Summaries
Enough serious stuff (cops, beds, diapers, saving the earth), it’s time to have a little fun!
What you’re looking at on the left is the new MagNext Virtual MMORPG. My “character” is the black and silver sphere in the witch’s hat (actually called a Sorceress hat in the game). I’m about to enter the iCoaster arena where I’ll roll along a coaster track and try to complete the missing pieces before I fail and fall to my doom. The picture below and right is me failing and falling to my doom. Good thing I packed that parachute!
I was really excited to play with this new, free, MMORPG because I’ve had so much fun playing with my real life iCoaster from MEGA Brands that I got for Christmas (Santa said a full size roller coaster wouldn’t fit in my stocking). It turns out I actually had much more fun playing the car ‘racing’ game where you have to navigate around barriers and over speed bonuses in order to coast as far as possible in your MagNext racer.
I was actually trying the game out as a favor to one of my regular sponsors, MEGA Brands, and in hopes of finding an online activity that I can share with Zaira when she’s staying at her mother’s house. Although I had a blast I don’t think there’s enough social interaction involved here for a 12 year old girl. Younger players would probably have a grand old time collecting Magz in order to soup up their magnetic sphere and competing in all of the various games available. The site is kid safe and best of all, it’s free, so what have you got to lose?
Tags: free, game, iCoaster, MagNext Virtual, MEGA Brands, MMORPG, Online, play, review
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While perusing my local newspaper box this afternoon I learned that Morgan Hill is, once again, considering combining emergency services with Gilroy in order to save both cash-strapped cities some of their hard-stolen money. While this is good news in general (combined emergency services means smaller government after all) the article still managed to piss me off. Check out the following statement-
For the last couple of years city hall staff have been evaluating different ways to improve these services and lower costs at the same time, according to City Manager Ed Tewes. He said the primary goal is to improve services.
“If saving money is the only goal, there are ways to save money,” said Tewes. “(But) we have learned there are always tradeoffs between the levels of service provided, and savings in costs.”
Excuse me? They’ve spent the last couple of years trying to “lower costs“? Then please explain their fervor in trying to push the Measure G Utiility Tax down our throats last November. Near the end of the article I found this gem-
[Morgan Hill Police Chief Bruce] Cumming has suggested eliminating three positions in the police department over the next three years to make up for some of the deficit.
This would be the same Chief Cumming who not only hired five additional Morgan Hill Police Officers (and a dog)back in August, but was in everyone’s face, hat in hand, trying to get Measure G passed because we still didn’t have enough officers. It seems like I (and the Morgan Hill voters who rejected the extra funding) were right after all. The police department has plenty of other options for decreasing spending and have no need for even more of our tax dollars. The desire for it was greed plain and simple.
If you disagree (or agree, of course) I’d love to hear from you in the comments section below!
Tags: cops, emergency, Gilroy, Measure G, Morgan Hill, Morgan Hill Police, News, police, public safety, safety, savings, Services, vote
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Morgan Hill has plenty of furniture stores. Like most areas, many of these furniture stores seem to be perpetually going out of business - a situation that makes absolutely no sense to me, so if you have any insight into this phenomenon please leave a comment to explain. Both Zaira and I will thank you profusely! But that’s not really what I wanted to share with y’all today. No, I wanted to share my frustration with the lack of bed selection in these various furniture shops.
You see, since moving to morgan hill more than two years ago I’ve been sleeping on a metal framed futon that was clearly not designed for someone of my girth. At six feet tall and two hundred and fifty pounds I constantly have the metal frame work pressing into one or more parts of my anatomy despite purchasing thicker mattresses. They all wear thin too quickly.
Compound this problem with the fact that I live in the smallest room in my apartment and have Zaira (my 12 year old daughter) visiting on a regular basis and what I actually need is two beds that occupy the same (or less) space than my current futon. Not a likely occurence I know. But I just recently discovered Time 4 Sleep’s selection of guest beds.
They have several models that consist of a single mattress on a platform (better fo rmy back) with a second mattress that slides underneath the platform when not in use (perfect for when Z stays over). This is exactly what I need. These beds are compact, affordable, and solid. The only question remaining is - why can’t I find one around here?
Tags: apartment, back, bed, bedroom, guest beds, health, sleeping, The Caverns
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Over the weekend I was enjoying my early afternoon french toast at Just Breakfast when a couple of young mothers occupied the table next to mine. They were soon embroiled in a heated (but good natured) debate on the environmental impact of disposable diapers versus cloth diapers. Now, I’ve always avoided this debate for three reasons: 1) I’ve always avoided being around infants in diapers anyway so it’s not really my decision to make, 2) I believe there are more pressing concerns in today’s world than environmental impact, and 3) aren’t cloth diapers clearly better for the environment? However, I’m also a person who values knowing the truth more than being right all along, so I decided to investigate “disposable mother’s” claims that an independent study proved they were less damaging to the environment than cloth diapers.
Google led me to an article in London’s Sunday Times “Blow to image of ‘green’ reusable nappy” which was published back in October and shares the results of £50,000 study by England’s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA). Amongst that reports conclusions-
The report found that while disposable nappies used over 2½ years would have a global warming , impact of 550kg of CO2 reusable nappies produced 570kg of CO2 on average. But if parents used tumble dryers and washed the reusable nappies at 90C, the impact could spiral to 993kg of CO2.
In other words the government determined that disposable diapers have a smaller carbon footprint than cloth diapers. Those responsible for commissioning this report were biased, which is always the problem with studies of this sort. Of course, as the article makes clear, in this case the bias was towards cloth diapers. Since the results came out in the opposite direction, DEFRA “has told its media managers not to give its conclusions any publicity”.
Knowing there’s always more than one side to any news story I headed out into the ‘green’ blogosphere to see what environmentalists had to say about this article. Not surprisingly, I couldn’t find a single environmentalist who said “Wow, I was wrong, disposable diapers are better than cloth diapers”. Nope, instead I found all sorts of rebuttals to the findings and claims that the study was biased or “bad science”. For example, Jennifer Lance wrote at Eco Child’s Play-
I don’t think the report considered the impact on landfills of disposable diapers, and I think that further research needs to be done. I can’t embrace these findings, as there are many factors that were not considered. What about diaper services that reuse the same cloth diapers many times for many families? I don’t know any families that just dispose of their cloth diapers when their children have completed their toilet learning. If they are still in good shape, they are passed on to other families. If they are stained and falling apart, they are used as rags. I still think using cloth diapers was the best choice for my children’s health and the environment despite this report.
Further evidence that environmentalists are the most stubborn of idealists who are more concerned with perception than reality lies in the comments on that post-
Amber-
I’ve read that report - it was buried for a reason. Not only was it bad science but it made a lot of assumptions that are simply not true. Like you mentioned, cloth diapers get reused for up to five children. The water used to wash cloth diapers is about the same as the amount used by the same number of kids to flush a toilet - so a child in toilet training uses the same amount of water as a child in diapers. It also ignores much of the steps required to produce and transport disposables. I actually wrote a blog about it, but yes, you are right to question and ultimately dismiss this study. It wasn’t out of embarrassment for the results - but for the way they were obtained and, therefore, their inaccuracy.Elizabeth-
I don’t think I believe this report at all. I’m sure the footprint required to make the disposable diapers wasn’t included, as well as certain other factors.Stephanie-
I agree that they must have overlooked the landfill issues. The carbon is only a part of the issue overall, but so many people pay attention to just that fragment.Greenbaby-
We heartily (and I mean heartily!) disagree with the findings of this study! After pouring through each bit of research, we found that it contains several flaws which make it rather inconclusive. If we really thought disposable products were the same as washable, wouldn’t we all be eating on disposable plates, using disposable clothing, and skipping cloth rags for paper towels? There’s something undeniably obvious about the fact that cloth is fundamentally more eco-friendly.Karen-
That’s a very interesting report but I’m afraid when it comes to the environment I can only be supporting the use of cloth diapers.
As you can see, most greenies simply dismissed the scientific evidence out of hand, not giving a single fact to back up their beliefs. But let’s take a look at their objections, shall we…
1) “It’s bad science“-
From reading the article and the comments all of the claims of “bad science” are based on intuition and feelings instead of facts. Notice the language used: “I don’t think the report considered“; “I’m sure the footprint required to make the disposable diapers wasn’t included, as well as certain other factors“; “they must have overlooked“; and, of course, my favorite - “There’s something undeniably obvious about the fact that cloth is fundamentally more eco-friendly“. Not a snippet of evidence that there was “bad science” involved here at all, just a lot of feelings and certainties without any scientific backing. (I was unable to find Amber’s blog post which supposedly contained some actual arguments against the study, BTW, if someone can send me a link I’d love to read it.)
2) “The water used to wash cloth diapers is about the same as the amount used by the same number of kids to flush a toilet“-
I’m not really sure what the point of this statement is. The comparison is cloth diapers versus disposable diapers. Magically potty trained at birth children aren’t really relevant here. Besides, aren’t cloth diaper users still flushing the solid waste down the toilet? I’d hate to think they’re transferring soiled diapers directly to the wshing machine where the fecal matter would mix with their other clothing.
3) “Only looks at carbon footprint“-
While it’s true that this study only looked at carbon footprint, that’s because they’ve already studied the other impacts. The last study commissioned by the UK government was concluded in 2005 and was a lifecycle analysis for the Environment Agency which took four years and cost more than £200,000. According to the BBC (emphasis mine)-
Whether parents use disposable or cloth nappies makes little difference to the environment, a report has concluded.
The Environment Agency studied the impact of three types of nappy from their manufacture to their disposal.
Disposable nappies, bought by 95% of parents, led to 400,000 tonnes of waste dumped mainly at landfill sites.
But re-usable nappies affected the environment in other ways, such as by the water and energy used for washing and drying them, it found.
The agency says it is the most independent and thorough study yet carried out in the UK.
It compared the environmental impact of disposable, home-laundered flat cloth nappies and commercially-laundered cloth nappies delivered to the home.
So, even when manufacture, transport, etc are taken into account there is still no environmental benefit to cloth diapers. Which brings me to the world’s most annoying objection-
4) “The impact on landfills“-
According to the same BBC article cited above, disposable nappies only made up 0.1% of rubbish at landfill sites in the United Kingdom. So diapers aren’t having a massive impact on landfills. And then there are companies like Knowaste that recycle diapers, removing 98% of a disposable diaper from the trash stream and turning the different materials into plastic wood, roof shingles, vinyl wood sidings, shoe insoles, wallpaper, and biogas or green energy. So there doesn’t have to be an impact on landfills at all!
Besides, the whole concept that we’re “running out of room” to put our garbage and/or have landfills is absolutely ridiculous. If you took every man woman and child currently living on the Earth (6,706,993,152 as of July 2008) and moved them all to Australia we’d each still have roughly a third of an acre of our own private land (Australia is roughly 2,967,909 sq mi. There are 640 acres in a square mile which means there are 1,899,461,760 acres in Australia. Divided by the Earth’s population, we each get 0.28 acres). That would leave the entire rest of the planet empty. Do you not think we could fit both recreational area as well as vast amounts of landfill space on all of North America, South America, Africa, Europe and Asia? Of course I’m not suggesting that we undertake such a ridiculous plan, but it should clarify that the Earth has plenty of empyt land that could be used for waste disposal.
Conclusions-
Just as I didn’t expect to learn that cloth diapers were not better for the environment than disposables I also didn’t expect this post to be nearly this long. Seems I was wrong on both counts. Thanks for sticking with me all the way to the end. It seems science has spoken pretty loudly: there is essentially zero difference in environmental impact between disposable and cloth diapers. So the remaining question is, why won’t the environmentalists accept these simple facts? If you have the answer to that question I’d love to hear it.
Comments are always welcomed and even encouraged. If you have an opinion (either way) please take a moment to comment below so we cna ll become better educated and better citizens of Earth.
Tags: BBC, carbon footprint, cloth diapers, disposable diapers, energy, environment, environmentalists, green, kids, nappy, people, science, Services
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It seems like every day here in Morgan Hill I discover ne whousing being built. Given the “plummeting home prices” that I keep hearing about in the news reports I have a difficult time understanding why anyone’s financing the building of these new homes. Then, with a little further investigation I learn that these are all “cookie coutter” houses with almost new personality and I’m left wondering who, exactly, the developers think is interested in buying such a house.
Yeah, yeah, I’m no where near able to buy any sort of a house with my personal economic standing, so I don’t really have a horse in this race. But, it seems to me, that if I were able to buy a new house given the current state of the economy I’d be far more likely to build that house than to live in someone else’s vision of what my home should be. If we’re finally starting to understand that buying a house may be a life ling commitment (since it’s more likely to depreciate than appreciate over time) the idea of a custom built home becomes all the more attractive.
It didn’t take much time online to discover Schumacher Homes News. Not only does Schumacher Homes custom build your dream home, but with their Quote My Home Now service you can find out exactly how much your dream home will cost to build in almost no time at all.
Tags: economy, housing, News, Quote My Home Now, Schumacher Homes, service
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Sometimes I hate being right :( Two weeks back I asked if Morgan Hill gas prices had bottomed out. Turns out they had.
When I was out running errands earlier this afternoon all of the Morgan Hill gas stations I passed were posted at $1.89 per gallon with only Safeway bucking the trend at $1.86/gallon. Of course, they’re likely going to increase tomorrow and the next day as people once again start accruing gas rewards through the use of their Safeway loyalty cards.
Speaking of Safeway gas rewards, they were sure nice while they lasted! And I’m clearly not alone in that belief as the record gas lines at the corner of Monterey and Dunne on New Year’s Eve proved. With gas rewards expiring that day (and prices increasing elsewhere) it seemed like the entire population of Morgan hill was filling up the family car. I know this, because I was in line there myself.
Check out that pic! Yes, I paid $0.67 per gallon of gas! Woohoo! And that was just in this final fill up of the year. Over the three months the new PowerPump Gas Rewards program was in effect I managed to accrue and use more than 35 $0.10 per gallon discounts. Since my average fill up is between 25 and 30 gallons and I fill up every ten days or so this really added up, allowing me to be a little more free with my holiday spending this year.
Safeway still has its expanded PowerPump Gas Rewards program in efect. The next expiration date for the gas rewards is March 31, 2009. Unfortunately, they aren’t currently doing the Double Gas Rewards for Gift Cards promotion that ran throughout December. Hopefully, they’ll manage to keep the core price per gallon down low enough that I can get more fillups like the one pictured above.
Tags: autos, cars, Dunne, gas prices, gasoline, Monterey, Morgan Hill, Safeway
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What with all of the hubub around the holidays it only just occured to me that I never followed up on a post from last month about the annual inspection here at The Caverns. As I mentioned then one of my roommates managed to nearly destroy his floor with water over the summer. So we calle don the water restoration ervices of WaterRestoration911.com to get some one to come in and repair the damage before the annual apartment inspection.
They got me a quote in less than a day and had workmen out here in under a week. They were not only able to repair the damage to his floor, but also identified a problem we were unaware of: mold. Luckily, the same crew also specializes in Black Mold Removal, so they were able to help us out with that as well.
It turns out the rain gutters outside his room were not properly installed (no surprise considering the slap dash job the construction crew did on these low cost apartments) so water has been seeping into his walls for the last three years and this has caused mold buildup. It wasn’t anywhere near dangerous levels yet, but no one likes the idea of sleeping next to mold, regardless of the health concerns. The best news of all was that since the problem was the gutters themselves the landlords had to pay for all of the repairs and we ended up looking like heroes for discovering the problem instead of like schlubs for screwing up our floor.
Tags: apartment, holidays, inspection, low cost housing, Morgan Hill, problems, repair, service, Services, The Caverns, water, water damage
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On my way up to Golden Gate Fields yesterday I realized I wasn’t going to have enough gas for the round trip. I had planned on saving my Safeway Gas Rewards until after returning from LA on Tuesday night as then I’d need a full 30+ gallons. Then I remembered the mail spam I’d received from the Shell Gas Station on Dunne.
These two coupons were perfect as I only needed about a dozen gallons of gas and they currently have the same “basic” price as Safeway. So, the $2.00 off would be the same as using my two available Safeway gas rewards. Woohoo!! Of course, at Safeway the savings are calculated right there at the pump so I wasn’t exactly sure how this was going to work.
I pulled up to the pump and went into the “shop”, handing my credit card and the coupon to the clerk. He told me to go ahead and pay at the pump then bring the coupon back in and he’d give me $2 cash. Bonus! Cash from my credit card with no service fee :) I put in about 11 gallons at $1.81 per gallon, plus got the $2 back in cash so it came out to around $1.65 gallon. Not bad at all. And, I have another coupon that doesn’t expire until the end of January. Not a bad piece of spam after all.
Tags: autos, Dunne, gas prices, gasoline, Safeway, savings, service, Shell
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I never intended this blog to turn into a constant discussion on credit cards and small businesses, but it seems to be what local merchants want to discuss. After my “Credit Card Processing For Small Businesses” post a few days back I’ve been pounded over the head by merchants asking why, exactly, they should accept credit cards.
The answer, of course, is because your customers want you to. But this isn’t good enough for some local businesses. One merchant pointed me to an October CNN Money article citing a September Javelin Strategy & Research study that showed 39% of consumers decreased their credit card usage, up from 37% in April. But what this merchant (and others like him) are missing is that this is the holiday season. The one month of the year when nearly everyone feels absolutely compelled to spend inordinate amounts of money whether they have it or not.
Yes, Americans drew back from burning up their Visas and MasterCards for a short time with the news of banks and other financial institutions crumbling around them. But then came the biggest gift-giving stampede of the year and they’re all out of cash. Credit is king once again, and your customers are going to be using those cards somewhere. Wouldn’t you rather have it be in your shop?
Tags: business loans, credit cards, Merchant Advisors, merchant services, Online, service, Services, shopping, small business
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I’ve never been much of a fan of “Happy Meal” toys and the similar doodads from various fast food joints. But Subway certainly hooked me in with their latest promotion - Disney’s The Wizards Of Waverly Place. Now, I was under the impression that DDisney and McDonalds had an exclusive deal when it came to these toys, but it was nice to be proven wrong.
Not only is Zaira a fan of The Wizards, but I am as well. In fact, it’s our current “Saturday Morning Cartoon”. No, it’s not a cartoon, but we’d worked through all of the classic toons that I had available and moved on to this live action comedy. Adding just a touch of irony to this promotional choice is the fact that, in the show the Russo family runs the Waverly Sub Station which is one the show’s main sets.
Tags: Disney, fast food, Subway, Wizards of Waverly Place
