Category: Here & There

Burj Al-Taqa: Zero-Emissions Tower in the Middle East

Burj Al-TaqaMore and more extravagant and innovative buildings and towers are sprouting in the Middle Eastern skyline, especially in places like the UAE, Bahrain, Qatar and Saudi Arabia. The latest proposed tower project is the state-of-the-art Burj Al-Taqa (“Energy Tower”).

Designed by German architect Eckhard Gerber and cutting a 322 meter high silhouette, this commercial high rise envisioned for builds in Riyadh, Dubai and Bahrain, will produce zero emissions and use sun, wind and water to create all of its own energy.

The 68-story structure will use natural air conditioning based on ancient Persian architectural feature consisting of wind towers that draw wind in and down to be pre-cooled with sea-water and run through the building for ventilation and air-conditioning purposes.

The tower’s fa

People And War

“Why of course people don’t want war. Why should some poor slob on a farm want to risk his life in a war when the best he can get out of it is to come back to his farm in one piece? Naturally, the common people don’t want war; neither in Russia, nor England, nor for that matter Germany. That is understood. But after all, it is leaders of the country who determine the policy, and it is always a simple matter to drag people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in every country.”

— Hermann Goering, German field marshal and Nazi party leader.

It works the same in every country… in all ages and times…
It’s still working now…

[Thanks to Janissary for the quote.]

Right Brain vs. Left Brain

Clockwise or counterclockwise?Do you see the dancer turning clockwise or anti-clockwise?

If clockwise, then you use more of the right side of the brain and vice versa.

Left brain functions: uses logic, detail oriented, facts rule, words and language, present and past, math and science, can comprehend, knowing, acknowledges, order/pattern perception, knows object name, reality based, forms strategies, practical, safe.

Right brain functions: uses feeling,

10 Simple Rules To Help The Environment

Today is Blog Action Day, and I thought I’d use this day to post 10 simple rules that we can all apply in our everyday lives to help our environment.

Of course there are more than 10 things we can all do, and we should do, but well we can start with these really easy ten, and then move on step by step.

So here goes the list:

1. Take showers rather than baths: This way you

10 Writing Tips from the Masters

I just found this interesting post on Pick the Brain that lists 10 writing tips from some of the masters of the art.

Their tips for better writing go as follows:

1. Cut the boring parts
2. Eliminate unnecessary words
3. Write with passion
4. Paint a picture
5. Keep it simple
6. Do it for love
7. Learn to thrive on criticism
8. Write all the time
9. Write what you know

George Orwell

Want to making your writing style more and more effective?
Who better to give you tips than one of the masters of the art himself: George Orwell.

Here are the 5 tips he gives for effective writing style:

1. Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print.
2. Never use a long word where a short one will do.
3. If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.
4. Never use the passive where you can use the active.
5. Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word, or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent.
6. Break any of these rules sooner than saying anything outright barbarous.

[Source: Politics and the English Language (George Orwell)]

A Floating Solar Island for the UAE

The United Arab Emirates has just contracted with a Swiss firm, CSEM to purchase a floating solar island.

The island, which will basically float an a ring-shaped raft, was conceptualized a while ago by CSEM, but until now they haven’t found any buyers. The prototype being commissioned by the UAE will first be tested in a nearby desert before the concept is moved onto the ocean.

It’s one tenth the size of the concept pictured below, only costing $5M and about 100 meters wide with a peak power generation of roughly 1 megawatt. The plant will produce energy by concentrating solar power onto pipes containing water. The water will boil, and be used to spin turbines. Once shipped off-shore, the islands could be used to convert seawater to hydrogen, allowing them to be autonomous and untethered to the shore. The hydrogen could then be picked up by barges, instead of having to transport the electricity to shore via a physical connection.

Solar Island

[Source: CSEM Press Release (PDF)]
[Via: EcoGeek]

Theft, The Only Sin

…There is only one sin, only one. And that is theft. Every other sin is a variation of theft… When you kill a man, you steal a life. You steal his wife’s right to a husband, rob his children of a father. When you tell a lie, you steal someone’s right to the truth. When you cheat, you steal the right to fairness.

— From The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini