BioTerra

BioTerra não esquece o massacre de Timor, em 12 de Novembro de 1991

bioterra44@yahoo.com (João Soares) — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 00:01:00 +0000

O acontecimento trágico que deu visibilidade internacional e conduziu à libertação do povo de Timor.

Entretanto descobri que uma escritora Australiana Sara Niner publicou uma biografia de Xana Gusmão e agora expõe alguns capítulos num blogue.

Mais Memória
12 de Novembro de 1991 - Registos, multimédia e interrede

Energia solar sem painéis solares?

bioterra44@yahoo.com (João Soares) — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 23:14:00 +0000

Por Bethy, Care 2, 10 de Novembro 2009

Despite a significant boom in the demand for solar power and the sophistication of photo-voltaic technology, many people still reluctant to outfit their homes with the hardware that's needed to take advantage of this free and clean source of energy. What's keeping the average home or business owner from taking advantage of the lower utility bills that solar power has to offer?

Zhong Wang, a scientist at Georgia Tech,
holds up a new solar cell prototype.

Well, among other things, many are turned off by the idea of plunking large, bulky, black panels on top of their home's roof. Thanks to a new technology being developed by scientists at Georgia Tech University, the equipment needed to use solar power might become much more subtle in the near future. MSNBC recently reported that instead of using traditional solar panels, the Georgia Tech scientists are working to capture sunlight and turn it into electricity using fiber optics cables coated with zinc oxide, the same white compound lifeguards slather on their noses. The fiber optic cables, each one two to three times the width of a human hair, could be installed on the roof of a house, car or any other structure with almost total invisibility. One of the biggest hindrances to widespread use of solar power is that, while highly efficient, conventional solar cells are easily damaged, require intense heat to operate at optimum levels, and are very expensive to produce; a cost that is passed on to home and business owners who seek to use them. Fiber optic photovoltaics, on the other hand, are relatively easy and inexpensive to produce. A solution of zinc oxide is heated to about 70 degrees Celsius (158 degrees Fahrenheit), about the same temperature as a cup of coffee. The cables are then dipped into the zinc oxide and allowed to dry. Embed the fiber optics in the walls of a house, or the roof of a car, expose one end of the fiber to light and attach some wiring, and the electricity will start to flow. Raymond Saluccio, CEO of New Jersey based EarthSure, recently announced his company's plans to route light, be it from the sun or incandescent light bulbs, using fiber optic cables connected to underground solar panels. Known as SubSolar, the plan could generate solar power 24 hours a day, seven days a week in hospitals or office buildings where the lights are always on (MSNBC).

Momentos de relaxamento: Zefrank ( fazer flocos de neve, entre outros brinquedos interactivos)

bioterra44@yahoo.com (João Soares) — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:05:00 +0000

• meditation flowers
• frog
• string spin
• carol maker
• flake maker
• the scribbler
• 5sec doodle
• dtoyvsbyokal
• your mama
• puppets
• flowers
• snm#1
• sequencer
• gyro
• bug
• for shelda's mom
• build yer own
• matrix
• oranges
• quotes
• what we want
• googly
• babypics
• letters 1.2
• web noise
• kal#2

Top 10 dos países, de acordo com Climate Action Tracker

bioterra44@yahoo.com (João Soares) — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 22:15:00 +0000

Top 10

The Climate Action Tracker reveals large differences between the ambition levels of countries when it comes to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. In the lead are the Maldives and Costa Rica, which have proposed to become climate-neutral in by around 2020. At the high end of the scale is Japan, Norway and Switzerland, who propose significant redcutions. In the middle of the range are developing countries such as Mexico, China, Indonesia, Brazil, which propose to reduce the growth of their emissions by the 2020s. The EU is a special case, in that its unconditional commitment is rated inadequate, while the EU would enter the medium range if its 30% reduction target were to be adopted. Between the middle and the bottom of the scale is the United States, whose proposed actions are inadequate to fall within the range that is needed to keep global warming within lower limits. At the very bottom end of the scale are countries that have yet to propose substantial action beyond business as usual. These include Belarus, Russia and Ukraine.
Click on the countries to view individual results.

Ranking

Role Model

Sufficient

Medium

Mexico

Inadequate

Lançamento do sítio Climate Action Tracker

bioterra44@yahoo.com (João Soares) — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 19:04:00 +0000

The new website Climate Action Tracker provides an up-to-date assessment of commitments and actions proposed by individual countries for greenhouse gas emission reductions in preparation for the UNFCCC conference in Copenhagen, December 2009. It enables the public to track the emission commitments and actions proposed by countries for a Copenhagen climate agreement. It enables users to evaluate progress towards limiting global temperature increase to 2°C or 1.5°C.

The website gone live on Friday 6 November 2009.

The website is a joint effort of Ecofys and Climate Analytics with the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impacts Research (PIK) funded by the European Climate Foundation.

Documentário sobre Pierre Dansereau An Ecology of Hope, Fernand Dansereau, 2001, 84 min

bioterra44@yahoo.com (João Soares) — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 00:14:00 +0000

A documentary portrait of ecologist Pierre Dansereau, the film takes us from Baffin Island to New York City, from the Gaspé Peninsula to Brazil. At each stop on this world tour, we hear his story and witness landscapes of breathtaking beauty.

O ultimo agricultor da Foz, Porto (The last farmer of the Foz, Porto, Portugal)

bioterra44@yahoo.com (João Soares) — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 20:21:00 +0000

A documentary about the last farmer of the old Foz do Douro in Porto, Portugal.
Director: Sasu Sorkio, 2007

Possibilities

bioterra44@yahoo.com (João Soares) — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 00:12:00 +0000

Sometimes here at YouWorkForThem, we get some down time (or make free time) to just experiment with new ideas and small topics to keep our minds fresh. We recently took the topic of Possibilities and explored putting this into motion. This video was composed by one of our designers, Lee Suetorsak.
Soundtrack by Michael Madill

Em 1796 os Estados Unidos eram pioneiros no secularismo

bioterra44@yahoo.com (João Soares) — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 20:13:00 +0000

Nesta semana, há exactamente 213 anos, no final da segunda administração presidencial de George Washington, foi assinado O Tratado de Paz e Amizade,em Tripoli, a 4 de Novembro de 1796 (e posteriormente na Argélia em 3 de janeiro de 1797). O também conhecido Tratado de Tripoli, contém uma declaração extraordinária,que causa incómodo às comunidades conservadoras e aos lobbies religiosos norte-americanos.

O artigo 11º (de doze) do acordo diz o seguinte: Assim como o governo dos Estados Unidos da América não está de maneira alguma fundado na Religião Cristã,( não tendo em si nenhum caráter de inimizade contra as leis, religião ou tranqüilidade dos Muçulmanos) e como já foi dito, os Estados Unidos nunca entraram em guerra ou em algum acto de hostilidade contra qualquer nação maometana, fica declarado pelas partes que nenhum pretexto vindo de opiniões religiosas produzirá uma interrupção da harmonia existente entre os dois países.

Portanto eis uma declaração de elevado juízo ético e pacificador, que deveria ser reformulado em muitos países e em relações internacionais actuais.Aliás, um estudo feito por Ed Buckner (na página de Stephen Jay Gould Org), demonstra que à época, esta declaração não gerou nenhum conflito político nem entre o público em geral.

Resume: Little-Known U.S. Document (Treaty of Tripoli) Proclaims America's Government Is Secular

For Further Information:

Does the Treaty of Tripoli say that The Government of the United States is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion? by Tom Peters

The Government of the United States of America Is Not, in Any Sense, Founded on the Christian Religion, by Jim Walker (webpage link from the Freethinkers Home Page

Joel Barlow and the Treaty of Tripoli, by Rob Boston. Church & State, Vol. 50, No. 6 (June 1997), pp. 11-14

Little-Known U. S. Document Signed by President Adams Proclaims America's Government Is Secular, by Jim Walker. Early America Review, Vol. II, No. 1 (Summer 1997)

Quotations that Support the Separation of State and Church, Second Edition. Edited by Edward M. Buckner and Michael E. Buckner. Atlanta: Atlanta Freethought Society, 1995.

Jim White - Jailbird

bioterra44@yahoo.com (João Soares) — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 00:05:00 +0000

Dixie is a scourge and a scar
and a girl in my heart
and a state of mind.

Jesus is the man with a plan...
he's a short haired Mexican friend of mine.

This small town crowd will drag you down
can't leave your past behind.
Wipers in the rain tapping out time
coming up on a new state line.

I wanna be a jailbird,
from the prison of my own damn mind.
Gonna get me a fast car,
set out and see what I can find.
Brick up the well of tears and disappear
leave myself behind.
I wanna be a jailbird
from the prison of my own damn mind.

Midnight, take a short cut
through the downtown cemetary.
No stepping on graves.
Check the statue of the Virgin Mary.
She's catching moonlight in the shadows
revealing spider webs.
Can you see the black widow
hung between our lady's hands?

Now used to be when I was young
I was so hungry for oblivion.
My thoughts would linger
like fingers in a deadly web.
But in time, as sorrow showed it's face,
in kind I learned to ache for grace.
To work and pray to one day be
delivered whole, alive and free.

Projectos?

bioterra44@yahoo.com (João Soares) — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 11:36:00 +0000

Muita gente me pergunta: e tu o que estás a fazer? Projectos? Como sempre os que envolvem os meus Alunos. São as sementes que eu quero ou desejo fiquem bem nutridas, plenos de conhecimentos científicos e filosóficos, equipados com toda a genética da Carta da Terra, Conservação da Natureza e vivências pacíficas construtivas!

Jim White - A perfect day to chase tornadoes

bioterra44@yahoo.com (João Soares) — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 00:08:00 +0000

Way down south I know a girl who is blind.
She walks alone along a lonely highway each day.
She dreams that one day a man will pull up in a car.
He'll open up the door, she'll climb in and he will say:
"Hey babe, whatcha know? Hope you're ready to go,
'Cause today's a perfect day to chase tornados."
Yeah when the wild wind whips around your head you know, that you have found a perfect day to chase tornados.

And what about that preacher man on the run from the law?
He killed a girl in Memphis and ran 'till the dogs tracked him down.
They shot him by the river and as he lay dying in the mud,
Well someone asked him, hey Preacher, where's your soul going now?
And Preacher said, "Well, I do not know, but wherever it is I'll gladly go...
'Cause today's a perfect day to chase tornados.
Yeah when the wild wind kicks around your head you know, that you have found a perfect day to chase tornados.

Sometimes I think that the sky is a prison and the earth is a grave.
And sometimes I feel like Jesus, in some Chinese opera.
And sometimes I'm glad I built my mansion from crazy little stones.
But sometimes I feel so goddamned trapped by everything that I know.
And I wish it wasn't so, cause the only thing that anyone should ever know
Is that today's a perfect day to chase tornados.
Yeah, when the wild wind whips around your head you know,
That you have found a perfect day to chase tornados.

Maurizio Pallante sobre a economia mundial (em português)

bioterra44@yahoo.com (João Soares) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 00:02:00 +0000

Maurizio Pallante, fundador e presidente da ONG Italiana Decrescita Felice faz uma analise da economia mundial e os futuros comuns entre os países ocidentais e os empobrecidos pela imitação do ocidente

Entrevista a Chris Carlsson, autor de Nowtopia

bioterra44@yahoo.com (João Soares) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 00:06:00 +0000

Morreu Levi-Strauss- documentário sobre a sua obra "Os Tristes Trópicos" (em francês, 46 min)

bioterra44@yahoo.com (João Soares) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 17:43:00 +0000

O filósofo-antropólogo Claude Lévi-Strauss tornou-se o primeiro membro centenário da Academia Francesa, para onde entrou em 1973.Para saber um pouco mais sobre este gigante pensador e humanista, consultem uma postagem do meu blogue BioTerra, de 2008 Levi-Strauss faz 100 anos de vida

Good Morning! Gráfico dos bons dias pelo mundo

bioterra44@yahoo.com (João Soares) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 00:03:00 +0000

Por Paulo Querido, para Twitter Portugal, em 19 de Outubro 2009

GoodMorning! é uma aplicação interessante. Ou talvez um peça de arte de uma categoria ainda sem nome, a arte digital multimedia mashup reticular. Data art também é uma boa etiqueta para este gráfico.
Mostra-nos, num globo giratório, cerca de 11.000 tweets coligidos num período de 24 horas entre 20 e 21 de Agosto deste ano. A recolha destes tweets obedeceu a uma lógica: incluem a expressão good morning em inglês e várias outras línguas.
Os tweets surgem com um código de cores. Blocos verdes são os bons dias dados mais cedo, a laranja estão as saudações cerca das 9 da manhã, os vermelhos são os que acordam tarde. Os pretos são mensagens fora do tempo, alguém diz bom dia às 4 da tarde (departamento dos ressacados & iconoclastas).
Good Morning! é da autoria de Jer Thorp, um artista e educador canadiano, ex-geneticista que explora as fronteiras entre ciência e arte. Leia o artigo original para informações adicionais, incluindo o processo de fabrico da aplicação (alô, jornalistas multimedia).

A minha homenagem a António Sérgio (voz da rádio e Mestre em musicologia)

bioterra44@yahoo.com (João Soares) — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 23:35:00 +0000

Tantos e tantos momentos ouvindo António Sérgio e que identificação eu tinha com as suas escolhas musicais..imenso som da frente!

Documentário Living a self sufficient life, 2006 - Arquitectura auto-sustentável

bioterra44@yahoo.com (João Soares) — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 00:05:00 +0000

Um filme surpreendente!

Campanha contra plásticos nos EUA: The Bay vs. The Bag

bioterra44@yahoo.com (João Soares) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 00:01:00 +0000

Alessandro Verta - Il Mio Mondo (O Meu Mundo)

bioterra44@yahoo.com (João Soares) — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 20:38:00 +0000

Alessandro Verta é engº florestal, Italiano, reformado, que dedicou e dedica muito da sua vida na conservação da vida selvagem e da floresta mediterrânica. Seus importantes contributos estão registados, p. ex., em relatórios para a CEE.Aqui ficam algumas imagens do seu álbum Il Mio Mondo (O Meu Mundo)

É melhor os U2 reduzirem a pegada de carbono nos próximos tours

bioterra44@yahoo.com (João Soares) — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 20:00:00 +0000

No twitter de Paul (Green)Smith

 Arguably the biggest rock band of the past three decades, U2 has been vocal over the years about their stance on the climate and social injustice.  

On their current No Line on the Horizon tour, their acts have demonstrated the opposite of what they've been saying. Due to the extravagant stage set, requiring 100 trucks, there is a massive crew (200 people) that need to travel with the band.  

Carbonfootprint has said the tour's carbon emissions are equal to the four band members travelling the 34.125 million miles from Earth to Mars in a passenger plane.  

Carbonfootprint also says that the tour will also create as much waste as 6,500 average people in 1 year. To offset this, U2 would have to plant 20,118 trees simply to offset this one tour's dates.  

The band has said that they would pay the carbon offset charges, but is that the solution to just throw money at it?

  I think that this has a pretty simple solution: don't be excessive in your stage set. Yes, it's nice and great for the fans, but if you are going to talk the talk, walk it as well. Otherwise, it's just a PR stunt.

Image: The opening night in Barcelona´s Nou Camp last week featured the space station-style stage and satellite link-up with the International Space Station.

Ler ainda notícia no The Independent, 7 de Julho de 2009 (com números mais detalhados)

Goldfrapp - Fly Me Away (Official Animated Video 2006)

bioterra44@yahoo.com (João Soares) — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 00:02:00 +0000

Drifting out of time
Something on your mind
And I wanna be the
One that you call
When you get down
No matter where you
Are in the world I'll be around

Fly me away on an Aeroplane
High in the sky
Wanna see you again
Wanna know this time,
Gonna tell you what I'm feeling
Gonna know this time,
Gonna get it back that feeling

Miles and miles of sun
Endless roads
twist on
Don't wanna live a life
In a world that's all the same
The crazy little things
That you do are magical

This crazy life
This crazy world
We're living in is
Magical

Brian Eno - How Many Worlds

bioterra44@yahoo.com (João Soares) — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 00:04:00 +0000

Thinking of a world and the light of the sun
And all the many lives that were ever begun,
Ever begun.

Our little world turning in the blue
As each day goes there's another one new,
Another one new.

How many people will we feed today,
How many lips will we kiss today,
If we wake up?

How many worlds will we ever see,
And how people can we ever be,
If we wake up?

Thinking of a world in the light of the sun
And all the many lives that were ever begun,
Ever begun.

Arte-Ambiente no Flickr- Kane Gledhill

bioterra44@yahoo.com (João Soares) — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 00:16:00 +0000

Kane Gledhill is a Landscape and Nature Photograhper living in Brisbane Australia. Kane was born in New Zealand but moved to Australia after completing high school. Gledhill is very talanted photographer, with huge Flickr portrfolio.

Philip Glass - Organic (Koyaanisqatsi)

bioterra44@yahoo.com (João Soares) — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 00:02:00 +0000

Ainda insistindo no filme Koyaanisqatsi e no álbum homónimo de Philip Glass (ver resumo aqui), publico agora o hino à geologia, geodiversidade e às eras geológicas.