Sludge to biofuel

Mason's spacer

Keep a consistent course height without the need to check gauge and level.

Brikmat spacer mats provide uniform mortar joints with bricks and blocks as well as heavier stone and cast concrete.

Both experienced and inexperienced bricklayers were up to 50% faster.

Tool belts may harm the spine

"Ninety-nine percent of tool belts put weight on the back," said Stuart Lyle, president and CEO of Toolster Belts Inc.

The Toolster belt wraps around the waist and one leg and distributes the weight from the lower back to the hips, buttocks and thighs.

It fastens with Velcro, uses customized removable pouches, and offers a mini-belt.

About $25-40.

More than a pipe clamp

The Lightning Clamp has been "under evaluation" in Australia since 2001. It uses 1/2 inch threaded rod between the clamping faceplates and instant release. Clamps any distance from a few inches to several yards. Several application pics at the site.

The faceplate can be reversed to function as a joist spreader or to align warped decking. The clamp may be a superb tool for fitting floating hardwood flooring. Unlike pipe, the rod will flex over curved surfaces. Additional jigs convert the clamp to a bench vise. About $40

Tool for carrying sheet panels

The Gorilla Gripper allows one person to carry heavy sheet goods like plywood, drywall, and particleboard with greater ease.

The gripper works by clamping down on the top of the panel creating a temporary handle.

Legs and spine stay straight while walking. About $45

Spray bugs away with water

A hard spray of water can knock off many common garden pests. No pesticide.

Now an inventor has created a water sprayer designed to beat-up bugs.

The Bug Blaster injures aphids, mites, fungi, and more. About $10 to $25

Old-growth trees at risk

As if knowing the future, Jerry Garcia once said, "Somebody has to do something, and it's just incredibly pathetic that it has to be us."

Instrument makers are worried about their supply of old-growth logs. Fender, Martin, Gibson, Taylor, Guild and others have joined with Greenpeace to create the Music Wood Coalition to preserve and manage forests.

The USA guitar industry is not a major consumer. Its annually using just 150 spruce logs a year as soundboards. A sawmill cuts 120 logs per shift. But keystone forests in the USA are at risk, with some areas in Alaska exhausting their supply of old-growth Sitka spruce in just six years. About 80% of all spruce logs are sent to Asia for construction or used in US doors and windows.

"Walk through any music store and the instruments you'll see represent a virtual who's who of exotic and valuable timber species from the four-corners of the globe: spruce from Alaska, mahogany and rosewood from South America, ebony from Africa and a host of other lesser known species.

"Unfortunately, unbridled demand for forest products on global markets has led to the destructive and often illegal logging of the forests where these species are found. Global demand has driven many species to the point of commercial extinction and others are becoming increasingly scarce-as are the plants and animals that share their environment.

"Today less than 10 percent of the Earth's land area remains as intact forest landscapes. Music wood is only a small part of this problem, but it can be a big part of the solution."

In an interview at GreenBase, Scott Paul, the Greenpeace Forest Campaign Coordinator, said the campaign starts in the Southeast Alaskan rainforest, the northern most extent of the North American great coastal temperate rainforest considered too be the rarest forest type on Earth. In Alaska the Pacific Coast Mountains trap moisture rolling in from the ocean, as storms drench the region with as much as 200 inches of rain a year. The ancient trees of this forest live from 200 to 700 years, and one species can survive for 1,000 years or more.

GuitarPlayer said that "Sitka spruce—the wood used for the vast majority of acoustic guitar, piano, violin, and other musical-instrument soundboards—is being harvested at such a rate from the Southeast Alaskan forests where it grows that the end of the instrument-quality supply is in sight." I posted this at my other blog too.

An artificial spinal disk

This piece of hardware is an artificial spinal disc made by Prestige. The apparatus is screwed into the vertebrae above and below the removed disc and rotates on a "ball-and-trough" system to restore motion.

Driving a concrete truck for thirteen years and slinging the chute back and forth, Lazaro Puerto at only 45 and was crippled with pain. The FDA just approved his replacement spinal disc, which is designed to ease pain and, unlike old procedures, restore a greater range of motion in his neck.

Until now, the "gold standard" operation has been to remove the damaged disc and fuse the two vertebrae together with bone grafts and titanium plates. It could stop the pain, but with loss of motion. Studies seem to successfully show satisfactory motion, although the surgery is considered high risk because it is near the spinal chord.

A flexion-extension x-ray shows the artificial disk implanted in vertebrae of the neck.

Technology for back pain from damaged or herniated spinal disks is improving, but learning to care for the spine is important.

In the neck, the spinal cord and nerves are surrounded by bony vertebrae, which are separated from each other by discs that allow the neck to rotate and bend.

A disc is like a jelly doughnut, made of tough cartilage on the outside and softer material inside. If the disc is damaged, degraded or herniated by disease or injury, some of the "stuffing" comes out, and the disc no longer properly cushions the vertebrae. It leads to intense pain and loss of motion.

The implant could replace many of the 200,000 traditional cervical operations performed each year in the United States in which a damaged disc is removed and the vertebrae above and below it are fused with bone grafts. [link to story]

Portable laser cleaning

A ‘Backpack Laser’ can clean objects and buildings for less cost than soap and water.

A ‘Backpack Laser’ can remove contaminants, residue and coatings without damaging the substrate.

A ‘Backpack Laser’ uses no water or chemicals and produces no effluent.

The units are made by Germany's Clean Laser Systems.

Dave Adams of CIProcess in the UK says, "We believe that we have made a great advance in laser cleaning technology, making it more accessible due to the low price of the units and the portability."

The innovative laser cleaning system combines power and versatility, with the lowest operating cost of all industrial cleaning methods. offering a safe cleaning method that is environmentally friendly.

The lasers direct a high precision programmable scanning beam onto the cleaning surface, which reflects laser energy. Any contaminants on the surface absorb the laser energy and are quickly vaporized, with any fumes or particulates removed by an in-built filter.

This gentle cleaning method avoids the erosion and abrasion that normally occurs with most other cleaning methods.

Flavorful coating for concrete

The ingredient that helps give salt and vinegar-flavored potato chips a tangy snap -- is the key to a new waterproof coating for concrete.

Scientists discovered that sodium acetate easily seeps into concrete and swells when exposed to water, blocking entry of additional moisture. Under dry conditions, the crystals shrink to their original size and allow moisture to evaporate.

Walls are for what?

A completely interactive wallpaper.

You decide what you want it to be - whether you want to put up art, paint directly into a frame, kids drawings or family photos - it's up to you!

Artists Taylor and Wood designed Frames, $20/roll.

Highway debris

More than 25,000 accidents a year are caused by litter that is dumped or falls out of vehicles.

“Deliberate” litter used to reign — fast-food wrappers and the like — now it's “unintentional” or “negligent” litter from poorly secured loads. link

Lifting may never be safe

A new study of back pain at work shows that current methods of prevention - including lifting equipment! - is "probably pointless".

Back pain is the number one cause of worker-compensation complaints, second only to the common cold in causing lost workdays.

Consequently, employers and regulators have pushed training programs to teach specific lifting methods, and some recommend or require the use of assistive devices such as hoists.

However, a new review of the research on lifting advice and handling devices has found that they do not prevent work-related back pain.

Christopher Maher, associate professor of physiotherapy at the University of Sydney in Australia says, “We had a pretty good idea that this was the case but this study really does confirm that we need to take a fresh look at the problem."

The frustrating thing is that governments and employers concentrate on things that do not work. Back belts, education, lifting devices, workplace redesign and no-lift policies ignore the only known effective intervention — exercise.

[story here]