Thursday, February 05, 2009
The El 2/3/09
Twenty-something black male (clearly not homeless as he was dressed pretty nicely) with a small vacuum cleaner and a Pokemon lunch box worn messenger bag style around his body.
Cat Tree: A Product Review
In order to improve my rambunctious cat's behavior, I decided to buy him his very own piece of furniture, a cat tree. I hoped that the tree would encourage him to climb, scratch, and sleep there instead of on my furniture, as well as give him a comfortable view out the window. For the most part, this plan has worked perfectly. He's constantly in his tree. So in this sense, I'm very pleased with my purchase. I am a little disappointed, however, with the product I chose.
After a long online search, I chose the Amusement Park from Drs. Foster and Smith. I chose this particular one for various reasons. Among them, the company's long list of reasons why their product is superior to all the others. Others included the color choices, the mix of sisal and carpeted poles, and the general design and layout of the piece. It was just the size I was looking for. Not too big and bulky for my apartment, but still enough levels and features to provide some interest.
For the price, and how big a deal Drs. Foster and Smith make about their superiority, I found this product a little disappointing. The seams in the carpet are extremely obvious and thin. Plasticy carpet strings were hanging everywhere after assembly and took a good 5 minutes of trimming to get it looking presentable. And as the cat scratches certain places more strings appear. Also, with the scratching, there are small pieces of carpet everywhere. The included breakaway toy is nice and the breakaway definitely is safer for kitty, but at 5 lbs, it's not very fun for larger kitties. Mine takes about 45 seconds before it is on the floor and another minute before it is under the couch. And you have to attach the toy to the breakaway snap with a string you tie yourself and I'm a bit skeptical about my knotting abilities.
All of these things were only minorly annoying. I did get the tree on sale ($150 I think) so I was willing to deal with a few minor annoyances. Over the last week though, I have been noticing that the whole tree is crooked and wobbling terribly. So tonight, I spent ten minutes tightening all the legs and the bolts on the bottom. It is self assembly, but I was still shocked at the amount it loosened up in just six weeks. Two of the bolts were so loose I could actually turn them by hand. If I have to do this every 6 weeks, it's going to get mega annoying.
In contrast, my parents bought a smaller $75 cat tree from Petsmart (I couldn't find it on their website, but I know they have it in the store). They've had it for three years with absolutely none of the problems mentioned and, in fact, bought a second one which they've had for two years. Both still look as good as the day they were purchased and have never been tightened.
Overall, the Amusement Park is ok. But I wish I had saved the $75 and bought the more generic, but better quality Petsmart model.
After a long online search, I chose the Amusement Park from Drs. Foster and Smith. I chose this particular one for various reasons. Among them, the company's long list of reasons why their product is superior to all the others. Others included the color choices, the mix of sisal and carpeted poles, and the general design and layout of the piece. It was just the size I was looking for. Not too big and bulky for my apartment, but still enough levels and features to provide some interest.
For the price, and how big a deal Drs. Foster and Smith make about their superiority, I found this product a little disappointing. The seams in the carpet are extremely obvious and thin. Plasticy carpet strings were hanging everywhere after assembly and took a good 5 minutes of trimming to get it looking presentable. And as the cat scratches certain places more strings appear. Also, with the scratching, there are small pieces of carpet everywhere. The included breakaway toy is nice and the breakaway definitely is safer for kitty, but at 5 lbs, it's not very fun for larger kitties. Mine takes about 45 seconds before it is on the floor and another minute before it is under the couch. And you have to attach the toy to the breakaway snap with a string you tie yourself and I'm a bit skeptical about my knotting abilities.
All of these things were only minorly annoying. I did get the tree on sale ($150 I think) so I was willing to deal with a few minor annoyances. Over the last week though, I have been noticing that the whole tree is crooked and wobbling terribly. So tonight, I spent ten minutes tightening all the legs and the bolts on the bottom. It is self assembly, but I was still shocked at the amount it loosened up in just six weeks. Two of the bolts were so loose I could actually turn them by hand. If I have to do this every 6 weeks, it's going to get mega annoying.
In contrast, my parents bought a smaller $75 cat tree from Petsmart (I couldn't find it on their website, but I know they have it in the store). They've had it for three years with absolutely none of the problems mentioned and, in fact, bought a second one which they've had for two years. Both still look as good as the day they were purchased and have never been tightened.
Overall, the Amusement Park is ok. But I wish I had saved the $75 and bought the more generic, but better quality Petsmart model.
Wednesday, February 04, 2009
Redeeming Diamonds
Hope is restored. Just when I had written diamonds off as something I could ever own, Facebook shows me the light. A few days ago in my Ad bar, I was an ad for a jewelry company called Brillant Earth. Their motto? Luxury with a conscience. Now this is something I could be for. Brillant Earth is a company run by a husband and wife duo committed to providing an alternative to the current diamond industry practices. "Brillant Earth believes that high quality, fine jewelry need not come at a great human or environmental cost."
Basically, all their jewelry is made with certified conflict-free Canadian diamonds, ethical origin sapphires, and renewed metals. This means that humanitarian and environmental issues of mining are largely removed. By supporting this company, you're demanding an ethical alternative to the current jewlery practices. And their stuff is really great looking too. Check out their website to see the selection and take your own stand. It's also a great place to start for information on dirty mining and conflict diamonds. If anyone is considering a gift to thank me for all my insightful blogging, I would mind receiving this!
Basically, all their jewelry is made with certified conflict-free Canadian diamonds, ethical origin sapphires, and renewed metals. This means that humanitarian and environmental issues of mining are largely removed. By supporting this company, you're demanding an ethical alternative to the current jewlery practices. And their stuff is really great looking too. Check out their website to see the selection and take your own stand. It's also a great place to start for information on dirty mining and conflict diamonds. If anyone is considering a gift to thank me for all my insightful blogging, I would mind receiving this!
Tuesday, February 03, 2009
Flow
I recently finally got Netflix and have really been enjoying it. Recently, it recommended a documentary to me called Flow. Flow is, in short, about water. As we know from previous posts (here and here) and my attendance at World Water Day a few years back, this is kind of an important issue to me. So I immediately added Flow to my queue. I just finished it this morning and whoa do I have a lot to say.
In short, the movie is about the world water perspective. It's a documentary made up of 16 or so different issues and perspectives from around the world. There's no central narrator. Each segment is made up of interviews. The segments take place in four main countries: South Africa, Bolivia, the US, and India. The segments first cover many different water related topics including contaminated water (like the 20 million people in 25 states in the US who drink water contaminated with rocket fuel), the bottled water industry, the privatization of water, and the effect of damns. It of course gets political and talks about companies involved and the World Bank's influence on the issue. The documentary also shows various grassroots efforts around the world where people have taken on these issues and the adversity they have faced in doing so.
One of the central themes of the documentary is can anyone ever really own water? Historically, water as a transient resource has been the property of no one and everyone at the same time. No one has any more right to streams, rivers, and lakes then anyone else. One particular segment about the bottled water industry in Michigan horrified me. Basically, Nestle came in, set up a bottled water factory and started pumping millions of gallons of water a day out of the local aquifers. At absolutely no cost to them, with a ten year tax abatement, and a 99 year land lease for something like $160,000. They continued to pump at this rate despite a draught and effectively dried up local streams and wells. And they sold the product in the very community they were pumping in. The community saw no benefit from Nestle being there with the exception, I suppose, of the jobs created. Even worse perhaps is a story from India where contracts were signed to privatize stipulating that existing wells and water pumps built by the community had to either privatize (so they could charge people to use them) or be shut down. We're talking about common pumps that provide water to whole villages of the poorest of the poor. Does anyone else feel a little outraged by this?
Perhaps the most shocking news to me is that water is the world's third largest industry. Behind only electricity and oil. If you think water is unimportant, think again. In a way, water is the great equalizer. Every single one of us needs it. In the US, scarcity may not be our largest issue, but there are plenty of other big scary ones out there (like herbicides that cause male frogs to grow ovaries and are banned in Europe, including the country they're manufactured in). If you want more info, check out the Flow website. And please go watch this documentary!
In short, the movie is about the world water perspective. It's a documentary made up of 16 or so different issues and perspectives from around the world. There's no central narrator. Each segment is made up of interviews. The segments take place in four main countries: South Africa, Bolivia, the US, and India. The segments first cover many different water related topics including contaminated water (like the 20 million people in 25 states in the US who drink water contaminated with rocket fuel), the bottled water industry, the privatization of water, and the effect of damns. It of course gets political and talks about companies involved and the World Bank's influence on the issue. The documentary also shows various grassroots efforts around the world where people have taken on these issues and the adversity they have faced in doing so.
One of the central themes of the documentary is can anyone ever really own water? Historically, water as a transient resource has been the property of no one and everyone at the same time. No one has any more right to streams, rivers, and lakes then anyone else. One particular segment about the bottled water industry in Michigan horrified me. Basically, Nestle came in, set up a bottled water factory and started pumping millions of gallons of water a day out of the local aquifers. At absolutely no cost to them, with a ten year tax abatement, and a 99 year land lease for something like $160,000. They continued to pump at this rate despite a draught and effectively dried up local streams and wells. And they sold the product in the very community they were pumping in. The community saw no benefit from Nestle being there with the exception, I suppose, of the jobs created. Even worse perhaps is a story from India where contracts were signed to privatize stipulating that existing wells and water pumps built by the community had to either privatize (so they could charge people to use them) or be shut down. We're talking about common pumps that provide water to whole villages of the poorest of the poor. Does anyone else feel a little outraged by this?
Perhaps the most shocking news to me is that water is the world's third largest industry. Behind only electricity and oil. If you think water is unimportant, think again. In a way, water is the great equalizer. Every single one of us needs it. In the US, scarcity may not be our largest issue, but there are plenty of other big scary ones out there (like herbicides that cause male frogs to grow ovaries and are banned in Europe, including the country they're manufactured in). If you want more info, check out the Flow website. And please go watch this documentary!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)