Roundup: Carrot Whittling Edition
- White light, green heat: LEDS aren’t just for clock radios any more. In fact, LED lightbulbs may turn out to be the bulb of the future instead of compact fluorescents. Thanks to a breakthrough in the 90s, modern LEDs can emit white light instead of just red or green. They last up to five times as long as fluorescents, and they have the major advantage of not containing mercury. Right now LEDs are expensive, but one diode manufacturer says, “By the middle of next year, they’ll be priced for consumers.”
- In case you’re wondering what an LED bulb looks like, The Consumerist has a photo.
- Staff members at a grade school in Tennessee staged a “mock attack” on their students, convincing them that a gunman was after them, telling them it wasn’t a drill and they had to hide under tables. The students believed they were about to die and were in tears. Needless to say, parents are outraged.
- Tommy Thompson’s excuse for why he said it was OK to fire gay people from their jobs for being gay? He had to go to the bathroom like really, really bad when he got asked that question.
- Bono says the world’s 8 largest industrial countries aren’t keeping the financial promises they made to Africa. Too bad he can’t just start charging them predatory late fees like the credit card companies do when consumers are behind with payments.
- Crowded House kick off their U.S. tour August 4. Here in Chicago, they’ll be playing at House of Blues on August 18. (Which is ironic, because usually I hate how crowded it gets at the House of Blues. )
- Wim Wenders is gearing up to start work on his next film, Palermo Story, “based on a Sicilian love affair between a middle-aged German man and a younger local girl.” Wenders says the film will be strongly location-based, and that he wants the city of Palermo to tell him its story.
- Pan’s Labyrinth is out on DVD this week, available as a 2-disc special edition with lots of extras.
- Via The Consumerist, the fascinating saga of the baby carrot. (Key revelation: They may be good, but they’re not actually babies — just cut down and polished chunks of carrot.)
- They blasted Scotty’s ashes into space. Now they can’t find them. Time to whip out the tricorder!
- Quote of the day, from this article: “A community formed overnight,” Serin said in an interview. “It wasn’t a very positive community.” Serin may not be very good at real estate, but he’s a master of litotes.
- My mom reminds me that new US postage rates took effect at midnight Sunday.
Tags:
I did an interview with the founder of Polybrite for an Italian-American newspaper a couple years ago and it’s cool stuff. I think the impetus for him was a relative of his was killed while working on a road crew and he used the technology to light up highway workers’ vests and stuff. He has also used it for things like signage, pet leashes and collars and stuff like running shoes. One thing he told me i never before realised was that moving away from traditional light ‘bulbs’ would also cut down on the use of oil, so its all good.
I’ll bet Tommy Thompson’s mother once had to go to the bathroom really bad also. Imagine her surprise when he popped out…
(SCREW grace and civility! I want my rights back from people like him…:-))
Jim, that’s really cool that you interviewed him … and yes, the fossil fuel savings are a huge part of the appeal of this kind of technology.
God damn it all to hell. I just bought a bunch of CFLs yesterday, and now they’re not cool anymore?