Five things you need to know today
Flowave – Petition for Free Wifi – Film in the City – Recycling tips – Edinburgh Trams
The University of Edinburgh has a new wave tank, creating waves much bigger and more varied than those at Portobello Pool. The idea behind the tank is not to create waves for swimmers but to provide a research facility for the marine energy sector. The Flo-Wave Ocean Energy Research Facility can produce waves 28 metres high.
Edinburgh is lucky to have two marine energy companies trying hard to produce energy from waves, with their prototype machines in the sea at EMEC in Orkney.
[vimeo 97484411 w=500 h=281]
New wave tank opens at Edinburgh University in Scotland from Press TV on Vimeo.
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We are a little surprised that the petition lodged with The Scottish Parliament to encourage introduction of free wifi in public buildings in Scotland has received so little support. The petition in the name of James Macfarlane has attracted only 15 signatures. The Edinburgh Reporter has written about this petition before and checked back to see how it was going since it was presented on 27 May. What do you think? Is it necessary to have free wifi in all public buildings? There is some background information here.
Network Rail has already said that it will be introducing free wifi into 25 stations across Scotland, the trams and some of our Lothian Buses have wifi. Some cafes have wifi, and occasionally (and unexpectedly) some shops like Tesco and John Lewis have free wifi too. Is it universally required?
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Today the Grassmarket is the place to be if you want to get involved in Film in the City.
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There are tips on recycling here on the Edinburgh Council website. The council is determined that everyone is encouraged to recycle as this will eventually save them money on sending rubbish to landfill. Do you recycle? Do you find it hard work?
In the city centre, seagulls still reign supreme as recyclers of other people’s rubbish as our photo from the top of Dublin street one evening last week shows. It is possible to get any seagull nests removed from roofs across the city however. Have you done that? Is it successful?
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In their first week of operation the trams have reportedly carried over 130,000 passengers. Certainly every time we have seen a tram along the route it appears that they have been well used, although not as full as the first tram last Saturday morning!
The incident on Wednesday involving a 14 year-old girl has caused concern however and Edinburgh Trams issued this warning to pedestrians and other road users:-
“Pedestrians are being asked to take extra care around trams as the City gets used to the presence of the new vehicles on the road.
An incident on Princes Street on Wednesday resulted in a girl being knocked down by a tram. The driver applied emergency brakes and the girl walked away with no serious injuries.
Edinburgh Trams Director and General Manager Tom Norris said:
Trams are big and quiet but they’re also new so everyone needs to get used to them. If wearing headphones, on your mobile, chatting to friends or wearing a hoodie, it’s hugely important to take extra care when crossing the road.
Our drivers are thoroughly trained to safely interact with other road users and it’s rare that they have to apply the emergency brake. I’m pleased that our driver reacted very well and his quick thinking prevented what could have been a much worse incident.
Please continue to take care.”
We produced this film a while ago to show the tram out on the track near the airport where the vehicles go much faster than they do in the city centre!
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2QFy7cJzzos&w=560&h=315]