Waste II

Though I worked for a company that sold large-format inkjet printers, I really never considered the (somewhat taboo) subject of inkjet cartridge refills. Have you ever wondered why printers are so inexpensive? It’s because the money is not made on the printer itself; it’s all in the subsequent purchase of ink!

I have an oddball Lexmark printer left behind by the previous tenants; as I was unable to find a replacement cartridge in town, I wound up in a shop that refills old ones. Somehow, and I can’t really place why, this sort of thing always seemed rather shady to me. It was like trading in your pillows when you tire of them or filling up nearly empty toothpaste tubes (wouldn’t that be a cottage industry). This is partially because I once spent a great deal of time explaining to clients how they must replace the inks in their large format printers with cartridges from the manufacturer (and this does have some merit when one is printing display art for archival purposes as some inks and papers are specifically matched; off-brand ink could also flummox up the print heads). However, I’m printing drafts of text from a clunky old printer. I’m not going to need any sort of super quality or archival stability.

Consequently, I got the cartridge refilled, popped it back in, and it prints like new. This can be done several times at a significant cost savings (less than half the price of a new cartridge; though, even at that price, the people doing this are making a significant profit. These little canisters only hold one or two-hundred ml. of ink. If I were doing a whole lot of printing, I would probably buy the ink in bulk and inject it myself). Not to mention it’s one less thing in the trash (note that most office supply stores have drop-boxes for recycling ink and toner cartridges, some even offer a credit toward purchase).

The most sensible thing, though people have a hard time thinking through this, is to spend a little more for a well-built printer with large ink capacity at the outset (that is, if you are doing a significant amount of printing). Epson’s mid-priced pro level printers will last for years (they sold the 3000 for something like a decade and it just sat there sipping ink; there are, no doubt, thousands of them sitting around still sipping ink). The $100 ink-jet on special might look tempting at first; but you will eventually end up spending far more in consumables.

These violent connexions

On Monday I went with some friends to Lidice, north of Prague. After the NAZI regime annexed Czechoslovakia and set up a “protectorate” state, the Czechs assassinated the leader of the party, Reinhard Heydrich (who, in a public speech, had openly stated that the Bohemian and Moravian lands were to be eliminated and the entire area was to become Germany. Heydrich was one of the main architects of the Holocaust).

After his assassination, the NAZI’s picked a village (essentially at random) and completely destroyed it, killing all the men, taking the women to concentration camps, and gassing the children (except those children of the proper racial stock who were eligible for Germanisation).

I have been to Nürnberg; I have seen Hiroshima. When I go to these places, I’m overwhelmed that we, as a species, are capable of such insanity. There is nothing noble or grand about the propagation of death. The men from this village were lined up by the stone wall of a farmhouse and shot; I cannot fathom the killing of children.

On the site of the village, there is now a memorial and museum. In the field is a bronze sculpture of 82 life-size children; it commemorates those murdered from the village and the children massacred in the war.

I was greatly moved by this piece; it is simple and haunting. I was saddened by the thoughts of what had taken place here. However, I was given hope that, perhaps by memorials such as this, we are encouraged to prevent such things in the future.

Unfortunately, ironically, I learned later that, as I was standing at this memorial, as I was filled with the mix of sadness and hope, a man in Virginia began the worst shooting rampage in US history. Someday there will be a memorial to the people killed there. I could go on with a clot of cautionary and melancholy words; maybe I should. Today I will not. We, the senseless and the damned, never take note of them anyway.

​

Dark pretty things

Last week, I was searching for photographers who make large format negatives and contact prints. I came across the work of lauren e. simonutti. She has an absorbing gallery posted on flickr here (this one was my favourite; follow the rabbit hole to her others though).

Though I would, of course, love to see the original prints, I’m so thankful we live in an age where one can view online the work of someone producing images through a meticulous 100 year old photographic process.

(For more information on large format contact printing and the craft behind it, see here. I remember printing 50 year old 8×10 negatives from the university archive when I was in school; outstanding.)

I'm not a platypus

I have grave difficulty thinking about more that one thing at once. I can’t use age as an excuse (31); it’s just difficult to focus clearly on multiple things simultaneously. My girlfriend is a corporate secretary, as such, she is a central “hub” for her organisation. There are always three people handing her stacks of papers while the phone is ringing and the German businessman wanted cream but the Dutch man wanted his black. (And she is doing all this in Czech and English and Dutch and German!) Thus, she is bewildered when I can’t seem to comprehend what she is saying if I am typing or reading when she says it. I can focus intensely, but I have a shallow depth of field.

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Fast Food Nation II

I saw the film version of Fast Food Nation last night (with a Czech audience of about 10). It was patently disappointing; after reading the book, I felt informed and indignant. After watching the film, I felt utterly bored (actually, boredom set in about 30 minutes into the experience). The film just didn’t bring out the strong messages of the book. Structurally, it opened up multiple storylines without satisfying resolution; also, for a topic that was covered so comprehensively in the book, the film felt very confined and contained. It was as if we were trying to view Australia looking down from two meters off the ground.
I thought Linkletter’s Waking Life was excellent; however, A Scanner Darkly was lacklustre and this third film was just forgettable. All three films consisted of people standing or sitting around talking. Which, for Waking Life worked perfectly; in Fast Food Nation it felt like a parody of old PBS documentaries (it would have been a much better use of resources if he had made a documentary that had the liberty of traversing more time and space). The dialogue was forced out upon the audience in a very “we have something important to say so let’s just have everyone exposit as much as possible” fashion. Especially bothersome was the cliché student activist group!

This was an important topic that should be opened up to public debate; however, mediocre elitist drama is not the way to accomplish any such goal. I would imagine many audiences were drawn to the film from the trailer (which erroneously leads one to believe the film is a comedy), then forced to sit through a ponderous two hour exposition on what’s wrong with everything. This, I would imagine, has not endeared many people to the cause.

(I thought it ironic though that the film was set in Cody, Wyoming. This was were I first had food poisoning.)

Fast Food Nation

The first time I had food poisoning was from a hamburger in Cody, Wyoming. It was not pleasant; I ended up hospitalised. I do not know what circumstances contributed to that particular instance. Was it improper washing of a dish; mishandling of the ingredients during preparation; bad meat from the wholesaler; improper packing or slaughtering? From my plate (it was a plate; we ate in a “family-style” restaurant) to the beast that provided the raw material, there is a line of potential mishap. At one time, during the middle part of the 20th century, the instance of mishap was abated by government regulation and the fact that most of the meatpacking industry consisted of well paid, unionised, career meatpackers. This is no longer the case.

I have just finished reading Eric Schlosser’s Fast Food Nation: What the All-American Meal is Doing to the World. It is a thoroughly researched account of the history, marketing, employment practices, safety issues (both the food itself and the people working with it), economic ramifications (from the “farm” to the counter), and worldwide reach of the fast food industry.

I’ll not rattle off statistics here; however, it’s enough to say that a particular fast food restaurant’s logo is now more widely recognised worldwide than the Christian cross. Its mascot is more trusted by children than many other given authorities. It is the largest purchaser of beef and potatoes in the United States and one of the largest employers. With this power, it has vast influence over agricultural practice and government policy concerning wages and the environment.

The book is a bizarre and, at times, harrowing account of what goes on behind the facade of happiness promoted by the fast food giants (after reading once chapter in particular, I broke down into tears). This is a truly unpleasant book to read (certainly not for the weak stomached). It is not a tirade against any particular company or industry. If anything, it is somewhat sympathetic to men who were the original pioneers of this phenomenon; they were living out the opportunity of the American Dream. What is does do is trace the results of dreams when compounded with massive amounts of money and the unchecked openness of American society to allow corporate growth (and the self-regulation of these corporations).

I have had food poisoning several times since that first incident in Wyoming; this is to be expected, I’ve travelled all over the world to some fairly dodgy places. However, the dodgy places are not where I’ve been poisoned. Except for one instance, it’s all been in the States. After reading this book, I’ve a better understanding of why that may be.

New old way of shaving

​As I mentioned recently I’ve been looking into ways to economise and reduce waste. Consequently, I’ve purchased a double-edged Merkur Futur razor set (razor, brush, shaving bowl, etc.). I’ve used the setup now for a couple weeks and I must say that the shave quality far exceeds my prior experience with Gillette products. Previously, I would either have to settle for a somewhat close shave with skin irritation or, to avoid irritation, I would have to leave off shaving before all the little hairs were removed. The DE razor allows me to carefully (and one does have to be careful; though I’ve only nicked myself once) get an excellent shave with very little irritation. Part of this may be the use of a brush with the shaving soap; but I think the main thing is the use of a very sharp blade (I’m using the Merkur blades so far, but also have some Japanese blades that are supposed to be as sharp as precision medical instruments). The disposable blades I was using previously seemed to dull quickly and “catch” the skin, thus causing a cut.


Also, though I’m using the shave soap, when I was travelling last week, I used the King of Shaves shaving gel. Despite the rather silly macho name, it really is a great product (though it’s a bit odd at first to shave with slime rather than lather). The soap I am using is made by Classic Shaving (where I ordered the set). It’s their sandalwood scent; it has a vaguely “pottery” smell to is (which is not unpleasant…however, it reminds me of unfired ceramics). The soap end of things will, I’m sure, be a continuing experiment as there are many brands and types available.

If you go to the Classic Shaving website, you’ll see a whole array of razors and accessories. (By the way, I’ll put in a little plug for them here; they were quick to respond to some initial questions and just seem like generally nice people.) The Merkur Futur razor I picked is highly regarded as are also their other offerings (not that they have a lot of competition).

This may become a closet obsession (finding the right blades and soap); so you may have to bear with the occasional rambling concerning the state of my face.

Visit to Center for Human Ecology

I returned on Monday night from a several day stay in Glasgow; I was there to check out the Centre for Human Ecology at the University of Strathclyde as I’m looking into a Masters in Human Ecology (would be a two year commitment).
From the CHE website:

Human Ecology is about uncovering and understanding the connections between personal action, social systems and the ecology of the planet of which we are part. The challenge is to critically examine the way things are and to ask why and how they could be different; to find new and better ways of arranging our lives, our businesses and our societies; ways that reduce poverty and inequality, reduce the amount of resources we use, restore the environment and improve quality of life for all – now and for generations to come.

So, as you can see, that covers about everything! They are covering topics as diverse as agriculture to the workings of spirituality in societies. The classes meet in solid blocks over long weekends. From the brief time I was able to spend with the students and lecturers, I was greatly impressed with the topics they are discussing and the people involved. Class time is divided between weekend sessions at the university in Glasgow and longer (one week or so) sessions at various locations in the UK (field research trips in different cities, etc.).

I interviewed for a position in next year’s cohort; this is a very exciting opportunity for me (on a personal level, I’ve had a lingering interest in environmental studies for some time now; at the professional level, this is really a training centre for BuildaBridge. I heard arts-integrated language left and right through the weekend). On Friday evening, we had a group of former graduates speak (the centre has been in existence since the early 70’s) on what they are doing currently. There is much practical application of the skills acquired there in the social service sector (The UK seems especially welcoming of environmentally friendly design and planning).

So, the next big barrier (or, just the big barrier period) will be finding funding; the program itself is only about $14,000 USD for the two years; however, it’s significantly more expensive to live in Glasgow than where I am in the Czech Republic. Alternatively, I could live out in the countryside for a good bit less; however, that would not afford the community and networking connections available in the city. So we’ll have to see where that all balances out.