[email protected]

In a message dated 1/10/03 8:56:21 AM, KathrynJB@... writes:

<< I was in the car heading to The National Plastics Museum with Julian, who
is
13, the other day. (I bet you didn't know there WAS one! Neither did I.) >>

Before I read ONE MORE WORD of what you wrote, I want to say this:

I love plastics. Not I love plastic things, but I'm fascinated in an
ignorant way with the differences in the way different vinyls feel, in the
stuff milk-gallon "bottles" are made of. Of Lego vs. the other harder, cheap
knock-off stuff. I don't understand enough chemistry to read anything
technical about plastics engineering but of all the sciences that is the one
that calls to me. Like some people want to go to Hawaii (I never have wanted
to), I want to know more about plastics.

In the desert, some plastics just die at some point. Their life is done.
Too much dry heat, and one season the whole thing (toy or dashboard of a car
or moulding on a tool or something) just cracks and falls apart. Kind of the
way glue on old paperbacks from the 1960's or 70's just dies one year and
that's that. Then there are some plastics which seem not to have that
problem.

When we went to Indiana years ago for a homeschooling slumber party (an
e-mail loop decided to get together and eight (?) families met in Indiana at
a big house for a long weekend) I had requested a trip to a plastics factory,
but the hostess didn't think I was serious. And there might not have been
any anyway. I think there are in Illinois, and in Missouri, but Indiana
seemed to have corn fields like Texas has oil wells--in every vacant lot and
along every roadway.

So now having confessed my fascination, maybe some of you will find a little
flyer or a website or something that will give my plastic-loving soul a
thrill.

And the most wonderful plastic (vinyl) I have ever touched was some soft baby
toys from Finland, I think, that Discovery Toys used to sell. We had an
elephant and a giraffe, and I've never known finer manufactured material.

I'm also interested in the "lumber" made out of recycled trash bags. Our
city busstop benches here are made of it, and in Alamogordo there's a big
wooden kids' playground, but the boardwalks are made with that plastic wood.
I don't know how long it will last in the sun in the heat in Alamogordo, but
it has the feel of outlasting real wood at least ten times over.

Sandra

nellebelle

I just learned that fleece is made from recycled plastic bottles. Amazing!

Mary Ellen


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[email protected]

In a message dated 1/10/2003 12:34:46 PM Eastern Standard Time,
nellebelle@... writes:
> I just learned that fleece is made from recycled plastic bottles. Amazing!

Well...FLEECE is made by critters (sheep, alpacas, goats).

POLAR fleece is made from plastic! <G>

~Kelly


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

nellebelle

Thank you for the clarification (SHEEPISH grin)

Mary Ellen
----- Original Message -----Well...FLEECE is made by critters (sheep, alpacas, goats).

POLAR fleece is made from plastic!


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

The Robbins' Nest

<<<So now having confessed my fascination, maybe some of you will find a little
flyer or a website or something that will give my plastic-loving soul a
thrill. >>>

My husband is an (unschooled) injection molding process engineer (by title only). The company he works for makes connectors for computers, phones, and such. You know those little plastic things you plug your phone into? He started out as a janitor (cleaning toilets and mowing the grounds at another plant) and progressed to the actual molding of various items such as Christmas tree stands, those huge paper clip letter holder thingies, and even drinking cups. He finds plastics utterly fascinating. We cannot go anywhere without him letting us know exactly what type of plastic something is made of......polystyrene, pvc, polypropolene, polyethelene, nylon, etc.....

Here are some things he suggested to find out more:
Plastics News--he said it is a magazine but they might have a website
Society of Plastic Engineers---they should have a website
American Plastics Counsel--they do all of those commercials on tv

His favorite statement is "plastic is our friend" and he uses it fairly often. :)

Kimber in AR
The Robbins' Nest
ds Alex (9) and dd Mady (6)





[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[email protected]

In a message dated 1/10/03 11:07:54 AM, snibbor@... writes:

<< Here are some things he suggested to find out more: >>

PLEASE THANK HIM!
And thank you!

I'll look later, because Holly wants me to come help her practice her fiddle.

Sandra

Betsy

**I'm also interested in the "lumber" made out of recycled trash bags.
Our
city busstop benches here are made of it, and in Alamogordo there's a
big
wooden kids' playground, but the boardwalks are made with that plastic
wood.
I don't know how long it will last in the sun in the heat in Alamogordo,
but
it has the feel of outlasting real wood at least ten times over.**


I think it's called TREX. (A friend had a deck made out of it, but I've
only heard the word pronounced.)

In Santa Cruz they have a plastic boardwalk made of this stuff that goes
down the beach. And they have a plastic wheelchair available so that
people who can't walk can still get in the water and get a little wet.
(Presumably with supervision.)

There must be kid reading level science books about plastic out there
somewhere. Or a Mr. Rogers neighborhood video tour.

Betsy

Betsy

**Thank you for the clarification (SHEEPISH grin)**

Cute! A sheepish grin is MUCH more becoming than a plastic smile.

Betsy

[email protected]

In a message dated 1/10/03 11:26:27 AM, ecsamhill@... writes:

<< There must be kid reading level science books about plastic out there
somewhere. Or a Mr. Rogers neighborhood video tour.
>>

Last Sunday we were at Hometown Buffet. The day Holly wanted to eat paper
and I told her not to.

But anyway...

She said that when she grew up she wanted to work in a factory like on Mr.
Rogers. Maybe where they made socks. Or maybe a factory where they made (I
forget what, raincoats, I think--cutting with an electric cutter through
piles of fabric), or Fig Newtons...

We said maybe she would get bored after half a day.

She named some other factories. The other kids who were with us had seen
those shows too. I had seen a couple of them. And I told them about the
Levi's factory I had been in one time to deliver something, and had walked by
piles of pockets, piles of back left leg...

But ultimately I said I thought maybe what she wanted to do when she grew up
was to watch Mr. Rogers' factory tour videos!

Sandra

[email protected]

In a message dated 1/10/2003 3:30:05 PM Central Standard Time,
SandraDodd@... writes:

> She said that when she grew up she wanted to work in a factory like on Mr.
> Rogers. Maybe where they made socks. Or maybe a factory where they made
> (I
> forget what, raincoats, I think--cutting with an electric cutter through
> piles of fabric), or Fig Newtons...
>
> We said maybe she would get bored after half a day.
>

She could do all of them! I love doing work like that. But not for too long
(six months, maybe). Lots of people who work in factories work in more than
one over the course of their lives. It can be fun if you take the right
attitude.

I like jobs like that because it's easy to think and not worry about too
much.

It would be more fun to me, though, to design the systems they use in
factories. I can always see where it could be more efficient to do it this
way or that.

Tuck


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Heidi Wordhouse-Dykema

At 04:28 PM 1/10/2003 -0500, you wrote:
>She said that when she grew up she wanted to work in a factory like on Mr.
>Rogers. Maybe where they made socks. Or maybe a factory where they made (I


You can tell Holly that you know someone who worked in a factory that made
Keebler Cookies.
Yep, you guessed it. I was a Keebler Elf for a whole summer. (grin) I
came home smelling like chocolate every single night. (actually, every
morning as I worked the night shift.) Did you know Keebler Elves are
unionized?

I used to have nightmares about those chocolate chip cookies coming down
the conveyer belt and not being able to keep up with them.... until they
moved me to the PopTart line. That was cool. I had a big red button that
would dump Poptarts into the refuse bin and another that would shut down my
part of the line entirely. And yes, we munched on them until we couldn't
stand it (although you weren't supposed to.)

I can think of a lot of worse jobs, but it gets REALLY dull, really fast.
Tell her that if she really wants a factory job, work QA because it will
let her wander around and visit with people. Everyone else has to stay put
in their spots.
Heidi

[email protected]

In a message dated 1/10/2003 7:15:19 PM Eastern Standard Time,
KathrynJB@... writes:
> We went to visit a pretzel factory in Lancaster County, PA, and one job was
> using a hook to grab dough that didn't shape right from the assembly line.
> We
> thought that would be a fun job...for about half an hour. We started to
> think
> about all the jobs in the world that would be fun for about that amount of
>
> time, then be deadly.


When Ben sold food (to restaurants & hospitals), he visited a turkey
processing plant. He assured me that he would NEVER again complain about a
job after he watched a guy whose job it was to cut off the turkeys'
genitalia.

~Kelly


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[email protected]

Thanks, Heidi, for the Keebler stories! I forwarded that to Holly with a
note that QA meant quality assurance, or inspectors. So if that wasn't
right, let me know!

Sandra

[email protected]

In a message dated 1/10/03 8:33:37 AM Pacific Standard Time,
SandraDodd@... writes:


> When we went to Indiana years ago for a homeschooling slumber party (an
> e-mail loop decided to get together and eight (?) families met in Indiana
> at
> a big house for a long weekend) I had requested a trip to a plastics
> factory,
> but the hostess didn't think I was serious. And there might not have been
> any anyway. I think there are in Illinois, and in Missouri, but Indiana
> seemed to have corn fields like Texas has oil wells--in every vacant lot
> and
> along every roadway.
>

Sandra

My best friend works at a plastics plant, it's right behind our apartment
complex here. They don't actually manufacture the plastic but extrude sheets
and make parts. They make everything from the pots one buys plants in to car
and truck parts; frozen dinner containers, RV sinks, TV and VCR casings for
autos, etc.

If you're ever near Portland (we're just south of there) give us a call, she
would be happy to give you a tour. Now that you've mentioned this, I realize
I've never gone through the plant, I should.

Kris


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Kate Green

At 03:59 PM 1/10/03 -0800, you wrote:
> At 04:28 PM 1/10/2003 -0500, you wrote:
>>She said that when she grew up she wanted to work in a factory like on Mr.
>> Or maybe a factory where they made (I
>
>
> You can tell Holly that you know someone who worked in a factory that made
> Keebler Cookies.

My best friend and I were doing temp work after HS in Minneapolis and got
jobs for a couple of evenings in a factory that produced sex toys! We
packaged edible underwear and body paint -- very weird experience but far
more exciting than the hardware factory of different sized nuts!


Kate



>

Dan Vilter

In high school I had a friend who worked the graveyard shift in a plastics
plant. He worked the regrind machine. He often came straight to class from
work, only being able to clean up in the restroom. It was impossible to get
the fine plastic powder off of his skin. So in all the creases of his skin,
just like detailing a a 40k model, Keith would be whatever color they had
manufactured that day. He literally had his blue days. (and red and green
and yellow and white)
-Dan Vilter

[email protected]

In a message dated 1/11/03 9:54:01 AM, dan@... writes:

<< In high school I had a friend who worked the graveyard shift in a plastics
plant. He worked the regrind machine. He often came straight to class from
work, only being able to clean up in the restroom. It was impossible to get
the fine plastic powder off of his skin. So in all the creases of his skin,
just like detailing a a 40k model, Keith would be whatever color they had
manufactured that day. He literally had his blue days. (and red and green
and yellow and white) >>

My dad worked where they ground up mica and siricite. Shiny, sparkly
powder. And he would sometimes look kind of like a gilttery tin woodsman if
the light hit him just right.

I bet it was safer to breathe plastic than to breathe mica.
And for a long time they didn't have a shower there, so he came home that
way, and the cab of his truck was always sparkly.

Sandra