What is hoarding?

This week Time featured a video about a 75-year old granny named Franny Gray who is about to be evicted from her apartment after authorities found about some dangerous materials and possible fire hazardous piles. According to the story, Franny is a hoarder or is suffering from what is typically known as hoarding or compulsive hoarding. Gray is living alone at a rented apartment and authorities found out that the granny has been collecting volumes of newspapers and other things that made her place look like a garbage bin.

Compulsive hoarding is not yet classified as a disorder like obsessive-compulsive disorder but psychologists admit that this kind of disturbance exits. Unlike collectors, hoarders collects anything they might have normally of no value then having the difficulty to discard them. Hoarders are also called "pack rats" in relation to the attitudes rats possess.

There are now different types of hoarding and it affects children as well as adults most of the symptoms are associated with obsessive-compulsive disorder. In modern times, a yet another type of this disturbance surfaced known as the digital hoarding where in the "digital pack rat" collects files, programs, software, songs, porn clips, movies even if most of them are of no use.

Who is Frank Abagnale?

You might have read many articles about the most fraudulent person in the US. You might have read about the "barefoot bandit" in mainstream news. All of these had been Frank Abagnale. He might not be the "barefoot bandit" but he is just the main character in the movie "Catch Me If You Can" played by Leonardo DiCaprio. Also featured in the film was Tom Hanks who played as an FBI agent who followed on the escapades of Abagnale.

Frank Abagnale Jr. was born in April 27, 1948 and a known check forger, confidence trickster, escape artist, and impostor. He had managed to become a lawyer, a doctor in medical scrubs, an airline pilot, and a prison inspector. All of the crimes he committed happened when he was between 16-21 years old. According to Wikipedia, he has flown for about a million miles over 250 flights as a deadhead to 26 countries. With his fraudulent acts he had made about $2.5 million out of the checks he forged.

He eventually became a part of FBI in exchange of freedom working as an assistant to help the bureau detect forgeries. This time, he is still connected with the FBI as an academy consultant and teacher. He is also a renowned financial forgery consultant and owns the Abagnale & Associates.

What is mold poisoning?

The late Brittany Murphy and her husband in the recent reports released were said to have been killed. Yes. Killed not by outlaws but by criminal toxins. When Ms. Murphy died of complications from pneumonia, doctors in medical scrubs, did not immediately thought of the possibility she might have died of poisoning. In fact, they ruled she died of drug overdose. Shortly after few months, her husband was also found dead in the same house Ms. Murphy died. The cause: cardiac arrest. But few days ago, a report had been released about the death of the couple: mold poisoning.

So I did a research about mold poisoning and well try to answer the query.

Mold poisoning, also known as black mold poisoning, happens when a human being happens to eat, inhale, or contaminated by fungus(found in molds) which contains mycotoxin. We often see molds in every part of our house and it dwells vastly to humid and wet places. We often see them in jams, cheeses, fruits, and breads. Mycotoxin may be in a form of gas excreted by the fungus it contains and when a human inhales said toxic in large volume can result to death or other physical complications.

Pneumonia might be a result of a black mold poisoning as the toxic can enter the lungs which can cause for the latter to bleed. There are also physical indications of contamination like skin allergies for instance. Gradual memory loss or frequent nausea may also be one of the symptoms of mold poisoning.

For more information about this, its good you pay a visit to your physician and request for a test. To avoid molds at home, make sure you clean regularly and throw unconsumed food that might be a good place for mold production.

What is Plinky?

I am often flooded with questions in some of my blogs and those questions mostly are about writing techniques and attitudes toward it. Most often too, my answers are always as vague as their questions as I do not have any specific formula in writing or even an exact writing technique to avoid boredom and burn out. The only thing I do most when my fingers are too idle to type and my brain is too lame to think is research. But it is just too hard to research for topics and when you do it randomly chances are that instead of doing research you actually starting killing time. This is where the answer to the question we are going to tackle today.

When I blog about workwear uniforms or medical scrubs, I make sure that I have whole knowledge about it. Often, I look for topics that at some point related to a specific keyword that I want to use.

Then Plinky. In most cases that I do not have any topic in mind, I turn my attentions to questions and start answering them. Manually, I observed, this technique cannot suffice to shoo burn out. Thanks for Plinky and looking for question where you can incorporate keyword is now easy.

Plinky is an online software that generates questions that you can blog about. These questions may range from personal to experiential and you can choose from hundreds of questions they have. You only need to sign up and there you go.

How zipper works?

For a short history about the zipper; the earliest recorded zip-like fastener was patented by Elias Howe in 1851. The mechanism of the Howe's zip is similar to the ones we use today except that it did not contain any slider instead used a string that can be pulled to close the clasps. Then zipper was then renamed and patented by Whitcomb L. Judson with the name "clasp locker." But the series of attempts to improve and redesign the zipper was ended by the invention of Gideon Sundbäck in 1914 which resembles the modern zippers we have now. It has been coined with several names and one of them is the "C-Curity Fastener" and used mostly in workwear uniforms.

Zipper, just like how the early inventors thought about it, works in a principle of hook clasping in which a hook clasps with an eye. Before, it can be done with a string but these days a protruding latch called a slider is the one that locks or unlocks the series of hooks and eyes. In a cross section of the slider you will see the "Y" rail where in the two sides of the zipper pass. The sides of the zipper break and join at the point where the upper part of the "Y" and its leg meet.

For other info, Wikepedia listed types of zipper namely:

a. Coil zippers now form the bulk of sales of zippers worldwide. The slider runs on two coils on each side; the "teeth" are the coils. Two basic types of coils are used: one with coils in spiral form, usually with a cord running inside the coils; the other with coils in ladder form, also called the Ruhrmann type. This second type is now used only in a few parts of the world, mainly in South Asia. Coil zippers are made of polyester coil and are thus also known as polyester zippers. Nylon was formerly used and though only polyester is used now, the type is still known as a nylon zipper.

b. Invisible zippers' teeth are behind the tape. The tape's color matches the garment's, as does the slider, so that, except the slider, the zipper is "invisible". This kind of a zipper is common in skirts and dresses. Invisible zippers are usually coil zippers. They are also seeing increased use by the military and emergency services due to the fact that the appearance of a button down shirt can be maintained, while having a quick and easy system.

c. Metallic zippers are the classic zipper type, found mostly in jeans today. The teeth are not a coil, but are individual pieces of metal moulded into shape and set on the zipper tape at regular intervals. Metal zippers are made in brass, aluminium and nickel, according to the metal used for teeth making. All these zippers are basically made from flat wire. A special type of metal zipper is made from pre-formed wire, usually brass but sometimes other metals too. Only a few companies in the world have the technology. This type of pre-formed metal zippers is mainly used in high grade jeanswear, workwear uniforms, etc., where high strength is required and zippers need to withstand tough washing.

d. Plastic-molded zippers are identical to metallic zippers, except that the teeth are plastic instead of metal. Metal zippers can be painted to match the surrounding fabric; plastic zippers can be made in any color of plastic. Plastic zippers mostly use polyacetal resin though other resins are used as well, such as polyethylene.
e. Open-ended zippers use a "box and pin" mechanism to lock the two sides of the zipper into place, often in jackets. Open-ended zippers can be of any of the above specified types.

f. Closed-ended zippers are closed at both ends; they are often used in baggage.

How Velcro works?

Fasteners are important elements in clothing as it serves as locks to the garment openings. Pants basically use buttons and zipper as fasteners in most of our clothes and workwear apparels such as pants and some other manufacturers are comfortable utilizing velcro. We know what is a zipper and what is a button and we basically know how these two works and being used. However, we are not just that sure how velcro works.

In order to know how velcro works, it is good that we first tackle how its inventor made it. According to accounts, velcro was invented by a Swiss engineer George de Mestral. He came to the idea of a clothing fastener when after a hunting trip he noticed about some leaves attaching naturally to his pants. After such he thought of using the discovered phenomenon for other uses thus the velcro. Velcro is the combination of the words "velvet" and "crochet."

The main idea was to create a fabric that has the capacity to stick to each other for use as garment fastener. Thus the hook-and-loop fastener has been coined. At some point velcro has been known as the zipperless zipper.

The mechanism of the velcro is simple. First there should be two surfaces of fabric; one contains small hooks and the other with tiny loops. At first, cotton is used as loops but had been proven its fibers worn out after some use. Because of this lyon and polyester are basically the materials now used for velcro. When the hooks get to tangle with the loops, it creates a gluing effect.

What is Plastiki?

Plastiki is a catamaran made by a group of sea voyagers and scientists from reclaimed plastic bottles and polyester resins. The catamaran is set to sail from San Francisco, California down to Sydney, Australia without using any motor. The moving and collapsible sail of the catamaran is made up of recycled polyester; a material we often see and use for most of our workwear uniforms and other apparels.

The Plastiki is expected to be in Sydney this July after more than 3 months of sailing. It has made some stopovers from the Pacific islands including the Christmans Island.

The main objective of the Plastiki expedition is to give awareness to people about the effects of constant use of plastic to the environment particularly the oceans.