Green is our favorite color. January 29, 2008

What is green?

Green is the color of nature, of growth. In color therapy, green affects the heart chakra. It calms and balances the nervous system, hence is good for people suffering from depression, anxiety, and nervousness. *Ever heard that green is good for our eyes? Do you know why? Tell me if you do, ’cause I simply don’t. lol* But I do know that green is good for our health, our society, and our planet, Earth. Green is our favorite color.

If now isn’t the time to talk green, when is? Global warming, air pollution, land wastes are only few of the long list of existing human-caused environmental issues. It affects not just our personal well-being, but on a much larger scale, the whole planet. This affects every single one of us. And it takes the effort of every single individual to fix it.

How can we act and live green?
Reduce. Reuse. Recycle.

Plenty of ways to achieve that. The most basic is by changing the little details in our lifestyle. Reduce the use of plastic bags when we checkout at Wal-Mart. Reuse plastic utensils when we order chinese food to-go. Recycle papers, cans, bottles, magazines, print cartridges by packing them separately and bringing them to designated collection venues. (ref. Eco Tips for Individuals)

Zooming out from individuals, we have companies and organizations that are evolving towards eco-friendly products and operations. Check out the Green Plug™:

Green Plug is a highly efficient power adapter hub that is able to simultaneously power multiple devices, each with its own energy demand. Billions of devices including laptops, printers, speakers, routers, modems, cell phones, entertainment devices, power tools, cameras and many other portable electronic devices require a power source that converts between 90V and 254V wall power to device-specific DC power. This translates to the fact that most devices require unique power converters – a very costly, extremely inconvenient, and principal contributor to wasted resources not to mention electronics landfill pile-up. Green Plug technology maximizes resources, minimizes solid waste from obsolete chargers, and eliminates wasted energy. When devices collaborate with power supplies, an unprecedented amount of monitoring, control, and optimization becomes possible. (via Inhabitat)

The Green Plug™ was also featured at CES 2008. If now isn’t the time to talk green, when is?

Paint the world with our favorite color. Paint it green.

Follow up: POWRAMID, “UFO” Surge Protector at CES 2008 January 28, 2008

Remember the UFO-looking surge protector I blogged about earlier this month? Well, they were at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES 2008) in Las Vegas (Jan 7-10). If you missed out the action of getting hands-on with this little alien device, check this out:

(video by unplggd.com)

And, they come in different colors too.

Why We Love (TIME Mag) January 25, 2008

We have all fallen in love or will fall in love at some point in our lives. Whether the relationship eventually works out or goes in the drain, there is no doubt that we once had a special feeling for this someone. Ever wonder why humans work like that?

TIME Magazine had a great article that covers some scientific explanations of why humans fall in love, and to some extent, how.

I’ve just recently been in a relationship myself. About 3+ months ago, I broke up with an ex after being together for 4 years, and got together with a guy I just met over the Internet (in World of Warcraft, to be specific). The previous relationship for me had been just fine. 4 years is not a short period of time, so we pretty much ironed out/cooled off from the ugly quarrels we used to have. Nothing exciting or out of the ordinary. He would, routinely call me every morning before he goes to work. *We were on different time zones. I can’t even remember what we talked about those days anymore. We’re no longer head over heels for each other, on days that we don’t talk, I don’t even know if I missed him. But I would still tell him everything. That was perhaps what was called “companionate love”. But I guess I was greedy. I wanted more affection, and the strong urge of wanting to be with someone. ‘Cause it’s a great feeling, the feeling of loving and being loved back. I became really attracted to the new guy online. What started off as “friendship” quickly ignited into “love”. And by quickly, I mean roughly 2 weeks. It’s strange, isn’t it? For someone who I haven’t seen before, love could be so strong.

…Or is it?

“It’s not that we fall in love with such people because they’re immensely attractive. It’s that they seem immensely attractive because we’ve fallen in love with them.”
- Psychologist Arthur Aron of the State University of New York at Stony Brook

But my new internet long-distance relationship didn’t last long. Broke up just recently. And I was devastated.

Fisher sees the dangers of maladaptive love in fMRI studies she’s conducting of people who have been rejected by a lover and can’t shake the pain. In these subjects, as with all people in love, there is activity in the caudate nucleus, but it’s specifically in a part that’s adjacent to a brain region associated with addiction. If the two areas indeed overlap, as Fisher suspects, that helps explain why telling a jilted lover that it’s time to move on can be fruitless—as fruitless as admonishing a drunk to put a cork in the bottle.

I really want to take an fMRI of my brain. *Bet there’s a huge overlap in my case. Don’t know if this is ethically right for me, but I am addicted to love.* It’s intriguing to see how the brain works in love, scientific explanations for something so emotional and irrational.

I always remember this from my Social Psychology class back in college. Humans are strange, almost as if lying to ourselves, making ourselves believe in what we want/choose to believe in. Self-justification. Surely, at least a third of my devastation came from self-justifying why I threw away a 4-yr-old relationship for this one. And surely, another third has got to be love. The last third…*shame on me* I think I was just trying to get hold of whatever I can. Being 23, (not too old BUT) I really want to settle down, preferably with someone I love. Another selfish reason. Whatever it is, it’s always the MIND that’s making things up.

“You think someone made you feel good, but really it’s your brain that made you feel good.”
- Psychologist and sex researcher Jim Pfaus of Concordia University in Montreal

All in all, whether it is self-justification or not doesn’t quite matter to me. Afterall, it’s happiness and learning how to be contented with that happiness given to you that is important.

I love you.
And I know it has never been truer than it is now.

The Birth of Power…Where!? January 24, 2008

Here is an interesting product…the key to having power in your hands.

ECOSOL’s new Powerstick allows you to charge your cellphone and iPod anywhere you go. A real lifesaver when you forgot to charge your cellphone the night before! So Powerstick is a USB device that stores energy like a battery, when you connect it to a USB port. It comes with 9 different connectors to accommodate the different port designs on different phone models/devices. To charge your cellphone/iPhone/iPod, simply connect it to your phone using the appropriate connector, and voila! Your device will be fully charged in 90mins. To recharge your Powerstick, plug it into your laptop/desktop again. It’s pretty neat. No more bulky adapters or multiple adapters because you have a Nokia and a Blackberry. Just ONE device. $70. (View product manual and brochure.)

But something just throws me off. Not with the product, it’s really cool and great for consumers who’re always on the road or “in the air”. The whole idea or motivation is to gain flexibility and mobility. A heading on the brochure reads, “Are you truly mobile?” I thought, is that possible? Maybe. But now, even with Powerstick, we’re not completely mobile. No way we could be. Where do the power on our laptops come from? How do we recharge our Powerstick without power in our laptops? While Powerstick can really reduce our hassle of bringing multiple adapters for different portable devices, it really is just a temporary solution to the more general question of mobility. Maybe all our electronic devices are going to be solar-powered in the future? What other options are there? I need to do some research on that. But it’s exciting to see the world shifting towards “true mobility”.

Blog: Apartment Therapy Unplugged January 24, 2008

We all know that there are many blogs out there that blogs about the coolest gadgets…big ones like Techcrunch and Engadget. Well, here’s another one to add to your list: Apartment Therapy Unplugged.

*As always, Technorati gives me the latest and coolest news I ever wanted.*

 

What is it?

………………….It’s a SURGE PROTECTOR!

 

How about this one?

SPEAKERS!!

 

Or this…

Cool huh?

It’s an OFFICE.

 

Apartment Therapy hosts a series of blogs on the different aspects of home design. Unplugged has a stronger focus on tech gadgets. Other featured blogs, such as Re-Nest providing you tips to build a greener home, and The Kitchen bringing you a tasty read on….FoooooD. *Whaddya think it was? Has recipes too. :p* And if you’re living in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles or San Francisco, you’re luckier. ‘Cause they have shopping guides for ya. *wink*