Famous Things Being Built

Famous Things Being Built

Amazing photos of famous constructions being built, 42 more images after the break...

Tower Bridge, c.1893

Tyne Bridge, c.1927-28

Statue Of Liberty, 1870s

The Capitol, 1860s

Disneyland, 1954

The Titanic, 1909-11

Christ The Redeemer, Rio, 1926-1931

Mount Rushmore, 1933

Golden Gate Bridge, 1933-37

Empire State Building, 1929-31

Hoover Dam, 1931-36

Lincoln Memorial, 1914-22

 Neuschwanstein Castle, Bavaria, 1868-1884

One Chase Manhattan Plaza, New York, 1955

Rozenburg Wind Wall

Rozenburg Wind Wall

Rozenburg is a small port town and former municipality in the western Netherlands, in the province of South Holland. After the second World War, the port of Rozenburg grew almost explosively along the Nieuwe Maas river towards the sea. To handle the burgeoning sea traffic, a canal was built in the late 1960s running parallel to the already present Nieuwe Waterweg canal.

Photo — Link

The Caland canal - named after a Dutch civil engineer who was responsible for building of the Nieuwe Waterweg - served as an access for deep draft vessels, in particular bulk carriers and tankers of increasing dimensions that called at the Europoort docks. The narrow waterway, however, became increasingly difficult to navigate in strong winds, particularly around the Calandbrug bridge, as the ships became larger.

In the mid-1980s architect Martin Strujis and artist Frans de Wit were called upon for the task of creating an effective yet aesthetically pleasing wind barrier. The Rozenburg Windwall was the result of their effort. 14 more images after the break...

Photo — Link

Appearing like a large-scale landscape art installation, the Rozenburg Windwall utilizes around 125 individual concrete slabs shaped and grounded in a particular pattern, along a length of 1.75 km that reduces the wind onslaught by 75%. In the southern part of the Canal, the slabs are shaped in the form of semi-circles – 18 meters wide and 25 meters tall. As one progresses towards the Bridge of Calandbrug however, the semi-circle circumference of the Windwall is substantially reduced and each wall is also spaced more closely to each other. Around the bridge, the walls are only 4 meters wide. At its Northern end, the semi-circular slabs are replaced with square slabs 10 meters wide, which placed on top of a 15 meter embankment, attain the same 25m height as the other sections. The barrier continues in this form until it ends in a stand of trees near a gas storage facility.

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चौकट, जिसने हिमालयी आपदा झेलकर भी महफूस रखा इन्सान को !

चौकट, जिसने हिमालयी आपदा झेलकर भी महफूस रखा इन्सान को !
----- वैज्ञानिकों को अब चौकटों में दिखने लगी है हिमालय के नए घरों की तकनीक!  ------विजेन्द्र रावत--------

देहरादून, उत्तराखंड में आई भीषण तबाही से पहाड़ तक दरक गए और आधुनिक इंजीनियरिंग से बने भवन भी तास के पत्तों की तरह बिखर गए पर इस तबाही के बीच यमुना घाटी और गंगा घाटी में
पुरानी भवन शैली से सैकड़ों वर्ष पहले बने चार मंजिलें मकानों (जिन्हें यहाँ की बोली में "चौकट" कहा जाता है) पर एक खरोंच तक नहीं आई।
इन मकानों का इतिहास देखें तो ये अपने जीवन काल में दर्जनों छोटे बड़े भूकंप और आसमानी आपदाएं झेल चुके हैं और इनके ऊपर कई बार बादल भी फटे हैं।
यही नहीं उत्तरकाशी में 1991में आये 6.8 रेक्टर स्केल के भीषण भूकंप में भी ये चौकट अपनी कड़ी अग्नि परीक्षा से गुजर चुके हैं और ये भूकंप जिले के हजारों चौकटों में से एक का बाल भी बांका नहीं कर पाया।
लोगों ने आधुनिकता के चक्कर में भले ही इन चौकटों को अनाथ छोड़कर अपने लिए गाँव में ही कंकरीट के घर खड़े कर लिए हैं पर हिमालय में आने वाली आपदाओं के बीच मजबूती से खड़े रहकर इन चौकटों ने साबित कर दिया है कि हिमालय में मानव के असली आशियानों का रास्ता इन्ही की चौखट से होकर गुजरता है।
एक सर्वेक्षण में पाया गया कि सैकड़ों साल पहले बसे चौकट वाले यहाँ के गाँव ख़ास भौगोलिक स्थिति को परख कर चट्टानी पहाड़ की ओंट में या फिर मजबूत पहाड़ी के ऊपर बसाए गए थे। नदी किनारे बसे गाँव भी चट्टान देखकर उनकी ओंट या उनके ऊपर बसाए गए थे ताकि गाँव को नदी का तेज प्रवाह भी काट न सके। यही कारण है कि इस आपदा में उत्तराखंड के ऐसे पुराने गाँव नुकसान से बच गए या इन्हें मामूली नुकसान हुआ है।
वैज्ञानिक अब दरकते हिमालय को जीवंत रखने के लिए इन्ही पुरानी शैली से गाँव बसाने व घर बनाने के पक्ष में हैं और वे इन्ही भवनों में भविष्य के निर्माण की तकनीक तलाशने में जुट गए हैं।
आधुनिकता की चकाचौंध में भले ही इन चौकटों को लोगों ने वीरान छोड़ दिया हो पर यमुना घाटी के कुछ उत्साही युवकों ने विदेशी पर्यटकों के लिए इन्हें सजाने संवारने का बीड़ा उठाया है, आपदा में खरे उतरने वाले इन चौकटों का महत्त्व अचानक बढ़ गया है और आधुनिक वैज्ञानिक भी इनके चमत्कार को नमस्कार करने लगे हैं।
चौकटों की बनावट-
इन भवनों को लकड़ी व पत्थरों के मजबूत जोड़ों से बनाया जाता है एक फीट की दीवार के बाद लकड़ी के जोड़ डाले जाते हैं। मकान पूरा होने के बाद इसमें चार बल्लियाँ लगाई जाती है जो पूरे मकान को जोड़ने का काम करती हैं। इन लम्बी व भारी बल्लियों को लकड़ी के खांचों में फिट करना इतना कठिन होता है कि इसके लिए सैकड़ों लोगों की जरूरत पड़ती है यही कारण है कि चौकटों का निर्माण ग्रामीण सहकारिता के आधार पर मिलजुलकर कर करते थे। इस तकनीक से पूरा चौकट लकड़ी के मजबूत जोड़ों पर टिका रहता है।

" भवन निर्माण की इस परम्परागत तकनीक के साथ अगर आधुनिक तकनीक को भी मिला दिया जाए तो यह हिमालयी क्षेत्रों के लिए बेहद कारगर सिद्ध हो सकती है। पहाड़ों में गाँव व शहर बसाने में प्राचीन तकनीक आज भी कारगर है। हिमालयी क्षेत्रों में जहां भी परम्परागत मापदंडों को तोड़ा गया है वहीं आपदा ने दस्तक दी है।"
- डा0 पियूष रौतेला, कार्यकारी निदेशक, आपदा न्यूनीकरण एवं प्रबंधन केंद्र -उत्तराखंड

The Number One Worst Polluter on Earth Is… The U.S. Federal Government By W. E. Messamore | 04/18/2012 | Civil Rights, Energy, Foreign Policy, News, States | 14 Comments Read Time: 3 - 5 minutes

Photo Credit: U.S. Federal Government

With Earth Day coming up this weekend, it might be helpful to remember that the worst polluteron planet Earth is not a major corporation, but the United States federal government, and if we’re going to be serious about reducing our impact on the environment, we need to advocate for less, not more government.

Indeed, the federal government is the single largest consumer of energy with 500,000 buildings and 600,000 vehicles. In 2009 alone, the government’s bill for utilities and fuel totaled $24 billion, so it’s no surprise that the government’s carbon footprint is 123.2 million metric tons of carbon dioxide a year.

State and local governments are also among the nation’s worst polluters. In Georgia for example, an investigation just last November found that the state and county governments are Georgia’s worst polluters. In fact, over the last decade, dozens of county governments have racked up a total of more than $14 million in pollution fines and the state government itself is a major hazard to the environment too, with the Georgia Department of Transportation and its contractors alone racking up $1.3 million in pollution fines.

Yet even as awful as many state and local governments throughout the country are, the federal government is still by far, the worst polluter. And despite never-ending plans, promises, and programs from every administration to get its polluting under control (remember the Environmental Protection Agency was started over 40 years ago in 1970– by a Republican) the pollution just keeps getting worse with no end in sight.

This could be in part because military spending and activity, especially after 9-11,  just keeps expanding with no end in sight. While the federal government is the world’s worst polluter, the Department of Defense alone actually pollutes more than the rest of the federal government combined. Yet environmentalist activism directed against the government’s pollution is virtually nonexistent.

As ProjectCensored.org reported last year:

“The US military is responsible for the most egregious and widespread pollution of the planet, yet this information and accompanying documentation goes almost entirely unreported. In spite of the evidence, the environmental impact of the US military goes largely unaddressed by environmental organizations and was not the focus of any discussions or proposed restrictions at the recent UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen. This impact includes uninhibited use of fossil fuels, massive creation of greenhouse gases, and extensive release of radioactive and chemical contaminants into the air, water, and soil.”

In 2005, Lucinda Marshall, founder of the Feminist Peace Network, wrote that the U.S. Department of Defense produces more hazardous waste than the five largest U.S. chemical companies combined. From cancer-causing depleted uranium ammunition and armor, toperchlorate rocket fuel leaking from literally hundreds of military plants and installations into the groundwater of 35 states, to the military’s unquenchable thirst for fossil fuels– the Department of Defense is polluting our environment more than anyone else.

This year on Earth Day, instead of giving the government a free pass on pollution while it polices the rest of our polluting, environmentalists should demand that we start where the problem is worst, that we start by cutting back the government‘s polluting, and not with more phony promises, plans, and programs that never change anything, but by cutting back the size, role, and influence of government itself.

Innovative Jhoolas

Wonderfully Described Definitions......?

Wonderfully Described Definitions......?

Cigarette :  
A Pinch Of Tobacco Rolled in Paper
With Fire At One End And A Fool At The Other !

Marriage :  
It's An Agreement Wherein A Man Loses His Bachelor Degree And A Woman Gains Her Master

Lecture :  
An Art Of Transmitting Information From The Notes Of The Lecturer To The Notes Of Students Without Passing Through The Minds Of Either

Conference :  
The Confusion Of One Man Multiplied By The
Number Present

Compromise :
The Art Of Dividing A Cake in Such A Way That
Everybody Believes He Got The Biggest Piece

TEARS :  
The Hydraulic Force By Which
Masculine Will Power is Defeated By Feminine Water-Power !

Conference Room :  
A Place Where Everybody Talks,
Nobody Listens And Everybody Disagrees Later On

Ecstasy :  
A Feeling When You Feel You Are Going To Feel
A Feeling You Have Never Felt Before

Classic :  
A Book Which People Praise, But Never Read


Smile :  
A curve That Can Set A Lot Of Things Straight !


Office :  
A Place Where You Can Relax After Your Strenuous
Home Life

Yawn :  
The Only Time When Some Married Men
Ever Get To Open Their Mouth

Experience :  
The Name Men Give To Their
Mistakes

Diplomat :  
A Person Who Tells You To Go To Hell in Such A Way That You Actually Look Forward To The Trip

Optimist :  
A Person Who While Falling From EIFFEL TOWER Says in Midway
" SEE I AM NOT INJURED YET ! "

Miser :  
A Person Who Lives Poor So That
He Can Die RICH !


Father :  
A Banker Provided By Nature

BOSS :  
Someone Who is Early When You Are Late
And Late When You Are Early

Politician :  
One Who Shakes Your Hand Before Elections


And Your Confidence Later

Rio's Welcome Sign - 2016 Olympics

Rio's

  Welcome Sign - 2016 Olympics

"Solar
  City Tower ," built atop the island of Cotonduba ,
will
  be the welcome symbol to the 2016 Olympic

Games
  in Rio de Janeiro .

It will be seen by the game visitors and
  participants as
they arrive by air or water.

The tower,
  captures solar energy. It will supply energy
for all of the
  Olympic city, as well as also for part of Rio .

It
  pumps up water from the ocean to create what
appears like a
  water fall and this fall stimulates

turbines
  that produce energy during the night.

It will also hold the
  Olympic flame.

The
  Tower possesses an amphitheater, an auditorium,

a
  cafeteria and boutiques. Elevators lead to various
  observatories.

It
  also has a retractable platform for the practice of bungee
  jumping.

 

At
  the summit is an observation point to appreciate

the
  scenery of the land and ocean, as well as the water
  fall.

Solar
  City Tower will be the point of reference

for
  the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro ..

 

 

 

How
  amazing is that?

Roti aur Beer ki Bottle

Father of Baba Ramdev

Indian Government Rejects Monsanto’s Climate Resilient Plant Patent

July 11, 2013 by Arjun

Justice Prabha Sridevi is the Chair of the Intellectual Property Appellate Board of India. Along with Hon Shri DPS Parmar, a technical member, they dismissed Monsanto’s appeal against the rejection of their patent application to the Patent office for “Methods of Enhancing Stress Tolerance in plants and methods thereof.” It’s great to see India denying Monsanto a patent for this genetically-engineered method of increasing climate resilience in plants. There are other ways, farmers have already evolved a variety of climate resilient crops.

The Intellectual Property Appellate Board said that the technology is only a discovery of a new property of known substance, not an invention, just as it states in section 3(d) of the India Patent Act (1).This is the first time that this section has been used on plant patents. The Act also specifies that plants and animals are not patentable, in section 3(j)(1). This is very significant, as other countries might look to make similar amendments.

With these very broad patents , corporations like Monsanto can prevent access to climate resilient seeds after climate disasters, because a patent is an exclusive right to produce, distribute, and sell the patented product(2). – Dr Vandana Shiva

 India has a long history with Monsanto, approximately 270,000 farmers have committed suicide in the last decade alone. Most of these suicides come from the cotton belt, and Monsanto now controls 95% of cotton seed supply through its GMO Bt cotton. All of this has continued while scientists discovered that Monsanto’s Bt toxins are harmful to human health, especially to red blood cells. You can read more about that here. It’s all about patents, Monsanto has taken over 1000 patents on climate resilient crops already. Farmers have already evolved climate resistant crops overtime because climate resistant traits are becoming more important due to unpredictable weather conditions.

The patent office refused to grant the patent as it was found that the application lacked an inventive step in view of (i) Willimsky Gerald Journal of bacteriology .Vol174,No 20 ,1992,6326-6335,(ii)  WO 90/09447and US 5470971.(ii) Claims do not define any invention under section 2(1)(ja) of the Patents Act, 1970 as structure and function of cold shock protein was already known in cited prior art and it is obvious to person skilled in plant to make transgenic plant. (iii) It is mere application of already known cold shock protein in producing cold stress tolerant plant and tolerant to heat, salt and drought conditions, claims fall within the scope of Section 3(d) of The Patents Act, 1970. (iv) . The patent office found that it is not patentable under 3(j) as claims also include essential biological process of regeneration and selection, which includes growing of plant in specific stress condition(2). – Dr. Vandana Shiva

Every year the human race seems to be uniting together in awareness to spread the word about our food industry. Since the recent worldwide march against Monsanto, hundreds of millions, if not billions of people are waking up to the fact that genetically modified foods (GMOs) and pesticides are really harmful to human health. Furthermore, the patenting of seed, controlling and owning the entire global food supply and the attempt to make the whole human race dependant on “terminator technology” has not sat well with many. Individual states like Maine, Connecticut and more within the United States have been speaking out and making progress, while dozens of other countries have completely banned Monsanto’s GMOs. The world really is waking up and making progress, and now India is making more noise. It’s amazing to see how much we are becoming aware of on our planet, and how much we are coming together and uniting for what resonates with us most. The world is becoming more transparent, it’s easier for us to see through corporate agendas.

In defining seed as their creation and invention, corporations like Monsanto shaped the Global Intellectual Property and Patent Laws so that they could prevent farmers from seed saving and sharing and force them into dependence  on their  patented GMO seeds.This is how the Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs) Agreement of the World Trade Organization was born.A Monsanto representative is on record stating that in drafting the TRIPS agreement, they were the patient, diagnostician, and physician all in one(2). – Dr. Vandana Shiva

Annotated Sources:

(1) http://www.ijlt.in/pdffiles/Patents-Act-1970.pdf

 (2)http://www.navdanya.org/news/360-monsantos-climate-resilient-plant-patent-rejected-by-indias-patent-office-rejection-upheld-by-the-intellectual-property-appellate-board

Navdanya has helped set up 111 community seed banks across the country, trained over 5,00,000 farmers in seed, sovereignty, food sovereignty and sustainable agriculture over the past two decades, and helped setup the largest direct marketing, fair trade organic network in the country.   Navdanya started as a program of the Research Foundation for science, Technology and Ecology (RFSTE), a participatory research initiative founded by world-renowned scientist and environmentalist Dr. Vandana Shiva, to provide direction and support to environmental activism.  Navdanya means nine crops that represent India’s collective source of food security. The main aim of the Navdanya biodiversity conservation programme is to support local farmers, rescue and conserve crops and plants that are being pushed to extinction and make them available through direct marketing.

http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Default/Scripting/ArticleWin.asp?From=Archive&Source=Page&Skin=ETNEW&BaseHref=ETD/2013/07/10&PageLabel=9&EntityId=Ar00901&ViewMode=HTML

http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2013-07-10/news/40492378_1_monsanto-indian-patent-act-patent-protection

http://occupymonsanto360.org/blog/monsanto-patent-rejected-by-indian-government-and-rejection-upheld-saving-small-farmers/