Small Things Count

Yes, you SHOULD use your dishwasher. It uses less water than hand-washing (save 20 gallons a day). But–and here’s where most people make a big mistake–DO NOT pre-rinse those dishes. Tests show that pre-rinsing is not necessary with modern machines and wastes 2.5 gallons of water per minute. Just scrape off the chunks and place the dishes in the washer. Of course, you’ll also do only full loads, use the lightest setting to do the job, and open the door to let the dishes air-dry rather than wasting electricity on the drying cycle.

[For more easy, money-saving, Eco-friendly tips, download a FREE copy of Green Riches: Help the Earth & Your Budget. Go to https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/7000, choose a format, and download to your computer or e-book device. For a description of the book go to My Free Books).

I didn’t offer a Thursday Thought quote yesterday because I was stunned and appalled by Putin (against popular will of the Russian people) started a war by invading Ukraine. So today I offer you one that seems timely:

 “We will not learn how to live together in peace by killing each other’s children.” –Jimmy Carter

I hear it so often: I wish I could do something to make things better in my city/state/country/world, but a single person alone can’t make any difference. If that were true, the safety and peace of our world right now would NOT be in the hands of a single man–Putin.

Before you pay those hefty prices for that tasty sushi, consider what was reported by Oceana, an international organization that focuses on ocean conservation.   They went to 21 states and did DNA testing on 1,215 samples of fish from stores, restaurants, and fish markets.  A third of the labels or menu descriptions did NOT match the fish that consumers bought.  Sushi bars were the worst culprits, with their seafood mislabeled 74% of the time.  Buyer beware!

Here are some not-so-earth-shaking questions that prove that human beings are perhaps not as logical as we’d like to think we are.  [Thanks–I think–to Linda Younts for sending me this.]

Why do we press harder on a remote control when we know the batteries are getting weak?

Why do banks charge a fee due to insufficient funds when they already know you’re broke?

Why is it that when someone tells you that there are one billion stars in the universe, you believe them but, if they tell you there is wet paint, you have to touch it to check?

Why do they use sterilized needles for lethal injections?

Why doesn’t Tarzan have a beard?

Why does Superman stop bullets with his chest, but ducks when you throw a revolver at him?

Why did Kamikaze pilots wear helmets?

Whose cruel idea was it to put an “s” in the word “lisp”?

If people evolved from apes, why are there still apes?

Why is it that, no matter what color bubble bath you use, the bubbles are always white?

Is there ever a day that mattresses are not on sale?

Why do people constantly return to the refrigerator with hopes that something new to eat will have materialized?

Why do people run over a string a dozen times with their vacuum cleaner, then reach down, pick it up, examine it, then put it down to give the vacuum one more chance?

Why is it that no plastic bag will open from the first end you try?

How do those dead bugs get into enclosed light fixtures?

Why is it that whenever you attempt to catch something that’s falling off the table you always manage to knock something else over?

Why, in winter, do we try to keep the house as warm as it was in summer when we complained about the heat?

How come you never hear father-in-law jokes?

The crime rate is at an intolerable level in so many areas. Why? Can it have something to do with our isolating ourselves from others, physically and emotionally? In today’s Thursday Thought quote, Steven Sosny suggests the importance of staying connected to others, be it family or those around us.

“Crime goes up when the sense of community goes down. People feel disconnected.”

I have an idea: If it’s true that we can’t agree on anything because we’re as different as night and day, shouldn’t we just turn on the light?

“They” tell us not to use the same password for everything. In fact, it’s best to have a different one for each and every gizmo, website, app, etc. Is that even humanly possible? Forget about memorizing all of them. Here’s what happens when you try.

Unless you haven’t been inside a store recently, you’re painfully aware of the rapidly rising prices. Who’s to blame? It’s a combination of things. In addition to one that’s being ignored (see below), there’s COVID and the interrupted supply chain, both of which raise the cost of parts, raw materials, and goods to manufacturers and shop owners. Plus the government putting policies in place to try to reign in inflation while not destroying our record-good economy. And other factors.

Here’s the price-increaser that we’re not fighting hard enough to stop–looting. People loot and vandalize stores to celebrate the Super Bowl win. They loot and vandalize shops to “protest” being asked to vaccinate themselves against COVID. They organize gangs of people to rush into a mall, crash display cases or rip clothing off of racks, then dash out with what they’ve stolen. The cost of all this looting and vandalizing falls on us, because the business owners’ expenses rise as a result, at the same time the owners are facing goods shortages and delays.

The police are doing what they can, but they can’t patrol each and every business. We must do somethging. First, we must speak out against it, not for it. That is, social media has postings where people show videos of the looting and make comments that indicate admiration or humor in the situation. Don’t repost; do post a comment against it. Next, we must reinforce within our family and sphere of influence that this is wrong on three levels: moral (the business people didn’t create the problem but are suffering for it), logical (it doesn’t solve or change anything), and practical (it hits our wallets very hard). If enough of us fight this absurdity, we can stem the rising tide of looting and vandalism.

Are you remodeling or building and need or have (even used) items left over?  Consider getting/giving them to Habitat for Humanity.  They’ve helped 39 million+ people get into housing that the people themselves have helped build.  See what you can donate at https://www.habitat.org/stories/should-i-donate-habitat-restore?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=monthly-news&utm_content=jan22. Go to https://www.habitat.org/where-we-build/united-states-america to learn more about the work the organization does and find a local ReStore to drop off (or buy!) items.