You know what they say about sleeping dogs... Yeah, you guessed it! They travel very well on car rides.
Well, in case you can't guess what our next project is going to be: it's laminate flooring time! Yep, we picked up 30 boxes of "Tundra" from IKEA last night. It was on sale ($29.99 a box, usually $38.99) and then we got a 35% discount on top of that with a special coupon! So yeah it was a steal.
We got our new Hard Livin' banner today!!! Props to BJ for the graphical work. Thanks to Kim for modeling. :)
Sorry about the lack of posts. I shall have something to say on Friday. Promise.
This video has been floating around the 'net for a while, I guess, but it's way cool. Somebody took the time to recreate Michael Jackson's Thriller video scene for scene. Check it out!
A very interesting look at WWI color photography, also early photos of Czarist Russia. Very cool.
Link provided by Josh.
These photos were purchased by the Library of Congress and are on display!
Ok, I realize you have no idea what this is, but I was in a store today, Christmas shopping (as you might've guessed). As I checked out, the woman behind me placed her selections on the counter. She was dressed in some strange sort of leather/blond wig extensions/fake nails conglomerate that made me notice her - but not in a good way.
Anyway, her selections for purchase: clear tape ($0.99), and a VHS copy of Queen of the Damned ($5.99). That's like combining a socket wrench set and toothpaste.
Ok, I know you can't read it, but somebody took individual letter stickers and put this in the center of the rear window:
Get in
sit down
shut up
buckle up
hold on.
Car in the parking lot of a relatively decent mall. I will have more pics of this car to post, and boy is it worth it!!
Earlier I was pining about the lack of decent Christmas faux-trees at a reasonable price. Luckily I was out and about yesterday evening (as BJ can attest), and at our local Hobby Lobby I found a nice tree at 33% off!
So, here's our tree. Granted, the day-time picture doesn't capture the glory and grandeur of a fully decorated plastic tree, but it will have to suffice for the next, oh 8 hours or so.
In case you're wondering, it's 9 feet tall (!!), so no I didn't put the star exactly on the top because I couldn't reach it (perhaps I'll get some scaffolding next year). We're pretty happy with it and for the price you can't beat it. Of course Hobby Lobby will probably have it for about 75% off in a few weeks, but this is what we call poor planning - something of which we aren't usually guilty (not).
This advanced tip makes it possible to run Firefox from removable media, such as a USB memory stick. This will allow you to run Firefox with your personal settings from any computer, even those that don't have Firefox installed. It has only been tested on Windows XP/2000. The basic instructions are as follows:
1. Copy the Firefox application folder and your profile folder to the removable medium. In this example we will use R:\Firefox for the application folder and R:\FFProfile as the profile folder, assuming the drive letter for the removable media is R:.
2. Create a simple batch file called R:\Firefox.bat with the following line:
start \Firefox\firefox.exe -profile \FFProfile
3. Optionally, disable the disk cache to reduce the amounts of file writes to the removable storage by entering about:config in the address field of Firefox and set browser.cache.disk.enable to false.
The reason why a batch file is needed instead of a simple shortcut is that a shortcut uses absolute paths, and since the actual drive letter for the removable media may change depending on which computer it is plugged into, the relative path used in the batch file is guaranteed to work anywhere.
I'm in love with Google Reader. One web based app. No toting around apps or files on a thumb drive. Access anywhere. Slick interface. Ahhhh!
Now all they need to do is link people's reader lists together via tags a la del.icio.us, and then you've got yourself a killer app.
Derek Trucks Band + Susan Tesdeschi Band = Night of Blues Power
0 comments Posted by Andy at 10:27 AMI have four tickets to the Dec 31 show at Variety Playhouse here in Atlanta. I can't go, so I need to unload the tickets. $39 each. Come & get 'em.
Why is it so hard to find a decent artificial Christmas tree? I want a prelit tree, with cool needles (not the plastic strip kind) and it needs to look at least half-real. I'm not into killing trees for two weeks of pleasure.
I'm sure you've all heard Robert Tilton, the farting preacher, aka Pastor Gas. Well, I just figured I'd grab a few of these movies and make them available. I've found 2 through 5, but I'm missing number 1... help me out if you can find it!
I have to say, I think 2 and 4 are pretty good. What is also interesting is that you can see he's making some coin through this, because the quality of his coiffure has increased, as has the quality of his sets and video overlays. Oh, and he's also starting "speaking in tongues" round about video 4...
Yet another Chihuahua riding in the rear deck. What's up with these dogs and their owners?
Yeah I know, it's all so l33t, but I'd been planning a new PC build for some time. I've been using the same rig for about 6 years, and I though I'd graduate to something with a least a bit of chic. My old rig (which went through several reincarnations) was based in a 2½' tall case, which sported room for two power supplies, 6 5¼" drive bays, 2 external 3½" bays and 4 internal 3½" bays. Needless to say it was quite a beast. And it was on casters. :)
At any rate, I did my a trip to Microcenter to pick up some pieces parts, and what you see here is the fruit of an afternoon's labor. Interestingly, the motherboard I picked happens to have quite a few UV-reactive parts built onto the board as well as covering some of the cables. I need to see about getting a black light put into the case to see what that does. ;) And no, I didn't intent to go all colorized, but the case I picked had a window and included some fans that were lit, so I added the tri-color cold cathode tubes for effect (it was only $4, so what the hell, eh?)
Also a first for me is having a RAID system. Two 100GB 7200RPM SATA drives running mirrored at the moment, plus a GFX card based on the nVidia GeForce 6800 chipset, *and* the mobo is a DFI Lanparty nF4, which also sports nVidia chipsets. I'm actually quite impressed with the quality of the Lanparty and nVidia components. I'm used to barely-there manuals with little to offer for software control, but this combination is built for the enthusiast: all sorts of BIOS tweak parameters, decent software bundle, and it looks cool too.
Now off to find a nitrogen chiller unit... just kidding. Maybe.
We're playing tonight up at Padriac's from about 9pm to 1ish. See you there!!
The Pimpotel lobby in the morning. Strangely empty...
You know you're in a quality hotel when it has an "intimacy kit" in the minibar.
MAKE magazine just rawks! As you might've read, I donated my latest copy of MAKE 04 to some local Miamians. So, I emailed MAKE to see if I could get a replacement:
Dear Mr. Little,
Thank you for your message, we are sending you a free replacement copy of Make: Volume #4. Please allow one week for delivery.
Make Subscriber Services
My original message:
Dear Make,
I am absolutely enamored with your magazine. I've been a
subscriber since the first day Make's conception was announced to the public. I'm writing to inform you that I recently suffered a devstating loss after receiving Make 04. I had to make a trip down to Miami, and during my trip
my backpack was stolen from the trunk of my car. Among the casualties were a laptop, iPod (hacked, natch), GPS, charging units, Bluetooth receivers and *gasp* my fresh, unread copy of Make 04. I sorely miss it, and haven't been
able to replace it. Could you possibly help a hacker out?Make it or Break it,
C.A. Little
Atlanta, GA
Actually I really can't say that. I've been using my Treo 650 for email and messaging for some time now. But, truthfully my employers bestowed upon me a Crackberry two days ago. Ihave to say I kinda like it.
I'm not entirely enamored with the operating system and UI: the click wheel is annoying when you're used to tapping. It might be improved if you could hit 'e' for email and 'c' for compose instead of scrolling through a dozen or so icons.
And then there's the foldering. I maintain my email in folders - doing so on Crack (berry) isn't the easiest thing to do, and setting up email filters is practically nonexistant. Perhaps after some fiddlin' about with it I'll come up with something, but for now I'm on Crack.
PS I wrote this on Crack.
You may have noticed my previous post, Writing Letters to Corporate Goobs, Part 1 in which I wrote a letter to a corporate goob at Ferrara Pan candy company. Well, here's the response:
Dear Mrs. Bailey,
We have asked several people at our company if Gummy Bears can cause Diarrhea and the answer to your question is no. There is no ingredient in our Gummy Bears that would cause Diarrhea or symptoms. One reason could be that you are eating too many and it is upsetting your stomach. The green gummies are lime flavored and the yellow are lemon. I would think that the pizza and the Popcorn and the Gummies together may cause gas. I hope this helps. Please let us
know if you have any other questions.Sincerely,
Ferrara Pan Candy Co.
This is just priceless. More to come!
This is the first in my new series of Writing Letters to Corporate Goobs, where I'll be writing letters to Corporate Goobs. Basically, you can write letters to corporate goobs, and they'll occasionally write back, and it's occasionally funny! Dear Sir or Madam, Thank you,
My first letter is to the Ferrara Pan Candy Company, manufacturer of Black Forest Gummy Bears and other candies.
Here's the letter
I just wanted to let you know that I have enjoyed eating Black ForestGummy Bears in the 5lb. bag. My husband and I purchase these from the local BJ's wholesale club and we are in love with these Gummies! My husband is a bit strange about it though, he will not eat the yellow and green gummies. Is there something different in the flavorings of these? I cannot tell a difference and I would love to know what the difference is between the yellow and green gummies and the rest of the bag.
Incidentally, I think you should know that, while we eat these gummies all the time, there are occasionally issues we encounter and I'm wondering if it's the gummies that are causing them. Let's just put this delicately and say that there are "digestion" issues that my husband has sometimes, and I usually notice these problems after we watch movies at home. We always do movies on Friday night and have pizza, popcorn and a bag of gummies. I am usually fine, but have occasional gas. My husband on the other hand tends to get diarrhoea (am I spelling that right?). Is this something to do with eating too many gummies, or is my husband just sensitive? I'd hate to have to tell him "no" on gummies! Please help!
Mrs. Bailey
Red shag carpet in the lobby of our hotel:
The Catalina Hotel - Redefining Europimp Style
It's rather disconcerting to enter your hotel room aftermidnight, and the red light is on. Consider: the remainder of the room is all white. Oh, the books on the mantel rail? "America" and "Tashante's American Pinups". Truly swank, in the greasiest sense of the word. I forgot to mention there is actually a playa pimp on the cover of "America". Wow.
For those of you who watch, Trading Spouses is a show where two families exchange a parental unit for a week, get filmed, and get $50,000. During that week, the exchanged units have to learn about their host families - enough to figure out how to disburse the $50,000 that each familiy will win. Yep, the twist is that the families expect to get the money in a lump sum, but in reality the funds are allocated by the exchanged unit.
I've seen a few of the shows - enough to know that the producers will inevitably pair up two entirely different households in order to create, uh, tension. For example - a high-powered NYC attorney switches places with a farmer from Georgia.
So, can you imagine the hijinks when the exchanged units return to their respective homes to reveal to their families the $50,000 twist. So, imagine the hilarity when a "bible-thumper" switches places with what I assume is a household that practices Wicca. Yep, it could be pretty damn funny. And it is. Here is the video of Thumper's return to her home and family. Enjoy.
The view never changes if you're not leading the pack. Look closely into the rear window of that car.
My new 60gb iPod video. No U2, try ABB instead.
Last night was a rockin' good time at Vito Goldergs, although it would appear that we changed our band name. Not so - Hard Livin' we remain!
Hard Livin Band playing tonight starting at 8pm (ish, as usual)! We'll be doing the Easy Livin' duo for this evening's performance. Map if you need it! See you there...
Last night we stopped by Best Buy after work here in Miami. Not one mile from the office. We spent less than 30 minutes in the store. Came back out, and somebody had screwdrivered the trunk and stole my backpack. Now the list of what was in it... laptop, iPod, two cell phones, batteries, power cables & adapters, medicine, a travel voucher for $400, flash drive, my latest copy of MAKE magazine and... 3 cards I'd received from Stephanie over the years. Ugh.
Morning sunrise in miami as seen from my hotel room.
Well, for one reason or another, we won't be playing with the full band for a while. The Tuesday Night gigs are Marlow's are done for a while, and we did a last hurrah at Padriac's on Friday.
After that, it's back to the Easy Livin' duo of Derrick and myself for the time being, until we book some full-band gigs. We need a band manager who's not afraid to do things the hard way - book gigs, collect and distribute money, strongarm bar managers, and do it all for next to nothing - or just nothing at all.
:)
Huh. Herring, okay, it's a fish. But Herring Party Snacks? Woo hoo! Break out the matzoh balls and gefilte fish, it's a par-tay!
I've posted some photos from our trip to Athens! Head on over to the photo gallery if'n you wanna check 'em out.
Well, as long as history includes the last 72 hours:
Two days ago we visited the National Archaeological Museum here in Athens. Quite a nice collection of Cycladic, Minoan and Mycenaean artifacts, as well as Geometric, Classical and Roman-era Greek stuff. The only detriment we noted was that a) the museum smelled like they allowed smokers in there about a week ago and they haven't aired it out in about 35 years; and b) the docents were asses. Long story on that one, but I'll save it for later. Suffice it to say that if they have a "don't video this statue" sign, then don't even point your camera at it, even when it's not recording. On a side note, I never understood why some statues shouldn't be taped. Flash photography I understand - video, I do not. I mean, I would even entertain the idea of purchasing a book of some sort in the museum shop. The only one they had that was of any quality cost 100 euro, and weighed about 10 kilos. Anyway.
We visited Cape Sounion yesterday. Awesome sight, and the drive was nice too: beachfront almost all the way. There at the Cape is the Temple of Poseidon, strategically placed 190m above the waters of the Aegean Sea. Didn't quite get to stay until sunset, but we got some nice pics anyway. And we looked for Byron's named carved into one of the columns, but couldn't see it. I did spot a few that were dated as early as 1813. Graffiti seems to be prevelant no matter the era.
Today we visited Epidaurus and Mycenae. Not a great day for travel because the weather has turned chilly and overcast. However, the bright spot is that on overcast days, photo color is more true. Anyway, Mycenae was particularly interesting for me because I studied that culture and period in college. It was pretty damn cool walking amidst walls that were built in 1400BCE - and even touching the walls! Epidaurus was ok, but because the rest of our travel group got cold we only spent about 30 minutes there. I did take some cool video of the "acoustically perfect" amphitheatre there. I'll say this. It's probably not acoustically perfect, but it's acoustically interesting.
Anyway, tomorrow it's on to Delphi, and then Monday we're headed home! Here's some pics:
1. Here we have gold funerary mask, excavated by Schliemann in Mycenae. He thought it was Agamemnon, but it's apparently some unknown dude who died 300 years before Aggy.
2. The Cyclopean walls of Mycenae. These blocks are pretty large and hefty.
3. The amphitheatre at Epidaurus. Steph's about halfway up. I, being a man, went all the way to the top. :)
4. A picture of the Corinth Canal. I did forget to mention we went there too. BTW, there's a stand on the roadside where you can get good leather there.
5. The Temple of Poseidon at Cape Sounion.
We've had a fine couple of days. Strolling around Athens, always keeping an eye out for the Acropolis. Yesterday we got up late (3pm!) and went to Lykavitos Hill and surveyed the land until sunset. Then, it was off to Plaka to find someplace for dinner. Lately we've been haunting this place we call the Watermelon, because the name in Greek looks like that word. Anyway, today we are going to the National Archaeological Museum. Tomorrow we'll tool around for a bit then head off to Cape Sounion to check out the Temple of Poseidon. Saturday is Epidaurus/Mycenae; Sunday is Delphi. Monday - back home. I'm hoping to get some more authentic Greek food at some point...By the way, Steph has actually eaten some Greek food which is quite a step forward from the box Mac & Cheese of late. See ya soon!
Pix from top:
St. George's l'il pocket church, atop Lykavitos Hill.
Greek military in front of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
Greek military-types removing the flag at sundown from Lykavitos Hill.
Here's a view from our hotel room balcony. Ignore the Weeble Wobble - it's a long story. Anyway, you can peep the Acropolis in the background!
Well, we made it to Athens! The flight was uneventful, and as usual I got about 2 hours of sleep. Local time is 7 hours ahead of EST, so I called Mom & Dad at 6am for a nice wake-up. :) Our hotel room has a view of the Acropolis, which is pretty darn cool. Maybe more later - internet access ain't cheap around here... so we are in the room and going to take showers etc and then hit the town!
Here are two pumpkins I carved for Halloween this year. The first is a skellyton with a bat. Not a bad carving job for my first detailed carving. The second is a ghost in front of a tombstone. It was kinda difficult to carve this guy because the punkin was about 14" tall, and 9" wide. Basically, tall and skinny - with a 2" rind. So detail carving was a bit of a challenge. Not bad for my second detailed carving.
Tools used:
1 plastic scoop spoon
1 coping saw blade in a plastic handle
1 awl (for marking my template).
(note: if you want to see larger pix, check my photo gallery - link on the right!)
Why? Well, I've been busy. Two gigs a week plus travel, then there the whole vacation thing next week. I haven't even had time to get excited about going to Greece.
Eh well, hopefully it'll hit on Sunday. When we're packing. Right before the flight.
:)
So Derrick, Tony, Chris and myself went down to Macon last night to see Widespread Panic (awesome show, btw). While driving back to ATL, somebody who shall remain nameless (Derrick) had to pee really bad. We bypassed one exit off of I-75 because it only had one gas station listed on the sign. We figured our chances were poor at 2AM with only one gas station. So, we opted for the next exit. Unfortunately, it had only one gas station, which was 1.1 miles from the highway. "What the hell," we said and forged on through the darkness. Let it be said that the area between Atlanta and Macon is not too dissimilar from the area in North Georgia where Deliverance was filmed. It turns out there is a state park off of this road, which means it's pretty much deserted. We passed a lone deer on the way in. So we pull up to the gas station which is closed. It's basically a wooden clapboard shack, with a nice sign advertising their copious amounts of bait and tackle wares for sale. To our astonishment, the restroom was open and lit, so we stopped off and recycled the refreshments we consumed earlier. One of us stood watch, naturally, for fear that local would stop by for a midnight romp wit' dem city boys. We did not get any boiled peanuts either.
One cool thing about leaving San Fran is the promise of a fresh seafood dinner at Fisherman's Wharf. Here's the view from our table. Ah, there's nothing like the stench of diesel and halibut!
Here I am, crossing the Golden Gate again. This seems to be getting Old Hat. Speaking of which, I wonder why people always refer to something that is worn out and crappy as "old hat". I have a few old hats and they are actually just now getting to be broken in.
Picture of some flowers taken by my walking path this morning.
The hotel gym was packed this morning so I decided to do my laps around the hotel area. The problem: it's 50 degrees and I have shorts and a T-shirt. But the area around the hotel is pretty cool - tall hills, marshy lowlands and canals. I had no idea. There's even a big ol' boat sitting out here!
I just bought this phone a few weeks ago for use in San Francisco, specifically because my Sprint phone gets zero reception in the client office where I am. I don't even carry this phone around normally. And, wouldn't you know it, when I take it out of my bag after arriving in my hotel room, the screen is busted. This really blows. Luckily, it's a very cheap phone and easily replaceable. And, I didn't even pay for it to begin with. :)
You might've read in an earlier post about my new series in Bathroom Wall Graffiti, the first post of which was from Northside Tavern. Well, here's a shot of the band that was playing that night. Your typical old-skool blues band. The lead dude played off/on slide on a 60's Gibson acoustic while the bassist played an original Silvertone - Yep, just like yours pop, except his still had the "Silvertone" plastic logo on the headstock. :) He complained that it was hard to keep it in tune.
The band wasn't that bad, just not much variety in their selections. Mostly I-IV-V blues in major scales. I think it was their first time with the drummer as he didn't know a lot of their turn arounds and exits, but he did well enough. They also featured an accompanying trombone which was a welcome twist. All in all, a good night.
What you're looking at here is a 1952 Gibson Les Paul, Gold top. Not a player's guitar, but a collector's. It's worth probably somewhere around $15-18,000, and it includes the original case. I got to play it just a bit, but not amplified. This guitar belongs to Bill (arm pictured) who is a coworker. He was loitering around my cube the other day waiting to talk to the dude in the cube opposite mine. I said just have a seat in my lobby, there are magazines to read. Incidentally I just remodeled my cube "Office Space"-style by removing a half wall that blocked a window. I have a conference room in my cube now. :)
Anyway, Bill perused my mags, one of which was Vintage Guitar. Bill mentioned that he had an old Les Paul, and I must've started drooling as he said he'd bring it in to show. He did, and I'm showing you now. Bill got this when he was seven from his father's bud who played in a band. Man, that's a lucky sumbitch right thar...
This will be the first in my series of posts about strange crap I see on bathroom walls. This was from Northside Tavern, a well-established (read as "really old") blues joint in Atlanta proper. The bathroom smells like wet cinder blocks, and was painted a lovely shade of green.
This little gem says:Plumberman vs. Tyrannosaurus Bob
Fight till the death, or till the first hint of a free lunch.
I like tacos, myself. One time I ate a live badger taco. It really tasted awful and it was chewing on my tonsils the whole time.
You can't really fake this stuff.
I was in Staples the other day picking up some paper condoms (you know, sheet protectors) and saw these. Of course there's a picture of a woman on the front of the package, and all you see is "Lubricant Sheets" and you're thinking, "will these work with my rubber sheets?"
Yeah, keep dreaming. These are for lubing your shredder, you pervert.
No, it's not either of my Hondas, although you'd be correct in assuming that. Honda has designed a concept vehicle that is dog-friendly. Linky to photos posted on my photo album, which incidentally I haven't released to the world yet. :)
From the news article:
Honda Motor Co. has designed a car that's friendly for dogs — part of the Japanese automaker's ongoing effort to create vehicles that are easy to use and comfortable to ride in. The W.O.W. Concept, which stands for "wonderful openhearted wagon," shown to reporters recently, is an exhibition model with no plans for commercial sale that will be exhibited at the Tokyo auto show later this month. A special crate for dogs in the glove apartment allows owners to interact with their pets while driving. A bigger crate pops up from the floor in the back seat area and can be folded back into the floor when it's not needed. For even bigger dogs, just buckle them up with a special seat belt to the floor.
The big danger for pets riding along in cars is that they get thrown out during a crash. About a fifth of Japanese households have a dog, and demand is growing for cars that cater to man's best friend, according to Honda. The W.O.W comes with removable, washable, rollout flooring and has wide sliding doors to keep dogs happy. "We created this vehicle from the point of view of a dog, but it turned out to be a gentler vehicle for the elderly, children and other family members," said Honda designer Katsuhito Nakamura.
The article:
FEATURE: The fantastic disappearing plastic, just add water(Kyodo)
Every day thousands of people around the world finish off a tray of biscuits or chocolates, and as they throw away the empty packet -- a symbol of the calories consumed --a wave of guilt engulfs them.
If this sounds like you, you are not alone -- and that is the problem. Because while you are mourning your expanding waistline, how often do you spare a thought for the Earth's "waste line?"
Plastic will survive forever in landfill, or, if it is burnt, as it is in Japan, it can release toxic and carcinogenic particles into the atmosphere.
But a small Australian company called Plantic says it has a solution -- just add water and the problem will disappear in front of your eyes.
Plantic markets plastic trays made from plants.
The patented formula comprises 90 percent corn starch and a number of other organic materials, including water, fatty acid and oil.
Starch-based plastics are not a new concept, says Plantic's business development manager Mark Fink, but Plantic is different.
"If I do this," he says pouring water on the product, "and count to three it starts to disappear, which is exciting."
Holes start appearing in the plastic biscuit tray.
"It's not dissolving, it's dispersing," says Fink, who compares the end product to the starchy substance left over when you cook rice.
But if you think a disappearing plastic is hard to swallow, have you ever tried eating normal plastic? Because you can eat Plantic.
"If it (Plantic) is eaten - and I eat a lot of it in front of plastics people -- then it's not harmful," says Fink.
"But we don't produce it as a food product, so for that reason we don't eat it in public and we prefer not to promote it as an edible material," he says.
Plantic conforms to the European Standard of biodegradability and its manufacturers are confident it will pass the strict Japanese test when the company makes a move into the Japanese market within the next year.
When placed on the compost heap, Plantic will disappear within three months -- releasing water into the soil and carbon dioxide into the air.
"When you can see that it can actually go away and get recycled into the environment and go back to where it came from -- you know it came from corn -- people can understand that and I think that's what makes this a good product to work with," says Fink.
And of course companies understand the good publicity that such a message brings.
"Every big company in the world has an annual report, and on the fifth or sixth page of every annual report, (is a section) about 'what a wonderful company we are to the environment,'" Fink says.
"But I imagine it's very hard to find stories to write about because in the end most companies aren't focused on the environment, and for that reason we do get a good hearing from senior management," he says.
A disappearing, environmentally friendly plastic may be enough to attract media attention, but it is not the real "wow factor" for companies, however.
The real surprise is its price, and that is where Plantic is ahead of all competition, according to Greg Lonergan, professor of biotechnology at Swinburne University in Melbourne.
Lonergan was involved in the development of the Plantic plastic and he heads a biotechnology group that tests the biodegradability of plastics.
"It's probably the first of the biodegradable (plastics) to get itself truly price competitive and I think that's quite an achievement really," Lonergan says.
Fink too is realistic about the reasons for the success of the product.
"I sell these to our customers in a competitive market -- they could choose plastic or they could choose Plantic," he says. "And although they are responsible environmental citizens, for them price is important. They won't decrease their bottom line significantly to change to this material."
Only 10 grams of corn kernels are needed to make a standard 10 gram biscuit tray and this is good news for Plantic because they do not need to worry about the rise of oil prices as do manufacturers of standard petrochemical-based plastics.
"The long-term pricing of petrochemical (plastics) is slowly increasing over time -- it's a finite resource -- the long-term pricing of crops, starch, is always decreasing," Fink says. "So we think, as time goes on, this is a more sustainable business practice as well as a more sustainable environmental material."
Plantic was developed in the mid-1990s during a seven-year research study into sustainable packaging by the Cooperative Research Centre in Australia. The study was funded by private companies, government departments and several Australian universities.
At the end of the program, a decision was made to commercialize the technology and the publicly listed company Plantic was established.
The company, which comprises 35 people, 10 of whom are technical staff, is based in Melbourne and began operations in 2002 with only four staff members, including Fink.
Since the multinational confectionary company Cadbury-Schweppes first began using a Plantic chocolate tray in 2003, more than 10 companies within Australia have also signed up.
And Fink says eight of the top 10 confectionary companies in the world are trialing the product.
Within the next few months, several European companies are also expected to publicly launch their Plantic packaging, which includes confectionary, cosmetics and pharmaceuticals packaging.
"For a small Australian company, we have a very strong customer base and interactions with some very impressive companies, and (are) being taken very seriously by them," says Fink.
Other starch-based plastics on the market include a plastic bag called Mater-Bi produced by the Italian company Novamont SpA, and plastic bottles and food packaging products made from polylactic acid, developed by the privately owned Cargill Dow LLC in the United States.
The products are both biodegradable, although they are not direct competition for Plantic, Fink says, as each is focused on a different product area, with PLA and Mater-Bi able to resist water more easily.
These plastics need to be composted in an industrial setting and Lonergan also estimates they are from two to three times more expensive than their non-biodegradable alternatives.
But Plantic obviously has its own drawback -- its greatest strength is also its weakness.
"We're developing a more water-resistant version of the tray," says Fink, who admits a tray that disappears in water is good for publicity, but has limited uses.
It is the "Catch-22" for biodegradable plastics, Lonergan says, because to be biodegradable these plastics need to take up water --unlike standard plastics, which repel water -- but they also need to be able to hold water out long enough to have a usable shelf life.
Fink is confident a more water-resistant Plantic product will be available within the year, and it is not the science that is the problem, rather it is creating a cost-competitive product.
Plantic is also in the process of creating a thin-film, like a plastic confectionary wrapper, that will allow companies to use Plantic for their internal and external packaging.
Such products are sure to further boost their production, which has more than doubled in the last year.
And now Plantic has its eyes on the potentially lucrative Japanese market.
It took the opportunity to meet Japanese business leaders in July at the Aichi World Expo where it participated in an Australian government-led trade mission.
"To go to Japan is a big exercise," says Fink, adding, "We have to do it properly, we're doing our research."
Japan, with its environmentally conscious outlook and attraction to all things novel was an obvious market from the start, but Fink says: "For us, Japan is also a very different place and so we have a lot to learn."
He believes Plantic will be seen in Japanese stores within the year, once Plantic has worked out the regulatory requirements and finalized their business strategy.
"It's coming to an exciting time," says an optimistic Fink, "And I'm going to be busy."
For now the small Australian company Plantic is a pioneer in its field, but Fink welcomes the day when it will just be part of the norm and not the exception.
"I'm looking forward to the day when there is enough biomaterial of different sorts in the market that we start competing with another biomaterial," he says. "Because that means the world has changed enough that sustainable plastics are a common thing. That hasn't happened yet, but it will happen."
Ok, so I finally broke down and bought an XM radio, the Roady2. I had been against XM for a while now, seeing as how I have an iPod and get commercial-free music all the time. And, my range of music interests bell curve from the mid-60s and pretty much drop off at about 1981, with a minor swelling in the 90s.
Well, my commute to work is about 15 minutes, whereas Steph's is 35 - so I thought it would be good for her, since she loves new music. The best part is, our pal Davis already has XM, and we just added the receiver to his setup for an extra $7 a month. So, we split the difference and save $2 a month. I know, but that's $24 a year! That's like a case and a half of beer!
Anyway so far XM is pretty darn cool - especially the fact that it has uncensored comedy on channel 150 from Carlin, Pryor, Foxx and others... It's nifty.
