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POPSHappy Earth Day Nader/Gonzalez!
There's no denying the Laws of Nature - the only way to get the harvest you want is to plant the right seeds. It's springtime in my hometown of Akron, Ohio. The robins, finches, bluejays and cardinals are busy building nests. The buds are opening so quickly on the dogwood tree outside my window that it is almost detectable to the naked eye. The redheaded woodpecker high atop the tree laughs his Woody laugh and I spot him quickly. The tiny fresh blades of grass gingerly poke their heads up through the dirt like the delicate babies that they are, preparing for their future of being wriggle material for children's toes. Spring has sprung! We have had a long, snowy winter, but now it is time for me to get to work. I'm a web developer/mom by day, and amateur gardener by night. Gardening isn't easy for me, and I've spent quite a few years watching the masters before I gave it a try. When I was a child, my grandparents grew enough good fresh food to feed their family as well as the exte
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POPSSimple Low-Tech Home Wins Prize For Sustainability
Woodruff's house uses just 25% of the energy of a conventional house of the same size. His winter power costs are a $30 electricity bill each month and a cord of wood. In the summer, power is needed only for the hot water heater and appliances. Yet the little 1,100-sq.-ft. house is as straightforward as you can get. No high-tech gizmos. No elaborate contortions. The house relies on simple architectural principles -- windows oriented for sunlight, cross breezes for ventilation, overhangs for shade -- basics that were much lauded in the 1940s and '50s, but less emphasized since. They included large doors that can be opened for cross-breezes. They designed the heating so energy is used and reused within rooms. The living/ dining/kitchen area is one big room heated by a wood stove on rainy days, and the sun on sunny days. "The public rooms face east, the logic being you want those to heat up with the sun first in the winter and in the summer, you want to avoid the hot western sun.
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POPSCenturies old code survives in remote Albanian village The code covers everything from inheritances and the rights of the church to the treatment of livestock. In Theth, nobody will sell land to an outsider, or even to another villager. Brides must come from outside the valley, a tradition that follows along the lines of the Kanun's rule that marriage within the same clan is forbidden. "The Kanun is the law. Just like the state law," explains Gjovalin Lokthi, 39, a gruff "kryeplak," or elected chief of the village.
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POPSStudentCity's New Tripvite Invite all your friends and then some on spring break with the new Tripvite. It just came out and it is an awesome tool for building a college spring break trip and making sure all your friends know about it.