Saer Greason

My random bouts of homelessness have lost me my mattress and left me with only blankets for bedding. First time I was squatting in an apartment with concrete floors. I had one standard blanket (wool, nothing fancy), one comforter, and one big fuzzy winter blanket. I thought it would be uncomfortable but I had less back problems and pain sleeping that way after the first week than I ever did sleeping on a mattress. Now I have some different, less fluffy blankets, folded to cover a larger surface area (for the boyfriend) rather than being folded to be thicker, and it's still very comfortable. I think my body and brain adjust because when I lay down in bed I can't help think about how soft and fluffy it is even though it's only 1 - 1.5in thick, tops. On top of that, I can fold up my bed and put it away, I can wash my entire bed, and I'm very, very unlikely to get bedbugs (or immune, my roomie got 'em but I have seen one in here).
Since my first experience with my blanket bed I have been investigating buying or making a legit Japanese-style futon which are usually made with cotton or wool (US regulation don't allow cotton as it's flammable but you can get a script saying you need cotton). Alas, the futon is in the hundreds (no more expensive than a mattress though) and buying the cotton to make it myself would only be slightly cheaper. I'm still working on solutions to this dilemma.
The futon is traditionally put on a tatami mat, a mat made of woven rushes filled with straw and edged with cloth. The tatami mat is quite thick and adds extra cushion. I want to make one of these but I'm a little worried about the straw, which brings me to a question I'd like to add;

Won't straw get bugs?

(Sorry to ramble, hope there's some helpful info in there. Good luck!)

I just got a new jacket from the thrift store as my leather jacket and trench have gotten destroyed over the years. I want to scrap the old leather and use it for something else but I'm not sure what to do with it. Unfortunately garment leather, especially old leather (one jacket is a hand-me-down from my mom, probably 10 years old) is not very sturdy. I'm about to sell all my stuff to travel so I want to use it in relation to that in some way but I'm drawing a blank. Just wondering if anyone had suggestions or ideas? Sorry if this is in the wrong place and danke in advanced.

Well that's neat. I was wondering how they managed to get it to settle into layers and produce heat when a normal salt water pond (like a desalination pond) does no such thing. Thanks for the awesome info Peter

A friend of mine told me about solar ponds, artificially created ponds of salt water which collect and store solar thermal energy and are "used for various applications, such as process heating, desalination, refrigeration, drying and solar power generation."
(The wiki page is here.)

Basically, from my limited understanding, the salt water pond collects and stores thermal solar energy and creates a salinity gradient (called a halocline) where low salinity water floats on top of high salinity water. There are 3 layers, the top most is low salinity water and is the coolest layer, the middle is an insulating layer that prevents heat rising through convection, and the lowest is high salinity and stays warm. Normally the heat would rise to the top by convection but the temperature gradient (in which density decreases with depth) is counteracted by the salinity gradient (in which density increases with depth) thus preventing convection. Because of this the lowest layer can exceed temps of 90 degrees Celsius while the top tends to stay around 30 degrees. (Sorry for the piss-poor description. I recommend the wiki page for more in-depth, understandable information)

Has anyone heard of this before or utilized it? Anywhere I can get more information? I was mostly interested in it for the sake of heating but apparently it can be used for energy too.

(Also, I apologize if this is not in the right forum, I honestly wasn't sure where to put it.)

It really depends for me. I use bandanas to cover my face or head, wipe sweat, tears, ect but I don't usually blow my nose on em and I keep the ones used on my nose separate from those I wipe my face with. It's not a sanitation thing that keeps me from straight up blowing my nose on hankies, it just grosses me out a little too much. The one exception is when I'm going to be outdoors long enough that tissue won't cut it. This is rare though, If I'm outside that long it's usually warm and I don't get colds in warm weather often (nor do I go out hiking, ect when I'm sick).

As far as the sanitation issue goes; if you are sick, neither a tissue nor a hankie is particularly sanitary. No matter which way you look at it you are still holding something in your hand and blowing mucus into it. When you're sick you're suppose to wash your hands often, no matter what you're blowing your nose with. The issue is less tissue v.s. hankie and more about whether or not you're washing your hands often enough. If you have anything worse than a cold you probably shouldn't be around people anyway (but let's face it, it's gonna happen). I'm a super stickler for sanitation but this issue doesn't particularly bother me.

That is freakin' sweet. Thanks for the link

That's really neat. Too bad I have neither the materials nor the know how to make something like that for the home. Whether or not clocks use much power, something like this is still very clever and would be that much less power you would need. Thanks for the cool link

I've seen land in Oregon for 2k an acre (so 20 acres is about 40k) or even less than that. Looking at this thread though I wonder if I should question such land. I assume it's in BFE but I don't know what else might be wrong with it that it's so cheap (or is it cheap? I can't tell). Then again, I'm only ever half heartedly browsing on the web. I currently have $20 to my name and no income x_x so land is a very far off dream. I'm hoping one day I'll be able to get a decent 20 acre plot for 50k or less in PNW. Oh dreams....