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For years I have tried different products to keep the toilet bowl clean but all were too expensive for the poor performance because none would keep it perfectly clean. So I came up with my own system. Last year I took a used 24 oz glass jar with a plastic screw on lid. I removed the lid liner and cut a 1/2 inch hole in the center. I filled the jar with chlorine bleach and put it in the tank. I made sure there wasn't an air bubble blocking the hole by shaking the jar while submerged with the lid slightly loosened and then tightened the lid. Enough bleach leaks out to keep the bowl clean for weeks instead of days and I save 24 oz of water for every flush and the bleach didn't need to be renewed for 10 months. That means that the water it saves pays for the bleach so my overall costs are zero. During this past summer when the water is so warm that mold and mildew flourish I had to clean the bowl once every 2 weeks instead of every 4 days.

Did you know that if your "check engine" light comes on in your car you can go to an auto parts store and have them check the codes for free instead of going to the dealer and paying. It's free and probably a lot faster at the parts store, than the dealer, and you might find that it's something simple, like the battery, that the parts store can replace and install without a labor charge.

Most manufacturers size portions for the maximum you might use plus some extra. Since I rarely need to use the maximum I have to resize their products. A good example is dryer softener sheets. I cut them in half and get twice as many loads out of a box. Recently I have been trying to cut down on liquid soap. Liguid soap is about twice as expensive as bar soap but it is so convenient. The amount that comes out for each pump is twice what is needed. I tried watering it down but this didn't work well. My solution was to use a small cable tie around the pump shaft. This limits a pump to half of what it was which is enough to wash up with. If I need more I'll just pump it again.

My personal 20 year test of electric range burner reflector/drip bowls is over and here are the results. My range came with "non stick" bowls. After 3 years the non stick coating had flaked off and after 2 more years the cheap base metal had corroded through. I replaced them with 2 stainless steel reflector bowls and 2 black baked on enamel drip bowls. Now after 15 years the stainless steel has corroded through but the enamel bowls are still in great shape except for some baked on food that even oven cleaner won't get off. So I recommend that when you replace the bowls buy baked on enamel bowls and clean them at least quarterly. I just wish they made silver enamel bowls so the heat would be reflected back up.

Instead of using expensive air fresheners (odorizers) I buy a $3 bottle of liquid potpourri and cover the bottom of a small round "fish" bowl. When it is almost all evaporated just put a little more in. One bottle used with one bowl will odorize my bathroom for a year which is way longer than any commercial product.

After being without power for almost 6 days, due to hurricane Isabel, I learned one important thing, how much sterno it takes to cook with. For a completely hot meal for two (pork chops, potatoes and zucchini or eggs, sausage, hash browns and toast) it takes one and a half cans.

"GOOP" is the most versatile glue I've ever used. Most glues won't work with vinyl but since "GOOP" is vinyl based it glues vinyl and PVC. It works great on everything else. It comes in different grades and the strongest is the automotive and the marine grade.

Want a great party punch? Wal-Mart has a generic tropical punch under their "Great Value" house brand. Mix equal parts of punch with Sprite and you have a great tasting carbonated punch. Be warned: If you are taking Lipitor you should not eat or drink of the grapefruit and this punch has some.

The red color at the base of your toothbrushes bristles is mildew. Once a month put your brushes in a slim glass or plastic cup and pour in enough Hydrogen peroxide to cover the bristles. Soak for one day and you have a clean and disinfected brush.

Every year when the heat comes along I put aluminum foil on the windows that get a lot of direct afternoon sun. It looks crappy but for every square foot of sunlight I prevent from entering is 1000 BTUs per hour less cooling I need. It cost me about a dollar in foil and I estimate it saves 30 to 50 dollars in cooling each year.

If you have an AM pocket radio you can test remote controls, detect electronic interference, detect lightning and sense hidden surveillance devices. Tune the radio to a clear frequency where you just hear the normal background hiss of static. Place it next to a remote and push some buttons. You will hear some strange sounding tones coming from the radio. Do the same and scan the room for electronic noise. If you hear noise from an area where there isn't anything than there might be a hidden camera or bug.

Some people use cloth placemats on their table to protect their tablecloth. Others use plastic placemats both of which can cost $1 to $5 a piece. Cloth is easily stained and frays with washing. Plastic is easily cleaned but you can't put a hot dish on it or it melts. I use the ultimate placemats that are easily cleaned, can't be stained, never wear out and you can take a dish out of a hot oven and put it right on them. They are one foot square ceramic flooring tiles. You can get them for the same price and in as many colors and styles as you want. They also make good cutting boards. Just don't drop them or they shatter. Stay away from marble tiles which are expensive and can be stained easily. Put self adhesive rubber feet or felt pads to prevent scratching surfaces.

I've been using Consumers Report's formula for glass cleaner for 20 years. It's as good as any and a lot cheaper. One half cup of sudsy ammonia (about 10 cents), one pint isopropanol (aka rubbing alcohol about 35 cents) and one tablespoon dish washing detergent (less than a penny). Pour ingredients into a one gallon container and fill with water. Cost less than 50 cents a gallon.

The vacuum cleaner is one of the early 20th century's great labor saving devices but most people don't use it correctly. Most people run the vacuum over their floors at a rate 3 to 6 feet a second. this is too fast to pick up anything but the visible surface dirt. Have you ever seen a commercial for a vacuum on TV. The demonstrator is pushing it at about a half a foot a second. The operator's guide that comes with a new vacuum says to push it slowly across the floor. Door to door salesmen would use this fact to sell customers a "better" vacuum by demonstrating it with a new bag (or empty bin in the new modern units) and pushing it slowly and picking up all of the deep down dirt. I used to be like everyone else and run it fast but one day I was interrupted during vacuuming and left it on near the front door. After a fews second I heard it make a noise and realized it was picking up the deep down sand particles from the rug. I then spent 20 minutes vacuuming up all of the ground in dirt near the door until I didn't hear it anymore. So if you want a really clean rug you should go really slow.

Microsoft Internet Explorer has a little known option to move the address bar. It can be dragged like any other IE toolbar. I put it in the top line which has File, Edit, View, Favorites, Tools, Help and place it to the right in the empty space. This saves me a line and increases window size.

Air turbulence can either help or hinder. With an airplane the wing tip and tail turbulence decreases the planes efficiency but turbulence on the topside of the wing increases efficiency by increasing lift. With a fan blade dust collecting on the blade decreases efficiency. The dust you see on the leading edge of the blade can decrease airflow up 90%. The leading edge needs to be sharp so it can "cut through" the air. When dust collects there it produces turbulence that decreases the flow. In my experience just a little dust will lessen the flow by 20% or more. Clean your fan blades whenever you see visible dust and don't forget your furnace, air conditioner and refrigerator (and vacuum all the dust especially the refrigerator coils while your at it.).



Mark's Opinion:

After talking about dust and dirt I naturally think of Hollywood. Am I the only one who has noticed that Hollywood is running out of ideas for new movies. In the 60's remakes were rare. The 70's there were 1 or 2 a year. The 80's 4 or 5 a year. The 90's 8 to 10 a year. Now, in the 00's, remakes are exploding. With dozens of remakes, sequels and movies inspired by TV (Starsky and Hutch), video games (Lara Croft), history, myths (Troy), comic books (Spiderman, Hulk, etc.) and cartoons (Fat Albert and Garfield) Hollywood seems to be devoid of truly new material. The new movies, that do seem original, all seem to be variations on a theme. "Mean Girls", wasn't that called "The Heathers" in the 80's and "New York Minute" deja vu "Ferris Bueller". For crying out loud Hollywood, the independent production companies seem to be the only ones producing new stories to hit the theaters.

There is no such thing as the WTC survivor virus, Jane Fonda didn't receive a note from a P.O.W. and turn it over to the Viet-Cong guard or was refused service in a Vietnam vet's restaurant, Ollie North never mentioned Osama Bin Laden, boycotting Exxon/Mobil will not lower gas prices, Congress has never proposed an email tax, no camel spiders or toxic spiders hiding under toilet seats, nobody ever got stuck to an airplane toilet seat, nobody has ever died from drinking/eating out of a can contaminated with rat droppings/urine and nobody has ever paid anybody for forwarding emails except sspammers.. Hoax emails can be divided into 3 types, hate email (Jane Fonda, boycott Exxon/Mobil) inspirational (Johny knew he was dying of cancer but always had a smile, pass this prayer along and you will receive good luck) and just plain falsehoods designed to scare a person into doing something right (wash your cans and bottles before opening) or wrong (delete this file on your computer because it is a virus when it really is a necessary file for Windows to work). Hoax emails are like computer viruses but instead of getting the computer to do something they get the computer operator to do something. I am like the anti-virus program. I check the veracity of the email before forwarding it. If everyone did as I do then we could cut down on the amount of hoax emails that are helping to waste the internet's resources and bandwidth. Please check the hoax sites before forwarding that email.

It may be a sign. 10 years ago we had about 30 trick or treaters come to our door. Since then it has been dwindling each year. Last night we had 3. I believe people are living in fear. Our streets, schools and society are safer but people perceive the opposite. This is because of the fear mongers known as "the news". 50 years ago stories about serial killers, terrorists, rapists and child molesters were considered yellow journalism. These stories were relegated to the rag sheets and monthly "detective" magazines. Now they are splashed all over the news to hype their ratings. Because of this people perceive that there is more danger now than ever. When I was 9 I would take the bus, alone, from the burbs into downtown Camden to see the Saturday matinee. I walked a mile to school. Now no parent would let their kid do that. I see Mommies and Daddies drive their kids 1 block to the school bus stop and wait with them until the bus picks them up and takes them less than a mile to school. There is only one crime children are subjected to now more than ever and that is parental kidnapping. This is obviously caused by the soaring divorce rate, teenage motherhood and the stupid immature games ex's play when it comes to child custody, child support and visitation rights. In the last 10 years 5000 people have died due to acts of terror in the USA. In the last 10 years 30,000 people have won a million dollars in lotteries and sweepstakes in the USA. You do the math. Living in fear is no way to live. I refuse to fear but that doesn't mean I throw common sense to the wind. As FDR said "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself".

Even if we eliminate greenhouse gases we will still be warming this planet as long as we keep burning things to make power. Whenever we burn something, be it wood, oil, coal or uranium, waste heat is the byproduct. We take it out of the ground, burn it and generate waste heat making electricity and then use the electricity and generate more waste heat. The net heat input into the environment equals the waste heat turning it into electricity plus the waste heat using that electricity. The only long term viable power generation that doesn't add heat is Hydro, Wind, Solar and Tidal. When water goes over a waterfall it releases it's gravitational kinetic energy as heat at the bottom of the falls where the falling water crashes into the pool. Just like when you hammer a nail into a board, the hammer, nail and board warn up. When we force the water through a sluice and into a turbine it gives up it's kinetic energy as torque and stays cooler than if it just fell over the falls. The electricity that is produced is then used by society where the byproduct is waste heat. We took the heat out of the waterfall turned it into electricity, used it and then put it back into the environment. The net heat input into the environment is zero. The same thing happens with wind, solar and tidal power. The net heat input is zero.

MARS IS ALIVE. I am sure we will find life on Mars. I base this prediction on a few simple facts about life on Earth. Single cell life is the dominate life form on Earth. In mass it far outweighs the mass of multi cell life and subterranean single cell life exceeds all the above ground life, single and multi celled, on Earth. Even several miles underground we find microbes that eat rock and live for thousands of years. When we drill down to liquid water on Mars we will find single celled life forms.