Tag: litter

Ballot Bins- A Creative Anti-Litter Effort in Pittsburgh

I saw my first Ballot Bin today on Butler Street in the Lawrenceville neighborhood. Here’s an article in The City Paper about this method to reduce cigarette butt litter in the city. Fighting litter is an ongoing battle. By the number of cigarette butts deposited in the bin, I’d say the Ballot Bin seems to be working.

Non-residents of Pittsburgh may not be familiar with the language of Pittsburghese so click here to familiarize yourself with the dialect. Or Wikipedia has a definition of Western Pennsylvania English with examples of lifelong speakers. Or scroll below photo to see these two words definitions. The questions can be changed on the bins. I’ll keep my eye out for some more examples of this anti-litter campaign.

Guess a tagger saw the Ballot Bin as a blank slate to deface

yinz –The term stems from the word you ones yinz (or yunz), a second-person plural pronoun brought to the area by early Scottish-Irish immigrants.

jagoff- an inept person, an idiot, a jerk

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Look What Was Blowing Around in Their Yard

Guest blog by Jack. “I just found this blowing around in my back yard. I thought about you. It looks like something that would catch your eye…what do you think…Jack”

Yes, if I’d seen it, I would have photographed it too. Thanks Jack.

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Weekly Photo Challenge: Through

About number six on the list of definitions of the word through   – Having finished; at completion

Went to  Farm to Table Conference  (courtesy of Erin Hart, Thank You! and stay tuned for a post tomorrow highlighting the conference)

I ventured out onto the balcony to shoot the bridges, helicopters landing at Allegheny Hospital and the Allegheny River.  At the end of the balcony I found this receptacle filled with items – looked like the people were THROUGH – as in finished- the people who left their cigarettes and soft drinks and beer bottles were definitely THROUGH and they were probably not from the Raw Milk and Organic Fruits and Vegetables crowd.

Not a soul was out there lighting up. But everything seemed in a perfect place in the circle of the trash, an interesting composition.

And-

You know how I enjoy the idea of a garbageologist as a second career.  My mother always said, you can tell a lot about people by their garbage.

And when I turned to go back into the Convention Center, I looked through the window and saw these boys and two male figures, looking out through the windows to see  the Allegheny River.

The Railroad Bridge, plate glass windows, the Allegheny River and reflection. People staring through the windows.

And here are fellow bloggers responses to the Weekly Photo Challenge: Through

Another WPC participant this week is Cardboard Me/ Flat Ruthie is stepping Through a Tart Pan, Sprightly 

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As If “Not Littering” Were/Was(?) Enough….. Which is Correct?

Okay Grammarians. Here’s your chance. I can’t decide which is correct.

1. As if “not littering” were enough to keep Pennsylvania beautiful.

2. As if “not littering” was enough to keep Pennsylvania beautiful.

The more I read them the more I think I should go with- #3 choice-

Is just “not littering” sufficient?

or

“Not littering” isn’t the only thing necessary………

No way to dial a #1-800-Grammar line and find out which is correct.

It’s after eleven PM. The English teachers, working or retired, I know are fast asleep.

Surely someone can help me out with the proper wording of the title.

Maybe it will occur to me in the middle of the night.

Or just check out the sign and don’t worry about my inability to decide.

Shot near Rankin Bridge on Route 837.

This sign is on the entrance to a car junkyard.

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