The site of an ancient city called Aüza, the earliest African city of the Phoenician civilization that existed 3,500 years ago, may have been in a different spot than experts have thought, archaeologists report. |
Scholars know Aüza existed from written records, but its exact location has never been proven. By studying ancient maps and records, emeritus classics professor Sir John Boardman of the Beazley Archive at Britain's University of Oxford was able to locate a more likely site for the ancient city, he said. |
"This is simply a matter of making a suggestion of where the place is actually to be located on a map," Boardman told LiveScience. "Too many people have wanted to put it much too far away." |
Where previous historians have thought this outpost was probably far to the west, beyond Carthage in Tunisia (the northernmost country in Africa), Boardman submits that Aüza lies at a site known as Aziris nearer Egypt and Phoenicia, the home base of the Phoenicians centered on modern-day Israel and Lebanon. |
Aüza was a port city used to give the Phoenicians a foothold on the continent of Africa. The site of Aziris would have provided "good anchorage, with a defensible promontory and easy access inland," Boardman wrote in a paper describing his findings published in the August issue of the Oxford Journal of Archaeology. |
The Phoenicians were a seafaring civilization that lived between 1,550 B.C. and 300 B.C. They were famous for their shipbuilding capabilities and seamanship. |
"They were exploring the western Mediterranean the same time the Greekswere," Boardman said. "It's fashionable to think they were in rivalry, but it's much more likely they were friendly to each other." |
The Phoenicians were also the first civilization to use the alphabet widely. They spread their system of writing throughout the Middle East, North Africa and Europe, and it is thought to be the ancestor of almost all modern alphabets. |
The confusion over the site for Aüza likely stemmed from the many names the site of Aziris has been known by over time, and the poor records identifying where Aüza actually was, Boardman said. Though he can't be sure he's gotten to the bottom of the matter, Boardman said he thinks Aziris is the most likely place to have hosted Aüza. |
Get ready: All it takes is cider vinegar, a jar, dish soap, and plastic wrap. Pour just enough cider vinegar to cover the bottom of the jar. Add a drop of dish soap (it will break the surface tension of the vinegar so the fruit flies can't just sit atop the liquid). Now, cover the jar with plastic wrap and poke a few holes in the top. |
It's worth mentioning that in the comments of the post readers shared how they skipped using the plastic wrap altogether and it still worked just as well. The flies are attracted to the smell of the cider vinegar and as soon as they land in it they sink. Have a clever way of getting pests out of your kitchen? Let's hear about it in the comments. |
| beer. replace the vinegar with beer. they go nuts for it and commit mass suicide in your jar. clean the kitchen, leave out the beer for two days (i changed it after each day, though) and you'll be fly-free. |
| Beer and wine seem to work better than cider vinegar. Now if I see flies, I just pour a little of whatever I'm drinking & add the soap. |
| I've had better success with red wine vinegar. |
| Fruit flies hate Basil!
Put a pot of Basil on your kitchen and good bye fruit flies. |
| You can also dilute the ACV with water so that you can use less of it. |
Jelloware re-imagines the concept of drinking, and imparts a new experience in the way it feels, tastes, smells, moves, and is even disposed of. The cups are made entirely out of agar agar and cast in different flavors, such as lemon-basil, ginger-mint, or rosemary-beet, each specifically designed to compliment a corresponding drink. Jelloware is meant to be thrown into the grass after it is used, as agar agar is a seaweed extract and actually nurtures the growth of plants.
Get ready: All it takes is cider vinegar, a jar, dish soap, and plastic wrap. Pour just enough cider vinegar to cover the bottom of the jar. Add a drop of dish soap (it will break the surface tension of the vinegar so the fruit flies can't just sit atop the liquid). Now, cover the jar with plastic wrap and poke a few holes in the top. |
It's worth mentioning that in the comments of the post readers shared how they skipped using the plastic wrap altogether and it still worked just as well. The flies are attracted to the smell of the cider vinegar and as soon as they land in it they sink. Have a clever way of getting pests out of your kitchen? Let's hear about it in the comments. |
| Jeff Wagg would like to have a word with you about what you "know" without questioning. Read on, and you'll learn about bed mites, bacteria, and mayonnaise, but also how following popular thought can stick you with false assumptions and habits. |
Everyone knows ... that you should make your bed |
Everyone knows ... that you should wash chicken before you cook it |
Everyone knows ... that mayonnaise goes bad quickly |
Everyone knows ... that what we used to know is wrong, but what we know now is correct. |
People are often wrong. Experts are only as good as their knowledge, observations, and ability to interpret what they see. In the three cases above, studies and new thinking have replaced "what everyone knows" with new knowledge – and they're all false. |
While making your bed may seem tidy, it's been known by scientists for years that making your bed increases the growth of mites. During the night, you sweat and that moisture is absorbed by the bed. In turn this moisture provides a hospitable environment for the mites who breed and multiply as they feed on your dead skin cells. If their concentrations get too high, you may experience itchiness or other symptoms from their excrement. For the best results, don't make your bed, which helps it dry out during the day. |
As for chicken, it's also been known for years that washing raw chicken increases the likelihood of food poisoning. Why? Because chicken meat and skin are often covered with harmful pathogens. While cooking the chicken kills these pathogens, washing the chicken just spreads them around to the sink, counter, cutting board... and your hands. It's far better to handle the chicken as little as possible and then wash your hands and anything else that has come into contact with the chicken. |
And if you're choosing to make chicken salad out of that chicken, know that mayonnaise is a preservative, not something that makes the chicken go bad faster. Mayonnaise has a pH of 3.7, which is acidic enough to retard the growth of most bacteria. That doesn't mean food should be left out – bacteria will grow eventually. Just know that if you get sick, it was likely the chicken's fault rather than the mayo. |
Except that we haven't, have we? I'll wager that many of you believed some if not all of these pieces of wisdom. The fact that they're "time-honored" and dare I say "ancient wisdom" has no bearing on the fact that according to the best information we have available today, they're all false. |
Yet many would claim that we not update what we "know" based on new information. Purveyors of "ancient arts" like homeopathy, Ayurveda, bloodletting, the four humors, acupuncture, and phrenology fail to embrace this idea. |
Science is not about what we know, but about how we know. And we know that as we gather more information, we'll have a more accurate view of the way the world works. |
And that means... I don't have to make my bed anymore. Yay science! |
| Jeff Wagg is a communications and outreach coordinator for the James Randi Educational Foundation. The foundation's main line of work lies in questioning supernatural and paranormal activity, but this essay, we thought, spoke to the wider idea of questioning what "you know." |
- ga - Go to all items view.
- gs - Go to Starred Items.
- gu - Open up Ajax’y dialog to quickly select a particular feed.
- gt - Open up Ajax’y dialog to quickly select a tag
- s - Star an item
- n - Navigate to next item without opening it
- p - Navigate to previous item without opening it
- j - Open next item
- k - Open previous item
- o - Open / Close item
- r - Refresh. (I think I’ve worn out this key)
- t - Pop up dialog box letting you assign a tag to an item. Very cool.
- Shift+A - Mark all as read.
| 1. Sort your feeds by priority. |
Google Reader makes it easy to organize all of your feeds by topic. However, I would also suggest that you categorize
your feeds by priority as well. This way, you know which items are “Must Read” and which items “Can Be Skipped” on days that you’re busy. |
| 2. Use Keyboard Shortcuts. |
j/k: item down/up
o: open/close item
s: toggle star
m: mark as read/unread
t: tag an item |
3. Optimize your feed reading time by combining certain feeds into one large master feed. |
This can be done using FeedShake. Feedshake allows you to merge, sort, and filter multiple RSS feeds. You can also use filters and tags to create a more customized feed. |
For a more advanced solution, you can try Yahoo Pipes. Yahoo Pipes is a very powerful RSS feed remixer that gives you the ability to create web mashups that combine a variety of data from different sources. Yahoo Pipes takes web aggregation to an entirely new level. |
4. Add tags to your feed items. |
Google Reader lets you organize all of your feed items by tags. This is one of the best features for those who are
looking to optimize their time. |
To add a tag to a post, simply click “add tags” and enter the relevant tags. |
| 5. Search your feed items. |
6. Star items for future reference. |
Google Reader enables you to quickly star items for future reference. This can come in handy for items that you want to refer to later. |
For optimum productivity, use expanded view. Expanded view makes it very easy to scroll all of your feed items and
scan for interesting posts. |
However, I don’t suggest that you simply scroll down the page. You can go from one entry to the next simply by
pressing the “J” key. Whenever you want to go backwards, use the “K” key to return to the previous post. |
|
Marking your garden and herb pots is a handy practice for easy identification but garden markers can detract from the beauty of your garden. These DIY markers have a vintage look that's right at home in a garden. |
These garden markers are so simple to make that even the least DIY-inclined will have no trouble with it. Over at the craft and DIY blog Window Ledge Arts they put together a guide to making your own garden markers from thrift store silverware. All you need is inexpensive silverware, a cheap metal stamping kit—they bought theirs for $5 at Harbor Freight—and a hammer. |
Check out the full article below for step by step instructions including tips on how to make your letters stand out more. Have a favorite DIY project to share? Let's hear about it in comments below. |
10. Make your money handle itself. |
| It seems obvious, but a surprising number of geeks still manually shuffle their money around each month, paying bills as they come (or forgetting them) and saving when they think of it (and forgetting to). Your options may vary depending on your bank, but almost anybody can benefit from automating your finances. Think of it in GTD terms—the less time you spend worrying about where your dollars go, the more time and energy you have to spend them the way you want. |
9. Back up your computer automatically. |
| Maybe you're an avid enough reader of this site to have gotten the religion of Hard Drives Always Fail, so you've set up your Windows or Mac system to automatically back up. You might use a nifty GUI tool like IdleBackup (which we walked through), or implemented a rock-solid tool like rsync. If that's the case, we're still going to suggest you make a weekend project of setting up your spouse, parents, siblings, or friends' computers to do the same. It's one less frantic call you'll receive, and it's one of the few guaranteed ways to feel no worries about the inevitable |
8. Skip unnecessary store runs with Amazon Subscribe & Save. |
| Not everyone needs or wants to have their paper towels, baby needs, or other dry goods delivered to them on a regular schedule, but for those of us who end up making last-minute drives to the store for something as simple as a cleaning sponge, Amazon's Subscribe & Save program could be a true blessing. It has free shipping, a pretty smart schedule creator, and saves you a bit of cash over buying the items per diem—or at drugstore markup rates. |
7. Make your computer get back to work (or play) when you sit down. |
| Those who work from home, or in frenetic office environments, know that it's almost impossible to actually sit in one place and type for 8 hours—you get up to check the mail, use the bathroom, grab more coffee, chat with co-workers, and so forth. Even if you're just an easily-distracted user at home, Adam'sguide to proximity and location-based computer actions can turn your computer into an eerily sentient device. If you're carrying your cell phone with you, the Home Zone software can make your computer wake up, turn down the music, unlock the screensaver, and do other tasks once you return to your system, and go back into security or media center modes when you leave. HAL is here, and he'd like to fire up your Work Music iTunes playlist for you |
6. Document your parties without carrying a camera. |
| Senior Editor Adam Pash throws some mean parties, but he doesn't have the types of friends who bring their DSLR rigs and send him back great shots of the festivities. So he fired up his computer, and imagination, and found a host of ways to effortlessly document his party with simple photo projects, which anyone can implement. Give friends photo-booth-style strips, show pictures from the party as it happens, and forget having to bug everyone to pose every 10 minutes. |
5. Turn a webcam into a security camera. |
| Webcams are a great way to keep track of tempted kids (and their babysitter) or otherwise monitor what's going on back at home. They're a lot cheaper than installing a video surveillance camera, they're so commonplace and small as not to be noticed, and you can access them over the net. Check out Adam's guide to turning a Mac into a FTP-backed-up security camera, or try Windows software like HomeCamera or the motion-sensing Yawcam. |
4. Pre-load breakfast and dinner with a fuzzy-logic rice cooker. |
| A good, timer-driven rice cooker is like a Ultimate Edition of that trusty hot pot that saw you through college, with way more convenience. As readers of Cool Tools point out, a fuzzy-logic model like the Zojirushi 5-1/2-Cup Neuro Fuzzy Rice Cooker can be loaded at night to wake you up with hot breakfast, and filled before leaving for work with rice, beans, soup, or another warm side for dinner. There are cheaper and smaller models than the $165 Zojirushi make that can get the job done—anything with a start and shutoff timer will make daily cooking much easier. |
3. Find your food easily with a DIY pantry auto-light. |
| When you catch a late-night cookie craving, nothing's more frustrating than spending precious munching time looking for the goodies in a dimly-lit pantry. Gina's father-in-law refused to stumble about his dry goods in the dark, so he built a DIY pantry light out of a Timex watch holder and some rope lights. It's super convenient, and looks a lot cooler than a bulb and hanging switch. |
2. Control any plugged-in device from your computer |
Have you ever dreamed of opening a terminal, typing in start coffee, and smelling the hot stuff brewing minutes later? The geeky magic of X10 makes it possible, along with scripts that open your curtains based on the sunrise time, turn off the lights when you leave the room, and much more. Wired's How-To Wiki runs down the basics of X10 in handy fashion. Change a few plugs, learn the software, and soon enough, you're saving time and money with things like a remote-controlled deadbolt. |
| Like your garden, your lawn likes to get a deep dose of water before the sun comes out to bake it. You can spend a lot of money or manually drag your sprinkler around the yard, or you can do what contributor Jason did andmake your own DIY automatic sprinkler. His total cost was $100; your mileage will vary with your lawn size and sprinkler needs, and you can knock at least $30 out of it if you feel like building your own timer. We know our readers apply the same DIY, make-it-work-for-you spirit to their homes as they do their computers. Let's hear about your favorite and most convenient home automation projects in the comments. |
1. Keep a perfect lawn with automatic sprinklers |
At 1:30 yesterday afternoon, my husband made an off-hand remark about his parents coming to visit from Chicago. I was in a zone, still focused on a phone call from that morning, and only really heard “my parents” and “dinner” and “arrival.” |
About an hour later, I came to understand that he said, “My parents just called and they’re arriving around 8:00 tonight. I think we should take them out to dinner when they get here.” He meant 8:00 p.m., as in six and a half hours from when he first mentioned it to me. Surprise! |
It’s exact moments like these when I am thankful that we live an uncluttered life. Instead of worrying about the state of the house or what we might feed our guests while they are here or anything hostess related, I simply nodded and told him, “good to know.” |
The toilets and shower in the bathroom are clean, there is food in the kitchen cupboards, we have clean bed linens, and everything in the house is in its place. I ran the dishwasher a few hours earlier than normal so that it wouldn’t keep them awake (our “guest room” is a pull-out in our living room), but, except for having two wonderful guests, our schedule for the day was the same as a typical Wednesday. |
It’s surprise situations like these that I like to focus my attentions to when I’m doing my 30 minutes of chores each evening. Being free from unnecessary stress is a powerful motivator when routinely taking care of the small things. A little bit of work each night means that there is never a big issue to solve, and house guests can show up for surprise visits without causing my stress levels to soar. |
Now, I just need to be a detective and figure out how this visit never made it onto our family calendar. |
There are times when I want to upload not just a few pictures but a whole collection to my SkyDrive. Turns out that this is not as simple as I first imagined. Here is the procedure I attempted. You may have run into this yourself. I logged in to my Live account, maneuvered to SkyDrive, created the folder that I wanted for my collection. It opened up the Add files dialog. I dragged the folder from my local Pictures library. Here is what happened: |
This does not work. You cannot add folders, just individual files. A short while back, Mynetx posted the solution to this dilemma. The work around is mapping the SkyDrive folder into the computer so it looks like just another drive on the system. His procedure is described in detail in the post How-to: Connect Your SkyDrive in Windows Explorer. I will recap the procedure here – this procedure is for Windows 7. It works pretty much the same in Vista. |
Only an album or a primary folder in the SkyDrive can be mapped as a local drive. The entire SkyDrive cannot be mapped, subfolders cannot be mapped. |
Log into your Windows Live account. Obtain the cid of the SkyDrive, that is everything after the hyphen and before the next period. See the illustration here: |
Open Windows Explorer (Start – Computer) Open Map network drive. Select the drive letter you want to use. Enter this string into the Folder: boxdocs.live.net@SSL (see illustration here). |
Paste your cid number after the string followed by a back-slash and the name of the folder on the SkyDrive you wish to map. The folder must exist, the name may contain spaces. |
Click Finish. A dialog will show that a connection is being established, followed by a log in request. |
Login with your Live account credentials. Moments later a Windows Explorer window open with you newly mapped drive. |
It will show in Windows Explorer as illustrated here. If you get repeated login requests or a notice that the drive could not be found, try this: Turn off your firewall, repeat the mapping, then turn your firewall back on. Now back to copying a folder up to the SkyDrive. |
Use the newly mapped drive just like any other folder on your computer. In the illustration here I show dragging a folder to the mapped drive. Since this uploads files to the SkyDrive it will be slower than normal copying. Your upload speed is determined by the type of Internet connection you have. So, what else can you do? See this: |
You can include the mapped drive in Windows Live Photo Gallery. You can work on the photos just like any other, but keep in mind that it involves down-loading and up-loading, so the process will be slow. Of, course you can use the mapped folder just like any other, copying, moving things around. Files operate just like any other (except in Properties there is no Security tab) – all the file properties are there: |
Note of caution. Some folks, like me, have pathological computer setups. I have two operating systems installed on my machine in dual-boot configuration. I use different user names in the systems. Some drives are commonly available. Some files on those drives will be created by one user, some by the other. The ownership of files from the other system (which is, of course, not operating) will show up as “Account unknown” – uploading such a file to a public folder on the SkyDrive could be a security breach. Windows 7 is smarter than that and will not upload such files (you do get a warning). |
One other note of caution: I have had problems with mapped SkyDrive folder being marked for “reconnect at logon” mostly on my Windows 7 machine where security is tighter. |
Mapping several SkyDrive folders is no problem. I have mapped SkyDrive folders belonging to different users (Connect using different credentials) without problems. The firewall remembers not to interfere on subsequent mappings. |
Mapping SkyDrive folders has been very useful to me, makes many chores very easy. A tip of the hat to Mynetx. |
This is not a site where you get cheap stuff - the only stuff you can get here is free stuff and you’ll walk away feeling like an environmental hero. You have to register and it’s a little quirky in that you have to join a local group in your city or community. They’re really particular about which group you can join and they have very strict terms of service in terms of what you can post. Just like you’ll get stuff for free, when it’s your turn to recycle - you have to give it away for free. Everything from baby stuff to DVDs and furniture gets exchanged on FreeCycle. |
Most people know about Craigslist by now, but you may not be aware of how much free stuff trades hands. All you need to do is look in the ‘Free stuff’ category under ‘For Sale’ and see whatever comes up. I’ve noticed a lot of people use this to get rid of stuff fast - probably because they’re moving. So, don’t procrastinate - if it’s what you’re looking for - make early contact. While some of the stuff isn't the greatest, there can be some great stuff just because people are moving and don't want to deal with selling or donating an item. Construction materials are another great bet as people routinely give away bricks, filler soil and even lumber. |
Most people have heard of eBay, but few people know that Overstock also hasAuctions . While eBay remains ultra competitive due to the high number of bidders, Overstock tends to have a less competitive environment. Look for great deals from Best Buy and other major retailers when they liquidate certain product lines on Overstock.com. For more tips on how you can snag a deal on Overstock Auctions read Kids, Buy Them Great Stuff Barely Used |
The mother of all auction sites. On the plus side, more stuff changes hands on eBay than all the other auction sites combined. But the intense bidding competition is a huge negative that rarely allows you to get an incredible deal on new and near new stuff. That said, deals on used stuff can still be had. Find an item that you want and watch the bidding pattern that evolves. Prices on eBay can skyrocket in the last few seconds. So be prepared to be disappointed if you see your high bid vanish off the screen at the last moment. |
If you don't want to bid on items but still want a deal, head to CowBoom which is owned by Best Buy. Cowboom sells used, refurbished, and late model products. The site allows you to buy based on the product condition. Invariably, the prices are higher than what you would pay by bidding on an item but there is no wait and no uncertainty. If you are looking for consumer electronics, appliances, or computers, take the time to check out Cowboom. A word of caution is in order: to make sure you really are getting a deal, know exactly how much you would pay for the item if it was brand new. |
| www.swaptree.com
trade your old media for new, pay only outgoing postage (cheap media mail rates) |
|
| www.stretcher.com
www.community.stretcher.com/forums/
www.daveramsey.com
www.mytotalmoneymakeover.com
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| John,
Thanks for the addition. There is also eBates and Bing has a pretty generouscash back program.
I don't have a lot of experience with these, but if they don't let you use a 3rd party coupon, I'd have a hard time using it. Many coupons give 20-30% off vs. 5-7% cash back. Hopefully you can use both, but if not, I'd go with the coupon. Anyone use these plus coupons? |
|
SlickDeals.net: Technology focused. Great resource if you are looking for a deal that is available today on computers or consumer electronics. |
Zillow is known for it's home value engine that will let you know the estimated value of any house in your neighborhood but it's also a great resource when you start comparison shopping for a mortgage. You can specify the loan you are looking for and get a number of mortgage brokers to bid on your loan. What makes this service unique is getting real quotes and keeping your info anonymous. |
Redfin: A great site for getting information on property values and recent transactions. They don't cover every area, but if they cover yours, you should definitely use it. The site's databases are frequently updated and gives you timely transaction prices for a given geographic area. |
Penfed.org: PenFed is one of the largest credit unions in the country and offers some of the best rates. To get a benchmark rate for what a good loan looks like, head to their rates section where you'll find over 100 mortgage products with rates clearly listed. |
BankRate.com: Rates on everything from credit cards to mortgages and CDs. The site also delivers some very good personal finance advice. |
Fool.com's Credit Section: The Motley Fool is known mostly for stock investing, but they have a good section on credit. It's not updated very often but there are some really good articles there that make it worth your while. |
GetRichSlowly: All about simple living and getting out of debt. The real value is in the enormous number of comments from savvy readers. |
TheSimpleDollar: Financial advice for middle income earners. Focused on the frugal crowd. |
GoodFinancialCents: Professional investment advice from a CFP. Great site to visit if you are doing retirement planning or investing. |
The Dollar Stretcher: One of the oldest sites on the Internet for personal finance with thousands of articles from the last 15 years. |
GenXFinance: Advice geared towards those in their 20s and 30s. Solid writing on a number of subjects. |
There you have it. 20 of the best websites on the Web to help you live smarter and cheaper. Got more? Help your fellow readers by adding them in the comments. Read more at www.livecheap.com |
