I believe that the other component in Brita filters is an ion exchange resin which is what helps to filter out the metals and other contaminants that the activated charcoal does not address. It is rather expensive and you'd have to find the right type to remove the desired water contaminants.

I never said that gas station attendants shouldn't get paid. Obviously it's not a volunteer position. Sorry if you're a gas station attendant and I offended you. Full service can be annoying when the station is understaffed and the poor attendant is rushing around to try and get to everyone. I want to be able to get…

I don't understand why some people in NJ or Oregon don't know how to pump their own gas. I grew up in NJ and now live in Oregon and I hate full-serve (of course my luck would be that I moved to the only other state without self-serve) for multiple reasons, but I know how to pump my own gas because I traveled outside…

I'm actually considering RAISING my WRX sedan. It's at stock right height now, but that's still to low to deal with deep snow and it makes it hard to go camping on rough forestry roads without smashing something on the underside of the car. However I still like to carve corners on the way to the forest roads. Hmmm....…

Awesome comment and so true! I'm an architect but more engineering minded than artsy and my wife gets annoyed that I constantly fidget with items while I'm talking to her. I do feel the overwhelming urge to pick up items around me and take them apart or analyze them or see how I can stack them. I'm glad to see that…

Does Michael Westen from Burn Notice count? There's a whole episode titled "False Flag" see Season 1 Episode 10 ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burn_Noti… )

I'd argue that a small diesel car would be even better than a Prius since they can get better than 42 MPG and depending on where you are the price of diesel could also save you money. Plus as we know from watching Top Gear you can do the long journey in the lap of luxury in a Jaaaaaggggggg.

Mine cost $1250 ($1400 after taxes and shipping. $92 in tax, $47 in shipping) in 2010 and I built it from scratch since my workstation laptop had died and I was tired of lugging around a giant, heavy, hot laptop that overheated.

So I have my keezer outside in the garage but I have the taps running through the wall so they come out in the kitchen. You might not have that option if your garage is not next to some place you want taps coming out of the wall like a kitchen. Building a keezer is not very hard, one on my friends is not very handy…

I started with 22oz bombers since I was doing it in college and we didn't have enough room to store all the 12oz bottles. It still sucked cleaning them all, and then you drink less beer because you worked so hard to brew it and bottle it and then you have to commit to drinking a full 22oz when you just want to relax…

I agree with you. You have to be smart about how much of a fixer upper you want to deal with and balance cost of upgrades, how much you can DIY, how much your ROI will be, and the comps in your area.

Spray foam insulation does seal up a house well and it's fine for existing homes or renovations, but it is not very flexible and in new homes it can pull away from the wood as the wood dries out and shrinks which creates cracks and thus negates the sealing quality that you were trying to achieve.

The good thing about buying a large pot is that it is useful for other things if you end up not liking brewing (Don't know why you wouldn't) and it holds its value really well if you decide to sell it instead of keeping it or stick with the hobby and upgrade to a larger pot later.

I agree. Please share the recipe with us!

If you want more than the allotted amount from the automatic dispenser, just hold the end of the paper towel with one hand and then use the other hand to push straight down near the dispenser. This pulls more out while avoiding the cutting blade.

It should be strong enough in compression to support a reasonable amount of weight. I wouldn't trust it to anything mission critical or using it to support a huge amount of heavy cans or jugs of water. If you are using it in a pantry situation and not building very wide shelves to load up with canned goods, then you…

Just don't let Centurylink lie to you and say that megaBYTES are the same as megaBITS! My mom was honestly told that by a Centurylink link sales rep when they called her to try and get her to switch to their crappy DSL service because they claimed it was just as fast as our Comcast connection but much cheaper.

The guy narrating is the best part of that video. He is hilarious!

They put explosives underneath it on Top Gear and it survived just fine. It even managed to drive out of the crater created by the explosives even with a mangled tire.

Actually a home can be retrofitted to get to Passivhaus standards. Its called a chainsaw retrofit and it typically involves cutting off the roof overhangs, removing existing siding, air sealing the existing exterior sheathing as best as possible, and then building exterior nonstructural walls to create a continuous…