Possible ideas for a better world?

[stoney321]

1. If you know something bothers you, and you know it REALLY bothers you, why would you continually look/read/get involved with said thing that really bothers you? I find that ridiculous. (And disingenuous.) Also, I'm reminding all readers of this journal that I log IPs, not to sell your IP to advertisers, or anything like that, just to keep track of hit counts (and possible stalkers.) Which is why I know some people love to come to my journal and read things they've been adamant about not participating in/finding distasteful. [/cryptic] If you know something gets your blood pressure up, you should probably avoid that thing. Just a thought. (I also respect your right to not like me, this journal, contents of this journal, dogs, and Wednesdays. You can scroll, delete, whatever, with no worries from me.)


2. I really REALLY wish someone would design a RETROFITTED ENGINE for people's cars to make them hybrids/run on electricity/run on compost. That's far more "green" than manufacturing NEW vehicles that provide that capability. (Reasoning: you now have something new that was made - in the same way other vehicles are made, fairies don't create Priuses, leaving behind pixie dust. Your old vehicle is now in someone else's hands, being driven, which means there are now TWO vehicles where there was ONE.) I'd gladly throw down a grand or more to have my current engine retrofitted with a more efficient engine. Anyone? Does this make sense?

3. I wish my town would enforce a tax on the WEIGHT of garbage each household throws away. It would a) encourage more recycling (a tax CREDIT could be offered for every __# of recycled waste) and b) maybe get more people into composting their scraps. Which also includes sheets, towels, old ratty jeans, t-shirts.... (Yes, you can compost them. It's cotton, a plant.) Germany did this in some villages I've been to, and I thought it was a fantastic idea.

4. If Friday was officially doughnut and coffee day, I think more people would smile. I know I would. Mmmm, chocolate glazed and Sumatra. <-- every day should start with that.

5. I'm going to put my money where my mouth is (figuratively, not literally as money is really dirty) and turn my surplus of plastic bags into reusable tote bags. I read the idea of crocheting them into various things. We'll see how that turns out... (And if you guessed my kids have Earth Day projects, you're right on track. *G*)



Finally, I did it. I got Rock Band yesterday. Radiohead? The Pixies? Yeah Yeah Yeahs? Ramones? ...the Grateful Dead?? Hells to the Yes! lml -_- lml (and apparently you can download a Metallica pack??? I'll see you guys in a few weeks. Hee!)

(Happy early Birthday to my lovely friend, dovil!!! Save some liver for our NYC trip!)

Comments

[zyrya]

I agree totally with #1 ... except ... I always start my morning paper with the letters to the editor and the right-wing opinion columns. They make me CRAZY, but in such a pleasurably blood-boiling way. I think it's the newspaper equivalent of a cup of coffee.

But I don't then phone all those people to argue with them.

[stoney321.livejournal.com]

Oh man, me too. But then, that's a newspaper where discourse is asked for - discourse that will hopefully open some minds, present a new viewpoint. (*cough* I'm talking about LJ, which... isn't going to change people's minds. :D)

Hahahahaha to your last line. Hee!

[lolz.livejournal.com]

We have the Metallic pack (the bf is OBSESSED with Metallica). I play bass and he pretends to be James Hetfield. It can be so hard but SO fun.
Rock Band > Guitar Hero.

[stoney321.livejournal.com]

That's next on my things to do - dl the bonus songs. And so far (I mean, we only just started playing yesterday) I'm finding the guitar to be easier on Rock Band. But... I've been doing the singing mostly, so...

It sure as hell is fun, that's for sure!

[timeofchange.livejournal.com]

I really REALLY wish someone would design a RETROFITTED ENGINE for people's cars to make them hybrids/run on electricity/run on compost. That's far more "green" than manufacturing NEW vehicles that provide that capability. (Reasoning: you now have something new that was made - in the same way other vehicles are made, fairies don't create Priuses, leaving behind pixie dust. Your old vehicle is now in someone else's hands, being drive, which means there are now TWO vehicles where there was ONE.) I'd gladly throw down a grand or more to have my current engine retrofitted with a more efficient engine. Anyone? Does this make sense?

Total sense. I'd do it.

Love the bag fusing idea. Maybe I'll give it a try this weekend. I see reusable shopping bags (that I don't have to buy from the grocery story) in my future.

Coffee and donuts...mmmmm. There's this doughnut where they make the doughnuts using real ingredients. What an amazing idea. The raised chocolate glazed (real chocolate, mind you) are sex in donut form. For those who like a heftier breakfast pastry, there are coconut crullers...

[stoney321.livejournal.com]

The Mister and I have been griping about ethanol and all the "I'm green because I buy stuff!" people, and I came up with that idea. (Also, I have an idea for better solar panels. My son and I are going to experiment for his Science Fair project.)

There's a donut shop down the street from me that makes the most fantastic, fresh donuts. UNGH. Get in my mouth, please. (I'm unable to eat a lot of crullers, though. They are SO good, but SO filling. Mmmm, sweets.) :D

[xochitl42.livejournal.com]

Hmmm.

1. I think there's a certain brand of people out there who simply are not happy unless they're unhappy. New York is full of them; I had to work briefly at a call center they adored, apparently ("What do you mean, the Li'l Swimmers class is full? You will fnid me a spot this instant!" "I'm sorry ma'am, I can't do that, as the dealine passed two weeks ago, there's a waiting list or more than twenty people, and I have absolutely no control over admissions. I just take orders. May I suggest alternatives?" "I am a member of this institution." "Yes, as are all the other people who signed up before the deadline. May I suggest alternatives?")

I wish them huge ugly goiters that make them walk lopsided and make them look liek Iggy Pop's srpouted out of their necks.


2. 'S'funny--no one ever talks about the environmental impact of manufacturing those green cars, let alone the impact all those older cars have (and let's face it--used cars will never get the loving care of a new car on lease, and a well-maintained car = a marginally less-polluting car). And while I admire the idea of the Prius and its brethren, a diesel Mini will earn a minimum 45/mpg. For starters. There's truth to the hype, but some of it is unabashed HYPE. But--I think you're on to something. Now to get some venture capital in this burgeoning juggernaut of an economy! [mild eyetwitch]


3. This is a cool idea--but what happens in a large city like New York, where a large number of people don't have backyards? Maybe there can be community composts, like community gardens! It's like "take-a-penny, leave-a-penny!" Only stinkier, and far better for the begonias.


4. I so totally thought you wrote "chocolate glazed Sumatra." WANT. Though I have no idea what it might be.


5. Okay. The plasic bag ideas? Mind-searingly BRILLIANT. I like the fusing better, but I am expecting photos of finished product of both, yes?


ROCK BAND - I could go on for HOURS on this. How cool is it that you can design your own rocker--and then go out and blow the house down with all kinds of music? Be sure to check all the available downloads. The Monkee's "Last Train to Clarksville" is available, as are a number of Metallica tracks. Did you know that they're simultaneously releasing their new album on Rock Band, and in The Real World? Serious. :D Let me know just how much you're enjoying the game, once you actually peel yourself away from it and get to a computer. As for me? There were days I saw little tracking lines and colored bars in my sleep!

[stoney321.livejournal.com]

1. Yeah. You've hit it: people who are happiest when they're UNhappy. Never understood it, never will.

2. YEAH. Um, buying stuff doesn't make you environmentally friendly. I got into it with this idealistic 20 year old vegan on this last movie set. She was very sniffy with me when I pulled up in my SUV at the shoot, and continued on until I put her in her place. (Sweetly, with a smile.) Unless you're RECYCLING existing things, don't tell me how "green" you are. (Especially if you don't compost, use vermiculture, etc.)

3. Yeah! In some of these villages, there are plots at the edge of the urban areas that are communal. It's wonderful. Everyone has a small plot to grow their own foods, compost, etc. They get instruction, community involvement, and in the end, healthy home-grown food.

4. hahaha! Um, YUM.(Chocolate covered coffee beans are CRACK.)

5. I think the fusing looks cooler, too.

HAHAHAHHA. I've TOTALLY been dreaming in Guitar Hero!! I see a lot of downloads and jamming in my immediate future. CANNOT WAIT.

[jennem.livejournal.com]

#1: You are made of win.
#5. Sounds very interesting. Let us know if you eventually plan on selling any of the reusable tote bags.

[stoney321.livejournal.com]

Funny you said that re:5. I used to *have* a tote bag business. I might do that. (Or donate them, either way. I've got tons of materials just lying around, needing to be used.)

[lynnenne]

I would LOVE to have my car retrofitted with a hybrid engine. Please to be starting this business immediately. :)

[stoney321.livejournal.com]

Doesn't that just make sense? Why people don't understand that MAKING SOMETHING NEW while not utilizing the old is beyond me. Also, my son and I have a theory about how to make solar panels more efficient, thus, more usuable. Standard solar panels are flat, so they can only work when the sun is at an optimum position, or you have to use the energy you're capturing to move the panels around to keep the sun at a good position.

Why not make a multi-sides 3-D structure that can capture the maximum # of rays? Like, a 10 or 20 sided structure? Thank you, D-n-D for the dodecahedron model that created this theory. :D

[swmbo.livejournal.com]

Wait. Friday *isn't* officially donut and coffee day?

[stoney321.livejournal.com]

*CRY* It isn't in my house!! Clearly I need to move to the United Front of Swmboland where you have all of the NECESSARY RELIGIOUS HOLIDAYS.

[copykween.livejournal.com]

1. People like that just make no sense. If faced with something annoying, I run far and fast in the opposite direction.

2. Excellent idea! Reminds me of Back to the Future. :)

3. I just wish my town had some sort of enforced recycling program. I mean, I don't have a problem with taking it to the recyling center once a week, but I know there are a whoooooole lot of people who are simply too lazy.

Mmmm, Doughnuts!

[stoney321.livejournal.com]

We all need 1.2 jiggawatts and a Flux Capacitor!

We *have* a recycling program in my town that's awesome. IF PEOPLE DID IT. Gah. They even give us our bins, pick them up AND PUT THEM BACK every Monday... you're right. It's pure laziness.

[brunettepet.livejournal.com]

#2 makes great sense.

#3 We generate less than a bag of trash per week mainly by composting and recycling. There are only two of us, though.

#4 Saturday is coffee cake and coffee day around here. I love fresh baked goods to start the weekend right. I have kringle dough thawing on the counter right now.

#5 Wow, what a cool idea. I don't have a sewing machine, but want one right this minute!

[anelith.livejournal.com]

Oooh, retrofitted engine! I'd like that v. much. We really wanted to buy a Prius. Ron is the slow & careful, researching everything to the Nth degree sort of guy. When time was rolling around for him to buy a car a few years ago, he took MONTHS. Read everything he could get his hands on. His Honda Civic was falling apart after years and years of faithful service. We started out thinking, Prius! So cool, so techy, so environmentally GREEN! But you know, after all that research, it boiled down to the fact that the new Civics were getting really good MPG ratings -- just as good if not better than Prius when tested under actual road conditions.

I am steamed that Congress has taken so long to raise the CAFE standards. And then, at this late date, to raise them so little.

Very cool idea about the plastic bags! I have to confess that I'm taking a much easier way out in my efforts to reuse them -- I use them as packing material in boxes when I mail stuff to people. They are surprisingly fluffy.

[stoney321.livejournal.com]

I take umbrage at a lot of the "Green Movement," truth be told. It's hip and cool (read: companies can market things at a higher price, based on people's guilt) to be green now. I have a magazine that comes to me, for whatever reason (I didn't order it) on glossy mag paper that's all about being green. Like, buy this 800 dollar organic wool sweater and be green! By a 75 dollar gallon of paint that was environmentally sound in its processing and repaint your home and brag!

Well, I'd rather go to a Widespread Panic or Phish concert and buy an organic sweater made by some hippie chick in a Mother Hubbard who knitted it from her pet llama, thanks. It'll only cost me a few veggie burritos. :D

And you'd be hard pressed to find a more efficient car than a Honda. They continue to beat environmental standards. <3 (I use my grocery bags for dog walks/cat box. But I still can't use them all! And a lot of times, I forget my cloth bags...)

[tabaqui]

I don't even have the *vaguest* possible idea of how to use IP addresses to know who's reading my lj.
You so clever!
:)

People do what they do 'cause they're people. That's all i know. Crazy people.

Oh, wait! I think you *can* retrofit an engine to burn biodiesel, but i know those engines don't have as much power...

http://www.grist.org/advice/ask/2005/04/28/umbra-retrofit/
http://www.omnitekcorp.com/altfuel.htm
http://www.eere.energy.gov/afdc/vehicles/conversions.html

[stoney321.livejournal.com]

Well, it's an "LJ Toys" program, so it knows the IP through users' journals. But... if someone creepy shows up (and there have been in the past, and some of my flist-buds have stalker issues) it's good to know where they're coming from, you know? I think of it as insurance.

Ooooh, I'll be looking into those links. I would REALLY like a way to retro-fit an engine to be like the current hybrids. Surely there's a way...

[brutti-ma-buoni.livejournal.com]

1 Hmm. Irritating stuff.
2 Yes, very much so. Making more stuff unnecessarily=not that green
4 Yes, really, really definitely. I want a doughnut now.
5 Ooo, report back pls?

On 3, I am so nearly with you, but OTOH I live in a tiny suburban flat, gardenless and 3 miles from our local recycling centre (not on public transport, I have no car) and sometimes, I just have to throw stuff away that could have been recycled. And therefore I'd be taxed more. Sigh. So basically I agree with everything you say that doesn't personally inconvenience me. And there is a nutshell version of the reason the world's going to environmental hell.

If it weren't doughnut and coffee day that would really get me down.

[stoney321.livejournal.com]

I tell you what: I'll recycle three times as much as I normally would to offset your inability. :D

Local governments/communities need to make it easier for people to recycle, like provide newspaper drop off sites, etc. It just benefits us all, you know?

I think I'm going to need to get a donut to accompany this coffee...

[viciouswishes.livejournal.com]

I'm all over #2. My car is the same age as me and gets way better gas mileage than the average SUV that a whole family could live in with room for Uncle Laruel. However, I wouldn't mind if it ran on something besides gas.

[stoney321.livejournal.com]

And I looked into a green plug that :Click and Clack: had talked about, so my SUV gets the same mileage now as my previous LEV (low emission vehicle) sedan did.

But yeah - if I could turn my already there compost into fuel? Uh.... YEAH.

[slasheuse.livejournal.com]

1. This is something I find hard (er, obviously) but dude I am SO TRYING. And yes, I do log IPs and things now and my it's innnnnnnnnteresting.

4. Mmmm DOUGHNUTS. I have not had one in ages. This is sad.

[stoney321.livejournal.com]

re:1. Please know that wasn't about you in any way shape or form. (It's referencing a group of girls that publicly despise me, yet CONSTANTLY read my journal. Sometimes several times a day, in fact.)

4. GET THEE HENCE! For there is a place of donut-crafting behind me, yea verily! Mmmm, donuts.

[a2zmom.livejournal.com]

2. I will ask Aaron about that, regarding feasibility, etc. He knows car stuff.

[stoney321.livejournal.com]

Willie Nelson's biodiesel fuel stations are up here by my house - we get a lot of truckers just north of me, using it. You don't have to change a diesel engine to use *that* but how about changing an unleaded tank to run on that? Or changing an unleaded tank into a hybrid fuel-cell engine? Come on, science!

[soundingsea.livejournal.com]

#2 == made of awesome. I really really want a 67 Chevy Impala (WHAT) but I can't power it on gasoline without mortgaging a kidney.

[stoney321.livejournal.com]

Oh my GOD. The first car I ever bought myself was a '64 Buick Riviera. It had a V-12, pristine body, and I rebuilt the engine myself. It was a BADASS hunk of steel. You could also watch the fuel tank empty on the dash as you stepped on the gas pedal (which was shaped like a foot, because mine had the racing kit.)

God damn, I miss that car. Not the gas, though.

[elucidate-this.livejournal.com]

ROCK BAND IS MY FAVORITE THING IN THE UNIVERSE STONEY I AM NOT EVEN GOING TO LIE.

[stoney321.livejournal.com]

ZOMG IT IS SO MUCH DAMN FUN I CAN'T EVEN!!

[entrenous88.livejournal.com]

I have nothing particularly exciting to add, just hi, Stoney, it's Saturday and I'm going to get my hair cut in a few hours! \o/

[stoney321.livejournal.com]

Shiny, coiffed Nous hair is one of the Seven Wonders of the World!! I bet you will look so sassy and bouncy. I want to run my hands through your hair RIGHT NOW. :D

[dovil.livejournal.com]

Thank you for the birthday wishes! :)

And yeah, I still get crazy chick turning up at my journal now and again. We must be very important in their lives, it's so sweet! *cr-aaaazy!*

[stoney321.livejournal.com]

Isn't that mind boggling that they still come over and read? Cannot understand why... (Oh, wait, I can. Because they love to hate us.)

I hope you had a great birthday!

Not to nitpick, though I probably am...

[orejen.livejournal.com]

Grateful Dead. Grateful Dead. Although Jerry Garcia was great and is dead. ;-)

Re: Not to nitpick, though I probably am...

[stoney321.livejournal.com]

*head desk* Dude, I totally know better, too. Followed the damn group for almost two years...

THANK YOU FOR POINTING IT OUT! <-- no, really. I hate finding spelling errors later on.

[ely-jan.livejournal.com]

[As this was the comment I was typing when my phone/internet crashed for days, it's only appropriate that it's the first thing I post now that it's fixed...though I don't know what it says about me that I saved it. Feel like I should jazz it up now or something.]

*checks IP to make sure seams are straight* I'm so on board with number 3. It's infuriating that we have so few opportunities to recylcle where I live, though I'm beginning to realize that it's more than what opportunities there are simply aren't well known or advertised. You have to really hunt down the places and organizations that will do it for you. The United Way here will come to your house or office to pick up any and all paper products you may have for recycling. The local Boys & Girls Club will do the same for plastic or aluminum cans.

With the advent and success of the Artist Relocation Program here, there's been a distinct change for the better, though, and I'm loving it. Having so many artists and families moving from larger cities, it's become a case of demand spurring supply and fingers crossed that it continues moving in that direction. Tax credits would be AWESOME.

So with you on the retrofitted engine, as well, and the donuts...well, that's a GIVEN.

[my_daroga]

Wait wait wait. So Rock Band lets you play the above-mentioned bands?

That makes me twitchy. I'm sorry. I'm sure I'll get over it. It's like a shock, though.