1931 H St.  The Green Living Center

Donation at the door for ECOS.

See you there!

Levi

Look how much easier it is to mandate air quality controls when you are China.

Micah

Typically a rubber tube filled with water will bulge locally when squeezed; and this bulge will propagate along the tube at a speed  c given by

Here E is the tensile modulus of the rubber, d the diameter of the tube, h its wall thickness and rho is the density of water. You can control the speed by choosing the dimensions of the tube and the properties of the rubber.

Isn’t that simple?  Just kidding but the theory sounds a little less complex.  Put a rubber tube in the ocean with a generator at the end and the waves produce power.

Micah

Levi

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHr8OzaloLM

But the problem comes when we all think that it’s time to dance the same step on the same spot in the same room. We even start to think that there is something special about that spot and some begin to think its worth paying more just to be there. Which leads to still more who will pay for the spot simply because there are going to be others who will pay more still. Then, after the dancing starts to wear on us and we all seem to notice that the air is getting too stuffy and the space too cramped for us, we all leave. But mind you, we still have that same pull to move together so the leaving never goes well either, we all make a move for the same door at the same time, because all the other doors are not being used and we can only assume that those doors have something wrong with them.

I think what I miss is the feeling that real estate is fun and exciting that buying houses is the latest trend. It’s puzzling though when you think of it, we all still live in houses. Its not like any of us decided that we need to move outside and live in tents. But we all decided to stop dancing at the same time and then instead of things becoming more normal like you would think, we all hold our breath for a while and wait for someone to say its time to start dancing again.

I guess the truth is I like dancing but it would be a whole lot more fun to dance if we did not all think we had to dance the same step in the same place. Can’t we spread out and enjoy dancing when we feel like it or when we each have a real reason to dance?

Today at the Good project we are finally opening our doors to start selling houses! We have all the paperwork in order and can finally sell what we have been talking about for so long!

Also just to make things fun we are having the Bicycle Kitchen come and do free bike work to anyone who has a broken bike.

If you are around today stop by and join in the fun. We are going to be there from 12-? and the bike shop sets up at 2pm. Here is a map to the site in case you have not been there yet.

And just for fun here is LJ Urban by the numbers…

My dearest Lawn,

Let me start by saying that this letter is going to be a bit hard for me to write. You are just going have to bear with me as I pour my heart out for you here.

You and I have had a lot of memories together, some good, like when I first moved in and you looked all nice and pretty for a few weeks and some not so good, like when I backed over the cord to my electric mower, several times.

But I have something to tell you…Something you may not want to hear, but I think that I better get it out now before you start to pick up on things. We have decided to move…And I need to be honest with you that you are a big part of the reason we are leaving. I know its a hard thing to hear but I am just tired of the Saturday dates you demand that we have and the brown spots you always seem to sprout up after I don’t spend enough time with you. Quite frankly I think that you are an emotional wreck and I just can’t handle you in my life anymore. You need someone who is willing to spend the time and money it takes to make you happy and I am not it.

Then there are the other things about you that I have started to learn like that Americans pour as much as 238 gallons of water per person, per day on you to keep you healthy. Or that there are a total of 40 million acres of land dedicated to you (not you personally but you and your friends). The other thing I heard was that 800 million gallons of gas gets burned in lawnmowers every year just to make sure that your hair is cut and you look all pretty. And the worst by far is when I heard that your clippings make up the single largest crop in this country. That is simply unacceptable.

For me I have to admit that I never really cared for the time we spent together. After doing some soul searching I can see that I took care of you because of what my neighbors thought about me, and the self help books I got at the library say that caring for someone because of what others think of you is not healthy.

So I am taking a step in my life for me. I am finally doing what I should have done a long time ago. I am moving away from you and going to a place where I do not have to take care of you (or any of your friends).

So this is goodbye. I don’t want to sound mean but just writing this letter is making me feel more free from your chains and emotional baggage.

I wish the best for you and hope that you are more kind to the next unfortunate individual who is responsible for taking care of you…

Sincerely,

Levi Benkert

Take the people who put this ad together.

I mean really “Pleasure”?? Is there any truth to that? Do you really believe that the people who are smoking the addictive cigarettes you sold them have better lives because of what you made for them? Or are they going to end up dying of lung cancer…?

I do not want you to think I am talking down on everyone who makes a living off of anything they don’t agree with. Not very long ago LJ Urban used to be another company. We were Asante Homes, a suburban land developer. We never built the homes that we now realize are so wrong for the world, but did a whole lot of contributing to making them happen. It took a lot of will power and at times it seemed like everything was upside down as we transitioned to a company that only built what we believe in. But we did it and it was worth every bit of effort we put into doing things right.

What stories do you have of remaking yourself? What were you? And what did you have to give up? Was it worth it?

I think we all could use to hear some more stories of other people who are doing what is right.

Levi

We are going to ask that everyone bring a small donation at the door for our friends over at ECOS. They are a great organization that does great things for Sacramento and we think that a movie would be a great way to celebrate them and get some good folks together while we are at it.

The last movie was all Jason’s idea so its a bit sad to be doing one without him around to enjoy it but I think he would have wanted us to continue in his honor.

The Details

Where: Its going to be in the new Green Sacramento Space at 20th and H (which is our office also)

When: Friday July 25th at 7pm

What: We are going to be showing the movie The Corporation and possibly a few other short films as well. Just a bunch of fun stuff to get you thinking about your community and what you can do to make it a better place.

Here is a trailer for The Corporation…

Hope you can make it!

Levi

So if you have a blog or know someone who works at a newspaper or TV station (or if you work at one yourself), can you help us get this thing out there? We are more and more excited about bikes in the core and want to do what we can to support people who have decided to ditch their car.

I know that every time I ask, you guys are all really great about helping spread the word and I would not ask if it were not something we believed in.

So what do you think…want to help out?

Its this Saturday the 19th at the Good project starting at 2pm.

Levi

And since we are talking about bad posts, here is another one about our cat…

We have had this Toyota pickup around for the last 3 years as the LJ Urban work truck, the thought was that we would not be able to live without it being as we are contractors and all. But last week Micah and I sat down and decided to look at exactly how often we use the truck for the projects and the truth is 95% of the time the sub contractors do all the hauling, we just show up and help them know what to do. So we are going all bikes at LJ Urban! We put the truck on Craigslist last week and are going to rent a truck on the off occasion that we actually need one.

We still have one small Scion that I used to drive and it will be our backup for out of town meetings but we made a deal with each other that we will not use it to get to work.

Levi

Either way its really cool to see so many people shopping local!

Levi

Want to hear some good music?   Call 916.930.9400 and press 5.

Levi