“Don’t worry about people stealing your ideas. If your ideas are any good, you’ll have to ram them down people’s throats.” Howard H. Aiken
I used to avoid Starbucks. I would turn my nose up at it, eschewing its corporateness in favor of local coffee shops. I still do this to some extent, but I've given in, knowing I can no longer fight the unbiquitary. I mean if I'm in College Park, I'm not going to Starbucks when a few blocks away is The Coffee House at Downtown Credo, but if I'm on my way to work in Universal CityWalk, I'm not going to forsake Starbucks when I need a fix. Local just seems the morally right path, especially when the place has more character and warmth and provides excellent service and product.
Unfortunately that Starbucks location doesn't have some of the things I like about the chain that make it a part of the community it's located in. There are no coffee grounds waiting near the door for you to take home, there's no community board to post local events, etc. I'm assuming this is because it's in a tourist destination and the powers that be either think people wouldn't be interested in that case, or they don't want them to think of that particular Starbucks as being part of anything real.
Today Brendan stopped by that theme-parked Starbucks and brought me a chai tea latte and one of their sinful espresso brownies. Our pastries were in a snazzy paper bag that cleverly implores the customer to make use of the bag beyond this moment. The bag could become a lunch bag, a puppet, a garden tool holder”¦well, you get the idea. What caught my eye, the stuck in my craw was a slogan on the bottom of the bag, no doubt barfed up by some overpaid marketing person: “Reusing is recycling.”
Uhm”¦no. This statement is flat incorrect and, if I may be so bold, a bit dangerous. Reusing is superior to recycling. If you can find a use or an item, then that is the best route to go. Recycling comes with an expense and it also requires energy to execute. Reduce, reuse, recycle, as they say, and in that order.
Where I'm coming from with my whole “danger” assertion is that I feel there is a lot of education that still needs to be done. So when a fact is twisted even in the slightest, it leads to all kinds of misconceptions and bad behavior patterns. Take people pointing to lots of snow as proof that global warming is a lie. “What do think now, Al Gore?” That's why scientists are more careful to call it “climate change” these days.
Now, let me get off this soapbox”¦and see if I can find some other use for it. You've been very patient, now here are your Ripples”¦
Dead, Buried, and Alive
Bio Urn
So there you are. It's finally happened, you knew that it would. You're a corpse. What to do? What to do? You consider becoming a doorstop, but you feel you may be too large and you realize you will start smelling eventually. Here's a solution: get cremated, then have your ashes put in one of these biodegradable containers mixed with seeds for a tree. You'll fertilize the seeds and pretty much become a tree. You see, it's never too late to branch out.
Wish Upon a Building
I WISH THIS WAS
Ever walk past an empty building and find yourself daydreaming about what the building could be? Happens in my circle of friends all the time. Public installation artist Candy Chang has made this blue-skying into activism by putting signs on spaces sharing her idea and asking others to do the same. (One of my favorites is a building that she painted with chalkboard paint and had passersby write what they would like to do before they die.) Maybe these buildings will remain empty, maybe it will be torn down, but the ethos created by the project is invincible. Now you can be part of this project by buying these “I Wish This Was” stickers, and plastering your town with them.
Let Audrey II Detox You
The Top 10 Plants for Removing Indoor Toxins
As if we needed another reason to shun artificial plants, am I right? Sticking a rubber tree plant in a room will breathe life into it, both aesthetically and literally! Here are the top 10 plants the good folks at NASA say will help take harmful gases out of the air in your house and have your family breathing cleaner air. Beyond that you have also have the downright spiritual experience of taking care of a living thing. You can’t go wrong.
