April 23, 2007

• Stop manufacturing Sheryl Crow CDs. I keed, I keed. Not really.
• But, ah, yes, suggestions. Hankies instead of Kleenex. Last a lot longer, and can handle a lot more blowing power, to boot. Plus, they just stay in every pocket you own until you remove them to throw them in the wash -- making repeated use far easier than unscrunching a ball of dried-out used Kleenex. It balances out not limiting yourself to one square of toilet paper. We didn't win the Cold War to just use one square of toilet paper. We did it so we could make plush toilet-paper mitts.
• Ahem I wonder if someday... after I die... my family will be able to access all of the Google searches I've ever done.... I'd love to be able to see the looks on their faces...
• If you really want to reproduce, use cloth diapers. Don't purchase bottled water, if you need to transport water, get a bike bottle. while yr at it, get a bicycle too. seek to draconianly limit the amount of packaging you purchase. recycle.
• Once I did wipe me with a gentle-woman's velvet mask, and found it to be good; for the softness of the silk was very voluptuous and pleasant to my fundament. Another time with one of their hoods, and in like manner that was comfortable. At another time with a lady's neckerchief, and after that I wiped me with some ear-pieces of hers made of crimson satin, but there was such a number of golden spangles in them (turdy round things, a pox take them) that they fetched away all the skin of my tail with a vengeance. Now I wish St. Antony's fire burn the bum-gut of the goldsmith that made them, and of her that wore them! This hurt I cured by wiping myself with a page's cap, garnished with a feather after the Switzers' fashion.
• Monkeyfilter: very voluptuous and pleasant to my fundament
• Swan's necks are best, indeed.
• These are the things I do: vegan diet, hybrid car, don't flush toilet every time I pee, consume less, buy used, buy recycled, reuse, reuse, reuse, less processed and more whole foods, organic foods, natural products (shampoo, soap with no wrapper, etc), natural cleaning products, work from home, compost...among others
• I've been doing a lot of conservation since I was a kid, but it wasn't due to a concern for the environment as it was living under cheap parents.
• I do the cloth grocery bags, recycling, composting, freecycling, tapwater-drinking, meat-avoidance, etc., but so help me if I ever find another crumpled snot-encrusted hanky surviving the laundry process with cargo intact and coming into contact with my clean clothes I will personally vomit on the hanky owner.
• -use those flourescent bulbs. OK, admittedly in places where you do your living, they suck BUT in the garage, the basement, closets - essentially anywhere warm incandescent light isn't necessary? they are fantastic. I have changed out perhaps a dozen-18 bulbs, and I have noticed a change in my bill. Seriously. -rechargable batteries. Buy a LOT up front so you always have some working/charging. Lots of savings there if you have a lot of electronics. -Solar charger for laptop/cell phones. I haven't got one yet, but they are super cool and a nice way to take advantage of renewable on a small scale if the place where you live sucks for solar on a larger scale (like mine does). -cellular window shades. My son's room has a west facing and we were driving ourselves nuts trying to figure out why it was so cold all the time - I tried foam insulation in the wallboards, blackout curtains, attic boards, all to no avail. Then we got some cellular shades, and kapow, no more problem. They were expensive, but they work great for insulating leaky-ass windows. -Extra insulation in your attic. The pink roll kind. Trust me, you don't have enough. -Timers on the "leave-on" lights. I have several lights that I tend to leave on, used to be 24/7, for safety, etc. I put those on timers targeted to optimal usage times. Works great. -Turn off your computers.. We have no less than five computers that were going 24 hours a day. Now, weturn everything off except for the server and my wife's laptop when not in use. If anyone has a method they use to automate shutdown/startup of a server? I'd like to hear it. I wish there was a way that I could cut down on my gasoline usage, but I have an hour commute, I drive like a nut and I love my car.
• This "one square per sitting" suggestion seems silly to me. What the "Western" world needs is a toilet revolution! Away with sit-down commodes. Away with rolls of toilet paper. Enter squat-down loos and buckets of water. Fresh clean bottoms sans poo poo and pee pee scent. No more undies with streak marks. Kissable, puckered sphincters that even Vonnegut would have been able to appreciate. Move over Kimberly Clark, now there's something meatier... *cough* Ahem... I second the cavas bag suggestion. I try to avoid using a car. I walk *up* and *down* steps rather than using the elevator. I don't toss litter into the street. I avoid products with excessive packaging. I return spent batteries to stores for recycling. These are a few things that come to mind.
• Now that I live in an apartment iot's harder, but I hang clothes to dry whenever possible. Also, rather than using costly paper towels, I find that most food spills can be effectively clewaned with the judicuous application of a cat or two. And Mr. Whiskers is far more handsome than that Brawny dude.
• What the "Western" world needs is a toilet revolution! And put the flush handles on the other side, like they do in England! It was so nice fot this right-hander to not have to reach across to flush!
• What are your suggestions for helping the planet? Wholesale genocide. No species would disappear as a result of the lot of us kicking the bucket.
• No species would disappear as a result of the lot of us kicking the bucket. Cows would fare poorly. But also all those endangered species whose populations are maintained solely through the efforts of man would disappear as well. Unless man's demise was instantaneous and resulted in vaporization, there would be a lot of desperate competition for life and, for the latter, approximately 1 trillion pounds of rotting meat laying around (6B poeple x 180 pound average = 1.08T) stanking up the joint. That could be considered an environmental issue. Most vaporization techniques suitable for the job, however, have even greater deleterious effects.
• I will help the planet once the planet is willing to help itself. I'm done trying to reason with it.
• I used to be on the fence about golden showers until I realized the environmental benefit that arose directly from reusing resources.
• OK, admittedly in places where you do your living, they suck Actually, my wife has found some that emit a warm light. We've been replacing all our bulbs with compact flourescents, and so far I've been happy.
• MonkeyFilter: Lasts a lot longer, and can handle a lot more blowing power MonkeyFilter: Kissable, puckered sphincters that even Vonnegut would have been able to appreciate. ...so help me if I ever find another crumpled snot-encrusted hanky surviving the laundry process with cargo intact and coming into contact with my clean clothes I will personally vomit on the hanky owner. *gags repeatedly I personally will NOT use cloth hankys. Nothing, NOTHING is worse than going somewhere with a cold and having a sodden, soggy, disgustingly wet hanky that is making your nose totally raw and doing nothing but smearing the snot around in the first runny nose stages of a cold. After the cold gets into my lungs, there is no way I'm putting a hanky with that slimey, green lump of expectorated frog guts in my pocket. Usually after the hanky got soaking wet and made a wet spot on my pants pockets, I gave up and used TP or paper towels from a public restroom--might as well use sandpaper on a sore nose and be done with it. Just sayin' *lubs me some tissues with aloe for when I have the crud No species would disappear as a result of the lot of us kicking the bucket. Cows would fare poorly. Dogs would miss us, and cats would take over the earth.
• Geez, with all you guys are doing, I can let my taps run all day and get that diesel hamster I've had my eye on.
• P.S. I will also warm myself this winter solely by the heat of burning Sheryl Crow CDs.
• Ah. The eternal struggle. How much squares are enough? It depends (ha!) on the consistence of the paper. Those super-soft, fluffy, scented, tender-as-a-cloud ones that some people prefer are usually easy to tear, causing overuse. Cloth kitchen rags instead of paper towels, canvas bag instead of paper OR plastic, composting, avoidance of products with overpacking, no soda consumption at all (fruit juices and punchs... mhhh), unplugging appliances until actual use, timers and motion-detection lights for residence illumination... walk, walk, walk as much as possible.
• I don't feel any guilt towards the cows and dogs. The cats will rule well.
• With only one square, how can I hit the sides and work the middle?
• Well, I'm a non-reproducing human, which does more than anything else except, I don't know, running a factory on burning CDs or something (which has got to release scads of nasty chemicals.) Besides that, I try to use: the reusable grocery bags my CSA food instead of mass-produced produce. Squiggly efficiency bulbs Fabric female products, instead of plastic-based. Washing dishes in a bin, instead of with running water. Cloth towels, not paper. (I just got back from visiting someone who uses paper for EVERYTHING and I thought it was very bizarre.) We also moved to the city to save on our mileage - I take the shuttle or walk to/from work, and the primary takes the train. And on a very random note, I picked up a reusable lunch tote and a big-ass metal thermos last week. I was hearing too much scare about plastic bottles and decided to move to stainless.
• After learning how many coal-fired generating plants are currently operating or under construction in China and India (to say nothing of the one's over here), and how very few few of the billions of those soon-to-be industrialized masses give a rat's ass about environmental issues, I realized that my own contribution to the problem amounts to a fart in a shitstorm. That said, I started driving my girlfriend's tiny Prius to work, instead of my pickup. So me and the earth are good.
• That superfluous apostrophe was very wasteful of me, I know.
• I don't really think Sheryl Crow really meant that. I ride moped, my wife rides a bike. We also use the bus or carpool on occasion, if we can't use the moped or bike for some reason. And every shopping bag gets reused as a rubbish bag.
• . . . my own contribution to the problem amounts to a fart in a shitstorm. Every vote counts. Unless you're Antonin Scalia in 2000. In which case, that's not true. But I digress.
• I will also warm myself this winter solely by the heat of burning Sheryl Crow CDs. Back in the 80s a slacker buddy and I decided it'd be a hoot to put our money where our mouths were and burn some LPs by artists we hated. John Tesh, Kenny G, Michael Bolton -- you get the idea. It was great until we actually got the fire (in a metal trashcan) started, and the thick, black, toxic-smelling smoke from the LPs started filling the backyard. The guilt we felt was a total buzzkill.
• I shower with a bucket and use the grey water on the garden. Use cloth bags for the shopping. Reuse any plastic bags for bin liners. Take public transport or walk when I can. Air dry clothes. Recycle all paper, cardboard, cans, bottles etc. Defer putting the heater on until it's so cold that a thick hoodie, fleecy trackpants and socks with slippers don't keep me warm. My mum's the real nut when it comes to living like this-- she uses her shower water in her washing machine, then the grey water from the machine on the garden. She uses her car about once a week for the shopping and obsesses about recycling or reusing almost everything-- the platic that the morning papers come wrapped in gets reused for covering the catfood in the fridge, or for rolling up chicken bones in to throw out for example. I could go on but it might trigger some unpleasant flashbacks.
• 1) Make everyone watch An Inconvenient Truth 2)Make everyone read this article from Time Which talks about 51 things you can do to save the environment. (Keep hitting next, it's near the top) 3) Put some of the things learned into application 4) Give money to green foundations 5) Vegetarian or vegan lifestyle 6) Love the planet!
• I pee in the compost pile. I feed table scraps to the chicken. I replace bulbs and fixtures with florescents. I insulate and caulk. I find that several cloth hankies are nicer than Kleenex when I have a cold, but that paper is usually better for bogger catching. I will not limit my toilet paper usage. Does this mean I have to eat Crow?
• Re cloth diapers: 1. They work out cheaper in the long run though cost more up front. 2. They're handy for the little ones who are unsteady on their feet, as they give an extra cushion. 3. They can be ungainly for toddlers, but theoretically should encourage potty training because the child realizes that he/she is wet (not so obvious with the super-absorbant disposables). 4. They're super cute. 5. They do have an environmental impact (washing at high temperature, some detergent), but as far as I know it's less on balance than that of disposables. For the very brave, there's elimination communication.
• Personally, I've adamantly refused to breed. And look where that got me.
• Look at how thin Sheryl Crow is - there's no way she's eating a normal amount of food, and producing a nomal amount of human waste. one square probably IS enough for s scare-Crow like her.
• P-Boy, I'm with you. No breeding here. Probably the single biggest antipollution gesture you can make is refusing to contribute to overpopulation, a suggestion now deemed politically incorrect since some belief systems put breeding high on their agenda. We use C-F bulbs exclusively at home. We keep LED Faraday flashlights around for power failures and the occasional need for a hand-held torch (no battery--you shake them to charge, exchanging minor exercise for illumination). When running errands in our village, it's bike power all the way, which has multiple benefits for us and the planet. Also, we recycle everything we can, and virtually never toss things in the trash that can in any way be used again. Sure, our kitchen is a weird amalgam of several (now deceased) persons' collections, but generally we've found old stuff is more durable and utilitarian. So what if the dishes don't match? Our home is a veritable living museum, in that antique items are in use on a daily basis (my dutch oven and fry pan were purchased around 1880; the house was built in 1873). We have an old-fashioned push-mower and a lovely clothesline, even though the weather hereabouts sometimes makes their use challenging. We also don't use cell phones, portable electronic devices or much of anything battery-powered. Yodeling from hilltops was good enough for my great-great-grandparents, and it's good enough for us.
• Look at how thin Sheryl Crow is To me it looks like excessive working out. Think, i dunno, bicyclists - people that keep going long after the rational would have entered the cooling down phase. She probably travels with some kinda porta-gym thing.
• MonkeyFilter: Yodeling from hilltops was good enough for my great-great-grandparents, and it's good enough for us. *rushes into thread with Ben-Gay to administer first-aid to those with sprained arms from patting backs
• Just in case you guys don't read that other thread, I want everyone to know that the US is right on top of things. McCain Hires Prominent Global Warming Denier To Help Craft Global Warming Policy
• Whoawhoawhoa -- Schlesinger is alive? When did this happen? Also: McCain's from a desert state. Shurely, he thinks the rest of us can stand the heat?
• LEts see . . . cloth shopping bags, cloth diapers, reduce, reuse, recycle, avoid purchasing heavily purchased foods, buy locally produced food whenever possible, eat veggie at least 3 times a week, conserve water, conserve electricity (CF lightbulbs are great -- they really aren't cold looking if you get ones with the proper light temperature; keep wall warts for the computer etc. on a power bar so thet can't suck power when they are not in use), hang things to dry, bike or walk as much as possible, bike to work, drive a diesel VW Golf (1000-1200 km per tank), hankies, cloth rags, repair things when they break instead of replace, buy used, only purchase things which are well made and likely to last, avoid electric powered gizmos of all sorts, use an old-fashoned (1910) pushmower and a grass scythe, only use the furnace when necessary and wear a sweater, fans instead of air conditioning, etc. etc. etc. Living green has been a way of life since I was a kid. Of course, back then it was just a way of making do when money was tight.
• erm. heavily processed foods, not heavily purchased foods, dagnabbit.
• kinnakeet: I'm a big fan of old kitchen stuff too -- they knew how to make things last. You just can't get that quality new anymore. And antique cast iron is fantastic -- I love my 19th century pans.
• > If anyone has a method they use to automate shutdown/startup of a server? You could schedule an OS shutdown at, say, midnight and put the plug on a timer to switch off at 00:15. Then set the system to autoboot and set the timer to switch on at 07:15. > keep wall warts for the computer etc. on a power bar What are "wall warts"?
• fimbulvetr, you have a scythe? That's past "green cred" and into "serious badass cred." Werner Herzog on line 2 for you.
• roryk: wall warts = power adaptors. Most electronics continually suck power by stupid design to keep the circuits warmed up, run the remote control sensor, etc. Wall warts are the worst as they stay warm all the time. Pallas: Yep, a big frikkin' grass scythe with a 3 foot long blade. It belonged to my grandpa. Been using a scythe to cut the grass up at the cottage since I was a kid. Snickity-snack! You can still get them at places like Lee Valley
• When I was growing up, my mother had this incredible Corningware casserole. She cooked practically every meal I can remember in it, and it never showed a sign of wear. Last year I was reminiscing with her about it and I asked her if it had been a wedding gift. She said, "No, the dog brought it home one day. I never knew where she got it, but I assume it was from one of the neighbors."
• You can frequently find Corningware casserole dishes in thrift stores, often the old twist-lock handles to grab 'em with, too. (I'm guessing they discontinued those after lawsuits.) Thrift stores are also a great source of cast iron pans.
• Much of what we own is second-hand. We use cloth bags, drive as little as possible (although with kids it's tricky and hybrids are insanely pricy here), but use disposable nappies. I check food miles on most grocery items and try to buy NZ-made, even if it's more expensive than the imported option. I buy whole foods and avoid anything with numbers if there's an additive-free option (but that's a health thing more than environmental). We grow our own vegetables off and on, depending on how organised I am (rhubarb, zucchini, and lettuce was all I grew this year) and we have two apple trees, a gooseberry bush, and a peach tree so we have fresh fruit all summer and autumn without chemical sprays. We have the eco-bulbs and yes, you can get yellow-toned bulbs for living areas. With kids it's often a toss-up between convenience and greenness, and I still use the clothes dryer a lot and run a gas fire on cold days for their benefit, and we drive more than we would if we didn't have kids. I'm desperate for kid #1 to learn to ride his bike without training wheels so we can bike more as a family. We don't compost (which is dumb when we have a garden) but we recycle every last piece of paper and glass and all the plastic that's accepted by the local recycling program. We never throw out old household items because there is always someone who could use them. I've just bought the casserole dishes that I plan to use until I die, and likewise the cast iron pan. Can't believe we never had one before!
• I grew zucchini once. Which was more than enough. Those fuckers spawn roughly forty huge squash-like appendages, which might seem like a good thing, but: what the hell does one do with zucchini? I mean, a little veggie-laced pasta sauce is fine once in a while, but with 100 pounds of zucchini fruit piled up, you have no options.
• I had that problem with tomatoes last year, which is why I never planted any this year. One roma, one ordinary tomato and one cherry would have been enough for us. One zucchini plant does us for the season and we give a lot away to neighbours or freeze pasta sauce. I also have a zucchini bread/loaf recipe, zap it in the microwave with some diced tomatoes and olive oil, add it to a ratatouille or fry in a little butter. Is yum. Kids like.
• MetaFilter: Those fuckers spawn roughly forty huge squash-like appendages Ralph, et al: You could marinade it and grill it shred it, pickle it, fry it, dip it make breads, pies, soups, casseroles, risoto or frittata make cake, saute, or salad or you could create Fiori di Zucchine or stuff a BIG one for a crowd Five things to do with zucchini My mother-in-law turns it into pineapple.
• My theory is that zucchini are really alien invaders. It is the only way to explain the massive overproduction from a single zucchini plant. That way, they encourage the growers to share their zucchini "bounty" with friends and neighbours. Once every home has at least one zucchini in it, they will rise up and strike! JUST SAY NO TO ZUCCHINI
• Oh, god, not ANOTHER link to Fact Sheet FCS 8299. So 2006.
• Enter squat-down loos and buckets of water ... Kissable, puckered sphincters ... Call me elitist, damn me for gilding the lily if you will, but I would be tempted to add just the merest soupçon of soap to that recipe.
• Sheryl Crow clears the air about toilet paper crack "It seemed like Sheryl was trying to be a little bit cheeky, no pun intended," said Michelle Lee, executive editor of In Touch weekly. I think if you intend the pun, then it is a pun intended. Moran.
• I would be tempted to add just the merest soupçon of soap to that recipe. I will cede to you, a tincture of spumed soap.
• Oh, god, not ANOTHER link to Fact Sheet FCS 8299. So 2006. Doesn't anybody here think that pineapple zucchini is weird? I expected a chorus of 'ewwwwww.' Having eaten it, I can say it's good in cakes, etc. But somehow it's just wrong. WRONG, I say!
• I think I'd skip the pineapple (not right if its strands don't lodge securely between one's teeth like pork chop fibres!), but I am happy to see so many other interesting zucchini recipes - must revisit this thread in August.
• My Mom used to make this chocolate zucchini cake that was to die for. Also these cool li'l fried zucchini-Bisquick patties.
• Hey that looks pretty good, thanks for the tip TUM! (I wonder if pineapple could be added . . . okay okay, but pineapple is really good y'know.)
• See, you'd never expect a chocolate-zucchini cake recipe in a thread about Loo Paper.
• Petebest: Depends on how well your system handles chocolate, I imagine.
• Well, poop kinda looks like a chocolate zucchini.
• The new lighting hotness: LED bulbs. Sure, they're fifty bucks a piece, but they last literally fifty times longer than incandescent bulbs and five times longer than compact flourescents without the mercury. (Also, prices on LED tech are dropping quickly. NICE!)
• But the cost to your eyes of having that kind of light all the time. Fluorescents are bad enough. Maybe mine are sensitive, but LED lights hurt them.
• Also, being an apartment-dweller, I'm jealous of all of you with your zucchini overloads. I love the stuff, and would eat it 2 meals a day. And it's $1.99 a pound here, even at the farm markets. GLOATERS!
• An interesting project, I think.
• But the cost to your eyes of having that kind of light all the time. There's a short blip in the article that indicates that they're working on making softer and yellower LED light, as they've made gains with flourescents.
• I find compact fluorescents much less eye-injuring than standard fluorescents. I insist on keeping the overhead lights off in my office, but I'll happily use a compact fluorescent in my desk lamp.
• Ah, thanks MCT. I did RTFA, but I missed that. And give me all your zucchini.