Dieppe - September 6th to the 14th, 2008
Theme: « On air to a kite string »
Guest of Honour : Latin America

This year, 300 people represente the 38 delegations

Those taking part :
First important appointment: briefing Saturday 6 at 9h30. The team of the festival will be introduced. A daily briefing is envisaged every day per same hour. Inscription can be done near the reception of the festival with presentation of the certificate of insurance. No parking pass will be delivered after the beginning of the festival New: a convivial space, place of meeting all participants. The hut of the department (wooden chalet) : possibility to have a Web connection (during festival) Evening party : inscription until Tuesday 9 included

For the public: A free parkin for the motor homes and possibility to park all the week.
2 carparks has each end of the ground free and also possibility to park free at Boulevard de Verdun.

The first Wind Corridor was born in 1998 in Dieppe. So, 10 years later, Dieppe launches the first Creative Contest of Wind Gardens
“ Aeolian Concerto ”

From the 11 to September 14, an interactive multi-media installation: Blow~, created for the occasion of the 15th international festival of the kites of Dieppe. The installation is composed of synthesized images projected on large screen and electonic music diffused in quadraphony. This video installation is about images of the sky coming from the collecting of webcams on the ground or embarked on kites.
Blow~ is entirely conceived via data-processing programmings developed by the artistic team of
« La Grande Fabrique » : Thomas Hake, Mathieu Constans, Guillaume Évrard, Francis Faber.

More info : Dieppe Kites

Airship come back into favour
France

         

As the cost of fuel soars and the pressure mounts to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, several schemes for a new generation of airship are being considered by governments and private companies.
Airships have slowly drifted back into favour over the past two decades. The giant, bulbous aircraft, which stay aloft by carrying lighter-than-air gasses, were considered to be leading-edge aviation technology a century ago.

French political leaders are among those who believe the ships can do more than ferry tourists. For two years, Jean Marc Brule, a Green Party leader and mayor of Cesson, near Paris, has shepherded through budget amendments to finance dirigible research. “With global warming and the oil crisis,” he said, “it's good sense to realize this dream.”

“The planes of 2020th will be the same ones as currently. There are only few technological developments. We reach an impasse. All the ways are possible, including for the airships”, analyzes Gerard Feldzer, director of the museum of the Air and the Space (Le Bourget - France).

Lastly, even limited to a little market, the new boom of the airship will generate employment. “Nearly 20.000 employment for Ile-de-France ”, Jean-Marc Brûlé hopes.
A French technology start-up is working with the French post office to study the feasibility of transporting parcels to Corsican by dirigible and company as Sanofi (massive transport of drugs) who would be interested for the delivery the drugs

 

Kites changing lives in Bali
News Herald – August 7

On the beautiful Indonesian island of Bali lies the small village of Ubud where all but the strong men are forgotten. The women are not considered important enough to educate, the orphans must often fend for themselves.

        

Yet in the midst of this village lives a man who has dedicated his life to a higher vision for the people of Ubud. He has found a way to educate the females and give some self-sufficiency to those who would otherwise be unable to help themselves. And his help all centers on the building of a kite. I Ma-de Budiasa, or simply Ma-de as he is known, manufactures and sells kites that have been handcrafted by those he helps.
He has created a school for girls at his home, and to help keep the school running, the girls paint the kites after their studies.
Orphans and the handicapped are also given the chance to support themselves by doing the same work at one of his shops elsewhere in the village. "Your legs don't work, but you can sit up here at the table and paint."
So Ma-de is helping about 500 people.
The kites are handmade, and all but the paint and nylon are recycled. The houses over there are made of bamboo. They use the leftover bamboo to make the frames. And they search for flip-flops on the beach and recycle the rubber." The kites are made by a simple process. Some of them paint the body; some of them paint the wings. But while the work itself may be unextraordinary, the end result is not. What these children and adults are creating are beautiful works of art.

Seventy-five percent of these kites don't get flown, but just for art. But that doesn't mean they can't be flown. They are not only lovely, but functional as well. The peacock is easiest to fly and the most popular because of the colors”.

Organ of the Fairies

 

After its installation last year in Sancy, the wind organ from now on joined its new residence. It was installed with the Parpaillon pass, in the South Alps. You can discover this interactive musical sculpture at the end of a splendid excursion to 2600 m, to play with the wind your partition sound at the top of a pass which joins together two valleys.

See more about : L'orgue des Fées

 

Canada's first kite museum opened on Pelee Island on June 28th, 2008.
Pelee Island, Ontario, Canada, is an island in the western half of Lake Erie.

     

It is a small island of 267 permanent residents, which increases to 1,100 in summer. To visit Pelle Island, a car will be unnecessary as a bicycle is all that is needed.

George Paisiovich owned a kite shop in the 1970's and organized kite festivals in south Kent. So it was a logical extension to think about introducing kites to an island with such great wind and flat land surface. Logical it was until the idea emerged of a small kite museum.
So the museum open on June 28th, 2008, along with a 10 acre dedicated kite field directly behind it.
The mission of the museum is:
* Preserve kites and related knowledge
* Help teach the making of kite and related items * To preserve North American paper kites
* To use kites to bridge cultural understanding, environmental awareness and family

Discorver this museum, with over 4,300 kites and related items, and visit Pelee Island (to enjoy nature, to walk on beaches, to swim, to explore the Island and to visit winery)

http://www.thekitemuseum.com             
 

Kite festival preps to take off in October
Hanoi - Vietnam

          

The Hanoi Open Kite Festival taking place this October will just be a taste of what’s to come, as the International Kite Festival in 2010 hopes to draw 30 countries to the capital city’s skyline.
This festival will be a good experiment for the International Kite Festival, according to organiser Ngo Hong Tien.
Festivities will take place in three of Hanoi ’s localities: : My Dinh Square , Hong (Red) River’s floating land and Hoan Kiem Lake
“We will also hold a day of kite fighting in the square. This is a traditional game in the Indian subcontinent and west Asia . I think the event is going to draw lots of people,” said Tien. Traditional kites from Thailand , Malaysia , India , China. For the finale, organisers hope to create a record by flying a dragon kite at a height of 1,000m, said Tien.
For this year’s event, Hanoi is hoping to attract up to 300 kites and their flyers from kite clubs in the neighbouring provinces.

 

Kite lovers
August 07 – hindustantimes

Lovers there are using kites instead to exchange love messages. The evening sky in Old Delhi is at present speckled with kites of all sizes and colours. Climb any rooftop just before dusk and see the guys flying kites and the girls lapping up the messages on them.

                
Khalid Anjum, a 21-year-old resident of Ahata Kaley Sahab has lost his heart to Farida who lives some streets away. Every day around seven in the evening, Khalid goes to his rooftop and takes out his patang paraphernalia — charkhi (spindle), dor (plain string) and manjha (sharpened string) spun around it. But Khalid’s eyes are not really on his patang. As soon as Farida appears, he brings the kite down to her terrace and prays that she finally gets his message.
Using kites to deliver love messages is as old as Old Delhi. The girls also find excuses to “get some fresh air” on their rooftops in the evenings. These Juliets accept the messages as their respective Romeos manoeuvre the kites close to their roofs. But this game can have its dangers.
When she’s with a family member, a sane guy concentrates on the patang alone. If the girl’s father catches the boy’s kite, and sees what is written on it, there could follow a series of reprimands. This might either put an end to the budding romance or make the lover still more determined in his quest. After all, there will be another evening, another kite and a new message. .
 

Air Liquide has just acquired Pure Helium Regulatory News - juillet 2008

In this context of strong demand, Air Liquide has just acquired Pure Helium, a leading international supplier of liquid and gaseous helium, helium based mixtures, and argon.
Helium is used in a large number of applications including MRI, medical and surgical treatments, electronics, off-shore oil activities, deep-sea diving, welding… and airship !