20 Vertical Farming Pics, Designs & Concepts

One couldn’t say that the concept of vertical farming isn’t controversial, but they could say that it has serious merits that need to be considered on both sides of the issues.

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What is a vertical farm? The basic premise, as you see in this image, is to be able to grow food in urban areas by creating tall buildings where, instead of each floor having offices, each floor is in essence its own super greenhouse, where different crops can be grown to feed people within its own community. The idea is to not only be able to feed the community, but to protect the land that’s being damaged by over-farming and making sure that there will still be enough food for an ever growing population.

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Of course, not all designs would be the same, but this model of a design for the city of Seattle helps us to see how it would work. It’s integrated into a city plan so that it fits in, and has areas where people can go inside to not only tend to the plants, but could actually buy their produce at the same time.

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Thinking of vertical farm in terms of super stores fits a model like this one, where the ground floor has everything a traditional supermarket would have,

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While upper levels would contain areas for growing produce. This particular example tries to highlight how power might be created for all the energy needed to grow crops in urban areas, as the designs for vertical farming wouldn’t be able to provide natural light for all of the crops, so they’d need enhancement from artificial lighting. It’s one of the major criticisms of trying to have vertical farms.

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As you can see from this image of what the inside of the vertical farm in Seattle might look like, not only are there people who tend to the plants, and in some cases can pick their own produce, but it’s a place of beauty and tranquility that many in urban areas have to leave the city to enjoy.

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In a city like New York, for instance, one could see a design like this in either lower or upper Manhattan, where they have dense populations and no land areas to grow their own products, making it expensive to get produce into the city.

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This is another design for the Roosevelt Island area of New York City, built not only to be productive, and not only to help generate its own energy with a combination of solar and wind power, but can also be a popular meeting place in the city, with a supermarket, restaurant, and even kind of a virtual indoor park in the middle of the city.

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This design was made for the city of Toronto, and was estimated to be able to feed around 35,000 people a year. It would be a 58 stories high, becoming the fourth highest building in the city if made, but it’s design is still sleek enough to fit in with the culture of the city. And,

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this gives us an idea of how the builders see different products being produced on the different levels.

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In this design for a city like Dubai, where fresh water isn’t as readily available, seawater is sued to cool the greenhouse and also create humidity, which not only helps the plants grow, but then produces more fresh water that can be used for not only the crops, but if produced in significant amounts could be used for the city’s water supply.

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The initial testing of the vertical farm system is already in place in a much different way. One test is in El Paso, TX, where above you see how this type of farming concentrates certain types of plants close together, yet requires less water and needs almost no fertilizer for the crops to grow.

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Another real test is presently going on at Paignton Zoo in the United Kingdom, where they’re trying to cut the zoo’s overall costs by growing their own produce. Both of the last two examples are outside, yet they still qualify as vertical farms because the idea is growing produce in limited space, not expanding space.

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Could you imagine a city like Las Vegas, which is not only landlocked but also has no true vegetation growing around it for hundreds of miles, being able to grow their own produce in a building like this one, which was designed as a prototype for them? This design could easily capture enough sunlight, though there would still have to be modifications to keep the temperatures down, especially in summer months.

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Not all urban areas are the same around the world, however. Vertical can still take up a lot of area, and as this image shows, it can be a planned community where everything is self contained and the farm can be a mixture of internal and external, as well as retaining certain elements of a culture.

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This was an idea for a vertical farm in Vancouver, which was drawn up in 2003. This idea even comes with a plan for a grazing plain and a dairy farm, right in the city. The energy for it would come from wind turbines and geothermal heat pumps.

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There are no end to the types of designs that vertical farms could be. This is another one for Dubai, this time in the middle of the city, being powered by wind turbines and, once again, creating its own water.

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This one, the pyramid vertical farm, is a favorite of the guy who helped come up with the concept, Dickson Despommier, a professor of environmental health sciences and microbiology at Columbia University. It’s not only a vertical farm, but a tourist attraction as well as a peaceful park of sorts.

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Something like this, a proposal that won 3rd place in an international competition, is the concept of an actual farming community right within the confines of a large city, in this instance Manhattan once again, where residents who would normally inhabit the city still live there, but share the space with farmers on alternate levels around the city.

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Even designs like this could be used, where, instead of taking over land that could be used for residential or commercial space, one could build vertical farms right into the waterways, where they would still be a popular attraction.

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If cities needed to be redesigned to fit a changing environment, a design like this one for the city of San Francisco would not only be environmentally friendly, but this one is estimated to be able to feed over 7 million people.

The world of vertical farming could offer so much to the world as it concerns food, the environment, and our living space issues, as its estimated that we could have as many as 9 billion people on the planet by 2050. It will take a lot of planning, and a lot of energy, but if most of these buildings can be somewhat self energy sufficient, vertical farming could be viable within a relatively short period of time.

All Fats Are Not Created Equal

By: Nancy Snyderman, M.D.

c squared studios

We need a little fat in our diets for good health, and some fats are better for you than others. Fatty acids, the building blocks for fat, are divided into three chemical classes according to their hydrogen content: saturated, monounsaturated, and polyunsaturated. Here’s a rundown.

Saturated Fatty Acids

Saturated fats are the main culprit in raising low- density lipoproteins (LDL, or “bad” cholesterol). They are found primarily in meats and dairy products. Many of these foods also contain cholesterol. Cutting down on saturated fat means going easy on beef, veal, lamb, pork, beef and poultry fat, butter, cream, whole milk, and cheeses as well as other dairy products made from whole milk. Saturated fatty acids are also found in plant-based products, including palm and coconut oils and cocoa butter. The American Heart Association recommends that you limit your saturated fat intake to less than 10 percent of total calories each day. The less the better. This is a “bad” fat.

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Polyunsaturated Fats

These are typically found in the liquid oils that come from vegetables. Common sources include sesame, sunflower, and safflower oils; sunflower seeds; and corn and soybeans and their oils. Only the polyunsaturated fats are considered “essential,” meaning they cannot be manufactured by the body. Like minerals and vitamins, they must be ingested as food. If we don’t eat enough, then we won’t get enough. And that would be unfortunate, for these compounds—principally linoleic acid and linolenic acid— are vital to the maintenance of cell membranes and to the manufacture of potent chemical messengers that regulate everything from blood pressure to the firing of nerves.

When essential fatty acids are in short supply, the body compensates by substituting other types of fatty acids that have a less supple biochemical structure. As polyunsaturates are replaced by these other compounds, cell membranes become more rigid, leading to progressive hardening of the arterial walls. Polyunsaturated fats should make up 10 percent or less of your total daily calories. They are “good” fats.

I should also emphasize another type of essential polyunsaturated fat: omega- 3 fatty acids. These are found in fatty fish, like salmon, tuna, and trout, as well as in canola oil and flaxseed. Known as eicosapentaenoic acid, or EPA, and docosahexaenoic acid, or DHA, they help maintain and protect your heart, blood vessels, and brain function. Two fish meals a week will supply you with the right amount of these fats.

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Monounsaturated Fatty Acids

Monounsaturated fats come from avocados and olive, canola, and peanut oils, as well as from nuts. For more than thirty- five years, studies have shown that diets containing monounsaturated fats, such as the traditional Mediterranean diet, are good for the heart. These fats can help lower cholesterol, blood pressure, and blood sugar levels.

The Mediterranean diet is moderately high in fat (about 30 percent of fat calories mostly from olive oil) and emphasizes fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains, legumes, nuts, and a high intake of fish and little red meat. If your HDL (high- density lipoprotein, or “good”) cholesterol is low (35 or less), add a daily serving or two of canola or olive oil, nuts, avocado, or fatty fish (like salmon). In exchange, subtract a serving or two of sweets or refined bread, pasta, crackers, or cereal.

These “good” fats should make up about 15 percent of your total calories. Both polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats are better than saturated fats because they may aid in lowering cholesterol. But remember they are fats and should still be used sparingly. They are not a license to add oil; their calories do count.

Trans Fats

One type of bad fat to eliminate entirely is trans fat, also known as partially hydrogenated vegetable oil. Trans fats are formed during a process called hydrogenation, which transforms liquid oil into shelf- stable solid fat. Trans fats clog arteries, and are found in many packaged cookies, crackers, snacks, and other processed foods.

Excerpted from:
Diet Myths That Keep Us Fat by Nancy Snyderman, M.D.
© 2009, Crown.

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Ephemeral Snapshots of Solar Eclipses

The solar eclipse with diamond ring effect as seen from Bangladesh
Image: Lutfar Rahman Nirjhar

Though solar eclipses can happen two to five times a year, total solar eclipses with the Sun fully covered by the Moon are rare. The total solar eclipse of 22nd July 2009 was a once-in-a-century event because it lasted so long – 6 minutes and 39 seconds; an event not to be surpassed until at least June 2132. If you missed it, here are some incredible pictures from this rare occurrence.

A solar eclipse almost literally takes place when the stars align, that is to say when the Moon passes between the Earth and the Sun, covering the Sun fully or partially. In addition, it occurs only during a new moon when the Sun and the Moon are in conjunction, meaning they appear closer from Earth than they really are.

The total solar eclipse on July 22nd as seen from Kurigram, Bangladesh:

Image: Lutfar Rahman Nirjhar

Wednesday’s total solar eclipse was only visible from a narrow corridor of countries around the world, namely the northern parts of the Maldives, India, Bangladesh, Philippines, Myanmar, eastern Nepal, central China and Bhutan, as well as the Pacific Ocean.

In other parts of the world, at least a partial solar eclipse was visible; still very stunning as the following pictures show.

Different phases of the solar eclipse on 22nd July as seen from Bangalore, India:

Image: Nikhil Verma

Is anyone else thinking of Pacman? The solar eclipse from Quezon City, Philippines:

Image: Rigurat

Not the moon, the solar eclipse as seen from Beijing, China:

Image: Tina & Mlogic

Colour me red – the solar eclipse in Daegu, South Korea:

Image: Nuvan

Clouds can play spoilsport to solar eclipse watching, here in Kolkata, India:

Image: Ritwikbmca

Let’s see how the July 22 solar eclipse compares to other recent ones.

The solar eclipse on August 11, 1999 was an annular solar eclipse, meaning the apparent size of the moon was smaller than that of the Sun, making a red ring (or annulus) appear around the moon.

The annular solar eclipse in 1999:

Image: NOAA

And as seen from France:

Image: Luc Viatour

Here’s an animation of the annular solar eclipse on October 3, 2005:

Image: Locutos Borg

The total solar eclipse on March 29, 2006 as seen from Libya:

Image: Dmeekins13

And shining like a diamond ring, seen from Side, Turkey:

Image: Beccus

Because solar eclipses have been observed throughout the ages, different cultures have tracked them and attached religious significance or auspiciousness to them. In India, for example, it is customary to take a bath in one of the holy rivers to wash away one’s sins during a solar eclipse.

Crowds gathered in Varanasi, India, to watch the spectacle:

Image: Bluerasberry

Probably since the 1999 eclipse, which was visible from a densely-populated area of the Earth, solar eclipse watching or hunting has become extremely popular, with people throwing parties or even travelling many hundreds of miles to view the event. Though the spectacle may only last minutes, we can definitely understand the hype around this stellar event, whose aftereffects on viewers can last months or even years.

Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4

Simone Preuss - who has written 124 posts on Environmental Graffiti.

Simone is a freelance writer, editor and translator. While living and working in Germany, the United States and India, she sampled environmental consciousness around the world. Environmental Graffiti allows her to reflect on the everyday madness that is life without taking it too seriously. For more of her writing, read her articles on Suite101.com or her blog, The Writer's Advantage.

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7 High Tech Products And Their Cheap Ass Ingredients

http://www.cracked.com/
By Ian Fortey

Every day you are bombarded with commercials for things you have to buy to avoid ending up bitter and alone in a pile of your own, reeking filth. You trust these products, because they arestate of the art and one of a kind, and because you are an idiot. Or at least, that's what the advertisers think. It turns out a lot of these amazing, cutting edge products are really bullshit. Not just bullshit, but bullshit you could make on your own, for next to no cost. Such as... #7. Audio Cables How They're Marketed: The world of audiophiles is a strange and frightening one. For them, the actual song is bullshit. What really matters is the sound quality. Do you want to listen to t.a.t.u all scratchy and low fidelity, whatever that means? Fuck no, you want to hear it with such clarity and richness the pseudo-lesbian antics are practically tickling your eardrums right alongside every awful note. And you can't do that with your shitty Walkman. You need high tech audio equipment. Shit like Pear audio cables. They fucking rule, because they cost thousands of dollars. Pear stays in business based on the "holy shit" principle. As in "holy shit, those speaker cables cost thousands of dollars" or "holy shit, I breathe through my mouth, and these cables cost thousands of dollars, therefore they must be the best and I should buy them." Pear's Anjou cables apply "rigorous consideration of applicable scientific and engineering principles followed by real world testing." That means they're so highly advanced that when you use them to connect your 8-track player to your speakers, if it happens under a full moon, Aqua may actually appear and sing "Barbie Girl" live for you. No shit. It's happened before. Twice. It's not like they're doing anything else. What it Really Is: Like any audio cables, the Anjou cables--and other insanely expensive cables like them--are kinda sorta just cables. Pretty much a few pennies worth of copper and plastic. Not only do the expensive cables not make thousands of dollars worth of difference, they don't make any difference. To prove it, skeptic James Randi offered $1 million to anyone who could hear the difference between cheap cables and the high-end ones in a big, public "you are full of shit" throwdown. Seriously, just take the blind hearing test, cheap cables vs. Pear, and if you can pick out the difference, you're a millionaire. As it stands, Randi still has his million dollars and you can get some decent cables at Wal-Mart for a few bucks. #6. Whitening Toothpaste How it's Marketed: Toothpaste ads are quick to inform us that every time you smile you're forcing the world to tolerate your corn-filled shitlog of a grimace and no one anywhere is enjoying it. Indeed, the fact is no matter how much you brush with your tube of Sponge Bob Bubblegum flavored toothpaste, your teeth are still manky, stained pillars jutting forth like the decrepit fingers of the damned. Brooke Shields wouldn't be half the woman she is today if she was walking around with the Crypt Keeper teeth she was born with Brooke Shields, 1983. Fortunately, toothpaste manufacturers offer redemption via just a few weeks of vigorous brushing with their cutting edged whitening toothpastes! What a miracle of modern fucking science! What it Really Is: Whitening toothpaste, by and large, is regular toothpaste with grit in it. It can be anything from aluminum oxide, which is the main ingredient in chalk used for billiards, to calcium carbonate, the basic ingredient of many antacids. Basically, if it's gritty, it'll scrub shit off your teeth. They could use sand in whitening toothpaste and get the same effect. Or you could grind your teeth on a big bag of rocks. Another popular ingredient is hydrogen peroxide; that stuff that mom put on all your scraped knees that fizzed up like nobody's business. Peroxide does have bleaching properties, but in toothpaste is at such alow level its effect is pretty negligible. So your dentists formulated and recommended whitening formula's actual working components could be mimicked at home if you drop your toothbrush on the floor and simply choose not to wipe all the crunchy shit off of it before brushing. #5. OxiClean How It's Marketed: Like us, you probably do your monthly load of laundry then pull out your graying boxers, tears in your eyes, and lament those fart starts that just won't come clean no matter how much detergent you put in the wash. And while we're on the topic, how do we get the barbeque stains off the other side of the boxers? Can't anyone answer our prayers? Fuck yes, late infomercial barker Billy Mays can! Rest in Peace, you magnificent beard. OxiClean is so amazing that pitchman Billy Mays cannot keep his voice at a reasonable volume at all. He is losing his shit and it's because stains are history. Did you see how Julia saved her home from the filth trail left by those two dwarfs on PCP? Amazing. If it hadn't been for Billy Mays and his ultimate weapon against stains, Julia would probably be turning tricks right now. "You'd never know that I just killed a hooker in this bed. Thanks OxiClean!" What it Really Is: In fact, OxiClean is actually sodium percarbonate, a standard cleaning chemical that's been around just short of forever. You can buy it in bulk at most chemical supply companies or pool supply stores where it's sold to help balance your pool's pH. You can get bucket loads cheap as hell there, but you have to ask yourself if you're willing to deprive the Mays estate of the income. Do you want Billy to have died in vain? #4. HeadOn How It's Marketed: After an evening of drinking Wild Turkey and smashing open coconuts with your forehead, chances are good that you're going to wake up with a splitting headache. Sure there's proven, over the counter drugs like Tylenol and Advil that you can get at the drugstore, but you know what else they sell at the drugstore? Tampons. Ergo, drugstores are for pussies. You need some scientifically formulated awesome that's going to fix your mildly bruised frontal lobes and allow you to go about your day. You need HeadOn. We hear you apply it directly to your forehead. If you haven't seen the commercials for this stuff, count yourself lucky. It's like a gypsy curse that grasps your brain with spindly, boney claws and won't fucking shut up. "Apply directly to the forehead. Apply directly to the forehead." Nowadays the commercials just repeat "HeadOn: Apply directly to the forehead" about 16 times. But back when it first hit the market they assured consumers that one rub of this giant chapstick of pain thinner was all it took to make your headache vanish. In fact, they said it was "clinically proven." Hey, that sounds clinical, sign us up! And it provides fast, effective relief for headache pain. They even have a migraine strength version that probably contains opium or something. Best of all, the shit is available without a prescription, so thank God you don't need to offer your doctor a hummer to get your next HeadOn fix, you can just go to Walgreens and buy some. What it Really Is: But then the Better Business Bureau asked the makers of HeadOn to remove any "factual claims" from their commercials because there weren't a hell of a lot of "facts" to back up anything they were "claiming." HeadOn is really easy to duplicate even without the use of a fully stocked chemistry lab. If you'd like the same effect at home, you could rub a candle directly on your forehead. HeadOn, as it turns out, is almost completely made from wax, with a small amount of extra crap--small as in parts per trillion--added in. That means it is, effectively, just wax. Or, in other words, HeadOn is a shitty wax placebo. HeadOn is a shitty wax placebo. HeadOn is a shitty wax placebo!

#3.

Antiperspirants

How It's Marketed:

By and large everyone wants to assure you that, until you use an antiperspirant/deodorant of some kind, you're a fucking leper. Whatever situation you're in is going to end in disaster if you even think of starting to sweat, you greasy, slippery fucker you. And don't even think of having sex. Women hate you if you sweat. And ladies, men hate you too.

Ewww.

Secret has made a name for itself over the years assuring drippy, nasty ladies around the globe that their product, while strong enough to handle a man's pit deluge, it's actually pH balanced for a woman. Whatever the fuck that means.

Both hilarious and informative! So by what amazing medical advancement do these products somehow trick your body into not sweating?

What it Really Is:

Most antiperspirants contain chemicals like aluminum chloride or aluminum chlorohydrate. All they do is get stuck in your sweat glands and stop sweat from coming out. They're glorified stink corks. The same effect could be achieved at home by using something like alum to cover over the pores or witch hazel to shrink them. Realistically, though, any layer of shit that sticks in your pit would do just about as well as an antiperspirant.

Yes, even pudding. Especially pudding.

#2.

Energy Drinks

How It's Marketed:

Staying conscious is hard. There's awareness and cognition and all sorts of other shit that just wants to harsh your mellow. You need a little pick me up every once in a while to help keep you focused, and jabbering away like Quentin Tarantino. But if cocaine is too hard to come by, maybe you need an energy drink.They're like cocaine, only they taste like fruit that someone sat on.

The ads make us think that all energy drinks are marketed to the functionally retarded. The basic line is that you do shit poorly, drink this stuff and you will do it like Jesus if he were a pimp and jumping a skateboard off the top of Fuck You Mountain.

It even makes fat guys start cars. Sweet, that'll definitely help college kids do homework to the X-Treme!!

X-TREME!!!

What it Really Is:

Let's take a drink like Amp, which contains caffeine, taurine and guarana. Those are the big three ingredients, along with sugar, in pretty much every single energy drink out there. You should know by now sugar gives you a quick burst of energy followed by a big downer, and if we need to explain the effect of caffeine then we'd first like to welcome you to the 19th century. Please, hang up your tweed pantaloons as we explain this thing called electricity.

Sixteen ounces of Amp contains about 143 milligrams of caffeine. This seems like a lot, probably. On the other hand, an eight ounce cup of coffee is going to contain up to 175 milligrams. But Amp also has that guarana and taurine. Of course, guarana is just a plant that is full of caffeine and pretty much nothing else of note. That's where your 143 milligrams came from, but at least it contributes to what Amp does, unlike taurine. Taurine, so far as anyone can tell, doesn't do a goddamned thing.

So you could spend a few bucks on a big can of mildly fruity douche water to get a slight buzz, or just brew a cup of coffee and add some sugar and get the exact same effect. X-TREME!!!

This is the first Google image search result for "douchewater."

#1.

Gatorade

How It's Marketed:

Gatorade contains 22nd century nanotechnolgy and is responsible for Michael Jordan knowing how to play basketball and for Tiger Woods making anyone at all give a shit about golf.

Just look at this:

Holy shit is right, kids. Gatorade has laboratories and fucking face masks and dudes in white coats and all of them work together to make sports happen properly. None of that "may the best man win" bullshit . May the dude drinking Gatorade win. Fuck you every team in every sport from Cleveland!

Eat a dick, Chief Wahoo.

What it Really Is:

If you're anxious to become the next lacrosse sensation or, in this case, the first and only lacrosse sensation, but because you play lacrosse are too broke to afford Gatorade, you can make your own. How's that, you wonder? Cracked got its hands on the secret those Gatorade lab coat guys have been using for decades to make Michael Jordan a superstar.

First, you take some Koolaid. Then put on a lead apron (we have to assume this stuff isn't safe in its raw form) and add some salt. Now stand back. You just made Gatorade!

Yes, the space-age electrolyte balancing formula in Gatorade is pretty much the same thing deer have been using for centuries to stay moist: salt. The rest is pretty much just flavored water.

Now dump that shit on someone.

Kid Owned By Mentos And Diet Coke

img2.pict.com — Most parents, whether we listened to them or not, taught us not to play with fire, explosives, zombies and such... But they never warned us about mentos and coke.

Just Another Van Damme Friday