grow yourself a chair

slimey and his cousins

What can be done about all the food wasted by restaurants and hotels?

stand up for education

According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the students of America, the wealthiest nation on the planet, are ranked 24th place in math.























































"Whether you think you can or you think you can't - you are right." Henry Ford

The Word-Truthiness

In its 16th annual words of the year vote, the American Dialect Society voted truthiness as the 2005 word of the year. Recently popularized on the Colbert Report, a satirical mock news show on the Comedy Central television channel, truthiness refers to the quality of preferring concepts or facts one wishes to be true, rather than concepts or facts known to be true. As Stephen Colbert put it, “I don’t trust books. They’re all fact, no heart.” Other meanings of the word date as far back as 1824.

Canadian pronunciation of the word coupon

Traditionally, the retention of the diphthong [ɪu] (as in cute [kɪut]) is said to distinguish Canadian English speakers from American English speakers. Thus we assume the Canadian pronunciation of coupon should retain the glide and be pronounced [kɪupɑn]. However, as the word coupon never contained the [ɪu] sound, its "retention" in this word is actually a hypercorrection, and the true Canadian pronunciation of coupon is the same as the phonology in noon [kupɑn].

(ENGL 320: History of the English Language)

red chair project

for under $30 and 4 hours of labour, i was able to make 2 plastic adirondack chairs headed for the dump, shinier than new.

1 can RUST-OLEUM plastic spray paint (primer)
2 cans RUST-OLEUM plastic spray paint (Colonial Red - awful name!)

(no i do not work for RUST-OLEUM or any of their affiliates. when i went to the store to purchase my paint i was overwhelmed by all the options, so i thought it would be kind to prevent that from happening to someone else. and so i share the success of the particular paint that i chose.)

so the question is, what is more harmful to the environment?
a. the nasty effects of aerosol cans and the toxic paint gases released into the air (probably would have been less harmful if i had been in a spray room with proper exhaust, rather than outside on my patio).
b. the waste of discarding perfectly useable plastic furniture and pretending that it will decompose in the landfill.

your kind of cake?

good find christopher!

and speaking of bees...

An artist I revere was featured in that same Beetalker episode of The Nature of Things. Manitoban Aganetha Dyck collaborates with honey bees to create her otherworldy, interspecies art.

beetalker: the secret world of bees

A recent episode of David Suzuki's The Nature of Things featured honey bees and their protector Dr. Mark Winston.

"I think of bees not for the individual things they do, but as a whole, the way they're so integrated into nature. They pollinate, they produce honey, but they have this magnificent social structure that depends on each other in order to survive. And I think that's the fundamental lesson that we take out of a beehive is how important it is to rely on each other and depend on each other and work with each other if we're going to have a successful planet."

One of his online bios describes Mark as "that rare individual, a scientist who can speak eloquently to the public." That is a serious simplification of the presence of such a compassioniate human being, but it is absolutely true. I was lucky enough to be invited to a "screening" of the show with a group of Dr. Winston's students and friends (thank you Delanie!). He is an inspiration.

simplicity

To know what to leave out and what to put in; just where and just how, ah, that is to have been educated in the knowledge of simplicity.

Frank Lloyd Wright

ricky gervais on the bible

Perhaps you missed the hilarity that was The Office. Maybe you haven't heard The Ricky Gervais Show or seen The Ricky Gervais Podcast. Ricky Gervais makes me wet my knickers ... Obviously.

this post brought to you by the letter Christopher.

scooters

The power scooter is a wonderful invention that has improved the mobility and increased the independence of thousands.

Is the latest scooter trend an abuse of the machine's function?
Motorized scooters for the disabled are finding a lucrative new market: People just sick of walking.

..."Now waiting on line at the buffet is no problem," she says. "You just sit there"...

...In the last year, Pride has super-sized models like the Maxima and introduced the Celebrity-X, to keep up with the increase in obesity...

..."I tell the usher, how do I get all the way back there? And he puts us right in the mezzanine with the handicapped people"...

(thank you for the link Mr. Christopher!)

ethanol

"Vinod Khosla is a venture capitalist considered one of the most successful and influential personalities in Silicon Valley. He was one of the co-founders of Sun Microsystems and became a general partner of the venture capital firm Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield & Byers in 1986." "On Wednesday, March 29th, by invitation from our co-founders and CEO, our special guest, Vinod Khosla, visited Google to deliver a tech talk about the emergence of ethanol as a viable, market ready, and competitive source of renewable energy." a grain of salt: a Silicon Valley billionaire, who wants to save the world from oil.

crave aid

saw this in l'architecture d'aujourdh'hui (no. 357: mars-avril 2005).

followed it to IDEO's website:

Crave Aid concept
for IDEO
Concept for skin patch to fight food cravings

Much like nicotine patches that allow wearers to wean themselves of cravings without enduring withdrawal symptoms, Crave Aid food patches are intended to be worn on the skin to allow us to experience the fantasy ingestion of unhealthy foods.

Our palettes are trained to desire foods that are high in sugar and fat content. We endure cravings for these foods that are so powerful they alter our moods and interfere with our body chemistry. Studies show that women can overcome sugar cravings if a drop of vanilla is worn on the wrist and sniffed when the craving starts.

Created as part of the "Value Meal" exhibition at the Design Bienale in St. Etienne, France, the Crave Aid food patches were an ironic take on a way to overcome cravings for unhealthy foods. The curators asked us to create a conceptual, engaging, and light-hearted piece that commented on the dangerous habit of consuming unhealthy food.

Our idea was to ironically present food cravings as a medical emergency and to engage visitors and foster dialogue by offering a take-away, which led to the emergency kit reference and the food patches dispensed from the modified emergency box. Reportedly, food patches were spotted on visitors to the Bienale all over town for a few days.

Teams:
Industrial Design

Project Date: 2005

summer stocking stuffers for the ladies

I have to give props to a clever solution to any design problem (especially if it's local - yay! Vancouver, BC). Now I will use my best infomercial voice. Ahem. "Ladies, if you're tired of the tank top/bra strap combo, and looking to de-clutter your summer look, have we got the answer for you!" Embrace

the planet is fine

George Carlin is a challenging and hilarious talent. This is one of my favourites. Check out Part II, or better yet, buy Jammin in New York and enjoy the whole sh-bang!

rotoscope

Scanner Darkly is a very cool film. Though I'm not a huge fan of rotoscoping, it was a totally appropriate choice for the colour of the story.


My new favourite actor (after this and Kiss Kiss Bang Bang) is Mr. Robert Downey Junior - hilarious / quirky / sexy.

Director: Richard Linklater (Fast Food Nation, Waking Life, Dazed and Confused)

Story from: Philip K. Dick (Minority Report, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? ie. Blade Runner, We Can Remember it for you Wholesale ie. Total Recall)

Thank you Miss Sarah for inviting us to the screening!

she makes me wanna speak spanish

"Hips Don't Lie". there is nothing i do not love about this video. i'm not a fan of Shakira, but after seeing this, i obssessively believe she is the most smokin pop culture diva of the day (for now). so no judgements. watch the video.

Buy Nothing Day?

How about a Buy Nothing YEAR!

That's right.
From the Publisher: "Disgusted with the commerce in everything from pet cloning to patriotism, panicked over the fate of her finances and that of the trash-strewn earth, Judith Levine enlists her partner, Paul, in a radical experiment: to forgo all but the most necessary purchases for an entire year.

Without consumer goods and experiences, Judith and Paul pursue their careers, nurture relationships, and try to keep their sanity, their identities, and their sense of humor intact. Tracking their progress—and inevitable lapses—Levine contemplates need and desire, scarcity and security, consumerism and citizenship. She asks the Big Questions: Can the economy survive without shopping? Are Q-tips necessary?

Not Buying It is no primer on the simple life and how to live it. It's the confessions of a woman any reader can identify with: someone who can't live without French roast coffee or SmartWool socks but who has had it up to here with overconsumption and its effects on the earth and everyone who dwells there."

Oh ya. And don't go out and buy the book - hit the library to borrow a copy for free!

really?!

Geoff Lawton is a permaculture consultant/designer/teacher from Australia and this bloke's got some big important ideas.
he can turn deserts into gardens.
(the presentation isn't super slick, but it's well worth watching)