Black Plastic - the nightmare continues

As I mentioned previously, the news that black plastic is likely contaminated with toxic flame retardants caused me to throw out all of our black food containers.

But then a couple of days later, I realized that the coffee cup I use every single day has a lid that my lips touch every time I take a sip and every drop of coffee passes through the opening in the lid and that lid is black.

I am comforting myself that a single lid might not contain that many of the toxic molecules and in the 20 or so years I've owned the cup, many of the molecules will have leached away, at least some in the dishwater.

I have sidelined the mug in the hope that I might find a non-black lid in some thrift store or at a garage sale. And in the meantime, Manon has generously allowed me to use a mug she was given with a clear plastic lid. (The clear lid does not fit my mug. I checked.)

I pretty much need a lid on my coffee cup because I am sloppy and clumsy. Without the lid, coffee spills on the stairs when I come upstairs, and I knock over the cup about once a month at my desk.

I'm happy to report that I like the clear plastic lid because it lets me see how much coffee is left in the cup.

Of course, I realize it's only a matter of time before we learn that clear plastic leaches something other than flame retardant that is bad for us. Is it too much to ask that one of these days it could be a molecule that gives us a super power? Even a minor super power like improving our ability to parallel park?

Check out NearbyWiki

 My cool find of the day is NearbyWiki.

It links Google Maps with Wikipedia and will show you all the places in an area with Wikipedia articles.

It will start in your location if you have location sharing on, otherwise you can scroll and zoom to wherever you want. Clicking "List" at the bottom shows the articles in a list form. en.nearbywiki.org/map/

 

Losing the black plastic

Apparently we need to stop using black plastic with our food because it is likely to contain high levels of toxic flame retardants. [One of many sources: the Defender] 

So, all of the old take-out containers that I have carefully curated are in the recycle bin and we'll be replacing our black spatulas very soon.

I have to admit that I begrudge this. I've been careful these past few years to only save three container types, throwing out all the ones that don't match. 

I've only saved two rectangular models (patent no. ZL201530113129.9 T-32 and CN ZL 2012 2 0653314.8) and a circular model (patent no. ZL201530113105.3).

Now I am left with 3 white circular containers (patent no. ZL201530113105.3) and 16 white rectangular containers (patent no. ZL20153113129.9 T-32). I'll have to get used to using rectangular containers for my breakfast concoctions.

I've put the old black containers in the recycle bin. Although there's lots out there saying that black plastic is difficult to recycle at best, and the City of Toronto doesn't want it, the City of Ottawa Recycling page, "what goes in your blue bin", doesn't say not to put black plastic in the blue bin.

So there we are. 

Fallen squirrel nest?

Look what landed on the sidewalk next to the Stick Library. I'm pretty sure it's a squirrel nest.

And I'm no animal scientist or forensic specialist, but I think that's a dried-out squirrel skull there. Making me suspect that the nest fell when its inhabitant was no longer able to maintain it after succumbing to natural causes.

However, I should add that while the Stick Librarian acknowledges that my theory could reflect reality, her wider experience and exposure to the world of crime leads her to suspect that other squirrels took action against the inhabitant of this nest causing their demise and the destruction of their home.

I should note that while I did not do a comprehensive study, I did turn over the detritus a bit with my snow shovel and found no other bones, but did find some furry fluff in with the leaves and twigs.

It was only a few years ago that I got curious about the clumps of leaves and twigs we'd see up in the trees. That's when I learned they were probably squirrel nests, and I was surprised to also learn that the nests usually only house one squirrel except when it's a mother and her babies. It seems that squirrels aren't really that companionable and when you see them interacting with each other, they're not playing, they're fighting.

Maybe people can change...

Check it out. This morning I removed several meters of coaxial cable and placed it in the garbage can that will be emptied later today.

Although the cable no longer serves any purpose because the TV signals it carried now come over WiFi, the cable is completely functional. And who knows, some day, I may have a use for it.

But I threw it out. 

I'm a 64-year-old man and I threw out something that could possibly be useful some day.

This might mean that people, specifically me, can change.

On the other hand, I've probably got four or five hours in which to change my mind.

GIFs from my Pixel 5

I got a Pixel 5 smartphone a few years ago and even though it is past its support date from Google, I am still learning how to do things with it. For example, when looking at photos, some of them showed movement on the phone. When I uploaded them to my desktop, they were still photos with no movement. 

Then, a few weeks ago, I learned how to export them as GIFs and preserve the movement.

In honour of the current heatwave, here is my first GIF - Manon at Rideau Falls on February 14. That frozen mist in the air was cold, let me tell you:

From last week, a very large wasp or hornet that wanted to get into my house:.

From this morning, Manon picking service berries in an effort to thwart the squirrels and maybe get a enough for a pie:

Just in case there is someone out there who would like to do this and they have a Pixel 5, or maybe some other phone that works the same way, here is how I saved these photos as GIFs:

1 - In the Pixel 5 photo app, tapped the 3-dot menu icon on a moving-photo

2 - Swiped over to the word "Export" and tapped it

3 - Selected "GIF" and tapped "Export"

I have to say, making GIFs this way is an awful lot easier than how I did it before - importing a video into Gimp and doing all sorts of stuff. 

The only thing is, I haven't learned why the Pixel 5 sometimes takes a moving picture and other times takes a single still picture.

The Lava Lamp Crisis

The incandescent bulb's heat is bad for global warming

For about ten years, Canada has been announcing that incandescent bulbs are being phased out and last August the United States banned the sale of most incandescent light bulbs.  

The sales ban is to help fight global warming. Incandescent bulbs use more energy to produce the same amount of light as LED bulbs. This is largely because much of the energy in incandescent bulbs goes to creating intense heat. If you've ever touched a turned-on incandescent bulb, you learned this the hard way.

But some things we like use this heat

While the heat makes incandescent bulbs less efficient for lighting, it makes them useful for heating things. For example, old Easy-Bake Ovens used a 100-watt bulb to cook Betty Crocker treats.

And I need incandescent bulbs to heat the wax in my lava lamps and create the spooky flowing movement inside them.

It seems that Hasbro has developed a heating element that can replace the 100-watt bulb in an Easy-Bake Oven. But a heating element alone won't work for a lava lamp because you need light to see the hypnotic flowing lava. Without an illuminated incandescent bulb, a lava lamp is a dull bottle holding a dull lump of wax.

The right bulbs

After some research and experimentation, I have the following recommendations.

For smallish lamps (16" high, 3" diameter):

• 25 watts
• E17 base (the "intermediate Edison screw", smaller than your usual bulb)
• R14 or R39 shape

[While it is easier to find 40 watt bulbs with E17 bases and an R14 or R39 shape, I suspect it is a bad idea to use the stronger wattage. It might also be unwise to use a globe-shaped S11 or a cylindrical T8, but I'm prepared to do it when my R14s and R39 burn out and can't be replaced. I did once melt a hole in a plastic-based lava lamp using an S11 globe-shaped bulb.]

For the larger, original lava lamp (16" high, 4.5" diameter):

• 40 watts
• E26 base (the "medium Edison screw", the size used in most bulbs in your house)
• R14 or R39 shape
  

A tip

If you get excited and think you've found some R14 shaped bulbs with E17 bases for a really good price at Rona and then two days after you get home with your super cheap bulbs you realize that they are actually 40 watt bulbs that are only good for your big lava lamp that needs an E26 base, I have good news. You can order E26-to-E17 socket adapters on Amazon that work just fine.

Getting bulbs while they last

Every time I've been in a hardware store in the past few years, I've checked for bulbs. Often, there have been none but when there was one or two, I bought them. They haven't been cheap. It has been many years since I've seen a suitable bulb in a grocery store or a dollar store.

Right now, the only places I've been finding suitable 25 watt bulbs are Canadian Tire and Amazon.

Canadian Tires has the a Noma R14 E17 25w bulb for $7.49. 

Amazon has Haraqi R39 E17 25w bulbs at $14.99 for six ($2.50 each).

Lowes, Rona, Home Hardware and Home Depot don't seem to have any suitable bulbs.

In closing

My best wishes to any of my fellow lava lamp lovers. I'll be happy to share any news I get on this crisis with you and will be grateful for any news you have for me. And while I hate to talk about future projects, I have been thinking that it's time for me to make my own lava lamp (and could use any tips on where I can find perchloroethylene.)