Space age farming

With all the advances that is happening in the hardware/software sect of technology it was just a matter of time before the not so exciting industry of agriculture implemented some cutting edge ideas as well. Behold, the world's first vertical seawater farm project.

This artist sketch is an idea put forward by two Italian architects to who else other than the government of Dubai who has been at the forefront of innovative projects for the past years. Dubai's location on the equatorial belt has led to the city have a extremely hot and dry environment. Therefore, farming has been completely out of the picture in Dubai all these years other than the growth of palm trees thanks to their adaptibility in harsh growing condititions. The only minimal amount of farming in the country U.A.E. takes place further north in the cities of Al Ain and Fujairah.

Each of the pod like objects in the tower will work by capturing the evaporating saline water from the Arabian Gulf and Dubai's creeks and will work to turn it into fresh water. The fresh water in turn will be used for harvesting crops at new heights. This idea was inspired from the ancient Arabian wind towers that captured humidity and irrigate crops high above the ground.

There you go, before it was an emerging and sprawling metropolis from the desert sands with the skyscrapers and malls and now looks like they on the road to the Amazon forest. What can we expect next? Well, atleast they are being green for a change.

Unleasing Antarctica's frozen killers

Just in! Another bloody good reason to step up the efforts to minimise global warming. New research suggests that we could be seeing a lot more flu pandemics in the future as global warming leads to ice melting in Antarctica. The reason behind being strains of influenza frozen in the ice surrounding the poles. As a result of melting, these strains come unfrozen and lead onto being passed onto the birds that visit Antarctica.

These birds as all know carry out their annual migrations to various human populated locations around the world.

So the following scenario is possible:

1. Humans keep relying on non-renewable sources.

2. Use of these sources leads to rapid greenhouse emissions as is the case at the moment.

3. Sunlight gets blocked and the north and south pole start feeling the heat.

4. Ice melts.

5. Frozen influenze strains from years and years ago come to life, ready to get in contact with a living creature.

6. Bird A comes along doing its usual thing.

7. Bird A catches the strain.

8. Bird A thinks about migrating, kinda getting cold here it thinks.

9. Flies to one of the unlucky countries, I'm guessing Mexico.

10. Takes a dump on one of the pedestrains aka Patient 0, boom.

11. Pandemic starts.

So people, another damn good reason to start acting in an environment friendly manner and engaging with groups that are supporting the environment.

This Frankenstein-like story can really come to life.

Full source at: http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/05/iceplague/

Google Chrome

I just recently installed Google's new long awaited browser Google Chrome and I have to say it is awesome. My laptop's already got Internet Explorer 8, the Mozilla Firefox 3 and now Chrome. Chrome easily stands out from the lot in terms of sleek design and functionality.
It incorporates almost all the features that are present in Explorer 8 and a lot more than dry ol' Firefox. Using it gives you that feel of using a really light weight software. I think pages in Chrome actually load just a bit faster as well than Explorer or Firefox. The best thing about it is its search feature which is integrated within the address bar. So, the address bar and the search engine are one, absolutely great. The bookmark features is also really good and easy to use, just by a click of the star.

There are some drawbacks as they are to all newly launced products and obviously the main one being of compatibility. While using it with Facebook and blogger.com, I noticed that I can't really use the features of the sites in a manner I used to before.

Still, Chrome clearly stands out from the rest and I recommend it to everyone.

Other way around

We have all heard of people's attempts to better their bodies from fatty to sexy, no doubt. However, I ain't never heard of somebody purposely going the other way around. Yes, going from an extensively cut-up model's body to a large couch potato. Why on earth would somebody want to send all those months of hard training in the gym down the drain?
Well, meet Paul "PJ" James, a 32 year old "former" model who started indulging himself into junk food at a rapid rate so that he could understand his fat clients better. What? How the heck is he going to understand them better. It easily becomes quite obvious beforehand when you have a Mickey D, its clearly addictive. But I guess PJ just had to try it out himself. Look at the end result. 12.5 to 20 stones.
And now the worst bit, PJ is now so hooked up onto the kebabs, fry-ups, choclate milk that he has completely given up exercising as it's really hard for him to get back onto the treadmill. The addiction has taken him over completely by surprise.
Anyways, we wish him the best of luck.

Police brutality on a 14 year old

Police brutality has really done it this time. Choking a 14 year old boy by putting him in a choke hold until he became unconscious and eventually got dropped to the ground. The neighbour managed to record the whole incident and then put it onto YouTube. 

The force used was clearly excessive in this case and I am sure an alternative or less violent way could have been undertaken. Maybe the cops were setting an example to the other kids in that supposedly bad neighbourhood and if that's the case, they did a pretty good job of it. 

Obviously, the public and media is going to grill the police for this but what we have to keep in mind is that the police are the ones who have to deal with all sorts of loony individuals, individuals that enjoy working up the nerves of cops and who better than young hoodlum kids. I am not saying that what the copper did in this video is right, it's wrong. However we have to understand where sometimes this brutality stems from, it's the frustration that is worked up within the individual cop by having to deal with some extremely unsocial individuals that take a piss basically. 

Rick Sanchez of CNN carrys out an detailed analysis alongn with video, have a look. http://www.sodahead.com/news/2039/police-beat-teen-on-tape/

Google StreetView busted, by z Germans!

Google once again is facing critisicm for its new StreetView product. This product allows the user to view major streets of major cities from a 3D point of view and is an addition to Google's existing Maps product.
I checked it out myself for a couple of streets in London and I got to say it was amazing, it's like your right there, except your not. So this way I get to go to some nice places, can't wait till they map Tahiti or something.
Anyways, StreetView's Gantt chart has taken Google to Germany at the current moment where it's German data protection officials are making it hell for Google. They are threatening to slap a not so outstanding amount of €100,000, or $136,000 onto Google if it does not carry out the mapping in accordance with the country's privacy laws which I got to say are really strict. A German citizen currently holds the right of preventing anybody taking his or his property's pictures without prior consent. Well, one would say that it's the same in major Western countries. However from what I have understood German laws are lot stricter, you all are welcome to dig into the legislation if you like to.
Funnily, enough some residents in Kiel, a Baltic sea city have pasted stickers on their windows warning Google to not film them. Extreme I say, German's aren’t letting go of their privacy that easily. In contrast, a lot of people here in UK just don't give a shit which I guess is ignorant in some cases.
Unfortunate for Google, it is all to well accustomed to these issues as it just recently confronted the Japanese government for the same reasons. Worse though, Japanese public had to pay the price as in one incident a woman filed for divorce upon seeing her husband's parked car outside another women's house and another incident which just simply showed a woman throwing up. Damn, that divorce one is quite something, people just got to take it easy and take technology a little bit less lightly at times, using that to cite divorce is kinda pathetic according to me.
Still, Google will press on to make sure it gets the whole world mapped except SWAT I'm guessing with the current BS that's going on there. But, we wish Google the best of luck for another truly innovative product. Also, you guys should check out Google's new browser "Chrome". It's been a long wait but it is excellent. http://www.google.com/chrome

Shady's back

Disappeared from the spotlight for 4 years, Eminem has just made a recent comeback. He just made an album promoting appearence on British TV show "Friday Night with Jonathan Ross".

Is it just me or did he look really dopped out in that show? With eyes wide open and body language not its usual self does reflect some sort of change in Marshall. Well, looking at the fact that he was in rehab for quite some time getting over his drug addictions problems could be a factor. Nonetheless, we are all glad that rap's main man is back in good form and getting his act right. His new single "We Made You" is giving him a good base to launch his new album "Relapse" from. However, this album has been critisiced for being too intense, stark and psychological dependent. Only time will tell how his fans will get on it. I'm guessing that he will do just fine, just have a look at his previous albums that have all had similar attributes for being largely different to the rap genre and have all turned out to be great hits.

No doubt about it then, Slim Shady is back on top form.

Check out the Jonathan Ross show on BBC's IPlayer. http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/

No Brainer

13 year old Kumar from Minnesota has just graduated from his community college alongside his classmates who are 10 years older than him in the US. Funnily enough, after this college graduation he will actually be starting his high school. He managed to obtain his community college degree while attending his elementary school during the day and college during the night.
http://abclocal.go.com/wtvg/story?section=news/national_world&id=6817155
Another recent media sensation, a 2 year old girl was dubbed Britain's brainiest child with an IQ of 156. In an interview by ITN, she managed to deliever answers to general knowledge questions asked by the ITN reporter without putting any effort.

Numerous other cases are surfacing of these extra ordinary league of children which is very very fascinating. Before you know it, these youngsters will be making a serious mark in the community they live in from an early age itself. Another indication of how rapidly the world is changing.

I guess we can clearly see the evolution human brains have made over the past century by looking at the syllabus of schools and how they have increased in content over the years. This most probably have enforced this early development of the human brain and is continuing to do so.

Hopefully, they ain't going cause any problems to us unemployed graduates because they ain't no jobs out there. Ha!