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Hillbilly Recycling

Over the past couple of decades, recycling has become the right thing to do. It is both fashionable and responsible to reduce our consumption and waste. In areas where there is less cash for consumer goods, recycling has always been a way of life. Raised in southeast Kentucky by parents born during the Great Depression, I know a thing or two about recycling. I've never gone as far as to keep an overstuffed sofa on the front porch or swim in a truck bed, but I never buy something new if I can use... READ ON

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6 Ways to Decorate Easter Eggs

Decorating eggs is a custom that dates back before what we know as Easter was ever celebrated. Eggs are a symbol of spring, renewal, and fertility for many cultures. And sometimes they are works of art. 1. Pysanky Eggs Pysanky eggs are an example of Ukrainian folk art. They are decorated in nature motifs using a batik method. The designs are drawn in negative with wax, and colors are built up using successive dye immersions. The wax design is changed as different colors of dye are used. The results can... READ ON

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How You Put Yourself To Sleep

I think we all have nights where sleep won't come -- despite flipping the pillow and persistent rolling over, it just doesn't happen. What do you do when this happens? Personally, I've developed only one good way to get to sleep: audiobooks. Now, I love audiobooks during the daytime, but sometimes I'll buy a book that's super-boring. For example, take the audiobook of Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire -- immensely difficult to focus on during the day...but PERFECT for snooze inducement... READ ON

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DIY Halloween Decorations

I've put together a collection of decoration ideas for your Halloween party, haunted house, or to welcome trick-or-treaters. Sometimes a simple but clever idea can make a great impression, but the elaborate props you put your heart into will be remembered for a long time. All of these come with... READ ON

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Summer First Aid Tips

Walking home last night, I witnessed a variety of Independence Day near-mishaps, as cars drove past twinkling buckets of fire, children made their first explosions, and hardcore fireworks dudes lit up the night. The National Safety Council declares Independence Day the most dangerous holiday, so I figured I'd share some first aid links to help you cope with this summer's injuries. First up: 10 Useless or Even Dangerous First Aid Myths reports on what not to do to treat a snakebite, jellyfish sting, or... READ ON

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How to Find Four-Leaf Clovers

It's a lovely summer day -- what are you doing inside, reading a blog? Probably the same thing I'm doing, writing one. Well, next time you go out, consult Falaco Soliton's guide to finding four-leaf clovers. The article has photos of various clover mutations, and includes instructions on preserving your lucky clovers (see the bottom of the page for an amazing poster showing Soliton's collection). From the article: Last summer i put this skill to the test: i found 166 4-leaf clovers, 11 5-leaf, and 2... READ ON

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How To Be An Alaskan Fisherman

Corey Arnold is an Alaskan fisherman who started out working on boats as a summer job to pay for college. Arnold has appeared on Deadliest Catch, and apparently he gets a lot of fan mail from kids who want to be just like him. He responds with an article (half-blog, half-how-to) describing his adventures in... READ ON

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How To: Wrestle an Alligator

YOU WILL NEED 1 Alligator, un-sedated and unbowed 1 Person, just a little bit crazy 1 Rope, preferably strong Do: Check the Classifieds In 2000, members of the Seminole tribe near Hollywood, Florida put an ad in a local paper. They were looking for a new alligator wrestler. While mano-y-gator conflict is nothing new to the Seminoles (the leathery beasts were once a valuable—and traditionally hand-caught—food source), it's only recently that the tribe has had such hard luck... READ ON

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How To: Be Invisible

If you have several billion dollars and a defense department contract: You may be able to get invisible thanks to a new technology based off the Fantastic Four. According to comic book mythology, the Invisible Woman pulls off her shtick by bending light waves around her body with a force field—so instead of seeing a blond chick in spandex, super villains see whatever happens to be behind her. So far, this skill is strictly for fictional hotties, but researchers at St. Andrews University in... READ ON

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How To: Cause an International Crisis

YOU WILL NEED ---A perilous (and paranoid) diplomatic climate ---Weapons of mass destruction ---Human error First: Don't Read Your Mail That way, you can remain blissfully uninformed about important events that you (and your staff) are likely to misinterpret. Case in point: One the night of January 25, 1995, Boris Yeltsin found himself dusting off the old Cold War-era nuclear command briefcase when an early warning radar station detected a missile rising out of the Norwegian Sea and heading... READ ON