Would you be able to defend yourself and your loved ones if someone were to physically attack you? It’s a question most of us don’t want to consider, but violence is, unfortunately, a fact of life. Thankfully, regardless of strength, size, or previous training, anyone can learn several effective self-defense techniques. Here’s how to prepare for and stay safe in common real-world violent situations. More »
Every home should have at least one fire extinguisher, but there are many kinds with different purposes. Home improvement blog This Old House deciphers what label codes mean, so you can buy the right kind for each room. More »
The way most drivers, and car makers, keep their side mirrors doesn’t actually cover the blind spot outside the driver’s vision. Car and Driver illustrates a car mirror setup that, once you get used to it, could prevent lane change freak-outs.
The auto magazine culls its mirror alignment diagram from a paper published in 1995 by the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE). That paper suggested, basically, moving your side mirrors to point further out into adjacent lanes, a trick that can take some getting used to:
The paper advocates adjusting the mirrors so far outward that the viewing angle of the side mirrors just overlaps that of the cabin’s rearview mirror. This can be disorienting for drivers used to seeing the flanks of their own car in the side mirrors. But when correctly positioned, the mirrors negate a car’s blind spots. This obviates the need to glance over your shoulder to safely change lanes as well as the need for an expensive blind-spot warning system.
So the trick is to get the side mirrors aligned just outside what your rearview mirror covers, and rely on your own vision to cover the areas in your peripheral vision. Neat trick, but as the magazine (and their commenters) mention, you’ll want to train yourself on a neighborhood road before taking this setup out on the interstate.
Check out the Car and Driver post for a full look and explanation of the SAE-approved side mirror setup. Got a better solution to your side mirror setup? Do tell in the comments. Thanks for the link, cipheroid!.
Having food allergies are a big enough hassle in your native country, let alone when traveling where you don’t speak the language very well. Allerglobal helps you make language-specific food allergy cards to communicate in restaurants.
At Allerglobal you can select from dozens of food allergies and generate a printable card that you can use while traveling. Allerglobal translates the cards into 27 languages—although we selected English so that you could read what the stock phrases on the card were, you can just as easily select Italian, French, or other languages. If you're traveling and your use of the local language is shaky or nonexistent, it's definitely worth printing off a few cards before you leave the country.
Have your own tip, trick, or handy printout to make traveling easier? Let’s hear about it in the comments.
If you want to check out a neighborhood you’re planning on moving to or just want to see how things are looking in your corner of Sunnyvale, CrimeReports mashes up local police reports with a map of the area.
CrimeReports will display, when data is available, a variety of crimes including homicide, breaking and entering, robbery, theft, theft of/from a vehicle, assault, and sexual offenses by default. You can also add in other crimes like kidnapping, arson, alarm responses, and proactive police activity like community policing and vehicles stops.
All of the above have color coded flags that can be easily read on the map. The flags are identified in the left hand column or by mouse click—both give you the type of crime and the location. You can also adjust the range of dates displayed to the last few days, last week, two weeks, month, or a custom date range via calendar. CrimeReports is a free service and requires no login.
