Blogger, Artist, Social Media, Web Designer, Photographer- I blog about nouns-people, places and things, even when it's negative I try to put a positive spin on it. @tinawinterlikfb https://tinawinterlik.blogspot.com
You get to touch Sting Rays...or some kind of rays...I have to research it better...sorry..very tired and just edited and put up all the photos on FB and Youtube.
Here they are for your enjoyment if you can not make there.
R.I.P. Milo :( Ah, such sad news. I loved this video of him holding hands with his partner Nyac (who has also passed away), it's so sweet and I know I won't even be able to tell my little cherub about this as she'll be so sad. You'll be dearly missed you adorable little thing. You brought so much happiness to so many. You can read more here
So here is the video I put together for my little cherub's visit to the Vancouver Aquarium. She has the same birthday as Qila, isn't that fabulous.We has a fabulous time as you will see in the video!
Self-supporting, non-profit association dedicated to effecting conservation of aquatic life thru display, interpretation, education, research & direct action
So I must apologize for neglecting my blog, but we were just having TOO MUCH FUN! It was my cherub's birthday and we went to the Vancouver Aquarium and the Spirit Train. I have some great videos that I'm editing and I will be posting them this week. Here are a few pics til then.
Self-supporting, non-profit association dedicated to effecting conservation of aquatic life thru display, interpretation, education, research & direct action
Enjoy the warmth of our Aboriginal Summer Village and join the excitement from May 16 – September 11, 2011. Klahowya Village in Vancouver's Stanley Park is an a
My daughter and I love the Vancouver Aquarium and we especially love the otters. Check out this super sweet adorable video of otters holding handing. It's just too cute! I hope we can go soon, I hope we can get a family pass this year that would be awesome!
Vancouver Aquarium sea otters, Nyac and Milo, were the stars on YouTube in 2007.
A video showing the otters holding paws, a natural behaviour called "rafting", appeared on the Internet in March 2007. It has now been viewed over 11 million times by people all over the world. Aquarium visitor Cynthia Holmes, who was then a PhD student at the University of British Columbia, shot the video in 2002.
The tremendous response to Ms. Holmes's video on YouTube is a testament to the allure of sea otters. And that's good since they are a threatened species and need our help.
Oil spills are one of the greatest threats to sea otters. Nyac, the blond, female otter in the video was a rare survivor of the 1989 Exxon Valdez Oil Spill. Read More Here
So today my little girl went to the Vancouver Public Libraryhttp://www.vpl.ca/ and she came home with a magazine called Waters from the Vancouver Aquariumhttp://www.vanaqua.org/
So I thought it might be nice to do a blogpost on the Vancouver Aquarium. Now I've been going to the Aquarium since I was a little girl. I grew up with Skana (she was a killer whale or orca if you prefer - we all adored her), and ever since Angel was born we have tried to visit once a year- it's my birthday gift to her- we missed last year, I hope to go this year.
The Aquarium has gotten very expensive, but I understand, they have a lot to take care of and I realize that this fabulous facility cost a LOT to maintain.
We were fortunate to see the baby belugas, a really once in a life time experience, I and will cherish those 10 little minutes forever. How beautiful to see such a rare and wonderous event.
We love the Amazon display and the butterflies, and the sloth and the snakes. Once Angel got to hold a big walking stick bug, now that was super special.
From Wikipedia -Joemess - Austin http://www.flickr.com/people/16046854@N00
The otters, Ohhhhhhhhhhhh, they are just so sweet. When they swim on there back and open food on their tummy. The old moma ones are so cute with there grey chubby faces.
The B.C. Coast Exhibit is really fabulous. It's truly amazing to see all the beautiful sea life that lives just under the surface, that we would never experience, if it weren't for that wonder display with the sturgeon and all the anemones and fish.
I love the seahorses and the big jelly fish display.
Once Angel got her face painted, that was really cool.
We love to watch the belugas, one of the biggest thrills for Angel is touching the sea cucumbers and star fish.
Yes the Aquarium is really a wonderful place, if you haven't been in a while, you should check it out. Now is a good time as the off season is cheaper than summer.
The Vancouver Aquarium Marine Science Centre is a self-supporting, non-profit association dedicated to effecting the conservation of aquatic life through display and interpretation, education, research, and direct action.
The Aquarium is home to over 70,000 amazing animals. Each year 80,000 school children learn about aquatic life through our school programs. 980 people volunteer at the Aquarium, logging 58,000 hours of service in 2008. More than 35,000,000 people have visited the Aquarium since 1956. The Aquarium's 20,000 member-households represent a total of 55,000 people who support the Aquarium. Located in Stanley Park, the Aquarium is open to visitors from around the world 365 days a year.
The annual operating budget for 2009 is $23 million.
Admissions, programs, groups, membership, retail operations, and food services account for 81% of the Aquarium's operating budget while charitable contributions, donations and restricted grants comprise the remainder.
The Aquarium formed the Vancouver Aquarium Conservation Foundation in 1997 to manage endowment funds to support the Aquarium's education, marine science, animal care and conservation programs for years to come.
Kavna is the oldest beluga at the Aquarium; she is estimated to be around 40 years of age. She is distinguishable from the other belugas by the fact that she is the whitest, due to her age. She is in the behind the scene along with Imaq. She has given birth at Vancouver Aquarium to a male calf named "Tuaq" however he died around 4 weeks later.
Imaq is the only male beluga and is around 21 years of age. He is distinguishable by the fact that he is the largest beluga at the Aquarium. Located in the behind the scene along with Kavna. Imaq fathered "Tuvaq", "Tiqa", and "Nala"
Aurora is a female beluga and is around 21 years of age. She gave birth first to Qila, Tuvaq (who died in 2005) and recently Nala. "Aurora" is named after the famous northern light Aurora borealis.
Nala was the youngest female beluga born to mother Aurora in June 2009. In the fall, members chose the name Nala which means "surprise gift" in Inuktitut. She died due to inflammation in the lung on June 21st 2010 at around 10:15 p.m. Coins and foreign matter were found in her respiratory tract.
Qila is a female beluga and is around 15 years old. She was born at the aquarium to mother Aurora and father Nanuq on July 23, 1995. She is the first beluga to be conceived and born in a Canadian aquarium, and is also the first beluga conceived and born in a Canadian aquarium to give birth to a calf. "Qila" means "beluga" in Inuktitut.
Tiqais a female beluga calf, the daughter of Qila and Imaq. She was born on June 10, 2008.[11] Tiqa has a very interesting personality, she likes to play with birds. Tiqa is the only beluga calf at Vancouver Aquarium. "Tiqa"s name stands for T- Tuesday (the day she was born), I- Imaq (the father), Q-Qila （the mother), A-Aurora (the grandmother).
Gorgeous Green House Wrapped in a Vertical Garden
by Kristi Bernick, 02/26/11
Architecture,Botanical,Gardening,green roof
This gorgeous greenery-wrapped live/work space in Linkebeek, Belgium was completed by Samyn and Partners in 2007 after 8 years of construction. In the original plans, Samyn and Partners designed the building’s walls to be covered in ivy, while a patinated copper material was chosen for the roof. It’s a blessing that this project took so long to complete -- during construction, the original concept for a “green” façade grew stronger and the ivy and copper roof were scrapped in favor of a lush living envelope that features a selection of exotic plants chosen by botanist Patrick Blanc.
Dubbed Milly Film, the mixed-use building is designed to serve as a cinematographer’s residence, production studio, and workspace. The design began with the decision to maintain the existing structure of a small one story house on the ground level. The renovation provided structure for the entry, office and kitchen for the residence, and the living room and stairway extend to the rest of the building.
Randy Sharp of Sharp & Diamond, designed the Vancouver Aquarium’s 50-square-metre green wall of polypropylene modules filled with wildflowers, ferns and ground covers. It has a modular grid of wall panels, a soil or felt growing medium, and irrigation and nutrient-delivery system and a support structure; these are the virtually universal features of a living wall.
That isn't a lot to grow on, but Sharp notes that there are many native plants that cling to rocks and shallow soils and survive harsh winters. The trick is to blow all of the water out of the system before it freezes, and the plants go dormant. More on Randy Sharp's Award-winning Vancouver Aquarium wall: 2008 Award-Winning Green Roofs and Walls
The office wing of the controversial new Quai Branly Museum, designed by Jean Nouvel in Paris has a "vertical garden" installed by Patrick Blanc. The construction of the vertical gardens include layers of felt, plastic and metal sheeting which provide a barrier against damaging roots.
Michel Kreuger tells us that the Rexwall panels with recycled polystyrene cores will result in the following benefits:
-100% Recycled
-High insulation
-Frost impervious: because it is flexible, ice freeze up around the hull is not a problem
He claims that the floating houses address four environmental issues:
-CO2/Greenhouse issue
‘Green Floating' objects turn CO2 straight into oxygen, they love it! Bottom line even more then owners and users of the resort expel altogether. 'Green Floating' resorts are CO2 negative.
-The population issue
If you watch the globe, how colourful the continents may be, 70% of our planet is blue and full of water. Lots of water. In total 1370 km3
The Environmental Waste Issue:
"EPS, or expanded polystyrene is one of the most tough waste materials on our planet. On average it takes up to90 years to biodegrade a polystyrene coffee cup or hamburger shell.However, the product is easy to recycle. In RexwallTM it even serves the planet."
He’s on a mission to bring wilderness into cities.
WHEN people see one of Patrick Blanc’s “forested” walls, their reaction is almost universal: there are gasps of surprise, followed by flashes of light as camera flashbulbs go off – and then comes the need to touch the lush tendrils of living plants growing magically on a wall.
It is this interaction between human being and nature in the heart of even the most densely packed cities that makes Blanc smile.
Green man cometh: This is Patrick Blanc, botanist, artist and man who likes green ... everything, right down to his fingernails.
“Over half of the world’s population now live in cities; I think it’s very important to combine nature with cities instead of separating both from one another,” says Blanc, 56, the inventor of Le Mur Vegetal, or Vertical Garden System, a much imitated concept now.
Blanc created his first true living wall in the 1980s in Parc de la Villette in Paris. Today, his works of green art adorn over 140 walls around the world: the interiors of hotels, private homes and department stores in Bangkok, Berlin and Kuwait; luxury condominiums in Sydney; museums in Japan; and Parisian clubs. Read More Here http://thestar.com.my/lifestyle/story.asp?file=/2010/9/26/lifeliving/6948675&sec=lifeliving
StarMag’s cover photo is a close up of this wall, part of London’s Hotel Athenaeum (photo provided by the hotel)
They are also a vital part of high profile architectural works such as Jean Nouvel’s Musee du Quai Branly in Paris and the Caixa Forum in Madrid by Herzog and de Meuron.
(Nouvel and design firm Herzog and de Mueron both won architecture’s “Nobel” prize, the Pritzker Prize.)
StarMag’s cover photo is a close up of this wall, part of London’s Hotel Athenaeum
(photo provided by the hotel).
The walls are works of arts, indeed; and in a concrete jungle, a splash of living green is always refreshing, of course – but these living walls go beyond aesthetics. They can help reduce the urban heat island effect (caused by heat building up by reflecting and bouncing off the huge expanses of artificial material); they have also have proven their ability to filter air particulates, which helps improve air quality; they can filter and absorb rain, thus helping to slow storm runoff and mitigate urban flooding; and they can add welcome humidity to sealed indoor spaces that are usually dry thanks to air-conditioning.
And, of course, one of their biggest green contributions is that they can help preserve flora, as Blanc points out: “Any naked wall has the potential to be turned into a vertical garden and thus become a shelter for biodiversity."
“For a city with high levels of pollution, the garden acts as an efficient tool for air and water remediation wherever flat surfaces are already extensively used for human activities.”
How they work
Blanc’s walls can live up to 30 years and do not require pruning or trimming.
“My theory is that concrete is like limestone in a way, so if plants can grow on a rock surface, why not a wall?” says the botanist.
Blanc’svertical garden at the architecturally award-winning Caixa Forum in Madrid, Spain, has been acclaimed for spectacularly complementing the sculptural aspects of the cultural centre. – Photos courtesy of PATRICK BLANC
These plants are not rooted into the wall surface itself, though, as that would break down the structure – this is what happened to the ancient Angkor temples of Cambodia that are deteriorating so badly. Neither are they rooted in soil, as that would make them too heavy.
“The plants are grown on felt sheets because soil is just a mechanical support. They only require water, with minerals dissolved in it, and light and carbon dioxide to conduct photosynthesis. I only use plants that grow wild on rock faces,” he explains.
Blanc has perfected a system using a metal frame, a PVC layer and a felt layer to attach the plants to their vertical surfaces.
First he hangs the metal frame on a wall where it ensures an insulating layer of air. A 1cm-thick waterproof PVC sheet is fixed over the frame to protect the wall. Then a felt layer is stapled onto the PVC; into this sheet, plants are installed at a density of 30 per 1sq m – this prevents weeds from growing and creates the luxurious, forested feel.
A small, regularly-punctured hose running along the top of the installation provides water that is dissipated throughout the absorbent felt layer. Liquid fertiliser is also dispersed in this manner.
“The weight of the entire frame is only about 30kg per square metre, so it can be installed even on tall buildings,” says Blanc.
Our very own wall
The patented method should make easy work of covering the more than 600sq m wall Blanc has planned for Kuala Lumpur.
He was in town recently to visit the site of his first vertical garden in this country. It will be part of the luxury Kenny Heights development, which has brought together top names in architectural and design fields, like British designer Sir Terence Conran and Japanese architect Kengo Kuma (as told in Height of design, Spaces, StarMag, Nov 11, 2009).
Blanc will be installing a dramatic wall garden across two gigantic slabs of concrete at the two blocks of the Kuma-designed town villas in the Kenny Heights Estate.
The Estate is one part of the 35ha development straddling KL’s upmarket Kenny Hills and Damansara Heights areas, and it's emphasis is a Man-Nature connection throughout. Blanc’s wall will be an important part of creating that connection, as it will be covered with more than 50 varieties of tropical plants to create a sense of verdant luxury.
“The gardens are inspired by the huge limestone cliffs of (Pulau) Langkawi,” Blanc explains.
“They will make a stunning façade. As the walls are exposed to full sunlight, I will be using big and fluffy plants with more flowers to add colour.
The stunning Green Symphony installation at the Taipeh Concert Hall.
“And in the canyon-like space between the two blocks, I will use shade-loving species with delicate foliage softened with mosses and ferns. I hope the ultimate effect will be similar to being in front of a cliff covered with foliage.
“KL has much potential for wall gardens because out of the country’s (identified) 8,000 plant species, some 2,500 grow without any soil.”
Blanc is highly excited about his first project for Malaysia because it was here, in our sweltering rainforests, that he honed what was to become a lifelong passion for living walls.
