Mythbusters: What Is More Jubbling, Motorcycles Or Cars?

Mythbusters - Adam Savage and Jamie HynemanThe latest episode of Mythbusters, Bikes and Bazookas, tackles the issue of what mode of transportation would have less of an environmental impact – motorcycles or cars? Everyone knows that motorcycles are more fuel efficient and require less raw materials to build – but the Mythbusters wanted to find out if they emit more greenhouse gases. The LA Times Greenspace has a nice recap explaining their tests and results. Here’s an excerpt from the LA Times on the Mythbusters “Bikes and Bazookas” episode:

“the motorcycle used 28% less fuel than the comparable decade car and emitted 30% fewer carbon dioxide emissions, but it emitted 416% more hydrocarbons, 3,220% more oxides of nitrogen and 8,065% more carbon monoxide.”

Maybe it’s time to kick the motorcycles out of the HOV lanes…

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The Hive Dock For iPhone 4

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One of the Jubblingest features of the iPhone 4 is that when it’s paired with Netflix’s Instant’s TV and movie catalog, it works as a low-power consuming alternative for watching television. The only downside is that the iPhone 4 is only viewable and barely audible for one person. The Hive dock might change that to two or more. It’s a simple and ingenious way to listen to amplified music and watch expanded video from your iPhone 4. It’s done through design and does not require a separate power source. The Hive’s video magnifying glass is a little reminiscent of products available in the 1970′s that magnified our TV screens.

The Hive will sell for $45 and is expected to be available in September 2011. The company behind the product, Screendoor Studio, is busy trying to raise funds through Kickstarter. Watching the video above, it’s apparent that one of the drawbacks using the magnified lens would be reduced viewing angle; only the person directly in front of the screen will get a magnified, full image. Plus, for amplified audio, a coffee cup seems to be an easy Macgyver solution.

But the Hive docking station could still be a nice iPhone 4 accessory for watching video, as an alarm clock and speaker amplifier. You’ll easily save $45 in electricity and batteries versus watching standard TV and using external speakers.

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Champagne Environmentalist: Do As I Say, Not As I Do

Question: Is the net effect of celebrity support in eco causes a positive or do they put off as many people as they attract?

There is a great article on The Guardian’s Green Living Blog, Hypocrisy of champagne environmentalists is deceitful and distracting. Its author, Ed Gillespie, writes about how celebrities and public figures begSting Amazon us to live a more sustainable lifestyle and yet enjoy a lifestyle most of us can only dream of. He offers several examples of eco-celebrities and their extreme consumption.

Jubbling posted an article in May 2010 about the hypocritical nature of Hollywood’s preaching and its reality – Hollywood Love$ Green Message$. How Does It Feel About Jubbling?. Being an eco-celebrity seems to be the 2000′s equivalent to the 1990′s recovering addicts; it gets you in the news. I have a feeling that Eco-Celebrity Rehab is just around the corner.

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Greenpeace and Green Celebrities Aligning To Encourage Facebook To Power Data Center With Renewable Energy… Via Facebook (Again)

Treehugger.com has a post, “Celebrities Tell Facebook to Ditch Coal”, about a new push to get Facebook to move out of its mostly coal powered data center into one that uses an increased level of renewable energy. We wrote about this issue back in September 2010 when it was just Greenpeace leading the effort. But now, green celebrities are taking to Facebook and asking people to join the push too. Here is a video from Ed Begley and his wife, Rachelle Carson regarding the issue:

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Ed and Rachelle definitely practice what they preach and do not back away from confronting any and all environmental issues. After reading many articles about them, it’s easy to make a guess on where they’re going to stand. This example, pushing Facebook to abandon their Oregon data center in favor of one that is fully or partially driven by renewable energy sources, is no big surprise.

Jubbling gets it but for some reason, we’re having a hard time making sense of it. We had the same problem with this back when Greenpeace stood up against the new Facebook data center because in both cases, they’re taking their protest to Facebook. It’s kind of like driving a gas guzzling car cross country to protest the fact that there are too many gas guzzling cars. Think about it. Maybe making a stronger statement would be to leave Facebook in mass in order to make your statement; I’m sure MySpace would appreciate this.

Anyway, I don’t think Mark Zuckerberg is listening too closely. I’ve seen The Social Network and Mr. Zuckerberg probably loves seeing the spike in activity; positive or negative but always on Facebook. What he would be more apt to understand and respond to is watching users leaving his site to protest what Facebook is doing. That would require a commitment from the celebrities involved and I don’t think they’d be able to stomach that move.

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Netflix Instant Is Jubbling But Finding What To Watch Will Make It Jubblinger

Jubbling is a big fan of the Netflix Instant. Yes, titles are limited but what a convenient entertainment source that you never have to leave your house to enjoy. Netflix Instant has truly changed the way we consume – an entertainment Jubbling – and can be accessed through your Netflix enabled TV, DVD player, laptop/desktop computer, smart phone, gaming console etc. It’s on about everything now and one account can be shared by every device.

A Dirty Shame MovieBut finding something good to watch on Netflix Instant can be a challenge. I’ve used and quickly discovered that their “genre” search feature delivers mostly misses with a few hits. And you may not want to make browsing through their lists, including New Arrivals, a shared family activity. If you do, be prepared to wade through a mountain of titles that include “Zombie Strippers” and “A Dirty Shame” to find a movie you can all watch.

Fortunately, there are sites out there that can help you pick your next Netflix Instant movie and save you from the browsing hassle. Try these links out:

  1. InstantWatcher.com – Instantwatcher.com actually uses data supplied by Netflix to help you find videos based on popularity, release date, ratings etc. Unlike the Netflix search, InstantWatcher.com is configurable and for that reason, it makes movies seem more appealing by displaying the title, synopsis and rating on the same page. A big bonus is that you don’t have to deal with popups.
  2. AlwaysWatching.net – AlwaysWatching.net is another good resource because it is a human-generated list of good Netflix Instant choices and it’s loaded with movies that might slip through InstantWatcher.com’s database driven cracks. Comments supplied by visitors of this page might also help you make a good movie pick. Only downside is that the list is a little dated and some of the movies are no longer available on Netflix Instant.

The nice side-Jubbling of Netflix Instant is the ability to watch shows and movies on power curbed mobile phones and laptops – especially if only one person is watching. Rather than piping Thomas and Friends to a 150″ plasma, let your 6 year old watch it on the 4″ screen of your iPhone. And the delivery DVD side of Netflix deserves a little credit too. Leveraging the postal system and its daily delivery schedule is better than making the drive to the video store only to find out the movie you wanted is already checked out. Thanks to Netflix DVD and Instant, you never have to purchase another movie you’ll watch 5 times or less.

Now here is our short list of Netflix Instant movies/shows to check out.

  1. 30 Rock – After watching season’s 1-4, you should watch them again and again until season 5 is released. “Tracy Does Conan” in season one is a favorite.
  2. The Iron Giant – Great movie that parents might enjoy more than the kids but it’s great for both. Adapted and directed by Brad Bird, The Iron Giant is set in the 1950′s and is a story about a boy who befriends a space-sent robot and attempts to protect him from a fearful public.
  3. The Office – The Office is not only funny but it’s also consistent – the characters never change from the first episode to the last and that is what is so great about the show. If you only watch one episode, make sure it’s the Gay Witch Hunt in Season 3.
  4. Surface – Found this on AlwaysWatching.net. It’s kind of a hokey series about a sea creature and two people trying to find it and the governments effort to conceal it. The show does just enough to get you hooked for all 15 episodes and beware of the monkey girl.
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Hollywood Love$ Green Message$. How Does It Feel About Jubbling?

Thank you CSRwire for reminding me of one of the reasons I got into Jubbling. They just posted an article about the entertainment industry’s internal efforts to produce television programs and movies more sustainably by using some combination of improved efficiency, use of renewable power sources and carbon offsets. Jubbling is all good with this, with the exception of carbon offsets, and we hope they are only met with success.

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

But wait, what about consumption? If a studio was approached with a can’t miss idea that would consume $400 million in resources but would make $2 billion – would they bite on it? Of course they would. Now imagine that movie was going to have a pro-environmental message – could they still swing it? Of course they could. That is the irony of it all and why it’s so difficult to buy into the entertainment industry’s statements that sound good but are not rooted in Jubbling. Consumption is justified as long as a movie is successful – it’s ultimately about the bottomline.

This is where the actors/actresses come in. It sure would be nice to see all of the Prius driving, electric car loving, eco-Hollywoodians take a stand against producing or starring in movies built on consumption in order to support a consistent message. Not just about asking for a smaller trailer with solar panels or hiring a green caterer, but really showing the same commitment to Jubbling that they want to show in their personal lives.

Scene from Batman The Dark Knight
Batman: The Dark Knight

Now I’m not suggesting that actors share a tent on a movie set but maybe they could use their clout to convince the studio that blowing up 2 cars can be just as effective as destroying 10. Or convincing the director that bringing down a CGI building will have just as much impact as demolishing a actual structure. Even further, maybe studios could share sets and technology so they don’t have to duplicate their efforts in order to produce films. An extension of the “open source” idea found in software development.

I’m probably way off base to suggest this and extremely naive to the inner workings of the entertainment industry. And it’s difficult to not kick my own ass and feel a little hypocritical when I am in line waiting to see one of these huge Hollywood blockbusters. But these changes could be seamless and the movie or show’s story can still be delivered. And then productions could be appreciated for what they didn’t consume in order to entertain us.

The root idea behind Jubbling is to encourage people to try and consume less. It’s not a competition and that is why we have to applaud any effort to reduce. Even so, it would be great to see the entertainment industry take a stand and immerse themselves into Jubbling rather than just dabble in it so they can finally put into practice what their stars like to preach.

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