Tag Archives: home appliance

A Problem Invention and a Favorite

‘Easy open,’the can says. Yeah right! What sadist invented these ring pull cans? I cannot believe I am the only person on the planet that has trouble with the supposedly easy open ring pull cans. In fact I know I’m not as I have seen others end up in the same situation, which makes me feel better. Each time I attempt a ring pull can, I either end up looking at the ruing pull in one hand and the can in the other entirely separate. Or a can I still can’t get open. If he is around I usually hand … Continue reading →

Get To Know Your Freezer: You Break The Ice

Your freezer wants you to care for its upkeep and well-being, even if it cannot tell you so. It’s important for it to be kept sweet smelling and free of ice and know that the chilliest corner of your house is its home. It works for you all the time with no one to talk to, and while you and your family are sleeping, it’s doing its chilly best to keep your food frozen for you. What can you do in return? Consider the cold options below. A Fresh Freezer: This is not a matter of a freezer who uses … Continue reading →

The Dishwasher As Energy-Saver and Friend

Here are some tips to save time, energy and money while operating the dishwasher in your home. (These tips will also work in your friends’ homes, but I am quite sure that YOUR dishwasher isn’t there.) 1. Run the dishwasher only when you have a full load. It’s much cheaper that way. 2. Save energy by using the air-dry method rather than heat dry. It may not be as fast, but is more energy-efficient. The door can be opened to speed up the drying process at the end of the cycle and if your dryer does no have such an … Continue reading →

Tivo For The Home, Anyone?

“It’s a bird. It’s a plane. No, it’s Tivo!” ~ Anonymous Someone of semi-importance said that once you own a Tivo, you will wonder how you ever managed to live without one. Without what? you might ask, looking like the rear end of an unsophisticated donkey, if you’re anything like me. I first heard about Tivo a year or so ago on the Oprah Winfrey Show, and had no idea that I was watching the birth not of the blues, but of a push button technological coup d’etat. Tivo users swear that the device has revolutionized their lives, altering domestic … Continue reading →

Plasma TV: Do You Need A Transfusion?

What is this thing called plasma television and why can’t I get it at the local blood bank? Wherever did it come from and why does it beckon from regions heretofore unknown? Read on, no matter what blood type you may be. July of 1964 marked the entrance of the very first prototype for a plasma display monitor. It was the brain-child of University of Illinois professors Donald Blitzer and Gene Slottow and then graduate student, Robert Wilson. The concept did not become possible however, until the advent of digital and other technologies many years later. Plasma is the name … Continue reading →

The History of the Refrigerator: The Cold Truth and Hard Facts

Eugene O’Neil’s iceman was from another day and age, but the cutting and storage of ice goes back much further to 1,000 BC, in China. Before that time, snow, ice, cool streams, springs, caves and cellars were used to refrigerate food. The first cellars were holes dug into the ground that were lined with wood or straw and packed with snow and ice. Around 500 BC, the Egyptians made ice on cold nights by setting water out in earthenware pots that were kept wet. At some point in history, perhaps in the 14th century in China and the seventeenth century … Continue reading →

The Garbage Disposal In Your Home: What Else Can It Do?

Disposing of garbage has been a problem for mankind even before the star of the Sopranos television series became an executive in the area of “waste management.” It became an issue around 1000 BC as people first began to establish permanent settlements. In 400 BC the first municipal dump was established in ancient Athens. Here, in all probability, thoughts of greatness mingled and rested on the smelly laurels of orange and lemon rinds, pomegranates, onions and grapes (sour and otherwise). In Medieval Europe as well as Colonial America, pigs roamed through city streets devouring what was left of the blue … Continue reading →

The Hands Free Can Opener: Use Your Feet!

Whoever heard of a can opener that didn’t need hands to open it? The next thing you know they will invent a can opener that doesn’t need a can! Seriously though, convenience has gone amuck with this new appliance, proving that moderation is fine in all things except moderation. This new appliance requires some close scrutiny. (Look, but do not touch!) This can opener is guaranteed to make you feel like a circus performer! No kidding! You can open a can, clean a counter, talk on the phone, and maybe even figure out a way to ride a horse or … Continue reading →

The Dishwasher As Energy Saver and Friend

Here are some tips to save time, energy and money while operating the dishwasher in your home. (Share these with your friends, but not the other machines in your home as they may become jealous and stop operating.) 1. Run the dishwasher only when you have a full load. It’s much cheaper that way. 2. Save energy by using the air-dry method rather than heat dry. It may not be as fast, but is more energy-efficient. The door can be opened to speed up the drying process at the end of the cycle and if your dryer does not have … Continue reading →

Sorry, Right Number: Rude Call Waiting

Is there anyone who hasn’t seen the old film noir classic, ”Sorry, Wrong Number” with Barbara Stanwyck and Burt Lancaster? Made in the 1940s, the film weaves a clever tale of a woman who overhears plans for her own murder over an accidental cross of telephone wires. She commands the operator, whom she refers to as “a good woman who probably doesn’t understand,” to re-connect her to the number she reached in error and not the one she was trying to dial in the first place (her husband’s office number). Even in the movies, this cannot be done and it … Continue reading →