Wired has this photo gallery showing the work of botanist Patrick Blanc who specialises in covering walls with gardens. I always loved the look of ivy covered walls at university but this guy takes it to a whole new level.

Over the years he has perfected a special frame which allows plants to grow on vertical walls. Some of the wall gardens are the size of several tennis courts.

They look great. I love the way he has clearly planted different plans in sections to create patters.

Last night I was watching The Simpsons and I noticed that the intro looked different. A few seconds on Google and I had my answer. Gotta love the internets.

Sure enough, it has been redone and some mad fan has gone to the trouble of generating a comparison.

There is also a side-by-side video comparison on YouTube.

Any sports fan knows that referees are as human as the rest of us – mistakes do creep in.

However, I recently read this short article citing studies that show ref’s also make more subtle, but systematic mistakes.

Home Crowd Advantage

This article discusses a study of 3500 Bundesliga matches that found measurable bias in favor of the home team:

• Interestingly the bias was more significant when there was no running track around the field – in other words when the fans were closer to the ref.
• Refs were shown footage of tackles with the sound on and the sound off. Those watching with the sound on ruled in favor of the home team 15.5% more often!

The Team in Red

In the past I have read that football teams wearing red win slightly more matches. This article discusses a study of tae kwon do referees found that they favor the fighter in red.

In tae kwon do one fighter has a red helmet and one has a blue helmet.

In the experiment 42 experienced refs were shown videos of sparring rounds.

• The red fighters were awarded on average 13% more points
• The videos were then digitally altered to switch the color of the helmets. Suddenly the points awarded flipped over with the new reds getting a bigger share.

National Geographic has a photo gallery showing off some of nature’s clever disguises. Well worth a look.

There are two bugs in this picture. Seriously.

“Leaf knockoffs down to brown spots and notched edges, two Mimetica katydids with twiglike legs can rest or feed without drawing attention”.

In case you’re still not sure, here they are:

The gallery is well worth looking at. Below are a few more of by favorites.

Not a snake…

Finally, this is a great mantis. Nature is awesome.

Amazingly it seems that someone has managed to pick up a stunning mountain(!!) in Hout Bay for R10 million on auction. (see article on IOL).

The mountain was bought in a private auction for “about R10 million” after only 14 bids were received.

Why so cheap? Well it seems that there is a lot more to the story:

• The residents in the area are militantly against any development. They broke up the original auction and were only dispersed when police began using rubber bullets on them.
• SANParks is also after the site. Apparently (see article) the Parks Board have managed to grab all of the land around the sold plot – it is effectively cut off. I doubt that they will allow access for development.

In fact, there are suspicions that the mountain hasn’t been sold at all.

If Parks Board attempt to expropriate the land then they will have to pay fair market value for it (they’ve offered R500,000). It has been suggested that the auction sale could be a ploy to make the ‘fair market value’ seem higher.

Interesting stuff.

A pagoda is a tall and often very old structure built entirely out of wood.

They are common in Japan and some are extremely old. For example “Horyuji pagoda in Nara was built in 607 and is thought to be the oldest multi-storey wooden structure in the world.”

The Economist has an article explaining just how these structures have managed to survive hundreds of years of typhoons and earthquakes.

Summary:

• To withstand very heavy rains the eaves are extended way beyond the building’s width – about 70% beyond!
  • This prevents rain water from weakening the foundations
• The floors are not actually attached. They are simply stacked on top of eachother and held down by the weight of the heavy tiles on the roof
  • This allows each floor to move during an earthquake without breaking up
• There is a central pillar known as a shinbashira that (normally) rests on the ground
  • This pillar prevents the shifting floors from sliding off eachother and also transmits the energy into the ground.

It’s a fascinating article and a good example of why The Economist is so great.