I installed an under-counter four-stage Watts reverse osmosis system I got from Amazon - I did the plumbing myself (not hard) and installed the special faucet in the sink (very hard - wrecked a...

Camera systems seem pretty inexpensive these days, and can help ID whoever did it, should it actually happen. And if they're visible they can be a deterrent. Mostly I like the idea of just not having...

Gosh - I'd heard the other way around - the west coast ticks didn't used to have much Lyme (only a few percent were positive) because they often dined on lizards, and when they did the lizard blood...

Have you read any of Sarris' books or other writings? Highly recommended, especially if you have an interest in local history. (My favorite is Mabel McKay - Weaving the Dream. Watermelon Nights is...

I recall the Yelp reviews reflect a similar conclusion.

I know that we gave our kid fluoride supplements from the time he was a baby (in utero actually) through his adult teeth, and he had NO cavities - just strong clean teeth. Coming from the boomer...

Have you looked into AT&T's 4G LTE? Even the 3G (if you can't get 4G) is pretty fast. BestBuy has various data-only plans for AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, etc. - see who has coverage where you are. The way...

Yep, no question. While I'm not a true "birder" I do recognize most of the more common and charismatic species. And yes, I was surprised too.

I've seen the vultures too - very different - there...

Saw a flock of crows harassing a golden eagle last week in Santa Rosa - just off W College. No question about ID - it was HUGE, compared to the red tails we sometimes see. Those crows were having a...

In my former career I wrote some code for a much earlier generation of smart meters. The meter itself won't control anything in your house - all it does is tell PG&E about how many kWh you've used...

Actually, since our meter went in our bills have dropped. Same for the gas meter.

I had a client for a while who was an engineer with PG&E - he said the old mechanical meters ("analog") were...

Interesting background article on colds and the immune system in the current issue of Scientific American (January 2011 - probably on newsstands now). Page 30.

I've found that sometimes the homeopathics seem to help (Alpha-CF, Oscillo), and sometimes not. If it's not too bad just the nasal rinse with warm saline really helps - several times a day. If it is...

Hi American:

I've been to (and conducted) a lot of shamanic ceremonies over the years, from many traditions. They have been very powerful, and I've seen true miracles happen. So far, the only...

This is an interesting thread for sure! My own background is mixed - I have a PhD in biophysics from Berkeley, I studied meditation and mysticism for 30+ years as a member of an ashram, I have been...

@taishon: Are you setting up an actual experiment and compensating people (dowsers, psychics) for their time? What's your experimental design? Has it been approved by a Human Subject panel? (Psychics...

Hi Elderberry fans:

Just a quick FYI: while the S. mexicana berries are safe, they are safer with cooking; the leaves, stems and roots are TOXIC. This is unlike the European elderberry S. nigra....