How much time do you spend cycling in the city?

...tize walking and cycling over driving. This involves slowing down traffic, making parking expensive and difficult, installing bike and bus only lanes and heavily penalizing anyone who texts and drives. Unfortunately, these are unpalatable and career ending policies for our council members and mayor. But we can’t give up hope. I was a small part of the push, ten years ago, to make things better for cycling in Los Angeles. I feel like contributing t...

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I Built a Harvey Ellis Dresser and it Almost Killed Me

...fitting drawers, finishing surfaces). Late 19th and 20th century furniture making involves not just one task all day but a mix of responsibilities as well as aesthetic decisions such as deciding which way to run the grain. The Ikea dresser is made on a post-Henry Ford assembly line where workers either monitor machines and/or do the same repetitive task all day. This makes for a much cheaper product but an unhappy worker. I made many mistakes buil...

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Mortise and Tenon Magazine

...ars ago I decided to declutter some of my eclectic interests (goodbye beer making) and focus on upping my carpentry and woodworking skills. Partly, this was out of necessity. Our house needed some work and those skilled with planes and hammers are busy building custom staircases for Barbara Streisand and don’t have the time for a 980 square foot bungalow in the HaFoSaFo district. I took a few classes, subscribed to some woodworking and home buildi...

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125 Green Burials with the Green Reaper Elizabeth Fournier

...wns and operates Cornerstone Funeral Services in Boring, Oregon (we’re not making that up). She serves on the Advisory Board for the Green Burial Council. You can find her online at the Green Reaper. During the podcast we discuss: What is a green burial? The legality of green burial in the United States What’s wrong with a modern funeral? National Home Funeral Alliance Cremation vs. green burial Water cremation (alkaline hydrolysis) Burial at sea...

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What to Do With Junk Mail and Shredded Paper

...s with junk mail: https://www.youtube.com/watch?reload=9&v=i-_MQgYK6c0 Shredded Paper Animal bedding. Packing material. Make your own paper. Fire bricks with shredded paper: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHgBCvQ_-Qg I’ve also been pondering the possibility of making lumber with junk mail and/or shredded paper bound together with resin. I’m not the only person who’s had this idea but, unfortunately, it involves plastics which I don’t like to work...

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