Anti-desertification Architecture

For an ambitious landscape design project, Magnus Larsson, a student at the Architectural Association in London, has proposed a 6,000km-long wall of artificially solidified sandstone architecture that would span the Sahara Desert, east to west, offering a combination of refugee housing and a "green wall" against the future spread of the desert.

Larsson's project deservedly won first prize last fall at the Holcim Foundation's Awards for Sustainable Construction held in Marrakech, Morocco.
One of the most interesting aspects of the project, I think, is that this solidified dunescape is created through a particularly novel form of "sustainable construction" – that is, through a kind of infection of the earth.
In other words, Larsson has proposed using bacillus pasteurii, a "microorganism, readily available in marshes and wetlands, [that] solidifies loose sand into sandstone," he explains.

Read more on http://bldgblog.blogspot.com/

Filling the gaps

So the purple man left, and off I went in the search of this new reality. Uniting my jobless state to my newly found youth, I found myself soon after teaching school dropouts. Yes, me.

The report from the previous teacher said the most horrid things about Luke, my new pupil, and a few interesting ones like “he always does headstands and won’t stay still”. I quite like the idea of learning how to do headstands so I packed my lunch, filled my bag with papers and coloured pencils and left to the centre, looking forward to get upside down.

We clicked immediately. I could not see the person described on the report on that kid. Off we went to the park to exchange ideas on martial arts and acrobatics. The first thing he mentions when teaching me acrobatics is that the only thing to fear is the fear itself and yourself. Haha. From then on it was all uphill.

There is something about the way all the kids at the centre talk to me that make me believe even more that purple man. We connect, and that puts me right at the centre of the storm. I can see from where I stand that their most serious problems are their teachers and their schools, no doubt. It’s hilarious.

We tell jokes and laugh out loud until one of the very problematic female tutors screams some random abuse, telling them to be quiet (??) and sit facing her chosen side of the wall. I don’t get involved. Them females think I’m mad. Who cares? I orgasm! Woohoo. Hahaaaa.

It’s sad yet fascinating to be present at the very moment society fucks up their lives. It’s quite entertaining to apply them tutor’s little stupid diagnosis to their own fucking selves. Your arse is dyslexic, you’re a serious case of OCD with a pinch of disillusioned paranoia and you bum DOES look big in that!

I can’t tell any further for legal and moral (hahaha) reasons. All I can say is that this is quite a fulfilling job, England is a massively dysfunctional country, TV is rubbish, Tesco sucks, you’re fat and not that funny and women should all wank until they come so they stop throwing their shit on innocent kids. Word.

Dubstep

No more beers

You know beer is really bad for you? Scientists discovered it contains oestrogens, which make you talk shit and do silly things.

Yeah, what’s up with women? It’s so hard to work with them. Maybe it’s just me, maybe the women I know, but I find men particularly uncomplicated, and women specially tormenting.

We were, the 4 of us women, organizing this fairly big party where I live so I spent most of my time in the last couple of months having to cut through a curtain of emotions to get to the point. Very tiring.

Every object needed at the bar was like a death row wish, every customer an ordeal, every second an hour of misery.

A simple thing like looking for a pair of scissors becomes a huge undelayable mission. So I have this blond female sweating, shaking in front of me asking for a pair of scissors so she could hang some stupid flags. What do I do? Laugh, obviously. A man comes in, hears the emotional appeal and strolls to the next house, coming back with scissors in a few seconds. Nice.

It happened throughout the party, throughout my life, but it could be just a conurbation of coincidences. Maybe.

Later on I had to present the issue of no drum kit to all the bands, and the guys smiled at me saying they would try and sort it out, while the girls band spent hours screaming and running around like nuttas, cursing the late drummer bringing the drum kit, demanding we set them up in a different floor, just cos they like it. Haha. Madness. The MEN brought the drum kit later on and blew everyone’s minds with their magik music while the girls disappeared after blagging money from the till. So shit. Is it just another coincidence? Maybe I don’t notice men’s problems, or maybe I like them…

It’s funny how the limbic system takes over the whole of the female brain if we have any emotional issue to be sorted. I hate it in my own brain. I trust women to be clever, ingenious and all things good, if only we could rewire our brains into something more efficient. We must realise it ourselves in order to have some equality. We're not ready yet. I feel for men, really. I’m gonna campaign for them. Enough is enough.

http://womenfortherightsofmen.wordpress.com/

Playing with the wind

It happened on a full moon. These new state fell on me like a summer rain and impregnated my being despite years and years of serious active conditioning. I was, yes, working for Microsoft, but I did not feel like talking about Apple. Whilst promoting Xbox games I did not mention how great Wii was. Weird. They smiled at me and after a long speech thanking me for all my hard work in these 3 years together they promised me lots of things. Yes, my own console, my own bloody games, my own medals, my own little crew to boss around. I smiled back and thanked them, soon focusing all my attention on the cat playing with a piece of string. I’m not from this world, and now I’m not even subversive anymore. Time to go.

From one hotel to another, from a beautiful view to a picturesque little town, band gigging in the whole of the country, promoted, recommended, tagged, pointed at, life went on like a dream while I stared at ladybugs. It’s been always quite dreamy, but that night at the festival the whole thing went out of control.

My boss: Debbie, I need to speak to you.

Debbie: Me too. Wicked.

My boss: I really like having you here, you know.

Debbie: I’m sorry. I quit.

Leaving a flabbergasted boss behind, I walked slowly but surely towards the green fields, feeling my whole body expand and contract with my breathing, shivers up my spine. I swear I could hear the grass giggle. The breeze felt so good I could not stop walking against it, dancing with it, and the sky was just the way you’re imagining it now. How I love the twilight.

My dance with the breeze took me pass the green fields into the woods where I finally sat down on a stone looking outwards into the festival, happy to be. I could see the flashing lights in the distance and what to me looked like my bosses with their hands on their heads, puzzled, but that bit was probably just my imagination.

Speaking of the devil... Right before my eyes, a purple little being with greenish brown clothes and a funny squeaky voice emerged from a pile of hay, singing, and stared at me as if he knew what I was thinking. I told him I knew he didn’t know what I was thinking, particularly cos I wasn’t thinking about anything. You know if you’re an only child you’ll have the tendency to think people know what you’re thinking but that goes with time. I don’t think people can read my thoughts anymore. Only serious Yogis can catch our thoughts and that little purple being didn’t strike me a serious Yogi. Nothing against purple beings, let me clarify.

He stopped singing (thank fuck) and sat by my side, slightly freaking me out. His skin was rough yet shinny. Really weird. He said he came to congratulate me for what I’ve done, and to welcome me back. Welcome me back?? Back to??

He looked surprised, and asked me if I had not noticed the changes in my life. I told him everything was getting lighter, softer, easier, but that was just the result of my lifestyle. I told him I didn’t feel like subverting things anymore and that was weird, but maybe it was just me getting older. He shook his head in disappointment and fell silent for a while. I kind of lost my patience and felt like shaking him into speaking again, but his skin put me off and I just gave him my Tomb Rider kind of look. Than he spoke:

“I’m not an epiphany Debbie. I’m just a child being who’s happy to welcome you back. I welcome you back into your life. I’m glad to announce you’re officially “growing younger”, skipping will be your new walking, singing and dancing will be your elixir once again, and you should leave this place and play with the wind.”

And so I did.

I Met The Walrus

Religulous

http://www.supernovatube.com/play.php?viewkey=2bf4699ca1c062980545

Summit

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2009/04/protests_at_the_g20_summit.html

Bruno

http://thevibe.socialvibe.com/index.php/2009/04/02/the-bruno-movie-trailer-is-finally-here/

The Primacy of Consciousness

http://www.peterrussell.com/index2.php

FDA Approves Depressant Drug For The Annoyingly Cheerful

Found on Malung TV News

Smashing Telly

"Smashing Telly is a hand edited collection of the best free, instantly available TV on the web. Not 30 second clips (now with added clips, good ones) of a dog on a skateboard, or the millionth person to mime the Numa song, but classic clips and full length programs, with a focus on documentaries and non fiction. Smashing Television, not Gimmick Television.
Each entry is like a postcard, a short piece of text which describes a moving picture."
David
http://smashingtelly.com/

As Slow As Possible

Organ²/ASLSP (As SLow aS Possible) is a musical piece composed by John Cage and is the subject of the slowest and longest-lasting musical performance yet undertaken. It was originally written in 1987 for organ and is adapted from the earlier work ASLSP 1985; a typical performance of the piano piece lasts for about 20 to 70 minutes.[1] In 1985, Cage opted to omit the detail of "exactly how slow the piece should be played". The current organ performance of the piece at St. Burchardi church in Halberstadt, Germany, began in 2001 and is scheduled to have a duration of 639 years, ending in 2640.

The score consists of eight pages, the tempo of which has been stretched to fit the wanted duration of 639 years.
The piece was commissioned by The Friends of the Maryland Summer Institute for the Creative and Performing Arts as a contemporary requirement for a piano competition. Cage employed an open format mainly to ensure that no two performances would be the same, providing the judges a break from the monotony of most competitions.

Full Wikipedia entry

It all ends on the 27th Century

Theremin

Hang Drums

Awakening for life

One waits until one can’t put any food on the freezer to defrost it. One waits until one’s girlfriend completely drives one crazy to set one’s life free, or not. One spends one’s life trying to prove one’s thoughts right until one notices proving and thinking are sometimes opposites and a whole life’s gone. One get morbidly fat, one get stupidly slow, one reads all types of news everyday until its muscles can’t function anymore, crippled with fear, until it realizes one is better off reading some books sometimes. Dead.

I found myself in a similar situation. I waited years to download the fantastic soundtrack of one of my favourite films. I don’t understand why. Really don’t. Did it today. If in a 2012 extravaganza, I had to transform myself into a music style, I’m pretty sure I would be tango.

Listen to Waking Life’s soundtrack

Light Graffiti created with torches and a camera

By Daily Mail online: An artist has swapped paintbrushes for torches to create a range of stunning works which are created entirely with the use of light. Welsh artist Michael Bosanko creates the amazing light graffiti effect using only five coloured torches and by leaving his digital Canon camera on a long exposure. The 39-year-old has spent the past five years perfecting his art which is created in a similar way to how people write their names with sparklers on Bonfire Night.

Based in Cardiff, he draws most of his light art either in the empty urban night spaces of cities like Newport and his home town, or in the more desolate landscapes of the Brecon Beacons hills. 'I use my torches like an artist would use a paint brush,' says Michael 'I employ an exposure that lasts from ten seconds to one hour and then try to let my art manage to create what I had imagined. 'What I feel I am trying to convey is a sense of an aesthetically pleasing shape that clearly does not belong in that particular place or area.'


See it all

Found on www.socialvibe.com

Khoda by Reza Dolatabadi

The 5 minute film below, Khoda, was created by graduate film student Reza Dolatabadi. Although it appears to be a digital animation, it is much, much more than that. The video is composed of 6,000 individual paintings shown at a rate of 20 per second. SIX THOUSAND INDIVIDUAL PAINTINGS that Reza had to paint! Not surprisingly, the film took over two years to complete. Also unsurprising are the amount of impressive awards it has picked up so far. See the list at Found at Vimeo.

Found on www.socialvibe.com


Khoda from Reza Dolatabadi on Vimeo.

$20 can give a person clean, safe drinking water for 20 years.

Unsafe water and lack of basic sanitation cause 80% of all sickness and disease, and kill more people every year than all forms of violence, including war. Many people in the developing world, usually women and children, walk more than three hours every day to fetch water that is likely to make them sick. Those hours are crucial, preventing many from working or attending school. Additionally, collecting water puts them at greater risk of sexual harassment and assault. Children are especially vulnerable to the consequences of unsafe water. Of the 42,000 deaths that occur every week from unsafe water and a lack of basic sanitation, 90% are children under 5 years old.


HOW WE WORK

Drilling a well can cost from $4,000 - $ 12,000 and many living on less than $1 a day can not afford one in their community, even if the money is combined. With the help of exemplary organizations on the ground, we can drill wells and provide people with this basic, essential need. charity: water partners with local organizations in each country where we work, choosing the partners based on expertise and the ability to impact real, sustainable change in the communities they benefit. For more information on how we select our partners, and who we work with, click here.


BUILDING WELLS

The local community is engaged in the well building process, carrying out small tasks for free to reduce labor costs. This also encourages community participation and ensures community ownership after the project is complete. When the well is built, a water committee is formed. It generally consists of 6-8 people, half of them female. In the case of hospitals, the committee will generally consist of nurses and hospital staff. In schools, the committee would likely be comprised of teachers. Since charity: was founded and began activity in August 2006, we have funded the construction of more than 1,247 wells that, when completed, will provide clean drinking water to 650,000 people. We're just getting started.

YOU CAN HELP


OUR PLANET IS 70% WATER.97.5% OF THAT IS SALTWATER.
THIS MEANS ONLY 2.5% IS AVAILABLE FOR THE 6 BILLION PEOPLE ON THE PLANET TODAY.

Baby-faced boy Alfie Patten is father at 13

According to his father, Alfie Patten is just your average 13 year old boy who enjoys computer games, boxing and Manchester United. At his age the last thing he anticipated experiencing was fatherhood, but that's exactly what he's dealing with.

His 15 year old girlfriend Chantelle gave birth four days ago to a baby girl, Maisie. The infant was a result of one night of unprotected sex, that happened while Alfie, who is a mere 4 ft tall, was only 12 years old. The teenager became suspicious of stomach pains and paid a visit to her doctor, who suggested she take a pregnancy test. Upon receiving a positive result, Chantelle's initial reaction was something along the lines of "my parents are going to kill me."
Though both teenagers seem to be optimistic about their abilities as parents, both are obviously clueless as to the responsibility of a tiny baby. When asked what he would do financially, Alfie responded, "What's financially?"

He continues, "“I didn’t think about how we would afford it. I don’t really get pocket money. My dad sometimes gives me £10.....I didn’t know what it would be like to be a dad. I will be good, though, and care for it.”

Read more on... yeah... guess where? Yes. The Sun