Almere architecture – part VI
Another walk and more architecture. This time I went to the business park ‘Gooise Kant’ to capture some of the more interesting office buildings.
Almere architecture – part III
Today we went for a nice walk through the woods close to the Kemphaan in Almere, where I took some new photos of the Eksternest nature eduction centre.
Architect: C. Nilsson, B. ten Brinke, 70F Architecture, Amsterdam
Built in 2003
Participate by Not Participating
Buy Nothing Day 2006
November 24 & 25, 2006
THE ULTIMATE REFUND: On November 24th and 25th – the busiest days in the American retail calendar and the unofficial start of the international Christmas-shopping season – thousands of activists and concerned citizens in 65 countries will take a 24-hour consumer detox as part of the 14th annual Buy Nothing Day, a global phenomenon that originated in Vancouver, Canada.
From joining zombie marches through malls to organizing credit card cut-ups and shopoholic clinics, Buy Nothing Day activists aim to challenge themselves, their families and their friends to switch off from shopping and tune back into life for one day. Featured in recent years by the likes of CNN, Wired, the BBC, and the CBC, the global event is celebrated as a relaxed family holiday, as a non-commercial street party, or even as a politically charged public protest. Anyone can take part provided they spend a day without spending.
Reasons for participating in Buy Nothing Day are as varied as the people who choose to participate. Some see it as an escape from the marketing mind games and frantic consumer binge that has come to characterize the holiday season, and our culture in general. Others use it to expose the environmental and ethical consequences of overconsumption.
Two recent, high-profile disaster warnings outline the sudden urgency of our dilemma. First, in October, a global warming report by economist Sir Nicholas Stern predicted that climate change will lead to the most massive and widest-ranging market failure the world has ever seen. Soon after, a major study published in the journal Science forecast the near-total collapse of global fisheries within 40 years.
Kalle Lasn, co-founder of the Adbusters Media Foundation, which was responsible for turning Buy Nothing Day into an international annual event, said, “Our headlong plunge into ecological collapse requires a profound shift in the way we see things. Driving hybrid cars and limiting industrial emissions is great, but they are band-aid solutions if we don’t address the core problem: we have to consume less. This is the message of Buy Nothing Day.”
As Lasn suggests, Buy Nothing Day isn’t just about changing your habits for one day. It’s about starting a lasting lifestyle commitment to consuming less and producing less waste. With six billion people on the planet, the onus if on the most affluent – the upper 20% that consumes 80% of the world’s resources – to begin setting the example.
CNN ridicules Micosoft Zune
Zune, the iPod killer? Let’s see, what CNN has to say.
Some more ‘positive’ Zune news and opinions:
Zune install screen raises eyebrows
Zune Marketplace’s Absurd Pricing Scheme
Gmail 4 Mobile
Google is not only buying more Web 2.0 companies, they are also expanding their platform. We already had Google Maps for mobile phones and now the newest child in the family of Google apps is Gmail as e-mail client application on java-enabled mobile phones. If your phone is on the list, surf with the browser of your phone to http://gmail.com/app and follow the instructions. Mobile phones, which are not being supported can use the special web-interface for mobile devices – http://m.gmail.com.
