JULY 13th, 2010
We mentioned Copenhagen recently on this blog, as they have laudably decreed that all new buildings built in the city will have to have green roofs. Now retired architect William Baldrick wants to go one better and design a green canopy for the new Columbia River Crossing bridge being built between Portland, Oregon and Vancouver, Washington. As well as mitigating the bridges carbon footprint, the canopy will also create a pleasant park for local residents and will serve as an attraction for tourists (hopefully tourists travelling by foot!)
Source: Inhabitat
JULY 13th, 2010
Yesterday the brilliantly named Carne Ross, spoke to the Chilcot Inquiry and for a few glorious hours the old boys club actually resembled a commission that was trying to learn the causes and lessons of the Iraq invasion. Carne Ross worked at the foreign office before resigning in the wake of the invasion. His position involved him reading all the UK and US intelligence every working day for the four and a half years of his posting as well as talking at length with international experts concerning Iraq’s WMD situation. The full post is available on the website, and I wholeheartedly recommend reading it in full here. For those of you that are too busy here are some germane quotes from the transcript:
“During my posting, at no time did HMG assess that Iraq’s WMD (or any other capability) posed a threat to the UK or its interests. On the contrary, it was the commonly-held view among the officials dealing with Iraq that any threat had been effectively contained.”
“This process of exaggeration (of the dossier) was gradual, and proceeded by accretion and editing from document to document, in a way that allowed those participating to convince themselves that they were not engaged in blatant dishonesty. But this process led to highly misleading statements about the UK assessment of the Iraqi threat that were, in their totality, lies.”
“The UN charter states that only the Security Council can authorise the use of force (except in cases of self-defence). Reviewing these points, it is clear that in terms of the resolutions presented by the UK itself, the subsequent invasion was not authorised by the Security Council and was thus illegal. The clearest evidence of this is the fact that the UK sought an authorising resolution and failed to get it.”
Source: Iraq Inquiry
JULY 13th, 2010
One of the great things about technology is that it constantly forces us to change the way we think about reacting with our environment. Intel are designing a motion sensor remote control that will be able to detect the user by the movements that they make. So in the future when children want to watch films their parents have deemed unsuitable, instead of trawling through relatives birthdays to guess a passkey, they will have to try and ape their parents remote control techniques. Nothing ever really changes, it just occasionally gets updated for a new generation.
Source: PSFK
JULY 8th, 2010
The Germans are having a year to remember in 2010. As well as setting the world cup alight and reminding Brazil et al that defensive solidity can be married to exciting football, they are leading the world on renewable energy and have targeted a 100% switch to renewable energy by 2050. This would almost certainly make them the first industrial nation to wean themselves of fossil fuels.
Speaking of the target Jochen Flasbarth, president of the Federal Environment Agency said “It’s a very realistic target based on technology that already exists – it’s not a pie-in-the-sky prediction.” Whilst here in the UK we may have our suspicions due to the legacy of broken promises and missed targets from governments immemorial, the German government speaks from a position of some credibility. Germany is already the world leader in PV usage and the second largest producer of wind-power energy after the US.
Source: Guardian
JUNE 30th, 2010
Sculptor Nic Fiddian-Green has created a giant horse head that is not going to end up in your bed no matter how many you wiseguys you manage to offend. The Greekhead-Artemis sculpture is a 30ft bronze sculpture that is set to be unveiled at the Glorious Goodwood meeting next week. The sculpture is inspired by the horses of the Parthenon Frieze and has been created in a Liverpool foundry by Fiddian-Green and his well groomed team.
Source: Guardian
JUNE 21st, 2010
Skipping is a great way to exercise; a unique combination of co-ordination and cardio-vascular as Mike Tyson, or indeed any other professional boxer will tell you. Now thanks to the e-rope, we can add energy efficiency to skipping’s list of virtues. The e-rope houses a pair of rechargeable batteries that charge as you skip, twenty minutes and you should be fully charged. Brilliant.
Source: Ubergizmo
JUNE 21st, 2010
Medicin sans Frontiers have launched a new campaign aimed to draw attention to the 195 million children who suffer from malnutrition each year. “Starved for attention” is a campaign using multimedia documentaries incorporating MSF’s renowned photography. The documentaries are short, to the point and explore and explode a lot of myths and misconceptions about malnutrition and hunger. Click here to check the campaign out and to sign their petition lobbying governments and donors.
Source: Osocio
JUNE 21st, 2010
The first African world cup should have been a cause or unbridled celebration; a chance to bring some money into some desperately impoverished areas and a chance to focus the eyes of the world on the continuing problems (as well as the many good things) in South Africa. Unfortunately, FIFA isn’t really interested in any of that, just in protecting theirs and their sponsors interest’s as to the full extent allowed to them by the law.
It turns out the the extent of the law has been worringly extended: in 2006 the government approved the 2010 FIFA World Cup Special Measures Act which makes it a criminal offence to partake in “unauthorised commercial activities inside an exclusion zone” and “enter[ing] into a designated area while in unauthorised possession of a commercial object.” In effect this means that the thousands of England fans bearing the Sun branded vuvuzuelas to World Cup matches could be tried as criminals.
Last week there was a lot of brouhaha about “ambush marketing” when 36 ladies brandishing unfortunate ITV ex-pundit Robbie Earle’s World Cup tickets attended a match wearing orange mini dresses in the colour (but not the branding) of the Bavaria beer company. Having apparently decided that they own the colour orange, Fifa have already hauled the women before a “FIFA World Cup Court” and the two women charged with organising the stunt apparently face up to 6 months of prison.
There are 56 “FIFA World Cup Courts” set up in South Africa for the World Cup,staffing 1,500 workers. They have apparently seen 25 cases between them at an estimated cost of £160,000 per conviction for the host nation. An absolutely shameful waste of money in a country where the majority of people couldn’t hope to afford the cheapest Wold Cup Match ticket. It seems that the poor in South Africa waiting for that old conservative standby the “trickle down” effect, will be waiting for a while.
Source: Guardian
