Live Smart Daily | A Smart Take on Daily Life

More than just a mailbox, the inbOx can add that modern touch to your home, condo, office, or cubicle.

This “Food for Thought” lunch box has been specially designed to hold fruit whilst protecting it from bruising or overheating. Children will be able to enjoy lunchbox fruit at its best which will in turn enocurage them to reach their 5-a-day target. A unique, colour changing thermo-spot on the underside of the box helps achieve this by indicating when food has overheated.

Renowned South African textile designer Ronel Jordaan takes her inspiration from nature, and uses felt to give free rein to her imagination. Socially conscious as well as gifted, Jordaan has set up a women’s workshop in Gauteng- Johannesburg-where her personally trained artisans transform interlocking fibers, made from 100% merino wool, into these freeform oversized “stone” floor cushions. Though they may fool the eye, they provide immediately recognizable comfort to weary torsos in search of a relaxing seat. Soft yet buoyant, the veined, smooth textured cushions can be arranged to support seat and back. Children love them. Parents love them. Guests love them, too. Hand washable in cold water.

If you’ve been paying attention, you’ve heard the rumblings about saving energy by turning off electric appliances when you’re not using them. That means REALLY turning them off, not just hitting the “Off” button. Ever wonder how much you’d save? (thanks to GOOD magazine and MAKE)

When you’re talking, writing, or texting between friends, you can misuse and misspell words, or use the wrong punctuation. As long as your friends get your point, it’s usually ok. But if it’s going to be read by someone who’s not a close friend, you and your point of view are going to be judged on how you write. It’s the only reference strangers have. Most, if not all, writing and email programs have spellcheckers built in. Use them.

OTHER USEFUL REFERENCES
This is a really fast online dictionary. Down and dirty, and very handy. Put this in your browser’s Toolbar.

Dictionary, thesaurus, translation, medical terms, and much more. MW also has a Word of the Day (online and via email), Learner’s Word of the Day (to learn English), and many other features. Cool feature – it has audio files, so it will pronounce the word for you. Dictionary, thesaurus, Encyclopedia, Word of the Day (online and via email), Spanish Word of the Day, and much more.

Great site. They claim to have the largest collection of Internet acronyms and text messaging shorthand, in addition to thousands of definitions of words used in business, technology, and communication. Also Word of the Day (online and via email), Acronym of the Day. Cool feature – all content can be purchased as a book and a downloadable PDF.

Online dictionary of synonyms and antonyms.

This could be helpful, if it worked better. Enter a word, phrase, or concept, and it will try to give you the right word.

COMMONLY CONFUSED WORDS
If you’ve been online, you’ve seen them all:

1. It’s and its
It’s – a contraction, meaning it is or it has. “It’s all the same to me.” (“It is all the same to me”). “It’s been a lousy day.” (“It has been…”). This is a simple rule. You only use the apostrophe when it is a contraction for it is or it has.

TIP: If you’re wondering whether or not to use the apostrophe, substitute it is. If the sentence comes out, “The dog got it is tail caught in the door,” take out the apostrophe.

Its – a personal pronoun, which shows possession. “The dog got its tail caught in the door.” Personal pronouns (hers, his, its, mine, ours, theirs, whose, yours) do not need apostrophes.

Its’ – there is no such word.

2. You’re and your
You’re – a contraction, meaning you are. “You’re going to take the trash out, right?” (You are going to take the trash out). Another simple rule: only use the apostrophe when it’s a contraction for you are.

TIP: If you’re wondering whether or not to use the apostrophe, substitute you are. If the sentence comes out, “Get you are feet off my desk,” take out the apostrophe, and use your instead.

Your – a possessive pronoun. “Get your feet off my desk!”

3. They’re, their, there
They’re – a contraction, meaning they are. “They’re going on a cruise.”

Their – a possessive pronoun. Jocks on the news always say the only way to win the Super Bowl is by playing their game.

There – a location. “Put that junk over there.”

4. Who’s and whose
Who’s – a contraction, meaning who is. “Who’s going to the game?”

TIP: If you’re wondering whether or not to use the apostrophe, substitute who is. If the sentence comes out, “Who is money is this?”, take out the apostrophe (and add the letter e).

Whose – a possessive pronoun. “Whose headphones are these?”

5. Loose and lose
Loose – not a tight fit. For many people, loose pants are the fashion.

Lose – to not have. Lose time, lose the race, lose your mind.

6. Affect and effect
Affect – these are a little trickier, because each of these words can be a verb or a noun. But in normal usage, affect means to change, and it often involves an emotional response. “Everyone was worried how her brother’s accident would affect Marianne.”
Effect – the result of that action. “It was easy to see the effect it had on Bob.”

TIP: As mentioned, there are other ways to use both words, but if you have to use them those ways, you probably already know how to do so. They tend to involve psychiatric, governmental, and legal writing (though not exclusively).

7. Sell and sale – I don’t know whether it’s just where I live, or it’s a function of people who use Craigslist and eBay, but I see these two words confused often, and I don’t know why.
Sell – a verb, meaning to offer something in exchange for money. “I need to sell fifty chickens in a hurry.”
Sale – a noun, meaning the act of offering things for sale. “We’re having a sale this Thursday on used Barbie parts.”

Vincent Callebaut, a visionary Belgian architect has come up with his proposal ‘Lilypad, A Floating Ecopolis‘ as a solution. Lilypad, a prototype of auto-sufficient amphibious city is a true amphibian – half aquatic and half terrestrial city. It will be able to accommodate 50,000 inhabitants. The floating structure of the Ecopolis is directly inspired by the highly ribbed leaf of the great lilypad of Amazonia Victoria Regia. The goal is to create a harmonious coexistence of humans and nature, exploring new modes of crosscultural aquatic living.

A beautiful use of newspapers by creating a public installation which highlights the environmental result of yesterday’s news by Sumer Erek for Creative City.

Dutch designer Tejo Remy has found a another use for the bright yellow bouncy felt-and-rubber balls. The same material qualities that make tennis balls bright, bouncy and easy-to-spot make for seating that is comfortable, sturdy, and extremely eye-catching.

Created to celebrate the union of the art and urban bicycle cultures, the Rolling Canvas Art Collective will highlight and encourage the use of bicycles as a means of artistic expression. These twenty-plus artists will recreate basic, fixed gear bicycles into one-of-a-kind representations of their creative methods ranging from sculpture and metal work, to street art and paint. The art installations will be auctioned off to the public, with each artist donating a portion of the proceeds to Neighborhood Bike Works of Philadelphia.

Read [The Rolling Canvas Art Collective]
VIA [ToyCyte]

You spend one-third of your life there, and when it’s time to replace your mattress, you’re faced with a salesman working on commission at a place like “Barney’s Discount Bed Barn”. If, in addition to the perfectly restful sleep, you’re concerned about things like: Recycling & buying products with recycled materials. Seeking a lower carbon footprint with low to zero emission products. Heightened awareness of Sustainability and you want a mattress you can take home by yourself, look at Keetsa. Keetsa uses a Patent-Pending process, that they claim allows all of their mattresses to come in a highly efficient, recyclable package.

You don’t buy your shoes from a cobbler, and you may not get food directly from the farmer, but if you’re looking for something unique, with perhaps a connection to the artisan who created it, Etsy may be the answer. Created to reconnect producer with consumer, with a community that actively supports one another in the shared goal of offering alternatives to mass-produced objects, Etsy is the online market for all things handmade.

Alternative energy is on everyone’s mind these days, so what can you do about it? One way to analyze and evaluate your potential for solar installations at your home or business is RoofRay, the online solar array tool that uses Google Maps to view your property from above, so you can accurately assess whether solar panels will work for you.
Get information such as Power per square foot,
Total Peak Power, etc. before you begin the quote process.

You may have slowed down in your world travels, but that doesn’t mean you have to forget what you learned. Play the Traveler IQ game by yourself, or amaze and annoy your friends with your international knowledge. Compete against your friends, create your own challenges, or play thousands of challenges created by others.