Are you having beef for dinner? Do you know where it came from? No, not the grocery store down the street, but where the cow was raised? Most of us probably can’t answer those questions, and that’s a growing concern for health advocates, retailers, and lawmakers amid reports that some meatpackers in Brazil — one of the world’s largest exporters of beef — are shipping out rotten, salmonella-tainted beef. [More]
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Artists Adds $0 Tags To Her Clothes, Reshelves Them
By 11.7.11
Artist Jess Dobkin takes her clothes, attaches realistic-looking tags that say “free” on them, and puts them back on the shelves at the original stores she bought them from. She calls the project, “Restored,” and made a cheery video about it. [More]
Peel A Head Of Garlic In 10 Seconds
By 9.30.11
Peeling garlic can be a pain in the tuchus but here’s a method for peeling a whole head of garlic in less than 10 seconds. Really! [More]
Xanthan Gum Is The Secret To Making Your Own Frappuccino At Home For $.32
By 6.16.11
If you’ve ever tried to come up with your own version of the Starbucks Frappuccino at home, you may have run into this problem. It separates. That lovely smooth texture and consistency you enjoy at the Sbux emporium just seems unobtainable on your own. But it turns out the secret is a simple and cheap ingredient you can find next to the flour in the supermarket: xanthan gum! [More]
Beat The Heat With A DIY Swamp Cooler
By 6.14.11
If you’re looking for a small, cheap way to cool a small area, it’s pretty easy to make your own “evaporative cooler.” Also known as “swamp coolers,” it’s basically any system that uses a fan to blow out rising cool water vapor. All you need is a fan, an ice chest, water and a few ice packs. How fancy you get after that is a matter of how much effort you want to put it to make it as efficient as possible, and whether you want it to be portable. Here’s a few Instructables to get you started: [More]
Magic Metal Beans Keep Your Coffee Hot For Hours
By 4.28.11
I would trade a cow for these magic beans. Seriously. “Coffee Joulies” are a new invention that are stainless steel “beans” that keep your coffee at the perfect temperature for several hours. Hours. [More]
Hack $30 Headphones Into Sounding Like A $300 Pair
By 3.25.11
Does It Pew shows you how you can take a cheapo pair of $30 headphones and turn them in a set that gives you the same quality sound that you might normally pay $300 for. Basically you gut a standard pair of cans and swap in these SFI tweeters. Don’t be thrown off by some of the terminology on Stacy’s post, you’ll need to be handy with a Dremel but this is actually a pretty easy and fun DIY weekend project. [More]
DHL Pays Urban Denizens With Coupons To Deliver Packages
By 12.3.10
DHL is trying out a new program called bring.Buddy where regular people can pick up and deliver packages along their daily route that they’d be traveling anyway. In return, the recruits earn free train tickets, coupons and carbon offset credits. And, of course, badges. The goal is to reduce costs and carbon emissions within dense urban environments. [More]
21 Banks And Credit Unions That Accept Remote Check Deposits
By 8.8.10
Why trek to local bank to deposit a check when you can slap it on a scanner or use your smartphone’s camera to upload it directly to your bank? Even though it still scares most of the bigger banks, remote deposit checking represents the future of consumer banking. Inside, a list of twenty-one credit unions and banks that are ready to save you a trip to the bank and the hassle of deposit slips. [More]
50 Cool Billboards
By 9.29.09
Most billboards are either ugly jumbles of giant text, or unfortunately memorable things like this. Here’s a list of 50 mostly cool ones (we think the Texas one is ‘shopped, and the anti-American one can suck it). Hey, if you’re gonna advertise on a billboard, you may as well make it entertaining.
Country Of Origin Labeling Officially Begins Today
By 3.16.09
The long-awaited country of origin labeling or COOL will be enforced beginning today — so you can expect to see a “COOL” on “muscle cuts and ground beef (including veal), pork, lamb, goat and chicken; wild and farm-raised fish and shellfish; fresh and frozen fruits and vegetables; peanuts, pecans, macadamia nuts and ginseng.”
How To Properly Work Your Ceiling Fan. Yeah, You Read That Right
By 6.8.08
Ceiling fans aren’t just on/off affairs, and it’s possible you could be using yours incorrectly. According to Consumer Reports, people get tripped up by the ability to reverse the direction of the blades…
By 3.10.08
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I tried out Jott this weekend and it’s pretty sweet. It’s a free service that lets you call a number, record a message, and then underpaid workers in India and Africa transcribe your message and email it to you, or to others. [Jott]
How The "Date Rape Drug" Was Found Inside A Children's Toy
By 11.8.07
The New York Times has a great article about the doctor who figured out that the “Aqua Dots” or “Bindeez” beads were full of GHB. It reads like a summary of an episode of House, M.D.:
Doctors at the Children’s Hospital at Westmead, outside Sydney, first believed that the 2-year-old boy, whose name has not been released, had an inherited metabolic disorder. But when Dr. Carpenter checked urine samples the next day for the chemical markers of the disorder, he found GHB, which can render victims unconscious and even cause death through respiratory failure.
92% Of Americans Want Country Of Origin Labels On Food
By 7.12.07
According to a national survey conducted by Consumer’s Union, the non-profit organization that publishes Consumer Reports, 92% of Americans want country of origin labels on their food. Country of origin labels are required on all imported food, thanks to a 5 year old law, but that law has never been enforced.
Food Labels Lack Country Of Origin Info Despite 5 Year Old Law
By 7.2.07
Unlike seafood, the meat, produce and nuts you buy don’t have a country of origin label, despite a 5 year old law that says they should, according to the New York Times. Lobbyists and congresspeople have managed to hold off enforcement of the law since it was passed in 2002, but now proponents of country of origin labels (COOL) think they may have enough momentum from the Chinese Poison Train to finally make the label a reality. From the NYT:
“No. 1, there’s a basic consumer right to know,” said Michael Hansen, senior scientist at Consumers Union, an advocacy group that publishes Consumer Reports magazine and supports the labeling law. “People are more and more concerned about the food they eat.”
Search Multiple City Craigslists At Once
By 2.9.07
Crazedlist.org lets you search across multiple Craigslist city pages at the same time.
