How do I invest in the giant robots?

I think it is not difficult to see that in another twenty, or even ten years we the people are going to be overrun with the garbage we have created in the past century.  We will be at once buried in kipple and suffering a shortage of new materials.  The people best positioned to profit from this miserable situation will be those with the foresight to prepare for a future where recycling is an economic necessity. 

There will be companies that dig through the pits of landfills sorting decades of garbage for recyclable metals and other materials.  Recently, I saw a PBS special on Chinese workers that do nothing but sift through new garbage in China – hundreds of women sorting endless conveyor belts of trash.  It’s dirty, possibly toxic work and although it’s not happening on a worldwide scale yet, it will be.  As resources and materials become more scarce the profitability of such ventures will increase.  Consider the added effectiveness of using giant robots instead of women in latex gloves and it’s not hard to see how the garbage collector of the future will be one of the wealthy elite few enjoying the last open green spaces on Earth.

Unlike drilling and mining, which becomes more expensive and less profitable with increased depths, sorting through garbage will actually become more profitable as one excavates down through the decades back to when stuff was actually made to last (as any grandpa will tell you).  Of course, you have to get through the 1980s layer of Cabbage Patch Kids, but after that it’s nothing but gold in the form of vintage twenty-pound toasters and waffle irons.

So where do I sign up?  Who needs my investment dollars?  Who has the vision, dedication and entrepreneurial spirit to tackle the nation’s garbage pits AND the engineering know-how to design the giant robots?  I have $250 and I’m ready to make it happen.

Aim High Lil’ Pretty Woman

From the Minneapolis-St. Paul Star-Tribune

Beauty school birthday parties on a budget

When preteen girls as young as 5 get their first manicure, pedicure or updo at birthday parties held in Twin Cities’ beauty schools, it’s all about making them feel special and beautiful. “It’s a girly thing,” said Becky Carver of Nail Tech and Beauty School in Oakdale. Prices range from $8 to $20 per kid. Painting flowers and hearts on their nails is popular, although at Nail Tech they can also request up to three different polish colors, including Pompeii Purple, Sonoran Sunset and “I’m not really a waitress” red. Here’s a list of schools hosting the fun. Check Variety on Sept. 15 for a list of beauty school bargains for adults.

I guess you’re never too young to slut it up.

 

 

Product Overload – Too Many Shampoos

The category is Hair Cleaning. 

The Runners-Up:  The wonderful smelling Aveda Rosemary Mint Shampoo:  Hazard 5, 60% data gap (which is pretty good from what I’ve seen so far).  27% of shampoos have less concerns.  Some of the ingredient concerns are Methylparaben (4), Phenoxyethonal, and the ubiquitous Fragrance (8).  The Aveda product isn’t as bad as many, but it doesn’t meet my criteria of rating 0, 1 or 2.

The Skin Deep Database lists so many products – 1,602 shampoos and 1,498 conditioners – that I felt overwhelmed trying to narrow the choices.   I didn’t want to make a special trip downtown for shampoo, but I was going on Day 6.  So I headed to Target.  I only wash my hair every 2 to 3 days but 6 is pushing it.  Of course, yet again I neglected to remember to print out a list of ideal from the database so I wandered around in the aisles and aisles of products coveting the sweet smelling lotiony goodness.  I ended up in the “natural” section and based my decision on brand loyalty, figuring that Kiss My Face products have rated fine up until now so they will probably be fine for this too.

The Finalist:  Kiss My Face Whenever Shampoo (and conditioner)  When I looked these products later they turned out to have a hazard rating of 3 with a 79% data gap.  Only 11% of shampoos have less concerns, but there are two ingredient concerns.  I’m not too worried about the Citric Acid (4) but the Cocamidopropyl Betaine (5)  is more bothersome.  You can read more about this lathering additive here.  The annoying thing is that neither the shampoo or conditioner lather at all as far as I can tell, which would be fine except the Cocamidoblahblahtaine is the worst ingredient.  So why have it?  I like these products, but I’ll look for an even safer ones when I’m done with these bottles.

The winners, sort of:

$7.99 per bottle

So I’ve picked two products – shampoo and conditioner – for one category.   To keep within my one product per category limit that means I have to pick zero for another category.  That’s an easy one – bath balls.  I don’t even know why I have bath balls (gifts again?)  I rarely take baths and when I do I’d just as soon sprinkle in a little baking soda.  I pick ZERO bath balls.