The Elf and Ethics

...ents exist for and against this type of transportation. On the one hand it uses far fewer resources than an automobile. But one could also argue, as does the owner of a bike shop in this video, that we’d all be better off with a far simpler and less expensive bicycle. I can see both sides of the argument. Perhaps younger folks should take to bicycles and older people or those with disabilities or heavy cargo could use something like an Elf. Plus t...

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Pl@ntNet: “Shazam” for Plants

...e.com/watch?v=W_cBqaPfRFE Pl@ntNet is an iPhone and Android phone app that uses image recognition and crowd-sourcing to recognize plants. It’s free, so I downloaded a copy yesterday and ran around the yard to see how it works. You take a closeup of a leaf, flower, fruit or bark and the app takes a guess on an identification. My first attempt was Nasturtium, which the app immediately identified despite my bad photo. It also correctly identified daf...

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Saturday Tweets: Chia Seed Granola, How to Measure a Tree and Fake Locksmiths

.../t.co/OVUCIlkRbX — Root Simple (@rootsimple) February 13, 2016 How One Man Uses the 99 Cent store for his First Aid Needs: https://t.co/SuYCLFHVeY — Root Simple (@rootsimple) February 13, 2016 How do you measure the height of a tree? Cool low tech method, courtesy Tree Map LA (which we've joined!) https://t.co/SM8TNWScme — Root Simple (@rootsimple) February 8, 2016 Fake Online Locksmiths May Be Out to Pick Your Pocket, Too https://t.co/Z3Grnwd...

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What’s the Best Solar Food Dryer?

...works great. You do need to remember to bring in the food at night to prevent rehydration and spoilage (for some reason I often flake out and forget to bring in the food). For awhile I had an electric Excalibur Dehydrator on loan and it’s a lot more convenient. But, of course, it uses electricity and makes a lot of noise. Since I built my Appalachian Dryer Scanlin has decided that it’s not necessary to use insulation. This makes the project even s...

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Saturday Linkages: Basil Downy Mildew, Bees and Grow Lights

...s.html … Old fencing blades as tomato stakes: http://www.fencing.net/14758/uses-old-fencing-blades-tomato-stakes/ … Interesting new wind turbine design–it’s shaped like a nautilus: http://www.treehugger.com/wind-technology/silent-wind-turbines-could-generate-half-household-energy.html … A bacteria that helps produce stay fresh AND saves the bats AND saves the bees??? http://magazine.gsu.edu/article/future-food/ … Fascinating food history–the histo...

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