It's finally happened! The $5.95 billion Marina Bay Sands Hotel, Singapore finally opened its doors to public in a gala event, and it also managed to dethrone the Emirates Palace Hotel, Abu Dhabi from its position as the world's most expensive hotel. But that's not all, the main attraction of the hotel is a 650ft wide pool perched up at the 55th storey of the magnificent hotel, making it the largest outdoor pool in the world that high. Called as the Infinity pool, the drop at the edge of the pool spills into a three-tiered catchment which pumps water right back to the main pool! The hotel also has a boat-shaped 'SkyPark' on top of the three towers. The hotel features 2,560 rooms that would cost you $520 a night. Designed by Moshe Safdie, the structure is said to be based on the design resembling a deck of cards. The hotel décor includes an indoor canal that has Sampan boats to ride in, a casino, an outdoor plaza, a convention centre, a theatre, a crystal pavilion and a lotus flower shaped museum. The resort will open employment to over 10,000 locals, enough to generate $72m each year. [Dailymail]

[ By Delana in Architecture & Design, Environment & Nature, Technology & Futurism. ]

Are we on the brink of a new era in construction? With commercial space travel finally within our reach, will we see space colonies within our lifetime? And with Earth’s resources running low, will we soon be forced to move into previously uninhabitable areas of the planet? Japanese construction group Shimizu Corporation seems to think so on all counts, and they’ve come up with a whole series of architectural plans for the world of tomorrow. Their bold ideas, which they collectively call Shimizu’s Dream, illustrate what life on Earth and in space will be like in the not-too-distant future.

Space Hotel

Space tourism will be big business in the future, so it only makes sense to start planning the grand space hotels of tomorrow. This low Earth orbit hotel will be connected to its docking station by a 240-meter (790-foot) elevator shaft. The hotel consists of four elements: solar energy supply (and battery for storing power), loading and unloading platform, a public area, and a sleeping quarters section with 64 guest rooms and 40 staff rooms. The sleeping rooms are arranged in a ring that rotates at a comfortable 3rpm, providing artificial gravity of 0.7G. Guests will be free to observe Earth and other space bodies while enjoying recreation and meals in microgravity.

Urban Geo-Grid Plan

Back on Earth, urban space is running short and it’s time we figure out how to maximize our city areas. The Urban Geo-Grid Plan would move many of our essential urban functions underground to ease congestion on the surface. A vast underground network would be built that would consist of transportation, communications and energy delivery systems – all moved beneath the surface and away from the crowded city streets. There are two different sizes of underground structures: grid points and grid stations. Grid points are small and will contain community amenities like convenience stores and exhibition halls. Grid stations – including some underwater – are larger and will include office buildings, shopping centers and hotels. The ultimate vision is to create an integrated city with both above-ground and below-ground elements.

Luna Ring

Fossil fuel stores are quickly becoming depleted and it’s obvious that future cities will need a cleaner, renewable energy source. What better source is there than unlimited solar power? The Luna Ring concept would put permanent solar collectors around the moon’s equator like a belt. The majority of the solar cells would always face the sun and collect massive amounts of solar energy, which would then be beamed to Earth via microwave power transmission antennae. The construction of the Luna Ring would be handled mostly by robots controlled remotely by people on Earth, though there would be a team of astronauts on hand to supervise the robot fleet.

Lunar Bases

Perhaps in conjunction with the lunar solar plant we will one day finally build the lunar bases that have been predicted for decades. Shimizu Corporation has developed plans for what they feel would be the most expandable and easily operable lunar bases. The base will be constructed of hexagonal modules that will allow for horizontal and vertical expansion. To greatly reduce the costs associated with transporting building materials from Earth to the moon, the modules will be constructed mainly of lunar rocks and soil. Remotely-controlled robots will do most of the work to minimize the risks that would be daunting with a human crew.

Green Float: The Environmental Island

According to Shimizu Corporation, our convenient urban lives have caused us to lose touch with what’s really important and what truly makes us happy: healthy living, cultural pursuits and contact with nature. They want to re-shape the cities of the future to help us reconnect with that healthy, happy lifestyle in an organic way. Their environmental city concept will have a water-bound base with a top that extends into the sky – overall resembling a natural plant. Residential space both at the waterfront and at the top of the tower will house 40,000 people per island, while the tower will provide enough commercial space for 10,000 people to work. Island communities will be joined together in modules, making it possible for entire self-sustaining, carbon-negative cities to be built from groups of the floating platforms.

Inter Cell City

The Inter Cell City is another future city concept based on living organisms. The idea behind the concept is to create sustainable urban systems that integrate natural green spaces with occupied city spaces. Each urban community unit would operate based on citizen initiative, with every one being responsible for its own water, energy and waste management. The cities are designed to be sustainable and to cut down on fossil fuel consumption by 90% within a century.

The Pyramid City in the Air

As far as self-contained cities go, this pyramid city concept is a sight to behold. It is meant to house around a million people in just a 3 square mile footprint, all of whom will be able to enjoy ample sunlight and all the rest of nature’s gifts. The truss construction consists of interconnected octahedral units, each of which can accommodate a 100-story building. The building materials are all lightweight but strong, and the shafts that connect each unit are also used to carry the plumbing, communication and electrical systems. Leisure centers, moving walkways, trains and escalators also crisscross the interior of the vast city, allowing an entire population to live, work, study and play comfortably.

Desert Aqua-Net Plan

Though changing the ecological structure of a place is generally not considered very “green,” we may one day find ourselves faced with the inevitability of living in the desert. Deserts currently occupy around one-third of the planet, so Shimizu Corporation wants to utilize some of that currently uninhabitable space. Their plan is to create seawater canals that will feed artificial lakes in arid regions, then build habitable islands in those lakes. Putting the living spaces into the middle of lakes will cut down on the extreme temperatures to create pleasant living conditions. The canals could also be used for transportation, making the previously difficult-to-traverse desert much more easily navigable.

[ WebUrbanist - By Delana in Architecture & Design, Environment & Nature, Technology & Futurism. ]

The Now That’s Nifty blog reports on photo tarpaulins from the German company Style Your Garage. These tarps are giant flexible photos designed for “up-and-over” garage doors, and they attach with Velcro. They have a variety of themes ranging from vehicles to landscapes to animals and more. Some of my favorites are the jet plane

Italy

and, for those with double garage doors, the dump truck.

If you don’t want to do your garage door, the company also has similar products for standard doors and windows. Prices are $225 for the single-door garage versions, and $439 and up for the double-door and triple-door garage versions. The single-door “motif of the week” is $185.

Style-Your-Garage [Manufacturer's Site]

via http://whileyouwerentlistening.posterous.com/irrelephant

For 50 years, residents of the French village of Pont-Saint-Esprit have tried to understand the "cursed bread" incident, a moment of terrifying mass insanity and hallucinations that left at least five dead and dozens in asylums. Now the mystery is solved: the CIA secretly spiked the bread from the bakery with enormous quantities of LSD as part of its cold war mind-control experiments, at least according to recently uncovered documents. The allegation originates with H P Albarelli Jr., an investigative journalist who uncovered the documents while researching his forthcoming book, A Terrible Mistake: The Murder of Frank Olson and the CIA's Secret Cold War Experiments.

One man tried to drown himself, screaming that his belly was being eaten by snakes. An 11-year-old tried to strangle his grandmother. Another man shouted: "I am a plane", before jumping out of a second-floor window, breaking his legs. He then got up and carried on for 50 yards. Another saw his heart escaping through his feet and begged a doctor to put it back. Many were taken to the local asylum in strait jackets...

Scientists at Fort Detrick told him that agents had sprayed LSD into the air and also contaminated "local foot products".

Mr Albarelli said the real "smoking gun" was a White House document sent to members of the Rockefeller Commission formed in 1975 to investigate CIA abuses. It contained the names of a number of French nationals who had been secretly employed by the CIA and made direct reference to the "Pont St. Esprit incident." In its quest to research LSD as an offensive weapon, Mr Albarelli claims, the US army also drugged over 5,700 unwitting American servicemen between 1953 and 1965.

French bread spiked with LSD in CIA experiment (Thanks, Steve and everyone else who suggested this!)

(Image: Shaw's French Bread, a Creative Commons Attribution photo from Adam Pieniazek's photostream)

Albert Einstein has long been considered a genius by the masses. He was a theoretical physicist, philosopher, author, and is perhaps the most influential scientists to ever live.

Einstein has made great contributions to the scientific world, including the theory of relativity, the founding of relativistic cosmology, the prediction of the deflection of light by gravity, the quantum theory of atomic motion in solids, the zero-point energy concept, and the quantum theory of a monatomic gas which predicted Bose–Einstein condensation, to name a few of his scientific contributions.

Einstein received the 1921 Nobel Prize in Physics “for his services to Theoretical Physics, and especially for his discovery of the law of the photoelectric effect.”

He’s published more than 300 scientific works and over 150 non-scientific works. Einstein is considered the father of modern physics and is probably the most successful scientist there ever was.

10 Amazing Lessons from Albert Einstein:

1. Follow Your Curiosity
   
   

   “I have no special talent. I am only passionately curious.”

   
   What piques your curiosity? I am curious as to what causes one person to succeed while another person fails; this is why I’ve spent years studying success. What are you most curious about? The pursuit of your curiosity is the secret to your success.


2. Perseverance is Priceless
   
   

   “It's not that I'm so smart; it's just that I stay with problems longer.”

   
   Through perseverance the turtle reached the ark. Are you willing to persevere until you get to your intended destination? They say the entire value of the postage stamp consist in its ability to stick to something until it gets there. Be like the postage stamp; finish the race that you’ve started!


3. Focus on the Present
   
   

   “Any man who can drive safely while kissing a pretty girl is simply not giving the kiss the attention it deserves.”

   
   My father always says you cannot ride two horses at the same time. I like to say, you can do anything, but not everything. Learn to be present where you are; give your all to whatever you’re currently doing.
   
   Focused energy is power, and it’s the difference between success and failure.


4. The Imagination is Powerful
   
   

   “Imagination is everything. It is the preview of life's coming attractions. Imagination is more important than knowledge.”

   
   Are you using your imagination daily? Einstein said the imagination is more important than knowledge! Your imagination pre-plays your future. Einstein went on to say, “The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge, but imagination.” Are you exercising your “imagination muscles” daily, don’t let something as powerful as your imagination lie dormant.


5. Make Mistakes
   
   

   “A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new.”

   
   Never be afraid of making a mistake. A mistake is not a failure. Mistakes can make you better, smarter and faster, if you utilize them properly. Discover the power of making mistakes. I’ve said this before, and I’ll say it again, if you want to succeed, triple the amount of mistakes that you make.


6. Live in the Moment
   
   

   “I never think of the future - it comes soon enough.”

   
   The only way to properly address your future is to be as present as possible “in the present.”
   
   You cannot “presently” change yesterday or tomorrow, so it’s of supreme importance that you dedicate all of your efforts to “right now.” It’s the only time that matters, it’s the only time there is.


7. Create Value
   
   

   “Strive not to be a success, but rather to be of value."

   
   Don’t waste your time trying to be successful, spend your time creating value. If you’re valuable, then you will attract success.
   
   Discover the talents and gifts that you possess, learn how to offer those talents and gifts in a way that most benefits others.
   
   Labor to be valuable and success will chase you down.


8. Don’t Expect Different Results
   
   

   “Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”

   
   You can’t keep doing the same thing everyday and expect different results. In other words, you can’t keep doing the same workout routine and expect to look differently. In order for your life to change, you must change, to the degree that you change your actions and your thinking is to the degree that your life will change.


9. Knowledge Comes From Experience
   
   

   “Information is not knowledge. The only source of knowledge is experience.”

   
   Knowledge comes from experience. You can discuss a task, but discussion will only give you a philosophical understanding of it; you must experience the task first hand to “know it.” What’s the lesson? Get experience! Don’t spend your time hiding behind speculative information, go out there and do it, and you will have gained priceless knowledge.


10. Learn the Rules and Then Play Better
    
    

    “You have to learn the rules of the game. And then you have to play better than anyone else.”

    
    To put it all in simple terms, there are two things that you must do. The first thing you must do is to learn the rules of the game that you’re playing. It doesn’t sound exciting, but it’s vital. Secondly, you must commit to play the game better than anyone else. If you can do these two things, success will be yours!

Thank you for reading and be sure to pass this article along!

Written on 3/09/2010 by Mr. Self Development who is a motivational author that offers a practical guide to success and wealth; support him by visiting his blog at mrselfdevelopment.com. .

Photo Credit: nobelprize.org

The Oil Drum post some interesting data on the energy input required to produce different kinds of foods; I threw them into bar chart form and it sure looks like Graham Hill should be pitching the idea of a Weekday Vegan rather than a Weekday Vegetarian; cheese is as high as meat....Read the full story on TreeHugger

Cigarette smokers have lower IQs than non-smokers, and the more a person smokes, the lower their IQ, a study in over 20,000 Israeli military recruits suggests.