Neri Lighting - A distinct Class and Sensation, if you are looking for this type of lighting .. Please enquiry information
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
The great Neri Lighting - Reputed Product
Neri Lighting - A distinct Class and Sensation, if you are looking for this type of lighting .. Please enquiry information
Monday, July 13, 2009
a beautiful story to Live by
Too beautiful NOT to share this story with you (MUST READ)
A Story to live by
There was a blind girl who hated herself because she was blind. She hated everyone, except her loving boyfriend. He was always there for her. She told her boyfriend, 'If I could only see the world, I will marry you.'
有一位瞎女很討厭自己因為眼睛瞎了。她也討厭每個人，
One day,
someone donated a pair of eyes to her. When the bandages
came off, she was able to see everything, including her
boyfriend.
有一天，有人捐了一對眼精給她。當紗布解開時，她能夠看到一切，
He asked her, 'Now that you can see the world, will you marry me?' The
girl looked at her boyfriend and saw that he was blind. The
sight of his closed eyelids shocked her. She hadn't expected
that. The thought of looking at them the rest of her life
led her to refuse to marry him.
男朋友問她：「現在你可以看到這世界，你愿意嫁給我嗎？」
Her boyfriend left in tears and days later wrote a note to her
saying: 'Take good care of your eyes, my dear, for before
they were yours, they were mine.'
於是，她的男朋友很傷心的離開她，幾天後寫了字條給她：「
This is how the human brain often works when our status changes.
Only a very few remember what life was like before, and who
was always by their side in the most painful situations.
這也是人的腦會如何做當情況有所變動。
Life Is a
Gift
生命是一份禮物
Today
before you say an unkind word - Think of someone who can't speak.
今天，當你要講一句不善之言－－請想想那些無法講話的人
Before
you complain about the taste of your food - Think of someone
who has nothing to eat.
當你要埋怨食物的味道時－－請想想那些沒有食物吃的人
Before
you complain about your husband or wife - Think of someone
who's crying out to GOD for a companion.
當你要埋怨你的先生或太太時－－
Today
before you complain about life - Think of someone who died
too early on this earth.
今天，當你要埋怨生活時－－請想想那些太早離開人世間的人
Before
you complain about your children - Think of someone who
desires children but they're barren...
當你要埋怨小孩時－－請想想那些渴望小孩而無能生育的人
Before
you argue about your dirty house someone didn't clean or
sweep - Think of the people who are living in the streets.
當你要爭論沒有人清理屋子時－－請想想那些住在街邊的人
Before
whining about the distance you drive Think of someone who
walks the same distance with their feet.
當你在哀訴駕駛的路程－－請想想那些同樣的路程以代步的人
And when
you are tired and complain about your job - Think of the
unemployed, the disabled, and those who wish they had your
job.
當你很疲備而埋怨工作時－－請想想那些無工作，殘疾的，
But
before you think of pointing the finger or condemning
another - Remember that not one of us is without sin.
當你想要指著人或互相譴責時－－請記得沒有一個人是無罪
And when
depressing thoughts seem to get you down - Put a smile on
your face and think: you're alive and still
around.
當壓抑的念頭讓你無法振作時－－請你笑一笑想想：
=========================
I PRAY
THIS MOVES AROUND
THE ENTIRE UNIVERSE...
我祈禱這訊息能夠繼續傳至全人類..............
Too beautiful not to share.......
Friday, July 10, 2009
The revenge of the wizards. Everydays is this thinking of bleach.. Episode 365 ..The wizard beserk...
The hot manga is too good yet giving less than 5 minutes of entertaining... what the heck..
You rock, captain hirako Shinji... :) Have a close look on team wizard...
Denzo Have the Sharingan - Could he be... Uchida Mandara ... In another words tobi - Naruto 455 the twist of believe - How would Sai React ...
Will Sai be a friend of naruto , or will he be the root...
The myst behind the sharingan user..
Oh My god... it is so mandara.... the nine tail fox also surrender...
Ladies Fashion Shoe from "Summit "
yeah yeah... new shoe arrived for ladies... look at these... orangish and brownie... both spot some highlight... they are selling at reasonable bring... do grap one...
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
The 10 Dirtiest Foods Your're Eating - interesting article found in MSN
Friday, December 5, 2008
The 10 Dirtiest Foods You're Eating
1.ChickenThe dirt: Never mind cigarettes; the Surgeon General should slap a warning label on chicken. Recent nationwide testing by Consumers Union, the advocacy group behind Consumer Reports, notes that of the 484 raw broilers examined, 42 percent were infected by Campylobacter jejuni, and 12 percent by Salmonella enterides.
The latest USDA research notes similar Salmonella levels. Now add in the fact that we each consume about 70 pounds of chicken a year—more than our intake of beef, pork, or turkey—and it's a wonder broilers don't come with barf bags.
At the supermarket: Look for birds labeled "free range." Close quarters in the henhouse give bad bugs the chance to spread, as do high-volume processing operations. Free-range chickens, which are given more room to roost and are usually slaughtered in smaller numbers, present a potentially safer option. For example, Ranger chickens, a free-range brand sold in the Pacific Northwest, came up negative for Salmonella and Campylobacter in Consumers Union's tests.
At home: To help prevent foodborne illness, bypass rinsing your raw bird in the sink, and instead put it directly into a baking dish or pan. This shortcut reduces the odds of sullying counters and other foods, says Janet B. Anderson, R.D., director of the Safe Food Institute in North Logan, Utah. If you used a cutting board, clean it (and the knife) with a mild, dilute bleach solution. As for your heat treatment, cook breasts and other cuts until the temperature hits 180°F. (If it's a whole bird, take the temperature in the thickest part of the thigh.) "Poking the chicken or judging by juice color is risky," says Anderson.
2.Ground Beef
The dirt: Even a little ground chuck can make you upchuck. When USDA inspectors last tested hamburger meat, they looked at 563 sources nationwide and discovered Clostridium perfringens in 53 percent of the batches, Staphylococcus in 30 percent, and Listeria monocytogenes in 12 percent. Interestingly, the USDA found no trace of Escherichia coli 0157:H7, a.k.a. E. coli, one of the desperadoes of foodborne illness. Despite this finding, if slaughterhouse safeguards fail (and they sometimes do), E. coli could potentially pop up in your next patty.
At the supermarket: Choose ground cow that's been nuked. "Find a grocery store that sells irradiated ground beef," says Donald W. Schaffner, Ph.D., an extension specialist in food science at Rutgers University. The package will bear the words "treated by irradiation." Schaffner gives the safety of the treatment a glowing review: "The amount of induced radioactivity is 200,000 times smaller than the level of radioactivity naturally present in all foods."
At home: Add fresh oregano to your burgers and meat loaf. When researchers at Kansas State University mixed a variety of common household spices into ground beef to test their antibacterial properties, oregano tested as one of the best at wiping out E. coli. Use at least 1 tablespoon per pound of meat. Just as important, flatten your patties—thick burgers will char on the outside before the interior reaches the required 160°F.
3.Ground Turkey
The dirt: Potentially one of the foulest of the fowl. A USDA survey showed that the odds are better than one in four that your ground gobbler contains Listeria, Campylobacter, Clostridium, or some combination of the three. What's more, in a separate study by the FDA and the University of Maryland, 24 percent of the ground turkey sampled came back positive for Salmonella. And some of that Salmonella was resistant to antibiotics.
At the supermarket: Hunt for organic turkey. Most commercial turkey processors pump up their birds with antibiotics, a practice that may have encouraged the rise of resistant bacteria. Organic outfits, on the other hand, say no to drugs. When you reach the checkout, insist that the turkey be slipped into its own plastic bag and then placed in a meat-only shopping bag. This rule applies to beef and chicken, too: Otherwise, meat drippings might contaminate other groceries.
At home: "Change your mind-set about poultry. Start by thinking of it as being contaminated," says Schaffner. Immediately retire to the dishwasher any platter that has come in contact with raw ground turkey. (Use the hottest setting.) Serve cooked turkey burgers (180°F) on a clean plate. And wipe up any spillage with a paper towel instead of a sponge. "The sponge is the most dangerous item in the house because of the organisms potentially living in it," says Tierno.
4.Raw Oysters
The dirt: Oysters' power as an aphrodisiac is overblown, but their power as a diarrheic when slurped raw is not. These filters for ocean waste can contain the norovirus (a pathogen notorious for nixing ocean cruises), Campylobacter, and Vibrio vulnificus. University of Arizona researchers who studied oysters from so-called certified-safe beds discovered that 9 percent were contaminated with Salmonella bacteria. Still hungry? "We found E. coli in 100 percent of Gulf Coast locations, and in high amounts," says Lynn Joens, Ph.D., the study author.
At the supermarket: Buy from the same beds that a chef stakes his reputation on. Sandy Ingber, executive chef and seafood buyer for Grand Central Oyster Bar in New York City, buys Blue Point, Chincoteague, Glidden Point, Narragansett Bay, Pemaquid, and Wellfleet oysters in the winter months. During summer, he buys Coromandel oysters from New Zealand. The reason for the seasonal shift: More than three-quarters of outbreaks involving raw oysters occur in the Northern Hemisphere's warm-water months.
At home: Very simple: Eat only thoroughly cooked oysters. If you must slurp, do so only after following the buying advice above.
5.Eggs
The dirt: Which is dirtier, the chicken or the egg? The chicken, by a long shot, or so it seems at first. More widespread pasteurization has reduced the rate of Salmonella contamination in eggs to only one in 20,000. But that still leaves more than two million hazardous eggs in circulation each year. Food poisoning linked to eggs sickens an estimated 660,000 people annually and kills 300. "Often, dishes made at restaurants are from pooled eggs," which increases the risk, says Schaffner. "It's really a matter of statistics. Eat an egg sunny-side up and your risk of Salmonella is one in 10,000. Eat an undercooked omelette made from a mix of 100 eggs, and the risk is significantly higher."
At the supermarket: Check the egg cartons. You're looking for one word—"pasteurized"—and four numbers—the expiration date. Then remove each egg and look for cracks; germs can enter after pasteurization.
At home: Ignore the egg keeper on the refrigerator door. Instead, keep the eggs in their carton and stow it in the coldest part of your fridge (usually the back of the lowest shelf). Then, after you crack one open, wash your hands. In her study of household food preparation, Utah State's Anderson reports that 60 percent of people failed to wash their hands after handling raw eggs. Finally, cook your eggs—thoroughly (or, if they're an ingredient in a dish, to 160°F).
6.Cantaloupe
The dirt: File this under "Who knew?" When the FDA sampled domestically grown cantaloupe, it found that 3.5 percent of the melons carried Salmonella and Shigella, the latter a bacteria normally passed person-to-person. Among imported cantaloupe, 7 percent tested positive for both bugs. And because you eat melons raw, the bacteria go right down your gullet. That's a big part of the reason why from 1990 to 2001, produce in general has sickened as many people as have beef and poultry combined.
At the supermarket: Dents or bruising on the fruit can provide a path in for pathogens. But don't think precut cantaloupe is safer. "I've been in several supermarkets where the produce was cut by personnel who didn't wash their hands after handling eggs and other items," says Anderson.
At home: Because cantaloupe grows on the ground and has a netted exterior, it's easy for Salmonella to sneak on, and once on, it's hard to clean off. Scrub the fruit with a dab of mild dishwashing liquid for 15 to 30 seconds under running water. And make sure you buy a scrub brush that you use exclusively to clean fruits and vegetables; otherwise it could become cross-contaminated.
7.Peaches
The dirt: Being pretty as a peach comes at a price. The fruit is doused with pesticides in the weeks prior to harvest to ensure blemish-free skin. By the time it arrives in your produce department, the typical peach can be coated with up to nine different pesticides, according to USDA sampling. And while apples tote a wider variety of pesticides, the sheer amount and strength of those on peaches sets the fuzzy fruit apart. On an index of pesticide toxicity devised by Consumers Union, peaches rank highest.
At the supermarket: Fill your plastic produce bag with peaches that wear a "USDA Organic" sticker. And since apples, grapes, pears, and green beans occupy top spots on the Toxicity Index, too, you may want to opt for organic here as well. Just know that organic produce also contains some pesticide residues, but in minuscule amounts.
At home: Wax on, wax off. "A lot of produce has a natural wax coating that holds pesticides, so wash with a sponge or scrub brush and a dab of mild dishwashing detergent. This can eliminate more than half of the residues," says Edward Groth III, Ph.D., a senior scientist with Consumers Union. Got kids? Play it extra safe, and wash and pare peaches, apples, and pears.
8.Prepackaged Lettuce
The dirt: Don't look now, but the lettuce on a burger could cause you more grief than the beef. Outbreaks of E. coli sickened 36 people in San Diego in September 2003 and sent 29 people reeling in eastern Washington in July 2002. In both cases, prepackaged lettuce was to blame. And according to the Center for Science in the Public Interest, lettuce accounted for 11 percent of reported food-poisoning outbreaks linked to produce from 1990 to 2002, and "salad" accounted for 28 percent.
At the supermarket: Prepackaged salad mix is not inherently more hazardous than loose greens or a head of lettuce. It's the claims of being "triple washed" that lull consumers into complacency. "Just because something is wrapped in cellophane doesn't mean it's free of pathogens," says J. Glenn Morris, M.D., chairman of epidemiology and preventive medicine at the University of Maryland school of medicine.
At home: Rinse salad greens one leaf at a time under running water before eating. Beware of cross-contamination, too. "People know it's risky to put salad in the same colander they washed chicken in," says Anderson, "but they think nothing of touching a towel used to wipe up poultry juice, then making a salad."
9.Cold Cuts
The dirt: Germs don't take a number in the deli; cold cuts have been labeled at "high risk" of causing listeriosis by a joint team of researchers from the USDA, FDA, and CDC. While only 3 percent of the deli meats sampled contained Listeria at the point of purchase, the bacteria's rapid growth rate on cuts stored even under ideal conditions concerned researchers. Combine that with the fact that cold cuts are, well, eaten cold, and you've got trouble; Listeria thrives at refrigerator temperatures that stun other foodborne pathogens.
At the supermarket: Turns out the most likely source of Listeria-contaminated cold cuts is the deli slicer. Without regular cleaning, the blade can transfer bacteria from roast beef to turkey to pastrami and back. But aside from asking the clerk to stop and clean the slicer before handling your order, the best you can do is avoid delis that are obviously dirty and stick with those that are annoyingly busy. Meats that rotate through a deli quickly have less opportunity to bloom with Listeria.
At home: From now on, skip the sniff test and trash whatever meat you haven't eaten in a week. When you're ready to build your sandwich, slather on the mustard. Researchers at Washington State University killed off 90 percent of three potent pathogens—Listeria, E. coli, and Salmonella—within 2 hours of exposing them to a mustard compound.
10.Scallions
The dirt: Scallions play a bit part in most dishes, but a little goes a long way, as evidenced by the massive hepatitis A outbreak at that Chi-Chi's last October. Dirty scallions have also triggered small hep A outbreaks in Georgia, North Carolina, and Tennessee. Other bugs known to have grabbed a ride on green onions include the parasite Cryptosporidium, Shigella, and the ever-present Salmonella. In FDA tests, U.S.-grown scallions carried Salmonella or Shigella in 3 percent of samples, nearly twice the number detected in imported samples.
At the supermarket: Forget trying to weed out U.S. or Mexican scallions. Given current labeling laws, grocers are under no obligation to list the country of origin of any produce item. More important, buy refrigerated scallions; room temperature can trigger a bacterial explosion.
At home: Turn on your faucet full force to blast away visible dirt. As you rinse, remove the outer sheath to expose lingering microorganisms, but realize that any step short of thorough cooking is only a partial solution. "More and more, pathogens are entering produce like scallions at a cellular level," says Caroline Smith DeWaal, director of food safety at the Center for Science in the Public Interest.
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
钟南山: 广州甲型 H1N1 流感疑似病例今晨已确诊
Info : 2009年05月19日09:43 --> http://www.xinhuanet.com/
新华网快讯：卫生部19日通报，广东报告的甲型H1N1流感疑似病例已被确诊。这是我国内地的第4例输入性确诊病例。
南方网消息，广东省甲型H1N1流感医疗救治组组长钟南山院士刚刚表示，广州这个（首例甲型H1N1流感疑似病例）今天早晨已经不是疑似，已经确诊了。
钟南山是在由广东省政府应急管理办公室、省教育厅、南方新闻网、中国移动通信集团广东有限公司共同主办的“防灾减灾网上专家访谈直播暨防灾减灾知识竞赛抽奖仪式”上作上述表示的。
广东疑似病例留样送往中国疾控中心进行复核
中国疫情快递
地区 隔离/观察 疑似 确诊
四川 157人(解除) 1人(出院)
山东 38人(解除) 1人(出院)
北京 39人 1人
香港 27人 3人
广东 65人 1人
西藏 23人 1人
云南 7人
黑龙江 7人
湖北 5人
贵州 4人
山西 2人
重庆 27人(解除)
河北 13人(解除)
浙江 6人 (解除)
陕西 14人(解除)
人民网北京5月19日电（记者左娅）国家质检总局19日凌晨通报广东检验检疫局在入境口岸发现甲型H1N1流感疑似病例并转交地方卫生部门进行医学观察的经过。
5月18日，杨某某经广东检验检疫局和广州市疾控中心及广东省疾控中心甲型H1N1流感快速检测均为阳性。广东省卫生厅向卫生部报告，初步诊断为输入型甲型H1N1流感疑似病例，该病例的留样正在送中国疾控中心进行复核。详细
广东报告一例新疑似病例 65名接触者被隔离
新华网快讯：卫生部19日通报，广东报告的甲型H1N1流感疑似病例已被确诊。这是我国内地的第4例输入性确诊病例。
南方网消息，广东省甲型H1N1流感医疗救治组组长钟南山院士刚刚表示，广州这个（首例甲型H1N1流感疑似病例）今天早晨已经不是疑似，已经确诊了。
钟南山是在由广东省政府应急管理办公室、省教育厅、南方新闻网、中国移动通信集团广东有限公司共同主办的“防灾减灾网上专家访谈直播暨防灾减灾知识竞赛抽奖仪式”上作上述表示的。
广东疑似病例留样送往中国疾控中心进行复核
中国疫情快递
地区 隔离/观察 疑似 确诊
四川 157人(解除) 1人(出院)
山东 38人(解除) 1人(出院)
北京 39人 1人
香港 27人 3人
广东 65人 1人
西藏 23人 1人
云南 7人
黑龙江 7人
湖北 5人
贵州 4人
山西 2人
重庆 27人(解除)
河北 13人(解除)
浙江 6人 (解除)
陕西 14人(解除)
人民网北京5月19日电（记者左娅）国家质检总局19日凌晨通报广东检验检疫局在入境口岸发现甲型H1N1流感疑似病例并转交地方卫生部门进行医学观察的经过。
5月18日，杨某某经广东检验检疫局和广州市疾控中心及广东省疾控中心甲型H1N1流感快速检测均为阳性。广东省卫生厅向卫生部报告，初步诊断为输入型甲型H1N1流感疑似病例，该病例的留样正在送中国疾控中心进行复核。详细
广东报告一例新疑似病例 65名接触者被隔离
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Understanding the Driving rules ... ( Be a pro or a loser.. )
Drivers' Education: The Six Things Every Driver Should Know How to Do
Get your hands dirty, avoid the cops and generally know what you're doing.
By John Pearley Huffman of Car and Driver
Click to enlarge pictureSafe Driver (© Verity Smith/Brand X/Jupiterimages)
A little common sense goes a long way.
The owner's manual of any car will tell you — in the most excruciatingly simplistic step-by-step manner possible — how to operate everything from the seatbelts to the trunk lock and how to finely tune the rear headrests with ferocious, compulsive precision. And on virtually every page there will be a yellow box screaming at you not to do something stupid like lick the brake discs or serve the radiator water as an after-dinner digestif. After all, based on the advice of their attorneys, manufacturers have to assume that anyone who buys their cars must be a total moron.
Although the average owner's manual overdoes it, that doesn't mean we can't all use an occasional refresher course in automotive common sense. And, don't take this wrong, but we know there are plenty of you out there who won't admit to the simple things you flat never learned.
So here is our unabashed (but slightly bashed) guide to the most elementary challenges of automotive operation. This is the stuff you didn't necessarily learn in drivers' education and your father just assumed you learned through transgenerational osmosis.
How to Change a Tire
Click to enlarge pictureMan changing a tire (© caranddriver.com)
How to change a tire
It used to be that blowouts were a regular motoring event — right up there with thumping the occasional headlight-mesmerized raccoon and being forced to use a gnarly gas-station restroom. Thankfully, modern tires rarely shed a tread or spontaneously deteriorate. But guaranteed there will come a time when you'll be forced to change a tire.
If a tire blows, don't try to save it or its wheel by stopping immediately in a lousy situation; the shoulder of a busy freeway counts as a lousy situation. If possible, find a level, solid, well-lit surface and park, even if that means driving a mile at low speed with your hazard lights on. And for God's sake, don't stop in traffic. Ever. Then make sure the car can't roll. The parking brake should be on, and the transmission in park (in an automatic) or in gear (in a manual).
Grab the spare, lug wrench and jack. Most newer cars use scissors-type jacks that raise the car up at a predefined point on the car's structure. All the info on where the tools and jacking points are is in the owner's manual.
Now, lift the car using the jacking point nearest the disabled wheel so that the weight of the car is on the jack but the tire is still in contact with the road. If there's a hubcap, that will need to be removed so the lug nuts can be accessed.
With the tire still in contact with the road, the lug nuts should be cracked loose (counterclockwise) but not removed. The car can then be jacked up farther and the lugs removed. With the nuts off, the tire and wheel assembly can be removed.
Put the spare on, and hand-tighten the lug nuts (clockwise). The car can now be lowered so the tire is touching the ground, although the car's weight should remain on the jack. The lug nuts should then be tightened further using a star pattern (around the wheel, skipping every other lug) to ensure that they snug down evenly on the wheel.
Lower the car all the way onto the ground. Tighten the lug nuts down as snugly as possible. Hit the road.
Alternatively: Call the auto club.
How to Jump-Start a Car
Click to enlarge pictureJumper cables (© caranddriver.com)
How to jump-start a car
First, make sure it's the battery that's really the problem. If the car's lights come on brightly and the starter motor churns with its usual ferocity, the battery is likely heaving out plenty of amps.
Second, make sure you have a good set of jumper cables — robust, rubber-coated cables that can handle the amperage. Virtually all jumper cables should be color-coded with the red clamp intended for the positive pole on the battery and the black clamp for the negative.
Ideally, the car with the bum battery and the jump car should be parked on a clean, dry surface. And they should be parked so that the cars' batteries are accessible and close enough to each other that the cables can comfortably span the space between them without being taut.
With both cars off, attach one of the red clamps to the positive (+) terminal on the battery that's presumed bad. Be careful of the other red clamp — it's now live. Then connect that other red clamp to the positive terminal on the jump car's battery. After that, one black clamp goes to the negative (-) terminal on the good battery while the other black clamp should go to an unpainted steel surface on the stalled car, to be grounded.
Start the car with the good battery. Routing the cables this way uses the battery on the live car to start the disabled car, so there is no need to wait for the dead battery to charge. Start the dead car. Remove the cables in reverse order, close the respective hoods and operate the two cars as usual.
If the electrical system in the car with the drained battery is otherwise okay, the battery should be recharged after about 15 minutes of driving and the whole thing should be okey-dokey.
Alternatively: If the car with the dead battery has a manual transmission, there's always bump-starting the car, too. With the key turned on, the car in first gear, and the clutch pushed in, get the car rolling forward (by pushing it or by rolling down a conveniently located hill), and once up to jogging speed, quickly release the clutch. The car should jerk, and then start.
How to Check Your Tire Pressure
Click to enlarge pictureTire gauge (© caranddriver.com)
How to check your tire pressure
Everything any car does depends on the four rubber donuts on which it sits. Making sure those tires are properly inflated is the best way to guarantee your car performs at its best from a handling and fuel-efficiency standpoint.
There are fancy tire gauges and straightforward tire gauges, but they all work pretty much the same way. Simply take the gauge to each tire, remove the valve-stem cap (and put it in your pocket so you don't lose it on the ground), press the gauge flat against the valve stem, and the gauge will read the pressure. If you hear air hissing out of the valve alongside the gauge, you don't have a complete seal and will get an inaccurate reading. What that reading should be is usually listed on a sticker in one of the front doorjambs. Or it's in the owner's manual. The proper pressure is not the maximum listed on the tire itself; that's often far too high.
After that, it's a matter of adding air and rechecking the pressure until the tires are at their correct inflation. But be careful not to overinflate, because that leaves the car riding on smaller, less stable contact patches.
Remember, it's best to measure your tire pressure when the tires are cold — after the car has been parked for the night is ideal. Tires that are warm after running all day will have a higher pressure from the additional heat. Tire pressures should be checked at least once a month.
Alternatively: When tires shred, steel wheels make beautiful sparks against the pavement.
How to Check Your Oil
Click to enlarge pictureChecking the oil level (© caranddriver.com)
How to check your oil
The oil in your car's engine is there to lubricate, not burn. So checking your oil is a way to determine if there's enough of the stuff aboard and if the engine has developed an appetite for it.
First, look in the owner's manual and determine where the oil dipstick is. In most cars it's alongside the engine block and marked with a brightly colored handle and an oil-can icon.
Take your car for a spin to warm the oil to normal operating temperature. Then park the car on a level surface and let it sit with the engine off for at least five or ten minutes. Open the hood, find the dipstick, and pull it out by the handle. The long shaft of metal that makes up the majority of the stick should be covered in engine oil. Wipe that off with a clean rag.
Reinsert the dipstick, and then pull it out again. At the bottom of the stick will be markings showing where the normal oil level should be. If there's oil on those markings, you're good. If it's below them, add a half a quart of oil at a time until you reach the appropriate level. If there's no oil on the stick at all, you have a problem.
Don't run your engine on a measly oil supply. Add the appropriate type of motor oil (that's in the owner's manual, too) as soon as possible to an engine that's low. Even if it's only been a few hundred miles since the oil sump was filled, you could have serious problems.
Alternatively: Throwing a bearing is destructive and dramatic.
How to Get Unstuck
Click to enlarge pictureTire in snow (© caranddriver.com)
How to get unstuck
You just drove into muck, and the car is stuck. What to do?
From snow: It's critical to keep a light foot on the gas, because too much throttle merely spins the tires, heating them up and melting the snow around them, which will refreeze into ice.
First, get out and see how bad you are stuck. If it is just your drive wheels that are blocked, the process will be much simpler. But if you tried to plow through a drift and the whole car is angled on a mound of snow, you're going to have to do some digging first to get the car back on solid ground.
If you can move at all, "rock" the vehicle back and forth by shifting between drive and reverse and going as far as you can in either direction. Be careful not to step on the gas before the gear engages, or you could do serious damage to the transmission. Sometimes it helps to clear a little space around your front tires by cranking the steering wheel back and forth. You can get a little extra traction by putting cardboard under the drive wheels, too. If there's no cardboard around and the situation is desperate, the car's floor mats might also work. If that fails, keep shoveling.
From mud or sand: Whatever you do, don't spin the tires. That will just dig a deeper hole. Instead, put something in the intended path of the drive wheels — palm fronds, branches, beach towels, wood blocks, your kid brother, anything — and proceed slowly.
Ideally, if you're wandering off-road, you should bring a mud ladder or sand ladder with you. Mud and sand ladders are basically small bridges made of steel, rope, or wood that can be placed before the drive wheels and driven across. Of course, anyone so well prepared as to have a sand or mud ladder along is also more likely to have a buddy with a winch nearby.
Alternatively: Abandon the vehicle in place and buy a new one.
How to Spot Cops
Click to enlarge picturePolice (© caranddriver.com)
How to spot cops
Everyone violates the speed limit sometimes, but there are ways to minimize the chances of getting caught.
First, know what the cops drive. Most still use the Ford Crown Victoria, although the Dodge Charger is coming online with many highway patrols and state police agencies, and a few have adopted the Chevy Impala. Learn to identify what a Crown Vic, Charger or Impala looks like in your rearview mirror, and react accordingly. Note particularly the shape and position of the parking lights relative to the headlights; this can be a telltale sign at night.
Second, keep a running mental inventory of traffic around you. If cars are suddenly slowing for no apparent reason, it might be because there's a reason apparent to them.
Third, be aware of on-ramps and areas where police can hide easily. Cops often patrol the same stretch of pavement for days on end. They know all the easy fishing spots, so be aware of large bushes, overpasses, big signs, and anywhere else it would be easy for a police vehicle to hide.
And all this is before considering radar. For that, you might want to buy a radar detector.
Alternatively: You can always strictly obey the speed limit. Just kidding.
Get your hands dirty, avoid the cops and generally know what you're doing.
By John Pearley Huffman of Car and Driver
Click to enlarge pictureSafe Driver (© Verity Smith/Brand X/Jupiterimages)
A little common sense goes a long way.
The owner's manual of any car will tell you — in the most excruciatingly simplistic step-by-step manner possible — how to operate everything from the seatbelts to the trunk lock and how to finely tune the rear headrests with ferocious, compulsive precision. And on virtually every page there will be a yellow box screaming at you not to do something stupid like lick the brake discs or serve the radiator water as an after-dinner digestif. After all, based on the advice of their attorneys, manufacturers have to assume that anyone who buys their cars must be a total moron.
Although the average owner's manual overdoes it, that doesn't mean we can't all use an occasional refresher course in automotive common sense. And, don't take this wrong, but we know there are plenty of you out there who won't admit to the simple things you flat never learned.
So here is our unabashed (but slightly bashed) guide to the most elementary challenges of automotive operation. This is the stuff you didn't necessarily learn in drivers' education and your father just assumed you learned through transgenerational osmosis.
How to Change a Tire
Click to enlarge pictureMan changing a tire (© caranddriver.com)
How to change a tire
It used to be that blowouts were a regular motoring event — right up there with thumping the occasional headlight-mesmerized raccoon and being forced to use a gnarly gas-station restroom. Thankfully, modern tires rarely shed a tread or spontaneously deteriorate. But guaranteed there will come a time when you'll be forced to change a tire.
If a tire blows, don't try to save it or its wheel by stopping immediately in a lousy situation; the shoulder of a busy freeway counts as a lousy situation. If possible, find a level, solid, well-lit surface and park, even if that means driving a mile at low speed with your hazard lights on. And for God's sake, don't stop in traffic. Ever. Then make sure the car can't roll. The parking brake should be on, and the transmission in park (in an automatic) or in gear (in a manual).
Grab the spare, lug wrench and jack. Most newer cars use scissors-type jacks that raise the car up at a predefined point on the car's structure. All the info on where the tools and jacking points are is in the owner's manual.
Now, lift the car using the jacking point nearest the disabled wheel so that the weight of the car is on the jack but the tire is still in contact with the road. If there's a hubcap, that will need to be removed so the lug nuts can be accessed.
With the tire still in contact with the road, the lug nuts should be cracked loose (counterclockwise) but not removed. The car can then be jacked up farther and the lugs removed. With the nuts off, the tire and wheel assembly can be removed.
Put the spare on, and hand-tighten the lug nuts (clockwise). The car can now be lowered so the tire is touching the ground, although the car's weight should remain on the jack. The lug nuts should then be tightened further using a star pattern (around the wheel, skipping every other lug) to ensure that they snug down evenly on the wheel.
Lower the car all the way onto the ground. Tighten the lug nuts down as snugly as possible. Hit the road.
Alternatively: Call the auto club.
How to Jump-Start a Car
Click to enlarge pictureJumper cables (© caranddriver.com)
How to jump-start a car
First, make sure it's the battery that's really the problem. If the car's lights come on brightly and the starter motor churns with its usual ferocity, the battery is likely heaving out plenty of amps.
Second, make sure you have a good set of jumper cables — robust, rubber-coated cables that can handle the amperage. Virtually all jumper cables should be color-coded with the red clamp intended for the positive pole on the battery and the black clamp for the negative.
Ideally, the car with the bum battery and the jump car should be parked on a clean, dry surface. And they should be parked so that the cars' batteries are accessible and close enough to each other that the cables can comfortably span the space between them without being taut.
With both cars off, attach one of the red clamps to the positive (+) terminal on the battery that's presumed bad. Be careful of the other red clamp — it's now live. Then connect that other red clamp to the positive terminal on the jump car's battery. After that, one black clamp goes to the negative (-) terminal on the good battery while the other black clamp should go to an unpainted steel surface on the stalled car, to be grounded.
Start the car with the good battery. Routing the cables this way uses the battery on the live car to start the disabled car, so there is no need to wait for the dead battery to charge. Start the dead car. Remove the cables in reverse order, close the respective hoods and operate the two cars as usual.
If the electrical system in the car with the drained battery is otherwise okay, the battery should be recharged after about 15 minutes of driving and the whole thing should be okey-dokey.
Alternatively: If the car with the dead battery has a manual transmission, there's always bump-starting the car, too. With the key turned on, the car in first gear, and the clutch pushed in, get the car rolling forward (by pushing it or by rolling down a conveniently located hill), and once up to jogging speed, quickly release the clutch. The car should jerk, and then start.
How to Check Your Tire Pressure
Click to enlarge pictureTire gauge (© caranddriver.com)
How to check your tire pressure
Everything any car does depends on the four rubber donuts on which it sits. Making sure those tires are properly inflated is the best way to guarantee your car performs at its best from a handling and fuel-efficiency standpoint.
There are fancy tire gauges and straightforward tire gauges, but they all work pretty much the same way. Simply take the gauge to each tire, remove the valve-stem cap (and put it in your pocket so you don't lose it on the ground), press the gauge flat against the valve stem, and the gauge will read the pressure. If you hear air hissing out of the valve alongside the gauge, you don't have a complete seal and will get an inaccurate reading. What that reading should be is usually listed on a sticker in one of the front doorjambs. Or it's in the owner's manual. The proper pressure is not the maximum listed on the tire itself; that's often far too high.
After that, it's a matter of adding air and rechecking the pressure until the tires are at their correct inflation. But be careful not to overinflate, because that leaves the car riding on smaller, less stable contact patches.
Remember, it's best to measure your tire pressure when the tires are cold — after the car has been parked for the night is ideal. Tires that are warm after running all day will have a higher pressure from the additional heat. Tire pressures should be checked at least once a month.
Alternatively: When tires shred, steel wheels make beautiful sparks against the pavement.
How to Check Your Oil
Click to enlarge pictureChecking the oil level (© caranddriver.com)
How to check your oil
The oil in your car's engine is there to lubricate, not burn. So checking your oil is a way to determine if there's enough of the stuff aboard and if the engine has developed an appetite for it.
First, look in the owner's manual and determine where the oil dipstick is. In most cars it's alongside the engine block and marked with a brightly colored handle and an oil-can icon.
Take your car for a spin to warm the oil to normal operating temperature. Then park the car on a level surface and let it sit with the engine off for at least five or ten minutes. Open the hood, find the dipstick, and pull it out by the handle. The long shaft of metal that makes up the majority of the stick should be covered in engine oil. Wipe that off with a clean rag.
Reinsert the dipstick, and then pull it out again. At the bottom of the stick will be markings showing where the normal oil level should be. If there's oil on those markings, you're good. If it's below them, add a half a quart of oil at a time until you reach the appropriate level. If there's no oil on the stick at all, you have a problem.
Don't run your engine on a measly oil supply. Add the appropriate type of motor oil (that's in the owner's manual, too) as soon as possible to an engine that's low. Even if it's only been a few hundred miles since the oil sump was filled, you could have serious problems.
Alternatively: Throwing a bearing is destructive and dramatic.
How to Get Unstuck
Click to enlarge pictureTire in snow (© caranddriver.com)
How to get unstuck
You just drove into muck, and the car is stuck. What to do?
From snow: It's critical to keep a light foot on the gas, because too much throttle merely spins the tires, heating them up and melting the snow around them, which will refreeze into ice.
First, get out and see how bad you are stuck. If it is just your drive wheels that are blocked, the process will be much simpler. But if you tried to plow through a drift and the whole car is angled on a mound of snow, you're going to have to do some digging first to get the car back on solid ground.
If you can move at all, "rock" the vehicle back and forth by shifting between drive and reverse and going as far as you can in either direction. Be careful not to step on the gas before the gear engages, or you could do serious damage to the transmission. Sometimes it helps to clear a little space around your front tires by cranking the steering wheel back and forth. You can get a little extra traction by putting cardboard under the drive wheels, too. If there's no cardboard around and the situation is desperate, the car's floor mats might also work. If that fails, keep shoveling.
From mud or sand: Whatever you do, don't spin the tires. That will just dig a deeper hole. Instead, put something in the intended path of the drive wheels — palm fronds, branches, beach towels, wood blocks, your kid brother, anything — and proceed slowly.
Ideally, if you're wandering off-road, you should bring a mud ladder or sand ladder with you. Mud and sand ladders are basically small bridges made of steel, rope, or wood that can be placed before the drive wheels and driven across. Of course, anyone so well prepared as to have a sand or mud ladder along is also more likely to have a buddy with a winch nearby.
Alternatively: Abandon the vehicle in place and buy a new one.
How to Spot Cops
Click to enlarge picturePolice (© caranddriver.com)
How to spot cops
Everyone violates the speed limit sometimes, but there are ways to minimize the chances of getting caught.
First, know what the cops drive. Most still use the Ford Crown Victoria, although the Dodge Charger is coming online with many highway patrols and state police agencies, and a few have adopted the Chevy Impala. Learn to identify what a Crown Vic, Charger or Impala looks like in your rearview mirror, and react accordingly. Note particularly the shape and position of the parking lights relative to the headlights; this can be a telltale sign at night.
Second, keep a running mental inventory of traffic around you. If cars are suddenly slowing for no apparent reason, it might be because there's a reason apparent to them.
Third, be aware of on-ramps and areas where police can hide easily. Cops often patrol the same stretch of pavement for days on end. They know all the easy fishing spots, so be aware of large bushes, overpasses, big signs, and anywhere else it would be easy for a police vehicle to hide.
And all this is before considering radar. For that, you might want to buy a radar detector.
Alternatively: You can always strictly obey the speed limit. Just kidding.
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