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The argument over whether plastic Ziploc bags could ever be considered eco-friendly would probably go on for about 50 blog posts. And I’d probably be called all kinds of names if I suggested that Ziploc’s new line of bags is green, so I won’t do that. Instead, I’ll just tell you about them and you can decide.

The new line from disposable baggie leader Ziploc is called evolve. The evolve bags are lighter than the traditional Ziploc bag. They use 25% less plastic and are made (sort of) with wind energy. Keep reading for more on that.

I was a little confused about why all of Ziploc’s bags aren’t made with wind energy, but a visit to their website cleared a few things up. First of all, the bag isn’t made with 100% wind energy. According to the Ziploc website, for their evolve brand, they purchase “approximately 50% of the estimated energy involved in manufacturing Ziploc evolve in the form of renewable energy to be put back on the electrical grid.” In other words, they make these bags the same way, but just buy energy credits from a partner to help offset production. If you didn’t read the small print, you’d miss that detail.

The carton which holds the Ziploc evolve bags is made with 100% recycled paperboard with a minimum 35% post-consumer content.

You may wonder why the evolve bags are made with only 25% less plastic, but I’m guessing they wouldn’t be strong enough with less plastic. I put an apple into one of the Ziploc evolve sandwich bags and tossed it around. The bag held up better than I thought it would. I got a few tosses in before the bag tore. Obviously, it’s not going to be as strong as the traditional Ziploc bag, but for normal uses, I’m guessing it’s probably fine. I only tried the sandwich bag, but Ziploc also makes evolve storage bags.

I’m glad Ziploc is taking some steps toward becoming more sustainable, but I still think that there far greener (and more economical) options for food storage than a plastic bag. ReusableBags.com has several choices for you, including the Kids Konserve Food Cozy or the ACME Snack Bag. For larger items, I like Pyrex containers with BPA-free lids.

If you use plastic bags for food storage, are you going to try evolve?

(Image by Peggy Rowland)

Post from: Blisstree

Ziploc is Evolving, Maybe

Hey, this week’s Carnival of Space is on my friend Nicole Glarvenharbennargen’s blog One Astronomer’s Noise. At least, I think that’s how she pronounces her last name. That’s what I always hear when she says it. Anyway, she’s cool, and so is the carnival. Go read it.

The family of an Illinois National Guard soldier believes he was wrongly accused of possessing child pornography by a friend he had recently argued with.

Rodney and Terri Miller told the Galesburg Register-Mail that their son, Specialist Billy Miller, had a falling out with a friend Afghanistan, and the friend subsequently reported seeing inappropriate pictures on Billy Miller’s laptop.

The Millers showed the Register-Mail text messages from soldiers in Billy MIller’s unit that suggested he was the victim of a personal vendetta. Miller’s parents insist the charges stem from innocent snapshots of a 4-year-old relative in a swimsuit. “I can’t believe that the Army’s doing this to our son; it’s unbelievable,” Rodney Miller said from his home in Galesburg, about 55 miles south of Davenport, Iowa.

“The Army and the government’s telling us more or less that it’s none of our business.”

The Army has charged Miller with possession of child pornography and a related charge of failure to obey an order that troops in Afghanistan not possess pornography.

Army spokesman Lt. Mary J. Pekas declined to discuss details of the case or evidence against Miller. She said the charge is punishable by up to 10 years in prison.

Miller’s unit returned to Illinois in August, according to the National Guard, but the Army said he remains in Afghanistan, awaiting the end of his case and possible court martial.

“Spec. Miller is currently on active duty and assigned to Headquarters and Headquarters Co., 82nd Airborne Division, pending the conclusion of the investigation and any potential legal proceedings,” the Army’s media center in Bagram, Afghanistan, said in a brief, unsigned e-mail statement.

Rodney Miller said the Army won’t discuss the case with the family. But he said his son has told him the charges stem from a handful of photos of the girl that the soldier’s mother e-mailed to ease his homesickness.

The pictures show the girl in a swimsuit playing in a pool and sitting on Billy Miller’s pickup truck, according to the family. A small portion of one of the girl’s buttocks is visible in one, Rodney Miller said.

Billy Miller, a mechanic in civilian life, was part of the Illinois Army National Guard’s 33rd Infantry Brigade. About 3,000 members of the brigade went to Afghanistan in late 2008 and returned home last year.

The Millers say their son became close to the little girl after she was diagnosed with a serious illness while her own father was away for military training. The pictures were taken by Terri Miller and the girl’s mother at the girl’s birthday party last summer, Rodney Miller said.

The Army said any legal proceedings will happen in Afghanistan, but Rodney Miller hopes for some way to have his son tried in the United States if it comes to that. Anyone from his National Guard unit who can testify on his behalf isn’t in Afghanistan, Miller
said.

“If they court martial him in Afghanistan, he will be absolutely on his own,” he said.

– Associated Press

Read the original article from Tribune News Services.

GM will be selling the Chevrolet Volt later this year for a price tag in the low $30,000’s, and turn a profit on each car, according to chairman and CEO Ed Whitacre, Jr. The large lithium-ion battery packs contribute greatly to the car being a rather expensive one to produce, and had had made the starting price a point of concern.

In 2007 vice-chairman Bob Lutz had thrown out a goal of under $30,000, and that number was later adjusted to reflect a concern of higher production costs. Since that time however, Congress has passed legislation that will give initial Volt buyers a $7500 tax credit, and media speculation has thrown out figures as high as $40k.

Whitacre settled these concerns in an interview with gm-volt.com as well as the rumor that the first generation will be sold at a loss. “We’re not in business to lose money,…We did enough of that already.” said Whitacre. The Volt “is going to sell in the low 30s,” he added. “We’ll get a margin on that.”

Click here for more news on the Chevrolet Volt.

2011 Chevrolet Volt:

– By: Stephen Calogera

Source: gm-volt.com

Korean electronics giant LG unveiled the world’s first full HD 3D projecter at CES this year. Dubbed the CF3D, the projector features 1080p resolution, 2500 ANSI Lumens brightness, 7000:1 contrast ratio, 2 HDMI ports, and 1 USB. 3D is achieved via TruMotion technology. TruMotion alternates the left eye and right eye image at an incredibly fast rate of 120hz. The result when paired with 3D glasses is a stunningly smooth 3D experience.

Continue reading for more images.

Source: Akihabara

Texas, US | Eccentric Homes

Many people loved the 60s TV show “The Munsters” the kind of lower class version of The Adam’s Family, but few loved them as much as Charles and Sandra McKee.

Charles and Sandra McKee have spent the last nine or so years turning their Victorian home into a nearly perfect replica of the famous 60s sitcom Munster mansion. Even the address is the same, as just as in the television series ‘The Munsters’, this replica is located on 1313 Mockingbird Lane. However instead of being located in the fictional ‘Mockingbird Heights,’ this house was built in Waxahachie, Texas.

Since a blueprint to the Munster family home never existed, the McKee’s watched all 70 episodes of the show in order to create their own floor-plan. Luckily for them, not every room in the house was shown, allowing for a few personal non-Munster rooms. Every room featured in the TV show is present in the new incarnation, even the coffin shaped phone booth. The very first sight when entering the mansion is the large oak staircase which housed the Munster’s fire-breathing pet. Amazingly, the stairs even lift up to reveal said incendiary friend.

Currently the house is only available for touring during October and its annual Halloween charity fund raising event, but costs nothing to see. There are plans to open the house up for more frequent tours in the future. Cast members of the original show often attend the fundraiser, Al Lewis (Grandpa), Butch Patrick (Eddie), and Pat Priest (Marilyn) have all been guests of 1313 Mockingbird Lane.

Appearing almost exactly as the set house did on television, the only difference is that this Texan version appears newer. The ultimate goal of the McKees, however, is for the house to look just as it did in the show. The exterior is to be painted darker, aged, and distressed in order to achieve the decayed look of the original Munster Mansion. With a little more age and dust, the two homes should be nearly indistinguishable.

Carbon sequestration, the processing and storing of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, is one of the leading methods for the reduction of greenhouse gases. A group of scientists has now found a copper complex that is capable of reacting with carbon dioxide at a slightly elevated electric potential. The process turns the carbon dioxide into a usable byproduct which can be recycled and reused for this purpose multiple times.

An easy way to get carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere is to find a chemical that combines easily with it, similar to the way that some metals oxidize. For example, compounds involving copper will usually combine with oxygen in the atmosphere voluntarily without catalysts, covering the surface of the copper material with a green patina, like the Statue of Liberty.

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Since the Swedish IPRED law went into effect, basically requiring ISPs to hand over info on those accused of copyright infringement, many ISPs have begun questioning the legality of the law itself — specifically noting that the law clearly conflicts with privacy laws already in place in Sweden, as well as wider EU privacy rules. Last year, the ISP Ephone appealed a demand for info, and now Swedish telco giant Telia Sonera is doing the same in appealing a demand for info on whoever runs SweTorrents:

In its appeal, the ISP argues that IPRED is in direct violation of the EU’s data retention directive, under which the privacy of the SweTorrents owner would be protected….

“The protection of privacy contained in the directive prevents the application of the Swedish IPRED law in this case,” TeliaSonera’s lawyer Patrick Hiselius said in a comment.

Separately, TeliaSonera also pointed out that the court doesn’t seem to understand the most basic technical aspects of BitTorrent, in that it spoke of “the material that is uploaded on the website” in referring to SweTorrents. But SweTorrents is just a tracker, and thus there is no infringing material uploaded to its website. TeliaSonera points out that the demands for information on SweTorrents, then, is “based on faulty technical knowledge.”

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Though it gave no indication as to when a deal might be struck, Dutch automaker Spyker Cars has said that talks between them and GM regarding the purchase of Swedish manufacturer Saab, are still going on. GM had begun to wind-down the Swedish company last week, but said that it was continuing to consider bids.

A spokesman for GM Europe had said earlier that the company was still in fact involved in talks concerning Saab, but declined to identify any other involved parties. Spyker CEO Victor Muller denied reports of a joint bid with another bidder backed by Formula One head Bernie Ecclestone.

GM and Spyker have been involved in talks recently concerning Saab which have stalled. This bout of talks comes after display by more than 500 Saab enthusiasts whereby they drove in conveys into the Netherlands to show their support for the brand.

– By: Stephen Calogera

Source: Automotive News (Subscription Required)

Filed under: Detroit Auto Show, Videos, Chrysler, Humor

So we found this new website after our trip to the D for the 2010 Detroit Auto Show called Do You Come with the Car? It’s written by an anonymous auto show model who, as we speak, is likely standing on a platform in Cobo Hall fielding that very same question from some old guy who thinks he’s funny. We’ve always been fascinated by this trade, so her insights into the inner workings of the auto show model profession, particularly while the Detroit show is open to the public, are interesting, at least to us.

Her latest blog post illustrates just one of the many frustrations with which auto show models have to do deal on a daily basis. A reporter from FOX Toledo roped a Chrysler model named Lauren into an on-camera interview – you may remember her from our gallery – and then uses the occasion to ask such probing questions as “Is that comfortable?” (referring to her metallic mini-dress) and remarking “I hope you can’t read what my eyes are saying.” Top notch reporting, creepy dude. He increases his creepiness quotient to skin crawling levels by closing the interview with a come on in his final question. Being the savvy, street smart girl we assume her to be, Lauren gives him the cold (bare) shoulder and walks away.

We’re no strangers to accusations of sexism and exploitation when we publish galleries of these models after an auto show, but we very much respect them and what they do. Having been trained to speak knowledgeably about whatever vehicle they’re showcasing, they probably know more about the car than most of us. Hopefully that respect comes across when we’re taking their picture (we usually ask permission first unless the model is posing for a crowd of photogs) and to everyone else when we publish those galleries. We’d certainly hate to be lumped into the same class as this guy. Follow the jump to watch him go down in flames.

[Source: Do You Come with the Car?]

Video: Reporter gets deservedly dissed by Chrysler model originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 18 Jan 2010 18:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Motorsports, Government/Legal, Hirings/Firings/Layoffs, Renault

Flavio Briatore is out for blood. The flamboyant Italian billionaire and disgraced former director of the Renault Formula One team was kicked out of the sport by the Federation Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) in the wake of the “Crashgate” affair involving Nelson Piquet Jr., but subsequently won an appeal in French courts overturning the FIA’s ban (along with that of his cohort Pat Symonds) The courts upheld the argument made by Briatore’s lawyers that the FIA’s judicial process was corrupted under Max Mosley’s presidency, and that its rulings were illegal.

Despite the legal victory, Briatore says he’ll never manage another F1 team again. He is, however, reportedly opening another lawsuit against the FIA for lost income. Part of the lifetime ban imposed by the motorsport governing body included Briatore’s driver management agency, which had to give up such talents as Fernando Alonso and Heikki Kovalainen. The lawsuit will seek damages for those lost revenues, as well as the damage caused to Briatore’s professional reputation.

For its part, the FIA – now under new leadership – has announced its intention to overhaul its procedures to separate the powers, but that won’t stop Flavio from seeking his day in court.

[Sources: Pitpass, Autosport | Image: Clive Mason/Getty]

Flavio Briatore suing the FIA… again?! originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 18 Jan 2010 18:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Classics, Coupe, Auctions, Ford

John Dillinger’s 1930 Ford Model A – Click above for high-res image gallery

If you saw Michael Mann’s Public Enemies, the car above may look familiar. It isn’t just the same model that the notorious John Dillinger used to escape The Law in one of the most daring shootouts in American history – it’s the actual car. And the same one used in the movie.

After robbing banks across the country, Dillinger and his gang took refuge in the Little Bohemia Lodge in Manitowish Waters, Wisconsin, on April 22, 1934. When the proprietors alerted law enforcement to their presence, the FBI – led by the legendary Melvin Purvis – arrived on the scene and shot the place up. Dillinger, along with two of his cronies, escaped out the windows into the woods nearby before stumbling upon Robert Johnson driving the Ford Model A coupe you see here. They commandeered the car and the driver along with it, and escaped to Minnesota as Dillinger smashed the rear window and opened fire with his tommy-gun at pursuing law enforcement.

The bullet-ridden car remained in the possession of the Dillinger family for decades until it was carefully and faithfully restored by the producers of Public Enenies for use in the scene depicting the historic chase. Now the coupe will be up for auction in Scottsdale, Arizona, by Barrett-Jackson. Follow the jump for the full story in the press release, and check out the images in the gallery below.

[Source: Barrett-Jackson]

Continue reading Dillinger’s 1930 Ford Model A getaway car up for auction at Barrett-Jackson

Dillinger’s 1930 Ford Model A getaway car up for auction at Barrett-Jackson originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 18 Jan 2010 19:25:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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