Ideal Bite

So I learned to fly in a 70s era Cessna 152-a light and little two-seat contraption with nary a bell nor whistle. Navigation meant consulting charts, weather reports, and maps, and required tons of manual mathematical calculations. (Did I mention I majored in English Lit?)

Where was Google Mobile when I needed it?

-Jenifer Morgan...off to fly blind... Read the full post... 

So I learned to fly in a 70s era Cessna 152-a light and little two-seat contraption with nary a bell nor whistle. Navigation meant consulting charts, weather reports, and maps, and required tons of manual mathematical calculations. (Did I mention I majored in English Lit?)

Where was Google Mobile when I needed it?

-Jenifer Morgan...off to fly blind... Read the full post... 

The dress code around the Biter offices is casual. Like, casual-casual, not just biz-casual, so I can wear pretty much anything I want to, and most days that means a t-shirt and jeans.

My favorite tee brand is American Apparel, easily. Made sweatshop-free in the U.S.A., they're form-fitting and available in too many colors to count.  Plus, they're intro'ing new organic styles all the time. Their founder is...unique, but then again, so are Heather and Jen (in non-sleazy - but just as shocking - ways).

-Toshio...off to write a tell-all book about the behind-the-scenes goings-on at a green start-up biz...

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When we were brainstorming about category topics for our tip library, I was all on board to have a category called No Duh, a place for those complete no-brainer tips to reside. Because truly - sometimes tip ideas come in or come up, and all I can do is shake my head (at myself, usually) and ask: "Why on earth haven't I thought of that before???"

Today's tip perfectly epitomizes what would have become the "No Duh" category criteria. There's nothing really for me to say here to kick off this blog - we all know: takeout containers = unnecessary waste.

So why - knowing that - does it still feel like such a guilty little pleasure to have restaurant food at home?

-Heather... off to plan my home-cooked meals for, well, Burning Man... Read the full post... 

When Proust dipped a madeleine cookie in his teacup one day, the scent conjured vivid memories of his grandmother's house. One of my most vivid memories is also linked to smell: A teacher's aide who I only encountered during lunch at my elementary school seemingly bathed in a heavy, musky perfume called Tabu - now whenever I smell it, I have a cafeteria flashback. I can see the cooks' hairnets, the orange and yellow walls, the speckled linoleum flooring, and every GMO morsel on my cafeteria tray (spinach from a can! What more could a 7 year old want?)...it's not a romantic memory (or a remotely appetizing one), but the power of smell and its connection to our memory is an amazing thing.

All of today's essential oil-based perfume options are truly terrific. I hope you find the perfect match for you, and get to inspiring more interesting and romantic memories than mine.
Read the full post... 

When Proust dipped a madeleine cookie in his teacup one day, the scent conjured vivid memories of his grandmother's house. One of my most vivid memories is also linked to smell: A teacher's aide who I only encountered during lunch at my elementary school seemingly bathed in a heavy, musky perfume called Tabu - now whenever I smell it, I have a cafeteria flashback. I can see the cooks' hairnets, the orange and yellow walls, the speckled linoleum flooring, and every GMO morsel on my cafeteria tray (spinach from a can! What more could a 7 year old want?)...it's not a romantic memory (or a remotely appetizing one), but the power of smell and its connection to our memory is an amazing thing.

All of today's essential oil-based perfume options are truly terrific. I hope you find the perfect match for you, and get to inspiring more interesting and romantic memories than mine.
Read the full post... 

When I was little, I would spend entire minutes staring at the Starfield screensaver that came with Windows back then. Who knew my passion for faux-space flight was using energy, not saving it?

What some people might not know is that in addition to sucking power, screensavers are, in fact, unnecessary, thanks to new computer technology. Bite on that before your next trip on the Starfield Express.

-Toshio...off to book a Virgin Galactic flight... Read the full post... 

I coveted my grade school friends' snacks - all gooey Hostess fruit pies and Ding Dongs and sodas.  Daily, I‘d unpack my carrot sticks and apple, with the occasional chocolate pudding and a little note on a napkin from Dad, and I'd wonder how I could somehow cobble together the makings of a decent trade - my fruit leather for their Snickers bar, perhaps?  Occasionally, Mom would make tuna salad sandwiches on whole-grain bread with sprouts, loaded down with pickles and hard-boiled egg, and a tiny bit of mayo (she called it "stretching" the can of tuna).

I'd gaze in envy at my tiny blonde Nordic-looking friends as they pulled out their thin little mayo-ridden, tuna-only sandwiches on soggy white Wonder Bread, wishing my lunches were more like theirs.

God, but kids are so stupid.

-Heather... off make a whole-grain sandwich... Read the full post... 

I coveted my grade school friends' snacks - all gooey Hostess fruit pies and Ding Dongs and sodas.  Daily, I‘d unpack my carrot sticks and apple, with the occasional chocolate pudding and a little note on a napkin from Dad, and I'd wonder how I could somehow cobble together the makings of a decent trade - my fruit leather for their Snickers bar, perhaps?  Occasionally, Mom would make tuna salad sandwiches on whole-grain bread with sprouts, loaded down with pickles and hard-boiled egg, and a tiny bit of mayo (she called it "stretching" the can of tuna).

I'd gaze in envy at my tiny blonde Nordic-looking friends as they pulled out their thin little mayo-ridden, tuna-only sandwiches on soggy white Wonder Bread, wishing my lunches were more like theirs.

God, but kids are so stupid.

-Heather... off make a whole-grain sandwich... Read the full post... 

The college I went to was pretty green. The administration paid to remove invasive English ivy from the lake on campus, there were recycling bins in all the dorms, and the cafeteria even offered a vegan option at each meal. But do those things qualify it as one of the greenest?

Recently, there’s been a commotion in academia surrounding the US News and World Reports college rankings – and I think any green rankings that come out could be similarly controversial. How do you decide what counts for more “points”: invasive species removal or a recycling program?

The brave ones at the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education are gonna have a go at answering that question. And I'm so glad I'm not them right now.
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