Powered by solar-paneled roofs overhead, these barge farms feature hydroponic space for produce above and support fish farming below, using extant technologies to offshore vast quantities of food to be grown on the water.
Based in Barcelona, Forward Thinking Architecture is pushing its Smart Floating Farms concept to interested cities and investors, boasting the modularity of this system that can start with a single barge or morph into a fleet of connected vessels. Each barge is designed to yield over 8 tons of fruits and vegetables and nearly 2 tons of fish per year.
The barges would be 656 by 1,150 feet and contain its own desalination plant, able to turn saltwater to fresh for farming purposes. Solar, wind and wave power render each platform self-sufficient in terms of energy as well as relatively independent, needing little human interaction or intervention to function.
While there is no set date for launching the first of these floating farms, the feasibility of the system is promising. It does not presuppose any technology that does not already exist, and represents a natural expansion of development beyond land to adjacent open spaces on the water.
From the architects: “The world population is predicted to grow from 6.9 billion in 2010 to 8.3 billion in 2030 and to 9.1 billion in 2050. By 2030, food demand is predicted to increase by 50% (70% by 2050). The main challenge facing the agricultural sector is not so much growing 70% more food in 40 years, but making 70% more food available on the plate.”
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I don't think there's any question now: Cesc Fabregas is dead to me.
• Fàbregas says Chelsea need striker firing to win Champions League • José Mourinho: Costa will play at Porto before they suspend him again
Cesc Fàbregas has described Diego Costa’s three-match domestic suspension as “unfair” and a sanction which has left the striker deeply frustrated as Chelsea prepare to welcome the Spain forward back for the Champions League group game in Porto.
The apple seems to get all the love this time of year, but it's hardly the only fruit that reaches its peak of flavor and juiciness in the fall. Here's the truth: Pears come in a huge variety of textures and flavors, and are every bit as versatile as their attention-hogging cousins. These 16 recipes restore them to their rightful place in the spotlight.
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It's always difficult to decide whether to get onion rings or fries (get a combo if they'll let you!). Proper beer-battered onion rings, with a substantial crisp crust covering a sweet, tender, thick ring of onion, are one of life's three greatest pleasures (and the only one that can be enjoyed legally, incidentally), but how often do you get perfect rings?
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When Wenger dreams of football, like Jiro Dreams of Sushi, it is inevitably a dream about perfect football gems served up in bite sized chunks to the public: the opponent playing a high line against his speedy forwards when Arsenal don’t have the ball, the opposition not particularly getting stuck in against his team when they do have the ball, the opponent limited to pot shots from distance when they get close enough to goal to have a shot, his team walking the ball in and getting shots in front of goal, and for his team to exploit the space and freedom given by the opponent on counter attacks. If Jiro Dreams of Sushi and Wenger Dreams of Football this was a three Michelin Star meal served up pitch side in Leicester.
Leicester’s high line was apparent from the start, when Theo Walcott was put through in the 3rd minute. Walcott was called offside but Leicester didn’t hear the warning. By full time, Leicester only attempted 358 passes, but 148 of them were in Arsenal’s final third: 41% of their total attempted passes. In contrast Arsenal played almost the same number of passes in the Leicester final third 157 but that was out of 537 total passes, 29% . Wenger was teasing them with an amuse-bouche in that first 3 minutes, but went on to serve a full meal of counter attacking football with goals from Walcott, Alexis, Alexis, and Giroud all build from snuffing out Leicester attacks.
Wenger has long been ridiculed for “trying to walk the ball in” but despite fan’s love of the long shot goal there are statistical reasons not to shoot from distance too much. It’s a very speculative shot, around 3% finishing rate. Which is exactly what makes those goals so special and why fans want to see them. But Wenger, playing the numbers, encourages his team to get chances inside the box where the conversion is much higher, 15%.
So, in Wenger’s dream, his team would shoot mostly inside the box and in reality they do: Arsenal have the most shots in the League from all positions (147) and most critically, they have 92 shots in the penalty area which also leads the League. But what’s astounding is that Arsenal took 22 shots inside the Leicester box today. That’s 24% of the season’s total. If shots are Wenger’s spice blend he has the perfect level of salt and pepper with all those shots in the box and just a dash of chili pepper with Alexis’ goal from 25 yards.
But the menu nearly backfired when Wenger sent out a burnt Flamini as the starter. In the first 83 minutes of the match Leicester only had 10 shots. 3 of those shots were what fans consider “big” shots: the Vardy goal, the header over the bar, and the Vardy shot that hit the post. All three of those shots came in the first 20 minutes with Flamini on the pitch.
Between the moment Flamini came off in the 20th minute and the 78th minute when Ox came on for Rambo, Leicester only had 4 total shots, all from outside the box where players score at about a 3% rate. It was Arteta, the waiter, coming on and shoring things up for Arsenal which allowed Wenger to serve his second, third, and fourth courses.
And what gems those courses were. We’ve all been waiting for Alexis to score and before this match he was 0/31 in League play which included an 0/5 record in big chance situations. The first goal was the very definition of a big chance: wide open in front of goal, ball lands softly at feet, no ‘keeper, just put it in. The second goal was recorded as a big chance but wow, what a ball from Özil and what determination from Sanchez to rise above Schmeichel to score.
But after the feast of goals a weird thing happened when Wenger trotted out the Ox. Maybe he was supposed to be the “wafer thin mint” on top of the delicious meal that Arsenal’s brigade had served up? Maybe Wenger threw him on to get a goal against a leaky Leicester defense? I don’t know, but I do know that from the 78th minute to the end of the game, Leicester took 6 shots: 2 in prime areas, 2 big chances (saved), 1 blocked, 1 regular shot saved, and scored 1 goal when Vardy wasn’t closed down by Mertesacker 10 yards from goal.
That last 15 minutes of the game was as poor a defensive performance as I’ve seen from an Arsenal team. If we keep the restaurant analogy going, it’s like Wenger had shut the doors, closed the kitchen, and just as he was ready to turn out the lights noticed that there was a table full of people. Luckily they didn’t demand a feast and were satisfied with just dessert.
Old School By the Numbers
10 – Number of goals Arsenal have scored this season 5 – Number of goals Arsenal scored in the first 6 games of the season 5 – Number of goals Arsenal scored today 2 – Number of those first five goals that were scored by Own Goal 18 – Number of “big chances” Arsenal have created this season¹ 5 – Number of big chances Arsenal have scored this season 28 – Percent of big chances that Arsenal have converted this season 45 – Percent of big chances that Arsenal have converted in each of the last two seasons 7 – Big chances Arsenal’s defense has allowed the opposition to take this season 4 – Big chances that Petr Cech has saved this season 57 – Percent of Big chances that Cech is saving in this small, tiny, minuscule, Mourinho sized sample (SSS = Small Sample Size) 29 – Percent of big chances that Arsenal’s ‘keepers saved over the last two years 38 – Shots taken by Alexis Sanchez this season¹ 3 – Goals scored by Alexis 7 – Percent of his shots he’s finishing so far this season (SSS) 13 – Percent of his shots he finished last year 596 – Passes made by Santi Cazorla this season¹ 535 – Passes made by Fabregas this season (2nd in the League) 28 – Key passes made by Santi Cazorla this season¹ 13 – Key passes made by Cesc Fabregas this season (2.8/game last season, 1.9/game this season) 27 – Key passes made by Özil this season 10 – Key passes made by Cazorla and Özil today³ (5 each) 116 – Key passes made by all of Arsenal this season¹ 47 – Percent of Arsenal’s key passes made by Cazorla and Özil this season (55/116) 7 – Assists by Arsenal this season (tied with 5 teams for 5th) 93 – Successful dribbles by Arsenal this season¹ 89 – Successful dribbles by Leicester this season (2nd best) 34 – Successful dribbles by Riyad Mahrez this season¹ 9 – Successful dribbles by Mahrez today³ (of 12 attempted) 6 – Number of those Mahrez successful dribbles that were against Özil (of 8!) 0 – Mahrez successful tackles (of 5 — Mahrez was “dribbled past” 5 times and Özil 6 times) 20 – Successful dribbles by Alexis Sanchez this season (3rd best behind Hazard) 7 – Successful dribbles by Alexis Sanchez today (of 7 attempted) 35 – Percent of Alexis Sanchez’ successful dribbles for the season that he made in this one match! (Mahrez made 26% of his season’s dribbles today) 18 – Successful dribbles by Leicester today (Mahrez had 1/2) 75 – Number of times Arsenal have been dribbled past (Sunderland 1st, Man City 2nd, Arsenal 3rd, Chelsea 4th, Wham 5th, Leicester 6th… common theme? They all (except Sunderland) play open, attacking football) 24 – Percent of Arsenal’s ‘dribbled pasts’ which happened today
@7amkickoff
*I have a simple expected goals formula that I will publish soon
¹Leads the League
²Leads the Team
³Lead both teams on the day
Large enough for visitors to enter and sit within, three gigantic wooden megaphones constructed in the forests of Estonia amplify ambient sounds of the environment.
Nearly ten feet in diameter each, huge cones render quiet sounds of rustling leaves and birds chirping remarkably audible.
The Tõnu Tunnel installation was conceived of by interior architecture and design students from the Estonian Academy of Arts and implemented with advice from B210 Architects
Thanks to their size and shape, the megaphones double as seating and shelter as well with space enough for a few hikers to spend the night.
Each space can also be used in reverse as well by musical or other (small groups of) stage performers wishing to project sounds outward, or can double as seating for shows in the round.
Construction of the megaphones was financed by RMK and the interior architecture department of the EAA. Each was built offsite and carefully transported into place.
According to Valdur Mikita, a writer and semiotician involved in the project,“The trademark of Estonia is both the abundance of sounds in our forest as well as the silence there. In the megaphones, thoughts can be heard. It is a place for browsing the ‘book of nature,’ for listening to and reading the forest through sound.”
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Hull City midfielder Jake Livermore will avoid a ban despite testing positive for cocaine in May, the FA confirmed as they regarded the circumstances as "exceptional and unique".
Better, cheaper and easier than solar windows, this newly-patented flexible coating can be applied to existing glass and plastic surfaces, turning any aperture into a source of electricity. With this technology on all of its surfaces, buildings can generate up to 50 times more solar energy per structure.
Developed by SolarWindow Technologies, this inexpensive approach has a payback time of as little as one year (far less than the 5 to 10 years of traditional solar approaches. As the technology evolves and expands, it is only a matter of time until every window draws energy from light.
By adding it to the inside surface of a window, the process protects the tech from exterior sources of damage and simplifies application. The solution is also lightweight and adaptable, making it easier to retrofit existing architecture without cost-intensive shipping or labor-intensive installation processes.
These sensitive photovoltaics can draw power from lunar energy and artificial lights in addition to the sun’s rays. Their relatively low price per unit reinforces the sensibility of simply putting them on all sides of a structure, including those with less natural light.
Effectively invisible wires draw electricity from the exposed surfaces while a uniform and architecturally-neutral color tinting process allows for a variety of of looks and degrees of transparency.
This new substance can be deployed as a sticky film on a surface or potentially even painted on as a liquid. The organic (but secretive) constituent source materials of the core polymer include common elements such as carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, and oxygen.
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For the 7th consecutive year, it’s column contest time. Please read the following guidelines and then go get writing!
1. Form and content are open. We are looking for material that is engaging and interesting, in a “we know it when we see it” way. It would probably be a mistake to look at our current columns and try to replicate them. We love those columns, but they came about by authors simply following their own paths. Engage the subject matter you’re interested in, in the way you find most compelling. Our site is primarily known for printing funny things, but columns need not be comic in nature. They don’t even need to be writing, as we have begun to feature more graphic-based material.
2. Everyone is invited. Citizens of all countries are encouraged to submit, provided the submissions are written in English. Columns may also have multiple authors, provided they are willing to split the prize money.
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Do you love coffee enough to make out with it every time you take a sip? You kind of have to if you’re willing to use the ‘Kiss Lid’ by Korean designer Jang WooSeok. Shaped like the lower half of a person’s face, the lid forces you to press your lips against a plastic pair in order to drink your beverage.
The lid makes a statement on take-out coffee as a fashion accessory, and also aims to make the everyday coffee drinking experience a little more fun.
The first prototype featured only a pair of lips, but WooSeok says he ultimately felt like nose-on-nose contact is an important part of the kissing experience, so the design was modified. The face shape is based on that of Greek statues for a classic look, and it’s available in a variety of colors. The design is about to go into production.
It’s made of the same disposable polystyrene plastic as a conventional lid, envisioned as a novelty at cafes, but it seems like a reusable silicone version would be preferable. Then the user could tote around a conversation piece while also cutting back on waste.
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I've been trying to come up with great ways to use leftover grilled chicken breasts that mask their inherent dryness and give them new life. One of my favorites is a fresh, crunchy salad with cabbage, red onion, and a ton of fresh herbs in a tahini-based dressing.
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Many of us have picked up old black and white photographs and wondered what their backstories are, but these artists take history into their own hands, altering the images to produce new narratives. In the following 40+ revised photographic histories, new elements are combined with the mysterious original images, giving them a sense of surreality that could then serve as the basis of an entire book if the creative chain were to continue.
Black-and-White to Colorfully Surreal by Jane Long
A figure in a found black-and-white photograph catches artist Jane Long’s eye and she begins to envision them in a new setting, giving them a story, making them somehow less anonymous. She digitally restores and colorizes each image and combines them with other photographs to create entirely new, surreal compositions. “I wanted people to see these figures as real people, more than just an old photograph. Adding color completely changes our perception of images.”
Library of Congress Images Get Horror Makeover by Jim Kazanjian
Historical photographs archived by the Library of Congress are a lot more interesting in the hands of digital artist Jim Kazanjian, who combines them in unexpected ways to create terrifying architectural creations straight out of a horror movie. “I’ve chosen photography as a medium because of the cultural misunderstanding that it has a sort of built-in objectivity. This allows me to set up a visual tension within the work, to make it resonate and lure the viewer further inside. My current series is inspired by the classic horror literature of H.P. Lovecraft, Algernon Blackwood and similar authors.”
Crazy Hyper-Colored Collages by Eugenia Loli
These smash-ups of vividly colored vintage photographs juxtapose entirely unexpected elements, like gigantic children riding tortoises through a city park or a war plane dropping candy instead of bombs. “I start by finding a ‘base’ image, and then I sort of build around it. Sometimes I have a concrete idea of what I want to do, and sometimes I leave the images to fit together by themselves,” says artist Eugenia Loli. “Sometimes, after a lot of juxtaposing, the ‘base’ image might not even be a part of the final collage. Most of the time I try to ‘say’ something important via my art, but other times it’s just about doodling.”
Bizarre Details Painted Onto Photos by Colin Batty
Can you imagine what the original subjects of these photos would think if they saw artist Colin Batty’s alterations? They might be a tad disturbed to see their own heads on fire or replaced by gigantic eyeballs. The artist paints with acrylics directly onto cabinet cards from the early 1900s.
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Solving a series of long-standing issues associated with taking out the typical fast food trifecta, this clever carrying case is a useful alternative to Happy Meal boxes, bags and cupholders that work better for cars than people traveling on foot or by bike.
The solution is more subtle than it might first appear – yes, it solves the timeless question of how to hold a drink as well as a meal, but it also separates out the warm foods (french fries and hamburger above) from the cool drink (soda or shake suspended below), then unfolds into a ready-to-eat spread. Thin cardboard makes the entire container easy to collapse as well.
Customers can hold the package in their hand or slip it over the handlebars and continue cycling unencumbered. Targeted initially toward markets in two bicycle-friendly cities (Copenhagen, Denmark and Medellin, Colombia), the company is also looking to give these a go in Amsterdam, Holland and Tokyo, Japan.
For now, it is a trial redesign that is as much about marketing toward young urban bikers, but if the packaging is sound there seems to be no obvious reason for McDonalds not to ultimately deploy these around the world (and for other fast food chains to follow suit).
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In case you don't know, this guy is a bigger douche thAn me
Full transcript: Chelsea boss refuses to answer questions about club doctor during tense press conference, even walking off in protest as they continue
Exactly. Quit the gym, eat less. The myth in America is that we can EAT our way thin and that we can workout and eat whatever we want. It's the most pernicious of lies.
Civil Eats: Your next book, Soda Politics: Taking on Big Soda (and Winning), documents the history of how this sugary beverage gave rise to some of our most powerful corporations and has lately become Public Enemy Number One in the war on obesity.
With sales on the decline, the New York Times recently reported that Coca-Cola is pouring millions of dollars into a ‘science-based’ campaign to convince the public that the secret to achieving and maintaining a healthy weight is not avoiding excess calories, but getting more exercise. What’s the science on more exercise versus fewer calories?
Marion Nestle: When it comes to studies about the health effects of sugary drinks, the science, alas, depends on who pays for it. Studies paid for by government or private health foundations show that if you want to prevent obesity, [a combination of] eating less and moving more works every time.
You can lose weight by eating less on its own. But you will have a much harder time doing that by increasing physical activity. This is because it takes lots of effort to compensate for excess calories. Eat two little Oreo cookies—100 calories—and you have to walk a mile to work them off. Drink a 20-ounce soda and you need to cover nearly three miles. This was the point of the New York City health department’s subway current poster campaign, which shows that you need to walk from Union Square in Manhattan to downtown Brooklyn to burn off 275 calories.
The soda industry would love you to believe that the principal cause of obesity is lack of physical activity, and they put tons of money into research to discourage other ideas. They much prefer you to believe that all of their products can be part of an active, healthy lifestyle that includes balanced diets, proper hydration, and regular physical activity. I call the idea the “physical activity diversion.” It deflects attention from what really counts in obesity prevention: not eating huge amounts of junk foods, snack foods, and sodas.
Mind you, I’m greatly in favor of physical activity for its many benefits: physiological, social, psychological, and health. But there is a good reason for the outraged reaction to Coca-Cola’s video seemingly suggesting that all you have to do to burn off the 140 “happy calories” in a 12-ounce soft drink is to laugh out loud for 75 seconds. This is so far from the reality of calorie balance that several countries actually banned the commercial [in 2013].
Soda companies promote the primacy of physical activity in other clever ways. The Coca-Cola Foundation says that about one-third of its philanthropic contributions go to organizations working to counter obesity, especially through promotion of physical activity.
Both Coca-Cola and PepsiCo invest heavily in sponsorship of international sports teams. They put fortunes into recruiting sports celebrities as spokespersons. These investments accomplish two purposes: they influence fans to buy the products and shift the focus to physical activity. Obesity, these imply, is about what you do, not what you eat or drink. Public health advocates complain about how frequently young people—especially those of color or in low-income families—are exposed to advertising by professional athletes. The sponsored programs and celebrities never suggest that drinking less soda might be a useful health-promotion strategy.
As a nutritionist and co-author of a book titled Why Calories Count, I thoroughly agree that balance, variety, and moderation are fundamental principles of healthful diets, and that weight gain is a result of calorie imbalance.
But soda companies distort these principles to distract from their marketing of sugary drinks and how overconsumption of these drinks overrides normal physiological controls of hunger and satiety. Independently funded research makes it abundantly clear that avoiding sodas is one of the best things you can do for your health.
Sponsorship of research or research investigators by Coca-Cola or the American Beverage Association is reason alone for skepticism.
References: I am grateful to Richard Cooper for forwarding his paper on the relative contributions to obesity of diet and exercise. From his review of the literature, you must reduce calories to lose weight.
He also pointed me to rebuttals by Blair and Hill, the investigators featured in the New York Times article cited above.
Funding: Drs. Blair, Archer, and Hand are funded via unrestricted research grants from The Coca-Cola Company for analyses of dietary trends and for an energy balance study.
Conflict of interest: None declared [Evidently, these investigators do not perceive funding by Coca-Cola as a conflict]
Conflict of interest: J.H. receives research grants from the American Beverage Association and serves on advisory boards for McDonalds, General Mills and McCormicks. J.P. receives research funding from the American Beverage Association.
With stylistic nods to classic rounded Airstream trailers, this next-generation mobile pod dwelling is powered by solar and wind energy and provides drinkable water by recycling and filtering the rain.
Designed by Nice Architects, the Ecocapsule shelter is intended to accommodate two people, providing basic necessities and bonus amenities including a fold-out bed, living and dining space, cozy kitchenette, working shower and flush toilet.
A 750-watt wind turbine attaches to the exterior and the roof is clad in a series of built-in solar cells providing multiple means of generating energy for the home. Power can be stored in an onboard battery with close to a 10,000 watt-hour capacity.
The entire structure is road-worthy as well: just under 15 feet long, 8 feet wide and 8 feet tall and weighing a bit over 3,000 pounds. It can be fit into a standard-sized shipping container or towed behind a vehicle. Currently in a prototype phase, the company plans to put these units on the market within the next year.
Its makers envision a great variety of potential uses: “Ecocapsule is a portable house offering an unmatched dwelling experience. With its immense off-grid life span, worldwide portability and flexibility it is suitable for a wide range of applications: from an independent research station or a tourist lodge to an emergency housing or a humanitarian-action unit.”
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