rosalux’s Recent Comments

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  if you're in San Francisco

  I've already said Minneapolis has combined sewers and storms cause untreated outflows.

  Looks like San Francisco has the same issue. I know it's a common problem for other cities, including Chicago and New York. It can also be an issue for small towns that can't afford to upgrade their treatment systems.

  This article http://www.museumca.org/creeks/1690-OBSFSewers.html is really good, and has a diagram of the storm/sewage water system. It mentions the benefits of combined sewers because runoff water is also treated.

  But it also says:  "The current system is designed such that overflows to the bay or ocean now occur on average one to ten times per year, depending on the rainfall and the watershed."

  One to ten is a wide range, but it's something to think about.On A review of non-clay cat litters posted 1 year, 1 month ago 32 Responses

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  exactly

  It depends completely on where you are. Our sewers are old and sometimes overflow (something I didn't know until I looked into it to answer this exact same question.)

  But our trash is incinerated, so it doesn't go into a landfill at all. This is a good reason to keep plastic out of it as much as possible.

  This is like energy generation questions - every place is different, so each situation has different appropriate technologies.On A review of non-clay cat litters posted 1 year, 1 month ago 32 Responses

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  flushing

  pynnacle, treatment plants don't get all the water in most places. There are still combined sewer/storm drain outflows in lots of cities - Minneapolis has a few, and when we get a big storm they put untreated sewage directly into the Mississippi. Despite long-term efforts to eliminate these drains, there just hasn't been the money to change all of them.

  Plus, even in a perfect system, the more solids in the sewage, the more chemical & energy needed to treat it. Not to mention the extraneous water use and the chance in an older building of plugging up the plumbing - I've signed leases that specified no flushing cat litter, I assume because the landlord has experienced problems with it.

  All that said, Allie's Answers has directions for making cat litter out of old newspaper at home, and it's a fun kid project (I got the link from fakeplasticfish.com) http://alliesanswers.com/tip-of-the-day/tip-of-the-day-ma ...On A review of non-clay cat litters posted 1 year, 1 month ago 32 Responses

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  thunderstorms

  Waxghost...duck into an underpass? It really depends on your route - my route now is a rails-to-trails trail that goes under a lot of bridges. When I lived in Iowa, my commute took me past a lot of places like grocery stores and ATM lobbies where I could duck in for a minute.

  Truthfully, though, the chances of a big storm at the moment you are biking is not huge, even on a stormy day. I decided last fall to bike unless it was actually raining when I leave home, and I've only even gotten seriously wet four times in the 8 bike-commuting months since (that is, July-September minus the six months of snow when I don't ride) - three of the four were in one week last fall, and I could have avoided all three by working an extra hour and going home after it cleared.On How to commute by bike posted 1 year, 2 months ago 6 Responses

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  biking in a skirt

  I bike to work through our 6-7 nonsnowy months, in a skirt and flats half the time. I second the idea that anyone who's not willing to sacrifice their clothes to the bike gets a lot of bad attitude at bike shops - and that is ridiculous, especially from anyone who wants to reduce the number of cars on the road. For instance, I keep the flat plastic pedals because they don't snag my tights - and I have walked out on (commissioned) salespeople who spend more time telling me to change how I dress/commute than finding me a bike that fits my specs.

  The basic answer is to sit on the back of your skirt solidly, so it can't fly completely up, and have a rack on the back (which you have anyway for hauling things, right?) to protect your skirt from the back wheel. And ignore sexual comments - the spandex-wearing SuperBikers show a lot more of their bodies, they just don't look as girly so people don't bother them.

  I had a Breezer U-frame and had to give it up. The little clips that hold the brake cable to the frame gave out in less than one summer, letting the cable wrap around a pedal and try to kill me in traffic. I also learned that the 7-speed u-frame has lower gearing than the standard 7 speed, which was the source of my irritating inability to gain real speed on straightaways on it.

  Right now I have a Trek Cypress step through. I like it, but I was told it wasn't possible to get a chain guard for it, because a chain guard would interfere with the derailler. I just stick with skirts no longer than just below my knees, and that's been fine. A standard frame actually keeps a long skirt out of the chain better, but the stepthrough is easier on my hips & lower back.On Umbra on biking in a skirt posted 1 year, 5 months ago 22 Responses