Every once in a while, I feel a strong sensation best described as part nostalgia, yearning for the past, and part anticipation, yearning for the future. These brief ‘visions’ can be very detailed…
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Posts Tagged ‘environment’
Yearning
Monday, May 14th, 2007Internet for the Third World
Saturday, April 28th, 2007
Nigerian students power up their laptop (see gallery)
In the past months I’ve been following the development of the ‘$100 computer’ for the third world. It’s a great initiative that will allow children to become computer-literate, and a good example of what can be accomplished when we work together.
For an idea how much of a difference a computer can make in these children’s lives, here’s an article on an interesting experiment a computer-scientist in New Delhi conducted: India: Hole in the Wall
One boy in particular, Rajinder, has become a computer whiz and a celebrity in India. “Mainly I go to the Disney site,” Rajinder tells FRONTLINE/World, but he also regularly visits news sites and likes to use computer paint tools. His teacher says that Rajinder is a much better student now: “He has become quite bold and expressive. I’ve got great hopes for this child.”
Animation: Father and Daughter by Michael Dudok De Wit
Tuesday, April 24th, 2007A father says goodbye to his young daughter and leaves. As the wide Dutch landscapes live through their seasons so the girl lives through hers. She becomes a young woman, has a family and in time she becomes old, yet within her there is always a deep longing for her father.
I just stumbled across this short animation by Michael Dudok De Wit. It’s moving, at times funny, and a good reminder of how beautiful Holland can be. Keep an eye out for cute little details.
Photo: Symbiosis to the Third Degree
Sunday, March 11th, 2007
A beetle on a lizard on a frog, helping each other cross the stream; a nursery rhyme in the making? (source)
You Are What You Eat
Saturday, March 3rd, 2007
Growing up in Albania, much of our food didn’t reach us in the ‘conventional’ way. I remember a family from the nearby slums giving us one of their prized chickens. After my mother (with the help of a friendly neighbor) plucked the poulty and prepared it for dinner, we were all tasked with eating the little bit of tough meat of what turned out to be a tasteless scrawny, elderly chicken.
An Inconvenient Truth?
Wednesday, October 25th, 2006
Op 6 oktober ging de docu-film ‘An Inconvenient Truth’ (Een onaangename waarheid) in Nederland in Premiere. De film is een pleidooi om het fenomeen Global Warming serieus te nemen en is in de VS een groot succes geworden. Dit komt voor een groot deel door de overtuigingskracht en het charisma van de hoofdperson: Al Gore, ‘the once future-president of the United States’.
In de film probeert de ‘net-niet-president’ met behulp van grafieken, citaten van toonaangevende wetenschappers en schrijnende foto’s duidelijk te maken dat Global Warming een ernstig probleem is en dat er onmiddelijk iets aan gedaan moet worden. Maar is dit wel zo? En klopt zijn bewering dat de overweldigende meerderheid van de wetenschappers global warming onderkennen?