"
Dear Plasticians,
As you may know, January 15th will be our 10th anniversary.
Unfortunately, Plastic will shut down a month from then, around February 15th (exact date to come)."
[more inside]
posted by iviken
on Jan 17, 2011 -
112 comments
Some are calling it the "Kindle Killer". (Demo launch video
at engadget.) Plastic Logic's new e-reader, expected to be out in the first half of 2009, does promise to offer a lot that Kindle and most other other popular e-readers don't, like a larger display, big enough to provide a newspaper or magazine layout; touch-based markup and annotation; the ability to read standard documents and other file types without conversion; (promised) Wi-Fi connectivity (including the ability to transfer documents between readers); and last but not least,
a screen display that you can hit with a shoe, and isn't that something we've all been waiting for during these tense times?
[more inside]
posted by taz
on Sep 13, 2008 -
85 comments
A Visual Guide To Recycling Plastics.
Most recycling programs only accept plastics #1 and #2, so being able to quickly identify them can be a time saver when sorting your recycling. In the future, we should be able to recycle plastics #3 through #7 — but for now these outcasts must be banished to the landfill (that’s too bad, because a lot of stuff is made from plastic #5).
posted by amyms
on Feb 15, 2008 -
24 comments
As
Armistice Day approaches an exhibition reveals a hidden side to the horror of World War I.
It contains
previously unseen images of British servicemen who suffered terrible facial injuries in the conflict.
The exhibition also tells the story of one surgeon -
Harold Gillies – who through his efforts to help them became known as the father of modern plastic surgery.
WARNING: Some of the following images are of a very graphic nature.
posted by infini
on Nov 3, 2007 -
8 comments
Bag Ladies and Gentlemen.... Yes, you conscientiously refuse plastic shopping bags and use enviro bags as often as you can, but still the plastic bags manage to breed like roaches. How many plastic bags do you have stuffed in (naturally!) a large plastic bag somewhere in your home? And do you despair of ever using them up? Fear not! If you have more bags than home furnishings and décor items, you could make a
chair, a
few throw rugs,
cushions, a
chandelier, or a
Christmas wreath. If you’d like a stylish yet waterproof wardrobe, you could make a
cape, a
raincoat, or a
bra. It would be less utilitarian but equally cool to make your own menagerie:
chickens, a
zebra,
more chickens,
sea creatures, and
still more chickens.
[more inside]
posted by orange swan
on Jun 11, 2007 -
35 comments
Barbarism begins with Barbie — the doll, that is. Research done at the University of Bath (UK) posits that prepubescents' pre-eminent plasticine plaything provokes disproportionate punishment. According to the study, which originally focused on the effects of branding on young consumers, the statuesque Mattel mini-miss seems to attract undue savagery. "The researchers had not intended to focus on Barbie, but they were taken aback by the rejection, hatred and violence she provoked when they asked the children about their feelings for the doll. Violence and torture against Barbie were repeatedly reported across age, school and gender. No other toy or brand name provoked such a negative response."
posted by rob511
on Dec 19, 2005 -
46 comments
Electronic Paper looks pretty neat, although I'm skeptical they could produce it for less than traditional paper anytime soon. Such inventions could even be better for our
environment in the long run, although it appears to boil down to personal preference when it comes to
Paper vs. Plastic.
posted by Guerilla
on Jul 28, 2005 -
16 comments
Told you plastic is nasty.... Most of plastic that somehow reached the ocean floats in the
North Pacific Gyre[look at Currents], an exotic name for an area of the Pacific ocean with a surface larger then U.S.A, dreaded by sailors for its lack of winds and called by some World largest Landfill. The people at
Algalita Marine Research Foundation have made this nice
video[Quicktime] showing how tons and tons of tiny plastic particles have been accumulating
in the area for the last 50 years, slowly entering the food chain. Why does that bother us who live thousand of miles away ? Because we're on the top of the
food chain and because that plastic is a sponge of hazardous chemicals.[Via tpl1212's link in
another unrelated story]
posted by elpapacito
on Dec 16, 2004 -
44 comments
Microscopic fragments of plastic are a "major pollutant", floating in the ocean, settling on seabeds, and washing up onshore - with unknown consequences for marine ecosystems, according to a new study. "We've found this microscopic plastic material at all of the sites we've examined," [lead researcher]
Dr Richard C
Thompson [of University of Plymouth, UK]
said. "Interestingly, the abundance is reasonably consistent. So, it suggests to us that the problem is really quite ubiquitous."
posted by mcgraw
on May 7, 2004 -
15 comments
Preservation by Plastination : Until recently the privilege to view corpses and the human body’s interior has been confined to medicine students and anatomists in dissection rooms. It is only due to the invention of plastination that the general public is now also able to enjoy fascinating insights into the human body.
posted by starscream
on Aug 4, 2003 -
11 comments
MeFi Users: You're Preapproved! Plastic begs for users, takes shots at MetaFilter with lines such as: "Plastic: the MetaFilter that doesn't reminisce about its 'golden era', three times a week!" and "Plastic: The MetaFilter that's already had weeks of unexplained downtime." Is offering "karma" and "mod points" going to make you switch? Isn't complaining about a lost golden era better than never having one at all?
posted by magnetbox
on Jul 16, 2002 -
27 comments
