A unique Jefferson County home (http://www.woodhenge.org), celebrated for its eco-friendly design, was damaged by fire Sunday afternoon.

No one was home at the residence of Jim and Krista Juczak at 14910 Fuller Road in the Town of Adams when the fire was reported to Jefferson County Emergency Dispatch at 1:26 p.m.

The round-shaped home, constructed of concrete and face logs is one of the more famous abodes in the area, having been the subject of various broadcast and print reports as well as host to tours for educational groups.

Mr. Juczak said he believed the blaze originated as a chimney fire and that most of the damage probably resulted from smoke and water. The structure is insured.

Firefighters from Adams, Adams Center and Town of Watertown were at the scene.

Do you have a small cabin, camp, or just want to be a bit more self sufficient? Here’s what we are playing with. The military used to use these tent heaters. They can heat a small space, and be used for cooking. What makes them particularly neat, is that they are multi fuel. They will burn wood or coal, plus they can burn liquid fuels from diesel and kerosene, to gasoline and alcohol. Here’s the best news, THEY WILL BURN USED FRYER OIL. Yes, the waste vegetable oil that your Italian or Chinese restaurant throws away after frying your food, is a fuel source. We even use it in our diesel engines. Imagine producing your own electricity in a fryer fueled generator. We do this here at Green-Trust. Learn more about these stoves at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/m1941/.

Much Ado About Almost Nothing

A History of Electricity and Electronics

2007, Hans Camenzind

This is the story of the electron. 3,000 years ago the tiny particle caused nothing but fear and superstition whenever it appeared. Its perception by man changed slowly as a few heretics dared to investigate. Then man discovered the "Leyden Jar", a gadget which produced a vicious electrical shock, to the amusement of the experimenters and kings. Discover a new side of Benjamin Franklin as an unlikely scientist in an unlikely place, who stunned the European establishment by discovering fundamental principles and thus opened the field to other people. People like Luigi Galvani (who drew the wrong conclusions), Alessandro Volta (who corrected him and ruined his life), André Ampere, an emotional mathematician, and Georg Ohm, who discovered the basic law of electricity but presented it so badly that he was ignored. Read more at: http://www.historyofelectronics.com/

Question:  Can I take alcohol with me for consumption during the flight?

Answer: 3-1-1 means 3 ounces or less of any liquid, gel, aerosol or cream are allowed in carry-on baggage in one ziptop quart bag and one bag per passenger.  This rule applies for any security checkpoint at any airport.  You can purchase alcohol after going through security of you wish, however, if you go through another checkpoint, the 3-1-1 rule applies.

Question: In a few weeks my family will fly from NY to Hawaii. Can I take food onboard (also through security check) for us to snack/eat during the flight?

Answer: Congratulations on taking a Hawaiian vacation. I am from the island of Kaua’i. I lived there for 5 years.

If you have not gone through airport security–Remember your 3-1-1 rule for liquids which include food items that are liquid, gel or cream products. 3-1-1 means: 3 ounces or less, 1 plastic zip-top bag and 1 bag per passenger. One bag means one bag per passenger, whether it’s liquid food or non-food items.

You can take items like trail-mix, chips, anything that is not liquid, gel or cream base through airport security.

Before going through airport security an example of items that would be required to fit into 3 ounce bottles would be: beverages, canned or jarred goods, cheese in pressurized containers, duty free alcohol, gel based sports supplements, jell-o, pudding, whipped cream, yogurt or other gel like food products.

It’s really not worth taking the above food items that are required to be in 3 ounce bottles. You could purchase beverages, liquids and gel like food items after you pass through security.

Have a safe and happy flight!

http://www.airportbook.com

Click here to read more… >
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We just added 1000 worms to a new worm bin. One hour after spreading them on top of the litter, they disappeared into the bedding to munch away happily on our kitchen scraps. We are thrilled that we are able to keep up our composting indoors, even when it's below 0 (F) outdoors. There is no smell other than an earthy dirt smell right near the bins. We cover all submissions with coconut fiber as we add it. No ants, flies, or smells. This picture was taken as we were adding some old stale tortilla shells and a fresh batch of worms. We can send you 1 lb. of worms, 1 bale of coconut fiber, and a manual on worm composting for $99, delivered. You supply a $8 plastic tote (12 - 15 gallon) and you are in the indoor worm composting business. Just drop us a line at sspence@green-trust.org.

The nature of trading, on one hand, offers us virtually unlimited freedom of expression, meaning, we pretty much make our own rules. Except for margins and account minimums, we virtually have no one looking over our shoulder, telling us what to do. On the other hand, that same freedom can be dangerous. It opens up the potential for us to do serious damage to ourselves. While the freedome is nice, we need rules and boundaries guiding our behavior to be effective in the trading environment. We must create a foundation of focused mental discipline so we always act in our own best interest. This structure must be inside us-our mindset-which is tricky because for most of us, society combined with our upbringing has shaped us differently. This is why so many people who are successful in other endevors fail miserably at trading. To be successful as a trader they (we) must realign our mind set to accommodate the nature of the market. Let's discuss four problems that can be sabataging to our success as traders because of all this freedom with no boundaries. 1. Unwillingness to create rules: This is difficult for most people, especially those who are attracted to the freedom trading provides. However, trading without a regime that is organized and consistent, containing sound money management guidelines is death to trading accounts. 2. Failure to take responsibility: Trading gives us freedom to make choices (when to get in a trade, when to get out, how much to risk, etc.) with an immediate outcome. We want this freedom, but too many don't want to accept the responsibility for the outcome of our choices. If you want consistent, positive results, you have to believe and totally accept that no matter what the outcome, you and you alone, are totally responsible. Not your broker, not the market, not other traders. 3, Addiction to random rewards: Another mistake many traders make is making random or poorly planned trades. That is if they plan at all. The markets behavior is not random. The same behavior patterns appear over and over again. Individually they seem random but a series of patterns prove to be consistent. This is a paradox remedied with a disciplined, organized, consistent regime. When inexperienced, undisciplined people trade, sometimes they experience a winning trade, sometimes not. It's these occasional wins that they become addicted to. They are addicted to the euphoria of making money on a trade, even if they've experienced several losses. The problem is that this type of trading is not consistent and more times than not, leaves the trader losing money. 4. External vs. Internal control: Most of us were raised in such a way that taught us to depend on others to fulfill our needs, wants, and desires. Along the way, we've adopted socially based, controlling and manipulating ways to get others to behave in a manner that is in line with what we want. The problem with this when it comes to trading is the markets are not a social environment. In the markets, it is literally every man or woman for him or herself. It is impossible to control or manipulate what the market does and cannot depend on it to do anything for us. Since we have learned techniques to manipulate our social environment to respond to what we want, it can be very difficult when we embark in trading since we cannot control the market. So what's the solution, we must alter our mindset. We cannot control the market but we can control ourselves, our own behavior. We can control our perception and interpretation of market information, thus creating a new mental environment within ourselves that ensures we always trade in a way that is beneficial to us. In my next post, I will talk more about accepting the responsibility, shaping your mental environment, and reacting to loss.

The answer is most definitely Yes! Although trading carries with it a 95% failure rate, there are a select few who separate themselves from the pack and enjoy a steadily rising equity curve. What is it that separates successful traders from unsuccessful traders? Is it education, intellect, or work ethic? Are they better market analysts? Do they have a better trading system? The answer is most definitely No! Consider the fact that most of the people who fail at trading are doctors, lawyers, engineers, scientists, CEO's, and entrepreneurs. Intellect and market analysis can help but that is not where successful traders focus their attention. The fact is, consistently successful traders, the best traders, THINK differently from the rest. Furthermore, they have learned to manage their emotions. Have you ever taken up a new trading system, practiced your trades on a demo account and done well, then switched to your live (real money) account and failed miserably? This happens because when real money is on the line, most traders tend to let their emotions prevail and so they experience fear. That fear then causes them to make errors that eat away at their bank account. Successful traders, on the other hand, have developed a unique mind-set that allows them to stay disciplined, focused, and confident in their trades no matter what is happening in the market. They are able to enter in to a trade without hesitation or conflict, and just as easily without hesitation or conflict, admit it isn't working, get out of the trade, even with a loss, and not experience the least bit of emotional discomfort. Why? Because they have learned to accept and embrace the inherent risk associated with trading. They live to trade another day instead of blowing up their whole account, knowing that there will be other trades that will go their way allowing the law of probabilities to work in their favor. Most traders take on the risk of putting on a trade, but successful traders have also truly accepted that every trade has a non-guaranteed, probable outcome with possible consequences. Ironically, this is what keeps them in the positive, carefree state of mind that brings them consistent success. Trying to avoid consequences that are unavoidable actually brings those very things to you and has crippling effects on your ability to trade successfully. If you want to make money consistently with your trading, you must manage your emotions and learn to THINK like a successful trader. You must develop a "trader mind-set".

After the huge Server Upgrades here at HomeBrewPower we have finally got around to recompiling our CD Rom that was previously available only in hard copy for $20.00 + P&P.

The Entire contents have been recompiled, tweaked and buffered and made available for download for what we think is a VERY fair price of $5.00.

To purchase the package just visit our homepage http://www.homebrewpower.co.uk and click on the purchase link. Your personal download link will be emailed to you soon as funds have landed. (Usually within 10 minutes!)

I know there were quite a few wanting the CD Rom in the past, well now I think you can finally have one.

Kind regards

Andy Mahoney

Home Brew Power

(Off-Grid Power Installer - UK)

www.homebrewpower.co.uk

Our vermiposting red worms arrived today. Now our composting project kicks into high gear. The beds are ready, kitchen craps have been collected, and compost will be ready for spring. Read more at http://www.green-trust.org/ebooks/.

Our veggie oil burner also arrived, so the used fryer oil to hot water project begins. See http://groups.yahoo.com/group/m1941/.

The parts for our home made generator / battery charger arrived today as well. You can read more about that at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/diy_generator/

June is the wet season in Ghana, but here in Accra, the capital, the morning rain has ceased. As the sun heats the humid air, pillars of black smoke begin to rise above the vast Agbogbloshie Market. I follow one plume toward its source, past lettuce and plantain vendors, past stalls of used tires, and through a clanging scrap market where hunched men bash on old alternators and engine blocks. Soon the muddy track is flanked by piles of old TVs, gutted computer cases, and smashed monitors heaped ten feet (three meters) high. Beyond lies a field of fine ash speckled with glints of amber and green—the sharp broken bits of circuit boards. I can see now that the smoke issues not from one fire, but from many small blazes. Dozens of indistinct figures move among the acrid haze, some stirring flames with sticks, others carrying armfuls of brightly colored computer wire. Most are children.

Read the whole article at http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/2008-01/high-tech-trash/carroll-text.html.