After winning the TED Prize in 2007, one of the largest grants possible, James Nachtwey will unveil the story he has been working on for a year. It will be shown at three different spots in New York City on large screens, and for you, Lau, it will be shown in Amsterdam.
My bet is that the story will be focused on environmental issues. He has mentioned in the past that he wants to focus his attention less on war and more on things like the environment. We’ll see. The world needs someone like this man to make us look in the mirror.

Just before leaving for a trip to France, Annah made a last-minute jaunt down to the chicken coupe in our backyard to say goodbye to our feathered friends. “Go see them before we go,” she said after she returned. I opened the cage to find the first egg lying in the corner of the coupe. This is a photograph of the first egg I’ve ever had a part in laying.
Now that we’re home, two of the three chickens are laying every day. It’s getting to the point where we can’t eat the amount of eggs they’re producing, so we’re handing them out as gifts to the neighbors who have had to deal with our “free-range” chickens the most. The first six eggs went to the neighbors whose driveway is decorated with droppings.
The chickens can be a bit of work, but it is strangely rewarding to know we no longer have to spend $3 on “organic free-range” a eggs every week, nor do we have to worry about running out. It’s also nice to know the eggs are coming from healthy chickens who eat the bugs in our yard (and our neighbors) along with a supplement of ground up corn.
I owe my rekindled nostalgia for poultry to my former editor Geoff Hansen who teamed up with writer Jay Rossier to produce the book Living with Chickens a whole book on raising chickens, and more recently pigs, sheep… I used his chicken book as a reference in building my parents coupe almost five years ago.

I don’t want my blog to be any sort of political rant, and this isn’t necessarily one, but I saw this on Rebellious Pixels and couldn’t help but post it. Let me know what you think.

All along I thought bottled water came from the springs bubbling up from beneath a mountain valley. My friend’s bottled water label informed me differently.
Allentown, Pennsylvania, is the third largest city in this battered industrial bastion of a state. It’s home to Nestle’s water empire and not to mention their Purina pet food processing plants. According to FIZBER.COM, Allentown ranks 41 in a scale from 1-100 (100 being the best) in water quality. The United States average is 55.
Now I understand this water is undergoing a series of filtration, but I find the marketing of this bottled water and the other bottled water this company represents (Poland Spring included) as offensive and downright tricky. As Michael Pollan would say, my eyes are itchy from the wool being pulled over them.
If you’re interested in a job for Nestle working as a “Sr. Water Processing Technician” just read the job decription below and click on this link. You have to make sure you can take on the responsibility to “manage the chemical inventories.” They’re also offering a job as a mechanic at their Purina plant on the meat processing machines.

“Job Title: Sr. Water Processing Technician
Function: Quality Assurance – NWNA
Location: Breinigsville, PA
Shift:

Description:
Manage and train operators under the direction of the QA Sanitation Resource on water processing, RO unit, UV lights, low ozone system, mineral and fluoride skids, chemical inventories, and micron filters.

DESCRIPTION (RESPONSIBILITIES/DUTIES)

Level 1
– Manages the entire RO units (filter changes, cleanings, daily readings, maint. etc.) incl. SOP’s
– Manage micro-filtration system (filter changes, pressure readings, flow rates)
– Calibrate and trouble shoot UV lights on all lines (UV bulb change outs)
– Manage the entire low ozone on all lines (rebuilding and calibration of ozone sensors)
– Manage the chemical inventories
– Set and maintain the CIP Schedule
– Manage NPL (mineral) skids (CIP’s, batching, training etc.)
– Ordering of plant supplies
– Manage 5S standards for water processing
– Needs to be able to self-manage time and cover sick and vacation days for sanitation technicians
– Have the ability to change work hours when called upon
– Any other tasks and documentation as required
– All employees receive training on Plant Quality initiatives when hired. This includes:
‘ HACCP training including CCP’s
‘ GMP’s and their importance in the manufacturing environment.
– All employees have the ability to place product on hold. If during the manufacturing process, an employee is concerned about the quality of the product they are manufacturing, they are to place the product on hold back to the last good check., contact Quality and a member of the Leadership team for resolution.”