The slow death of walking without purpose

Walking has become a luxury in the West. There are few people who can do it, given the congestion and all means of transport which have at their disposal. In this way, walk, regardless of distance, turned into a planned activity or recreation. Or for health reasons and to keep fit. However, there is one other thing that the walks provide: time to think.

Charles Dickens, Virginia Woolf, George Orwell, Thomas De Quincey, Friedrich Nietzsche or Vladimir Nabokov are some of the great world writers who appreciated a good walk and used this time to reflect on life and thinking these thoughts, which resulted in his works.

But it is not necessary to be a writer or a great thinker to cherish a good walk. But a hike in particular, the distance between the corner of the street and the nearest coffee shop. The journey of contemplation without a defined purpose.

May in the United Kingdom, is the National month of hiking and a book of Frederic Gros, launched recently, entitled "the Philosophy of Walking", is the subject of some discussion among the British. Last week, a Stanford University study highlights the benefits that a short walk, even if it's on a treadmill at home or the gym, promotes the creative thinking, says the BBC.

"There's something special about pace of walking and thinking, which seem to synchronize. Walking requires some attention, but provides many moments to think. I believe that once the blood begins to flow to the head, the brain starts to work more creatively, "says Geoff Nicholson, author of" The Lost Art of Walking ".

Nicholson is a writer who lives in Los Angeles, a city where cars have primacy. But there are many other cities where do a simple walk to be a Herculean task. Kuala Lumpur, for example, capital of Malaysia. Anyone who wants to walk in this city must have a great patience and nerves of steel. The tours end up mysteriously. The bustling streets must be traversed without the help of treadmills. And the simple act of walking down the street can cause bewilderment of residents.

But even in cities that appear to have been built for the cars there is fruit for those who choose to ramble. "Most of my hiking are made in the city â€" in Los Angeles things are scattered. Therefore, there is plenty to look at. Is urban exploration. I'm always looking for narrow streets and alleys strangers ", indicates Nicholson.

But not everyone is prepared to wait. There are many who consider hiking as long dead, an obligation to move from one side to the other without accomplishing anything useful, at a time when time seems to be increasingly precious. As such, this time is used to the fullest and it is increasingly common to see people walking and doing something else at the same time. Many walk and talk on a cell phone at the same time or send messages, view email or social networks. And accidents with pedestrians distracted by mobile devices are increasing.

The contemplative hikes seem to be on the verge of extinction, as well as the opportunity to reflect on life and its aspects.

Foto: Redrock Junction/Creative Commons

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Anonymous Arabia installs fridge on the street for delivery of leftovers to charity

A citizen of the city of Hail, in Saudi Arabia, found an interesting idea to get food to people who need it most and who often have too shy to ask. Thus, this anonymous installed a refrigerator in your neighborhood â€" even in front of your House â€" encouraging people with more possessions to leave meals inside.

The idea came to the international media when the Saudi religious Sheikh Mohammad Al Araifi praised the Act on your Twitter account, adding a picture: "always said that people Hail are generous. A man put a refrigerator in front of the House for the leftovers; an indirect act of charity for those who need it most, "explained the religious, cited by the BBC.

According to the Gulf News, the idea was well received by the followers of Al Araifi on Twitter. "The idea should be adopted and all the great mosques of the country should put refrigerators to carry and distribute food," said one of the followers.

According to the Gulf News, the idea may be exported to Bahrain in June. "It's a great act of charity that can make people happy and satisfied. There's the food factor, but there is also a spiritual dimension, especially during the holy month in which people establish great acts of charity, "explained a citizen of Bahrain to the newspaper.

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Brazil: company that contaminated rivers ordered to provide water and food to families impacted

Imerys Rio Capim Caulim, mining company responsible for contamination of rivers Cururuperê and palm oil, in Pará, Brazil, will have to provide water and basic food baskets to all those affected by the tragedy. According to Folha de Sao Paulo, the Federal Court of Pará understood that Imerys was responsible for two leaks that left the waters of the rivers without conditions of use, due to contamination by mineral kaolin.

The area hit by the ore belongs to the Brazilian Navy, and the amount of families impacted by contamination was not informed.

Kaolin is a white ore, used in various industrial sectors-especially the role.

Now, Imerys will provide 80 gallons of water per month to households at a disadvantage, and a purse of € 25 ($ 77). The value of the power supply will be increased to €11,5 (US $ 35) per dependent minor, up to a maximum of €85 ($ 262).

The monthly payments to the families will be kept until the Imerys demonstrate, by technical studies, which impacted rivers returned to their natural characteristics.

It is recalled that, at the end of April, This River, in Braga, was the victim of an unloading of 20 cans of 15 liters of white paint. The ink will have been discharged, accidentally, by AKI store. See some of the pictures of This.

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Watch 13 billion years of cosmic evolution in just 3 minutes

A team of scientists created the most detailed computer simulation of the history of the universe, where in a few minutes it is possible to observe the 13 billion years of evolution of the cosmos.

Called Illustris, the numerical base model covers the 13 billion years of the universe, starting 12 million years after the Big Bang. The simulation was developed by American, German and British investigators of the MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology). The model reveals the distribution and composition of various types of galaxies, clouds of explosive gas of the early universe and the mysterious black holes.

The Illustris covers the cosmic evolution in a cube with a side length of 350 million light-years with unprecedented resolution. "So far, no simulation was able to reproduce the universe at scales so big and so small at the same time," says Mark Vogelsberger, astrophysicist who led the creation of the simulation. Previous attempts to represent graphically the universe have been hampered by undeveloped computing techniques and by the complexities of the underlying physics.

As a result, the previous modeling programs were limited in terms of resolution or were forced to focus on small portions of the universe. The team of scientists devoted five years to create the simulation. The calculations required for the modelling took three months to be carried out, using 8,000 computational processing units working in parallel. If they had used a normal computer, the calculations would have taken more than 2,000 years to carry out.

Basically, the simulation works like a time machine, which allows back and forth in time of the universe. It is also possible to stop the simulation and observe the details of a single Galaxy or cluster of galaxies.

The team of researchers condensed the 13 billion-year history of the universe in a short video, where you can see the temperature, the gas density, speed of gases and other aspects of the cosmos.

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Anglo-Portuguese partnership creates packaging of detergent from plastic collected at sea

The first detergent packaging made from plastic collected of the seas and beaches will be introduced in supermarkets in the United Kingdom at the end of the month. The company responsible for the production of packaging is the Ecover, which manufactures and markets environmentally friendly cleaning products.

The aim of Ocean Bottle is alert to the dangers of long-term presence of this material on marine ecosystems, causing the death of fish and birds, threatening the balance of global ecosystems.

To produce this new packaging is made from recycled plastic, Ecover has joined efforts with Portugal's Logoplaste, producer of plastic packaging, to combine the debris taken from the ocean with plastic produced from sugarcane. Initially, only 10% of the new plastic packaging material will be removed from the sea, but in the future the Ecover hopes to increase the proportion.

When present in a marine environment, plastic takes hundreds of years to decompose, through the combination of the salt water with the Sun. The variable amount of plastic collected from the sea by Ecover means that this material had to be mixed with other recycled plastic to produce a robust material that supports a household cleaning product, referred to in the Guardian.

"The problem of plastic in the Ocean has a huge range â€" every year at least a million seabirds and 100,000 sharks, turtles, dolphins and whales die due to ingestion of plastic. There is no choice-we simply want to clean plastic for the good of everyone, "says Philip Malmberg, executive director of Ecover.

The mark should also launch this year a laundry detergent produced from algae oil, a more sustainable alternative to Palm oil, which is used today in most detergents.

Foto: EdinburghGreens/Creative Commons

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As the makers of glass are innovating to avoid collisions of birds

Every year, between 365 million and 988 million birds die in the United States, due to collisions with buildings and homes, according to a report by BioOne. To work around this problem, several companies that manufacture Windows and glass are researching ways to begin to reduce the large number of deadly collisions. Using innovation, of course.

According to The New York Times, more and more American cities and States, like San Francisco and Minnesota, to adopt standards that promote the safety of birds. But this may not be enough.

"Almost everyone has seen or heard a bird hitting against a building. Companies who manufacture the glasses are realizing that there is a market for the product (s) friends of the birds, "explained to NPR Christine Sheppard, an activist against bird collisions of American Bird Conservancy.

One of the ideas, which is being tested by researchers at Fordham University, ponders add small white and black vertical strips to Windows, to prevent the birds go against these.

During the experiments, when the birds go into wind tunnels partially blocked by glass listed, they tend to avoid the lists. Another idea, less intrusive but more expensive, was proposed by Arnold Glas glass manufacturer. The company has developed a standardized reflective coating and ultraviolet, which has the advantage of being almost transparent to the human eye but detectable by birds.

Not only are the Windows that are causing problems, but also how they are used. The large mirrored facades, for example, are particularly dangerous for migratory birds. Thus, Fordham researchers are trying to figure out exactly how much space they can put between the lists, in large pieces of glass. If they can find the "G-spot" acceptable to architects and can repel the birds, this may be a plausible solution.

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Big Major Cay: the Bahamian island where pigs and humans can swim together

If you're planning a vacation this summer, here is a suggestion: Big Major Cay, also known as Praia dos Pigs. This uninhabited island of the Bahamas has delivered 20 wild pigs, living in complete freedom, strolling the beach and swimming in the translucent waters of the Pacific.

Such as on the island of rabbits, in Japan, it is not known how the animals got to the island. However, there are several possibilities: one is that pigs have been left by sailors, who had intentions to go back later and eat the pigs â€" to happiness of animals the sailors never returned, referred to the Dodo.

Although the island is not inhabited, the animals receive regular visits from tourists who want to see the pigs to swim freely, which ultimately provide the animals small rewards in the form of food.

Foto: ViralNova/mattbdiehl/NormLanier (Creative Commons)/Reddit/Collecting Wonder/Huffington Post

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