Final Frontier, the space between our ears.

troutfishing — Fri, 16 Apr 2004 07:39:11 -0800

A viilage to reinvent the world : Gaviotas "In 1965 Paulo Lugari was flying over the impoverished Llanos Orientales, the “eastern plains” that border Venezuela. The soil of the Llanos is tough and acidic, some of the worst in Colombia. Lugari mused that if people could live here they could live anywhere.....The following year Lugari and a group of scientists, artists, agronomists and engineers took the 15-hour journey along a tortuous route from Bogota to the Llanos Orientales to settle."

"...they would need to be very resourceful. So they invented wind turbines that convert mild breezes into energy, super-efficient pumps that tap previously inaccessible sources of water [powered by a child's playground seesaw!], and solar kettles that sterilize drinking water using the furious heat of the tropical sun....They even invented a rain forest!" (from "Gaviotas - A village to reinvent the World", by Tim Weisman) Amidst the strife of war torn Columbia, Gaviotas persists and even flourishes. " "When we import solutions from the US or Europe," said Lugari, founder of Gaviotas, "we also import their problems."....Over the years Gaviotas technicians have installed thousands of the windmills across Colombia....Since Gaviotas refuses to patent inventions, preferring to share them freely, the design has been copied from Central America to Chile."

Gaviotas is real, yes, but it is also a state of mind - as if Ben Franklin, Frank Lloyd Wright, Leonardo Da Vinci - all of the great those giants who reinvisioned the possible - were reincarnated : as a small Columbian village on a once-desolate plain. "Colombian novelist Gabriel Garcia Marquez has called Paolo Lugari the "inventor of the world." "

Live and let dye?!

insomnia_lj — Sun, 25 Jan 2004 04:13:17 -0800

Live and let dye?! Hair dyeing causes non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, especially in cases of repetitive dyeing over years, especially with darker colors.

This might sound trivial, until the names of some potential victims are mentioned. Jacqueline Kennedy Onasis, Joey Ramone, Louis Malle, Charles Lindbergh, King Hussein of Jordan, Paul Tsongas, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, William Casey, Roger Maris, Mickey Mantle, Steve Reeves, and Mr. T. (Shaddup, foo! I'm in remission!) Not that any of them would ever dye their hair, of course.

theplayethic — Fri, 05 Apr 2002 06:41:35 -0800

Collected TV Ads of Enron. Quite hilarious. Interesting to be reminded that even Gabriel Garcia Marquez (second old guy in) was prepared to tart himself around for these shysters. Keep asking: why, Gabriel? Why?

MetaFilter posts tagged with gabrielgarciamarquez

Final Frontier, the space between our ears.

Live and let dye?!