Thursday, April 30, 2009

Subtle movement of plant

I found that this little plant will have its "solar panels" extended flat when in the afternoon and it will retract at night:

Harvesting solar energy:


Energy saving mode:

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Installation of a shelf on the wall


This kind of shelf could be a little bit tricky to install.

There are four holes at the back, and they will give your four screws to fix it on the wall via those holes. You will need to keep the screws well aligned and leveled for proper installation. Failing to do this properly could be quite dangerous since the weight would not be distributed evenly among the four anchor screws at the back. However, if properly installed, those screws could be surprisingly strong that they can hold heavy stuff likes books.

Therefore, the key lies in proper alignment of the screws at the back.

First of all, you won't be able make perfect alignment in one shot. However, it's not impossible if you do that progressively. Good measurements and marking are necessary but those were not enough. To begin with your initial measurement and markings, I recommend you to use small nails first. When those small nails are placed, you can try putting the shelf there (while holding them with your hands), to see if it's a good fit. It should be quite good, but from that point, you can do small adjustments when the bigger holes were drilled for the final screws.

This is my first time doing this, and it's about perfect. Of course, if this is your first time too, check carefully if the screws are all installed properly. Check if all the screws are engaged in holding the shelf, re-do the whole thing even if one of them is not supporting the shelf. Last but not least, put only lighter stuff there, in my case, my collection of CDs and they won't add much weight to the whole thing.

Monday, April 13, 2009

Cleaning tap filter

If you found that the water is running slower than before, it's time for you to clean the filter inside your tape. Normally, you can remove that filter assembly and have it shaked and cleaned. However, it will become less efficient over time, because more sand/small stones are stucked inside the filter. You need to diassembly the whole thing to remove the dirty stuff.

Don't worry, it's simple.



A small screw drive will help:-



After cleaning:

Saturday, April 11, 2009

Problem with Software Updates

Software updates seem to be a great feature, and yes, it should be. However, if you have a computer that won't be booted up frequently, you run into big trouble.

For example, I'm not a frequent notebook user. My notebook is sitting idle for most of its life in my shelf. When I need to go out with it, I will bring it along, and it won't happen more than once every few months. I guess that you already know what I mean. When I need to use it, I will boot it up, after the booting process, the antivirus software checks for update, the operating system checks for update, etc.

The updates are usually large both in terms of size and number! Since I'm essentially doing all those updates gathered a few months at all once! Guess what, it renders my notebook essentially useless for over tens minutes at least! This is just to download and apply those updates!

So, be sure to pull out your notebook once every week in order to keep it updated, otherwise, when you need to use it, you can't until after all those updates!