Have you discovered a dinosaur of a TV set in your attic? You know, the ones made with imitation wood, with knobs instead of buttons? It sure can’t compete with today’s flat-panel units, but it doesn’t have to head straight for the junk pile — if you’re creative. Here’s how to make it do something those plasmas will never pull off: turn it into a fish tank!

Steps:

1. Check if there is a collector who wants your TV. Even if it doesn’t work anymore, there might be someone out there who’s eager to restore it and use it.
2. Rebuild the cabinet out of MDF/Craftwood so that it allows for a flip lid.
3. Stain it with an acrylic estapol satin stain.
4. Attach the original legs to the finished cabinet.
5. Stain or lacquer all the surfaces multiple times to ward off any effects of condensation (the formation of water droplets) in the enclosed space.
6. Build in some ventilation at the back to discourage condensation within the cabinet.
7. Get a tank that is slightly wider and taller than the screen. If your T.V. console won’t fit a standard tank size, you can have a custom one built to fit. Make sure that you leave enough room for the reflector/light (about 6 cm). A remote ballast light is a good idea, as it takes up very little room and you can get the tank and water level higher than the top of the screen.
8. Mount the powerboard outside the cabinet at the back (in case of water spillage or condensation issues).
9. Place the air pump inside the cabinet to suppress the noise. It can be mounted outside if there is not enough room.
10. Fill and cycle the tank properly and introduce the stars of your show — the fish!

From “How to Convert an Old TV Into a Fish Tank” at WikiHow

“Quinoa is a true wonder food,” says Daniel Fairbanks, Ph.D., a professor of plant and animal science at Brigham Young University. “It has about twice the protein of regular cereal grains, fewer carbohydrates, and even a dose of healthy fats.” Plus, it’s considered a “complete” protein, which means that, like meat, eggs, and dairy, it packs all of the essential amino acids your body needs to build muscle.

More than ever, nutritionally inferior foods, such as corn, potatoes, rice, and wheat–especially the refined versions–fill our plates, while quinoa gathers dust on grocery-store shelves. And that’s a shame, because besides being great for you, quinoa is the rare culinary triple threat: delicious, easy to prepare, and ultra versatile.

Ready to harness the full power of this superfood? Here’s everything you need to know to make it a staple at breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

Quinoa has an addictive nutty flavor, cooks up quicker than rice, and can be used to make pilafs, risottos, salads, soups, and even desserts. The downside: Few men know where to find it, let alone how to prepare it. Typically, you can locate quinoa in the rice aisle or the health-food section of your grocery store.

As for preparation, the simplest way is to cook quinoa like pasta: Fill a large pot or saucepan with water, and bring it to a boil. Add just about any amount of quinoa, turn the heat to low, and cook until tender, about 20 minutes. Drain the water and allow the quinoa to cool.

Cook up a big batch and store it in Tupperware in your refrigerator, and you’ll have a ready-to-eat side dish–like rice or pasta–that goes with just about any meal. (To warm, microwave it for 60 seconds.)

Or you can be far more creative. For instance, quinoa can be used to:

Power up your breakfast: Combine a cup of cooked quinoa with 1/2 cup milk and 1/2 cup frozen blueberries, and microwave for 60 seconds. This makes a great alternative to oatmeal.

Redefine dessert: In a blender, puree two very ripe bananas with 2 cups whole milk. Combine the mix with 2 cups cooked quinoa, 1/2 cup raisins, a tablespoon of sugar, and a teaspoon of cinnamon, and simmer for 10 minutes. If you’re celebrating, add a glug of dark rum at the last second. Creamy and sweet, it’s a healthier version of rice pudding.

From AOL Health

Dear Alice,

What is the ecologically correct way to dispose of a used condom? One can’t flush it down the toilet (as numerous Urban Legends demonstrate), and leaving it naked in the wastebasket strikes me as tacky…

My impulse is to stick it in a brown paper bag and send it to the nearest land-fill (both semen and latex are bio-degradable).

Just how *does* one deal with the physical evidence that one has been caring and responsible? This randy little old lady wants to know!

- Over 50 in Florida

Dear Over 50 in Florida,

You’re definitely right — flushing condoms down the toilet is a bad idea. They can clog your plumbing or end up in the water supply. If condoms are disposed of via the toilet, they would usually be fished out early on in the water-recycling process and transported to a landfill. However, they can sometimes remain with other water waste and be sent out into the Atlantic, the Gulf, or some other larger body of water.

As you correctly note, latex is biodegradable (when not under water, that is). It is an all-natural substance made from the sap of rubber trees. Latex condoms are not composed of 100 percent latex, though. Another material used to make condoms, lambskin, is also biodegradable, but it does not protect against sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and HIV. Unfortunately, condoms made of polyurethane, a plastic material, do not break down at all. As of yet, no one has taken up the job of recycling these plastic items along with soda bottles and such, so don’t throw them in the recycling bin!

Lubricant and/or spermicide coated on and/or added to latex and lambskin condoms, however, may alter their decomposition potential. And, no one has studied how long it takes condoms — lubricated or not — to break down. Regardless of condom biodegradability, most landfills are over-capacity and do not provide the ideal environment nor the main ingredient, air, necessary for effective decomposition.

Your suggestion of putting used condoms in a paper bag sounds like a good one for more pleasant and environmentally-friendly disposal. You could also use tissues or toilet paper — they are biodegradable, too. Plastic bags, however, do not break down over time, so it would be ineffective to throw away your used condoms in these.

On a good note, semen and other bodily fluids will decompose in the environment, as you mentioned.

Another thing to think about is condom packaging. You can recycle the paperboard boxes that condoms come in with mixed paper, but individual condoms are usually wrapped in plastic or foil. You cannot recycle either of these materials, and neither will break down in a landfill. If you search the Net, you’ll find some interesting ideas people have had on reusing these wrappers (especially the foil ones), if you can’t bear to banish them to a landfill.

Perhaps someday condom manufacturers will figure out ways to use recyclable or biodegradable packaging materials for their products. But for now, the little bit of foil or plastic you have to throw away and the thought that the condom will take a long time to decompose in a landfill seem like small prices to pay for the protection that condoms offer.

From Go Ask Alice

Glass recycling is considered by many to be a sustainable activity, in which humans attempt to preserve biodiversity and the environment. Being completely recyclable, glass bottles are an important component of the three R’s in sustainability: reduce, reuse, and recycle.

Glass can be crushed into a basic form called cullet, and mixed with other raw materials. These materials include silica sand, soda ash, and limestone. After the glass manufacturing process, glass containers are used to hold all kinds of food and beverages, and can be used over and over again.

The glass recycling process has specific standards that start from the consumer side. Before curbside and other recycling programs send vehicles to take recyclable glass containers to the factory, homeowners are encouraged to sort appropriate containers into bins for pickup, which is the first step in the glass recycling process. A sorting process with restrictions rules out container glass that is considered to be tainted; that is, those that contain foreign materials like ceramics and light bulbs. Glass with foreign material in it is no longer considered to be pure, would create issues in the glass recycling process, and is thus ultimately considered unrecyclable.

If homeowners have not done this already, the glass recycling plant must then clean containers, removing labels and caps, before the remainder is crushed into cullet. If caps and labels are not removed, they may damage the glass-making machines during the manufacturing process or end up making new glass containers of low quality, which consumers are then unwilling to buy and use.

We can think of the glass manufacturer as an essential player in the glass recycling process. Primarily, it bulk exports manufactured glass containers to product producers, who use those containers as packaging for their goods. The goods are imported as wholesale retail to the consumer, who buys the good for personal use. At this point, the user is responsible for choosing whether to reuse, throw away, or recycle the packaging.

If the user chooses glass recycling, he follows protocol by removing caps and labels before placing the glass containers in the appropriate bins, to be taken to the recycling plant where it is either processed or determined unfit for recycling. At the plant, the process starts all over again whereby crushed cullet is recombined with silica sand, soda ash, and limestone to make more glass containers to perpetuate the glass recycling cycle.

From WiseGeek.com

Many common products that we use in our daily lives contain potentially hazardous ingredients and require special care when disposed of. It is illegal to dispose of hazardous waste in the garbage, down storm drains, or onto the ground. Chemicals in illegally disposed hazardous waste can be released into the environment and contaminate our air, water, and possibly the food we eat. And by throwing hazardous waste in the garbage, you can cause additional hazards to your garbage handler.

Earth911 allows you to search for a recycling center by type as well as by location. Some of the more uncommon items you can find recycling centers for include hazardous materials like batteries, medications, fire extinguishers, pesticides, and pool chemicals. Common electronic items that many people may not think to recycle are also listed such as video games, MP3 players, office machinery, microwaves and televisions. There are even recycling centers for household and gardening items and automobiles along with their various components.

Find recycling centers near you at Earth911

“Hey Mom, thanks for the rug! It looks great in my apartment!”

Your unwanted household items can have a life again if you donate them to charity. Organizations such as Goodwill Industries will take your donations, sort and sometimes repair them, and resell them in thrift shops nationwide. Broken items are fixed, and scrap materials (like worn-out textiles) are sold for recycling.

Goodwill provides jobs and job training for tens of thousands of people who would otherwise have trouble finding work. In 1994 alone Goodwill assisted 25,000 people finding placement in the private sector, helping many people get off public assistance.

Go to Goodwill.org to find your nearest location.

Bored and looking for something stupid to do? Luckily for you the Idiotarod is back. The Iditarod is the famous long-distance race in which yelping dogs tow a sled across Alaska. The IDIOTAROD is pretty much the same thing, except that instead of dogs, it’s people, instead of sleds, it’s shopping carts, and instead of Alaska it’s New York City.

The sixth annual event happens January 31, 2009. Teams of five will race for cash prizes and glory.

For more information go to Carts Of Brooklyn.

A casual observation led to an idea that resulted in a cause that has now evolved into a movement best characterizes the Share Your Soles Foundation. Mona Purdy, the founder of Share Your Soles was out running in Guatemala and saw children putting tar on the bottoms of their feet to protect them from the gravel on the roads. She felt compelled to do something about it and founded Share Your Soles as a means of collecting discarded shoes to send to those who could not afford them. The notion of donating discarded shoes has now spread from the Chicagoland area to the East Coast of the United States. To date she has shipped more than 400,000 pairs of shoes throughout the world.

Find a drop-off site to donate shoes at Share Your Soles.

It won’t go through. Is this thing plugged in? Eeeeeeeeee-yuuuuuuuuuuu.