The Raging Tech

May Flowers Bring Sneezing Showers? Go Silk!

Tags: allergies, artificial, Decor, faux, flowers, silk

Staggering U.S. Waste and Excess as Art

My friend over at The Fate of Tyrlon (and other dubious things) pointed me to an interesting site he stumbled upon with the Stumble Upon toolbar. It’s on Portfolio.com, a web site by Conde’ Nast, and it’s about how Chris Jordan uses staggering facts and figures about waste and excess in the United States and visually represents them with the objects in question.

It took me a minute to figure out what was actually going on, but if you will zoom in, you’ll see that each of these photos is made up of thousands or millions of items.

[This site requires Flash, so make sure you have that installed first. You probably do, but if nothing shows up, that's what's up.]

Tags: Chris Jordan, excess, photo essay, USA, waste

Keep It Green: Vacation Season is Upon Us

The weather is warming up quickly, the chilly windy days are almost completely over around here (for those of you gawking at me, I live in the mountains, so it stays colder longer here). I’ve already cranked up the air conditioner a few days in a row now.

Last year in May I took a vacation to Hilton Head Island, South Carolina and it was amazing. I did it all on the cheap, because it was more about just getting to go than it was about staying somewhere fancy. Although it still wasn’t exactly camping, it wasn’t the Hilton, either. We were about a half-mile from the beach in a decent hotel with wi-fi access and a continental breakfast.

This year, I might look into the Shangri La Gardens and Nature Center in the city of Orange, Texas. The name of the city even sounds nature-y. The big thing this past year seems to be everyone going “green” - and Shangri La Gardens is no exception. They have the U.S. Green Building Council’s Platinum certification for LEED®-NC, and almost every aspect of the center is focused around teaching people to be in harmony with the ecosystems around them. Not in a hippy-kinda way, though.

“Shangri La” typically is used to describe a place of peace, harmony, beauty, and a general state of enlightenment. The gardens in Orange, Texas exist to educate and improve the quality of life in the Southeast part of Texas. The gardens are also educational, featuring several opportunities for kids (of all ages) to observe nature, plants, and visit a laboratory.

Check out their website at the link above, and see what kinds of opportunities they have - this seems like a fun vacation idea for families, couples and single people who just want to get away to a serene environment and be surrounded by nature.

Tags: green, nature, preserve, Shangri La, vacation, wildlife

It’s Time to Get Naked

If you’re not already Naked, you totally should be - if you’re getting ready to shower, that is to say. I’m talking about Naked Naturals shampoo and conditioner. I got a sample in the mail the other day of Naked Naturals Citrus & Keratin Fortifying Shampoo and Fortifying Conditioner.

First of all, you should know that the naked naturals product is nothing perverted or vulgar - it’s just pure natural ingredients that haven’t been enhanced with artificial chemicals. (Although I’ll be darned if I recognized half the ingredients on the label!) It’s also supposed to make your hair up to 7x stronger (than virgin hair, according to the label).

I showered yesterday and decided to go ahead and try the stuff. The first impression was the smell - this stuff smells good! The orangey citrus aroma was nice and relaxing, even if it wasn’t the most masculine scent. All in the name of science though, right? It lathered up nice and white and bubbly, and rinsed out smooth. Same for the conditioner, although the consistency was a little suprising at first. It’s a little thicker than conditioners I’ve used in the past.

After my shower, I waited a few minutes for the mirrors to defog and went to go mousse my hair, and I noticed my hair was a lot shinier and softer than usual. I’m not usually one to use conditioner anyway - but it seemed to help. I gave my hair a tug just to see if it felt any more fortified. It hurt. But none of it came out, so I guess that’s good!

What did amaze me was when I woke up this morning before my morning shower, my hair was still soft and felt pretty clean. I washed it again anyway out of habit, but that was pretty amazing.

Tags: conditioner, naked naturals, NKNATURALS2/08, shampoo, shower

Keep It Green: Light Your Yard with Solar Power

Yes, I am aware that during the daylight hours, everyone’s yard is lit by solar power. Unless you live in one of those parts of the planet where it’s night for months at a time. But what I’m talking about is enviro-friendly landscape lighting for your yard or property at night. I’ve written previously of the obvious energy efficiency benefits of using LED lighting.

Now, with LED lighting becoming more and more popular, the price has finally come to a point that makes solar landscape lighting for your yard at home or your business landscape an affordable reality. It also means that you’re doing your part to reduce the amount of energy you use and lightening your impact on the environment.

If you don’t already have outdoor lighting, try adding in a decorative tree, or lighting your walk way, or just place lights further out into your yard to increase safety and usability of your yard after dark.