If you don’t already subscribe to the twice-monthly Phoenix Recycling curbside pick-up service for a nominal $15 a month, you need to:

Mark Oct 4th  on your calendar, stop throwing recyclables in your trash for one week, and bring them to the drop off event next Saturday.

The drop off event is one of several once-quarterly-now-monthly drop off events sponsored by the City of New Orleans to attempt to placate those who want to see a real citywide curbside recycling program implemented.

It is a good thing though, so you should do it.

Materials that will be accepted include plastic containers, cardboard, paperboard, shredded paper in bags, newspaper, and metal containers such as aluminum, tin and steel. The ARC of New Orleans will also accept Mardi Gras beads and throws.

The event goes from 9 am until noon. On the East Bank recyclables from residents will be collected under the overpass at N. Claiborne Ave and St. Peters Street; on the West Bank they will be collected at the public library at General DeGaulle and Holiday Ave.

Future dates for drives include November 15th and December 6th. For more info see the City’s web site.

This goes out to all the peeps who wish the West Wing administration was real.

Livestock animals dragged by chains hyperextending their legs behind bobcat tractors. Shoved and stabbed by forklifts. Shocked repeatedly. Sprayed with high-pressure hoses to simulate drowning. Calves kicked repeatedly in the head. Calves with broken legs. Downed cattle, animals too weak, sick and injured to stand up, beaten and shocked repeatedly…

Read the rest of this entry »

Um… did I understand this correctly?

After an exhaustive (debateably) and expensive search for non-existent Weapons of Mass Destruction, and the initiation of a war in Afghanistan and a war in Iraq, the Republican administration wants to sell nuclear technology to India for billions of dollars? AND, if they are allowed to do so, they want to waive the requirement that India at least sign a non-proliferation agreement– a faith-based contract at best?

Thoughts on what is wrong with these people?

Did you know that 40 percent of the electricity used by your appliances and electronics is consumed while they’re turned off? I didn’t know that until I was watching HGTV this weekend and saw an ad for their Change the World campaign. The Change the World campaign offers green homebuilding, renovation and decorating tips to manage and improve your household in responsible, eco-friendly ways.

Read the rest of this entry »

… a blog favorite from a friend of mine. Check out Sarah Haskins’ latest and even funnier (but apparently not embeddable) video on Cleaning Ads Targeted Toward Women.

If you’re paying attention to the current economic crises facing our country, you probably have a lot of questions. I know I do. My go-to source is typically the New York Times, easy to read, appealing to my demographic, more so than the Wall Street Journal I think. So if you haven’t had time to tune into NPR, also going to great lengths to explain WTF’s going on, Steven Levitt breaks it down on his Freakonomics blog with a FAQ guest posting by Doug Diamond and Anil Kashyap.

Calling all stationery fanatics and people who love pretty stuff…

A Studio in the Woods will hold an all-day workshop on “Improvisational Bookmaking” on Saturday Sept. 27 from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. The workshop will teach participants different non-adhesive binding techniques and encourage them to incorporate spontaneity and creativity into their work. Participants are encouraged to bring any additional materials they would like to include.

Visual artist Angela Driscoll will lead the workshop. A resident of New Orleans, Driscoll has an MFA in book arts and printmaking. The workshop’s $100 fee includes lunch and supplies.To participate, download the application or call 504-392-5359 to register.

“A Studio in the Woods, located on eight acres of bottomland hardwood forest on the West Bank of Orleans Parish, was donated to Tulane University in 2004 to ensure its longtime purpose as an artists’ retreat and field study center for students of all ages to learn about the preservation of the endangered Louisiana natural environment.”

 Last night between Project Runway and Top Designers, I witnessed a somewhat shocking commercial. The commercial showed a couple having a picnic in a park. The girlfriend holds a popsicle up for dessert and asks the boyfriend to try it. Eve and her poison apple….

The boyfriend says “no thanks, that’s got high-fructose corn syrup in it.” So the girl says, “so that means what?” (and after a pause she says) “That… it’s got corn in it?” And the boyfriend shrugs while the girl hands it to him.

SCARY!!! Hm.. What’s wrong with high-fructose corn syrup? For starters, it seems to make people fat, it’s a substitute for other real, natural flavoring, it leads to the overproduction of corn and monocrop agriculture and not even real corn, but genetically modified strains of corn that are nutritionally empty and in some extreme cases, not even edible in their natural form.

Read the rest of this entry »

So, in reading about the recent bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers, the sale of Merrill Lynch and the bailout of AIG this morning in the NYTimes, I’ve been thinking that I’m pretty glad that I’m broke.

I mean, aside from rising food and gas prices, I don’t have any other major money worries at the moment. (Or maybe I do but I’m just too financially inept to realize it). The growing concern over money market accounts makes me pretty glad I have only $2.74 in mine, so I don’t have to worry about what to do with it.

Read the rest of this entry »