Thursday, July 29, 2010

Donald Sutherland look-a-like French genius found after three years




French genius disappears for 3 years
Found in a hospital in Pescara

Michel Doumesche (l'immagine tartta da Chi l0'ha visto?)The mathematician was forgetful in psychiatric hospital, speaks four languages and is expressed through complex formulas

MILAN - Michel Doumesche is a genius in amnesiac 61 years, speaks four languages and is expressed through complex mathematical formulas. Of him had gone missing in France, his country of origin, in 2007. The mathematician has now been found in a hospital in Pescara. Doumesche suffer from disorders of memory and, until 2007, had disappeared several seized. Three years ago, however, its removal from home seemed definitive: most had not been tracked.
He wondered for three years - from 2007 to present, man has wandered to Europe and the case also dealt with the transmission Raitre Chi l'ha visto?. In 2008 he was spotted near Taranto, Foggia and had landed in an institution of nuns. From about two months he was hospitalized in the psychiatric hospital in Pescara. Communication between the police headquarters in Rome and Pescara has only now allowed to police the Division of Police Crime Capitoline that connect information acquired by the French and the description of man and his physique quite similar to that of a patient hospitalized in the psychiatric ward of a hospital in Pescara. After the necessary evidence and detailed findings, police in Rome has verified the identity of the man by giving notice to the French authorities and his family.

CREDIT: Corriere Della Sera  www.corriere.it, direct link (translated via Google)

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Alternative city planning for a different lifestyle

Previously in this blog we discussed about Arcosanti and the suburbs. There is the necessity of improvement in the upcoming years to allow humanity to live in better conditions than today. Why? Because we are building homes and city scape with a stencil-technique that is not suitable for our lives and the environment. You can also all it copy-paste and it will make little or no difference. 
Big constructions for the realization of new massive suburbs is obsolete for using a method of labyrinths made out of homes and shopping centers: houses, houses, houses, convenience store, gas station, houses, houses, etc.

Cities can have a green future and not for it's colour, but for a new life style that can be in symbiosis with nature without wrecking its balance. This is why people must rethink the way we live now abolishing the oil-based society we became and drift towards recycle of waste producing energy.

It wouldn't be bad if we can go back to having cities built in a way where people can walk rather than drive everywhere. It's bad to see that some cities around the world do not have sidewalks outside their downtown areas. Bicycle lanes are something relatively new and not fully exploited. Paths for people are just forgotten trails that people do not take for fear at night and because lead to places of no interest.

Housing alternatives will set the first foot in a new direction for a better city planning. Right now there are alternative projects that are eco-friendly and have can have cheaper construction costs.

Grass covered houses - the roof of your house has just the function to cover you from anything that's falling from the sky (meteors and planes not included). You don't walk on it nor use it, so covering it on grass will help insulating your home without recurring to expensive artificial materials. You can actually use your grass-roof for leisure as the green colour induces the calm perception int he brain and reduces the stress.

Container houses - there are so many containers around this world that aren't used. They are already built and ready to be modeled according to the hose need: size and floors. In northern Europe containers are used to accommodate students and people willing to experiment new quarters. Labor is drastically reduced in relation to a common house. To assemble this project you need a crane, welders and cutting tools for doors and windows. There you go, your house is ready in weeks.

Styrofoam houses - even cheaper to make because of the light weight of the Styrofoam used to build these domes. There is also the great advantage of insulation reducing costs and quantity of energy to heat or cool the house. They can be built in short times reducing production costs giving the ability to homeowners to settle and furnish the house in no time.

Tree house - it's probably one of the oldest construction that men developed with great advantages. Now it's more of a kid's dream, but building homes on trees creating a small village deep in the green can only benefit our health. All the material construction are natural and for every house built a tree should be planted to balance the material sourcing. The vegetation absorbs CO2 and emits oxygen that is good for our atmosphere and our lungs.

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

BMW Vision and M1

Designers have one foot in the future and one in the past. Some of them bring us futuristic art forms while other reinvent what already happened. This is the case for the German automaker BMW with two potential candidates that will face the Audi R8: the Vision and the M1.

BMW Vision is a total new concept to be built in new and lightweight materials 
to increase performances and fuel consumption.










This is a rendering of a more possible project from BMW to produce the M1.


Another rendering of a M1 prototype that resembles the old version.







The first version of the M! built between 1979 and 1981 was also used 
for competition under different teams