Libertad's Journal
My Podcast Link
04/22/2011 18:44 #54118
Zazzle's coffee mugs are not dishwasher safe04/16/2011 20:10 #54064
Cleaning up your environment is hard work!We got one of those metal water bottles as a gift. it reads, "Drink Local. The Great Lakes provides drinking water to over 40 million people daily." I think that statement is so powerful. It really just screams look at what you are doing to our drinking water!!
I picked up a lot of plastic bottles and a lot of stuff from people fishing. So much of it was plastic bags that are for hooks and fishing line. So much Styrofoam from containers for night crawlers. I picked up probably 50 or so plastic tampon applicators. I got this huge long cable that took me and this woman to carry to shore.
There is still so much trash out there but for now the Island looks better. Last spring within days there was trash all over from the fisher people. It's a very daunting task, very discouraging really, but it feels so good at the same time to volunteer and to actually do something about it. Doing this today and meeting that wonderful woman makes me want to do more. I met other nice people too, it's like you know everyone is awesome and share a special bond almost.
When I got home I spent the rest of my day cleaning my apartment. After all this work nothing is perfect but my environment is a little bit nicer and I feel really good.
As Earth Day Approaches, Cleanups Abound
Rachel Kingston Reporting rkingston@entercom.com
Buffalo, NY (WBEN) -- Earth Day may not be until Friday, but that didn't keep literally thousands of volunteers across Western New York and across the state from heading out over the weekend and doing a little "cleaning and greening" of area parks and waterways.
Groups picked up trash and debris, planted new seedlings, trimmed back overgrowth, removed graffiti, the works - tending to messes both man- and nature-made.
Buffalo Niagara Riverkeeper is one of the local groups that organized cleanups. It recruited a record-setting 1,600 volunteers to focus on 40 sites, including the Buffalo River at the Ohio Street Boat Launch and the Scajacquada Creek trail this past weekend.
"Twice a year, we send volunteers out at 40 sites, along our Western New York waterways. If you added the shoreline up, it would total 77,000 linear feet," explains Kerri Li, the director of Citizen Action Programs for Buffalo Niagara Riverkeeper. "So we have legions of volunteers going out twice a year, and they basically are out there - like this weekend - they picked up tons and tons of trash. It could be anywhere from 30 to 50 tons of trash. And we find all sorts of things. Bottles, heavy things like pieces of scrap metal, propane tanks, shopping carts... all sorts of debris."
"We're down along the shoreline, removing this debris, for about three hours on a Saturday morning. We work up a sweat, we make a few friends, we make a difference. We do something good for Western New York water."
But Riverkeeper does more than just pick up trash, and it doesn't confine its debris-removal efforts to only the water.
"What's important to understand is, evne though you might see trash on the streets... when it rains, those streets are connected to our waterways through storm drains. So even though you may not see the connection, because the storm drain goes underneath the street, ultimately that trash and debris ends up going out into our rivers and our streams," says Li.
Over the weekend, while Riverkeeper's volunteers were at work, volunteers with other groups were doing similar work along the length of the Erie Canal, in the Niagara Gorge, and on the Lake Ontario and Erie shorelines.
The "Friends of Times Beach" got to work at the site from which they take their name beginning Friday.
They cleaned up debris from the trails at Times Beach, and this year, are getting some assistance from county workers, who are helping to rebuild boardwalks that were damaged during a 2008 storm.
"Earth Day just kind of focuses us on the fact that we've got these wonderful areas that need to be preserved, need to be taken care of," Erie County Environment and Planning Commissioner Kathy Konst remarks. "Various groups get together... Friends of Times Beach, our Environmental Management Council, Buffalo Riverkeeper... a lot of them 'adopt' [an area] and go out there on a regular basis, so that they kind of manage and take care of a property all year long."
Their work doesn't stop on the 364 days of the year that aren't Earth Day.
"It's being a steward to the environment, and taking care of it. You know, the birds that come out to Times Beach - there are over 243 species of birds that migrate there on an annual basis - they don't just come out for Earth Day," Konst says. "It's one of the most significant bird areas in the Great Lakes. We want to make sure that that ecosystem is protected."
Interested?
You can find literally dozens of cleanup groups in Western New York on Google. You can also start your search with Buffalo Niagara Riverkeeper or the Friends of Times Beach.
And I don't even know how to swim.
It is dangerous. I got stuck by a rusty fishing hook, thankfully I had just had a tetanus shot. They make you sign a release form of course. I found out after the cleanup that the Buffalo Police had warned the cleanup groups that they shouldn't pick up any plastic bottles with a rubber tube coming from the top because they were used to cook up meth. I didn't see any syringes at all but I am sure they are all over the place, I might have seen one last year. Probably the biggest danger would be falling into the river.
I was going to go help out with this but (e:tinypliny) convinced me not to because it was "too dangerous." As we might get stuck by needles. And I thought I was the paranoid one
I just added a great article to this journal about local efforts to beautify and protect our environment.
04/11/2011 20:11 #54031
Goodbye wintera couple years ago I took some pictures of the flowing Ice down at the marina and it the pictures you could kinda tell the ice looked different but only through video could you really tell it moved....
04/06/2011 21:45 #53992
Honey badger make you shit yo pants!Just want to share that the honey badger made it as a Yahoo feature!
Thanks (e:terry) for bringing us this
Your bad ass narration of the honey badger, aka, (e:lilho), was awesome.
(e:lilho) where are you? Do you really think you are going to stop being on the internet?
Nevermind: :::link::: "It is classed as Least Concern by the IUCN due to its extensive range and general environmental adaptations. It is a primarily carnivorous species, and has few natural predators due to its thick skin and ferocious defensive abilities."
Is that a real animal or a urban-wild myth?
absolutely terrifying!
04/12/2011 20:17 #54041
Libertad's bus ride to Hell...So here is a sampler of my bus ride. If your really want to relive my life, repeat 2x's daily for 6 years.
Arrested Development - Mr Wendal
Donna Lewis - I Love You Always Forever
Macarena - Los del Rio
Chumbawamba - Tubthumping
Haddaway - What Is Love
La Bouche Be my Lover
Culture Beat: Mr. Vain
Deep Blue Something - Breakfast At Tiffany's
Goo Goo Dolls - Slide
Seal - Crazy (Video)
Goo Goo Dolls - Iris
Spin Doctors - Little Miss Can't Be Wrong
Ace of Base - The Sign
Joan Osborne - One of us
Oasis - Champagne Supernova
Natalie Imbruglia - Torn
Savage Garden - Truly Madly Deeply
Paula Cole- I Don't Want To Wait
Rhythm is a dancer
Robin S - Show Me Love
Ace Of Base - All That She Wants
WHIGFIELD - SATURDAY NIGHT
No Mercy - Where Do You Go?
OMC - How Bizarre
Yes, it is amazing to me how songs can trigger memories both good and bad. There are songs that I used to like that I find it hard to listen to because of the events associated with them. On the other hand, there are some songs that I don't really like, that I will listen to because of the happy memories they bring.
Oh Mr. Wendell. I hope we never have to hear it again! A lot of those songs I actually really like though but I guess it all depends on what they relate to in your life and being forced to listen to them over and over and over . It is crazy how much songs relate to memories. I don't know if I wrote about this or not when it happened but a few months ago one of my friends from when I was younger e-mailed me because they heard "one sweet daY" by mariah carey and it made them laugh adn think of us and it was weird cuz I had heard it like the next day for the first time in forev. But really that song was from like 1 moment. of our lives like 15 years ago and its funny how much it still strikes a chord in both of us. Music is powerful that way.
I knew there would be some backlash on this. I forgot my worst favorite song so I just added it to the top, Arrested Development Mr. Wendell.
There are a lot of songs that I like from the 90's and I hope to one day make a list of them too. They are probably more from the later 90's I think. (e:tiny) and (e:brit) we are all the same age, I can definitely see (e:brit) with the straight up bangs that were so popular back then.
(e:uncutsaniflush), I thought this would spark your interests. Did I ever like these songs or did I just grow to hate them because they were so overplayed? I would say that I never really liked these ones but it definitely is making me think. Actually, I would say that these songs really alienated me from music at the time. Of course this was pre Internet was everywhere era so it was kind of hard to have access to anything that my parents didn't own or that wasn't on the radio.
I really think that I especially hate these songs not just because they aren't my taste but for the association they have in my life. The bus, 98pxy and my life which for the most part during these years was not so happy. It was interesting because Mike and I were at Cathode and strangely they began showing the videos of this period and this all started coming back to me.
I love how music really makes you remember different times, people or places in your life. It is so powerful really, even though these songs make me remember things from the past that weren't that happy, I am sort of glad for them.
Only misspell them. haha
Chumbawamba is a genius btw. No one is allowed to hate them!
absolute classics there my love!
Wait... not high school, more like primary-middle school. Because I took a 1 hour bus ride to school each way then and we didn't get to hear any songs on the way. We chatted non-stop or made-up and sang our own song parodies. In high school, I walked 5 minutes to school because my parents had finally decided that I was wasting too much time commuting...
HEY! Those were all the songs when I was in high school! :-) I like them still!
Did you ever like the songs? Or did you grow to hate them? It would piss me off more if the experience took songs I liked and poisoned them.
For some reason, your post reminds me of the Talking Heads song Heaven. :::link::: "The band in heaven plays my favorite song. They play it once again, they play it all night long."
Apparently, there is a thin line between concepts of Hell and Heaven.
I feel for you about being made fun of for your accent. Growing up in a Detroit suburb that was predominantly German-American, I didn't have a name, I was just that "dumb Polak." It probably didn't help that when I moved to the U.S. at the age of 6, I didn't speak English.
BEACH. 90 DEGREES. My eyes have turned an unhealthy green.
That's a very good point. It's the same logic as handwashing your expensive clothes/sweaters and not tossing them in the washing machine. Why should mugs be any different?
This Reminds me that if someone has mugs that they care about to hand wash them. My mother had these cool Mr Pizza glasses (still has one of them) and over time all the art work washed away....
I forgot to post the link to the site, :::link::: Their website still advertises that they are dishwasher safe and clearly they are not.
Zazzle seems to be a big mess. I wasn't upset that they wouldn't replace these because I had already received a duplicate order that they told me to keep. It was over a hundred dollars in merchandise. When I sent them an email about this situation they first sent me an email saying they would replace and then they sent me another one saying that they were mistaken that they could not replace because it was longer than 3 months.
I offered to give my mom the duplicate mugs I had but she wouldn't ever use them if she couldn't put them in the dishwasher. I kind of am happy that I don't have a dishwasher cause I love all of my mugs and glasses and would hate to see them damaged.
(e:tinypliny), today should be 90. We are going to Ft. Desoto Beach which is incredibly beautiful.
Envy Envy! Is it sunny and in the 80s there????
I don't think any printed mug would be dishwasher safe unless the design is in the ceramic itself...
What is zazzle, are they printed pics?