Quick Stops

Do you drop off donations at local drop boxes? Make sure it's going to a charity, not a for-profit organization:

Though the drop-off boxes may look similar at first glance, only some are operated by charities. Other boxes are placed by commercial companies that may — or may not — donate some money to charity. And some of the charities involved don't meet the baseline standards of the Better Business Bureau or the Chicago-based American Institute of Philanthropy.

During a day's drive around the Chicago area, the Tribune spotted about 10 types of boxes that ran the gamut from collecting the clothes almost entirely to benefit charity (Salvation Army) to collecting the clothes purely for profit (USAgain).

Some of these non-profits will even take... and use even the most motley of your donations:

By government estimates, Americans throw 85 percent of their unwanted textiles in the trash each year. That may be, in part, because of a widespread perception that charities want only those items that can be resold in their thrift shops. While these are the most valuable donations, other castoffs can still make millions for charities on the secondary materials market, which includes selling used clothes in developing countries and recycling them for industrial uses.

So the Salvation Army's Maj. Mark Anderson stresses that he doesn't mind when people donate ripped jeans, stained shirts and coats with broken zippers.

"We want to receive any and all articles because, if we can't sell it in one of our stores, then we can sell it to what they call the 'rag market,'" Anderson said. "They can repurpose those textiles for anything from wiping rags or materials for new textiles to even as an additive to asphalt. (That revenue) is a big deal for us."

One of the oldest trades in the world, textile recycling today represents a nearly $1 billion business, according to the Secondary Materials and Recycled Textiles association (SMART), an industry trade group. Eric Stubin, president and CEO of Trans-America Textile Recycling Inc. in the New York City area, said many businesses work closely with charities to recycle clothes that can't be sold in domestic thrift stores. According to Stubin, used textiles unfit for resale in the U.S. can fetch up to 35 cents a pound.

See? You can feel good about even your flimsiest, ripped up, worn out our torn cast-offs.
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25 manners every child should know by age 9? I've met adults who haven't learned half of them.
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After reading this article, it's a wonder that anything other plain filtered water is good for you.

Saturday Ramblings

Question of the Day: If drivers who go faster than the speed limit are called speeders, what are drivers who go slower than the speed limit in the left lane of a multilane highway?

Answer of the Day: The Princess Mom... and most Florida drivers. (A law like this would have bankrupted her.)

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Update: It's one of those days where it seems like everything I read makes me think of the Princess Mom. Sigh.

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Taking "going green" too far? You decide.

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I've been saying for a while that the Kindle should be cheaper... or even used as a loss leader. Seems like someone at Amazon was paying attention.

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Yes, I found Google Buzz incredibly annoying. Yes, I'm glad Google made it possible to turn it off. This is a prime example of a technology roll out done entirely wrong. I didn't ask for it, didn't want it, and resent the hell out of having my privacy invaded that way.

Update: Lawsuit!

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Head-Scratcher of the Day:

see more Engrish

Drive-Bys

Quote of the Day:

It's hooey. But it's fairly well done hooey.

Heh.
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I saw some pretty cool ideas for "repurposing" (hip-speak for reusing) stuff you already have here. While I'm in no way, shape or form a green nut, I'm enough of a true Yankee cheapskate to hate to see useful things go to waste.
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Speaking of waste, if this reporter hadn't gone from school to school for this story, how much more good food would have gone straight into the garbage?

On a cool fall morning in a North Side lunchroom, tiny Chicago Public Schools students lined up for breakfast.

Once in their seats, they fiddled with milk cartons, tore open cereal containers and sipped from their juice cups. But most never got to the waxy apples or unpeeled oranges on their trays.

About 10 minutes later, a lunchroom worker commanded them to toss the rest of their food and get to class.

"If you take any food out of this room," she threatened, "they will stop the whole breakfast program."

I gasped and urged a little girl to keep her untouched orange.

"Just put it in your backpack," I whispered. She looked at me like I was nuts.

Dutifully, the children dumped piles of untouched fruit into plastic bins and walked to class.

That's just nuts, and I'm glad the school district did something positive to stop the waste and feed hungry kids.
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This is a fascinating story, and it will be interesting to see if the Cook County Forest Preserve did indeed have presidential permission to take tribal land. Given that at the time of the taking government frequently played fast and loose with Native American rights, I don't doubt that the family may well be in the legal right here.

Stay tuned!
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Giggle of the Day:


see more dog and puppy pictures

Spell check. I haz it.
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When they straighten out the glitches, I want one of these.