Solarpunk

Imagine a visionary building at the heart of a self-sustaining community—an architectural marvel that embodies the principles of sustainability, interdependence, and holistic living. This remarkable structure serves as a hub where all essential projects seamlessly come together, forming an interconnected and interdependent system.

At its core, this building incorporates an innovative vertical farming system. Towering gardens thrive within its walls, utilizing advanced hydroponics and vertical farming techniques to produce a wide array of organic fruits, vegetables, and herbs. Natural light floods the space, supplemented by energy-efficient LED lighting that mimics the sun's spectrum. The building's design optimizes air circulation, temperature control, and humidity, creating an ideal environment for abundant and sustainable food production.

Water flows throughout the building, facilitating various essential processes. A state-of-the-art rainwater harvesting system collects and channels rainwater, directing it to purification and filtration systems. These systems provide clean, potable water for the community's consumption, as well as irrigation for the vertical gardens and other water-dependent projects within the building.

Renewable energy is harnessed through a combination of solar panels adorning the building's exterior and wind turbines gracefully integrated into its structure. These energy sources power the building's operations, including the vertical farming systems, lighting, water purification systems, and other electrical needs. Excess energy generated can be stored in efficient battery systems or distributed to other buildings within the community.

Waste management is ingeniously integrated into the building's design. Organic waste from the vertical gardens and community kitchens is processed through innovative anaerobic digestion systems, producing biogas that is used to fuel on-site energy generation. The resulting nutrient-rich compost is then utilized to nourish the gardens, closing the loop of resource utilization and minimizing waste.

Within this multifunctional building, community members have access to educational spaces and workshops where they can learn about sustainable practices, permaculture, renewable energy technologies, and other essential skills. The building serves as a hub for knowledge exchange, fostering a culture of continuous learning and empowerment.

The community's healthcare needs are met through a health and wellness center located within the building. Here, residents have access to comprehensive healthcare services, from preventive care and consultations to alternative therapies and wellness programs. The center incorporates sustainable design elements such as natural lighting, green spaces, and eco-friendly materials, promoting a holistic approach to well-being.

The building also houses a vibrant marketplace that showcases locally produced goods and services. Community members can exchange their products, fostering a resilient local economy and reducing reliance on external sources. The marketplace encourages sustainable practices, with a focus on eco-friendly and fair-trade products.

Through its interconnected systems, this remarkable building serves as a living embodiment of self-sufficiency, sustainability, and community resilience. It fosters a deep sense of interdependence among its occupants, who understand that their individual actions contribute to the overall well-being and sustainability of the community as a whole. This architectural masterpiece inspires and empowers its inhabitants to live in harmony with nature, forging a brighter and more sustainable future.

The structure of this visionary building draws inspiration from Earthship principles, emphasizing sustainable, natural, and recycled materials. It harmoniously combines the concept of an Earthship with innovative design elements, creating a unique and environmentally conscious structure.

The building's walls are constructed using rammed earth or compressed earth blocks, utilizing the surrounding soil and natural resources abundantly available in the area. These materials provide excellent thermal mass properties, helping regulate indoor temperatures by absorbing and releasing heat slowly.

Recycled materials play a significant role in the construction process. Discarded tires, filled with compacted earth, form the foundation walls, providing stability and insulation. These repurposed tires not only reduce waste but also serve as an effective barrier against temperature fluctuations.

Large south-facing windows, a defining feature of Earthship design, allow ample natural light to flood the interior, reducing the need for artificial lighting. These windows are made from double or triple-pane glass, providing insulation while maximizing solar gain in colder climates.

To complete the building envelope, a greenhouse or sunspace is integrated into the structure. This space acts as a thermal buffer, capturing solar heat during the day and releasing it into the building at night. The greenhouse also serves as a nurturing environment for plants, further enhancing the building's self-sustaining capabilities.

The roof of the building is designed to harness rainwater through a carefully planned catchment system. This water is then stored in large cisterns, providing a sustainable water source for the building's various needs, including irrigation and household use. The building's architecture incorporates efficient water filtration and purification systems to ensure a safe and potable water supply.

In line with Earthship principles, the building promotes off-grid living by utilizing renewable energy sources. Photovoltaic solar panels are integrated into the roof or mounted on nearby structures, capturing solar energy to power the building's electrical needs. Wind turbines may also be installed to harness the power of the wind and supplement the energy supply.

Inside the building, natural and non-toxic materials are used for finishes and furnishings. Sustainable and reclaimed wood, bamboo, cork, or recycled materials are employed for flooring, cabinetry, and furniture, promoting a healthy and eco-friendly living environment.

The construction process itself is designed to minimize waste and environmental impact. The building's design allows for efficient use of materials, reducing construction waste. Local and salvaged materials are prioritized, reducing transportation-related carbon emissions. Techniques such as rainwater harvesting during construction can also be implemented to further enhance sustainability.

By combining Earthship principles with innovative design elements, this building exemplifies a sustainable and environmentally conscious approach to construction. It showcases the beauty and versatility of natural and recycled materials while providing a harmonious living space that embodies the principles of self-sufficiency, sustainability, and interdependence with the natural world.

cross-posted from: https://feddit.uk/post/1248314

DEF CON Infosec super-band the Cult of the Dead Cow has released Veilid (pronounced vay-lid), an open source project applications can use to connect up clients and transfer information in a peer-to-peer decentralized manner.

The idea being here that apps – mobile, desktop, web, and headless – can find and talk to each other across the internet privately and securely without having to go through centralized and often corporate-owned systems. Veilid provides code for app developers to drop into their software so that their clients can join and communicate in a peer-to-peer community.

In a DEF CON presentation today, Katelyn "medus4" Bowden and Christien "DilDog" Rioux ran through the technical details of the project, which has apparently taken three years to develop.

The system, written primarily in Rust with some Dart and Python, takes aspects of the Tor anonymizing service and the peer-to-peer InterPlanetary File System (IPFS). If an app on one device connects to an app on another via Veilid, it shouldn't be possible for either client to know the other's IP address or location from that connectivity, which is good for privacy, for instance. The app makers can't get that info, either.

Veilid's design is documented here, and its source code is here, available under the Mozilla Public License Version 2.0.

"IPFS was not designed with privacy in mind," Rioux told the DEF CON crowd. "Tor was, but it wasn't built with performance in mind. And when the NSA runs 100 [Tor] exit nodes, it can fail."

Unlike Tor, Veilid doesn't run exit nodes. Each node in the Veilid network is equal, and if the NSA wanted to snoop on Veilid users like it does on Tor users, the Feds would have to monitor the entire network, which hopefully won't be feasible, even for the No Such Agency. Rioux described it as "like Tor and IPFS had sex and produced this thing."

"The possibilities here are endless," added Bowden. "All apps are equal, we're only as strong as the weakest node and every node is equal. We hope everyone will build on it."

Each copy of an app using the core Veilid library acts as a network node, it can communicate with other nodes, and uses a 256-bit public key as an ID number. There are no special nodes, and there's no single point of failure. The project supports Linux, macOS, Windows, Android, iOS, and web apps.

Veilid can talk over UDP and TCP, and connections are authenticated, timestamped, strongly end-to-end encrypted, and digitally signed to prevent eavesdropping, tampering, and impersonation. The cryptography involved has been dubbed VLD0, and uses established algorithms since the project didn't want to risk introducing weaknesses from "rolling its own," Rioux said.

This means XChaCha20-Poly1305 for encryption, Elliptic curve25519 for public-private-key authentication and signing, x25519 for DH key exchange, BLAKE3 for cryptographic hashing, and Argon2 for password hash generation. These could be switched out for stronger mechanisms if necessary in future.

Files written to local storage by Veilid are fully encrypted, and encrypted table store APIs are available for developers. Keys for encrypting device data can be password protected.

"The system means there's no IP address, no tracking, no data collection, and no tracking – that's the biggest way that people are monetizing your internet use," Bowden said.

"Billionaires are trying to monetize those connections, and a lot of people are falling for that. We have to make sure this is available," Bowden continued. The hope is that applications will include Veilid and use it to communicate, so that users can benefit from the network without knowing all the above technical stuff: it should just work for them.

To demonstrate the capabilities of the system, the team built a Veilid-based secure instant-messaging app along the lines of Signal called VeilidChat, using the Flutter framework. Many more apps are needed.

If it takes off in a big way, Veilid could put a big hole in the surveillance capitalism economy. It's been tried before with mixed or poor results, though the Cult has a reputation for getting stuff done right. ®

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/2712557

For the past 18 months, orcas have been attacking boats and yachts in the Mediterranean Sea near the Strait of Gibraltar. A new report of an orca boat attack in the North Sea near Scotland is a surprising development.

It's possible that the orcas are displaying “cultural evolution” and other pods are learning behaviors from one another Scientists long assumed that humans were the only animals capable of “cultural evolution”—that is, learned behaviors developed beyond the innate skills gifted to us by genetic evolution. But for a few decades now, the animal kingdom has been providing evidence to the contrary.

Monkeys and whales have shown a particular gift for cultural evolution, and other animals outside the class Mammalia have shown simpler forms of collective learning and adaptation.

Now, the majestic orca (Orcinus orca) is under scrutiny for the same kind of behavior, as boats in the Mediterranean near the Strait of Gibraltar—and surprisingly, off the coast of Scotland in the North Sea—appear to be specifically targeting boats. Although this behavior was well-known in the Iberian orca population, it’s a shocking development that orcas seemingly unaffiliated with the Mediterranean pod are exhibiting similar behaviors.

“I’d be reluctant to say it cannot be learned from [the southern population],” Conor Ryan, a scientist who’s studied orca pods off the Scottish coast, told The Guardian. “It’s possible that this ‘fad’ is leapfrogging through the various pods/communities.”

Despite being known as “killer whales,” orcas are actually members of the dolphin family and are highly sociable, using complex vocalizations to communicate with one another. The learn matrilineally, meaning “grandmother” orcas (which can live for 80 years or more) become matriarchs of their pods and pass on vital hunting skills.

With three boats sunk and upwards of 100 others damaged in Iberia, scientists think that this behavior may come from one such “grandmother” orca named White Gladis. The thought is that she may have survived a traumatic event earlier in life involving a boat, and has since taught her pod how to attack them. It’s also possible that these attacks are timed with Atlantic bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus) migrations, and the orcas perceive boats as competition for food.

Of course, humans are not necessarily innocent victims in these orca hit-and-runs, as boats cause noise pollution and other hazards for the creatures and other marine life. But, regardless, how exactly did an orca in the North Sea learn this seemingly isolated behavior from 2,000 miles away? Some scientists think that highly mobile pods could be capable of teaching these boat-destroying tricks to individuals in other pods.

So, will orcas always be on the hunt for boats and yachts of all shapes and sizes? Well, not necessarily. As seemingly easy as it was for the orcas to pick up this hunting trick, it’s possible that this “cultural evolution” will disappear just as rapidly. Similars shifts have happened before. For example, the website Salon reports that, a few years back, bottlenose dolphins were carrying sea sponges on their noses of the coast of Australia. But as quickly as this “fad” appeared, it became scarce, and soon disappeared entirely.

Scientists don’t know how long this particular “cultural evolution” will stick around. But considering our bang-up job protecting the planet, it almost feels like there’s a measure of justified cosmic karma at play here.

Learn everything you need to know about seed bombs, from the history, where to use them, how they work and how to make them.

[A collie enthusiastically running while wearing seed-distributing pouches]

Based on the excerpt from this Discworld book, what other items do you use regularly that would fit in this theory? (Boots and shoes are fair game!)

Text transcript for people who want it:

[The reason that the rich were so rich, Vimes reasoned, was because they managed to spend less money.

Take boots, for example. He earned thirty-eight dollars a month plus allowances. A really good pair of leather boots cost fifty dollars. But an affordable pair of boots, which were sort of OK for a season or two and then leaked like hell when the cardboard gave out, cost about ten dollars. Those were the kind of boots Vimes always bought, and wore until the soles were so thin that he could tell where he was in Ankh-Morpork on a foggy night by the feel of the cobbles.

But the thing was that good boots lasted for years and years. A man who could afford fifty dollars had a pair of boots that'd still be keeping his feet dry in ten years' time, while the poor man who could only afford cheap boots would have spent a hundred dollars on boots in the same time and would still have wet feet.

This was Captain Samuel Vimes 'Boots' theory of socioeconomic unfairness.]

Bonus: suggest ways you can repair/restore your item/other people's items.

I just discovered a solar project run by my electrical provider, that allows me to pay for a number of grids, and will offset my usage and electric bills. This is a multi-state large publicly traded electric company, not a fly-by-night outfit. Essentially, this is similar to having my own panels, and being plugged in to sell excess kWs, but the panels are in their solar farm, managed, and maintained by the electric company. The break-even is 12 years, and the life is 20 years. The breakdown risks are insured by them. The negatives are that at exactly 20 years, I would have to do it again.

You are the experts. Are there other risks that I do not see?