A song for Tuvalu
The Olympics are kind of over and I kind of failed to mention them at all. Though I didn't actually do a lot of watching... (All the interesting stuff is on at the most ridiculous times, like, say, when I'm sleeping.) But I did want to give a shout-out to Tuvalu! I've mentioned wee little Tuvalu before, so I won't go into that story again. This was their first time participating in the Olympics, and they had three athletes competing. Finding that the official NBC site sucks for coverage of any country that 1) is not the U.S., 2) did not win gold, and/or 3) has nothing to do with Michael Phelps, I went over to the official Tuvaluan website, which helpfully informed me that their three athletes competed in wrestling and the 100m sprint (men's and women's). They did not win medals, but they weren't really expecting to. "Their goal was to participate among the world's greatest athletes, learn the Olympic spirit, and show the world that the people of one of the world's smallest nations can show the dedication to compete at such a high level." Oh, Tuvalu, you warm my heart. ♥
Fun fact! If you Google any country or place name, Google will helpfully offer up a map as the first search result. In the case of Tuvalu, which is tiny, Google provides an especially helpful map depicting a wide blue slice of the Pacific Ocean with Tuvalu written in one corner, with not even the tiniest of specks to mark the islands. So helpful for figuring out where Tuvalu is....
So, while I poking around the Tuvaluan website, I also found an article on one architect's idea to deal with global warming: "a floating city for 50,000 people in the shape of a lily pad." A floating city, people! Real-life Atlantis! The critics are, of course, quick to point out that this is not an actual solution for the global warming crisis, but still. The fact that we have the technology to do that is pretty cool. Though it doesn't mention anything about being able to steer the city or what'd happen to it in a hurricane or anything like that. [ Read the full article. ]
Fun fact! If you Google any country or place name, Google will helpfully offer up a map as the first search result. In the case of Tuvalu, which is tiny, Google provides an especially helpful map depicting a wide blue slice of the Pacific Ocean with Tuvalu written in one corner, with not even the tiniest of specks to mark the islands. So helpful for figuring out where Tuvalu is....
So, while I poking around the Tuvaluan website, I also found an article on one architect's idea to deal with global warming: "a floating city for 50,000 people in the shape of a lily pad." A floating city, people! Real-life Atlantis! The critics are, of course, quick to point out that this is not an actual solution for the global warming crisis, but still. The fact that we have the technology to do that is pretty cool. Though it doesn't mention anything about being able to steer the city or what'd happen to it in a hurricane or anything like that. [ Read the full article. ]