When is trash not trash?

A daily ritual in this country is to discard items into a trash recepticle. As the container fills, it is then consolidated into a larger can which is placed in a location for the local sanitation department to pick up and remove in a truck. Aside from the general ecological discussion which could begin at this point, there are some items that are verbotten to remove.

Have you ever tried to throw away an old garbage can? Or just the lid for that matter? If you place this at the street, even with a note of explanation, you will find it empty and at the roadside the next day. Even if your trash can was stolen and the lid only left behind, you will find it frustrating to get rid of the lid. To investigate this process once and for all, I located an early manuscript from Roman times. These manuscripts are in a vulgar Latin (trash talk), but refer to a secret and solemn ceremony that these apprentice garbage workers were subjected to before becoming journeyman trashmen. One vow that was taken at that time was to always separate garbage from the can and leave the can. Unfortunately, this meant that the can itself would never be removed, simply emptied.

The best strategy is to take that old trash can to one of the new "Cans to Tans" centers popping up in metropolitan areas (especially on the west coast). For every old can you bring in, you get tanning center credit. What could be more beautiful and Earth friendly? Your old can will be matched with a new home, likely a home that could not have a can of their own. If a new home is not found, the can may be released into the wild (a metropolitan alley in NYC or Chicago).

For more info refer the Canstotans website or Recycling: May the circle be unbroken (a soon to be released throwaway journal.)

A quoi penses-tu?

Je ne sais pas. French is clearly a language that had to stem from the original tower of Babel fiasco. At one moment, everyone understands what is being said, and then the next, nobody can understand (but someone is arrogant about it and already has an attitude.) The language has a pretty sound to it when spoken, but an amazing amount of the written letters and sometimes whole words disappear when pronounced. Phonetic pronunciation keys look like yet another language, unrelated to the written French. An additional feature I look forward to when visiting France is the local dialects. I'm so happy that we have no local dialects in the United States. So here, to respond to the initial inquiry "what are you thinking?" The response "I don't know" will vary right smart little up chair in the north or yonder down south.