Opening a Bottle of Wine Without a Corkscrew
If you’re a wine drinker, a day will come when you go camping, tailgating or romantic picnicking and forget to bring a corkscrew. Open your wine without any special tools by combining these two tricks:
1. Remove the foil using the slide technique. It briefly appears at the beginning of the following video, although I suggest also watching Gary Vaynerchuk’s video here for a specific demo of this secret.
2. Remove the cork using the ram technique. Watch the video below.
Warning: Be very careful when bashing a glass wine bottle against a tree. As you can see in the video, you don’t have to do it very hard.
BrokenSecrets.com
Headphones Can Be Used As Microphones
You forgot your microphone at home and you’ve got an online meeting in five minutes. This secret might save you.
While it might be hard to come by a spare microphone, the ubiquity of mp3 players makes it easy to find a pair of headphones. If you plug headphones into the microphone input on your computer (or other electronics), you can speak into the LEFT headphone as if it were a microphone.
This might sound crazy, but this is possible because microphones and speakers (or headphones) are very similar. A microphone converts sound waves to electrical impulses while a speaker converts electrical impulses to sound waves. Although they do the exact opposite function, they actually use the same principle and components to do so.
In a microphone, the sound waves hit the diaphragm, causing it to vibrate at a specific frequency. A magnetic coil attached to the diaphragm moves with the vibrations which induces an electric current in the wires. This current is often converted to a digital signal to be recorded or sent across the internet.
A speaker works the exact opposite way. An electric current on a wire causes a coil to move; a diaphragm attached to the coil pushes air at a specific frequency which generates sound waves for your ear to pick up.
I discovered this secret a long time ago, when I lost the microphone for my Rap-Master Keyboard. I found a demo video you can check out:
BrokenSecrets.com
Photo Credit: steveyb (Creative Commons)
You Can Request a Mini Fridge in Your Hotel Room
I’m not talking about minibars that are jammed with overpriced, undersized hickory peanuts and watermelon spritzers. I’m talking about an empty mini fridge that you can stack with caffeine boosting morning starters and gut busting dinner leftovers.
It’s fun to go all MacGyver and use the sink as a cooler, but that loses its cool when you want to use the sink as a sink. That’s why hotels keep mini fridges on-hand for special requests. I discovered this little secret last year, and I travel a fair amount for work so I’ve tried it in many hotels since then — it held true for almost every one.
When you book the room, ask for a mini fridge (or add it to the notes if you book online). Chances are good they will have it in the room for you when you arrive. If you get to your room and there is no fridge there, call the front desk and kindly request one. Don’t mention you already asked for one unless they’re all out, then tell them you requested one when you booked the room, you’d like a discount and you’d like the next fridge that becomes available (when someone who has one checks out). With this approach, I’ve never waited more than a day for a fridge ; I’ve never been given the discount either.
Party On.
BrokenSecrets.com
Photo Credit: DewKnight (Creative Commons)
Keeping Takeout Food Warm While You Drive Home
As I mentioned here, when you put warm food on a cold surface, it gets cold. If you pickup Chinese, Pizza or your favorite restaurant food then you don’t want it to get cold while you drive home.
Allow me to share a secret: seat heaters are not just for keeping your butt warm, they also make a great warming zone for your takeout.
If your car doesn’t have seat heaters then you have some other options. If it’s hot outside, put the food in your trunk. It’ll stay warmer there than inside your car (where you’re trying to keep cool with the A/C). If it’s cold outside and you’ve got frozen food, you can also put them in the trunk.
If you do takeout a lot, consider buying a cooler/warmer that plugs into your cigarette lighter socket. Some vehicles even have these coolers/warmers built in.
Oh, and don’t be afraid to have some bag fries during the ride.
BrokenSecrets.com
Photo credit: Spitzgogo Chen (Creative Commons)
How to Properly Pour a Cup of Coffee
Coffee shops use this little secret to pour your coffee quickly. If everyone did this, fewer trees would become stir-sticks. Watch the 15 second video for a demo.
For those who can’t watch videos, add your cream and/or sugar first, then add the coffee to mix the contents without a stir-stick.
BrokenSecrets.com
Rear Fog Lights
Most North American cars have one set of bright lights on the back, of course those are the brake lights. But some American cars and most European cars have other bright lights on the rear: rear fog lights.
If you’re not familiar with this concept, then you probably assumed their lights were malfunctioning or their break lights were “stuck.”
Rear fog lights make it much easier for the vehicle behind you to see your car when fog, rain or snow is heavy.
Some rear fog lights are a pair of lights mounted low on the rear bumper. Other cars have a single light, mounted near the driver’s side rear turn signal.
There are debates about the validity of rear fog lights. Some claim they can be confused with brake lights, others agree but believe that is still safer than not seeing the vehicle until it is too late.
In the photo of the instrument cluster, the icon on the left is the front fog light indicator and on the right is the rear fog light indicator.
Some cars have separate switches for front and rear fogs, other cars have one switch that activates both.
Studies have shown that in North America more people inappropriately use their fog lamps in dry weather than use them properly in poor weather
BrokenSecrets.com
Photo Credit: mroach (Creative Commons)
Sources: DriveAndStayAlive.com Wikipedia SAE
The Roadkill Waiting List
If you’re a serious deer hunter, this may not be a secret to you: in many states, you can have your name added to a roadkill call list. When a deer or moose is struck near you, they’ll call down the list until they find someone available to get it while it’s fresh. Seriously.
I think the idea of roadkill sounds strange to most people, but a recent poll at DeerAndDeerHunting.com
shows that 19 of the 40 participants have eaten roadkill and another 9 wouldn’t hesitate when the buck drops. I’m sure that number would be much lower on any other website, but that’s not the point. I just heard about this last week, and there is a logical reason for this: there may be $500 worth of meat on a dead deer, and that doesn’t change whether you took it down with a Beretta rifle or a Beretta GT.
State laws differ on this issue. For example: in Texas, it is illegal to posses roadkill, but not in many other states. Generally, you need a permit for this and need to follow the procedure for your area. If you’re interested, check with the game warden (or State Police) near you before attempting to take any roadkill and see if they have a list you can be added to. You also want to do some research on this since you may not want to consume this meat in all cases; although, it might still be OK for your dog.
BrokenSecrets.com
Sources: NewEngland.com Officer.com GunBroker.com FreeRepublic.com DeerAndDeerHunting.com Dogster.com
Photo Credit: Jelene (Creative Commons)
Coca-Cola Supplier Imports 100 Tons of Coca Leaves Per Year
It is no secret that Coke’s 1886 “brain tonic” recipe called for cocaine. However, it’s not widely known that Coke still uses the coca leaf in their secret recipe. There is only one company legally permitted to import coca leaves into the United States, the Stepan Company of Illinois.
Coca Leaves
Stepan uses the coca leaf to produce pure cocaine for medical use and a non-narcotic ingredient that Coca-Cola uses to flavor Coke. Most of the coca leaves are imported from Peru, and The Washington Times has reported that 100 tons are imported per year.
BrokenSecrets.com
Photo Credit: Ryan Greenberg (Flickr/Creative Commons)
Why Restaurant Food Stays Hot on Your Plate
Here’s a good secret for Thanksgiving dinner or the next meal you cook. I learned this during a cooking class from the experts:
Never serve hot food on a cold plate!
Have you ever sat on a bench when it’s cold outside? Your butt gets cold almost instantly! The same thing happens to your really hot food when you put it on a (comparatively) cold plate.
When you’re at a restaurant, what does the server say whenever they bring your food? “Watch this plate, it’s extremely hot.” They’re not trying to burn you, they just want your food to stay hot while you eat it.
Even buffets respect the warm plate. You know the hole at the end of the buffet that the plates magically rise from (see photo)? That’s not there for ergonomics, that’s a plate warmer.
So, if you’re not doing it already, here is a list of ways to get your plates warm.
- Buy a plate warmer ($35 and up).
- Many ovens have a warming drawer underneath. No, that isn’t a cookie-sheet graveyard.
- Set your cook-top on low heat and lay the plates on top.
- Rinse the plates in really hot water, then dry them.
- Some dishwashers have a plate warmer function, otherwise run the rinse cycle on high heat with a heated dry cycle.
- Put them in the microwave for a short time.
I should also say that the opposite is true, don’t serve cold food on hot plates. For example, when you go to a buffet and they have hot bowls for your “hard” ice cream.
Happy Thanksgiving to my US readers!
Disclaimer: some dishes may not be suitable for some of these methods. Check with the manufacturer to be sure.
Photo Credit: LexnGer (flickr/creative commons/attribution)
BrokenSecrets.com
Change Traffic Lights Like a Fire Engine
Most cities employ a system by 3M called Opticom. There are sensors on the light standards; when a strobe light flashes at the right frequency in range of the sensor, the lights change color almost instantly.
Before I go into the details, I should mention that it is illegal in most places for unauthorized users to change traffic lights, but knowing about it is very interesting. There are even systems that have a warning light attached to them so you know an emergency vehicle is approaching the intersection.
Fire trucks and police cars have a light mounted on their roof, but volunteer service members usually have a hand-held device. If you look in the right place, you can buy one and possibly even get fined or arrested for trying to beat your best drive time.
There are even reports that a universal TV remote is powerful enough and capable of generating the right frequency to change the lights (see the video).
Photo by: Elventear (used under CC attribution)
BrokenSecrets.com
Broken Secrets 