Petey's
Pipeline E-zine
Issue #36
August 7, 2006
Contents
Business
First Low-tech
Business with a High Probability of Success
Random Ramblings & Miscellaneous Musings
The Case for Hemp Legalization: Paper
Write Thinking Punctuation
– the Marks of Professionals (the Period)
Business
First (Editorial)
Low-tech
Business with a High Probability of Success
Thanks
to high fuel costs and impending energy shortages, there's never
been a better time for fledgling entrepreneurs to get started
in a profitable entry-level home-based business with growth
potential and the promise of long-term security.
So,
what's gonna be hot in the years immediately ahead? Bicycles,
my friends, bicycles! What with global warming, pollution, rising
energy costs, pending energy shortages, rising insurance rates,
and the rapidly rising costs to rebuild crumbling infrastructure
or to build infrastructure anew, owning and riding a bicycle
finally starts to make sense to a lot of people.
With
increasing demand comes increasing opportunities, and there's
no better time than now to get started. Low entry costs make
bike repair a perfect way to begin. The learning curve is short
and not too steep, tool requirements are minimal, and a garage,
basement or spare bedroom can serve as a shop until your business
outgrows it.
If
you already have a place to work, your initial investment can
be as low as $100 for the few wrenches, pliers and screwdrivers
needed to take down a bike and put it back together.
Pick
up two or three bikes in need of repair to practice on. Strip
them down, repair them, then reassemble and sell them. In no
time you'll have the knowledge and mechanical skills you need
to run a bicycle repair shop.
Become
a sales outlet for a full line of bicycle parts and accessories
(including rider apparel). This will provide you with extra
income and pave the way for you to reach your ultimate goal-a
full-fledged bicycle distributorship.
• • •
For
an occasional fix of insight and opinion, read Petey's Pipeline
Blog. Check it out at http://peteys-pipeline.blogspot.com/.
Feel
free to respond to blog postings at any time. Whether you agree
or disagree, your thoughtful, carefully considered comments
are welcome. However,
anything suggestive of a temper tantrum, psychotic episode or
hysteria will be deleted.
Running
a spelling check on your text before making posts is strongly
encouraged. Perfect Text, Petey's
Pipeline E-zine and Petey's
Pipeline Blog exist, in part, to make all of us better writers.
Let's not defeat that purpose by being hasty or becoming careless.
Random
Ramblings & Miscellaneous Musings
The
Case for Hemp Legalization: Paper
by Phil Hanson
As
a growing global population drives demand for energy and natural
resources ever higher, civil society approaches dangerously
close to total meltdown. Now would be a good time for our political
leaders and corporate masters (not that there's much distinction
between the two) to come to terms with the concept of sustainability
and make it an integral part of all economic activity.
Many
staple commodities such as paper and textiles can be manufactured
from more than one source material. It only makes sense to use
those resources that take into account the presence or absence
of factors like quality, durability, longevity, and all other
things that add to—or subtract from—overall value.
Indeed, environmental considerations and economic sustainability
provide some of the best arguments for using cannabis hemp as
a primary feedstock for the paper industry.
Paper
made from hemp fiber offers many advantages over paper made
from wood pulp. The fact that hemp paper is stronger and more
durable than wood pulp paper makes it the logical choice on
which to print textbooks, bibles, dictionaries, encyclopedias,
repair manuals, journals and other books that were meant to
be useful over a span of years rather than a few months. Replacement
costs would plummet.
Hemp
paper manufacturing processes require less bleach—and a
different kind of bleach, at that—than wood pulp processes.
The peroxide bleach used in hemp paper is much less destructive
to the environment than the chlorine bleach used for wood pulp.
A net reduction of toxic chemicals going into rivers and oceans
accompanies a net reduction in manufacturing costs.
Recycling
is another way to extend resources and cut manufacturing costs.
Hemp paper can be recycled again and again and again, 30 or
more times, as opposed to a mere half-dozen or so times for
wood pulp paper. Each recycling represents a net energy savings
as well as conservation of other resources.
Finally,
an industry-wide switch to hemp feedstocks would solidify protections
for the last of our old-growth forests and strengthen protections
for endangered wildlife.
Is
there a downside to using hemp as a feedstock for manufacturing
paper? If there is, I haven't discovered it yet. For now, the
only downside seems to be in not using it.
Copyright
© 2006 by Phil Hanson
All rights reserved.
Write
Thinking
Punctuation – the Marks of Professionals
Getting
punctuation right is critical to making your writing intelligible
and coherent. As with misspelled and misused words, misused
or missing punctuation takes your message off track and confuses
your readers. To help you avoid the avoidable, the next few
installments of Write Thinking deal with punctuation
marks, in all their many forms, with example sentences provided
for clarification.
The
Period
End
declarative and imperative sentences with a period ( . ).
Declarative
sentence: The mail came in this afternoon.
Imperative
sentence: Pick up the mail first.
Use
a period after indirect questions or courteous requests.
Indirect question: She asked if you were coming to
the party.
Courteous
request: Won't you please come to the party.
Use
a period after initials and abbreviations.
Mr.
A.J. Foyt is a retired race car driver who had a successful
career in sprint cars, Indy cars, Champ cars, etc.
Use
a single period to end a sentence when the sentence ends with
an initial or abbreviation (as shown in the sentence above and
the one below).
His appointment is scheduled for tomorrow at 11:00 a.m.
Copyright
© 2006 by Phil Hanson
All rights reserved.
Disclaimer
The
articles appearing in Petey's Pipeline E-zine are based on information
believed to be true at the time of publication.
Neither Perfecttext.com, Petey's Pipeline E-zine nor their publisher
assume any liability or responsibility as to the accuracy or
efficacy of any information, products or services that are submitted,
advertised or rendered by contributors to Petey's Pipeline E-zine.
While we make every effort to screen out scam artists and bogus
offers, you should still do your homework. Caveat emptor!
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