PSA: Battery Recycling

zats_clear suggested I mention my battery recycling experience of yesterday for everyone's review.

First, I used to save non-rechargable alkaline batteries for recycling. I had several years worth of them saved up. Finally looked to recycle them and learned this on the Fairfax County recycling website:

Alkaline batteries: (nonrechargeable AA, AAA, C, D, 9-volt).


These are typically used in flashlights, smoke detectors, radios, toys and remote controls for many devices.

Today's alkaline batteries have been re-engineered and reformulated. The components now have a very low toxicity. As result, alkaline batteries may be disposed of safely in your household trash. Please DO NOT bring alkaline batteries to the Fairfax County Household Hazardous Waste Facilities.

However, I still had a group of rechargable batteries, mostly dead battery backups from the office, that needed to be recycled. Per Fairfax County again, the ones to concern you are:

These include nickel-cadmium (NiCd); nickel zinc (NiZn); lithium ion (Li-ion); nickel metal hydride (NiMH); small sealed lead acid (SSLA or Pb). Rechargeable batteries come in many types, including standard AA, AAA, C, D, and 9-volt, or a special design for a specific device. They may be removable or internal to a device.

Yesterday I confirmed that I could just take these into my local Staples and hand them off to the cashier for recycling. I'm pretty sure you can do this at Office Depot, too. And also, I think Best Buy has a bin by the front door. Ages ago, I thought I saw a receptical at Lowes, in the power tools department, but that could be a false memory.

Divorce is Bad for Your Health

My boss posts about divorce and health today in his journal.

I wonder about "divorce" as the causal factor.

People who eventually divorce were in a relationship that was probably under strain for long periods of time - even years. As the study points out, heart disease and diabetes are conditions developed under long periods of stress. So is the "divorce" the causal factor, or is the problem living in a negative emotional situation - one SO BAD it leads you to the socially difficult result of an actual divorce?

If humans are naturally serially monogamous (as Boss and many others believe), then being unable to move freely from one relationship to another might be quite stressful. Social restraints make us fight our natural urge to move on, resulting in an unnatural struggle first to maintain the deteriorating relationship (in many cases, this period lasts over a year, and even years), then to bring that relationship to a socially acceptable conclusion (often involving at minimum a one year separation, and then a financially expensive litigation that can drag out much longer).

What would be the health benefits if we could just freely quit the dying relationship and move to the next one?

I note the never-marrieds do not show the problems with stress-related conditions. One presumes most never-married's relationships to have been more casual, and thus probably less emotionally damaging when they deteriorate - I would suggest because it's a lot easier to get out when you aren't legally tied together.