Loosely Assembled

Zuk draws on Leslie Aiello’s concept of ‘paleofantasies,’ stories about our past spun from thin evidence, to label the nostalgia some people seem to express for prehistoric conditions that they see as somehow healthier. In my research on sports and masculinity, I frequently see paleofantasies come up around fight sports, the idea that, before civilization hemmed us in and blunted our instincts, we would just punch each other if we got angry, and somehow this was healthier, freer and more natural (the problems with this view being so many that I refuse to even begin to enumerate them). It’s an odd inversion on the usual Myth of Progress, the idea that things always get better and better; instead, paleofantasies are a kind of long range projection of Grumpy Old Man Syndrome (’Things were so much better in MY day…’), spinning fantasies of ‘life before’ everything we have built up around us.

Interesting setup for an article that goes beyond the traditional rhetoric we find ourselves wrapped up in.

Duh! Powering Restaurants with Waste Oil: “

Sometimes I’m shocked that these things aren’t already being done. I mean, almost every restaurant in the world has a dumpster filled with fuel in the back…why not just put a generator there instead! Vegawatt, a Massachusetts-based company, is doing just that. They’ve created a fry-oil generator that deals with the waste while producing energy.

They’ve just turned on their first system at a Boston-area restaurant, and it seems to be working like a charm. The system is smaller than a conventional grease dumpster, and consumes 100% of the waste oil produced by Finz Seafood and Grill. Of course, the maximum 6 kW that it produces reduces the restaurant’s monthly bill by about $800 (or about 15%.)

The system could be scaled up, but then there wouldn’t be any grease to power it, and it wouldn’t save anyone money. Vegawatt is looking into reducing electricity bills further by creating hot water with the device as well.

Finz is leasing the device for about $400, so it saves them a total of $400 a month. As you might expect, Vegawatt is expecting to expand.

They’re about to close their first round of funding and, with that, they’ll be starting up larger operations serving restaurants throughout America.

Via CNet GreenTech

Originally posted by Hank Green from EcoGeek.org, ReBlogged by andreapolli on Jan 10, 2009 at 11:08 AM

“

(Via Eyebeam reBlog.)

Published in 1935, the Secret Museum is a mystery book. It has no author or credits, no copyright, no date, no page numbers, no index. Published by “Manhattan House” and sold by “Metro Publications”, both of New York, its “Five Volumes in One” was pure hype: it had never been released in any other form.

Fill this jacket with any kind of on hand insulation

After noticing NYC’s new Ride the City site, I rediscovered bycycle.org for bike route mapping in Portland. To celebrate, I’ve created a little route from Pirate Island to Pirate Town, enjoy the summer by bike!

A new study points out the possibility that the universe might spiral out and out and out to much farther reaches than conventional models. The fractal nature of this model could also be thought of as some kind of optical illusion, or quantum mirroring effect, where a small handful of galaxies are replicated infinitely across space, relying on the existence of an observer.

The driver of the art work Shared Propulsion Car was arrested by Toronto Police on October 25 on Queen Street West in Toronto. The revolutionary vehicle is an art work create by the just-announced winner of the 2007 Sobey Art Award Michel de Broin. It was made of a Buick Regal 1986 body stripped of its engine, suspension, transmission and electrical system and propels by the will to power of its passenger. The vehicle retains the illusion of the mass-produced luxury automobile, but is now reduced to a shell with a top speed of 15km per hour. This unique car needs no petrol, produce no toxic emission and is not responsible for the innocents people killed for petrol in the Middle East. Furthermore, in this individualist society, this convivial car was proposed as a good solution to bring people together and take over the street. Dean Baldwin an experience driver, took the steering wheel and with his fellows Elaine, Dave and Dan drove the car carefully on the street. The reaction of the public was enthusiasm, solidarity and sympathy. They drove 9 blocks (from Lisgar to Strachan) before being pulled over by the police.

The driver and passengers were left to wait for 30 minutes in the car while we suspect the cops tried to determine which exact law was broken. They settled on “operating an unsafe vehicle” and a tow-truck was called.

We believe there is noting in the law against this car, the problem is only in the perceptions: police can’t accept a car to be modified and to be moving without petrol. They gave the driver an order to appear before a judge on the 21 of November. The problem for the court will be to argue that the Shared Propulsion Car can be dangerous while we all know that the danger remains in the use of petrol car. It is rather the other car that are obviously dangerous. We believe the court is taking a big risk of bringing our car to spotlight. It is always striking when art become politic and win its right publicly. Our Plan is to tow the car to the courthouse, win our cause and then be able to drive the car freely on the street of Toronto.

watch the video

coming off the back of a bike

read the details about the floating ecopolis for ecological refugees

MUTO a wall-painted animation by BLU from blu on Vimeo.