Italian coachbuilder Castagna says it can turn a Fiat 500 into a tender or two. And they did it in six quick steps.

1. First they had to remove the top, remove the doors and the tailgate

2. Then they enlarged the sills, but kept some semblance of structural integrity

3. Removed the entire interior

4. Replaced the interior with some canvas for weather protection

5. Then they had to remove the internal combustion engine and all attachments to install an electric drive train that can motor the thing up to 80 mph and hope the car can stay charged long enough to go 80 miles.

6. Wonder … what in the world have I been doing to this nice car?

Seriously, even though it looks really well and doesn’t pollute the air, there’s got to be a better way. If we want the world to go green, we got to find easier and cheaper ways than this. Right?

There’s a guy in California – Cory N. Barden – who might need to get some lessons in stealing from the folks in China who swiped some elephants. A 38-year old man in Apple Valley, CA stole a $250,000 helicopter blade and tried to sell part of it as scrap for $250.

“But, officer, I was doing the recycle thing. We Californians love to recycle.”

The Heavy Lift Helicopter Inc had reported that someone broke into their yard and stole a 400-pound rotor blade.

“That’s not a banana, that’s my helicopter blade.”

Good grief! Where does one hide a helicopter blade? Do they fold up like switch blades?

A-1 Recycling alerted investigators that there was some liberal recyclist trying to save the world one helicopter blade at a time…or maybe just needed $250. After investigators matched serial numbers on the blade – the A-1 dudes had kept them from being smashed into little ball bearings, they tracked down our thief. It was easy enough to find him, he had some huge stretch marks in his britches.

Matt Damon wants to know some things about Sarah Palin.

1. Does Sarah Palin think there were dinosaurs here 4,000 years ago?

2. Can Sarah Palin use her folksy charm to face down Vladmir Putin?

3. Does Sarah Palin know how absurd she sounds? (look who’s talking)

4. Can Sarah Palin handle the nuclear codes?

5. Does Sarah Palin know he is afraid of her becoming president?

6. Sarah Palin realizes he thinks she might be the president pretty soon?

Wait a sec. The guy knows something about John McCain’s intentions that the rest of us don’t?

Does he know that Sarah Palin couldn’t give a hoot or a holler about what Matt Damon wants to know? When the Hollywood knuckleheads have to weigh in to help out the Democrats, you know the Dems are hurting. Obama? Is that the best you can do?

What I want to know, is what does Sarah Palin think about the environment? Not what she thinks about 4,000 years ago. I want to know what Obama thinks about the environment. The best we can get out of him is, “What do you want me to think?” Or “What does Sarah Palin think? I’ll think differently.”

Damon … your movies are good, but your opinions on politics are meaningless.

Images courtesy of NewsHour and Siebbi

You probably noticed that we really love animals here at GreenPacks, but what you probably don’t know is that we also love gadgets. Make them green and we’re pals for life. But why are we telling you all these? Because the fourth generation of iPod Nanos (the newest) have been released yesterday, and Steve Jobs thought about us. For the last seven years, the new iPod becomes both the thinnest and also the greenest ever.

The environmental checklist include a PVC, mercury and BFR-free body (made of aluminum), and arsenic-free glass which makes the new iPods highly recyclable for those who are eco-conscious. “We think these new Nanos are the cleanest toxic-free iPods we’ve ever built,” Steve Jobs said during the ‘Let’s Rock’ event in San Francisco.

The 8GB version will cost $229, the 16GB model goes for $299, while the 32GB is $399.

All images courtesy of Engadget

I can think of two very good reasons to get out of Brazoria County, Texas. First we know where Hurricane Ike is and where it’s heading. Yup, Brazoria County Judge Joe King announced a mandatory evacuation for residents of the 77541 zip code (Freeport and other coastal regions) at 10 a.m. today, while the rest of the county is subject to a voluntary evacuation.

Located right about 125 miles north of the western tip of Cuba and with maximum sustained winds in the center up to 85 mph, meteorologists expect it to strengthen over the next couple of days when it reaches Texas’ coast on Friday night to early Saturday.

“We’re surrounded by a levee,” Freeport Police Chief Jeff Pynes said. “Our levees hold about a 15-foot storm surge.”

The order came during night hours but the authorities will do their best to make sure all the people will get their messages. If you live in the area then take a look at the Hurricane Evacuation Zip Zones below (click to enlarge).

The second reason is that a convicted murder climbed the fence of a prison in the county last night and is on the loose.

heeding the evacuation warning maybe? Name: Marlow Wayne Reynolds. Looks like if Ike and the weather doesn’t get the county Marlow will. Time to get out.

Sources 1, 2, 3, 4

The technology evolved a lot and diesel cars these days run smoothly, are just as clean or cleaner than those running on gas and some 30% percent more fuel-efficient. Take the new Ford Fiesta ECOnetic which gets an astonishing 65 mpg and will go on sale from November, in Europe, and only Europe.

For financial reasons which makes it a pricey to import but also because the US market is not yet prepared for a clean diesel – that’s why only 3-percent of the cars run on diesel, Ford decided to keep the new Fiesta ECOnetic away from the States. And just for the records, diesel engines these days are not those old smelly stuff we remember and won’t shake your body like a tractor, while driving it.

I’m not sure if the US will ever embrace the diesel, but my bet is on no, because there are far more alternatives, and I’m talking about hybrids here, than in Europe. The new Prius is going to sell for $24,000 in the States while if Ford was to bring their 65 mpg Fiesta it would be priced at some $25,700. It’s obvious what people would choose, right?

However, international automakers like Mercedes Benz, Nissan and Honda are still decided on promoting a clean diesel on the American market, and if they succeed, it’s going to be a big drawback for Ford, which already had their winner lined up.

Polar bears on strike? Protesting the disappearance of the ice around them, asking the world to go green and showing them the way? I am not sure what these green polar bears are thinking, but these fellas at a Japanese zoo in Higashiyama central Japan are creating a ruckus among the Japanese.

Are they sick? Do they have mold? (this one made me laugh out loud.) Moldy polar bears?

High temps and conservation efforts, changing the water less often, caused algae growth in the bear’s bond. So, when they swam, they came out green. The algae goes to hollow spaces in the bear’s fur making it hard to rinse off.

Besides, “I look good in green,” says the papa bear. The color fades in November.

If only it were this easy to get the world to become greener and NOT have it wear off in the winter, eh?

Barak Obama has accused the McCain/Palin campaign of being the equivalent of putting “lipstick on a pig.”

This statement doesn’t make GreenPacks angry because it’s sexist, or because it is an avert swipe at the only candidate in the final four to wear lipstick.

It doesn’t make GP angry because the slur is derogatory and the equivalent of mudslinging. Isn’t that what pigs do

It doesn’t make GP angry because Obama has to borrow a phrase he may have never used before in his Harvard educated life just to try to be funny or make a point. Is ‘lipstick on a pig’ really the best Obama can come up with?

No, it makes GreenPacks angry because Obama is insinuating that a pig would have anything to do with politics. We love animals here at Greenpacks, even porkers. And the worst thing I ever heard a pig say about another pig was, “that’s like putting mud lipstick on a politician. It’s still a politician.” You can tell, because the potlickers are all dirty.

And as one famous pig, that would be Porky, might say with regard to Obama’s campaign, “Th, th, that’s all folks.” Obama hasn’t got much left.

Snuppy, not to be confused with a similar sounding famous beagle who appears worldwide in a comic strip with his master, Charlie Brown, is the world’s first cloned dog. Shows to go you what I know or don’t know as the case may be. I didn’t know that was the dog’s name, did you? I did know the first cloned sheep’s name was Dolly.

Anyway … Snuppy has had pups.

Snuppy is an Afghan hound. Snuppy is also the pop of 10 puppies through two dogs that were impregnated by artificial insemination. I reckon when Snuppy was cloned the gene for doing ‘it’ was left out, eh?

So, what do you call the child of an animal that was conceived by artificial means through a parent that was produced artificially? How about Arty? Snuppy’s, um, creator (a dude in Seoul – Hwang Woo-suk) fell from grace when he falsified research saying he had also cloned human embryonic stem cells. After his downfall, you could hear his colleagues saying, “That sucks.”

So, we have a creator who fell from grace for lying who made a dog who’s sperm was used to artificially inseminate a couple of bitches….

Does anybody else’s head hurt besides mine?

And don’t we have enough dogs running around now, that we don’t need to make more?

Funny or not, these guys in Belarus have modern agriculture techniques when it comes to “harvesting” cucumbers. If you ever tried to do the job yourself then you most likely know that it causes back pains. I can’t imagine it being all that easy crunching, picking cucumbers, then getting up again, all day long. Can you? That’s why Belarus farmers invented the moving bed where ladies can get as many cucumbers they want and forget soaring back.

It may not be the modern you expected, but they ladies get the job done and they all seem to be pretty happy. I wonder how many will go to Belarus during the cucumber harvesting periods for a better view.

via RussianFun