An intricate system of drains and funnels is attached on the outside of a colourful house in Germany and when it rains the entire building becomes an instrument.
The house is located in Neustadt Kunsthofpassage, an area of Dresden part of an arts project called the Courtyard of Elements.
Sunday, January 20, 2013
Monday, January 14, 2013
Futuristic highways in Netherlands "Glow in the Dark" - Video
A futuristic highway that can save energy and improve road safety is set
to be installed in the Netherlands by mid-2013. Two companies, Studio
Roosegaarde and Heijmans Infrastructure, came up with the highway, which
includes: glow-in-the-dark road markings painted with photo-luminescent
paint which are charged during the day and light up during the night;
temperature-responsive paint which indicates slippery roads when
temperatures fall below zero; and interactive lights along the highway
that light up as cars approach. Wind lights that light up using the
draft produced by cars and priority induction lanes that can recharge
electric cars as they run along them also feature.
The luminous road markings and weather indicating roads will debut in
the Dutch province of Brabant in the middle of next year. The wind
powered and interactive lights along with the induction lanes are also
planned to go into service in the next years.
to be installed in the Netherlands by mid-2013. Two companies, Studio
Roosegaarde and Heijmans Infrastructure, came up with the highway, which
includes: glow-in-the-dark road markings painted with photo-luminescent
paint which are charged during the day and light up during the night;
temperature-responsive paint which indicates slippery roads when
temperatures fall below zero; and interactive lights along the highway
that light up as cars approach. Wind lights that light up using the
draft produced by cars and priority induction lanes that can recharge
electric cars as they run along them also feature.
The luminous road markings and weather indicating roads will debut in
the Dutch province of Brabant in the middle of next year. The wind
powered and interactive lights along with the induction lanes are also
planned to go into service in the next years.
Acid Test: The Global Challenge of Ocean Acidification - Documentary
Acid Test: The Global Challenge of Ocean Acidification is a groundbreaking NRDC documentary, whcih explores the startling phenomenon of ocean acidification, which may soon challenge marine life on a scale not seen for tens of millions of years. The film, featuring Sigourney Weaver, originally aired on Discovery Planet Green.
Pollution from carbon dioxide is causing an increase in ocean acidity. In fact, our oceans have absorbed a quarter of all carbon dioxide emissions produced by burning fossil fuels since the Industrial Revolution. As a result, our oceans’ acidity levels have increase by 30%. Conditions like these have not existed since the extinction of the dinosaurs.
What does this mean to us and the marine species that inhabit our oceans? Will ocean species be able to adapt? How can we stop the rise of ocean acidity? Acid Test explores these issues, then reveals how to take action today to stop the creation of an uninhabitable ocean.
Pollution from carbon dioxide is causing an increase in ocean acidity. In fact, our oceans have absorbed a quarter of all carbon dioxide emissions produced by burning fossil fuels since the Industrial Revolution. As a result, our oceans’ acidity levels have increase by 30%. Conditions like these have not existed since the extinction of the dinosaurs.
What does this mean to us and the marine species that inhabit our oceans? Will ocean species be able to adapt? How can we stop the rise of ocean acidity? Acid Test explores these issues, then reveals how to take action today to stop the creation of an uninhabitable ocean.
Friday, December 28, 2012
Japan to turn into one giant roller coaster
Courtesy: Pravda.Ru
Japanese engineers have developed a new type of transport that runs on gravity power. Engineers decided to use the idea inherent in roller coasters - a train car with passengers accelerating downhill and gathering energy for the next rise. These trains will have no engines and transmissions, which will greatly reduce their weight.
Japan has rather complex terrain, and is experiencing a significant power shortage, especially after the government decided to phase out the use of nuclear power plants. The combination of these two factors prompted a group of designers working under the guidance of the Mr. Yoshihiro Suda with the Institute of Industrial Research, University of Tokyo, to develop a commuter train that would be moved by the force of gravity (and weight of passengers). The new development will be cost-effective and fast. More...
Japan to turn into one giant roller coaster - English pravda.ru
Tuesday, December 25, 2012
Estonians on track for free public transport - Video
Estonians in the capital city of Talinn are soon to benefit from the arrival of free public transport.
It is the first EU capital to make the shift and is part of a green platform adopted by Talinn's mayor, Edgar Savisaar.
However, not everyone thinks the move will get cars off the road. The opposition fume that the idea is less about a clean environment and more about political opportunism.
It is the first EU capital to make the shift and is part of a green platform adopted by Talinn's mayor, Edgar Savisaar.
However, not everyone thinks the move will get cars off the road. The opposition fume that the idea is less about a clean environment and more about political opportunism.
Sunday, December 16, 2012
Belo Horizonte: The City That Beat Hunger - Video
This is a short film (12 minutes) that shows how Belo Horizonte, a city of 2.5 million, in Minas Gerais, Brasil developed a food policy to ensure that no citizen went hungry.
Back in 1993, the newly elected city government of Belo Horizonte, Brazil declared that food was a right of citizenship. At that time, the city of 2.5 million had 275,000 people living in absolute poverty, and close to 20 percent of its children were going hungry.
The new mayor, Patrus Ananias—now leader of the federal anti-hunger effort—began by creating a city agency, which included assembling a 20-member council of citizen, labor, business, and church representatives to advise in the design and implementation of a new food system. The city already involved regular citizens directly in allocating municipal resources—the “participatory budgeting”.
It offered local family farmers dozens of choice spots of public space on which to sell to urban consumers, essentially redistributing retailer mark-ups on produce—which often reached 100 percent—to consumers and the farmers. Farmers’ profits grew, since there was no wholesaler taking a cut. And poor people got access to fresh, healthy food.
In addition to the farmer-run stands, the city makes good food available by offering entrepreneurs the opportunity to bid on the right to use well-trafficked plots of city land for “ABC” markets, from the Portuguese acronym for “food at low prices.” Today there are 34 such markets where the city determines a set price—about two-thirds of the market price—of about twenty healthy items.
Another product of food-as-a-right thinking is three large, airy “People’s Restaurants” (Restaurante Popular), plus a few smaller venues, that daily serve 12,000 or more people using mostly locally grown food for the equivalent of less than 50 cents a meal.
In just a decade Belo Horizonte cut its infant death rate—widely used as evidence of hunger—by more than half, and today these initiatives benefit almost 40 percent of the city’s 2.5 million population. One six-month period in 1999 saw infant malnutrition in a sample group reduced by 50 percent. And between 1993 and 2002 Belo Horizonte was the only locality in which consumption of fruits and vegetables went up.
The cost of these efforts?
Around $10 million annually, or less than 2 percent of the city budget. That’s about a penny a day per Belo resident.
(Excerpts drawn from http://www.yesmagazine.org/issues/food-for-everyone/the-city-that-ended-hunger)
Back in 1993, the newly elected city government of Belo Horizonte, Brazil declared that food was a right of citizenship. At that time, the city of 2.5 million had 275,000 people living in absolute poverty, and close to 20 percent of its children were going hungry.
The new mayor, Patrus Ananias—now leader of the federal anti-hunger effort—began by creating a city agency, which included assembling a 20-member council of citizen, labor, business, and church representatives to advise in the design and implementation of a new food system. The city already involved regular citizens directly in allocating municipal resources—the “participatory budgeting”.
It offered local family farmers dozens of choice spots of public space on which to sell to urban consumers, essentially redistributing retailer mark-ups on produce—which often reached 100 percent—to consumers and the farmers. Farmers’ profits grew, since there was no wholesaler taking a cut. And poor people got access to fresh, healthy food.
In addition to the farmer-run stands, the city makes good food available by offering entrepreneurs the opportunity to bid on the right to use well-trafficked plots of city land for “ABC” markets, from the Portuguese acronym for “food at low prices.” Today there are 34 such markets where the city determines a set price—about two-thirds of the market price—of about twenty healthy items.
Another product of food-as-a-right thinking is three large, airy “People’s Restaurants” (Restaurante Popular), plus a few smaller venues, that daily serve 12,000 or more people using mostly locally grown food for the equivalent of less than 50 cents a meal.
In just a decade Belo Horizonte cut its infant death rate—widely used as evidence of hunger—by more than half, and today these initiatives benefit almost 40 percent of the city’s 2.5 million population. One six-month period in 1999 saw infant malnutrition in a sample group reduced by 50 percent. And between 1993 and 2002 Belo Horizonte was the only locality in which consumption of fruits and vegetables went up.
The cost of these efforts?
Around $10 million annually, or less than 2 percent of the city budget. That’s about a penny a day per Belo resident.
(Excerpts drawn from http://www.yesmagazine.org/issues/food-for-everyone/the-city-that-ended-hunger)
Friday, December 14, 2012
GANESH VERSUS THE THIRD REICH: Promo Video
A BACK TO BACK THEATRE PRODUCTION.
Ganesh Versus the Third Reich is poignant, beautiful, disarming, full of vulnerability and sly transparency.
The story begins with the elephant-headed god Ganesh travelling through Nazi Germany to reclaim the Swastika, an ancient Hindu symbol. As this intrepid hero embarks on his journey a second narrative is revealed: the actors themselves begin to feel the weighty responsibility of storytellers and question the ethics of cultural appropriation.
Devised and performed by Australian company Back to Back Theatre, an ensemble of actors with physical and learning disabilities led by director Bruce Gladwin, it fearlessly interrogated prejudice and abuses of power by questioning its own right to represent a Hindu god and the Holocaust on stage.
Ganesh Versus the Third Reich is poignant, beautiful, disarming, full of vulnerability and sly transparency.
The story begins with the elephant-headed god Ganesh travelling through Nazi Germany to reclaim the Swastika, an ancient Hindu symbol. As this intrepid hero embarks on his journey a second narrative is revealed: the actors themselves begin to feel the weighty responsibility of storytellers and question the ethics of cultural appropriation.
Devised and performed by Australian company Back to Back Theatre, an ensemble of actors with physical and learning disabilities led by director Bruce Gladwin, it fearlessly interrogated prejudice and abuses of power by questioning its own right to represent a Hindu god and the Holocaust on stage.
GANESH VERSUS THE THIRD REICH: Promo from Back to Back Theatre on Vimeo.
Friday, December 7, 2012
Samsara (2012) - Official Trailer [HD]
SAMSARA is a Sanskrit word that means “the ever turning wheel of life” and is the point of departure for the filmmakers as they search for the elusive current of interconnection that runs through our lives. Filmed over a period of almost five years and in twenty-five countries, SAMSARA transports us to sacred grounds, disaster zones, industrial sites, and natural wonders. By dispensing with dialogue and descriptive text, SAMSARA subverts our expectations of a traditional documentary, instead encouraging our own inner interpretations inspired by images and music that infuses the ancient with the modern. The crew, comprised of Ron Fricke (director), Mark Magidson (producer), JC Earle (associate producer), and Myles Connolly (line producer) traveled together to each location throughout the course of filming. SAMSARA is one of only a handful of feature films, including its predecessor Baraka, to be shot in the 70mm format in the last forty years.
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