The Adlington Post

A couple of weeks ago I was invited to the PHAB studio in Takapuna to help the folks make fridge magnets. We all had a great time, and the guys made some fun things to take home....   PHAB provides opportunity for people both disabled and non-disabled to come together for social activities, with 16 groups that meet weekly throughout the greater Auckland area. They have a main focus of young people 16 - 25.  PHAB strives to break down the barriers that result in social isolation.

"The number of pokie machines in Auckland will continue to drop even if Sky City casino is allowed to have more of them, Prime Minister John Key says." http://news.msn.co.nz/nationalnews/8446024/auckland-pokie-numbers-falling-key-says

The new iphone 5 proudly brought to you by Apple - now available in white!

What most of us internet users don't realize or fully appreciate is the extent to which our on-line activities are being monitored, recorded, stored, bundled and sold to advertisers (& other interested, and even more sinister, parties). We may be vaguely aware that "cookies" (activity trackers) are stored on our computers (which can & should be deleted in your browser's daily. I have recently enabled which, in real time, notifies you of other "trackers" of your activity & data -& will block such moles on request. For example, I searched for this evening.  Ghostery informed me that it had blocked nine (yes 9) trackers on the page I found. Among them was this entity: How's that for jargon?? They are saying that they are tracking visitors to sites and selling the ISP addresses as well as other relevant information ( ie our other web searches, physical address, contacts age, sex, sexual preferences. income, race, location, sites, ...

My buddy Laurie & I enjoyed a meal of crispy-skin duck on a bed of rice at Tai Ping Supermarket last week - this Saturday 22 Sept Tai Ping is holding an Asian Food Festival - stalls, classes, good food!!

The New World supermarket here in Brown's Bay is now selling 1/2 pig's heads for $3. Roasted (unbasted) for an hour and a half @ 180C makes for delicious crackling! I have been looking at some brawn recipies which use boiled pig's heads - coming up folks.  See my youtube video on how to make this roast: .....and my food blog for further cooking adventures: http://sexybachelor.blogspot.co.nz/

Today Laurie & I went foraging in our local neighbourhood & found some wild edibles. Read more @ www.trash-zilla.blogspot.com

I took a brief roadtrip to Hamilton with my friend Laurie Santell. We took a walk around the botanical gardens. There three loungers were in the American Garden...

The annual inorganic roadside trash collection has begun in my area. I cruised around in the van on Sunday & scored a 25kg bag of cement. This year there are even more people trawling through the kerbside offerings - most of them after scrap metal, but there are lots of other goodies and freebees out there as well.

A recent freeganing trip netted a 350grm tub of (still chilled) chicken livers.  A while ago while trash trawling I found a well-used copy of Leah W. Leonard's 1951 book of "Jewish Cookery" on p. 301 is the recipie for molded chicken liver ( a firm favourite with my Jewish friends): "Combine broiled chicken livers,hard cooked eggs and greben. Run through food chopper, season to taste with salt, pepper, celery salt or garlic salt, add chicken or goose fat, or salad oil. Use as a canape spread.Top with tiny bits of pimento or green pepper, minced parsley or water cress, or stuffed olive. Or press into a well-greased mold. Unmold on shredded greens and garnish." OR on p. 382 Leah gives the recipie for "Chopped Liver and Peanut Butter"!: "Two parts chopped liver to 1 part peanut butter makes a delicious spread".

A friend has groceries delivered weekly from the supermarket. When the delivery arrives, last week's veges get thrown away. We brought these home last night: mushrooms, apricots, an avocado, a pack of celery, & some spring onions. For more of my dumpster diving, freeganing & trash trawling adventures see my blog trashzilla

Yesterday I was privileged to address  Room 16 pupils at Owairaka School in Mt Albert on the subject of making sculptures from pieces of bicycles. Bicycle parts were kindly supplied by Marissa Oakley Browne from the Waitakere Recycling Station in Henderson. Watch this space for the results.

Let the Hunger Games Begin Celsias.co.nz reports: "The Great Drought of 2012 has yet to come to an end, but we already know that its consequences will be severe. With more than one-half of America’s counties designated as drought disaster areas, the 2012 harvest of corn, soybeans, and other food staples is guaranteed to fall far short of predictions.  This, in turn, will boost food prices domestically and abroad, causing increased misery for farmers and low-income Americans and far greater hardship for poor people in countries that rely on imported U.S. grains. This, however, is just the beginning of the likely consequences: if history is any guide, rising food prices of this sort will also lead to widespread social unrest and violent conflict. In 2008 a similar scenario led to “food riots” in more than two dozen countries, including Bangladesh, Cameroon, Egypt, Haiti, Indonesia, Senegal, and Yemen. In 2010 a surge in food prices resulted in widespread social unrest, t...

Last November I visited the Waitakere Refuse and recycling Transfer Station to see what happens with the stuff from our recycling bins. I went with my chum Alan, and Marissa Oakley Browne showed us around. Marissa is the Waste Minimisation Educator- Solid Waste Business Unit (Infrastructure & Environmental Services) at Auckland Council, in Mt Albert. Many thanks Marissa.

Another three minutes of fame!! The skilled folks from Whitebait TV made a short doco on my dumpster diving and upcycling activities which screened on June 8 2012. Watch by clicking on the image:

Here are some electrical bits'n'pieces I found in the trash the other day. The analogue phone will be handy for use when the power goes out. I will use some of the other bits for upcycled art projects. The rest will go into my scrap-metal box. I get some $30 for a banana box of electrical wiring from the scrap yard - half a tank of diesel for the van!