pileofcrapola

In our pursuit of advanced technology, we forget that mother nature has already patented all the best ideas. With just a hose clamp, some plastic tubing, and piece of tree branch, you can create a simple water filter.

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You've seen it happen before—maybe you've even experienced the stomach-churning, brain-in-hyperdrive feeling yourself. Whether it's the pro missing those easy free throws on the basketball court or someone sweating through an important presentation in the conference room—even the best performers choke under pressure.

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Soldering copper pipes is a more advanced DIY skill, but a great one to have if your house contains copper plumbing. Here's a complete walk-through of how to solder pipes.

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Everyone is need of storing items at one point or another, but do you know what to put it in or at what temp you should try and keep it? This infographic from Next Door Self Storage gives you the rundown on storing anything from food to electronics.

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Corgi owners around the nation are rallying around a slain Bellingham dog, calling for the harshest penalty for the man charged with killing Molly, a Pembroke Welsh corgi.

When it comes to sexual assault prevention, Navy leaders have gotten the message from their sailors: Enough with the boring PowerPoint presentations.

It's scary that once we retire we're supposed to live decades—maybe even 40 years or so—without a paycheck. The Department of Labor, Social Security Admininistration, and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid want to help you plan for the kind of retirement you want.

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Closets can quickly get cluttered with clothes and then it's time to clean. But what do you keep and what do you throw out? Owltastic Adventures designed a neat infographic that you can print and hang up to make quick decisions about what to keep, trash and donate.

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Kids are great at providing perspective. Since they don't have jobs, can't vote, and generally don't start causing serious relationship drama until they turn into teenagers, they're uniquely placed to learn what really matters (whether they intentionally mean to teach us or not).

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We tend to think of generic products as a popular brand's less-cool little brother, but a recent study from the University of Chicago's Booth School shows that chefs are more likely to buy generic food and these are the foods they go generic with.

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It's always good to travel with at least one comfortable pair of sweat pants or pajama bottoms. If you're looking a slick, space-saving way to pack them, YouTuber CrazyRussianHacker is back to demonstrate how to roll your sweats Ranger-style.

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They buzz in your ear, give you relentlessly itchy bites, and they are the world's biggest killer . Mosquitoes may go down in history as the worst pest of all time, and a recent study suggests that having a cold one could draw them to you.

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If you've been looking for a job, you've seen ads that offer great pay for entry level positions. Lots of scams exist out there, and one way to detect a scammer is by paying attention to who does the talking at a job interview.

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Often, when giving a presentation, we have to show statistics to illustrate our point. Instead of using a slide, consider getting the audience involved to help them understand the numbers.

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We've all been in a situation when we need to get some quick cash and decide to sell something. Learning some of the phrases to search for might help you score a great deal.

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There are lots of places to donate clothing and other items to charity, but few will take things like interior doors or sink fixtures. Habitat for Humanity, however, does—and many of their local ReStores will pick your home improvement remnants up for you.

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If you're thinking about saving for retirement, you probably know that an individual retirement account (IRA) is one of your options. But what exactly is an IRA, and is it right for you? Follow our beginner's guide to the IRA to find out.

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Running that AC can cost you a pretty penny, but you still need to cool down at night so you can sleep comfortably. Real Simple notes that a fan blowing air out of your room is better than one blowing in.

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What if I said you didn’t need a speeding Delorean and 1.21 gigawatts to revisit the past? No, you just need a few hundred dollars and the willingness to spend that money to sit on a movie set and pretend you’re flying in a Pan Am jet from a bygone era.

The Pan Am Experience, which is really just a set at aviation-themed film studio Air Hollywood, aims to take guests on a trip back to the 1970s when travelers enjoyed five-star dinners and unlimited cocktails in the lap of luxury – all without actually going airborne.

The supposed blast from the past starts on the main deck of a re-created Pan Am 747 with cocktail and beverage service provided by those famous polyester-clad flight attendants. From there guests can choose from a variety of video and audio selections while reclining in the classic Pan Am Sleeperette seats.

When it’s time for dinner, guests can climb the staircase for cocktails and a gourmet meal is served. Don’t worry, the food is reportedly freshly made, not an actual holdover from the ’70s.

“Everything from the china to the glassware is authentic with careful attention to the exquisite service delivery of the era and menu offerings of Pan Am,” officials with Pan Am Experience say.

To end the evening customers are invited to look at airline memorabilia and other film production sets at Air Hollywood.

While most everything is authentic to the ’70s, the cost of admission isn’t. For the approximate price of a modern airplane ticket – you know, one that actually takes you from one place to another – consumers can purchase either a first-class ticket for $297 or the equivalent of today’s economy class ticket for $197.

The Pan Am Experience, A Real-World Simulation of a 1970s Flight on a Pan Am 747 Jumbo Jet [Laughing Squid]

Microbeads are little plastic beads that appear in face washes, toothpastes, and other personal-care items. They aren’t so beautiful for America’s waterways, where the tiny beads could end up in the stomachs of the fish and fowl we like to gaze at and eat. Some lawmakers want the beads banned, but Procter & Gamble is the latest personal-care products company to dump them voluntarily.

One person who consumers can thank for this change is dental hygienist Trish Walraven in Phoenix, who started noticing little blue beads embedded in her patients’ gums. She wrote a widely-circulated blog post about the effects of microbeads, noting that microbeads embedded in your gums could be dangerous, and not a harmless whitening tool.

“They’ll trap bacteria in the gums which leads to gingivitis, and over time that infection moves from the gum into the bone that holds your teeth, and that becomes periodontal disease. Periodontal disease is scary,” a Phoenix-area dentist (not Walraven’s employer) told CNN.

Procter & Gamble has announced that they will remove all microbeads from their products by 2016, and that they’ll be gone from most of their toothpastes within a few months. In a statement to one TV news station, the company explained:

While the ingredient in question is completely safe, we understand there is a growing preference for us to remove the ingredient. So we will.

To double-check your dentifrice of choice, look for polyethylene on the label.

P&G dropping microbeads ahead of lawmaker action [Bloomberg News]

We’ve been cataloging the spread of Christmas Creep, the debut of Christmas merchandise and decorations earlier in the season, for some years now, but it’s important to remember that aggressive Christmas marketing before Thanksgiving and even before Halloween is not a new phenomenon. Don’t believe us? Let’s take a trip back in time to 1989, when video game consoles, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, My Little Pony, and Transformers ruled the line drawings of the Kay-Bee Toys ad. Wait, this is really 25 years old?

Of course, much of what you see here is now defunct: you never see line drawings in newspaper ad circulars anymore, and Kay-Bee (later known as KB) Toys is no longer in business. Toys themselves don’t change all that much, though. Compare this flyer to Walmart’s 2014 “hot toys” list: both have dolls, cars, games, cuddly toys, and dinosaurs.

I was never really into board games, but I had no recollection of what “Tuba-Ruba” was. I found this ad, and have never quite recovered.

Will Radcliff, who built a multimillion-dollar global business from flavored, icy Slush Puppie drinks, has died in Cincinnati. He was 74.

A young dog that was found branded with a profane word has undergone cosmetic surgery in Kentucky to mask part of the word that was chemically burned into her.

A man who spent time in prison a decade ago for the shooting death of his young son killed six of his grandchildren, including an infant, his adult daughter and himself in a rampage at a home where authorities in the small Florida town say they had been called to in the past.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is proposing to remove the Delmarva Peninsula fox squirrel from the endangered species list.

A western Maryland woman whose beloved dogs died in a house fire has raised enough money to buy pet oxygen masks for 21 Washington County fire companies.

After a week of searching, wild life experts in Fairfax County didn't find a Cougar in the area near Riverside Elementary in Alexandria.

Being nice doesn't have to be selfless. There are many benefits to helping others that come right back to you. Professor, researcher, and philosopher Stephen Post talked with Big Think about how being good is good for you mentally and physically.

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The terrorist group ISIS (or ISIL) is in the headlines on a daily basis, and the group uses films and displays of their captives’ and opponents’ heads and bodies as a potent weapon. How potent? Complaints from guests led the theme park Busch Gardens to change a Halloween display that features (fake, rubber) severed heads.

When TV station WAVY interviewed theme park guests, their opinion was mixed on whether the heads were all a bunch of harmless Halloween fun, or too close to what’s currently in the headlines.

Here’s the full statement from Busch Gardens:

Many of the scenes depicted at Busch Gardens’ Howl-O-Scream are graphic in nature, but they are fictional and are not intended to provide commentary on current world events. The props in this year’s event were designed and purchased several months ago. In light of recent events, some of these props have the unintended consequence of appearing insensitive and are being removed. Busch Gardens apologizes for any offense they may have caused.

Busch Gardens pulls gory display amid complaints [WAVY]

The people of Scotland will decide on Thursday whether to end a partnership with the rest of the United Kingdom that has lasted more than 300 years. Here is a guide to Scotland as the historic vote nears.