Free Republic

From recycling electronics to shredding sensitive documents, now recycling old tires can become easily maintained sidewalks. Sixty-five cities are reducing the number of old tires dumped in landfills. Companies shred them, bake the fine particles and the use the material for sidewalks. These interlocking panels have cracks between them to allow water and air to reach tree roots, which delays the upward thrust of the roots. When the roots do rise, the panels will not break, making repair easier. The cost of the rubber sidewalks is three times more than concrete, but in the long run it is less expensive...

For reasons of safety and ease of maintenance, Washington and dozens of other communities are installing rubber sidewalks made of ground-up tires. The rubber squares are up to three times more expensive than concrete slabs but last longer, because tree roots and freezing weather won't crack them. That, in turn, could reduce the number of slip-and-fall lawsuits filed over uneven pavement. And the rubber sidewalks are considered more environmentally friendly: They offer a way to recycle some of the estimated 290 million tires thrown out each year in the United States, and they do not constrict tree roots the way...

As new elections approach in Liberia, signaling the end of a two-year transition period, many in the war-crippled country have begun questioning the legitimacy of the interim government's business dealings. Among them is a new land lease with the United States-based Firestone rubber company, one of Liberia's most important foreign investors. A tanker truck barrels down a hill on its way to the main factory on Firestone's rubber plantation in Harbel, Liberia. Nearby, a work crew uses steaming asphalt to patch potholes in the road. The Harbel plantation has some of the only paved roads left in the country. Earlier...

THE chairman of gloves and condoms maker Ansell, Ed Tweddell, has died, aged 64. Dr Tweddell's family announced his death today. The family said in a statement that while circumstances were unclear, it appeared that Dr Tweddell took his own life late yesterday, after some health-related issues. "This is so unexpected, and extremely sad and upsetting for all of us," Dr Tweddell's wife, Sue Tweddell, said. "Ed was a wonderful husband and father and we believe he had so much to live for. "His decision has been heart-breaking for us and we are still coming to terms with his death."...

BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) - Attackers in southern Thailand slashed the necks of a couple, almost severing their heads in the latest killings attributed to Islamic separatists in the region, police said Friday. The couple, Jad Suwanchatri, 52, and his wife, Serm, 51, had stopped their motorcycle to clear a log from a road in Yala province when assailants shot Jad and then cut the throats of the couple, police Lt. Somporn Ritthirat said Friday. The couple's dog, which was in a sidecar, also was slashed to death, he said. The couple were rubber plantation workers, Buddhists and members of a...

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - A rubber duck sat in a dog's stomach for five years before being removed by Swedish vets last week, a local newspaper said Tuesday.The owner of the Apollo the Boxer dog assumed the toy had dissolved in his stomach over the years as it had not come out any other way, Daily paper Lanstidningen said.But the owner, from the northern Swedish town of Ostersund, took the animal to a vet when it began vomiting and refused to drink and the toy was removed.The duck had turned black and gone rock hard the newspaper said on its Web...

I believe that I have found a natural medicine (refluxed pure natural rubber, and since natural, basically unregulated by FDA) that is anti – carcinogenic and may cure cancer, and natural rubber (the longest known molecule), seams to have the ability to also stop bleeding once in the blood system, which in many cases is the first sign of cancer as an cancerous ulcer. The German scientist Paul Ehrlich (1854-1915) came up with the concept in medicine of a magic bullet that would kill bacteria but not harm Humans. He had some success with an arsenic compound that he add...

<p>Police open fired Monday morning with rubber bullets at an anti-war protest at the Port of Oakland, injuring several longshoremen standing nearby.</p> <p>Police were trying to clear protesters from an entrance to the docks when they opened fire and the longshoremen apparently were caught in the crossfire.</p>

Date: 11/28/2002 What Happens To Rubber That Wears Off Auto Tires? Alison J. Draper, an assistant professor of chemistry at Bucknell University, Lewisburg, Pa., is doing research where the rubber meets the road -- literally. She's investigating the environmental and health impacts of automobile tire wear particles. As automobile tires move along a road, tiny particles are worn off, and can end up in the air and in nearby waterways. Draper previously did research on diesel exhaust, but says that tire rubber is "much more interesting chemically," containing heavy metals like zinc and cadmium, hydrocarbons, latex, and sulfur-containing compounds. Draper's...

HYDERABAD, India (Reuters) - An eight-foot tall condom greeted Microsoft chairman Bill Gates Thursday during a visit to an Indian city, a tribute to mark his generosity in fighting AIDS. The world's richest man smiled when he saw the giant air-filled condom in India's rising technology hub of Hyderabad, where his company has opened its first software development center outside the United States. The billionaire inaugurated his four-day visit to India on Monday by announcing $100 million in contributions from his charity, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, to spread awareness on AIDS. India has four million people with HIV,...