesn't hold as good of a charge as a wire-charge.  Also, they say they work with many phones, but the tips are still extremely limited.  In the end, this IS wireless but kind of not and is deceptive in advertising. 

So what about an alternative brand, like the Duracell myGrid?  Well, lo and behold...the reviews are almost identical!  The myGrid boasts of the Power Sleeve, which works with certain phones like the iPhone.  This sleeve basically has a tip inside that goes into the power port as well.  A review was loyal enough to inform us that the magnetic sleeve must be removed before placed into your pocket full of credit cards and keys.  The customer service center avoided his question and pushed it off to an email address that never replied to him.  It's a great idea...in the making.  I will wait a while before I consider buying this product for real.  You're welcome.

Sources: PowerMat - Amazon Sale and Reviews

              Duracell my Grid - Amazon Sale and Reviews

Unforgivable Singing Acts of Treason

What other topic is less than interesting than the error made by Christina Aguilera last night at the Superbowl?  We've probably all heard (or at least heard OF) someone making an idiot of themselves by misquoting the Star Spangled Banner...but at the Superbowl?  And by someone of Aguilera's status with 5 Grammys?  Obviously a treat to see.  Someone on YouTube said had she "actually sung the song and not sang so many wooo oooo ooo's she might have actually done a good job, at least remembered the words."

Sure, we should be understanding of the situation with being in front of so many people and singing such an infamously difficult song...  But for some reason, this is an error that has always hushed the crowd and made you feel that terrible sinking feeling in your stomach.  Is it because it's our National Anthem and all Americans should know it?  Is it because we all think to ourselves, "Why did she even try if she wasn't going to get it right in front of hundreds of millions of people?"  Or is it because, somehow, deep inside it feels like a disgrace to our country even though it's just singing a song?

In any case, you shouldn't be afraid to feel ashamed to feel however you feel.  It would appear that forgetting the words or messing up on them is just one of those unforgivable taboos. 

Funny Friday #2

It's time for Funny Friday again...  Hope some of these appeal to most of you!  Have a good weekend, you guys!  

More of My Spray Paint Art

A lot of people seemed to like my art that I introduced to you guys in my last post the other day, so I figured I would show you some still-pictures of some of my work that I've done at local town festivals.

Everyone asks what the fire is for. It's to dry it faster so I can sell it on the spot. 

116 Followers & My Spray Paint Art

After blogging just 1 week and 3 days, I have passed the 100 mark overnight and now have 116!  Thanks so much guys!  I will do my part by keeping the quality posts going and supporting all of you.  Now enjoy this video of me doing spray paint art at a local town festival last April in Burnet, TX.  The time is sped up to fit the song, but each painting takes about 5 minutes, and I sell them right there on the spot.  Enjoy!  (music by me too)