New California Museum to be Greenest Ever

by Neil Woodburn on

It’s only natural that a Natural History museum is as eco-friendly as possible.

And, it’s only natural that “the world’s largest eco-friendly public building” will be a Natural History museum located in America’s most eco-friendly city.

Sometime next year, the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park will throw open its front doors and invite the public into “one of the most expensive museum projects in a century,” according to Wired Magazine.

The $484 million building is incorporating a slew of green technologies to really put its money where its mouth is. How ironic it would be otherwise to celebrate the natural world while polluting it at the same time with an energy-consuming hog of a building.

With this in mind, the architects have implemented such innovations as a lawn roof that doubles as a natural habitat, 60,000 photovoltaic cells atop another roof, and shredded blue jeans as wall insulation (hey, isn’t Levi’s corporate headquarters located in San Francisco?).

When it is completed, the California Academy of Sciences is going to be one of the most impressive buildings around; what other piece of architecture so thoroughly practices what it preaches?

Smithsonian Exhibit: Encompassing the Globe

by Kelly Amabile on

A fascinating exhibit about the golden age of discovery opened this week at the Smithsonian’s Sackler Gallery. Encompassing the Globe: Portugal and the World in the 16th and 17th Centuries is the largest exhibit in the Sackler Gallery’s 19-year history. The exhibit runs through mid-September in Washington D.C.

If you can’t make a visit, at least check out their website, which features a slick flash-enhanced overview of the exhibit. Beginning with background about the roots of Portuguese exploration, the exhibit continues with sections on the Indian Ocean, Africa, China, Japan and Brazil. There are some cool things you can do with Google Earth too. The Washington Post has an online photo gallery of over 15 works from the show, which also features objects from Oman, Indonesia and Sri Lanka. The exhibit focuses on the cultural exchanges that took place between the Portuguese explorers during their travels, highlighting masterpieces of art that were traded and collected during these journeys.

Learn About Cultures’ Cultural Guides

by Willy Volk on

Learn About Cultures produces downloadable books that detail the important cultural “dos and don’ts” you should be aware of before embarking on an international trip. Designed with both the business and leisure traveler in mind, the books — covering 16 of the world’s “most popular” travel destinations — are filled with information ranging from business dress to dining etiquette, from negotiation strategies to gift-giving protocols.

If you’re interested, you can see a sample of the China guide (PDF). Each Culture Guide-To-Go is only $19.95; order three or more at a time, and get a 10% discount.

They also produces a few broader “global guides to etiquette,” which cover entire continents. Interestingly, these books, sold through Amazon, are nearly half the price of the click-n-print PDF versions available for download.

GADLING’S TAKE FIVE: Week of March 25

by Adrienne Wilson on

Because selecting some of this week’s grooviest and most happening posts was so darn difficult I’m tossing in an extra one this week. So I suppose you can call it Gadling’s Take Five Remixed. I think I like the sound of that.

6. Introducing Where on Earth?:
Ready to beef up your geography skills? Well, better if they are already top-notch, but we’ll take your guesses. All you have to do is tell is the destination seen in the shot in this new weekly feature.

5. Roadtrip Time Lapse Video:
Dave does it again! This week he brings us snippets of his road trip across the country in a nice little video with pretty shakin’ music. If you missed out on the fun and excitement before do yourself a favor and check out America in one second flashes of pictures captured every 60 seconds while the car was running. It is a bit of a head trip, but isn’t that traveling all the same?

4. Is It Possible to Overplan a Trip? Mistakes of the Novice Traveler:
To go or not to go? To tour or not to tour? To hike or not to hike? That is the question! Like Willy, who poses the question whether too much planning can place a damper on your vacation, I’m a planner and like Willy I plan on having absolute downtime with no planning involved. To go with the flow or not to go with the flow is totally up to you, but I say deciding how much planning is appropriate and how much is overboard deserves a vacation itself!

3. Hip-Hop Culture Tours of NYC:
Even if you never decide to see NYC by way of a Hip Hop Culture Tour, watching Kurtis Blow rhyme about it over a nice Gilligan’s Island tune on the YouTube vid isn’t a bad deal either. The tour provides a different take on the streets of NY and breaks it down for all the sucker M.C.’s out there. (If you’re not sure about sucker M.C. then you may just want to book a tour like this after all.)

2. Disposable Toothbrushes: No Toothpaste or Water Required:
Cleanliness is next to Godliness so they say. And why not be a “God of Clean Things” like your mouth? If you’ve ever sat very long on a plane you know the nasty feeling that takes over your mouth and sadly few people do some thing about it while the rest torture the guy in the window seat with their stank breath. (Did I just say Stank? Yes!) Neil brings us just one solution to keeping your mouth so fresh and so clean while on board. It is my suggestion everyone checks it out.

1. 7-Elevens to be Converted to Kwik-E-Marts:
Could this really be true? If it is I’m so going to scope it out and no one will stop me. Rumor has it that the upcoming Simpsons movie or the big-wigs at Fox and the world’s largest gas station are looking to temporarily convert 11 7-Elevens to Kwik-E-Marts to help promote the film. Justin tells us just a bit more and all I can add is kawabunga!

Word for the Travel Wise (10/20/06)

by Adrienne Wilson on

Ramadan ends in just a few days and to keep up with cultural understanding and terminology of things we see in the Muslim world I provide you with this word. It’s an easy one and many of you probably already know it, but I’m sure there are a few stragglers out there not hip to the vocab.

Today’s word is an Arabic word used in Egypt:

hegab – woman’s headscarf

My Language Exchange is an excellent site in making friends across the globe while zoning in on the areas that give you the most trouble in your language of choice. While most services are free, contacting other members does cost a very small fee. Other learning tools for free standard Arabic online include this Learn Arabic site which has some remarkable lessons. The audio sounds a bit off for me, but they’ve got both the Naskh script (easy to read when learning the alphabet) and the Latin spelling of the letter. Babel Arabic is another good source. Planet Edu has an online listing of Arabic schools all over the Middle East, Africa and the U.S. Lastly, for purchase and a quick pocket guide there’s the Lonely Planet Egyptian Arabic Phrasebook.

Past Arabic words: wafin, akhdar, taeadol, shwiya, la bas, filoos, khwaga