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Sunday, June 30, 2013

Renzon Piano's Micro-Home

About ten years ago architect Renzon Piano begin working on a idea many architectural students shared: a living space six and a half feet square containing the essentials, a bed, a chair and a table. After many prototypes he developed the final version, dubbed Diogene, named for the philosopher Diogenes.

The home is completely off-the-grid and independent of its environment with photovoltaic cells and solar modules, a rainwater tank, a biological toilet, natural ventilation and triple glazing. There is a pull-out sofa, a folding table under the window, a shower and toilet as well as a kitchen.

Looks like something you might see on Mars, right?



Saturday, June 29, 2013

Fun Time! Childrens Drawings Of Chairs Made Real!

Children draw the most wonderful things. They have no need to portray reality accurately, so anything can happen on the page.

Two Kingston University students, Jack Beveridge and Joshua Lake, held an art class for seven and eight years olds at a local school. They had the kids draw chairs. Then they picked two and had them made. Here are the results.


I especially like the goldfish tank on the yellow one. Click HERE to see all the drawings.

Friday, June 28, 2013

A Gravity Map Of The Moon

From the NASA website.....

"If the Moon were a perfectly smooth sphere of uniform density, the gravity map would be a single, featureless color, indicating that the force of gravity at a given elevation was the same everywhere. But like other rocky bodies in the solar system, including Earth, the Moon has both a bumpy surface and a lumpy interior. Spacecraft in orbit around the Moon experience slight variations in gravity caused by both of these irregularities. The free-air gravity map shows deviations from the mean, the gravity that a cueball Moon would have. The deviations are measured in milliGals, a unit of acceleration. On the map, dark purple is at the low end of the range, at around -400 mGals, and red is at the high end near +400 mGals. Yellow denotes the mean."

Just what you needed, right?

This is what gravity looks like on the far side of the Moon.





Thursday, June 27, 2013

Cardboard Bike Project Goes Live

I've written twice about Izhar Gafni and his cardboard bicycle (here and here). His project has now gone live on Indiegogo.


Wednesday, June 26, 2013

Travel Photo of the Week


Galicia, Spain

Monday, June 24, 2013

NSA Reading Your Mail? Use This Font!

How cool is this?
In this age of suspicion and distrust it's good to know that there are simple ways of stopping the security state from reading your mail.

Sang Mun, a recent graduate from the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), has created  ZXX—which he calls "a disruptive typeface". It is designed to be more difficult for snoops like the NSA to decrypt. It's free to download on his website.

Sunday, June 23, 2013

How Money Makes You Lie and Cheat

Here's some research we should all be aware of. According to Kristen Smith-Crowe, associate professor of management at the David Eccles School of Business at the University of Utah, "Our moral behavior may be affected by things in the environment that we have no idea are affecting us."

Her team conducted a group of experiments in which ethical behavior was tested just after participants read sentences about money. A control group participation did not include such exposure. It seems that "that small and unnoticeable reminders of money can produce lying, cheating, and essentially stealing 10 minutes later."

If you want to read more about this, here's a link to the rest of the article in Time's Health and Family blog.

Looks like money really does corrupt.

Saturday, June 22, 2013

Friday, June 21, 2013

Jaron Lanier On The Future

Jaron Lanier practically created virtual reality. In this video clip he talks with The News Hour's Paul Solman about technology, the future and his new book, "Who Owns The Future?"

Thursday, June 20, 2013

Would We Be Better Off Eating A Mostly Organic Diet?

The numbers.
From the Wall Street Journal comes this article debating the virtues of eating "organic" foods. When we have a choice, my family has stopped eating many non-organically produced foods, but the fact remains that there is little hard data to support switching to this diet.

This article lays out both sides of the argument well, but until I know that non-organic foods are safe, I think I'll continue eating organic.

It's only anecdotal, but I think that it tastes better, too.

Wednesday, June 19, 2013

Travel Photo of the Week


Angkor Wat, Cambodia

Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Astounding Origami

Nguyễn Hùng Cường folds paper into origami art. This isn't simple stuff like dollar bills folded into little dragons and such. His work is entirely amazing.

Monday, June 17, 2013

How Do You Get Kids To Like Science? Make Flammable Liquids!

Getting kids interested in science has always been difficult. Scinec is hard work and as we all know, most kids are allergic to anything they perceive as difficult. How do you change this?

Make things that are flammable! This lovely video from The News Hour on PBS tells the story.

Sunday, June 16, 2013

Beautiful Embroidered Insects

From textile artist Claire Moynihan. Click on her name to see the full collection.

Hornet and Common Wasp Balls



Saturday, June 15, 2013

Fun Time! Box!: Castles, Kitchens, Costumes, and Other Cardboard Creations!

Noel MacNeal is an amazingly creative guy: writer, director, puppeteer for Sesame Street. He also authors great books for having fun with your kids.

10 Minute Puppets was an enormous hit with moms and teachers and now Box!: Castles, Kitchens, Costumes, and Other Cardboard Creations adds to the fun by offering projects that can be completed using that most ubiquitous of materials, cardboard.

I have long known the wonders of this marvelous material. Buy this book and have some fun yourself.

Friday, June 14, 2013

How Technology Destroys Jobs

Erik Brynjolfsson, a professor at the MIT Sloan School of Management, and his collaborator Andrew McAfee believe that rapid technological change has been destroying jobs faster than it is creating them, contributing to the stagnation of median income and the growth of inequality in the United States. They also suspect that this is happening in other technologically advanced countries.

From the MIT Technology Review article, "the most damning piece of evidence, according to Brynjolfsson, is a chart that only an economist could love. In economics, productivity—the amount of economic value created for a given unit of input, such as an hour of labor—is a crucial indicator of growth and wealth creation. It is a measure of progress. On the chart Brynjolfsson likes to show, separate lines represent productivity and total employment in the United States. For years after World War II, the two lines closely tracked each other, with increases in jobs corresponding to increases in productivity. The pattern is clear: as businesses generated more value from their workers, the country as a whole became richer, which fueled more economic activity and created even more jobs. Then, beginning in 2000, the lines diverge; productivity continues to rise robustly, but employment suddenly wilts. By 2011, a significant gap appears between the two lines, showing economic growth with no parallel increase in job creation. Brynjolfsson and McAfee call it the “great decoupling.” And Brynjolfsson says he is confident that technology is behind both the healthy growth in productivity and the weak growth in jobs."

Here's a link to the full article.

Thursday, June 13, 2013

Trees Make You Healthier

This sure is a no-brainer to me, but it looks like living in places with fewer trees can shorten your lifespan.

PBS ran this story on research done by the NIH. It seems that the destruction of trees by the emerald ash borer, an invasive forest pest, has increased mortality from cardiovascular and lower-respiratory diseases. In the 15 states whose trees are infected with the bug, an additional 21,000 people died from cardiovascular and lower respiratory disease compared with uninfected areas of the country.

Perhaps we should start thinking of trees not just as scenery or lumber. Maybe we should start thinking about them as medicine and maybe treehugging makes sense after all.

Wednesday, June 12, 2013

Travel Photo of the Week


Paris, France

Tuesday, June 11, 2013

India Developing Robot Soldiers For Warfare

Yeah, they even have their own camo.
Here's an idea nobody's had yet...robot soldiers. Oh, wait a minute... everybody's had that idea and it's only a good idea in the movies.

But that's not stopping India. Both The Times of India and India Today are reporting that the Indian military is developing robotic soldiers to replace humans on the battlefield.

As the article in the Times notes, "These can then be deployed in difficult warfare zones, like the Line of Control (LoC), a step that would help avert the loss of human lives."

This is just another wasteful, short sighted idea coming from small minds. What, are they going to fight other robots? And then what are they going to do after they've destroyed each other? Go home and start families? How about we just take the metal they're going to be made of and beat it into plowshares instead?

Monday, June 10, 2013

Risk-Averse Culture Infects U.S. Workers, Entrepreneurs

That's the headline from today's Wall Street Journal article that shows that Americans are losing their taste for being ...well... Americans.

It seems that for every metric and for every involved group, our nation's verve and desire to take on new risk are waning. Fewer americans are job hopping, companies are sitting on huge piles of cash and the proportion of new businesses are falling.

The video below tells the story.

Sunday, June 9, 2013

180 Square Foot Loft

From The Tiny Life comes this beautiful photo spread on another tiny NYC apartment, this one only 180 square feet. I especially like the meditation nook.




Saturday, June 8, 2013

Fun Time! The Prop Space Gun Project!

Do you go to Sci Fi conventions? Cosplay? Costume? Prop maker Bill Doran, who quit his full time corporate job to build props for a living, has a Kickstarter campaign that offers a kit to build yourself a one-of-a-kind prop gun for that epic Sci Fi film your planning, You can also use the faux weapon to impress your friends (and gullible enemies).

Friday, June 7, 2013

How To Move To A New City

Moving to a new city can be daunting. It's often difficult to figure how to get things done (apartment, utilities, licenses) unless you're already there. Many people just save up the money and move in blind. I've done this twice (before the advent of personal computers) and while fun and edgy, it is difficult and you miss things.

Here's an excellent article from Lifehacker that gives you info and websites to do your research before the big move. House prices, crime statistics, local culture, information on all these issues and more are covered.

Here are a few excerpts......

"If you have children or are planning to start a family, you'll naturally want to find the neighborhoods with the best schools—or at least with schools that are well regarded but are still affordable to live in. A good first stop is GreatSchools, a site that helps you find good schools in a specific area, or will guide you to schools within a certain vicinity."

"Ask yourself what the city is known for, cuisine-wise, and check Foursquare, Yelp, and Google Local for reviews and recommendations. Then think about your favorite foods, and check out where you can get them near your future home. If you're a big fan of Japanese food, make sure you can find a decent restaurant somewhere nearby. If you find a half dozen and a couple of ramen shops to boot, you're in great shape. Repeat the process with your other interests, whether it's live music, nightlife, museums, even local festivals and block parties."

Thursday, June 6, 2013

Reflecta DigiMicroscope Professional

Do you need to look at really small things? I've seen a bunch of digital microscopes that are very expensive, but this one from Reflecta is quite affordable. For about $320US you can view objects at a magnification up to 200x (optical) and 500x (digital).

It has a built in screen (as you can see in the picture) and USB 2.0, a micro SD-Cardslot, and video-out.

Wednesday, June 5, 2013

Travel Photo of the Week


Key West, Florida

Tuesday, June 4, 2013

New Physics Complications Support Multiverse Idea

Ah, the nature of the reality we live in has just gotten more interesting. Because of extensive experiments at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, scientist are contemplating the notion that we are not alone. In fact, if the data is correct, we exist in a infinite multiverse with every possible configuration of reality happening somewhere (or when).

It's that pesky Higgs Boson that did this to us. It seems that the Higgs we expected is not the Higgs we got. Rather, the lot of buddy particles we thought would be shed from a Higgs decay did not show up for the party.

If you want to know more, here are links to the Scientific American article I got this from and an article on the Simons Foundation website where they got it from.

Monday, June 3, 2013

Cardboard Bicycle Going Into Production

Last year I featured Israeli inventor Izhar Gafni and his prototype cardboard bike. Almost all of the bike was made from cardboard and at the time it was estimated that it would retail for about $60. It looks like the bike is about to go into production. There is an invitation only Kickstarter campaign and I've signed up.

A cardboard bike helmet is in the works, too.

Sunday, June 2, 2013

Want To Know Why Our Schools Don't Work?

I've featured TED talks with Sir Ken Robinson before and I probably will again. This is five and a half minute chat with TIME Editor-At-Large Belinda Luscombe that touches on all the central points of a good education that American schools get wrong.

Saturday, June 1, 2013

Fun Time! Every Guitar Pedal You Ever Wanted In One!

Although in one of my professional lives I am a musician, I don't post all that much about my specialty. Well, here is something so cool, that I know most electric guitarists will want one.

The OWL Programmable Effects Pedal can become ANY effects pedal you could want, need or imagine. This open source, open hardware, reprogrammable stompbox could permanently change to way pedal effects are purchased and used. You just have to write or download the code.

This Kickstarter program has 30 days to go and is 100% funded, so it will get made. I think I'm going to get one. Never mind...I just did.