Wireless energy from space

Japan has serious plans to send a solar-panel-equipped satellite into space that could wirelessly beam a gigawatt-strong stream of power down to earth and power nearly 300,000 homes.
The satellite will have a surface area of four square kilometers, and transmit power via microwave to a base station on Earth. Putting solar panels in space bypasses many of the difficulties of installing them on Earth: in orbit, there are no cloudy days, very few zoning laws, and the cold ambient temperature is ideal.
A small test model is scheduled for launch in 2015. To iron out all the kinks and get a fully functional system set up is estimated to take three decades. A major kink, presumably, is coping with the possible dangers when a 1-gigawatt microwave beam aimed at a small spot on Earth misses its target.
The $21 billion project just received major backing from Mitsubishi and designer IHI (in addition to research teams from 14 other countries).

A division of JAXA, the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS) has already prepared a prototype of the SPS2000, a 10 megawatt demonstration solar-power satellite.
ISAS is also undertaking a project where an experimental satellite will be tested for wireless power supply of several hundred kilowatts. Ground experiments are being held for scrutinizing the influence of high-voltage discharge which is a sheer necessity for large-capacity power generation in space. They are also spending time on the impact of space debris on the solar farm.

http://global.mitsubishielectric.com
http://www.ihi.co.jp

Afghanistan_The Cost of War

One of the factors President Obama must weigh as he decides whether to send more troops to Afghanistan is the cost — not just in lives, but in dollars. With the economy still struggling, questions exist about how much the U.S. can afford to spend in Afghanistan — and for how long.
Earlier this week, Sen. John Kerry (D-MA), chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, said the war in Afghanistan had already cost a “staggering” $243 billion.
In fact, it is a challenge to calculate exactly how much the U.S. has spent on the war so far.
The Congressional Research Service estimates that since the invasion of Afghanistan eight years ago, the U.S. has spent closer to $227 billion. The Pentagon puts the number at $156 billion.
The variables include which expenses are actually included and whether the total relies on how much Congress has approved for the war compared with what the Pentagon has actually spent.
Michael O’Hanlon, a defense analyst at the Brookings Institution, says one useful way to break down these huge numbers is to look at how much it costs to send just one soldier to war.
“We are at a point where it’s unbelievably costing us close to a million dollars, in additional costs — above and beyond salaries and the equipment that’s already in the inventory — per soldier or Marine per year,” he says.
Fighting in Afghanistan means fighting in one of the most remote regions on Earth, and that plays a large role in the seemingly astronomical figure.
Dov Zakheim, a former chief financial officer for the Defense Department, says the $1 million price tag includes getting the soldier to Afghanistan, getting his equipment to Afghanistan, and moving the soldier around once in the country.
“So, it’s the cost of some allocation of the cost of the plane, some allocation of the cost of the fuel, some allocation of the cost of the pilots, the maintenance folks,” Zakheim explains. “If you focus just on the soldier, it seems outrageous. But if you focus on the support for the soldier — that’s not all that outrageous at all.”

The White House has used the $1 million per soldier statistic in private briefings to Congress, and that has obvious implications. If it costs $1 million to send one soldier to war for a year, then sending 40,000 more troops — as the top commander in Afghanistan, Gen. Stanley McChrystal has urged — could cost an extra $40 billion per year, on top of what the U.S. is already spending.
Meanwhile, the Defense Department disputes the $1 million figure and says it probably costs closer to $500,000 to send a soldier to war for a year. A Pentagon spokesman adds that any figure provided by the Defense Department or other sources is “speculative at best.”
What is beyond dispute is that a major troop buildup would get very expensive, very fast.
But O’Hanlon of Brookings says that other options — such as a scaled-back, counterterrorism mission — might not be much cheaper. It would require fewer troops, he says, but it’s not clear when they could ever go home. As a result, he says, the government may spend less per year — but need to do so over a longer period of time.
Ultimately, says Zakheim, the former Pentagon official, wars simply cost an “awful lot of money.”
But he says there is a steep cost to failure in Afghanistan, too. “We shouldn’t be going to war or not going to war because it’s going to cost us more or less. We should be choosing to make those decisions on the basis of the national interest of the United States,” he says.
In other words, Zakheim argues, the president should focus on getting the war strategy right, and then figure out how to pay for it.

by Mary Louise Kelly.

COSTOFWAR.COM – The Cost of War

Sakura_Solid Marker

The tough marker for tough jobs, the Solid Marker is solidified paint in a marker stick. It marks through oil, grease, rust, mud, snow—inside or outside. Dries within minutes, and is permanent once dry. Solid Markers won’t fade or wash off like chalk. The special “stay fresh” twist mechanism keeps paint fresh and ready to use.
Ideal for use on wood, cloth & canvas, plastic, steel & iron, rubber, cardboard, glass, fiberglass & concrete. Solid marker features a tough, broad stroke, is quick-drying and virtually odorless.  This marker is widely used in commercial and industrial applications in construction, welding & fabrication, pipelines & drilling, assembly lines, automotive tires & windshields, HVAC, plumbing systems or with stencils. 
Available in 11 colors: black, red, blue, green, purple, orange, yellow, white, fluorescent lemon, fluorescent orange and fluorescent pink. Working temperature range: 14°F to 392°F (-10°C to 200°C)  13 mm wide mark can be trimmed with knife for smaller marks.  Alcohol based cleaners will remove ink from non-porous surfaces.  Fluorescent colors are not lightfast.
(Meets ASTM and ACMI non-toxicity standards, and is AP seal certified.)

PREVENT GRAFFITI ! This product is intended for industrial and commercial purposes only.  Defacing public or private property is illegal under state and local laws and possession of such products is similarly illegal for minors. Acceptance of this product for distribution and sale acknowledges your company’s responsibility in distributing and reselling this product for legal purposes only and restricts the sale to minors under eighteen years of age, where State and local laws apply.

http://www.sakuraofamerica.com

Twitter Ha !

Ok, I’m in, Follow my stuff !
http://twitter.com/ha_sayf

Kevin Cyr_Camper project

Camper Bike
I conceived of the Camper Bike while working in Beijing, assisting a New York artist on a painting project. I absolutely fell in love with Beijing, and became especially interested in the city’s bike culture. I knew I wanted to do something based on the bike culture, at least document them for a drawing or painting series. The idea of building a camper top came to me while having breakfast at an Open Market and it stuck. I think it was the sensation of eating outdoors on a fall morning that sparked memories of camping with my family. I made drawings and a couple of paintings based on the idea of the Camper Bike and on my third trip back to Beijing I decided to build it. One aspect of the project that I find really interesting is merging something quintessential Chinese with something very American.

Camper Kart
The Camper Kart idea came to me while reading “The Road” by Cormac McCarthy. I was continuing work on the Camper Bike so the idea of combining campers with unusual vehicle was fresh in my mind. I though it was really interesting how Cormac McCarthy imagined the shopping cart as the most utilitarian and most practical object to use in a post apocalyptic time. The story covered the struggle of mobility and shelter. The Camper Kart was inspired by the story, not to provide a realistic solution, but mostly to stimulate conversation about self-reliance, mobility, and shelter. I found McCarthy’s story of father and son to be one of human perseverance and I intend the Camper Kart to symbolize the same. It also evokes the issue of homelessness—partly because the shopping cart has become ubitiqous symbol for those without homes—as well as the struggle of middle class Americans in hard economic times. Designing the Kart in a typical pop-up camper style in a much smaller space reflects the down-sizing most Americans are faced with.

http://www.kevincyr.net
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1719609460/camper-kart-project

Ion Tiger_23 hour flight

Ion Tiger in flight. The 550-watt fuel cell is show in the box in the lower left corner.
(Credit: Naval Research Laboratory)

The Naval Research Laboratory’s (NRL’s) Ion Tiger, a hydrogen-powered fuel cell unmanned air vehicle (UAV), has flown 23 hours and 17 minutes, setting an unofficial flight endurance record for a fuel-cell powered flight. The test flight took place on October 9th through 10th at Aberdeen Proving Ground. The Ion Tiger fuel cell development system team is led by NRL and includes Protonex Technology Corporation, the University of Hawaii, and HyperComp Engineering. The program is sponsored by the Office of Naval Research (ONR).

The electric fuel cell propulsion system onboard the Ion Tiger has the low noise and signature of a battery-powered UAV, while taking advantage of hydrogen, a high-energy fuel. Fuel cells create an electrical current when they convert hydrogen and oxygen into water, with only water and heat as byproducts. The 550-Watt (0.75 horsepower) fuel cell onboard the Ion Tiger has about 4 times the efficiency of a comparable internal combustion engine and the system provides 7 times the energy in the equivalent weight of batteries. The Ion Tiger weighs approximately 37 pounds and carries a 4 to 5 pound payload.

Small UAVs are growing in importance for naval missions, as they provide capabilities ranging from surveillance collection to communication links. Electric UAVs have the additional feature of being nearly undetectable from the ground. Due to the high energy in the fuel cell system onboard the Ion Tiger, it is now possible to do long endurance missions with an electric UAV, thus allowing a larger cruise range and reducing the number of daily launches and landings. This provides more capability while saving time and effort for the crew.

In 2005, NRL backed initial research in fuel cell technologies for UAVs. Today, says NRL’s Karen Swider-Lyons, “the long endurance flight was made possible by the team’s research on high power, efficient fuel cell systems, lightweight hydrogen-gas storage tanks, improved thermal management, and the effective integration of these systems.”

Fuel cell technology is being developed to impact the operational spectrum of technologies including ground, air and undersea vehicles and man-portable power for Marine expeditionary missions. “The Ion Tiger successfully demonstrates ONR’s vision to show how efficient, clean technology can be used to improve the warfighter’s capabilities,” comments ONR’s Michele Anderson.

http://www.nrl.navy.mil/

Plastic Man

Warming up helps your body prepare itself for training both mentally and physically, and reduces the chance of injury. The aims of stretching are to gently lengthen muscles before and after any form of exercise, and to improve tissue elasticity / flexibility. If done correctly, stretching will help prevent injuries and increase athletic performance.

Enjoy this 8 key steps !
_Begin with gradual mobility exercises of all the joints (natural lubrification with synovial fluid).
_Warm up the body prior to stretching (increases blood flow and makes the muscles more supple).
_Slowly bring your heart rate down before you begin stretching (take your time bro).
_Ok, start with your legs, and work up the body, in order not to miss out any of the stretches.
_Feel some slight discomfort, if you don’t feel anything, then you may be doing the stretch incorrectly.
_Hold each stretch for a minimum of 15 seconds.
_Breathing slowly, regulary and rhythmically (do not hold your breath tomato head).
_Stop immediately if you feel any severe pain, Plastic Man.

Mission : 10 minutes for warm-up and 20 minutes for stretching.
Yes brother ! 30 minutes to be ready.
During cold weather make sure you spend more time warming up.

Perform this sequence of stretches only after you have warmed up the muscles.

Dubaï featuring Graft lab

A Dubaï, le village vertical dessiné par “Graft Lab” a été conçu pour fournir des espaces multiples, tout en exploitant au maximum l’énergie solaire.Une fois terminé, le complexe devrait être certifié Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) niveau GOLD. Ce dernier est un système nord-américain de standardisation de bâtiments à haute qualité environnementale créé par le US Green Building Council en 1998.
Un bâtiment peut atteindre quatre niveaux : certifié, argent, or et platine. Les critères d’évaluation incluent : l’efficacité énergétique, l’efficacité de la consommation d’eau, l’efficacité du chauffage, l’utilisation de matériaux de provenance locale et la réutilisation de leur surplus.

 

L’ensemble architectural est façonné de manière à maximiser les surfaces solaires et donc la production d’électricité solaire. Certains bâtiments ont été surélevés afin de créer de l’ombre au nord et sur un axe est-ouest.
L’extrémité sud du site est équipé d’une vaste étendue de capteurs solaires qui se tournent automatiquement en fonction de la position du soleil dans le ciel. Les toits solaires, dont le complexe est équipé sont découpés en zones afin de rendre la fourniture d’énergie plus flexible selon les besoins (eau chaude & climatisation).

La façon dont les bâtiments ont été découpés et inclinés donne à chacun un look unique et futuriste. Les futurs résidents et visiteurs seront en mesure de tirer pleinement parti des hôtels, des cinémas, des restaurants, des magasins et du théâtre.

http://www.graftlab.com

Blu_Fame Festival (Italy)

Italian artists Blu did a wall painting at Fame Festival, in Grottaglie.
The city has a massive ugly factory called ILVA;  This factory is destroying the territory and killing a lot of workers ’cause of its big lack of security measures and high environmental pollution. The direct consequence is that Taranto has one of the highest rate of death by cancer in Italy.

see the finished piece here: http://www.famefestival.it/?p=527

Mathieu Ledoux

Peace Robot

The United Nations have enlisted Peace Robots to serve as an ad-hoc intervention squad on their behalf.
They are subject to the UN-Principles «neutrality » and « non-partisanship » in crisis areas. Non-lethal system & self-governed, this «cute» machines will be deployed in swarms…

 Designers : Jupin Ghanbari, Benjamin Cselley, Jelena Stoikovic & Dominik Premauer

Djob_Drawing Fever

Fin 2007, lors de la troisième édition du café-exposition « les articulteurs » au Centre Culturel Picasso de Montigny-lès-Cormeilles, je découvre le travail de Jonathan « Djob » Nkondo, jeune dessinateur de 20 ans au talent exceptionnel excusez-moi du peu !
Observateur aguerri, Djob possède ce coup de crayon qui vous coupe l’envie d’en prendre un à votre tour.
Bref, blablabli et blablabla, la suite en image car le léchage de chaussettes n’est définitivement pas mon truc… suivi d’un court entretien avec l’intéressé !

 Entretien avec DJOB
Ha Sayf_septembre 2009

Ha Sayf : Tu te définis plutôt comme un dessinateur, un writer, un peintre, un graphiste ou autre chose ?
Djob : En ce moment je me sens plus illustrateur que graphiste, plus writer que peintre, plus designer qu’animateur 2D et un tout petit peu réalisateur.

Comment es-tu venu au dessin, tu as pris des cours ou reçu un don de Dieu ?
Je dessine depuis que j’ai 4/5 ans. J’ai beaucoup maté les dessins animés qui passaient à mon  époque du genre Mighty Max, Dragon Ball, Renard… Et vers l’age de 12/13 ans j’ai pris des cours de dessin avec un  caricaturiste très cool prénommé Sali. J’y ai rencontré Asone et Hama avec qui je peints aujourd’hui. Puis j’ai fais mon petit bonhomme de chemin.

As-tu déjà reçu la visite d’un extra-terrestre ou d’une entité étrange, ( Si oui )est-ce que cela t’a influencé ? parle moi de tes influences.
…!
Alors Je peux te citer Joe Madureira, qui fait du comics. Ses crayonnés sont juste parfaits à mes yeux, il a bossé sur Battle Chasers, un comics pas très connu. En terme de Graffiti j’aime beaucoup ce que font Honet, Erwin (asu) , Brasko, Yaner, Ryngar (b2m), Rekm (tt) et pleins d’autres… et en terme de musique, beaucoup de Cannibal Ox, (Vordul Mega), de Buck 65, de Mr lif dans mon Mp3….

Certains de tes dessins semblent posséder un message caché, un sens profond, tu dessines pour faire joli ou tu essayes de nous parler via ton œuvre ?
Un peu des deux.

Qu’est ce que tu fais de beau à Paris et quand trouves-tu le temps de peindre et dessiner ?
Je fais des études de conception et réalisation de films d’animation. Je dessine tous les jours et j’essaye de peindre le plus possible en fonction de ce que j’ai comme matos.

Rolling Fever c’est quoi ? c’est qui ?
Rolling Fever c’est toi, c’est moi, c’est eux ! C’est une troupe de grands escrocs qui apprécient autant l’odeur d’un bon grec que celle qui émane d’une bombe de peinture.

Comment as-tu rencontré ces Messieurs ?
Je les ai rencontrés il y a fort longtemps dans une ville que l’on connait sous le nom de M-town sous l’œil attentif de l’Art.

Quels sont vos projets dans cette “bande organisée” ?
Aucun.

Et tes projets perso?
Des courts métrages j’espère, et de l’illustration à droite à gauche…

Je te donne 150 000 $, tu fais quoi avec ?
Je me rachète un velo.

Quelque chose à rajouter ?
Merci à toi. Gros salut à Yohann, Audrey, Nanouk, Micha, Akbar, Kinay, Rekm, Gabrielle, Jose, Hama, Momo, Myriam.

http://www.fotolog.com/bjod
http://robustetfiable.blogspot.com
http://www.myspace.com/rollingfever

Wi-Fi via White Spaces

A network design that uses old TV spectrum could produce better long-range wireless connectivity.
Long-range, low-cost wireless Internet could soon be delivered using radio spectrum once reserved for use by TV stations. The blueprints for a computer network that uses “white spaces,” which are empty fragments of the spectrum scattered between used frequencies, will be presented today at ACM SIGCOMM 2009, a communications conference held in Barcelona, Spain.

TV stations have traditionally broadcast over lower frequencies that carry information longer distances. However, with the ongoing transition from analog to digital broadcasts, more unused frequencies are opening up than ever.
By tapping into these lower frequencies, it should be easier to provide broadband Internet access in rural areas and fill in gaps in city Wi-Fi networks. For example, the spectrum between 512 megahertz and 698 megahertz, which was originally allotted to analog TV channels from 21 to 51, offers a longer range than conventional Wi-Fi, which operates at 2.4 gigahertz. “Imagine the potential if you could connect to your home [Internet] router from up to a mile,” says Ranveer Chandra, a member of the Networking Research Group at Microsoft Research behind the project.

The FCC ruled last November that companies could build devices that transmit over white spaces but also gave strict requirements that this should not interfere with existing broadcasts, both from TV stations and from other wireless devices that operate within the same spectrum. Chandra and his colleagues designed a set of protocols, which they call “White Fi,” to successfully navigate the tricky regulatory and technical obstacles involved with using white spaces.
“It’s a totally different paradigm for wireless networking,” says Chandra. “Until now, in wireless networks, you were given a spectrum, and you would share it with everyone else. Everyone was an equal stakeholder. Now, you have this spectrum where there are certain people who are primary users.”
One of the main obstacles for Chandra’s group was dealing with a network of different devices; in the past, work focused on sending and receiving signals between individual devices over white spaces.
Some of the challenges that faced the group came about because of the undefined nature of white-space frequencies. The researchers designed their algorithms to determine the ideal amount of frequency bandwidth to use for a broadcast, balancing the desire for strong signal against the possibility of interference with neighboring frequencies. They also had to design a way for mobile devices to find a signal from an access point.

One of the most important parts of the White Fi system is a protocol for dealing with collisions among different signals (particularly those from wireless microphones, which can turn on at any time). Even a single packet of interference is enough to produce audible disruptions for a microphone. Even if interference affects only one device on the network, strict regulations forbid all devices on the network from using that channel. The researchers got around this by designing the access point so that it maintains a backup channel. If another user is detected, the white-space device or access point immediately switches to the backup channel, which reassigns bandwidth use as needed.

Peter Steenkiste, a professor of computer science at Carnegie Mellon University who specializes in networking, says that previous work on white spaces has focused on addressing one problem at a time. “The thing that I think is very interesting about this paper is that it really has looked at how you put a complete system together,” he says.
Steenkiste adds that “there are a lot of practical issues that they’ve worried about.” In particular, he says, the researchers did not assume an ideal, controlled environment for their system. Rather, they took into account such problems as measurement “noise” and the unpredictable behavior of wireless microphones. “[The research] has an answer for every question,” Steenkiste says.

Chandra says that his group recently received an experimental license from the FCC that allows them to build a prototype White Fi system on the Microsoft Research Campus in Redmond, WA. They plan to send their findings to the FCC in the hope that the data will help determine future white-space regulations. Chandra notes that since the transition from analog to digital television is happening worldwide, there is a high level of international interest in US white-space experiments. Researchers and companies all over the world are looking for technologies to take advantage of the fragments of spectrum that will open up in the coming years, he says.

Erica Naone from Technology review.

Liz Kuball_California vernacular

 When you move out to California from back east, you come for a reason: You’re leaving behind a bad relationship, or escaping your hometown, or thinking you’ll be a star. And what you find when you get here is that things aren’t what you thought they’d be. There’s some of what you expected—sunshine and palm trees and long, wide beaches. But there’s more: houses with cacti and succulents in place of the green lawns you grew up with; women in bikinis climbing ladders; trees groomed in an archway, the expected path between them blocked by a gateless chain-link fence. You answer an ad on craigslist for a used car and find yourself in a boxed-in car lot in Van Nuys and go for pie at Du-par’s afterward, because pie makes sense when you’re on Ventura Boulevard and it’s 95 degrees and the car wasn’t what the ad said it would be. And you’d think that, after all this, you’d become disillusioned and go back home, and some do, of course, but many more of us stay and instead of growing bitter, we hang on—hang on to a world that, to us, is even more fantastic than the one we thought we’d find, because it’s real in its absurdity and because we have stories to tell.

Copyright (c) Liz Kuball.

Copyright (c) Liz Kuball.

Copyright (c) Liz Kuball.

Copyright (c) Liz Kuball.

Copyright (c) Liz Kuball.

Copyright (c) Liz Kuball.

http://www.lizkuball.com

G-Shock project_Nine

Who is Bozo Texino ?

By Bill Daniel, 56 min. black and white, experimental/documentary

THIS SPECTACULAR TRAVEL ADVENTURE FAITHFULLY PHOTOGRAPHED IN REALISTIC BLACK AND WHITE FILM AT CONSIDERABLE RISK FROM SPEEDING FREIGHT TRAINS AND IN SECRET HOBO JUNGLES IN THE DOGGED PURSUIT OF THE IMPOSSIBLY CONVOLUTED STORY OF THE HERETOFORE UNTOLD HISTORY OF THE CENTURY-OLD FOLKLORIC PRACTICE OF HOBO AND RAILWORKER GRAFFITI AND THE ABSURD QUEST FOR THE TRUE IDENTITY OF RAILROADING’S GREATEST ARTIST WILL LIKELY AMUSE AND CONFOUND YOU IN ITS SINCERE ATTEMPT TO UNDERSTAND AND PRESERVE THIS ARTFORM.

Who is Bozo Texino? chronicles the search for the source of a ubiquitous and mythic rail graffiti– a simple sketch of a character with an infinity-shaped hat and the scrawled moniker, “Bozo Texino”– a drawing seen on railcars for over 80 years.  Daniel’s gritty black and white film uncovers a secret society and it’s underground universe of hobo and railworker graffiti, and includes interviews with legendary boxcar artists, Coaltrain, Herby, Colossus of Roads, and The Rambler.  Shooting over a 16-year period, Daniel rode freights across the West carrying a Super-8 sound camera and a 16mm Bolex. During his quest he discovered the roots of a folkloric tradition that has gone mostly unnoticed for a century. Taking inspiration from Beat artists Robert Frank and Jack Kerouac, the film functions as both a sub-cultural documentary and a stylized fable on wanderlust and outsider identity. 

“I was drawn to the subject by the universal graffiti impulse and the classic, corny notion of freight train blues escape.”  _ Bill Daniel

“Cinematographic song of praise to the self-imposed life of a hobo. Using a 16mm and a Super8 camera, Bill Daniel collected images of the hobo subculture over a period of about 15 years. His years of roaming in goods trains brought him into contact with countless legendary hobos. Daniel links their stories and visions of life to their “tags”, the signs they left on trains long before graffiti was any kind of a hype. The film focuses on the quest for the eminent Bozo Texino, whose tag decorated trains all over the country for 80 years. In beautiful black & white, to the rhythm of train wheels and country music, Daniel portrays passionate people who have turned away from the establishment and it’s rules.” _ from the International Film Festival Rotterdam.

” A hypnotic, rail-rattling tone poem of subversive wayfarer wisdom– as revealed through the witty, artfull, unexpected delights of railroad graffiti.”  _ Sacramento News and Review

“Bill Daniel’s homegrown epic is as kinetic and raggedly beautiful as the trains he hopped to make it. Using the search for the origin of a near mythical example of railroad graffiti as a point of departure, Bill made a film about freedom as literal passage across the land. Corporations brand things to say they own them, but there are ways in which humans have marked things to say they can’t be owned.” _ Jem Cohen

“A gloriously rough-edged elegy for an America that is being swept away before our eyes.
Daniel’s film manages a near-perfect union of radical form and radical content, in less than an hour manages to say more about life, art, America and the simple joy of filmmaking than most directors manage in decades.” _ Neil Young’s Film Lounge

http://www.billdaniel.net/moniker/

 

New Krink Metallic K-60 colors

New Krink Metallic K-60 colors.
Metallic green, Metallic, purple, Metallic blue.
Unique to the market, Krink metallic inks are unrivaled.
Permanent and opaque. Handmade in the USA.
www.krink.com

Shade Power

Umbrella
Photovoltaic cells made from organic polymers, rather than crystalline silicon, could make solar power much cheaper. Last year Konarka, a startup based in Lowell, MA, opened a factory for such solar panels, which are flexible and produced in a process akin to printing. The first application of Konarka’s potentially transformative technology?
Umbrellas ! SkyShades, based in Orlando, FL, is incorporating the panels into umbrellas designed for outdoor seating areas in places like restaurants and bars. Patrons can recharge mobile devices such as laptops and cell phones from outlets built into the stem of the umbrella. The four-meter-wide Powerbrella can generate up to 128 watts of electricity, which charges a bank of batteries located in its base.

http://www.skyshades.com/

$pidey_Mou$e trapped !

It is a dark day in comic book history, Marvel has officially been bought out by Disney in a 4 billion dollar deal that has turned the franchise over to the Walt Disney Empire.

Carnage
Marvel Sold the soul of their company for economic gain, what does this mean for the future of comics ?
The two companies are so different in ideals and content, Disney isn’t known for it’s hard-hitting, deeply rooted story lines and intense characters.
Instead it is most notably associated to lovable cuddly characters and the happiest place on earth, they are too inhibited by their corporate binds that will keep this sense of carnage brought by Marvel down with it.

Stan Lee thinks it’s just great
“I couldn’t be happier with this agreement. It’s a great move for Disney, for Marvel and for my company Pow! Entertainment since Pow! has a first-look deal with Disney. From every possible point of view, the merger of Disney and Marvel is a match made in heaven. Just imagine, with this deal Marvel gives Disney a library of literally hundreds of unique and colorful characters that have the potential to make great, high-concept movies and long-lasting franchises — and nobody knows how to play in that ball park better than Disney. This is a great day for the two companies and for the entertainment community as a whole. To sum it up as simply as possible, when you combine the best with the best, everyone wins!”

On November 17, 2008, Stan Lee was awarded the National Medal of Arts…

Parkour & Jackie Chan

L’art du déplacement de Jackie Chan est une source d’inspiration majeure pour les guerriers urbains contemporains.
Intemporels, ses mouvements sont fluides, puissants et largement inspirés des animaux certes, mais aussi des acteurs de films muets du début du siècle tel Harold Lloyd, Douglas Fairbanks, Charlie Chaplin et surtout Buster Keaton.

Pour arriver à ce niveau extraordinaire de précision et de proprioception, Jackie Chan à commencé l’entraînement à 7 ans avec au programme, Kung-Fu, cascades, cirque et théâtre.

UFC 102_Nogueira vs Couture

Rich & Wholesome stuff

Nogürt is a vegan yogurt, free of dairy, gluten, soy, eggs, nuts, common allergens and GMOs, certified organic, gluten free, and kosher.
Pleasant texture & great consistency !
Nice packaging for sure but…the flavor ?

Try it yourself…

www.nogurt.com

Working time needed to buy a Big mac

How many minutes to earn the price of a Big Mac ?
The size of your pay packet may be important, but so is its purchasing power. Helpfully, a UBS report published this week offers a handy guide to how long it takes a worker on the average net wage to earn the price of a Big Mac in 73 cities. Fast-food junkies are best off in Chicago, Toronto and Tokyo, where it takes a mere 12 minutes at work to afford a Big Mac. By contrast, employees must toil for over two hours to earn enough for a burger fix in Mexico City, Jakarta and Nairobi.

Price & earnings-PDF
http://www.economist.com/markets/Bigmac/Index.cfm

Douglas Fairbanks aka Zorro

The most famous of the Zorros.
Full of fun Parkour fo’ sure !

Love Letter by Espo

Love Letter is a project by Stephen Powers aka Espo with the City of Philadelphia Mural Arts Program, and is sponsored by the Pew Center for Arts & Heritage through the Philadelphia Exhibitions Initiative.

” In creating Love Letter, thinking about the medium of marking that made me the artist I am today,  thinking about the amazing West Philadelphia that gave me the inspiration to do it, and finally the commuters that ride the train, I’m looking to make colors and words happen on these rooftops and walls in a way that people will take ownership of the work. So if the buffman comes back around, people will shout him down.”

Painted on the rooftops and walls of Market Street from 63rd to 45th by Overbrook native Stephen Powers aka Espo and the youth of West Philadelphia.

www.aloveletterforyou.com
www.muralarts.org/whatwedo/special/loveletter.php