No matter which mobile phone carrier you use, you’ll eventually drop a call with somebody. Even if you don’t have a cellphone, you still have to deal with dropped calls when you’re talking with people who do.

Sometimes you both try to call each other at the same time and get each other’s voicemail. Other times, you try to call the other person and they’re still talking away, oblivious to the fact that the call was dropped.

Rule #1: Whoever initiated the call, initiates the call back after a dropped call.

To some, this rule is obvious. But, it needs to be stated to remove any confusion and prevent the double voicemail dilemma.

Rule #2: Whoever was listening when the call was dropped, remembers the last sentence the other person said.

This is less obvious, but since the listener is the only one who knows exactly when the call was dropped; they need to remember the last sentence or at least the topic — this may be the same person who needs to call the other person back.

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Photo: addicted eyes (cc)

Whenever I see neatly folded shirts in a clothing store, I wonder how they fold the shirts so perfectly.

One time, I noticed an employee using a piece of wood to help them. But, this video demonstrates the fastest and most mind blowing way to perfectly fold a shirt.

If you’re viewing this post on a device that doesn’t support video, pinch the shirt in the two locations shown in the following photo.

Then, carry your left hand over your right hand and pinch the bottom of the shirt inline with the two pinch points you already have. Then, lift up and let the shirt fall into a perfect square. Place the lowest edge on a table and fold over that edge so the front logo is facing up.

Voila.

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In most cars, the air conditioner’s compressor is powered by a drive belt on the engine. When the air conditioner is activated, the compressor adds resistance to your engine. That extra resistance means your engine requires more fuel to turn at the same speed.

In other words, using your air conditioner burns more gas than not using it. Modern cars have very efficient air conditioners, but this truth still stands.

On a hot summer day, you have to keep cool. Does that mean it’s more fuel efficient to drive with your windows down?

Yes and no.

The Society of Automotive Engineers performed a study that examined this question in detail. They performed wind tunnel and track experiments comparing a car and an SUV. With the windows down, the car was half as efficient at 50 mph (80 km/h) than the SUV’s at 30 mph (50 km/h). It’s clear that driving the car with windows down has a dramatic effect on fuel economy, but it affected the SUV even more, especially when a 10 mph (16 km/h) crosswind was added in the wind tunnel.

Consumer Reports found that below 40 mph (65 km/h), drivers are better off with their windows down and air conditioner off.

Jason Toews from GasBuddy.com found at speeds above 45 mph (70 km/h), “wind drag becomes an issue.” He says, “Drive at speeds over 55 mph with windows down and you’ll decrease fuel economy by up to 20 percent or greater.”

Myth Busters has also looked at this issue on a couple occasions. The first time around, their methodology was flawed, so they tried it a second time. The second time, they came to the same conclusion as Consumer Reports and GasBuddy, that windows down are more efficient than running the air conditioner at speeds less than 45-55 mph (70-90 km/h) and the drag at higher speeds makes the air conditioner the more efficient option.

Of course, results vary by vehicle.

There are many factors other than windows and air conditioning that affect fuel economy: drive train, power-train, body aerodynamics and tire rolling resistance. If you want to know exactly how it affects your car, you might try experimenting for yourself. Some cars have a driver information center that displays fuel economy, otherwise you could order an after market product, such as CarChip Pro ($75-$85), which may help you get that data. If you’re interested, some of these are explored in more detail in another post, The Ideal Vehicle Speed for Best Fuel Economy.

If it’s hot outside, you should probably start with your windows down anyway. This gives your air conditioner a bit of a break by clearing the extremely hot air out of the car first.

Do prefer windows down or the air conditioner on?

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Sources: SAE (PDF), MythBusters (Ep 22, Ep 38), Edmunds, Bankrate, Consumer Reports, Missouri Gov

Photo: Tomás Fano (cc)

When we want to know how to do things right, we look to the professionals.

For example, if you want to peel a banana easily and with minimal strings, you’d learn how a monkey does it.

The same goes for eating chicken wings. There are plenty of professional food eaters, who win contests by eating food as quickly as possible. Some of these techniques were developed by them.

Here’s one great way to get the bones out of a wing:

Here’s a way to eat it with one hand, keeping your other hand free for your 6 shooter, beer mug or tums. You can skip to the 20 second mark on this one:

For those reading this on a device that doesn’t support video, the first video demonstrates removing the bones from a flat chicken wing. Grab the smaller bone and twist it back and forth a couple times, then pull it out. Then do the same for the larger bone, you’re left with all meat and no bones. The second video shows a man placing an entire flat wing in his mouth, biting down and pulling the chicken off the bones and he pulls it out of his mouth.

Thanks to Janine for suggesting this one.

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Photo: Charles Haynes (cc)

Hopefully, you already know you need to clean the lint filter in your dryer after every couple uses. This maximizes efficiency and reduces a potential fire hazard. But, did you know that washing your lint filter every six months can further improve the performance of your dryer and also increase its lifespan?

A standard, tumble dryer has a fan that pulls fresh air into the dryer where it is heated to evaporate the moisture in your clothes. The warm air and the moisture then pass through
your lint filter where anything that was picked up with the tumbling motion is trapped. From there, the air is sent outside and the cycle starts over again with fresh air.

If you don’t clean your lint filter between uses, the flow of this moist, warm air is restricted and your dryer is much less efficient. What you probably didn’t know is that
the dryer sheets you throw in with each load of wet clothes are covered with a silicone based film that, overtime, also builds up on your lint filter and causes your dryer to work less efficiently.

Don’t believe me? Take your lint filter out and run some warm water over it. Is it pooling up on top and not draining through? Is there just a slow trickle of water passing through the screen? Odds are, the water is not rushing through as it would on a normal screen.

To wash your lint filter, try the following:

1. Remove your lint filter from your dryer.
2. Wash the screen with warm soapy water. You can use a soft brush (an old toothbrush works) but don’t put too much pressure on the screen.
3. Hand dry the screen and leave it out until it’s completely dry.
4. Reinstall the filter into your dryer.

You can clean your filter as needed or every 6 months to a year.

Some dryers also have moisture sensors (the black object in the photo) and the film can build up on those as well. To make sure your sensor continues to work efficiently, you can clean it with a little bit of detergent and a soft brush.

With the variety of dryers available today, you should confirm the manufacturer’s cleaning recommendations in your owner’s manual first.

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Sources: Snopes.com, eHow.com

Photo: p0ps Harlow (cc)

Sometimes, you’re far from your charger and won’t be back anytime soon. Here are some tips to extend your battery when it’s running low.

Not all of these tips will apply to all phones, so use the ones that match the features on your phone. If your phone, camera or other gadgets frequently run out of power while you’re away from an outlet, consider an economical backup battery charger.

Turn Off 3G and Data

Most data capable phones can operate in different modes. If you turn off the high-speed wireless data mode, such as 3G, you will significantly reduce the power your phone consumes. This is the single biggest thing I find affects battery consumption.

Dim the Screen

The screen’s backlight uses a lot of power, keeping it off as much as possible will extend battery life. On the iPhone, press the top button, on many BlackBerrys, press ALT + ENTER to lock the keyboard and shutoff the screen. If your phone has an option to adjust the brightness, dim it. If it has auto-brightness, enable it. If you can set an “auto off” time then set it to the shortest time allowed.

Text Message Instead of Calling

If you can get away with communicating by text message, this can save power too. Although, it does require your screen, so short messages are better. These messages are embedded in the signals that your phone is already sending and receiving to normally communicate with the mobile network, even when you’re not using the phone, so it’s a very efficient way to communicate.

Turn Wifi and Bluetooth Off

Wifi and Bluetooth are great conveniences, but when you’re away from your charger and worried about losing phone capabilities, they’re a luxury that can go. Most phones with these features, have an option to disable them.

Don’t Play Games or Music

Well designed mobile phone processors have a low power mode that sips power when the phone is waiting for incoming calls in standby mode. Playing games requires the processor to work at its limit, which requires a lot more energy than standby mode. The same goes for playing music, especially if they’re compressed, high bit-rate or encrypted or drm protected music files — extra processing is needed to process these files and power the headphones or internal speaker.

Stop Background Apps

Some background apps use more power than others, it really comes down to the hardware in the phone the app is using (ex GPS) and how processor intensive the activity is.

Generally, if you’re trying to save power, closing the apps you don’t need can save power. This mostly applies to BlackBerry, Android and Windows Mobile devices.

It isn’t as important on iPhone since background apps aren’t true background apps, they have limited capabilities and therefore don’t consume a significant amount of battery power. That said, if you have a GPS tracking, VOIP or a music playing app running in the background, it could use significant amounts of power over long periods of time and it should be closed.

If you have any other ideas, drop them in the comments. Thanks to Kraig Brachman for suggesting this secret.

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There is a belief that it takes more energy to turn a light bulb on than it does to leave it running. That is true.

But, in some cases it’s still more energy efficient to turn the lights off when you leave the room.

That’s because the spike of additional electricity that is used to turn on a light bulb, is very short lived. That extra energy varies depending on the type of light bulb.

For most bulb types, the extra energy is equivalent to less than one second of energy that is consumed while the light is on. That means, you’d have to leave the room and return within one second to save energy by leaving the light turned on.

The one exception is fluorescent tubes (not compact fluorescents), they require a lot more energy to turn on than they consume while running normally.

Depending on the source of the information, fluorescents use energy equivalent to 5 to 24 seconds of regular use, just to power up. Therefore, if you use fluorescent tubes, there would be times when it would be more efficient to leave them on than turn them off.

If you have a large room that is lit with fluorescent tubes and you were going to leave the room for a few minutes or less, it would be more efficient to leave them on instead of turning them off and then back on when you return. But, if you’re leaving for more than that, you should shut them off.

That said, turning lights on and off does cause wear and tear on the bulbs. LED “bulbs”, which are now available at most hardware stores, are most resilient to this type of wear and tear.

Incandescent bulbs are extremely cheap, so the cost of replacing these bulbs isn’t an important consideration, although the environmental impact may be. But, it is important to consider this wear and tear for more expensive bulbs such as compact fluorescents. It is for this reason that the EPA recommends that compact fluorescent lights are used in areas where they will usually be turned on for at least 15 minutes at a time. This will contribute to bulb lifespan.

Although I used a couple other sources for this post, Mythbusters did some great experiments on this subject and I’ve embedded the video if you’d like to watch it.

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Sources: Mythbusters, EPA, EnergyStar (PDF)

All that food is one reason keyboards and mice are have more bacteria than most toilet seats. Also, office toilet seats are usually sanitized daily, when was the last time your keyboard or mouse were?

This tip is helpful because your hands never touch your food. This prevents your keyboard from getting dirtier and it keeps your hands from passing bacteria to your mouth.

1. Pour bite-size snacks into a cup or glass.

2. Angle cup into your mouth so bite-size snacks fall into your mouth.

3. Chew, swallow and repeat from step 2.

Broken Secrets | By: Chad Upton

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Sources: Home Food Safety Org, ABC News

I used to have a long walk to school. I mention this because walking to school has the same affect on rainfall as washing your car — it only rains at the worst possible time and it stops immediately after you stop caring.

When you’re stuck in the rain, you might think about whether it would be better to run or walk. When you run, you collide with more rain but you also reduce the amount of time you are exposed to the rain. When you walk, you collide with less rain but for a longer duration. So which is better?

It turns out that running is the better option, assuming you run fast enough to reduce the time you are exposed to rain. Myth Busters tested this in episode 38 if you want to check it out.

Broken Secrets | By: Chad Upton

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Sources: Myth Busters, Wise Geek

You want to avoid that since there are two toxins in chocolate that can have adverse affects on your pets: caffeine and theobromine.

Both of these drugs are very similar, but chocolate contains a lot more theobromine than caffeine. Theobromine does not affect the human nervous system as much as caffeine, nor is it as addictive as caffeine. But, theobromine is still addictive and believed to be the agent that causes Chocolate addiction. It is also believed to be responsible for chocolate’s notoriety as an aphrodisiac.

Although theobromine increases heart rate in humans, it also dilates blood vessels, which reduces blood pressure. In fact, it is superior to codeine at suppressing cough and can be helpful in relaxing muscles to alleviate symptoms of asthma.

Humans are able to consume chocolate in moderation because we can breakdown theobromine fairly quickly. In dogs, cats, rats and other species, they cannot digest it efficiently. This leads to a buildup of this toxin and is known as theogromine poisoning. Actually, this can also happen to elderly people who consume large quantities of chocolate.

For animals, a dangerous quantity of chocolate depends on the type of chocolate. Milk chocolate is not as dangerous as semisweet chocolate and it’s not as dangerous as cocoa powder.

Milk chocolate contains approx 44-64 milligrams of theobromine per ounce. Semi-sweet chocolate is about 150-160 mg/oz. Cocoa powder is 800 mg/oz.

A toxic dose for pets is 100-200 mg/kg of body weight (1 kg = 2.2 pounds). That said, problems can still be evident with smaller doses.

Signs of toxicity include:

• Excitement, nervousness, trembling
• Vomiting or diarrhea
• Excessive thirst
• Muscle spasms
• Seizures
• Coma
• Death (usually a result of other problems caused by the toxin)

As much as people like to treat their pets like humans, they are not human and should not be treated like humans when it comes to diet. There are many other human foods that are not recommended and poisonous to pets:

• Alcohol
• Avocado
• Coffee
• Fatty Foods
• Onions
• Raisins and grapes
• Salt
• Yeast dough
• Garlic
• Artificial sweetener

Pet’s digestive systems are very different from humans. Checkout Vetinfo for more details on why some of the above foods should not be fed to your animals.

Thanks to Ryan W for suggesting this secret.

Broken Secrets | By: Chad Upton

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Sources: Wikipedia (Theobromine), About.com, Vetinfo

Although they have a limited history in America, foreign car manufacturers sell many diesel models in Europe.

Diesel engines are generally very efficient and that behind their new found demand. As diesel becomes more popular, you will likely see more diesel pumps.

This is good if you have a diesel car, potentially bad if you don’t. Diesel pumps present a slight risk to your standard gasoline vehicle — you do not want to put diesel fuel in a car that uses standard unleaded fuel.

Standard engines use spark plugs to burn the fuel, diesel engines use pressure and heat to cause a reaction in diesel fuel. That means standard engines will not burn diesel fuel. If you inadvertently put diesel in an unleaded car, the engine will stop very quickly. It’s not usually a total loss, the fuel system will have to be cleaned, filters will need to be changed and the whole process can cost as much as $600.

But, there is an easy way to avoid this costly mistake. First, diesel fuel dispensers are usually clearly marked with text and with a special color handle (the color varies by station).

Second, the nozzle on the end of a diesel fuel pump is slightly larger than a standard fuel nozzle. That means it won’t fit in your car’s gas hole, at least not that way you’re used to a pump nozzle fitting. If you notice that the nozzle isn’t going as far in as it usually does, check the pump, you might be holding a diesel trigger.

This same principle was used in the 80s when we transitioned from leaded to unleaded fuel. Leaded fuel nozzles wouldn’t not fit in unleaded gas holes.

Checkout some other gas related Broken Secrets:

• The gas arrow
• Locking the gas pump trigger (be careful)

Broken Secrets | By: Chad Upton

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Sources: Answer Bag, WTSP, Dixon Nozzles (PDF)

Photo: teachernz (cc)

Unless you’re an avid runner or maybe work at a shoe store, you probably don’t know how to buy shoes that compliment your feet and the way you use them. It can be hard enough to find a shoe that looks good, fits on your foot and feels comfortable, but it takes even more to find a pair that fits your arch and the angle of your ankles. But there is a way.

Even if you don’t run, you can still benefit from buying the right running (or walking) shoes — especially if you spend a lot of time on your feet at work or at play.

For example, the only “running” I do is running errands, but I often wear running shoes because they’re comfortable and lightweight. With the right shoes, there is less stress on your feet, ankles, knees and hips.

When you walk, the heel of your foot will touch the ground first and as you roll your foot forward, your weight will be transferred to the front of your foot. Depending on the angle of your foot, you may be putting more weight on the inside or outside of your foot. Doing that hundreds or thousands of times a day can lead to pain and discomfort in your feet and other parts of your body.

If your hips, knees or ankles produce external rotation, you will be more likely to angle your feet as you walk (known as pronation of the foot). Your shoes can compensate for natural irregularities or make them worse and that’s why it’s important to get the right shoes.

Good shoe stores will help determine your arch type and level of pronation. Once you know your arch type and pronation, there are different shoes that will suit you. A local running shop is a good place to start, they’re generally the most knowledgeable retailers of shoes. Some websites with good fitting advice are: Road Runner Sports, Zappos, Dick’s and New Balance.

One way to determine your arch type is by standing (to put weight on your feet), then sliding your index finger under your arch. If you get your finger up to 1/2 an inch under your foot then you’ve got a low arch. 1/2 inch to 1 inch is a medium arch. More than an inch is a high arch.

The other way to determine arch type is the paper bag test. You wet your feet and stand on a paper bag. Looking at your wet footprint and the size of the gap left by your arch, you can tell if you have a low, medium or high arch. This way is pretty common, but it’s a bit more subjective than the index finger method.

To determine your pronation (ankle roll), you’ll need the help of a friend. They will stand behind you to see how your ankles behave as you walk. If your ankles stay very straight, then you have neutral pronation. If they roll slightly inward or outward then you’re considered an under-pronator. If they roll inward excessively, then you’re an over-pronator.

Another way to determine pronation is to put a used pair of your running shoes on a flat surface and see if the shoes tilt inward towards each other, or tilt outward, away from each other.

Shoes are divided into three categories for different feet type: stability, motion control and neutral. Stability shoes are for under-pronators. Motion control shoes are for severe over-pronators and perhaps obviously, neutral shoes are for neutral pronation.

Most online retailers categorize shoes into these groups. A good shoe store will be able to tell you which shoes are your type as well.

The other approach to running footwear is: barefoot. There is a popular book on running called Born to Run which suggests that we are literally born to run in our bare feet and the best runners in the world come from tribes of barefoot runners who run well into old age without injury.

For now, I think I’ll stick with my runners.

Thanks to Kristen for suggesting this secret!

Broken Secrets | By: Chad Upton

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Sources: Wikipedia (Foot type), New Balance (Running Gait), Zappos, Dick’s

Photo: Jason Alley (cc)

The ceiling of your upper floor also has the most insulation of any place in your home. It’s there because hot air rises — in the winter, you don’t want to lose that heat. It’s the same reason you put a hat on your head in the winter.

In the summer, that thick insulation in your attic is doing the same thing it does in the winter, trapping that heat on your upper floor. If you have a central heating/cooling system, it should suck hot air from the upper floor and mix it with cooler air. But, it’s not always running and it can’t always keep up with the hot air that is produced inside your home, from people, electronics and appliances.

A good solution is to run the ceiling exhaust fan in a central bathroom on the upper floor during the hottest hours of the day. To help, you can get an automatic timer control light switch; these can be used to run the fan and have it automatically shutoff after a certain amount of time — this might also be useful after somebody uses the toilet.

In some regions, it is even part of the building code that an on/off switch for the upper floor hallway bathroom fan is placed next to the thermostat on the main floor. It’s there so you can turn on the exhaust fan when you turn on the air conditioner (there is also a switch in the bathroom to control it from there). This is not a widespread building code, but it’s worth having a look beside your thermostat. If you’ve got a light switch there that doesn’t do anything, try it again and listen for the hallway fan.

Broken Secrets | By: Chad Upton

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Sources: MSU, About.com

Farmers cannot freely grow hemp in the US, but many companies import hemp products for resale, mostly from Canada and the UK.

The problem is that hemp is from the same plant family (genus) as marijuana. But hemp is not a drug, it is a raw material that is used much like cotton. We all know that cotton is great, we use it for making: t-shirts, socks, denim for blue-jeans, fishnets, coffee filters, paper and many other things. Considering everything we use it for, it’s a miracle plant.

But, cotton has some limitations. It can only be grown in areas that get a lot of sunshine, have consistent rainfall and long frost-free periods. Cotton also requires a lot of pesticides: 50% of the world’s pesticides are sprayed on cotton.

Imagine a plant with all the benefits of cotton, but it has even stronger fibers, could be grown anywhere in the country and doesn’t require pesticides or herbicides.

That plant is called hemp.

At the risk of sounding like a huge hippie, hemp is a perfect plant. Frankly, I am not a hippie — I only own one hemp product: hemp protein powder.

Hemp as a food source is one example of why it’s so perfect. The seeds contain all of the essential fatty acids and essential amino acids required for a human to be healthy. It also contains a lot of fiber, another essential part of the human diet.

When used as a textile, hemp is stronger and more mildew resistant than cotton. For that reason, hemp is an excellent material for making canvas boat sails, and it was used for that exact purpose by Christopher Columbus.

In fact, the word “canvas” actually comes from the 13th century Anglo-French word for “cannabis” — the plant family that it stems from.

In 1942, the US government made a short film called Hemp for Victory, promoting hemp growth to farmers. You see, during World War II, hemp was used for military uniforms, canvas, rope and other necessities.

Some great Americans also grew hemp for commerical purposes. George Washington and Thomas Jefferson both grew hemp on their farms. In fact, the Declaration of Independence was originally written on hemp paper (the final copy was written on parchment).

Benjamin Franklin started a paper mill that made paper exclusively from hemp. Henry Ford grew hemp on his estate, combining it with some other substances to create car bodies and fuel for vehicles. He was way ahead of his time since biofuels are now a hot topic for reducing our dependence on oil. Even modern diesel engines of today can run on hemp seed oil.

Then, in 1948, marijuana became a restricted substance. Although hemp is from the same plant family  as marijuana, congress exempted industrial hemp growers from this law. I guess they didn’t see a reason to lock up one family member, just because the other family member could cause some trouble. However, the Federal Bureau of Narcotics lumped all cannabis together and the DEA continues to do so today.

It’s not known for sure why hemp was lumped together with cannabis, since you can’t get “high” from hemp. But, according to the 1985 book, The Emporer Wears No Clothes, the author Jack Herer states that DuPont played a key role in the criminalization of hemp. By stopping the growth of hemp, DuPont would have a monopoly on producing plastic and paper under their recently patented processes that used coal, oil and wood pulp respectively.

Today, there are a small number of states that have laws allowing restricted growth of hemp, mostly by government and educational institutions for research purposes. However, because federal laws prohibit hemp growth, they must receive permission from the DEA to do so.

Other countries that produce hemp include: Australia, Austria, Canada, China, Great Britain, France, Russia, Spain and about 22 other countries.

I didn’t know much about hemp until researching this article, and I don’t think most other people know much about it either. Now that I understand its benefits, I hope the federal government catches up with most other developed nations and legalizes hemp production. Given the health, environmental and economic benefits of hemp, it hurts the people, our planet and our economy by restricting it.

Broken Secrets | By: Chad Upton

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Sources: Wikipedia (Hemp, Cannabis, History of Cannabis), NAIHC

Since the post office has very strict requirements for addressing a letter, they should all be exactly the same. The post office guidelines are recommended for fastest delivery and I’ve compiled a list of rules that are the most surprising or commonly abused.

Since most of my readers are in North America, I’ve compared the requirements from the US Postal Service and Canada Post — they’re very similar and they contain good practices that are applicable to sending mail in most places.

Mail is typically sorted by a machine, but if the machine can’t determine the address then it will be dropped in a bin for a human to sort it. Most of the requirements are design to make it easy for the machine to understand where you’re trying to send your letter.

No Punctuation Allowed

One rule that will surprise most people: no punctuation is allowed. I know your third grade teacher said you should put a comma between the city and the state, and maybe she was right at the time, but that’s not right anymore. Don’t use periods either, using punctuation will only slow the mail down. It’s going to be a tough habit to break, I know. There is one exception, and that is when the name of the City, Street or Town contains punctuation, such as an apostrophe (for example: St John’s).

State Abbreviations are Only 2 Letters

States and Provinces should be written with their standard 2 character abbreviations. Since no punctuation is allowed, using the proper abbreviation is important for the sorting machine to recognize the State or Province. Canada Post requires that two spaces are placed between the State/Province and the Postal Code, this also helps the machine find the State/Province. Click here for a complete list of proper Canadian and American abbreviations.

Placement

The return address should go in the top left corner (although Canada Post also allows it on the back of the envelope at the top). The destination address should go in the middle of the envelope, left justified. Capital letters should be used since they are easier for the machines to read (not a US requirement, but still recommended). City, State and Postal Code should be on the same line. If mailing internationally, the Country should be added on its own line.

These are not my rules, they come from the US and Canada post offices. You’ll find links to the a complete list of requirements in the sources.

PS – That’s not my real address, don’t send mail there… seriously. However, both addresses are special. ;)

Broken Secrets | By: Chad Upton

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Sources: US Postal Service, Canada Post

This is by no means a complete list, but I wanted to provide some of the most useful and least well known iPhone tricks. Most of this list also applies to the iPod touch; if you know someone with one of these, be sure to send them a link to this article.

Double Click the Home Button

The button on the front of the phone is called the “home” button. You can choose what happens when you double click it. Mine is set to go to my phone favorites, making it quicker to dial my people. You can get to this screen by going to Settings > General > Home.

As you can see on the option screen above, there is an option for “iPod Controls.” When those are on and the phone is in standby mode (blank screen), you can double click the home button to see the current song/artist/album cover and show audio controls (volume/forward/back/play/pause) — see below for example. If you want to fast forward or rewind, hold the forward/back buttons respectively.

Add a Phone Number Pause

When you enter a phone number in contacts, you can choose an alternate keyboard and click the “pause” button, but when you’re on the dialing keypad, there is no such button. If you hold down * a comma will appear. This is a pause, which tells the phone to wait before dialing the numbers that follow. This allows you to enter your voice mail password or other automated phone system entry before the call. I discovered this one last night and I haven’t seen it documented anywhere else.

Snap Screen Shot

This is extremely useful if you want to write a post on your blog about iPhone secrets and you need screen captures. It’s also great if you want to make wallpaper based on a written note or a anything you display on your phone. Basically, hold down the home (front) button and then press the standby (top) button. You’ll know it worked because the screen will flash white. The image will be added to your camera roll.

Power Down and Reset

Your iPhone is a small computer and like a computer, it sometimes requires a restart when it’s behaving poorly. Occasionally it freezes or it can’t find the network after resuming from airplane mode, remedy this by holding the home and standby buttons for about 10 seconds, until you see a slider to shutdown or an apple icon appears on the screen.

Word and Paragraph Selection

Double-tap a word to select it for cut/copy/delete. Quadruple-tap a word to select the entire paragraph for cut/copy/delete.

Easy Period

At the end of a sentence, double tap the space bar to get a period and a space. Apple stole this one from Blackberry and I’m glad they did.

Quick Punctuation

When typing on the iPhone’s qwerty keyboard, you obviously need to press the “.?123″ button to get the punctuation keyboard. After you type a punctuation mark, you have to press the “ABC” button to get the qwerty keyboard back. But, if you press the “.?123″ button and keep your finger down while you slide over to your punctuation mark, and then lift up on that mark, it will add that punctuation mark and switch back to the qwerty keyboard, saving you a couple taps in the process.

Tap title bar to scroll up

When you want to navigate to a new web page, refresh the current one or perform a new search, you have to get back to the top of the page. The fastest way to do that is tap the title bar, it’ll take you up.

Fit to Screen

If you liked the space bar secret, you’ll love this. Double tap a block of text in Safari to zoom in on that column and fit it to the screen. This makes it much easier to read text in web pages.

Two finger scrolling

Some web pages have scrollable objects embedded in them, such as large text fields. If you want to scroll that item without scrolling the whole page, use two fingers on that item to scroll it.

Thanks to Ryan Harper for suggesting some of the tips.

Broken Secrets | By: Chad Upton

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Sources: tap tap tap, ismashphone, iphonetoolbox, engadget

A friend shared this secret with me recently and it blew my mind: use binder clips to catch the cables.

I bought a pack of Medium Binder Clips at Staples (24 @ $2.79) and I weaved my cables through — they work perfectly. If your cable slides through easily, you may need to tie a very loose knot in the cable or even better, put a couple zip-ties around the cable to stop it from falling through.

Broken Secrets | Written By: Chad Upton

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If you reset this memory then you can keep printing until the cartridge is actually empty. Depending on the brand and model of cartridge, this reset is actually really easy. If you look above the small circuit board on the cartridge, there is sometimes a pinhole reset button, kind of like the paperclip eject hole on most cd rom drives.

Check out the following video to see a demonstration.

I should also note that not all cartridges can be reset in this way. Here are a couple of sites that show other methods of resetting some cartridges.

• HP
• Canon
• Epson

Doing a cartridge reset is also useful if you refill your own cartridges, since the cartridge may report that it’s empty even after you refill it.

I should also mention that laser printers have become extremely cheap. I rarely print in color, so a black and white laser printer is very cost effective for me. When I need to print photos, there are lots of drug stores or department stores that do a great job for a low price. If I need to print color documents, there are many great places to get that done at a reasonable price too. With a $100 laser printer, you’re often able to print thousands of pages of text on the toner cartridge that is included.

Big thanks to Derek Santos for sending the video and inspiring this post.

Broken Secrets | Written By: Chad Upton

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]]> http://brokensecrets.com/2010/04/16/extend-the-life-of-printer-ink-cartridges/feed/ 9 Broken Secrets http://brokensecrets.com/2010/04/13/the-gas-arrow/ http://brokensecrets.com/2010/04/13/the-gas-arrow/#comments Tue, 13 Apr 2010 05:01:41 +0000 Chad Upton http://brokensecrets.com/?p=1855 ]]> Rent, borrow or commandeer an unfamiliar car and you’ll need to gas it up eventually.

You know your own car like the back of your TV remote, but you’ve got nothing on this car. The gauge is near empty when you realize you have no idea which side the gas cap is on.

You’ve got a 50/50 chance, so you wing it. Unfortunately, there’s nothing that says, “this ain’t my car” better than stopping on the wrong side of the pump.

That’s why they invented the gas arrow. Look for the arrow on the gas gauge, it points to the side of the car where the gas hole is.

Of course, not all cars have this arrow. Some people will also say that the pump icon indicates the side of the gas cap with the pump handle, but that’s not universally true.

My Dad shared this secret with me a few years ago.  I shared it with a few friends, some of them shared with a few friends and if all goes well, everybody will know about the gas arrow and other little known facts. That’s what this site is all about.

Broken Secrets

Written By: Chad Upton

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Source: My Dad

One of my favorite “Awesome Things” is “Learning a new keyboard shortcut.” Since I’m talking favorites, I want to share one of my favorite keyboard shortcuts: the space bar.

If you’re reading this in a web browser or you do a lot of reading on the web, this is one shortcut you should learn before all others. To scroll your browser down exactly one page, press the space bar.  To scroll up one page, hold shift while you press the space bar.

It’s that simple, happy reading.

Broken Secrets

Written By: Chad Upton

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Photo: jakebouma (creative commons)

In a lot of cases, there is something you can do about it. For example, if a nearby faucet has good pressure then you can probably improve your shower pressure in about 5 minutes.

Modern shower heads contain a flow restriction plate to decrease the amount of water you consume, which saves you money and ensures the city can produce enough clean water for everyone. It’s basically a rubber or Teflon disc that has a small hole in it. The smaller the hole, the less water can travel through it and onto your head. If you want to know what that restrictor looks like, click here to see a 10 pack of them on amazon (great if you own a lot of showers and have a problem with too much pressure).

Sometimes, these flow restrictor get clogged with debris, which reduces the flow further. Other times, they’re too small for your home’s water pressure. In either case, you can remove the restrictor, clean it and put it back in. If it’s not dirty then it may be too restrictive for your water pressure. If that’s the case, you can leave it out entirely or drill the hole so it is slightly larger.

If you want to try it, you’ll need a few things:

1. Wrench
2. Teflon Tape (plumbing department)
3. Paperclip

Here are the steps to remove and replace the shower head:

Use the wrench to thread the shower head off the support pipe that comes out of the wall. You should see two flat sections where the shower head connects to the  support pipe, the wrench should be used to grip those flat sections and turn. Some plastic shower heads will have a gripped collar that you can probably turn by hand.

When you take the shower head off, look into the back of it (where the water flows in). You should see a small disc, usually white, black or red and made of rubber or Teflon (the smooth plastic that is on the bottom corners of your computer mouse). This is the flow restrictor disc. In most cases, it will be the only thing you can see that is removable.

There is a chance that you don’t have one, especially if the shower head is fairly old… in that case, jump to the instructions for re-attaching the shower head (there is one step you will miss if you’ve never done this before).

If you followed my advice in another post and ordered a $2 set of dental tools, then use the dental pick to remove the flow restrictor disc. If you don’t have a pick, then use something similar like a paperclip or needle nose pliers.

Once you have removed the disc, inspect it. If there is any debris blocking the hole(s) then clean it. Otherwise, you might want to try the head without the restrictor to check the pressure. If it is more than enough pressure, you may want to drill the holes larger in the restrictor and place it back in the shower head to slightly increase the water flow. If you put the disc back in, put it in the way you found it.

Now, look at the thread on the support pipe. It probably has some Teflon tape on it (usually white), remove it by finding the end and unwrapping, or use a steal brush to get it off. Now, wrap the support pipe thread with new Teflon tape. Avoid covering the first couple threads and do 3-6 wraps (depending on the thickness of your tape). Teflon tape will give the connection a tight seal so it doesn’t leak. You can get Teflon tape at any hardware store and even some department stores that have a small plumbing section.

Now, put the shower head back on and tighten it (same as it was when you loosened it). Then try running the water slowly, if it’s leaking at the thread then you didn’t tighten the head all the way or you didn’t use enough Teflon tape — try those two steps again.

If it’s not leaking then you should have lots of water pressure. Keep in mind that your water consumption will increase and plumbing should only be attempted by capable people.

Broken Secrets

Written By: Chad Upton

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The factory blue headlights are known as HID (high intensity discharge) headlights. Just like the name describes, they’re brighter than normal halogen headlights.

Traditional lights heat a small metal filament to produce light while HID lights create a plasma discharge arc between two tungsten electrodes. It is this plasma discharge that creates the blue color. But, this technology is not new, it’s very similar to the bright lights that illuminate stadiums and roadways.

The brightness is the main advantage of these lights. Like rear fog lights, these headlights were popularized in Europe where fog, rain and curvy roads create demanding driving conditions. Because HID lights are brighter, they penetrate fog, rain and snow better than halogen lights — an advantage when the conditions are not ideal.

HID headlights are also more energy efficient than halogens, which isn’t a major concern in vehicles right now, but as we move to battery powered cars that will become very important — the less power accessories consume, the further the vehicle can drive on a single charge.

If they’re better, why don’t all cars have them?

They’re not better in every way, they do cost more. I mentioned that they are similar to stadium lights, except stadium lights require a lot of warm up time before they are really bright. HID lights often reach 75% brightness within a few seconds and achieve 100% brightness after a couple minutes. This quick start-up is made possible by a ballast and ignition control module in the vehicle that provides a 20,000 volt pulse to initiate the arc.  These components along with the bulbs themselves increase the cost for manufacturers to install these types of lights.

Vehicle conversion kits are available for many vehicles and they usually begin around $300. But, you can’t put these bulbs in any headlight socket. In the US, it is illegal to change the type of bulb that your headlights were originally approved for by the Department of Transportation (DOT) and similar laws exist in most other countries.

Because HID lights are brighter, the DOT pays very close attention to the aiming of these lights. If you see HID lights that are “blinding”, it’s generally because somebody has installed the bulbs in an unapproved headlight fixture that is not designed to focus the light down and away from your eyes. Approved headlight fixtures have a very sharp projection pattern that keeps the light out of oncoming eyes. In some European countries, HID system are required to be auto-leveling so that heavy loads in the rear of the vehicle do not pitch the light up into oncoming traffic.

For left hand drive vehicles, the right headlight is actually aimed slightly higher than the left to improve visibility on the right side of the road (street signs, peripheral dangers…etc) while the left side is aimed lower to keep it out of oncoming eyes. If you’re driving in front of a car with HID lights, it may appear that their right headlight is improperly aimed, but it is likely that it is intended and should still be a reasonable brightness. Many systems calibrate every time the vehicle is started to ensure they are properly aimed and do not “blind” any other motorists.

There are also tinted bulbs available that look similar to HID systems. They are not as bright as HID headlights, but they can often be installed legally. Many bulb manufacturers have introduced brighter and whiter halogen bulbs to give buyers a reasonably priced alternative to traditional bulbs.

Broken Secrets

Written By: Chad Upton

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Sources: MVLC, Smart Motorist

Photo: MSVG (creative commons)

The hate comes from all of the embarrassing moments they are responsible for. I remember being at work when a co-worker pointed out in front of a bunch of other people that a dryer sheet was hanging out of the bottom of my pant-leg. They all thought it was pretty funny of course, and I think most people have been there. I have a few other embarrassing dryer sheet stories, but the great things about them are more interesting.

Fabric softener is really useful in your laundry and understanding what it does and how it affects fabric is important to knowing when to use it.

Most modern washing machines have a reservoir that can automatically add fabric softener liquid to the load during the rinse cycle. Of course, fabric softeners are also available in my favorite form: dryer sheets.

In either case, they coat fabrics with a thin layer of chemicals.These chemicals have lubricating and electrical conductive properties.

The conductive property is important for preventing a buildup of static electricity. If you live in a dry climate or experience dry winters, using fabric softeners will make a noticeable difference in the static buildup and cling that your clothes have.

The lubrication property helps make the fabric stain resistant by repelling liquids, which is great for clothing and most other laundry. Unfortunately, this is bad for towels since you want towels to absorb water from your hands, body and anything else you’re drying with a towel.

Broken Secrets

Written By: Chad Upton

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Sources: My Mom, Wikipedia

Photo by Dave Wallick

I was there in 1993 on a big family road trip and it was amazing. A building of this size seems like it should have a massive heating system to stay comfortable during winter months. But, the architects had a much more creative solution in mind.

The mall entrances do have heaters between the double doors for comfort, but the common areas are heated in three other ways:

• Solar Radiation (Skylights)
• Lighting Fixture Heat
• People

Yes, the skylights let in light which is converted into heat (think of it like a giant green house). The lighting fixtures give off heat, which is typically considered waste energy, but is an important part of heating the building. The people inside generate a lot of heat too. In fact, the guests generate enough heat during peak winter hours that the air conditioning system runs full blast to keep the mall comfortable.

Considering the age of this mall, this is a forward thinking concept — it reduces their need for energy, which saves money and keeps our valuable energy resources available for making lattes and watching The View.

Another little known (and ironic) fact: the Mall of America is owned and operated by Canadians.  The Ghermezian family also owns West Edmonton Mall, which is 30% larger than Mall of America, sporting the world’s largest indoor water park; an ice rink; 800+ stores; an aquarium and the world’s largest indoor amusement park with 24 rides, including the largest indoor roller coaster. A planned expansion to Mall of America will make it larger than West Edmonton Mall.

Broken Secrets

Written By: Chad Upton

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Sources: Mall of America, West Edmonton Mall

Photo: Dave Wallick (creative commons)

A lot of factors affect the fuel economy of your car. Some of them don’t vary much with speed, such as the resistance of the engine pumps and accessories. Other factors, like the size of the frontal area and the drag coefficient create increasing resistance with speed.

The faster you drive, the more energy is needed to overcome the aerodynamic resistance of the car. Up to 40 mph, that isn’t really even a factor. So, if you’re driving a box then your best fuel economy is likely closer to 40 mph than 50. If you’re driving a teardrop shaped eco-car, then you’re likely closer to 60 mph. Of course, engine size and other factors are involved too.

If you’re in a hurry, then going faster than 60 mph (95 km/h), presents new problems. Getting above this speed, your transmission is starting to run out of gears, so the engine has to keep turning faster and faster without getting any mechanical advantage from the transmission — that burns a lot of extra fuel. This also hurts your ability to overcome the exponentially increasing resistance — your engine can only turn so fast. But, if you’re in a small car then your fuel economy at 70 mph is likely still better than a large SUV traveling 60 mph.

If your car has a fuel economy display, be sure to take notice at many different speeds to find the best speed for your car. If your car does not have a fuel economy display and you do a lot of driving then it might be worth getting a device that will read your vehicle data and calculate fuel economy accurately. Try: Car Chip Pro ($75-85) or ScanGuage II ($160).

Broken Secrets

Written By: Chad Upton

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Sources: ThinkQuest, How Stuff Works

I met Todd at my first part time job, we used to work early weekend mornings during high school. I was too young to have a driver’s license, so my dedicated parents would always drive me.

That was before remote starters, so I would usually start the car a few minutes before leaving. Actually, that’s not true — my Dad was usually the one starting the car a few minutes before I was ready to leave, which was about 10 minutes after I told him I would be ready to leave.

It didn’t make much difference to the car — it was still cold for at least half the trip. On the rare occasion that I started the car, I would turn the heater to its hottest setting and turn the fan to full blast. That’s actually the slowest way to warm the car, so lets talk more about the fastest way.

The trick is very counter-intuitive, so I want to briefly explain how the car heater works for this secret to make sense.

The item pictured above is a heater core. Most cars have one of these inside the dashboard. Hot liquid passes through the fins, which are there to create a lot of surface area so that air passing through can pickup as much heat as possible before it comes out the air vents. It works just like the radiators in many older homes in that sense.

The liquid is heated by excess engine heat, so if the engine is cold then you won’t get any hot air from your air vents. Your engine has a cooling system which is designed to draw heat away from the engine so it does not overheat. The heater works in a similar way, removing heat from the engine and using it to heat the air being blown into the passenger compartment. So, when you turn on your heater, you are essentially cooling the engine by transferring some of its heat to the inside of the car.

To heat the engine faster, you want to stop that heat loss. It’s similar to heating your oven, you don’t leave the door open because you’ll lose all of the heat.

You want to turn the heater off by moving the temperature control all the way to cold. Also, turn the fan off to ensure it is not blowing air across the heater core which transfers heat away from it. This will trap the heat in the engine cooling system (reducing its ability to cool the engine) and therefore heat the engine more quickly. It traps the heat in, just like closing the oven door.

If your car has an automatic climate control system that allows you to dial in the temperature then there is no need to worry about these suggestions to make them heat the car faster, most of these cars do it automatically. If your car has automatic climate control, it’s normal that the fan doesn’t blow when you first start the cold car. The vehicle engineers already know this secret and have programmed it into the car. The fan does not run until there is adequate engine heat to warm the air (unless you want to warm the car more slowly and manually activate the fan).

This knowledge is helpful to all drivers, even if you never plan to drive in cold weather. If your engine is overheating in hot weather, set the climate control to hot, turn the fan on full blast and roll down all the windows. This will dissipate engine heat through the heater core and help cool the engine.

Broken Secrets

Written By: Chad Upton

Available on Kindle

Thanks to Todd M for sharing this secret many years ago.

Sources: 2CarPros, How Stuff Works

Some related posts:

• Idling a Cold Engine Is GOOD For The Environment
• Locking the Gas Pump Trigger
• How to Prevent a GPS From Falling Off the Windshield

It seems like everything is made from plastic now. I did a bit of dumpster diving tonight to find out how much. I went through my recycling bin looking for things with the recycling symbol on them — I guess that probably doesn’t really count as “dumpster diving.” These numbers only appear inside the recycling symbol on plastic products.

Plastic is a petroleum product, meaning the raw material used to create plastic is oil. It’s no secret that oil is one of the most in-demand natural resources and for a variety of reasons oil prices have sharply increased over the past 10 years. It’s not just the fuel companies who have been hit hard by the increasing price of oil, but also plastic manufacturers. Both of these groups have to pass those increased costs on to their customers, and those businesses pass it on to their customers. Somewhere down the line, that customer is you and you’ve obviously noticed at the gas pump.

But, you may not have noticed the increase on plastic prices, at least not directly. Depending on where you live, you may have noticed a big or small push for you to use (or buy) reusable grocery bags. Of course these are great for the environment, but they also save the grocery store a lot of money on plastic bags, which have become significantly more expensive in the past few years. In some places, you even have to pay extra if you want plastic bags.

Oil is a non-renewable resource, once we run out that’s it — we’re out. Experts say we are getting closer and closer to the end of the crude supply and some of our oil now comes from alternative oil supplies, which are more costly and more time consuming to extract and refine.

Therefore, it is extremely important to recycle plastic. It costs money to recycle, but it helps reduce the price of plastic by minimizing the demand for and price of oil. Additionally, plastic is not something we want in our landfills since it does not decompose the way many other things do.

Plastic is very versatile, it can be made into a fabric like material for nylon windbreakers or grocery bags. It can also be a very hard material for outdoor furniture and decking, not to mention the products that fall between these soft and hard extremes. This diversity comes from the variety of plastic polymers that have been developed with these different properties.

The number inside the recycling symbol indicates the type of plastic polymer the item is made from. Because it is so important to recycle plastic, you’ll find this symbol and number on almost everything made out of plastic. The manufacturers want you to recycle because it helps them keep their costs down and our landfills clear of plastic.

Most of the time, you’ll also see an acronym below the symbol that matches the number. The cool thing is, in addition to the type of plastic, it will actually indicate if it is made from recycled plastic. You’ll see in this table, the plastic numbers and their corresponding names and acronyms. If these acronyms are preceded by the letter “P”, that indicates it is made from recycled plastic of that type.

From my dumpster session I noticed that all of the food containers were either PETE or PP and some other household products were HDPE.

Not everyone recycles, which is unfortunate. Most cities have a recycling program, even if you have to collect your things and drop them off at a nearby depot. Check with your city, they usually indicate which types of plastic they will recycle (many places only take 1 and 2).

Even if you don’t care about the planet, hopefully you care about your wallet. Please recycle as much as possible.

Broken Secrets

Written By: Chad Upton

available on kindle

Sources: Resin Codes, Plastics

I went to my local supermarket yesterday to pickup a few things. Being Super Bowl Sunday, it was pretty much the worst day to go grocery shopping. Normally, I would just go another day but I needed some things for later in the day (like most other people there I’m sure).

All the cart bumping and line shoving could have been avoided if I just went early in the morning or late the night before. That’s what I usually do — try to go shopping around 8pm-9pm, that includes any stores that are open late (ex. Target). Many stores are now until 10pm and some are open 24 hours. I try to take advantage of these hours since I usually get the store to myself. It actually makes shopping peaceful and efficient.

You’re never bumping carts with anyone or waiting for them to pick the perfect type of soup so they can move their cart and you can get past. If you need help from a store employee, they’re usually available and easy to spot since there’s nobody else in the store.

Perhaps the two best parts of shopping off-peak: there are rarely lineups at the checkout, which is a big time saver itself. You also get a prime parking spot, really close to the door, which is particularly nice in the winter.

If you’ve never been an off-peak shopper, you are probably starting to see the benefits. But, there are some of disadvantages too. For example, the pharmacy, salad bar and meat counter are often closed after 7pm.

If you’re lucky, the night shift employees have the radio turned up so you can sing along and toss products into your cart from three point distance. If you’re unlucky, the night shift employees have brought their own music.

There are also times when you can’t avoid a busy grocery store and that why it’s awesome when the guy with a full cart of groceries lets you go ahead because you’re only buying one thing.

Broken Secrets

Written By: Chad Upton | follow me on twitter

Photo by: timmenzies (Creative Commons)

I assume all my readers are perfectly safe drivers, only driving in the left lane when they need to pass another car, or in gridlock when proper traffic flow isn’t possible anyway. But if you know someone who blocks the left lane then you can share this with them as a subtle hint. Oh, and if someone shared this with you, they probably think you hate left lane bandits just as much as them.

We are constantly reminded by highway signs that say, “slower traffic keep right.” But, it’s not just the law, it’s common courtesy — we all need to share the road.

Keeping the left lane clear is important. Not just because it’s the other driver’s right to pass you, but because it is safer. When everyone plays by the same road rules, then everything is more predictable, there are fewer surprises and fewer accidents — that’s why these laws exist, they’re not just for fun.

One of these laws, at least in North America, is to pass on the left. If everyone did this, you would never have a car approach you from behind on your right side. Which, isn’t a big deal if you’re going to make a planned lane change, if you didn’t notice the car approach then you would see them when you check your blind spot anyway. But, if you need to make an emergency maneuver, it’s nice to be able to count on the fact that nobody will be there and you’ve got a safe “Plan B.”

Some people defend their right to drive in the left lane by saying they don’t have to let the faster car pass because that car is speeding (and breaking the law). The fact is, we all drive at different speeds and we all believe that we are driving at the ideal speed (which it is, for us). I think George Carlin said it best, “Did you ever notice that anyone driving slower than you is an idiot, and anyone driving faster than you is a maniac?” If they really are a maniac, that’s a great reason to move out of their way and let them pass.

I also see a lot of really slow drivers move immediately into the middle lane when they enter a freeway. I think they do this so they don’t have to deal with other cars merging at upcoming on ramps. Unfortunately, these slow drivers clog the middle lane which pushes the slightly faster drivers into the left lane. In the name of safety and traffic flow, slow drivers should remain the right lane whenever possible.

While the exact laws may vary from country to country and state to state, the general rule is that the left lane is for passing (or the right lane in some places). If someone wants to pass you, the courteous and legal thing to do is: move over when it’s safe.

Broken Secrets

Written By: Chad Upton

[available on Kindle]

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PS – Do yourself a favor and pre-order The Book of Awesome — the hardcover rendering of a favorite blog of mine. For now, it’s around $15 at Amazon.com!

They are a nearly perfect fruit. They taste great. They’re fairly inexpensive. They have their own protective skin and they contain many nutrients such as: vitamins A, B1, B2, B3, B5, B6, B9, C, Calcium, Iron, Magnesium, Phosphorus, Potassium and Zinc.

But, if I had to register a complaint about bananas, it would be their shelf life. Keeping them perfectly ripe is a fine art — one worth mastering.

The first trick is something my wife, Kristen, taught me: don’t buy all your bananas from the same bunch! Pick a couple green ones and a couple that are ripe/near ripe. Then you have some you can eat right away and others that will be ripe when you’re ready for them.

The interesting part is that those two bunches are likely the same age. You assume the less ripe ones are newer, but the food distributors control ripeness. They have large, air tight banana ripening vaults that give them very precise control over banana ripening. They’re usually divided into multiple sections, so bananas can be kept at different stages of ripeness. If they’re selling a lot of bananas, they can accelerate the ripening so they will be ripe when they arrive at the store. If sales are slow, they can slow ripening to avoid waste.

How do they do that?

Ethylene gas is used to induce ripening. In fact, bananas ripen themselves by producing ethylene and that’s why adding more ethylene to the air will speed banana ripening further. It’s really that simple.

To accelerate ripening at home, you just need ethylene gas. Luckily, tomatoes, apples, pears and bananas all produce it at an increasing rate as they ripen. If you put an apple or tomato in a bag with bananas, that will speed the ripening. Because bananas produce it, you can place the bananas in a bag to trap the gas and ripen them faster.

To slow ripening, you need to remove ethylene. You can’t remove ethylene completely, but you can slow its reaction by putting ripe bananas in the fridge. The skin of the banana will turn brown, which is normal, and the fruit inside is still good. You can keep bananas in the fridge for a couple weeks and they may not look good, but they still taste great. Do not put unripe bananas in the fridge, it will impede the early stages of ripening and spoil the fruit.

Some retailers also have “un-gassed” bananas; they aren’t as vivid a yellow color as the gassed bananas and are usually a mix between green and a muted yellow color, but the flavor of un-gassed bananas is generally better.

If you haven’t read the post on peeling a banana without the strings, click here to check it out.

Go bananas and follow me on twitter.

Broken Secrets

Written By: Chad Upton

[available on Kindle]

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Sources: Ripening, Banana, Raw Food Health