Blowing Hot Air: The Balloon and Dreams of Ascent

(Image by somadjinn)

In legends around the world, gods, mythical creatures and birds could soar through the air naturally, but humans could only breach this territory using magical aid. Scores of people, from da Vinci to Lana de Terzi, speculated on how humans could achieve sustained flight sans divine aid, often observing birds to try and emulate them. However, in 1690, scientists demonstrated that human muscles were insufficient for sustaining flight in imitation of the birds, which led many to abandon the idea in favour of lighter-than-air machines like the balloon (Singer).

The balloon, brainchild of paper manufacturers Etienne and Joseph Montgolfier from Annonay in southern France, made its first ascent on 4 June 1783. This contraption worked on the principle that hot air is lighter than cool air, so heating up the air inside the balloon would lift it into the sky.

Mermaid Blue Nail Polish by Suncoat Girl - My Observations

When I went to the Green Living Show last month, I went there intending to buy only foodstuffs, and to learn new developments in the green industry. And while my take-home bag did contain an awesome poppy seed dressing from Rawfoodz, it also contained a bottle of shiny blue nail polish from Suncoat Girl, a container of 100% shea butter from Maiga, and one box of SmartKlean's non-detergent Laundry Ball (will probably review this sometime in the near future).

Buying the nail polish was a big deal for me, since I am actually against traditional nail polish. My mother loves painting her nails, and while I admit to liking the artistic aspect of the practice, as well as the beautiful colours, I can't quite get past the strong heady smell, or the fact that the chemicals in nail polish leach into your body.

Ecological Footprint Calculators: Good or Bad?

Ecological footprint calculators try to measure the amount of biologically productive land required to sustain the consumption needs of an individual or group of individuals. While it can be a useful tool for gauging the general consumption patterns of a country, and for creating dialogue between governments and their people, it cannot be used as the primary indicator of a country`s sustainability because most footprint calculators today often base their calculations on incomplete or missing data.

For example, the footprint calculator from the Center for Sustainable Economy does not distinguish between whether the resources extracted to make the products we use are managed in a sustainable way. Even if fish are caught in a sustainable way

Super Villainy 101

My name is BigPharma, and I’m a super villain. Now I know all you folks out there have heroes, people you look up to, people who embody the change they want to see in the world. The difference between what you call a hero, and what I am, is semantic. In an upside-down world, I might in fact, be the hero. Unfortunately, in this world, my kind is the type to be called manipulative and opportunistic. In another context, the traits you normally find abhorrent may in fact be worthy of hero-worship.

Gyroscopic Wonders Abound!

Bombardier designed a concept bike called the Embrio. Not sure if it will ever go into actual production, but it looks awesome! I like motorcycles but I'd like to try this out as well. How can a one wheel (actually, there are two, but the second one only comes down when necessary) possibly stand up against gravity? I suppose the same way that a person on a unicycle can withstand gravity. More on this as soon as I have done more research :)

For now, here's an image of the Embrio:

Inspiration from a Study in Contrasts

On January 4, 2010, people out on the frozen Lake of Menteith in Scotland are enjoying a nice walk (Credit: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images). Where I live, the temperature never gets cold enough to freeze the lake to the point where we can walk or skate over it. While I'm not a big fan of cold temperatures, I do enjoy outdoor skating and it would be nice to experience skating on the lake once in my lifetime. I guess I could always take a flight to Scotland and skate there :)

Maslow's Hierarchy...Circle of Life?

I haven't thought about Maslow's hierarchy in a while. Not since highschool social science and business classes anyway. I guess that's why it was kind of a..I won't say shocker or surprise...it's more of a...pleasant rediscovery of old knowledge applied to current circumstances, to hear that while environmentalists and ecologists believe that the economy is dependent on a thriving ecology (and I'm not saying that it isn't), the same can be said of the opposite. I'm reading Break Through by Ted Nordhaus and Michael Shellenberger, and at the beginning, taking the idea of Maslow's hierarchy, they explain that because a booming economy meant that the concerns of the majority were no longer focused on basic needs and necessities like food, shelter and clothing, they were able to concentrate most of their attention on upper pyramid concerns like esteem and quality of life, including the idea of earthly stewardship.

Thus, if the economy is doing poorly, the concerns of the majority will revert back to basics, and while there will still be a concern for the environment, it becomes buried under more pressing matters.

Thus, the question then becomes how we should balance these two so that the economy does well without sacrificing the well-being of our earth, because we all know that tipping the scale in favour of either one is devastating.

Orbital Fat

Just a new tidbit of information I picked up from listening to Dr. Bill Bass and Jon Jefferson's "Beyond the Body Farm": we actually have fat behind our eyes that's used for eye movement and for padding.

When we see pictures of excessively malnourished people, they usually look like their eyes are sunken in because their bodies have already used up all the fat in their body, including orbital fat.