Friday, January 2, 2015

Interesting links for December 2014

In just 1K size, this guy, MARCIN IGNAC has made a mesmerizing tunnel animation using HTML5.

3-D globe and animation to illustrate major earthquakes around the world in 2010.

"Challenge -- which carries with it a risk of failure -- is a part of learning. That's not something we'd want to eliminate. But when students who are tripped up by challenges respond by tuning out, acting out, or dropping out, they sometimes do so not because of a deficiency in their makeup (lack of stick-to-itiveness) but because those challenges -- what they were asked to do -- aren't particularly engaging or relevant. Finger-wagging adults who exhort students to "do their best" sometimes don't offer a persuasive reason for why a given task should be done at all, let alone well. And if the rejoinder is that it doesn't matter if the assignment is just busywork because kids need to develop "good work habits" across the board, well, a reasonable person would wonder who stands to benefit when children are taught to work hard at anything that they're assigned to do by someone with more power.

A second explanation for students' not rebounding from failure at what they were asked to do is that they weren't really "asked" to do it -- they were told to do it: deprived of any say about the content or context of the curriculum. People of all ages are more likely to persevere when they have a chance to make decisions about things that affect them. Thus, the absence of choice might be a better explanation than a character defect for giving up."


"The city has changed from being a congenial space of shared amenities and relationships to a fearful nightmare of private strongholds and walled compounds"


Alternative to Bitcoin.. without the excessive mining and centralization

Explanation for why we should push for a much lower cap on the number of working hours in a day.

Awesome listing of projects, institutions working on creating a better world

This jugaad guy in Indonesia is able to use a custom-made generator to power high-power devices.. generator can work on v.slow rotating input


App for remotely controlling laptop from your smartphone, incl. mouse movement
Involves software on laptop, has portable version : http://www.androidremotepc.com/downloads/



A beautifully detailed visioning of what a localized, decentralized economic system, with flourishing cities, would look like. The term "Import replacing" is explained here.

"Radiant Watts" : A form of electricity that doesn't burn or electrocute anyone touching a live wire carrying it; or damage the electric equipment it is powering.
In this device, the heart of the "modulator" is a spinning ceramic magnet that oscillates a magnetic field.

Seemingly a social network for science.. posting this not so much for the content, but for the categorization.

Gaddafi's son: Libya like McDonald's for NATO - fast war as fast food

Before the breaking news of Bin Laden's death, U.S.-led NATO forces attacked Colonel Gaddafi's compound. The Libyan leader escaped harm, but his son and three grandchildren were reportedly killed in the air strikes. However, despite NATO claims they bombed a military target, some say it was an attempt to get rid of Gaddafi.

Putin: Who gave NATO right to kill Gaddafi?

Website with a lot of articles, content on unschooling

Christmas, WW1, when British and German troops broke ranks, disobeyed orders, called a temporary truce and celebrated Christmas together. This article explains the whole sequence of events that led to this.


Oil prices have fallen by half since late June. (1) Why is this happening? (2) Who wins and who loses over the short term?, and (3) What will be the impacts on oil production in 2015?



John Taylor Gatto needs our help.
On July 29, 2011 John had a stroke which left him hospitalized for months and mostly paralyzed on his left side and bedridden ever since.  His brain is working well, he believes he has much more to accomplish and contribute, and he is slowly gaining his strength.  Over the last several months we have raised enough money to help John and Janet in big and demonstrative ways... let's keep it up and get him back on his feet and ready to share his next round of intelligent discourse with us! We love you John!

Jason Lewis survived one of the longest, most grueling, yet uplifting journeys in history, circumnavigating the globe on human power alone - no motors or sails. Traveling more than 46,000 miles on pedal boats, roller blades, kayaks, bikes, and his own two feet; the adventurer set off from London at the age of 26 and returned from his odyssey 13 years later. He traveled across five continents, two oceans and one sea.
He survived a crocodile attack off the Australian coast and blood poisoning in the Pacific Ocean. He was hit by a car and left for dead with two broken legs in Colorado, and incarcerated for espionage on the Sudan-Egypt border. The Dalai Lama has called it "a journey of great courage and determination."


"September 11 - The New Pearl Harbor" is a 5 hour documentary that summarizes 12 years of public debate on 9/11. While aimed primarily at a general, uninformed audience, the film also contains some new findings that may be of interest to advanced researchers. 
The page has a detailed index of the movie, which should give people a glance at the various pieces of evidence lined up.

Flat-owners in Pune standing up to builders' extortion tactics

Chances are you've come across some ocean news lately. And it may even have been positive! Yes, the ocean is still in serious trouble due to overfishing, pollution, climate change, and habitat destruction, but there are more and more success stories to point to, and point I shall.

Following comprehensive survey, Chinese researchers warn drinking sources may dry up in much of Asia''

How Music Can Be Better For You Than Sex and Chocolate: Deanna Choi at TEDxQueensU 
I'm starting to see why most extremist, hardliner and even materialism-driven groups, family heads etc seem to have a thing against music!


Consciousness -- the final frontier | Dada Gunamuktananda | TEDxNoosa 2014 

Dick Cheney : psychopath revealed

Bhaskara Wheel & Overbalanced Chain 
Perpetual motion machines

Paul Scheerbart's Wheel. Movimiento Perpetuo

VE Project : lots of videos on perpetual motion machines, with explanation

Russian magnet-motor bike... working, drivable models
Russian electronic ultra efficient magnet motor; a solution to the energy-wasting internal combustion engine. 10 times as efficient as a fossil fuel engine and considerably more eff. than any other electr. motor. According to the designer returns energy back to the battery, even uphill; if pedalled 1 km, returns energy for another km.(For those who don't believe in free energy: where does the supplementary power come from?). Works on alternating current triggered from a battery. Tested on bicycles at speeds up to 140 kmh=90 mph.

Joint Declaration, signed by leaders from all faiths, to end modern slavery.
"Each human being is a free person, whether girl, boy, woman or man and is destined to exist in equality and dignity, free forever.
Collectively we have the opportunity, awareness, wisdom, innovation and technology to achieve this human and moral imperative.
We can be the generation that ends slavery."

Melting aluminium in an induction copper heater

Gold Gone? Germany baffled as Fed bars access to bullion 

MagDrive engine : short animation explaining how shielding one side of the magnet enables the water-wheel analog to work.


So it turns out that any calls made using cell phones.. can be recorded from anywhere. Which means it must already be being done.




Brands Are Wasting Time And Money On Facebook And Twitter, Report Says >> this applies even more for causes and movements.

How A Former Corporate Lawyer Stood Up To Fracking Companies, And Won

Algae-powered building : window-walls with algae-filled liquid filled between panels. When sunlight hits the 129 "bioreactors," photosynthesis causes the microorganisms to multiply and give off heat (the water goes to about 40 degrees C). The warmth is then captured for heating water or storing in saline tanks underground

Ranking / numbering countries by how safe / unsafe / restrictive / liberated their womens' lives are. Here's the status for India: http://www.genderindex.org/country/india

On Japan's shrinking population, driven by its more and more of its men and women living lives devoid of relationships. The Japanese population dropped by 212,000 people last year, the largest decrease on record.

Exposing the myth of Barter : No example of a barter economy has ever been found in the actual day-to-day lives of the native people's economies or histories around the world as they were contacted by the "civilized" world's explorers one by one. Entirely different systems had evolved. Adam Smith and others who wrote the first books on economics, had written about barter being the "primary" system of exchange of early societies, entirely out of their (severely!) limited imagination. They never bothered cross-checking or referencing any real on-the-ground data, even though indigenous societies were being contacted at the time. The only instances of barter were between different tribes/communities who did not trust each other.
A chapter from  "Debt, The First 5000 Years" by David Graeber, read by Robin Upton http://www.unwelcomeguests.net/Category:Audiobooks


Kenya's geothermal resources -  game-changer?
In Nairobi, power blackouts are decreasing and electricity bills are getting cheaper. Over time, infrastructural improvement and the development of geothermal resources are improving the country's power situation. Right now, 70 percent of Kenya's power comes from renewable sources.Al Jazeera's Erica Wood reports from Nakuru, Kenya.
More links off a google search:

Renewable Energy Portal, All the information you need about renewable energy in kenya.

The renewable energy sector in Kenya is among the most active in Africa. In Kenya, investment grew from virtually zero in 2009 to US$1.3 billion in 2010...

http://kerea.org/ - Kerea | Kenya Renewable Energy Association
Dizzying Renewable Energy Price Declines Can Help States Meet Ambitious Carbon Targets Under The EPA's Clean Power Plan. Here's some exciting news ...


Pesticide Free Farming
A revolutionary experiment in sustainable agriculture is showing impressive results in south India.
Around two million farmers in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh have ditched chemical pesticides in favour of natural repellants and fertilisers, as part of a growing eco-agriculture movement.
The sustainable techniques are spread through a network of women's self-help groups, and over 10 percent of the state's farmland is now being cultivated without chemical pesticides.
Farmers make natural pest repellents from ingredients such as neem tree leaves, chilli and cow urine - which is over 70 percent cheaper than using chemicals.
They also promote beneficial insects, use compost, and plant crops that fix nitrogen into the soil. Since it began in 2004 the scheme has improved soil health and biodiversity, reduced costs and upped yields. 

Short film on Curitiba

Earthrise : 9 min videos on the SOLUTIONS for a sustainable planet
earthrise explores solutions to today's environmental challenges, taking an upbeat look at ecological, scientific, technological and design projects the world over. Our reporters meet inspiring individuals and communities leading the way in a field few can afford to ignore.

..and that wraps up 2014!

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