Olympics

Stylized Olympic Logo

I'm proudly Canadian, and today, at the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics, we have won 14 gold medals, 7 silver medals, and 5 bronze medals. With 14 gold medals, we have broken the record of gold medals won by any host country. One of our athletes, Clara Hughes, is the only person in the world to have won multiple medals in both Summer and Winter Olympics. Joannie Rochette, a Canadian figure skater, won a bronze medal under extraordinary circumstances, her mother passing away only a week before her competition. Against all odds, she captured third place on the podium not only for herself, for Canada, but for her mother. With the closing ceremonies underway in less than an hour, I'm proud to say the we placed in third in the overall medal counting, and that all Canadians should be proud of what our athletes have achieved. We really do have more square feet of awesomeness per person than any other place on Earth, and we are proud to show it. Go Canada!

Launch

Today marks the launch of a joint video channel from my friend, Andi, and I. What used to be SA Corportations has now been renamed as AVA Digital (Ay-va). You can check it out at this link:

http://www.youtube.com/user/DigitalAVA

You can check out my friend's blog at http://anditech.blogspot.com/.

Hydroponics Tower

Manhatta - Hydroponics Towers

The hydroponics towers stand in a tall circle around the Central Hub. To many, they are seen as a symbol of produce and agriculture. These towers produce food all year long, even when the surrounding farmland around them freezes during the cold winters, as the inner layers of the towers are climate controlled as well.

Each hydroponics tower stands 142m high. They form a ring around the Central Hub, 11 of them in total. Surrounding the hydroponics towers is farmland that the citizens of Manhatta cultivate for food. The first 8 stories of the hydroponics towers are used as packaging facilities for the food collected in both the towers and the surrounding farmland. Offices and maintenance crews of the towers also reside there, but the process of making the food is nearly fully automated.

The hydroponics towers draws up water from sewage and purifies the water by running it down a tower of zebra mussels and filters, removing contaminants and other soil particles that may be caught in the water. The tower is separated into six layers, each layer responsible for one stage of plant development. The plants are grown on reusable Styrofoam trays, and are fed merely by the practice of “hydroponics”, in which plants are grown without soil. The water purified from the zebra mussels are augmented with nutrients, allowing the plants to grow without any soil. Not only do the hydroponics towers support a large plant population, it sports a green roof complete with solar panels as well.

A specialized cargo subway connected the hydroponics towers to the outside world, allowing the towers to deliver food instantly to any location. Farm animals are bred on specialized sections on each of the hydroponics towers. Each of the hydroponics towers can only grow two breeds of plants at a time, so the 11 towers grow a multitude of plants year-round to satisfy their customers.

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Montréal

Now, don't get me wrong, Montréal is a great place and all, but what is with all the gigantic posters pasted over scaffolding?

The largest cheap advertising trick I've ever seen

It's as if the French think citizens will start to believe the enormous posters are real buildings so they can put a  delay on construction times. It certainly didn't fool me as a tourist, although I sure hope they did this in 1976. The Olympic Stadium in Montréal wasn't even finished when it was time for the games. Perhaps if they'd posted these posters of a finished stadium, reviews for the Stade Olympique may have been a whole lot higher.

Yearbook Title Page

This is the last year I will be at my Junior High, and I was contemplating yearbook designs. Here is a title page I made last year. I uses a lined piece of paper and a pencil, and then I added the finishing touches on Photoshop. Anybody care to give constructive criticism?

iK-47

Ah, and here is the iK-47. This gun will be made when Apple has finished monopolizing the music industry, and has moved on the the military... of course, there will be an iPod and iPod Touch AND iPhone dock at the side of the gun so people can listen to music, talk to friends, all while shooting people. Sounds great, huh?

Central Hub

Manhatta - Central Hub

The central Hub is located at the centre of Manhatta, and is responsible as being the main transportation centre as well as housing the government in Manhatta. The entire population passes through this hub everyday to go to work places, restaurants, and more. This is the first major stop for anybody visiting Manhatta.

As for being the centre for transportation, anybody can travel to any destination in Manhatta within 10 minutes of the Central Hub. It has multiple streetcar and subway lines leading to and passing through it. There are four subway lines and one street car line that pass through it, providing instant transportation wherever you are in the city. A dedicated cargo subway line existed for transporting goods and produce to various places throughout the city.

International cargo shipping are directed to the Manhatta harbour, east of the bridge and in proximity to the airport. Manhatta is a prime research and development centre, and new technologies are its main export. Nothing much is imported in as the city Is entirely self-sustainable, but cruise ships can take up temporary refuge in the harbour. Recreational shipping is also widely encourage, and there exists a central canal that leads straight the Central Hub, where the inhabitants can sail with boats from a local marina.

The base of the Central Hub is 200m in diameter, and stands 200m tall. It is supported my 6 struts. Within each of these struts are two elevators for commuters to travel up into the hub where there are restaurants and shops on the first floor, a public library on the second, the public transit control centre on the third floor, and government offices on the fourth and final floor.

At the centre of the four concentric rings that make up the Central Hub are terraces which a person can see a fabulous view across the rings and the full structure of the hub. At the base of each strut are street car and subway stops. Beneath the massive hub is a giant courtyard where commuters can relax and enjoy the surrounding environment amongst the midst of rushed travellers.