4 December, 2007

Baylis does it again II

This time it is a weatherproof eco lantern that when wound up can give twenty minutes of light, or four hours of light if wound up fully.

eco lantern

No chat, just the facts.

http://www.ethicalsuperstore.com/products/trevor-baylis-brands/trevor-baylis-eco-lantern/

4 December, 2007

Baylis does it again!

Trevor Baylis the man that gave us the wind-up radio has done it again. This time with a wind-up portable media player. Who knows? He may well produce a wind up television next. Or a wind up heating system! Imagine it. With enough applications, a person could have a more ecologically sound home, without total dependancy on an electric or gas supply. Fantastic.

Baylis wind up eco player Trevor Baylis

I won’t bore you with any more than that.

Here is a site where you can see the player in more detail. http://www.ecodigital.co.uk/estore/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=66

Here are the specs.

  • Dual power system
  • Internal Lithium Ion battery can be recharged fully via PC/Laptop USB port, or internal ECO-Dynamo system which provides approx 40 minutes audio play time for each 1 minute of winding.
  • Max Play Time: 20 Hours.
  • Phone charger
  • Super bright torch
  • Audio stereo system
  • Super Hi-Fi audio reproduction of:- mp3, wma, asf, wav, ogg.
  • Audio recording(Stereo Line-In digital recording. Encodes to MP3. )
  • Video player
  • Colour LCD screen 1.8” 0.21 million pixels.
  • FM stereo radio (RECORD FM Radio function.)
  • Photo viewer
  • Voice recorder
  • 2Gb built-in memory. Note:- SDHC – the high capacity format cards are not supported.
  • USB connection

23 November, 2007

Adam Kalkin – architect

I’d heard about Adam Kalkin somewhere before, possibly with reference to a foldaway cafeteria, so was pleasantly surprised to stumble across his quik house and other prefab/container based designs. I love the fact that the sturdiness of the form in no way hindered the design process, in fact, it may have helped it. Prefab buildings have been a small interest of mine. Expect to see more examples crop up from time to time.  :)

 

front view 12 container house

Interior shot 12 container house Interior shot II Interior shot II. 12 container house

 Rear View. 12 container house.

More info in the link to the right.

23 November, 2007

English Football: Is the provision of talent running dry?

With the gloom surrounding English National teams failed qualification campaign for Euro 2008, is there enough talent coming through the system to ensure success in the future?

Up and down the country after school or during the weekend, you’ll see boys and girls of all ages enjoying themselves as they chase a ball around a football field. Some of them may be doing it for fun. Others may be doing it in a more organised fashion, as part of a school team, or a local club for instance. Either way, these children are the life blood of the game.

Two people who have spoken out about English football’s decline in standards, are Michel Platini, President of the European Football Association and Johan Cruyff, a highly respected figure in the game and World Cup finalist. Both have stated how alarmed they are with the growing trend of Barclays Premier League clubs buying in young talent, rather than nurturing local talent. Foreign player quotas have become a talking point.

During an edition of the BBC’s Football Focus broadcast in mid-November this year, a comparison was drawn between five current Arsenal squad members and five of a previous Manchester United squad. Both squads had featured talented players, though Arsenal had one English player among the five (Theo Walcott). The players on the Manchester United list were all British. Though the programme had actually comparing the players’ talent, the disparity between the two sets of players was obvious.

Sports minister Gerry Sutcliffe has called for The Football Association (The FA) to produce a blueprint for women’s football. He will not want a repeat of last season, where Charlton football club, having been relegated, ended its financial support of the Charlton women’s team (of the FA Women’s Premier League). They have since found alternative sponsorship. He obviously wants to capitalise on the increased interest English women’s football gained from World Cup coverage on the BBC.

The BBC’s Sport Academy has comprehensive information for anybody that wants to participate or get involved at any level of sport. The Central Council of Physical Recreation (the national alliance of governing bodies), Sport England, The FA and Fields in Trust all have ongoing schemes for coaches, volunteers and community funding. Two such schemes are ‘Active England’ and ‘Subs for Clubs Campaign’. All of these schemes are regularly reviewed to ensure continued participation among the young at community level.

Sport England is prioritising funding for several sports in two categories, national and community. Football has been identified as one of 10 priority sports to receive investment. Both the FA and the Football Foundation receive funding towards the development of community programmes. The Football Foundation is firmly behind the idea of football being of benefit to local communities. The FA receives no funding from Sport England toward men’s professional football.

Ultimately publicity garners interest, and football is its own best publicity machine. David Beckham and Wayne Rooney are at the top of the richest footballers’ lists. Kelly Smith, a prominent member of the England woman’s team, has had her picture emblazoned on the pages of newspapers. Success can also breed interest, and the England men’s team needed to ensure success by emulating the women’s team and get to the finals. Sadly the men’s team failed in this task.

Good or bad the publicity is set to continue, and hopefully inspire would-be footballers nationally.