Kites flown for peace
Turkish Daily News - April 28
The 20th Kite Festival in the Didim district of Aydin gave children memories they will never forget. Some 300 children with colorful kites took part in the festival celebrating April 23 National Sovereignty and Children Day. The children gathered together at the City Stadium. Various races were organized during the festival while clowns put on a show. The festival this year was made more meaningful by the foreign children that also joined in.
Didim Mayor Mumin Kamaci stated, “We were happy to see our foreign friends among us. Flying means freedom. For a friendlier world, let's fly our kites all together.” Contests were held with prizes for the highest-flying kite, youngest kite flyer, largest kite, smallest kite, and most original kite. Daniel Birch (9) from England won for the most original with his Turkish-English flag kite, while ConorFord (11) won for smallest kite. |
A Vietnamese kite artisan is set to showcase his work at an international kite festival in Italy this June.
Nguyen Dang Hoang, from Thua Thien Hue province, will fly 60 traditional kites of assorted types in the Italian sky on June 27. Hoang’s reputation has even reached the US, as several Harvard University students have heard about his kites and have placed a large order. Hoang became obsessed by kites when he was a fifth grader. Since then, he has dedicated himself to the craft of making and flying kites. It took him four years to acquire all the necessary skills to build good kites.
He went into the Vietnamese record book at the Hue Festival in 2000 by rolling out a kite measuring 140m long. Hoang told Thanh Nien he is planning to set a new record with a 403-meter kite, equal to the length of the famous Truong Tien Bridge in his hometown, at the forthcoming Hue Festival 2008.
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Zeppelin NT07 optioned by Airship Ventures Los Angeles, USA
(WAPA) - Zeppelin Luftschifftechnik (ZLT) and Airship Ventures announced that Zeppelin NT07, currently under construction in Friedrichshafen, has been optioned by California-based Airship Ventures. It is projected to arrive in the US in the second quarter of next year. The Zeppelin NT07 airship, carrying up to 12 passengers, will be the largest airship flying in the US (246 feet in length), uses the inert gas helium for lift and a vectored thrust engines for flight.
The NT07 airships have been commercially operated since 2001 carrying more than 65,000 passengers and have flown for over 10,000 flight hours to date. It has also performed numerous special missions such as traffic control during the 2006 FIFA Soccer World Championship and diamond exploration on behalf of DeBeers in Southern Africa |
Anou fil nou cerf-volant
Lexpress - Mauritius - 2007 june
Framework of the Community project “Anou fil nou cerf-volant”, the Young International Room of Port-Louis (JCI) with the sponsorship of the Chinese Arts center, organize Kite Contest (on June 16) at the Stade Anjalay in Belle-Vue.
They are adult but kept a heart of child. They enormously test pleasure to see to fly away a kite and to see it going up always higher. But, it is not given to everyone to master this technique. For this reason, from the 6 to June 11, several training sessions to the make kite were organized in various colleges and social institutions of the island. This formation was lavished by three Chinese experts of Weifang.
Weifang is the place where the first kites were designed. “The origin of the kite would go up with 4th before J-C. The kite was at the beginning a mean of communication. Our ancestors even used it in period of war to transmit messages”, tells Ah Kwet Li Kwong Ken, one of the Chinese trainers.
The manufacture of the kite is in the part of the school course of the schools of Weifang. Throughout all formation, the pupils had the advisability of learning and of working together and developing their artistic talent.
Those which will be present at Belle Vue today will be able to meet the Chinese and made trainers kites and to take share in Kite Contest then. The participants will use stems of bamboos and paper to make their kites. The trainers will also make steal two 50 m long kites, unique spectacle in the sky of Mauritius. |
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It’s a world first : wind organ of Sancy.
Framework of the meetings “Arts Nature”, which proceed in July and August 2007, the insane project to install a wind organ with more than 1500 m was adopted. It is composed of 3 wind flutes, 3 wind harps, 2 sound arcs and 2 gomgoms. This wind organ is interactive, the walkers can handle independently each mast instrument for new musical compositions. Discover the location of the Massif du Sancy, the making of the instruments and the installation of the organ. : orgue du Sancy |
Kabul kites fly away to Hollywood
CNN - Afghanistan
Kite-flying is a popular recreational activity around the world. But in Afghanistan, it's much more than that. Once banned by the Taliban—kite flying is back in Kabul. And Afghanistan's top kite man is now helping a big-budget Hollywood project. Kite flying is not just a calm afternoon pastime here, but a centuries-old competitive sport and a passion. The Talibanis repressed it, but now kite is beginning to flourish anew in Afghanistan. Based on American best seller The Kite Runner a Hollywood flick is coming out soon that shows how central is kite flying to life in Kabul.
Mohammed, a 4th generation kite-maker works in his mud-built house in Kabul. Last year he won a national award for kite making, but says he's even better at kite fighting. Mohammed has been asked to train actors for the big-budget paramount pictures movie. “They came here and asked me how I make the kite. They found out that I am the best in the kite flying market,” said kite maker Mohammed Essam. Mohammad the articulate artists marks his kites with a scorpion sign to prevent imitations. He gets $200 for the best kites—that's a lot of money here, three times the average monthly government salary. And he gets onetime orders of as many as 500 kites at a time.
On the war scared hill side, the pages of Kite Runner are played out. Young boys chase the loser's fallen kites—and keep them as trophies. But for Mohammed there is always one nagging worry. “Some times I ask my mother whether I have become more famous than my dad used to be. And my mother says I’m one step ahead of my father,” he says. If the movie is half as popular as the book he can stop worrying about who is the best….until his children grow up. |
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to follow the adventure of WINDREAMONE
News of Stephan Rousson and tests of the “chein de mer” in video, and First flight tests :
windreamone |
| Paper Wings: The World of Kites June 11 – August 19, 2007 - Cedar Falls, IA |
This summer the UNI Museums will use kites to entertain the masses. The museum opened its latest exhibit, "Paper Wings: The World of Kites,"
The three-part exhibit comes from the Drachen Foundation, Seattle-based nonprofit devoted to the increase and diffusion about kites worldwide.
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"Kites of Kyushu" examines kite making on the Japanese island of Kyushu. "It's really kind of stunning," said Romney Hall, public affairs coordinator for the museum.. "This part of the exhibit shows kite making and history from the island. The common thread among kite makers is they like to promote that the artistry is the same, but there are many different techniques."
Mini kites focuses on the smallest kites. They often represent something symbolic. In some country these kites are flown for good luck and released to get rid of bad luck or a bad omen, Hall said. "We were intrigued by the Drachen Foundation," Hall said of the museum's decision to choose this exhibit. "There are so many kite enthusiasts around the world and so many ceremonies tied to kiting." |
Dirisoft Project - France - 2007, july
Some drops of rain fall suddenly from the sky whereas no cloud veils the sun? There is perhaps an airship above your head.
Balloon of 160 m3, a fifteen meters length on four of diameter, propelled by a fuel cell, i.e. containing hydrogen, which with the property to produce water during a chemical reaction with oxygen. Takeoff in a few days, if the weather is favourable. If not, it will be for September. It will be about the second experiment of the kind in the history of ballooning.
Dirisoft studies and assembles airships being able to support increasingly heavy loads. From stage in stage, the leader of Dirisoft initially will develop four-engine planes of 500 m3, twenty meters length on five meters thickness, whose “innovating” flat form was imagined by Herve Kuhlmann.
It should be assembled in July. They especially hope to make take off within five years a balloon which can transport a load of thirty tons and autonomous on the energy level thanks to its solar panels.
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