Gizmodo: Socks

Group Sues EPA For Not Regulating Nano-Silver Pollution

Elaine Chow — Sun, 04 May 2008 17:30:00 EDT

Those nano-silver socks you've been using to soak up the rank of your athlete's foot—not only are they leaching poisons into fish habitats every time you wash them, their effects on your own blood stream could be just as bad; but the EPA's not doing anything about it. Fed up by government inaction, a consumer safety group is now suing the EPA for failing to regulate nanomaterials.

Silver has long been known to have antimicrobial powers, and with nanotech (and better hygiene) being all the rage, companies have added nanoparticle silver to everything from children's toys to washing machines. But as elements get smaller, the way they react to their environments change—and nobody's sure that itty bitty silver pieces aren't going to kill us all.

Studies have already shown that nano-silver is screwing with fishes and destroying benign bacteria at wastewater facilities. The legal petition asks the EPA to regulate nano-silver as a pesticide, insist on product labels, and analyze the potential human health effects (especially on children) before allowing nano-silver goods to be sold.

So unless you absolutely have no other way of keeping things clean and smell-free, lay off the nano-silver for now, mmkay? [ICTA via NY Times]

Your Smelly Ass Feet Are Killing the Planet

matt buchanan — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 17:15:00 EDT

Your feet? They smell like a baboon's butthole. Especially at the gym. So, the brilliant dudes at places like Nike and Adidas have started lining their socks with nano-bits of silver to fight microbials and the intense funk radiating from your tootsies. It works (woohoo), but every time you wash them, some of the particles inevitably come loose from the sock and flush down the drain, ultimately winding up in local waterways. Where they poison fishies. To death. Not cool. In conclusion, have less stinky feet, thanks. [American Chemical Society via io9]

Lightning Review: Electric Socks

Brian Lam — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 23:53:42 EDT

In honor of the upcoming Tahoe reader meetup on April 5th at Alpine Meadows, I'm going to be doing end of season reviews of some outdoor gadgetry that's been floating around the cabin. First up, these electric socks originally designed to keep North Atlantic fishermen warm.
The idea: Wool/Poly blend Socks with wiring and thin resistors that run from the D cells mounted in the top of the sock liner to under the ball of the foot. Sweaty feeling, and any activity causes sock droop as the batteries overpower the elastic. Yet, warmish. And $22.

Actually: These might make a good last resort, but the chemical toe warmers are a better bargain than buying a new pair of D cells every 6 hours. And let's not forget, warming the torso with proper layering, etc, warms the extremities. [REI and the Giz Reader Meetup, thanks to Adam for being the leg model]

Foot Warmers Are Only a Power Source Away

Haroon Malik — Sat, 22 Dec 2007 23:10:00 EST

Holy crap! We've just solved one of life's great mysteries, and wanted to let you in on it. Keeping your feet warm when you cannot be bothered/are too much of a cheapskate to invest in a gadget based solution has always been a problem, but we've sussed it. Here's how: get your feet up close and personal to your PSUs. That's all there is to it. Nothing more, we promise you.

We've been doing it subconsciously for months, but now we have realized, we thought we'd let you in on the foot warming action. Unless you want your power supplies to smell like macaroni cheese, we suggest keeping your tootsies covered/clean. (Quick tip; socks usually do a good job of covering up feet. For proof of this assertion, check out my most excellent sock, complete with fluffy poodle head, in the pic above.) Added bonus; if you have ice cold feet that are about to drop off from frost bite, they'll cool your power supplies—everyone's a winner this Christmas!

Weird Combo of the Day: Free Calculator with Purchase of Socks

Jason Chen — Mon, 05 Feb 2007 21:00:56 EST

Meggghhaaannnn Marco of the Consumerist stumbled upon this weird combo at her local Meijer. Free calculator with purchase of 2 pairs of socks makes as much sense as free ice cream scooper with purchase of two boxer-briefs. Or free lawnmower with purchase of a used 1992 Honda Civic. – Jason Chen

Meijer: 2 Pair Men's Socks With Free Calculator [Consumerist]