Melting plastic army men is loads of fun. Real army men, however - well, that’s an entirely different story. Dominic Wilcox either had a troubled childhood, or he was just as normal as the rest of us. After all, melting army men with a magnifying glass is every adolescent’s favorite pass time, right?

He’s taken this fun, yet childish activity and turned it into art by melting the army men together to form a bowl that he’s cleverly named War Bowl. The War Bowl comes in two versions: a blue Battle of Waterloo, Half British Artillery, half French Infantry and the white ‘English Civil War’ War Bowl. While you might not put anything in it, that’s not preventing it from looking awesome.

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Here’s a photo of a ledger from the 1984 collection from IBM. Those striking pastels and regal fonts really bring it all together. Look how proud IBM was:

“For the introduction of the IBM PC, we designed the packages and software manual, creating, instead of the industry’s usual cheap plastic binders, hard-bound linen covers and slipcovers in pastel colors to stress cultural elegance and personal values.”

Personal values? Holy shit, IBM. You just blew my fucking mind.

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Nokia has formally launched its latest handheld device, the E63, as a budget alternative to the E71 and a competitor to RIM’s Blackberry. The E63 sports a 3.5mm audio port, a two megapixel camera with LED flash in addition to a microSD card slot for extra storage and a redesigned QWERTY keyboard with a smaller space bar and some extra character keys. Nokia also plans to give all E63 owners free access to 1GB of space through Files on Ovi, which allows you to access files on your computer from your phone via the Internet.

But what exactly makes the E63 so budget friendly? Simply put: the E63 swaps the part-metal casing of the E71 in favor of a plastic casing. This drops the price of the E63 to $251, making it an affordable smartphone in the wake of the Blackberry. As of now, no release date has been announced but it’s only a matter of time before one shows up on eBay.

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I’m no stranger to furniture made from recyclables. After all, I write about it all the time and I just so happen to sit on my ass for the same duration. Upon seeing Ryan Frank’s design, pictured above, I immediately thought of how comfortable it would be to pass gas while sitting in it. Well, more comfortable than doing so in a chair made from a tire or a wooden stump.

I mean, this thing is made entirely of used plastic bags. The seat itself is made from recycled aluminum, but the plastic bags are what give the chair character. Break wind while sitting in this thing and you’ll float away in more ways than one.

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When you’re in the market for a new chandelier to decorate your home, style is everything. Sometimes style is outweighed by design, which is the case with this water bottle chandelier designed by Michelle Brand. We’ve seen chandeliers made of all sorts of recycled junk. Ballpoint pens, CD cases and even milk crates can be used to make impressive-looking household decor and the creativity doesn’t stop there.

Artist Michelle Brand uses cut-off plastic bottle bases to shower interiors with light.  So not only is she resourcefully recycling plastic, she’s also making a bitchin’ light source for your living room.

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Ever wonder what a drunk Eskimo’s pad looks like? It’s an igloo made out of bottles. When you’re in Alaska, the middle of nowhere, it’s difficult to find recycling depots. I guess that’s why artist Jasmine Zimmerman created this open-roofed greenhouse from hundreds of plastic drink bottles we litter our streets with everyday. That or she hates really hates Palin.

Because Americans drink 70 million disposable bottles of water each day, with just 10 million making their way to a recycling bin, Jasmine wants to help spread the word about recycling and repurposing everyday objects in our environment. The “Bottle Greenhouse” will be exhibited in empty lots, rooftops, parks, and vacant buildings to raise awareness as well as give bums a place to crash for the night.

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Everyday scientists are creating new ways to develop the things we take for granted. Eliminating the problematic ways of creating plastic with oil or gas, scientists of Genomatica Inc. have formed strains of bacteria which produce plastic.

This is great news as this bacteria requires little more than sugar and water to produce butanediol, the compound used to manufacture many things such as plastic, fibers or pharmaceuticals.  Genomatica predicts that within the year, this energy-efficient process will cost less than the current processes used to create plastic.

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A relatively unknown company called Plastic Logic today unveiled it’s new technology called E-Newspaper. Designed to mimic the look but not the feel of newspaper, it’s supposed to put current versions of e-ink, such as the Kindle or eReader, to shame. The unnamed device will make it’s official debut come January 2009 at the Consumer Electronics Show in Vegas (we’ll be there), so until then, one can only dream of both functionality and price.

Due out in either Q1 or Q2 of next year, the device is aimed at hardcore daily readers and business users who constantly use documents. No publishing companies are on board yet but that could all change next year. E-Newspaper looks to be the ultimate Kindle-killer but ultimately the price will determine that.

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Some bikes, like that sideways mindfuck one, are worth getting stolen while others, like the ATB, are not. After all, you spent your hard earned cash to get a bike that’s older than the company producing it, so why should you have to suffer when some dead beat walks off with it? Have no fear, Immobitag is here.

This plastic sleeve attaches to your bike’s frame leaving unsuspecting crooks second guessing. The only way to remove it is to cut the bike’s frame, destroying the bike. Each tag features a unique ID number that you register on the companies website, ensuring them that you are the rightful owner. For only $25, you’d be saving a lot of grief if you ride in an area that’s prone to bike theft. Just do yourself a favor if your bike gets stolen: don’t try to track it down with your radio frequency identification tag seeker gizmo, leave that to the professionals.

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These homemade guitar picks from Flickr member Aud1073cH are pretty badass. With designs ranging from Mount Rushmore to the Toshiba and Paramount logos, one wonders how he created these…

Handmade guitar picks. Most are made from old plastic cards (gift cards, credit cards, hotel room keys, etc.) Other materials are cardboard, “Handi Snacks” stick, CD, Toshiba laptop, and plastic packaging.

There you have it. I wonder if the cardboard-based picks even work?

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