A new technology created by Cool Earth Solar uses very inexpensive inflatable plastic balloons that utilize a solar concentrator to focus sunlight onto a photovoltaic cell at the focal point. They claim that they can capture 400 times more energy than the average solar cell with this method. While it is very inexpensive to create the balloon itself, such cheap materials are hardly durable and the cost of maintenance may be high.Some other concerns other bloggers raise include the fact that the balloons are made from plastic and the fact that photovoltaic cells tend to become much less efficient at higher temperatures (400x) and may fail.
I am glad to see technological progress and innovation in the field of renewable and sustainable energy.
The world’s first wave farm, Agucadoura, is up and running off the coast of Portugal and generating power supply enough for 1500 homes. This technology uses the motion of the ocean’s waters to pump pistons and generate renewable energy. I wonder if this can generate energy on a flat day by tidal forces, if so it could be extremely useful in places like the Bay of Fundy, and also to its durability under stormy conditions. I wonder if there is any threat of environmentally damaging impacts such as hydraulic fluid or piston lubricant leaks into the ocean. As we will see, each location on planet earth will have a specific technology that will provide an uniquely advantageous solution to humanity's energy demands.
We shall see how effective this technology is (as I am sure it will go through improvements later down the learning curve) but until then I applaud the innovation and effort to make the world a cleaner and more sustainable place to live.
The word metal usually connotes ideas of hardness, strength, durability, permanence, industry.However, in contrast to its hardness metal is of such great importance to society today and societies of the past (Bronze Age, Iron Age) because of its pliability. Yet, the fluid and seemingly organic properties displayed by the metal in this video may surprise you.This ‘metal’ is actually a ferrofluid, a “colloidal mixture composed of nanoscale ferromagnetic particles suspended in a carrier fluid” and becomes strongly polarized in the presence of a magnetic field. The artists behind this ‘living’ sculpture (Sachiko Kodama & Yasushi Miyajima) use magnetism to influence the crystalline properties the ferrofluid posses. Beyond art, I wonder at future practical applications if such a technology could be used to temporarily bridge gaps in electrical wiring, temporarily shape tools to specific forms, advance Liquid Body Armor (magnetorheological fluid), or create something real from the Terminator T-1000 sci-fi technology.
French animated film La Planete Sauvage (Fantastic Planet, 1973), winner of the Cannes special jury prize 1973, and directed by Rene Laloux was adapted from science fiction author Stefan Wul's Oms en série (1957). This surreal story takes place on the alien Draag homeworld of Ygam where the Draags hold descendants of the earthly human race (Oms) as pets. When these Oms escape captivity they form tribal colonies; which the Draags periodically eradicate they way we do to ants or mice. It is only after the Om called Terr steals a Draag learning device and gains insight to their advanced science that the Oms have a chance to compete for their survival. Upon leaving Ygam and finding the Fantastic Planet the Oms discover they now have the power to disrupt the Draag's mysterious meditation ritual, and use this to force a mutually beneficial treaty between the two races.
I recommend taking the time to experience this film and also note the exceptional score by Alain Goraguer
Here is part 1 of 8 (in english) from YouTube. Be sure to watch all 8
The CHIHULY “The Nature of Glass” exhibit at the Phoenix Desert Botanical Gardens integrates the flora of the Arizona desert with elegant glass sculptures of a fantastically pseudo-organic design. I find an interesting connection in the way both the flora and the glass sculptures are born from the desert sands. The apparent delicateness of the glass serves to contrast with the unique and hearty plants specialized to extremes of their environment. Dale Chihuly, an American glass sculptor and entrepreneur, is the creative force behind this exhibit of surreal botanic art.
The following is quoted from the introduction (by Philip Kapleau) to Thich Nhat Hahn’s Zen Keys with links to relevant articles, mostly from recent headlines.I reorganized the order of the quotes somewhat.
“In the last hundred years this process of constant and explosive change on the social and institutional level has accelerated to a degree unknown to people of earlier ages.Almost daily the newspaper reports new and dizzying crises in the world; famines and natural disasters; wars and revolutions; crises in the environment, in energy and in the political arena; crises in the world of finance and economics; crises in the increasing number of divorces and nervous breakdowns, crises in personal health, in the incidences of heart attacks, cancer, and other fatal diseases, not to mention the number of senseless deaths caused by the traffic in and extensive consumption of illegal drugs.Most people looking out on this ever-changing, seemingly chaotic world see anything but natural karmic laws at work, nor do they perceive the unity and harmony underlying this constant and inevitable change.If anything they are filled with anxiety, with a feeling of powerlessness, and with a sense that life has no meaning.And because they have no concrete insight into the true character of the world or intuitive understanding of it, what else can they do but surrender to a life of material comfort and sensual pleasure?
The contamination of our own and the world’s environment and our squandering of dwindling natural resource through overconsumption, waste, and mismanagement speak eloquently of our greed and irresponsibility.
It is out of this respect for worth of every single object, animate as well as inanimate, that comes the desire to see things used properly, and not to be heedless or wasteful or destructive.
We are deceived by our limited five senses and discriminating intellect (the sixth sense in Buddhism) which conveys to us a picture of a dualistic world of self-and-other, of things separated and isolated, of pain and struggle, birth and extinction, killing and being killed.This picture is untrue because it barely scratches the surface.
There is more to life than what the senses tell them – that in the midst of impermanence there is something always permanent, in the midst of imperfection there is perfection, in chaos there is peace, in noise there is quiet, and finally in death there is life.
For if we could see beyond the ever-changing forms into the underlying reality, we would realize that in essence there is nothing but harmony and unity and stability, and that this perfection in no different from the phenomenal world of incessant change and transformation.
‘In truth I say to you that within this fathom-high body, with its thoughts and perceptions, lies the world and the rising of the world and the ceasing of the world and the Way that leads to the extinction of rising and ceasing.’”
As per the suggested reply to my first collaborative post, I have added a space faring sea-turtle to the mural. Check out some other pictures of this mural and leave comments on what I should add next.
I first encountered Indra's Net through philosopher Alan Watts explaining the Buddhist Doctrine of Mutual Inter-Penetration (Pratītyasamutpāda ) in which every part of the universal energy pattern (be it thing, event, or story) is interlocked with every other part; all depending upon each and each depending upon the whole.This concept is illustrated by using the metaphor of a multi-dimensional spider web which, coated with dew, glistens in the morning light.Each drop of dew suspended upon the web contains an individual (person/event/story), and in each drop is seen the reflection of every other drop and in that reflection the reflection of the reflection and so on through infinite regression.Each drop is significant because it reflects and is reflected in every drop being integrated into an intricate whole.It follows that changing one would change all, not just in appearance, but in context and most importantly in meaning.
"Indra's Jeweled Net is a metaphor for the summation of Buddhist thought. Each of us is a jewel in Indra's Net, which replicates the whole and is the whole. At each intersection in Indra's Net is a light reflecting jewel and each jewel contains another Net, ad infinitum. The jewel at each intersection exists only as a reflection of all the others and hence it has no self-nature. Yet it also exists as a separate entity to sustain the others. Each and all exist in their mutuality. "
In this talk hosted by TED, Willie Smits discusses how he restored a patch of rainforest to a location that was previously suffering from a slash-and-burn holocaust in one of the poorest regions in Borneo. The devastation of the natural biosphere in that location directly impacted the local population quite detrimentally through loss of arable land, loss of rainfall and consequently drinking water, and wild fires. As it turns out, the solution he discusses is not only good for the ecosystem but also quite profitable for the local population. Mr. Smits shows us that technology and knowledge can be used to work with the natural order through scientific integration of cash crops, food plants, and general biodiversity for a sustainable forest. A combination of agriculture and forestry (Agroforestry) might be the next evolution in the way we interact with Mother Earth.
most of all the world is a place
where parts of wholes are described,
within an overarching paradigm of clarity
and accuracy
the context of which makes possible
an underlying sense of the way it all fits together
despite our collective tendency not to conceive of it as such
but then again
the world without end
is a place where souls are combined
but with an overbearing feeling of disparity,
disorderliness
to ignore is impossible
without getting oneself
into all kinds of trouble
despite one's best intentions
not to get entangled with it so much
and meanwhile the statues are bleeding green
and others are saying things
much better than we ever could as the quiet becomes suddenly verbose
and the hail is heralding the size of nickels,
and the street corners are gnashing together
like gears inside the head
of some omniscient engineer
and downward flows the garnered wisdom
that has never died
when finally we opened the box
we couldn't find any rules
our heads were reeling with a glut of possibilities,
contingencies
but with ever increasing faith
we decided to go ahead and just ignore them
despite tremendous pressure to capitulate and fade
so instead we went ahead
to fabricate a catalog
of unstable elements
and modicums
and particles with non-zero total strangeness
for brief moments which amount
to nothing more than tiny fragments of a finger snap
and meanwhile we're furiously sleeping green
and the map has started tearing along it's creases
due to overuse
when in reality, it's never needed folds
and the air's withholding the sound
of its wellspring,
and our heads are approaching a density
reminiscent of the infinite connectivity
of the center of the sun
and therein lies the garnered wisdom
that has never died
expectation leads to disappointment
if we don't expect something big, huge, and exciting
usually, uh
I don’t know, it's just not as, yeah
~ The Books
Thursday, March 5, 2009
"The course of history is nothing but the story of men's struggles from generation to generation to find the more and more inclusive order. Invent some manner of realizing your own ideals which will also satisfy the alien demands - that and that only is the path to peace!" ~ William James
Absolutely fascinating! You MUST watch this video. Jill Bolte Taylor, a neuro-anatomist, suffered a massive stroke but had the ability to watch the process happen within her. She calls this her “Stroke of Insight”. She describes a la la land reminiscent of an artificially induced psychedelic experience. Jill found a Nirvana that exists within each and every one of us. In fact her description of this la la land reminds me of the way Alex Grey depicts our true selves in his art- as beings of pure energy. She asks a very important yet elusive question; “Who are we?” and she manages to answers it: “We are the life force power of the universe with manual dexterity and two cognitive minds.”
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