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Story of Stuff

jhale

jhale

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http://www.storyofstuff.com/index.html

This was an interesting look at how our society's consumption of new things works.

Think of how it applies to our hobby when you take a look at it.

We use an awful lot of stuff to keep our tanks going. Both in products, and in the resources we need, water, electricity, the livestock.

Maybe we can have a civil discussion about it.
 
Aqua Pro Builder

Aqua Pro Builder

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I think many of us supporting our political leaders are just base on a sense/feelings of what the leader can do for us instead of going into the issue they talked about or even have considered to do about. Furthermore, it's hard to really know what our advocates are really representing because our informations from media are not the freest in the world. According to Al Gore, our news media are only 54th freest in the world.

BTW, did you realize we hardly see any headlines of our political leaders(let say what NY Senator said in the Senate?) but rather we see headlines of 500lb cop.


fritz said:
Alarmist, communist, anti-corporation hippie. Bah.

Penn and Teller did a GREAT episode of their show BullSh!t on the "Anti-Corporation / Environmentalist" Movement. It was pretty eye opening. The start the show with one of the founders of Green Peace, who left the organization when:
"The environmentalist movement, Green Peace included, was Hijacked by the Anti-Corporation people. There message wasn't environmentalism but promoting their own agenda masked under some sudo guise of environmentalism."

One sided is right, the breast milk piece was a bit much. Pulling at heart strings really. I didn't have time to get to the end but I wonder if she put forth any suggestions on improving the system. Or was this just another "everyone should have a pony" speech?

Not to go way offtrack but I happened by some Obama supporters the other day. They urged me to vote for Obama and I said
"What does he stand for?" and they replied "Change!"
I said "Wow, well that's good. What kind of change?" they had to call over a supervisor to answer that. An older gentleman came over to answer my difficult question. "What kind of change is Obama for?" I asked. He stated "Well Universal Healthcare for one."
"That's fantastic I said, but how is he going to pay for it?"
"By pulling out of Iraq and then that money can be used for Universal Healthcare"
"OK, but Obama stated that pulling out of Iraq wouldn't happen until AT LEAST his second term in office, so we have to wait five years for Universal Healthcare, hope he's re-elected and that he can pull off such a sweeping change in 3 years?"
The gentleman replied "He said he wouldn't pull out till his second term?"

OM-Fing-G!
"You don't know what he said and you're campaigning for him?"
Wow is all I can say.
On the same episode of Penn & Teller they got thousands of people to sign a petition against DiHydrogen Oxide, a substance that is in EVERYTHING! We consume it in everything we eat and drink and there are traces of it in all of us! Yes chem majors, they got thousands of people to sign a petition to BAN the use of H2O in all products sold in the US. How about that.

People are stupid and rather be told what to think than to have to do it on their own. All you need to do is pull on those emotional strings, be they anti-corporate or fear the brown man.

I think we should fire all of our politicians and start over. Messing with the constitution wouldn't be a bad idea either. Sweeping tax reform would be another good step and doing something about military spending is also on the list.

Bigup yourself.
Click to expand...
 
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fritz

fritz

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Al Gore is a bastard. My cousin has protected him on many occasions as a member of the DSS and he's a total jerk. He treats his security personnel like animals, as well as his staff. Believe me he thinks you're half retarded. He even told one of his kids once "You want to grow up to be like them!?" referring to his security detail. I also question his motives on spreading awareness on global warming. He gives the same exact speech everywhere he goes and demands a "VIP Room, without reporters of any kind and NO questions are allowed of Mr. Gore" at each event.

Now if I were spreading awareness of a cause I might take time to hold a press conference when I gave a speech. Or at least grant reporters an interview, to get the word out, isn't that the point of the speech? Or is it to get the check?

We should fire them all and start over. Term limits would be a good start. No one should be able to make a career out of being full of sh1t.
 
fritz

fritz

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The owner of Absolutely Fish did a presentation at the BAS a few years ago that was pretty good. He talked about the harm our hobby does to the natural environment. It's a hard pill to swallow for us hobbyists I think. We hope that we're spreading awareness of the beauty of the sea and bringing it to the lives of people that may not see it otherwise but in reality we're probably not doing a service to these animals. Or maybe the animals we keep would have died anyway and it's fine. :)
 
Awibrandy

Awibrandy

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Jonathan thank you for taking the time to find, and sharing this information. There is alot to think of of what we are doing to our planet, and not just with our hobby. We all have to stop, and think in regards to all our addictions. Can we do with less? I know I surely can, and try to do so. But will continue to do better as I go along, I have a long road ahead.
 
jhale

jhale

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yes, it is one sided video in some aspects but this is not a republican / democratic , conservative / liberal issue. it effects everyone on the planet.
So I was hoping there could be a bit discussion on what we can do to help, not attack politicians :rolleyes:
 
jhale

jhale

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I was walking down 6th ave and saw a group of freegans eating from garbage bags on the sidewalk.

not my kind of thing :dead1: there has to be a happy medium
 
T

tosiek

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Roflol. It is one sided but very true on some parts.

Reminded me of this talk i had with someone that did engineering at ford. He said all parts were designed to last a certain amount of time in a car, usually around 75+k miles. While the max (although its been changed) warranty on parts and services maxed out at 70k or so. and the time the part would last also as per years. Parts were overproduced on the ones that were most likely to be used the most and most likely to break BUT not because of that fact but because they were designed too break sooner than later. I had the talk a while ago so this is a rough overview but u get my point.

Its just sad thinking about it. In my old high school the military officer teaching a class ( i went to a ROTC highschool) was using a projector from the 1940's used in the military that hes been using for 30 years and he got it very used. All he's done for maintenance was to replace the glass he broke accidentally and oil some parts. Everything including the bulb was working fine ( think he said he replaced the metal in the bulb once, don't ask me how) and hasn't broken or anything since the 1940's. Wish the same quality came out of the stuff we buy now.
 
fritz

fritz

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Things made to military spec can't be compared to civilian use products. The military will spend $50,000.00 on a projector if it will last 50 years. The average consumer would not. Military spec products are perfect and they pay for it. I think there are still some products that are made well now adays but you pay a premium for them.

How many people would buy solid wood furniture from Jhale vs. disposable furniture from ikea?
 
fritz

fritz

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jhale said:
So I was hoping there could be a bit discussion on what we can do to help, not attack politicians :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

Seriously leaving the hobby is what we could do to help. There's nothing positive about it. We could switch to lower wattage devices to run our reefs but then what happens to our old equipment? It just becomes garbage or goes to someone else's reef which just adds to the problem.
 
jhale

jhale

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I agree Fred, taking down your tank would be the best overall thing you could do.

I thought about downgrading my system, to just sand, macro algae, and some pipefish.
I've not done it yet.
I see so much waste in the city, I feel like my tank hardly matters. I know that is wrong, but when you walk through times square at midnight and need sunglasses it changes the way you perceive things.

I always look at where I can save power on my system, with the exception of the lighting I use the lowest wattage of
equipment I can.
 
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fritz

fritz

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There is perhaps an unmeasured impact our tanks have. Maybe we are raising awareness to visitors without realizing it. Perhaps on some level people that have visited our home have grown an appreciation for underwater life that they didn't have before. Perhaps that appreciation will manifest itself in other ways that can help the environment via conservation or otherwise.
 
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