Tips During A Disaster

All of us in or near Boston are still shaken by the horrible bombing at the Marathon this week. It’s unfortunately true that you cannot predict when participating in a normal public activity will suddenly turn into an emergency – though short of being in a location of overt civil or political unrest the actual chances of it happening to you are far less than the incessant media coverage makes you think.

But if you do find yourself caught up in a dangerous public emergency, here are some things to keep in mind:

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Friday Faves 02-08-13

With a major winter storm poised to bury my area in a couple feet of snow, let’s think of warmer days – check out this Kickstarter to build an urban farm on the roof of a building in downtown Boston:

 

This is kind of neat – a phone charging device that produces charge based on applying your hot or cold drink to it:

 

Local tip: if you are a resident of Cambridge MA with less-than-adequate or no health insurance (or even if you have some – there is no qualification other than residency) you can get a free card for discounts on prescription medicine at certain pharmacies. See all the information here.

Easier Pet Medication with Compounding

We have four cats, and none of them are easy to trick into taking medicine. That was especially difficult when one needed to go on twice-daily doses of thyroid medication. Rather than trying various pill pouches, rolling it in cheese, or grinding pills to powder for food mixing, consider having your pet’s prescription filled by a compounding pharmacy who will professionally mix the medicine with other ingredients to make it more appealing to your pet.

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Friday Faves 01-25-13

Some fun items:

For my donation to the Indiegogo campaign for Lunar Labyrinth (still 6 days to go!) I got one of two available custom flasks. That reward point is now closed – BUT if you would like to have a nicely hand-painted steel flask, great for water or any 8 oz of liquid you might want to stash in your hip pocket (great for places that want to sell you a bottle of water for $5!)  check out John King’s site:

 

If you are wondering about what evidence, if any, exists for using a particular supplement for a specific medical use, check out this chart visualizing study results for various supplements.

 

If you don’t use a lot of data/text/voice time on your phone, or it varies so much that paying $100/month for a large amount of minutes that don’t roll over, check out Ting, who offers a plan that automatically charges you for whatever tier of service you actually use in a particular monthly period, even if you signed up for a higher tier.

 

If you like classic movies shown in old moviehouses, consider supporting Cambridge’s Brattle Theatre so that they can update their projectors (since the film distributors are going all-digital, even for old films) and their heating/cooling system: