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POPSArtificial Sand Dune to House New Museum According to this blog post on Gizmodo, the new Museum of Modern Arab Art in Doha, Qatar is being built in an artificial 350,000 square foot sand dune. It won't be completed until 2011, but in the meantime take a look at the mock-up.
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POPSCrystal clear? think again "of fast-moving and slow-moving regions in a solidifying glass were seen in experiments, and computer simulations predicted that this pattern, called dynamical heterogeneity, should exist." interesting stuff.. what amazes me, is as one zooms in (and out:) new levels of complexity that were not seen before, are discovered.
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POPSSelf-healing ceramics for nuclear safety nuclear energy gets leg up with new technologies-this is but one example of why I'm optimistic on America-we continue to be the innovators-I'm no fan of nuclear, but if we're gonna go that way, this is a good development!
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POPSViktor Schreckengost Vicktor Schreckengost (1906-2008) died on January 26, 2008 at age 101. Schreckengost taught industrial design at the Cleveland Institute of Art (CIA) for more than 50 years, and was a professor emeritus at CIA until his death. He was also the youngest faculty member ever at CIA (then known as the Cleveland School of the Arts). He founded CIA's school of industrial design, the first of its kind in the country. He also enlisted in the Navy at age 37 to help the Allies in World War II. He was flown on secret missions to Europe where he used his modeling knowledge to help improve the radar used in the Battle of the Bulge. Later he helped design prosthetics for wounded soldiers. He retired from the Naval Reserves as a Captain. Schreckengost was also good friends with Cleveland's famed safety director Eliot Ness.
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POPSTurquoise Mountain: Invest in Afghan Arts To Save Kabul Battered by over two decades of war, limited access to new materials and cheaper imports from China and Pakistan, there is an urgent need to support the rural craft communities of Afghanistan. The Foundation has developed a Sustainable and Authentic Crafts Standard, which guarantees the authenticity and ethical value of any Afghan products it promotes. The Foundation will establish a permanent resource and research center where it plans to build a gas kiln, a workshop, a laboratory for testing glazes, and a library. This improvement in training and resources will be matched with valuable access to the visiting tourist market.
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POPSDo It Yourself Tons of "how to's". There's enough stuff here to keep one occupied until Easter and beyond. There's still time to make, (yes, I said make , not buy) some really cool Christmas presents too and I personally like getting home-made stuff much better anyway. Go check out some of the links. :) Here's some background music. *LOL* http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3xwDDLuLcY
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POPSChooba: Bubble Tea Drink Suppliers to the UK & Europe Chooba: the amazing new bubble tea drink. Chooba is well on its way to becoming one of the must have drinks in coffee bars, restaurants and cafes so watch out for it in the UK and Europe! You can also read the Evoke Art & Design news article at http://evokeshop.com/news/12.html
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POPSTalc keeps killer quakes at bay Talc is a watery mineral composed of magnesium, silicon and oxygen. But it is not a major component of the earth's crust. But when present in sufficient quantity it can, at sufficiently high temperatures, forestall a dangerous build-up of pressure, say geologists Diane Moore and Michael Rymer from the US Geological Survey. Talc has a hardness rating of 1, the lowest possible, while diamonds have a rating of 10. Talc is held together by weakly-bonded microscopic platelets that slide past one another, giving talc its soft, almost oily feel. The mineral is used in the production of ceramics, paint, paper and a number of building materials, and is also present is some food and pharmaceutical products.
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POPSGarden art This is a beautiful example of reuse. See... you CAN make a silk purse out of a sow's ear... /egs
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POPSNew Light Bulb will Outlast You - Look for GE to Squash This Wow, Ceravision has developed a light bulb that is 50% efficient, which means it will last decades longer than the best light bulbs today. How about a big FU to Edison for developing and marketing such a crappy wasteful bulb in the first place; and for stealing Tesla's ideas on electricity and exploiting his talent.