Photo credit: Terracycle Terracycle has always been a company with a trashy reputation, what with our reusing everything from soda bottles to Ziploc bags. Millions of people have been collecting these things, and we’ve made them into all manner of products. But that wasn’t enough. We decided it’s time to turn our upcycling expertise (okay, gregarious bumbling!) on ourselves: Nearly every bit of our office interior is now made from upcycled materials. And we wanted you to be among the first to see it…. Read the full story on TreeHugger
Continue reading …They’re here, well, almost. Two attractive and legible alternatives to the over designed watch, Ziiiro’s Gravity and Mercury, are now available for pre-order. No, they can’t tell you if it’s snowing out like Fossil’s Connected , and they won’t bump your 2010 year in review playlist like an iPod nano watch , but they do tell time like no other — quite literally. The Gravity and Mercury have taken Ziiiro’s lofty goal of stylish utilitarianism from concept to reality . The watches function without any of the markings of standard analog timepieces, instead using a continuously rotating combination of two rings to make temporal distinctions. The tip of the inner ring represents the hour, while the tip of the outer ring denotes minutes, and a fading gradient tracks the passage of time. Ziiiro doesn’t let form override function, but it doesn’t skimp on aesthetics, either: Mercury, which touts a stainless steel band, comes in four different color schemes, while Gravity boasts a patent pending bracelet strap (a silicone-metal combo), available in six colors. Both watches also feature pop-out faces, allowing for a variety of Swatch watch-style face-band pairings. However, while they’re both readable and fashionable, these low frills watches don’t come cheap: prices range from €100 to €143, or about $130 to $175. Ziiiro Gravity and Mercury watches coming soon to a wrist near you originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 22 Dec 2010 18:19:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Patients with irritable bowel syndrome felt better after knowingly taking a placebo, suggesting that the secrecy of giving patients “dummy pills” may not be necessary, Harvard researchers report.
Continue reading …Mr. Tom ‘Miami is a Third World Country’ Tancredo went on radio and just brought up what he feels is a relevant question about the repealing of DADT: That is, can the military segregate the troops based on sexual preferences? What a guy. People like him openly foment hostility, the kind that usually leads to violence. Political Correction: Unsurprisingly, Tancredo, who has made his anti-immigrant views well known, isn’t in favor of the DREAM Act (which, he claimed, will give special affirmative action treatment to tons of people sneaking in from Latin America and Africa). He was also skeptical about the “political” repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” but fortunately for the large majorities of Americans and military personnel who wanted DADT to go away, Tancredo isn’t in charge; President Obama signed repeal into law this morning. Yet, knowing what was coming, Tancredo clung to hope that our combat troops might be saved from actually having to serve in close quarters with those scary gays. “I wonder,” he mused, “to what extent this ruling allows the military to segregate within their own ranks.” TANCREDO: I have a feeling there may be other problems that develop. Certainly those kinds of things have been expressed by the head of the — by the common head of the Marine Corps. And I would — among other things I wonder to what extent this ruling allows the military to segregate within their own ranks. That is to say, it’s okay, just as we said that it was ok to have females in the military but we would segregate them into non-combative roles, then would this be — I wonder if we could do the same thing in this situation, saying that just the environment in combat does not lend itself to having these other pressures on the people that we ask to do the fighting. I don’t know. I’m just asking a question. I do not know if that was part of the bill that was passed today by the Senate, whether it really went into that kind of detail. I doubt it. Usually these things go over to the military and you know the military is just simply told, “implement.” Tancredo is already well-established as a vicious nativist who always takes the low road, so what do you expect from him? No wonder he’s a Tea Party favorite. Click here to view this media In this clip Alan Colmes tells Tancredo that Jeb Bush called him a “nut” because he called Miami a ‘third world country’. Tom’s response was to of course equate being called a nut was like being called the “N” word if you’re African American. Tancredo: Did he use the “N” word? We got into an argument into what it means to be a third world country. Here’s a few of his other greatest hits. Tom Tancredo to the Tea Partiers: Lack of ‘civics literacy test’ meant illiterates put ‘a committed socialist’ in White House Tom Tancredo Calls La R aza a “Latino KKK Without the Hoods or Nooses” Tom Tancredo calls Sonia Sotomayor a racist Tom Tancredo boycotts Univision/Spanish Debate: Attacks their entire viewership And let’s not forget his “bombing Mecca,” statements either.
Continue reading …A powerful storm is dumping rain on California, sending water cascading down hillsides made weak by wildfires. The waters have people trying to stay dry or on the move to higher ground. (Dec. 22)
Continue reading …There’s been no shortage whatsoever of PC control schemes using Kinect, but up until now, every bit of it has been without Microsoft’s official blessing. Of course, the company eventually caved to the massive amount of hacking going on and confessed that it didn’t have any hard feelings for those giving it a whirl, but is it really fixing to take things one step further with bona fide PC support? That’s the talk emanating from South Korea, where game developer GamePrix has reported that at least one of its titles (Divine Soul, if you must know) is “scheduled to support Kinect.” Continuing on about the game, the company’s Jason Lim was quoted as saying that “Kinect will soon be available as a new PC controller,” but naturally, we’ve our doubts. For starters, why wouldn’t Microsoft be working with a more major developer if honest-to-goodness PC-Kinect interactions were planned? Secondly, there’s a definite possibility that GamePrix could really be referring to un official support, which would make everything seem a lot more sensible. Either way, we’ll definitely be keeping an ear to the ground for more, and with GDC under three months away, we ought to know the truth sooner rather than later. [Thanks, Rashad] Kinect rumored to have PC support in waiting originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 22 Dec 2010 17:56:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …President Barack Obama celebrated a bipartisan “season of progress’ on Thursday at a year-end news conference a few hours after the Senate ratified an arms control treaty with Russia. (Dec. 22)
Continue reading …Jamie Foxx says his 16-year-old daughter, Corinne, gave him the best advice when he began recording music: Connect with younger artists. Foxx used that formula on his past albums, and does it again on his latest, ‘Best Night of My Life.’ (Dec. 22)
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