No doubt most of you have heard about “going green”. It’s a movement that has people exchanging their incandescent light bulbs for the squat and swirly CFL bulbs, carpooling with co-workers and looking at their thermostats with more critical eyes.

In my house, the “going green” trend was a passing notion until we took a look at just what was filling up our trash bin.

We’re addicted to Coca-Cola…and we’re always on the run. We’re not fans of two-liter bottles. They aren’t very portable and the tasty Coke tends to go flat. For us, aluminum cans are the only way to go — they chill down quick and fit right in your hand. We buy the 12- or 24- can packs with regularity. And we go through them at a breakneck pace that would cause any self-respecting kidney to shudder.

The empty cans were taking up precious space in the trashcans and, since aluminum is one of the materials that is touted as infinitely recyclable, it seemed a shame to waste so many.

To top it all off, the health department said recycling aluminum uses 95 percent less energy than producing aluminum products from raw materials.

So…

We took a cheap plastic tub container — one that came with a sticker warning I shouldn’t try storing any toddlers in it — slung it under one of our kitchen counters and started collecting.

I learned a few things rather quickly. Rinse the cans or risk the horror of congealed Coke at the bottom of your bin that, at least to me, appeared to have many similarities to the acidy spit from “Alien.”

Crush the cans. It’s easier said than done for me. I couldn’t possibly get by stomping them on our hardwood floor but I’m embarrassingly weak when it comes to crushing them with my hands. (I won’t even entertain crushing them on my forehead.) And, before you say it, we’ve yet to invest in one of the can crushers that would solve all of that.

I just rinse them out, leave them on the counter until someone masculine comes along and handles the crushing and throws them in. It’s a good system.

That bin of cans, it seems, was our first step toward taking a closer look at green living. Along the way, we’ve found our efforts not only make us feel like better residents of Earth but we’ve also saved a little money in the process.

From reducing, reusing and recycling we’ve found some things work and some things are a complete hassle. Check back next week to see how we fare with weather stripping to eliminate drafts, getting rid of other heat-stealers and, fingers crossed, lowering our heating bill.

Link of the week...
The Green Guide
Brought to you by our friends at National Geographic -- or NatGeo for you hipsters -- this site gives you good resources and practical tips. My favorite? The article by Emily Main about Greener Guitars.

Labels: green, power of the people, recycling, Think Green

Ah, I've got to tell, even among the controversy, I appreciated nearly every response to my previous blog posting. Now, though, I feel as though I should address a few things.

First, the issue of 'endorsing' a film. As reporters, we are encouraged to keep blogs. It allows us to connect with our readers and share information and opinions. I feel as long as it remains professional, honest and good-natured then I have a lot of freedom as to what I can reasonably post.
Example: I'd like to see the film No Country for Old Men. -- reasonable
I wrote the film No Country for Old Men. -- not reasonable

I don't think I underestimate my ability to influence when I say my blog is read by 6 loyal readers who are either related to me or are my friends -- either way, if my blog is providing a life-changing experience or paradigm altering event no one will be more surprised than me.

Now, my opinion was on the front page -- but that's more luck of the draw than my master plan to dominate the hearts and minds of our loyal readers. Copy editors need to have a refer to a blog and my blog had a picture (the movie poster.) So there you go. No grand designs.

Secondly, The Golden Compass.
Three points:
1. I am convinced children seeing this film will not be swayed into new-found atheism. The film has been watered down and children can appreciate many things without a thought to any agenda, real or implied.
2. I have read all three of the His Dark Materials books. And yes, they are anti-organized religion and anti-religious zealotry. They even kill a person called G-d.
I read each of them. I loved the books. Devoured them. And guess what? I still believe in G-d. Yep, that's right. Deep and abiding belief in a loving, wondrous G-d.
This book may be required reading at Atheist U, but it did nothing to hurt my belief. And those were the raw books. A water-down, PC-friendly 2 hour movie isn't going to rock very many boats.
3. This boycott...I tell ya, I hear boycott and I think, "I gotta see that...tell me more." Banned books are some of the all time bestsellers. Controversial musicians who have been boycotted by the Catholic League have gold records to show for it. Calling for a boycott of this movie has made every little rebel and junior shock-my-parents ready to be the first in line.
"Ooooh, let's go see the anti-G-d movie, that's so dark."
Why not tell people, "Hey, go see the movie if you like -- no pressure -- and if you have any questions about it, we'll talk."
If you turn every little controversy to a Bonfire of the Vanities...it's going to be counter-productive.

So, there's my bit.
I still want to see The Golden Compass. The reviews are lukewarm but that's fine by me. If you don't want to see, I respect that. If you don't want your kids to see it -- you're a parent and your jobs is taking care of your children, I respect that. But judge others based on if they want to see a film...I don't have much respect for that.

Labels: media, movie, power of the people

*major geek-factor warning*
As a www.votefortheworst.com fan, I've come to marvel at the powerful number of people who can be mobilized by the Internet. Last night, on digg.com there was an uprising. Now, to be honest, I know what "the code" does but I haven't the slightest clue of how to use it. Still, the number of people involved, the questions of intellectual property, the internet's role in a secretless society and the coverage by major news outlets... well, it's just one heck of a story.

"It's the most circulated number of the week. Sixteen hexadecimal digits that unlock the wonder of most currently released HD-DVD titles from the surly clutches of the AACS revenue content protection system. Sixteen digits that have been posted in so many places -- and in many cases, removed only to be reposted -- that they're hard to avoid.

…[As] Joe Rogan's character on Newsradio once quite accurately quipped, "Dude, you can't take something off the Internet… that's like trying to take pee out of a swimming pool."
The content providers have attempted to do exactly that, remove pee from the proverbial swimming pool that is the Internet and, as we've witnessed so many times before, they've failed miserably.
-from downloadsquad.com

Digg.com has become one of the Web's top news portals by putting the power to choose the news in the hands of its users. Just how much power they wield, however, only became clear Tuesday night, when Digg turned into what one user called a "digital Boston Tea Party."

When the site's administrators attempted to prevent users from posting links to pages revealing the copyright encryption key for HD-DVD discs, Digg's users rebelled. Hundreds of references to the code flooded the site's submissions, filling its main pages and overwhelming the administrators' attempts to control the site's content.

Tuesday afternoon, Digg CEO Jay Adelson had posted a message on his blog explaining that the site was removing links to articles that featured the newly cracked HD-DVD encryption key, which can be used to decrypt the high-definition discs and copy their content. "In order for Digg to survive, it must abide by the law," he wrote. "Our goal is always to maintain a purely democratic system for the submission and sharing of information. ... In order for that to happen, we all need to work together to protect Digg from exposure to lawsuits that could very quickly shut us down. Thanks for your understanding."

But Digg's users were not understanding. Instead, they covered the site's main pages with links to blogs that revealed the HD-DVD code and criticized the site's decision to censor content. Because Digg gives users the ability to rate news stories, pushing their favorites to the site's most visible positions, thousands voted to bring links to the top of the site with titles like "Revolt at Digg?" and "Digg Punched me in the Face for Posting This." By midnight, the site's entire homepage was covered with links to the HD-DVD code or anti-Digg references.

And at that point, Digg's executives conceded. In a note published on the site, Digg founder Kevin Rose said the site would no longer try to prevent users from publishing the code.

"We had to make a call, and in our desire to avoid a scenario where Digg would be interrupted or shut down, we decided to comply and remove the stories with the code," he wrote. "But now, after seeing hundreds of stories and reading thousands of comments, you've made it clear. You'd rather see Digg go down fighting than bow down to a bigger company. We hear you, and effective immediately we won't delete stories or comments containing the code and will deal with whatever the consequences might be. If we lose, then what the hell, at least we died trying."

--the article in full at Forbes.com

A few more links...
Frightfully creative
C-NET's take

Labels: geek, internet, power of the people