AmpersandRanch’s Recent Comments

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  re: cutting down National Forest trees

  As katemartell pointed out, the thinning of trees in National Forest areas has actually been adopted as a practice to restore balance to forests that have become overgrown. Where I live, in Colorado, cutters are limited to specific areas in certain forests, and are instructed to look for trees that are growing in close quarters. There are also limitations as to the size of the tree, but I don't need to get into all of the specifics here. :)

  Permits are $10 and are available from http://www.fs.fed.us/r2On On organic Christmas trees posted 2 years ago 20 Responses

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  Birthday Presents

  The following is an excerpt from a July 2007 interview between the New York Times and Miss Manners (Judith Martin):

  "People seem to forget that you can't spend other people's money, even for a good cause," Ms. Martin said in a phone interview. "Do you really want the birthday child to grow up hating philanthropy because it's done him out of his birthday presents?"
  While she sympathizes with parents' desire to avoid materialistic feeding frenzies, Ms. Martin advised: "They'd be much better off getting together with the other parents and agreeing on very small presents." Besides, she noted, children learn valuable lessons giving gifts they would rather keep for themselves -- and saying thank you even for things they do not like.

  The entire no-gift article (with some excellent suggestions) can be found at http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/27/nyregion/27gifts.htmlOn Umbra on kids' birthday parties posted 2 years, 1 month ago 15 Responses

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  and speaking of Farmer John...

  ...which was both the Jury and Audience winner in the Documentary category at last year's Inspiration Film Festival...

  The Inspiration Film Festival will showcase the best in narrative features, full length documentaries, narrative shorts, animated works, children's films or experimental art films.

  This second annual weekend festival will take place at the Laemmle Monica 4 Plex Theater in Santa Monica, California on April 28th, 29th, and 30th, 2006.
  http://www.inspirationfilmfestival.com

  Those who attend the Inspiration Film Festival will also want to check out the LOHAS 10 Forum.
  http://www.lohas.comOn What's behind the boom in environmental film festivals? posted 3 years, 8 months ago 3 Responses

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  Drain Brain, alt version

  You're going to have a heck of a time getting a snake down the drain. Not only do many standard drain "crosses" prevent a snake from maneuvering well, if at all, but the pipe has a sharp bend almost immediately after the opening. A better, if slightly more involved, method is to remove the bathtub overflow cover. Remove the cover, stopper linkage, and stopper - it's all connected (often, the stopper has become a bucket for icky muck, which might be the root of your problem). Run the snake in from there instead of the drain, and you may save yourself some unecessary sweating and swearing. I wish I had known that about a year earlier. :)On Umbra on unclogging without chemicals posted 4 years, 6 months ago 9 Responses