June 19, 2017

Dutch device collects water in the desert

Filed under: Design,Science,Sustainability by Orangemaster @ 11:43 pm

HW_1877-bew-300x200

Dutch company SunGlacier has built a device that collects water in hot and dry environments, such as here, in a desert in Mali where the company did some tests recently. SunGlacier’s Desert Twins harvester relies on condensation, as they explain, like the drops of water that appear on a soft drink can taken out of the fridge on a hot summer day. “The harvester comprises two separate devices – an energy unit, which draws and stores power from solar panels, and the water maker, which uses this energy to cool down a metal plate.”

Although the device was tested successfully in the Netherlands, the extreme environment of the Sahara Desert caused units to overheat and stop working, as well as water to evaporate within minutes of the harvester being opened. After a few days, they succeeded in cooling the ambient air inside the box so that condensation could take place and something other than steam was possible.

Find out more by watching the video

(Links: dezeen.com, sunglacier.nl)

Tags: , , ,

September 7, 2010

KLIK! animation film festival bigger and crazier

Filed under: Film,General by Orangemaster @ 5:42 pm

This year’s edition of Amsterdam’s KLIK! animation film festival will feature more than 235 films from 63 countries from 15 to 20 September. Now in its fourth year, KLIK! has gone international, with satellite editions and festival tours around the globe. This year’s theme focusses on the wonderful and weirdly disturbing realms of science.

Movie freak and organiser Luuk van Huët talked to me again this year about KLIK! like a very proud father whose toddler now walks and says ‘papa’. He told me that they received an insane amount of films (1100!) to choose from this year.

The programme features great stuff for kids, student competitions and of course, smashing after parties.

KLIK! also still has a satellite edition in the city of Mopti in Mali, West Africa, where Dutchman Willem Snapper lives. He started the Mopti Foundation to help the locals build gardens and irrigation systems and also screens films in his own backyward every week, as there is no cinema to be found for hundreds of kilometers.

Beisdes watching the festival grow year after year, Luuk’s dream would be to have this as a job some day. Check out the funny animated e-cards and send them to friends!

(Link and image: klikamsterdam.nl)

Tags: , , ,

August 20, 2009

KLIK! animation film festival ready to roll

Filed under: Film,General by Orangemaster @ 10:25 am
wervingsflyer

The KLIK! animation film festival will feature more than 250 films from 32 countries from 17 to 20 September in Amsterdam. This internationally known festival is in its third year and keeps gets bigger. One of the enthusiastic organisers Luuk van Huët talks about KLIK! like a proud father so I had to write something.

“Even though Internet has made it easier to access and view animation from around the globe, not enough offbeat animated fare graces the big screens in our creative capital Amsterdam and the rest of the country. We started the KLIK! Amsterdam Animation Festival to change that.”

KLIK! also has a satellite edition in the city of Mopti in Mali, West Africa, where Dutchman Willem Snapper lives. He started the Mopti Foundation to help the locals build gardens and irrigation systems and also screens films in his own backyward every week, attracting 300 visitors at a time, as there is no cinema to be found for hundreds of kilometers.

This year KLIK! has compiled a special program for the Mopti Foundation, to be judged by a jury of local dignitaries, and the winner will receive the KLIK! Mopti Award. KLIK! will also give out awards for the best design in animation and the best political animated film and the awards for the best films in the Open and Student Competition.

And if Luuk were watching over my shoulder, he’d remind me again to finally go and see the ‘South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut Sing-and-Swear-A-Long!’ on Friday 18 September.

(Link: klikamsterdam.nl)

Tags: , , ,