StumbleUpon | A-minus's URL reviews

California Deconstruction &Building Materials ReUse Network - Non-Profit 501(c)(3), Green Building, Donations, Recycling

Sun, 11 Oct 2009 15:55:49 -0700

"Our goal is to educate and empower homeowners, building industry professionals and civic leaders to adopt the practice of deconstruction as a rational alternative to traditional demolition, thereby keeping C&D materials out of landfills, while simultaneously growing a robust network of individuals and organizations committed to the reclamation and distribution of reusable building materials."

350.org - 90-Second Animation For Global Day of Action

Tue, 15 Sep 2009 14:04:46 -0700

Nice animation explaining what 350.org is about. Though getting down to 350 parts per million CO2 is not going to be nearly enough to end global warming itself (consider methane and many, many other causes), it's a nice video and a good spur to action. October 24th...

Fiji Water: Spin the Bottle | Mother Jones

Mon, 24 Aug 2009 22:28:04 -0700

An excellent piece on green-washing of the worst sort. Shipping water across the globe to sell it has always struck me as audacious/ridiculous, when I (just for instance) can get it twenty feet from where I type, but the Fiji corporation takes the cake. They're selling [regional bulk item] to the [ethnicities]!

As good as this article is, I'm interested to see whether this it's going to make a dent in Fiji water's sales, or if they can successfully spin it away.

Austin Architect Goes Really Really Old School With Rammed Earth & G Living | Dark Twisted Space Monkies Go Green

Mon, 24 Aug 2009 18:36:35 -0700

Rammed earth buildings are amazing. Not all that old-school, especially since they're usually reinforced with rebar and other modern effects.

KingOfSporkdom, what are you on about? The article contains neither "your" nor "you're" anywhere. You're clearly confused. Besides which, that is really poor grounds for thumbing down a site.

depave.org

Sun, 09 Aug 2009 21:15:02 -0700

"Depave has been created to inspire and promote the removal of unnecessary concrete and asphalt from urban areas. Depave is a project of City Repair, a nonprofit organization based in Portland, Oregon, USA."

This is a great organization that's based in my fair-ish city. And Portland has quite a lot of unused pavement that could stand to go... pretty much like any other city.

Trichoptera - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Fri, 31 Jul 2009 13:17:18 -0700

At first, we thought the little tubes scattered all over the creek bed were simply dried seed pods, fallen from the overhanging trees. Then, towards dusk, as we sat on the bank with our feet in the water, we noticed the pods were moving of their own accord, shuffling against the current by means of little black legs that would sprout out. The pods themselves were not seed pods or any other continuous material, but intricate structures composed of tiny rocks and some sort of bonding substrate.

Not knowing anything about caddisfly larvae, my first thought was that these must be the forerunners of an imminent alien invasion, and that soon all humanity would be at the mercy of (giant versions of) these terrible, creek-dwelling creatures with their superior rock-building technology.

No, not really. Nature continues to surprise me, though, every time I step out of my own shell to examine it.

"Case-making caddisflies make portable cases using silk along with substrate materials such as small fragments of rock, sand, small pieces of twig, aquatic plants, or sometimes silk alone. Many use the retreats or cases throughout their larval life, adding to, or enlarging them as they grow."

Besouro (trailer)

Thu, 25 Jun 2009 15:27:50 -0700

This looks awesome. Finally, we capoeiristas can stop watching "Only the Strong."

I couldn't find any information on Besouro in English so, in the ancient tradition of amusing the myself, I will use Babelfish to render translated of awkwards (link):

Manoel Henrique Pereira (1895-1924), Besouro Mangang� or Besouro Cord�o de Ouro was a capoeirista legend of the region of Santo Amaro, Bahia. Many and huge made are attributed to it. They said that it did not like the policy (that diverse times it was frustou trying to arrest it), that it had " body fechado" e that bullets and punhais could not feriz it. Certain made when Beetle worked in a plant, for not receiving the commanded one, it held the master for cavanhaque compelling to pay what he had to it.

The circumstances of its death are contradictory. It has versions of that it was in a confrontation with the policy, others of that was in " trairagem" , in one it has attacked of knife for the coasts. This last one is very sung and transmitted verbally in the capoeira. A farmer known for Dr. Zeca, after its Memeu son to apanhar of Beetle, laid an ambush ordering to deliver it a ticket to a friend who managed making the Maracangalha. Such ticket asked for so that its carrier was died. Beetle, illiterate, could not read that ticket was addressed to its assassin and clarified that the carrying one was the victim, thus in the following day when coming back to know the reply 40 soldiers was waiting Beetle. A man known for Eus�bio de Quibaca made right a knife to it of tucum (or ticum) - a wooden type. Beetle would have been, then, esfaqueado with the such knife of tucum for the coasts.

Medieval Names Archive

Thu, 21 May 2009 22:28:25 -0700

This is a pretty awesome resource.

Just going off one page, I'm already having trouble deciding how to rename myself: Dogmanton or Flexhale?

The Floyds Coffee Shop "Border War" Saga | Blogtown, PDX | Portland Mercury

Wed, 06 May 2009 16:51:03 -0700

An incredible local story from the Mercury - shady landlords, midnight intrigue and coffee. Floyd's is a great place, too, by every account I've heard. Here's wishing them luck in their new spot... fifty yards away, haha.

Science &Environment Articles | White Roofs in Urban Heat Islands a Cool Idea | Miller-McCune Online Magazine

Tue, 05 May 2009 19:08:16 -0700

This is a simple enough idea that seems like it would be very effective. I would like to see more of the numbers... 44 gigatons is a nice sounding one. While "offsetting" some equivalent warming effect does not mean reducing the amount of CO2 released, and CO2 emissions also need to be addressed in the long run, this is the sort of temporary solution that couldn't hurt!

Edit: nitsedy: It's true that there would be environmental costs, and those have to be considered. Paint isn't the only option, though - there are radiant barriers, types of clay, tiles, white shingles (which according to this page are 30� cooler than black shingles). You can also consider that cooler roofs are generally more durable, since they expand due to heat less - this means less frequent reapplication.