Plastic Recycling - Simple Methods for recycling plastic at home

• Melt Plastic into sheets or blocks
• Create an aluminium mold in a block formation with a screw on top to press the plastic into the mold firmly
• Put all plastic of the same type and color into the mold
• Put the entire mold filled with plastic into an oven, toaster oven, or other heat source at 425 degrees celcius for 30 mins
• Take out and press down the plastic using chopsticks, clothespins, or any piece of wood
• Repeat this process as many times as necessary to fill the mold, and allow the surface to be smooth
• The resultant blocks can be sculpted or cut using any regular woodworking tools
• Heat guns can be used to weld multiple blocks together
• Any excess can be re-melted in other blocks

Plastic Recycling - What plastics are things made of? What are the different types of plastic? What can they be turned into?

• What are the different types of plastic?
• How to identify the different types of plastic?
• http://www.recoup.org/identifying-plastics/images-of-typical-plastics-waste
• http://www.alphap.com/bottle-basics/plastics-comparison-chart.php
• What can they be turned into?

This is a list of the most common plastic items, the type of plastic they fall under, and what they can be recycled into

• PET (1)(Generally Transparent, Stiff but flexible, Solvent Resistant, Gas and Liquid Barrier, Sinks, Inert, Does not degrade, no BPA)
• Malleable at 75 Degrees Celcius
• Melts at 250-260 Degrees Celcius (Does not lose it's form, must be formed)
• Most Food & Beverage Bottles
• Plastic Carpets
• Clothing (Called Polyester, but same material as PET)
• Generally absorbs some of whatever was stored in it previously, making it unsuitable for recycling into food grade material without additional effort. Best suited for simple recycling into any non-food related applications.
• Best Recycled Uses - Rope, Fabric, Construction
• HDPE (2)(Very Hard, Opaque (Milky white), Chemical Resistant, Gas Permeable, matt surface)
• Malleable at 110-130 Degrees Celcius, (350 F)
• All non-glossy, non-metal Bottle Caps (and the little security ring)
• non-carbonated drink bottles
• Utensils
• Furniture
• Toys
• Buckets and Lids
• Shampoo, Detergent, Chemical bottles and caps
• snack packaging
• cereal box liner
• garbage bags
• Supermarket bags
• Orbit Gum Canisters
• Nescafe creamer canister and lid
• Burt's bees packaging
• Water Tanks
• Portable Gas Tanks
• Tide bottles
• PVC (3)(Corrosion Resistant, Low Temp Resistant, Bacteria and Microbe Resistant, Sinks)
• Malleable at 100 Degrees celcius
• Melts at 260 Degrees Celcius
• Pipes, Gutters
• Freezer Bags
• Credit Cards
• Cling Wrap (More popular, Clingier, Allows liquid and gas to pass)
• Shrink Sleeve Labels (Big plastic label that covers entire product)
• 
  
• LDPE (4)(Tough, Flexible, Scratches Easily, Electrical resistant, Better impact strength than HDPE)
• Malleable 105 - 115 degrees celcius
• Agricultural, Heavy Duty Bags
• Garbage Bags
• Bubble Wrap
• Films
• Wire and cable
• Cling Wrap (Less Clingy, Waterproof)
• Transparent vegetable bags
• Ziploc Bags
• Large Toys (Slides, rocking horses, jungle gyms)
• PP (5)(Polypropylene, Hard, Floats, Glossy smooth surface, Fatigue resistant, heat resistant, opaque, degrades in sunlight and heat)
• Melts at 160-170 degrees celcius
• Beer Crates, Pallets
• Containers
• Small Plant Pots
• Yogurt, Pudding containers
• Lunchboxes
• Glad food containers
• Kitchen Colanders
• Cups
• Snack Packaging (Biscuits, Dried Snacks)
• Ziploc Freezer bags
• Pringles Lids
• Anything with a living hinge (Thin plastic bending back and forth like a tic tac cover)
• Card holders/pages
• Shampoo, chemical caps
• Orbit Gum covers
• Tide spout, cover and cap
• PS (6)(Polystyrene, Can be foamed(EPS), Brittle, Breaks and splinters, "Crinkly", affected by fats and solvents, Releases harmful chemicals when heated or burned)
• Malleable at 100 degrees celcius
• Liquefies in Acetone
• Cheap toys
• Clothes hangers
• Disposable Food containers
• Disposable Cups, Plates, Cutlery
• Packaging & insulation (EPS)
• Coolers, Insulation
• CD Cases
• Disposable Razor handles
• Not recycled due to large size
• Best Recycled Uses - clothes hangers, park benches, flower pots, toys, rulers, stapler bodies, seedling containers, picture frames, and architectural molding
• Other (7)(Does not belong to a major category, Can only be recycled with itself, should not be mixed with any other plastic, Contains BPA)
• Dole fruit cups
• Car Bumpers
• Tape (Cellulose Acetate)
• Polycarbonate
• Polyurethane
• Superballs
• ABS(9)
• Malleable at 105 degrees celcius
• Lego
• Monitor/TV cases
• coffee makers
• cell phones
• most computer plastic
• 3d printer filament
• PA(PA)
• Nylon
• Other materials that are not plastics, but easily confused
• Rubber
• Epoxy
• Fiberglass
• Foam
• Cellophane (Biodegradable, used in most snack packaging)
• Sweet wrappers
• Cookie wrappers
• Clear Gift wrapping
• Methods to melt plastic at home (1,2,5)
• Sandwich makers and baking sheets
• Toaster oven (or any oven) baking sheets and trays
• Oven, Tin can
• Metal screw caps
• Metal Pipes
• Metal strainers
• Metal pipe & plunger with screw nozzle and heat source for simple injection molding

Life Goals

• Determine true life goals
• Write down what you want to do until you truly believe it when you say it out loud
• Learning the basics of independent sustainable survival
• 
  
• Learning the basics of social sustainable survival
• Implementing Long term sustainable survival of information
• Educating and Inspiring others
• Expanding the boundaries of current knowledge

Self Improvement

http://www.yourcoach.be/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Dale-Carnegie-How-to-win-friends-and-influence-people.pdf


http://www.arvindguptatoys.com/arvindgupta/sagancosmos.pdf


http://www.philaletheians.co.uk/Study%20notes/Living%20the%20Life/Marcus%20Aurelius'%20Meditations%20-%20tr.%20Casaubon.pdf

In a Nutshell Fundamental Techniques In Handling People
Principle 1 - Don't criticize, condemn or complain.
Principle 2 - Give honest and sincere appreciation.
Principle 3 - Arouse in the other person an eager want.

In a Nutshell - Six Ways To Make People Like You
Principle 1 - Become genuinely interested in other people.
Principle 2 - Smile.
Principle 3 - Remember that a person's name is to that person the sweetest and most important sound in any language.
Principle 4 - Be a good listener. Encourage others to talk about themselves.
Principle 5 - Talk in terms of the other person's interests.
Principle 6 - Make the other person feel important-and do it sincerely.

In A Nutshell - Win People To Your Way Of Thinking
Principle 1 The only way to get the best of an argument is to avoid it.
Principle 2 Show respect for the other person's opinions. Never say,"You're wrong."
Principle 3 If you are wrong, admit it quickly and emphatically.
Principle 4 Begin in a friendly way.
Principle 5 Get the other person saying "yes, yes" immediately.
Principle 6 Let the other person do a great deal of the talking.
Principle 7 Let the other person feel that the idea is his or hers.
Principle 8 Try honestly to see things from the other person's point of view.
Principle 9 Be sympathetic with the other person's ideas and desires.
Principle 10 Appeal to the nobler motives.
Principle 11 Dramatize your ideas.
Principle 12 Throw down a challenge.

In A Nutshell Be A Leader
A leader's job often includes changing your people's attitudes and  behavior. Some suggestions to accomplish this:
Principle 1 - Begin with praise and honest appreciation.
Principle 2 - Call attention to people's mistakes indirectly.
Principle 3 - Talk about your own mistakes before criticizing the other person.
Principle 4 - Ask questions instead of giving direct orders.
Principle 5 - Let the other person save face.
Principle 6 - Praise the slightest improvement and praise every improvement. Be "hearty in your approbation and lavish in your praise."
Principle 7 - Give the other person a fine reputation to live up to.
Principle 8 - Use encouragement. Make the fault seem easy to correct.
Principle 9 - Make the other person happy about doing the thing you suggest.

Seven Rules For Making Your Home Life Happier
Rule 1: Don't nag.
Rule 2: Don't try to make your partner over.
Rule 3: Don't criticize.
Rule 4: Give honest appreciation.
Rule 5: Pay little attentions.
Rule 6: Be courteous.
Rule 7: Read a good book on the sexual side of marriage.

Terraform-Plant growth simulation card game

Premise and Storyline

• Each player represents an agent of natural chaos, the unpredictability of reality
• Each player's "random" action has an effect on the world, and all of the entities within it
• Papa Bois
• Gaia
• Terra
• Set
• Touia Fatuna
• Prthivi
• Nature gods from each major culture as avatars with history and descriptions

Draw Piles

• Weather
• Terrain
• Plants
• Animals
• Events

Entity Cards and attributes:

• Weather
• Intensity - Calm,Normal,Extreme
• Terrain
• Height - Low, Medium, High
• Slope - Flat, Medium, Steep
• Nutrient - Poor, Normal, Rich
• Soil - Sand, Normal, Clay
• Plants
• Growth - Slow, Normal, Vigorous
• Type - Tuber, Grass, Herb, Shrub, Tree, Vine, Aquatic
• Reproduce - Rhizome, Cutting, Seed
• Creates-Flower,Fruit
• Animals
• Type-Insects, Birds, Rodents, Beast, Humans
• Behaviour - Beneficial, Normal, Destructive
• Events
• Disease
• Fire
• Disasters
• Pollution
• Accidents
• Cosmic Disasters
• Triggered Events
• Fire
• Drought
• Flood
• Seasonal Events
• Affect weather

Weather System

• Each terrain card can only have one weather card
• During a player's turn, a player can only change the weather for other players
• Every 10 cycles (every player has played a turn=1 cycle), the season changes
• All weather cards are replaced with new cards
• All weather cards are affected by modifiers from the current seaon

Terrain System

• There is no limit to the number of terrain cards that can be placed
• A Terrain card cannot be placed without a weather card
• All terrains are placed in a giant circle, each player's edge terrains are affected by neighbouring player's terrains and weather

Win Conditions

• Dominance - One player occupies the most terrains. All terrains are occupied.
• Symbiote - One player also occupies all terrains other players occupy
• Desolation - One player causes the death of the last living creature
• Prosperity - Produce 50 fruit on your turn
• Productivity - Produce 10 items on your turn

Card Zones and Layout

Gameplay

• Maximum hand size of 7
• Turn structure
• All plants feed during other player's turns
• During your turn, you can take any 3 actions. They do not have to be different actions.
• Grow
• Expand
• Draw from a pile
• You may play any number of cards on your turn
• Events can be used at any time as long as their requirements are met
• Certain events happen automatically when certain combinations of conditions exist
• When the opposing player's turn starts, return all of your weather cards to the weather pile, shuffle, draw 3 and place in your weather zone

New Pond Observation Log

• The goal is to create a sustainable water system that does not require pumps and filters
• Tank 1 - Side of the house, low sunlight, nothing overhead
• Tank 2 - Corner of the garden further away, more sunlight, under a ficus tree
• Week 1
• Just filled 2 300 gal tanks, no bubbler, no filter, no pump
• Let them sit for 3 days to let the chlorine evaporate, then put a few floating plants - lettuce, hyacinth, foxtail.
• A few leaves fell in from the surrounding trees, i left them
• Water stayed generally clear,started to get slightly cloudy by the end of the week
• Week 2
• Added 4 fish to each pond, 2 hillaries, 2 comets, mainly to prevent mosquitoes
• Fish were very scared, and just sat at the bottom of the tank for 2-3 days
• By the 4-5th day, the fish were happily swimming about and eating normally, and showed no signs of struggling to breathe, or lack of oxygen
• One of the hillaries had babies, i counted about 8 fry hiding among the plants
• Added a few more plants, some young papyrus, a couple lilies, amazon swordplants, other random plants
• Water started turning green
• By the end of the week, the pond was completely green, and i could not see the bottom
• No algae had started growing on the sides of the tanks
• Week 3
• Water continues to get greener and more opaque each day
• Fish seem to be enjoying it more and more, and seem quite happy in the green water
• Fry are getting larger, and seem to be safe in the floating plants
• Algae still has not started growing on the sides of the tanks
• Week 4
• Water seems to have reached a stable level of green, with visibility going about 6 inches
• The second tank has also spawned Hillary fry
• I have noticed a consistent stream of bubbles coming from a bunch of foxtails i planted in a sunken pot.
• I added more floating plants for the fry, and to reduce sun exposure
• Algae has not started growing on the sides as yet
• Put some Basil stalks through the lettuce to float in an attempt to get floating Basil. 
• After 2 days, they have sprouted roots, we'll see how long they last.
• The neighbour's cat seems to have discovered the tanks, and spent a night beating up the side of the tank
• There is no way for it to get over the lip without falling in
• It gave up at around 5am, we'll keep an eye out for him
• Week 5
• Algae has stabilized at around 6-inch visibility
• Floating lettuce is noteceably yellower than when it was first introduced, suggesting that this pond does not have as much ammonia/nitrate/nitrite than the pond they came from, as would be expected
• Another possibility is that the top layer of water is relatively nutrient free, while all the nutrients are settling in the bottom layers
• Basil has survived, and started sending out roots
• Added a handful of watercress in an attempt to introduce microscopic life such as trumpet snails, brine shrimp and seed shrimp
• http://www.planetinverts.com/what_is_that_bug_in_my_aquarium.html
• The lack of circulation does not seem to currently affect the fish. They happily move through all of the layers without taking air from the surface.
• Papyrus still has not shown any signs of rooting
• Algae has not rooted onto the sides of the tanks as yet, although there seems to be some sort of mineral deposit collecting on the sides. It is sandy to the touch, and comes off easily when rubbed. Possibly calcium deposits on the waterline, but the deposits can be felt deeper under the surface all along the sides of the tank, not only on the waterline.
• Week 6
• Algae has receded in one pond to 2-foot visibility (can barely see the bottom). Almost half the surface is covered in lettuce
• The other pond under the ficus tree still has only 2-6-inch visibility. Half the pond is covered by Ficus, the other half is covered by lettuce, so it has to be the amount of leaf litter falling into the pond causing more algae than usual. Hopefully the papyrus will correct this.
• Papyrus has roots in one of the ponds, and is sending out shoots
• One overhanging Ficus tree has dropped some roots into one pond, think i'll leave them there as long as they're pulling out ammonia
• Basil has started growing, very slowly
• Algae still has not grown on any surfaces
• Watercress has been almost completely consumed by the fish, only  few strands are left
• Water lily has sent out another pad, noticeably larger than the others
• Fry are enjoying the foxtail and lettuce to hide in
• The larger fish go after the fry, but they are able to escape into the tangle of floating roots of the lettuce and foxtail
• Added Medium smooth rocks to the bottom of the tank to create some hiding place for the fish, and to hold down future plants
• Week 7
• Both tanks have spawned new fry, about 6-8 each
• Existing fry have reached about half inch length
• One tank has gone almost perfectly clear, with all algae completely receding
• We notice that this tank gets almost no sun due to the sun position at this time of year
• The other tank continues to maintain 2-inch visibility with small dead algae clumps consistently floating to the surface
• I skim off the excess and put it in the surrounding plants, they seem to be enjoying it
• Although tank 2 is under a tree, it still gets more sun than tank 1, and i have attributed the algae growth to this greater sun exposure
• The floating lettuce in both tanks seems to have gotten a shade yellower, indicating that the ammonia and nitrate levels in the top layers at least are quite low
• My foxtail that i have planted at the base by being loosely held in some rocks is my gauge for nitrates at lower levels
• So far, the foxtail also shows signs of yellowing, indicating overall low levels of ammonia and nitrates
• There is a noticeable difference in the foxtail that is growing directly underneath the lettuce. It is greener and more vibrant, suggesting it does not like direct sunlight.
• The fry live constantly in the foxtail and the unopened lily leaves
• Without this plant, i am certain none would have survived as the large fish consistently chase them if they see them
• The fry are quite capable of eluding the larger fish as long as they have their special hiding places to retreat to
• The lily has put out many new leaves, almost triple the size of the original leaves, and seems to be enjoying the deep, calm water
• Tank 2 Papyrus is growing quite aggressively, sending roots along the side of the tank straight down
• Largest sprout is almost half foot tall
• Tank 1 papyrus has shown no signs of rooting
• Ficus roots have attached themselves to the side of the tank
• Fish seem to enjoy the rocks and will swim lazily between them
• A thin layer of algae seems to be slowly growing on the sides.
• A thin layer of algae has firmly rooted itself on all the smooth rocks, suggesting that the water tanks have anti-algal coatings, as the algae grew on the rocks almost immediately

Observations and PH Levels in Fish and Ponds

http://www.gbasonline.org/disease_chart.htm

http://www.lagunakoi.com/Pond-Water-Chemistry-Water-Testing-sc-29.html

• Alkaline Water
• Hard Water,contains dissolved Mg and Ca, general Ph of 8-8.5
• Can be caused by concrete bricks, concrete, excess lime from runoff or calcium sources from shells
• Can be caused from a hard water supply
• If you have white lines on the water line, this indicates mineralization, and most likely, Alkaline water
• Promotes algae Growth
• Sunlight causes Plants to absorb CO2, increasing the alkalinity of the water
• Ammonia is Alkaline
• Nitrite is slightly alkaline (depends on Nitrite, but generally is alkaline)
• Nitrate is slightly alkaline (depends on Nitrate, but generally is alkaline)
• Caused by Decaying material and fish sludge
• Acidic Water
• Rain water, contains dissolved CO2 general Ph of 6-6.5
• Soft Water, slimy feeling when you wash off soap
• Adsence of sunlight causes plants to stop absorbing CO2, increasing the acidity of the water
• Chlorine in Water
• Fish turn upside down when you add new water
• Fish start "peeing" white strings that dissolve
• Fish turn pale
• Fish appear to be struggling for breath, or struggling to swim
• Brown Gills
• Fish start to dart around
• Water smells of Chlorine
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• Ammonia
• Water may be whitish cloudy (distinct from greenish cloudy of algae)
•