The Glass Window

11.7.09

5 Myths About Cleaning Your Home!

1. The faster a product works, the better it is.

Truth: The faster a product works, the more toxic it is!

2. Natural cleaners such as Baking Soda and Vinegar are not as effective.

Truth: Vinegar and Baking Soda are great products and often better cleaning solutions if you use these correctly. SEE BELOW FOR USES

3. You must use a strong disinfectant to kill germs.

Truth:Sunlight dish detergent(mixed with water)is a great surface cleaner that kills bad germs and keeps the good ones there to stay!

4. More laundry detergent means cleaner clothes.

Truth:A 1/4 cup or less of laundry detergent is all you need to keep your clothes clean.

REMEMBER! Fabric softeners are needed when clothing fibers are filled with excess detergent! DON'T WASTE YOUR MONEY!

5. You need a wide variety of different cleaning solutions for every household cleaning job.

Truth:
WHAT I WOULD RECOMMEND!

CLEANING SOLUTIONS

Baking Soda
Vinegar
Sunlight Soap/Dish Detergent
Borax
Lemon Juice
Orange/Lemon Oil/Hemp Oil - polishing furniture

BASIC TOOLS

Green Scrub Pads - Heavy Duty and Regular
Micro-Fiber Cloths - Vileda Brand
Old Toothbrushes - great for sink fixtures and drains!
Fleece Baby Blankets - for rags
Bucket/Mop

How To Use Baking Soda

Use as a paste mixed with water for:

Showers
Tile
Toilets
Bathtubs
Sinks
Dishes
Stove tops and grills
Ovens(vinegar, lemon juice, water and baking soda paste) Let sit overnight!
Lightly wipe (non-abrasive cloth) stains off of walls, cupboards and baseboards, as well as floors!
REMEMBER! Always rinse well and avoid using abrasive scrub brushes if possible!

How To Use Vinegar

Vinegar Mixed with 2-3 parts water for:

Windows
Wood surfaces
Dusting furniture
Floors
Bathroom fixtures
Washing walls
Cleaning coffee makers
Stainless steel sinks and appliances

Vinegar Mixed With Baking Soda And Water:

Ovens (plus lemon juice)
Stove tops
Bath tubs
Sinks

Vinegar Mixed with Water, Lemon Juice and/or Natural Oils Such As Lavender:

Dusting
Microwave Ovens

USES FOR BORAX:

Basic Cleaner
Laundry - Water Softener
Natural disinfectant
Bug Repellent!

WASHING YOUR HANDS?

Good old soap such as Olive Oil based soap!

10.7.09

Some thoughts on the new GM

I'm obviously not an economist, but historical precedent alone is enough to convince me the new GM will also fail. There's so many reasons. It's hard to even think this when even the BBC is being so positive about it. Where to start?

1) It is 61% owned by the US Government. Ignoring the fact that nationalised industry is supposed to be a "commie evil" that Americans loathe (and most Americans are against the bailouts anyway), the fact is, no government is equipped to guide a car company from massive losses to even minimal profit. That's not really what Government is for anyway; even it /was/ full of auto industry experts I'd actually be worried. If GM's own executives, for generations now, have failed to adapt to market changes, how can Obama's fancy taskforce, likewise made up of, err, white, upper middle class nobodies...? The drain of GM on the US economy may even bring down Obama in the end.

2) The market, despite rosey predictions, will never pick up to where it was. And we can assume that if it does reach previous levels, customers of Toyota, Nissan, Honda, VW, Hyundai, Kia and the now-kicking-ass Ford are hardly likely to flock to buy a GM (or a Chrysler - oh wait, they only sell trucks and minivans). Only the French and Italians support their domestic manufacturers with blind loyalty. Not even the British bought Leyland to the same level after it was nationalised to prevent collapse. The market is naturally shrinking to a more sustainable level. There are already too many companies building too many cars. There is no longer any room for GM or Chrysler. They remain the weakest players, no matter what anyone says.

3) Can we compare this to BL? I think so. BL, like GM, was a massive operation employing thousands of people across many inefficient and antiquated factories, selling too many brands and failing to adapt as fast as the next wave of successful companies. It was simply unthinkable to "let them fail" so they were propped up year after year with public money. Brands were shed, leaders replaced, new guys brought in, mergers attempted, parts sold off. All it does is slow the decline whilst costing everyone a lot more in the long run (and what about the damage to other companies, especially Ford, by keeping two subsidized players in the game?). The new GM will not magically sell enough cars now to be profitable. They didn't sell them last year, why would they now? They have fewer dealers and fewer incentives. They've also reduced their capacity to build new cars, so even if they do want to ramp up in response to the market, they can't. Also, doesn't it strike you as unfair that a company can screw it up for so long, file for Chapter 11, sell the best bits to the same guys, shed the worst bits with half the debt, and then try again, all the while being funded by the public of two countries?