Some More Articles

It is an unfortunate fact that plastic bottles are piling up in the landfills rather than being given a second chance to serve another round on the market due to recycling. With bottled water growing in population, in addition to the countless numbers of soft drink bottles that are disposed of each day, the amount of plastic bottles being thrown into garbage cans all over the world has grown exponentially. However, since bottled water is being consumed more and more each year, it has become the largest growing beverage over soft drinks, juices, and alcohol and is also becoming one of the largest contributors to landfill waste in the form of plastic bottles.

It is said that in the last decade, the consumption of bottled water has increased to 22.6 gallons per person per year, which is up from 10.5 gallons recorded ten years prior. The number of bottles sold in 1997 was 3.3 billion, whereas the number sold in 2002 was 15 billion. This is incredible growth, which has resulted in a significant growth of the number of plastic bottles being thrown away. Most of this water, as well as other beverages, are not always consumed in the home. People consume these beverages in their offices and various other places where there is no way to recycle the bottle when it is thrown away.

It is said that only 12% of plastic water bottles even see recycling. That means there are around 40 million bottles being thrown into the trash each day or is thrown out a car window to the side of the road. However, in terms of soft drink bottles, there is a recycling rate of 30%, but the low recycling rate associated with water bottles brings down the number of all plastic bottles that are recycled. As of 1993, 19% of all types of plastic bottles were being recycled, compared to 53% just nine years before.

The best way to keep these bottles out of landfills is for states, cities, offices, and other businesses to implement recycling programs. If there were more curbside pickup services and programs within businesses, the percentage of bottles ending up in garbage cans would go down and the percentage of bottles being found in recycling centers would go up.

Some have even proposed that laws requiring bottle deposits would be the way to go. However, in terms of businesses, which have a high percentage of workers consuming beverages in plastic bottles each day would benefit from implementing an in-house recycling program. By placing recycling receptacles throughout the business in places such as restrooms and break rooms, employees would be more likely to recycle plastic bottles. Once the receptacles are full, the business can engage the services of a recycling service to pick up the recyclables or can make arrangement for the bottles to be taken to the recycling center.

Since compensation for recycled materials is a great incentive for recyclers, a business can benefit from recycling plastic bottles. The money that is collected from recycling can be used to have an office party or some other reward that will create a great incentive for the employees to recycle. The same applies to homes. With such services as curbside pickup, residents would be more likely to recycle. Some communities do utilize these services, but not all.

Through taking a proactive approach toward recycling plastic bottles, the environment will see benefits and you will save money. Every little bit of pocket change helps and it really doesn’t take a lot of effort to designate a separate area for bottles. In the end the consumer is happy, the recycling center is happy, and the environment is happy.

In this article, Mike Adams puts the dangers and myths surrounding plastic water bottles into perspective and offers helpful tips on selecting water filters. Mike Adams is the founder of NaturalNews.com.

Kevin: Well, Mike, I want to welcome you to this call.

Mike: Hey, Kevin.. It’s great to be here. Thanks for having me join this program.

Kevin: It’s an absolute honor and there are probably a few people who don’t know who you are, or maybe haven’t heard of some of the stuff that you’ve done before. So why don’t we give everyone just a brief introduction and then we’ll move right into the water aspect. We have a lot of stuff to cover today.

Mike: Okay, sure. Well, I’m the founder and editor of Natural News.com. It’s a website to reaches now well over a million readers a month with news, headlines, alerts, warnings about everything to do with natural health and the benefits of natural medicine and the potential dangers of pharmaceuticals and conventional medicine. It’s just a great informational resource. I love doing that.

Kevin: If anyone hasn’t gone over there to naturalnews.com you’ll find a whole bunch of great stuff and it’s nice to read some of it, because it’s very refreshing. That’s what I found.

Mike: We can pull our punches. We tell it like it is and I try to maintain a lot of informed skepticism about what I’m writing about, so I’m always doing independent product reviews and things like that to the readers.

Kevin: We’re going to talk a little bit about skepticism, because we’ve already prepped for this call, but what I want to start with is, since we’re talking about water I want about talk about something is so prevalent in our media now and probably will be for a while and it’s the use of plastic as applied to water. So water bottles, even in cooking or microwaving plastic containers and all that, let’s talk about some of the things that we should be concerned about when we’re dealing with plastic bottles.

Mike: Well, I think people are very well aware of the Bisphenol A danger, BPA as it’s called. There has been a lot of press recently about this chemical in plastic bottles and baby bottles. Did you hear that, I think it was Toys “R” Us is going to stop selling baby bottles made with that chemical now?

Kevin: Wow.

Mike: That was an interesting development, but like a lot of stories in the press it’s very hard to put into context. I think people need to be aware of the proper context for this potential risk. Yes, these plastic bottles contain BPA. Yes, if you drink water that’s vigorously shaken in these bottles, which it all is done during shipping, by the way and you do that for 10 or 20 years, then sure, it probably increases your risk for cancer, but I want to make people aware that drinking a can of soda is far more toxic, probably orders of magnitude more toxic to your body than drinking a bottle of water from a plastic bottle. Eating food that was cooked in Teflon, in my view, is orders of magnitude more toxic than drinking something of a plastic bottle or eating hydrogenated oils or fried foods or things like that or smoking a cigarette. You could probably drink a thousand bottles of water that were from plastic bottles and it would be less toxic to you than smoking one cigarette. So you’ve got to put this into perspective. I drink out of plastic bottles from time to time. It’s not my first choice, but I do it when I’m traveling and I don’t freak out about it.

Kevin: Yeah. I know that the number seven bottle has come under fire recently. Is that the only one to be somewhat concerned about, or is it across the board?

Mike: No. It’s across the board.

Kevin: Okay..

Mike: As I understand it, the lower the number the more toxic the bottles can be. You don’t want to drink of the really cheap bottles, which are often number two or number three. The seven is better than the lower numbers and you certainly don’t want to be feeding your baby - really, if there’s one area to be legitimately concerned, it’s with infants and children, but as an adult if you are taking a lot of anticancer nutrients and you’re eating sprouts and you’re taking some super foods, you’re exercising and getting vitamin D, then the occasional drink out of a plastic bottle is nothing to be alarmed about.

Kevin: What about alternatives, like the stainless steel water bottles, or say, something like a glass lined thermos?

Mike: I think glass is great to drink out of. That’s what I usually do. I even take that to the gym, even though they don’t like the fact that I’m carrying around a glass bottle.

Kevin: Right.

Mike: For obvious reasons, but some people are drinking out of aluminum bottles, which I think is crazy. How is aluminum better than plastic? Stainless steel is definitely the better way to go in all of this. When you get stainless steel you want steel that has low nickel content, because there are different types of stainless steel. They’re made with chromium and nickel and whatever and they’re all alloys. So you want low nickel content, because everything that’s in that steel, eventually some of it gets in your body and nickel is not a great nutrient to have in large quantities for sure.

Kevin: Right. Do you know how you would know if it’s got low nickel? I guess a hip company would put that out there.

Mike: You can go online and search for the stainless steel number. For example, a lot of stainless steel is number 420 or something. The 420 means that it has a certain percentage, I think like 5% nickel and 13% chromium or something like that. I don’t know the exact numbers, but I know you can find it. So find out the stainless steel number. Like stainless steel number 380 or 420 or something like that.

Perfumes are made from the extract of essential oils and other aromatic compounds. It is known that perfumes have a tendency to evaporate if not stored in a container. The perfume containers traditionally were simple and not very fancy, but with the increasing demand for perfumes, innovative designer bottles were manufactured to provide the perfumes with an exotic aura. These bottles were made from different materials: mainly glass, porcelain, and silver. The shapes, designs, and decorations on such perfume bottles were distinct from each other, and each one had a unique style. Egyptian perfume bottles are made from Kiln Pyrex glass, which is a hard, top-quality glass.

Egyptian perfume bottles are hand-painted and may be decorated with an 18 or 24 karat gold border. It is observed that such perfume bottles are unique, and people usually do not find another pair, as they are not duplicated. Legends state that ancient Egyptians created unique perfume bottles to collect tears of those who cried about the death of the Pharaoh. These perfume bottles are very rare, and many individuals have a passion for collecting such ancient Egyptian perfume bottles.

There are many websites where people can get information about Egyptian perfume bottles, their origin, their history, and details about their make and dealers. Different designs and styles of Egyptian perfume bottles can be obtained through the Internet. With the option of choosing the perfume bottle of the customer’s choice, the orders can be placed online by providing the necessary details. The delivery charges for the Egyptian perfume bottles are standard and can be delivered to any part of the world. Since Egyptian perfume bottles are antiques, their shipment and delivery charges can be pretty high.

Egyptian perfume bottles make unique gifts for various occasions and can be a token of appreciation and love.

Americans buy over $22 billion plastic water bottles per year, which translates to over 70 million bottles consumed daily. Recent reports have many consumers confused as to whether it is safe to drink from these bottles. Since only 17% are recycled, there are also environmental concerns.

The safety reports about Bisphenol a (BPA) in plastic are not generally found in the single use plastic water bottles purchased by most people. If there is a resin recycle code #1 on the bottom of the bottom, it uses PET, which is generally considered safe. The resin code that can indicate the presence of BPA is #7, although not all code #7 bottles contain BPA.

Even though most plastic water bottles do not contain BPA, they can still leach chemicals into the drinking water. To minimize this risk, keep bottles out of extreme heat, which can accelerate the leaching process. Internet rumors about freeze risks are false (however since water expands when frozen, drink a little before freezing to allow room for the expansion).

Plastic water bottles can be reused, but you must make sure to wash thoroughly with soap and water to eliminate bacteria. Allow to dry before refilling. I recycle mine after several uses or if it gets exposed to heat or the water develops a funny taste.

Bottled water can cost 2500 times more than tap water. Many brands of bottled water, including Dasani, are simply filtered tap water. Bottled water costs about $3-$5 per gallon. Regular community tap water, which is perfectly safe and tested regularly, costs about $2 per thousand gallons. You can buy a faucet filter and make your own filtered water for about $0.10 per gallon, or use a tabletop model like Brita for about $0.25 per gallon. To eliminate chlorine without a filter, you can use a trick I learned when I worked for a garden center about removing chlorine in irrigation water for delicate plants: leave the water uncovered overnight to allow the chlorine to dissipate.

Plastic bottles certainly have their use, and there are places where it can be impractical to bring a permanent reusable water bottle, but whenever possible, it is best to use a stainless steel or aluminum reusable water bottle.

Unfortunately, less than 20% of water bottles get recycled, despite demand for the resin from companies like Coca-Cola and Pepsi which have pledged to use 10% recycled resin in their bottles. Few states have deposit programs which have been shown to increase recycle rates. In addition, only about half of all Americans do not have curbside pickup of recyclables. While becoming more common, most public places do not have water bottle recycle bins next to trash cans. We throw away close to 60 million plastic water bottles each day.

The bottom line is that plastic water bottles are safe, but harmful to the environment. The responsible choice is to use a reusable water bottle whenever possible, and make all efforts to recycle the plastic water bottles when a metal water bottle is impractical.

A huge pet peeve of mine is when people abbreviate words in text messages, especially when I have no idea what the abbreviation stands for. I cringe when I get a message saying, “TY” or “Wadup?” What is wrong with typing, “Thank you,” or “Hi, what’s new?” I just don’t get it. I know I am in the minority when I confess that I use proper grammar while texting, but I just could not sleep knowing I sent something wherein the grammar looked as if was written by a first grader.

I get bothered when people text me with the abbreviated words as I have a heck of a time trying to figure out their meaning. About a month ago, a friend kept texting the letters BRB. For the longest time I had no idea why she kept writing that so I sent her a text asking what BRB meant. She texted back with, “Be right back” and somehow I missed the connection and thought she was going to tell me when she got back to her phone. Doh! Sometimes I amaze myself at the things I miss in life. Oh, for those of you who are slow, like, say, me, BRB means “be right back”. Please tell me I am not the only one who did not know this. LOL.

LOL. Let’s just talk about this one for a minute. LOL, or laugh out loud, is meant to be used to tell someone you are laughing or have written something funny. If the LOL is needed to indicate it is time to laugh, most likely, it wasn’t funny in the first place. If you have to tell them it is funny and they aren’t laughing, most likely, it’s not. Makes my head spin.

TY for reading this. I will BRB to write more later and if I make a joke, I will try to make sure it is funny. LOL.

In recent years, the collection of antique perfume bottles has been a rising trend. More and more new collectors and dealers are forming everyday and looking for unique designer bottles of perfume. This upward trend is fuelled by the proliferation of usage of online auction sites by collectors and dealers to sell and buy their bottles. In fact, many collectors who are just starting out their personal collection likes to visit online auction sites like eBay and they have found many rare antique perfume bottles on sale there at very reasonable prices. This trend has also benefited dealers who now have an outlet to peddle their wares and still get the best possible prices for their unique bottles.

Of course, with more exposure, comes increased competition. At the online auction sites, prices are typically very buoyant due to the large number of people bidding on the same products and the larger number of products that are on sale. However, due to the large number of choices a bidder is exposed to, there are still plenty of bargains to be had. This increased competition has also benefited customers at all levels. Dealers now take the effort to include dimension and some history of the individual bottles for sale. They have also included a scanned photo of the bottle so that potential customers know exactly what they are paying for. In this way, no customer will be buying something in the dark and because of this, many great friendships have blossomed between buyers and sellers over the years through online auction sites.

Although we mentioned that prices can be quite fast changing on online auction sites, it does not mean that all the unique bottles of perfume that are sold through that channel is expensive. In fact, there can still be very good bargain and deals if you take the time to shop around first. For example, recently a rare Mickey Mouse perfume bottle from the 1930’s have been recently sold to the tune of $375 dollars. It could have fetched a higher price if the original box was still in a mint condition.

If you are a seller who has collected some antique perfume bottles and are looking to sell some, you should take note of some of the factors that could potentially increase the price of your product. First, your product should preferably be in a mint condition and should include an original box of packaging. If it is a packaged set item, all the items should be included also. Second, if your product comes with additional accessories like a display stand or a presentation platform, you should also include it with your bottle because it is treated as a whole item. Third, if a buyer is interested in your product, do include means of communication. There were instances where a seller was slow or unclear in their response to the buyer that the buyer gave up even though the product was a very rare perfume bottle. Fortunately, this factor can be easily solved with the Internet, where communication can take place simultaneously and in real time so that any issues can be ironed out before the buyer and the seller commits to the price and the sale.

Everyone and their brother has a cell phone today and whether you use it for business or pleasure, there’s a lot you can get out of your cell phone that you probably don’t know about. I’m sure if you have a cell phone in today’s world, you probably have a text messaging feature. A lot of people don’t realize how much power a text message can really hold and the features it can really show off. Today, I’m going to show you a few cool tips that you can use with your cell phone and how you can take advantage of text messages.

Google SMS - Did you know that Google offers a very cool SMS service? This service entails you to get anything you want from directions to movie times straight to your phone via text message. The best thing about this is that it won’t cost you a penny. You can generally find more information on Google SMS by Googling the term.

Send reminders - If you’re part of a major cell phone carrier, chances are you can sign up for alerts. I’ll give you of an example. A few years ago, I was renting an apartment and since the apartment didn’t send an actual bill, I had to remember to pay at the end of the month. So, in order for myself to remember, I would sign up for an alert that would send me a text message at the end of every month telling me that my bill was due. Most carriers like Verizon and ATT will allow you to log into your account and set reminders like this. You can usually set them to remind you ever day, month, year, etc.

Send through the internet - Did you know that you can send text messages through the internet for free? Websites online will allow you to simply place the number you want to text with a little message and that website will send you a text message at no cost at all. There are tons of them out and there and in order to find them, you can simply Google, “free text messaging”.

Send acronyms - By now, if you haven’t started texting, you can find that texting may take up too much of your time. Instead of texting out big words, you can simply abbreviate. There are websites out that that will show a million terms that will allow you to shorten what you wanted to say. So, for instance, instead of saying “I have to go now”, you can simply type “G2G”, which will mean the same exact thing.

Many people pass the power of text messaging and that don’t realize how many cool things you can actually do with it. Texting is nice if you just want to send a short message to a friend or relative and that way instead of calling them, they can read it at their own convenience. It saves both you and the recipient the trouble if they are in the middle of doing something. The next time you check out your cell phone, be sure to check out the texting feature to see what it’s worth.

Have you ever known anyone that collects wine bottles? While there are many beautifully shaped and colorful wine bottles, there does not seem to be many uses for them once the alcohol is consumed. People have been known to use the wine bottles as candleholders; the candle wax melting down the sides of the bottles make for a very unique indoor decoration. Often people just collect the bottles and add them to their shelves. In this case the bottles are more like dust collectors.

One great idea for empty wine bottles is to use them to create an outdoor garden fountain. Not only will you be creating an uplifting and almost spiritual design, but also you will be helping Mother Earth by recycling what otherwise would be a dumpster contribution.

The Basics

In order to create a wine bottle garden fountain you must first decide on where you want to dig the hole that will accommodate a minimum of 18 bottles, a spray fountainhead, water pump, a sump, rocks, bricks and some pavers. All of your materials are going to be submerged.

The wine bottles will be turned upside down so that the bottoms are at the top. You want to find traditional wine bottles in a variety of colors, as their bottoms are concave. The dipped bottoms catch the water as it sprays from the fountainhead and create magical, tiny, colorful pools. The reflection from the tiny pools that this creates in the sunlight is spectacular and inspiring.

Your water fountain will be circular as the bottles dictate an automatic circle design when put together. Start with a six-bottle core and then each ring after that will double your need for wine bottles (i.e.: six for the core, 12 for the second ring and if you desire a larger garden fountain you will need 24 bottles for the third ring). The first six bottles will be strapped around the rainwater pipe held together with waterproof tape. Be careful when handling the bottles, as the sheer weight of them will make them difficult to carry. Use goggles or protective eyewear when working with glass.

Basically, you want to cover the hole with plastic sheeting to ensure proper drainage. You will then fill the plastic lined hole with bricks to hold the bottles in place, the submersible water pump, armored piping to channel the wiring under the lawn or pavers and small cobblestones and gravel to arrange around the bottles, serving as more support. The spray nozzle fountainhead will obviously rise above in the center. After you arrange some larger, decorative rocks atop the fountain to hide all the hardware, you will finally add the pavers to hold everything in place and hide the plastic sheeting.

You will want to consult with a home and garden center expert if you have any questions about the specifics on setting up your wine bottle garden fountain. You may also do some research online for specific instructions as well as thumb through any fountain project literature.

Delightful Sight

Indeed, the combination of colorful wine bottles, decorative, smooth, river rock and cement pavers is a magical sight. Wine bottle garden water fountains lend themselves well to many different themed gardens. It is a definitely conversational piece as you can talk about how you were able to collect each wine bottle and how you are proud of your recycling efforts. Wine bottle spray water fountains are beautiful and eco-friendly.

In written forms of communication, smileys or emoticons are used to portray the mood of the message. To make the smiley faces, colons or semicolons are used for the eyes and various letters are used for the mouth to display the emotion. For instance a smiley face with a wink and a smile is a semicolon with a closing parenthesis. Example ; ) For a frown a colon with a left hand parentheses. Example : ( . A big smile is a colon with a capital D. Example : D

While smileys are made purely of text characters, emoticons are little yellow faces that can be loaded from smileyCentral. Both display emotions to enhance the message of the text.

The acceptance of the smileys for informal and written messages are largely due to the abundance of communications by text messages, message boards and instant messaging (IM).

With the increasing use of the internet and wireless digital telecommunications, the adoption of the smileys has taken prominence. This movement was initiated by the youth and there is probably not a young person out there who does not know the meaning or usage of smileys.

The emotions displayed have evolved from just happiness and sadness to disbelief, anger, playfulness and surprise.

Females use the emoticons much more often than males. This may be due to feeling more comfortable in expressing emotions or they may be more versed in using telecommunication nuance techniques.

Those who criticize the use of emoticons as being detrimental to the depth of human communication do not address the benefits of using them for quicker messages with more intimate text messages.

Smileys have all been figured out and do not have the range of emotions that emoticons can express. The future of these symbols seem to have hit a plateau and the future or more nuanced symbols would require a wider range of symbols for longer text messages.

Text flirting tips are pretty essential if you want to make a good impression when you are flirting. Text messages have become very popular and, you need to know one or two things that will enable you perfect your text flirts. First, let me begin by saying that people love flirting through text. Millions of text messages go out throughout the world everyday with flirty implications. Therefore, take time to learn and, you will not be disappointed. The Internet has great tips that you need to check out. Some of the great text flirting tips that I’m talking about include the following. It is vital to start by sending the text to the right person. This might be a bit confusing but very relevant nevertheless. You flirt with someone whom you have romantic feelings for. This is the only way that you are going to make your flirt real and special. Also, flirt with somebody you are on a good page with. This leads me to my next text flirting tip. This is where you need to take time to read the mood.

Some people are known to flirt with mates they have angered in one way or another. If you do not want to set yourself up for disappointment, you need to keep the air clear. Make sure that you are in speaking terms with your partner. This way, you can expect your flirting effort to work and bear positive result. The secret to many things is simplicity. When it comes to flirting, there is no exception. Keep your text real simple and, you will not run the risk of sending stuff that cannot be understood. Another thing is delayed replying. I know it sounds mean but, very attractive. Appearing to be available at the blowing of a whistle will make you look lame. Keep some mystery and, make yourself very scarce. This way, you will keep the relationship on its toes and exciting. You can delay for a few hours or a few days. When you finally reply, the other person will appreciate your presence more. The other tip that you will agree with me is vital, is as follows. You are allowed to carry on a sexual tone of any magnitude.

This is because you are having a personal talk that needs to enjoy all the advantages that other methods of messaging do not offer. Text flirting tips have a way of improving the mood in any relationship. In turn, you will build even stronger relationships. If your woman says that you are too sexual, never apologize for it. This is part of the game that you are playing, when you consented to send each other the texts. It is vital for you to be natural and original. Make your feelings known as you receive them from your heart. sending a text continues to prove very addictive and, you will enjoy every minute of it. As you perfect your act, you will realize that there is nothing too difficult when it comes to flirting through text. The above are some the major flirting tips that you need to know about.