5.30.2004
Mo'Beta Testing Blues - I get quoted in Wired.
http://www.wired.com/news/print/0,1294,63631,00.html
http://www.wired.com/news/print/0,1294,63631,00.html
5.21.2004
I love my friends because they are so, so wise!
Quoted with permission...
"I am getting closer to my goal of being a sensitive person with a thick skin." -- Miss Conduct
Quoted with permission...
"I am getting closer to my goal of being a sensitive person with a thick skin." -- Miss Conduct
5.20.2004
As quoted in this AP article about Morgan Spurlock's movie "Super Size Me"
"Some moments trigger both gasps and chuckles, like when a group of children studying photographs can identify Ronald McDonald but not Jesus."
I wouldn't recognize James Caviezel out of makup either.
"Some moments trigger both gasps and chuckles, like when a group of children studying photographs can identify Ronald McDonald but not Jesus."
I wouldn't recognize James Caviezel out of makup either.
5.11.2004
As quoted in today's New York Times, Bush said at a rally on Cincinnati's north side
"You've got to get out there and turn out the vote," Mr. Bush told them. "That's what we call the grass roots. I've come to fertilize the grass roots."
As a Texan, I am sure Bush knows what is used to make fertilizer.
"You've got to get out there and turn out the vote," Mr. Bush told them. "That's what we call the grass roots. I've come to fertilize the grass roots."
As a Texan, I am sure Bush knows what is used to make fertilizer.
5.07.2004
Inscrutable cross-reference chain for the week
The "real?" site Who is that with Jeremy?
and the spoof
"This strange man with a chicken mask on was very nice to me until he suddenly penetrated the soft spot on my skull with a little sharp metal part he added to the otherwise flimsy paper mask. Why would he do that? Anyway, it was a fun day! "
which contains a reference to the Subservient Chicken site.
The "real?" site Who is that with Jeremy?
and the spoof
"This strange man with a chicken mask on was very nice to me until he suddenly penetrated the soft spot on my skull with a little sharp metal part he added to the otherwise flimsy paper mask. Why would he do that? Anyway, it was a fun day! "
which contains a reference to the Subservient Chicken site.
Reading: Free Culture, How Big Media Uses Technology and the Law to Lock Down Culture and Control Creativity.
Watching: http://www.gargoyle.tv/swk/
The artifacts of our popular culture are digital. If we're not permitted to modify or encorporate images of our experience will we become an increasingly passive consumer culture?
Watching: http://www.gargoyle.tv/swk/
The artifacts of our popular culture are digital. If we're not permitted to modify or encorporate images of our experience will we become an increasingly passive consumer culture?
5.06.2004
Keeping clean on the playa
Instead of a shower this year, have you considered using a garden sprayer? You don't have to bring as much wash water to the desert in the first place, and it's less impact on the playa. I think you get even better results than with a solar shower because the fine spray is under pressure, rather than just a gravity flow, which is inefficient and wasteful.
I have been very happy with my 1-gal garden sprayer, which cost me about $15 at OSH. You just fill it with water and leave it in the sun until it's warm. If the morning's chilly, heat some water on your campstove and add it to the mix.
I can wash my body myself, and it works for hair also if you can get a friend to work the handle for you while you rinse. I can get fully clean in about quart of water, and there just isn't much runoff to evaporate later. I usually stand on a mat or small tarp while I'm washing up, and it's almost dry by the time I'm finished. BTW: I use Dr. Bronner's soap, since it's bio-degradable and easy to rinse.
Works great for washing dishes too. You can use one pan to soap, then rinse with a spray of clean water.
I camped near a camp with a community shower. They had a HUGE evaporation pond but it just couldn't carry the load of all that water. For an evaporation pond to work, you need hot weather and time. If people use the shower Saturday and Sunday, and you have to break camp Monday morning, what are you going to do with all that water? What if the weather is cool and dusty, as it was last year?
They had to manually dip, sieve, process and distribute gallons of grey water at the end of the event before they could strike camp. YUCK! (Disclaimer: I'm not sure that processing greywater through pantyhose is considered acceptable processing for the BLM, but they did what they could under the circumstances...)
I prefer to camp light and and use my sprayer, thank you!
Instead of a shower this year, have you considered using a garden sprayer? You don't have to bring as much wash water to the desert in the first place, and it's less impact on the playa. I think you get even better results than with a solar shower because the fine spray is under pressure, rather than just a gravity flow, which is inefficient and wasteful.
I have been very happy with my 1-gal garden sprayer, which cost me about $15 at OSH. You just fill it with water and leave it in the sun until it's warm. If the morning's chilly, heat some water on your campstove and add it to the mix.
I can wash my body myself, and it works for hair also if you can get a friend to work the handle for you while you rinse. I can get fully clean in about quart of water, and there just isn't much runoff to evaporate later. I usually stand on a mat or small tarp while I'm washing up, and it's almost dry by the time I'm finished. BTW: I use Dr. Bronner's soap, since it's bio-degradable and easy to rinse.
Works great for washing dishes too. You can use one pan to soap, then rinse with a spray of clean water.
I camped near a camp with a community shower. They had a HUGE evaporation pond but it just couldn't carry the load of all that water. For an evaporation pond to work, you need hot weather and time. If people use the shower Saturday and Sunday, and you have to break camp Monday morning, what are you going to do with all that water? What if the weather is cool and dusty, as it was last year?
They had to manually dip, sieve, process and distribute gallons of grey water at the end of the event before they could strike camp. YUCK! (Disclaimer: I'm not sure that processing greywater through pantyhose is considered acceptable processing for the BLM, but they did what they could under the circumstances...)
I prefer to camp light and and use my sprayer, thank you!
Getting rid of stuff
At the moment, my stuff/space ratio is pretty good, but my home is less "spacious" than I'd like. After a year of living in a van and living out of a backpack for weeks at a time, I am very aware of how little I actually use or want.
My desire to hold on to things comes partly from not wanting to waste things, and partly from "insufficiency thinking" -- If I get rid of it, will I be able to afford/find another when I want it? I have to remember that keeping stuff has a cost too. I have to take care of it, and pack it and move it. Clutter takes emotional bandwidth for me too.
I ran the numbers on the stuff I had in my storage locker. I figured after a year or two of storage, it was costing me more to store the stuff than it would cost to replace the things I might want later!
My personal weakness is art supplies and office supplies. I have boxes and boxes of fabric for sewing projects I didn't finish. Every couple years I drop off a load of fabric at a local theatre company and take the tax deduction. I've heard that schools will take paint/pens/paper and such. I have a huge box of beads I can't figure out what to do with. Very expensive to buy, but what will I ever do with them? Too much work to sell them and recover any of the cost. Too expensive to just get rid of. Trauma!
Here are some things that I do to keep stuff moving out of my life...
1) Consider "regifting" - I don't know about you, but I have lots of perfectly good, unworn, still-in-box kinds of stuff. When a birthday or I look around for things that I have that other people would like, and give them as presents. (shhhh don't tell!)
2) I love the clothing exchanges! It helps me let go of clothes I love when I can see them again on other women I love.
3) My clothing store reached stasis about a year ago. I don't let myself get more clothes than I have space. One pair of pants comes in, one pair goes out. It's all about volume. No cheating! I can't substitute an old pair of socks for a new jacket ;)
4) At the moment I have more money than time, so I sent some money, but I considered hosting a yard sale to raise money for the folks at Headless. Would be great way to get rid of stuff, and raise money for a cause. Seems like there's always someone in our community who could use some new tires, or a transmission, or something...
5) I have made getting rid of stuff a part of my life. One thing that works for me is the crate in my office. When I pick up something and think "what do I need this for?" I drop it in the box. When the box is full, I take it to Community Thrift on Mission and tell them to donate the money to my favorite cause, San Francisco Sex Information.
6) And...when I feel the urge to buy something, I ask myself...do you REALLY REALLY need this?
At the moment, my stuff/space ratio is pretty good, but my home is less "spacious" than I'd like. After a year of living in a van and living out of a backpack for weeks at a time, I am very aware of how little I actually use or want.
My desire to hold on to things comes partly from not wanting to waste things, and partly from "insufficiency thinking" -- If I get rid of it, will I be able to afford/find another when I want it? I have to remember that keeping stuff has a cost too. I have to take care of it, and pack it and move it. Clutter takes emotional bandwidth for me too.
I ran the numbers on the stuff I had in my storage locker. I figured after a year or two of storage, it was costing me more to store the stuff than it would cost to replace the things I might want later!
My personal weakness is art supplies and office supplies. I have boxes and boxes of fabric for sewing projects I didn't finish. Every couple years I drop off a load of fabric at a local theatre company and take the tax deduction. I've heard that schools will take paint/pens/paper and such. I have a huge box of beads I can't figure out what to do with. Very expensive to buy, but what will I ever do with them? Too much work to sell them and recover any of the cost. Too expensive to just get rid of. Trauma!
Here are some things that I do to keep stuff moving out of my life...
1) Consider "regifting" - I don't know about you, but I have lots of perfectly good, unworn, still-in-box kinds of stuff. When a birthday or I look around for things that I have that other people would like, and give them as presents. (shhhh don't tell!)
2) I love the clothing exchanges! It helps me let go of clothes I love when I can see them again on other women I love.
3) My clothing store reached stasis about a year ago. I don't let myself get more clothes than I have space. One pair of pants comes in, one pair goes out. It's all about volume. No cheating! I can't substitute an old pair of socks for a new jacket ;)
4) At the moment I have more money than time, so I sent some money, but I considered hosting a yard sale to raise money for the folks at Headless. Would be great way to get rid of stuff, and raise money for a cause. Seems like there's always someone in our community who could use some new tires, or a transmission, or something...
5) I have made getting rid of stuff a part of my life. One thing that works for me is the crate in my office. When I pick up something and think "what do I need this for?" I drop it in the box. When the box is full, I take it to Community Thrift on Mission and tell them to donate the money to my favorite cause, San Francisco Sex Information.
6) And...when I feel the urge to buy something, I ask myself...do you REALLY REALLY need this?
