From geeks to seeds: Going Green? How to get the most out of your choices.*UPDATED*

Wednesdays post is a bit late because I had to fact check three things before I felt comfortable posting. Todays post is all about you choosing to make everyones life better, improve the environment, help to clean the shit out of our three rivers, and it all starts behind your bedroom door.

Recently F6 was contacted by Fiona King @ Nerds Do It Better (not promoting just citing) and was referred to their fact sheet written by Jessica Hupp that suggested ways to create a more green and eco/environ-healthier sex life. These are some of the twenty seven pointes followed by my commentary, as indicated via the (~) sign. Feel the excitement of going green!!!!

Setting The Mood

* Dim The florescent Lights ~ "What's a gay domicile without having a regulator dial"
* Take advantage of the cold; warm each other up or vice versa
~ cuddle by the fireplace or burn pit out back; soak and, or have sex in the jacuzzi/hot tub.
~ break out the kool aide/juice ice cubes and rub them all over, or just serve over vodka, or gin.
* Natural Aphrodisiacs, Wines, Fair Trade Chocolate ~ strawberries are my favorite addition.
* Wear green friendly lingerie ~ Save the ground, switch to organic, nutrient rich fabrics.

Sex Toys

* Use vegetables and fruits for sex toys
~ although just ensure safety from food allergies please wrap a condom around it before hand!
* Use silicone, metal, or glass sex toys.
~ not vinyl, use faux leather, spandex/lycra, rubber.
* Buy for Durability and Dispose of toys properly
~ Well made items will last longer. Repair it first.
* Use a safe lubricant with a condom!
~ Note gay men DO NOT want to use a condom
or lube with spermicide for anal sex.

For your family as a whole

* Take baths and showers together (see picture above)
* Use organic soy, beeswax, or palm oil candles at the dinner table
~ It saves that florescent bulb; it calms everyone down together; easier to scent.
* Buy Bamboo or Hemp bed sheets @ Target
~ They are renewable; offer a silky, slippery feel;
~ Sure to increase your ecological awareness!
* Put away your large plates ~ When eating at home use salad plates reduce portions.
* Increase intake of organic fruits and vegetables

Most men also need to know "pineapples makes the cream so sweet!, not of wheat."! I know what your thinking. You can understand the idea of high quality, organic, cotton underwear in traditional styles but you are still having a bit of trouble grasping your mind around the idea of designer under garments, essentials wear, and active-sports wear being made from alternative fabrics like hemp, bamboo, and eucalyptus. But yet, you are okay with polypropylene for your winter weather protection?

Taken directly from RIPS MySpace blog:

If someone told you they had a great line of underwear, made from Eucalyptus (and no, scratching & sniffing doesn't work), that those underwear were the Eco-Friendliest underwear on the market... plus naturally stays odor-free... plus feels like silk (we think of it as nature's luxury fabric)... plus helps to keep you cool in hot weather/warm in cool (perfect wearing all year around)... and simply looks great (while wearing)....would you not be just a little intrigued?

When we were looking at fabrics for RIPS Performance we looked at them all, felt them all, and just kept coming back to Tencel (which is made from the Eucalyptus) because it just felt like it would make perfect underwear and activewear. THEN came the fun part and that was finding out how very special it was. Amazing point here - you can make ten t-shirts from Eucalyptus using the same size piece of land that you can make one t-shirt from Cotton. Add to that the Eucalyptus doesn't need any pesticides and requires 100 times LESS water than cotton. Is that not the perfect fabric? So there you have it. Whether you are looking for Eco-Friendly or simply great underwear - check out RIPS Performance. Besides, if Koalas can't resist a good Eucalyptus, how can we?

Why hemp and organic cotton underwear though?
(from RAWGANIQUE)

"Because...it takes one-fourth of a pound of chemicals to produce 2 pairs of conventional cotton men's boxer shorts. Annually, 275 million pounds of pesticides are applied to the conventional cotton plant, which must be the most environmentally destructive crop ever. The pesticides and chemicals used in the growing and processing of conventional cotton can enter the human food chain via cotton seed oil used in processed foods.

Contamination of ground water is directly linked to pesticide and fertilizer use on conventional cotton crops. Nitrates found in these fertilizers are found to cause "blue baby syndrome" in infants. Conventional cotton underwear is also processed with chlorine bleach. Dioxin--the most toxic chemical known--is a carcinogen that is derived from chlorine bleach and is responsible for hormone disruption and a host of other ills."

Which leads me to refreshing more local issues, news, and events. My regular readers will remember when I bitched about the City wasting 500,000 Public Works dollars for matching funds for the bike trail system in order to earn "feel good" national press. During the last episode of Oprah's Big Give this season the City was spotlighted for "raising" a million plus dollars for a revamped bike trail system that is already privately funded! As I stated previously, The City, should have dedicated that money to actually cleaning up the rivers before having the citizens ride around them any further.

Most readers will remember F6's promotion and coverage of Save Maumee's Earth Day Project near Hosy Dam last month too. Save Maumee doesn't just do one work project a year; the work continues every day. The vision of a future where our children can go take a dip in the river and within the next twenty years we might just be able to have a public beach again is possible.

What is in our rivers that makes them so polluted?

E. Coli. and bacteria from combined sewer overflows (CSO's), geese, cattle and pig farms. There are 249 active NPDES permitted discharges (permitted legal discharges) and 44 CSO discharge points in the St. Joseph/Maumee watershed. Additionally there are illegal point source discharges such as tiles discharging septic tank effluent that exist in our watershed. According to Joe E. Johnson there has been 50 potential CSO discharges between July 2007-April 2008. Research shows the EPA will allow five per year.

Dissolved Oxygen (DO) problems present in the Maumee will reflect on the wildlife also! DO means simply, the content of oxygen in the water is so low that native wildlife cannot exist in it! PBC’s heavy metals from large corporations, and factories stemming all the way from the rust belt time of 1920’s -1950’s still loom in the Maumee today and the Maumee continues to be a dump site in 2008. Indiana also used to have a natural "water filtration" system because we had twenty five percent of our land mass covered with wetlands. With the removal of 85% of the wetlands within 4 generations, our natural "water filtration system" is devastating to our rivers!

How does planting trees and native grass seeds help river water quality?

Dissolved Oxygen problems can be alleviated by creating shade, thus increasing Oxygen in the water. All this will create the beautiful aesthetics of pristine waterways for Fort Wayne's future! The number one pollutant in our watershed is dirt (erosion/sedimentation). Plantings today provide a "rain-garden" type area so plants will drink up the rain water which produces enzymes, absorbs bacteria - and “eating” bacteria out of water rather than letting it just runoff into the river and helps reduce the pollutants in the water down stream all the way through Ohio to (one of the Great Lakes for those whom may not be aware) Lake Erie.

Grasses will help to settle out or suspended sediment in the water; the trees will help to hold down the soil that could be washed away because there is nothing to hold down the barren soil when the water comes rushing in when we have a rain event. By using natural Riparian seeds, projects like these will eventually will help with flooding too, eighty five percent of wetlands in Indiana no longer exist, these restoration practices will aide in replenishing wetland species and activity right here in Fort Wayne!

These practices of planting Cottonwood trees (which drinks up water like a cotton towel) also eliminates standing pools of stagnant water left over when the river water recedes - thus controlling West Nile! West Nile is spread by mosquitoes that hatch in standing, pollution ridden water.

What can you do to help clean up our rivers?

Don’t pour ANYTHING down the storm drains

Don't pour medication, grease, cigarette butts, condoms, tampons, or ANY garbage down the toilet or sink. It will end up in your drinking water! Only bodily waste matter, toilet paper, minimal amounts of cleanser please! BTW try not to flush if you only urinated, save water.

Eliminate standing water in your yards and uncontrolled run off of rain water from your house or control with strategic rain gardens.

Incorporating a compost pile and consistently recycle or reuse products reducing your footprint in the area.

Vote with your wallet! Change the market by changing your purchase habits. Here are three actions under the Libertarian ideal of free markets regulating best practices that need to be initiated by everyone:

Hold government officials to the fire for not cleaning up their mistakes. Write to city, county, state, and national elected officials, tell them you will not vote for them in November unless they do something to move forward with all of our concerns and dreams for a beautiful city.

Do the same for businesses. Tell businesses to change the way they package goods and provide services or else you will discontinue your patronage of their establishments and purchasing of products.

Support organizations that share your concerns. Joining in will help to bring forth successful restoration efforts in our watershed. Take Hoosier River Watch Training “a volunteer water quality monitoring program,” with the St. Joe River Watershed Initiative at the USDA offices. Sign up to become a Hoosier River Watch Volunteer!

The next class is on the 31st of May see F6's Google Calendar for more information. If you don't have any idea of where to begin your own campaign, start within your circle of friends and sign a petition. Have river clean up days where you get your family and friends to join the fun. Contact Save Maumee for some suggestions and a shit load of resource information they also have some awesome connections across the county. Abigail Frost, the founder of Save Maumee Grassroots Organization can be reached @ 260-417-2500 or savemaumee@yahoo.com.

There is more information to cover but I think that is enough of going green and cute bois for one post. I will post more environmental news and updates in two to three weeks.

[EDITOR'S UPDATE: Local Rain Garden Initiatives]

The strategic "green infrastructure" resolutions that were mandated for the City by part of a settlement with the Environmental Protection Agency regarding the over 50 potential CSO's incidents mentioned above (6th section) were reported, reviewed, and commented on the same day as this post @ Fort Wayne Politics by Mike Sylvester and Jeff Pruitt (two posts, last one w/video). I will yield to their coverage rather than making a separate post during this weekend as originally intended. Otherwise, it would seem like I am the only one beating the drum about the City wasting money on frivolous, or in this case, poorly planned projects....

*pardon me for a moment while I pull out my soap box*

I do however just have to pointe out the obvious: If the City had not spent the 500,000 dollars to match money donated to the privately funded bike trail system for a five minute spotlight we could have funded some of the Rain Garden Initiative and still had 160,000 dollars minimum left in the Public Works fund for other projects. To boot, the City tried to hire an out of State firm when we have plenty of organizations here able to do the job, as the three cited above in this original post. Thanks goes to City Council for standing up and saying, "NO!". Now it is time to let the citizens, City Departments, and Grassroots Non For Profit Organizations locally come together and put a real plan in place! The rain gardens are a good place to start but they are not the only answer.

*steps down off soap box*

Thank you for putting up with my ranting and bitching.

Gay Couple Renovate Local Theater; Plans For Theatre Troupe

Huntington, Indiana ~ While this information doesn't affect residents of Fort Wayne directly, it does provide an insight into private industry and entrepreneurial spirits' ability to affect change in the community. Now instead of City Councils or an over bellowing Administration's agenda driving the economic development and revitalization these two gentlemen have taken a very personal investment in their future and the future of their City. In this case, Joel Froomkin and Rich Najuch, whom are partners in life and love as well as career; earlier this summer purchased the once glorious Huntington Theater, and after securing their living quarters within the old storage supply areas, have begun the daunting task of renovating this 10,000 square feet venue .

Originally built in 1904 as a vaudeville stage, The Huntington, has stayed vacant for decades. Joel and Rich are renovating The Huntington to its new service as the home of the Jefferson Stage Company when it opens in late 2008 to early 2009 to the entertainment of the surrounding communities. As part of the process of renovation they applied for a 25,000 Do-It-Yourself contest with the Home Depot. Their contest entry video which is enclosed below used the tune of the William Tell Orchestra to set the mood as they tour the viewer through both their living quarters which are adjacent to the historic theater which as evidenced in the video is in need of serious repair.

F6 received the video feed information from a historic Fort Wayne home and life icon who formerly contributed via The News Sentinel. Nancy Nall-Derringer adds in jest with her post, "What did old buildings do before gay men were invented? Wait for the inevitable blow from the wrecking ball, I guess.", all while expressing her desire of victory for Joel and Rich and commending the contest entry video for the general public to become informed.

Now there has been as of yet no announcement towards who succeeded in receiving the grant from the Home Depot DIY contest. However that doesn't mean that we as a concerned public can't stand up and lend assistance and cash this holiday season or into next year. They have offered their own hearts in not just preventing this antique building from being demolished but investing their energy and opening up their home to the enrichment in the arts and other educational items for the citizens of the surrounding communities. That deserves support!

To find out more about The Huntington Theater, its owners Joel Froomkin and Rich Najuch, and future plans please watch the enclosed video and visit their blog and website and sign up for information updates.



In true F6 style, in the case that you couldn't understand the lyrics, they are posted below:

The Home Depoverture
Lyrics by Joel Froomkin, Vocals by Rich Najuch

You see, our entry, Though it might be thought unusual we double checked the contest rules In black and white It says it's all right It's a theatre true but we live in it too and says down below it's for "in or around your home".

The housing above had us quite depressed But you see we've constructed a nifty nest A new bathroom and kitchen and place to rest But now comes our major test.

The sketch of the lobby is now complete And the first step of all it to etch concrete
With a product from Behr and a stain on top For an art deco look that pops

The windows and doors will hardly close Some Armstrong products will fix those
These emergency signs are a deco treat It's sad they're obsolete

This staircase would get a major zing With new traffic master carpeting
We'll strip down the walls and skim coat too Think what Glidden paint could do

We need electric wire - it's made by Romex
And inefficient plumbing - replace it with pex

Honestly this border stinks But with granite tile and Kohler sinks
The toilets for ladies and gents could be A place people love to pee

The theatre walls are coming down We need new dry wall all around
And while we are at it we could use About a million sheet rock screws

The dressing rooms were gutted back in forty-four
With counter tops and mirrors we'll make them restored

Our marquee won't illuminate Some Phillips light bulbs would be great
The rusty sign isn't up to scratch We'll need to use Bondo patch

We have to install a new stage floor Out of plywood, joists, and two by fours
And so actors are bright when the time is ripe Hang lights from an iron pipe

It may be weird yes we confess, but it's our home sweet home nonetheless
We work and sleep and build our dreams all here at this address

Our chances to win we hope are high We're the ultimate case of DIY
The scale of our project can't be beat It's ten thousand square feet

Bit by bit we have learned what we need to know And we hope you will see our first big show When you do it yourself there's one place to go
Get advice from the Home Depot

I know. I am running behind the times! County Government?

The discussion is what the Commission On Local Government has to say about County Government.

"County governments should be led by a single county executive and a stronger county council, to whom professionally qualified administrators should report and be accountable. Create a clearer, more accountable structure with fewer elected officials. Better coordinate public safety services."

1. Establish a single-person elected county chief executive.

2. Establish a single, unified legislative body for county government. Expand legislative membership to ensure sufficient representation for included rural, suburban and urban populations.

I actually don't have as much of an issue with this as I thought I would. The only problem I could foresee would be making sure that everyone in the county felt represented on the county council and the only way to solve that would be to make the council districts respective to the townships (eg: one seat per township minimum) with certain modifications of a second seat for population counts in certain ones like Wayne, Washington, Aboite, St. Joesph, and Adams Townships (they encompass Fort Wayne and New Haven). In Allen County that would give us a twenty five seat council minimum. Then of course the City government would feel left out and God forbid if we ever fully went to a unigov system because every other city and town would be throwing a temper tantrum about not being heard at all or the fact that they were now part of Fort Wayne.

3. Transfer the responsibility for administering the duties of the county auditor, treasurer, recorder, assessor, surveyor, sheriff and coroner to the county executive. Transfer the varied duties of the clerk to the courts, to the county election board and to the county executive. Establish objective minimum professional qualifications and standards for certain county administrative functions.

Now this is where I am going to clash with this report whole heartedly and as boisterously as Saint Augustine's swine (St Jerome). Certain of these elected positions are not just office positions they are a political checks and balances that were established for a reason and should not be fucked with no matter what may sound efficient and responsible for the future.

How many people are aware that the Coroner is the only one who can arrest and remove from office the Sheriff or County Prosecutor? He is the Chief Medical Officer of the County; much like the charachters of Drs. Leonard Horatio McCoy, Beverly Crusher, Katherine Pulaski, Julian Subatoi Bashir, and The EMH Doctor (ST: OS, TNG(2), DS9, and VYGR,) of the STAR TREK sagas. You knew I would have to throw one reference in somewhere, right?

These positions are suppose to be the publics way of achieving a balance of power within the County by putting people of trust and honor in "lesser" positions in order to watch over the public interest as a whole and keep the main players in balance. Plus the last thing we need is to reverse that law that was already established to limit a Sheriff's term in office to twice consecutive terms. If the position is appointed someone could retain the office for decades. Second as it is the Sheriff's Constitutional Authority to confine and enforce and serve the courts the Sheriff is also the one who balances overzealous County Prosecutors and Legislatures by ordering the non enforcement of incorrect laws or burying of warrants until they can be mediated.

Certain positions like Surveyor, Auditor, Recorder, and Treasurer I can see being made Executive appointments; however the Assessor's position, should still be a retained elected Executive Office holder.

By appointing any of these main positions rather than allowing the voter to choose you are making government no longer either we, by, or for the people, and in essence allowing one person to bring in whom ever they choose that isn't executive it is dictatorial. If this part of the plan is ramrodded threw the General Assembly, like Governor Daniels likes to do, it should at least be modified so that the modified per Township County Council has to approve by Major Majority all appointments and require only a Minor Majority to impeach either the single County Commissioner and his appointments or all other elected and appointed positions within the County proper.

Leave the Clerk of Courts alone (*channeling Chris Crocker, not really*). Most County Election Boards are either overwhelmed or incompetent and sometimes both.

4. Retain a local government role for property tax assessment under a county assessor who is required to meet professional qualifications and appointed by the county executive.

The Assessor's position, should still be a retained elected Executive Office holder who is then responsible for all appointed (jointly with the County Commissioner) Township Assessors. The County Assessors are responsible for how much each of us pay in property taxes and there needs to be someone at the top of local government that the people choose. Again it goes back to a checks and balance both politically and for the people. The County Assessor should also be the Chair of the County Tax Levy Board in my honest opinion.

5. Create a county wide body to oversee the provision of all public safety services.

This one could get just a little tricky because that also encompasses fire safety which falls under Township jurisdiction not just city government. And I think I will make a separate post about this because the young men and women whom volunteer with fire, medical, and first responder services are very dear to my heart. I have not a problem with having a County Board on oversight, general administration, and purchasing power improvements; but services and the ability for an average citizen to still be able to serve, needs to be considered above any generalized or definitive improvement towards administration. The city departments need to bring back volunteers and first responders. The State needs to give permission for all VFF, EMT, and FR the permission to burn both red and blue or red and green as well as the use of sirens.

(*Insert silently homosexual innuendos*)

6. Consolidate emergency public safety dispatch by county or multi-county region. Require that new, local emergency communications systems be compatible with the Project Hoosier SAFE-T statewide 800 MHz communications system.

DUH!!! Should have been done already *edits slurs* IDIOTS!!!

7. Transfer the responsibility for all funding of the state’s trial court system to the state, including public defenders and probation.

The Libertarian Party of Allen County's Secretary, Douglas Horner, is a Fugitive Recovery Agent and a licensed Bail Bondsman in the State has some interesting thoughts on that so I will defer with conjunction to his comments if he ever writes them out. One of the biggest issues I have is that the crime equity is not balanced across the State and there should be a level list of fines and responsibilities for each particular offense of the penal code that applies across the board. Also judges and prosecutors need to stop with frivolous fines and judgments and quit screwing people up the ass without the benefit of lube or a reach around for a simple mistake, temporary moments of stupidity, or just bad luck. The courts have lost a personal touch and need to be smacked around a little, like having their slush fund taken out from underneath.

One major additional note that I have been bitching on about for years which recently has received some more press and scrutiny: Judges or anybody else in the "judicial system" and their immediate family should be banned from having ownership in any company (AADP?) that provides services to the citizens by court order. That is a major conflict of interest and a violation of unreasonable sentencing which also borders on cruel and unusual punishment (sometimes before even a conviction in the case of juveniles), all in the name of a profit margin, that is WRONG!!! *!!!blows!!!steam!!!out!!!of!!!ears!!!* It is time for this callous blister in Fort Wayne to be shut down once and for all and never used ever again.
Further information: (JG article) (Website)(MySpace)(You Tube)

8. Move the funding of child welfare from counties to the state.

Well since they are already planning on doing a privatization plan anyway and taking away the local offices and mount the corruption of services provided to the hilt, you might as well take over the financing as well. While you are at it, please remove the policy in the Code which allows for illegal immigrants to file for benefits without being documented and forwarded to the Bureau of Citizenship Immigration and Naturalization for review. They should be taken into custody and processed for becoming citizens, not given benefits without legal standing!

[Editor's Note:]

This is just the beginning of my ramblings. I need to take a moment and give Charles M. Langley a nod for providing the AADP commentary on his blog AD FONTES. There will be further updates to this post as I continue to read the report from the COLG and develop further ideas and thoughts on these very complex issues and recommendations. Stay Tuned.

But there is nothing to do in Fort Wayne... Wrong!

Every time I here someone complain about there not being anything to do in Fort Wayne it causes me to have a twitch in my brain that makes me want to throttle their head against the brick wall of the Old City Hall Museum on Barr Street. Now granted, most things in Fort Wayne seem to require exorbitant amounts of money in order to participate in. That is especially true, when one person is or a group of people are barely making it, while either going to college or just trying to scrape the bottom of the barrel on a day to day basis to survive.

Then I was thinking to myself most of my kids still have enough money to buy cigarettes every other day or so, and a good portion about a quarter of them have a pretty decent marijuana habit *shrugs shoulders and shakes head*; so if they if they have the money for that, then they should be able to redirect some of those funds for other endeavors and experiences within the community. Now of course that leaves the other three quarters of my kids and their peers who are just trying to get by moment by moment. If you are a student at I Paid For What, besides being treated to a thousand dollar Midget Elvis for March Madness a couple of years back, there are really some pretty fucking cool options available to you as a student in the way of discounts at local establishments and free tickets to certain events either on or off campus. I know one student was enrolled at the minimum full time credit hours for like twelve years just to receive those benefits, and to defer his tuition for a lifetime. But that doesn't begin to cover those, and there are a lot, who haven't had the opportunity or who failed there first attempt at college and haven't gone back yet for whatever reason.

So I propose a plan to City Council (hat tip towards Mitch Harper) and whoever else might be reading this blog entry. Let's start as a system based on volunteer work in the area, a Cultural Studies Credit:

Let's start by organizing both youth and young adults ranging in age from 16-21 and 21-26. The basic premises is that when they volunteer a certain amount of hours in the community, lets say ten (10) hours, one would receive a ten dollar credit (covers the cost of a movie, snack, and soda) which would either be distributed in a gift card or voucher system. They could then use them to see a movie at the Cinema Center, or gain entry into any of our beautiful museums, or go skinny dipping at Fox Island (*not legal but fun*). To beat the summer heat what if the volunteers could donate their time and then use some of their credits to get into the FW-AC Park Department's pools for free.

If they go over forty (40) hours in a month then should there also be an additional benefit awarded or their credited hours over forty should roll over to the next month. These are just some rough ideas that I am plotting out for a bigger action to make life better for my kids and kids all across this beautiful city we all love and call home.