Junk Mail from the Universe - Latest Comments

Re: Beware the bamboo greenwash

Natasha — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 03:29:35 -0000

I love bamboo, been using bamboo sheets, wraps, towels and flannels for my 4 month old baby since birth. So lush and soft - certainly know the difference when I haven't done the washing and use a cotton on... feels so harsh compared.

LOVE IT!!!

Re: Setting Up Python For Plone On Jaunty

Sam Stainsby — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 03:17:18 -0000

Ah yes, I didn't realise you were still trying to use the Ubuntu packages for Plone. I gave up on Ubuntu's Plone packages ages ago - despite the fact I usually adhere strictly to standard Ubuntu packages.

Re: Setting Up Python For Plone On Jaunty

Dan Martin — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 03:06:24 -0000

It isn't a dependency of the plone3-site package in Ubuntu Jaunty. The result of not having it was an inability to perform the libxml2 "setup.py install" step, and the resulting error messages were quite cryptic. I figured it out only by educated guessing.

Re: Setting Up Python For Plone On Jaunty

Sam Stainsby — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 06:15:14 -0000

The python2.4-dev step has been required for Plone on Ubuntu for a long time.

Re: Setting Up Python For Plone On Jaunty

Dan Martin — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 04:08:19 -0000

I had to do this one more time, but this time the system was a completely clean Jaunty install, and this process required one more step:

sudo apt-get install python2.4-dev

Re: Setting Up Python For Plone On Jaunty

Dan Martin — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 05:49:29 -0000

Thanks for the guide. I can't believe plone3-site is even in the Ubuntu repos in a completely unusable state. An addendum, to get your libxml2 instructions to work, I first had to:

sudo apt-get install libxml2-dev

Re: Beware the bamboo greenwash

Sam Stainsby — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 22:00:56 -0000

Hugh wrote: "You have made me wonder if you have base commercial and competitive motives here. Don’t fight dirty. Use facts"

I spent a fair amount of time tracking down the facts. Generally, I would expect if shops we using the rare and more expensive environmentally friendly tech, then they would be shouting it from the roof tops. As for competitive motives - I'm programmer and run an IT consultancy. My work has nothing to be with textiles of any kind (and nor do any of my clients).

"basically calling the quotes you cited a pack of lies"

Not lies but omissions of certain facts through marketing spin and/or ignorance.

Re: Beware the bamboo greenwash

Hugh MacDougall — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 09:32:35 -0000

Sam, I think it is wise to be wary of Chinese claims but let us look at what you are doing here. You are basically calling the quotes you cited a pack of lies. What evidence have you got? You have only made statements and have not mentioned that bamboo can be processed with enzymes instead of chemicals, though more expensively. It seems that the second and third quotes speak of using processes free of the chemicals you speak of. Sure, most bamboo clothing producers use the cheaper chemical technologies but not all. You have made me wonder if you have base commercial and competitive motives here. Don't fight dirty. Use facts and if you find out these products are legitimately free of harmful technologies sell them yourself.

Re: Scientists start to panic over climate change

Sam Stainsby — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 06:07:48 -0000

Damien wrote: "This year has been the 2nd quietest sun since 1900, only 1913 was quieter with 311 days, hence the reason for a cooler planet."

There a good summation by NASA here:
http://data.giss.nasa.gov/g...
From the intro:
"The meteorological year, December 2007 through November 2008, was the coolest year since 2000, according to the Goddard Institute for Space Studies analysis of surface air temperature measurements. It was the ninth warmest year in the period of instrumental measurements, which extends back to 1880. The nine warmest years all occur within the eleven-year period 1998-2008."

.. the rest makes good reading.

Re: Scientists start to panic over climate change

Damien Simmonds — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 05:33:59 -0000

There is no evidence what so ever that CO2 raises the planets temperature, its only a theory, that's what all the debate is about, there are so many more issues involved. I am sure you can provide the evidence that the signers are not scientists??? I'm sure they would be interested in your views. And who cares how long ago the petition started?
This year has been the 2nd quietest sun since 1900, only 1913 was quieter with 311 days, hence the reason for a cooler planet.
Even those who were payed to continue the rubbish are now coming out. http://mises.org/story/2571
The greatest thing about this issue will be the observations and not garbage and manipulated computer models.

Re: Scientists start to panic over climate change

Sam Stainsby — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 02:51:30 -0000

Damien, these are old arguments covered in details elsewhere. Here is the synopsis.

petitionproject: This petition was not done under controlled conditions. Most of the signers were not climate scientists, and many were not even scientists. In fact, some were fictional cartoon characters. It is also ancient history (more than a decade old I think?), and many viewpoints have changed in that time.

"why has the planet actually been cooling for the last 7 years while CO2 has been increasing"

It hasn't - see NASA GISS data. In general, you need to discern the ripples on the bathtub from the drop in level when you pull the plug out. Anyone that watches the stock market knows this. We are just coming out of a solar minimum, which makes the continued rise even more telling.

"CO2 is NOT a greenhouse gas as much as the 98% water vapour in the atmosphere the is heated by the sun."

Indeed, and if CO2 raises the temperature, there is more water vapour, yes?

I take it you didn't go and look at the climate science journals as I suggested? Most have free abstracts online.

Re: Scientists start to panic over climate change

Damien Simmonds — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 02:27:43 -0000

Well Sam, if scientists are of a consensus, then why are these 31000 scientists signing this petition. http://www.petitionproject....
And why has the planet actually been cooling for the last 7 years while CO2 has been increasing.
Perhaps this sort of scaremongering that you portray will eventually go the same way as the creatures that owned the world previously.
CO2 is NOT a greenhouse gas as much as the 98% water vapour in the atmosphere the is heated by the sun.

Re: Beware the bamboo greenwash

janet gamble — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 06:04:01 -0000

Hi all, Interesting stuff. I am currently looking to outfit my crew with a welfare friendly material uniform (well as much as I can), which can include those using least herb & pesticides. My other concern, in Australia, is to do with "shooting of kangaroos for non-comercial purposes" to grow the crops? I understand the cotton industry does, not sure about bamboo? So is all our bamboo cloth imported? Dwells another issue relating to the wildlife and humane practices in that country doesn't it? thoughts welcome, Cheers Janet

Re: HSPA Solid on Intrepid Beta

Sam Stainsby — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 00:10:26 -0000

I haven't tried on 8.04. I suggest upgrading to Intrepid first.

Re: HSPA Solid on Intrepid Beta

Alf — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 23:51:15 -0000

I just receiver the E169g from Exetel(optus 3G) like you ,I can't make it work with my Ubuntu 8.04. Could please help me how to do it? I am a new Ubuntu user. Please instruct step by step. Thank you in advance.
Alf

Re: Scientists start to panic over climate change

Sam Stainsby — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 08:04:32 -0000

Damien, I suggest you consult a few peer-reviewed climate change journals to see just how huge the consensus on human-caused climate change is. Have a look at the abstracts in "Climatic Change" for example:

http://www.springerlink.com...

You information on CO2 is distorted: it has already been shown that CO2 in some situations retards plant growth, and it is well known that concentrations of CO2 that are even a fraction of a percent can be harmful to animal life. All this and its a greenhouse gas too!

Re: Scientists start to panic over climate change

Damien Simmonds — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 07:55:17 -0000

What a load of garbage!! There is no scientific consensus and the planet is not warming at the moment and is actually cooling as CO2 increases. CO2 is not a pollutant and is in fact a vital gas that we require to survive. In fact it is a fertilizer that is used in horticulture to promote growth. I cannot wait until the scam is exposed by someone who is involved and blows the whistle. And its starting already.

Re: Beware the bamboo greenwash

justine — Tue, 27 May 2008 00:37:28 -0000

HI,

I agree with all above. I think the babmoo plant is great, the manufacturing is better than cotton and synthetics but not great but I'm happy to see diversification and not a monopoly of cotton and small steps towards making bamboo processing better.

There is hemp grownin Australia, in WA and Tasmania, just google. My probably with hemp is the textile isn't very sophisticated and so is in the realm of the greenies.

In general natural fabrics look and feel better than synthetics- which just need to tweak the processing and keep diversifying and being creatvie.

Re: Beware the bamboo greenwash

Sam Stainsby — Thu, 22 May 2008 05:07:30 -0000

Hi Kelly-Ann. I guess I'm happy as long as vendors are up-front about the bamboo process, and more importantly don't make obscuring or deceiving claims. This way, people can make a more informed choice.

I didn't realise we *still* don't have a local hemp industry. I thought we started trials years ago. Nothing on a big scale yet? Shame.

Re: Beware the bamboo greenwash

Kelly-Ann Wickham — Thu, 22 May 2008 04:58:59 -0000

Having just opened Brisbane's first eco-clothing shop front, I've done a fair bit of thinking about this and related issues. Jeremy's got it when he writes "I guess it's relative".

Many within the 'green fashion' movement acknowledge the problems with processing bamboo. However, when it's weighed up, bamboo can be 'greener' than other 'natural' fibres like cotton - so using it is a step (or, a number of steps) in the right direction.

Added to that, green clothing is such a new industry that it is not an overstatement to say things are changing on a daily basis. People involved with manufacturing bamboo and end-users such as clothing designers are pushing for more ecologically sound processes; these are coming about rather quickly. So, as a retailer, I've made a commitment to support designers using bamboo as it offers so much potential to be greener as a crop and as a fabric.

Here's other fabrics seen as green (most of which I stock) but here's problems to go with them too:

Hemp - imported from overseas as we don't have a hemp agricultural industry in Australia;

Wool- damages fragile Australian environment; sheep produce large numbers of greenhouse gases; can use nasty chemicals in processing too;

Organic cotton - uses less water and fewer pesticides but some argue Australia is simply too dry to grow cotton; much organic cotton on the market place is coming from overseas;

Organic linen - very limited access to Oz grown linen - it all goes overseas so most organic linen in Australia is brought in from OS;

Recycled fabrics & second-hand clothing - lots of green points here but limited when it comes to underwear and socks so we still need some new fabrics to be manufactured.

Re: Hardy Heron a little disappointing

Sam Stainsby — Wed, 21 May 2008 01:17:42 -0000

The Wacom problem has now been fixed by following this how-to:

http://ubuntuforums.org/sho...

Re: Beware the bamboo greenwash

Sam Stainsby — Thu, 15 May 2008 08:18:59 -0000

Hemp is much better as far as I can see - at least in terms of the chemicals used. I agree cotton is also not so good. Organic cotton is better, although there is still the water use in some areas.

Re: Beware the bamboo greenwash

Jeremy — Thu, 15 May 2008 07:44:38 -0000

Interesting, but I guess it's relative. Cotton uses huge amounts of pesticides and fertilizers, to the detriment of land and people involved, and it looks like bamboo is at least a little better. But yes, they're overstating their case a bit.

What about hemp, by the way, how does that compare?

Re: Firefox performance bad on Ubuntu Hardy Heron

Sam Stainsby — Fri, 09 May 2008 23:20:41 -0000

I should mention that as of a day or two ago, this was fixed in hardy-updates.

Re: Firefox performance bad on Ubuntu Hardy Heron

ben — Fri, 09 May 2008 12:03:24 -0000

hey thanks, great information. i just had this bug. another reason to install epiphany!