They say that you shouldn’t cry over spilt milk, but I think there might be cause to cry when it is from a poorly designed bottle.

Pauls Milk has a 3 litre bottle which maintains their design of keeping the spout in the centre (in fact, it might be just off centre in the wrong direction. Unfortunately this results in the milk spilling down the side of the container, especially when the bottle is full.

Recently we purchased Coles Milk and I noticed that their 3 litre bottle had a different design. The spout is noticeable further forward and is longer to promote a more even flow. It didn’t spill a drop, even when full. It was simply better designed. It even had a more comfortable handle.

I’ll be putting up diagrams explaining the problem more fully soon.

This controversial article is a product of The Mill.
Recently McDonald’s has begun advertising 8 new menu items that have the heart tick. This comes within weeks of the Heart Foundation’s advertising campaign reinforcing that the heart tick can not be bought.Coincidence? I think not.

Even if McDonald’s didn’t just buy the heart ticks (which I’m not saying it did), it would make sense to encourage the Heart Foundation to advertise that they can’t be bought. It may even be advantageous to pay for these commercials.

Think about it.

After being without a UPS for what seems like forever (almost two years) I finally got around to buying one. The only problem is that the software doesn’t show the status of the UPS, but it will shut down my computer if the battery is going to go out, so it’s better than nothing.

Finally, after a long spell without one I finally replaced my UPS

First we looked at when to propose, then we followed up with some more answers. And yet, more answers led to more questions, particularly about the Promise Ring.

A promise ring is mostly symbolic, a token of the promise that you are making. The actual ring itself does not need to be specifically designed for the purpose of making the promise, although these are certainly available.

To try and make things clearer I will refer to examples of Promise Rings in popular culture. In an episode of The Simpsons (Season 3, I Married Marge), Marge’s wedding ring is re-possessed and Homer eventually replaces it with an Onion Ring from the Gulp ‘N Blow where he is working to make money to support Marge, who is pregnant with Bart. (He promptly removes the onion ring and eats it as it is burning her finger).

In this example, Homer used the onion ring as a symbolic representation of a real ring to reinforce the promise he had made to Marge. It was a promise ring.

In The O.C., Kirsten hides her wedding ring for some stupid reason and tells Sandy that she thinks it is stuck down the sink. Anyway, it reminds him of the promise ring that he originally gave her, which he won from a machine.In these instances, the sentimental value of the ring outweighed the fiscal value.

In Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Angel gives Buffy a promise ring. When you wear the ring with the heart pointing towards you it symbolises that you belong to somebody. In this instance we have a ring that in itself is symbolic of the promise and does not cost thousands of dollars.

So now that we’ve seen that almost anything can be a promise ring, how do you pick the perfect promise ring? You can look for a ring that in itself has a meaning, either culturally, or a meaning that the two of you will understand and appreciate. When you propose with a promise ring, the meaning behind the ring is what will make it valuable. As for how you do it, using the promise ring in lieu of an actual ring seems to be the way to go. So, the classic one knee will most likely suffice.

I would argue that in an engagement the fiscal value of the ring isn’t as important as the love that the two share. Use of a promise ring should be the same as a full engagement ring. I would however steer clear of foodstuffs and perishables. After all, the engagement is about making a promise, that the person you are proposing to is the person you wish to spend the rest of your life with.

Good luck.

Yesterday, The Mill looked into the problem of smoking and possible reasons behind why it is so hard to stop existing smokers and first-time smokers. Today we will into the problem of littering.

This time the problem is caused by a combination of laziness and apathy which continues to plague our society. So I can link this properly with yesterday’s article, let’s discuss the problem of cigarette butt litter. I have recently seen more than one person throw their cigarette butt out of their car window. This made me very angry.

According to Planet Ark 7 billion cigarette butts are littered in Australia each year. That’s just over 2 cigarette butt for every person on the planet. It is also believed that 4,500 bush-fires are started by improper disposal of cigarette butts.

I’m not sure what TV show I heard this from, but I remember hearing that even caged animals are clever enough to do their business in the corner rather than in the middle of their cage. We are living in a much bigger cage and yet we litter our cage with cigarette butts, chip packets and other waste without thought.

The annoying thing about littering is that it is not hard to not do. What is so different about throwing a cigarette butt out the window to dumping toxic waste on the side of the road? Both actions are reckless and in my opinion, border on evil. People should know better, the do know better, but they do it anyway.