Recent comments

You know the basketball game where you put 3 balls in the basketball hoop, and you win a huge prize?! Wellll... the hoops aren't perfectly round, they're squished so it's harder to get the ball in. Stupid carni jerks.

I can’t fault your superior knowledge of automobiles, although your use of English certainly does leave a lot to be desired. Then again upon re-reading your post, I’m a tiny bit confused. If it “does not cost no more” then your use of a double negative would imply that it does indeed cost more. Correct me if I lose you on this one, it must be difficult for you to follow I know.

Plus, I’ve looked everywhere for the “serpintine’ belt and “pully” on my car but, alas, could not find either. I have a Serpentine Belt that snakes around various pulleys, but as I know nothing about cars, I couldn’t tell you what that’s for. Maybe it’s “ovious” to our other Wisebread readers?

I’ll make you this deal though. If you go and tell all the good folks that I referenced, including those dumb-old Mythbusters boys with their engineering backgrounds, that you know way more than they do, then I’ll tell my father-in-law (a seasoned mechanic by the way) that I need to stop writing and take another automotive class. I guess stripping the entire engine out of a ’95 Civic and replacing the timing belt doesn’t count as very much experience.

Perhaps when I’ve finished that, you can pop down to your local college and sign up for an English class? Just a thought. In the meantime, feel free to ask one of your friends (if indeed you have any…difficult to tell from what little I know of you) to buy you a dictionary. And maybe a new personality.

from the library immediately!

There is a great book I am reading right now called, "How to Cheat at Everything." It gives the same kind of information as this post for many other games.

have you tried this yet?

i don't have any soldering experience except for that one time in shop. the potential for exploding made me wary of trying this.

It all goes into a hose end sprayer (those handy things you attach to your hosepipe). It mixes automatically with water as it sprays. At least, that's how I do it.

I pour vinegar in place of Jet Dry in my dishwasher. It makes everything sparkle.

While the intention is good and the result is may be beneficial as well, the eat locally concept is not always best for either the environment or the consumer. As examples, in Hong Kong I can chose between foods imported from China (the local equivalent) or foods imported from further away. If I buy the foods from China I am taking a much greater risk in terms of harmful pesticides etc than with foods from further away. Another example is over exploitation of a resource. If eating locally sourced food is taken too literally, densely populated areas would end up depeleting local fish stocks. However, by eating fish from further away (assuming catching is done on a sustainable basis) the risk of pushing fish stocks in either the local or the more distant locations to dangerously low levels is reduced.

A great idea, but one that needs to be implemented selectively in order to avoid doing as much environmental harm as good.

I happened about your post through Get Rich Slowly and was especially moved by the paragraph that started "In the end..." In fact I wrote it down in my quote book, because I think it is beautiful and very well stated. Thank you for your great insight. I was looking through my quote book when I wrote yours down and found this one, which I think is appropriate:

"If your depth are so moved that you cannot swerve either to the right or to the left, but dead-center towards a goal which continually calls you forward, go for it."

I don't think I or anyone who commented here is worshiping the Manhattan couple. PErhaps impressed by their dedication, but I haven't heard anyone coming close to anything like 'worship'.

I agree that they may not be making as big an impact as they like to think, but they're still doing a lot more than most people. I also admire that you bike to work - I wish that that were a feasible option for most of us.

Moving to Africa and living on less than a dollar a day is not exactly helpful to anyone. Sure, the impoverished people of this world may create less of a "carbon footprint" than I or other yuppies do, but the solution is not the scale back to the point of switching continents. The spirit of it is to do the most you can. What if all of us did what this Manhattan family is doing? What if it were possible for half of my city to ride their bikes to work rather than to drive?

In a way, I understand why this couple is going full-bore (or as full-bore as they can, given that they have jobs that require them to wear clean clothes). It forces them to REALLY do all this stuff. I might say to myself "You know, I should take the stairs", but half the time, when faced wih more than a couple of flights, I'll take the elevator. Taking on a huge experiment like this wouldn't let me forget my obligation.