DIY

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How to Become an Atheist

February 11, 2010 in Atheism And Religion | No comments

Today you can learn how to do just about anything by using the internet, even how to become Atheist.  On WikiHow, you can DIY yourself to Atheism by challenging your superstious notions.

To introduce the topic, WikiHow provides an excellent explanation of what an Atheist is.  Clarified here is the true meaning of atheism, which is a basic rejection of god-claims.  Some atheists take this a step further and claim definitely that “there is no god or gods”.  I fall somewhere in between.  I reject the claims about gods, and given the body of evidence in nature, science and my own experiences I am more confident that there are no gods than I am that there might be gods.  In the same way that I cannot disprove the claim that Leprechauns exist, I cannot disprove the claim that god exists.  However, the likelihood of god existing is on par with the likelihood of Leprechauns existing.  I am willing to change my position if  provable, repeatable evidence was provided for a supernatural entity.

Put your balls on that jar! A new way of storing.

December 14, 2009 in DIY Maker Projects, Sustainable Living | No comments

This caught my eye.  It is right up our alley.  I think we will use stone balls instead though.  There is the issue of where to put the ball when you need to get into the jar… No teabagging though :)

Copper clothes hanger. DIY project for $5

November 30, 2009 in DIY Maker Projects | No comments

On Black Friday we got creative instead of buying crap and trying to maneuver through clotheshangerhoards of people. Here is what happened!

DIY project: Copper and wire clothes hanger for the studio.
Cost: $5 (materials only)
Time: 20 mins
Materials: 1 half-inch Copper tubing (about 2 feet), 2 half-inch copper elbows, 1 half-inch copper T joint, strong wire, codder pin (or you can use some other way to fasten), 2 long screws, 1 metal wall hook
Tools: Screw driver, Drill, drill bit, pipe cutter (the $8 ones work fine), pliers

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The copper pieces before being assembled. The wire codder is in place.

1. For the long piece where the clothes will be hanging, cut a piece of copper tubing to length with a pipe cutter.

2. Cut two pieces of 2 inch long copper tubing for the supports.
(Optional: shine the copper pieces with steel wool)

3. Assemble with one T joint and two elbows.

4. Drill a hole through the end of the long piece for the wire

5. Screw large hook in the wall and measure about 10 or more inches down and screw two long screws in the wall for the copper “legs” to rest on. (The copper arms that rest on the wall will go over the screws)

6. Measure your wire from the hook to the end of the copper tube.  Create a loop with one end for the wall hook and on the other end, slip the codder diy2through the hole in the copper tube, securing with pliers by bending the metal to fit the shape of the tube.  (Optional: Solder the copper pieces together for extra strength and/or put an end cap on it for great looks.)

Give it a tug to make sure it will hold and you are ready to hang!

This is great for more hanging space, drying rack, etc. Put it up in your laundry room or closet. Once you have it put together, it can easily be taken down out of the way, just leave the hook and screws in place to put it back up again. Best of all it is 100% recyclable!

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Growing a Kitchen Herb Garden

October 28, 2009 in Self-Sufficiency & Farming, Sustainable Living | 1 comment

Our family cooks our meals two days in advance.  We spend about and hour cooking for two days, which frees up a lot of time not having to prepare food throughout the day or worry about what we will be eating.  Using herbs to flavor our food is important when eating clean, so we added a little herb garden to our studio apartment.

Budget:  $40-$80

1. Finding a location for your garden is the most important part.  A ledge, shelf, counter top, separate table all work fine. Without sufficient lighting in our studio, we installed two fluorescent lights under the kitchen cabinets for $14 a piece from IKEA.  We also bought a light timer from Walmart for $4 and set that to be on for 18 hours and off for 6 (plants do best with 6 hours of darkness).

2. To find a container we went to Marshalls and found two red metal containers for $20. Try to avoid wood or anything that absorbs water.  If the metal container you find does not have drainage, you can solder some drainage holes along the back about an inch from the bottom.  This will prevent extra water from constantly leak out, but will let excess water

Sage, Basil, Mint, Oregano, Rosemary

Sage, Basil, Mint, Oregano, Rosemary

escape if necessary.

3. For soil we selected a $5 organic blend at the nursery for convenience, but you can collect from your yard or elsewhere.  We gathered a few pounds of large rocks from the desert during an afternoon hike and placed the rocks on the bottom of the metal containers before adding soil.  This helps with drainage and also makes it possible to use less soil for each container.

4.  Our herbs are from a local organic nursery and include the most common plants that we cook with.  If you buy seeds or small starter plants they each cost about $2-3 each.  Assess your own cooking preferences before buying herbs and buy what you most commonly use.  When cooking with your fresh herbs, use 3-4 times as much fresh herb when a recipie calls for dried.  For example if you need 1 teaspoon of dried basil, you can substitute 3-4 teaspoons of chopped fresh basil from your herb garden.  Happy growing!

No-Impact: Glass in the Bath

October 17, 2009 in No-Impact Living | 1 comment

So, we’ve talked about reusing glass containers, but how about in your bathroom?  Use a glass herb container for q-tips or a small salsa jar for cotton pads?  This can save you money and give your bath a chic, expensive look.

From right: cotton pads in little salsa jar, coffee grounds (for facial scrubbing) in a tall jar, q-tips in a spice jar

From Left: Cotton pads in little salsa jar, Coffee grounds (for facial scrubbing) in a tall jar, Q-tips in a spice jar

Honey Extraction How-to Video

September 30, 2009 in Self-Sufficiency & Farming | No comments

Tutorial Videos on Extracting Honey from Beehive frames:

BeeKeeping Videos

August 20, 2009 in Self-Sufficiency & Farming | No comments

All you ever wanted to know about basic beekeeping, right here. When we have a few acres, we are definately going to keep bees along with a natural or “forest” garden.

How To Make Starter Strips

Smoker and Hive Basics

Bee Housekeeping

Swarm Capture and HIve Rescue