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Racism in cartoons. That’s the theme of the current “Alter Egaux” exhibition in the foyer of the town hall of Lausanne.
The Adventures of Tintin are already famous for possibly the most prominent example of racism in cartoons in the episode “Tintin in the Congo“. Interestingly, after getting a lot of (negative) attention in the media in 2007, the sales of the cartoon on amazon temporarily skyrocketed.
But there are are also other examples of racism, both among Africans (surrounding the genocide in Rwanda) and among other ethnic groups.
It’s a small exhibition and it’s free. So go and see it if you’re in the city center.
Well, actually it’s clean cold air that is the only (!) exhaust gas produced by this CAT (compressed air technology) car.
It can run solely on compressed air, making it a true zero emission car. In fact, as the air produced is completely clean and cold (between 0°C and -15°C) it can even be used to provide air conditioning.
Of course, energy is needed to compress the air and this energy is usually provided in the form of electricity. So the question to ask is whether it is actually more energy efficient than an ordinary electric car. The manufacturers don’t really say anything on this issue (so the answer is probably “no”), but there seems to be big advantage in terms of the “battery”: you can quickly refill your compressed air tank within 2-3 minutes, while it would take much longer for a battery to recharge.
Whether it is more ecological or not ultimately depends on how you produce your electricity. In any case, it claims to be a lot cheaper to operate, running about 100km with €1.50 worth of electricity.
If you’re interested, also check out the video on the Discovery Channel Canada or the recent story on the Tagesschau.
Oh, in case you’re surprised by the fact that the exhaust air is cold rather than hot, then maybe you’ll be interested to read up on the ideal gas law.
If you’re using Mozilla Thunderbird to read your email, then have a look at a new extension: EagleEye
It allows you to re-discover old friends (= people with a private email address to whom you haven’t written for several months) or keep track of your TODOs (= people with a professional email address where the last email was sent by the other person and not by you, so that you should probably reply). And MUCH more.
… with lots of cultural activities.
Three weeks ago there was the free festival “Les Urbaines“. A festival dedicated to modern performing arts.
I only went to see/hear one “concert” (which consisted of a person using his laptop to mix various sounds of mediocre aesthetic quality). Admittedly, the concert was not 100% my taste, but it was still interesting to lie on the stage with my eyes closed and just relaxing for one hour. What impressed me again was the fact that for the whole weekend all public transportation was free for everybody! In fact, Lausanne seems to offer this service at other occasions, such as for the Lausanne marathon, as well.
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