Biodegradable Sneakers Sprout Flowers When Planted 242
Zothecula writes "People may joke about their dirty old sneakers turning into science projects or mini ecosystems, but once OAT Shoes' compostable sneakers become commercially available within the next several weeks ... let's just say, those same people may no longer be joking when they make those kind of statements. Made using hemp, cork, bio-cotton, certified biodegradable plastics, chlorine-free bleach and other nontoxic materials, the shoes are designed to completely break down when buried in the ground – the first batch will even come with seeds in their tongues, so that wildflowers will sprout up in commemoration of users' planted, expired kicks."
Flower Power! (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Obligatory (Score:5, Funny)
Oh, good grief. Not all cannabis plants contain THC, just cannabis sativa.
And why do teenager need to smoke their shoes? Can't the free market step in and provide a more cost-effect alternative to meet this demand...?
Oops, I see what I did there.
Re:Obligatory (Score:5, Funny)
Ah, so you think that marijuana was outlawed simply because it is a drug? Haha, no. The fact that hemp is so useful at producing fiber and paper is actually one of the bigger reasons it was outlawed in the first place. Basically, there were three real reasons: First, it is an effective treatment for many minor conditions, but is not patentable, and therefore, even though big pharma companies all sold it, they would rather sell patent medicines for a higher profit. Second, at the time of the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937, nylon had just been invented (1935) and DuPont wanted people to buy nylon rather than hemp ropes, especially with war looming. Thirdly, William Randolph Hearst's newspaper empire had begun to crumble when he flipped political positions and began viciously attacking FDR: Hearst's readership were mostly blue collar workers, and not happy with his editorial slant. But Hearst had huge timber holdings, if he couldn't make money selling newspapers, he could still make money selling paper, even more if hemp were out of the picture.
The legislators who outlawed the demon weed Marijuana at the behest of wealthy interests probably had no idea that marijuana and hemp were the same thing.They were told that it was a drug used by Mexicans and Blacks that made them want to rape white women.
Re:paul stamet's lifeboxes (Score:5, Funny)
Fungi fun guy paul stamets has invented and sells a cardboard box then when planted first grows a crop of mushrooms, then old growth forest trees.
That explains a lot. My backyard has been infested with a large number of tree-hugging hippies and I didn't know why.
I was mildly surprised to see a large of mushrooms come up where we buried Tabby when she died. Then a bit more surprised to see my backyard turn into an old-growth forest. But the last straw has been these hippies driving spikes into the trees at all hours of the day and night.
I should have gone down to the FedEx store and bought a real box to put her in instead of using one I had lying around.
Re:Obligatory (Score:5, Funny)
You're sure you didn't mean "them thar bedrooms"?
Re:Seeds in the Tongue (Score:3, Funny)
My Mom's old boyfriend did a study on anecdotes and it turned out that anecdotes are generally accurate. That's just one study, but it's pretty easy to extrapolate to a larger sample.
Re:Obligatory (Score:3, Funny)