Young, Amish, and TikTok Famous

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Young, Amish, and TikTok Famous

What I knew about the Amish before watching Fisher’s video — mostly gleaned from listening to “Weird Al” Yankovic — was pretty much limited to their plain dress, and the fact that most don’t use technology. Many of the videos tagged “Amish” on TikTok show horse and buggies — a hallmark of the culture to lay people — and are filmed by non-Amish passersby on their road trips through rural Pennsylvania. But then there are some Amish teens, bonnets and all, who are considered a hot commodity simply for existing on the platform. Social media offers them the same opportunity everyone has — to tell their stories on their own terms to people they don’t know. And yes, depending on their church and their age, it’s probably totally kosher for them to be on social media, if unusual.

Logic of an Andy

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Last summer: “I have so much battery capacity, I’ll go ahead and remove the under voltage reset switch. On the rare chance the voltage dips and I need a reset I’ll just start the truck.”

This autumn: “Darn, in the cold, pulling heavy electrical loads on these long nights the voltage sometimes dips below 12.1 temporarily. Not because the charge is dangerously low but the load is high and the battery is cold. Sure would nice if I could just manually reset the voltage disconnect. So I reinstalled the switch.”

Cabin Life is FREEDOM!

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It doesn't matter if you have a cabin made of logs, lumber or stone. It doesn't matter if you have a yurt, or a tee-pee or a trailer. It doesn't matter if you live there full time, part time, weekends or if you're only there a few times per year. It doesn't matter if you drive there, fly there, have a tractor, ATV, horse or anything else. It doesn't matter if you have a wood stove, propane, a generator, or solar. All that matters is FREEDOM! So break the chains and be free!

Farmers Are Using Food Waste To Make Electricity : The Salt : NPR

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Chew On This: Farmers Are Using Food Waste To Make Electricity : The Salt : NPR

As the season of big holiday meals kicks off, it's as good a time as any to reflect on just how much food goes to waste.

If you piled up all the food that's not eaten over the course of a year in the U.S., it would be enough to fill a skyscraper in Chicago about 44 times, according to an estimate from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

And, when all this food rots in a landfill, it emits methane, a powerful greenhouse gas that contributes to climate change. In fact, a recent report from the United Nations from a panel of climate experts estimates that up to 10 percent of all human-made greenhouse gas emissions are linked to food waste.

So, here's one solution to the problem: Dairy farmers in Massachusetts are using food waste to create electricity. They feed waste into anaerobic digesters, built and operated by Vanguard Renewables, which capture the methane emissions and make renewable energy.