July 18, 2019

Vegetation-covered towers create 20,000 square feet of forest.

Vertical Forest is a model for a sustainable residential building, a project for metropolitan reforestation contributing to the regeneration of the environment and urban biodiversity without the implication of expanding the city upon the territory. It is a model of vertical densification of nature within the city that operates in relation to policies for reforestation and naturalization of large urban and metropolitan borders. The first example of the Vertical Forest consisting of two residential towers of 110 and 76 m height, was realized in the centre of Milan, on the edge of the Isola neighborhood, hosting 800 trees (each measuring 3, 6 or 9 meters), 4,500 shrubs and 15,000 plants from a wide range of shrubs and floral plants distributed according to the sun exposure of the facade. On flat land, each Vertical Forest equals, in amount of trees, an area of 20,000 square meters of forest. In terms of urban densification it is the equivalent of an area of a single family dwelling of nearly 75,000 sq.m. The vegetal system of the Vertical Forest contributes to the construction of a microclimate, produces humidity, absorbs CO2 and dust particles and produces oxygen.

Biological habitats. Vertical Forest increases biodiversity. It helps to set up an urban ecosystem where a different kind of vegetation creates a vertical environment which can also be colonized by birds and insects, and therefore becomes both a magnet for and a symbol of the spontaneous re-colonization of the city by vegetation and by animal life. The creation of a number of Vertical Forests in the city can set up a network of environmental corridors which will give life to the main parks in the city, bringing together the green space of avenues and gardens and interweaving various spaces of spontaneous vegetation growth.

Mitigations. Vertical Forest helps to build a micro-climate and to filter dust particles which are present in the urban environment. The diversity of the plants helps to create humidity and absorbs CO2 and dust, produces oxygen, protects people and houses from harmful sun rays and from acoustic pollution.

Anti-sprawl. Vertical Forest is an anti-sprawl measure which aims to control and reduce urban expansion. If we think of them in terms of urban densification, each tower of the Vertical Forest is equivalent to an area of urban sprawl of family houses and buildings of up to 50,000 square metres.

Trees are a key element in understanding architectural projects and garden systems. In this case the choice of the types of trees was made to fit their positioning on the facades and by height, and it took two years to finalize it, alongside a group of botanists. The plants used in this project will be grown specifically for this purpose and will be pre-cultivated. Over this period these plants can slowly get used to the conditions they will find on the building.

Ecology billboards. Vertical Forest is a landmark in the city which is able to depict new kinds of variable landscapes changing their look over seasons, depending on the types of plants involved. The Vertical Forests will offer a changing view of the metropolitan city below.

Management. The management of the tree pots is under building regulation, as well as the upkeep of the greenery and the number of plants for each pot.

Irrigation. In order to understand the need for water, the plan for these buildings took into account the distribution of plants across the various floors and their positioning.







https://www.stefanoboeriarchitetti.net/en/project/vertical-forest/

July 17, 2019

Reporter presses McConnell on if it's racist to tell his immigrant wife to 'go back to her country'

Source: The Hill

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Tuesday declined to say if it would be racist to tell his immigrant wife to go back to her native country in response to questions about President Trump's recent attacks on four progressive lawmakers.

McConnell was pressed about the hypothetical as he addressed the criticism Trump has received for telling a group of minority congresswomen to "go back" to the "totally broken and crime infested places" they came from.

CNN's Manu Raju asked McConnell during the press conference whether he'd consider it racist if someone told his wife, Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, who was born in Taiwan, to go back to the country she was born in.

"You're married to an immigrant who's a naturalized U.S. citizen. If someone was to tell her she should go back to her country because of her criticism of federal policy, wouldn't you consider that a racist attack?" Raju asked.

McConnell responded by celebrating his wife's story, noting that she came to the U.S. at "age 8, legally, not speaking a word of English."

He added that Chao "has realized the American dream, and I think all of us think that this is a process of renewal that’s gone on in this country for a very long time, and it’s good for America and we ought to continue it



Read more: https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/453350-reporter-presses-mcconnell-on-whether-itd-be-racist-to-tell-his-immigrant

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This question set him back for a few Yertle the Turtle blinks.

Hypocrisy, thy name is Mitch.

July 15, 2019

I am taking you home right NOW, mister!

July 15, 2019

Do you think Biden would have won against tRump in 2016?

Or has the past couple years been necessary to show voters what a fraud and a criminal tRump is? Not blaming Hillary Clinton because we know she actually won.

This question is along the lines of--what if JFK had not been killed, or Bobby?

July 11, 2019

Anamorphic Art

This guy is amazing! Matthieu Robert-Ortis....well worth googling to see more.

July 8, 2019

DU sound problem

A couple weeks ago now, I have no sound on youtube or other clips posted on DU. There one day, gone the next.

I don't have this problem on any other site. Ideas please?

thx

July 5, 2019

Golden eagles hatch in a California park for the first time in decades

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Here's a spot of good news to celebrate the holiday: A close cousin of the nation's iconic symbol, the golden eagle, is coming back to the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area in California. For the first time since the 1980s, a pair of chicks were spotted in a remote part of the park.

Katy Delaney, an ecologist with Santa Monica Mountains Recreation Area, a unit of the National Park Service, told the National Parks Traveler website that loss of habitat has reduced the range of the eagles throughout the state, enough to be worrisome for their future. "Humans are the greatest threat to golden eagles," Delaney said. "In the past, they were trapped and shot throughout their range and today, they are vulnerable to habitat loss. Like their mammalian carnivore counterparts, they can die from eating poisoned prey as well as from lead poisoning, electrocution on power lines and collisions with wind turbines."

It's possible, she said, that they've been around and just haven't been seen, but the appearance of these two chicks, which have been banded for tracking, "is a good thing for our mountains. We not only have mountain lions here, but we have golden eagles, too." Here's an encouraging tidbit for the future: "golden eagles are thought to form strong pair bonds and exhibit high mate and territory fidelity, meaning they will likely stay with the same partner and return to the same nest each breeding season. […] Historically, golden eagles nested throughout the Santa Monica Mountains—from the Gorge in Malibu Creek State Park to Boney Mountain in Point Mugu State Park. According to local Chumash Indians, golden eagles had a deep historical connection to Boney Mountain but the last known confirmed nesting there occurred in the early 1980s."

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2019/7/4/1868103/-Golden-eagles-hatch-in-a-California-park-for-the-first-time-in-decades?detail=emaildkre
(No more at link)

July 5, 2019

Twitter reacts to Trump's extraordinary history lesson about airports and the Revolutionary War

These are hilarious!!


George Washington directing the YE Olde Flying Tigers at the battle of Dulles International


"Francis Scott Key calls the airline and asks, "Oh, say. Can you see if there's an earlier flight?"



They were a scrappy bunch of misfits who just wanted to take their water bottles through the TSA checkpoint.

More at:
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2019/7/5/1869619/-Twitter-reacts-to-Trump-s-extraordinary-history-lesson-about-airports-and-the-Revolutionary-War?detail=emaildkre

July 2, 2019

A courageous mom....

I was wincing till the last squeek.

July 1, 2019

"Kicking Gas" - Disguised Arnold Schwarzenegger tries to sell gas cars to prospective EV customers.

This is pretty funny. I guess Arnold has given up his Porshe.