14 Unbelievably Unique Parks & Botanical Gardens
October 28, 2011 by admin · View Comments
[ By Steph in Geography & Travel & Home & Garden & Nature & Ecosystems. ]
Intricately shaped topiaries, ponds full of lily pads and koi, greenhouses brimming with dazzling arrays of exotic flowers, strange and fascinating sculptures – these 14 botanical gardens, private gardens and parks around the world show off the beauty of cultivated nature. Representing a fusion of the wild, untamed natural world and the architectural genius of humans, these parks are the closest to paradise that we can craft with our own hands.
Claude Monet Foundation at Giverny, Normandy, France
(images via: ell brown)
Immerse yourself in the landscape that inspired some of French Impressionist painter Claude Monet’s most beautiful and celebrated works at the artist’s former estate. Walking through these gardens, it’s almost as if time has stood still, as you can view what seem to be the very same lily pads that the artist saw and painted. Giverny is located 50 miles outside Paris, on the banks of the River Seine.
Kirtenbosch National Botanical Garden, Western Cape, South Africa
(images via: wikimedia commons)
Founded in 1913, South Africa’s Kirtenbosch National Botanical Garden may just be the most beautiful botanical garden in the entire world. In this preserve you can view live samples of plants that grow in five out of South Africa’s six biomes and a stunning selection of ‘protea‘ flowering plants, all within view of Table Mountain.
Villa Lante, Bagnaia, Italy
(images via: wikimedia commons, ineedaholiday.com.au, awesome-places)
One of the most important gardens in Italy, Villa Lante was in the possession of the Lante family from the 17th century, when it was already 100 years old, until the 20th century, when it was opened to the public. Bordered by two nearly identical homes, the garden is characterized by beautiful stone fountains, lush grottoes and intricate patterns of hedges.
Jardin Botanique de Montreal, Quebec, Canada
(images via: chris dlugosz, abdallah, wikimedia commons)
The Montreal Botanical Garden has such extensive collections and facilities, it’s considered one of the most important botanical gardens in the world. An indoor greenhouse holds a wide variety of labeled plants, and four themed outdoor gardens including the Chinese Garden, the Japanese Garden, the First Nations Garden and the Alpine Garden showcase the indigenous flora of various cultures and locales. In fact, Montreal boasts the largest Chinese garden in the world, outside of China.
The Lost Gardens of Heligan, Mevagissey, UK
(images via: heligan.com)
A part of the Heligan estate in Cornall, England, these gardens fell into disuse in the 1970s and were forgotten for decades – hence the name. But when ownership of the estate transferred to a trust, a group of enthusiasts revitalized them, planting hundreds of varieties of plants, a vegetable garden, a walled garden and a ‘jungle’. A stroll through the gardens will reveal fanciful ‘creatures’ covered in grass and moss including ‘The Mud Maid’ and a ‘Giant’s Head’.
Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney, Australia
(images via: chromolux, louise docker, brian giesen, renata)
View both downtown Sydney and the infamous Sydney Opera House from the Royal Botanic Gardens, located on the site of Australia’s first ever farm, which was established in 1788. Centuries of improvements to the soil have enabled a gorgeous array of plants to flourish, including many that grow inside the Pyramid Glasshouse. Up until May 2011, a colony of over 22,000 flying foxes – a large species of fruitbat – called the gardens home, but the bats killed dozens of trees and were eventually driven out.
Byodo-in Temple, Oahu, Hawaii
(images via: timothy tolle, alan light, horschmology)
Surrounded by Oahu’s greenery-cloaked mountains, the Byodo-in Temple is a replica of a historic Kyoto, Japan, temple of the same name, but it has many merits of its own – especially its gardens, which include two acres of koi ponds. Stone paths cut through emerald-green lawns and Zen-style gardens.
Parco dei Mostri (Park of the Monsters), Bomarzo, Italy
(images via: wikimedia commons)
A large monster, referred to as the ‘Door of Hell’, opens its mouth to admit you into a dark, cramped space with a small table. A watchtower tilts at a rather disturbing angle. Mythological creatures and unidentified monsters leer at passersby. The Parco die Mostri (Park of the Monsters) in Bomarzo, Italy is so surreal it is said to have greatly inspired the artists Salvador Dali and Jean Cocteau. The chaotic style of the gardens, which were created in the 16th century by Pier Francesco Orsini in honor of his beloved deceased wife Giulia Farnese, may be an intentional contrast to the orderly symmetry of the nearby Villa Lante.
Monte Palace Garden, Madeira, Portugal
(images via: montepalace.com, lukegordon1)
The Monte Palace Tropical Garden is a surprising glimpse of Asia found in Madeira, Portugal. Once a hotel, the gardens have been open to the public since 1989 and include a collection of ceramic tiles from the 15th – 20th centuries and various gardens that highlight both indigenous and exotic species. A group of educational panels explain the reason for the oriental gardens, telling of “The adventures of the Portuguese in Japan.”
Kew Gardens, London, UK
(images via: neiljs, paul friel, jim linwood, dan taylor, laura nolte)
More than 30,000 live species of plants can be viewed at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew in southwest London, England – and if you think that’s impressive, consider this: inside the glassed ‘herbarium’ are over seven million preserved specimens. The Kew Gardens are well-deserving of their worldwide fame, thriving despite locally unfavorable growing conditions. In addition to the outdoor gardens and greenhouses are a number of educational and research facilities and architectural features like a treetop walkway and a 49-foot-tall pagoda.
The Gardens of Las Pozas, Xilitla, Mexico
(images via: lucy nieto, i_amici)
More of a surrealist sculpture park than a garden, Las Pozas is the playground of British poet Edward James, a patron of the arts. James was a passionate supporter of the Surrealist art movement and his love for the stile is evident in Las Pozas (the pools), which includes more than 80 acres of natural waterfalls and pools as well as concrete sculptures. The spindly, strange sculptures were built between 1949 and 1984; the whole project cost James over $5 million, which he raised by selling his considerable collection of Surrealist art.
Brooklyn Botanic Garden, New York
(images via: steve soblick, jose oquendo, elena gaillard)
Manhattan may have a botanical garden of its own, but it’s eclipsed by that of Brooklyn, a 52-acre garden located near the Prospect Heights and Park Slopes neighborhood. Putting on a jaw-dropping display of cherry blooms in the spring, the park also includes climate-themed plant pavilions, an aquatic plant house, a bonsai museum and an art gallery. Themed gardens include the Japanese Hill-and-Pond Garden, constructed in 1915, and the Shakespeare Garden which exhibits over 80 plants mentioned in the bard’s plays and poems.
Francisco Alvarado Park, Zarcero, Costa Rica
(images via: puroticorico, wikimedia commons)
Abstract shapes, arches and the faces of strange creatures grow out of the courtyard at Parque Francisco Alvarado, found in the town center of Zarcero in Costa Rica. The park’s topiary garden has been shaped into these fascinating shapes by the same man since the 1960s.
Garden of Cosmic Speculation, Scotland
(images via: reckon)
A private garden created by Charles Jencks, the Garden of Cosmic Speculation at Portrack House, near Dumfries in Southwest Scotland is opened to the public for just one day each year. Science and mathematical concepts, like black holes and fractals, inspired the complex arrangements and sculptures contained within the garden.
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Encore! 10 Extinct Lifeforms Worth Resurrecting
October 25, 2011 by admin · View Comments
[ By Steve in Animals & Habitats & Nature & Ecosystems & Science & Research. ]
Gone before their time? These 10 extinct species are certainly gone but they’re not forgotten, and they may not even be gone for good if biological technology continues to advance. Could we bring them back? Should we even try? If the answer to the former is “yes”, then the question of the latter is moot.
Woolly Mammoth
(images via: BBC, Loyal K.N.G and Real Simple)
Great herds of Woolly Mammoths roamed over huge swathes of the northern hemisphere for tens of thousands of years, and you’d better believe they left their mark – among other things – on the frozen tundra. It’s impossible to calculate the beneficial effect of dropped dung by the megaton year after year, millennium after millennium, on the arctic environment but we can assume those vast, empty plains would be much more fertile after our shaggy pals resume dumping much more fertilizer.
(image via: DesignerAnimals2011)
Mammoths haven’t been extinct for too long, geologically speaking, with the last dwarf population on Siberia’s isolated Wrangel Island finally biting the permafrost around 1650 BC. Speaking of permafrost, hundreds of mammoths remain preserved to an astonishing, er, degree in what’s been called “nature’s freezer”, and their DNA is perhaps the least degraded of any ancient extinct creature.
Thylacine (Tasmanian Tiger)
(images via: Rainforest Info, Haunted America Tours and Retrieverman’s Weblog)
Plagues of introduced invasive rabbits, starving kangaroo herds needing to be culled – if only Australia had a native apex predator that could naturally curb animal population booms… oh wait, they did, but it’s extinct.
(images via: Convict Creations and University of Melbourne)
Though the Thylacine (or Tasmanian Tiger) hasn’t roamed Australia itself for thousands of years, the species managed a last stand on the island of Tasmania along with its relative, the Tasmanian Devil. Pressure from humans (Europeans, not the native aborigines) led to the last Tasmanian Tiger dying in captivity at the Hobart Zoo in September of 1936.
(image via: Australian Government)
Sightings of what are said to be wild thylacines are reported every so often these days but more solid evidence such as hair, scat or even footprints haven’t been forthcoming. The world’s museums contain a number of thylacine remnants, however, including stuffed specimens and pups preserved in formaldehyde. Experiments to ascertain the existence of viable thylacine DNA are ongoing and it’s likely the complete Tasmanian Tiger genome will be sequenced in the very near future.
American Chestnut Tree
(images via: Shady Rest and Mother Nature Network)
A century ago, huge stands of American Chestnut trees made up as much as 25 percent of forested lands in the eastern United States. From Maine to Mississippi, as many as 3 billion Chestnut trees standing up to 45 meters (150ft) tall and as much as 3 meters (10ft) wide provided food, shelter and pollen to an ecosystem much more diverse than today’s. In 1904, however, an accidentally introduced, airborne chestnut blight was noticed in trees at New York’s Bronx Zoo. The fungus spread rapidly and within a few short decades the American Chestnut tree was functionally extinct.
(image via: Treehugger)
American Chestnuts are not “extinct” in the pure sense of the word. Less than 100 mature trees survive in its former range, and trees planted in western North America by 19th century pioneers and settlers have thrived without being infected by chestnut blight. Efforts are underway to impart immunity to American Chestnut trees, ironically from the related Chinese Chestnut trees that have naturally evolved resistance to the fungus.
Dunkleosteus
(images via: Club des Monstres, Satori Smiles and Esoriano)
380 million years ago our primitive vertebrate ancestors were taking their first tentative steps onto dry land. What would compel these early proto-amphibians to leave the warm confines of earth’s primeval oceans? Dunkleosteus, perhaps. Measuring up to 10 meters (33ft) in length, weighing roughly three and a half tons and possessed of the strongest bite of any creature EVAR, this so-called “hypercarnivore” conducted a 20 million year reign of terror without stopping for a lunch break. Actually, the 20 million years WAS its lunch break.
(image via: Taburin)
Times have changed since then, and Dunkleosteus is no longer the terror of the sea… it’s no longer, period. Maybe it’s due for a revival, however. The warming oceans are rapidly being depleted of fish by the descendents of Dunkleosteus’ former prey and fisherman are finding their nets clogged with humongous jellyfish instead. If a reconstituted population of “Dunkies” could be induced to chow down on the jumbo jellyfish, what would the result be? Less jumbo jellyfish and more gigantic fish to feed those hungry hungry humans. Sounds like a plan!
Aurochs
(images via: The Sixth Extinction, Andrew Isles and Telegraph UK)
Domestic cattle provide beef for our dinner tables but at what cost? Overused antibiotics and veterinary growth hormones like BSE are contaminating groundwater supplies, while standardization of beef cattle may lead to a depleted gene pool vulnerability to new diseases. One possible solution is to get back to basics by bringing back Bos Primigenius, also known as the Aurochs.
(images via: Canadian Content, Andrew Isles and Ertai’s Lament)
This ill-tempered ancestor to today’s cattle breeds, holdover from the Eurasian Ice Age megafauna, and star of many magnificent paleolithic cave paintings thrived in isolated areas of central Europe up until the late Middle Ages. The last recognized purebred Aurochs died in Poland, in 1627.
(image via: Dididumm)
As the Aurochs is an ancestral species with living descendants, it should be possible to “backbreed” and eventually produce an animal very close to the ancient Aurochs. In fact, the brother Heinz and Lutz Heck began back-breeding experiments in the 1920s that resulted in today’s Heck Cattle. Approximately 2,000 Heck Cattle now exist and biologists are continuing efforts to increase the size of the cattle to match that of the formidable Aurochs.
Meganeura (Giant Dragonfly)
(images via: Multi.fi, Amici-in-Allegria and OSU Geology)
Ancient Earth wasn’t quite a Garden of Eden, though 300 million years ago in the Carboniferous period the land was very green indeed. The air was different as well, being generally warmer with a higher ration of oxygen. It’s the latter characteristic that allowed several species of gigantic insects to survive and thrive, including Meganeura, the Giant Dragonfly. Fossil specimens display wingspans of over 75cm (2.5ft) and its estimated the creature’s diet included small amphibians.
(image via: Animal Pictures Archive)
Reintroducing Meganeura would be problematic to say the least: today’s atmosphere likely isn’t sufficiently oxygen-rich and the creature would quickly suffocate. As to WHY Meganeura should be revived, let’s recall that today’s dragonflies are potent predators of mosquitoes. Considering the damage done by mosquito-borne diseases and the fact that these illnesses are spreading, I’m willing to give Meganeura a shot at squishing the skeeters.
Smilodon (Saber-Toothed Cat)
(images via: Amazing Data, Science Blogs and Pathfinders)
Smilodon existed from about 2.5 million to 10,000 years ago, and in its heyday was the most deadly predator North and South America had seen since T Rex. The species’ most terrifying member had to have been Smilodon Populator, which translates from Latin to “Smilodon the Devastator”. Standing 4 feet (1.22m) high at the shoulder and weighing up to half a ton or 470kg, this resident of eastern Brazil sported signature “saber” canine teeth a foot (30cm) long and ate… well, pretty much anything it wanted.
(image via: AVPH)
We may see the extinction of wild tigers in our lifetimes and lions are in decline as well. Shouldn’t we concentrate our efforts on conserving these existing species, you ask? We should and we are – and their populations are still shrinking. Bringing back saber-toothed cats, on a very limited basis, might serve as a swan song to the planet’s most majestic felines. If it doesn’t work out, well, we’ve still got the La Brea tar pits.
Steller’s Sea Cow
(images via: Seapics, Hancock House and Exposea)
Steller’s Sea Cows once peacefully browsed kelp beds in the western Pacific ocean. Said to be completely tame and showing no fear of humans whatsoever, these relatives of Dugongs and Manatees were toothless having flat plates of bone instead of a regular dentition. The placid creatures were also huge: adults grew up to 9 meters (30 ft) in length and weighed up to 10 tons.
(image via: It’s Nature)
Discovered and named in 1741, Steller’s Sea Cow became extinct in 1768 – it took us a mere 27 years to wipe out a species that took countless millennia to evolve. Somehow that just doesn’t seem fair. These big boys (and girls) deserve another chance and if biology can find some way to reconstitute them as a species, it should be done.
Lepidodendron (Giant Club Moss)
(images via: BBC, Carl’s Corner and WN.com)
Soaring 30 meters (100ft) high with massive trunks over a meter (3.3ft) in diameter, the Giant Club Moss was the undisputed giant of the Carboniferous forest. Packed several thousand to the acre, great stands of Lepidodendron rose and fell quickly: it’s estimated these early trees only lived 10 to 15 years. We owe our huge reserves of coal to the fallen forests of the Carboniferous, which coincidentally owes its name to the very beds of coal it produced.
(image via: Science Buzz)
Restoring Lepidodendron could be a tremendous boost to our energy resources. Not to produce coal – that would take millions of years – but instead as biofuel. Giant Club Moss forests could be re-established on marginal wetlands and swampy areas not used for farming; their fast growth and rapid turnover allowing for bountious harvests every decade. What’s more, Earth’s ancient Coal Forests helped sequester enormous amounts of carbon, reducing atmospheric CO2 and boosting oxygen levels… the revived Giant Dragonflies are gonna love it!
Neanderthal Man
(images via: Big Ideas Blog, The Independent and Esquire)
“Flintstones, meet the Flintstones…” and some day, maybe we will! The complete Neanderthal genome was successfully sequenced in 2009 and subsequent analysis indicates between 1 and 4 percent of the genes of non-African modern humans is of Neanderthal origin. Neanderthal Man may be extinct as a distinct species, however he (and she) lives on within us. Looking for a “cave man”? Try looking in the mirror.
(image via: Feminine Beauty)
Since “breeding back” isn’t a realistic option where people are concerned, possibilities of resurrecting Neanderthals revolve around preserved DNA. The last true Neanderthals walked the Earth approximately 25,000 to 30,000 years ago and such DNA which has been found is greatly degraded. It will depend on advanced gene sequencing technology available sometime in the near future whether Neanderthal DNA can be repaired sufficiently to be viable… and the next step would be finding a willing surrogate mother for little Pebbles or Bam-Bam.
(image via: Disclose TV)
In the late, great George Carlin’s epic riff on Saving The Planet, GC not only reminds us that 99.9% of all the species that ever lived are now extinct (“We didn’t kill them all”), he also points out that interfering with this natural process is just another example of arrogant human meddling. Maybe so, but we’re meddlers by nature who like to put things right if we possibly can. “Haven’t we done enough?”, Carlin asks. Indeed we have, but to quote another wise old sage (Curly from City Slickers), “the day ain’t done yet.” My guess is, neither are we.
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China’s Sea Of Green Algae Has Beachgoers Seeing Red
July 26, 2011 by thegreenchildrenfoundation · View Comments
[ By Steve in Geography & Travel & History & Trivia & Nature & Ecosystems. ]
Summer’s arrived and China‘s green menace has returned along with it… we kudzu not! The massive bloom of stringy, slimy, and smelly Enteromorpha Prolifera algae that recently infested the seashore near Qingdao succeeded in keeping most (but not all) swimmers from enjoying a day at the beach.
Green Goo Go Home!
(images via: BBC, Chinabuzz and Sochina.net)
The east may be red, in the words of the popular Chinese government anthem, but the shocking green tide of algae that swamped beaches in the northeast part of the country is neither politically, aesthetically not environmentally correct.
(images via: Debosh, CoastalCare and China Daily)
Enteromorpha Prolifera, to give it its official name, is a form of green algae that bursts into bloom if nutritional and meteorological conditions are just right. When that happens, the results are, well, just wrong.
(images via: DailyMail UK and Yahoo News)
According to the North China Sea Branch (NCSB) of the State Ocean Administration, reports of the unsightly algae infestation began to be received in late June at the busy port and popular resort of Qingdao.
(images via: Ghana Nation, Coastal Care and SMH)
Air temperatures approaching 30°C (86°F) and water temperatures just offshore reaching 20°C (68°F) had created the perfect storm for the mother of all algae blooms. Anyone complaining about China being “slow to go green” obviously hasn’t spent a summer in Qingdao!
(images via: National Geographic, Qingdao(nese) and Reuters)
From an initial area of 330 sq km (127 sq mi), the algae bloom rapidly grew to cover a 12,400 sq km (4,790 sq mi) expanse of the Yellow Sea by June 23.
(images via: SMH)
The advent of a persistent onshore wind then drove waves of floating algae onto the beaches near Qingdao: at one point approximately 440 km (275 miles) of shoreline was subsumed in bright green goop!
A Verdant History
(images via: Qingdao(nese), MilitaryPhotos.net and China Mike)
Qingdao’s green plague is of relatively recent origin and can be directly attributed to the exponential growth of the city of Qingdao. A little over a century ago, the city’s current location on the Shandong Peninsula was occupied by a small and sleepy fishing village.
(images via: Metropolis and Dr. Hostel)
The peninsula, however, was/is strategically located and Qingdao itself boasts a fine natural harbor. In 1897, Imperial Germany seized the environs and arm-twisted China’s decadent and decrepit government into granting the Kaiser a 99-year lease of the Kiautschou Bay concession.
(image via: Travelpod)
Development of the city and surrounding area proceeded quickly: within just a few years several large stone churches had been built, the city and port boasted clean water and electric lighting, and the Tsingtao Brewery opened for business. It all seemed too good to be true, and so it was. Shortly after World War I began, a joint Japanese-British force conquered the German concession. Given the tumultuous series of wars and revolutionary upheaval which followed, it’s a wonder any hints of Qingdao’s German heritage remain, but they do – most notably the brewery (above).
(images via: TripAdvisor/Mark Wilson and TripAdvisor/Mies)
From an original population of around 85,000 at the time of the German seizure of Qingdao, the city itself has ballooned to an astounding 7.5 million (2009) with millions more living in newly developed suburban areas.
(images via: DailyMail/AP)
The city’s port is one of China’s busiest and the beaches that run along the Shandong Peninsula’s south-facing shore are hugely popular with vacationers from across northeastern China. Unfortunately, Qingdao’s economic success is negatively impacting its appeal as an unspoiled getaway.
(images via: Qingdao(nese) and ChinaBuzz)
As the city grew, its infrastructure was hard-pressed to keep up. As well, agricultural activity on the peninsula resulted in nitrogen-rich runoff being swept into the bay and ocean. The combination of organic effluent from fertilizer and sewage with warm marine temperatures acted to produce algal blooms of ever-increasing size.
(images via: YachtPals)
The problem gained worldwide attention in 2007 and 2008 when wall-to-wall algae blooms threatened to inundate training and competitive facilities for the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics.
(images via: Sochina.net and Telegraph UK)
Thousands of fishermen, students and “sea police” were dragooned into clearing the algae from the shoreline and over 100,000 tons of noisome seagrass were removed, allowing the Games to go on.
(images via: Sulekha, Boston.com and Mirror UK)
Even the army was drafted (so to speak) into what became an all-out, epic effort to save the sailing venue – and save face for China in the bargain. Join the army and see the world? I’m guessing a lot of the PLA’s raw recruits figured they had a better chance of invading beaches than cleaning them up.
A Blooming Shame
(images via: China Daily, CRI and Global Times)
Just what is this algae, seagrass or seaweed? Enteromorpha Proliferaso is a form of algae that grows to resemble seaweed. Its long branches and kelp-like fronds help it clump together into huge, floating rafts of vegetation that casts a dark shadow on the sea life below.
(images via: Yahoo News)
As the algae dies and sinks to the seafloor it can spark creation of vast “dead zones” as the bacteria digesting the dead algae suck the oxygen out of the seawater.
(images via: ChinaBuzz and China Daily)
Found on seashores all over the world, Enteromorpha Proliferaso known in Hawaii as Limu ‘ele‘ele and is said to be edible… though considering the nutrients it grows on might cause one to lose their appetite. Unlike the algae in Red Tides, Enteromorpha Proliferaso isn’t toxic… just messy, smelly, annoying… and very, very green.
(images via: DailyMail UK, Charlottesville Greenstone Blog and The Dirt)
Slime and stink notwithstanding, thousands of Chinese vacationers weren’t about to let a little (or a lot) of seaweed deprive them of their cherished dip in the ocean. You know, the ocean… that cool, clear, liquid underneath the rippling carpet of green slime?
(images via: IB Times and National Geographic)
Some beachgoers appear to be somewhat acclimated to the algal overgrowth, with one child enthusing “It is like the green grass. It feels so soft.”
(images via: Scott Brauer)
Meanwhile, local authorities seem to be in denial regarding the problem. “We don’t know where it originated and why it’s suddenly growing so rapidly,” said Professor Bao Xianwen from the Qingdao-based Ocean University of China. “It must have something to do with the change in the environment,” Bao speculated. Gee, ya think?
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Building with Bamboo: 13 Super Sustainable Structures
June 20, 2011 by admin · View Comments
[ By Steph in Art & Design & Home & Garden. ]
It’s 100% natural, thrives in diverse climates, grows up to a whopping 39 inches per day and is super-strong; why isn’t bamboo already used more often as a building material? While bamboo structures have long been common in Asia and the South Pacific, they’re only just gaining prominence in the rest of the world. From schools to disaster shelters, these 13 bamboo buildings prove just how strong, durable, eco-friendly and visually pleasing this perennial evergreen grass can be.
Water and Wind Cafe, Vietnam
(images via: vo trong nghia)
Made almost entirely of bamboo without the use of a single nail, the Water and Wind Cafe in the Binh Duong province of Vietnam is just one example of incredible bamboo structures designed by architecture firm Vo Trong Nghia. The domed structure, dripping with lights, features a dazzling skylight, with the end result resembling a natural cathedral. The bamboo was woven together using traditional Vietnamese bamboo weaving techniques and covered in a local bush plant.
Bamboo Tower, Venice, Italy
(images via: inhabitat)
At the edge of Venice’s grand canal, a tower of bamboo seemed to sprout up organically over a period of a week. Constructed for the Venice Biennale, Stam Studio’s Big Bambu Project involves a 50-foot nest-like bamboo tower with a spiraling walkway that leads from ground level to the pinnacle. The 2010 Big Bambu installation at the MET in New York was the “seed” for the project; the creators used 1,000 poles from that installation in the new project as well as 2,000 additional poles. Artists Doug and Mike Stam lashed the bamboo together by hand with the help of a team of rock climbers.
Green School, Bali
(images via: greenschool.org)
Have you ever seen a school made entirely out of bamboo? The Green School in Bali is unusual in a number of ways, from its sustainable curriculum to the degree of freedom enjoyed by the students, but it is the structures themselves that are often the center of attention for visitors. The Green School chose bamboo because it’s green, renewable and very plentiful in Bali. “Frankly, it is hard to talk to students about sustainability while they are using the last piece of rainforest for their chair and their table. It is the painful truth that they are going to have to stretch to get enough rain forest timber to build their homes,” says co-founder, architect John Hardy.
Solar-Powered Bamboo House
(images via: design boom)
‘Sunshine Inn’, a solar-powered bamboo house, was made by the Chinese team from Tongli University as their official entry into the first European Solar Decathlon in Madrid. Bamboo was chosen as the main material because, as a highly renewable resource that fixes carbon into the soil, it minimizes CO2 emissions throughout the whole production phase. This beautiful structure features two curved solar panel-clad roofs and a solar-facing wall covered which is also covered in photovoltaic panels.
Bamboo House by Benjamin Garcia Saxe, Costa Rica
(images via: world architecture news)
Architect Benjamin Garcia Saxe created this intricate, light-filled, open-air bamboo home for his mother in Costa Rica. Being open to the air allows the house to catch every breeze that comes through, but the bamboo and roof are angled to protect against rain. Inside, a cone-shaped dome gives Saxe’s mother a view of the sun and moon, with the space protected by an umbrella-like second roof.
Mason Lane Farm, Goshen, Indiana
(images via: design boom)
This geometric bamboo structure is not located in Asia or in the tropics, but in the rather unexpected locale of Goshen, Indiana. American architecture practice De Leon & Primmer created the Mason Lane Farm Operations Facility as their entry into the 2010 World Architecture Festival. It houses farm equipment, hay and other stored goods. The bamboo stalks were laid out in a lattice grid fashion and assembled using galvanized rebar wire ties, providing perforated walls that let the wind dry the hay.
Bamboo Forest House, Taiwan
(images via: world architecture news)
This vacation house for an extended family in eastern Taiwan is connected on two sides to neighboring structures, but its two street-facing facades were given an eye-catching bamboo treatment that lets in light and air. This screen also provides privacy and security, and gives the feel of being in a bamboo forest when gazing out the windows from inside.
Zen-Style Bamboo Prefab Home
(images via: bambooliving.com)
Want a bamboo home of your own? A company called Bamboo Living provides prefab bamboo house kits in modern styles including ‘Zen Style Home’, a minimalist one-story design with a large front porch. Bamboo Living Homes are ICC-ES certified and have sold over 150 such structures, which have been assembled all over the world. They also build custom designs and larger eco-villages and developments.
Origami-Inspired Bamboo Folding House Concept
(images via: urbanrevision)
Designed for use as temporary shelters in the aftermath of an earthquake, these origami-inspired bamboo folding houses might just be the most elegant and artistic example of disaster housing ever produced. After a 2007 earthquake in China killed 69,000, Ming Tang was driven to create a shelter that was inexpensive, environmentally friendly and easy to produce. The pre-fabricated structures can be quickly assembled on-site and are then covered in post- and pre-consumer recycled paper for protection from the sun.
Cocoon Houses, Bali
(images via: inhabitat)
They may not resemble any houses you’ve ever seen, but these vertical bamboo structures could offer inexpensive housing in hard-hit places like Haiti. The design, by Saint Val Architect, marries low-tech and high-tech, using bamboo poles and x-shaped metal joints to form the ‘exoskeleton’ of each home. A circular staircase wrapping around the central support beam brings occupants to each successive floor, and canvas seals the home from the elements.
Giant Bamboo Umbrellas at a Japanese Restaurant, Jakarta, Indonesia
(images via: architectoo)
The form of an umbrella served as the basis of inspiration for the bamboo structures that make up the Outdoor Japanese Noodle Restaurant in Jakarta. Designed to be temporary and simple to disassemble, the bamboo umbrellas overlap each other to become one big roof, protecting guests from sun, wind and rain. Rainwater is diverted through bamboo ‘gutters’, poured into the ground through a pipe in the middle of the structure.
Bird-Like Amphitheater, Hanoi, Vietnam
(images via: world architecture news)
Also by Vo Trong Nghia is ‘Bird Wing’, an avian-like bamboo building used for fashion shows, live music, conferences and other public activities. Set beside a pond, the wing-inspired design of the amphitheater paired with the organic, eco-friendly qualities of the chosen material is a fitting tribute to the natural beauty of the setting. It’s made only from bamboo and rope, with no metal or other types of wood used in the construction.
Bamboo Manta Ray Dome, Thailand
(images via: 24h.eu)
Could you guess the sea creature that inspired the shape of this bamboo building, even if it weren’t in the name? Seeming to soar through the sky just as a manta ray gently floats beneath the surface of the sea, the Children’s Activity and Learning Center at the 6-star Soneva Kiri resort in Thailand fits in beautifully with its lush tropical surroundings.
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Sustainable Schools: 14 Smart Green Learning Facilities
June 17, 2011 by thegreenchildrenfoundation · View Comments
[ By Steph in Art & Design & Geography & Travel. ]
These 14 school buildings, from a simple primary school in Cambodia to a high-tech university in Sweden, don’t just provide a learning environment for students – they’re also stunning examples of sustainability in architecture that can teach designers around the world to think green and beautiful. Green roofs, daylighting, renewable power, sun shades and local materials earn these structures high marks in environmental sensitivity and aesthetic standards alike.
Manassas Park Elementary School, Virginia
(images via: greensource.construction.com)
Named by the American Institute of Architects (AIA) as one of America’s greenest schools, Manassas Park Elementary in Manassas Park, Virginia was built to cure “nature-deficit disorder” among schoolchildren. Architecture firm VMDO integrated the 140,000-square-foot building with the surrounding ecosystem, providing views of gardens and forests and including a number of outdoor learning spaces. The school, which achieved Gold LEED status from the U.S. Green Building Council, has a 79,000-gallon rainwater cistern, a daylighting system, geothermal heat and a weather-predictive automated system that flashes lights when it’s okay to open the windows. An unusual educational philosophy enables students to move between rooms unsupervised, studying in beanbags and sofas.
Green School, Bali, Indonesia
(images via: greenschool.org)
Sit down at an open-air cafe in a stunning bamboo building in Bali, sipping a smoothie made with sugar cane grown on the premises, eating a snack wrapped in a banana leaf while listening to the sounds of nature. It sounds like paradise, but for many children in this corner of Indonesia, it’s just another day at school. The Green School opened in 2008 and includes the largest bamboo structure in the world; in fact, everything here is made of bamboo, a local renewable resource. Children eat produce that they grow themselves, and every facet of their education is infused with sustainability, creativity and physical interaction with the land. Bamboo is used to teach students about their effect on the environment – they plant new bamboo shoots to offset their carbon footprints.
Sidwell Friends Middle School, Washington D.C.
(images via: archdaily)
Attended by President Obama’s daughter Malia, Sidwell Friends Middle School in Washington, D.C. is undoubtedly exclusive, and it’s not just the educational standards that are high. The middle school building at Sidwell Friends is among the greenest K-12 schools in America, with a constructed wetland to treat the school’s sewage on-site, water-efficient landscaping, photovoltaic panels and a passive solar design. The building was constructed with local and regional materials as well as recycled materials and Forest Stewardship Council-certified wood. Lots of daylight and natural ventilation keep energy costs down, and a green roof removes pollutants from rainwater and provides a mini ecosystem for wildlife. The school is noted among the AIA’s top ten green projects and received a Platinum LEED rating.
Martinet Primary School, Barcelona, Spain
(images via: inhabitat)
Barcelona’s Martinet Primary School is kept cool by an unusual honeycomb facade inset with multicolored tiles for visual interest. The facade acts as a sunscreen, keeping the harsh rays of the Spanish sun from heating up the building while also providing natural ventilation. The tiles are set at right angles to each other and the west-facing sides are glazed in three shades of green while the east-facing are painted in autumnal colors.
Hawaii Preparatory Academy, Hawaii
(images via: hpa.edu)
At the Hawaii Preparatory Academy, a structure called the Energy Lab isn’t just green – it’s a certified Living Building. In addition to achieving LEED Platinum, the Energy Lab met the ‘Living Building Challenge’, using absolutely nothing that is toxic in production, use or disposal. Amazingly, incredibly high standards like using only steel or concrete from 1,000 miles away and wood from 3,000 miles away were met by the builders – despite the fact that the school is located in the middle of the ocean! The 6,112-square-foot Energy Lab facility features indoor and outdoor classroom areas, conference and project rooms and a full workshop on 216 acres of land.
The Bridge School, China
(images via: inhabitat)
Among five winners of the 2010 Aga Khan Award for Architecture, the Bridge School in Xiashi, China is located in a rural village and provides not only a place of learning but a public gathering spot and a way to cross the town’s river. The two-room schoolhouse, designed by Li Xiaodong, consists of a bamboo bridge connecting two historic toulou (circular castles made from packed dirt). Horizontal bamboo shutters and doors can open the school to the air when the weather is appropriate, and the north end of the school even functions as a stage for performances or other community projects when school is not in session.
Sra Pou Vocational School, Cambodia
(images via: srapou.org)
While red bricks made from local dirt provide the structural mass of the Sra Pou Vocational School in Cambodia, it’s the colorful handmade shutters, which can be opened or closed to control interior daylighting and ventilation, that make the building so cheerful and fun. The school was built entirely by hand by local laborers who received training on the job.
Green Mountain College, Poultney, Vermont
(images via: greenmtn.edu)
Is this the greenest college of them all? The answer to that question is yes, according to the Sierra Club’s Sierra Magazine, which rated Vermont’s Green Mountain College at the top of its list of the nation’s most eco-friendly colleges. This four-year liberal arts college, which emphasizes environmental sustainability as an essential element of its course studies, is the first college in the nation to achieve climate neutrality. The college has its own biomass facility, uses electricity produced by extracting methane gas from manure on Vermont dairy farms, and grows its own organic produce.
Michael J. Homer Science and Student Life Center, Atherton, California
(images via: jetsongreen)
The Michael J. Homer Science and Student Life Center in Atherton, California was the first school to obtain LEED Platinum certification under the LEED for Schools program. Part of Sacred Heart Schools, a Roman Catholic School for students in preschool through twelfth grade, this school uses 69% less energy than a typical school the same size. A living roof, a 40 kilowatt solar photovoltaic system, 73 skylights, water-efficient fixtures and drought-resistant native plantings are among the school’s notable green features. It also feeds students organic fruits and vegetables grown in an on-site garden.
Umeå University Architecture Academy, Sweden
(images via: world architecture news)
Umeå University’s new Architecture Academy in Sweden has a bold locally-sourced larch wood envelope punctuated by seemingly off-kilter windows in various sizes that not only gives it visual punch, but lets in lots of light. The windows are strategically placed to allow sunlight to infiltrate the building throughout the day. An integrated HVAC system, along with overall energy efficiency, has helped minimize energy usage by 50% and fresh air is drawn into the building from under the floor and circulated throughout the interior using perforated pipes.
Maosi Ecological Demonstration Primary School, China
(images via: open architecture network)
The Ecological Demonstration Primary School in Maosi, China proves that eco-friendly schools be built in remote areas of the country for very little money. Built as an experiment by the Chinese University of Hong Kong, this cluster of 10 single-story classrooms is made of thick mud brick for thermal mass in the style of local traditional architecture. Other local materials like rubble, straw and reed were used as well as recycled roof tiles from around the village. The school won the Design for Asia Award for improving quality of life.
ASU Walter Cronkite School of Journalism, Phoenix, Arizona
(images via: inhabitat)
Certified LEED Silver and a stunning addition to downtown Phoenix, the ASU Walter Cronkite School of Journalism stands out for its smart protection from the desert sun as well as its multi-colored metal panels in a pattern inspired by the U.S. Radio Spectrum. The 6-story educational facility features sun screens on all four facades as well as a three-story-tall ‘front porch’ to keep the sun from heating up the building.
Howe Dell Primary School, Hatfield, U.K.
(images via: howedell.herts.sch.uk)
The Howe Dell Primary School of Hatfield, England might just be the greenest building in the United Kingdom. An experiment in just how green a school can be, Howe Dell features a green roof planted with sedum, toilets that flush using rainwater, desks made of drain pipes, solar hot water and electricity and countertops made of recycled yogurt cups. But even among all of these impressive efforts – as well as a student “Eco Squad” that promotes sustainability on campus – one particular feature stands out: the world’s first Interseasonal Heat Transfer system, built beneath the school’s playground. The system takes the heat from sunshine that falls on the tarmac playground, stores it underground and then releases it during the winter.
School of Art, Design and Media at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
(images via: greenroofs.com)
Few green roofs in the world can compete visually with the sweeping carpet of green that encircles the School of Art, Design and Media at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. Completed in 2006, the five-story educational facility blurs the lines between organic and built environments, disguising the building altogether from certain angles. The green roof insulates the structure, creates open green space for gatherings, cools the surrounding air and harvests rainwater for landscaping irrigation. The building is oriented with the facades facing north and south to decrease solar gain.
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Peter Shiao Interview with US Asians - Pt. 4: Being a Passionate Social Entrepreneur
February 1, 2011 by · View Comments
Peter shares about being a social/media entrepreneur, the circumstances that provided the success of his past companies, working with prominent people (ie James Stern, Mike Medavoy, Lisa Onodera, Dean Devlin, Teddy Zee, Stephen Liu, Steve Tao, Fritz Friedman), his political role models and his high regard for Gareth CC Chang. Editor’s Commentary With the historic “G2″ conference in 2010 between President Obama and President Hu Jintao (that includes the first State Dinner with China in 13 years and where he stated will promote “democracy and the rule of law” . . . “improve the lives of the Chinese people”) — it is an acknowledgement that China’s status as the 2nd largest world economy, the global diplomacy dominance of China/United States, Hollywood-Chinese entertainment industries’ potential abilities to defuse political tensions, China’s pending position in surpassing Japan’s as the 2nd largest movie market after the US, Hollywood’s chase for financial resources in China in exchange for creative access and the desire/goal/need for both parties to work together — could the words “May You Live in Interesting Times” be true? It is exciting to note that President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama state that “America has no better ambassadors to offer than our young people” that underscored the United States’ commitment to broadening and strengthening US-China people-to-people exchange particular in the form of educational and cultural connections between our young people …
Tortured Trees: Brutal Bonsai Bondage Art Series
September 10, 2010 by admin · View Comments
[ By Steph in Art & Design, Nature & Ecosystems. ]
The trees writhe and twist as if in pain, the branches bent in seemingly unnatural ways. It almost seems cruel, the metal contraptions that squeeze and pull each plant resembling nothing more than torture devices. And so they are – ‘Bonsai Series’ by artist Shen Shaomin has some not-so-subtle things to say about how humans interfere with nature.
The plants are like prisoners to his work, says Shen. The Beijing artist put the live, green plants into cage-like metal structures that bind them and restrict their growth. Along with the plants, Shen displayed a collection of antique-looking metal tools used to distort the plants.
According to ArtZine China, Shen sought to “critique the notion of relentlessly constructing artificial beauty regardless of price in Chinese society.” Some of his inspiration came from the archaic Chinese tradition of ritual foot-binding, though Shen sees the mistreatment of plants as even crueler because the plants are unwilling participants and the damage is done under the pretense of enjoying nature.
Investigating the technique of bonsai, Shen was shocked to learn how practitioners cut the center of the tree trunk open to twist and scar them so they appear older, “penetrating the intestine, smashing the stomach.” The plants were hacked, burnished and scorched in such a way that reminded Shen of surgical operations carried out on humans. Bonsai forcibly changes plants into unnatural, abnormal shapes that people somehow find beautiful.
“Today what we feel and know as Nature has become something artificial, technical, and sociological. Men are fabricating an artificial world of their own according to their personal interests.”
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Jimmy’s Place
July 13, 2010 by admin · View Comments
At 79, Jean Lichorat of Kissimmee has outlived her family and friends. But she’s doesn’t feel alone.
“My dog is the best companion,” she says of her cocker spaniel, Joanne. “That’s my baby. I love her so much.”
Because Lichorat doesn’t have anyone to care for her dog and can’t afford a kennel, she puts off any medical test or procedure that requires an overnight stay at the hospital. She would rather risk her health than endanger, or possibly lose, her only companion.
That’s why Jimmy’s Place, the council’s soon-to-open pet hotel, means so much to Lichorat and others like her. Depending on the size of the guests staying there, the facility has room for up to 10 pets for short periods while the elderly owners are at the hospital or getting care.
“This kind of situation is very common among our elderly clients with pets,” said Robert Dent, a spokesman for the Osceola County Council on Aging. “Some will even refuse to go to the hospital after a 911 call.”
Advocates for seniors and animals said they haven’t heard of a program like Jimmy’s Place anywhere else in the state but applauded the idea.
“Kudos to them,” said Jake White, executive vice president of the SPCA of Central Florida. “It is great that an agency that supports seniors steps forward to help animals. They [animals] really make a difference in their lives and help them in many ways.”
Many studies have shown that seniors with pets have better physical health and mental well-being than those who don’t.
“A program that provides good care for a beloved animal is also providing an important support for the human who cares for that animal,” AARP Florida State Director Lori Parham said.
Jimmy’s Place has been in the works for more than a decade. It’s the brainchild of the council’s Meals on Wheels volunteers Jimmy Scarborough and his wife, Pat.
Jimmy Scarborough, a retired deputy sheriff who died in 1998, noticed that some of the program’s elderly clients couldn’t afford pet food and would split their Wheels meals with their cats or dogs. Scarborough began to buy food for the animals out of his own pocket and had the drivers — he was the program’s Kissimmee coordinator — deliver it along with the clients’ meals.
Soon the Council on Aging was on board.
“We began to collect pet food in our food drives and have been delivering it to clients with pets for years now,” Dent said.
After Jimmy Scarborough died at 89, his wife made it a point to keep the program alive and expand it to offer other services.
“We began raising money for it at Jimmy’s funeral,” Pat Scarborough, 75, said. “I told people not to spend money on flowers and give me or the council the money instead. I knew that would make Jimmy very happy.
“I spent $150 on rented plants and raised much more than that for a good cause,” she said.
Over time, the council had been looking for ways to make the pet hotel happen. It came together this year after the organization secured a couple of grants to refurbish a small space in a building it already owned.
Jimmy’s Place will officially open Friday, but it is already in operation.
Lichorat hasn’t had to use it yet, but she’s ecstatic to know it will be available for Joanne if an emergency arises.
“That’s good,” she said laughing. “Oh, wow. That’s good.”
Source: Orlando Sentinel
Cloveice DeMaintenon, 85, lives with Teleka, her Chinese crested, in an assisted-living apartment at Oak Leaf Landing in Kissimmee. If she should need to leave home to receive medical care, she won’t have to worry about Teleka, thanks to Jimmy’s Place, the free pet hotel sponsored by the Osceola Council on Aging
Beth
Mad Medicine: 14 Crazy Cures from Ages Past
July 12, 2010 by admin · View Comments
[ By Steph in Food & Health, History & Trivia. ]
Many modern alternative medical practices are bizarre and even frightening, and in all fairness, within a century or two historians will likely look back at many of our mainstream treatments and see them as crazy, too. But few contemporary medical ideas are quite as terrifying as those used in ages past, from Ancient Greece to the early 20th century. Torture devices and quackery in the name of health were par for the course from intentional brain damage as a cure for mental illness to giving children heroin for coughs.
Trepanation – Drilling Holes into the Skull
(image via: wikimedia commons)
Got a migraine? Maybe it would feel better if a doctor drilled a hole into your skull – without anesthesia. But probably not. The process of intentionally punching a hole in the skull – known as trepanation – was once considered the best option for epileptic seizures, mental disorders and head injuries, and involved some of the most amazingly terrifying medical instruments you’ve ever seen. It has been around at least since neolithic times, and some people actually believe that it has a place in modern medicine.
Consumption of Honey-Coated Cadaver
(images via: surlygirl, wikipedia)
One man’s death by honey was another man’s health boon for broken bones centuries ago in Arabia, if 16th century Chinese sources are to be believed. The story goes that elderly Arabian men would offer themselves up as sacrifices for the health of others, consuming nothing but honey and even bathing in the sticky substance, eventually putting out nothing but honey as bodily waste and perishing from this all-honey diet. After death, the bodies were placed in stone tombs to steep in even more honey for at least a century, at which point they had become delicious confections ready for black-market purchase and consumption.
Metal Hooks and Back-Door Surgery for Bladder Stones
(image via: braceface)
Bladder stones are painful enough on their own, especially when they prevent urine from leaving the body. But imagine your doctor telling you that in order to remove them, he’d have to put a rigid metal hook into your urethra to coax them out. Ouch. But if you think that sounds bad, the traditional procedure was much worse: after forcing a patient into a ‘jack-knife’ position, held down by two assistants, the doctor would work the stone toward the entrance of the bladder and then cut it out through the anus.
Curing Coughs with Snail Syrup
(image via: debs)
For centuries, one of the best remedies people had for sore throats and coughs was consuming the mucilaginous essence of snails. One doctor wrote in 1728, “They abound with a slimy juice; and are experienced very good in weaknesses and consumption, especially for children and tender constitutions. To make a syrup of snails, take Garden snails, early in the morning while the dew is upon them, one pound; take off their shells; slit them; and with half a pound of sugar, put them in a bag; hang them in a cellar and the syrup will melt and drop through; which keep for use. It possesses in the best manner all the virtues of snails.” But that’s not even the worst of it. Some people would prick a snail to bring forth that slimy, foamy juice and then drop the whole thing into the ear to cure an earache.
Curing Hemorrhoids with Hot Irons
(image via: mckinney collection)
In the most severe cases of hemorrhoids, draining some of the blood via incision and then cauterizing the wounds is a painful-sounding but effective method used in modern medicine. But back in the day, they didn’t have fancy painkillers and electrical wires or lasers with which to do the surgery. Doctors used a plain old cautery iron to burn those blasted swollen veins into oblivion.
Heroin Cough Syrup for Children
(image via: logo design love)
Heroin is known today as one of the most addictive substances in the world, but few realize that it was actually sold by Bayer as a cough suppressant for children. Scientists believed that it was a non-addictive alternative to morphine, from which it was synthesized, but of course, that was soon proven wrong. Test subjects often said the drug made them feel ‘heroic’, which led to the choice of brand name. Heroin was seen as a godsend for sufferers of tuberculosis, including children. In 1913, as hospitals teemed with patients miserably addicted to the ‘medicine’, Bayer decided to stop making it.
Bloodletting to Drain Illness
(image via: wikimedia commons)
Ancient physicians theorized that since a woman’s body naturally cleared out “bad humors” through menstruation, drawing blood from the veins of both sexes was a great way to let illness out of the body. Bloodletting was extremely common, and not just for serious ailments: some doctors recommended it for indigestion and even acne. The only real benefit might have been relieving hypertension in certain patients, but that was probably purely accidental and very rare. Bloodletting fell out of favor by the late 19th century.
Icepick to the Brain
(image via: npr)
How to cure the mentally ill? Remove their ‘extra emotions’ by cutting out a piece of their brains. Like trepanation, lobotomies were once performed by drilling a hole into the head, but psychiatrist Water Freeman quickly ‘improved’ the procedure by switching to a faster icepick-through-the-eye-socket method. Performed after rendering the patient unconscious via electric shock, it took only ten minutes, but the results varied wildly, from the successful to the tragic. Its usage declined as effective antipsychotic drugs became available in the 1960s.
Mummy Powder for Health and Home
(image via: wikimedia commons)
The story of mellified man may not be confirmed, but another medicinal usage of carefully prepared human remains is without question. Starting in the 12th century, Arabs – who didn’t consider ancient Egyptians to be there ancestors, and thus thought nothing of it – began grinding up mummies and using the powder for various health ills, both internally and externally, and even household uses. The crudely mummified bodies of peasants, dug out of sand pits, went for a pittance while the embalmed remains of aristocrats fetched a pretty penny.
Malaria as Treatment for Syphilis
(image via: wikimedia commons)
Malaria kills up to three million people per year, and many poor communities must go to great lengths to stop the spread of this mosquito-borne disease. But in the 1920s, one doctor discovered that malaria has an interesting side effect: killing syphilis, a comparably less insidious disease that nonetheless has a 100% fatality rate once it affects the brain. Malarial fevers reach temperatures high enough to kill the bacteria that causes syphilis. While Dr. Julius Wagner-Jauregg won the 1927 Nobel Prize for this discovery, it’s no longer considered a great treatment option, to say the least (but that’s not stopping Dr. Heimlich of the famed Heimlich Maneuver from recommending it as a cure for AIDS.)
Tobacco Smoke Enema
(image via: tophat tobacco)
For a short period in medical history, tobacco was considered a panacea; the addictive and poisonous effects of nicotine were not yet known. The warmth and stimulation provided by tobacco smoke was thought to be a treatment for “apparent death”, so smoke was literally blown up the behinds of recent drowning victims, cholera victims, people near death and often simply as a ‘health tonic’.
Sugar Coma for Schizophrenia
(image via: mel b.)
Like a glucose-induced lobotomy, deliberate insulin comas were designed to change the personalities of people with schizophrenia. Unfortunately, they were usually fatal. In the 1940s, psychiatric clinics (particularly in Germany) would deprive patients’ brains of glucose, the sugar-based fuel that the brain needs to function, and then “re-awaken” the brain with a glucose injection. This process had a tranquillizing effect – because it was causing severe brain damage.
Shocking Cure for Impotence
(image via: wastatelibrary)
If a certain part of the male body isn’t functioning as it should, perhaps a jolt of electricity will get it going. That’s what doctors believed back in the 1800s, when “electrotherapeutics” were a popular cure-all. “It is especially in the genital organs that electricity is truly marvelous. Impotence disappears, strength and desire of youth return, and the man, old before his time, whether by excesses or privations, with the aid of electrical fustigation, can become 15 years younger,” wrote one medical historian. But as shocking as that may seem, modern Israeli scientists believe it’s still a valid idea. Their research has shown that electric shockwaves can induce the growth of blood vessels.
Tapeworm Diet
(image via: museum of quackery)
“Eat! Eat! Eat! And always stay thin!” If you are willing to house a wriggling tapeworm in your bowels, at least. The Tapeworm Diet involved the intentional consumption of parasite eggs in order to maintain a trim figure, due to the fact that the tapeworm gets most of the nourishment you consume. But not only does tapeworm infestation have its own serious health effects, it can also cause abdominal distention – not exactly the look most dieters are going for. While this diet should have died a long time ago, it was recently tossed back into the limelight with an appearance by several would-be tapeworm ingesters on a daytime talk show.
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No Green Thumb? 13 Healthy Hard-to-Kill Houseplants
June 21, 2010 by admin · View Comments
[ By Steph in Home & Garden. ]
You’ve got a dark apartment, a busy schedule and a seeming inability to water plants with any regularity. Are you just hopelessly black-thumbed, doomed to live a plant-free existence in a home with poor air quality forever? Not if you choose super-hardy, hard-to-kill houseplants that can withstand poor lighting conditions and go for long periods without water. These 13 houseplants are tough as they get, thriving in spite of all kinds of neglect.
Hen and Chicks
(image via: knottyboy)
These adorable little succulents are the perfect plants to place in a sunny window, but other than meeting their high light requirements, ignoring your “hen and chicks” plant could be the best thing you do for it. So named for its curious growing habit, sprouting ‘babies’ around the main plant, Sempervivum only needs to be watered regularly during the spring and summer – the rest of the year, you can water it just once a month! Keep it in well-drained soil made specifically for succulents.
English Ivy
(image via: koishikawagirl)
With its variegated leaves and long trailing vines, English Ivy is a beautiful houseplant that’s also super easy to care for. Place it in a draft-free well-lighted spot in your home and mist it with a spray bottle to keep the soil evenly moist and the leaves free of pesky spider mites, and this plant will be happy for a long time. It even thrives under fluorescent light, making it a great option for the office.
Dracaena Marginata
(image via: 40.degrees.above.dada)
Tall and tree-like, spiky Dracaena Marginata plants come in a wide range of colors and sizes, some with dramatic striped leaves in shades of lime green or red. These air-cleaning plants, which are among those found by NASA to clear formaldehyde, only need a medium amount of light, so they can be placed near but not directly in the sunlight of a window. They’ve got low water needs, so you’d really have to neglect them to cause them harm.
Split-Leaf Philodendron
(image via: wikimedia commons)
The Monstera Deliciosa plant – also known as the Split-Leaf Philodendron or the Swiss Cheese Plant – is the kind of houseplant that makes a big impact with minimal work on your end. With characteristic perforations on its broad oversized glossy leaves, this houseplant will grow relatively large as long as it’s kept within eight feet of a bright, sunny window. Water it every 7-10 days and it will reward you with lush growth for years.
Christmas Cactus
(image via: wikimedia commons)
These plants have such long lives, they can be passed down from generation to generation – the very same plant! Despite its name, the Christmas Cactus doesn’t belong to the same family as most of the desert cacti you’re familiar with – but it does bloom around Christmastime. During the spring and summer, water the plant thoroughly and then let the top inch of soil dry out before watering it again – and water it even less frequently in the fall and winter months. For a profusion of holiday blooms, keep it in a sunny draft-free spot during the day and in total darkness in a cool room at night.
Jade Plant
(image via: chefranden)
Like “Hen and chicks”, the Jade Plant is a member of the succulent family and requires very little water, but its fat little leaves protruding from thick stems make it quite an interesting plant to look at. It only needs moderate sunlight – putting it in an east or west facing window is best. You should let the soil dry out completely between waterings – overenthusiastic watering will only kill it!
Chinese Evergreen
(image via: southern living)
Got a warm home and a tendency to forget about watering your plants? The Chinese Evergreen might be just what you need. This tropical plant does need to be kept above 55 degrees Fahrenheit at all times, but that’s not too tough if you’re among the majority who keep their homes climate-controlled year-round. Southern Living calls Chinese Evergreen the easiest houseplant of all, particularly because its low light needs mean it can go just about anywhere in your home and it only needs to be watered when the soil is dry.
Spider Plant
(image via: bsabarnowl)
Total noob at keeping houseplants alive? No problem, if you start with this super-easy, non-fussy hanging plant. The Spider Plant or Chlorophytum comosum grows fast, has attractive striped foliage and sprouts little “babies” that hang down from the basket. It’s pretty laid back about lighting, so place it where it will get a moderate amount but not in direct sun. Allow it to dry out in between waterings.
Peace Lily
(image via: audreyjm529)
Peace Lily flowers may be simple, but they’re elegant – and easy to keep going for much of the year, as long as you give this houseplant the small amount of attention that it requires. While the Peace Lily is a heavy drinker, it prefers its waterings to be well spaced out so it’s actually a good idea to wait until the plant droops slightly before soaking its soil with water. Keep it in indirect sunlight, and make sure your kids and cats don’t get to it – it is toxic.
ZZ Plant
(image via: wikimedia commons)
Zamioculcas zamiifolia – otherwise known as the ZZ plant – has pretty much everything you can ask for from a house plant. It can handle low light, needs very little water, withstands changes in indoor air conditions and will stay green and glossy even if you forget to care for it for a little while.
African Violet
(image via: wikimedia commons)
The African Violet’s ubiquity in homes across the world doesn’t make it any less of a beautiful plant. The key to keeping them looking picture-perfect? Leave them alone. Once you decide on a spot to keep them in, don’t move them – they get used to the light levels in that spot and have a tough time adjusting. Don’t water it until the soil feels dry to the touch, don’t get water on the leaves and don’t oversaturate the soil. The easiest way to do this is to pour some water into the plant pot’s saucer and let the roots wick it up from there.
Cast Iron Plant
(image via: wikimedia commons)
Dust? Heat? Cold? Dim lighting? All of these are no problem for the aptly named Cast Iron Plant or ‘Aspidistra Elatior’, native to China and other countries in Asia. It’s tough, with leathery foliage that is nonetheless pleasant to look at, growing upwards to about 24 inches long. You’d literally have to try to kill this plant. But if you want it to look its very best, give it indirect sunlight, a warm room to bask in and keep its soil evenly moist.
Pothos
(image via: joshua kulpa)
Perhaps the most popular houseplant of all time, Pothos is a total no-brainer to grow. It’s not unusual to see trailing pothos vines stretching from a high-hung pot all the way to the floor. Once the top inch of soil is dry, thoroughly water the Pothos, drenching the entire root ball, and then pour off the extra water. Because they like the same temps we do, they’ll be comfortable in most homes. Just keep them out of direct sunlight.
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