A possible new wall source

[starkadder]

I'm looking at these things and wondering if they'd make good demountable wall material

http://gizmodo.com/5883286/the-eco+friendly-alternative-to-lego

[generulpoleaxe]

Just say no to new age hippy lego.



(what kind of eco hippy riles against plastic and then goes around cutting down every frikin' tree to make a few bucks!)

[snitcythedog]

what kind of eco hippy riles against plastic and then goes around cutting down every frikin' tree to make a few bucks!

It looks like what the Kurds, outside our base, used as cooking and heating fuel over in Turkey.  They sent their kids out into the pasture after the heard of cattle with buckets.  They filled the buckets with cow poop.  Then they dried it out over the summer.  Viola, cooking and heating fuel.  The texture of the blocks of poop looked very much like these Eco-blocks.  Pretty common in the third world.
Here is an image from India.

All winter long the village outside our base hummed with the smell of burning poo.  Now hippy kids can experience the same thing as their third world brethren. 
Snitchy sends. 

[starkadder]

Burning cow dung also drives away mosquitos. People colour it green here in Oz and sell it for relatively huge amounts. Meh.

However, I still think that they look like a possible easy build/dismantle wall material. It could be my imagination but they seem to have a reasonable surface texture.

Perhaps I should only use them with with GW products and let the venom flow freely. 

[Connectamabob]

Well, to me it reads like they're recycling castoff material into these blocks, not using "fresh" wood and such, so the "hypocritical hippie" snark rings false.

Doesn't mean it's not stupid though. It's too expensive to compete with the plastic bricks, for one thing. Economy of scale, granted, but there are other problems too: their apparent embracing of the recycled material look, for example. Kids want the smooth, colorful bricks: the ones that look good and work well, not the crumbly ones that look like compressed peat. Basically it's a niche novelty toy for adults (and the occasional sad child of sanctimonious parents), and that makes it a pointless waste of energy and material (just because it's recycled material doesn't mean it can't be wasted) for the environmentalist movement.

Don't misread me: I do believe in environmentalism... I just don't think cynicism is the enemy of idealism. Naivete is. If you wanna make a difference, you gotta acknowledge and respect and use the reasons others don't. Too much "green" stuff is about image instead of real competition.

[starkadder]

"No dolphin babies used in this product"

[snitcythedog]

Burning cow dung also drives away mosquitos. People colour it green here in Oz and sell it for relatively huge amounts. Meh.

That did not stop the mosquitoes in Turkey.  That is the only place that I had to take malaria pills. 

Well, to me it reads like they're recycling castoff material into these blocks, not using "fresh" wood and such, so the "hypocritical hippie" snark rings false.
Don't misread me: I do believe in environmentalism... I just don't think cynicism is the enemy of idealism. Naivete is. If you wanna make a difference, you gotta acknowledge and respect and use the reasons others don't. Too much "green" stuff is about image instead of real competition.

 
"Hypocritical hippie" almost never rings false in my experience.  If someone believes this stuff and is willing to live their lives according to those beliefs then great.  Go for it.  My personal problem with the "hypocritical hippies" is that they then try to force me to conform to their beliefs by bullying and through legislation.  I agree with your "image" comment whole heatedly.  Most of what is being sold is image.  I do not litter, and I am responsible with what I do, but I do not need to be forced to do more.  My conscience is clean, and I do not need to conform to the image.   

Perhaps I should only use them with with GW products and let the venom flow freely. 

"No dolphin babies used in this product"

Snitchy sends.

[Connectamabob]

See, that's what I'm talking about.
I don't mind legislation, and attempts at bullying (I don't consider the marketing stuff bullying, I'm talking about when individuals try to start arguments with you) merely elicit a quiet Carlin-ish amusement from me.  BUT I'd be an idiot if I didn't acknowledge that for every person who "lives the ideal" there's ten thousand who just don't give a crap, and a hundred who believe in the ideal, but fight it anyway out of spite over the perceived insult of the legislation and marketing stuff. Their disagreement with me is not an indication that their beliefs or desires are any less powerful than my own.

So you can't realistically expect to win those people with a "hearts and minds" approach. Not in a single generation, at least. The smart thing to do is to focus on making the green products functionally and financially better than their non-green counterparts, or at least interchangeable. The risk of backlash means that any "green" enterprise that exists primarily for PR purposes but without having real practical advantages in it's own right is both a waste and a liability. Convincing people to buy electric cars is crap as long as the cars are too wimpy to be desirable for selfish reasons and the electricity is still generated through non-green methods. Convincing developers that they can increase their properties' value by adding solar panels and electrical grid buyback compatibility to their new constructions (and buyers that they'll save money in the long run by buying homes with such facilities)... now you're talking.

But I suppose this is dangerously close to politics, to say nothing of being OT.

So ANYWAAAAY, the bricks do have that shape molded into the sides that might make them good for futuristic concrete works. Actually kinda reminds me of the concrete retaining walls used on the sides of some parts of the I-5 freeway up north. Dunno If I'd use 'em for barricades or bunkers though, as that same shape would make them more climbable.