“3D printers have already become a go-to tool for ambitious do-it-yourselfers. Now they’re breaking down barriers for DIY scientists, who are part of an online community designing, sharing, and improving the high powered-machines once only found in research labs.”
via 3D Printing Brings the Science Lab to Your Backyard – Popular Mechanics.
“The debate about land in the hands of foreigners in happening all over the world, in all of the key agricultural frontier countries,” said Mark Horn, an independent agribusiness consultant based in Brasilia. “Laws restricting land purchases by foreigners have been recently passed in Argentina and Uruguay, the discussions are happening in Australia and Ukraine. We went through the same thing in the US as well.”
via US farmers scramble to buy Brazil’s farmland – Features – Al Jazeera English.
8 for 2050
What are some of the breakthroughs in technology that we might see, over the longer term, that might address some of our pressing issues in energy demand.
” eL Seed, a 31-year-old French Tunisian artist, has just used his distinctive style of Arabic street art, which he calls “calligraffiti,” to decorate the tallest minaret in Tunisia with a verse from the Quran that tackles intolerance.”Street art is not new to Tunisia, but it was much more small scale before the revolution,” he said. “I would do a wall in a community and people in the neighborhood would come along and help me.
“In the beginning I would work when no-one was around, but as I got more well-known, people would invite me to decorate their walls.”
After the revolution in January 2011, street art was possible on a bigger scale, he said.
“Before the revolution art in Tunisia was quite bourgeois, but if you put big pieces of art on walls it is for everyone,” said eL Seed, now living in Montreal, Canada.
“The revolution pushed people to be more creative because before they were scared — and now they have more freedom.”
eL Seed said he believed both the artists and the religious extremists were showing intolerance and he wanted to bring a message of tolerance.
“My goal was to bring people together, which is why I chose these words from the Quran,” said eL Seed. “I like graffiti because it brings art to everyone. I like the fact of democratizing art. “
via Tunisian artist graffitis minaret, fights intolerance – CNN.com.
“Rebar, a group of artists, activists and designers implemented a small scale urbanist tactic in downtown San Francisco in the year 2005 called Park(ing). For two hours it occupied, with a lawn, a tree and a bench, a fourteen square metre parking space in a public parking area. With this action it converted an area set out for vehicle use into a space for resting, relaxing and socializing. Public response ranged from indifference to participation and unexpected conversations and spontaneous uses of the bench and the shade of the tree occurred. Two hours later Rebar took it all down and the parking space reverted to its initial state. Of this experiment only the photos and videos taken at the time remain. The action was quickly posted to the Internet and “(…) other groups prepared for guerrilla intervention appropriated this simple tactic. (…) The essence of the tactic was legal protest in a parking space using materials which had a symbolic association with parks: trees, grass and benches. Rebar considered the idea as open source and applied a Creative Commons license. Providing it is not used for financial gain, they encourage people to repeat it and re-interpret it.”1″
via a+t – Rebar. Park(ing), Victory Garden. San Francisco. USA.
“Call it a business card, a resume, a billboard, or whatever you choose, but the short of it is that books are no longer just books. They are branding devices and credibility signals.To lovers of books, I’m sure this will all sound like bad news. But to non-fiction authors, it’s a reality. In some ways, it’s also a bit of a relief and an opportunity. No one is asking you to write the Great American Novel. Nor do you need to sell a million copies. You just need to own and present an interesting idea to the right people.”
AN : so what is a book for ? Leveraging an author’s reputation for monetary purposes ? To attract speaking engagements ? To bolster your personal brand ? There will be many motivations to write ( non-fiction category ) a book but should there not be a core value attached to the book , ie have something of value to say to your reading audience and a permanent mode to record and convey the communication piece?
via Why Books Are The Ultimate New Business Card | Fast Company.
“Infographics are quite popular when it comes to viral content. People love to share visual media, and infographics are the best of both worlds: visual content and information. Infographics aren’t easy, however, and many people fail to create ones that really succeed. Here are six characteristics of a great infographic.” ……
via Six Characteristics Of A Great Infographic | TechWench.com.
Caption on picture 24 : “Ironworkers James Brady, left, and Billy Geoghan release the cables from a steel beam after connecting it on the 104th floor of One World Trade Center, on August 2, 2012 in New York. The beam was signed by President Barack Obama with the note: “We remember, We rebuild, We come back stronger!” during a ceremony at the construction site June 14. Since then the beam has been adorned with the autographs of workers and police officers at the site.”
AN : the 104th floor of the 110 floors of the former World Trade Ceneter Towers was a key floor in the crash of the plane into the tower.
via One World Trade Center: Construction Progress – In Focus – The Atlantic.
Well said. Succinctly said. Space constraints comment reminds me of how the Japanese pay attention to smallness, to detail and presentation. Much more appealing than volume. Advertising gets the concept too….less is more. AN.
“Honduras is set to play SimCity for real, albeit without the economist who devised the rules of the game. Last Tuesday, the government signed an agreement with private investors led by Michael Strong–a libertarian entrepreneur and close associate of Whole Foods co-founder and CEO John Mackey–to construct a city-from-scratch in one of at least three special development regions (“las Regiones Especiales de Desarrollo” or “REDs”) scattered around the country.”
AN : the article is a backgrounder in the attempt to set up a novel solution to expedite economic development at an country level via establishing a “govenance within a governance structure ” model ….. starting in Honduras.
arnoneumann 