RE:tie - another evolution

Well, things progress on RE:tie.

Working with JIIC at BCU, we now have the CAD rendering of its latest incarnation.

This solves some moulding issues, but at the same time enabled us mentor Mark Sheahan's input to incorporate what we hope will be a design aid for those who might have trouble gripping and tearing off tamper evident closures.

Oh, and it looks like it also uses just the same amount, and possible even less plastic to do the same job.

The prototype is en route as I type.

packaging news - Prototypes: Giving design an extra dimension - good piece to note!

I don't like Monday... so far

The new site feature evolution is still a roller-coaster.

One the the real scores with a glitch is knowing what is causing it it, so you can then solve it.

And we seem to have figured that the new site doesn't like the old splash page: the one that you see with a video of me and the latest blogs, ideas etc. So we have disconnected this for now and it defaults to the home page instead.

Yay! At least it works.

However...

In trying to add some new pictures and URLs using our spiffy new Ideas upload features, I got a brand new, and not exactly welcome error message.

Guess how my day is shaping up. And not, as intended, on the newsletter.

One step forward.... :(((((((((

WRAP rage!

No, not my favourite quango.

A term I have heard before, but thanks to My Zero Waste have not before seen it articulated as well.

Other than nodding along, I also see opportunity for the RE:tie, as we are working on evolving the design to make it not only reusable, but easier for those who may have trouble 'unzipping' tamper-evidents, through such as arthritis.

CATEGORY - INSULATION

One of the better 'win-wins'. I am lofted up. Shame our walls are solid.

ARTICLES

Guardian - Tread lightly: Install cavity wall insulation

Guardian - Tread lightly: Draught-proof the home

Times - Insulation will pay for itself over years

Times - No windfall tax: it’s energy-saving instead

Indy - Energy efficient households 'can save £270 a year'

Guardian - Yes, do lag your loft - Some great suggestions in the posts, including a few I floated a wee while ago.

Indy - How much energy-saving help can you expect to get?
Indy - Not flash, just Gordon. And that's the problem

Guardian - Mind the gaps – time to insulate and save on heating -

INFORMATION

bricksandbread.com - NEW - Local focus but globally relevant info

Draught Proofing Advisory Association

freeinsulation.co.uk -

nationalinsulationassociation.org.uk

government-grants.co.uk

secondaryglazing.com -

SUPPLIERS

doubleglazingquotes.org -
I wonder how all the various grants/ratings account for those who may want to insulate, but cannot?

At least the British 'summer' has a defence

What's the environmental impact of a sky lantern? - Hefty, I'd say

"There is also the danger that if they come down alight they could start a fire..

Obvious now, but never having seen one I hadn't realised they actually had naked flames.

That would really make them little better than 'ethically-sourced', unguided airborne incendiary devices, like those Japanese balloon bombs targetting the US via the jetstream during WW2.

So I do wonder if the biodegradability aspects are the main issue, and frankly why they are allowed. Mind you, every Nov. 5 the UK does seem to put its pyromaniac's hat and mask on.

Love the 'but they are ethically-sourced' counter.

CATEGORY - ORGANIC

Has to start somewhere..

ARTICLES

INFORMATION

Indy - The great organic myths rebutted - Still 'a view' mind

Indy - The great organic myths: Why organic foods are an indulgence the world can't afford - and another. At leasy we have baalnced argument! No clue still, mind.

BBC - Organic 'has no health benefits' - Frankly it surprised me. So the decisions are now on matters of taste (personal ROI) and environment (enviROI)? Sadly, the costs usually mitigate against this option in our household. Of course, we are talking 'research' and the inevitable to-ing and fro'ing that follows. So take with a pinch of (organic) salt.

Telegraph - Organic food has no added nutritional benefit, says Food Standards Agency

Just watched a 'discussion' on BBC news, with a classic twofer trading research and what was and was not included in the study. I suspect the only winners will be the media and not the cause of informed choice. Lumme, proving my point, it has now descended into a row about poison levels and how it gets defined.

Indy - NEW - Letters - More reasoned counters

Guardian - NEW - Organic food: the natural choice - Ditto - We try to buy local more than organic, but often cost is a counter-factor. I rather fear that, in our modern world, the word 'natural' has little practical meaning. 'We' as a race have surely over-run any 'natural' systems of checks and balances buy now.

QUOTE OF THE DAY - Weasels 'R Them

In my new guise as an 'entrepreneur' (not quite right: that's a guy with an idea that has made money), I keep slamming into new and ever more painful business realities.

One is that the words 'fixed price' don't actually need to mean what you are told is how what you are expected to pay works out.

Especially with some lawyers (though I have met a few goods ones, if not enough to balance out the blood-sucking, firstborn-taking, ethical black holes that are most).

Which is why I turn to Dilbert. Not for restitution, for even he knows this is not possible, but simply for empathy.

Ch 7. Negotiating Like a Weasel

When you are planning to buy anything expensive, you probably call around to compare prices. Companies have wised up to that strategy and counter it with the weasel tactic known as the accidental misquote...

He goes on:

Why are there no accidental misquotes in the too high direction?

Green tech I can get behind

Thermal images make a home's heat loss easy to plug

Like it.

As opposed to blowing bazillions on 'campaigns' or 'officers' to raise 'awareness' on intangibles.

Use the dosh on stuff like this and promoting it sensibly.

I can't think of a home-owner who couldn't see the merits, the benefits and engage.

You might even find few boxes actually get ticked and targets get met that may mean something.

Facts are sacred. Use them with care.

I have highlighted a few polls, etc, today.

And not in a good way.

But here's some stuff that looks well worth treating wiv' respect.

Interesting uses of the Data Store

Data, Gosh-darned data, and 'it's how you ask' data

I share it, but would have no clue how to answer the question, if asked:

Which countries believe in climate change?

To be fair, drilling down the questions are more specific. Then we get to methodology.

Good hacks from hacks

Hack the environment

Well, I found it interesting.

What's (possibly) wrong with this picture?

From a train travel article in the Guardian.

Answers on a postcard.

QUOTE OF THE DAY 2 - Silly season

Does divorce cause global warming?

Of course, I then read on.

QUOTE OF THE DAY - Smart for whom?

Smart meters in every home will cost each household more than £300

"We don't see how the Government can justify asking consumers to pay for something that will save energy companies hundreds of millions a year, while the average household will make only minimal savings."

I don't think this mob 'do' justifying to the public.

And I can think of a few things I could direct that dosh to that might help the planet more.

China sin dumb?

What can China do about climate change?

I must say I am wondering when China does get to qualify as a first world country, with all the joys we have to offer, and share in.

Maybe we could send back our GOATs (Guv of all talents) in a couple of containers to help work the same magic on their economy that has been conjured here?

Meanwhile...

Guardian - NEW - India gets serious on climate change

This struck a chord

I just like the idea of making things.

How To Make A Rain Barrel (DIY Video)

Especially when they go on to save others.

Some useful links, too.

IDEA - Composter

I have not been 'down the shed' for a while. Pity. That's where I do my best... er... better work.

But I thought this was an idea en route to the shed worth sharing.

Well, Barnes Wallis may have liked it.

POOH CORNER - Flushed with inspiration

Over at My Zero Waste: How to reuse your toilet

So, there are reuses for the hardware as well as the ...ahem.. software.

Funnily enough, in her post Rae mentions washing machine drums, and I have a new idea coming up on these soon. Watch this (well, Junkk.com's) space.

Well...

I must take this opportunity to blog on the trails and tribulations of making changes to a system that seems more finely tuned and jittery than an Arab stallion on speed driving a 60's Ferrari.

For a start, when we uploaded the new upgrades, it all also got moved to a new server, and that's just where the 'fun' started, and looks like it continues.

Because for a magic period the system seems to have posted to an ancient test page which, ironically, uploaded in a heartbeat. And then buried itself in the cache of some who logged on while it was up.

However, in sorting that out, it looks like we are currently bouncing off Mars via Uranus, and if the site loads at all , it is coming by man with cleft stick being towed by a three-legged tortoise.

Not. A. Good. Day!

Playing Chicken Little

Today there was a classic example of how rushing out notions in support of your beliefs can end up doing more harm than good.

It cannot have escaped most folks' notice that of late, the weather has been less than clement. As I write a cold drizzle decorates my window. I can only imagine how those in the campsite opposite are feeling.

And this has been picked up by the 'news'. So we have the odd spectacle of the BBC reporting crew exchanging barbed commentary with the weather guys. 'How did you get it so wrong', was about the most polite interrogation.

To which, reasonably, the reply was that such things were almost impossible to predict.

Trouble is, a lot of folk seem to make a lot of noise based on predictions. And this summer was going to be long, hot, and non-stop BBQ. It may yet get there, and I am hoping for something nicer for our camping trip in a few weeks' time. It's hard to keep kids entertained under wet canvas for long.

But for now, there is quite a lot of egg on faces, and I rather fear more sober cautions on climate will get rather swamped by overly enthusiastic folk - using what they think will 'prove' their case - getting a bit of a hammering from those equally keen to 'prove' the exact opposite.

Frankly, from floods to heatwaves to hurricanes to even melting Greenland glaciers (some have used a piece on this to enquire as to how this country acquired its name, pre-Humvee), I think those advocating caution, moderation and even reduction might be better tasked looking at ways to motivate other than 'the sky is falling'. Especially when they put quantitative data on it all which proves unsound.

Telegraph - NEW - Start with the Met Office, Dave - It seems others have noticed, and views

BBC - NEW - Met Office cools summer forecast - Ten ways to beat the heat

Indy - NEW - The Big Question: Why did the Met Office get it so wrong?

Guardian - NEW - Rain puts dampers on 'barbecue summer' - the inevitable exchanges have rather made my point

QUOTE OF THE DAY - Keep taking the blue pills

Worth sharing: Human activity is driving Earth's 'sixth great extinction event'

If only for this quote post which at the time I thought was curiously sympathetic to the 'baddies' in the Matrix:

"I'd like to share a revelation that I've had during my time here. It came to me when I tried to classify your species and I realized that you're not actually mammals. Every mammal on this planet instinctively develops a natural equilibrium with the surrounding environment but you humans do not. You move to an area and you multiply and multiply until every natural resource is consumed and the only way you can survive is to spread to another area. There is another organism on this planet that follows the same pattern. Do you know what it is? A virus. Human beings are a disease, a cancer of this planet. You're a plague and we are the cure".

Agent Smith

(worth also checking out Titan AE to feel the Drej might have had a point):