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Thomas M Abercrombie

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@outsidemagazine, 1/24/11 7:46 AM

Outside Magazine (@outsidemagazine) 1/24/11 7:46 AM Our ode to the godfather of #fitness, #Jack LaLanne. A classic profile by Donald Katz. http://bit.ly/eqlcBE #longreads

Thomas M Abercrombie

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An old man or a jets fan

Thomas M Abercrombie

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#9: THE LIFEBOAT RULES

truedogblog <truedog@truedogblog.com

 

I’m always looking for metaphors and finding them in odd places, often despite myself.

I stumbled over this one while talking with Bowser, my Dharma buddy turned Buddhist monk.  The two of us grew up in opposite ends of the San Joaquin Valley and played football against each other in high school.  This metaphor arose when we were sharing our childhood memories of backwater black and white television and the cheesy, low budget B movies that stations back then used to fill their air time late at night or on weekend afternoons.  There were cowboy movies, road racing movies, war movies of every stripe, truck driving movies, aliens from outer space, pirate movies, former serials—both science fiction and cowboy—horror films, and lots of the Three Stooges and the Little Rascals.  And more.

You remember the lifeboat movies?” Bowser chuckled.

“Lifeboat” stopped me in my tracks.

Bowser noticed right away.  “You got that look again,” he said.

By then I was already deep in metaphor gear.

The lifeboat movies Bowser referred to featured a cast of seven or eight, whose boat had been sunk, adrift together on dangerous seas, and the drama that ensued between them as their characters came to the fore.  Lifeboat movies were, of course, cheap to make.  They used bit actors on a set rigged to look like a lifeboat and intercut their scenes with stock footage of waves at sea.  The scripts were generic collisions of stereotypes trapped situations where they couldn’t avoid each other, short on food and water and stripped to their emotional core by the desperation of their plight.  Someone was always battling despair; someone else always wrestled with what passed for madness in that American era, shouting and throwing himself about as he “lost his head,” only to be “brought to his senses” by a hard blow to the jaw. Otherwise, most of the dialogue was relatively vapid soliloquies on their lives.  At their inevitable rescue finale, almost all of them experienced some epiphany about themselves and how different they needed to be from then on.

Those televised low budget dramas sucked as cinema, but their artistry wasn’t what struck me when I was hanging with Bowser.  It was metaphor—and the possibility of using “Lifeboat” to frame and evoke the situation in which our civilization now finds itself.  After a day or so contemplating lifeboats, I came up with five significant similarities between the current us and my new metaphor:

We will soon be adrift in peril after our mother ship’s failure.   The world we assumed for ourselves is disappearing as a consequence of our alteration of the atmosphere’s chemistry and the ensuing destabilization of climate patterns.  We face deep deterioration in the world as we have known it and potentially massive attendant casualties. We must reinvent civilization in new, diminished circumstances with little but ourselves to count on. Lifeboats are used to survive dislocation and dislocation is about to become our daily experience, with civilization as we know it at stake.

We have nowhere else to go.  Like lifeboat riders, we do not have the option of starting over or ignoring our situation.  We are stuck in our lifeboat until we find some way to organize our rescue.  That vessel is all that separates us from disaster.  We need to accept confinement in it as part of the price of survival.  The hostile sea in which we float dictates many of the terms we must live with and to which we must adjust.

We are in uncharted waters. Our circumstance is unprecedented in human history, making navigation problematic at best.  No one before us has managed to disrupt the planet’s cycles to the point of threatening our species with what in the very worst case scenario looks like oblivion.  Where that disruption will carry us is unknown.  Like lifeboaters, we have to act without any sure means to verify our course or reassure ourselves of the outcome.  Uncertainty prevails and the decisions we must make require us to calculate over the horizon.

We have only finite resources with which to sustain ourselves. Part of the disruption that brings us to our lifeboat is the shrinking of the communal capacity to maintain our traditional lifestyles and the endless growth they require.  Shortages will multiply and the chemistry of our air will dictate how much we can use of what resources remain.  Like lifeboaters dividing up their chocolate bars and rationing their water, we have to find new ways to get by in severely reduced circumstances and still stay strong enough to paddle.

All our fates are mutual.  In a lifeboat, any single occupant can drown all the rest by shifting their weight to the wrong spot, and the physical demands of the lifeboat require the sum of everyone’s strength, applied in concert.  Such interrelationship is a fundamental characteristic of the world that will soon be upon us.  Any of us can tip the rest of us into the drink simply by not being mindful of all the others.

Metaphors, of course, bring with them an implied set of behaviors that must be adopted to actualize the metaphor.  So too with “Lifeboat.”  If we are in a Lifeboat, we have to behave like lifeboaters adrift on the sea, intent on optimizing our chances.

It took me another few days to identify a bunch of those behaviors.  I call them the Lifeboat Rules:

Make more out of less;

Don’t panic;

Accept insecurity;

Share what there is;

Be patient;

Take everyone into account;

Conserve energy;

Learn as much as possible about what’s going on;

Accept responsibility;

Hold each other accountable;

Think collectively;

Steer into the wind; and

Don’t take anything for granted.

When I’d finished my ruminations, I was excited about my new metaphor and all that it implied, so I stopped by to blurt it all out to Bowser.

Bowser wasn’t particularly moved, though he did chuckle.

“So,” he wondered out loud, “what makes you think bad movies make good metaphors?”

Posted via email from Newport Beach California 92663

Move over, Cow!

By ANNE MARIE CHAKER

F. Martin Ramin for The Wall Street Journal

Got almonds? Almond milk makes a mustache, too.

The new darling on the dairy shelf is almond milk.

Two brands—Silk Pure Almond, from Dean Foods Co., of Dallas, and Almond Breeze, from Blue Diamond Growers, of Sacramento, Calif.—are waging a Coke-and-Pepsi style market-share battle in the supermarket. Almond milk's appearance in the refrigerated dairy case in 2010 helped fuel 13% growth in milk alternatives, a category where sales were flat the year before, according to SymphonyIRI Group, a Chicago market research firm.

Coke vs. Pepsi

Almond Breeze, from Blue Diamond Growers, and Silk Pure Almond, from Dean Foods Co., are battling it out in the dairy case.

F. Martin Ramin for The Wall Street Journal

Dean Foods (Silk)

Milk alternatives—creamy liquids derived from non-dairy sources—are on the rise, especially in households where people are lactose-intolerant or dairy-allergic. The food industry is quickly ramping up the options, offering milks derived from soybeans, rice, coconut, hazelnuts and even hemp. The sales growth follows decades of slow, steady decline in consumption of cow's milk in the U.S.

Almond milk has shot up from nowhere, appealing to shoppers like Tammy Wade, of Calvin, Okla., who first tried it about a year ago as part of an effort to eliminate dairy products from her diet. When she and her husband go grocery shopping, they often have to visit three different supermarkets to find it.

"A lot of times we find it's totally gone off the shelf," she says. "We try to buy it two at a time." They like to add almond milk to breakfast cereal and coffee, and they use it to make everything from mashed potatoes to chocolate cake.

Barry Lovelace, a fitness trainer and owner of a gym in Allentown, Pa., sometimes has difficulty finding almond milk in stores, and so he loads up when he can. He and his wife go through as many as six half-gallon containers a week. "It is such a hot item now," Mr. Lovelace says. "We will buy three vanilla and three chocolate at a time, as long as they have it."

Almond milk is made when roasted almonds are crushed to make almond butter, then mixed with water plus vitamins, stabilizers and, in some cases, a sweetener, such as evaporated cane juice. Compared with other alternatives, almond milk is especially low in calories: A cup of original-formula Silk Pure Almond contains 60 calories, compared with 90 calories for a cup of original-formula Silk soymilk and 130 calories for a cup of 2% milk. "It tastes incredible," says Mr. Lovelace, who used to drink rice milk and soymilk.

Consumers are paying premium prices for almond milk, in contrast to regular milk where grocers often cut prices, sometimes below their own cost, to lure shoppers. And dairy beverage consumption has been in a slow and steady decline in recent decades, with the average consumer drinking 20.8 gallons of cow's milk in 2008, down from 24.3 in 1994, according to the U.S. Agriculture Department.

Milk substitutes are tiny compared with the estimated $13 billion in retail sales of regular milk. Lower calorie and fat profiles are helping sales of some substitutes, as is the increasing attention to dairy allergies and vegan lifestyles.

Almond milk may also be able to draw consumers who drink the most established milk alternative, soymilk. Soy contains estrogen-like chemicals, called phytoestrogens, and heightened exposure to estrogen has been linked with increased risk of breast cancer. Researchers haven't established a direct correlation between phytoestrogens and breast cancer, and some studies even point to the possibility that soy-based phytoestrogens may decrease breast cancer formation, says Barbour S. Warren, breast cancer research associate at Cornell University. Still, given the uncertainty, Dr. Warren says women should consume soy-based foods in moderation.

Many Milk Mustaches

View Full Image

F. Martin Ramin for The Wall Street Journal

Soy Milk

View Full Image

F. Martin Ramin for The Wall Street Journal

Rice Milk

View Full Image

F. Martin Ramin for The Wall Street Journal

Coconut Milk

View Full Image

F. Martin Ramin for The Wall Street Journal

2% Cow's Milk

Almond milk in shelf-stable packages has been around since at least the late 1990s, when low-fat foods were in vogue and nuts were perceived as high in fat. Then, almond milk had a low consumer profile, but sales picked up in 2003 as low-carb eating became fashionable and snacking on nuts was encouraged.

Still, until almond milk was sold alongside traditional milk in the refrigerator case, "we knew our opportunity was limited," says John O'Shaughnessy, general manager of the consumer products division at Blue Diamond.

That's what happened by the end of 2009. The resulting consumer demand has surprised many supermarket chains, which normally track every nuance of consumer purchasing. Wegmans Food Markets Inc., headquartered in Rochester, N.Y., began stocking refrigerated almond milk last March. "It is outpacing the growth of every other non-dairy milk alternative we sell," says spokeswoman Jo Natale.

Whole Foods Market, of Austin, Texas, rolled out its own private-label organic refrigerated almond milk to stores in August. Errol Schweizer, senior global grocery coordinator says almond milk and coconut milk are both strong sellers. "The growth on both has been really surprising," he says.

Among the top 20 brands in the milk substitutes category, Almond Breeze and Silk Pure Almond currently rank fourth and fifth respectively, according to SymphonyIRI, which tracks food sales at major retail chains, except Wal-Mart. "The beauty of the almond milk category is that almonds are so familiar to consumers, and there's an expectation of great taste there," says Brooke Hansen, Silk brand manager. Silk Pure Almond's success is all the more striking during a period of subdued consumer spending. "It's a more challenging time for consumers to take risks" and try new products, she says.

Blue Diamond Growers began testing Almond Breeze in late 2008 in Florida markets with large Hispanic populations, a group with higher-than-average incidence of lactose intolerance. "It went gangbusters," Mr. O'Shaughnessy says. Encouraged, Blue Diamond rolled out Almond Breeze nationally in 2009 and today it is in more than 90% of U.S. grocery stores, Blue Diamond says.

By January 2010 there was a new refrigerated almond milk entrant—from Silk, a brand already known for soymilk. In March, it kicked off an advertising and promotion campaign, including TV and print ads and coupons offering 55 cents off a half-gallon of Silk Pure Almond. Sales were soon nipping at the heels of Almond Breeze, hitting $47.1 million in 2010, compared with $57.8 million for Almond Breeze, SymphonyIRI says.

Ever since, couponing and discounting has been fast and furious in a race to win new customers and build brand loyalty. "It's a dog fight," Mr. O'Shaughnessy says. If a customer buys some Silk Pure Almond, she may receive a coupon for Almond Breeze at checkout, he says.

Silk is already looking at the next potential milk alternative: This month, it has launched coconut milk in the refrigerated section of supermarkets and grocery stores nationwide. "We have high hopes," says Brooke Hansen, Silk brand manager.

None of this has escaped the notice of the dairy industry. Last spring, the Arlington, Va.-based National Milk Producers Federation, which lobbies for dairy farmers, wrote a letter to the Food and Drug Administration asking for a crackdown on use of the word "milk" on dairy alternatives.

In the letter, the federation president, Jerry Kozak, called almond milk and other alternatives "plant-derived imitation products." The letter says the products aren't as nutritious as cow's milk because they don't typically contain as much calcium naturally, but instead are calcium-fortified, and the body may not absorb as much of it.

"Soymilk is not an imitation," says Nancy Chapman, executive director of the Soyfoods Association of North America. "It has been used intentionally for hundreds of years" in cultures where dairy products aren't typically consumed.

Andrea Giancoli, spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association, says while the body may absorb less calcium from a fortified product, it still absorbs "a substantial amount." "The difference is usually not enough to change your dietary choice," she says. She advises consumers shake the carton of a milk alternative well before drinking, because calcium can settle at the bottom.

Who's the Milkiest of Them All?

Based on a one-cup serving.

Almond milk, F. Martin Ramin for The Wall Street Journal (5)

Almond Milk*

Calories: 60

Fat: 2.5 grams

Sugar: 7 grams

Vitamin D and Calcium: 25% and 30%**

Taste: Pleasantly sweet and nutty; nice almond notes

In Coffee: Smells great. Turns ordinary coffee into almond coffee.

On Cereal: Oh yes. Enhances but doesn't overpower a bowl of raisin bran.

Dunking Cookies: A sweet-on-sweet experience. Improved the cookie by adding the flavor of a nut.

Price***: $1.80 for 32 ounces

Soy milk

Soy Milk*

Calories: 90

Fat: 3.5 grams

Sugar: 6 grams

Vitamin D and Calcium: 30% and 30%**

Taste: Slightly sweet with a slightly bitter, some say 'beany,' aftertaste

In Coffee: Very close to cow's milk, with similar taste and heft.

On Cereal: Dark-beige color makes it a tough sell for kids.

Dunking Cookies: An above-average cookie foil, close to cow's milk. Not too sweet.

Price***: $1.90 for 32 ounces

Rice milk

Rice Milk*

Calories: 120

Fat: 2.5 grams

Sugar: 10 grams

Vitamin D and Calcium: 25% and 30%**

Taste: Pleasantly fragrant if a bit watery and sweet, with clear rice notes

In Coffee: Didn't quite hold its own against the coffee. Not very creamy.

On Cereal: Had a look and taste similar to skim cow's milk, added a not-unpleasant starchy note.

Dunking Cookies: Absorbed quickly, making for a soggy cookie.

Price***: $2.99 for 32 ounces

Coconut milk

Coconut Milk*

Calories: 80

Fat: 5 grams

Sugar: 6 grams

Vitamin D and Calcium: 30% and 10%**

Taste: Strong coconut notes with a dairy-like tang. 'Tastes like coconut yogurt,' one taster said.

With Coffee: Seemed to separate, leaving a bit of a sheen on top. Not recommended.

On Cereal: Adhered well to flakes, but the thicker texture and tart flavor didn't marry well with raisin bran.

Dunking Cookies: Interesting flavor combination.

Price***: $2.55 for 32 ounces

2% cow's milk

Cow's Milk (2%)*

Calories: 130

Fat: 5 grams

Sugar: 12 grams

Vitamin D and Calcium: 25% and 30%**

Taste: Rolls beautifully across the tongue. And the buttery shade adds to its appeal.

With Coffee: Transforms black coffee into something creamy without overpowering it.

On Cereal: A little plain-Jane next to cereal with almond milk.

Dunking Cookies: Still the gold standard

Price***: $1.25 for 32 ounces

NOTES:

* Brands compared: Blue Diamond Almond Breeze, original; Silk Soymilk, original; Rice Dream Enriched; So Delicious, original; Giant Food brand 2%. Results may vary by brand.

** Percent daily values are based on a 2,000-calorie diet.

***Retail prices in effect on Jan. 11, 2011, at Giant Food in Silver Spring, Md.

Posted via email from eWaste Disposal and Recycling

Move Over, Cow

By ANNE MARIE CHAKER Got almonds? Almond milk makes a mustache, too. .The new darling on the dairy shelf is almond milk. Two brands—Silk Pure Almond, from Dean Foods Co., of Dallas, and Almond Breeze, from Blue Diamond Growers, of Sacramento, Calif.—are waging a Coke-and-Pepsi style market-share battle in the supermarket. Almond milk's appearance in the refrigerated dairy case in 2010 helped fuel 13% growth in milk alternatives, a category where sales were flat the year before, according to SymphonyIRI Group, a Chicago market research firm. Coke vs. Pepsi Almond Breeze, from Blue Diamond Growers, and Silk Pure Almond, from Dean Foods Co., are battling it out in the dairy case. F. Martin Ramin for The Wall Street Journal . Dean Foods (Silk) ..Milk alternatives—creamy liquids derived from non-dairy sources—are on the rise, especially in households where people are lactose-intolerant or dairy-allergic. The food industry is quickly ramping up the options, offering milks derived from soybeans, rice, coconut, hazelnuts and even hemp. The sales growth follows decades of slow, steady decline in consumption of cow's milk in the U.S. Almond milk has shot up from nowhere, appealing to shoppers like Tammy Wade, of Calvin, Okla., who first tried it about a year ago as part of an effort to eliminate dairy products from her diet. When she and her husband go grocery shopping, they often have to visit three different supermarkets to find it. "A lot of times we find it's totally gone off the shelf," she says. "We try to buy it two at a time." They like to add almond milk to breakfast cereal and coffee, and they use it to make everything from mashed potatoes to chocolate cake. Barry Lovelace, a fitness trainer and owner of a gym in Allentown, Pa., sometimes has difficulty finding almond milk in stores, and so he loads up when he can. He and his wife go through as many as six half-gallon containers a week. "It is such a hot item now," Mr. Lovelace says. "We will buy three vanilla and three chocolate at a time, as long as they have it." Almond milk is made when roasted almonds are crushed to make almond butter, then mixed with water plus vitamins, stabilizers and, in some cases, a sweetener, such as evaporated cane juice. Compared with other alternatives, almond milk is especially low in calories: A cup of original-formula Silk Pure Almond contains 60 calories, compared with 90 calories for a cup of original-formula Silk soymilk and 130 calories for a cup of 2% milk. "It tastes incredible," says Mr. Lovelace, who used to drink rice milk and soymilk. Consumers are paying premium prices for almond milk, in contrast to regular milk where grocers often cut prices, sometimes below their own cost, to lure shoppers. And dairy beverage consumption has been in a slow and steady decline in recent decades, with the average consumer drinking 20.8 gallons of cow's milk in 2008, down from 24.3 in 1994, according to the U.S. Agriculture Department. Milk substitutes are tiny compared with the estimated $13 billion in retail sales of regular milk. Lower calorie and fat profiles are helping sales of some substitutes, as is the increasing attention to dairy allergies and vegan lifestyles. Almond milk may also be able to draw consumers who drink the most established milk alternative, soymilk. Soy contains estrogen-like chemicals, called phytoestrogens, and heightened exposure to estrogen has been linked with increased risk of breast cancer. Researchers haven't established a direct correlation between phytoestrogens and breast cancer, and some studies even point to the possibility that soy-based phytoestrogens may decrease breast cancer formation, says Barbour S. Warren, breast cancer research associate at Cornell University. Still, given the uncertainty, Dr. Warren says women should consume soy-based foods in moderation. Many Milk Mustaches View Full Image F. Martin Ramin for The Wall Street Journal .Soy Milk View Full Image F. Martin Ramin for The Wall Street Journal .Rice Milk View Full Image F. Martin Ramin for The Wall Street Journal .Coconut Milk View Full Image F. Martin Ramin for The Wall Street Journal .2% Cow's Milk.Almond milk in shelf-stable packages has been around since at least the late 1990s, when low-fat foods were in vogue and nuts were perceived as high in fat. Then, almond milk had a low consumer profile, but sales picked up in 2003 as low-carb eating became fashionable and snacking on nuts was encouraged. Still, until almond milk was sold alongside traditional milk in the refrigerator case, "we knew our opportunity was limited," says John O'Shaughnessy, general manager of the consumer products division at Blue Diamond. That's what happened by the end of 2009. The resulting consumer demand has surprised many supermarket chains, which normally track every nuance of consumer purchasing. Wegmans Food Markets Inc., headquartered in Rochester, N.Y., began stocking refrigerated almond milk last March. "It is outpacing the growth of every other non-dairy milk alternative we sell," says spokeswoman Jo Natale. Whole Foods Market, of Austin, Texas, rolled out its own private-label organic refrigerated almond milk to stores in August. Errol Schweizer, senior global grocery coordinator says almond milk and coconut milk are both strong sellers. "The growth on both has been really surprising," he says. Among the top 20 brands in the milk substitutes category, Almond Breeze and Silk Pure Almond currently rank fourth and fifth respectively, according to SymphonyIRI, which tracks food sales at major retail chains, except Wal-Mart. "The beauty of the almond milk category is that almonds are so familiar to consumers, and there's an expectation of great taste there," says Brooke Hansen, Silk brand manager. Silk Pure Almond's success is all the more striking during a period of subdued consumer spending. "It's a more challenging time for consumers to take risks" and try new products, she says. Blue Diamond Growers began testing Almond Breeze in late 2008 in Florida markets with large Hispanic populations, a group with higher-than-average incidence of lactose intolerance. "It went gangbusters," Mr. O'Shaughnessy says. Encouraged, Blue Diamond rolled out Almond Breeze nationally in 2009 and today it is in more than 90% of U.S. grocery stores, Blue Diamond says. By January 2010 there was a new refrigerated almond milk entrant—from Silk, a brand already known for soymilk. In March, it kicked off an advertising and promotion campaign, including TV and print ads and coupons offering 55 cents off a half-gallon of Silk Pure Almond. Sales were soon nipping at the heels of Almond Breeze, hitting $47.1 million in 2010, compared with $57.8 million for Almond Breeze, SymphonyIRI says. Ever since, couponing and discounting has been fast and furious in a race to win new customers and build brand loyalty. "It's a dog fight," Mr. O'Shaughnessy says. If a customer buys some Silk Pure Almond, she may receive a coupon for Almond Breeze at checkout, he says. Silk is already looking at the next potential milk alternative: This month, it has launched coconut milk in the refrigerated section of supermarkets and grocery stores nationwide. "We have high hopes," says Brooke Hansen, Silk brand manager. None of this has escaped the notice of the dairy industry. Last spring, the Arlington, Va.-based National Milk Producers Federation, which lobbies for dairy farmers, wrote a letter to the Food and Drug Administration asking for a crackdown on use of the word "milk" on dairy alternatives. In the letter, the federation president, Jerry Kozak, called almond milk and other alternatives "plant-derived imitation products." The letter says the products aren't as nutritious as cow's milk because they don't typically contain as much calcium naturally, but instead are calcium-fortified, and the body may not absorb as much of it. "Soymilk is not an imitation," says Nancy Chapman, executive director of the Soyfoods Association of North America. "It has been used intentionally for hundreds of years" in cultures where dairy products aren't typically consumed. Andrea Giancoli, spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association, says while the body may absorb less calcium from a fortified product, it still absorbs "a substantial amount." "The difference is usually not enough to change your dietary choice," she says. She advises consumers shake the carton of a milk alternative well before drinking, because calcium can settle at the bottom. Who's the Milkiest of Them All? Based on a one-cup serving. Almond milk, F. Martin Ramin for The Wall Street Journal (5) .Almond Milk* Calories: 60 Fat: 2.5 grams Sugar: 7 grams Vitamin D and Calcium: 25% and 30%** Taste: Pleasantly sweet and nutty; nice almond notes In Coffee: Smells great. Turns ordinary coffee into almond coffee. On Cereal: Oh yes. Enhances but doesn't overpower a bowl of raisin bran. Dunking Cookies: A sweet-on-sweet experience. Improved the cookie by adding the flavor of a nut. Price***: $1.80 for 32 ounces Soy milk .Soy Milk* Calories: 90 Fat: 3.5 grams Sugar: 6 grams Vitamin D and Calcium: 30% and 30%** Taste: Slightly sweet with a slightly bitter, some say 'beany,' aftertaste In Coffee: Very close to cow's milk, with similar taste and heft. On Cereal: Dark-beige color makes it a tough sell for kids. Dunking Cookies: An above-average cookie foil, close to cow's milk. Not too sweet. Price***: $1.90 for 32 ounces Rice milk .Rice Milk* Calories: 120 Fat: 2.5 grams Sugar: 10 grams Vitamin D and Calcium: 25% and 30%** Taste: Pleasantly fragrant if a bit watery and sweet, with clear rice notes In Coffee: Didn't quite hold its own against the coffee. Not very creamy. On Cereal: Had a look and taste similar to skim cow's milk, added a not-unpleasant starchy note. Dunking Cookies: Absorbed quickly, making for a soggy cookie. Price***: $2.99 for 32 ounces Coconut milk .Coconut Milk* Calories: 80 Fat: 5 grams Sugar: 6 grams Vitamin D and Calcium: 30% and 10%** Taste: Strong coconut notes with a dairy-like tang. 'Tastes like coconut yogurt,' one taster said. With Coffee: Seemed to separate, leaving a bit of a sheen on top. Not recommended. On Cereal: Adhered well to flakes, but the thicker texture and tart flavor didn't marry well with raisin bran. Dunking Cookies: Interesting flavor combination. Price***: $2.55 for 32 ounces 2% cow's milk .Cow's Milk (2%)* Calories: 130 Fat: 5 grams Sugar: 12 grams Vitamin D and Calcium: 25% and 30%** Taste: Rolls beautifully across the tongue. And the buttery shade adds to its appeal. With Coffee: Transforms black coffee into something creamy without overpowering it. On Cereal: A little plain-Jane next to cereal with almond milk. Dunking Cookies: Still the gold standard Price***: $1.25 for 32 ounces NOTES: * Brands compared: Blue Diamond Almond Breeze, original; Silk Soymilk, original; Rice Dream Enriched; So Delicious, original; Giant Food brand 2%. Results may vary by brand. ** Percent daily values are based on a 2,000-calorie diet. ***Retail prices in effect on Jan. 11, 2011, at Giant Food in Silver Spring, Md. .Write to Anne Marie Chaker at anne-marie.chaker@wsj.com

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Electronics recycling for cash at www.ewastedisposal.net

CASHING IN: An old iPhone can garner you some cold cash. (Photo: ZUMA Press)

 

Thanks to improved technology recycling programs across the U.S., disposing of broken, unwanted, or outdated electronics in an eco-friendly way has become much less of a hassle in recent years.

But how to get cash for old electronics remains a mystery to many folks, who often would rather just throw out old laptops, TVs, and iWhatevers than try to recoup a reward for recycling them. Specifically, figuring out how much an item is worth and how to get the most for it continues to trip up many would-be recyclers.

Since the weeks after the holidays are a prime time for discarding old electronics and replacing them with newer, trendier ones — all those e-presents sitting under the tree! — here are a few things to keep in mind when you want to make a quick buck off your old gadgets.

So what can I get?

Don't bother unloading your e-waste at a pawn shop, where you'll be left wondering if you've gotten a fair deal or not. Companies such as Gazelle, Nextworth, and YouRenew will gladly take a variety of old electronics off your hands and offer cash in return — or in some cases, gift cards or charitable contributions — based on market data and the condition of whatever you're trying to part with. If the item in question is in rough shape and cash isn't an option, they'll still help you recycle it.

If you ultimately decide not to sell through one of the above companies and would rather sell an e-castaway yourself via a website like Craigslist or eBay (or at a garage sale), it's still worth exploring their sites to figure out the worth of an item.

Based on information taken from Gazelle, below is what you can get for a variety of pre-owned items that are in functional condition and come with all accessories. These rates reflect the condition of the item, "poor" indicating serious wear and tear while "perfect" means the item looks brand new.

• Smart phones: iPhone 3G 16GB: $25 (poor condition) to $125 (perfect condition). Blackberry Pearl 8100: $0 (poor condition) to $24 (perfect condition).
• Digital cameras: Kodak EasyShare M580: $11 (poor condition) to $54 (perfect condition). Canon PowerShot SD600 Digital ELPH: $4 (poor condition) to $20 (perfect condition).
• Pocket video camera: Flip Video Mino: $6 (poor condition) to $30 (perfect condition).
• Laptop computers: MacBook Core 2 Duo T8300 2.4GHz 13.3" 160GB Super Drive: $45 (poor condition) to $223 (perfect condition). Dell laptop with Celeron D processor, 11GB hard drive: $0 (poor condition) to $49 (perfect condition).
• Gaming system: Microsoft Xbox gaming console: $4 (poor condition) to $20 (perfect condition).
• E-readers: iPad 32GB WiFi + 3G: $71 (poor condition) to $354 (perfect condition). Amazon Kindle 2 Wireless Reading Device: $11 (poor condition) to $57 (perfect condition).
• Video player: Roku Netflix HD Digital Video Player: $1 (poor condition) to $38 (perfect condition).

What affects the price?

The going rates for used electronics may drop significantly if you don't include things like the original packaging, cords, cables, cases, and instruction manuals. For example, the price of a pre-owned iPhone 3G in pristine condition drops from $125 to $115 if the original cables and AC adapter are not included.

And as evidenced above, the physical condition of an item plays heavily into how much you'll get back for it. A few deep scratches or a couple of dents can drastically lower the resale worth of an item, so it helps to take good care of your stuff if you're thinking about reselling it later on.

What about sensitive data?

Apprehensive about reselling used electronics, specifically cell phones and computers, because of all the data that are still alive and well inside them?

The companies mentioned above will erase any sensitive information on an item for you before it's resold, so no need to fret about doing it yourself. If you decide to sell an item through other channels, erasing data yourself can be an easy and inexpensive effort using free security programs (and no, deleting files won't make them completely disappear).

For cell phones, check out ReCellular's Data Eraser, and for computer hard drives, watch this excellent instructional video over at PCWorld. If you doubt your own data-erasing abilities, pay a quick visit to your local computer specialist.

What if I can't get cash for an item?

Have an old item that's beyond repair and won't sell on the secondhand electronics marketplace? In addition to recycling through Gazelle or other online companies, many retailers including Best Buy offer free or low-cost recycling programs that ensure an item won't be landfilled. For cell phones, the Environmental Protection Agency maintains a list of mobile providers that also have individual take-back/donation programs.

And if you can't get cash for an item because it doesn't work or is in complete disrepair, that doesn't mean you should just unload it at a nonprofit organization like the Salvation Army or Goodwill. These organizations are not e-trash depositories — their goal is to resell what's given to them, so if you donate an item, make sure it works. Otherwise, they'll have to pay to recycle it.

More from Mother Nature Network:

• 7 things you can make yourself instead of buying
• Your guide to electronics recycling

Posted via email from eWaste Disposal and Recycling