Historical First Electric vs. Gas Superbike Race - Chip Yates Full Race

This is the full race video of WERA Auto Club Speedway Race 2b (Heavyweight Twins Superbike Expert). On January 9, 2011 the SWIGZ.COM Pro Racing Electric Superbike made history in this race by being the first electric superbike to directly take on gasoline superbikes in a professionally sanctioned superbike class race! Commentary by rider/team owner Chip Yates and Program Electrical Engineer / Race Engineer Robert Ussery!

Will Climate Skeptics Change Their Tune When They Feel the Heat?

Why it is that skeptics continue to dismiss the increasingly compelling body of evidence -- collected by thousands of scientists -- that finds humans are causing the planet's climate to warm is the topic of endless conversation, most of it thankless. Is it a behavioral complex that preconditions certain people to refute factual analysis? Is it political ideology that impedes logic? Or, is it, as my commenters are fond of telling me, because they can see through those greedy scientists' grant-seeking agenda and the liberal warmist dogma hypocritically spread by Al Gore? Not likely. Instead, the latest research suggests that it's a matter of 'seeing is believing' -- or in this case, feeling the heat.

Source: TreeHugger

Dutch Profiles: 2012Architects

Dutch Profiles is a series of short documentaries about architects, graphic, product and fashion designers in the Netherlands. Dutch Profiles focuses on the conceptual, context-oriented and research-based practice of Dutch designers and includes interviews with, among others: MVRDV, 2012 Architects, Jurgen Bey, Claudy Jongstra, Gerard Unger, Paul Mijksenaar, Marlies Dekkers, Alexander van Slobbe and G-Star.

Modern Dutch House Built From Salvaged Billboards and Umbrellas

A first glance this may appear to be just another nice-looking modern home — until you realize that it is constructed almost entirely from salvaged materials sourced within a nine mile radius of the building site. Dwell’s recent profile of this Dutch home by 2012architects explores the uncommon lengths that the project undertook to make a refined architectural statement with discarded materials. The architects claim 60% of the exterior and nearly 90% of the interior is salvaged through a process they dub recyclicity — read on to find out how they did it.



Read more at Inhabitat

It's going to get hotter and wetter in India

Don't let the cold winter this year blindside you to a contrary phenomenon that is creeping up upon us. Temperatures in India are set to get higher—higher than what the country has recorded in the past 130 years. The monsoon too is going to change; it will rain as much, perhaps higher, but in short, intense bursts, heightening the risk of floods and crop failure.

These are some of the grim findings of prominent meteorologists at the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, a government-funded research centre at Pune. IITM scientists K Krishna Kumar, S K Patwardhan and B N Goswami, along with scientists from France, USA and Thailand, have concluded that higher temperatures have a strong probability of coming true.

Read more at: The Times of India

Cheaper solar technology can be incorporated into glazing panels and walls

An innovative Oxford company has developed new solar cell technology that is manufactured from cheap, abundant, non-toxic and non-corrosive materials and can be scaled to any volume. Harnessing the Sun’s energy, the solar cells are printed onto glass or other surfaces, are available in a range of colours and could be ideal for new buildings where solar cells are incorporated into glazing panels and walls.

Oxford Photovoltaics (Oxford PV), formed with the help of Isis Innovation, Oxford University’s technology transfer company, has combined earlier research on artificial photosynthetic electrochemical solar cells and semiconducting plastics to create manufacturable solid-state dye sensitized solar cells.

The device is a form of thin film solar technology, a relatively new development in solar energy generation.

Source:University of Oxford

Newest Miss Representation Trailer (2011 Sundance Film Festival Official Selection)

Miss Representation explores women’s under-representation in positions of power and influence and challenges the limited and often disparaging portrayals of women in media. Writer/Director Jennifer Siebel Newsom brings together some of America’s most influential thought leaders in politics, news, entertainment, and academia, including Condoleezza Rice, Katie Couric, Geena Davis, Lisa Ling, Marissa Mayer, Cory Booker, Jean Kilbourne, and Jackson Katz, to give us an inside look at the media’s messaging. As one of the most persuasive and pervasive forces of communication in our culture, mainstream media is educating yet another generation that a woman’s primary value lies in her youth, beauty and sexuality—not in her capacity as a leader. Miss Representation premieres Saturday January 22 in the documentary competition at Sundance Film Festival and then travels to the Athena Film Festival in New York City February 12.

Newest Miss Representation Trailer (2011 Sundance Film Festival Official Selection) from on Vimeo.

Ehrlich Architecture Trumps Hadid And Foster With UAE Parliament Win

Foster & Partners have a solid footing in the Middle East, with Masdar City and other popular projects under their belt. And Iraqi architect Zaha Hadid is a celebrity who inspires red-carpet treatment wherever she goes. Both firms bid for the new United Arab Emirates parliament building design competition in Abu Dhabi, but their entries were eclipsed by Ehrlich Architecture’s beautiful dome building. Architect’s Newspaper called it the biggest upset since 1987 when Frank Gehry won the Walt Disney Concert Hall Bid.

Source: Green Prophet