102 Posts!!

Yayyyy!

This is my one hundred and second post!

The 100th post was apparently "Free Rice Follow-up".

Have you checked out freerice.com yet? It's fabulously addictive.

I believe the high score in my household is 8,100 grains of rice.


How is everyone's holiday season going?

Good, I hope.

Love to all,

Jackson

Barney's Green Holiday Window

Check out this years Holiday window at Barney's!!!

All recycled, all spectacular.

Love this! I command you!

Ha ha ha!

love,

J

Free Rice Follow-up

(Help. can't stop playing freerice.com!)


Okay,

Things have gotten a bit out of hand.

In my house we're all on freerice.com, building our vocabularies and helping to end starvation.

I just dug this tidbit up:

"According to Producer's Rice Mills, (http://www.producersrice.com/rice/facts.html), there are over 29,000 grains in a pound of long grain white rice."

So, play freerice.com until you get to 29,000 and you've earned someone a pound of rice, not to mention learned a few great, new words.

This is so wonderful! Everybody wins.

What about a typing game where you learn to type and win rice for someone, or you learn about American History, or Renaissance Art, or any subject?

I like learning. I like winning.

So very, very, very, very, smart.

Love to all,

Jackson

FreeRice.com

I pity the fool try to beat this score...

Imagine a site where you could play a vocabulary game, and every time you got a word right, the site donated 20 grains of rice to people in need. Imagine if you could play as long as you wanted...

Freerice.com









Mini SFNYC assignment!!!

Post your highest score in the comments!

Yay!!!! Fun.

-J

Things I Love: Solio Solar-Powered Charger

Aw heck, while I'm at the computer, I might as well say something.

My radiant girlfriend just gave me a Pre-Christmas gift, and even though in my family we don't "do" the whole presents thing, I was still very excited.

That's because she got me the Solio Solar-Powered Charger!



What is it? How does it work?

Plug it into your iPod, phone, iPhone, uh... zune. Put the tri-foil in the sun, and blammy: Powered!!!

Think of how many batteries this little beauty will keep out of a trash pile!

Lots.

I love it.

Get one: Solio Solar Charger

Christmas Eve

Hello All!

I'm so sorry I haven't been posting.

If you read this blog, then you know that I live in Brooklyn. I didn't, however, grow up in Brooklyn. I grew up on the garden island of Kauai.

So recently I went from this:



To this:



To be honest, it's taken my brain several days to catch up with my body.

The idea of spending any more time than necessary in front of the Truth Box (computer) while in this incredible place is alien to me.

My reasoning: Superforest can have 46 weeks a year of my undiluted, unwavering, diligence and enthusiasm. The remaining two weeks are mine to recharge.

Every moment I spend in Kauai is like a week at a health spa, (not that I've ever spent a week at a health spa.) I can feel my cells repairing themselves with every breath I take.

I will resume posting joyously in 2008.

And so, all my love to all of you gentle people, Christmas Eve, in the year two thousand and seven.

Be safe, be happy, and be excellent to each other.

Love,

Jackson

Household Tips: Dryer Balls!

Hello All,

I read in a green-living handbook that one could replace fabric softener sheets with aluminum foil balls and get the same effect.

Really? Aluminum balls? I had to see for myself.

Luckily, my incredible girlfriend had just baked cookies and we had on hand two aluminum sheet pans. (and a chihuahua.)


I gave both pans a scrub, and one still looked good, so I put it away for later baking.


The remaining pan I cut in half.


Then, using my winter gloves, I crumpled both halves into two foil balls.


Here they are, all done.


Pop 'em into the dryer, (set on "Low" to conserve energy.)



Then I waited while my darks dried. The dryer sounded fine, but I could definitely hear my balls jangling. (So much subtext.)

BZZZZZZZ!

The dryer was done, time to see if the balls did their thing.

They sure did!

Not a wrinkle in sight, and much less static cling than usual!
Plus the dryer balls really seemed to knock loose a lot of lint.

Here are my shiny, metal, heroes.



The great part about aluminum dryer balls, besides their incredible low cost, savings to the environment and wonderful performance, is the fact that they will never wear out. Ever.

Dry a thousand loads with them and they will still be balls of crumpled up aluminum, zero change. This is smart.

To think how many dryer sheets I've thrown away. Never again.

Make yourself a pair, why doncha?

Saving your fellow humans can be fun and easy.



Love to all,

Jackson

Blogs in Plain English

If you'd like to know what a blog is, and have three minutes to spare:



This is such a beautiful and elegant way to convey information. I love the Common Craft videos on Youtube. They are all so well done. Check 'em out.

They've got a great site: Common Craft.

Oooh ooh! Their motto is: Our Product is Explanation!

Oh god... I love so much. Hurts...

People I Love: Lot-Ek

Lot-Ek is an architecture and design firm right here in NYC. They specialize in rethinking existing structures and using pre-built objects as source materials.
I can't pronounce their name (Lot-eck? Low-tech?) but I can say I love their stuff!

Like their Recycled Airplane Library, which uses decommissioned fuselages as rooms.




Or their signature line of Container Houses built from retrofitted shipping containers.






And check out some of their amazing objects!

Like the Theater For One, a performance space where one actor performs for one viewer.



Or their Lightscapes



Or the TV Light



For these and other fantastical things, visit: lot-ek.com


Large and small, there seems to be little they cannot do.

If you are thinking of having a house built, or an office, re-done, or you need somehting designed, why not give a shout out to good ol' Lot-Ek, right here in NYC.

Things I Love: My Radius Toothbrush

I've been rockin' the Radius Source toothbrush for about three months now.

I love it so much, I had to tell you about it.

Firstly, it's the best eco-friendly toothbrush I've yet seen.

It's got a handle made from renewable wood and CORN PLASTIC. Nebraska Corn Plastic! Yee-haw! Feels good in the hand, looks soft but is really tough and durable.

The heads are replaceable! This lo-tech solution uses 1/5th the materials and energy as tossing an entire toothbrush every time you get a new one. Creamy.

Finally, because the heads are replaceable, the toothbrush easily switches over to accommodate lefties! Being a lefty myself, I appreciate this gesture.

And the extra wide head and soft bristles feel good against the gums and leave the mouth feeling scrubbed and renewed.

A fine toothbrush if you happen to need one.



Check out their site here: Radius .com.

Inhabitat.com

Hello all!

I just found the most incredible site.

I've been searching the net, looking high and low for interesting and uplifting thing to blog about, and then I stumble upon Inhabitat.com. What a resource!

Check out some of the great pieces they've got:

Grow a living treehouse!


Solar Green Homes Delivered By Truck!


Recycled Saddle Giddyup Rocking Stool!


And on, and on...

An incredible site, beautifully done, that I will be linking to heavily.

Well done to the nice people over at Inhabitat.com

GreenBrooklyn.com

Just found these guys' site.

They've got articles about various aspects of green living right here in Brooklyn, plus great features on local vendors of sustainable swag. Tasty.

For a swell diversion, go here: Green Brooklyn

Flying Humans

Best Video Ever?

You be the judge.

It's got all the criteria for a great video: A narrator, rainbows, hopeful lyrics, slammin' bass licks, bells, magic glitter, and the dance stylings of a young M.J.

You cannot hate on this video.

M.I.A. redux

This is to go with the Balinese dance video.



Love M.I.A.!

-J

CENYC (Just Say: See Nice!)

I just found out about the Council on the Environment of NYC, (let's call them "See Nice!")

from their site:
"The Council on the Environment of NYC (CENYC) is a hands-on non-profit that has been improving New York City's environment for over thirty years. CENYCs dedicated staff green our neighborhoods, create the environmental leaders of the future, promote waste prevention and recycling, and run the largest farmers market program in the country."

They've also got a really well designed site up. All on one page you can find information on Recycling, Environmental Education, Community Gardening, Farmers Markets; vital info for all Five Burroughs.

And the best thing: a sweet Greenmarket Map you can download!



Here's their site:CENYC

Go See-Nice!

Things I Love: Bettencourt Wood!

There's the most amazing green building supply company right here in Brooklyn!

Bettencourt Wood!

Look at all this great stuff:


Bettencourt Wood
#70 North 6th. St. Brooklyn NY 11211
(718) 218 6737

Clever Swiss

Apparently, Switzerland's trash situation is so together, they have specific trash cans just for batteries.

NYC needs these too.

Here's a great International Herald Tribune article about "waste collection" in Zurich.

Have a good Monday.

-Jackson



(Thanks to Andrew for the photo.)

I'm a Pink! (Who's With Me?)

Good Morning!

I woke up this beautiful Monday having realized something:

I'm a Pink!

What does that mean, you ask?

Basically, I'm pro-human!
I'm for humans living the fullest, happiest lives they can, and I will work as hard as I can to influence a future like that.

I'm for debt-relief, care-packages, aid packages, help of any kind for anybody. I'm for soup kitchens, charitable outreach, street clinics, state sponsored rehabilitation programs, donorship, volunteerism. I'm for humans helping humans.

I stand for the downtrodden, the abused, the forgotten, the lost, the lonely, the desperate. If I had the means I would create a system to reach out to and support all that needed supporting.

That's what SuperForest is for me.

Slowly I am trying to create a system for connecting people and supporting positivity.

Why?

I cannot think of anything better or nobler to do.
I want to spend the rest of my life working to help the people around me.

I want to struggle, to taste failure, to be discouraged, and I want to struggle some more. I want to overcome.

Under our skin, we're all Pink.


Yay!!!!


-J

Two Great Videos

Two great videos.
Two great artists.

These make me happy.
It is very cold outside.

Fiest - "1, 2, 3, 4"


Bat For Lashes - "What's a Girl to Do?"


Now that is some tight 'ography!
Stay warm and cozy.

-Jack

Squirrel Box

New Yorkers love their squirrels.

I think the sign says: "Do not move, baby squirrel returning to nest."

Good looking out.

(Thanks to Hannah for sending this in!)

How To Be Happy

Eat lots of salad.


Have a glass of red wine (or two) with dinner.


Go outside and walk around. Look at things.


Be in love with someone or something.


Donate some time to your fellow humans.


And finally, be thankful for every moment on this wonderful planet.








Love to all,

Jackson

Things I Love: Non-Secular Year End Holiday Cone!

This is in the circle in from of the Brooklyn Library, near Prospect Park.
When viewed from afar, it looks like a Christmas tree, but up close you realize that it's actually the Non-Secular Year End Holiday Cone!

Joy and good tidings to all!

Love,

Jackson