Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Let the trolls come, and then ignore them. that’s the worst thing you can do to a troll.

Make the republican party small enough to drown in a bathtub.

We can show the world that autocracy can be defeated.

Compromise? There is no middle ground between a firefighter and an arsonist.

An almost top 10,000 blog!

I’d like to think you all would remain faithful to me if i ever tried to have some of you killed.

The Giant Orange Man Baby is having a bad day.

So very ready.

“Perhaps I should have considered other options.” (head-desk)

Reality always lies in wait for … Democrats.

Republicans in disarray!

It may be funny to you motherfucker, but it’s not funny to me.

I am pretty sure these ‘journalists’ were not always such a bootlicking sycophants.

Just because you believe it, that does not make it true.

Stop using mental illness to avoid talking about armed white supremacy.

Thanks to your bullshit, we are now under siege.

Sitting here in limbo waiting for the dice to roll

So it was an October Surprise A Day, like an Advent calendar but for crime.

The republican caucus is covering themselves with something, and it is not glory.

Hey Washington Post, “Democracy Dies in Darkness” was supposed to be a warning, not a mission statement.

… gradually, and then suddenly.

Hey hey, RFK, how many kids did you kill today?

It’s a good piece. click on over. but then come back!!

A snarling mass of vitriolic jackals

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Because of wow. / Friday Morning Open Thread: SHINE

Friday Morning Open Thread: SHINE

by | 177 Comments

This post is in: , , ,


Nia Dennis, on her 21st birthday.

Black neighborhoods in key swing states hold enormous power to reshape politics in November and beyond. But in order to maximize this potential, progressives need to imagine and invest on an unprecedented scale…

What is a “new black voter”? In the 2016 presidential election, an estimated 3.3 million black people in six key swing states were unregistered, or registered but had never voted, or didn’t vote in that year, despite previously doing so. In those six states (Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Florida, North Carolina and Georgia) the number of eligible but nonvoting black people was at least 2.8 times Hillary Clinton’s margin of loss. Five of these states also had Senate elections; Democrats lost all five.

In Pennsylvania, for example, Mrs. Clinton lost by about 44,000 votes, while Katie McGinty, the Democratic Senate candidate, lost by about 87,000 votes. But an estimated 350,000 eligible black people didn’t vote statewide. Combine this with the fact that half of Pennsylvania’s black population lives in Philadelphia, and it becomes clear where there is concentrated, untapped political power. This type of geographic concentration is not unique. Just 14 cities account for over half of the black population in these six crucial states. (There are also large concentrations of black nonvoters in Jacksonville, Tampa and Orlando, Fla.; and in Fayetteville and Winston-Salem, N.C.)

And within these 14 cities, majority-black census blocks (areas usually much smaller than election precincts) account for a vastly disproportionate percentage of the black population. For example, majority-black census blocks account for 80 percent of Milwaukee county’s black population, which itself accounts for 70 percent of Wisconsin’s black population. The upshot is clear: Nonvoting black residents in key places have the potential to swing elections, from the presidency on down, in 2020 and beyond. Republicans have understood these dynamics for years; they long ago decided that they were better off trying to suppress black voters than to compete for their votes….

Research shows that the most effective voter-turnout technique is person-to-person contact from a trusted source like a family member, friend or neighbor; this is far more successful than impersonal paid communication like TV, digital or radio ads. But most nonvoters or infrequent voters don’t get this kind of outreach because campaigns and independent political groups generally ignore people with low “turnout scores.” And since these scores are developed based on voting history, nonvoters become less and less likely to be contacted. Even worse, people who have recently moved or are unregistered may not even show up in campaign databases. This problem is acute in areas with high transience, like urban, majority-black neighborhoods.

But the opportunity lies precisely with these people. To realize this potential, we must shed cynical assumptions about what is and isn’t possible…

Reader Interactions

177Comments

  4. 4.

    Baud

    To realize this potential, we must shed cynical assumptions about what is and isn’t possible…

    NYT is behind a paywall. Anyone willing to summarize the proposal?

  7. 7.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Baud: The conclusion:

    How can we seize this opportunity? The political scientists Donald Green and Alan Gerber conducted an analysis of hundreds of voter turnout experiments that tested methods like yard signs, mailers, text messages and TV ads. No simple, inexpensive tactic improved turnout more than three percentage points on average in high-turnout elections. We’ve been answering the question: “Can we get a little by investing a little per targeted voter in the final three weeks before an election?” But we’ve never asked: “Can we get a lot by investing a lot far in advance of election season?”

    Research shows that the most effective voter-turnout technique is person-to-person contact from a trusted source like a family member, friend or neighbor; this is far more successful than impersonal paid communication like TV, digital or radio ads. But most nonvoters or infrequent voters don’t get this kind of outreach because campaigns and independent political groups generally ignore people with low “turnout scores.” And since these scores are developed based on voting history, nonvoters become less and less likely to be contacted. Even worse, people who have recently moved or are unregistered may not even show up in campaign databases. This problem is acute in areas with high transience, like urban, majority-black neighborhoods.

    But the opportunity lies precisely with these people. To realize this potential, we must shed cynical assumptions about what is and isn’t possible. Here is a proposal to develop a robust organizing infrastructure that can build real relationships with black nonvoters and maximize turnout.

  9. 9.

    NotMax

    FYI, happened to notice while browsing through listings that Julia Child’s The French Chef (Volume 1) is listed under Recently Added TV on Prime.

  11. 11.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Baud: You’re right, my bad. Too many breaks in the text, thought I’d reached the end when I hadn’t. At this point I am refusing to read any stories anywhere that say in their titles how DEMs are fucking up. This one is: Democrats Are Ignoring the Voters Who Could Decide This Election

    I just can’t engage with sky is falling chicken littlism anymore. Life is too short.

    Anyway, here is the conclusion:

    So who should build this permanent organizing infrastructure? Ideally, both state Democratic parties and independent political groups. State parties have a tremendous amount to gain: They could more effectively mobilize voters for priority issues cycle after cycle and have a vastly improved way to listen to marginalized voters and incorporate their ideas and frustrations into the party’s platform. Independent groups can build community power apart from a political party, which could more easily hold elected officials accountable.

    Some groups are already doing this. Black Leaders Organizing for Communities in Milwaukee, for example, trains community ambassadors to turn their neighborhoods’ resources into collective power that can be wielded to win. And Color of Change aims to do this on a national scale through its political arm called Voting While Black. But such groups need an order of magnitude more funding, well before election season and on a regular basis, to seize this huge opportunity. Both the breadth and depth of their work are limited by insufficient and unpredictable investment. Genuine community organizing takes months and years, not days and weeks, a truth that is often lost on the donor community.

    To be sure, big money on the Democratic side does exist — it’s just not being spent effectively. A majority of the $1 billion that went toward Mrs. Clinton’s candidacy was spent on paid communication like TV and digital ads — not on groups that could best facilitate neighbor-to-neighbor contact.

    Enormous investment in organizing can build real power in traditionally marginalized neighborhoods and elect accountable politicians, now and for years to come. Done the right way, this will develop leaders and political power which can be used to achieve whatever people want — that’s the true essence of democracy. We know black neighborhoods in six key states can get us there. Now we need to make it happen.

  12. 12.

    Barb 2

    Do not forget the Reservation vote – Native Americans have been blocked from voting in many states. The Indian vote is consistently democratic.

    Four directions vote . com

    They have lawyers who have to use states of counties so that Reservation Indians can vote. In AZ the Navajo nation and other tribes gave the Democratic candidate a huge boost in 2018.

    (Some Indians want the nation following their name and others prefer tribe.)

    People of color will make a huge difference in November. The racist Republicans are working really hard to suppress the Democratic vote.

  13. 13.

    germy

    Meanwhile, at the White House, Trump met today with Kristy Swanson (Buffy) and Dean Cain (Superman) to discuss their play FBI Lovebirds based on the Lisa Page and Peter Strzok text messages (t.co/uRuCcgJD9T)— Shannon Pettypiece (@spettypi) February 27, 2020

    We are facing a global pandemic and a potential economic crash, and this is how Donald Trump is spending his time. We need an adult in the White House. t.co/riO2DtQQ6c— Elizabeth Warren (@ewarren) February 28, 2020

  16. 16.

    Geminid

    One aspect of the 2018 Democratic wave in North Carolina was the flipping of Republican Sheriff seats by African American candidates including populous counties like Guilford, Mecklenburg, and Wake. Governor Roy Cooper’s narrow win in 2016 is looking like the beginning of a major shift in state electoral politics. And the Republican legislatures lax environmental record is coming back to bite. Overflowing hog waste ponds after hurricanes put hundreds of thousands of people on bottled water. The horrifying incidence of childhood thyroid cancer in Iredell County near Charlotte will be a massive scandal. Duke Power gave away coal ash from a nearby power plant to be used as fill. One junior high school has a couple hundred truckloads under its athletic fields. A woman called attention to this after her daughter had thyroid surgery, and she started meeting other kids with scars on their necks. The woman and her family later moved to Florida.

  20. 20.

    Quinerly

    Good morning from Gallup, New Mexico! I forget how beautiful the drive is from Albuquerque out here. In serious news, I’m scared to death about this election. Our party simply cannot nominate Bernie Sanders.

  23. 23.

    Steeplejack (phone)

    @germy:

    Also, it was reported that Mike Pence waited to hold his first “coronavirus czar” meeting until after he made his appearance at CPAC.

    Probably not really a big deal, but bad optics, man.

  27. 27.

    p.a.

    But most nonvoters or infrequent voters don’t get this kind of outreach because campaigns and independent political groups generally ignore people with low “turnout scores.”

    SMH

  29. 29.

    Baud

    @p.a.: It makes sense.  A short-term campaign isn’t going to waste limited resources on the hardest to get voters, any more than they would waste resources on dedicated voters like me.  They’re going to aim for the middle of the pack.

    I think that’s why the article recommends long term organizing rather than waiting until campaigns are underway.

  30. 30.

    OzarkHillbilly

    IANAL, but here’s hoping:

    Coke, Pepsi, Nestle and other large companies are being sued by a California environmental group for creating a plastic pollution “nuisance” and misleading consumers about the recyclability of plastic. The suit, filed in San Mateo county superior court on Wednesday, argues that companies that sell plastic bottles and bags that end up polluting the ocean should be held accountable for damaging the environment.

    Earth Island Institute, which filed the lawsuit, says a significant amount of the eight to 20m tons of plastic entering the Earth’s oceans annually can be traced back to a handful of companies, which rely heavily on single-use plastic packaging. The suit seeks to require these companies to pay to remediate the harm that plastic pollution has caused to the earth and oceans. It also demands these companies stop advertising products as “recyclable”, when they are, in fact, largely not recycled.

    “These companies should bear the responsibility for choking our ecosystem with plastic,” said David Phillips, executive director of Earth Island Institute. “They know very well that this stuff is not being recycled, even though they are telling people on the labels that it is recyclable and making people feel like it’s being taken care of.”

    The suit names 10 companies found to be top producers of the plastic collected in beach cleanups in an international audit conducted last year by 72,000 volunteers working with the group Break Free From Plastic. The companies are Coca Cola, Pepsi, Nestle, Clorox, Crystal Geyser, Mars, Danone, Mondelez International, Colgate-Palmolive, and Procter & Gamble.
    ……………………………..
    Noting that, at the current rate of dumping, plastic will outweigh fish in the ocean by 2050, the suit charged that companies have engaged in a “decades-long campaign to deflect blame for the plastic pollution crisis to consumers”. Consumers are led to believe that the earth would be healthy, if only they recycled properly, when, in reality, there is no market for most plastics to be recycled, the suit says.

    Past studies have shown only about 10% of plastic gets recycled, but Phillips said, once those numbers are updated to reflect the recent collapse of the recycling market, it will likely show that only about 5% is getting recycled.

    Some months ago, after reading about how 90+% of plastic gets “recycled” I convinced the wife (who is addicted to her diet Pepsi) to stop buying it in plastic bottles and switch to cans. The amount of plastic waste we produce was cut in half overnight, but it is still way too much. Kinda amazing at how hard it is to avoid using it, and sad knowing how totally unnecessary it is.

  33. 33.

    satby

    Good morning everyone, I guess. It’s like this joint is fear central lately. On this almost last day of Black History Month, let’s take another lesson from our African American brothers and sisters: keep on keeping on.

  36. 36.

    p.a.

    @Baud: Agreed, but isn’t long term organizing the actual job of the party apparatus, at all levels?  In coordination (legal) with the Act Blues etc.  More, better Democrats, and a presence in all states at all levels.

  37. 37.

    Steeplejack (phone)

    @germy:

    I saw that. What a maroon! And MAGAt commenters were jumping in to say, “He was just scratching his nose.” Sure, Jan. That makes it okay.

  38. 38.

    NotMax

    Okay, have to ask . Working my way through a quite cute Spanish TV series on Prime. They often incorporate a single line of a song as a scene transition. In English, usually. Presumably popular tunes.

    One of the most common which pops up sounds like the female singer is saying “You have to get your ass fed.”

    Ring any bells as to what it could actually be?

  42. 42.

    germy

    @Baud:  Romney was disinvited, but Alex Jones was greeted warmly.

    “I’m just here to hang out,” he told them while posing for selfies with admirers.

    So today I met nick, shook hands with the VP, saw both Alex Jones and Laura loomer, and got to talk with some very epic people. And I’m at CPAC for one more day?. Very few people left for me to meet.— Harrison Carter (@HarrisonWCarter) February 27, 2020

  43. 43.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @germy: Oh. my. fucking. gawd. I am laughing my ass off. What do you want to bet that by this time tomorrow that pic is posted all over EW’s campaign offices?

  46. 46.

    satby

    @OzarkHillbilly: this is a good start, but people have to accept their own part of the problem. Unless you live in Flint, MI you’re unlikely to need to drink bottled water, so stop propping up companies that steal natural resources to sell to you in polluting containers for example. Soda, that’s just poison in a polluting bottle.

    I have this discussion almost daily when people stop by my booth, smell all the soap, and then say it’s nice but they use body wash. OK, I say, you’re paying for mostly water in a plastic bottle. And if they’re young I also tell them I’m old and will probably be dead before the full bill on all that pollution comes due, but they’re going to be dealing with it, so good luck. Gives ’em something to think about. And at that point I don’t care if they ever come back to buy from me anyway. So long as I plant the thought.

  48. 48.

    MazeDancer

    Started my Coronavirus stock-up on Monday and the boxes have all arrived.

    While most of it is cat food, rice, beans, canned salmon kind of stuff, noticing a kind of Halloween candy problem. Ordered giant bags of dried fruit and nuts. And I want to eat it all now.

    Hoping hiding the tastiest stuff helps.

  52. 52.

    NotMax

    2,a href=”https://balloon-juice.com/2020/02/28/friday-morning-open-thread-shine/#comment-7601115″>MazeDancer

    Eat the rice now. In my experience all rice sooner or later becomes infested with little bugs.

    Heck, half the time one can see them crawling around inside bags of store brand rice while at the market.

  53. 53.

    NotMax

    Let’s try that again.

    @MazeDancer

    Eat the rice now. In my experience all rice sooner or later becomes infested with little bugs.

    Heck, half the time one can see them crawling around inside bags of store brand rice while at the market.

  56. 56.

    satby

    @MazeDancer: I have slight hoarderish tendencies anyway when it comes to keeping the pantry stocked, so all I’m going to do is pick up extra dog and cat food and litter for a couple of weeks. I’m not wasting time or money buying masks and I NEVER run out of soap ?. But other than that, I don’t intend to do anything special. I’m at a slightly elevated risk because of chronic respiratory issues if I get it, but the majority of people who do will be fine, or recover even if they get seriously ill.

  61. 61.

    Geminid

    @Geminid: the woman in Iredell County NC who blew the whistle on the high rate of thyroid cancer was Susan Wind. She moved her family to Florida, but not before she raised money through 5k races and such to fund a preliminary study. Hers is quite a story, and as I said above, it may be very consequential in NC politics. I know my own state of Virginia is only now starting to deal with its coal ash, but at least it was never used as landfill at schools. I hope.

  62. 62.

    Ken

    @NotMax: Julia Child’s The French Chef

    I saw an interview with Julia Child where she said that she’d watched it years later and could only notice the problems.  IIRC she was particularly irritated by the lack of editing, pointing to a show where almost half the runtime was devoted to boning a chicken, and she had to rush through the actual cooking.

  64. 64.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @satby: I don’t kid myself that my elimination of one and done plastics from my life has any appreciable positive effects on the environment when 300 million other Americans keep doing the easy thing because, well, it’s easier. We can try educating people on this stuff but most of them are lazy and thinking makes their heads hurt. Making the manufacturers pay for this stuff right up front might however make a difference.

    shrug, one dumbass hillbilly’s opinion

    On the bottled water front: Washington state takes bold step to restrict companies from bottling local water Finger’s crossed.

    On body wash… BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA… I’m not gonna say I am immune to marketing but I never understood that particular fad.

  65. 65.

    Ken

    @snoey: Interestingly (well, to me) vitamin B12 is only synthesized by bacteria.  All of the eukaryotes, including plants, have to get it from the environment or from symbionts.  So the bugs in the bag of rice are just moving B12 around, not increasing the amount.

  66. 66.

    NotMax

    @Ken

    dDm memory relates that something on the order of 90% of what she prepares is too much trouble to make. But it’s a gas watching her do it.

    If only she’d survived into the era of the Instant Pot.

  67. 67.

    Gretchen

    @Baud: yes.  If the billionaires and the over-75 men who think only they can save us had stayed out, we could maybe have Harris, Booker and Castro still in.

  68. 68.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @NotMax:
    In my experience all rice sooner or later becomes infested with little bugs.

    Think of them as protein.*

    *stolen from WWII epic, “The Pacific”

    <a href=”#comment-7601125″>@Baud</a>: beat me to it.

  71. 71.

    Chris Johnson

    I cook a lot of stuff from scratch, and get lots of stuff from the co-op in an adjacent town, which pleases me: don’t like constantly producing packaging material waste. Though a lot of the stuff I get travels from the co-op to my home in a thin plastic bag…

    Also, when I freeze stuff like chicken for later use, I got a crapload of little plastic tubs because I can re-use those until they physically wear out and break (which will be a long long time). That cuts down on plastic bags, plastic wrap: also makes the freezer neater :)

    On the one hand this is totally privilege and also involves me travelling more, but I build it into commuting I already do, and I see it as, personally trying to work out what future-person would be doing if they were successfully not ruining the planet so much. That is a problem I’d really like to be working on, so when I can actively make choices that work, I’ll do it and try to get used to it, see it in a larger sense.

    For practical environmental relief all this is meaningless and we need to clobber various known corporations and pools of capital, costing them serious money. But in terms of the human race learning to be sustainable, personal commitment has its place. Maybe it’s a more long-term good praxis.

  72. 72.

    Ken

    @Amir Khalid: What, the bread in the sandwich isn’t a veggie?  The cheese might even count.

    Come to think of it, if you use one of the “cheese foods”, the sandwich might qualify as animal, vegetable, and mineral.

  75. 75.

    Cheryl Rofer

    @satby: I am skeptical of the value of masks too, but someone pointed out that if things get bad, others, and even law enforcement, may think it dangerous if you’re not wearing a mask, so I’m getting some for that kind of appearance’s sake.

  76. 76.

    Suzanne

    @OzarkHillbilly: I have freakishly sensitive skin. Lots of commercial soaps and shampoos have chemicals (sulfates, I think?) added to them to make them lather up and to not rinse off the skin instantly, to say nothing of fragrances. I use body wash because I’ve had a hard time with bar soap except for hands and feet, where the skin is thicker.

    I’ve been making many of my own skincare products in recent years, to great success. But since we’re in the middle of packing up all our stuff and deep cleaning our house, there’s been lots of dust, and I’ve been breaking out in rashes. So I’m washing my hands about fifty times a day. Oh well, I guess I’m ready for the coronavirus!

  77. 77.

    Immanentize

    @Ken:
    @NotMax:. Well, here is another thing I now know more about than I ever expected to — B-12. With the Immp having had a gastroectomy, I learned that one of the only critical functions of the stomach is that it is the only place in the body where protein can be turned into B-12. Take out the stomach and you lose your B-12 uptake abilities. So, he has to have B-12 shots monthly (although it takes a long time to become B-12 deficient). The stuff in your stomach that allows you to convert food to B-12 is called “intrinsic factor.” Isn’t that a cool name? Even for a band?

    ETA Next installment — how “intrinsic factor” was discovered.

  80. 80.

    Betty

    @Quinerly:

    I have only made that drive once and got a speeding ticket because I was so taken with the scenery and the flat road, I had no idea how fast i was going. Yes, beautiful.

  83. 83.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    Just before I woke up this morning, I dreamed I was in a small church I knew was Russian. People broke into a song routine about Putinelli. I was a visiting politician and a bunch of male visiting politicians from the other party didn’t know I was there. Oh, and I was carrying a bicycle wheel. It’s like a BJ thread had invaded my sleep.

  84. 84.

    satby

    @Suzanne: commercial bar soap is normally not even soap, that’s why it’s called “body bar, bath bar, complexion or face bar, deodorant bar” etc. They and most body wash are detergent based. “Soap” is an FDA regulated term for saponified fats and oils only.

  85. 85.

    Betty Cracker

    @Cheryl Rofer: I read a couple of weeks ago the Chinese authorities in Wuhan had drones equipped with speakers that the authorities would use to yell at people if they were walking around in public without a mask.

    Meanwhile, the “Acting” Chief of Staff this morning:

    Mulvaney is saying that the press is now covering Coronavirus because "they think this will bring down the president. That’s what it’s all about."— Annie Karni (@anniekarni) February 28, 2020

    All of them are 100% focused on a PR effort to prevent political damage to Trump. If this virus doesn’t become a gigantic health crisis in the U.S., it will be good luck and the hard work of career public health officials.

  90. 90.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Suzanne: So do I. Has something to do with eczema which, was really bad when I was a kid but only shows up now when I don’t pay attention. Dove soap works for me (ivory dries my skin out too much). For clothes I always used Arm and Hammer detergent but my wife started making our own and it works for me too. I have to be very careful with creams and ointments (antibiotic ointments are an ABSOLUTE NO GO!!!! really bad chemical burns) (i found that out the really hard way)

    We all do what we have to.

  92. 92.

    Immanentize

    @satby: That is another thing I just learned when I was this many days old.  Thank you.

    Saponified?  Had to look that one up.

    turn (fat or oil) into soap by reaction with an alkali.
    “saponified vegetable oils”

    Now I know why some old home-made soaps had lye in them.

  93. 93.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: In my dream I was hiding from the cops in a ditch on the grounds of an abandoned STL public school* while my oldest son was inside looking for something. I remember thinking, “Turn off the lights, Bob.” and then I woke up.

    *more than a few abandoned schools there, seriously cool pieces of architecture. if i had the money i’d buy one and do something with it just because I could.

  97. 97.

    Quinerly

    @Betty: I’ve made it several times now with some back roads included, plus the SW Chief train trip from Las Vegas, New Mexico to Winslow several weeks ago. Yesterday was just so clear and beautiful, though. I put on the new Van Morrison CD and just lost myself for a couple of hrs. A great burger with shoe string fries at the Coal Street Pub topped off the drive. Highly suggest that place if ever in the area. Most Navajo locals hanging out at the bar. Interesting conversation.

  109. 109.

    p.a.

    @Ken: I used to gripe abt cooking on an electric stove until I noticed on her reruns she did what she did on a studio elec stove.

    Also too, IIRC she once pounded out a protien (chix? beef? That I don’t remember) with a hardware store rubber mallet?.  And plastic wrap, to be clear.

  114. 114.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: AFAIK they are all masonry and concrete construction and the real cost would be in plumbing, electricity, and HVAC. Each of those would have to be done from scratch as the services would all need to be up graded.

  117. 117.

    satby

    @Immanentize: all soap has lye, unless it’s a liquid soap that uses both sodium and potassium hydroxide. Both known as lye, sodium one more common. In the old days the grannies made their own lye with wood ashes and never knew how strong it was (concentration %, to be exact) and they also didn’t pay much attention to which fats they used, just whatever was available from the last animals butchered. Because of that, they would add milk, esp. goat milk, to be sure that their home made soap was mild enough for skin. It has the effect of superfatting the soap, meaning more fat than would get consumed by the lye, hence milder and slightly moisturizing. If it didn’t go rancid from too much excess fat. Now modern soap makers use spreadsheets

  118. 118.

    germy

    @OzarkHillbilly:

     if i had the money i’d buy one and do something with it just because I could.

    Now a young entrepreneurial couple truly had to think outside the box to transform an old building at 95 Remsen Street into modern living space.

    It is another sign in the community that vacancy is being turned into vibrancy.

    The ribbon cutting Thursday was kind of a renovation celebration of the old Kresge Building. It was also symbolic of the energy, ingenuity, and the entrepreneurship that is flooding back into Cohoes.

    The upper floors of this old brick building have been transformed into modern micro apartments. There are eight of them.

    One of the oldest buildings in Cohoes.  Downstairs (street level) a dance studio and some other retail; upstairs are micro apartments.

  119. 119.

    germy

    @satby:  My wife makes everything:  she makes skin lotion, lipstick, hair cream… just about everything, including clothes, bags and jewelry.  Now she’s interested in making soap, but I expressed some nervousness about lye.

    All I know about lye is the horror stories about it being the main ingredient in products for unclogging drains.  Stories about it exploding up into peoples’ faces.

    Am I wrong to be nervous about pure lye being cooked in our kitchen?

  120. 120.

    NotMax

    @satby

    Used to use a commercial product which was primarily lye to clean an institutional size deep fat fryer.

    Also at one time dug up a whole bunch of semi-antique colored bottles from an abandoned dump and the only thing which worked to clean them was an extended soak in a lye solution.

  121. 121.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @NotMax: Yep. Just like Chicago and Frisco, half the damned city burnt down. Afterwards they passed an ordinance that all buildings would be masonry. There are exceptions. 4 houses in a row on Arsenal, almost the entire neighborhood of Clifton Park, but I don’t know how they got built. Maybe after a repeal of the ordinance or possibly annexed into the city.

    A lot of cool brickwork in STL.

  123. 123.

    satby

    @OzarkHillbilly: I started making soap because I have eczema, rosacea, and a nasty skin condition called lichens. Plus multiple skin and respiratory allergies to a lot of stuff besides animals and plants.

    Dove is of the devil. 1/4 cleansing cream because it’s 3/4 detergents. Hit up my Etsy and I can send you a plain unscented sample bar to try gratis. Can’t promise it will work for you, but it usually does. And then you can buy any local handmade soap you find, doesn’t need to be mine. I give away soap and tell people this all the time.

  124. 124.

    Suzanne

    @satby: I have been making a homemade body wash with oils and a touch of unscented castile soap, and I love it. The dryness of the climate here, not to mention all of the dust, can be really hellacious on my skin. I would totally buy some of your soap, though. I love nice skincare stuff.

    I did finally find a deodorant that I really like, named Kopari. It’s fabulous. FIFTEEN DOLLARS. Good Lord.

  126. 126.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @germy: Pretty cool. Most (all?) of the STL schools would have a hard time selling any commercial space due to the fact that as neighborhood schools they were in, wait for it, neighborhoods. Away from main thoroughfares.

    I did have the thought that one could turn them into business incubators or artist lofts tho financially that would be a hard lift. Artists tend to be “starving” because they are poor, and most new businesses go under in 6 months to a year.

    If I had money to burn, I’d definitely go the artist lofts route and charge them just enough to cover the taxes and maintenance.

  127. 127.

    satby

    @Suzanne: your homemade concoction sounds good, castle is real liquid soap. And cleansing oils are becoming a thing.

    do not use straight coconut oils on your skin for moisture though, use something like argan or peach kernel or meadowfoam oil. All absorb in, coconut stays oily and actually attracts your own skin oils out. Jojoba too, though that’s a wax, not an oil.

  129. 129.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @satby: I’ll do that, but I won’t take it for free.

    ETA: one personal hang up I have: nothing that smells food like. Comes of being forced to use cocoa butter when I was a kid. I hated that. I’m not a gawddamned walking fruit salad.

  134. 134.

    Avalune

    OK, I say, you’re paying for mostly water in a plastic bottle. And if they’re young I also tell them I’m old and will probably be dead before the full bill on all that pollution comes due, but they’re going to be dealing with it, so good luck.

    It probably wasn’t supposed to – but this made me laugh.

    I’ve been on a soap tour lately because my eczema which is normally only a slight nuisance has been a complete shit show this year. My whole body is covered in scabs and scales and I’ve been struggling to get it under control via changes in soaps and lotions. What can you recommend from your store to help stop the conversion into lizard person?

    Edit to add: I have kind of sensitive skin in general. I have cold urticaria and can’t use any detergent other than liquid Tide. Leto has dermagraphism(sp) because we’re a pair. That said we love things that smell good so unscented would make me sad.

  135. 135.

    zhena gogolia

    I’ll say the same thing about this Biden tweet that I said about the Warren-Colbert clip — wouldn’t it be nice to have a human in the White House again?

    In 2014, @JoeBiden wrote a memo to complain that his staff was missing family obligations for work.“It’s very important to me. I’ll go so far as to say that if I find out you are working while missing important family responsibilities, it’ll disappoint me greatly.” #WeKnowJoe pic.twitter.com/4ekC6DxzUZ— Christopher J. Hale (@chrisjollyhale) February 27, 2020

  136. 136.

    satby

    @NotMax: it’s how lye cleans drains, concerts the oily gunk to soapy residue, then melts it from the heat and emulsifies it down the drain.

    I have very clean drains ?

  137. 137.

    WaterGirl

    @germy:

    Today at the corona virus press conference, @VP wiped his nose with his hands then proceeded to shake everyone’s hands.

    In the fight against sexually transmitted diseases, they say that you are effectively having sex with every person that person has ever had sex with and that you should assume the worst about what protections they have taken in the past.

    For defensive driving, you are supposed to assume that the other person is tired, distracted, or impaired in some way.

    For this situation, we are going to have to assume that every person we come into contact with is as stupid as Pence and has the same terrible hygiene, and act accordingly.

  138. 138.

    bemused

    Damn, I wish I could access NYT Gail Collins’ Trump Virus piece.

    I think every business and public place should have prominent signs displayed in bathrooms about washing hands with soap for 20 seconds because adults are no better than kids at washing hands if not worse. Better yet put up a display of the simple bread experiment is a genius way to get kids to wash their hands. Science Alert and others have the photos. Brilliant teacher experiment!

  141. 141.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @NotMax: There are a number of abandoned old mansions with un-fucking-beleivable masonry in STL. I couldn’t tell you what style they are, I can only stand and stare at them.

    It’s a true sadness to me. My son was telling me of one such down the street from his modest Benton Park home. The facade remains in all it’s glory, but since the owners died, their children have gutted the inside, including removing a truly astounding (according to him) spiral main stair case.

  142. 142.

    satby

    @Avalune: same thing I told Ozark, but my nym and send me your addy and I’ll send you some samples. May work for you, may not because all autoimmune diseases are triggered by different things. But the success rate on plain soap is pretty good, unless you’re actually allergic to one of the ingredients. All my stuff has ingredient labels just for that reason. We’ll chat first ?

  145. 145.

    Avalune

    @satby: Like Ozark, I’d want to pay for things. Any time we’re out and we happen upon someone who makes their own soap we throw all our money at them and I’m happy to support your work.

    I’m absolutely desperate this year. It’s never ever been this bad.

    I’ll never forget when Skin So Soft from Avon came out as an insect repellent. I absolutely covered myself in that stuff so I could go out and play with everyone else… and it turned out I was allergic to it. As a poor college student, I’d waited until I had only the clothes on my back and washed everything in Gain. Nurse thought I had scabbies. After treating myself for that twice I figured out it was the detergent but I couldn’t afford to rewash all my clothes so I had to ride it out. :D

  147. 147.

    NotMax

    @

    Difficult to tell from the photo but the bricks which are end on are just ever so slightly extended outward, barely noticeable unless one is nose to wall.

  148. 148.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Suzanne: The exact opposite here. I really think it goes back to that cocoa butter, trying to sleep while smeared in the shit and wrapped head to toe in saran wrap and breadbags with mittens and socks on hands and feet so I couldn’t scratch at myself in my sleep. And I STILL woke up in bloody sheets. I’m only surprised Ma never used duct tape on me.

    I’m not sure “traumatized” quite covers the torture of it.

  149. 149.

    NotMax

    Sigh. Fix.

    @OzarkHillbilly

    Difficult to tell from the photo but the bricks which are end on are just ever so slightly extended outward, barely noticeable unless one is nose to wall.

  153. 153.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @NotMax: A buddy of mine grew up in a house that was built right after the World’s Fair. Several prize winners were installed in the home and even the stuff that wasn’t entered in competitions were made by those same artisans. The masonry has 3/16 mortar joints.

  155. 155.

    NotMax

    @OzarkHillbilly

    Was party to a specially arranged tour of a mostly restored Georgetown historic townhouse., in use as a private residence Vividly recall one floor was almost totally dedicated to what was originally designed to be a ballroom. Ginormous space. Nothing unusual about that except the work done to determine the original color of the walls and replicate the same, which was the most intense, nearly psychedelic scarlet imaginable.

  157. 157.

    glory b

    @OzarkHillbilly: I feel the same way. I like watching the television show Rehab Addict. I understand the star has a somewhat messy personal life, but she swoons over the details in these types of buildings (she is located in Detroit, so there’s a lot for her to work with) preserving as much as she can in the buildings she buys.

  158. 158.

    Suzanne

    @OzarkHillbilly: That sounds terrible.

    I’ve been using a lot of shea butter in recent years and I like it much more than cocoa. My biggest skin issue is the rashes I get if dust lands on me, so the stuff that creates a good barrier is invaluable. Of course, I currently live in the dustiest place in the country (soooo excited to move).

  159. 159.

    Fair Economist

    @satby: I’m about the only person I know who still uses bar soap, but I’ve never understood body washes, barring medical issues. They’re just insanely wasteful. I am constantly buying body wash for my son. Bar soap OTOH seems to shrink on geologic time, even with vigorous scrubbing. For the price of one of his body washes I can buy a 10-pack of bar soap that lasts – I dunno – at *least* a year. And then there’s all the plastic packaging for the body washes.

    Naturally the vastly greater expense for body wash is why manufacturers push it so hard. They gotta make a buck, and the buck they make used to be yours.

  160. 160.

    Elizabelle

    @bemused:   I put a lot of Collins’ piece up in Cheryl’s thread last night on Coronavirus. balloon-juice.com/2020/02/27/coronavirus-thoughts/#comment-7600773

    Let’s Call It Trumpvirus

    If you’re feeling awful, you know who to blame.

    … Our president had to be going crazy over a problem that involves both declining stock prices and germs. This is the guy, after all, who thinks shaking hands is “barbaric,” who is followed around by aides bearing sanitizer. During his press conference he told the story of a fever-ridden supporter who gave him a hug. Do you think it was an apocryphal fantasy? Either way, the idea has been haunting him forever.

    Meanwhile, he’s come up with a totally new explanation for the stock market skid. It turns out investors were not frightened so much by the pandemic as the Democratic debate.

    “I think the financial markets are very upset when they look at the Democrat candidates standing on that stage making fools out of themselves,” Trump told reporters.

    Plus that virus thing is … not necessarily a big deal. What really “shocked” him, Trump said, was his discovery that “the flu in our country kills 25,000 people to 69,000 people a year.”

    … The run-up to the Pence unveiling had not been exactly calming for citizens who wanted to have faith in competent White House oversight. Barack Obama used to have special epidemic-watching groups just in case this kind of crisis developed. One was headed by the highly regarded Rear Adm. Timothy Ziemer, who got sent packing by John Bolton. Another infectious disease expert, Tom Bossert, suddenly vanishedfrom the Department of Homeland Security in 2018, presumably also at the hand of John You-know-who.

    If Bolton’s memoir ever makes it into print, do you think it’ll have a chapter called “My War on Pandemic Fighters?” OK, probably not.

    Virus Week hasn’t really provided a whole lot of comfort to citizens who wanted to believe the president’s replacements were super high quality.

  161. 161.

    Elizabelle

    @bemused:   Moar excerpts from the Gail Collins piece:

    Losing faith in presidential appointees for health protection? Stop being so negative. They’re all vetted by the Presidential Personnel Office, which is now headed by John McEntee, 29, who was previously firedfrom another White House job because of concerns about a history of gambling problems and tax issues.

    McEntee will be getting plenty of help from other stellar appointees, the newest being a 23-year-old college undergraduate. Together they’re going to be cleaning house, getting rid of folks who are insufficiently loyal to the president. Or maybe aren’t qualified or something. Never can tell.

  162. 162.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @glory b: In my long career as a carpenter I have had the good fortune to work on a few of those old buildings and even create some of that stuff my ownself a few times, but mostly I was framing and hanging (drywall)

    @Suzanne: the hardest part, as it always is during puberty, was not standing out. Hiding it. There was a period of time where my feet were so bad I could not walk without a limp, first one foot than the other. Some classmates picked up on it and said I was faking.

    To prove otherwise would have required taking off my shoes and socks, in the process removing half the skin and all the scabs and that was unthinkable. Never never never let a classmate see. Bad enough exposing my feet to the school nurse for my twice a day warm oil soakings.

  163. 163.

    CarolPW

    @Avalune: I get eczema occasionally, particularly when I am under stress so this year has been pretty bad for me as well. What works for me is tea tree lotion, and tea tree shampoo has worked for the scaly crap my ex gets on his scalp. It also worked for a scaly patch on my sister’s Westie and he is allergic to tons of stuff. Might be worth a try on a small spot.

  165. 165.

    TomatoQueen

    After radiation treatment, my  mother, a highly-sensitive redhead, was introduced to Basis and Cerave products by her oncology nurse, who was rather insistent about the Basis around the irradiated areas. She had good results & stayed with them for years. She also stopped coloring her hair, and oh look no more red rash on scalp & hairline; fortunately her hair turned bright white a la Carmel Snow so there was really no need. Woolite, tho pricey, went into the brand new fancy HE machine & was most satisfactory. I know people who swear by Dr Bronner products after enduring years of suffering with eczema, and it’s not just because the bottle is good if insane reading. I can’t stand anything with perfume or dye of any kind and am now developing the diabetics’ form of dry skin, so hello Eucerin. YMMV.

  166. 166.

    Tenar Arha

    @Gretchen: QFT

     If the billionaires and the over-75 men who think only they can save us had stayed out, we could maybe have Harris, Booker and Castro still in.

  167. 167.

    Avalune

    @TomatoQueen: I’ve been using the Cerave lotion. It’s better than the Hydroboost but doesn’t seem to help with the itching. Aveeno is helping with the itching a little more but isn’t as good on hydration as the Cerave. I tried Cerave Eczema wash too and it’s ok – better than some of the bar soap but expensive for what’s probably mostly water anyway. I tried the Aveeno body wash and that’s better than some of the bar soap but still lacking. Eucerin USED to be good for it when it wasn’t as bonkers as it is this year – but that stuff is so greasy I’m loathe to use it.

  168. 168.

    jeffreyw

    @NotMax: 
    I clicked on that expecting a nice brick macro with nose and all I got was Ozark, again.
    *Not that Oz-billy** is a poor read!

    **Not to be confused with Ozark Airlines. I flew an Ozark DC-3 and was alarmed by the oil streaming down the side of the engine. The attendant said that was normal but I still kept an eye on it

  170. 170.

    Another Scott

    @satby: I remember a chemistry lab in high school where we had to make some soap.  We were pretty impressed with our result, until the teacher came by with some pH test solution and it turned a really bright purple (indicating it was caustic enough to eat flesh)…  :-/

    I’m glad you know what you’re doing!  :-D

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  175. 175.

    Avalune

    @satby: Oh no! That stinks. No wonder you make your own.

    The Buffy from Lush is pretty good but for that price it seems like it should last a little longer.

  176. 176.

    joel hanes

    @satby:

    Dead thread, but my favorite novel by Richard Powers is _Gain_, about a third of which is about soapmaking and associated industries.

  177. 177.

    Nora

    @Immanentize: My husband and his father both have pernicious anemia, so my husband gives himself b-12 shots twice a month.  It’s not that big a deal, so I hope the Immp won’t have much trouble with it.

Comments are closed.