Awe Inspiring Seed Cathedral Wows at Shanghai World Expo 2010

by Leonora Oppenheim, London, UK

From: http://www.treehugger.com/

Images via: dezeen.com and despoke.com
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The fierce competition between showstopping pavilions is heating up in Shanghai as the opening of the World Expo 2010 draws nearer (May 1). But one pavilion has already been drawing in the crowds throughout its construction, thanks to an extraordinary bristling form of 60,000 fibre-optic rods, each with a seed implanted in its tip. The UK Pavilion, otherwise known as the Seed Cathedral, created by British design star Thomas Heatherwick and his studio, is quite simply the most extraordinary structure we have ever seen. And that's just the outside, wait till you see the seeds inside...

Uniquely British Design Innovation
The UK Pavilion's job at the Shanghai World Expo is to promote the strength of Britain's reputation for design innovation. Thomas Heatherwick is definitely the go to guy in the UK for unique showstopping structures and, from all the images, it looks like he has outdone even himself this time. Of the all pavilions at the Expo it looks like the UK's Seed Cathedral is attracting the most attention, no mean feat since there are 230 different pavilions on show.

Seed Cathedral sways in the breeze
As Despoke.com reports the Seed Cathedral is "20 metres in height, formed from 60,000 slender transparent rods, each 7.5 metres long and each encasing one or more seeds at its tip. During the day, they act as optic fibres and draw daylight inwards to illuminate the interior. At night, light sources inside each rod allow the whole structure to glow. As the wind moves past, the building and its optic "hairs" gently move to create a dynamic effect."

Shanghai World Expo 2010 Theme - Better City, Better Life
The UK Pavilion rather sensibly doesn't aim to compete with Asian high-tech solutions, but goes for a spectacular low-tech approach instead. Heatherwick Studio describe their approach as engaging "meaningfully with Shanghai Expo's theme, Better City, Better Life, and standing out from the anticipated trend for technology driven pavilions, filled with audio-visual content on screens, projections and speakers."

Working with Kew Gardens' Millenium Seedbank Project
We love Heatherwick's idea of combining a complex structure with a simple, quiet, reverent message. The designer says he was inspired by the "relationship between nature and cities" and decided to celebrate the UK's beautiful green spaces by teaming up with the world famous Kew Gardens in London and the Millennium Seedbank project, whose mission is to collect the seeds of 25% of the world's plant species by 2020.
The seeds for the UK Pavilion have been sourced from China's Kunming Institute of Botany, a partner in Kew Royal Botanic Gardens' Millennium Seed Bank Project. The interior experience of the Seed Cathedral sounds just as magical as viewing the exterior structure, "Visitors will pass through this tranquil, contemplative space, surrounded by the tens of thousands of points of light illuminating the seeds."

Seed Cathedral Structure
The supporting structure of the UK Pavilion is made from wood and steel which is pierced with 60 000 holes for each one of the aluminum sleeves which hold the fiber optic rods. This 'low-tech' solution actually had a very 'high-tech' method of execution:
"The holes in the 1 metre thick wood diaphram structure forming the visitor space inside the Seed Cathedral were drilled with great geometric accuracy to ensure precise placement of the aluminium sleeves through which the optic fibre filaments are inserted. This was achieved using 3D computer modelling data, fed into a computer controlled milling machine."
Heatherwick Studio says that, "75% of the materials for the UK Pavilion have been sourced from within a radius of 300km around Shanghai."

UK Pavilion's Afterlife
Heatherwick Studio reports that the Seed Cathedral has already found favour with the Chinese public, who have nick-named the pavilion 'Pu Gong Ying', which translates as 'The Dandelion'. We are also glad to hear that the studio have planned for the afterlife of the pavilion when the World Expo ends.
"After the Expo, just as dandelion seeds are blown away and disperse on the breeze, the Seed Cathedral's 60,000 optic hairs, each one containing the huge potential of life, will be distributed across China and the UK to hundreds of schools as a special legacy of the UK Pavilion at the 2010 Shanghai Expo."

Of the extraordinary design and engineering production that is the UK Pavilion Thomas Heatherwick says, "It has been a tremendous achievement of the team to deliver such a complex structure. I am excited that the Seed Cathedral is now complete and I look forward to the millions of visitors to the Expo enjoying the space."

More on Shanghai World Expo 2010
World's First "Carbon Negative" Car Concept at Expo 2010 in Shanghai
Floating City Proposed For Shanghai World Expo
Shanghai Pavilion is Built From Recycled CD Cases
Architecture Without Architects: Critic Blasts the Canadian Pavilion at Shanghai 2010
Acrobats Design Canada Pavilion with Rainwater Harvesting, Green Walls
Swiss Pavilion at Shanghai has Green Roof, Soybean Walls

Inside Abandoned Soviet Prison (PICS)

thebizzare.com — From a Sea Fortress, to a Brutal Prison, to a Museum!
Posted by rappin

The Patarei Prison Museum in Tallinn, Russia was built in the 19^th century. The prison was originally a sea fortress in 1840 and was turned into a prison in around 1919. This prison housed inmates until 2002 and was then turned into a museum. This museum is now an ideal location to experience the Soviet-era prison life in all its gloom. The prison has been left untouched since 2002 to give visitors a real-life feel of the dreariness of prison life.

The museum shows off cotton swabs in the prison operating rooms. The cells still have books and magazines that belonged to the inmates. The museum offers a range of long tours and guides. There is reportedly also a guided tour that is in fact a “prison adventure” and tourists who successfully escape get to have a picnic as a reward.

Photos VIA

The message in a bottle that turned up 30 years later - on Facebook

By Luke Salkeld
From: http://www.dailymail.co.uk



As methods of communication, they are an age apart.

So it is perhaps not surprising that it took over 30 years for Olivier Vandevalle to get a reply to his message in a bottle - via Facebook.

At the age of 14, aboard his family's yacht on a sailing holiday cruising along the south coast of England, he tore a page from an exercise book and wrote a message which he secured in a wine bottle in the summer of 1977.

Blast from the past: Olivier Vandevalle (pictured on the left with his son) and the bottle he threw into the sea when he was a boy of 14 (right, with his father)

And 33 years later, the Belgian has had a reply. After finding the bottle on the shore at Swanage in Dorset, Lorraine Yates ignored the postal address and instead tracked the messenger down on the social networking website Facebook, where they are now listed as each other's 'friend'.

Yesterday Mr Vandevalle, a 47-year-old father-of-two from Ostend, said: 'It was so, so long ago that my first reaction when she contacted me was to say "it wasn't me."

Then I remembered.'

He continued: 'There were 12 of us on the boat that day and we were heading for the Azores.
'Suddenly I had the idea of writing a message in a bottle. It's one of those things that every child does at least once.
'Not with the idea of getting an answer but because there's an air of mystery about the whole thing. You have no idea where your bottle will be going.

'Then when you have not thought about the bottle for years and years suddenly this Englishwoman turns up from nowhere and has read your letter. When she e-mailed it to me it all came flooding back.'

The waiter added: 'It was an incredible experience. Where has the bottle been all these years. Was it lying buried under a heap of sand until it was uncovered by a storm? I shall never know.

'But the wine bottle was a safe receptacle for my message. My father insisted that we seal the cork with candle grease to make sure no sea water could get in.'

In the letter he wrote 33 years ago, Mr Vandevalle introduced himself as 'a boy of 14 years and my house is in Belgium'.

He continued to the future recipient: 'I do not know if you are a pupil, a woman or a man.

'I am on a sailing boat of 18 metres. Her name is Tamaris. While I am writing this letter we have just passed Portland Bill on the south coast of England. We left this morning.'  

Mr Vandevalle's two sons aged 16 and 20 have tried to copy their dad by writing a message and entrusting it to the seas in a bottle.

'But they were stupid enough not to write their address and consequently the chances of getting a reply are almost nil,' their father added yesterday.

'But the world is full of wonders, so you never know.'

M.I.A.’s New Video Too Much For YouTube

By: Edmund Mullins 

The New York Times is reporting that YouTube has pulled the video for M.I.A.’s new single, Born Free, presumably owing to nudity and graphic violence. Directed by Romain Gavras (son of filmmaker Costa-Gavras), it depicts an unidentified American military unit rounding up red-headed males from an apartment complex, then busing them to the desert where they are tortured and killed. It is hard-edged, graphic stuff and extremely NSFW.

Watch it after the jump.
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Since it popped up yesterday, there’s been a lot of web chatter about the video’s political message which, at its heart, is fairly rote. I’m inclined to think the kerfluffle has a lot more to say about how dull, thoughtless and inconsequential most music videos are. A little seriousness goes a long way, and a lot, it would seem, gets people uptight. Enjoy this link while it lasts.

TorrentFreak To Buy Pirate Bay For $11 Million

Written by enigmax
From: http://torrentfreak.com/
 

Following the announcement that Hans Pandeya is having a second shot at buying The Pirate Bay after last year’s failed attempt, it appears he has a rival bid. Media reports state that the GGF boss will now buy the site for $10 million, but TorrentFreak has managed to get $11 million together and will buy the site tomorrow afternoon at 3pm.

According to a press release yesterday, Business Marketing Services Inc. has agreed to pay $10 million for the name and assets of BitTorrent monster The Pirate Bay.

CEO Hans Pandeya, who most people know from his Global Gaming Factory fame, will relaunch the the site on June 30th this year as a “paid legal content site”.

“The technology out there to deliver entertainment is from the stone age,” Pandeya said.

Pandeya says that the new site will be just like the old site except that it will only offer content that has been licensed by Business Marketing Services Inc.

In an amazing similarity to last year’s announcement that GGF would buy The Pirate Bay, Pandeya says that the site will run on some new hot file-sharing technology.

Apparently, BMSV have assurances from a party that they will receive $10m to make the purchase, so that means that they absolutely have the money and everything is going legal at The Pirate Bay in 2 months time.
So, to make sure this doesn’t happen, TorrentFreak has spoken to the admins of a few torrent sites who, while assuring us they were absolutely serious and not at all drunk or having fun at our expense, promised they would give us $11 million so we can buy The Pirate Bay instead.

To come up with some cool new technology, the writers on TF have been studying Visual Basic since last night and can now assure our readers that we have some awesome things lined up for the site.
Of course, absolutely nothing you’ve read so far in this article has a single grain of truth in it.

A Pirate Bay insider told TorrentFreak that there is no deal with Pandeya and that the whole thing is a complete fabrication.

Frustrated Owner Bulldozes Home Ahead Of Foreclosure

From: http://www.wlwt.com/

February 19, 2010

Man Says Actions Intended To Send Message To Banks

MOSCOW, Ohio --Like many people, Terry Hoskins has had troubles with his bank. But his solution to foreclosure might be unique.

Hoskins said he's been in a struggle with RiverHills Bank over his Clermont County home for nearly a decade, a struggle that was coming to an end as the bank began foreclosure proceedings on his $350,000 home."

When I see I owe $160,000 on a home valued at $350,000, and someone decides they want to take it – no, I wasn't going to stand for that, so I took it down," Hoskins said.  


View Slideshow

Hoskins said the Internal Revenue Service placed liens on his carpet store and commercial property on state Route 125 after his brother, a one-time business partner, sued him.



The bank claimed his home as collateral, Hoskins said, and went after both his residential and commercial properties."

The average homeowner that can't afford an attorney or can fight as long as we have, they don't stand a chance," he said.

Hoskins said he'd gotten a $170,000 offer from someone to pay off the house, but the bank refused, saying they could get more from selling it in foreclosure.

Hoskins told News 5's Courtis Fuller that he issued the bank an ultimatum.

"I'll tear it down before I let you take it," Hoskins told them.

And that's exactly what Hoskins did.

Man Says Actions Intended To Send Message To Banks

The Moscow man used a bulldozer two weeks ago to level the home he'd built, and the sprawling country home is now rubble, buried under a coating of snow.

"As far as what the bank is going to get, I plan on giving them back what was on this hill exactly (as) it was," Hoskins said. "I brought it out of the ground and I plan on putting it back in the ground."

Hoskins' business in Amelia is scheduled to go up for auction on March 2, and he told Fuller he's considering leveling that building, too.

RiverHills Bank declined to comment on the situation, but Hoskins said his actions were intended to send a message.

"Well, to probably make banks think twice before they try to take someone's home, and if they are going to take it wrongly, the end result will be them tearing their house down like I did mine," Hoskins said.

Man Has No Regrets Over Bulldozing House

Hoskins said he's heard from people all over the country since his story first aired Thursday, and he said most have been supportive.

He said he sought legal counsel before tearing down his home and understands the possible consequences, but he has never doubted his decision once he made it.

"When I knew I was going to lose it, I decided to take it down," Hoskins said.

How to Destroy Angels = Trent Reznor + Wife?

by Kiran Aditham

Rumors have been swirling today that a new project called How to Destroy Angels is perhaps the collaboration between Trent Reznor and his wife, Mariqueen Maandig of West Indian Girl. Consequence of Sound received a cryptic email from a publicist that says a 6-track EP will be out this summer and it includes the URL for the "band" website. Though the site features little else but what could be the album art and an equally mysterious 40-second video (below), the lady on the cover does resemble Mariqueen and the music bears all the sonic similarities to NIN's Year Zero. If anything, Reznor's stated in the past that he is a fan of Coil and How to Destroy Angels is one of said band's earliest, best releases.

Estates and Cribs: The $150 Million Home and More

Even if you can't afford these celebrity digs, you can check 'em out here.

Click here for a look at this Real Estate Porn

How Richard Pryor Gave Pam Grier a Cocaine-Encrusted Vagina

Written by Kyle Buchanan 

From http://www.movieline.com/

Look, I’m going to put as little distance between that headline and the actual anecdote as possible. In Pam Grier’s new memoir Foxy: My Life in Three Acts (which is now a must-buy), she recounts how a conversation with her doctor led to her breakup with Richard Pryor. Stars, they are not just like us:

He said, “Pam, I want to tell you about an epidemic that’s prevalent in Beverly Hills right now. It’s a buildup of cocaine residue around the cervix and in the vagina. You have it. Are you doing drugs?”

“No,” I said, astonished.

“Well, it’s really dangerous,” he went on. “Is your partner putting cocaine on his penis to sustain his erection?”

“No,” I said, “not that I know of. It’s not like he has a pile of cocaine next to the bed and he dips his penis in it before we have sex.” I had a nauseating flash of one of Richard’s famous lines: Even my dick has a cocaine jones.

“Are you sure he isn’t doing it in the bathroom before he comes to bed?” the doctor asked.

“That’s a possibility,” I said. “You know, I am dating Richard Pryor.”

“Oh, my God,” he said. “We have a serious problem here. If he’s not putting it on his skin directly, then it’s worse because the coke is in his seminal fluid.”

Also recounted in the anecdote, says Jezebel, is that “the doctor then asks her if her mouth went numb while performing oral sex on Pryor, which she says it did, and which he links to the Novocaine-like effects of cocaine.”
The writers of Nurse Jackie, Grey’s Anatomy, and Private Practice all just bolted upright, screaming, “How have we missed this?”
The Truth About Cocaine Vaginas [Jezebel]

The Evolution of Raquel Welch: What a Woman (PICS)

unrealitymag.com — Which year is your favorite?Click here for the full article and gallery: The Evolution of Raquel Welch: What a Woman
 

9 Companies with the Best Perks

For some employees, amazing benefits are just part of the job

By Amanda Greene 

from WomansDay.com

In today’s economy, employees have gotten used to the bare minimum at work. With widespread pay cuts and rampant layoffs, it’s not unusual to consider free coffee a great perk. But some companies are still working hard to keep their employees happy, going above and beyond the standard benefits and rewarding them with everything from on-site massages to unlimited paid vacation time. Jealous yet? Read on to learn about corporations that are not all work—and plenty of play.
S.C. Johnson

If you work at this cleaning product giant and are short on time, you don’t need to worry: There’s an on-site concierge service that offers discounted services, like mailing your packages, sending flowers, picking up and delivering groceries, researching car insurance deals, changing the oil in your car and even standing in line for concert tickets. And the benefits don’t stop once you retire: Former employees get a lifetime membership at the company fitness center. Photo courtesy of SCJohnson.com.

Amgen, Inc.

Employees of this California biotech company have 17 paid holidays a year (on top of three weeks of vacation), which is nearly two times the average. Parents can drop their kids off at the on-site day care center, pick up bouquets at the in-house gift shops and grab a takeout breakfast or lunch at the cafeteria, which prepares healthy meals to go. New moms enjoy a variety of perks at Amgen, like on-site Lamaze and breastfeeding classes, lactation rooms and a nutritional program with one-on-one counseling. Photo courtesy of Amgen.com.

Google, Inc.

You’ve probably heard Google is a great company to work for. Here’s why: lunch, dinner and snacks from a choice of 16 gourmet cafes are free. Plus, employees can bring their dogs to work, stressed-out workers can get subsidized massages, there are free laundry machines, four gyms, on-site doctors and much, much more. Google even lets new moms and dads expense up to $500 for takeout meals during the first three months they’re home with their new baby. Photo courtesy of Google.com.

Netflix, Inc.

Employees of this movie-delivery company don’t need to request vacation days because there’s no set number of them. "If you hire adults who practice adult behaviors, you don't need requirements like dress codes and vacation policies," says Steve Swasey, vice president of corporate communications. CEO Reed Hastings has so much trust in his employees that nobody even keeps track of how many days they're out of the office. Photo courtesy of Netflix.com.

Genentech, Inc.

Child (and doggie!) day care are available to employees at this San Francisco biotech company. Also on the benefits menu: six-week paid sabbaticals to prevent burnout, drop-off laundry service, seasonal produce stands in company cafeterias, made-to-order sushi, free cappuccinos and two 24-hour libraries. And at the end of a stressful workweek, employees can let loose on Fridays at the weekly socials, or “Ho-Hos.” Photo courtesy of Gene.com.

MillerCoors, LLC.

When employees of Miller Brewing head to the nearest bar for happy hour, they don’t have to go very far. In 2004, Miller CEO Norman Adami opened Fred's Pub, an on-site pub for Milwaukee employees to gather and relax in after-hours. Even better: The beer––seven kinds on tap and 13 varieties of bottled brew––is free. And, MillerCoors just opened a new headquarters in Chicago which features a 16th floor rooftop bar and outdoor terrace that overlooks the Chicago River. The beer is, of course, free. The pub is called Fred & Adolph's, after the founders of Miller and Coors Brewing Companies. Photo courtesy of MillerCoors.com.

SAS Institute, Inc.

If employees at this business software company are feeling stressed out, they can head to the campus recreation and fitness center for a massage, at a subsidized cost, according to the company’s website. Or they can utilize the gym, weight room, billiards hall and Olympic-size pool. An article from 2010 reports that SAS also offers high-quality, low-cost child care, unlimited sick days and a free medical center staffed by four physicians and 10 nurse practitioners. Plus, the two in-residence artists have been known to offer artwork and framing supplies to employees at a discount. Photo courtesy of SAS.com.

F5 Networks, Inc.

According to their website, at the end of each week, this networking application company relaxes with Beer Friday, a party that features microbrews, wine and snacks in the company game room. While they imbibe, employees can play foosball, pinball, air hockey and Ping-Pong. They also get a $100 monthly stipend to try alternative transportation options. They can get massages at work two times a week or break a sweat on the nearby running trails. Employees are encouraged to excel with the company’s quarterly “High Five” awards. Photo courtesy of F5.com.

Chesapeake Energy Corp.

An on-site day care center, generous benefits package and discounted scuba certification classes at nearby lakes are all part of the job for employees of natural gas company Chesapeake Energy. Once they’re certified, employees can sign up for one of company’s scuba trips to Cozumel, Mexico. They can also take advantage of some perks on dry land: the campus’s new employee garden takes up a full city block, and will have a garden pavilion for everything from cooking demonstrations to yoga classes. Photo courtesy of CHK.com.

Night Vision Coming Soon To Cell Phones, Eyeglasses

The illuminating power of bulky night vision goggles could soon be widely available thanks to a new, paper thin device.

By Eric Bland 

From: http://news.discovery.com/

An image taken through night vision glasses shows soldiers in northern Afghanistan. New technology could make night vision more widely available.
AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus

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Adapting technology found in flat screen television sets, scientists have created a thin film that converts infrared light into visible light. The technology could give cell phones, eyeglasses and car windshields cheap, lightweight night vision.

"This device can convert any infrared image into a visible image and would weigh no more than a pair of eyeglasses," said Franky So, a scientist at the University of Florida who describes his new night vision technology in a recent article in the journal Advanced Materials that was funded in part by advanced technology powerhouse DARPA.

Most night vision devices today use massive amounts of electricity -- often several thousand volts, according to So -- and heavy, glass lenses that maintain a vacuum to make the night come alive. So's device takes a radically different turn, replacing glass with thin plastic, eliminating the vacuum and using energy-efficient, organic LEDs.

So does this by using technology borrowed from flat screen TVs. Infrared light enters the film and is detected by the first of seven separate layers, which generates a slight electrical charge. Additional electrical energy -- about three to five volts -- amplifies that signal, which is then converted back into visible light.

WATCH VIDEO: This clip from The Science Channel's, "Deconstructed" sheds some light on the mechanism of night vision goggles.

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Like most of today's night vision cameras, So's device emits an eerie green light. Unlike most night vision technology today, however, So's design would weigh less than 100 grams (less than a quarter of a pound). Part of that weight is the proof of concept small size -- about one square centimeter -- but So says that even a full scale device could weigh as little as 10 grams and be only a few microns thick.
In other words, heavy and bulky night vision goggles could be replaced with a thin, lightweight coating weighing less than half a deck of playing cards.

It will take about 18 months to scale up the device for practical applications, such as car windshields, lightweight night vision eyeglasses and cell phones cameras.

"Ten years ago when people talked about putting cameras in cell phones, people asked why would you want to do that," said So. "Now you cannot find a cell phone without a camera. In the future, you might not be able to find a cell phone without night vision."

Night vision cell phones could be just the start. So said his team also plans to create cell phones that can see, and more importantly, measure heat as well. A cell phone equipped with heat vision could instantly take a patient's body temperature to see if they had a fever. A car windshield could make pedestrians crossing the street much easier to see and avoid.

Other scientists are enthusiastic about the new research. "This has a high potential to revolutionize night vision," said Yongli Gao, a professor at the University of Rochester. "It could be very useful in detecting heat loss from homes to reduce energy consumption, and for military applications as well."

Shanghai World Expo set to open

sacbee.com — Visitors to Shanghai's World Expo say organizers have plenty of kinks to iron out before the event -- the biggest-ever World's Fair -- formally opens on May Day. Some 70 million people are expected to visit. The Expo runs May 1-Oct. 31. Elevated highways are illuminated by LED lights on April 18, in Shanghai, China.
 

 In this photo taken Sunday, March 28, and released by the Shanghai Pacific Institute for International Strategy, the World Expo site is illuminated in Shanghai, China. (AP Photo/ Shanghai Pacific Institute for International Strategy) AP

Elevated highways are illuminated by LED lights on April 18, in Shanghai, China. Shanghai World Expo will be held from May 1 to Oct 31, expecting 70 million visitors. Getty Images / Feng Li

Please click here for the gallery: The Biggest-Ever World's Fair in Shanghai