Rainbow links
Jan. 14th, 2009 09:54 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
magidRed, white, and blue
It feels a bit like I imagine it did at the beginning of the Kennedy administration, with calls for community service. Pres-Elect Obama has already set up a clearinghouse sort of website for community service opportunities around the country, suggesting that that is an appropriate way to celebrate his Inauguration without going to DC.
Coincidentally, the same day I got email about work going on this Sunday in Cambridge to make two buildings in Inman Square (an elementary school and a public community house) more energy efficient; they're looking for volunteers. (Some other weekend, I'd be happy to help. This weekend, though, is so overbooked already...) If you're local and want to help out, this is the plan:
Volunteer by emailing Steve Wineman (swineman@gis.net).
Gather January 18th from 12:30 to 5 pm (date chosen to celebrate MLK Day and the inauguration). Work, enjoy a live band and snacks, plus lots of satisfaction (hopefully :-)
Work on two buildings (materials paid for by a grant from the Mass. Service Alliance): both the Cambridgeport public school and the Margaret Fuller House (a community house and a 200-year-old historic landmark). They are both in Area 4 near Inman Sq, and serve low-income diverse populations.
Work list:
There's the possibility that if the school manages to lower its energy bill a lot, the Facilities department will give them extra services instead, such as repainting the building, etc.
Green
A miscellany, including:
Brown
Instant chocolate cake for one using the microwave.
Blue
A map of the water systems of New York City, in 1865 and today.
Black and white and read all over
I have a bunch of old calendars with images I still like, so I went poking around and found the cycle of repeating calendars (though holidays move, but I knew that). I should see how much of the cycle I have already. (Rather like the circular metal calendar my paternal grandmother gave me years ago that covered something like 40 years, using these cycles. I remember using it when I was much younger, with satisfaction at how long it would be useful. More recently, I looked at it and realized that it's past all the years painted on the disk of years, which made me a bit sad. Somehow it made my grandmother even farther away.)
It feels a bit like I imagine it did at the beginning of the Kennedy administration, with calls for community service. Pres-Elect Obama has already set up a clearinghouse sort of website for community service opportunities around the country, suggesting that that is an appropriate way to celebrate his Inauguration without going to DC.
Coincidentally, the same day I got email about work going on this Sunday in Cambridge to make two buildings in Inman Square (an elementary school and a public community house) more energy efficient; they're looking for volunteers. (Some other weekend, I'd be happy to help. This weekend, though, is so overbooked already...) If you're local and want to help out, this is the plan:
Volunteer by emailing Steve Wineman (swineman@gis.net).
Gather January 18th from 12:30 to 5 pm (date chosen to celebrate MLK Day and the inauguration). Work, enjoy a live band and snacks, plus lots of satisfaction (hopefully :-)
Work on two buildings (materials paid for by a grant from the Mass. Service Alliance): both the Cambridgeport public school and the Margaret Fuller House (a community house and a 200-year-old historic landmark). They are both in Area 4 near Inman Sq, and serve low-income diverse populations.
Work list:
- Much caulking of window trim and the interior of storm windows.
- Much sprayfoaming of bandjoists and holes in walls, etc.
- Patching mortar in a fireplace
- Installing rigid insulation to block fireplace flue and unused door
- Some minor carpentry – installing window lock, hammering on trim, installing small wood shims
- Installing interior storm windows
- Drywall patching (small patches of less than 10”)
- Installing outlet and lightswitch gaskets and a cover for an AC
- Installing timers on computers, copiers, and other appliances to turn them off
- Using the System Preferences to shift the energy settings on 100 Mac computers to put them to sleep when unused
- Changing 4 to 20 PCs preferences to be more energy efficient
- Possibly installing occupancy sensors
- Installing a lot of door sweeps and weatherization strips on metal doors
- Putting in toilet tank banks to save water
- Installing faucet aerators to save water
- Doing larger drywall patches and drilling drywall into joists
There's the possibility that if the school manages to lower its energy bill a lot, the Facilities department will give them extra services instead, such as repainting the building, etc.
Green
A miscellany, including:
- Free plans for green buildings (Single-family dwellings, mostly, which seems a bit off, but hey, better than nothing.).
- A solar-powered dryer, at a midpoint between hanging clothes to dry and using an appliance. Looks like there's a portable one, too... I bet it would work well on my porch, three seasons of the year, at least...
- A little MA business making reusable sandwich bags
- What to do with all those empties: a million bottles of beer in the wall... makes a temple.
- Ride sharing to get fewer cars on the road.
Brown
Instant chocolate cake for one using the microwave.
Blue
A map of the water systems of New York City, in 1865 and today.
Black and white and read all over
I have a bunch of old calendars with images I still like, so I went poking around and found the cycle of repeating calendars (though holidays move, but I knew that). I should see how much of the cycle I have already. (Rather like the circular metal calendar my paternal grandmother gave me years ago that covered something like 40 years, using these cycles. I remember using it when I was much younger, with satisfaction at how long it would be useful. More recently, I looked at it and realized that it's past all the years painted on the disk of years, which made me a bit sad. Somehow it made my grandmother even farther away.)