Greens Blog

Mt. Rushmore from the rear

Green — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 14:41:19 +0000

This has been hanging around my desktop for too long. Time for it to leave mine and go to yours.

You need a subscription

Green — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 14:37:29 +0000

It’s time to collect osage orange if you know where to search. Odd stuff.

In other news from this week’s print edition:

Morenci city council heard a good audit report for the past fiscal year. Leaf collection was delayed due to absent employees, but it’s underway now.

As announced last week, Stair Public Library won Michigan’s State Librarian’s Excellence Award.

Roth Fabricating has had two trucks hit by semis that are using the Roth property to turn around. The semis are loading at Palm Plastics, but they aren’t under Palm’s control.

Morenci receives $1,900 from the DNR to help replace diseased ash trees that were cut.

Colleen Leddy writes about a birthday - not hers - and David Green writes about Colleen’s e-mail. The editorial discusses the need for updates in Seneca Township’s ordinances.

The Glasgow Organ Series presents a concert Sunday at the Fayette Opera House.

Fayette History Day is scheduled Saturday at the Opera House.

Fayette library will have some Saturday hours restored, including this weekend from 10 a.m. until noon.

The Morenci Drama Club will present a play Friday and Saturday at the high school.

Jessica Howell tells about her adventures working at the D-bar-A Scout Ranch the last few summers.

Those are just the highlights. Buy a subscription and read the rest. You can do that right here on-line.

Kiva hits $100,000

Green — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 17:43:19 +0000

Are you familiar with Kiva, the company that organizes small loans for small entrepreneurs? The people making the loans are just everyday you-and-me sorts, except that this me hasn’t yet got involved. I’ve only admired from afar. Here’s an excerpt from a mention of Kiva’s achievements:

As of October 31, Kiva has facilitated the movement of $100 million between people, helping small businesses stay above water. “What’s even more amazing to me is that it took over 1 year to raise our first $1 million . This year alone, we’re on track to raise nearly $60 million.”

Get involved at the website. It’s an excellent gift idea.

hotte or nat: Have I mentioned that Geoffrey Chaucer hath a blog?

Plese uote for me and saye that ich am hotte. Peraventure my peynture may plese nat the moderatoures (for it is a manuscripte and ich haue but litel cleavage), yet lette vs yive this a trye!

Cheap toys: I’ve read that at least 80 percent of children’s toys are now manufactured in China. Many are produced by other children:

It found that in the Kai Da factory in Shenzhen city, which supplies Hasbro, a hundred 16-year-old high-school children and several younger children were working. Conditions in the factory were said to be dangerous, with potentially toxic solvents and paints routinely handled by workers with only rudimentary protective gear. Shifts were allegedly routinely over 12 hours long, seven days a week, with no days off for many months, plus mandatory 19- and 23-hour shifts at busy times such as the pre-Christmas rush. Workers were also reported to be docked wages for room and board, leaving them receiving only 28 cents an hour.

Watch your wording: TreeHugger has some advice for the Japanese scientists working on a space-based power generating plant. Avoid the words “laser” and “microwave.”

He objects, also

Green — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 12:58:04 +0000

Rep. Dennis Kucinich did not support the recent health care reform. I’ve heard from other sources that the legislation includes some important points, but it’s not going to address the rising costs of health care:

Because their massive bureaucracy avoids paying bills so effectively, they force hospitals and doctors to hire their own bureaucracy to fight the insurance companies to avoid getting stuck with an unfair share of the bills. The result is that since 1970, the number of physicians has increased by less than 200% while the number of administrators has increased by 3000%. It is no wonder that 31 cents of every health care dollar goes to administrative costs, not toward providing care. Even those with insurance are at risk. The single biggest cause of bankruptcies in the U.S. is health insurance policies that do not cover you when you get sick.

He objects

Green — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 12:54:10 +0000

I’m really glad they don’t do business like this in the meetings I cover. People have come close before, not quite like this. This is a short clip of a much longer series of objections. What was the name of that book - “Everything I need to know I learned in kindergarten”?

Little queens

Green — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 03:11:16 +0000

Salon has a feature about child beauty pageants that gives me the creeps, or gives me the willies, or dang, just makes me want to hold down the vomit:

The little faces spackled with makeup, the hair poufed and shellacked, the fake tans, fake teeth (called “flippers,” they mask baby teeth), fake nails and, often, fake smiles — all of it seems so jarring on toddlers and tweens.

There’s a collection of photos to view from photographer Susan Anderson. What drives parents to push their kids through this routine?

Ms. Leddy and her people

Green — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 15:16:26 +0000

Colleen Leddy stands at the podium of the Radisson in Lansing as she gives her speech at the State Librarian’s Excellence Award ceremony. The award makes Stair Public Library the only Class I (small division) library in Michigan to ever receive the honor. She brought a collection of her “village” to the podium with her, but the stage wasn’t big enough to hold them all.

50 eyesores?

Green — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 14:03:35 +0000

I’ve never been fond of the PT Cruiser, but still I’m surprised to see it on the list 50 years of automotive eyesores. It’s one person’s opinion, of course. I’m really surprised to see the the Toyota Prius on his list. I’d be very pleased to have one of those ugly things. Take this link to read his reasoning for each of this choices:

The Cruiser was meant to look retro, but some styles shouldn’t be recycled. The body’s oversized face and grille are flashy. The front wheel housing is inexplicably long, extending back into the front door. The flared logo on the hood attempts to convey regality, but the Cruiser just can’t back it up.

Text a fish: Take a look at this “amphibious architecture” project in NYC. In case you want to send a text message to a fish, this is the place to go:

Installed at two sites along the East and the Bronx Rivers, this project is a network of floating interactive buoys housing a range of sensors below water and an array of light emitting diodes (LEDs) above water. The sensors monitor water quality, the presence of fish, and human interest in the river’s ecosystem, while the lights respond to the sensors, creating feedback loops between humans, fish in their shared environment.

bisphenol A

Green — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 22:29:12 +0000

Is bisphenol A (BPA) nasty stuff to be eating? There isn’t a decisive decision on this plastic additive that’s present in the wrapping of many food products, but:

…for those of you who like to worry, Consumer Reports just published results from tests of a bunch of canned foods that revealed some pretty high readings in such pantry favorites as green beans and vegetable soup.

There’s a link down the NPR page that presents an amusing/troubling finding: Vital Choice Tuna in the BPA-free can contains a very significant amount of BPA.

Headline of the day: How to avoid a spike in hedgehog deaths on bonfire night.

It’s all about Guy Fawkes night and the prediction that hedgehogs will be extinct in Britain by 2025. You probably want to read about here.

Wear it, then eat it

Green — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 21:58:20 +0000

I’m sure you would like to examine some meat-based photographs from a Russian style show. Eat Me Daily talks about it here, with a link to other photos here.

Watersquares hold storm runoff in a park-like environment. I don’t know about this; I’ve encountered some pretty dirty storm water. Maybe I need to read the fine print from this interesting Pruned article:

In Florian Boer and Marco Vermeulen’s proposal, rainwater runoff isn’t funneled into a complex system of underground pipes, a system that is rather expensive to build and maintain, but is managed instead through a network of surface reservoirs, the Waterpleinen, or Watersquares. These storage spaces will be dry for most of the year, but during storm events, they will collect water from the surrounding neighborhood. If one reaches capacity, excess water will overflow into another basin. After the rain, the collected water will slowly recede into nearby bodies of water or seep into the soil.