Shane Smith (the creator of Vice) went to Liberia and met the warlords there. Oh my god. Do you know what is going on in Liberia? Neither did I. This documentary was very disturbing, but also very informative you need to watch this. It is about an hour long, but how about instead of watching a scripted bullshit show with a laugh track and fake smiles you watch something that is informative to what is happening in the world? I feel that Americans are terrible humans in the fact that they would much rather be entertained than be aware of what their fellow humans are going through in developing countries. That we would much rather turn our backs on the truth because it is displeasing, is terrible. We (developed nations) make up 20% of the world's population, and we consume more than the 80% of the world. People are suffering from the impact of our selfish desires of a comfortable, commercial life. Watch this and stay informed. It is better to be Socrates dissatisfied than a pig satisfied.
Saturday, December 14, 2013
Another Study Break...
Okay so after my last post I never got back to studying... sounds like I was ready for another study break! Phew okay, so I watched a Vice video. If you don't know about Vice please, Please, PLEASE check them out. Vice is real journalism. Vice immerses themselves in the stories that they are covering, kind of like Hunter S Thompson but without the drugs. I love Vice because they are not afraid to cover controversial stories, in the fear that they will loose their backers. Vice is not traditional news vice is unfiltered and raw. They are not regurgitating the same bullshit stores that FOX, NBC, and other news networks do, instead they are telling the truth. Have you seen the ridiculous shit that FOX is saying on the air? Apparently Jesus and Santa Claus were white. Oh yeah and Santa Claus is real.... Are you fucking kidding me?!? You are a news network. Tell the fucking news not some bullshit stories to make kids happy. How many kids are even watching FOX news?? Anyways back to the video. Keep reading. Sorry for my cussing. (Politics makes me angry)
Shane Smith (the creator of Vice) went to Liberia and met the warlords there. Oh my god. Do you know what is going on in Liberia? Neither did I. This documentary was very disturbing, but also very informative you need to watch this. It is about an hour long, but how about instead of watching a scripted bullshit show with a laugh track and fake smiles you watch something that is informative to what is happening in the world? I feel that Americans are terrible humans in the fact that they would much rather be entertained than be aware of what their fellow humans are going through in developing countries. That we would much rather turn our backs on the truth because it is displeasing, is terrible. We (developed nations) make up 20% of the world's population, and we consume more than the 80% of the world. People are suffering from the impact of our selfish desires of a comfortable, commercial life. Watch this and stay informed. It is better to be Socrates dissatisfied than a pig satisfied.
Shane Smith (the creator of Vice) went to Liberia and met the warlords there. Oh my god. Do you know what is going on in Liberia? Neither did I. This documentary was very disturbing, but also very informative you need to watch this. It is about an hour long, but how about instead of watching a scripted bullshit show with a laugh track and fake smiles you watch something that is informative to what is happening in the world? I feel that Americans are terrible humans in the fact that they would much rather be entertained than be aware of what their fellow humans are going through in developing countries. That we would much rather turn our backs on the truth because it is displeasing, is terrible. We (developed nations) make up 20% of the world's population, and we consume more than the 80% of the world. People are suffering from the impact of our selfish desires of a comfortable, commercial life. Watch this and stay informed. It is better to be Socrates dissatisfied than a pig satisfied.
Study Break
So, I've started listening to music when I am doing a tedious take home exam for environmental science. YouTube is actually really good for discovering new music. They make a 49 song playlist of any song you are listening to. Best part is that there are no ads. So I came across this song called "Cherry" by Chromatics. Dude. It's so good. Check it out. Later skater.
Wednesday, December 11, 2013
I'm in Awe
Hey dudes I know it's not tubular tuesday, but I never posted anything, so I thought it would be nice to hit you back with a song. This song is called Hoppipolla. It's by a band called Sigur Ros. They are Icelandic, so they are automatically cool. Just kidding. Don't judge people, because we are fucking terrible at it and are always wrong about the person we judge.
It was weird a bunch of my new college friends got drunk and came up to me separately at different parts of the night, totally hammered, and told me I was a really cool person and I've had an effect on their lives in a positive way. Damn these guys are making me feel like I'm Joe Rogan or something. I'm not trying to show off or anything, because "that shit is for assholes" in the words of Chiddy Bang. Actually recently I have not had the strong confidence that I had earlier in the year, so this was kind of shocking to me. Like wow I am actually a good guy and am not a dick. Sometimes we over analyze ourselves and only focus on our faults rather than our attributes. Kinda like that Dove commercial with the women describing themselves to a sketch artist. We are so good at pointing out the little flaws that we have that we tend not to look at ourselves how we really are: beautiful. I just got done watching a short movie about a serial killer robot, and I was like what now? So I put on Spotify and Hoppipolla came on. It is so beautiful check it out. But I want to keep on talking so I am going to keep going.
I met some really cool guys today when I wondered away from my environmental science class at the Mellow Mushroom. One guy is a photographer named Patrick Cox. You can look him up if you want. I'm too lazy to find a link. But this guy is amazing. He takes stunning colorful pictures, which was so great for me after shooting black and white for so long. He told me that no one wants to buy pictures of flowers, they like people. That really stuck with me because I kind of hate taking pictures of people. It's so hard. This man has it down. But not me haha. I like still life stuff. But I guess I should work on taking pictures of people so I can make money some day. The guy also makes man purses, which is the shit. I need a man purse so bad, you have no idea. I could rant about why, but that would be going too far off point right now.
The other dude I met was Joe. Joe sells vaporizers and Sanuks. Sanuks are super comfy shoes check em out. I got a pair and I flippin love them. ha its funny because they are made from flip flop bottoms, so flippin' is like a pun. Ah.... BACK TO JOE TIM. Okay. So Joe. I talked to Joe about his vaporizers and he asked me if I smoke cigarettes and I said I smoke a different plant. I asked him if his vaporizers could vap "herbs" and he freaked out and thought I was a cop. I think I persuaded him into thinking that I'm not by my vibe. I think it is pretty much the opposite of a cops. We got back to talking about the cigarette part and he told me that he sells vaporizers for the sole reason of helping the health of smokers and to help them eventually quit. He also told me that since I don't smoke he would refuse to sell me nicotine extracts (ie what is vaporized) because getting people addicted to nicotine goes against his values. I was like damnnnnnn you are the most noble person I have met in a long time! The fact that this man is not in the business just for the money and has morals unlike fucking corporations. Man Joe is the man. Joe is the person we should all aspire to be like. Joe is a person who has not assimilated to the old system to make money. Joe is good. We need try to be like Joe. Later skater.
It was weird a bunch of my new college friends got drunk and came up to me separately at different parts of the night, totally hammered, and told me I was a really cool person and I've had an effect on their lives in a positive way. Damn these guys are making me feel like I'm Joe Rogan or something. I'm not trying to show off or anything, because "that shit is for assholes" in the words of Chiddy Bang. Actually recently I have not had the strong confidence that I had earlier in the year, so this was kind of shocking to me. Like wow I am actually a good guy and am not a dick. Sometimes we over analyze ourselves and only focus on our faults rather than our attributes. Kinda like that Dove commercial with the women describing themselves to a sketch artist. We are so good at pointing out the little flaws that we have that we tend not to look at ourselves how we really are: beautiful. I just got done watching a short movie about a serial killer robot, and I was like what now? So I put on Spotify and Hoppipolla came on. It is so beautiful check it out. But I want to keep on talking so I am going to keep going.
I met some really cool guys today when I wondered away from my environmental science class at the Mellow Mushroom. One guy is a photographer named Patrick Cox. You can look him up if you want. I'm too lazy to find a link. But this guy is amazing. He takes stunning colorful pictures, which was so great for me after shooting black and white for so long. He told me that no one wants to buy pictures of flowers, they like people. That really stuck with me because I kind of hate taking pictures of people. It's so hard. This man has it down. But not me haha. I like still life stuff. But I guess I should work on taking pictures of people so I can make money some day. The guy also makes man purses, which is the shit. I need a man purse so bad, you have no idea. I could rant about why, but that would be going too far off point right now.
The other dude I met was Joe. Joe sells vaporizers and Sanuks. Sanuks are super comfy shoes check em out. I got a pair and I flippin love them. ha its funny because they are made from flip flop bottoms, so flippin' is like a pun. Ah.... BACK TO JOE TIM. Okay. So Joe. I talked to Joe about his vaporizers and he asked me if I smoke cigarettes and I said I smoke a different plant. I asked him if his vaporizers could vap "herbs" and he freaked out and thought I was a cop. I think I persuaded him into thinking that I'm not by my vibe. I think it is pretty much the opposite of a cops. We got back to talking about the cigarette part and he told me that he sells vaporizers for the sole reason of helping the health of smokers and to help them eventually quit. He also told me that since I don't smoke he would refuse to sell me nicotine extracts (ie what is vaporized) because getting people addicted to nicotine goes against his values. I was like damnnnnnn you are the most noble person I have met in a long time! The fact that this man is not in the business just for the money and has morals unlike fucking corporations. Man Joe is the man. Joe is the person we should all aspire to be like. Joe is a person who has not assimilated to the old system to make money. Joe is good. We need try to be like Joe. Later skater.
Tuesday, December 10, 2013
Black Soldier Fly Larvae
Hey wazzzz uppp guys? Sorry its been a while, I have been... lazy. The semester is almost finished, but unlike my friends my exam schedule is not super crazy so its smooth sailing for me. EXCEPT I AM SICK. I totally thought I was immune to everything, because when everyone on my hall gets sick I have managed to stay healthy, but not anymore. Good golly Miss Molly. Oh well, ya gotta work with what you got. Alrighty, so this week's month's task is to come up with a sustainable campus initiative for Furman. My idea is to use black soldier fly larvae to make compost at the Furman Farm.
So a while back, I went to a sustainable agriculture conference in Durham and I learned about black soldier fly larvae to make animal feed from the dried larvae. We don't have any animals at the farm, however, the larvae also decomposes food scraps into compost super fast. These little guys can break down more than a pound of food scraps in a day. They eat so much, so it is good to use black soldier fly larvae if you have a steady stream of food scraps. More preferably from a dining hall or business. I remember this fall, we actually ran out of compost at the farm, so this would be perfect for providing a constant stream of compost. There is a lady that makes compost in 3 days with black soldier flies. Normal compost takes months, even with the addition of efficient microbes. Black soldier flies are more efficient than worms at decomposing food. If I could get a good system going with food scraps from the dining hall, I could branch out to local breweries and acquire spent grain as an input, and be producing a crazy amount of compost. Another perk is that the larvae can be harvested, dried, and mechanically pressed to extract oil. The oil can then be made into biodiesel! Apparently, Furman has a biodiesel lab, but I have yet to come in contact with the person who runs the lab. Compost and biodiesel? How flipping awesome?!
Despite the intimidating name, black soldier flies are not pesky like house flies, actually, the house fly population of an area decreases when black soldier flies are introduced to it. So no worries about annoying buzzing erywhere.
The next step is construction. The men at the conference used 55 gallon drums raised on concrete cinderblocks to grow their black soldier flies. That all sounds dandy, except the bins have to be turned just like regular compost bins. From my experience of having a compost bin, I know how terrible that can be. So, I decided that I should make a contraption that can be turned with little manual energy. I think it will look like this.
So a while back, I went to a sustainable agriculture conference in Durham and I learned about black soldier fly larvae to make animal feed from the dried larvae. We don't have any animals at the farm, however, the larvae also decomposes food scraps into compost super fast. These little guys can break down more than a pound of food scraps in a day. They eat so much, so it is good to use black soldier fly larvae if you have a steady stream of food scraps. More preferably from a dining hall or business. I remember this fall, we actually ran out of compost at the farm, so this would be perfect for providing a constant stream of compost. There is a lady that makes compost in 3 days with black soldier flies. Normal compost takes months, even with the addition of efficient microbes. Black soldier flies are more efficient than worms at decomposing food. If I could get a good system going with food scraps from the dining hall, I could branch out to local breweries and acquire spent grain as an input, and be producing a crazy amount of compost. Another perk is that the larvae can be harvested, dried, and mechanically pressed to extract oil. The oil can then be made into biodiesel! Apparently, Furman has a biodiesel lab, but I have yet to come in contact with the person who runs the lab. Compost and biodiesel? How flipping awesome?!
Despite the intimidating name, black soldier flies are not pesky like house flies, actually, the house fly population of an area decreases when black soldier flies are introduced to it. So no worries about annoying buzzing erywhere.
The next step is construction. The men at the conference used 55 gallon drums raised on concrete cinderblocks to grow their black soldier flies. That all sounds dandy, except the bins have to be turned just like regular compost bins. From my experience of having a compost bin, I know how terrible that can be. So, I decided that I should make a contraption that can be turned with little manual energy. I think it will look like this.
The little fin, is to prevent the compost from clumping up and causes a better aerating effect (pardon the purple color I have no idea what happened). Although the men at the conference recommended making the barrel raised at a 10 degree (or percent...I forgot) slope, because the larvae will try to crawl out of the bucket when they are mature. Creating a slope forces the larvae to climb out of the top and you can put a bucket at the end to collect them as they crawl out. So I think I will modify the plan to include sockets (I don't know the proper terminology) that will minimize the friction of the axel on the wood, because one X is going to be higher than the other to achieve the slope.
I have already bought two used 55 gallon drums from a dude on Craigslist for $20, now I just have to make this thing and start up in the spring (insects don't like the cold). Maybe I'll post some pictures when I get around to that. Later skater.
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