The main ingredient in soap is tallow products. For those who don't know what tallow is, here's the definition: Hard fat obtained from parts of the bodies of cattle, sheep, or horses, and used in foodstuffs or to make candles, leather dressing, soap, and lubricants. Hmmm, sounds kind of disgusting. So basically we wash ourselves in animal fat. Yuk. Who thought of this? Ok, I use soap too, but this does sound pretty nasty.

Today I dug out my old double edged Weck safety razor. I know the razor is old and was made in Germany, but beyond that I don't know much about it. I know there are some folks out there who collect vintage razors and I'm hoping maybe someone can fill me in a little on it. It has "WECK" engraved on the top, "Germany" on the under side, and on the bottom of the handle is the profile of a man (kinda looks Roman or something). No idea how old it actually is so I'm hoping someone will know a bi...

This morning, after showering for work, I noticed the bathroom floor was soaking wet. I mopped it up and went on about the business of getting ready for work. When I returned home this eveving, I found yet more water on the floor. What the? After some investigating, I discovered that my bathtub is cracked underneath the rubber bath mat. How did this happen? Oh great. So tomorrow after work I will be visiting Lowes to see what is available to repair a cracked fiberglass bathtub. What a p...

Ok, I admit it. I hate to shave. It's painful. Shaving causes my neck to break out in a painful rash. It always has. After my car wreck I was told to use an electric razor for a while because I was on heavy doses of anti-coagulants to prevent blot clots resulting from the surgery on my hip/pelvis. The electric was ok, didn't rash my neck much, but also just didn't give nearly as as close a shave either. The other day I decided to go back to a blade. I was looking around for some good pr...

This is for those who ride bicycles. DO NOT RIDE ON THE LEFT SIDE OF THE ROAD!!! You're on a vehicle. You are required by law to follow the traffic laws. That includes riding with traffic , not against it. I just took a short 6 mile ride, and saw three different cyclists riding against traffic. Not only is it illegal, it's just plain stupid. Anyone turning onto the roadway or crossing the roadway is looking for approaching traffic in the correct lane. Riding on the wrong side of the ...

This information is taken from various sources including state laws, state driver's handbooks, and bicycle safety advocacy sites. A bicycle is a vehicle. Any person riding a bicycle has all of the same rights and responsibilities as a driver of any other vehicle. In most states, bicycles are required to ride as far to the right of the roadway as is safely possible. There are however certain conditions which allow bicycles to use the main part of the roadway. FOLLOWING A CYCLIST ...

You've heard of speed traps, but what about bicycle traps? Five Utah police agencies will be participating in a state-sponsored crackdown on motorists who aren't safely sharing the roads with bicycles. Plainclothes officers will ride bicycles to catch motorists who aren't sharing the road. Utah averages about 900 bicyclists a year who are injured and often killed by motorists. While this is sadly not an unusually high number in relation to other states, Utah has decided to do something...

A couple of days ago as I was riding through Kentucky, something caught my eye up ahead and on the side of the highway. I had to do a double take because I didn't believe I was really seeing what I thought I was seeing. Sure enough, there was a camel, large as life, walking along the fence line beside the interstate. And what was even more odd was the fact that there was a donkey following it. Now that's something you just don't see every day.

I am parked in KY for the night about three hours or so from my first stop. Close enough. It's a little truckstop out in the sticks and I really didn't expect to be able to get WiFi service here. I managed to pick up a weak wireless signal, although I'm not positive where it might be coming from. There are no houses that close, so it's either coming from the CB shop, or one of the three transmission towers I can see from here (doubtful, but possible). Or there is a house close by that I ju...

I've had more than 300 sutures/staples in my life so far. I've had a double lumbar lamenectomy (sp?). I've had my neck broken. I've had my eyes rendered non functional by lightening. I've had my pelvis shattered. I've had my spleen and a lung punctured by bullets. I've had my colon pierced by a knife. I've had my body breached by numerous attacks and accidents. By rights I should probably be dead. Been damned close to it a few times. But the human body is an amazing thing. It's really ama...

How ya doing? How are you? How's it going? People ask these questions all the time without actually giving a damn about the answer. So I'll ask here, how the hell are you doing?

I started a rather large DVD iso download a couple of hours ago. The download manager I am using, KGet (a KDE DE Linux app), was minimized in the system tray. While working, I decided to log out of the KDE environment and log into the XFCE4 window manager. No real reason for it other than XFCE4 uses fewer system resources than KDE. Fluxbox is really my favorite as it uses the fewest resources. I use Fluxbox when I want to work with resource intensive apps as they run faster. Anyway, I dig...

I got out my old mesquite hiking stick just to check it's condition and because I was considering putting it in my truck in case the hip was feeling especially good some time out on the road and I wanted to try a short hike. It's a great stick as mesquite is a very strong wood as well as light, and is the perfect length for me. As I was checking it out I noticed that it's feeling pretty slick these days. Nothing worse than working up a good sweat and trying to hang on to a slick wooden sta...

I'm getting ready to go back out on the road as soon as they call me with a load. For this reason I don't want to go to the grocery to buy anything that I may not eat before having to leave. I'm using up what's left here. I was getting hungry and rummaging around to see what I could come up with for lunch. Well, let's see, I have some macaroni, tomato sauce, assorted spices and herbs. I cooked up some macaroni, drained it and added the tomato sauce, oregano, dried onion powder, salt, an...

A wonderful tribute to liquid bread! Ho! Ho! Yes! Yes! It's very all well, You may drunk I am think, but I tell you I'm not, I'm as sound as a fiddle and fit as a bell, And stable quite ill to see what's what. I under do stand you surprise a got When I headed my smear with gooseberry jam; And I've swallowed, I grant, a beer of lot - But I'm not so think as you drunk I am. Can I liquor my stand? Why, yes, like hell! I care not how many a tossed I've pot, I shall stralk quite wei...