Weapon Of Mass Instruction - Video

A tank rolling around a city might generally be cause for concern—but not this tank. This is the Book Tank, a roving, free library packed with 900 books that elicits waves, laughter, thanks, and smiles as it goes by.

Designed and built by Buenos Aires artist Raul Lemesoff, the Book Tank is a 1979 Ford Falcon that has been converted into a “weapon of mass instruction” bringing books to the Argentine people. Lemesoff drives the tank giving a free book to anyone who promises to read it.

Commissioned by 7up in honor of World Book Day, the Book Tank is an exercise in spreading knowledge and joy. As Lemesoff says, “I don’t do it for money, I don’t do it for fame, I just do it because I have fun doing it.”

Flour Made With Insects Wins $1M Prize For Mcgill Team

Mohammed Ashour and four other MBA students at McGill University in Montreal have a plan to farm insects in poor countries and turn them into flour that can be used in everything from bread to corn tortillas. And on Monday, former President Bill Clinton handed them $1 million to make it happen.
The team, which includes Ashour, Shobhita Soor, Jesse Pearlstein, Zev Thompson and Gabe Mott, received the Hult Prize for social entrepreneurs at the Clinton Global Initiative's annual meeting. The seed funding will go to their project, Aspire Food Group, which aims to make insect-based food products available year-round to people living in some of the world's poorest slums.

Sweden to Import Garbage as Trash Supplies Run Dry

Source: Stephen Messenger @ treehugger.com

As other nations throughout the world struggle to cut the amount of waste piling up in their landfills and marring the landscape, Sweden is facing an entirely different sort of challenge -- they've run out of trash. Now they're forced to import some more.

Swedes, you see, are among the planet's least wasteful people, on average recycling around 96 percent of the garbage they produce. And with what's left, they've found a way to use, having implemented a world-class waste-to-energy incineration program capable of providing electricity sufficient to power hundreds of thousands of homes.

But their hyper-efficiency has led to a unique problem: a trash shortage that could threaten the energy production capacity.

So, what is Sweden to do? Well, according to Swedish officials, the notoriously tidy nation will begin importing garbage from their neighbor Norway -- about 800,000 tons of it annually, in fact, to fulfill their energy needs.

Perhaps the best part of all is that, in solving their problem, Swedes actually stand to profit from this endeavor; the Norwegians are going to pay them to take their waste, proving quite succinctly that one nation's trash can truly be another's treasure trove.

http://www.treehugger.com/energy-efficiency/sweden-import-garbage-trash-supply-runs-dry.html

Mansa Musa I of Mali - the richest human being in all history

When we think of the world’s all-time richest people, names like Bill Gates, Warren Buffet and John D Rockefeller immediately come to mind. But few would have thought, or even heard of, Mansa Musa I of Mali – the obscure 14th century African king who was today named the richest person in all history. With an inflation adjusted fortune of $400 billion, Mansa Musa I would have been considerably richer than the world’s current richest man, Carlos Slim, who ranks in 22nd place with a relatively paltry $68 billion. More...
Mansa Musa I of Mali – the richest human being in all history - World news, News - Belfasttelegraph.co.uk

Lithopanspermia, Microorganisms From Distant Planets May Have Seeded Life On Earth, Study Says

Lithopanspermia, Microorganisms From Distant Planets May Have Seeded Life On Earth, Study Says (via Planetsave)

Life on this planet may have been seeded by microorganisms embedded in the fragments of distant planets that have crashed to Earth, according to new research from Princeton University, the University of Arizona and the Centro de Astrobiología (CAB) in Spain. The new research, just published in the…

What is this thing called love? Mere chemical trickery

In the past two decades social neuroscientists have been diligently working to unravel the mysteries of love - including the phenomena of attraction, monogamy and the parent-child bond - using techniques such as brain imaging, genome-wide association studies and transgenic animal models. In The Chemistry Between Us, Larry Young, the director of Emory University's Center for Translational Social Neuroscience, and journalist Brian Alexander offer a novel take on many of those findings. More..
CultureLab: What is this thing called love? Mere chemical trickery

'Video Painting Europe': Breathtaking Projection-Mapped Video Graffiti Transforms European Cities

Part interactive installation, part urban performance art, Video Painting Europe documents a kind of glow-in-the-dark graffiti that leaves no trace. Art collective Sweatshoppe uses ingenious infrared tracking to smear digital video over concrete surfaces with paint rollers. In this Vimeo Award-winning video, they travel to European cities like Paris, Belgrade, London, and more to paste their "video collages" on different architectural structures including the Berlin Wall. The duo behind the collective are Blake Shaw and Bruno Levy.

Belarus Teddybear Airdrop - Video

Belarus has finally confirmed that an airplane "invaded" its territory earlier in July to drop a payload of teddy bears holding signs promoting free speech, infuriating a regime often known as "Europe's last dictatorship".
Chartered by Studio Total, which bills itself as "northern Scandinavia's most notorious ad agency", the single-engine aircraft - piloted by a co-founder of Studio Total - crossed over the Lithuanian border on July 4, dropping 876 teddy bears on the capital Minsk and the small town of Ivyanets.

Kanaksi Khimji : The only Hindu Sheikh of Arab World

The world’s only Hindu sheikh happens to be an uncompromising vegetarian, his devotion is anchored to Lord Shreenathji, and though his admired entrepreneurship branches out across the globe, his roots lie in Gujarat. If that isn't enough, the Sultan of Oman offered his yacht Lo'Lo' to this NRI for developing tourism business in the Sultanate.

Kanaksi Khimji, the head of Khimji Ramdas Group of Companies, was conferred the title of sheikh by the Sultan of Oman. Khimji Ramdas and M/s V. Ships Leisure have also been appointed the ship managers of the yacht. Khimji, a practising Gujarati Vaishnav, was born in 1936 in Muscat; and he completed his matriculation in Mumbai. Later, he became one of the very few Indians to be offered Omani citizenship.

Generations ago, Khimji's grandfather, Ramdas Thackersey, had set sail for Oman from Mandvi, in Kutch. Today, dressed in a flowing full-length robe and wearing the kaffiyeh, the cloth that covers the head, Khimji easily passes off as an Omani. When he married in 1960, Khimji was presented with a silver jug by Sultan Said Taimur Bin Faisal. The queen mother, Bibi Mahezun, had given him two of her photographs, a privilege accorded to only a few.

The former president of India, Shankar Dayal Sharma, had called Khimji 'the real ambassador of India to the Gulf countries'. Chandrakant Chothani, one of the founding members of the Muscat Gujarati Samaj said, "Kanaksibhai has not only earned the respect of the Indian community but also of the citizens of Oman." Khimji was one of the NRIs to receive the Centre's Bhartiya Pravasi Award, in 2003.

Indeed, Khimji's 'Bhartiya' persona is reflected in his spiritual practices. He has an idol of Lord Shreenathji installed in a temple at his home. He does not touch non-vegetarian food; his office kitchen serves delicacies like rotla and chaas that keep everybody's palate satisfied with wholesome, and vegetarian, Gujarati delicacies. Khimji has contributed considerably to the public sphere in Oman as well as in India. In 1975, under Khimji's leadership, the Indian merchants’ body in Oman established the first-ever English medium school in Muscat.

Source: http://sawaibhatia.blogspot.in/2010/08/kanaksinh-khimji-only-hindu-sheikh-of.html

London Double-Decker Bus doing Push Ups for Olympics - Video

A Czech artist has re-modelled a traditional London double-decker bus into a mechanical sculpture of an athlete doing push-ups to celebrate the Olympic Games opening in the British capital on Friday. David Cerny, whose past works have enraged European politicians and sought to poke fun at rival artists, has installed the bus outside the Czech Olympic House in London's Islington neighbourhood. Cerny bought the 1957 bus from an owner in the Netherlands, attached two huge arms, an electrical engine and a lot of wiring and suspension tools to make it into a piece of art named "London Boosted".

New Egyptian TV Channel operated exclusively by veiled women - Video

A new satellite TV channel is being launched in Egypt, but unlike other channels the female presenters will all be wearing the niqab, the traditional Muslim face-covering. The TV channel is called Maraya after one of the prophet Mohammad's wives who was a freed Egyptian Coptic slave and is set to start broadcasting on 20 July, coinciding with the start of Ramadan - the Islamic month of fasting. The programme aims to teach Muslim women more about religion.

Singapore develops stunning structure to fill its skyline- SUPERTREES - Video

What is new in Singapore's modern skyline are super trees --- high tech organic shapes that stretch way up into the sky. The super trees are built to mimic real trees. And, they provide shade during the day, plants grow and crawl up the sides and their branches reach out, cross over and form intricate canopies.

Scientists generate electricity with a virus

Ouija board helps psychologists probe the subconscious

Beloved of spiritualists and bored teenagers on a dare, the Ouija board has long been a source of entertainment, mystery and sometimes downright spookiness. Now it could shine a light on the secrets of the unconscious mind.

The Ouija, also known as a talking board, is a wooden plaque marked with the words, "yes", "no" and the letters of the alphabet. Typically a group of users place their hands on a movable pointer , or "planchette", and ask questions out loud. Sometimes the planchette signals an answer, even when no one admits to moving it deliberately.

Believers think the answer comes through from the spirit world. In fact, all the evidence points to the real cause being the ideomotor effect, small muscle movements we generate unconsciously.

That's why the Ouija board has attracted the attention of psychologists at the University of British Columbia in Canada. Growing evidence suggests the unconscious plays a role in cognitive functions we usually consider the preserve of the conscious mind. More..
Short Sharp Science: Ouija board helps psychologists probe the subconscious

Finns fight stress at brain gym - Video

A fitness center for the brain opens in the Finnish capital, offering smells, sounds and light effects for enhanced and instant recreation of overloaded human brains.

Inside Norway's 'luxury' prison

Halden prison smells of freshly brewed coffee. It hits you in the workshop areas, lingers in the games rooms and in the communal apartment-style areas where prisoners live together in groups of eight. Halden is one of Norway's highest-security jails, holding rapists, murderers and paedophiles. Since it opened two years ago, it has acquired a reputation as the world's most humane prison. It is the flagship of the Norwegian justice system, where the focus is on rehabilitation rather than punishment. More..

TODAYonline | World | Inside Norway's 'luxury' prison

The most cultured flash mob in the world: Copenhagen Philharmonic strike up on busy train

In April 2012 Copenhagen Phil (Sjællands Symfoniorkester) surprised the passengers in the Copenhagen Metro by playing Griegs Peer Gynt. The flash mob was created in collaboration with Radio Klassisk http://radioklassisk.dk/. All music was performed and recorded in the metro.

The Man Who Quit Money

Daniel Suelo is 51 years old and broke. Happily broke. Consciously, deliberately, blessedly broke.

Not only does he not have debt, a mortgage or rent, he does not earn a salary. Nor does he buy food or clothes, or own any product with an "i" before it. Home is a cave on public land outside Moab, Utah. He scavenges for food from the garbage or off the land (fried grasshoppers, anyone?). He has been known to carve up and boil fresh road kill. He bathes, without soap, in the creek. More..
Utah Caveman Quits Money - ABC News

Essay written by Barack Obama while he was a student at Columbia University.

Obama published an article in a school magazine called the Sundial. It was published in the issue dated March 10, 1983. Written just months before Obama graduated, this is not exactly his best work, but it offers a new glimpse of his very conventional campus liberalism of the time. The article is a warm review of two campus groups, Arms Race Alternatives and Students Against Militarism. CLICK on the TITLE to view the full article originally published in politico.com....

Young Obama Protesting at Harvard in 1991 - Video