How to create a pace of work

There ought to be 1,000s of good stories to help us when tasks are difficult or never seem to end.

Jason Stern wrote an article on Chronogram, a web rag up the Hudson Valley in New York, describing how he learned to cope with a horrible job:

When I am confronted with tasks that seem overly menial or tedious, I am reminded to arouse my attention and treat the event as something important.

The entire expanse of floor was covered with impacted raisins, much like the chewing gum covering subway platforms. I took a deep breath, dropped to my knees, and started scraping up bits of dirty raisin crud with the screwdriver.

After about a half hour of rather manic raisin-scraping, my back ached and my fingers hurt. I was alternately cursing my boss and the sloppy customers, inventing new means of containing raisins in the bulk bins, and conspiring a way out of this heinous task.

My boss walked out of his office...
He came over and looked at the little patch of floor I had cleared of raisins. Taking the screwdriver, he knelt beside me.

“Like this,” he said, and deftly scraped up a raisin. “Don’t scratch the floor.”

After some hours of activity the internal arguments and complaints began to settle down.

I found that in order to maintain a reasonable pace of work, I needed to relax my body, bringing awareness to the muscles in my back so they didn’t tense unnecessarily.

I found that in order to prevent my hand getting tired, I needed to use only the necessary force to grip the screwdriver—though the automatic tendency was to grip so tight my knuckles turned white.

Toxic light bulbs

Compact fluorescent light bulbs might help in the fight against climate change but could they cause problems with toxic waste down the track?

Bacteria makes soil solidify

Starting from a sand pile, turn it into sandstone.

Soil bacteria could be used to help steady buildings against earthquakes. When a major earthquake strikes, deep, sandy soils can turn to liquid, with disastrous consequences for buildings sitting on them. Currently, civil engineers can inject chemicals into the soil to bind loose grains together. But these epoxy chemicals may have toxic effects on soil and water.

A new process, so far tested only at a laboratory scale, takes advantage of a natural soil bacterium, Bacillus pasteurii. The microbe causes calcite (calcium carbonate) to be deposited around sand grains, cementing them together.

By injecting bacterial cultures, additional nutrients and oxygen, UC Berekeley engineers found that they could turn loose, liquefiable sand into a solid cylinder.

[link to story]

Most do not use garage for cars

Forget hot tubs beckoning adults, garages brimming with impressive cars and families frolicking on verdant lawns.

From their clutter-strewn garages to their mostly lovely but abandoned yards, busy Southern California parents who own their homes rarely use residential outdoor spaces for the purposes for which they were designed, said a UCLA anthropologist who participated an in-depth study of how the average dual-income family really lives in Los Angeles.

"From construction materials to excess furniture and toys, storage of material goods has become an overwhelming burden for most middle-class families," said UCLA researchers. "We found items blocking driveways, cluttering backyard corners and spilling out of garages," said Ursula Lang, an architect in Berkeley, Calif., and a study co-author.

Three quarters of the garages in Los Angeles are NOT used for cars.

[link to story]

Outlet Wall Safe

Hide valuables inside a hollow electrical outlet you already have in your wall, the last place a thief would think to look.

According to the Chicago Police these units are better than a locked safe and a thousand times cheaper.

$8 at Kleargear.
via Ministry of Tech

Feeling the Pinch?

Shirley Goode,
surely a nom de plume,
writes in her blogger profile:

A chatty being, especially anything to do with cookery, and self-sufficiency. Loves the challenge of making the most of what you've got, and spending less each time I take up a new challenge. No age limit to enjoying the fun of it all, so always hoping more and more will be interested in the whole cost-cutting game.,



and she posts her advice ingeniously and assertively,
such as Who needs Meat?,
Chinese Leaves Last Longer!

A stick of celery (68p), one (large) value pack of mushrooms (£1.18p), 1 value pack of 6 lemons (48p), 1 pack of 'eat me keep me' bananas (£1.49p), 4 large parsnips (£1.48p), and one 2kg bag of carrots (97p). Plus one pack of pasta penne for 37p. Total: £7.60. As I still have a couple of carrots left from the last pack, I certainly won't be needing many of the new batch to get me through the next three weeks.

Meat or not meat is not the question.
To meet our budget and keep our well being is a good and better thing.

This picture is Shirley's kitchen. It's comfortable and workable. It may not contribute to Martha Stewart's $659Million in take-home stock margins, but like so many European homes, it reveals a simple answer that can answer our needs as well.

American Media may not be reflecting the common households of America, plus Americans may rebel at any hint of austerity that might remind us of a nagging Depression or the weakening Dream, but it is increasingly important to help each other save our Dollars and use our Cents as we continue to celebrate the good sense of living well.

Online HVAC information

Posted by the Internet Scout Report:

HVACReducation.net

http://www.hvacreducation.net/

With years of experience in the field, the HVACReducation.net group provides a variety of comprehensive and training programs for students in the related fields of heating, ventilating and air conditioning. While their organization does have a number of professional development programs for more advanced learners, their website also features a number of instructional modules and learning exercises for novices. Most of these educational resources can be found under the "Curriculum" section of the site. Here, visitors can look over modules that deal with electrical systems, refrigeration principles, and the basic electrical systems of such devices. After looking over those materials, visitors may wish to continue on by looking over their schedule of classes and upcoming conferences.

Pulling weight up a rope

Wins $30,000 Prize for Building Climbing Device

With the help of Nathan Ball, Atlas Devices' powered rope ascender, a fully loaded firefighter could reach the top of a 30-story building in only 30 seconds, compared to the six minutes or more it often takes to trudge up stairs with 80 to 100 pounds of equipment.

The device, which is the size of a hand-held power tool, can lift a 250-pound load more than 600 feet into the air at nearly 10 feet per second, all on a single battery charge.

Better pictures here at MakeZine

Similar to the way an anchor is raised and lowered on a ship, the device relies on the capstan effect, which produces a tighter grip each consecutive time a rope is wrapped around a cylinder. The grip continues to tighten as more weight is applied to the line.

Dirt and mud floors

There is progress in developing mud flooring that are "crack-free, solid and serviceable.

As well, the high density and low thermal conductivity of earthen materials makes them passive solar devices, easily capturing and retaining heat during the day and releasing it at night.

One comment:
"I grew up in an adobe home that had mud floors in 4 of the major rooms, including a high-traffic hallway.

"Once tamped, treated, and sealed, they're very durable. I don't ever remember having to do work on our mud floors. My parents have owned the home since 1970, and the floors are still in great shape. That's 37 years, which probably means they last longer than wood.

"They are very beautiful and warm in the winter. They are also really easy to make. Sand, Clay, water, tamp, sealer, done."

The Earth Architecture website focuses on architecture constructed of mud brick (adobe), rammed earth (pise), compressed earth block or other methods of earthen construction

Watch out when breathing solvents

Get modern, be hip:
Chronic brain damage from exposure to solvents.

...several investigations have demonstrated an association between impaired cerebral function in employed workers and occupational exposure to organic solvents. Many case-histories and two case-referent studies indicate, that such an impairment might develop into disabling irreversible neuropsychiatric disease.

Measure from a picture

Slashdot cites a new gizmo:

"Using a simple concept, iPhotoMEASURE software can measure any objects you can take a picture of. Include a printout of a 7.5- or 15-inch square in the photo and the software can measure any distance or object in the pic to within 99.5% accuracy. Although geared towards contractors, there's any number of consumer usage scenarios as well. Enough to justify a $99 price tag? Jury's still out on that."

Frank Lloyd Wright, the industry

letter from the editor:

"This issue is about Frank Lloyd Wright, every bit of it.

What you haven't discovered yet is why. Why is because we here at Jetsetmodern believe that Frank Lloyd Wright the man and architect has become lost, plowed under by Frank Lloyd Wright, the industry."

Heat-Reversible Glue

Heat-Reversible Glue doesn't disappear when heated, but just loses its stick.

Hot glue is heat-reversible. It softens at 75°C, to pull things apart, and melts at 130°C

Here is a link to adhesive types with a focus on manufacturing and recycling products.

Web tool for subcontractors

Forino Report.

Launched last month, the new credit-rating tool allows subcontractors from all 33 trades to check up on the past performance of general contractors. Like eBay, where users rate one another's reliability, participating subcontractors submit reports on general contractors, and the subscription-only Web site passes the information through a number of financial tools. The end result is that each general contractor is given a Forino score between zero and 500. Not only can subscribers search for scores on general contractors, but they can also maintain a watch list of the general contractors they most often deal with.

The site also provides risk management tools -- which allow subcontractors to calculate bids for contractors based on their scores -- bidding high for high-risk contractors and offering discounts to contractors who pay in full and on time.

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