Environment | onedegreecloser

March 29, 2013
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FYI Friday, March 29: Week in Review

Can you believe March is almost over? Here are some awesome highlights from the past week…

LIFE

How Many Tetris Pieces Would You Need to Build a House?

It was the game that defined a revolution in handheld gaming, but during the countless hours you spent playing Tetris and neatly organizing falling tetrominoes, did you ever stop and wonder how many of those piecesyou’d need to build a full-size house? Probably not, after all what kid spends their time imagining about home engineering?

But the folks over at Movoto did…FULL ARTICLE.

You Should Wear Red on Your Online Dating Profile

If you want to improve your chance of getting a date on any online dating site, you should wear a red shirt. Slate took a look at various studies comparing the same person wearing different colored clothes and each time, red was the most successful color. Do it. Change your online profile now. FULL ARTICLE.

TECHNOLOGY

Volkswagen’s e-Up! Debuts

At the annual Press and Investors Conference on Friday in Wolfsburg, the home of Volkswagen, the company’s first bet in the all-electric vehicle market made its debut. With a range of 93 miles (150 km) and recharging to 80% of capacity in just 30-40 minutes, the e-Up! should interest commuters but may also offer options for people willing to stretch their wings on the emerging electric-charging infrastructure. FULL ARTICLE.

Slow Internet Due to ‘Biggest Attack Ever’

A squabble between a group fighting spam and a Dutch company that hosts Web sites said to be sending spam has escalated into one of the largest computer attacks on the Internet, causing widespread congestion and jamming crucial infrastructure around the world. FULL ARTICLE.

HEALTH

Do Fear and Anxiety Define Your Health Journey?

Think for a minute about the health messaging sources in our culture. Think of the pharmaceutical ads in every magazine and television show. Think of the medical talk shows and evening exposes on obscure conditions, the nightly newscasts depicting the ravages of epidemics in far flung corners of the globe and “expert” sound bytes warning of pathogens closer to home. Then there are the messages themselves. How many doom and gloom health statistics and inflammatory stock images do you encounter in a day? How many times do you hear “Ask your doctor if [insert medication] is right for you”? FULL ARTICLE.

March 15, 2013
by OneDegreeCloser Leave a comment

FYI Friday, March 15: Week in Review

LIFE

Working from Home Makes More Sense Than Ever (Sorry Yahoo!)

Yahoo! has just ordered all of its homeworkers back to the office, claiming that “Speed and quality are often sacrificed when we work from home.” All of us at TreeHugger work from home, so we have been following the trend carefully. Here are some of the things we have found over the years. FULL ARTICLE.

TECHNOLOGY

12 Plug-and-Play Home Hydroponics Systems

If you’ve ever been interested in growing some of your own food, but the lack of a garden plot or yard has kept you from pursuing it, you may want to consider starting an indoor or balcony hydroponics garden. Technology has paved the way for quite a few different plug-and-play hydroponics systems, ranging from aeroponics to auquaponics, all designed to efficiently grow food in a small space. Here’s a look at 12 of them. FULL ARTICLE.

And Again! (Because it’s so awesome…)

Sleek Hydroponic Unit Lets You Grow a Garden in Your Kitchen

Indoor gardening solutions come in a range of possibilities — from do-it-yourself windowfarming kits to more high-tech fare. The futuristic, hydroponic Nano Garden fits in the latter category, allowing urban dwellers who have a bit more space in their homes to grow trays of veggies, herbs and greens right in their kitchen. FULL ARTICLE.

ENVIRONMENT

Renting Your Car Out to Other Takes 14 Cars Off the Road

Conventional wisdom says leaving your car in your garage or office parking lot all day saves fuel, lessens pollution and helps the environment. Andre Haddad, disagrees. The CEO of RelayRides, a peer-to-peer car sharing service that lets you become a one-person mini Hertz, says by leaving your car sitting idle all those hours—instead of renting it out to people who need it—you are actually hurting the environment. How can that be possible? FULL ARTICLE.