Infinite Entropy

Just stunning: How far this animals came in just one second and how the head does not seem to move at all. This is an amazing piece of video. Brilliant on the depth of field too. And at the end is a glimpse on some making-of footage.

(Bild-Quelle: Uni Frankfurt)

Fukushima ist alles andere als ein erledigtes Thema, auch wenn es in den Medien ein wenig untergeht. Es ist immernoch nicht klar, in welchem Umfang das Innere der Kraftwerke und insbesondere die Brennstaebe in den vier Abklingbecken zerstoert wurden. Unglaublich! Eine wahre Hilfslosigkeit macht sich breit: Derzeit ist das Japanische Militaer dazu gezwungen Schulhoefe umzugraben, damit der nukleare Dreck unter der obersten Erdschicht verschwindet. Erinnert ein wenig an “unter den Teppich kehren”. Was aber wenn eins der Kids anfaengt eine Burg zu bauen? Continue reading

I never buy bottled water. Except the occasional beer, wine or whisky that comes in recyclable glass, I am barely buying any plastic bottles at all (and I am practically never buying cans of any kind neither). I might have a slight advantage though: I don’t like Cola, Fanta, Sprite very much, but… I probably can NOT live without sparkling water. The bubbles are soo refreshing and soothing for my stomach, its almost a relieve to drink it.

Continue reading

Like I promised in my previous post, here comes another clip from RSA Animate, presenting a speed paint to a talk by Jeremy Rifkin called ‘The Empathic Civilization’. It is about the question of how we (and apparently also other mammals) feel empathy for something that can be observed happening to others. Like when we watch a movie, the same neurons fire in our brain processing what we see as if we would experience it ourselves. Scientists call this function in our brains the mirror neurons.

It is a remarkable discovery and he is talking about how it might have evolved from the bond that our ancestors in the cave had with their tribe (viewing other tribes as aliens), to religious groups believing to belong to each other up to the bond we feel towards the people of our same nation (and in many cases being hostile towards people of other countries). He then poses the very interesting question, if this evolution could extend over the whole planet to make us feel connected to one another as a whole ecosystem.

This is especially interesting to those who are working on ways how to convince people that we are not so different from one another. We should really stop treating people from other countries, religions and families as aliens. This is a very outdated concept in many parts of the world. The idea that, with our technology advances, it could be some day possible to overcome the differences between all of us and create what he calls the empathic civilization – where we act as a family of beings and not individuals. Think of the possibilities in sustainability and social equality that arise if we could just trigger these mirror neurons in each and every one of those who still live by the imaginary boundaries of nations, blood ties and religions.

Do you really know how the earth is spinning around the sun? There is a lot going on there to create climate changes and seasons of different lengths and intensities on the different places on earth. I was not aware how many factors count into the equation if you want to calculate the exact length of a year… A nice scientific explanation in under 10mins:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Ml4_Jv_HkE

“Our problem is our inability to understand the exponential function” – Dr. Albert Bartlett of the University of Colorado at Boulder gave a lecture many years ago (as you can see by the crappy VHS quality of the video) about the problem we humans face with over-population and our growing demand of resources, which are limited and just can not keep up with economic growths. Basically we are doomed to create problems over time – and he explains this with very simple arithmetics. Dont get fooled by the guy’s appearance or the way he talks – the topic is most interesting and he presents it in a way everybody should be able to understand… at least I could not stop watching the whole lecture. so what are we going to do about it?

Make sure to watch all 8 parts on youtube.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-QA2rkpBSY&feature=&p=6A1FD147A45EF50D&index=0&playnext=1

Recently i have the feeling that more and more people around me (including myself) complain about the current political direction especially Germany is taking – which is supposed to be a kind of role model for the European Union mind you. No matter if it is the bailout of the car or pharmaceutic industry, the banks or the censorship of the internet (and other attacks on the citizen’s privacy), we have the feeling that no matter how we vote, the politicians make their decisions based on all other arguments except our own point of view: Power, Lobbyists, Money – All seems to direct the ones in power. Where is the influence of the people and the good will of politicians to come back to be what they are supposed to be: employees of the public? It is getting difficult for all sides, since a person who actually acts in favor of the public is under suspicion immediately that his/her acts are just a well-planned scheme. The biggest problem we face however is the resulting indifference among us. We should therefore remind ourselves that we still own one of the most powerful tools to influence political and economic decision makers: our money! As long as we still have some, we should use it to make a vote every day to what kind of world we would like to have, what products and ways of production we support and who we want in control.

Every journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step – Here is a list of things i am already doing or starting to do and why:

• Research where a product is produced before buying it and decide between two almost equal products because of their origin – i dont want to support certain governments or company policies and of course like to avoid transports around half the globe.
• Switch from energy saving light bulbs to LED – Why politics is pushing for mercury containing light bulbs remains a mystery to me.
• Buy bio products, preferably even on a farmer’s market and/or butcher – support the local life surrounding me, avoid long transports again.
• Switch to renewable energies – best example of the rule above.

Which other steps come into YOUR mind?