Mardi Gras the green way: Think recycle

by Jamie Rhein on

When buying up those Mardi Gras beads and trinkets to feel festive with the best of them, look for beads that have been recycled. Every year beads by the bushels (lots and lots and lots of beads) are tossed into the crowd who watch the parade. These cheap plastic baubles from China (see post about bead safety) may be great around a person’s neck but not in a landfill.

The Sierra Club and Arc of Greater New Orleans have a joint effort going to get people to buy recycled beads from them. Not only are you helping the environment, but you’re helping these two organizations that are working towards rebuilding New Orleans. The thing is, the beads are sold in 30 pound bags. That’s a lot of beads. They also have other recycled Mardi Gras goods.

To find out how to get these recycle beads and other Mardi Gras trinkets, head to the Sierra Club Delta Chapter Web site. The phone number and email are listed there. While you’re at the site, check out the other efforts being made to help New Orleans ecologically rebuild. The Greater Arc of New Orleans is located at 925 S. Labarre Road. This is an organization that serves adults with developmental disabilities. You can also turn in beads for recycling here. There are two other locations. Call 504/837-5105 for information.

To buy artsy and interesting products made from recycled beads, check out Unique Products. There is a wide selection of night lights like the one pictured. The money from these purchases also goes to aid New Orleans. You can buy on-line.

How bad are things in Haiti?

by Aaron Hotfelder on

Haiti is poor; we all know that. But just how bad are things?

Rising food prices have forced some residents of the poorest slums in Port-au-Prince to eat “cookies” made primarily of a dried yellow mud. Traditionally, pregnant women and children have eaten the cookies as an antacid and for calcium, but now some residents have, out of desperation, turned the mud cookies into regular meals.

The consumption of dirt and mud for sustenance actually has a name– geophagy— and it is becoming increasingly common in the slums of Haiti, the least developed country in the Americas.

The cookies are made by mixing edible mud with shortening and salt, then leaving them out in the sun to dry. Surprisingly, the mud is not “dirt” cheap– it costs about $5 for enough to make 100 cookies.

The AP has the scoop on how the cookies taste: “[I]t had a smooth consistency and sucked all the moisture out of the mouth as soon as it touched the tongue. For hours, an unpleasant taste of dirt lingered.”

It just doesn’t get much sadder than this.

More coverage here.

Find out how to help here.

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(Thanks goes out to Gadling blogger Kent Wien for snapping the shots above)

Still no leads in case of kidnapped US aid worker, driver

by Aaron Hotfelder on

There are still no clues in the case of an American aid worker kidnapped Saturday in Kandahar, Afghanistan. Cyd Mizell (seen at right), a 49-year-old English teacher at Kandahar University, had worked for an NGO, the Asian Rural Life Development Foundation. The woman’s driver, Abdul Hadi, was also taken.

This follows a string of abductions of foreigners and Afghans alike in the past few years, possibly spurred on by some governments’ policies of paying ransoms to secure their citizens’ release.

The southern region of Afghanistan has “become increasingly dangerous,” according to an ABC News story, “as the Taliban insurgency has spread throughout southern Afghanistan.”

The article continues: “Western civilians who operate there often travel with armed guards and extreme caution. The area is rife with Taliban militants and criminals linked to the country’s booming opium poppy trade.”

The Afghan authorities suspect the work is either of the Taliban or an armed criminal gang, though they still have not heard any demands from the kidnappers.

More coverage here and here.

Gate Lice: How not to board an airplane

by Grant Martin on

Boarding is always a fun time for me because I get to watch the chaos unfold as a hundred passengers swarm the gate at the same time.

The problem is exacerbated by a group of people that we frequent flyers call Gate Lice.

Gate Lice are a peculiar breed of creature that can blend into a crowd during normal business hours; you may not even know that you’re standing next to Gate Lice in the elevator or that one works across from you in the HR cubicle farm.

But about 45 minutes short of departure, they start to emerge from the darkness, like trolls skulking out from under their guarded bridges. Gate Lice come in a variety of species, but the most common is the blackberrius-trenchcoatius-northamericanus, characterized by an individual wearing a long trench coat and one or multiple blackberries blazing in either hand.

Knowing that boarding typically starts thirty minutes prior to departure, Gate Lice begin their migration towards the gate in earnest, silently staring at their Blackberries and edging towards the gate. Most show up early (see figure 1), leaving only the weakest gate lice to show up at the last minute.

The problem with Gate Lice is that they impede the boarding process. Usually, disabled passengers and those with small children are permitted to board first and if a dozen or so schmucks are standing around the gate it makes it difficult for these people to navigate towards the jetbridge. Furthermore, if the airline has any ordered boarding process, they’re going to be in the way for that, too.

So listen up fellas, try to make some space before the boarding process begins. I know you bought a first class ticket and you have some important action items to get to, but out of respect for your fellow passengers, please take the five minutes to look up, pay attention and play nice so that we can leave on time.

Hugo Chavez: “I chew coca every day”

by Aaron Hotfelder on

Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez said in a speech recently that he chews coca every day, and that his “hook up” is Bolivian president Evo Morales. Chavez reportedly said, “I chew coca every day in the morning… and look how I am,” before showing his bicep to his audience, the Venezuelan National Assembly.

Chewing coca leaves is common, and legal, for indigenous Peruvians and Bolivians, as a stimulant and for easing hunger pangs. In most of the world, coca is most commonly associated with the drug cocaine, which is made from coca. Evo Morales of Bolivia, however, once noted that “coca no es cocaína“-the coca leaf is not cocaine.

But Chavez said that Morales sends him coca paste, which is, according to the Miami Herald article, somewhere between coca leaves and cocaine, and is also highly addictive.

Some are arguing that Chavez’s coca paste admission means that he’s committed a crime:

”’If he is affirming that he consumes coca paste, he is admitting that he is consuming a substance that is illegal in Bolivia as well as Venezuela,’ said Hernán Maldonado, a Bolivian analyst living in Miami. ‘Plus, it’s an accusation that Evo Morales is a narco-trafficker’ for sending him the paste.”

Whole thing here.

More cocaine-related presidential shenanigans here.

More from Gadling on coca here.