Magic

From a simple, unadorned tree.....
...to a beauteous sculpture of rhapsodizable pulchritude.
Such a humongous metamorphosis certainly did not transpire naturally.
It was our toil, perseverance and cast-iron will that worked magic on the tree.
Now that it has blossomed into a fruitful success, our blood, sweat and tears certainly paid off.

Haha... I know... too much of exaggeration... EXPLANATION:

The red lines winding round the black branches represent the hostile environment that the poverty-stricken people reside in. They also symbolize their grief, hopelessness, powerlessness and helplessness.

However, amid all the doom and gloom, there's still hope. And the hope is represented in the form of a sunflower. Albeit in all the harshness of the wilderness, the sunflower grows magnificently. It is to instil in us that, hope is the elixir of life; hope gives the power to rise. In the face of undue circumstances, it is hope that drives people through all the ferocious darkness and gloom.

Then, what is the HOPE?

Education is the hope and we had a self-made book and three toy pencils to represent education. Education is capable to bring about a transition in the life of those poverty-stricken people. It is the impetus. It is the most excellent and complete platform that allows them for self-actualisation. Through the knowlegde gained from a wholesome and better education system, they would know about family planning, they would know about their rights, they would know about the better ways to lead a healthy lifestyle, they would know almost everything eventually. This is really VITAL!

Last but not least, we also had a man falling and a massive hand wanting to catch it. The falling man represents the needies desperate of help while the massive hand represents Almighty God. God, in our opinions, is everything. It is omnipotent and omnipresent. Through the creation of this sculpture (the falling man and the hand), we hope that all of you will understand that God creates every human being with equality. No disparagement and no prejudice. It is beyond a shadow of a doubt that we hold on our shoulders the obligation to offer our aid to the needies. We have the responsibility to better their lives and they too own the rights to live a better life.

a THOUSAND WORDS reap NO benefits,
an ACTION sows a THOUSAND FRUITS.

OUR FLAMBOYANCY VIDEO!!!

Please please feel free to give some comments about our Poverty Video.

Meanwhile, enjoy watching it too XD

By the way, before we actually started making our video, we wrote a plan of what we wanted to do for our video to make things more organized. =]

However, we made some slight changes.

What are the changes? Don't ask me.

Watch the video to find out the differences yourself.

Nadia and Sherlin: Jinni
Peyman: Father
Bobby: Mother
Aland: Eldest Son
Nasir: Son
ZiKang: Youngest Son
Bikram: Son

Scene 1#Morning
· Introducing family members of different races, different skin colours. A poor family. Framed photo.
· Mother slicing a grain of rice distributing the sliced pieces among her sons. Everyone still feels hungry.
· Rice and biscuits decreasing day by day, bits by bits.
· Then Mother finds a worm. Slices it into several pieces and wants to feed her sons.
· Her sons – Are we really going to eat that?
· Mother- Why not? It’s crunchy and delicious. Your mama has such a nice complexion because I have been eating this wholesome delicacy since small.
· Sons: Ewwwww!!

Scene 2#Morning/Afternoon
· Meanwhile, Father and eldest son are away to find some food for family, knowing that food at home is running out.
· A triangular model falls out of nowhere, presumably from the sky.
· Father and Son are surprised as it falls right in front of them. Gaze up to the sky. Puzzled looks.
· Pick up the model. Play with it. Then keep it in pocket.

Scene 3#Night
· Eldest son toys with the model. Asks brothers to have a look at it.
· Finally have the model fixed into the right facet.
· Model shines and floats abruptly.
· Smoke effects. Jinni comes out. – your wishes are my commands.
· All brothers get a shock and feel intimidated. Then ask if is it that they will fulfill any kind of wish. The jinni say of course and brag about their might and power.
First wish: Chocolate ( an accident)
Second wish: improves mum and dad’s living condition
Third wish: I want a gigantic tree to be grown in every poor country. I want the people to Tree of heavenly fruits to quell their hunger.
Jinni were touched and grant them unlimited wealth and eternal health.

Natural and Green Architecture

You know what a GREEN BUILDING IS?

Haha... You have visited the right blog. Let me enlighten you with some interesting facts about NATURAL BUILDING.

Yes, a green building is named a natural building too.

A GREEN BUILDING is an outcome of a design which focuses on increasing the efficiency of resource use — energy, water and materials — while reducing building impacts on human health and Mother Nature during the building's lifecycle, through

• better siting,
• design,
• construction,
• operation,
• maintenance, and
• removal.

In case if you do not know, a green building protects occupant health and improves employee productivity by reducing waste, pollution and environmental degradation.

Do you know that there are 15 Green Buildings which have been dubbed as the Greenest in the entire World?

No you didn't know?

Nevermind.

Behold~~

1. Bank of America Tower at One Bryant Park, New York

When it comes to green architecture they don’t get much greener than the Bank of America Tower in New York. This $1 billion, 54 storey, 1,200 foot tall tower will house 2.1 million square foot of office space. Cook + Fox designed the tower to be extremely efficient so that waste and rainwater is reused, heat from the sun is maximised and office space is flushed with natural daylight. Most of the raw materials used in the construction of the tower are from renewable and recycled sources within 500 miles of New York in line with the ideology of sustainable building practice. It should come as no surprise therefore that this tower has been accredited with US LEED Platinum status, the only skyscraper with the reward at the time of writing.
2. India Tower, Mumbai

When first announced many commentators reacted with aghast to the renders of India Tower claiming it looked more like a stack of misaligned boxes than an intelligently designed building. I know there are similar towers around the world but I still quite like the India Tower, if only because it symbolises an environmental awareness in the world’s second most populous country. India Tower will be 74 storeys tall with 882,000 square foot of multi-use space when completed in 2010. Each rotated block in the tower will have a completely different use, ie. residential, office, retail, recreation etc. The design incorporates the use of solar shading, natural ventilation, daylighting, rainwater harvesting, and green interior finishes and materials to make this one of the greenest buildings in India. The India Tower has already achieved the US LEED Gold rating.

3. Residence Antilia, Mumbai

Believe it or not but this 70 storey, 803 foot tall tower is going to be the home for a single family, that of Indian property mogul Mukesh Ambani. The tower has been designed by Perkins + Will using traditional Vastu design, which means this will be the tallest living wall when completed and act as a large carbon sink in the heart of Mumbai, India. Not all of the floors will be occupied, some are going to be used exclusively as gardens in the sky. According to Vastu philosophy the central column of the building will angle upwards to symbolise enlightenment. The design is certainly innovative and should add at least some weight behind the whole idea of rooftop gardens and inner city farms that seems to be gaining some well-deserved traction.

4. Burj al-Taqa, UAE

Well it had to happen: it just wouldn’t be a post about green architectural and innovative construction without a mention of one of the emirates. The Burj al-Taqa is a totally self-sufficient office tower to be constructed in Dubai, Bahrain and Riyadh that will use wind, solar and water to produce all necessary energy with zero emissions. Designed by Gerber Architekten the 68 story “Energy Tower’ (as the name translates) will have an air conditioning system based on Iranian wind towers to draw air inside that gets pre-cooled with seawater before distribution round the tower. There will also be a 200 foot tall wind turbine with a Darrieus-type rotor on the roof of the 1,056 foot tall tower. The wind turbine will be accompanied by 2 rooftop solar arrays with another floating array offshore to augment power generation. If this building does prove to be totally carbon neutral when completed it will help usher in a new generation of super-green buildings.

5. San Francisco Civic Tower, SF

After a long time on the drawing board, the City of San Francisco finally gave the green light (no pun intended) to the 12 storey Civic Tower. The building incorporates a plethora of green design features including integrated solar panels on the building exterior and rooftop, a raised floor ventilation system, chilled ceilings, light shelves to increase the penetration of natural daylight into the workspace. In order to improve the quality of life for the workers KMD Architects also designed greenhouses on each floor. These features combined will help the Civic Tower consume 20% less power than required by Californian environmental law, which is why it has been accredited with a US LEED Silver rating. Admittedly not the coolest building, but a sign of things to come.

6. Masdar, Abu Dhabi

Even the largest of green projects pale in comparison with the sheer scale and ambition of the Masdar Initiative. This 64,583,462 square foot development takes environmental design to a whole new level. Foster + Partners were commissioned for this mixed use, high density new walled city which promises zero emissions and no waste. Inhabitants in Masdar will never be any further than 200 meters from some form of public transport or personalised rapid transit, which will be useful considering the city will be car free. Carefully positioned wind turbines, solar arrays and plantations mean Masdar will be completely self sustaining. Awesome.

7. Khanty Mansiysk Tower, Siberia

This 917 foot tall tower in Khanty Mansiysk is designed by Foster + Partners to be a multi use living and workspace capable of withstanding the hot and cold extremes of the Siberian climate. In the renderings provided it looks like a diamond on the hill thanks to the faceted glass Foster has used to maximise penetration of natural daylight, increase solar gain, provide insulation in winter and decrease the power needed for artificial lighting. OK, we’re Foaster fanboys … but who isn’t?

8. Crystal Island, Moscow

OK, we know, it is another Foster project. But this one is more equal than others for Crystal Island will be the largest building in the world when completed. Crystal Island’s vital statistics are, well, huge. The volcano-shaped superstructure will be 1,500 foot tall with 26,909,776 foot squared of floor space, that’s enough room to house 30,000 people. As you would expect from a Foster + Partners project, the self-contained city within a city has energy conservation and eco-friendly energy management at the very heart of the design. Crystal Island will generate low carbon energy from solar arrays and wind turbines located on the building with vast atriums to regulate the internal air temperature during the extremes of the Russian summer and winter.

9. Transbay Tower, SF

The 1,200 foot tall obelisk-shaped Transbay Tower is set to joint the Transamerica Building and the Golden Gate Bridge as one of the most iconic structures in San Francisco. A new Transbay bus terminal will be constructed from glass with a rooftop park to absorb the C02 from buses. Transbay Tower will have wind turbines located on the roof, intelligent ventilation of 100% fresh air, lightshelves to control lighting and reduce energy demand, solid exterior panels near the floor to remove undesirable solar gain as well as sunshades to allow for solar control. This is a thoughtfully designed green building, we especially like the use of rooftop turbines.

10. CH2, Melbourne

Located in the center of Melbourne, the 10 storey Council House 2 aka CH2 is a United Nations award-winning building with sustainable design and energy efficiency at heart. It took AUD$50 million to construct CH2 but it has paid dividends in terms of the recognition it has bestowed on Melbourne. CH2 was the first purpose built office building in Australia to achieve the six Green Star certified rating. It ticks just about every box you can imagine: thermal mass cooling, photovoltaic cells, wind turbines, sewage recycling, chilled ceilings and an amazing tapestry of photovoltaic-powered recycled wooden louvers that track the sun and promote a healthier internal environment. The City of Melbourne expect these green features to pay for themselves inside 10 years, but the real benefit for the city has been the prestige heaped on them from around the world. There’s a message in there.

11. 30 The Bond, Sydney

When Lend Lease decided to move their headquarters to Sydney they consulted their staff with regards their priorities for the building. As a consequence Lend Lease came up with a design brief that put an emphasis on an improved internal environment, better water management, waste management, fewer emissions and pollutants. 30 The Bond has achieved a 5 star ABGR rating (the equivalent of Gold LEED) by using chilled beans for cooling, individually operated external shades to manage heat and solar gain, wintergarden rooms and rooftop gardens with drought resistant plants that increase biodiversity. Lend Lease say that 30 The Bond emits 30% less CO2 that a typical office building.

12. Cor, MiamiIf ever there was an example of strikingly beautiful sustainable architectural design, this is it! Cor is a mixed use 25 storey tower in Miami’s design district costing $25 million to build and due for completion in 2009. Much of the expenditure will go towards the integration of photovoltaic panels, wind turbines and solar hot water generation with the innovative structural design. Cor’s exoskeleton will provide structural integrity, thermal mass for insulation, enclosure for terraces, armatures for turbines, shading for natural cooling and loggias for congregating on the ground. This unique exoskelton will enclose 20,100 square foot of office space, 5,400 square foot of retail units and 113 residential units.

13. BMW Welt, MunichThe BMW Welt in Munich is one of the finest examples to date of German engineering at it’s best. The standout feature of the 785,000 square foot BMW Welt is without doubt the 157 foot wide Double Cone, which provides support for the roof (in a rather stunning manner). On the roof of the building there is a large photovoltaic array, also made in Germany by Solarwatt, to produce a minimum of 824kWp. The designers also installed a network of steel panels on the roof that helps to heat the building via solar gain. Solar gain is also encouraged through the materials on the external facade of the structure. It is somewhat ironic that a car manufacturer should spend so much on a building project like this, but if this is in any way demonstrative of where BMW are going with their vehicles then there is hope.

14. DuBiotech, Dubai

Set amidst the skyscraper-sprawl that is modern Dubai, the new 22 storey headquarters of DuBiotech will be one of the largest green buildings on earth at 60,000 square foot when completed in 2009. The 2 connected buildings will house research laboratories and are designed as a representation of DNA migration in an agarose gel as seen during electrophoresis. DuBiotech will be oriented to maximise daylight, minimise solar gain and regulate the internal temperature in what is one of the hottest climates on earth. There will also be a 500,000 square foot nature reserve for the conservation of indigenous species.

15. Clinton Presidential Library, Little Rock

The Clinton Presidential Library and Museum in Little Rock, Arkansas was rated LEED Platinum in November, 2007 after it was reincarnated with bang-up-to-date green features. So what is it about this library that makes it so green? For starters they added a rooftop garden to absorb carbon, reduce rainwater runoff and regulate temperatures. Polsek, the architects who are responsible for the updates, also added increased recycling capabilities, green cleaning (green cleaning chemicals and increased recycled content for paper products), a reduction in the waste through local sourcing and carbon offsetting of all non-renewable energy used. It might have reached the highest level in terms of LEED ratings but we believe they could and should go further by implementing renewable energy production on-site with photovoltaics or wind turbines.

These 15 buildings are fantastic and marvellous structures and edifices. Their incomparable architecture can just render one non-plussed.

Haha. Be mesmerized by the ravishing pulchritude of those archictetures.

Education is the key to progress.

First of all we should recognize that there are different forms of poverty, and each has a different solution.

Third-World Poverty - The one that is “advertised” the most is third world poverty. You see TV commercials trying to get people to donate money to support a child who lives in a squatter city. The ad really gets you going. You feel sorry for the little girl who has lost her mother and has little to eat. It is sad that the child is not privileged to eat three meals a day. But the question is do we need to help the people in squatter cities?

Solution: I believe sending money to these third world countries is extremely inefficient. Naturally, things will get better. Pouring more money in has a minimal effect. Putting money into to technology that would provide free energy, free internet, or open source architecture would be a much better investment of our time and money. So the solution is to do nothing. Yes, I did say do nothing. Market economies and technologies will be the solution.

Situational Poverty - This form of poverty occurs when Bob loses his job or has a severe medical condition, and is unemployed for a long period. The loss of a job should not mean Bob’s family should become homeless.

Solution: Make sure Bob gets support when he loses his job or help with the medical bills. Provide training and education if necessary. Make sure that he can get to and from job interviews. This form of poverty is very simple. Bob can get another job or can recover from his illness, we just have to give him a chance.

Generational Poverty - This is the form of poverty that is absolutely unacceptable in the 21st century. This is when children are unable to succeed in school, unable to get a decent job, and will have the same fate as his or her parents and grandparents: poverty.

Solution: The solution is Education! We are setting up our children for failure. Education fails to teach students the basic understandings of life. A good example is finances. Students should not be able to graduate unless they understand finances. This is one of many reasons we are currently in the economic crisis we are in today.

Too many people did not

1) understand adjustable rate loans

2) know when to stop spending and

3) know how to manage their money.

Children should be taught these basic understandings in high school. Who cares if the student learns anything, if they can’t survive in the real world its all MEANINGLESS.

Education is also important when it comes to health. Students are not taught about healthy diets, the importance of regular sleep, and exercise (not to mention many schools are eliminating PE and recess).

What happens in generational poverty is children are very narrow minded, all they see is their parents. Their parents are continuously getting government handouts, and that is all the child sees. Why work? My parents don’t work and they get money. They don’t understand that there is a better life that is achieved by working and earning your own money. It is the responsibility of education to show students the world. They should be able to see what is out there.

Experience it.

Education is the NUMBER ONE issue in the world. It should be the number one issue in the presidential debates. It is education that will rid the world of poverty. It is education that will end wars. It is education that will provide universal healthcare. It is all about education.

EDUCATION VERSUS POVERTY

Let's make Poverty History, a thing of the past.

A Magic Silver Bullet - to end Poverty?

NO.

What are the issues that confront us in bringing an end to hunger and the worst aspects of poverty and what are we doing about them?

There is NO magic silver bullet that will end hunger.

Persistent hunger is directly related to conditions of poverty and the issues that keep both in place are complex and tenacious. Ending hunger is not simply a matter of feeding enough people.

So much has been said and written about strategies to attack poverty. The development experts at the World Bank are supposed to have been working all these years towards the reduction of global poverty.

So how do we solve poverty?

Education is the key.

In fact, teachers are critical in the attainment of our goals for education. Unfortunately, I heard that the teachers of today no longer taught the way excellent teachers of bygone days did a few decades ago.

Let us therefore invest in good quality teachers!

Let us pay our teachers well, very well, so that they will not even think of leaving their families behind just so they could earn more elsewhere doing chores other than what they were trained for.

Let us ensure that no family is going to be without a member who has finished tertiary education.

Let us make sure that all children are in school.

Let us have the political will to eliminate corruption in the education sector.

Mind you, I do not know how all these can be done, but if the priority of our development planning is good quality education, I am convinced we would not have to worry too much about many things…population management, corruption, violence against women, bigotry and all the other evils of our society. You agree?

On the lighter side, have you heard about a flashy Italian creation shown recently in an exhibit called “Group Therapy” at a modern art museum in Bolzano that has become the object of a complaint from a right-wing political party? The National Alliance Party called the creation of artists Eleonora Chiari and Sandra Goldschmied a “massacre of respect” - the creation being a patriotic toilet that flushes to the strains of the Italian national anthem! To pee or not to pee? Tell me the answer!

Let us invest heavily in education. But not for corruption in the education sector!

People can take care of themselves. Sometimes they need a little help to get started.

Hope you enjoy this post=)

Give your HEART

'Be kinder than necessary because everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle in life'.
- Edith J Gomes -

Give them your heart. Help them. Don't neglect them.

This video will shatter your heart.

.

Complain Less and Give More

If your society is unfair to you, how about her?

If you think you suffer in life, do you suffer as much as he does?

If you think you have no money, how about her?

Are you still complaining?

We are fortunate, we have much more than what we need to be content.

Let's try not to feed this endless cycle of consumerism and immortality in which this

modern and advanced society forgets and ignores

the other two thirds of our brothers and sosters

We can choose to be their Guardian Angels.