Kick George Ion Contest

For some uncertain reasons it is fashionable these days to kick me (actually it's always been ;)).

Once they done kicking me, there's an instant reward. They become blessed, almost saints, but that is something only them can be sure of.

So i officially open a kick George Ion contest. I will give in the comments below points from one to ten to everybody that did that in the past or is doing it right now, as i feel it. There will be a prize, a special post in the blog.

Democraţie originală, alternativă şi analoagă

În stil Caţavencu

Ponta, acest glumeţ (clown) şi posibil recent navetist transatlantic a zis pentru toţi. Parlamentarii opoziţiei să-şi bage picioarele şi să-şi dea demisia.

Poanta e că poate are dreptate, ce rost are opoziţia care oricum nu face nimic până la alternarea puterii. Oare a vrut să facă vreo analogie originală cu ”toate ţările civilizate”? în care gentlemen-ii puterii şi opoziţiei agreează tot timpul la tot felul de compromisuri.

Căci într-o democraţie originală docţii (băieţii deştepţi) ajung la putere ori prin culisele puterii, propaganda (presa) care sunt cei mai deştepţi după cum spun ei înşişi fără încetare lucrează pentru ameţirea semidocţilor iar proştii oricum nu contează.

Ce vă faceţi fraţilor dacă un semidoct sau un prost care gândeşte logic se trezeşte brusc şi devine doct şi nemulţumit?

Şi totuşi hai să încerc, in final, să fiu pozitiv. Nu se poate fraţilor, parlament, democraţie şi în general ţară, fără opoziţie.

Into The Lime Light

Just painted! Click for better view.

Ever since i came to US i've been missing the comfort and coziness of the lime painted walls. I don't know it may be a cultural thing, back then we didn't have the option of synthetic paints, but it was a mistery to me and still is why people don't use it @ here. When i asked about it in the home improvement stores, after long explanations and descriptions, resembling small chemistry exams, people went into some strange, shocked, state and stared at me as if i was from another continent or something. NO, never heard about something like that!

But after browsing home improvements stores for years, and learning the second sense of word lime in English, in a corner, in the construction area, there it was, the bags with lime powder. Not for painting use, but of a much better quality then the one i used when i painted my apartment back in Bacău.

I bought if for a different reason since i was experimenting with ways of mitigating with formaldehyde but it was white enough for me to fall into temptation to try it on a corner in a closet. And surprise, it dried about as white as the old flat paint based on kaolin and titanium dioxide. And about as strong, according to the time taken to clean myself in the shower.

Then i read the MSDS and i was surprised it mentioned it had something between .1 and 1 % crystalline silica which is a known cancerigen and for causing silicosis, and the old kaolin based paint which had about the same amount of silica didn't have anything like this mentioned on the bucket.

Then i mixed it with water using the kitchen mixer and made it of about the same consistency the old paint had when i applied it to the walls.

After two coatings, it was still spotty at some viewing angles. It misses an emulsifier and segregates at the bottom of the bucket. Then i taped (old Apollo 13 technology :)) the mixer to the bucket and let it run at low speed while applying the third coating and voila! Spotless, white, warm and very nice smelling painted walls! No VOC, i mean zero (Volatile Organic Content). Actually, probably due to residual amounts of CaOH, it release oxygen and locks carbon dioxide while drying!

The lime i used was composed of calcium carbonate and magnesium carbontate (CaCO3 and MgCO3) wich are exactly the same ingredients that purified are used in supplements.

For a small bedroom i used about 19 pounds out of the 50 p bag.

Another nice surprise, it muffled the street noises by about 5-10 dB according to my ears!

Later, i learned it cleans very easily with Comet spay, which contains citric acid. So no need for blue tapes around margins.

The lime paint is very special. It breathes. With the normal moisture in the air, it accumulates or releases oxygen and locks carbon dioxide in excess. It locks other gases. It is like a chemical buffer, pretty similar to backing soda, but much stronger and on a huge surface. It promotes the growth of good bacteria into your place. It is very healthy and ecological!

And the best of all, the total cost of the 50 p bag was $8.50!

Formaldehyde, among us

For a better view please click on the pictures then on the little icons below.

For better understand of what's to follow, here a couple of links. No, better three:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Formaldehyde

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urea_formaldehyde_resin

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiberboard

Formaldehide as a resin has been long used before today's plastics, to make everyday objects. One of its commercial names was bakelite. Even today you can find in old electrical boxes things made of bakelite like relays and stuff.

Fiberboard is a very convenient way to use wood. You mill the wood down to fiber then mix it with formaldehyde resin and voila... Very cheap and regular boards that you can make wonders with it.

The problem with these is that they are slowly decaying with the result of formaldehyde gas.

That is very easy to understand if you have a floor made of fiberboard. In time, it looses its hardness and becomes soft and molds over all the irregularities of what's underneath. It doesn't break anymore but it bends. And that's because the resin turns to gas and all it's left is the wood fiber. In time, you will walk on something like sand, like on the beach...

To make a long story short, i had some dolomite, a mixture of minerals to treat soil for gardening that i bought from the store a while ago for a different reason. I accidentally mixed it with water and saw that on top in a few hours it accumulates some brownish stuff that smells sweet, very similar with the cabinets and the floor. And i looked onto the label of that sac and it says it has besides lime as main ingredient (CaCO3) 11% and magnesium (MgCO3) in different forms. I did a google search and indeed, some people are researching the possibility of fixing formaldehyde with different magnesium formulas.

I put some pans on the fridge and i saw over the last few weeks that the amount of brown stuff on top is decreasing to maybe 1/4 of what if was in the first day. I add daily water and refresh it if it gets too brown.

I think i got myself a cheap, reusable, visible, quantifiable, formaldehyde trap!

Bruno Mars şi chart-urile

Am văzut ştirile azi, oh boy. Acum încep să înţeleg de ce chart-urile sunt aşa cum sunt şi de ce muzica pe posturi locale în ultimii 2-3 ani sună mai rău ca niciodată de când chart-urile şi probabil de când se dă muzică la radio.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-31749_162-57361387-10391698/bruno-mars-clear-of-cocaine-possession-case/?tag=cbsnewsSectionContent.7