Chris Petts

VFX Artist and CG Supervisor

[Chris Petts @ChrisPettsVFX]

Ach - didn't mean for that to get cropped into widescreen!

Full version (hopefully...):

[Reforest Britain @ReforestB]

By allowing forests to grow old and restoring degraded forests, scientists say 226 gigatonnes of carbon could be sequestered, equivalent to nearly 50 years of 2022 US emissions

About 61% of this potential could be realised by protecting standing forests
https://t.co/d817OgCmEX

[The Cultural Tutor @culturaltutor]

The Temple of the Golden Pavilion in Kyoto, Japan, was originally built 600 years ago. But it has been burned down and rebuilt twice.

So how old is it? And is it still the same building?

Here's what Douglas Adams, author of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, said about it:

'I remembered once, in Japan, having been to see the Gold Pavilion Temple in Kyoto and being mildly surprised at quite how well it had weathered the passage of time since it was first built in the fourteenth century. I was told it hadn’t weathered well at all, and had in fact been burnt to the ground twice in this century. “So it isn’t the original building?” I had asked my Japanese guide.

“But yes, of course it is,” he insisted, rather surprised at my question.

“But it’s burnt down?”

“Yes.”

“Twice.”

“Many times.”

“And rebuilt.”

“Of course. It is an important and historic building.”

“With completely new materials.”

“But of course. It was burnt down.”

“So how can it be the same building?”

“It is always the same building.”

I had to admit to myself that this was in fact a perfectly rational point of view, it merely started from an unexpected premise. The idea of the building, the intention of it, its design, are all immutable and are the essence of the building. The intention of the original builders is what survives. The wood of which the design is constructed decays and is replaced when necessary. To be overly concerned with the original materials, which are merely sentimental souvenirs of the past, is to fail to see the living building itself.'

So that was Douglas Adams' view — that whether a building is "original" really has nothing to do with the actual age of its materials and when they were put together, but is defined by the form they take and when it was decided to arrange them in that way, regardless of how recently they have been made and installed.

So even if we reconstruct an old building with new materials — as happened at the Temple of the Golden Pavilion after it was burned down in the 1950s — it is still an authentically old building.

It is surprising to learn how many "old" buildings have, indeed, been rebuilt in this way. Some examples include the Frauenkirche in Dresden, St Mark's Campanile in Venice, the old towns of Warsaw and Frankfurt, the Yellow Crane Tower in Wuhan, and even the Great Ziggurat of Ur in Iraq.

This is essentially an architectural version of the Ancient Greek conundrum of the Ship of Theseus. Imagine an old ship in a harbour. If all its separate parts were replaced, one by one, over the course of one hundred years, would it still be the same ship? If not, when did it become a different ship? And, in either case, how old would the ship be after one hundred years had passed?

We generally think that an old building, once destroyed, is surely lost forever — and that to rebuild it would be somehow inauthentic or artificial. Perhaps this isn't the case. Perhaps we can rebuild, brick for beam and gable for window, any old and important structure which has been lost to war and catastrophe without losing its age or authenticity.

So, was the Temple of the Golden Pavilion built in 1397 or 1955... or both?

[Dr Andrew Meyerson @AndrewMeyerson]

Dear 🇬🇧,

Here’s why we must all support the #ConsultantStrike. Please stand with all NHS staff trying to fix the system and not the corrupt govt hell bent on destroying it.

#SOSNHS

[Parody Nigel Farage @Parody_PM]

The usual suspects are using the Lucy Letby case as a reason to suggest bringing back the death penalty. It’s as though they have never seen Ian Hislop destroying Priti Patel’s argument in favour of it.

[NHS Million @NHSMillion]

Can someone tell the Conservatives and their mates please?

[Protect the Wild @ProtectTheWild_]

These images really make you realise just how screwed up the human race is.

We're literally burning and destroying the landscape so conditions are optimal for red grouse so people can then blast them out of the sky for fun.

[Rewild Scotland 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🌳 @RewildScotland]

Here are some trees!

We have less than 4% native woodland land cover in Scotland. Here at Carrifran Wildwood is a great example of what Scottish glens and uplands could look like. A rich mixture of woodland, meadow, montane scrub, bog, moorland… We don’t need to give every inch of our uplands over to sheep, grouse and deer stalking. If we are serious about reversing biodiversity loss we need to have more of this. It is a choice! More info @BordersForest @ScotlandTBP

[Protect the Wild @ProtectTheWild_]

It's baffling – sacrificing our landscapes, tarnishing the environment, all to optimise conditions for red grouse so people can blast them out of the sky for fun.

This isn't the world we want to live in. RT and follow @ProtectTheWild_ if you agree!

[BBC London @BBCLondonNews]

The Museum of London is making a public appeal for eye-catching signs from London venues past and present for a forthcoming exhibition.

https://t.co/JQJW1e0LNF

[David Ho @_david_ho_]

Back in 1985, Carl Sagan told Congress that continuing to burn fossil fuels will increase global temperature, cause climate change, melt glaciers and ice sheets, and cause sea level rise.

His solution: Fewer government subsidies for fossil fuels and use of renewable energy.

[Rewild Scotland 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🌳 @RewildScotland]

A scorched earth 🔥policy for driven grouse shooting! AND killing stoats, weasels, raptors, crows, hedgehogs, badgers, foxes, pine marten, hares... so a few can shoot grouse for fun during a climate & biodiversity emergency is MADNESS! Nothing #glorious here.

[Reforest Britain @ReforestB]

Community in Knutsford, Cheshire launches crowdfunder to buy and save 36 acre Windmill Wood (aka Toft Wood), which is up for auction on August 23rd with a guide price of £232,000.

So far £9015 has been raised. To donate:
https://t.co/MT00oEgcJm

https://t.co/iGNssvvSR5

[Protect the Wild @ProtectTheWild_]

RT if you agree!

And drop us a follow to help end the bird shooting industry for good! @ProtectTheWild_

[Jenny Jones @GreenJennyJones]

This is gobbledegook because our oil and gas goes onto the international market, plus carbon capture is as yet unproven technology (unlike Nature's own effective carbon sinks, trees and the ocean).
Such tweets make him look:
1 a liar
2 stupid
Who on earth are these ads aimed at?

[Jim Moon @Hypnogoria]

Do you remember the old Horror Top Trumps?
Well, I've just completed my special mini site dedicated to these gory horrors of yesteryear, with pages detailing the origin and inspirations for every single card!

https://t.co/2kMQxS8RLK

[Edwin Hayward @edwinhayward]

Can you imagine this level of investigative honesty from the BBC? That seems fated to remain an unattainable dream.

Great job by the C4 team.

[Carol Vorderman @carolvorders]

Well well well.....Rishi Sunak, Infosys & his family's business partnerships with oil and gas giants
Facts from @BylineTimes and @AdamBienkov ⏬️
North Sea

[TheDungeonDelver @A_DungeonDelver]

The final word on Deities & Demigods, courtesy of Jim Ward:

#dnd #adnd #ttrpgs #dungeonsanddragons #jimward #tabletopgaming #ttrpgfamily

[Julian Woodford @HistoryLondon]

At the Bishopsgate Bath House with @thegentleauthor - another City of London treasure under threat from developers.
https://t.co/WMlEu9CIG0