Author: Brent Lambert

Researchers with New Zealand’s National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA) just concluded that Blue Nelson Lake is the clearest body of water known to man (see map below). Believe it or not, visibility in the lake is up to 260-feet. That’s enough to qualify as “optically clear” — clearer than glass, in fact. But should the clarity of lakes and seas be measured by the same metrics? It seems unfair to compare, considering seas are bombarded by so much more particles, pollution, and organisms. If seas were measured for clarity in their own independent category I would bet good…

Thanks to technology it’s now possible to beat the heat on your next camping trip of beach adventure with the new Zero Breeze portable battery-powered air conditioner. The unit also features a bluetooth speaker, night light, and smartphone charging station. You can get a glimpse of the product below, and by visiting their website at Zero-Breeze.com. And if you really want to up the engineering on your next wilderness outing, you can get yourself an impressive underwater power turbine fueled by a strong river current.

MAD Architects are the creative geniuses behind the new Harbin Opera House. Archello writes, “Embedded within Harbin’s wetlands, the Harbin Opera House was designed in response to the force and spirit of the northern city’s untamed wilderness and frigid climate. Appearing as if sculpted by wind and water, the building seamlessly blends in with nature and the topography—a transfusion of local identity, art, and culture. ‘We envision Harbin Opera House as a cultural center of the future — a tremendous performance venue, as well as a dramatic public space that embodies the integration of human, art and the city identity,…

The difference between a goal and a dream is this: goals are dreams with deadlines. But what happens when that deadline gets cut short by the unexpected? For hiker Paul Evans, the goal of hiking the entire length of the Appalachian Trail was interrupted by his untimely death at the young age of 53. As a way of honoring her husband’s life-long wish to hike the trail, Paul’s wife M’Lynn contacted the team at The Dirtbag Diaries podcast to see if they could unite the outdoor community to make Pauls’ Appalachian dream a reality. The folks at the podcast teamed up with…

Article 13 of the United Nations’ 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights states the following: “Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each state. Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country.” Hold this idea in your head for a brief moment and you will soon realize why Donald Trump’s isolationist policy of sealed borders is in violation of this universal agreement. But even more importantly, Trump’s immigration policy and rhetoric of blocking specific ethnic and religious groups from entering the United States is…

35 of the world’s most celebrated architects and intellectuals of the field are revealing why they obsess over Venice in historian Richard Goy’s new book Dream of Venice Architecture. Renowned Japanese architect Tadao Ando, for example, shares his reasons why working on the Palazzo Grassi and Punta della Dogana forever altered his attitude towards architecture. “Though the Japanese culture has developed the habit of repeating ‘scrap and build’ philosophies based upon economic rationality, I believe that architecture should be essentially rooted in society and be immersed in a lapse of time,” reveals Ando. “This is exactly what I learned in…

Jacob T. Swinney is a video essayist whose incredible new work entitled 100 Years / 100 Shots explores a century of cinema’s greatest masterpieces. “A journey through the past 100 years of cinema — the most memorable shot from each year (in my opinion),” writes Swinney. “While many of these shots are the most recognizable in film history, others are equally iconic in their own right. For example, some shots pioneered a style or defined a genre, while others tested the boundaries of censorship and filmgoer expectations. If anything, I want this video to be a reminder as to why…