bike flowers

i'm really surprised these are still alive, since they were picked on the side of the bike trail and rode crunched up in my bike back home on tuesday before they were put in water. next time i'll have to get a bigger bunch.

perfect day...

...for a run

adventure bike

biking today on the lehigh valley trail we saw 2 blackberry bushes, 1 turkey, and 6 (yes, 6) rabbits. the purple loosestrife in the foreground of the picture used to be a big problem. a good ten years ago, it beat out other species and took over ditches, swamps, and any other wet areas. i still see it pretty often, but i don't know if it's still a problem. at least it looks nice.

fighting foo

first of all, charging half the ticket price in extra fees is ridiculous. second, who brings their 5 year old kid to an adult concert? take your kids home and put them to bed where they belong. and third...maybe i'm just getting old, but if they turned the volume down, even just a little, you can actually hear the music better. i'm just disappointed i forgot to bring my ear plugs.

all in all, it was a great show. they were a little harder than i was expecting, but good none the less.

adventure hike

along our hike in perinton, i saw a lot of long johns. not so surprisingly, no one knows what the heck long johns are. they're often mistaken for black raspberries, but they're blackberries. it's pretty easy to tell the difference just by looking at them. raspberries (red and black) are capped. when they fall off the bush in your hand, a cap is left on the bush. blackberries, on the other hand, don't have a cap and come cleanly off the bush. both are seedy, but blackberries tend to be a bit jucier than black raspberries. either way, it doesn' t get better than a handful of nice sweet berries on a hot summer day.

hate to love 'em

(oswego harborfest fireworks)

there's no better way to celebrate our independence (or any other occasion for that matter) than with fireworks. they are one of my favorite things. ever. but i hate them at the same time.

here's a list of fireworks byproducts i've compiled from multiple sources, along with their effects on the environment and human health:

• sulfur dioxide: causes acid rain
  
• perchlorate contaminates water bodies: disrupts thyroid gland (EPA studied a lake in oklahoma last year and found that 14 hours after the fireworks, there was still 1000 times more than background levels of perc)
• barium (green): poisonous & radioactive
• copper (blue): contain dioxin which causes cancer
• cadmium: carcinogen, developmental & reproductive toxicant
  
• lithium: potential kidney & neurotoxicant
  
• antimony: blood & heart problems
  
• rubidium: reacts with skin moisture to cause chemical burns
  
• lead: causes brain & blood disorders
• potassium nitrate (gunpowder component): also used as fertilizer, ice cream, and toothpastes...no real adverse effects
  

to end on a good note, Walt Disney Company has developed a new method to launch fireworks. they use compressed air rather than gunpowder to set off their daily displays.

midafternoon break...and evening entertainment

watching the thunderbirds practice for the air show behind RIT.


high falls laser show & fireworks. we tried to go july 3, but for whatever reason the city didn't have it. i guess next time we'll know it's on when we see rochester police and can hear the shuttle launch sequence, which i still think is weird.

yarn saves peppers...

...but it didn't save us from the kill storm coming in the background.

hooked on a book.

reading "angels & demons" at durand beach

people are rude.

how come whenever i want to sit and eat somewhere in the summer, i can't? large picnics, fairs, festivals, amusement parks, it's all the same. there's always food and never enough tables, so i end up eating on my lap or the ground or scrounging for a bench. while other people who have finished eating - sometimes with dirty plates in front of them, some with an empty table except for one cup - continue to sit at the table while the rest of us scrounge for them. it's like they're pissed they had to wait for a table, so when they finally have one, they don't want to give it up. instead of moving and letting someone who needs the table sit there, i've seen people sit and hang out for over an hour. my favorite is when they see you wanting it and give you a smirk, like "ha ha sucker, i got it and i'm not even using it!" or if you ask to use an empty chair (that's saved for their kids who are off playing god knows where) they tell you its reserved...then the whole 15 min it takes you to eat, no one ever sits in it. somebody else would like to eat too, you know. maybe if you got up and let someone else have a turn, next time you need it, someone would get up for you. it still surprises me how rude people are.

sunscreens: the good, the bad, the ugly

the Environmental Working Group did an investigation of 1,000 brand name sunscreens to evaluate them for chemicals that may pose health hazards and their ability to protect from the sun. take a look at the results, methodology, and even search for the sunscreen you use here: http://www.cosmeticsdatabase.com/special/sunscreens2008/

EWG's top recommended brands:
1. Blue Lizard (anything without oxybenzone)
2. California Baby (anything with SPF 30+)
3. CVS with zinc oxide
4. Jason Natural Cosmetics Sunbrellas Mineral Based Sunblock
5. Kiss My Face “Paraben Free” series
6. Neutrogena Sensitive Skin Sunblock
7. Olay Defense Daily UV Moisturizer (with zinc)
8. SkinCeuticals Physical UV Defense
9. Solar Sense Clear Zinc for Face
10. Walgreens Zinc Oxide for Face, Nose, & Ears

the study also lists some tips on what to look for and what to avoid when buying sunscreen on their "Shopper's Guide for Safer Sunscreen"

what to look for:
• SPF 30 or higher for best protection.
• At least 7% zinc oxide or titanium dioxide for broad spectrum protection.

what to avoid:
• Oxybenzone or benzophenone-3: skin absorption, allergies, hormone problems
• Spray and powder sunscreens: inhaling sunscreens can pose extra risks
• Fragrance: allergies, reproductive problems
• Sunscreen with added bug repellent: you can get too much of the pesticide in your body
• Coppertone, Neutrogena and Banana Boat: fewer than 5% of their products are recommended as safe and effective

source: Environmental Working Group "Shopper's Guide to Safer Sunscreens" & SkinDeep database, www.cosmeticsdatabase.com

toxics & regulation

"exposed: the toxic chemistry of everyday products and what's at stake for american power" by mark schapiro

read this book if: you're interested in not only how the policies differ, but also the chemistry and potential health effects from some commonly used categories of items (cosmetics, plastics, etc).

highlights:
- EU vs US policies in a number of environmental arenas
- basic discussion of green chemistry and potential health effects of commonly used products

so it took me a weekend to read through this book. i had been eying it since the "pre-order price guarantee" at amazon. it was an easy read and i have to say, i was surprised by how much i learned from it.

the book is a discussion of how the US and Europe (sometimes other countries are mentioned, but most of the book is focused on the stark difference between US and EU policy) perceive risk and how their perception/definition has been incorporated into their environmental policies. there's a basic stark difference how the two operate:
in the US: a product/chemical is considered safe until it is tested and proven unsafe
in the EU: a product/chemical is considered unsafe until it is thoroughly tested and proven safe

it's really only transposing two words, but it makes a world of difference.

every street's a landfill.

same crap, different situation...

so i was driving home from wegmans today when the car in front of me starts throwing their trash out the window. now in my 26 years, i've seen and cleaned up a lot of trash on the side of the road, but those roads were always out in the middle of nowhere, not in the middle of the city...nor have i ever actually caught someone in the act. what the hell is wrong with people? regardless of the "$500 fine for littering" signs, who thinks "hmm, i'm done with my ice cream and the cup is really weighing down my car...i need better gas mileage, i better throw it out the window, fast" seriously. what the hell is wrong with people? when i was full into my rant, i noticed their ontario, canada license plate. enough said.

white trash & garbage

so fireworks in henrietta were good tonight. it took us 1 hour to get out of the parking lot. why? there were at least a dozen "security guards" aka traffic directors, that were hanging out, yucking it up with each other, while the parking lot was chaos.

when we finally moved, it was really surprising how much trash was left on the hill where everyone was sitting and watching. granted, the trash cans were sparse, but it was ridiculous. this has to be the thought process for these people: you bring beer & drink it during the fireworks. clearly you brought the beer in some type of carrying vessel. but somehow, that vessel can't possibly carry the empty cans back...so what are you to do? of course! dump them in a big pile, along with your paper plates and other garbage, in the lawn...and you're the same white trash that complains that your taxes go up. who comes along and picks up your trash? some schmuck that works for the town. how does he get paid...your tax money. so maybe, just maybe, if you picked up after your sorry self, they wouldn't have to pay people to clean it up for you, and your taxes wouldn't go up so much each year. exaggerated, a bit, but you get the point. the problem is the disconnect. no one understands their actions have an impact and influence on others. it's really sad, actually.

you earn the right to complain only after you take action.