Proof That It Always Makes Sense To Turn Off The Lights

This is an old episode, but I recently had a discussion with a friend on this very topic so I thought I should post the answer here. The question: does it ever make sense to leave a light bulb on when you leave a room if you are going to come right back? The simple answer: NO. I'll leave the rest up to the MythBusters:

Mythbusters lightbulb experiment - Watch more Videos at Vodpod.

I Support Des Nutz

Review of Maggie's Soap Nuts

Ever since I first heard of soap nuts, I knew I had to give them a try. What are soap nuts you ask? Some quick (paraphrased) info courtesy of Wikipedia:

Soap Nuts are a product of the Sapindus genus, a group of five to twelve species of shrubs and small trees in the soapberry family. Soap nuts contain saponins, a natural surfactant, which are released when the nuts get wet. They have been used for washing for thousands of year by various peoples including Native Americans, and are a staple in Ayurveda medicine where they are used for everything from washing clothing and hair to reducing excessive salivation.

In summation, soap nuts are a completely natural product (a nut) which produce a naturally occurring soap and which can be composted when your done with it. Sounds almost too good to be true right?

So on to the review. A friend of mine recently bought a bag of soap nuts from Maggies Pure Land company and gave me a few to try. She told me to add them to my laundry by taking 4 or 5 nuts, wrapping them in a mesh bag or handkerchief, and just putting them in with the rest of my stuff in the machine.

The first thing I noticed when I opened my sample bag was that the nuts themselves smell kind of bad. The thought of using something which smells bad to make my clothes smell good seems counterintuitive, so as a test, I decided to try them out on a load full of dish rags. Surprisingly enough, I thought they worked great! Now to be fair, I don't have any scientific data telling me how clean all my rags actually got. However, after a quick smell test and visual inspection, they smelt clean to me and they didn't have any gunked up food on them anymore.

Final words: My girlfriend still won't let me use them on our clothes, but after my initial test, I fully support des nutz.

Image provided by Maggies Pure Land

Organic GMO Aggravation

I saw a couple great articles yesterday about the ongoing battle between people who advocate GMO's (genetically modified organisms) and those who advocate organic food, and I thought I would share them with you.

First, there was this article in the NYT about a genetic food scientist and an organic farmer who are happily married. The piece was well written, although the article itself had little substance to offer other than the fact that these two people, representatives of competing (sometimes violently so) ideologies, can actually tolerate one another's presence. Kinda cool right?

Which brings me to the second article, published in the Los Angeles Times. This article, with the byline "Let's not join one of the armed camps deeply suspicious of one another shouting past each other," is aimed at food movement "independents," also known as the majority of Americans who have some interest in their food but who don't have several hours each day to devote to food policy. What this article essentially says is that there is a great conversation to be had about GMO's and organic food, and we should all chill out and have good, logical discussions without ripping each others heads off.

Generally speaking, articles saying we should all just get along kind of piss me off. However, this specific article intrigued me, because while it did have some of that annoying "us common folks are the ones who get it" edge to it, it also had some really good points. Such as:

"Agriculture is a business. Farming without a financial motive is gardening." (I'm sure he's used this one before, but it's still funny)

and

"Over the last 50 years, American farmers performed an agricultural miracle, all but eliminating hunger as a serious health issue in this country." (How much of that miracle actually relied on modern farming practices and pesticides is up for debate, but I'll give him this one)

but

"That battle has been won, and... the demands of today are different."(Hell yes)

and

"There's no free pass on progress. Just because you've always farmed a certain way does not mean that you are owed the right to continue farming that way in the future." (Hallelujah)

and finally...

"Don't assume that those who disagree with you are evil, stupid or greedy. And even when they are, that doesn't relieve you of the responsibility for making a constructive and convincing argument." (What are you looking at me for? He said that way better then I can)

So overall, pretty good articles, and proof that the debate over GMO food will be around for some time to come. And yet, I can't help but feel hopeful that we can all take a chill pill and, well, maybe just all get along.

Farmville photo by sabrina.dent