Trash // Current TV

Hot Dog Hooker Flashes Breasts upon Prison Release

The Long Island hot dog vender, who says she maintains a stripping business on the... more

punman
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20 days ago
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2 comments

She'll Do Your Wiener Anyway You Want It

She loves those dirty dogs! A Long Island hooker sold more than just sausage at her... more

punman
added this
25 days ago
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47 comments

Gorgeous Just Peachy lingerie. Candice Boucher

Model Candice Boucher shows off the Just Peachy Trellis 2012 lingerie collection from... more

leelondon
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1 month ago
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13 comments

Alan Watts - Seeing Through the Game (Carl Jung Tribute)

Ordinarily I wouldn't post such an item here but don't see a place elsewhere... more

entropyincarnate
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15 days ago
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7 comments

A-Chore-Able

Time to take out the trash

cahtoonist
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19 days ago
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0 comments

The new Inconvenient Truth? Trailer for TRASHED presented by Jeremy Irons

Academy Award winner Jeremy Irons presents a new environmental documentary, premiering... more

troshy
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27 days ago
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Wind pushes plastics deeper into ocean driving trash estimates up

While working on a research sailboat gliding over glassy seas in the Pacific Ocean, oceanographer Giora Proskurowski noticed something new: The water was littered with confetti-size pieces of plastic debris, until the moment the wind picked up and most of the particles disappeared.

After taking samples of water at a depth of 16 feet (5 meters), Proskurowski, a researcher at the University of Washington, discovered that wind was pushing the lightweight plastic particles below the surface. That meant that decades of research into how much plastic litters the ocean, conducted by skimming only the surface, may in some cases vastly underestimate the true amount of plastic debris in the oceans, Proskurowski said.

Reporting in the journal of Geophysical Research Letters this month, Proskurowski and co-lead author Tobias Kukulka, University of Delaware, said that data collected from just the surface of the water commonly underestimates the total amount of plastic in the water by an average factor of 2.5. In high winds the volume of plastic could be underestimated by a factor of 27.

"That really puts a lot of error into the compilation of the data set," Proskurowski said. The paper also detailed a new model that researchers and environmental groups can use to collect more accurate data in the future.

Plastic waste in the oceans is a concern because of the impact it might have on the environment. For instance, when fish ingest the plastics, it may degrade their liver functions. In addition, the particles make nice homes for bacteria and algae, which are then transported along with the particles into different regions of the ocean where they may be invasive and cause problems.

Proskurowski gathered data on a 2010 North Atlantic expedition where he and his team collected samples at the surface, plus an additional three or four depths down as far as 100 feet.

"Almost every tow we did contained plastic regardless of the depth," he said.

By combining the data with wind measurements, Proskurowski and his co-authors developed a simplified mathematical model that could potentially be used to match historical weather data, collected by satellite, with previous surface sampling to more accurately estimate the amount of plastic in the oceans.

In addition, armed with the new model, organizations and researchers in the future might monitor wind data and combine it with surface collections in order to better estimate how much plastic waste is in our oceans.

"By factoring in the wind, which is fundamentally important to the physical behavior, you're increasing the rigor of the science and doing something that has a major impact on the data," Proskurowski said.

The team plans to publish a "recipe" that simplifies the model so that a wide range of groups investigating ocean plastics, including those that aren't oceanographers, can easily use the model. Following the recipe, which is available now by request, might encourage some consistency among the studies, he said.

"On this topic, what science needs to be geared toward is building confidence that scientists have solid numbers and that policy makers aren't making judgments based on CNN reports," he said. Descriptions of the so-called great Pacific garbage patch in widespread news reports may have led many people to imagine a giant, dense island of garbage while in fact the patch is made up of widely dispersed, millimeter-size pieces of debris, he said.

More at the linkWhile working on a research sailboat gliding over glassy seas in the Pacific Ocean,... more

JanforGore
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28 days ago
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4 comments

Green Losers Trash Parks on Earth Day

Happy Earth Day, everybody! Just when we thought our faith in the drunkards had been... more

rodstradamus
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1 month ago
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1 comment

Self-Destructing Janitor Satellite to Clean Up Space

In space, no one can hear you clean. But given the astonishing amount of trash in orbit around our planet, it's a chore that needs to be done no matter how quietly.

According to NASA over half-a-million pieces of trash, from decommissioned satellites to discarded bits of rocket parts, are orbiting around Earth every day, raising the danger of catastrophic collision with each future venture into outer space. With that in mind, a team of scientists from one of Europe's tidiest countries, Switzerland, recently announced plans to deploy a series of junk-collecting satellites to remove some of the dangerous space debris currently floating high above our heads as part of a project called CleanSpaceOne.

“It’s time to do something to reduce the amount of debris floating around in space,” says Claude Nicollier of the Federal Institute of Technology at Lausanne. “Most debris comes from satellites that are no longer in use – typically they have run out of energy and their solar panels or batteries don’t work; when they collide it creates lots of debris.”

So how does one go about cleaning up space, humankind's seemingly immeasurable sweep-under rug? With self-destructing janitor satellites, of course. Taking a cue from nature's best grippers, Swiss researchers devised small orbiters which find and clasp onto intersteller trash before plummeting back towards Earth where both would be destroyed during the heat and friction of re-entry.

Given the amount of trash in space, and the potential damage to expensive satellites and spacecraft such debris could inflict, the scientists can see a future ripe with their astro-janitorial assistants.

“Space agencies are increasingly finding it necessary to take into consideration and prepare for the elimination of the stuff they’re sending into space," Swiss Space Center Director Volker Gass told SwissInfo. "We want to be the pioneers in this area.”

If the idea of tentacled litter-busting satellites sounds like quite an imaginative solution for cleaning up space junk, it's certainly not the most far-fetched. In the last few years, a range of creative suggestions have been put forth to keep mankind's final frontier from looking like a dump -- from using giant gold balloons to gather junk or just firing lasers at it, to recycling that debris into new satellites altogether, the ideas have bordered on science fiction -- but then again, so does the notion that we've trashed space so much that this has become a problem in need of a solution.

http://www.treehugger.com/clean-technology/outer-space-no-one-can-hear-you-clean.htmlIn space, no one can hear you clean. But given the astonishing amount of trash in... more

pjacobs51
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3 months ago
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11 comments

White Folk On Welfare

I was watching the Daily Show with John Stewart the other night and he had a guest who... more

baghdadbythebay
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4 months ago
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56 comments

Tons of Los Angeles River Trash to Be Captured Before Reaching Pacific Ocean

Los Angeles Times... . Environmental news from California and beyond... more

EthicalVegan
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7 months ago
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2 comments

Dealers: Working the Cheap Box

Gary's ploy to dump junk on his customers runs into a problem.

TonyDiGerolamo
added this
11 months ago
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0 comments

Dealers: Treasure in the Trash

Gary figures out a way to turn trash into money.

TonyDiGerolamo
added this
11 months ago
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0 comments

Aware Guide - Common Recycling Mistakes

Every day, the average American produces four and a half pounds of trash — 75... more

AwareGuide
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11 months ago
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0 comments

The science is settled: US liberals really are the dumbest creatures on the planet

Today I am in New York on my publicity tour for Watermelons and as I sat at breakfast... more

rodstradamus
added this
11 months ago
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85 comments

Sarah Palin Reportedly Quits Bus Tour Halfway Through

Former half-term Gov. Sarah Palin has reportedly packed in her bus tour...halfway... more

letsliveinpeace
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11 months ago
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1 comment

VIDEO: Bristol Palin Lost Virginity While Drunk On Camping Trip With Levi Johnston

NEW YORK (AP) -- Bristol Palin writes in her new book of losing her virginity to... more

letsliveinpeace
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11 months ago
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1 comment

The New Hampshire Debate: Michele Bachmann’s Surprisingly Mature Performance

Manchester, New Hampshire—Three quarters of 2008 New Hampshire voters in the Republican primary said, according to the exit polls, that the debates were “important” in making up their minds. But that does not mean that all debates are equally important—and the only safe prediction in the impossible-to-handicap GOP race is that few New Hampshire voters will remember last night’s surprisingly subdued and sound bite-free seven-candidate snore-a-thon.

The best justification for the debate—which CNN tried to enliven with high-tech razzmatazz—was that it was the kickoff of a TV series that will run non-stop until next spring. The purpose of the opening episode was to introduce the characters (six men and a woman marooned behind identical lecterns) rather than to advance the plot. At times it was enough of a meandering discussion that it might have been entitled, “Seven Right-Wing Characters in Search of Real Differences.”

Mitt Romney, who has been seldom sighted by anyone other than his top fund-raisers in recent months, is the only major holdover from the 2007-2008 campaign season. In his opening remarks, Romney alluded to his been-there-failed-at-that record as he said ruefully, “Hopefully, I’ll get it right this year.”

As originally scripted, Monday night’s plot was supposed to revolve around Tim Pawlenty’s challenge to Romney as the top-dog Republican on the CNN stage. Pawlenty offered a hint of what all political reporters crave—a conflict—when he cracked on Fox News on Sunday that the president’s health-care plan should be called “Obamneycare.” But, instead, Pawlenty and Romney took the high road—befitting their elevated status as serious contenders—and never threw a punch. The narrative that Pawlenty would attack Romney was always exaggerated since it is never prudent for a candidate to introduce himself to national voters as the Minnesota Mauler. All the pre-game hype ignored the pesky detail that Pawlenty had been backing off the “Obamneycare” line at every sidewalk press conference since he uttered the fateful words on Sunday morning.

The other candidates were supposed to be competing with 2008 holdover Ron Paul in the crazy-relative-in-the-attic sweepstakes. But Michele Bachmann never got the memo. Instead of playing her familiar role as a Tea Party troubadour, she came across as a right-winger who offered quiet competence and legislative experience. There were moments when she seemed to be channeling Bob Dole as a congressional insider: “I introduced the repeal bill to repeal Dodd-Frank because it’s an over-the-top bill that will actually lead to more job loss.” In fact, when the Tea Party came up in a question, Bachmann immediately announced that she was the chairman of the Tea Party caucus on Capitol Hill. Still, Bachmann knew from her years as a cable TV green room regular how to command the headlines—she became the first White House dreamer in memory to declare their presidential candidacy in the middle of a debate.

Much of the not-for-attribution talk (the only post-debate comments worth noting) in the spin room after of the debate was about Bachmann. No one was suggesting that she had with a single bound become a serious candidate. Yet in a sense, Romney’s and Bachmann’s fates are linked, as they are both competing with Pawlenty. Romney views the former Minnesota governor as his major foe for the nomination and Bachmann sees Pawlenty as her major obstacle to scrambling the game board by winning Iowa.

While almost no one still considers Gingrich a serious candidate for the nomination, his performance in the CNN debate was a reminder that Newt—when he is not caught up in political pandering—has the capacity to play policy truth-teller. He returned in muted tones to the substance of his critique of Paul Ryan’s plan to eviscerate Medicare: “If you’re dealing with something as big as Medicare and you can’t have a conversation with the country where the country thinks what you’re doing is the right thing, you better slow down.”

The debate should have ended the brief Republican fascination with Herman Cain, who brings to the campaign his real-world experience as, yes, the CEO of Godfather’s Pizza. While Cain can be an inspirational speaker in the right setting, a debate with serious policy questions invariably will display his not-ready-for-prime-time generalities. Meanwhile, Rick Santorum—whose militantly conservative views on abortion and gay rights do not stand out in this right-wing field—aseems destined to play the role of a why-is-he-here candidate cluttering up the debate stages while never saying anything interesting.

All of these overnight assessments can and probably will be adjusted after future viewings as the GOP contenders get used to the debate stages. But if on-the-fence Republicans like Rick Perry in Texas and Chris Christie in New Jersey were watching last night, they were unlikely to have been intimidated by the political talent arrayed on stage in Manchester. For the Republican TV audience, the only comfort was that it has to get better once the debates begin to matter.

http://bit.ly/ifGXRsManchester, New Hampshire—Three quarters of 2008 New Hampshire voters in the... more

letsliveinpeace
added this
12 months ago
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23 comments

World Oceans Day: Celebrating the source of all life on Earth

Today is World Oceans Day which is a day of celebrating the oceans of our planet and... more

JanforGore
added this
12 months ago
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13 comments

Baltimore's Most Interesting City Council Candidate

Baltimore City Council candidate Adam Van Bavel is a City Paper Readers Poll... more

AVBforBCC
added this
1 year ago
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1 comment

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