Sunday, July 11, 2010

The Triangle of Death 07 10 2010

The Triangle of Death 07 10 2010

I knew about the Triangle of Death long before I knew what it was called.

My understanding of it is this; The Triangle of Death refers to how the nerves in your nose and the blood flow from the top of your nose down to the upper corners of your mouth connect directly to your brain.

It is this way because as men, we are hunters by nature. And many of our decisions historically regarding game and life may have been made by our sense of smell.

If you don’t believe me you have never smelled a possum pass by and then feel nauseous. You have never passed by a rancid pile of crap in the woods and winced.

As primitive hunters we learned how to distinguish between different types of spore (Crap, pooh, shit) smells. This provided hunters safety and skills of cunning as they learned from this what game was near.

As I walk through the woods today, I may not always recognize smells, but I am certain my sense of smell does play some subconscious role, meaning, it is part of my thinking I am not aware of, in finding game.

Our sense of smell plays a much more prominent and greater role in our daily lives regarding the triangle of death today than it ever did. Do as I do to protect your triangle of death or nose.

Here is what you need. A bag of cotton balls that cost 88 cents and some plastic zip seal lunch bags.

Keep a bag full of these in each car you own, your garage where you keep your cars and gas cans, your workshop where you keep and use paints and cleaners. Near where you keep your barbecue grill items. Your laundry room and bathroom where you also keep highly aromatic compounds. Aromatic compound for the sake of this article means a substance liquid or gas that disperses rapidly in the air while still having a strong smell. These smells, odors and fumes do not belong in your brain.

Here is my recommendation, temporarily plug your nostrils at the surface when needed to avoid breathing through them. And by God do not stick the damn cotton so far up your nose so far that it becomes stuck and need to have it surgically removed, after which they say there is a need to keep you for observation. If you have bigger nostrils use bigger clumps. My cotton balls usually hang out of my nose a good distance so that I can easily pull them out. Consider them immediately disposable, do not reuse them.

To digress a little bit, if you find yourself out in the cold and you stick them in your ears with a good portion sticking out, to pull out easy, you have made yourself the best temporary hat you can afford.

Back to my recommendation regarding your triangle of death. Put the cotton in at the gas station when filling up.

When pouring gas into gas tanks on equipment.

When using power tools that spew out carbon monoxide exhaust.

When using any kind of paint, (paint thinners are the worst), all paints have oxidants in them, these are dryers, they dry the sinuses while at the same time infuse them with chemicals. This often leads to sinus vulnerability and infections.

When using alcohol, alcohol is a drying agent as it evaporates readily, alcohol rapidly dries out the sinuses and the surface of the eyes. And dry eyes are not as easy to see from. We might just like to see well when driving a car.

When using washing soda, this is another bad one, use a respirator to protect your triangle of death, use disposable gloves and splash proof goggles.

When using any glue

When using shower cleaners, they are terrible.

When using automobile fluid and chemicals, brake clean is the worst, as is freshly drained hot and dirty motor oil.

When washing your cars wheels, brake dust, that black stuff often contains asbestos.

When using bleach in the laundry

Use and be exposed to perfumes and deodorants sparingly. In terms of deodorants, the germs that cause body odor, live in the hair follicles, so shave your armpits like you do your beard and you’ll need to use quite a bit less of these, irritants. They are drying agents also. When your eyes are dry they do not see as well.

Anytime something smells, you get the picture, the smell of it is the key.

You also sometimes need to use splash proof goggles and disposable nitrile gloves. Protect your hands because the most likely place you use them is near your face. And if you get stuff on them it can infuse into your bloodstream through your skin or if you touch your eye after awhile it can still irritate it. If you use any type of anti-inflammatory skin cream wash your hands thoroughly many times because again you are likely to touch your face and eyes. Capsaicin in the eyes is likely to cause a condition called scleroderma where they white part of the eye comes loose from its fixing to the eyeball. This can be very painful and lead to an eye infection or worse, loss of the eye.

I once got some anti dust mite laundry detergent on my finger and it was numb for three days.

When done using and being exposed to all chemicals for the day use ¾ cup of warm filtered water and ½ teaspoon of kosher salt thoroughly dissolved in it to flush your sinuses and eyes. It has proven safe and effective for my eyes. Remember salt is a natural component of tears.

Is the world being poisoned and therefore destroyed through modern alchemy (meaning chemistry)?

God Bless Those Who Care For Themselves and Others

Thomas Paul Murphy

Copyright 2010 Thomas Paul Murphy

Thursday, July 8, 2010

Remotely Activated Sump Pump 07 08 2010

Remotely Activated Sump Pump 07 08 2010

A sump pump can save you from tens of thousands if not millions of dollars of loss in wet weather. When and wherein basement flooding becomes prevalent. Do you even know if yours is in working order? They should be tested or triggered by a switch every so often. The easy way to test them is to reach down and gently pull up on the float rod until the motor switch is activated. Make sure yours is plugged into a GFCI outlet.

If yours is located in a closet like mine is or behind a wall or items of storage chances are it is not looked at much. Here is the solution I invented that allows me to periodically the sump pump from outside the closet. I am going to have to describe it as best I can because censorship from someone is preventing me from loading pictures to my blogs.

In effect two eyelet screws mounted in the stud in the closet ceiling serve as pulleys themselves and bastioning points. A small pound test fishing line is tied to the top of the float rod. It is small test so that if it were accidently jarred the mechanism of the sump pump would be less likely to be broken. From the top of the float rod the line is threaded tied to a yellow ¼ nylon rope that has little resistance in terms of friction. The yellow rope is threaded through the eyelets and out a hole in the closet above its door. A brass butterfly knob from an old door handle serve as the end of the pull rope. There is a counterweight on the inside portion of the yellow rope where it hangs in the closet. Like the spring on the pull rope of a lawn mower or outboard motor it assures rope position at rest, and also serves as a stop. If you did not have an internal stop you could potentially break the sump pump. The brass handle is stylish and bares a sense of purpose to the project, as well as being just the right weight.

You need light fishing line cleanly tied to the very top of the float rod so that the float rises normally without resistance to your new apparatus. Place a couple little flags on the fishing line to serve as a reminder of its presence by wrapping two pieces of colorful duck tape around the line and folded back onto itself. Serving as a warning not to shove it or jar it and potentially break the plastic switch or other parts on your sump pump. When placing storage items in and out of your closet.

This system has allowed me to safely test the sump pump periodically and easily. Today was rainy and power was to be cut to our block for electric service upgrades. The first thing I did this morning was flush any water in the sump pump reservoir so that the empty basin could collect and gather its full potential while it is unable to discharge. They do not work without electricity and power failures to your local grid are often the case during storms.

If you have an idea of the proper amperage that would be required to run your sump pump you can buy an inverter for about less than fifty dollars that in turn you could hook up to a car battery removed from you care, Inverters have standard three prong electric outlets on them and in this case convert DC current to AC. This would power your sump pump in a developing emergency. And indeed some people buy portable gas/electric generators for emergency needs, such as this.

Most of the neighbors on my block have never really addressed the issue of basement flooding. The rich Investment Banker that lives down the block did not ever check to assure that his was working and when he needed it, he found out it wasn’t. The same is true of the Criminal Defense lawyer that lives right next to him. There was some nice Curb Wood left at the curb after the rain flooded basements in Whitefish Bay that time. See My blog CurbWoodArt for a description of what that is. The blog is listed under my index.

God Bless Those Who Think

Thomas Paul Murphy

Copyright 2010 Thomas Paul Murphy

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Electric Device Transformer Labeling and Safety



06 09 2010



Electric Device Transformer Labeling and Safety



Whether it is a charging station for a cell phone or a power tool, always take a permanent gray magic marker and label the transformer as to what phone or tool is goes with. Do this when you first buy it. Also if there is space write how long it takes to charge on it also.





This saves time and waste in the future with regards to finding the transformer as they all look alike and the fact that the transformer is a form of hazardous waste. Plus the fact that if you hook up the wrong transformer to an electric device unknowingly you could start a fire if at the very least you do not ruin the device. I do not use sticky labels because there could be an issue with heat dissipation.

Here is a link to my store where you can buy the Sharpie Silver Metallic Permament Markers pictured above. The caps stay on tight and they last a very long time.

http://astore.amazon.com/safety0e-20/detail/B00009L1WE



God Bless Those Who Think



Thomas Paul Murphy





Copyright 2010 Thomas Paul Murphy



Friday, April 30, 2010

Char Beans








Char Beans 04 30 2010



Do you have someone in your family that likes to get up late at night and use the stove. Do they sometimes leave the burner on and you wake up smelling smoke from what is burning at the bottom of the pan on the stove.



Here is something simple you can do to create a reminder for them. It is can of beans with a charred surface, created with a grill lighter. On it I have written Char Beans in Permanent Black marker. On the top of the can I have written PM snack. The markings are coated with a water based acrylic clear coat so they do not wipe off.



When you go to bed at night place this on the stove top so that they see it and it serves as a reminder to what could happen. In this picture you will also see a fire extinguisher mounted to the left and back from the stove. A stove is probably the most likely place to cause a fire in your house. Toaster ovens are the worse.



I know they say not to mount a smoke detector in your kitchen because of false alarms. But if you think of it, in your kitchen or near it is the best place to mount it because you will be alerted to something left on the stove and burning quicker this way.





God Bless





Thomas Paul Murphy





Copyright 2010 Thomas Paul Murphy