Word: plastic
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...that it was time to chop down the Christmas tree. But the Walsh men are not outdoorsmen; firmly suburban, we're at most screened-in-porch men. So by cutting down the yule tree, my dad meant climbing into the attic and bringing down the tinsel-covered bits of plastic and tubing, then assembling them into something resembling Tannenbaum form. Yes, though it shames me to say it now, we were a faux-fir family...
Then there's the stuff that artificial trees are made of. One ingredient in most fake firs is polyvinyl chloride (PVC), a plastic that is difficult to recycle. And while new artificial trees pose little threat to children's health, Mike Schade, the PVC-campaign coordinator for the activist group Center for Health, Environment and Justice, notes that older plastic trees tend to have higher levels of lead, a potent neurotoxin...
...After Thailand's currency collapsed in 1997, the government directed its tourism officials to market the country as a hot destination for plastic surgery, hoping to boost revenues. Thailand quickly became the go-to country for comparatively inexpensive sex-change operations, where patients faced fees as low as $5,000, as well as looser requirements for pre-surgery psychological counseling. Thailand is now a destination spot for all types of plastic surgery as well as a host of routine medical procedures. Bumrungrad International Hospital in Bangkok is probably Thailand's best-known mecca for medical tourists, boasting patients from "over...
...other side of the country, and must find his way back with the help of some new friends. As it turns out, some of the show’s biggest fans are hamsters. One delusional hamster in particular, a toothy fellow named Rhino (Mark Walton), lives inside a plastic ball in an RV park. There he meets Bolt and Bolt’s prisoner-cum-friend Mittens, a stray cat. Rhino saves the day and the movie. “Fully awesome!”—the rotund rodent’s favorite phrase—is probably...
...Nearby, a man repairs a machine that shreds plastic bottles into nickel-size shards. Like most residents of the village, he migrated here from the countryside in the early '90s. "We came to work, because it's better than Henan," he says. Now he isn't so sure, but he knows that things won't be any better if he returns. The machine, now fixed, roars to life. "What to do?" he wonders with a shrug as he begins feeding old bottles into the machine. Back to work, that's his answer. The scrappers of Dongxiaokou can only hope...