Thursday, 28 May 2020
Everything You Need to Know About Car Loans in AU
Guide to Hiring Cabinet Makers Brisbane
When to Use Self Storage Sydney
Guide to Brisbane Window Cleaning & Pressure Washing Services
Importance of Maths Tutors Adelaide in SA
Wednesday, 27 May 2020
Why Is It So Crucial To Seek The Services Of Professional Childcare Experts?
Saturday, 23 May 2020
Safe Disinfectant That Can Replace Bleach And Hand Sanitizer
When you run a daycare there are germs literally hiding in every crevice around your home! You have to sanitize the floors, the kids hands, the toys, the walls, the sinks, the doors, pretty much everything you see.
This amazing disinfectant is going to help get us through the shortage of bleach, hand sanitizer and Lysol wipes!
Hypo-Guard is non corrosive and is totally safe, natural, non-toxic and can be sprayed directly on your skin.
Hypo-Guard is made from Hypochlorous Acid (HOCI)which is one of the most natural and effective biocides known to man. It eradicates all bacteria, mycobacteria, spores, fungi, viruses – even the tough Clostridium difficile – within 15 seconds. It disinfects 200 to 300 times better than bleach and is 100% safe.
If you wish to order your own here is their contact information:
Website: https://www.hypo-guard.com/
Email: info@hypo-guard.com
Phone (International): 1.833.206.7026
Phone (Local): 778.581.3676
Contact Person: Rodney Warren
Friday, 22 May 2020
The Best DIY Project to Help Healthcare Workers at Home
Thanks to Mask Match, you can make masks following these CDC-compliant guidelines and donate them to essential workers without ever having to leave your home. USPS will even pick up masks from your front doorsteps. This is the perfect quarantine DIY activity for the whole family that allows you to get crafty and help those who are in need of masks.
Right now, Mask Match is sending masks to areas that need them the most, including the Navajo Nation, small hospitals, migrant communities, and more. So far, Mask Match has donated over 600,000 surgical and homemade masks to healthcare workers.
Safety and Efficiency: 8 Crucial Points to Remember Before Making Your Own Skincare Product
Homemade skincare products have a long and storied history dating back thousands of years. Many recipes are handed down across the generations, and today, DIY enthusiasts can also turn to the internet for recipes, tips, and more. For those who can’t just ask an older member of their families for time-tested recipes, there are a few important things to keep in mind to ensure safety, though. Read on to find out about eight key points to consider before making homemade skincare products for the first time.
Not All Recipes Found Online Really Work
Not all skincare product recipes work, and some of them can be downright unsafe. When seeking new recipes, try to find one that is at least substantiated by anecdotal evidence. Those who already have a favorite recipe and want to start producing it commercially can look into beauty claim validation to have their products tested and lend credibility to their claims.
Preservatives Are Important
Many of the natural ingredients used in homemade skincare products need to be preserved. Using preservatives protects against mold growth, bacteria, and yeast, all of which can destroy skincare products and render them unsafe to use. Formulas that contain water are especially prone to spoiling and should always contain one or more natural preservatives.
The Wrong Container Can Lead to Contamination
Choosing the right container isn’t just about creating beautiful packaging that showcases the product. It’s also an important aspect of preventing contamination. Choose hygienic containers designed specifically for botanical formulations and use spray pumps instead of open tops whenever possible. This reduces the need for opening the jar repeatedly, which can increase the risk of introducing contaminants.
Measure Ingredients Carefully
Getting a beauty product just right and creating a consistent formula requires precise measurement. It’s best to measure both solids and liquids by weight, as this system for measurement ismore accurate. Use a high-quality scale for precise results and write down all the measurements. Once DIY beauty product makers have come up with the perfect formula, they should convert it to ratios or percentages to make it easier to scale up their production.
Start Small
It’s very difficult to determine an exact expiration date for homemade skincare products, so it makes much more sense to make small batches, at least at first. This will ensure freshness and give home producers the chance to experiment with new ingredients or different ratios. Once they find the perfect mix and determine which preservatives are most effective, they can scale up to larger batches.
Keep Track of pH Levels
Product pH influences everything from which preservatives will work the best to how long skincare products will stay fresh. It also affects the color, scent, look, and feel of the product. Buy some pH test strips and learn how to use them before scaling up production.
Follow Dosage Instructions
Some ingredients found in homemade skincare products can be used in 100% concentration, but many have strict dosage requirements. Essential oils, for example, must be diluted to avoid skin irritation. The same goes for natural preservatives.
The Bottom Line
Making skincare products at home is a fun way for consumers to learn new skills and manage what ingredients they put on their bodies. It’s important to keep safety and product effectiveness in mind, though. Follow the tips above to avoid early spoilage, skin damage, and other serious concerns.
3 Tricks of the Trade to Remove Pool Stains
A stained pool can ruin your whole backyard appearance. Tough-to-remove pool stains sometimes need a bit more than just brushing.
Pool stains usually fall into these categories: organic, metal, and mineral stains, and each requires a different method to clean and remove. But, help is on the way! Here’s our advice on how to handle even the toughest stains in your pool.
Removing organic pool stains
You’ll need to use a little elbow grease to removeorganic stains. Luckily, no matter whether you’re trying to remove algae or leaf stains from your pool, all you need to do is follow this simple method to remove most organic stains:
- Shock your pool.
- Apply granular chlorine.
- Allow time for the chemicals to absorb.
- Scrub the area that is stained.
However, for the more effective organic stain removal, try this:
- Balance your pool’s alkalinity and pH levels (pH should be between 7.4-7.6, and alkalinity between 100-150).
- Balancing these numbers will make the chlorine you add much more effective.
- Use a minimum of 2 pounds of calcium hypochlorite pool shock in order to super shock the water.
- You should use one bag per 5-gallon bucket. Slowly mix the shock into the water bucket.
- Shock at night to prevent chemical depletion from the sunlight.
- Leave for a few hours so the shock can circulate.
- Put 1-2 cups of granular chlorine on the organic stain.
- Scrub the granular chlorine well.
- Use a soft tile grout scrubber, if the brush doesn’t work.
- Continue scrubbing the granular chlorine in the area of the stain until it’s gone.
- For especially hard organic pool stains, you can use an enzyme treatment—found at any pool store—to help break down organic substances too stubborn for chlorine alone.
Removing metal pool stains
Metal pool stains are a bit tougher. You can only use certain chemicals because chlorine just won’t work.
How to remove iron pool stains:
Ascorbic acid is very efficient for removing iron stains, and you can find it in most stain and scale products. Citric acid is similar to ascorbic acid, but it is more successful at treating copper metal stains. If you aren’t sure what kind of metal it is, you can take a water sample to a pool store to test it, or buy a test kit.
For the most successful metal stain removal, follow these steps:
- Use a metal reducer (such as Metal-Free or Metal Klear) to deactivate excess metals.
- Pour a 1/2 pound of ascorbic acid into 10,000 gallons of water.
- For hard stains, sprinkle citric or ascorbic acid directly to the spot.
- Scrub the stain.
- Let the filter run for at least one hour.
- Repeat steps 2, 3, and 4 until the stain is removed.
- In the end, pour a metal eliminator pack into your skimmer basket.
Removing mineral pool stains
Like waterline stains, these stains are scaly white deposits that usually appear just above the waterline. They’re usually the result of excess calcium in the water.
There are three ways to remove these stains:
- Make a 50/50 vinegar-water mix and use it to remove the stain.
- Apply a baking soda and vinegar solution and scrub.
- Apply a salt and lime juice mixture and scrub.
5 Ways Your Child's Classroom Will Look Different After COVID
Ask any teacher, student, administrator, or parent of school-aged kids, and they'll tell you that school looks a whole lot different than it did three months ago. The impact of COVID-19 on education systems around the world has been stark. Millions of students traded classrooms for Zoom chats, and educators at nearly every level are struggling to adapt to a completely new way of educating young people.
And it's not even June yet.
As this unprecedented school year winds down and (hopefully) the global pandemic does as well, educators will be left with a lot of new information to absorb about the effectiveness of online education curriculum, tools, and pedagogical theory before classes resume again in the fall.
No one knows exactly what awaits in September and in the years beyond, but there are predictions that can be made based on trends already in place leading up to school closures, and the implications of the developments over the last few months.
Brainly's Chief Business Officer, Eric Oldfield, is an expert in online education trends and a father of two school-age children himself. He's compiled five predictions for the future of learning in a post-COVID world.
"To say that these are unprecedented times is an understatement," Oldfield said. "Even as we all grapple with the only constant in this environment being change, there are some very clear trends that have the potential to fundamentally shift the way we educate people of all ages around the world."
- Online learning is here to stay: Already seen as a major trend even before the pandemic, online learning tools and tactics, while not perfectly operationalized yet, have shown to be effective at increasing lesson retention and to provide flexibility for students to learn at a pace more efficient for them on an individual basis. Look to see these practices integrated into traditional in-classroom learning in a bigger way than ever before.
- Self-directed learning: A byproduct of remote education, self-directed learning will provide students the ability to guide their own educational journeys, work at their own pace, go back and better absorb previous material, and accelerating past material they already understand well.
- Gamification of learning will increase: The challenges of maintaining a student’s attention grow significantly in a remote education setting. In order to keep students engaged, online lessons will become more interactive or gamified. This has already shown to increase engagement and motivate learning and will become more prevalent as traditional classes move online.
- Use of non-classroom resources: Embracing a hybrid on-and-offline education programs will mean introducing educational resources not available in the classroom. Online tools like Brainly and Coursera, which offer supplemental instruction options will work hand-in-hand with traditional classroom curriculum.
- Digital citizenship will become a priority subject: To fully embrace online learning, students must also learn to become good digital citizens. Much in the way we currently teach civics and social studies lessons to inform children how to be engaged citizens in the real world, so to will we have to teach them how to be engaged citizens in the digital world.
Thursday, 21 May 2020
Why Give a Subscription Box for a Baby Shower?
Wednesday, 20 May 2020
Gun Safes: The Stark Truth
Safes in one form or another have been around since the days of Julius Cesar. While sometimes disputed, Jesse Delano is credited with the first fireproof safe design patented in 1826. The modern gun safe has its roots in the 1850s designs of Silas Herring. He used plaster and steel to create a fire rated gun storage safe.
What’s interesting and disappointing is that the gun safes of today are not built to standards anywhere near Herring’s 1850 design. Price and profit pressures have caused the whole industry to move away from true fire rated safes. The majority of what are commonly called and sold as “Gun Safes” are actually UL (Underwriter’s Laboratories) listed as “RSC” or “Residential Security Containers” and are not actual safes. This includes the “safes” available at all the big chains with popular brand names including “Liberty,” “Winchester”, “Browning,” etc.
Yes, you may have guessed it. The industry did not want to build to the UL Safe classification standard so they created a new standard, RSC – “Residential Security Container.”
(Learn more: Gun Safe: Understanding Ratings and Certifications)
What is an RSC (Residential Security Container)?
An RSC rated container (gun cabinet) will resist forced opening for up to five minutes by an attacker using simple, non-powered hand tools. We’re talking screwdrivers, hammers (must be less than 3lbs), and pry bars (must be less than 18″ long). RSC containers are not rated against any attack by power tools of any kind, or any attack lasting longer than five minutes. This is security designed for 1850’s threat level.
Today, a high powered battery operated grinder with a cutoff wheel can cut a “gun safe” (Residential Security Container) in half in less than 15 minutes. A small portable plasma cutter will do the job in under 3 minutes. People assume that because it weighs 1,000 lbs it must be secure.
Fire Rating
RSC Certified gun safes are not fireproof.
The only consistent, reliable and independent fire rating is the UL fireproof safe class rating. The lowest rating is “Class 350 1-hour” The ratings go up to 4 hours (Class 350-4). Unfortunately, there are no RSC gun safes that meet this rating as the materials and construction required to offer this kind of protection are deemed too expensive by the gun safe industry. The fire rating or “fire certified” sticker on the door of an RSC means very little as each gun safe (RSC) manufacturer creates their own standards and fire tests. If a safe does not have a UL class 350 fire rating then it is not a fire safe. It is a thin steel box lined with drywall and covered with some carpeting. The Drywall makes the safe heavy and “feel” secure. It is not. Talk to firefighters. “Gun safes” (RCSs) rarely ever survive a real fire.
(Learn more: Gun Safe: Understanding Ratings and Certifications)
Guns Safes and Corrosion
Consider Corrosion
There are a lot of products on the market designed to slow the process of your guns rusting in a “gun safe”. There is a good reason for these products. Drywall or gypsum board used in RSCs contain several chemicals that are highly corrosive to your guns. Formaldehyde is used as a dispersing agent in drywall production and is highly corrosive to steel.
(Learn more: https://www.pharosproject.net/blog/show/44/formaldehyde-additives-drywall)
Safes imported from China use drywall that contains additional threats to your guns. The Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC) and other agencies have found high levels of pyrite (FeS2) which gives off carbon disulfide, carbonyl sulfide, and hydrogen sulfide — all of which are corrosive to firearms.
100 percent of the problem drywall coming from China also tested positive for the bacteria Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans, which lives in pyrite deposits. These bacteria consume iron and sulfur producing highly corrosive sulfuric acid. Have you ever noticed a mild sulfur smell when you open a Chinese import safe? There are many concerns about drywall from China.
(Learn more: Chinese Drywall)
Other Disadvantages of Gun Safes.
They are very big, very heavy and once in place cannot be easily moved. They are also big and heavy. Did I tell you they were heavy? …You get the picture. In our modern, mobile society where people move on average every 6.6 years (US Census Bureau) does it make sense to own a 1,200 lb metal box full of drywall?
If you live in a condominium or town-home owning a heavy old safe is probably not allowed by your HOA.
Gun Safe Capacity
The Industries “Little White Lie”.
This gun safe, rated for 29 guns can not efficiently store 11 modern rifles; Gun safe capacity is a lie. When a safe manufacturer offers a gun safe (RSC) and claims a capacity of 30 guns what are they telling you. Keep in mind the RSC will not hold 30 guns, not even close. Either they are not very bright or they think their customers aren’t very bright. The VP of national sales for one of America’s largest safe manufacturers told me it was the “industry’s little white lie”.
It seems all safe manufacturers state their capacity based on how many gun slots they can fit in the safe, regardless of how many guns actually fit. In our product testing, using safes from several different manufacturers, we found the actual capacity for traditional guns is about half of what the manufacturers claim. When you add in modern sporting rifles that capacity drops even further. We purchased a 29 gun Steelwater gun safe and were only able to fit 11 modern rifles and at that point, they were packed in and hitting each other. Gun safe capacity is a sham.
Gun Safe Are Too Deep
Manufacturers all focus on making real heavy complex doors and lock systems in an effort to make you think the cabinet is secure. These doors are so heavy that the cabinet has to be deep. Deep enough to offset the weight of the door so when it is opened the cabinet does not tip over. This depth is counterproductive to proper gun storage. You end up with guns packed in and you have to dig through to get to the rifles stored way in the back.
Please note: a thief ignores the door and just cuts through the thin steel on the side or back of the RSC.
Gun Safe Interiors
Gun safe interior design has never changed.
American gun ownership has changed dramatically and the safe industry refuses to address it. The number one rifle sold in America is an AR15 and most shooters now have some sort of scope or optic on every rifle and shotgun. The gun safe industry not only failed to anticipate these market changes they appear to have buried their heads in the sand and refuse to even acknowledge that there has been any type of change. Gun safes simply do not have the ability to properly store modern rifles.
This is the typical safe interior. Even with stripped down Henry rifles you will not fit guns in every slot, there simply is not enough room for the stocks. AR platform rifles will not fit well at all and there is no room for optics of any kind.
“They’ve buried their heads in the sand”
Why does a whole industry fail to address a big market change? It almost appears like all gun safe manufacturers are in a big game of chicken. They all produce basically the same product and are all afraid of being the first one to be different. In most industries manufacturers actively look for points of difference. But not with “gun safes” (RSC containers). It is very unusual and not in the best interest of the consumer. These manufacturers and products are dinosaurs and perhaps, soon be extinct.
We see this as a complete lack of respect for the firearms they store, and their customers who shell out big money expecting secure fireproof storage yet really only have a steel box with some drywall and fancy paint. The only advances in gun safe manufacturing in the last 100 years has been the move to cheaper materials, lower standards, and misleading certifications.
Do you need a so-called “gun safe” or RSC?
The answer is probably no.
If you think you will sleep better knowing that your rifles and stored in a big 1200 lb. gorilla in your basement, then it may be the right product. You have to understand, however, that the security against both theft and fire is really smoke and mirrors. The whole industry is built around a false perception that because these things weigh 1200lbs, it must be safe and secure.
When you consider that these so-called “gun safes” (RSC) are no more secure than a simple steel cabinet and fire ratings (which do not meet even the most basic UL Certification) are simply made up by manufacturers, you have to really question the decision.
They are very difficult and expensive to move.
They are corrosive to your guns by design.
They do not properly store precision rifles.
Older homes may not support the weight and you certainly would not put a safe in an upstairs location.
So what do you do?
Knowledge and Education is Power
There are several very inexpensive steel gun cabinets on the market. Take the time to learn as much as you can before you spend your money.
Tom Kubiniec is President and CEO of SecureIt Tactical which specializes in civilian gun storage and education for gun owners across the nation with the goal to improve lives through safety and better preparation. The company is also the largest supplier of weapons storage units to the U.S. military. More information at https://www.secureittactical.com/