Learn to blog to learn

Sarah Silverman's Cancer Hate Group Video

noreply@blogger.com (Elisa) — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 00:06:00 +0000

I am posting this video from Sarah Silverman about Cancer because she mentions those cute hoodies from American Apparel

Swap Clothes Online!

noreply@blogger.com (Elisa) — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 07:36:00 +0000

"Clothing swaps are becoming ever more popular as we all look for ways to save money, and stay stylish. Add in the possibilities for DIY modifications, and you can whip yourself up an entirely new wardrobe for practically nothing. It’s one thing to trade among friends, or your local community, but what if people from all over the planet could participate in a 24-7 swap party from the comfort of their homes?

DigNSwap.com aims to be a catalyst for online clothing, shoe, and accessory trading. You simply upload photos of stuff you want to swap, and indicate a few attributes such as size, color, brand and condition. Then, you “dig” through what others have to offer using convenient category and tag based searching. When you find something you like, you can bid on it with items in your stash. If your bid is accepted, then you ship the items to each other. Pretty neat, right?"

...

"I just scored a beautiful Moroccan leather purse in exchange for the last bag I had left of a design I got bored with making. I’m getting something that’s new to me, yet no money is being exchanged. It makes me think of a song by Bjork called “Declare Independence”, where she tells you to “start your own currency!”

The Skeptical Environmentalist and the Geography of Hope

noreply@blogger.com (Elisa) — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 08:13:00 +0000

George Strombolopolous interviewed Bjorn Lomborg Skeptical Environmentalist on the Hour.

In 2001, scientists said the ice in Greenland and the Arctic is melting so quickly, it may be gone by the end of the century. In 2006, the spotlight shone on Canada's north. Scientists discovered a huge chunk of ice broke away in the Arctic, off Ellesmere Island. In 2007, international scientists said the cost of reducing emissions is way less pricey than dealing with the damage of global warming. But not everyone agrees. Bjorn Lomborg is a 'skeptical environmentalist.' He says there are more pressing problems like AIDS, fresh water and poverty. He outlines it all in his book, 'Cool It: The Skeptical Environmentalist's Guide to Global Warming

His article Chill Out from the Washington Post

Some very interesting comments from smart people on the CBC website

Chris Turner
For one year, Chris Turner travelled the world, looking for people who were actually doing something about the environment. Chris went to Freiburg - aka Germany's 'solar city.' He found houses that produce more energy than they consume. Or how about in Bangkok, Thailand, bio-solar houses are all the rage there. Then, there's Findhorn, Scotland, it has the smallest eco-footprint of any community in the industrialized world. In fact, this place has something called a 'Living Machine.' In Phoenix, Arizona, Chris found a house made of recycled beers cans, some wine bottles and tires. The place is completely self sufficient. Chris chronicles his search of environmental innovations in his new book, 'The Geography of Hope'.

woven bags out of recycled packaging

noreply@blogger.com (Elisa) — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 04:06:00 +0000

How to make those woven bags out of recycled packaging

You start with a "gum wrapper chain"

Then you do a whole lot of joining and sewing and molding it with a screwdriver, then sew on a zipper...

Great instructions but it still looks like a lot of work!

In the process of looking for instuctions for making that bag, I found some interesting sites...

Instructables - wow, the biggest show and tell site ever

Replayground- crafty recycling fun

Make It, a blog about building a craft business

Crafty Chica

David de Rothschild wants to save the world rather than buy or sell it...

noreply@blogger.com (Elisa) — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 20:41:00 +0000

Adventure Ecology

..."Not content to simply brave the Arctic Ocean, be the youngest Brit to reach both poles, and set a speed record for traversing the Greenland ice cap, de Rothschild has added a green twist: He started Adventure Ecology, an organization that shares his expeditions with kids and tweens on the Web to spread environmental activism. The idea is that they'll tell their friends, teachers, and parents. Call it trickle-up eco-nomics.""

"The stumbling block of the whole green movement is that there has been this slightly exclusive, sanctimonious air about it," de Rothschild says. "You feel intimidated. It's like, 'What are you doing?' It makes you feel guilty." His other peeve is the braver-than-thou genre of modern exploration, which he feels is counterproductive to tree-huggery. "If you're watching a documentary," he says, "and some guy is sitting in a tent and going" — he switches to a mountain-man burr — " 'I'm barely surviving here, and it's miserable,' you think: 'That looks miserable. Why the hell would I want to protect that place?"

"De Rothschild's next Adventure Ecology mission, in December, is his most ambitious yet: a four-month, 8,000-mile voyage from San Francisco to Australia in a 60-foot sailboat made of post-consumer plastic bottles. Dubbed the Plastiki (à la Thor Heyerdahl — get it?), the trip will spotlight the desecration of the oceans by trash, oil, and other unsavory man-mades."
...
"De Rothschild is savvy enough to know that his gilded pedigree — and the Sasquatch-size carbon footprint from frequent flying around the world to promote his cause — exposes him to charges of insincerity. "People will snipe," he says. "I'm not perfect by any means. My CO₂ output is more than most because of the lifestyle I lead, but it's less than it could be. But what would you rather I do? Just sit back and consume? I want to maximize my social impact and make a difference, and that's why I do what I do." He smiles. "I could very easily not."

"...De Rothschild is well aware that on a day-to-day basis he's less like Sir Edmund Hillary and more like, well, Senator Hillary. "I like to moisturize, I like fluffy pillows, and I can't do a one-armed push-up," he admits. "I'm the first person to say I'm not a hero." Plus, being close to his BlackBerry allows him to stay in the loop on his upcoming projects: a sail through the South China Sea, an expedition to Africa in '09, and an "edutainment" pilot for NBC."

Pictured above: David de Rothschild charts a course from San Francisco to Australia, wearing about a $1000 worth of rugged explorer duds...

Excerpts above are from Green Machine by Hudson Morgan.....read the whole article in Men's Vogue

Joe Gets Green

noreply@blogger.com (Elisa) — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 08:30:00 +0000

"So you aren't into the green issues just for the fashion?" .... so funny!

from the current

Unsustainable Nuts

noreply@blogger.com (Elisa) — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 23:44:00 +0000

This individually-wrapped cashew nut was reviewed on the strange and hilarious site Culinary Abortions from Japan: a Journal of Food Failures:

"One would hope that the pearl within the wrapper would somehow trump its cashew colleagues–but rest assured this is an ordinary nut: prosaic, unadorned, banal.

Aside from a light gown of salt, it rests naked within its deplorable womb of plastic."

I'm not sure if that nut goes with this video, but I have been thinking lately about the idea of "spend more, get less" and the goal of purchasing quality sustainable products produced ethically.

The Story of Stuff, which has been viewed 2 million times, is a passionate but quite depressing explanation of how we get stuff, by Annie Leonard.

"From its extraction through sale, use and disposal, all the stuff in our lives affects communities at home and abroad, yet most of this is hidden from view.

The Story of Stuff is a 20-minute, fast-paced, fact-filled look at the underside of our production and consumption patterns. The Story of Stuff exposes the connections between a huge number of environmental and social issues, and calls us together to create a more sustainable and just world. It'll teach you something, it'll make you laugh, and it just may change the way you look at all the stuff in your life forever."

The Story of Stuff has a fantastic blog with this interesting post about how Leonard got into Materials Economy

Great Green Blogs!

noreply@blogger.com (Elisa) — Sun, 25 May 2008 23:50:00 +0000

Green Blogs: Some of these are more "magazine" than blog... (because they have more than one author).

The way you can read lots of blogs is to sign up for a feed (it's like a subscription)
then you just go to one place to check if your favorite sites have any new articles....
I use Google Reader but there are lots of Feed readers.

Happy Frog FrogBlog : Blog for BC's Green Directory and Sustainability Community - live green, have fun!

E costreet.com : (The Blog Formerly Known As TreeHuggerMum) has green directories, job postings, articles, a forum, books for sale and more...

Go Green Ego : forward ideas for green people

The Accidental Eco-maniac : A super-pretty site with lots of articles about all things eco!

Consciousconsuming : "Conscious Consuming seeks to increase awareness of the impact of buying decisions on our health, happiness, and environment."

Eco-chick : "Because Mother Earth is a Woman" ... lots of great articles and photos

Greengirlsglobal : "an international weblog about people from various different places with various different experiences, skills and interests talking about how they and people where they live are trying to live a life in a way that is positive for the environment, people and animals."

Hautenature : "Ecologically based creative ideas, art & green products for your children, home and lifestyle........an eco guide blending high style with sustainability"

Hippyshopper : Green news and more!

Sustainablog: "regularly features environmental leaders, experts in alternative energy and green technology, and real people trying to lighten their environmental footprints"

And lots more I haven't yet discovered are listed here:
Bestgreenblogs : Best Green Blogs is the directory of weblogs that focus on green and sustainable people, places, products, ideas and possibilities."

Thedailygreen : The consumer's guide to the green revolution."

Also not really a blog but TreeHugger is the leading media outlet dedicated to driving sustainability mainstream. TreeHugger's blog is Hugg

Let me know of any I haven't found or forgot to list!

Eco-friendly Passenger Pigeon

noreply@blogger.com (Elisa) — Wed, 14 May 2008 23:14:00 +0000

Passenger Pigeon was started in 2005 by Heather Schibli and Wendy Traas. They have a small studio at 135 Tecumseth Street, where they design, sample, print and warehouse their items. All their clothing is constructed locally in downtown Toronto.

The following is an excerpt of an interview with Heather Schibli by Tim from blogto.com about Passenger Pigeon, the state of eco-fashion in Toronto and her plans for the coming year....

What is the concept behind Passenger Pigeon?

We at Passenger Pigeon believe in supporting local business (we source our fabrics from Canadian suppliers and have everything made here in Toronto), the environment (we use environmentally responsible textiles), and playful designs (we do not follow the predicted colour trends and so forth. We work with colours and images that inspire us).
In what ways is your company/clothing environmentally friendly?

First and foremost, Passenger Pigeon is deemed an environmentally friendly company for its use of eco-conscious textiles. We source fabrics such as organic cotton, hemp, organic wool, lyocell, bamboo and soy. These fibres still leave a footprint on the planet, but a much much smaller one then their counterparts. We pay fair wages to our contractors, who sew our garments here in Toronto. All our patterned fabrics are printed with water-based inks, which are better for the environment than oil based inks. We use 100% recycled, non-bleached paper for our business cards, catalogues and signs (and in fact, most of our paper work is done on the computer. We print as little as possible) printed with vegetable ink. Neither Wendy or I own a vehicle- we bike or walk to our studio and cycle when doing errands. We donate to charities like Greenpeace and WSPA.
Any plans for 2008 you'd like to tell us about?

As mentioned before, we are very exited about or Spring/Summer line. We are focusing on unbleached creams, warm blues and greys for this season with prints of bicycles and foliage. We also will be attaching a mildly political treat to each and every garment displayed on the racks at every store we sell through (it's a surprise so you'll have to look out for it)!

Anything else you'd like to add?

We plead - if you can not afford to support your local designers, than support second-hand shops. It lessens the burden on the planet. Avoid disposable clothing (items that survive only one or two seasons). It's best to buy good quality classic looks that you can continue to wear for years to come. Pick up sewing! It's surprisingly easy to convert an old sweater or dress into something fresh and exciting!
For the whole interview go to blogto.com

Genius Tetra-pack Recycling

noreply@blogger.com (Elisa) — Wed, 14 May 2008 02:03:00 +0000

What a great idea!

Here's how you can make your own tetra-pack coin purse...from
Epirit Cabane, the magazine of crafty and green living ideas!

Also check this out:
http://www.berlingot.ch/ is one of the most interesting websites - from the mesmerizing tetra-pack folding video to the impressive gallery of folded tetra-packs for sale. I'm sure it would be even more interesting if I spoke the language!

Natural Style from Myco Anna

noreply@blogger.com (Elisa) — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 22:08:00 +0000

Monday Magazine, a weekly from Victoria BC Canada, celebrated Earth Week with the headline "Green Chic - Natural fabrics, natural style", and an article about sustainable fashion. Not Just Pretty is featured prominently in this week's issue - on the cover, the lovely Moe Bell is wearing a beautiful green Myco Anna Cami Agave top. Her bag is a Red Flag Sail bag - made of recycled sails!

Here's an excerpt from the article "Is Green My Colour?":

Green is the most important fashion statement of 2008—and not on a colour wheel. From manufacturing practices to fibre sources, components of the apparel industry are spurring the next major shift in the market for an organic—or, at least, more carbon-neutral—lifestyle. New fabric choices, like bamboo and soy, are allowing apparel to become eco-friendly, while remaining stylish and modern

Salts Organic Hoodie

D~luxe : Ecoskin Copper Dress

noreply@blogger.com (Elisa) — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 06:10:00 +0000

The D~luxeList, a "chic guide to beautiful things", have featured this chic and beautiful Eco-skin Copper dress in their fashion finds...

It's so great to see eco-friendly fashions going beyond great basics by offering super-stylish dresses and tops that are every bit as fashionable as your favorite contemporary lines. The Copper is a super-soft fabrication comprised of 67% Bamboo, 28% Tencel, and 5% Spandex. The banded hem, soft gathers at the neckline and elbow-length sleeves are cute details that take this piece from basic to beautiful.

Understated, sensual and feminine in its approach, Ecoskin is inspired by the Italian Riviera and the women who live and play there. Her confidence is apparent to everyone around her. There is a freshness to the ease of this collection. Nothing is overwhelming or overdone. Always with the purity of nature in mind, colors are clean and rich in their approach.

"I wanted to give women a hip, sophisticated collection, as well as a sustainable product that would not leave a footprint on the environment," says designer, Sandy Skinner. "My vision is to continually raise women's awareness of their options. We can combine eco-friendly fabrics with a high design aesthetic and collectively we can take steps toward creating an environment where humans, nature and animals live in harmony."

Are you 50% sustainable? Ethical style from 50RX3

noreply@blogger.com (Elisa) — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 05:30:00 +0000

50RX3 is a fantastic photo-documentary that chronicles the outfits of Jill Danyelle every day for a year (!) and tallies the sustainability of the total -

"fiftyRX3 was a 365-day project documenting Jill's goal to average fifty percent sustainability in the clothing she wore in 2006. Jill took daily photos of what she wore and classified them based on the environmental mantra, "reuse, reduce, recycle"."

WOW - these ebaybes are gorgeous! They all seem to have a cute smirk that says "hey! buy this from my auction..."

eBaybes™ became a regular feature on the site. I found the pictures interesting for several reasons. The whole phenomenon of selling second-hand and vintage clothing on eBay seemed to begin circumventing traditional fashion media and advertising when the sellers became quite good at editorializing their wares. ...However, the fact that most sellers are not professional models, but more likely the girl next store, lends an interesting self-portrait quality to the photos and provides a realness beyond most editorial spreads.

More ebaybes...

Jill Danyelle also started a great group on flickr for photos of sustainable style - there are over 2000 photos posted! Makes a great slide show!

Bags for a green planet - Not Just Pretty in the news!

noreply@blogger.com (Elisa) — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 06:30:00 +0000

Recycled leather, organic cotton make ecological statement

Times Colonist Published: Tuesday, April 22, 2008

"Not so long ago the words "environmentally friendly bag" referred solely to sacks (usually brown) to carry organic groceries. Today, which is Earth Day, eco-bags are just one of the coveted fashion items that are planet-friendly. In fact, they started the trend -- or at least gave it a big boost.
...
Up-and-coming designers using environmental practices and products found themselves on the profitable edge of a major trend. Especially among those who design bags -- a status staple item.
Vancouver's Ashley Watson, 29, started making her coveted recycled leather bags by fluke a few years ago.
"I was at my parents', had this idea for a bag but was really impatient so I cut up one of my dad's old leather jackets and made it," says Watson. Her slouchy bright bags -- made from leather jackets she finds at charity thrift stores -- coincided with the boho and eco trends in fashion.
She started out visiting socially conscious boutiques in person -- like Victoria's Not Just Pretty on Fort Street, which still carries her bags and accessories.
Now her bag design business is a full-time job. Her edgy and fashionable bags -- think bright 1980s leather, zippers and pockets -- have been featured in Nylon, New York, Flare, Fashion, Lou Lou and Wish magazines, and the Today Show.
"We've had our store for four years now and even in that time we've seen so many more designers emerge using environmental materials," says Pam Skelton, owner of Not Just Pretty. She carries several lines of eco-bags, from those made with recycled materials like billboards and old posters to those made with organic fibres.
One of the latter is Sparrow Handbags by Victoria designer Marlena Maikranz-Bryce. The 28-year-old started her line last year after a break from the fashion design business to work for her family's company, Victoria Signs.
..."

It's Earth Day, what NOT to do, (and some eco-comics)

noreply@blogger.com (Elisa) — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 05:05:00 +0000

This list of What Not to Do on Earth Day is really cute and has great pictures!

for example:#7. Buy a polar bear fur coat.

Paper-free comics for Earth Day! Leave it to the lovable but slightly skewed editors of TheDailyGreen. We so needed a laugh when contemplating global climate change and poisonous baby bottles that we teamed up with King Features Syndicate to assemble for our dear readers 40+ Earth Day-themed comics, which we present to you all together, right here. Enjoy! And remember: No trees were used in the delivery of these comics.

Researching blogs, yeah that's what I call it

noreply@blogger.com (Elisa) — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 19:29:00 +0000

Researching other blogs is very much random surfing but i've found some interesting one's that will add to my knowledge about what good blogs should be...
There are 2 main types of blogs I'm into "researching",

technical stuff on blogging and SEO, and
fashion blogs.

from the first category:
Eric Wolfram has an interesting site that ranks high on Google. Very simple and a bit cluttered, but interesting and readable....

fashion-type blogs:
free people - a clothing store blog - very professional looking...from PA
urban outfitter
the Moment - fashion design food and travel from NY Times
white lightning - style blog
nylon mag blog
david black photos
only shallow - ranting at the sartorialist for the makeover thing

Expandable summaries.... help!?

noreply@blogger.com (Elisa) — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 01:27:00 +0000

Here's a good tutorial blog, I am going to learn how to make my posts end with "...click to read more" so they don't take up the whole page...

UPDATE: I still can't get this to work... can't find where to paste the bit of code in...

;-(

I'm going to try this again using the instructions in blogger buster

I keep looking up more instructions (from Blogger this time), trying to figure this out...

Do I need to Validate the Website?

noreply@blogger.com (Elisa) — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 23:20:00 +0000

In the process of learning about SEO, I came upon the idea that you have to have valid HTML in order for search engine spiders/bots to fiind your page, also to help it load faster, so it displays properly in different browsers, and so it can be converted for people with a disability to be able to see/hear:

why validate? top 3 reasons to validate your website

validator websites
- you put in the URL, click on validate, and it tells you what's wrong with the page...

When I put in the URL for the Not Just Pretty Main Page, it comes back with lots of errors, including not having a valid DOCTYPE

Is this very important/something I should fix?
Something to tell the web designer of my mom's site about?

What is the perfect theme for a clothing store blog.....

noreply@blogger.com (Elisa) — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 00:03:00 +0000

Not this blog, but the blog I want to do for the clothing store needs a theme, I think.

I've been looking at advice others have for business-related blogs and trying to figure out what would make people want to read a Clothing Store Blog!
Define your blog has advice about theme, specifically for business bloggers
success for your blog has a blurb on creating a theme

So I have a feeling nice photos of the store aren't gonna cut it (ie get readership that promotes the shop and converts to sales) ... and maybe photos of the great new top we just got in or whatever would be interesting, but that's basically what is already on the online store....

The store I want to develop a blog for is Not Just Pretty Modern Clothing in Victoria, BC, Canada. This is my mom's store and she sells ethical, sustainable, organic, cotton, soy, bamboo, recycled, and vintage clothing, accessories, shoes and jewelry, skincare and haircare.

So she already has a niche, in sustainable style, also known as ethical fashion, and she carries lots of local designers and her stuff is really beautiful.

So my idea is to do blog that looks mainly like a street-style blog, showing photos of real people (customers/employees/family members) looking good wearing sustainable clothing....

I say mainly because I am sorta wishy washy and figure we might want to put some articles about designers, articles about environmental issues and eco-fashion. I think it also might be a good idea to intersperse the photos of real people with photos of models in there too... fashion shows, etc... if it looks good and it's related to the shop... put it in...

But the main deal is that I don't think I could write fashion editorial. However, I do think that people would "tune in " to a clothing store blog to "people-watch", like the "smile-of-the-day" in newspapers, street style-style.... to check out photos and not read too much...! Lots of photos (with pithy titles and catchy captions, of course) would be easy to post regularly and there wouldn't be so much pressure to post intelligent editorial all the time (haha!)

Good idea? I'd love to get feedback....

More stuff on How to Blog

noreply@blogger.com (Elisa) — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 20:51:00 +0000

I think I'm going to have to think of better post titles...
I watched most of this video by chris abraham
that one is about blogger and he has another one about using wordpress

So I am going to figure out what my site feed settings are... not that any of this blog is worth feeding enmasse ha
later...

here are the top 100 blogs... by technorati

I picked out some I want to read:

blog about making money on the web - shoemoney
copyblogger - web copywriting i guess
the consumerist
problogger
seth's blog - I've read before...glad to see it again (maybe I should learn what those feeds are and sign up myself to get these? duh - its like another language
dosh dosh
wrongadvices
search engine land
antbag
a list apart
daily blog tips
blogoscoped
how to change the world
seo book
life hack
43folders
the superficial - because you're ugly

ok gotta run!

The Mansy - oh my!

noreply@blogger.com (Elisa) — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 03:01:00 +0000

oh that Mansy is too cute

Fashion Show Photos and Video

noreply@blogger.com (Elisa) — Sat, 13 Oct 2007 00:08:00 +0000

The fashion show at Not Just Pretty was a super fabulous time - make that ECO-fabulous!
The store was transformed into a runway to showcase some of the beautiful clothes made by designers who use sustainable materials and manufacturing processes, including Loomstate; Love, Deming; Elroy; Passenger Pigeon; and Twice Shy.

There were scrumptious canapes by De'lish, champagne cocktails by Silk Road, and hair by Shampoo Hair Bar and a percentage of the evening's sales went to The Land Conservancy!

Here are some shots of the Fashion Show - be sure to check out the video, below!

You've gotta check out this funky fashion show video! It ROCKS!

Fashion Show Invite!

noreply@blogger.com (Elisa) — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 23:20:00 +0000

Not Just Pretty Modern Clothing

invites you to

A FASHION SHOW, FUNDRAISER, and SALE!

Thursday, October 11th, 6 pm - 9 pm;

Fashion Show at 7

Location: 1036 Fort Street, Victoria

25% off, one night only!

Champagne cocktails by Silk Road; Canapes by De'lish

A percentage of the evening's sales will go to The Land Conservancy.

Limited Guest List RSVP: pam@notjustpretty.com or 414 0414

Hair by Shampoo Hair Bar

Not Just Pretty is proud to offer organic and sustainable clothing, accessories, and skin care products for the fashion-minded woman.

Nature will love you!

NOT JUST PRETTY MODERN CLOTHING 1036 Fort Street Victoria, B.C. 250.414.0414

http://www.notjustpretty.com

Raging artists in advertising...

noreply@blogger.com (Elisa) — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 00:56:00 +0000

fire burns everywhere, it doesn't just burn at the tips

remington movie

the viral factory

raging artists in advertising remington

The Micropolitan Museum

noreply@blogger.com (Elisa) — Sat, 17 Mar 2007 06:22:00 +0000

stomata

These are amazing photos of the surfaces of leaves, etc...

Stomata are the holes in leaves (usually on the underside) that allow gasses to escape (the oxygen produced by photosynthesis) so they're like the holes that plants use to breathe out...
When stomata are open, water in the leaves evaporates, causing the water to be "pulled" up from the roots...