MetaFilter posts tagged with local

One powerful man's nothing is a hundred men's lives.

T.D. Strange — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 20:51:48 -0800

Lexington’s Mayor, Jim Newberry, bristled at critical questions about The Dame block, “Nothing of consequence ever happened on that block.” Richie Wireman begs to differ. Wireman spent 4 months documenting the final stages of the long and controversial demise of one city block full of established local businesses to make way for a dubiously financed high-rise development. While no longer a gaping eyesore, today, the project is not exactly as advertised.

Busy Bee Hardware, Est. 1918

Joe Beese — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 07:58:45 -0800

Busy Bee Hardware, Est. 1918 (via)

Why Your World Is About to Get a Whole Lot Smaller

kliuless — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 11:33:11 -0800

Post-(cheap)oil: will the end of globalisation be the beginning of re-localisation? BONUS -The Grand Energy Transition -Energy Needs, Energy Efficiency and the Cost of Saving Us -The Homely Costs of Energy Conservation -Life after Peak Oil -Peak Water -Desalination Technology Increases Naval Capabilities -Better cheap than good: renewable power for developing world

Consider the Source

Miko — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 12:49:25 -0800

"It's a different way of thinking about 'local' that's not quite as literal," says a consumer research consultant in an article running this week in alternative newspapers nationwide. The piece (by Stacy Mitchell of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance) describes the response of global and national companies to the reality that consumers are moving more of their dollars into purchasing at locally owned businesses, representing both a threat, and an opportunity for companies that can successfully rebrand themselves as 'local'. As with greenwashing before it, 'localwashing' seeks to lure customers based on perception of values alone, resulting in such phenomena as Frito-Lay highlighting farmers from 27 states as the "local" growers for its potato chips and Hellman's Mayonnaise piloting a campaign in Canada to present its product as 'local' because most of the ingredients are from North America.

How many books does it take to save a planet?

Toekneesan — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 11:05:36 -0800

Worried about the environmental impact of your book buying habits? The Regulator Bookshop in Durham, North Carolina suggests you consider how your books are being shipped.(SLYP)

An Inconvenient Hoof

Toekneesan — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 11:29:45 -0800

Opening this Friday in L.A, New York, and San Francisco, Food, Inc. is a documentary about the modern food industry that features Michael Pollan, Eric Schlosser, Joe Salatin of Polyface Farm, and Gary Hirshberg of Stonyfield Yogurt. Here's the trailer. And here's a New York Times article about the film. Also available, a participant's guide book. Currently scheduled for wider release on June 19th.

In Washington State, echoes of Proposition 8

0xFCAF — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 00:24:24 -0800

In September of 2004, a Superior Court in Washington state ruled the state's 1998 "Defense of Marriage" act unconstitutional, a ruling which would have allowed the state to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. In 2006, the state Supreme Court issued in an opinion in Andersen v. King County overturning the lower court's ruling, noting "that our decision [pdf] is not based on an independent determination of what we believe the law should be." The legislature, in response, created the state-registered domestic partnership in 2007, expanding many (but not all) marriage-related rights to same-sex couples. Last month, a new law expanded the partnership to cover the remaining rights, creating an "all-but-marriage" partnership.

This year, the Washington Values Alliance has filed Referendum 71, which would put this expansion to a ballot vote. The referendum will need 120,000 signatures to make it to the ballot. WhoSigned.org intends to make these signatures searchable. Predictably, this is creating some controversy. In the meantime, Referendum 71 doesn't seem to be finding much support from likely allies. If it does make it to the ballot, voters hoping to maintain rights for same-sex couples should vote yes to uphold the law as signed. Confused? The Secretary of State's office understands.
Bonus Washington state ballot item: Initiative 957 (which never made it to the ballot) would have required couples to procreate within three years of marriage or face annulment.

Eat Local

twoleftfeet — Tue, 12 May 2009 03:40:10 -0800

Food is just part of the regional culture that's getting neutralized. The national highway system, chain restaurants, and frozen food may have decimated regional delicacies such as Kentucky burgoo, South Carolina perloo, and Wisconsin hoppel poppel but... ... the internet could change that. Here are recipes for most of the dishes mentioned in the article: Virginia peanut soup, Arkansas cherry bounce, Indiana persimmon pudding, Kentucky burgoo, South Carolina perloo, Wisconsin hoppel poppel, Ohio sauerkraut balls, Vermont sour-milk doughnuts, Korean tacos, and Midwest sour-cream raisin pie. Bonus: recipes for opossum and squirrel.

Keepin' gay club nights safe for the Moral Majority.

markkraft — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 19:00:23 -0800

Homophobia is still alive and well in... San Francisco?! The DNA Lounge, the high-tech nightclub of former Mozilla/Netscape wunderkind Jamie Zawinski, has apparently run afoul of the local Alcohol Beverage Control board. In 2008, during a period of time when the DNA Lounge -- with SFPD and neighborhood approval -- successfully appealed an ABC decision blocking the club from offering all-ages live music, the ABC sent agents into the club during their GLBT nights, and are now trying to shut the club down for "lewdness", "discrimination", and "running a disorderly house injurious to the public welfare and morals".(NSFW!) The DNA is determined not to go quietly into this goodnight.

Ensuring the future of food

oxford blue — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 18:50:18 -0800

A well designed Japanese video about food security

Deportation's not the worst that could happen

jdfan — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 11:19:15 -0800

For nearly 20 years, Hessamddin Norani and wife Sedige Khazravi have run a small convenience store in North Buffalo, working 15 1/2-hour days, seven days a week. The couple face deportation if their request for asylum is rejected by an Immigration Court judge. Norani, a Jew, and Khazravi, a Muslim, face a potential death by stoning if sent back to their home country.

Read Globally, Buy Locally

Toekneesan — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 07:51:21 -0800

Tired of dealing with Amazon and the chains? New in town and wondering where all the best bookstores are? Traveling and looking for a bookstore on your visit? Try the new Publishers Marketplace Bookstore Maps mashup. There you can find all stores in an area, or just the kind you're looking for—e.g. just B&Ns in Pittsburgh or just indies and specialty stores in San Francisco. Notice a store is missing? Tell them so they can add their store to the map. Future plans include adding granularity to the specialty store category so that you can sort by type, such as Mystery, Science Fiction, Used, or Gay & Lesbian.

An ironic infestation of Japanese beetles

Toekneesan — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 19:53:09 -0800

Young Americans are leaving the city to return to the land, and the New York Times is on it, well the Style section is covering the trend. Is this just some fashion trend or are these the young Americans Emerson was looking for? Other young farmers Farm Bureau Seventh Generation FFA The Grange 4H and a gratuitous link to a 1978 Time feature about farming.

Everyblock: local news for everywhere

mathowie — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 14:07:46 -0800

Everyblock has launched. It's local news culled from (any and all available) services, including photos, news, restaurant inspections, classified ads, and civic announcements. Sounds pretty dry, but looking at my old neighborhood in San Francisco, there's a wealth of hyperlocal information that you can't get in one place. They're currently in three major metro areas of the US with many more to come -- their launch announcement has more. This site was spearheaded by Adrian Holovaty, a pioneer of the intersection between journalism and computer science, and winner of a $1million grant last year to build such sites.

Eating locally

Dave Faris — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 07:37:26 -0800

In the grand scheme of things, eating locally grown food may be more important than eating organically grown foods. To help you reach that goal, there's 100-Mile Diet, a blog that deals with the benefits and pitfalls of trying to eat only foods grown locally; The Eating Well Guide, which will help you find markets, restaurants, etc. that go along with the sustainable foodthink; and Local Harvest, which will help you find local and organically grown food sources. (PS. Now's probably the time to start signing up for your favorite CSA!)

urban jungle

huckhound — Thu, 06 Jul 2006 07:51:17 -0800

the new urban jungle . . . is a growing movement led by cities like San Francisco, New York, and Leiden to restore active and vibrant natural systems in urban areas. Far from the eden-like depictions of nature of yesteryear, i.e. the garden of earthly delights (nonetheless, still attracting some dynamic new christian converts), the movement has morphed into today's backyard and grassroots environmental movement which is more and more a picture of hybridity, compromise, mixed-use, and ultimately, taking nature out of the walled islands of zoos, aquaria, national parks and other thick-walled institutions and offering a different kind of everyday "unmediated" community experience with the new urban wilderness. VIDEO LINK

Make me glad for everything I have

Scoo — Mon, 15 May 2006 10:28:09 -0800

David Hart: L.A. Public Access TV Legend left me flabbergasted (video).

The Ghosts of N.O.

johnj — Fri, 23 Sep 2005 19:23:47 -0800

Ghosts: Soldiers spooked by New Orleans ghosts. Film at eleven.

No-Hit Wonders

jonp72 — Mon, 09 Dec 2002 18:52:43 -0800

No-Hit Wonders Ever hear of Thuh Sqwamps? How about Rhinoceros Snot? Perhaps you're familiar with King Solomon's Minds? Not ringing any bells? Of course not. These are all local garage bands from the 1960s that would have fallen into pure oblivion if it wasn't for the My First Band web site. Several of the stories are so bizarre that a very entertaining movie could be made out of any one of them.

rhyax — Mon, 12 Aug 2002 10:48:12 -0800

At kuro5hin a couple of weeks ago there was a post about what life was like in your area of the world. The idea led some enterprising person to create a website built for the same purposes using the original questions. Seems like a cool way to read about far away places from real people. It's not too full yet, but I'm sure that will change soon enough.

grumblebee — Tue, 15 Jan 2002 13:42:24 -0800

"Tooonight, we're going to have A TERRRRIBLE time! Boo ha ha ha ha," Sammy Terry used to say, and he was usually right, because he'd then show a movie like "The Monolith Monsters" or "The Tingler." Unless you grew up in Southern Indiana, you probably never heard of Sammy Terry. He was the local host of all B-horror movies, like Elvira only cornier (if that's possible!). His "cohost" was a rubber spider, dangling on a string. And his costume included dishwasher gloves (look closely at the picture). Of course, this being the Internet, someone has a created a Sammy Terry fan site: here. Did anyone else grow up with wacky local shows? I'm not even gonna talk about "Cowboy Bob" and "Janie."

silusGROK — Tue, 28 Aug 2001 09:01:57 -0800

Sundance is a little ski resort about twenty minutes up the road from me... it's quiet during the winter, and a great date in the summer ...and aside from it's eponymous (and off-site) film festival, who would have guessed that it was so famous? Do you have any local favorites in your neck of the woods... places that are surprising local hotspots (a la "a prophet in his own country")?

sudama — Fri, 23 Mar 2001 21:49:24 -0800

If you're lucky, it's not too late to sign up with a Community Supported Agriculture (?) program in your area. Imagine getting more fresh, often organic, locally-grown produce (of sorts familiar and un-) each week from late spring through fall than you probably eat in a month! Some friends did this in college and I was thrilled to find a farm near me this year. Is there one near you?

skallas — Tue, 08 Aug 2000 21:03:16 -0800

Cecil Adams on the pros and cons of municipal recycling programs.