From the monthly archives: August 2011
This is VERY cool!
Cold mailman – Time is of the essence from André Chocron on Vimeo.
From FastCompany:
André Chocron’s music video for Cold Mailman’s “Time is of the essence,” makes a bunch of cruddy old buildings dance — with their windows.
André Chocron is a Norwegian director who has created what might be the world’s best, and perhaps only, music video featuring nothing but architecture.
Yeah, we know. That sounds ferociously boring — a video only a T-square geek could love. But Chocron jazzed things up by turning the architecture into a canvas for a massive, whimsical light show, one that visualizes the riffs and melodies of Cold Mailman’s “Time is of the essence.” In short, he managed to make a bunch of buildings look as though they could dance. Checkie checkie:
The buildings are a smattering of residential towers in the downtrodden reaches of Grorud Valley in eastern Oslo. Thanks to a widely bruited myth, they’re said to be abandoned (“That’s a vicious Twitter rumor that’s been spreading, probably because they were recently suggested demolished by the Norwegian Progress Party,” Chocron tells Co.Design in an email), but they’re actually fully occupied, largely by immigrant families.
Chocron’s film takes advantage of all that density. Setting up cameras in a couple different places, he shot timelapse sequences from sundown to sunup. Predictably, in the evening, most residents switched on their lights. Late at night, they switched ‘em off.
So to program the windows to “dance,” Chocron manipulated them individually in post-production, oscillating between their illuminated and darkened states in concert with the architecture of the song. That’s how he got the buildings to light up like a giant equalizer.
Pretty cool stuff, eh? Score one for the T-square geek!
Who knew? And who are these people figuring out all these CleverUses!?! I might give this one a try myself, but please don’t upcycle the potato when done 
From Re-Nest:
In our discussion of cast iron cleaning, we mentioned that you can rub rust away using a raw potato. This tip is so unusual, yet handy, that we thought it deserved its own spotlight. And the potato trick isn’t limited to cast iron – you can use it to remove rust from baking pans, knives, and other household tools.
To clean rust with a potato, cut it in half lengthwise or crosswise, depending on how large a surface area you want. Dip the cut end in dish soap or baking soda and firmly rub it over the rusted area. If the end of the potato gets slick, slice it off and apply more soap or abrasive. Repeat until rust is removed, rinse, and dry.
Apparently this works because the oxalic acid in the potato helps to dissolve rust. Have you tried this or any other good rust removal techniques?
This actually works! I have been using this method for the past year and a half and have only gone through 3 blades (about six months per cartridge)
From Lifehacker:
With premium razor cartridges costing as much as a gallon of gas, it pays to squeeze extra use out of every one of them. A bit of mineral oil can greatly extend the life of your razor.
Although nothing can indefinitely extend the life of a disposable razor, you can do your best to keep some of the more damaging elements at bay.
By drying your razor and placing it in some liquid that repels water—in this case mineral oil—you can prevent minerals from your tap water from depositing themselves on the blade and keep water itself away from the blade to decrease oxidation on the surface. Eventually the blade will need to be swapped out, but many people who rinse and submerge the blade in a cup of mineral oil report greatly extending the life of the blade.
If you don’t want to give up on shaving with a brand new and factory-fresh blade you can always switch to using a safety razor. I’ve been shaving with a safety razor for months—the shave is better than my old cartridges and replacements are a mere 8 cents a piece. For more ways to squeeze life out of your razor, check out the full article at Wisebread.
Save Money on Shaving with These Razor Tricks [Wisebread]
I LOVE Solar Tea. This looks like a potentially safer and year-round alternative.
From Lifehacker:
If you love iced tea and are crunched for time, consider refrigerator brewing your next batch. Simply add loose tea or bags to a container, add water, place a tight lid on top, and leave it in your fridge for 12 hours.
Over the years many people have made sun tea by placing glass containers with teabags out in the sun instead of in the fridge. Sun tea is a boon during the summer when no one wants to boil water to add to the temperature of an already-hot room. Research articles have reported a risk of sun tea developing bacteria that might make you ill, so you should consider refrigerator tea as an alternative way to make hassle-free tea that doesn’t heat up your kitchen and has less chance of making you sick.
Keep in mind that tea prepared in the fridge can go bad if you keep it too long or practice unsafe food handling skills according to Evanor Tea. Discard the tea if it ever smells sour, gets thick, or you see ropey strand-like particles; these are signs that unwanted bacteria have spread even in the less-hospitable environment of your fridge.
Sunshine Tea and Refrigerator Tea | Cooking in Japan
Today is different.
Today is an important day, therefore there is only one post
on Dan Likes This for today.
And today, it isn’t a ‘Like‘ post.
Sorry to steer away from all things Dan Likes!
Today is a Dan Loves This kind of day.
You see, today is the day my gorgeous wife said “I Do!“.
Happy Anniversary!
I LOVE YOU!
And quoting one of my favorite Doctors:
When you are in love you can’t fall asleep because reality
is finally better than your dreams.
Dr. Seuss
I especially like the “keeping produce fresher longer” tip!
From Reader’s Digest:
Mess-free bacon zapping
Here’s a sure-fire way to cook bacon in your microwave oven. Layer two paper towels on the bottom of your microwave. Lay slices of bacon side by side, on the paper towels. Cover with two more paper towels. Run your microwave on High at 1-minute intervals, checking for crispness. It should take 3-4 minutes to cook. There’s no pan to clean, and the towels absorb the grease. Toss them for easy cleanup.
Clean silk from fresh corn
If you hate picking the silk off a freshly husked ear of corn, a paper towel can help. Dampen one and run it across the ear. The towel picks up the silk, and the corn is ready for the boiling pot or the grill.
Strain grease from broth
That pot of chicken broth has been bubbling for hours, and you don’t want to skim off the fat. Instead, use a paper towel to absorb the fat. Place another pot in the sink. Put a colander (or a sieve) in the new pot and put a paper towel in the colander. Now pour the broth through the towel into the waiting pot. You’ll find that the fat stays in the towel, while the cleaner broth streams through. Of course, be sure to wear cooking mitts or use potholders to avoid burning your hands with the boiling-hot liquid.
Keep produce fresh longer
Don’t you hate it when you open the vegetable bin in the refrigerator and find last week’s moldy carrots mixed with the now-yellow lettuce? Make your produce last long enough so you can eat it. Line your vegetable bins with paper towels. They absorb the moisture that causes your fruits and vegetables to rot. Makes cleaning up the bin easier too.
Keep frozen bread from getting soggy
If you like to buy bread in bulk from the discount store, this tip will help you freeze and thaw your bread better. Place a paper towel in each bag of bread to be frozen. When you’re ready to eat that frozen loaf, the paper towel absorbs the moisture as the bread thaws.
Clean a can opener
Have you ever noticed that strange gunk that collects on the cutting wheel of your can opener? You don’t want that in your food. Clean your can opener by “opening” a paper towel. Close the wheel on the edge of a paper towel, close the handles, and turn the crank. The paper towel will clean off the gunk as the wheel cuts through it.
Keep cast-iron pots rust-free
Stop rust from invading your prized collection of cast-iron pots. After they’re clean, place a paper towel in each to absorb any moisture. Store lids separately from the pots, separated by a lining of paper towels. No more ugly surprises when you reach for the pot again.
Test viability of old seeds
You’ve just found a packet of watermelon seeds dated from two springs back. Should you bother to plant them or has their shelf life expired and they’re best planted in the garbage can? To find out for sure, dampen two paper towels and lay down a few seeds. Cover with two more dampened paper towels. Over the next two weeks, keep the towels damp and keep checking on the seeds. If most of the seeds sprout, then plant the rest of the batch in the garden.
Clean a sewing machine
Your sewing machine is good as new after its recent tune-up, but you’re worried about getting grease from the machine onto the fabric for that new vest you’re sewing. Thread the sewing machine and stitch several lines up a paper towel first. That should take care of any residual grease so you’ll be ready to resume your sewing projects.
This might be a new term for some of you: photobomb.
According to the Urban Dictionary photobomb is defined as:
photobomb
(verb)- to drop in a photo unexpectedly…to hop in a picture right before it is taken.
sarah: hey why is jimmy in the background of our prom picture?
ryan: idk, he must have photobombed it at the last second.
In case you are more visual and need to understand what I am talking about, how about two examples?
Do you see the hippo?
Photobombing was even around during the Civil War:
Look in the lower left corner.
The only problem with this picture is the number of questions it brings up! Like:
- Did he do this on purpose?
- Was he just waking up?
- Was he an artist ahead of his time?
- What was his name?
- Did his friends find him funny?
- How long did it take for his friends to realize this photobomb?
- Did they drink whiskey afterwards?
- Why does the guy standing in the middle have his hand like that?
- Why does the guy sitting in the middle have such a gnarly mustache?
SO MANY QUESTIONS!
From Neatorama.
