Earthquake Safe Wooden Buildings

Over at Treehugger.com, they've got a terrific article and video about using wood to build earthquake safe buildings. And wood also has some environmental benefits too. From the website:

Wood construction has some tremendous advantages. Wood is strong, light, flexible and fast. Unlike concrete, which adds a ton of CO2 to the atmosphere for every ton of cement made, wood is renewable and sequesters carbon dioxide for the life of the building.

Definitely worth a look.

Click the photo for a larger view.

Wooden Earbuds -- Really

I wonder if it's just for looks? A company called Skull Candy is making earbuds that are made primarily of wood. Does the wood make the music sound better? UrbanOutfitters.com sells the wooden earbuds. They say:

Carved real wood earbuds, with laser-cut aluminum accents - a serious (and eco-friendly) upgrade from you're your standard-issue white plastic buds. Rich, detailed, full-range sound from 8mm drivers, with comfortable rubber surrounds for a perfect fit.

Well, if the wood is improving the sound, it's hard to tell from that. But as I think about it, I guess I don't really care. They look terrific and that's good enough for me. Maybe not $100 good enough, but still, they do come in a laser etched wood box.

[Thanks to BoingBoingGadgets]

Bamboo Everywhere

I really like the look of bamboo, and it's a good thing because it's turning up everywhere. It's been around forever it seems as furniture. Perhaps the difference now is that it's being cut into strips, laminated, and sold as flooring and just about anything that requires a flat panel. Here are a couple of examples.

Dell's brand new Studio Hybrid mini computer is available in many colorful "sleeves." The exception is the sleeve made of bamboo. It's getting the featured center spot in the group photos. It sort of makes me want one, even though I just got a new laptop.

Apparently the Hybrid is very nice inside too. Review at the Cult of Mac blog.

Or, how about a bamboo sink. Yup, a sink made of laminated bamboo. Read more about the Stone Forest Moso Vessel here on ThisNext's blog. Do a search for bamboo at ThisNext, and you'll get a sense of the range of bamboo products available.

I've never used bamboo in the shop. I'm going to have to give it a try. Besides its great looks, bamboo is very hard, and it grows VERY fast. A wood for the future.