Gawker
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failures
Al Gore's Light Bulbs Are Fail
All those curly-cue planet-saving fluorescent light bulbs that Al Gore made everyone buy even though they cost $30 and cast a sickly pale glow DON'T WORK. More »
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By John CookComment by Solomon Grundy: Wait, but what's wrong with the light bulbs? I'm confused by this post. 19 Responses | Other threads
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what we need more of is science
Obama's Environment Team Will Solve Global Warming With LASERS
Barack Obama has chosen a two-term EPA head, an experimental physicist known for LASER experiments, and some woman from New Jersey to fix the environment. More »
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By PareeneComment by Iceland Spar: Drug czar, car czar, climate czar - how many czar's can we really have?! 6 Responses | Other threads
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shopping
Amazon's Frustration-Free Packaging Storefront Sells Stuff that's Easy to Open
We've never been fans of the impossible-to-open packaging holding us twenty tedious steps away from satisfying our gadget lust (surprised?), but apparently neither is Amazon. To address the issue, Amazon has launched a Frustration-Free Packaging storefront:Amazon Frustration-Free Packaging, a multi-year initiative designed to alleviate "wrap rage," features recyclable boxes that are easy to open and free of excess materials such as hard plastic clamshell cases, plastic bindings, and wire ties. The product itself is exactly the same—we’ve just streamlined the packaging.
Amazon wouldn't allow me to embed their wrap rage video, but keep reading for a similarly themed SNL commercial featuring Kristen Wigg as an equally frustrated consumer. [Lifehacker]
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By Adam PashComment by guardianfox: Great idea, slightly more environmentally friendly packaging... how about we just stop buying so much crap? 2 Responses | Other threads
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alternative energy
Tazzari Zero Electric Car Recharges In 45 Minutes, Offers 93-Mile Range
New Italian company Tazzari aims to address one of the key shortcomings of electric cars — recharge time — by offering a vehicle capable of taking a full charge in just 45 minutes. Tazzari hasn’t clarified what kind of outlet is required for this compressed recharge time, but as it’s an Italian company, we’ll assume at least a 220v is needed, but likely not a commercial-grade three-phase unit like the one required by the Lightning GT supercar. [Jalopnik]
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By Wes SilerComment by nightsky: Why is it so dark in here? Someone hit the lights. 4 Responses | Other threads
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apple
French newspaper says Macs cause cancer
The Liberation of France says an oft-noticed smell emitted by Apple's Mac Pro desktop computers is caused by a combination of toxins, including benzene, which is known to cause leukemia. The questions now have to be: What did Apple know and when did Apple know it? Posts in Apple support forums, full of Mac Pro owners complaining of the smell, indicate Apple was well-aware of how their computers smell. One owner writes, "They guy in the service center said that every Mac Pro he has set up has the smell at first, so it appears to be normal in his experience." There's no mention of benzene in the forum. Some particularly damning posts: More »
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Comment by assassinave: French People cause cancer. I could believe that the French would have low enough journalistic standards to just write random things... more » | Other threads
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the sum of all human knowledge
Jimmy Wales's green site littered with lies
People who know Jimmy Wales well can't stop snickering about the launch of Wikia Green, his new anyone-can-edit environmental site. In his private life, Wales is about as green as Dick Cheney, from what they say. He's been known to toss styrofoam coffee cups out the window as he drives — something we imagine might give his enviroprecious celebrity pals paroxysms. Even green-cheerleading site Earth2Tech is on to Wales's insincerity: More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by WilliamMarkFelt: The unspoken premise of free culture is something like this - because we think things created like musics, books, articles,... more » | Other threads
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the sum of all human knowledge
Jimmy Wales to stop global warming with website
Eternal dilettante Jimmy Wales, the playboy founder of Wikipedia, has a new girlfriend-of-the-moment: Mother Nature. His for-profit offshoot wiki startup, Wikia, has launched Wikia Green, an edit-it-yourself guide to all things environmental. Like his past launched-and-abandoned efforts — anyone remember Campaigns Wikia, Wales's political supersite? — Wikia Green likely won't go far. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by WagCurious: He's just putting Wikia in front of every buzz word he can think of. Watch next for Wiki Flapjacks and... 2 Responses | Other threads
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politics
Some wonky stats for McCain's new VP pick
Alaska governor Sarah Palin: Good looking, relatively inexperienced. Do you think McCain's team finally decided that's not such a bad combo? I'll let Democrats cringe at the nightmare series of events that could install Palin as our Cutest President Ever. I'm more interested in her gung-ho enthusiasm to drill for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. It would be a resource bonanza for her state, which Palin feels is too reliant on federal handouts and big oil companies. But would the extra oil make a difference? Here's a bite-sized summary of stats from the Energy Information Administration, which provides that Bush guy you hate with official numbers: More » -
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environment
Keep Burning Man green — stay home
If Burning Man were still held at Ocean Beach, it would be a lot greener. Eighty-seven percent of the 27,000 tons of greenhouse gases generated by this year's party on the playa come from participants driving and flying to and from the event, according to the Cooling Man project. Cooling Man wants Burners to spend ten dollars each to buy carbon offsets. As a former theme-camper, I know money is tight for attendees this week. So I found you a discount to $9.07: More »
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By Paul BoutinComment by sample032: So that's why they call it the "playa." more » | Other threads
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larry and sergey
Don't want to be evil? Better get rid of the Google plane
Lefty think tanks Essential Action and the Institute for Policy Studies have a new study out titled “High Flyers: How Private Jet Travel is Straining the System, Warming the Planet and Costing You Money." It implies some not-so-nice things about jet owners and Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin — even if they are left-leaning, Prius-driving friends of Bono. According to the report, private jets negatively impact: More »
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Comment by DirigibleDiva: Actually the detectors carried by some of the H211 planes have already provided some very useful data. The information on... more » | Other threads
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van jones
Oakland activist sells cleantech as jobs machine
Treehuggers proclaim the threat of environmental catastrophe with rapturous religiosity. The eyes of Valley capitalists bulge at the windfall that awaits who can find a renewable energy solution cheaper than fossil fuels. But East Bay community activist Van Jones is preaching the sermon of jobs, and that's what will win the popular and political will to build the kind of modern, clean-energy infrastructure California and the rest of the country so desperately need. Says Jones:Say a bunch of guys in the carpenter's union don't know how to work with bamboo. Well, here are some young people who have been trained to work with bamboo. Suddenly, rather than them being in the back of the line for the less-skilled blue-collar jobs, these kids have the advantage.
But that raises the question of whether these "green-collar" workers will enjoy the benefits their "blue-collar" grandparents did. And what will happen when they've tiled all available roofs with photovoltaic cells? More »
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By Jackson WestComment by bbucy: Today, much of clean tech involves retrofitting existing structures or installing complex systems in buildings designed as in the past. As... more » | Other threads
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cleantech
Google's plug-in hybrids to increase Bay Area smug levels
With a laptop tracking power and gas consumption and CO2 emissions, Google.org's four plug-in Priuses serve as a test fleet for the charity's $10 million plug-in electric hybrid vehicle research program. And according to the stats, they're already outperforming the company's two regular Prius hybrids across the board. RechargIT.org is a fantastic PR stunt, but is it good science? More »
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By Jackson WestComment by meh_alert: Hey fake-journalists, can you tell me if the massive solar array at the Googleplex is just for decoration, or if... more » | Other threads
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magazines
No Need To Recycle NY's Magazines. Just Wait For Them To Die Like All The Rest!
No environmental program has ever in the history of ever been more brutally-named than "ReMix," the city's new "Recycling Magazines Is Excellent!" campaign. The plan aims to draw attention to the wasteful practices of the glossies industry, which, AdAge tells us, often prints copies of issues which nobody reads. Stunning. There are some decent ideas in the green scheme (recycled paper is good! Extraneous direct mail is bad!) but it's hard not to walk away with the idea that the only way for a magazine to be ecologically sustainable is to uh, well, flop. So much better for Mother Earth! After the jump, a gallery of magazines so environmentally cutting-edge that they've been dead for years. More »
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By MaggieComment by PimpMyCouch: Um...Shape is still on the rack, isn't it? Unless there's some other beautifully toned model making me feel chubby... more » | Other threads
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inconvenient estimates
Beckham's Antics Eroding Earth's Atmosphere, America's Patience
The single largest threat facing our environment today? Sports hero/Lagerfeld-engineered cyborg-marrier David Beckham. Mr. Beckham, who plays "soccer" for the fictional L.A. Galaxy, "is responsible for 163 tons of carbon dioxide yearly," according to a British environmental group. This entirely made-up number may mean that David Beckham has the largest carbon footprint in the history of mankind. Beckham owns many cars and homes, flew "flew farther in 2007 than a trip from the earth to the moon", and when he's not playing soccer he drives across the polar ice caps in an ATV. He's not expected to change his Earth-destroying ways this year, as, according to FoxSoccer.com, "the England star is still looking to earn his 100th cap for his homeland when England takes on Switzerland in a February friendly." We have absolutely no clue what that means. [Fox Sports]
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By PareeneComment by Mediahohoho: My but the memes do get heavy in here lately. Yeesh. more » | Other threads
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rants
Valleywag's green issue
Someone named Brittney from Samantha Slaven Publicity in L.A. has written me to ask if Valleywag has a "green issue." Well, we're not a print magazine, Brittney, so that's plenty of trees, ink, and energy saved right there. But do we have a "green issue"? Oh boy, do we. Here's our green issue. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by dula: this was great. good wakeup call. and i totally agree about google. they pollute more than any other company I... more » | Other threads
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forecasts
3 things you'll still hate in '08
I should include end-of-year lists. But there are three even more annoying artifacts you'll be stuck with every freaking day of the coming year. More »
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By Paul BoutinComment by cv: Dude, organic is soooo passé. Sustainably farmed is where it's at. more » | Other threads
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explainer
Global dimming — the 100-word-version
A handy rebuttal to the science-challenged handwringers you're stuck with through New Year's Day. Slate's Green Lantern columnist Brendan Koerner has boiled down the facts on global dimming. It turns out to be global brightening, except in India and China. I pared Koerner's piece even further to one snappy paragraph. More » -
superficial
Big ships are kind of hot
"Don't slam the bridge on your way out," chortled this morning's San Francisco Chronicle above a photo of the departing Cosco Busan, which hit the Bay Bridge on its way out from Oakland in November and spilled 58,000 gallons of oily fuel into San Francisco Bay. But as a wannabe engineer, I'm fascinated by the cargo ships that come and go through the Golden Gate. More »
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By Paul BoutinComment by sample032: A hint to whoever runs Photoshop over at the Chronicle: in this perspective, the cables and tower should vertical, and... more » | Other threads
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great moments in pr
Digg celebrates UPS's polluting trucks as green
The wonderful thing about Digg? Critical thinking is not required. You can vote for stories based on your personal belief system, not whether they're, say, true. Take, for example, a brief New York Times story about UPS's cost-saving route software. Digg users translated this into a tall tale about UPS saving 3 million gallons of gas by elminating left-hand turns. Computers save the environment! It's a tale that comforts geeks who believe software will fix everything. More » -
greenpeace
Greenpeace hates Nintendo more than Apple
Greenpeace has found a couple of new targets in its latest "Guide to Greener Electronics": Microsoft and Nintendo. Particularly Nintendo, which scored the first perfect zero rating. The environmentalist group, once remembered for facing down fisherman armed with machine guns with rubber dinghies and rainbow flags to save the lives of endangered whales, has been hanging on to its diminishing relevance by attacking Apple for more than a year. The manufactured notoriety has backfired. Steve Jobs tore apart Greenpeace's charges in an open letter. Critics have savaged the organization's Electronics Guides as arbitrary and unscientific. So how is Greenpeace to remain relevant? More »
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By Tim FaulknerComment by 0x6772: @Owen Thomas: While I don't exactly agree with Greenpeace's practice in this regard, they would argue (and have, cogently, argued,... more » | Other threads
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gross
Hippies Using Human Hair to Soak Up Oil Spills
If you've given more than a second glance to your greasy IT guy's matted, oily hair—or just don't wash your own that often, you might pick up that our hair holds onto oil like gas'll hit $100/gallon tomorrow. Gross, yeah, but apparently useful! Some hippies are taking mats made of human hair to mop up oil on SF beaches, which are then packed with oil-eating shrooms that turn the pads into compost for lovely landscaping. See, Exxon helps the environment! [Pop Sci] [Gizmodo]
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Comment by aj8321: $100/gallon ? A more realistic number would be $100/barrel. 1 barrel= 42 gallons more » | Other threads
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apple
Keep your iPhone away from your crotch
No matter how you flaunt it in public, an iPhone will not get you laid. Worse yet, now come's word Steve Jobs's Jesusphone could ruin user procreation long-term. Hazardous chemicals found inside iPhones "interfere with sexual development in mammals," according to Greenpeace. More bad news after the jump. More »
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Comment by Nick Douglas: Yeah, uh, I'll keep up my habit of not eating my electronic devices. more » | Other threads
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burning man
Want to save the planet? Stay home, you envirohippies
We've said it before, and we'll say it again: The only green Burner is a dead Burner. This year's Burning Man arts festival in the Nevada desert has an environmental theme. But an environmental analysis has shown that more than 90 percent of the carbon dioxide spewed by Burning Man participants comes merely in getting to and from Black Rock City, the festival's temporary site. So by all means, pack up your RVs, buy that planet-destroying bottled water, and run your stereos and air conditioning all week off of diesel generators as you celebrate the greening of Burning Man. Go ahead, claim that you're raising "awareness" — at the same time that you're raising the planet's temperature. You're not fooling anyone — least of all Mother Nature.
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By Owen ThomasComment by Oz: Amen! I've been looking forward to this week for a long long time, and then what do they do? Close the... more » | Other threads
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environment
AT&T, at long last, has recognized the silliness of giving iPhone customers with unlimited data plans a bit-by-bit bill on their usage. Sick of wasting 500,000 sheets of paper each iPhone billing cycle, AT&T is taking measures to stop the wanton murder of trees. Advice to Apple fans: sign up for paperless billing. [Muhammed.Saleem] -
burning man
The Valley begins its party to warm up the planet
Ladies and gentlemen, rev up your RVs, pack your SUVs full, gas up your private jets, and start making your way to Black Rock City, the site in Nevada for Burning Man, the annual art festival and orgy of self-indulgence. The most hardcore of "burners," as attendees call themselves, will start making their way there a week from now. And while you're on the road, guzzling gasoline, make sure to feel really, really guilty about all the carbon you're spewing into the atmosphere. By organizers' own estimates, Burning Man puts 27,000 tons of carbon dioxide into the air. This year, of course, they hope to minimize the impact with a "Green Man." Nonsense. More » -
yahoo
"Don't even leave a footprint."
NICK DOUGLAS — Yahoo co-founders Jerry Yang and David Filo just announced that Yahoo is going carbon neutral, meaning that the company will invest in projects to fight greenhouse gas and thus offset Yahoo's effect on the environment. Good on them for staying true to Yahoo's corporate ethos: "Leave no impact on the world." (Photo: Josef Stuefer.)
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By Nick DouglasComment by eastofwest: I don't know why they censored you when they let my comment through: "How about making some money instead of pissing... more » | Other threads
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tom friedman
Going For The Green: A History Of The Green Bandwagon And Where On It Tom Friedman Sits
1824 Joseph Fourier discovers greenhouse effect. More »
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By ChoireComment by genevieveyorke: you forget the part where friedman marries into a family with a whole lotta green. more » | Other threads
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politics
Hollywood Is Slowly Killing You In So Many Ways
While many people probably assume that Hollywood is a magical, environmentally friendly Utopia where actors pull up to the fully biodegradable green carpets at their movie premieres in vehicles specially retrofitted to produce all-rainbow emissions, a UCLA study has found that the entertainment industry trails only petroleum manufacturing in terms of disgorging unfiltered, New Ice Age-beckoning, Al-Gore-sterilizing evil into the air of Los Angeles: More » -
sports
Remainders: ABC's 'The Bachelor' Is Kind of a Sham? You Don't Say!
• We bet you're so excited for tonight's premiere of ABC's 32nd season of The Bachelor! In the latest incarnation, 25 psychotic single women compete in Rome for the affection of exotic Prince Lorenzo Borghese, who calls the city his second home. Except Borghese barely speaks Italian, had never been to Rome until he signed on with ABC, and is actually from Jersey. You could probably tell that to all 25 contestants, and they'd still go rabid competing for the final rose. [Radar] More » -
stephen hawking
Super Genius Believes We're All Doomed; Also, Apparel Opportunity!
So apparently Stephen Hawking, theoretical physicist and current incumbent of the lazy media's go-to genius avatar position, posed a recent query to Yahoo Answers concerning our future. "In a world that is in chaos politically, socially and environmentally," asked the comically-voiced ALS-sufferer, "how can the human race sustain another 100 years?" More »
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By abalk2Comment by Multisyllaballistic: I'm saving the world for the next 200 years by sporting my Ice Cold Labia tote. Take that! more » | Other threads
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vanity fair
'VF': Damn the Trees, George Wayne (and a Gatefold Ad) Must Be Read Twice!
Graydon Carter, having long ago abandoned the idea of printing his "green" issue of Vanity Fair on recycled paper, thereby making it slightly less environmentally objectionable than a typical issue, finally gave up on any pretense of conservation. More »
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By JesseComment by ZiggyStardust: Damn my being colorblind. Otherwise, I would have something witty to add... more » | Other threads
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hipsters
Blackface Jesus Also Recycles
It's no secret that Blackface Jesus is our new favorite downtown character, what with his half-naked traipsing and offensive facepaint. According to a reader, there is no limit to the depths of Blackface Jesus: More »
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By JessicaComment by addictedtorace: This is just another example of outright racism disguised as free, brave-thinking, ironic "political incorrectness." See Mixed Media Watch's take... more » | Other threads
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metro
The Hybrid Taxi Experience
Blogger The Assimilated Negro is happy to report on his ride in one of the new hybrid taxis, which he says will slowly replace the current fleet over the next five years: More » -
politics
When Earnest Liberals Meet Newfangled Technology, We All Win!
This email arrived the other day: More » -
taxis
The TLC, Still Working for You
Yet one more advantage of living in our subway-riding city is a blissful ignorance of how fucking expensive gasoline has become. (Gas stations on the LIE and Garden State Parkway provided rude shocks on Labor Day weekend.) More » -
taxis
Your Taxi & Limousine Commission at Work
• October 2004: New York City's Taxi and Limousine Commission holds an auction for taxicab medallions that may be used only on vehicles burning natural gas or on electric-gas hybrids. Eighteen such medallions are sold, at significantly below-market prices. More » -
metro
Frankly, We Were Never Much for American Cars
The Taxi and Limousine Commission yesterday took a big step toward finally approving some fuel-efficient hybrid cars for use in New York's taxi fleet. As guilty liberals, we know we're supposed to be thrilled with the environmental benefits — 29 to 60 miles per gallon in the city, versus a Crown Vic's 18, is a good thing. Less gas, less foreign oil dependence, less pollution, all that fun stuff. In truth, though, we find it hard to get too excited about mpg. Here's what gets us hot and bothered about the new cabs: They'll be Lexuses. And it's about time we started riding in style. More »
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