Cars for the Metro: Future

Peugeot's Metromorph Concept is a stunning concept by designer Roman Mistuik, and apart from the ultracool, sci-fi and futuristic design, is unique in that, it can climb up buildings.

That's the concept - in future, when our already over crowded metros are grapplng to find a solution to the parking problems, this could be an answer: cars that climb up the building walls and park themselves in bays outside your apartment. And, what's more amazing, once parked, this glassy contraption becomes your balcony! How cool is that!

Here's a sneak peek of these futuristic machines (source: autoblog.com):

Hmm, now that does look pretty cool - but only time will tell, whether our metros of the future will have this in real! And, wonder which would be the first city that will get this.

Awesome Art - You'll wonder if these are paintings!

If you're somewhat like me, it's a known thing, that there a zillion amazing pictures - photos - out there, when you start looking at sites like Flickr.

The amazing stuff of graphics artists - the Photoshop specialists - is also known.

So, how about something in the non-digital world for a change. Some of us may find it hard to digest, but yeah, art and painting is still done using the same tools as yore.

However, if you want to see some really amazing stuff, check this out! This post shows some absolutely amazing and mid blowing paintings - yes, they're not photos!!

Source: http://alyssamonks.com/

The article has a series of opinions and conflicting views - but as someone on the post already noted, enjoy it and appreciate effort, even if it's going to be hard to fathom that this may not be not fall into a purist's classification of painting, and all that...

I may not understand art - but I sure think these are works of art! Kudos to all the artists.

Hot air balloon festival, Bristol

Hot air balloons are fun to watch. They sure are on my list of things to do, and of course, photograph.

Meanwhile, enjoy some pics from the 2009, Hot Air Balloon Festival, in Bristol, UK.

The festival - Europe's largest balloon festivals - ended on 7th August.

Hot air balloons come in amazing shapes and colours:






(Read the published story here)

Cloud ships: Countering global warming

Global warming and green initiatives are important, as scientists and the human population is getting increasingly conscious about adopting measures to control emissions, etc. As is true with any other project of such a magnitude, finding an effective solution to control green house gas emissions may take at least a few years.

While each of us is required to - and should - do our part in contributing to reducing our carbon footprint, a new research by the Copenhagen Consensus Center discusses a new approach to accelerate the control measures.

Professor Eric Bickel and Lee Lane, in their paper on the subject, discuss a technique called as 'marine cloud whitening' which -

would create clouds above the Pacific Ocean that would have a cooling effect by reflecting sunlight away from Earth.

A wind-powered fleet of nearly 2,000 ships would criss-cross the sea, sucking up sea water and spraying it upwards through tall tunnels.

Special ships that create clouds by spraying seawater into the air could be the most cost effective way of tackling climate change, new research has found.

This is not an alternative to going green anyways, but is more likely to be an approach to mask the effects of global warming, says the author.

For the interested, here's the full story.

Solar Eclipse Views From Space

We all, well most of us, are excited at viewing solar eclipse(s) from terrestrial places. Sure, the longest solar eclipse of this century (which occurred on July 22, 2009) was a sight that many experienced.

While some were trying to catch images of the eclipse from high up in the air, it's unlikely to beat what a solar eclipse would appear like from space!

Solar Eclipse over China, from space:


Here's the blogpost that captures this.

Enjoy the views!