I love technology. I don’t buy nearly as much as I admire, since I don’t need it and can’t afford it. But practical electronics interest me too.

Humidifiers, for example. With the school year in full swing, a good humidifier is a must. How else to keep the kids as comfortable as possible during the inevitable colds?

There are a lot of great places to buy electronics, such as Abt Electronics. They offer some of the things I look for when I shop online, such as free shipping on some products. Their selection looks to be pretty good too. They have both practical and fun electronics.

Looking over their site does remind me that it’s time to check over my humidifier and maybe get a second… two kids, two roooms, after all. You probably know how often kids will get sick at the same time, and that little bit of added comfort can really help them and me sleep at night.

There’s an interesting new recommendation for how to dispose of old medications. Pour them into used kitty litter, bag it up and throw in the trash.

The old recommendation of flushing them down the toilet has environmental implications, as the impact of drugs in the water supply has been seen in fish.

My favorite part of the article:

“Ferret waste, like nearly any other form of pet waste, can be effectively used to help prevent the abuse of unused prescription drugs,” SAMHSA spokesman Mark Weber said.

This news delighted the American Ferret Association.

“The U.S. government declares ferret poop to be an effective weapon against drug abuse,” the group said in a statement.

That’s finding the positive! Then again, here in California you can’t keep ferrets. Guess the kitty litter will just have to do.

Of course people can still complain about the environmental impact of the plastic bag, but I’m guessing the drugs would break down before the plastic dissolves, and if you have a pet you may well be plastic bagging the litter already, so I don’t know that you can say there’s an added environmental impact. And while I could be wrong about the breakdown time of the drug, something does have to be done with old medications.

But if you want to take the time, I understand many pharmacists will take back old medications and dispose of them for you. Certainly worth asking about at your local pharmacy.

Technorati Tags: medication disposal

1. Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I’m not sure about the former.
2. Laws alone can not secure freedom of expression; in order that every man present his views without penalty there must be spirit of tolerance in the entire population.
3. The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science.
4. The release of atomic energy has not created a new problem. It has merely made more urgent the necessity of solving an existing one.
5. Imagination is more important than knowledge…
6. Ethical axioms are found and tested not very differently from the axioms of science. Truth is what stands the test of experience.
7. Do not worry about your difficulties in Mathematics. I can assure you mine are still greater.
8. As far as the laws of mathematics refer to reality, they are not certain; and as far as they are certain, they do not refer to reality.
9. Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind.
10. Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen.
11. Whoever undertakes to set himself up as a judge of Truth and Knowledge is shipwrecked by the laughter of the Gods.
12. You see, wire telegraph is a kind of a very, very long cat. You pull his tail in New York and his head is meowing in Los Angeles. Do you understand this? And radio operates exactly the same way: you send signals here, they receive them there. The only difference is that there is no cat.
13. The significant problems we have cannot be solved at the same level of thinking with which we created them.

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You’ve probably heard the bit about how we only use 10% of our brain, an idea I’ve long thought was nonsensical.

ZME Science points out how some research was most likely misinterpreted to come up with that idea. The research found that rats could relearn tasks even when parts of their brains were removed is one of the possible areas where such a misinterpretation could have occurred.

I’ve never understood how people can so easily believe that so much of the brain is just wasted. Even if you assume they’re talking about simple information processing and not including autonomic processes.

As the article notes, brain scans show activity in all parts of the brain. Not a huge dead area.

Certainly many people don’t use their mind to its full potential. We get lazy and don’t learn new things sometimes. It’s been shown that keeping the brain active throughout life has a benefit in old age. But sometimes it’s easy to be lazy and not try to learn new skills or work on things that make you think a little harder than usual. But once you get into the habit, it’s fun.

And certainly uses more than 10%.

Technorati Tags: brain, brain use, thinking

The entire family can suffer when a loved one has Alzheimer’s disease. It’s a terrible disease, one that takes away much of who a person is.

The upcoming holiday season is a good time to think of those who help care for people with Alzheimer’s disease. The Alzheimer’s Foundation of America has an online store where you can shop for a holiday gift, with the proceeds going to help the services they offer. The store has jewelry and a DVD training program to help families who are just learning to cope with Alzheimer’s.

I’ve been very fortunate, since Alzeheimer’s disease does not run in my family so far. My husband, on the other hand, watched his grandmother suffer from it for years, to the point where she only recognized him if he told her whose son he was. It was not an easy thing for him or the rest of his family.

When it comes to treating Alzheimer’s disease, there are two important things. The most personal part for the families is caring for their loved one who is coping with the disease. It can take a lot of assistance, and that is something the Alzheimer’s Foundation of America focuses on.

Once current sufferers from Alzheimer’s are well cared for it becomes easier to focus on a cure. There’s been some interesting research I’ve heard of in that area in recent years, so there may be reason to hope that it will be something that can be stopped in future years.

The holiday season is a great time to think of those who are less fortunate, and if someone you love is suffering from Alzheimer’s, it’s a great time to help an organization dedicated to helping them while taking care of a bit of holiday shopping or to just make a donation. You shop or contribute online.

BBC News had a poll recently to find what people thought was the most riduculous law. This covered laws in multiple countries, not just the UK.

I have to admit they came up with some doozies.

It is illegal to die in the Houses of Parliament

That was the winner, with 27% of the vote. Definitely pretty silly, but my personal favorite was:

It is illegal for a woman to be topless in Liverpool except as a clerk in a tropical fish store

just because I have to wonder how the exemption came about.

There are plenty of absurd laws in many countries, but this was a really good list. It’s a good thing that most of these aren’t enforced.

Technorati Tags: laws, strange laws