Wooden Computer Accessories 467
polyp2000 writes "It's always interesting to read about case-mods, but this company has a novel twist, for nature loving geeks. Maybe even the perfect accessory for a wooden case mod. Swedx do a nice line in wooden monitors, keyboards, and some sweet looking wooden mice in a selection of different woods."
Still... (Score:5, Insightful)
You love nature so much that you (Score:3, Insightful)
Hmmmmm..... Anyone else see somehting wrong with this picture??
Getting Slashdotted?? (Score:3, Insightful)
Wouldn't sweat wreak havok on a wooden mouse, anyways? My lowly plastic one gets stained and dirty enough.
Re:You love nature so much that you (Score:5, Insightful)
Yes, wood is "nature loving" (Score:1, Insightful)
Well what renewable resource is your computer case made of?
Well, they have to remove entire mountains from the ground to get metal, and I can't say that the petrol industry (you know, plastics!) is too "nature friendly." So come back when you're typing on keyboards assembled from windfall wood and bones of animals that died of natural causes. Otherwise I really don't want to hear about it.
Re:You love nature so much that you (Score:1, Insightful)
To all the damn-hippies (Score:2, Insightful)
When you whine about "cutting down trees", consider the fate of useful and useless species. Corn versus wildflowers, for example. Wood is probably the sole reason there's any trees left standing anywhere.
Re:Nature-loving geeks? (Score:4, Insightful)
Wood feels nice, sounds nice, and looks nice. It is renewable. And you're forgetting WHERE this tree is cut down, is it in an ancient forest with 300-year old trees, or in a homegrown backyard lot?
"I'm nature-loving."
Then why not do it the natural way?
Re:Still... (Score:3, Insightful)
But regardless, the 100 joules per second of energy being produced are not necesarily 100% heat.
lemons are yellow, but that doesn't mean all yellow things are lemons.
IT people and woodworking (Score:3, Insightful)
The funny thing is how many people seem to be in my position. When reading newsgroups like rec.woodworking, I came across a lot of tech-types that have either turned to woodworking as a hobby in their spare time, or in their laid-off time.
Anybody else on this board that have moved toward woodworking?
Re:Still... (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:You love nature so much that you (Score:5, Insightful)
If you want some exotic rainforest hardwoods instead, there's no need to "strip log" them. Selective cutting preserves the ecostructure quite nicely. Clearcutting is a sign of bad government management of resources. It's easy enough to brand "eco-friendly" lumber to make sure you aren't buying mouse made from clearcut timber.
Re:You love nature so much that you (Score:5, Insightful)
actually, if you cut the tree correctly, the stump will live and produce yet another tree. Only the part you cut away dies (and even that could be coaxed into becoming its own tree).
I propagate roses all the time in this fashion. It's called "asexual reproduction" (something with which many slashdotters are invariably familiar...).
Re:Plenty of wood already .... (Score:3, Insightful)
Did anyone else see the URL for that site and immediately try to figure out if it was something akin to goatse.cx?
See...
Re:Still... (Score:5, Insightful)
That does not really matter. As others have pointed out, the heat disappation of your metal case is close to zero compared to how much is dissappated by the air circulated by your case fans, so switching to wood won't make any difference.
There are lots of predicatble jokes here about it catching fire, but most traditional Finnish saunas [finland.fi] are made from wood. You can actually have wood panelling right next to metal that is so hot it's glowing red without the wood smoldering. Though just like with saunas, it would probably be best not to use wood that is impregnated or treated with anything for the cases, as that might give off not very healthy gasses if warmed up.
With regards to being heavy - it might be a bit bulky, but I think I read wood is actually one of the strongest materials compared to its weight in the world. Hey, here is an idea, how about spider silk cases?
Finally, the environmental question: wood is about as renewable resource as there is, and we have lots of it in Sweden. As long as the wood doesn't come from protected forests ("ur-skog") or rainforests, you can't really get more environmentally friendly.
Re:(OT) Re:an actual link (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:I think... (Score:3, Insightful)
Nice, big, low RPM fans can take care of the heat.
And transparency... well, that's silly
Re:I think... (Score:5, Insightful)
The innards of my computer are a twisty maze of cables, all alike. Between the hard drives, two CD drives, Audigy 2 Platinum front tray, case fans, etc, it's one big mess of cables.
Not that it would be any better without the cables. It's a colour cacophony of red PCBs, blue PCBs, traditionalist green PCBs, aluminum heatsink on the CPU, copper heatsink on the graphics card, and whatever else.
Now if I were to also add some lit fans or neon lights, as seems to be the custom, then it would only get an even uglier colour cacophony.
What's that supposed to look like? A cheap circus tent? A bad acid trip? A sad clown on a really bad makup day? A terror attack on a paint warehouse?
And the real question: why on Earth would I want to look at that every day? Also: why would I want the others to see that?
Now I can see haow that would have a novelty factor in the beginning, and can appreciate at least the work of those who personally modded their own case. (Even if to a butt-ugly result.) But... you know... it's been some years already. The novelty ought to have worn off, and you can already buy that kind of cases mass-produced.
Re:oh please (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:You love nature so much that you (Score:3, Insightful)
I don't know much about washington state, but I do know that in MN where most of the logging is Aspen (for paper, a fast growing tree), the best way to harvest them is clear cutting a small area, and letting nature take over and re-seed. There is a lot of wildlife in MN that prefers this system. Some like the forest just after the cutting, while others like it just before, but if they would leave it, the forest would change again.
Note that I'm talking about one particular type of forest, and this practice is only done on land the lumber company owns. State and private land is managed differently, for different growth, even there though, clear cutting and then replanting gives all the new trees a better chance at survival.
Re:I think... (Score:3, Insightful)
I think the grandparent post meant the computer itself should be transparent as in not drawing attention to itself. Not a physically transparent case for the computer. Maybe a better word would have been "unobtrusive."
Correct me if I'm wrong though, grandparent.
RaviRe:Please learn something new today. (Score:1, Insightful)
Environmental fascists promote no practical solutions--in their eyes, the only solution is "less people." A lot less people. A founder of Greenpeace has a different, more sensible viewpoint [greenspirit.com]. He promotes more use of wood, as opposed to use of non-replenishable resources or things like plastics that cause worse harm to the environment. (Perhaps you've read the Wired article on him that tried to paint him as a sellout.)
Q. Why not spend some time investigating environmentally sensible solutions instead of reiterating the same shrill pablum? A. Because that's not as fun as crying wolf.
As far as the pristine public forests of Oregon are concerned, blame your government for letting them at the trees so cheaply. As mentioned elsewhere, loggers aren't stupid. If they own a fixed amount of land, they'll always be regrowing on that land. If the government is dumb enough to let them rape public forests, take your beef up with the government. Last I looked, Oregon was an extremely liberal state; I'm sure they'll listen.