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Off-Topic: Saving the World By Fiddling With Garbage

Yes, they're candles.
Yes, they’re candles.

So I thought I’d take a quick break from the misogynists of the world to tell you about a new blog from my somewhat environmentally obsessed friend Etelka, who has noticed that a lot of crafty types like to think they are saving the world by incorporating biodegradable and/or recyclable junk into their craft projects — “upcycling,” they often call it — when in fact what they’re doing is creating new garbage that will often be harder to dispose of then the original materials they started with.

Also, she’s noticed that a lot of the stuff they produce — like the eggshell candles above — is hilariously ugly.

So check out her blog, Wretched Refuse.

You might want to start off with this post about repurposed orange peels and eggshells and other organic matter — which is where I found those candles — or this one, about “recycled” soda can tabs.

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tooimpurenangel
11 years ago

This is…perfect!

pineapplecookies
pineapplecookies
11 years ago
cloudiah
11 years ago

Very funny!

Briznecko
Briznecko
11 years ago

Quoth the mansplainer Erick Erickson:

“I’m so used to liberals telling conservatives that they’re anti-science,” Erickson explained. “But liberals who defend this and say it is not a bad thing are very anti-science. When you look at biology, when you look at the natural world, the roles of a male and a female in society and in other animals, the male typically is the dominant role. The female, it’s not antithesis, or it’s not competing, it’s a complementary role.”

Because SCIENCE!

nancycolburn
11 years ago

Bawhahahahaha! Saw this earlier. It’s getting more and more absurd.

GreySky
GreySky
11 years ago

Hmmm…. Perhaps they’re not anti science, perhaps they’re just really, really bad at it?

GreySky
GreySky
11 years ago

Okay, I too really love the piano bookcase. I’d totally kill a pony for that.

Dvärghundspossen
11 years ago

We actually reuse wooden pallats we have lying around because we get them when we buy firewood in the winter (we use up a lot of firewood to keep the house warm). But not as FURNITURE! We just turn them upside down, fill them with cheap soil bought from a business garden (not sure “business garden” is the correct English term, I just translated the Swedish word straight on, but it´s a place where you buy seed, plants, little trees and soil) and then grew veggies in them. The natural soil in our yard isn´t very deep. That´s actually a perfectly convenient and useful way to “upcycle” wooden pallats… making FURNITURE of them, on the other hand, is just stupid. Just buy second-hand furniture from some cheap second-hand shop if you wanna save money and save the Earth´s resources, silly.

Karalora
Karalora
11 years ago

I’ve been known to make (scented fucking) candles in eggshells. But only for molding purposes – after the candle hardens, I crack the shell off and throw it in the compost where it belongs.

thebionicmommy
thebionicmommy
11 years ago

@Dvärghundspossen

(not sure “business garden” is the correct English term, I just translated the Swedish word straight on, but it´s a place where you buy seed, plants, little trees and soil)

For that, I’d probably use the word greenhouse or nursery. They have different meanings, too, but in that context, it would be clear what kind of nursery or greenhouse you are talking about.

Dvärghundspossen
11 years ago

Thanks, Bionicmommy.

thebionicmommy
thebionicmommy
11 years ago

No problem. Your English is very good, much better than a lot of people who speak it as their first language. 🙂

grumpycatisagirl
grumpycatisagirl
11 years ago

Female and male animals don’t compete with each other. I guess Mr. Erickson has never seen a male cat and a female cat fight over who gets first crack at the bowl full of fresh food. Anyone who belongs to a male and a female cat knows that had never happened in the history of ever.
Not that has anything to do with men and women in the workplace, but sheesh. It’s like he’s trying extra hard to

grumpycatisagirl
grumpycatisagirl
11 years ago

Also, I finally kittied. I hope you like her.

grumpycatisagirl
grumpycatisagirl
11 years ago

Ack . . I don’t see my kitty yet. Now I feel silly. Does it take time for the kitty to show up? I’ll stop clogging up the comments now in any case.

cloudiah
11 years ago

It can take a little while. Did you follow these instructions?

How to Make Kitty Avatar
1.)Go to this site: http://neutralx0.net/tool/bnmk_e.html
2.) Go make your kitty!
3.) Save kitty.
4.) Go to gravatar.com (the thing that deals with your avatar on wordpress).
5.)If you have an account already then log in. If you don’t have an account create an account using the email you use to post on manboobz.
6.)Click the add image in the list of options under my account.
7.)Click select from computer hardrive and select your kitty pic where you saved it.
8.)Crop pic to your liking and click crop and finish.
9.)Select the rating.
10.)Then check off the email address you would like to use the pic for.
11.)It usually takes a few minutes so don’t panic if it doesn’t show at first.
12.)If you are not kitty after a few moments, remember to clear your cache.
13.)You are now kitty.

grumpycatisagirl
grumpycatisagirl
11 years ago

I see my kitty underneath this comment box, but as soon as I post the kitty disappears (so far).

Also, I see I didn’t complete my last sentence in that comment above (walking disaster I am today). It should be “It’s like he’s trying extra hard to BE WRONG.”

Sideliner
Sideliner
11 years ago

Off topic, but I just read this at AVFM and I have to vent:
http://www.avoiceformen.com/feminism/feminist-lies-feminism/facebook-hates-women/

This whole article shows in a nutshell why the MRAs are ridiculous. The article can be summed up as follows:
1. Complain that facebook just decided to classify sexist speech/rape apologia as hateful speech due to the pressure of feminist groups.
2. Wax indignant that said feminist groups didn’t simultaneously advocate to have hateful speech directed towards men removed.
3. Say that if Facebook is going to have these standards, they should be consulted before Facebook takes anything down, otherwise they’re being silenced.
4. Decide nothing offensive actually gets posted, nothing should change and that’s the MRA stance now.

Now seriously…if you believe (as all of these guys claim to) that men are persecuted at much higher rates than women, why on god’s great earth wouldn’t you form a petition for Facebook? Facebook just showed that they respond to collectivist action! It would be the perfect moment to get a real petition going, dig up examples of hate speech against men that were as bad as the one’s WAM dug up, and forward your cause!

But they don’t. They filed this under “feminist lies” rather than take even the smallest of steps towards real activism. This hypocrisy frustrates me so much.

The only amusing part of this was that the comments went on complaining that the “offensive speech wasn’t that bad” until finally someone put up the link to the examples…then suddenly the responses seemed to stop.

Serious trigger warning before looking at what WAM was complaining about:
http://www.womenactionmedia.org/examples-of-gender-based-hate-speech-on-facebook/

MordsithJ
MordsithJ
11 years ago

ay yi yi, that craft blog is giving me horrible 70’s flashbacks. I do think the Walnut Treasure Chest is kind of cute, though.

Nepenthe
Nepenthe
11 years ago

Speaking of female and male animals not competing, check out this video of total non-competition between two peregrine falcons. Skip to 2:30, that’s when shit gets real</b.


LBT
LBT
11 years ago

Not gonna lie, I have seen some pretty nifty things done with soda tabs. Sneak owns a rainbow choker some kid in the neighborhood was selling off a garage table made out of pop tops and zie loves it.

Gotta squint and turn my head at some of it though. (Why on EARTH would I want dishware that can ROT?)

Argenti Aertheri
11 years ago

Pull tabs…yeah, my ex-FWB made a chain mail suit (well, the upper bit) out of hundreds of them. Thing’s awesome (and a decade old by now, and still in superb shape)

grumpycatisagirl
grumpycatisagirl
11 years ago

Oh, my kitty is there now. I guess I did something right today after all.

Nepenthe, I can’t access the video about peregrine falcons, and I really want to. It’s just giving me an error message.

MordsithJ
MordsithJ
11 years ago

Even more OT, but how long before we start hearing WE CLONED THE MAMMOTH FOR YOU!
http://news.yahoo.com/russians-mammoth-carcass-liquid-blood-184322259.html

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