But the murals now blooming under the hands of street artists along Epifanio delos Santos Avenue (EDSA) are not only there for art’s sake — they are created with paint that doubles as an air purifier.

A new paint variant created by local paint manufacturer Boysen contains modified titanium dioxides, which are designed to break down toxic fumes into harmless substances.

Though titanium dioxide is commonly used in regular paint, its molecules in the modified version are micronized, a process that compresses them ten-fold to enhance their intrinsic ability to break down toxic substances when activated by light.

“It acts as a photo catalyst and in the presence of sunlight or artificial lighting it brings down noxious gases such as nitrogen dioxides and other VOCs (volatile organic compounds) in the air,” said Patrick Negrete, Boysen Project Management Engineer.

Negrete said that tests in Manila and Europe’s busiest thoroughfares reported at least an 18 percent reduction of air pollutants.

Now, the Manila city government has partnered with Boysen to add more murals along the heavily polluted EDSA, part of a decades-old drive to combat air pollution there.

The highway has the highest traffic congestion in the Philippines, with over 2.5 million vehicles passing through daily. The World Health Organization has reported that pollution there is four times greater than recommended safe levels.

According to the United Nations, Manila is one of the world’s five most polluted cities, with an estimated four percent of the vast metropolis’s disease-related deaths linked to air pollution.

Ten local and foreign artists were invited to design murals covering over 8,000 square meters of walls, columns and bridges along EDSA’s choke points, or where it narrows.

Fanciful flowers are among the works taking form in the distinctive green paint.

Company executives acknowledge that while the air-cleaning paint does help, it is far from a permanent solution.

“The best solution is to reduce the level of pollution to start with, to reduce pollutants coming out of cars,” said Johnson Ongking, Boysen Vice President.

But the artists involved in creating the highway masterpieces were enthusiastic.

“I hope there would be many more paintings like these — not just in Manila, but around the world,” said Tapio Snellman, a Finnish artist and film maker who volunteered to design one mural.

“Because there’s a huge need of air-cleaning paintings, and there’s a huge need of visual stimulation of positive and inspiring artwork.”

(Reporting by Elaine Lies, editing by Paul Casciato)

Article source: http://www.oddnews.org/77-odd-news/640-street-artists-join-the-war-on-manila-smog.html

(AP/Paul Sakuma)

Kathy and David Rajter had used 2,236 kilowatt hours the previous month and received a bill for for $276. But the following month, their bill said the couple had used closer to 1,647,499 kilowatts. There’s almost no way the Rajter’s could use that much energy in one month even if they tried (unless perhaps Doc Brown of Back to the Future movie fame, has been hiding out in their garage!)

“The taxes (and fees alone) on the bill were $16,000,” Kathy Rajter told the Chicago Sun Times.

Electricity prices in the Chicago area are already an estimated 15 percent higher than the national average, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. And this is exactly why Oak Park had recently switched to the new third party provider, hoping to save some money for the suburb’s 51,000 residents.

And to add to the anxiety, the Rajter’s home is signed up for automatic bill payments. Thankfully, they contacted Integrys, who supplies the local electricity to their home, and ComEd, who handles the billing.

“I have automatic withdrawal, and I have overdraft protection,” Rajter tells the Sun-Times. “Imagine if I’d just set the bill aside — it would have wiped out my entire checking and savings.”

While neither company is exactly sure how the strange meter error took place, ComEd assured the Rajter’s that the six-figure total would not be deducted from their account. In fact, ComEd has reset their bill to zero while they investigate the issue.

“On (Friday), I’ll be on the phone making sure I still have money in the bank,” Rajter told the Sun-Times.

Unfortunately, this is reportedly not the first billing issue Integrys has faced since taking over energy supply duties in Oak Park. A report in the Oak Leaves publication warned that an unidentified group of individuals has been attempting to pull off a scam in the area where residents are tricked into signing up for more expensive energy services offered by a different company.

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Along with family jewels and fine art they will accept wines as collateral for loans to help ease cash shortages of businesses and people on all rungs of the economic ladder.

“You’d be amazed by how many wealthy individuals have terrible credit ratings,” said Jordan Tabach-Bank, head of Beverly Loan Co. in Beverly Hills, California.

“And besides, if you go to a bank, it can take weeks or months to get a loan. When we make a loan, it’s usually the same day,”

The pawnshop for the prosperous lends to hedge-fund managers, bankers, lawyers, doctors and even Oscar winners.

“Most people have a vision of pawn shops as sad sites. But that’s not the case here,” Tabach-Bank said. “I have a lot of people who come in who have a business opportunity and they need an infusion of cash for business purposes.”

USGoldBuyers.com, an online pawnbroker with an office in New York, will also accept fine wines, said spokesman Jose Caba, adding that the rich do not always have liquid assets to keep up with their expensive toys.

“That’s where we come in,” he said. “We don’t really want to sell the wine, or any asset that we take in whether it be gold or fine art.”

He estimates that about 90 percent of the loans made have been repaid.

But interest rates and length of the loans vary widely.

British-based pawnbroker, borro.com, recently lent $120,000 in exchange for 128 bottles of Chateau d’Yquem, which had an estimated worth of $250,000.

Within the last three weeks, borro.com had taken a case of 1989 Chateau Petrus, valued at about $38,000, for a loan of $24,000, said its Chief Executive Paul Aitken.

Loans were also secured on various vintages of the five First Growths Bordeaux: Chateau Haut-Brion, Chateau Lafite-Rothschild, Chateau Haut-Brion, Chateau Margaux and Chateau Mouton Rothschild — top wines regularly sold at auctions where cases fetch tens of thousands of dollars.

Aitken’s clientele, whose net worth ranges from $1 million to $10 million, are mostly small business owners with cash flow problems. Financial advisers and wealth managers recommend many of their clients to him.

Britain’s Prime Asset Loans, based in Durham, has a specific list of wines it will loan against including the First Growth Bordeaux, Burgundy’s Domaine de la Romanee-Conti and, depending on the vintage, Australia’s renowned Penfolds Grange.

“We lend up to 70 percent of the value of the wines and the term is usually seven months,” said Richard Mews, a partner at Prime Asset Loans. “Investors are using this type of loan more as it is quick, easy and there are no fees.”

Credit Municipal de Paris, which has been offering loans against fine wines, champagnes and aged spirits since 2008, can keep more than 90,000 bottles in its 18th century wine cellar.

“Just deposit your bottles against a loan that is immediately awarded,” said spokeswoman Florence Marambat, adding that Bordeaux were the wines most frequently offered as collateral.

(Reporting By Leslie Gevirtz; Additional reporting by Dominique Vidalon in Paris; Editing by Richard Chang and Patricia Reaney)

Article source: http://www.oddnews.org/77-odd-news/643-pawnshops-for-prosperous-accept-wine-as-collateral.html

Dangi says he’s only 22 inches (56 centimeters) tall – about the size of a toddler – and he’s hoping to claim the title. Guinness World Records said in an email Wednesday that its officials would arrive in Nepal’s capital Sunday to measure Dangi.

Dangi took his first trip outside his village and his first trip on a plane to reach Katmandu on Wednesday.

“I am very happy to be in Katmandu for the first time in my life. I am here so I can take the Guinness title,” Dangi told reporters at the airport.

Dangi, who has never been married, lives with his eldest brother and his family in Rhimkholi village, about 250 miles (400 kilometers) west of Katmandu. Because of his height, he has never worked outside the house, doing only household chores. His five brothers are of average size.

His family is not sure when he stopped growing, and Dangi said he has never been checked by a medical doctor. He attended a few classes in the village school, but soon dropped out.

Dangi eats mainly rice and vegetables, and occasionally meat, but in small portions.

Since the village is so remote, it was only recently that Dangi gained notice. A forest contractor cutting timber in the village met him and informed local media after Dangi’s height was measured.

Dangi’s nephew, Dolak Dangi, said that before the contractor’s visit, the family did not know his uncle’s exact height, and that he was shorter than the world’s shortest man.

Guinness currently recognizes Junrey Balawing of the Philippines, who is 23.5 inches (60 centimeters) tall.

Another Nepalese man, Khagendra Thapa Magar, was known as the world’s shortest man, at 26.4 inches (67 centimeters), before Balawing took over the title on his 18th birthday in June.

In December, Guinness recognized an Indian teenager as the world’s shortest woman. Jyoti Amge is 24.7 inches (62.8 centimeters) tall and wants to attend university and become a Bollywood star.

Aside from a Guinness certificate, the titles not come with any cash award.

Article source: http://www.oddnews.org/77-odd-news/636-nepalese-man-72-claims-to-be-world-s-shortest.html

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(Reuters)

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton stood out from the crowd during a G20 group photo in which she was the only participant not dressed in a white button-down shirt. Instead, Clinton arrived wearing one of her signature pantsuits, this one a shade of chartreuse green.

The photo-op was held at the G20 Ministers of Foreign Affairs informal gathering in Los Cabos, Mexico. Apparently, there was no white shirt requirement in place. The State Department told the Daily Mail that they were not made aware of any formal dress code before the photo op.

Clinton is no stranger to fashion controversy. Ever since she first appeared on the public stage alongside Bill Clinton, the former First Lady’s choices in everything from haircuts to pantsuits have been scrutinized by the media. A 1993 Chicago Tribune article written just after Bill Clinton’s first inauguration is entitled, “Hillary’s fashion crimes,” and contains the following missive:

“Last Wednesday, when she should have been savoring her husband’s inauguration, the new First Lady found herself under the withering gaze of the fashion police, who appraised her inaugural outfits and found them wanting.”

Other articles were less charitable still. The hat she wore during the swearing-in, said a New York Times story, resembled a blue UFO. Another story reported that some people thought “it made her look like a chipmunk.” The only redeeming feature anyone could find was the upswept hairdo she sported that evening.

And just this month, the National Enquirer openly speculated as to whether Clinton’s more recent outfit choices were inspired by a villain from the James Bond film series.

The former First Lady has been the brunt of some unseemly comments from Project Runway host Tim Gunn, who said, ‘Why must she dress that way? I think she’s confused about her gender. All these big, baggy menswear tailored pantsuits? I’m really serious.’ Gunn’s comments are especially shocking, considering his own recent confession that he once attempted to commit suicide over his own sexuality. Gunn’s comments were labeled “sexist” by the feminist blog Jezebel.

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