Quoth Corey to the cat, "Curiosity killed y'all."

In the course of replacing stuff on your bike, how do you dispose of old stuff?

Naturally, metal stuff can go in the recycling bin or out on the curb for scrappers if it's big enough. But what about other stuff?

Cable housing: Some sort of plastic coating (pvc?) plus steel coil, plus maybe some other kind of plastic lining. Most responsible thing to do may be to strip off the outer housing and try to take out the inner liner, toss them in a landfill, and recycle the steel?

Brake pads: Rubber? Some kind of mixture of rubber and something else? Recyclable by a tire manufacturer? Dunno.

Bar tape: Leather: compost? Can you compost tanned leather, considering the horrible crap usually used in tanning? Cork: compost? Cork/plastic mixture: landfill?

Greasy rags: landfill? Campfire kindling?

Tires and tubes: Tire manufacturer? I mean, shit, I don't know where I can recycle rubber in my city. I know the motorcycle shop I've been to a couple times just puts them out with normal trash, which seems like it should be kinda illegal. The guy at the counter seemed to feel a little guilty about it at least.

Bikes have a lot going for them in terms of sustainability, but when I replace parts, I realize that I'm protected from a lot of very dirty processes that make it possible for me to live an apparently lower-petroleum lifestyle.

"Sisyphus Office is an exhibition organized by San Francisco based artist, curator, and co-founder of The Thing Quarterly, Jonn Herschend and based out of Skydive, a Houston, Texas gallery."

x-posted to Bike Pirates
First, the question. I have a road bike with a 9-speed cassette. I just adjusted the shifting and I can shift into all the gears. However, after shifting into the largest sprocket/smallest gear, the cage hangs just shy of the correct position, causing the chain to sputter and skip, then fall down to the next smallest sprocket after a few revolutions. I've adjusted the b-tension screw all the way up and down, and it doesn't seem to make a difference. If I move the low gear stop screw, I run the risk of the cage hitting the spokes, so that can't really be adjusted either. Any clues as to what I'm doing wrong? Other than that, it seems to shift pretty darn well. Could use just a little tweaking, but it's pretty good.

And now the amateur mechanic squee! I've had my road bike, Molly, for almost two years and I've done some work here and there, including building a nice aero offset back wheel. But this week and weekend I did the most advanced work I've done so far, replacing the brake calipers, brake/shifters, all cables, and handlebar tape. And my gosh, it's like having a new bike! The brakes are grippier than they were straight from the shop, and the bike just feels peppy and smooth like she did when we first met. She's also a lot shinier, and the new bar tape looks like a sharp new hairdo. I couldn't be happier. I must say, I really like working on bikes, particularly when the work turns out right. I find that for me, reading instructions ahead of time correlates strongly with success. This is a new strategy for me, (knowing sort of what I'm doing ahead of time rather than pulling and twisting stuff till it sort of goes, that is) and I'm rally excited to keep working on my conversion of an old Raleigh Capri frame and fork into a classy-blingy bombproof commuter. I've totally given into the "ooh pretty" factor with some of the components, and I am ok with that. Also, now that the old brake shifters are off, I kinda wanna pull one apart to find out why the indexing seems broken, and understand exactly what-all is going on in there.

34th and Walnut:

Septa bus keeps on truckin' as some African-American women flag it down, then look befuddled as it just brushes by. On the corner, a rotund Mexican gentleman on a bicycle smiles broadly.

A few seconds later, another bus pulled up and let the women on.

Line up, ladies. I'm single! Woo!

(from march 17)

in spring
the ice cracks and
opens up a space between spaces,
hours between seconds
it's always easiest to free-fall into canyons of memories
and yearning
the closer it gets to tax time

i think the mind tires itself out in spring
shuttling between yearning for the sunshine through the window at work
and smarting at the cold that still nips at the fingertips
i think it tires itself out
weaving through the warp of pragmatic winter and the weft of tender spring

there's an unsure excitement when pale, moist
feet come out of wool socks and
seriously anticipate sandals
and garish, bronzing heat
for the first time

when that ice cracks, when we fall in
when we sing more than usual
when we stand in the back door
and stare at the trees draped in night
and steep in the intensely calm bittersweet of then and now
we fall in on purpose as far as we can
to remember how deep our longing goes
when there's more to think about than survival

There are 3 baby raccoons on a porch near my house, and all indications are that Mama is no longer in the picture. I talked to two wildlife rehab clinics today who suggested:

1) Do NOT touch them with bare skin under any circumstances. This prevents both rabies transmission and leaving a human scent on the babies.
2) Since they were crying and left in a place that has had a fair amount of human attention it is likely that Mom is gone
3) Put on at least latex gloves and check their bellies. If the bellies are round, they are being fed and should be left alone. If they are empty, take them to a wildlife rehab clinic.
4) Pinch their skin. If it takes a long time for the skin to spring back, they are dehydrated. In that case, if they cannot be attended to by a professional for many hours, feed them 3-4 cc's (about a teaspoon) of kitten milk replacement (KMR).
5) Bring them to a clinic. The Schuylkill Center clinic is at capacity for the day, but they have a list of resources.

I spoke to Aark and Diamond Rock. Both were willing to take the cubs. Diamond Rock is closer, so I'm going to undertake Operation 'Coon Cub after work today. I'm pretty good with animals but I'm no expert. Anyone want to give me a hand with this, particularly someone with wildlife experience?


UPDATE:

Bleh. Sadly, I waited too long to take action. One of the babies was not there anymore, one had passed away, and the third was hanging on by a thread. It was critical enough that I went right to the Schuylkill Center instead of Diamond Rock in Malvern because of rush hour traffic, but the little boo passed away in the car. I wish I had taken them in last night, but I didn't know that several wildlife rehab centers accept animals 24 hours a day. I think I'm going to keep some kitten and puppy formula around the house for emergencies. When you need it, you really need it.

Meh. I did the best I could, I just wish I'd done it 24 hours ago.

It seems that Philly Car Share has pretty much jumped the shark. So last night we started discussing Philly Goat Share! You could borrow a goat for a day or two to munch down your lawn, then you could milk it for making cheese or adding to your cold process soap. This opens the door for all sorts of other great livestock shares: Philly Bunny Share, Philly Chicken Share, Philly Pony Share, etc. I'd totally sign up for Philly Puppy Share. Or we could just start the West Philly Cute Library, where you could borrow a kitten or two.

Of course JJ was the first person to take action, and thus, I give you Philly Goat Share.

So I guess I ride a motorcycle now.

( Ever notice how 'Born to be Wild' is a total hippy anthem? 'Like a true nature's child, I was born, born to be wild!' Pass the dandelion greens and nutritional yeast. )

One of my kitties passed away the Friday before last. His name was Poochie and he was the most Zen kitty I ever met.


Poochie looking unimpressed while I toast his magnificent fluffiness

( Poochie was... )

A large gathering of privileged mostly white people (penn undergrads) dressed up like privileged white people (fake canes and Styrofoam top hats) doing chorus line kicks to Public Enemy.

The walls at work are a jaundicey, band-aid beige.

In my younger and more oblivious days, I bought a cheap particle board shelving unit which was recently taken apart by someone with the best of intentions. I think it was ripped apart such that it can't really be rebuilt. But now I have big sheets of particle board in my living room.

I called a wood recycler, and they don't take it because of the glue. They referred me to a private waste disposal place that has a permit for particle board, but I can't find them. It seems that recycling the stuff is only possible if there is a company in the region that uses it to make new particle board goods, and I can't find anything like that in the area.

The Streets department says that the way to dispose of it is to landfill it since it is not hazardous waste. That's a pretty piss-poor answer if you ask me. Ikea accepts old furniture for processing....in Switzerland. And of course, the US is totally ass-backwards about even considering product take-back, stewardship, or end-of-life processing. So, short of putting it on the curb and hoping someone re-uses it, anyone know the least-worst thing to do with the stuff?

Matrimonial ultimatum for basic sanitation. Indian women rock.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Sunday-TOI/Its-no-toilet-no-bride-in-Haryana/articleshow/4298352.cms

Update: The pope sucks.

I've just gotten out of another frustrating class. I'm taking environmental justice this semester, which I thought would be totally my bag, and that I couldn't possibly graduate and have anyone take me seriously without doing the reading on this topic. I'm not super impressed with the class, but even my frustrations with it keep reminding me why I give a shit about any of this stuff. I'm reading "High Tech Trash" by Elizabeth Grossman, and she includes this quote from a United Nations University researcher. Better citation and a bunch of cathartic rambling after the cut.

"Our point was, and is, simply that the amount of materials used to manufacture a computer chip these days is hundreds, if not thousands of times greater than the quantity actually embodied in the chip. This makes the weight of the chip a misleading indicator of the amount of materials used, and it means that people like Alan Greenspan and Frances Caircross who have cited microelectronics as an example of radical "dematerialization" have misunderstood the situation..."

( Sentimental species-ism, or: I'm a big girl and I've already discarded hopelessness and deemed it an unacceptable strategy. )

Phila.gov wants YOU (or someone just as nice) to help guide the future of Philly parks and rec resources. I don't know anything about this program, but all my interactions with the dept of rec have been positive. Could be a good way to take the Mayor up on his promise to open the city administration to the people. See the bottom of the front page of phila.gov for info.

===============================

WOULD YOU LIKE TO SERVE ON THE NEW COMMISSION ON PARKS AND RECREATION? YOU MUST APPLY BY MARCH 9, 2009
Philadelphia Home Improvement Loans

On November 4, 2008, the voters of Philadelphia approved an amendment to the Philadelphia Home Rule Charter to create a new unified Department of Parks and Recreation. On July 1, 2009, the new Department will be established, the Fairmount Park Commission will cease to exist, and a Commission on Parks and Recreation will be created, with new and substantial responsibilities. Mayor Nutter will make the appointments from a list of nominees submitted by City Council after a public hearing at which all applicants will have a chance to speak. You must submit an Application by March 9 to be considered. Click here for a PDF version of the Application. You will need to print out this version to complete the Application.

Guest blogger went all "pshaw" over global warming in a few posts. Blogger cited some authors who look like they formed their views by ignoring chaos theory and symbiotic effects of ecosystem collapse due to climatic wackiness--indeed, it's not just warming that's making things crazy, it's warming-induced changes in ocean currents causing weather anomalies, hot and cold, wet and dry, everywhere--and Cory Doctorow and Xeni Jardin buried his post in more posts about scientific consensus on climate change.

My take on it: As a student in the department where the beloved geologist and teacher Bob Giegengack teaches, you can't get through the environmental studies program without looking at charts of temperature and CO2 fluctuations over the past 650,000 years. There's no discernible pattern, and thus it's actually not possible to tell whether the warming/increased CO2 we're seeing is anthropogenic or not.

From an Philly magazine article:

If you suggest that we're not going to hell in a handbasket because the rate of global warming is low compared to so many other environmental issues that we're enduring, then you're accused of being in the employ of the oil companies and you're labeled a Republican." ...

"It's over. If CO2 is the problem, we've already lost."

When Gieg gets to this point in his argument, as he often does when talking about global warming, he gets a little frustrated. "I always get sidetracked because, first of all, the science isn't good. Second, there are all these other interpretations for what we see. Third, it doesn't make any difference, and fourth, it's distracting us from environmental problems that really matter." Among those, Gieg says, are the millions of people a year who die from smoking and two million people a year who die because they don't have access to clean water.

Ok, I'll accept part of what he's saying because he's a geologist and I'm not. But students who have taken his classes (I haven't) state emphatically that he is not an environmental denialist. Quite the opposite. He gets press because he wants better rigor in public statements about climate science and the uncertainty inherent in it, but (say his students) he's deeply concerned about environmental problems caused by humans.

My take on it is pretty simple. Sure, maybe we aren't absolutely sure whether or not this particular warming trend is anthropogenic. But we SURE AS HELL do know that 100 years ago, there was no ScotchGard in breast milk, no Prozac in drinking water, and no lead/cadmium/mercury/dioxins/etc being USED TO FILL IN SWAMPS.

It might be that we're not the sole cause of a warming trend, but it's blatantly obvious that the same industrial age habits that might be causing an uptick in CO2, are also causing tons and tons of other problems from E. coli (shit) in our spinach to SOx in our rain, that are just as bad, worse, or amplifiers. We also know that this is the only place we know of where we can live. We know that the planet is way more powerful than we are, and if we screw it up, we're done, and the planet will wait around for new life forms that can thrive in the mess we leave behind.

In the meantime, I take is as my task to try to see to it that the most exploited of us get a fair shake at trying to fix this shit, and don't let the most powerful squash us on their way to a hermetically sealed space station.

I might need a good cry before I write it, but the sigh of relief comes next. Plus Aretha fanflails!!!

Yesterday, standing on a block of white granite between the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial, I held up my shoe in solidarity with Muntadhar al-Zeidi and the rest of the world, saying GOOD FUCKING RIDDANCE to Bush 43, described this way in the Financial Times:
( gtfo )

Wow. Quite reminiscent of City of God, and even the 1996 Baz Luhrmann Romeo and Juilet a little. Moral overtone is exaggerated as in fairy tales, but this is a fairy tale in the morbid, surreal, Grimm brothers sense. Saw it last night and it's definitely under my skin. Visually beautiful. T was explaining some of the techniques behind the busy collage of shooting styles and it's impressive. I didn't read the book but I plan to now. Curious if the ending was changed for the movie. The very end, which I won't spoil, feels like it *should* have come off as unforgivably cheesy, but the surreal, hyperreal, and flashback nature of the storytelling made it feel appropriate and even a little cynical. And don't worry, despite this horrible bus ad, it is NOT the romantic comedy, feel-good film of the year. There's plenty to be said about the politics of poverty and identity, and I wouldn't claim to know something about poverty in India as a result of watching this, but in this case I *LIKE* that I am confused about those issues.

The last film that stuck with me like this was Children of Men. Worth seeing.

Update: Criticism over the fact that the co-director, Loveleen Tandan, also of Monsoon Wedding fame, is not getting the same credit as Danny Boyle. Apparently, something similar happened with City of God:

The Co-Pilot of 'Slumdog':
How a little-known Indian filmmaker helped shape the acclaimed movie

Women Film Critics Circle Member Sparks SLUMDOG Brouhaha in Wall Street Journal
""She is hugely responsible for the foundation of 'Slumdog,' " says Ms. Nair. "Once you trust that it is authentic, you can go with the pop quality of it. She had the nose for it.""