Archive for September 2008

Pesticides killing bees banned in Italy

Back in June I wrote about Germany banning pesticides that are believed to be linked to the worrying mass deaths of bees that we have seen the last few years. Now Italy is going down the same road and realizing that pesticides can be very bad for the environment. The Italian government has decided that several pesticides that are used to “treat” seeds will be banned. These pesticides are believed to be a part of the reason why million of bees (colony collapse disorder) has died.
Slovenia has also banned the substances that is believed to kill the bees and France banned one of the substances already in 1999.
A German company called Bayer CropScience produce these chemicals and they are known for producing lots of bad stuff. Maybe they are trying to compete with Monsanto about who are the most evil agriculture company in the world?
I really don’t understand how a company can produce such things when they know that they are toxic to the nature. How can these guys live with themselves? It is all about the money, I guess..

Anyway, this is a great step in the right direction of more organic agriculture. You can’t fight nature, you have to work with it.

Various websites for jokes

Do you want to read jokes on the internet? There are tons of websites that provide jokes for us.
LotsOfJokes.com is one of them and there you can find jokes about different subjects.
Another site is 101FunJokes.com where you can find even more jokes and
if you are interested in jokes that are more on the dirty side you can check out JackAssJokes.com.
These sites should contain jokes that fit everyone.

Picture of hand knitted black and green beanie hat

Here is a picture of one of my older projects. It is a beanie hat that I knitted last year and I just took it out from storage because it is getting colder.
When I started knitting this beanie I didn’t have a plan, but when I was half way I found some green yarn that I thought would fit. I’m pretty satisfied with the green stripes and the end result, but maybe the stripes should have been a bit further down on the hat?

A big thanks to the kind girl that posed with the beanie hat.
hand knitted black and green beanie hat

I love buying books

I love reading books and I read at least one book per week. The main two reasons that I like reading books are that I can escape to another reality and that I learn much about the world (and life) from books.

A store selling uk books is Borders.co.uk. They have a huge selection of books, DVDs and CDs in their online store.
They stock some of my all time favorite books. One of them is Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell. It is a very chilling story about a futuristic world where the state controls everything. It was meant by George Orwell as a warning about how the socialistic / communist states in his time could transform themselves into controlling dictatorships. As he was partaking in the Spanish civil war he could see first hand how parts of the socialistic revolutionaries turned totalitarian when they had the opportunity.
Today the book can be seen on as a warning what will happen if we let our governments run wild with measures to control “terrorism”. It looks like we might be heading into a 1984 society.

Another great book that Borders.co.uk sells is Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi. It is a brilliant cartoon about her growing up in Tehran in Iran. It really give you an insight how life was (and is) in Iran. The cartoon was an eye opener for me and I recommend it for everyone.

This is an advertisement.

Picture of knitted sole for worn out socks

A friend of mine decided to do something with her very worn out socks. An easy way to fix socks with big holes is to just knit a sole and then sew if over the holes.
Of course the best way to avoid big holes is using yarn that is suitable for socks. These socks were made of pure organic wool so it is not a big surprise that they wore out fast since wool is not really durable in socks.
When I knit warm socks like these I usually use yarn that is designed for socks and I use an extra thread in the heel and the toe to make them even more durable.

Here is a picture of one of the socks with the knitted sole sewed on:
Hand knitted sole for worn out socks

Find used Cadillacs in Harrisburg, PA

There is something special about American cars. Since I was a kid I have watched American movies and they have given me somewhat of a “romantic” feeling about American car brands. A dream that is very popular here in Norway is to travel to USA, buy a used American car and travel across the continent to get the “real American feeling”.
If I were to do this I would of course buy a real American car. One brand I would consider purchasing used is Cadillac as they look very good and have that romantic touch to it.

If you live in the neighborhood of Harrisburg you can visit a site called Used Cadillacs Harrisburg PA. This website is run by Sutliff Cadillac and they stock many used Cadillac models. They have most models and if they do not they can probably get the exact model that you want.
All used vehicles are throughly checked before they are put up for sale. The company checks the vehicles for over 110 points so you can be assured that you are buying a quality car. You also get a warranty that lasts up to 6 years and road assistance that lasts up to 72 months if your car were to break down.

This sounds like a shop I would check out if I were in the neighborhood of Harrisburg, PA and wanted a Cadillac to cross USA.

This is an advertisement.

One of my friend just finished another crafting project. This time she has sewed a toiletry bag out of an old dress. She added a blue “rose” to make it look more unique.
I love this kind of recycling where you use old stuff to make new and usable things. Check out this post I wrote about RecycleCindy and the way she uses old plastic bags to craft stuff.

Here is a picture of the toiletry bag:
Had sewed toiletry bag

Compare the price on different products

I just bought myself a new laptop and I used a lot of time browsing different webstores to find the best price on laptops. An easy way to use less time browsing is by using websites where you can compare prices from many different webstores.

A place where you can do exactly that is Best Buys. At their site you can search with their engine that contains over 40 million products. From video games, to yarn, to laptops. You name the product and they probably have it.

I really like the concept of this site and I wish I had used it when I looked for a good and cheap laptop.