Susty

No surprise the pornography industry will be seizing onto the latest technology, in this case FaceTime video calling on Apple’s iPhone 4. HuffPo / AP covers the adult-entertainment industry’s move into the medium. While we encourage the sexiness between two people who are growing a relationship of some kind — not withstanding it perhaps being a mix of analogue and digital social sex space — we’re glad to hear this shagalicious detail:

The original 1-minute Apple FaceTime ad directed by Sam Mendes featured a couple chatting in American Sign Language (ASL). Now, the new service ZVRS makes it possible for the deaf and hard-of-hearing to communicate with the hearing is coming on line.

The new iPhone comes loaded with new features and apps including FaceTime which allows families to video chat with the phone’s front-facing camera to share life’s most intimate, special moments. College Humor’s parody has dad completely missing out on his son’s life.

Old House Web has a green initiative called “Old is the New Green” all about turning those old houses into fantastic contemporary ones when it comes to the greenitude factors involved in their renovation. In honor of National Preservation Month, Old House Web has partnered with Green Renovation Expert Matt Grocoff and Greenovation.TV to highlight innovative and practical green design and preservation techniques for America’s homes. The video here is a tour of our Grocoff’s 110 year old Folk-Victorian home in Ann Arbor, Michigan.  Matt and family are restoring it in the greenest way possible and in the end that means making it energy neutral.

Through lampooning from Jason Jones on The Daily Show, becoming the subject of a book exposé and after nine years of federal regulatory review, the government green light shines today on the nation’s first offshore wind farm the hotly contested Cape Wind project. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced the approved permit for Cape Wind Associates to build the 130-turbine farm in Nantucket Sound.

Cape Wind says it can generate power by 2012 and aims to eventually supply three-quarters of the power on Cape Cod to the approximately 225,000 residents while creating green jobs and tapping s domestic energy source. Exactly a year ago, President Obama made an Earth Day speech in support of wind and the Obama Administration’s Interior Department announced new offshore renewable energy regulations setting the stage for today’s Cape Wind permit approval. That the framework for how leases will be issued and revenue shared has nearby coastal states receiving 27.5 percent of the royalties generated from electricity production. But for all the up-to-the-minute controversy roiling the Massachusetts coastal waters, read more…

Senators John Kerry, Lindsey Graham and Joe Lieberman release expect to have the backing of three of the five major oil companies for the climate bill to be unveiled Monday. Mother Jones has breaking coverage and the details are fascinating…

We all intuitively know that trust is important in relationships, especially when we find ourselves snooping at our partner’s emails and mobile phones. But much less known is that beneath intuition lies a biological factor. NPR’s All Things Considered looks into the hormone oxytocin which plays a role in the decisions people make as whether or not to trust someone.

I received this letter from Con Edison NYC informing me that as of April 2013, my winter electricity rate will no longer decrease as the amount of electricity my family uses increases. Meaning, the rate per kilowatt-hour will be flat with no discount for a household using electricity for winter heating. Con Ed says this policy change “is designed to encourage energy conservation,” so while the profit motive is clearly part of the corporate equation here, we say that’s just fine as this is how the real free-market is supposed to work.

LED PAR38 and PAR30 dimming flood lights and spot lights. Similar to 100R38 and 75R30 lamps. Shows LED PAR30 & PAR38 Color temperatures and beam angles.

Must read article in the NYT from Paul Krugman on Building a Green Economy. Along with simply bringing us back to free market basics, Krugman provides a comprehensive study of the environmental economic thinking of our times. More than that, he provides a free-market road map to a bright green future.

Manners, manners. There’s nothing more susty than being considerate and acting while bearing in mind the bigger picture. Although cellphones are sometimes frustrating and small, their place in our life has become huge and there are a lot of moving parts around our social behavior in the use of these mobile gadgets. It may be difficult to bear in mind all of the pitfalls and ticks of habit around digital conversation, so enter CellPhones.org who has put together a useful list of cell phone etiquette tips. The ‘dos and dont’s’ of mobile talk time.

Like its video cousin The Secret Life of Cell Phones, the new infographic The Afterlife of a Cell Phone from Cellphones.org lays out the toxic hazards that come with mobile devices becoming not only ingrained in our very psyches but deep into our environment also.

Scientific American’s 60 Second science podcast explores what winter weather reveals about global warming. And the answer is that no single weather event proves or disproves the fundamental science of climate change, but extreme weather is what scientists expect from global warming.

id Stephen Colbert seem to have a little extra energy and zazz on the December 16th episode of his titular report? Does he seem a bit livelier during his interviews, or is he just being creeped-out by Stephen King? What’s causing the strange twinkle he’s got in his eye? Is it the presence of veteran TV journalist Tom Brokaw or could it be something he ate? Watch the video and judge for yourself, but what we do know is that sustainable chef and caterer Louisa Shafia provided lunch for the staff that day. Over at Lucid Food, Lousia describes how the scene went down with the quintessential writers room running commentary around the, farm fresh buffet spread. But when Colbert approaches her she get a wee bit star struck and events begin to blur. So just which menu item did Mr. Stephen Colbert choose and just what physical reaction did he have to it?

The New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) is holding a pre-holiday swap meet tonight. Given that the exchange and reuse of items is oh so susty in that we’re not tossing stuff that’s still good into the landfill, and since I am a NYFA Fellow, we thought it would be nice to plug the event. All proceeds will go toward keeping NYFA Current, the New York Foundation for the Arts’ online arts magazine, a stable, sustainable program. Jeff Hnilicka of FEAST (Funding Emerging Art with Sustainable Tactics) will emcee — check out the sust projects FEAST has been providing financial backing for: Green My Bodega and Underground Library.