Don’t Poo Poo The Idea of Pee Pee To Charge Your Batteries
[ Comments Off ]Posted on November 11, 2009 by admin in Clean & Green, Technology
Wednesday, November 11th, 2009We’ve found some interesting ways to recharge your batteries, which includes a better use for your USB port than humping dogs.
 For some reason I hope that’s orange juice |
It just occurred to me the other day that except for the battery for my Movado, I haven’t purchased a disposable battery for over two years. Rechargeable is definitely the way to go, both economically and environmentally. We’ve touched on shaking up your battery routine before, but we’ve found some interesting and bizarre new ways to recharge since then. Number one: don’t poo-poo the idea of using pee-pee for recharging. You’ll be relieved to know that the Japanese company Aqua Power System has developed batteries that will let you use urine to recharge your batteries. Of course, you can also use beer, apple juice, cola, or saliva, but what fun would that be? I eliminated this choice right away in favor of getting some exercise while I recharge. UK mobile provider Orange introduced the the Orange Dance Charge last year, but alas, it’s specifically for phones, and may not even be in actual production at this point. Besides, I think bra power has received more support so far. For your broader recharging needs, you’ll want the Rakuten Pedal Charger. Fortunately its function and purpose are fairly obvious, because the “Engrish” on their site suggests things like “Every 45-90 minutes Please put him on the pedal at the speed of rotation. Before rotation, rotation after you both“. Let’s hope your CEO doesn’t catch wind of this; before you know it they’ll be making us run our companies on pedal power from the cube farm to save on energy costs. Speaking of life in the cubicle, you can also use your USB ports as battery chargers
Jolly Diwaliween & Other Politically Incorrect October Holiday Ideas
[ Comments Off ]Posted on October 17, 2009 by admin in Holidays
Saturday, October 17th, 2009Did Diwali sneak up on you unexpectedly again this year? No worries, we have a solution. And like last year, the scariest thing about Halloween is probably the economy.
  The author of this article is an alien and is not offended by this costume. |
If you missed the fact that Diwali was a little earlier in October this year, we have a helpful tip. With Halloween only two weeks away, just carve your pumpkins early, stick candles in all of them, and celebrate “Diwaliween”. Just so you don’t make the same mistake in the future, here are the dates for Diwali through 2022. Also on the 17th this year, we have that dose of artificial sweetener called “Sweetest Day”, which – although charming on the surface – was actually created by businessmen in Cleveland in 1921 to sell candy. With equally shallow sentiments, we have United Nations Day on the 24th, when – much like the rest of the year – United Nations members aren’t. By the way, Diwali wasn’t the only celebration we almost overlooked; in case you weren’t aware that there’s energy, October is Energy Awareness Month. For those of you who need all your information in the form of an interactive Flash game, EnergyStar has graciously complied. Because you know, simply listing things would be boring. Who knew that turning off the lights saves energy? Personally, I think they could’ve saved a lot of energy by firing the person that created that interactive graphic. Still to come this month, we of course have Halloween. Last year, the scariest thing about Halloween was the fact that Ben Bernanke and Hank Paulson were in charge of averting global economic collapse. This year, the scariest thing is that they don’t seem to have fixed much; retail sales appear to be down about 18% for the season. Perhaps if retailers like Target stopped offending middle-income liberal elitists by selling tasteless “illegal alien” themed costumes, sales would improve. We’re not offended, so in the interest of a healthy economy, we’d like to point out that although Target pulled the product, Amazon and others haven’t. Buy one today
Maybe The Green Car Of The Future Is A Boat
[ Comments Off ]Posted on October 11, 2009 by admin in Clean & Green, Technology
Sunday, October 11th, 2009They just announced the Green Car of the Year finalists, but with Tuvalu disappearing into the ocean, maybe we should think a little further ahead.
Although the Green Car of the Year finalists were announced recently, maybe we should be even more forward-thinking. In spite of the fact that there’s a growing movement that claims global warming is a myth, this Scientific American piece points out that most of these naysayers are non-scientists, and I for one refuse to ignore the fact that Tuvalu is disappearing into the Pacific Ocean, or that a third of Florida is in danger of disappearing too. So as awkward and foolish looking as amphibious cars have always been, maybe their time has come. One of the coolest options out there is the Squba concept car, which, while vaguely reminiscent of James Bond’s aquatic Lotus Esprit, is a tiny bit less stylish, and carries considerably fewer armaments and secret weapons. Although only a concept, it possesses a couple of advantages when compared to vehicles like those produced by companies like WaterCar though: 1.) It’s not butt-ugly, and 2.) It will still be useful when the world is one big ocean like in Waterworld
Is The Age of Stupid Stupid?
[ Comments Off ]Posted on September 21, 2009 by admin in Clean & Green, Popular Media
Monday, September 21st, 2009Today is the global premiere of The Age of Stupid, a dystopian eco-film that the New York Times is calling a sterner and more alarming polemic than An Inconvenient Truth. But is it based on solid science?
In spite of being almost foolishly utopian in nature (I genuinely like to believe humans will come to their senses, commingle, and create a beautiful single race blended from all of the current allegedly separate ones) I still loves me a good dystopian film now and then. Which is why I’m disappointed that I’ll probably miss the special global premiere of The Age of Stupid today. In spite of some complaints from the more level-headed members of the progressive scientific community that the film’s heavy-handed assertions about the end of the world as we know it are poorly supported by science, it looks like a thought-provoking film. It’s also getting decent reviews from sources like Wired and the NYT. The clip featured here, for instance, provides an amusing and brief history of war, which, as the clip points out, is always over resources. They move quickly through war for animals, war for water, war for “shiny things”, war for fertile land, war for “nutmeg slice and tea”, and finally diamonds, slaves and oil. The global premiere of the film – which takes place today and tomorrow – will feature a “green carpet” solar-powered cinema tent in New York, and will be linked by satellite to 442 cinemas across the USA (find a theater here) and to more than 200 cinemas abroad. Special guests include the likes of Kofi Annan and Thom Yorke of Radiohead. The film was put together by Franny Armstrong, director of McLibel
Is Reading A Book Bad For The Environment?
[ 3 Comments ]Posted on September 9, 2009 by admin in Clean & Green, Technology
Wednesday, September 9th, 2009One of the many reasons books and I are entering couples counseling.
I have a troubled relationship with books, and when I describe it, it sounds like a should see a couples’ counselor. I’d like to spend more time with them, but I have myriad excuses, mostly relating to feeling distracted or too busy. Or I say I’d like to get together when I can spend some quality time together. Which is a cheap out, because I can speed read (I can comfortably read 950wpm according to spreeder.com, try it yourself). The fact is that as much as I love the tactile feeling of kicking back with a good book – the feel, the smell – it also started seeming intuitively wrong a number of years ago. I worked at a now-defunct book store when eBooks were first being discussed as a possibility, and they intrigued me. My bibliophilic coworkers would sneer at me, tsk-tsking me for questioning the sacred nature of a physical book, which was a little ironic: the store sold remainders and reprints. For the record, the publishing industry is not particularly green; only 5% of the paper used in books is recycled, around 35% of books printed are never read, and instead are returned to the publisher and end up in landfills, and around 70% of the world’s paper supply comes from natural forests, rather than tree farms. So what’s an eco-minded book lover to do? The fact is that although eBook readers ultimately are greener than printed books (although there’s a fair amount of debate on the topic), they still, frankly, kind of suck. Compare these reviews and prices. The most popular reader – Amazon’s Kindle
