Feed Subscription (more)

Squidoo : Lenses by dannystaple

syndicated content boosted by feedcat.net

Show Feed as XML

 

Current Feed Content from 19 Nov 08 13:34

• HOWTO: transport your tools with PortableApps

  Sat, 27 Sep 2008 08:01:26 -0600
  Being able to take your browser, music player or other software and its configuration with you when you go to other places with computers will save you time and frustration reconfiguring software. How can you do this?

• HOWTO: Make a simple seed propagator

  Thu, 28 Aug 2008 19:13:32 -0600
  When I first started growing tomatoes, and the second time around, I figured that if they like a greenhouse, then I should build some sort of propagator to get the seeds on the go. Buying a propagator seemed a little expensive, plus being able to build it with gear I had in the flat saved me a trip to the DIY store. Here is how to build, use and reuse such a propagator. This can be used to incubate many seeds that do not require wintering. It is small, so only 10/20 seeds or fewer should be planted in it. The seeds will eventually needed to be planted out. I recommend small fibre pots once the time for that comes.

• HOWTO: Use ThinkingRock to organise your thoughts

  Mon, 01 Sep 2008 14:44:12 -0600
  Good planning, and finishing up tasks, or writing down where you were and closing things so you can take them up again later, will prevent you from clogging up your brain, and you computer. Thinking Rock has come from a lot of thinking on Getting Things Done, or GTD, as the community around it like to call it.

• Food Waste Mountains, Biofuels and the energy crunch

  Mon, 17 Nov 2008 12:41:27 -0600
  Okay, many years ago, people said there would be trouble. Massive fuel consumption, rising consumerism, food becoming too conveniently packaged and with that too detached from the real world. I even remember a trendy poster among some crowds which ended with "Only then will he realise that money cannot be eaten". Well the money is getting tight, the food expensive, fuel is also expensive, and the three things are feeding into each other. What next?

• Growing tomatoes (and other stuff)

  Mon, 13 Oct 2008 09:54:14 -0600
  There is little as satisfying as eating food you have grown yourself. I will admit, my wife usually cooks with it, but I have all the pleasure of growing it. Sure, a couple of non-food plants make the list (like the carnivorous ones that keep away pests), but it is nearly all edible. Tomatoes are pretty easy to grow, although they will need a bit of care. No supermarket tomato compares with one straight off the vine which has never been chilled or stored, and is still naturally warm.

• HOWTO: Save Electricity Used By Your Computer

  Fri, 05 Sep 2008 02:04:25 -0600
  Many people use computers every day, some people have one at home, and one in the office. By taking a look at the way the use it, a computer can be made greener. You can save some money by getting your PC to save electricity. There are many ways to do this, and used in combination they will add up to reasonable savings in electricity. Clearly they may not be as much as savings made on heating in the winter, but they are enough to be worth investigating. As an added bonus, some of these will also cut down the noise created by a computer. The tips range in difficulty from stuff usable by any user, to things that are probably best done by geeks.

• The Churchill Arms, Kensington, London

  Fri, 05 Sep 2008 09:42:38 -0600
  Tucked away on Kensington Church Street is one of my favourite places in London. It is an affordable bright little venue with Thai food and a selection of standard beers and real ales, in a nice part of London. I have been there many times, and it is a venue I am proud to bring guests of mine to often. If you are in the Notting Hill or Kensington area and looking for drinks or food, I strongly recommend this place, I have never been disappointed.

• HOWTO: Self watering plant pot experiment

  Sun, 10 Aug 2008 15:08:41 -0600
  A year or so ago, I realised that I could not always be around to water my own plants. Even if I was, judging when or when not to water them was a chore. I have got better since, but my concept was to use a wick which would use capillary action to pull water through on demand - this should ensure the soil does not get too dry or wet. This is not original, and there are (pricey!) professional kits with similar techniques used to achieve the same. However, being quite frugal, I try to build things myself from the stuff I have laying about the flat. I decided early against using a digital, battery powered, beeping monstrosity. Although I could probably also build one of these, being familiar with microcontrollers and sensors, it really did not fit with my philosophy of keeping the planting simple and basic. Plus I really did not want to add the risk of battery chemicals coming into contact with my plants. Being an experiment, it turned out to be not as effective as I liked. Although it worked, and watered the plants, it did not really take into account how different plants do like different amounts of water. Also the strings I used sometimes rotted.

• HOWTO: Launch any app or doc in a few keystrokes

  Mon, 20 Oct 2008 04:16:41 -0600
  One thing about a GUI system like windows is that you soon become cluttered with icons. Not wanting to drill down in the Start Menu, they start to end up on your desktop, or the Quick Launch bar. Once they reach a certain number - a critical mass, it can become a nightmare to find what you want or add more. You start to wander if there really is a better way to get to your apps, documents and working folders. This is the right time to try out Launchy.

• HOWTO: Make your own smoothies

  Fri, 05 Sep 2008 09:35:44 -0600
  Smoothies are expensive to buy - they cost at least 2/3 times as much to buy as it would to make your own. Any household looking to eat well should always have a stocked fruit bowl, fruit is not only relatively cheap, but it is a much healthier snack than crisps, cakes and sweets. Smoothies are really quite easy to make, and are also a really good way to get the five a day. Because the pulp of fruits stays in smoothies, you are getting the fibre associated with them, and not just the sugars which are in juices.

• Plant Pest control

  Mon, 27 Oct 2008 19:11:25 -0600
  Now I am totally into growing food and plants, pests have reared their ugly heads more than once. I am learning how to deal with them, and welcome suggestions. Pest control can be interesting in a totally organic, primarily edible and indoor garden. Here I will share some of my stories, and things I am trying out, in the hope that I can learn from my mistakes and successes and that others can advise me further.

• Preparing for walks

  Tue, 18 Nov 2008 16:43:53 -0600
  Using walks as a recreation, for getting fit or as part of the daily route to work is beneficial both for health and wellbeing. I love to take walks. Walking is also an essential component of a pub crawl, although some of these recommendations are a little less suitable for pub crawls than walks. Taking time out to walk is worthwhile, as is finding ways to incorporate a long walk in your daily commute. In fact, you may find it cuts commute time in busy cities. I also gives you a little time for reflection at the start and end of each day. Taking a walk with friends, or a significant other is a good and frugal way to spend an afternoon, although ensuring you know a couple of pubs on the route is essential here, as you will all probably want to sit down afterwards. However, some simple preparation can make sure that walks are enjoyable, not rushed and avoid some of the usual disasters that may occur. Don't get put off walking by failing to go through some of the more simple bits. Most of these are optional, but seriously consider each one and you will improve your walking experience.

• Danny Staple's Bio

  Tue, 18 Nov 2008 11:37:10 -0600
  I build stuff, grow stuff, read stuff and like to write about it. I like to philosophise, research and learn, and then go the next step and apply, do and build. I love reading How-to's and will experiment with things to see what else I can learn. Things I build include robots, models, contraptions to aid my plants, furniture and generally whatever takes my fancy. For example I have a Lego lathe as a work in progress. I generally talk about my robots on the OrionRobots website. I am growing tomatoes, as well as Basil, Rosemary, Thyme, Parsley, a large cactus and other stuff. I write about my efforts on another lens- I grow food. I am currently researching energy systems, how to save, store and produce energy. This is quite loose right now, but I will be writing more about it as I get deeper into the topic. I am software developer in my day job, and work mostly with C on embedded devices currently.

• Food Prices and The Credit Crunch

  Sun, 31 Aug 2008 17:59:16 -0600
  The credit crunch is here, and most people are feeling their wallets getting tighter. It is still important to eat well (assuming you ate well when the money was good). It is important to find ways to save money, while getting the best possible food. Some people will need to change their habits, although some of the more frugal will be further honing habits already being developed. I share with you some of my tips on living this way. Still having a relatively comfortable life while saving money. I warn you, it may require an investment of time, but most things really worth having in life require that. Feel free to use the voting list, or guest book to leave your comments and tips here. Just so you know, 50% of the ad revenue from this page is going to Oxfam to help deal with food problems much greater than ours. With some perspective, it is not hard to see there are those suffering much more. Having to put in more effort to keep our lives good is really not such a great issue.

feedcat.net promotes your content, measures audiences
and saving load of your server resources!

Start feed boosting now for free.

*