The NBA is joining Greater Than AIDS to mobilize NBA fans and local communities in response to AIDS in the United States and reduce the stigma associated with the disease.

The campaign builds on the league’s longstanding tradition of supporting social causes, including global HIV/AIDS, as part of NBA Cares.

The campaign includes new television and radio public service ads (PSAs) featuring NBA / WNBA players, including Pau Gasol (LA Lakers), Al Horford (Atlanta Hawks), Russell Westbrook (Oklahoma City Thunder) and Candice Wiggins (Minnesota Lynx), whose father, former professional baseball player Alan Wiggins, died of AIDS in 1991. The PSAs, which debut across NBA media assets and other Greater Than AIDS media platforms this month, can be found here.

In addition, Greater Than AIDS is working with NBA teams across the league to initiate targeted activations, community events, and special “Greater Than AIDS” in-arena nights to bring attention to HIV/AIDS in priority markets, tipping off with a World AIDS Day game in Boston, where the Celtics will host the Portland Trailblazers. Additional team activations are scheduled in December and January.

“Joining with the Greater Than AIDS campaign underscores the NBA family’s longstanding commitment to address important social issues related to health and wellness,” said NBA Community Relations Vice President Todd Jacobson. “The league supports the fight against HIV/AIDS year-round in a variety of ways, including bringing awareness programs to youth from more than 100 countries and territories around the world, and we look forward to continuing these efforts around World AIDS Day.”

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Chronic inflammation is suggested to be a primary factor in progressive bone loss and bone structural deterioration, with oxidative stress and overproduction of pro-inflammatory compounds , most notably tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha).   Previous studies have identified certain compounds as having the capacity to inhibit inflammation by suppressing TNF-alpha expression, and thus may offer therapeutic value in the prevention and treatment of chronic inflammation-induced bone loss. Chwan-Li Shen, from Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center (Texas, USA), and colleagues investigated the effects of green tea polyphenols and alfacalcidol, a form of Vitamin D, on bone microstructure and strength along with possible mechanisms in a rat model.  The team found that both green tea polyphenols and alfacalcidol individually reversed lipopolysaccharide-induced changes in bone structure, and the combination of nutrients helped to sustain bone micro-architecture and strength.  The researchers conclude that: “A rotective impact of [green tea polyphenols]and alfacalcidol in bone microarchitecture during chronic inflammation may be due to a suppression of TNF-alpha.”

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When it comes to central repositories of awesomeness, science has its Periodic Table of Elements. Baseball has its Hall of Fame. And now, an unlikely marriage between the two has been fashioned.

Larry Granillo, who runs the über-awesome Wezen Ball, took it upon himself to essentially mash up the Periodic Table (which currently boasts 118 known elements) with those who’ve been formally voted into baseball’s most elite circle (109 members, to date). With a little categorizing and a whole lot of inventiveness, Granillo came up with the definitive classification system of baseball legends.

Of course, Granillo didn’t just throw everyone in all willy-nilly. A lot of thought was put into this project.

• The game’s most noble players make up the right-most column, with the most radioactive players making up the left-most column. The radioactive players go from most benign to most dangerous from top-to-bottom.

• Every effort was made to keep the top-tier Hall of Famers in the first three rows of the chart, or as close to it as possible.

• The second-to-right-most column on the periodic table of elements is the second-most reactive group of elements. On the Periodic Table of Hall of Famers, this comes out as the highly temperamental Hall of Famers, those who were known for being jerks on the field but who aren’t looked at as bad guys today.

• The 500-Home Run Club is represented together on the chart, as well as the group of 300-Game Winners. The 3,000-Hit Club is also grouped together, down below.

• Other smaller groups are the Hall of Fame relief pitchers, the players known mainly for their defense, and those who made the Hall despite a short career (which usually means a very high peak).

• The rest of the Hall of Famers are shown together in the bulk of the table. For these — and for all of the different groups, really — I made an effort to keep the best to the top and right. Other factors, such as their personality, were also included, as described above.

• Three players not voted in by the regular BBWAA process are included on the chart as well. They are mostly there because I liked how well they fit in with the concept of the chart. Hey, it’s my chart — I get to be as subjective as I want.

This incredible chart was the final product. (Click to embiggen.)

Not bad at all, but there are some potential revisions. “The Nobles,” the classier gents of baseball’s past, replacing noble gases is fine, but Babe Ruth was surely a “noble gas” in his day. (Still, we can’t argue with his “radioactivity.”)

Also, the section that includes players whose careers were cut short is plunked down in the area represented by synthetic actinoids, some of which boasts isotopes with half-lives lasting thousands of years. A better place would’ve been with the transition elements, like Seaborgium, whose most stable isotope has a half-life of less than two minutes.

Still, these are but minor quibbles, as we’re quietly scheming to blow up this image file and posterize it for friends and family come the holidays. And if you compare Granillo’s masterstroke with an actual PToE, you’re bound to uncover more hidden gems. (Giving Old Hoss Radbourn the “K” slot? Brilliant.)

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Looks like Swiss daredevil Yves Rossy is back to the, well, daredeviltry. On November 5, 2010, the self-described Jetman lept off a platform attached to the side of the Esprit Breitling Orbiter hot air balloon and, after reaching an altitude of 2,400 meters (7,874 feet), came back to loop around the thing twice. He was aided in his endeavor by a new, smaller wing (two meters across) with four jets, and executed the maneuvers using only his body movements to steer. Afterward, he deployed his parachute and landed in Denezy, in the Swiss canton of Vaud. We might also add that we tried to get one of these devices for anEngadget Show giveaway, but our lawyers seem to think it’s a terrible idea. Video after the break.

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Soon after Sochi got the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) approval for hosting the 2014 XI Paralympic Winter Games, the organizers have geared up to make the event as green as is possible. The climate neutral games promise to be in perfect harmony with nature. The game venues will hug a sustainable development process all through their construction phase.

Dmitry Chemyshenko, President Organizing Committee Sochi 2014, says…

Games preparations are performed in accordance with rigorous local, national and international environmental regulation and IOC requirements as well as in line with the proposals and recommendations of public ecological institutions. Moreover, Sochi 2014 opens the doors for the best practice and experience of environmentally friendly and efficient development.

Sochi 2014 Environmental Strategy:

Basing its environmental strategy (PDF file) on the Gateway of the Future concept, which will further lead to the Olympics Diamond concept, the character of Russia will come to the fore. Delivering and staging the Winter Games in Sochi’s unique natural environment will involve preserving the invaluable nature of Sochi — the Sochi National Park and the borders of Caucasian Biosphere Reserve. Aside from this, the further steps will include:

• Sustainable electricity generation and supplies, including heat supplies;
• Water supplies, water draining and sewage, waste water treatment;
• Waste management, including separate waste collection and processing of waste into recoverable raw materials;
• Sochi urban environment quality improvement;
• Environmental monitoring and natural phenomena forecasting; and,
• Expanding territory of the specially protected natural areas (SPNA) in Sochi region.

You will see a new transport system in Sochi, which will enable online traffic control to avoid traffic jam formation. Moreover, some of public transports in Sochi will use clean fuel (e.g. natural gas); and hopelessly outdated motor vehicles will be replaced by environmentally friendly ones.

Zero Waste Games:

During the preparation for the Games, existing waste landfills throughout the Games area will be reactivated or replaced with new comprehensive polygons. A hazardous waste treatment system will be installed in Sochi. When the games are on, the garbage will be collected, composed and sorted with no breach of rules. Finally, when the games are over, the temporary infrastructure will be liquefied so that the component parts could be reused.

Energy Generation:

The run-up to Sochi 2014 will see 193 new facilities built to lessen the load on the city’s power grid. By the time the Games begin, the total load on the Sochi grid will increase up to 1,000 MW. So, three new thermal power stations in Adler, Kudepst and Dzhubga will be installed, while the Sochi thermal power station, the Tuapse heating plant and the Krasnopolyanskaya hydroelectric power station will undergo renovation.

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Modeled After Ze American Catcher’s Mitt Hövding via Treehugger

I love riding my bike, but my purple plastic helmet is a definite impediment to fashion. It messes up my hair, and what am I supposed to do if I decide to wear red one day? I might — gasp — not wear a helmet at all. Thankfully, the Swedes have now invented this thing. At last, cyclists everywhere can protect their heads and their sense of style.

It’s a collar with an airbag that inflates around your head. It actually works, as evidenced by the incredible video below, in which a car driving at 12 MPH crashes into a bike dummy.
The Hövding, which means “Chieftain” in Swedish, is the brainchild of Anna Haupt and Terese Alstin, who said they wanted to develop a form of protection that would increase helmet use.

“The protection would include preserving the sense of freedom and not ruin your hairstyle,” Alstin says on the website David Report.

Hövding involves a black waterproof collar surrounding an the airbag and other components. The collar attaches to a removable, washable shell that currently comes in black and a red paisley design, and the designers say it will soon come in more shades — “With the help of the shell, you can vary the look of your chiefs from day to day, and to match different clothes,” the Web site says.

The Hövding will go on sale next spring, just in time for bike weather. You can pre-order them here.

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Fuel economy, nil emissions, use of green materials, and state-of-the-art design: you just name any of these features, and you will find them all in the Toyota NORI concept car. Recently showcased at the LA Auto Show’s 2010 Design Challenge, the concept car contains several solar cells within its PODULAR form to capture and generate supplemental solar energy for the 4-wheel motor.

Contrary to current generation automobiles, the NORI concept features a Podular form that plaits the body and chassis into a single entity, and helps in reducing the overall body weight. The next-gen car, conceived by Craig Kember, Erwin Lui, and Kevin Hunter, makes profuse use of bioplastics technology for strength that uses “nori” (the Japanese word for seaweed) and a carbon fiber weave.

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Riding a bike is something that provides more than just the practical benefit of moving people from point A to B.

Quite true, especially if we consider what the SF Bay area industrial designer Jesse Harrington is proposing through his all-inclusive learning schema that is supposed to revolve around bike wheels in motion. The designer identifies three types of active learners: Kinesthetic, Converging and Tactillian, who learn better by physical involvement. The designer aims to elucidate how the Power on Demand (POD) concept could be a great learning experience for all.
Design Inspiration:

Design Inspiration

Power on Demand concept utilizes human power to generate electric or non-electric mechanical power for several uses. While Jesse takes a flyer on bike as the mode of instruction, all three kinds of learners get a practical awareness of human power as an alternative energy source.
Mechanism:

Mechanism:

Esse proposes the RMSC-Cycle for Converging Learners. The mechanism includes a curved seat that sits slightly above a pedal-driven machine. The user/learner applies manual labor to run a washing machine, television, blender, grain sheller, forklift, computer and other instruments.

Finally, there is a pack of DIY Plans for Tactillian Learners who could see human power converted into usable energy in real time.

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Amy Roloff, star of TLC’s hit show Little People Big World and celebrated author, and the Amy Roloff Charity Foundation proudly awarded Special Olympics Oregon $10,000.00 (US) as a beneficiary of their 2nd annual dinner and celebrity charity golf tournament, Starry Night, Summer’s Day.

Attendees and participants at the event were able to hob knob with local and national celebrities while raising needed funds for Special Olympics Oregon and Portland’s Shriners Hospital for Children.

“Special Olympics Oregon is a truly wonderful organization that has done so much for individuals in the Oregon community with intellectual disabilities”, states celebrity charity founder Amy Roloff. “I am thrilled and proud to be able to help Special Olympics Oregon continue their efforts.”

“We are extremely grateful to Amy and her entire team at the Amy Roloff Charity Foundation for this wonderful donation,” said Margaret Hunt, CEO of Special Olympics Oregon. “This donation will help us continue to provide opportunities of joy, compassion, inclusion and encouragement through sport for those with intellectual disability in our state.”

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Kiki Shepard has spent the past 17 years helping to raise awareness for sickle cell disease.

A carrier of the sickle cell trait herself, Shepard hosted the 7th annual celebrity bowling challenge last week to benefit the programs of The K.I.S. Foundation and The Dorothy H. Shepard Scholarship Fund. The event took place at the PINZ Entertainment Center in Studio City, California.

Many of Shepard’s long time supporters and friends came out to participate in the bowling challenge – including Dawn Lewis (formerly of A Different World) and Obba Babatundé (Board Members), James Pickens, Jr. (Grey’s Anatomy), Jacké Harry (Sister, Sister), Vanessa Bell Calloway (The District), and Rocky Caroll (NCIS: Los Angeles). Some new faces included Wayne Brady, Quinton Aaron (The Blind Side),Sara Ramirez and Jesse Williams (both cast members of Grey’s Anatomy).

Shepard’s passion to raise awareness for sickle cell disease developed when a close friend’s brother passed away because of the disease. “This is a disease that doesn’t have to continue, but there is so much ignorance about the disease; it’s a simple blood disorder.” Part of the goal to educate the public about the disease includes raising funds for research and encouraging people to get tested. Shepard commented that, “I ask that everyone get tested so that we can get the knowledge we need about our health.”

When asked why she continues to support Shepard’s Foundation each year, Dawn Lewis stated, “I recognize that my celebrity status carries a certain amount of weight, so I use my status in a positive way to help raise awareness about this disease and to support the K.I.S. Foundation.

Wayne Brady commented that when Kiki asked him to attend, “I admit, I was ignorant about the disease, but I thought, what if this was my child affected by the disease—I would want people to know about it and support it.”

New this year to the bowling challenge were actors Quinton Aaron and Sara Ramirez. Aaron stated that “I love bowling and my friend Kiki asked me to come out and support the Foundation so I’m here to do whatever I can to help raise awareness to this disease.” Ramirez echoed similar sentiments: ” I came out to support Kiki because I wanted to learn more about the disease. Sickle cell is a terrible disease that affects not just African Americans, but Hispanics, Asians and other minorities.”

For more information about the K.I.S. Foundation, visit theKISfoundation.org.

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