gardening
Q’s going to the Olympic Games …
We watched the opening ceremony for the Olympic Games in this 08-08-08 edition in Beijing - spectacular, as I’m sure you’ve all seen … we missed the start (there will be many opportunities later; this exhibition must have been canned in every medium available and i’m sure we’ll see many replays).
Then I recalled this handy reference to the antipodes, in Wikipedia - and collected this map. It appears that from here, central Argentina (31.95 South, 64.56 West *) we are exactly at the opposite side of the planet. So: digging straight down, through the core get us within a few miles of the Stadium - with some correction, our tunnel could emerge within the boundary and save us the cost of the entrance tickets - I suppose there are tickets, and that they must be pretty well sold out by now. The hole will have to be a mere 12, 742 kilometers … ah - deep? High? Both? Across! Not too bad. I will start digging presently - meanwhile, enjoy The Games.
Q
*Latitude and Longitude coordinates have been slightly modified: they actually belong to an obnoxious neighbor, so if any of you have a cruise missile handy … but please advise ETA as I’d hate to miss the fireworks - if I’m not too far down on my way to China
Linear Garden - a good idea
Somebody in this region tried this some years back: design a garden, with trees, flowerbeds, shrubbery and all, alongside a highway - it’s not too hard to do, as long as there’s some way of providing a water supply and some people willing to undertake a bit of regular maintenance (here, along Provincial Route 5 in Cordoba, Argentina, had the fire brigade of a town nearby provide irrigation services but it went to weed when enthusiasm from the volunteer gardeners ran out).
This morning’s Science Daily picked up an initiative prompted by The American Horticultural Society (as a ‘new idea’: fair enough as no one has published it formally as far as I know): From small, manicured beds of flowers maintained by community volunteers to extensive landscaping projects along America’s byways, roadside gardens are taking root.
Whoever can take credit, it is a good idea and deserves support from any authorities, groups, anywhere in the world: a win win thing if there ever was one. Best would be a cooperative of individual enthusiasts but it’s hard to imagine that many people that would take on a largely altruistic effort - this is a place where town councils, state and provincial authorities can meddle and provide fine outdoor work as ‘jobs for the boys and girls’ if they must. Better by far than enclosing inexperienced youths in administrative offices so that they can mess up peoples lives with careless form filling and messed up data gathering (but that is another rant).
If you happen on this post - keep it in mind and if you can, approach anyone you can to get this show - literally - on the roads in your region. And if you can, spread the word through trackbacks and comments on your space on the ‘net.
Q
American Society for Horticultural Science (2008, July 26). New Roadside Beautification Concept Studied. ScienceDaily. Retrieved July 26, 2008, from http://www.sciencedaily.com /releases/2008/07/080717110228.htm
We watched the opening ceremony for the Olympic Games in this 08-08-08 edition in Beijing - spectacular, as I’m sure you’ve all seen … we missed the start (there will be many opportunities later; this exhibition must have been canned in every medium available and i’m sure we’ll see many replays).
Then I recalled this handy reference to the antipodes, in Wikipedia - and collected this map. It appears that from here, central Argentina (31.95 South, 64.56 West *) we are exactly at the opposite side of the planet. So: digging straight down, through the core get us within a few miles of the Stadium - with some correction, our tunnel could emerge within the boundary and save us the cost of the entrance tickets - I suppose there are tickets, and that they must be pretty well sold out by now. The hole will have to be a mere 12, 742 kilometers … ah - deep? High? Both? Across! Not too bad. I will start digging presently - meanwhile, enjoy The Games.
Q
*Latitude and Longitude coordinates have been slightly modified: they actually belong to an obnoxious neighbor, so if any of you have a cruise missile handy … but please advise ETA as I’d hate to miss the fireworks - if I’m not too far down on my way to China
Somebody in this region tried this some years back: design a garden, with trees, flowerbeds, shrubbery and all, alongside a highway - it’s not too hard to do, as long as there’s some way of providing a water supply and some people willing to undertake a bit of regular maintenance (here, along Provincial Route 5 in Cordoba, Argentina, had the fire brigade of a town nearby provide irrigation services but it went to weed when enthusiasm from the volunteer gardeners ran out).
This morning’s Science Daily picked up an initiative prompted by The American Horticultural Society (as a ‘new idea’: fair enough as no one has published it formally as far as I know): From small, manicured beds of flowers maintained by community volunteers to extensive landscaping projects along America’s byways, roadside gardens are taking root.
Whoever can take credit, it is a good idea and deserves support from any authorities, groups, anywhere in the world: a win win thing if there ever was one. Best would be a cooperative of individual enthusiasts but it’s hard to imagine that many people that would take on a largely altruistic effort - this is a place where town councils, state and provincial authorities can meddle and provide fine outdoor work as ‘jobs for the boys and girls’ if they must. Better by far than enclosing inexperienced youths in administrative offices so that they can mess up peoples lives with careless form filling and messed up data gathering (but that is another rant).
If you happen on this post - keep it in mind and if you can, approach anyone you can to get this show - literally - on the roads in your region. And if you can, spread the word through trackbacks and comments on your space on the ‘net.
Q
American Society for Horticultural Science (2008, July 26). New Roadside Beautification Concept Studied. ScienceDaily. Retrieved July 26, 2008, from http://www.sciencedaily.com /releases/2008/07/080717110228.htm
