Colt's Guide to Home Grown Life

Farmer's Market!

2007-04-30T19:47:53Z

Here in Troy, NY, we have a great farmer's market. In addition to local produce, meat, and craft items, it's a great community advocacy meeting place. They're already soliciting for local agro co-ops, and they're used to localism, activism, and good clean green thinking. I'm going to spread flyers there this Saturday (and get all my veggies and live grain bread), and hopefully we can start car-pools, community gardens, and other initiatives. Y'all might want to consider tapping these valuable resources in your own areas as well.

Also, many universities have extensions that do very similar work, or already have ties to community gardeners. These are the folks you're going to want to know in the coming weeks and months, if not years.

In my area:
http://www.cdcg.org/goOrganic.html
http://www.hort.vt.edu/human/CommunityGard.html

Nationally:
http://www.communitygarden.org/

Colt Comes Clean...

2007-04-30T19:28:09Z

So far, I haven't even talked about what my personal stakes really are in all this. I guess I haven't wanted to really admit it, but now that the day is actually here, I guess I'd better fess up and get on with it.

What worries me most is that I was recently diagnosed with testicular cancer. It was a stage 1 seminoma, the "good kind" as far as these things go, and I've already had the orchiectomy (removal of the tumor - I'm half the man I used to be ;) ). The problem I face now, in addition to getting down to Lousiana, is that my doctors have recommended I undergo a series of low-dose radiation treatments to sweep out any buggersome little cancer cells hiding in my lymph nodes. Once that is completed, I have close to a 100% chance of 5 year survival, cancer talk for being cured. That's IF I get the radiation...

I filled my gas tank today, preparing myself mentally for it being the last time. My treatments will start later this week or early next week, and I only hope and pray that there will be enough power to last all 17 days of treatment. I only have to drive about five miles each way, so I should have more than enough gas to get there and back. Once the treatment is over, I'll go Lance Armstrong and switch to tuning my body up with the bicycle, which kills two birds with one stone: taking care of my body, and weaning off of oil.

So my drama in the coming weeks will be two-fold: completing radiation, and getting used to biking, maybe even heading to Louisiana if I have to. I have cats and an apartment to worry about though, so that will be complicated. One thing at a time.

Which brings me to my final point of the day: Gas theft. Folks like me who have a vested medical interest in their oil might want to consider the following: Locking Gas Caps. My car has been broken into several times, and I'm willing to bet we'll see a lot of rogue siphoning in the coming weeks. I would also put security lights on your cars if possible, even if you have garages. Folks whose cars are accessible from the street should be especially careful in my opinion.

Anyone freaked yet?

Colt jumps the gun, but comes through...

2007-04-28T15:46:57Z

Sorry all for mistaking intent to translate as translation bona fide. That said, here's a taste of the real thing, courtesy of Snake Eyed in Sofia:

- Look, I've used every contact I could. You sent Andreas on a wildgoose chase... Very funny... Now I'm left holding the bag/ in a no- way situation/ in a pickle too. Just make your point clear. At a certain moment the company weakened/ yielded its position drastically. We are at your side. We claim that a wise move. But your support will make a big difference. Espesially if you are there to protect her.The door is closing, Thomas. Get inside or you'll get stuck on the outside... in the cold... for a very long time.

Snake Eyed Busts it Wide Open:

2007-04-28T00:22:39Z

Someone from a bulgarian chat room was SUPER COOL and helped translate. See above.

Revolutionary, energy efficient fuel transportation!

2007-04-27T13:57:46Z

Well, I don't know about you all, but I am getting more and more seriously interested in obtaining one of those ultra efficient vehicles that runs on biofuel. With all this talk of biodiesel, which I sincerely want and welcome, I came across these facts regarding: the bicycle.

"Comparing energy used per passenger-mile (calories), they found that a bicycle needed only 35 calories, whereas a car expended a whopping 1,860. Bus and trains fell about midway between, and walking still took 3 times as many calories as riding a bike the same distance. They also looked at a measurement called: ‘Persons per hour that one meter-width-equivalent right-of-way can carry’. In this case Rail scored tops with 4,000 persons, but ‘autos in mixed traffic’ still managed the worse rating with only 170 people. Bikes did pretty well, relative to cars, achieving 1,500 persons per hour. This is the sort of impact that Critical Mass rides around the planet try to demonstrate on a regular basis. The stats also inferred that cycling contributes to a nation’s health. For example, they found that only 1% of urban travel in the US was by bicycle, a country with 30.6% of adults considered obese. This contrasted with the Netherlands where 28% of urban travel was via a bike, and only 10% were obese."

So this really got me thinking. I've been trying to lose weight for a while, and instead of buying a diesel car (or moped) that I'll tinker with to run biodiesel, why not just bite the bullet and become a bike maven? This could solve my situation around getting down to Louisiana if I had to (or wanted to). I'm just so used to thinking about in terms of being a one day trip by plane, when it could be a three-week trip on bike. Not that I'm fit, but damn, I would be towards the end. The downside of course would have been that you fear for your life on a bike because of cars, but just imagine if the Eisenhower thruway system becomes four shimmering lanes of bicyclists, a sea of lycra... It's kind of fun just thinking about how goofy that would look, but a viable trip option.

Anyway, guess I'd better start stretching...

colt_becker @ 2007-04-26T19:21:00

2007-04-26T23:22:01Z

Well folks, I have sent out links and audio to native Bulgarians around the world, including an artist right here in my home town whom I located. Several professors have confirmed independently that the language is indeed Bulgarian, so at the very least that lead is iron-clad. That said, both a professor at Cornell and the local native speaker said they'd be happy to translate, but not until after the weeked. Grrr... Still, they're doing me the favor, so I'll take what I can get. Anyone else having luck with this?

Bulgarian!

2007-04-25T20:48:57Z

Mad props to rumpletoe - She's speaking Bulgarian. Autobots, roll out. More info as it comes in.

Slavic language?

2007-04-25T16:19:43Z

Help! I'm trying to figure this out with a few of my friends. The MP3 below is a woman speaking to Nico in some kind of slavic dialect in a cafe of sorts, possibly in China (my opinions entirely). Can you help me find out what language? And more importantly, what exactly is she saying? Thanks!

A Message for Nico

Lucy in the sky with squirrels...

2007-04-25T15:54:38Z

I feel sorry for Illianaspeedster's dog, Lucy.. Where have all the squirrels gone?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fihc0xUNpR0

Russo-Sino Geopolitics in a WWO....

2007-04-25T15:04:45Z

Check out this link: http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2004/01/db606ac9-9c83-440a-9fa1-501c322eec3a.html

Western Press Review: Rapprochement On The Subcontinent, Georgian Elections, And The World Without Oil

From above:

In a contribution to the "Financial Times," Michael Meacher, a former British environment minister, discusses the coming shortage of global oil resources. Today, world production stands at 75 million barrels per day (BPD). But to meet projected demand for 2015, the world would need to produce an additional 60 million BPD.

"This is frankly impossible," Meacher says. It would "require the equivalent of more than 10 new regions, each the size of the North Sea." Moreover, oil reserves are falling by an average of 4 percent to 6 percent a year.

Thus, an oil crisis can be expected "sometime between 2010 and 2015, perhaps earlier," says Meacher. And the "implications of this are mind-blowing." Transportation, farming industries, and national defense all depend on oil consumption. It is hard to fully grasp the effects "of a radically reduced oil supply on a modern economy or society."

One option in the "stark choice" the world now faces is to "pre-empt available remaining oil supplies, if necessary by military force." Its own rising demand has prompted the United States to pursue just such "an [integrated] oil-military strategy."

But most of the countries identified as new sources of supply "are riven by deep internal conflicts, strong anti-Americanism, or both." Iraq is "the first example of the cost -- both in cash and in soldiers' lives -- [of] resource wars in key oil-producing regions, a cost that even the U.S. may find unsustainable."

Meacher says, "The conclusion is clear: if we do not immediately plan to make the switch to renewable energy, [then] civilization faces the sharpest and perhaps most violent dislocation in recent history."

Oh crap...

2007-04-25T01:54:54Z

So, the biggest problem I can foresee right now is how in the hell I'm going to get home. I've lived in the capital district of new york all my life, but my whole family is down in Louisiana, where I'd rather be (ironically where the damn stuff gets refined into gasoline), My fiancee went down for vacation, so come april 30, she'll be down there and I'll be up here in yankeeland. She should be able to give me updates and all, but sh!t, how am I going to get down there to meet her?

This is my immediate crisis. I'm just not sure I can make it from Albany, NY to Albany, LA on a bicycle. Anyone know of ultralights or powered para-gliding gear that run on corn oil?

Good lord, why didn't I get involved in this sooner...

Getting ready...?

2007-04-24T23:29:34Z

Well, I think that I've been in denial too long.. So it's time for information!!! I'm doing a round-up at this point of several sources in my own eclectic way, and I will post summaries as I receive them from others. If you've already been approached by me for some help and perspective, thanks in advance. Definitely look here in the future as things advance for some homebrew tips from yours truly...