This is very cool: using computer processors to heat water for an office.
I can vouch for the heating capabilities of computers. I'm sure the system is not easy to set up and resists moving computers around very often, but otherwise it's a no-brainer. The heat is there. You may as well use it for something rather than having to use up even more energy to remove it.
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Vindication of pack-rats
We save stuff. Anything that may prove useful sometime gets stored somewhere. Far too often we promptly forget it's there and go buy something new next time we need it. But every now and then it pays off.
About a year ago we bought some cupboard kits to increase our storage space in one room. The boxes are at least five feet long, two feet wide, and maybe six inches thick. That's a lot of cardboard! We just HAD to save it. In my shed. In the way of everything I need to get from there.
But today they came in handy. I needed to make a set of yard signs. The outside of the boxes are clean white, which is just perfect for high-contrast lettering. So I cut up three of the four main sides and made four signs.
Two of them are two-sided. For those I cut a length twice as long as I needed, then cut part-way through the corrugation on one side to help it fold down the middle. I then cut a slot in the fold, took a couple 2"x1"x4' stakes I've been hoarding from my arch project, put the top of the stake through the slot, and stapled the sign to the stake on both sides.
I now only have half a box remaining in my shed, and four yard signs that cost me nothing to make. THIS is progress! And slight vindication for hoarding.
About a year ago we bought some cupboard kits to increase our storage space in one room. The boxes are at least five feet long, two feet wide, and maybe six inches thick. That's a lot of cardboard! We just HAD to save it. In my shed. In the way of everything I need to get from there.
But today they came in handy. I needed to make a set of yard signs. The outside of the boxes are clean white, which is just perfect for high-contrast lettering. So I cut up three of the four main sides and made four signs.
Two of them are two-sided. For those I cut a length twice as long as I needed, then cut part-way through the corrugation on one side to help it fold down the middle. I then cut a slot in the fold, took a couple 2"x1"x4' stakes I've been hoarding from my arch project, put the top of the stake through the slot, and stapled the sign to the stake on both sides.
I now only have half a box remaining in my shed, and four yard signs that cost me nothing to make. THIS is progress! And slight vindication for hoarding.
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Slug saloons of death
Our strawberries have been getting eaten by slugs. We're trying to grow organic as much as we can, if for no other reason than being able to eat berries straight from the garden without having to worry about what might be on them. That means the slug bait is out. But, unlike some of the other organic ideas we've tried to get rid of various pests this year, we have a tried and true solution when it comes to killing slugs.
Beer.
The little buggers-- er, sluggers just LOVE the stuff. We take empty tin cans, usually the 8 oz. size that tomato sauce comes in, but other sizes work too. We bury the cans in the dirt so that a only a small part of the can sticks up above ground. Then we fill them about half-full of beer.
For some reason slugs love the smell of beer, and they'll come from miles-- I mean, feet around to get to it. They crawl over the side of the can, drink it, fall in, and drown. You'll need to dump the cans and change the beer every few days, mainly because slugs in beer turn into something really gross if left too long.
Our strawberry beds are 3' x 13', so we put one can in either end. We may still get a little slug nibblage around the perimeter and could possibly add one more can to the center, but this works well enough. We've had a single can handle a single 6' diameter patch before.
The best part is that the slugs really don't care about quality. Cheap beer works as well as any. They don't care if it's stale, either, so if your beer goes flat, just put in in the garden. After a week or two the slug saloon patronage should drop off significantly. After that you can continue to put some out, or just wait until the slugs start showing signs of a comeback.
Beer.
The little buggers-- er, sluggers just LOVE the stuff. We take empty tin cans, usually the 8 oz. size that tomato sauce comes in, but other sizes work too. We bury the cans in the dirt so that a only a small part of the can sticks up above ground. Then we fill them about half-full of beer.
For some reason slugs love the smell of beer, and they'll come from miles-- I mean, feet around to get to it. They crawl over the side of the can, drink it, fall in, and drown. You'll need to dump the cans and change the beer every few days, mainly because slugs in beer turn into something really gross if left too long.
Our strawberry beds are 3' x 13', so we put one can in either end. We may still get a little slug nibblage around the perimeter and could possibly add one more can to the center, but this works well enough. We've had a single can handle a single 6' diameter patch before.
The best part is that the slugs really don't care about quality. Cheap beer works as well as any. They don't care if it's stale, either, so if your beer goes flat, just put in in the garden. After a week or two the slug saloon patronage should drop off significantly. After that you can continue to put some out, or just wait until the slugs start showing signs of a comeback.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
