TresSugar

Before and After: Personalizing an Ikea Roller Blind

Casa Community — Tue, 23 Nov 2010 08:00:20 PST

Here's a post from CasaSugar Community member BirdHouse Family from the Su Casa group:

We needed something to cover the window in our main washroom. Washroom windows are always a challenge. We wanted some privacy, of course, but I love natural light and did not want to cover up the window with opaque curtains or blinds. So we bought a white Ikea Enje roller blind. Enje roller blinds are great because they provide privacy but still let in a ton of light.

After we installed the blind, we thought it looked a bit plain, so I decided to decorate it with some paint. I drew a tree design with pencil and filled it in with brown acrylic paint. The paint took to the fabric really well. I was inspired by the design on this shower curtain at Urban Outfitters.

Continue reading to see the after photo.

Right Touch? South Korea Reserves Job of Masseuse For Blind

CitizenSugar — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 03:00:19 PDT

If you find yourself in South Korea in search of a massage, if you visit a legal parlor, you won't even need a towel for modesty. That's because for the past century the job of masseur has been reserved for the legally blind. Just over 7,000 blind people with magic fingers work in 1,000 massage parlors throughout the country, but it's not enough to keep up with demand. A black market of massage has sprung up supplying another 150,000 to 700,000 illegal, sighted, masseuses who can face fines from $450 to $4,500 and up to three years in jail.

The stand off over the right to rub down has led to violent protests and suits filed by the sighted masseurs asking the Constitutional Court of South Korea to declare unconstitutional the blind-only law and a violation of their rights. A ruling on the matter could come next week.

To see both sides of the argument,

One sighted and illegal masseur says, “It breaks my heart when I think that what I am doing every day, what I consider my calling, is a crime. We are not trying to steal jobs from the blind. We just want to share the market. We want to live as normal citizens, not as criminals.”

However a blind masseur is fearful of losing his niche saying, “I have a wife and two children to support. If I lose this job, I will have to beg on the streets. How can taking away one job from people who only have one compare with taking one job away from sighted people who have a hundred jobs to choose from?”

Should the government be able to assign one profession to a group of people? Is it discriminatory to those left out - and does it hamper the progress of those the law is trying to help? Or is it a perfect plan, matching abilities with their opposite?

Source

TouchSight: The Camera For the Blind

GeekSugar — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 13:00:34 PDT

It's wonderful that electronics designers are starting to take disabilities into consideration - even if they first start with a hack, like that Rock Band mod for wheelchairs.

This concept design is a camera - for the blind. Called the TouchSight, it would utilize Braille and the other senses to both take photos and then download them later.

While the TouchSight is only a concept now, it was designed by someone from Samsung China - a company that knows a few things about cameras, so there's actual hope for this idea to come to fruition.

Same-Size Bucks Discriminate Against the Seeing-Impaired

LibertySugar — Tue, 20 May 2008 15:45:49 PDT

United States currency discriminates against the blind, according to a federal appeals court ruling handed down today. Because the dollar amounts of same-size skrilla are not distinguishable by touch, the visually impaired suffer unreasonably.

The Treasury Department fell short of demonstrating why it would be too burdensome to design distinguishable dollars. The legal opinion stated that the cost of the redesign is not out of line with other design decisions made by the Treasury. The United States is the only country that prints paper currency with an identical size and feel, no matter the denomination. Canada's dollar, for example, has Braille on it.

So how much discriminatory currency is it going to take to right this wrong? To find out how much,

New machines for printing the blind-proof bills will cost about $228 million. But this amount just opens a Pandora's box of prices - it will cost around $3.5 billion to make vending machines compatible, not to mention wallets, ATMs . . .

To what ends should the US go to make sure the blind know whether they have George Washington or Benjamin Franklin in their wallets? Does the fact that the US is the only country that does not accommodate the blind in this manner demonstrate that the request is reasonable?

Source

10 Cool Facts About Olfaction

BellaSugar — Thu, 24 May 2012 03:30:00 PDT

We all have a sense of smell, and we all use it constantly, whether we realize it or not. Scents and smell are two of the most important yet often overlooked elements of everyday experience. Want to learn a few truly amazing facts about the things your nose knows? Then just keep reading.

Don't Be Shady! How to Choose the Right Sunglasses For Eye Health

Jenny Sugar — Thu, 24 May 2012 01:19:22 PDT

Sunglasses aren't just for complementing your bikini while you lounge on the beach. They're a must for protecting your eyes from UV damage. Sunglasses also shield the eyelids and the skin around your eyes, helping to prevent wrinkles and skin cancer. But before you run out and drop a small fortune on a pair, here are some things to consider.

UV protection is most important: UV rays can damage the eyes causing cataracts, benign growths on the eye's surface, and snow blindness, a temporary and painful sunburn of the eye. As mentioned above, it can also lead to skin cancer around the eye, so make sure your pair guarantees 100 percent UV protection.
Polarized lenses have nothing to do with UV protection: Polarized lenses act as a filter to absorb light waves, which helps to reduce glare that bounces off smooth surfaces like pavement or water. While they're great for offering clearer vision in extreme sun, being labeled "polarized" has nothing to do with how well they protect the eyes.

Keep reading to find out what else to think about when buying sunglasses.

What We're Sweet On: The Gloss That Looks Good on Everyone

Jaime Richards — Mon, 21 May 2012 10:32:00 PDT

Some lip glosses are so waxy, your lips feel as if they're suffocating, while others are so shiny, they practically blind the person standing next to you. Such is not the case with Intelligent Nutrients' Lip Delivery Antioxidant Gloss in Pink Hibiscus ($24). Free of synthetic waxes and oils (and fragrance and colorants), the subtly tinted gloss lends just a hint of sheen to the lips. And the touch-of-pink hue is the perfect shade to reach for when you want a more minimalistic makeup look - or when you want low-key lips to complement an intensely heavy smoky eye.

Certified organic, Lip Delivery is loaded with antioxidant-rich cranberries, purple corn, and blueberries. Beeswax, carnauba wax, and cocoa butter ingredients moisturize, while shea butter lends a bit of natural protection from the sun's UV rays. A built-in brush makes application all the more smooth, but perhaps the biggest treat is its sweet and tart flavor, a blend of caramel, vanilla, raspberry, agave, and coconut. You'll keep going back to this smooth operator again and again.

How Not to Destroy Your Marriage

The Good Men Project — Fri, 18 May 2012 12:30:42 PDT

We're happy to present this story from one of our favorite sites, The Good Men Project. Today, Mark Tyrrell offers eight relationship tools to make your marriage work.

"All marriages are happy. It's the living together afterward that causes all the trouble." - Raymond Hull

So how do you make your marriage work? Or do you just blindly hope it'll take care of itself?

Think of a hot, successful date with someone you’re attracted to. You have fun, great conversation and more sexual chemistry than a warehouse full of pheromones. You don’t have to “work at” the date because it’s self sustaining. It runs as smoothly as the gliding hand of a classical guitar maestro and you can’t wait for another rendition.

Teenage Dating in a Twilight-Hunger Games World

But marriage, or any long term relationship; well that’s a whole other caboodle.

If we’re not careful, marriage can deteriorate into little more than a torturous assault course; littered with routine boredoms, frustrations and resentments. Couple all that with external pressures and sometimes marriage feels not worth the effort. But there are major benefits to being hitched or committed, other than just a beneficial tax regime.

Healthy marriage; healthy people.

Being happily married bestows heaps of health benefits. You might be forgiven for thinking that if you’re married you don’t live longer it just seems like it but, no, a good marriage really can help you clock up more years (1) and married people are happier (2) even though they don’t always look it from the outside.

But when marriage doesn’t work it can feel being manacled to a maniac, marooned with a misogynist or nailed to a nag. And I don’t care what the studies say, that’s not healthy. You may hear couples say stuff like: “We are making our marriage work!” but how do we do this?

Making it work.

We pay lip service to “working on the marriage” but what is the work we need to do? Marriage vows such as “to love and to cherish” and “forsaking all others, for better or for worse” don’t really tell us how to make it work, although they give us a clue.

Fortunately a ton of research has been done on what to do and not do to make your marriage, or any intimate relationship work. Follow the guidelines here to become “good at marriage."

Tip one: Be romantic but keep it real.

We are all (force?) fed romance in movies and novels. The handsome man gets the beautiful woman. But what I wonder is what happens after our romantic couple ride off into the sunset together? What do they do exactly? Bicker? Moan at one another? Start to ignore each other?

After all that romance, our beautiful couple is bound to have massive expectations of their life together. But when rose tinted expectations clash with day to reality, watch out!

Romance is vital in any relationship. Always seeing the best in your partner helps to keep things intimate and love should be expressed. But if you have been raised on Mills and Boon Romance novels or feel-good movies, then your own romantic expectations can work against the sustainability of your long term relationship.

When day to day life fails to live up to the giddy, heady lust-filled days of the pre-settled down romance people can become angry, even blame one another: “This wasn’t what I signed up for." They find it hard to take the rough with the smooth because they never really figured there would be any rough.

Expectations not diluted with at least a dash of realism can be a royal road to relationship ruin. Your partner may be an angel, but they have feet of clay. You must learn to love those feet or at least accept them a bit!

Get the rest after the jump!

Create Gorgeous Custom Roman Blinds (Without Sewing!)

Casa Community — Fri, 04 May 2012 09:00:22 PDT

Roman blinds are a wonderful option if you're looking to add pattern or color to windows, but prefer a more tailored look than curtains. Unlike curtains, roman blinds require a more precise fit, and custom options are usually pretty pricey. Blogger Cindy Berisic envisioned covering the windows in her office with roman blinds in a hot pink and white pattern. She shared her brilliant roman shades DIY with us, and we're so inspired by her technique that we wanted to also share it with you! The Premier Prints Gotcha White/Candy Pink fabric she chose is just under $8 per yard. Once she had her fabric, all she needed was measuring tape, scissors, fabric glue, and miniblinds. Keep reading to get Cindy's detailed step-by-step instructions. Take it away, Cindy!

Link Time - How to Survive a Blind Date

TresSugar — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 13:00:26 PST

How to survive a blind date: six easy steps - Em & Lo
Is bad breath the ultimate dating dealbreaker? - YourTango
15 celebs who've (allegedly) had sex in public - The Frisky
Do moms miss out on all the fun? - LilSugar
Can affairs save marriages? - Huffington Post
How to find strength in Britney Spears - The Hairpin
White online daters rarely date black people - Betty Confidential
Vacation ideas inspired by Oscar movies - SavvySugar