Veggisode 56

Let’s Salsa

The mighty Vegetable Stalker still alive! That’s right. Stay tuned to this VBS station for all the late breaking details.

Hello, this is Junior Apple happy to report that VBS., Vegetable Broadcasting System, the official station of the Vegetable Stalker is back on the air and so is the Vegetable Stalker. In what came as a surprise to rogue vegetables everywhere, Veggie Head Stalker, AKA: the Vegetable Stalker, apparently rose up from the grave and assisted the Poet Laureate, Billy Jones, in an attack on a vegetable garden just south of the US-Mexico border. Here’s what Billy Jones had to say about the attack.

I made my way to Mexico,
across the Rio Grande.
The Federalies waited there
to slap cuffs on my hands,
but somehow I avoided them
and went on with my plan
to dance in fields of salsa
just because I can.

Was somewhere in Tobasco
near the village of Paraise,
I found a little salsa field
with everything I need:
Tomatoes, tomatillos,
chili peppers, onions too,
cilantro and some garlic.
Enough to make do.

Was near the field I waited
when there before my eyes
came Veggie out of nowhere,
a wild look in his eyes!
He came back with a vengeance,
a chain saw in his hands,
saying, “Look out world, I’m back!
I’m Veggie, I’m the man!”

It is indeed a pleasure to be the one reporter who managed to get the scoop about Veggie’s return, and I’m happy to say that I’m proud to be a Vegetable just like my hero, the Vegetable Stalker. Here at VBS., the Vegetable Broadcasting System, we’re proud to support the Vegetable Stalker. In upcoming news, North American Poet Laureate, Billy Jones, will air a live radio poetry show featuring himself.

For more on these stories stay tuned to this VBS. station or go to our website at VegetableStalker.com.

Big Brother In Cleveland

Or, A Roll In The Blog?

Renee and RecycleBill might not always agree as to exactly who Big Brother is, but as Renee points out in When green goes grey...or, Big Brother in your trash can, Big Brother is watching you and his intentions aren't always the right shade of green. On that we can agree.

Speaking of Big Brother, Cinda Baxter of the 350 Project is fighting her own war against Big Brother and it isn't very pretty. I've decided the 350 Project will become the next recipient of my meager donations.

Getting back to green, Bob, my friend and fellow motorcycle riding poet, has penned a bit of Currency of his own. Me, I'm also penning poems about one of my favorite activities, motorcycles. Hey, 62 miles per gallon is nothing to laugh about even though the poetry might be laughable. My poetry, not Bob's.

And finally, speaking of Big Brother, isn't it about time we had an alternative to Google that gives back some of the money we earn for them? Enough $5.oo investments could change the way Big Brother thinks and conducts business.

Now if it's okay with all of you I'm off on a late night ride on 2 wheels to places Big Brother can't yet see.

Let's Make The World Greener

Or, Green Dude Gives All?

As you may already know, 100% of my royalties from sales of books by Billy is destined to go to green nonprofits. (The Books by Billy store is powered by Amazon but because I live in North Carolina I'm no longer eligible for affiliate earnings.) My personal finances are in pretty good shape but sadly, the economy sucks and book sales are way down so I've decided to try and make some ways you can help contribute to green causes without spending your own money. At the bottom of this post I'll display links to those who have received our support thus far.

For starters: Each time someone downloads and installs the RecycleBills Tool Bar we earn $.58 cents. From now own 1/2 of that amount ($.29 cents) all toolbar revenue will go towards green causes. The toolbar has some really great features including the best Internet radio on the planet.There's a $250.oo minimum payout so it will probably take a while.

Also, by using Swagbucks search and pooling our earnings we can also help to fund green causes. I've decided to give 100% of my SwagBucks earnings to green causes. If you'd like to join SwagBucks and pitch in then e-mail me at RecycleBill@gmail.com with the word "SwagBucks" in the subject line. Or, you can join and donate your Swagbucks earnings to anything you like.

In the past I've managed to afford advertising through ClixSense-- a site that pays you to click on advertisements. From now own 100% of what I earn from ClixSense will go into the green pool. I think I've currently got about $5.oo in my account but if enough people join together we can make a difference. Let me know if you'd like to do the same.

I'll keep looking around for other ways we can make the world greener so that all of you can become green heroes.

Update 3: September 6, 2010 I've decided to step it up a notch and actually maintain a list of the green causes who have been recipients, stop waiting on others to suggest where I should send my money and help fund green businesses as well as green non profits. Should I ever actually be paid by Readbud and "AlertPay" then those earnings will also be paid to green causes.

Update 2: 27 February 2010 Is your website or blog Green Enough For RecycleBill? Are you up to the challenge?

Update 1: 2 August, 2009 Don't know why I didn't think of it before but here goes: RecycleBills.com Llc has affiliate relationships with many of the businesses listed in RecycleBill's Green Business Guide so from this day forward 100% of our affiliate revenues will go towards green causes. As I figure out more ways to contribute to green causes I'll add them to our list.

Green Causes We Donate to

Hyperlocavore community gardens, yard sharing, produce exchanges and other urban agriculture efforts.
SpiralAirfoil helix turbine

More to come...

It's not that I'm trying to brag about my donations. Personally, I'd just as soon donate silently without making a big to-do out of it but in this day and time, and the world jaded as it is, if I don't make my donations public then people assume my efforts are a scam. I only wish I could give more than I do.

Steel Aero Wheels For More MPG

Or, Reinventing The Wheel?

RecycleBill spent the day putting a transmission in my 91 Tercel and thinking of ways to improve the fuel mileage of my little economy car. I'm not sure I want to go as far as adding a boat tail to my Toyota but there are a number of aerodynamic upgrades I would like to make that have lead me to discover #108 on my list of green business start-up ideas.

When I was a little kid my Daddy's old Ford was lowered, had fender skirts and full moon wheelcovers not because Daddy was worried about burning too much .29 Cent per gallon high test but because the 1950s and 1960s ushered in a time when hotrodders were just beginning to learn about aerodynamics and their effects on speed. Turns out that today's ecomodders and hypermilers are using those same tricks not to go faster but to reduce their fuel consumption with many of them achieving MPG figures the world's automakers can't even reach using hybrids. At least, not yet.

The problem with most of today's aftermarket aerodynamic accessories is that while looking cool, most are designed, not to increase fuel mileage but to increase downforce for better handling at high speeds. You see, increased downforce usually equates to more aerodynamic drag and more drag lowers gas mileage.

One way to increase fuel mileage is to reduce drag at the wheels by going back to those full moon styled wheelcovers but that isn't without problems.

For starters, wheel covers often decide to leave the vehicle upon which they're installed. Another problem is wheel size. By changing my Toyota from a factory installed 13" wheel to a taller, say 16" wheel and a high pressure low profile tire, I could increase my mileage. Yes, I can probably shop around Greensboro's junkyards and find a 16" wheel that will fit but as fate would have it, as wheels get taller they also get wider and wider wheels require wider tires which reduce miles per gallon.

As I'm looking to go taller and narrower I've few options.

What I would like to do is to buy a set of off-the-shelf 16" smooth steel wheels that are capable of mounting low profile, high PSI Nitrogen filled tires that are narrower than standard width tires. Why smooth? No need for wheelcovers to reduce drag. Why steel? Because steel wheels are stronger and better able to handle higher tire pressures. Why higher pressures? Because higher pressures reduce the rolling resistance (drag) created by the tires. Why Nitrogen filled tires? Because years and years of testing in the trucking industry and professional racing have proven Nitrogen doesn't react with rubber, runs cooler, won't feed a tire fire and its bigger molecules don't leak out as quickly as air filled tires. And finally, why narrower tires? Because narrow tires reduce drag and lessen the chance of hydroplaning on wet roads.

If you should happen to want to start such a business as described above I'd be more than happy to try out prototypes on my Toyota.

Rare Earth Refined

Or, I Just Want To Celebrate?

RecycleBill usually thinks of the one and only successful white band to be signed with Motown Records when he thinks of Rare Earth as the band came into national prominence just as I was coming of age. But as Dave Cohen writes in, The Brewing Crisis in Rare Earth Elements, Rare Earth may be due a resurgence.

And I'm not talking about the band.

So with that I bring you my newest green business idea, #107 on my list of green start-up ideas-- the collection and refining of much needed rare earth elements from waste streams be they the ***billions of pounds of soil removed from new construction sites annually and/or the processing of as yet un-recovered rare earth elements from other waste streams. What? You don't believe the volume needed can be achieved? Then check out the note at the end of this post.

Now I'm not an expert on rare earth elements but I do know one thing: If the USA doesn't soon come up with a plan to produce more rare earth elements we will soon find ourselves in an economic situation that can best be described as an all too common, scorched earth economy and not the green economy we're hoping to build.

How one goes about separating rare earth elements from waste streams is beyond me but I've little doubt the technology, if not the machinery, is already in existence just waiting for someone to put to use while helping to save America's economy and green the earth. And I doubt it would be as complicated or as expensive as mining for rare earth elements on virgin grounds.

***Last year, from one job alone, I took in over 1 million pounds of fill. The job: the rebuilding and remodeling of this one little convenience store near downtown Greensboro, NC.