I Heart Cali Airports

Everyone knows that California is a) broke and b) mad eco-friendly. Case in point - the airports.
I was in San Francisco International Airport this weekend. For the first time in my life, I experienced the intense rage of being unable to find a garbage can...while surrounded by recycling bins. Weirdest, most guilt-inducing thing ever. But awesome.
The bathrooms have those fancy, high-tech hand-dryers that work in 12 seconds or less. I actually love them.
You can get to and from the airport by the BART, aka the coolest public transportation system ever. And then you can hop on a shuttlebus fueled by biodiesel.

They're cutting down on greenhouse gas emissions in a number of ways. Examples include minimizing APU jet fuel use (for starting the plane engines) and switching to a more eco-friendly type of refrigerant gas for air conditioning.

And wow, I just spent 20 minutes reading their sustainability report. I officially have no life.

One more thing I love about SFO International...it's so stereotypically Cali. Seriously, you walk into JFK and immediately this 200-pound drill sergeant is like EVERYBODY TAKE YA SHOES OFF, KEYS IN THE BIN, NOTHIN IN YA POCKETS, GET IN LINE, DO IT NOW!!

By contrast, security is much more fun in San Francisco. I'm walking through the metal detector...a security guard with a 3-foot ponytail notices my clothes, and the following conversation ensues:

Ponytail guy: So like...you're wearing Notre Dame sweatpants...and a Duke shirt...woooooorrrrddddddd.

GG: [in my brain: is this some kind of interrogation? does he think i'm a terrorist?] Yeah, I don't even know anyone who goes to those schools actually.

Ponytail guy: Niiiiiiiiiiicccccccccceeeeeeeeeee.

Loves it.

More Options...

So the classic A-Frame greenhouse isn't the sexiest thing in the world.
It's quite awkward looking, actually.


Then again, there are some people who just adore triangles. Whatever it takes, man. Basically, you have a V-shaped tunnel covered with plastic. Not too complicated. These greenhouses tend to be tall and steep, which is useful in New England winters.

Pros:

• cheap and easy to build
• snow slides off
• heats up quickly - good surface area/air volume ratio
• catches lots of light and heat in the winter
• allows you to grow tall plants
• good circulation - easy to ventilate

Cons:

• funny looking if it's not perfect
• plastic covering is ugly
• not much floor space
• hot air rises away from plants

Options

It's time to start designing our greenhouse. Before we draw up a blueprint, we need to choose a basic shape. As goddess and guru, we want to do something a little bit off the beaten track. That said, we don't want our baby caving in or blowing away or anything. When we first looked into DIY greenhouses, we stumbled upon some guy's alarmingly celebratory blog post: "Everything's going great!! Lots of wind last night, and the greenhouse only moved nine inches!!"
Wait. Your greenhouse moved nine inches overnight, and it doesn't, oh, I dunno, bother you a little bit?
Yeah, no thanks.
So. We need to find a balance between creative and functional. That's why we want to at least base our design off of a tried-and-true greenhouse. Here's one option to start us off.

GOTHIC ARCH

Pros:

• cheap materials (plastic covering, tubing or lumber)
• easy snow removal (slides right off)
• doesn't waste a lot of space
• very sturdy
• easy to extend - just add more arches

Cons:

• shape is attractive, but plastic covering is UGLY
• expensive to heat - plastic doesn't insulate as well as glass
• curved wood is hard to cut

Are you a fan? I am. I naturally gravitate towards High Gothic cathedrals. Romanesque is too stumpy, Baroque has too many cherubs floating around in frilly outfits, Byzantine feels ostentatious.
Gothic cathedrals are solemn and dark. They echo. While other styles strike me as showy and materialistic, High Gothic seems like a real tribute to God. Even though I'm Jewish, I find that the soaring arches inspire awe and humility. I feel like I'm allowed to feel religious. Which is ironic, because 1) synogogues don't really do it for me and 2) the people who built these cathedrals believed Jews had horns and tails and would probably have loved to burn me at the stake. Cute. Oh and FLYING BUTTRESSES. Such a cool word. Buttress buttress buttress. Okay, I'm done. For your info, on the left is the Cathedral of Our Lady of Strasbourg, and on the right is the Cathedral of Our Lady of Chartres.

It's a Secret

Shhhh don't tell, but

we've found our new location!

It's off-campus, which means we can make the greenhouse bigger, better and utterly more badass than anything we could have envisioned at Hopkins. No bureaucracy, no maintenance vehicles, no alumni. Oh yes. Stay tuned.

Slight Edit

Hello goats. Today, we bring you a small but important change in the nature of our club. As of now, we are the

Greenhouse Off-campus Agriculture Team

more exciting updates to come.

get pumped.

xoxo gg

...and here is a picture of gondolas:

Laptop Surgery

I love poking around inside my laptop. It makes me feel super hardcore/techy/hackerish, which is great because none of those adjectives really apply.
Anyways, my poor Dell Inspiron M1530's had it rough lately. Overheating, randomly shutting down, making dull roaring noises, stuff like that. From a goddessandguru standpoint, that translates into needless power drainage -- an unspeakable crime, obvi. (Note: the word "obvi" is used here to show, in an amusing way, how totally unqualified the author is to be writing a post like this.)
One cause of overheating in a laptop is the accumulation of dust, especially on the fan. Even though I know next to nothing about computers, I attempted a dissection in the name of science/goddessandguru/the greater good. Here we go...

Before you begin, protect your laptop from damaging static electricity by grounding yourself. Basically, touch a piece of metal.

Now. I found a screwdriver and got to work.

Oh dang, laptop innards. Time to zoom in a bit.

As I suspected, the fan was kind of dirty and nasty. The pictures are awful, I know.

A q-tip wasn't the ideal tool for this procedure...I think you're supposed to use compressed air or something...but for the laygoddess, it sufficed.

Ah, much shinier. Pictures of dust:

My laptop has been much cooler and quieter since the operation, and it's been running smoothly. Which is surprising, seeing as I assumed it would either blow up in my face or start processing everything in Cyrillic after I had my way with it. Score.

Oh, HAY-ELL No

Okay, I didn't post on Friday the 13th, but I still have conclusive evidence that the end is near...

These rings were made by an Australian silversmith named Polly van der Glas. She works with sterling silver and human teeth.

SAY WHAT?

Teeth. TEETH. Okay, cool, I get it, reusing resources. Teeth. Organic material. Teeth. Recyling. TEETH.

Oh, and hair too, actually.

According to the website: "Human hair is either locally donated or sourced from India and China. Teeth are particularly difficult to come by, so any donations are gratefully accepted."

Hard to come by. Shiver. I think there are laws about these things in the US. The puppets are delightful, too:Well, props for creativity. Enjoy being green while I stare lovingly at my molars.

Dishwashing Drama

Believe it or not, a study from the University of Bonn shows that running a dishwasher actually uses less water than washing dishes by hand.

Here are some numbers. Data reflects an entire load of dishes, about 12 place settings. If kWh confuse you, read up here.

Obviously, dishwashers vary in their efficiency, as do people washing dishes. It's also interesting to note that Electrolux, a European dishwasher manufacturing company, sponsored/supported the study. Hmm.

Either way, Electrolux was also kind enough to provide energy-saving dishwasher tips. Here are a few:

• Wait until you have a full load to run the dishwasher
• Skip the pre-rinse. Your dishwasher will be just fine if you simply scrape the food off.
• Don't OD on detergent. It will degrade the water quality, posing a risk to animals and plants.
• Clean the filter. The dishwasher will run better.
• Buy a new one!!! Thanks, Electrolux. Great plan.

Wash away :]

10 Seconds to Green #4

This one's easy...just rip things out of your laptop.

External devices that you aren't using -- headphones, webcam, flashdrives, charged-up iPod
Anything spinning around inside -- CDs, DVDs (even if they're not actively in use)

They sap energy!! Even random USB cables that aren't connected to anything draw power from your battery. So yank 'em. Ten seconds.


And P.S. I love these...

Reuse a Worthless Object: Altoids Tin

The Altoids tin is one of the most ingenious containers out there. So versatile, so minty, so almost rectangular. 'Tis a thing of beauty.

People do ridiculously cool things with altoid tins. They make iPod chargers, watercolor kits, even -- wait for it -- portable BBQ grills:


I'm not that cool.
Still, I love me some Altoid tins, and I never throw them away. I have one full of bobby pins, another one as my ruler for math problems, and another one in which I hide my gum. Seriously, its great. People paw through my backpack looking for gum, but they never look in the mints box. Plus, I can stash the gum wrappers in the box, so I'm never tempted to toss them on the floor UNLIKESOMEPEOPLECOUGHCOUGHCOUGH. Joke!!
Oh, and I have one with altoids in it too.

Altoids survival kits are popular...people put in duct tape, thread, chicken bouillon cubes. You could adapt that to fit your needs. Throw in a mirror, dental floss, and eyeshadow. Or a flashdrive, a mini periodic table, and a pencil sharpener. Or squirrel jerky, fishing tackle, and chewing tobacco. Whatever.

Other cool things to do with/in your tin...

• bake a cookie (over flame)
• plant a garden (no melons)
• grow a bacteria colony in agar (judge me)
• use those Magnetic Poetry word kits that were popular in the '90s
• ventriloquy: do a squeaky voice while opening and shutting the tin so it looks like it's talking
• protect your iPod and other gadgets

Anyways, I'm sure you are all far more creative than I am. And far less paranoid about people stealing your gum. Have fun and save those tins.