An invention that 3D prints buildings using sand as a raw material? We knew that someone would put Markus Keyser’s amazing solar sinter tool to good use! This conceptual tower featured above and conceived by a team of Chinese designers imagines a cluster of towers made of sand that are constructed with a solar-powered 3D-printer.
Two designers devised a lid design for trash cans that lures in fruit flies, trapping them in a tiny death chamber – gruesome but, hey, your kitchen will be insect-free. If this could expand to ensnare regular-issue flies, this duo stands to make a mint selling to Dead Sea resorts in Israel and Jordan.
Environmental activists, scientists, and conscious citizens have long known that our current model of unchecked resource extraction, carbon emissions and population growth would end badly. But a recent study using tools developed by NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center confirms that industrial society is on the brink of collapse.
Lady Gaga – who refuses to be censored – was voluntarily “filtered” during her recent appearance on American TV talk show Jimmy Kimmel Live. Her gaganess showed up in a voluminous white dress, cape and matching hat that looked like bleached (and controversial!) karakul lambskin – but was actually sewn from coffee filters.
Gaga’s frothy white outfit is a creation from the Gareth Pugh Fall 2014 collection, a young Brit designer who often turns to unusual materials such as plastic construction sheeting and paper. When asked about her upcycled dress, Lady Gaga told Kimmel, “You can do anything with your crazy ideas if you just put your mind to it.”
Gaga has rocked feathers, shells, plastic bubbles and of course, meat. But her poker face makes it tough to tell if she knows that coffee filters may be carcinogenic.
Jordan’s National Electric Power Company (NEPCO) has finally signed a 20-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with US-based First Solar Inc. and the Shams Ma’an Consortium for a 52.5 MW solar photovoltaic (PV) project – the first such project in the kingdom and one of the largest in the region.
A former flight attendant has grounded himself in Thailand in a masonry dome-home he built in just six weeks. The 500 square foot structure is simply constructed much like a tropical igloo, with cement blocks stepping in for ice bricks. The best part? It cost under $10,000!
Flash floods are very dangerous; they come quickly, often catch people by surprise, and their force is formidable. This is especially true of Israel’s Wadi Zin, a deceptively dry riverbed most of the time. Visitors to the Dead Sea captured rare footage of a recent flash flood – a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
The companies Acciona and TSK will be meeting in Dubai to discuss the challenges and opportunities of constructing the Noor I CSP plant in Morocco. Meet the Acciona and TSK delegation as they attend the May 6 to 7 solar Menasol event in Dubai.
![Travel on a day trip in Amman to beat the real rainy Arab Spring [Photos]](https://www.greenprophet.com/wp-content/uploads/Arab-Hamam-768x583.jpg "Travel on a day trip in Amman to beat the real rainy Arab Spring [Photos]")
Springtime in Jordan means sandstorms, not downpours, but a solid week of rain just pummeled Amman – lashing, cold, complete with thunder! Here’s how we locals beat the doldrums caused by Jordan’s Arab Spring – on the cheap!
For Israelis, butter has mysteriously disappeared from being an open market product. We gather it’s a mix of climate change and the fact that a Chinese multinational bought out its national dairy. But leave it to use to keep the western east prosperous and happy. Hey, don’t mess with our butter.
But if you have no choice, it’s easy to make your own butter. All it takes is double cream and some salt. The most basic equipment will do: a mixer, a pair of sturdy wooden spoons, some cheesecloth or a sieve, and a couple of bowls.
If you’re a real western east food enthusiast, you can keep going and make some Moroccan smen (aged, spiced butter – recipe here.)
Did you ever make butter in school? I did, in fourth grade. The teacher filled a jam jar with double cream, tightened the lid, and we kids took turns shaking it as hard as we could.
All of a sudden, little white grains formed in the sloshing liquid. Encouraged, we redoubled our efforts, and in about 15 minutes, Teacher triumphantly fished out about two tablespoons of butter. It was white and flavorless, but we thought it was divine.
For basic, wholesome, freshly-made butter, follow the simple steps outlined below. We assume you don’t have access to the traditional “butter bats” – wooden paddles used to shape the formed butter into cubes, rectangles, or rounds.
Or you could use the wooden spatula used for ma’moul cookies, as an idea.
RECIPE for Ma’amoul Cookies, a Tender Arabian Pastry Delight
A pair of wooden spoons will do just as well.
Salted, home-made butter recipe:
Yield: about 1 kg. – 2.2. lb. butter, and 1 liter (1-3/4 pints) buttermilk
Ingredients:
2.4 liters (4 pints – 10 cups) organic double cream, room temperature
2 teaspoons fine salt
Equipment
2 large, sturdy wooden spoons
A bowl big enough to rest the spoons in, filled with ice water
A large square of cheese cloth, to contain the butter
Another bowl filled with ice water
Soak the spoons in ice water for half an hour. This is necessary in order to prevent the butter from sticking to them.
Pour the cream into a cold, very clean mixing bowl. Use medium speed to whip the cream until thick. If the speed is too low, it will take a long time; if too fast, it will create a big mess.
The cream will go through the softly whipped, then stiffly whipped stages. Keep whipping. It will separate into fatty grains. A white liquid will remain; that’s buttermilk. Keep the buttermilk for drinking cold, or for baking.
Drain the buttermilk from the butter. Gently plop the butter into the cheese cloth. Gather up the ends of the cloth and cover the butter. Twist the cloth to squeeze out as much buttermilk as possible from the butter. If using a sieve, drain the butter and run some cold water from the faucet over it, turning it over once or twice.
Place the butter in the second bowl (filled with cold water so the butter doesn’t melt). Knead the butter well; drain and do this again, always kneading the butter in cold water until the water is clear.
It’s necessary to remove all the buttermilk, or the butter will quickly go rancid.
Cut the butter, with a cold knife, into slabs of desired size. If you want salted butter – and salt will help preserve the butter for between two and three weeks – cut the butter into 4 pieces.
Pat each piece out in a thin layer with the cold spoons. Sprinkle 1/4 teaspoon salt over every piece. Work the salt in with the cold wooden spoons, then, still using the spoons, shape the butter as you like. Wrap the pieces in waxed paper and refrigerate. You may freeze some if you like.
You may also omit the salt, but then the butter must be eaten or used in cooking within two or three days.
If you want spreadable butter, simply take a piece out of the fridge 20 minutes ahead of time. An alternative is to add 1/2 tablespoon of olive oil to the butter before shaping it.
If you can get fresh cream of goat’s or sheep’s milk, you can make the most luxurious butter on the planet.
More delicious things to make and eat:
The train system runs like clockwork in Morocco. It’s fast, easy and safe. So we’re excited to see a new project that makes them sped up to the 21st century in design: Silvio d’Ascia Architecture teamed up with Omar Kobité Architecture & Eric Giudice Architects to design a modern high speed railway station for Kénitra.
Saudi cleric Saleh al Fawzan has decided that all-you-can-eat buffets are against Sharia (Islamic) law, unappetizing news for Muslims devoted to bargain dining deals!
![Forget Godzilla! We see Dubai storm swallow mile-high Burj Khalifa [video]](https://www.greenprophet.com/wp-content/uploads/Burj-Khalifa-Duststorm-768x512.jpg "Forget Godzilla! We see Dubai storm swallow mile-high Burj Khalifa [video]")
Last Friday, a ferocious desert rainstorm blew into Dubai swallowing up the city and making the world’s tallest building – the Burj Khalifa – disappear! Video below!
Nobody knows more about bicycles than the Dutch, but Israelis will have a chance to glean some design and urban planning wisdom from the waterlogged nation next week at the “Going Dutch” conference established by their Prime Minister and (the much more fit) Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte.
A new golf course is being built in the shadow of the Egyptian pyramids, the plans for its fairways and greens were recently unveiled by Thomson Perrett & Lobb, an architectural firm specializing in course design.
It’s not the first links in Cairo, nor the first course near the Cheops, but Insha’allah that Egyptian environmentalists will make it the last!
The game of golf isn’t quite as old as the pyramids, but golfing near the Great Pyramid of Giza has deep roots (unlike new gardens to be planted in the area).
A favorite pastime in the British Isles where climate ensures steady growth of thick grasses, the sport migrated to the Middle East where it was played largely on sand flats and putting surfaces called “browns”. (Read about Jordan’s only golf course – also naturally landscaped with chipping “browns” – link here.)
Note the sportswoman above, teeing off back in 1938 on sand and desert scrub. They had it right back then, adopting the game to the place they played it. Today, there are at least seven places to play golf in Cairo, the most picturesque being the Mena House club which sits about 700 meters from the pyramid’s base (see lead image and again, below – the green fields at the top of the photo shows the Mena House course).
Not one concedes to its address, each more artificially verdant than the next.
This area is desert, inhospitable to golf-course greenery. Everything planted requires copious amounts of irrigation, and growth chemical, weed-killer and pesticides. This is a water-starved nation in continual battle with African nations over water rights – how inappropriate is it to squander limited resources to maintain climate-incompatible recreation?
In fairness, golf is just one part of the 1,500 acre New Giza development which will also include hotels, a hospital, a university, sports club, and mixed-use areas with restaurants, shopping and offices. Almost 6,000 residential villas and apartments will be built in 10 new “neighborhoods”, each surrounded by parks and lakes. The amount of water used to support those functions will dwarf the amount the golf course will drink.
“With so many golf developments having been put on hold over the past year, it is a credit to the developers and everyone involved with New Giza that the project is moving forward,” said principal Tim Lobb. The project had kicked off in 2010, but financial restraints and political unrest sent it into hibernation.
“The site for the golf course is part of one of the most dramatic landscapes we have worked on, with incredible hilltop views to the pyramids and 50-meter-high cliffs, which have been incorporated into the golf course design.”
If only there was a push for innovation in course design; adapt the sport to local micro-climate and terrain. Create a truly unique touristic destination that screamed “Cairo” and not “St. Andrews” or “Pebble Beach”. But no need to get my panties in a twist. Because…. if NASA has it right, the new vacation recreation for the whole of the Nile Delta may soon be scuba.
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