Disqus - Latest Comments for chrisbaskind

Re: Are Dryer Sheets Safe to Use With Pets?

chrisbaskind — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 18:51:06 -0000

I've heard of people using the sheets directly on pets. The company intends the sheets to repel fur from furniture. really, this has the same effect.

Re: A Lesson About Greenwashing and Laundry

chrisbaskind — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 14:46:18 -0000

Without some idea of the active ingredients in the GreenWashBall, it's difficult to evaluate its safety or effectiveness. Their rather some rather sweeping health claims would be more credible if backed by independent lab reports. Further, I'd like to know if this casing is PVC -- and why the company hasn't labeled it for recycling.

Re: Living Greens: Bring Herbs Indoors This Autumn

chrisbaskind — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 02:01:05 -0000

Good tip. I'll repot my aloe vera this weekend.

Re: Five Reasons Not to Drink Bottled Water

chrisbaskind — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 19:17:43 -0000

Straw man argument. Recycling plastics (and most other things) still results in less pollution than the production of new materials. Recycling no more singles out "communities of color and poorer communities" than conventional manufacturing.

The exportation of e-waste to countries with lax environmental standards is another issue altogether. I know of nobody in the Green movement who approves of this practice.

Re: Keep Your Cat Indoors (The Birds Say Thanks)

chrisbaskind — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 22:31:27 -0000

Thanks: you've added a lot to the discussion. Cat populations are many times what they would be if felines were exposed to normal rates of predation and disease. That's thanks to their human mentors. We've already interfered, so there's really no point appealing to the "natural order of things." Humans have a responsibility to mitigate their pets' impact on wild animal populations.

Here in Florida, studies show that feral cats have significantly threatened a number of indigenous species, including beach and cotton mice, the Lower Keys marsh rabbit, the Florida Scrub-Jay, the Black Skimmer, Least Terns, and the endangered Piping Plover:

http://www.abcbirds.org/abcprograms/policy/cats...

Domestic cats are also spreading new diseases into the struggling Florida Panther population.

By the way, I know several people involved in the movement to vaccinate and neuter feral cats, rather than subjecting them to kill shelters. Their numbers are insignificant compared to marauding house cats, and this is a separate discussion altogether.

Re: Convert to LED Christmas Lights

chrisbaskind — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 19:50:51 -0000

I saw a name brand string of 70 LED lights for six bucks. That's close enough to conventional bulb prices for most people -- especially in view of the fact that the same strand would have sold for three times that a year or so ago. If you could find them.

Re: Making some noise

chrisbaskind — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 13:19:42 -0000

Wwelcome Anton and Giannii -- and we're all looking forward to seeing the shiny new toys. ESPECIALLY the spam control improvements. :-)

Re: How do I mark as spam?

chrisbaskind — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 20:10:36 -0000

CAPTCHA wouldn't get most of what I'm dealing with. It's human-generated. Looks just like a comment -- even references the article intelligently -- but the "commenter' name is a keyword and it links to a spam or commercial site.

Re: Give Your Kids a “Green Hour” Outdoors

chrisbaskind — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 01:59:00 -0000

Because kids spend too much time indoors, their parents spend too much time indoors, and everyone can use some support doing new things.

Re: Green Family Values: Baby Wearing

chrisbaskind — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 15:12:43 -0000

Great comment, Mig. Useful links. Thanks!

Re: Try to Avoid the Express Checkout Line

chrisbaskind — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 00:05:56 -0000

Bucky brought up a similar point. I went two months this summer doing everything on a bike, including bulk grocery items. It can be done. Make as many walking or cycling trips as you'd like. ;-)

Re: Try to Avoid the Express Checkout Line

chrisbaskind — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 00:03:53 -0000

There's no judging going on around here. You're exceptional, though: I bet 90 percent of all grocery trips in the United States are done in cars. It would be interesting to see hard statistics on how many miles are wasted by trips for two or three items.

Re: The F-117 Stealth Fighter Retires

chrisbaskind — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 00:35:57 -0000

Those figures came from the U.S. General Accounting Office, and more accurately state the real per-plane cost of the Raptor program than the stated unit price (which is actually about $120 million). It's obvious with the approval of the F-35 Lightning II design that the F-22 will never be built in large enough numbers to achieve any sort of economy. We've built a grossly expensive air superiority craft with no real mission, and no enemy in its class.

Re: Green Family Values: Baby Wearing

chrisbaskind — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 23:43:05 -0000

I'll bring your comment to the author's attention. I haven't tried that particular sling, since all my kids are a bit big for that sort of thing now (the youngest is ten). I'd like to encourage anyone who has tried specific sling systems to add their comments here. Let's share ideas.

Re: Cheap magazines here! Actually they are free! | Broadcasting Brain

chrisbaskind — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 02:26:59 -0000

Ah, to be trendy again!

Re: Cheap magazines here! Actually they are free! | Broadcasting Brain

chrisbaskind — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 00:08:43 -0000

It's not cool to read magazines, but i still love them. It's a very different experience from online reading. Looking forward to an era of better web typography.

Re: This Week’s Project: Find A Local Farmer’s Market

chrisbaskind — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 20:47:58 -0000

Excellent. I'd be pleased to see directories for other countries and regions here, if anyone knows of them.

Re: Uninstall disqus

chrisbaskind — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 19:19:52 -0000

Yeah, that the cool thing about Disqus. Advanced users can make use of its features, but you can set it up to essentially be a drop-in replacement for a very simple comment system, too. I have my sites set so *anyone* can comment.

Re: British Woman Faces Flogging After Kids Name Teddy Bear Muhammad

chrisbaskind — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 00:54:21 -0000

She was convicted and sentenced to 15 day prison term and deportation. Bloodthirsty mobs rioted, demanding her death.

The Sudanese president issued a pardon. Gibbons returned home to Britain. Sudan's international reputation was greatly damaged by this display of fanaticism and intolerance. The shame is upon Sudan.

Re: Ten Ideas for a Greener and Healthier Halloween

chrisbaskind — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 20:06:10 -0000

Ha-ha! Hope morning finds you unscathed. But it *would* all compost. ;-)

Re: Last-Minute Green Halloween Treats

chrisbaskind — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 12:56:40 -0000

There's something fitting about going out and picking your own apples this time of year (or buying a pumpkin straight from the field in which it was grown). Great tip.

Re: Publish FriendFeed updates to Twitter — a snake that eats its own tail?

chrisbaskind — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 23:38:15 -0000

I also see no harm in this if you're only posting direct Friendfeed entries to Twitter. I agree that it would be very easy to abuse this by shoveling every Stumble, YouTube fave, Digg, and Reddit into Twitter's wide-open maw (and Susan is right that Twitter probably isn't intended to be a lifestream app). Perhaps the FF/Twitter default should be FF-only. Add services at your followers' peril.

Anyway, I'm going to give it a shot. I've been inactive on Twitter since proclaiming a fatwa on it last Spring. This is my attempt sneaking back in. ;-)

Re: If You Eat Fish, You Eat Plastic (Video)

chrisbaskind — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 14:22:41 -0000

And thank you for being the very first commenter on our new site. :-)

Re: Blogs are so over, Wired magazine says

chrisbaskind — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 01:44:36 -0000

Yes, I rather think Wired's linkbaiting rather disproves their point. In any case, I don't see them rushing to push their enterprise off Wired.com to Facebook and Twitter. ;-)

You didn't "fall for" anything, though. You've done what bloggers do: you've had your say. And we've enjoyed reading.

Re: Dear Twitter: It’s Over. And It’s for The Best

chrisbaskind — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 01:25:22 -0000

I should add as a postscript a couple of things:

First, while I -- like thousands of other users -- was deeply frustrated by Twitter's difficulties around the time this article was written, people took it far too seriously.

Second, I was deeply impressed by Twitter's utility this hurricane season. i live on the Gulf Coast, and it has been a busy year for storms. To me, Twitter proved its usefulness by allowing people both to communicate with the outside world on mobile devices once utilities began failing, and also receive a variety of well-managed, useful emergency information streams. Twitter was a lifeline for a lot of people. I'm glad it was there.

Twitter has made some real strides in recent months. They've listened to their users' concerns, beefed up their infrastructure, and seem to be committed to improvement. There no way I can take issue with this.

While I haven't yet resurrected my personal Twitter account, i've begun using the service again via Lighter Footstep:

http://twitter.com/LighterFootstep

Hats off to Twitter for listening, improving, and allowing me back.