Category: quote of the day

I knew this

Submitted by: Jeremy Reid, Graphic Designer, Belleville, Ontario, Canada [From MOVING DAY: PREPARE TO BE TIRED ] I used to do this when we moved as a kid (I had a waterbed at the time and assembly took some time and moving it after assembly was impossible) and they said I was lazy…. Add also that a bed is the largest thing in a bedroom and its placement generally determines where everything else goes and this is not a bad idea.

When moving to a new home, the first thing you should set up is the bed. By the end of the day you’ll be so tired, you’ll be glad to have a comfy place to pass out. Submitted by: Jeremy Reid, Graphic Designer, Belleville, Ontario, Canada
[From MOVING DAY: PREPARE TO BE TIRED]

I used to do this when we moved as a kid (I had a waterbed at the time and assembly took some time and moving it after assembly was impossible) and they said I was lazy. I knew better then. Add also that a bed is the largest thing in a bedroom and its placement generally determines where everything else goes and this is not a bad idea.

two wheels better?

Once more expensive trip for my aging family van (I get the feeling I look like someone’s boat payment when I walk in) and it might be time to get back on the bike. I found a trailer offered on FreeCycle today and if I get that hooked up, perhaps I can stretch the time between the almost $50 tank fillups.

One more expensive trip for my aging family van (I get the feeling I look like someone’s boat payment when I walk in) and it might be time to get back on the bike. I found a trailer offered on FreeCycle today and if I get that hooked up, perhaps I can stretch the time between the almost $50 tank fillups.

And to add insult to injury, I asked my local school community for recommendations on repair shops and of the 10 or so replies I got, not one mentioned the shop I go to, with their multiple locations and advertising. <grrrr>

If anyone asks me what I want for my birthday, it’s cash money this year.

not for dummies

I picked this up at my library today and I’ve learned a ton without picking up a tool…. Series)” (John Nelson, Joyce Nelson) Lots of very accessible projects, from stuff you can use to stuff you could sell, but important, lots to learn about how to make things.

I picked this up at my library today and I’ve learned a ton without picking up a tool.

“The Big Book of Weekend Woodworking: 150 Easy Projects (Big Book of … Series)” (John Nelson, Joyce Nelson)

Lots of very accessible projects, from stuff you can use to stuff you could sell, but important, lots to learn about how to make things. I just re-jiggered a project I thought I had figured out, until I read some of this. I had no idea what I was doing.

links for 2008-03-13

on trust fund hippie kids

When you know your whole life that you can have what you want, what they want is to be in a tribe and care about nature and spirituality…. When privileged people have everything they want, the next thing they want to do is build amazing things for other people (and celebrate and be nude and beautiful).

Yeah, it is infuriating that they can use the safety of their middle class lives to tell themselves they are adventuresome. If they’re sanctimonious on top of that, that’s really frustrating. BUT. Think of it this way. This is what people do when they know they are safe. These kids have felt safe their entire lives and trust the world, and what do they do with that? They choose a lifestyle of openness and gentleness, of connectivity and consciousness. When you know your whole life that you can have what you want, what they want is to be in a tribe and care about nature and spirituality. (Maybe they care about nature and spirituality in an easily accessible way, but as far as cheap philosophies go, it is a kind one.) This is also what impresses me about Burning Man. When privileged people have everything they want, the next thing they want to do is build amazing things for other people (and celebrate and be nude and beautiful). People who have never been scared don’t want dominion. They want expressiveness and connection. [From Go to work!]

So young and yet so wise.

farming vs growing

[A] farmer who grows the forbidden fruits and vegetables on corn acreage not only has to give up his subsidy for the year on that acreage, he is also penalized the market value of the illicit crop, and runs the risk that those acres will be permanently ineligible for any subsidies in the future.

…Ultimately of course, it is the consumer who will pay the greatest price for this — whether it is in the form of higher prices I will have to charge to absorb the government’s fines, or in the form of less access to the kind of fresh, local produce that the country is crying out for.

A friend sent this along.

[A] farmer who grows the forbidden fruits and vegetables on corn acreage not only has to give up his subsidy for the year on that acreage, he is also penalized the market value of the illicit crop, and runs the risk that those acres will be permanently ineligible for any subsidies in the future. (The penalties apply only to fruits and vegetables — if the farmer decides to grow another commodity crop, or even nothing at all, there’s no problem.)

In my case, that meant I paid my landlords $8,771 — for one season alone! And this was in a year when the high price of grain meant that only one of the government’s three crop-support programs was in effect; the total bill might be much worse in the future.

[…]

Why? Because national fruit and vegetable growers based in California, Florida and Texas fear competition from regional producers like myself. Through their control of Congressional delegations from those states, they have been able to virtually monopolize the country’s fresh produce markets.

Who pays the price for this senselessness? Certainly I do, as a Midwestern vegetable farmer. But anyone trying to do what I do on, say, wheat acreage in the Dakotas, or rice acreage in Arkansas would face the same penalties. Local and regional fruit and vegetable production will languish anywhere that the commodity program has influence.

Ultimately of course, it is the consumer who will pay the greatest price for this — whether it is in the form of higher prices I will have to charge to absorb the government’s fines, or in the form of less access to the kind of fresh, local produce that the country is crying out for. Farmers need the choice of what to plant on their farms, and consumers need more farms like mine producing high-quality fresh fruits and vegetables to meet increasing demand from local markets — without the federal government actively discouraging them.

The author signs himself “a farmer” as a opposed “a grower” which usually refers to industrial food production — monocultures and chemically fueled farming.