Buyer Beware!

Crap rolls downhill, and as the world economy struggles, big business tries to send their losses rolling downhill to your wallet.


Today more then ever consumers have to be savvy shoppers. Take a look at this photo. Berocca is on sale at this shop, 2 for $34.

The average shopper has been trained to accept sale prices because their store tells them it's a good deal. Often a bright tag catches their eye, the brain disengages and in the cart it goes.

Look closer at this tag, though. You don't even need a calculator to see this faux deal. Buying a single box of Berocca costs $36.78 per 100. The sale promises that if you buy 2 packages at $34 you'll pay $37.78 per 100, or $17 a package instead of the usual price of $16.55.

What a great deal? If you buy two packages on sale, the store will let you give them an extra .45 cents. Be aware and don't let yourself get robbed when you go for groceries.

The Great Xbox 360 Conspiracy, & How To Fix Yours

The Red Ring of Death... ask Google about it and you'll get back around 5,210,000 results back.  That is a lot of broken Xboxes... and a lot of regular income for Microsoft.

Many people suspect Microsoft of implementing planned obsolescence, basically building a 'fail by' date into their product so that they are ensured a continual customer flow.

When the average game costs $50 US ($100 plus Aus), most people are inspired to replace a machine rather then toss their game library.  But when you shell out $300 - $500 for the machine in the first place, it hardly seems fair to have a built in expiry date.

My theory is that the Red Ring of Death is triggered by downloads.  Here in Australia we have download caps on our internet so we rarely get online content.  Our Xbox 360 has been fine for 3 - 4 years with no downloads.  When content was downloaded to the Xbox for the first time, within 2 weeks it was infected with the Red Ring.

We managed to fix it using the online tutorials linked below, and it worked perfectly for another 6 months... until we downloaded a game patch.  Within days we had a dead Xbox again.  I'd say it was coincidence, but my kids in the US download to their Xbox regularly, and they have an Xbox graveyard in their closet.

I just fixed our Xbox for the second time and it works great...until we loaded up the downloaded content.  I suspect that embedded in the 'free' content Microsoft generously offers, there must be a kill code of some sort.  I plan to fix the machine once more, and then not touch any downloaded content and see what happens.

In the meantime, by following these excellent tutorials linked below, we managed to get 6 more months out of our machine for a few hours worth of work, definitely worth the effort.  And now... I'm off to tear apart an Xbox (again).

Excellent Xbox 360 Fix It Tutorials on YouTube:

How To Open An Xbox 360
Fix An Xbox 360 Pt 1
Fix An Xbox 360 Pt 2

Introducing Your Brand New Instant, Environmental, Organized, & Free Libray

Please answer these questions with me:

1.  Do you like to read?
2.  Do you like to shop for free?
3.  Do you have a computer, iPad,Pod,Phone, mac, Blackberry, Android?

If you answered yes to the above questions, then this post is for you.  If you answered no to the above questions then I think you are probably lost and looking for YouTube.  For the rest of you, we are going to have a brief tutorial that will help you:

1. Save hundreds of dollars.
2. Save hundreds of trees.
3. Give you hours of enjoyment.
4. Clean less.
5. Look thinner.

Many of you will remember my brief post last week on how I downloaded 25 free books in 5 minutes for absolutely free.  Now it's your turn to share the joy, and you don't even need to buy a Kindle; you can be up and downloading your new library in about 10 minutes.

First, decide which of your gadgets you want to read on.  Personally, I love the Kindle and think it is worth every penny and more.  You may already have an iPhone that you love, or you have a comfy computer chair to snuggle up in.  Once you've decided what you want to read on, follow one of the links below to download the Kindle software for that application.

Windows Phone
iPad, iPhone, iPod
Android
BlackBerry
For PC
For Mac

Now, go here to find free books.  You are ready to read.  You can also find lots of free books from romance to non fiction business by "liking" Pixel of Ink, a group dedicated to free reading, on Facebook.  I browsed their page the first time and downloaded 2 just released non fiction books I had wanted.  (Thank you Karen for telling me about Pixel of Ink!)

Now, as far as your reading is concerned, you can really have it all.  Environmentally better then traditional books with no trees cut down and no petrol used in shipping.  You can have instant gratification since books are wireless delivered in 60 seconds.  Let Amazon.com store your books in their database, which means more reading and less dusting for you.  Finally, your friends will be so impressed by your now ample literary collection they won't notice the few pounds you put on since Christmas.  :D

Now you are in the know, and it's up to you how you will use this knowledge.  Please pass this on to to your reading friends, and if you have anymore sites for free books, please leave a link in the comment section for the rest of us.  And until next post; Liberate the literature!  Share the free books!  Live virtually! :p

P.S.  Many blogs, such as this one, are also available for subscription.  The subscriptions range from 1.99 to .99 a month (Amazon decides, not the bloggers), so while not free, they are almost free.  And that was my shameless plug for the night.  ^.^

Perfectly Easy Chocolate Cake (perfect, except the calories...)

INGREDIENTS:

• 4 tbs flour
• 4 tbs sugar
• 2 tbs cocoa powder
• 1 egg
• 3 tbs milk
• 3 tbs oil
• 3 tbs chocolate chips
• splash of vanilla
• 1 large coffee mug

DIRECTIONS:
Add dry ingredients to a coffee mug and mix well. Add wet ingredients and mix well. Add chocolate chips. Microwave for 3 minutes on high. Eat plain out of the mug, or cut into two servings and top with cream, ice cream or chocolate syrup.  Yes, it's THAT simple.

Easy, no mess, cheap & delicious... if only this cake didn't have calories!

Fossils for the Win Against Bugs

Spring in Australia, and that, apparently, means bugs.  We suddenly find ourselves sharing our small flat with an assortment of spiders, ants and other crawly freeloaders. 

To some that means time to pull out the poisons, but with so many cancers linked to pesticide usage, I'll pass on any toxin cocktails.  Does that mean that we have to seal up our cereals and shake out our shoes?  Not at all...we have a secret weapon.

Diatomaceous earth, also known as DE, is a highly effective, economical and easy way to control anything with an exoskeleton.  Made of crushed diatoms, a fossilized, hard shelled algae, I have personally used DE for years and it's always worked for me.  Used for years by agricultural industries for pest control, DE has some distinct advantages over chemical treatments. 

One of the main advantages is that insects cannot become immune to the effects of DE.  DE is a mechanical insecticide.  Essentially the crushed diatoms form microscopic shards that scrape away an insects' protective coating, causing them to dehydrate.  You can't become immune to knives, and insects have no way to build up a resistance to DE.

Another advantage is the cost.  Relatively inexpensive, I just bought 5 kg (or 11 pounds) for $40.  That 5 kg will last me for years, and I'll wind up sharing it out.  Absolutely safe, I never have to worry about accidental spills or ingestion by pets or children.  In fact, DE is often taken internally by both people and animals to kill internal parasites. 

With DE proven to be ecological, economical, effective and easy to use I simply can't understand why it's such a secret, perhaps the pesticide industry doesn't really have our best interests at heart.  That being said, I hope more people will look into DE as a pest control option.

Hints for Using Diatomaceous Earth:

• There are different grades of DE.  Never use the DE sold at pool stores for filtration purposes, it will not work.  Food grade is what I've seen most common, and is 100% safe and non toxic to use.
• DE works best dry, so I sprinkle a dust of it in cracks, under appliances, and in the back of cabinets, all places the insects I'm after like to go.  DE will also work on snails and slugs, it's not as effective in moisture.  Slugs and snails are both deterred with used coffee grounds (next week's post).
• Don't breathe the dust.  While not toxic, any dust can aggravate eyes and lungs.  As I've said, I've used DE for years with no issues, and I've never worn any protective equipment. 
• Make sure you're getting pure DE.  I have always ordered my DE online.  When I've found it in hardware stores it has typically been mixed with pesticides.
• I've used DE against black widows, ants, fleas, flies, cockroaches and a major chicken mite infestation effectively. 

Perfectly Easy, No Mess Sandwich Rolls



Finally!

 Cooking to me is a very scientific process.  I identify a problem, I research recipes and then form a hypothesis that the process of baking will actually turn out what I want.

Such it has been to find the perfect sandwich bun.  My problem was that I didn't want to pay almost a dollar each for rolls from a bakery when I find myself stuck with plenty of time at home, waiting for my visa. 

Researching a good roll recipe turned out to be more of a task then I originally thought.  I tried enough crazy recipes that I've gone through around 3 bags of flour and the birds in our yard are getting obese.

I finally did find one that was nearly perfect.  Another half bag of flour later and I think the sandwich roll recipe is ready to release to my friends.  The rolls are easy, simple and have a nice consistency that holds up well to being sliced and toasted.  Here is the recipe I modified, as well as tricks that I use to make it a one pot, basically mess free undertaking.  Let me know how yours turn out!

Perfect Sandwich Rolls

1 1/4 cups milk

1 egg beaten

2 tbs butter

1/cup sugar

3/4 tsp salt

3 cups flour

1 1/4 tsp yeast

Heat milk to warm in a lidded pot, and add all the ingredients except flour.  Turn off heat, replace lid and give the yeast a chance to 'bloom'.  When the yeast is starting to multiply add your flour in to the pot, mixing well in between cups.  When the dough is getting too stiff to turn, dump the pot out to knead the rest of the flour in.  Return the ball of dough to the pot, replace lid and let rise for 45 minutes, or until doubled in size.

Once risen, punch down your dough and roll it to 3/4 inches thick, and make rounds.  Place these on a cookie sheet and let them rise until doubled again, around an hour.  Brush tops with butter, milk or egg white to brown, or add sesame seeds etc.

Bake at 176 Celsius/350 Fahrenheit for 15- 20 minutes.

My hints:

I use the inside of an empty cereal bag to knead my dough on so I don't have to flour up a counter and make a mess.  When the dough has risen in my pot, I simply turn it out onto my flattened bag and knead.  The dough doesn't stick, and if I have flour or mess left over it's easy to tip it back into my flour bin.  

When I need to roll the dough out, I turn it out onto the same flattened bag, and fold the bag over it and flatten my dough out by hand rather then use a rolling pin.  I use a glass to cut the rounds.  When I set them on the baking tray to rise the final time, I cover them with the same cereal bag instead of wasting plastic wrap. 

When I'm all done, I fold the bag up for next time.  It makes baking so easy and mess free, and I don't have to store and buy a bunch of special tools either.  Enjoy!