Archive for August, 2008

COBU : Rhythm Tap (Drumming)

Walk, Don’t Walk

Imagine a force field generator that would protect pedestrians from oncoming traffic that failed to stop at a traffic light. Sounds great, right?

Well this isn’t that.

It is, however, an interesting proposal by product designer Hanyoung Lee entitled Virtual Wall - that is meant to protect the pedestrian crossing the street by creating a more physical barrier than the typical stop light.

Would this work? I’d guess it would, for a little while anyways - seeing some kind of laser show displaying moving images of people crossing the street, instead of just an 8 inch diameter red light, will probably catch people’s attention. At least until they get used to these things…

::via Yanko Design::

Crude Awakening - Documentary

Recycled Tire Floormat

via

The $1 House

The $1 house is not unique to Detroit, although there are a lot of them for sale in the Motor City to local government. Under HUDa€™s Good Neighbor Program, properties offered to the public for sale for six or more months are removed from the market and proffered for $1 plus closing costs.

It appears to be a popular program. Michigan and Ohio were buying up so many $1 houses this year that HUD put a halt of sales in April so they could look into what local governments were doing with the properties, reported the Columbus Dispatch. But this is not a deal offered to the public or even directly to nonprofits.

Regular folks can find $1 deals, however. The houses just usually dona€™t include any land. Among the strings attached, buyers must pay to have the houses moved. The Angelino Heights home featured recently as the Home of the Week was one such $1 prize in 1978 before it was moved to its current site. It’s listed today for $1,495,000.

If having a site and paying moving expenses are not deterrents to you, HistoricProperties.com lists a $1 house in South Bend, Indiana, and two in Lynchburg, Va. Still too steep? A Windsor, N.Y., farmhouse lists for $0. Not everything on the site is so inexpensive, but ita€™s pretty amazing what can be bought for about the price of an automobile. Tough luck for the Western U.S., though. The search unearthed no such gems. latimes

Downtown Streetcars

CINCINNATI a€" From his months-old French bistro, Jean-Robert de Cavel sees restored Italianate row houses against a backdrop of rundown tenements in this citya€™s long-struggling Over-the-Rhine neighborhood.

He also sees a turnaround for the district, thanks to plans to revive a transit system that was dismantled in the 1950s: the humble streetcar line.

a€oeHuman beings can be silly because we move away from things too quickly in this country,a€A Mr. de Cavel said. a€oeStreetcar is definitely going to create a reason for young people to come downtown.a€A

Cincinnati officials are assembling financing for a $132 million system that would connect the citya€™s riverfront stadiums, downtown business district and Uptown neighborhoods, which include six hospitals and the University of Cincinnati, in a six- to eight-mile loop. Depending on the final financing package, fares may be free, 50 cents or $1.

The city plans to pay for the system with existing tax revenue and $30 million in private investment. The plan requires the approval of Mayor Mark Mallory, a proponent, and the City Council.

At least 40 other cities are exploring streetcar plans to spur economic development, ease traffic congestion and draw young professionals and empty-nest baby boomers back from the suburbs, according to the Community Streetcar Coalition, which includes city officials, transit authorities and engineers who advocate streetcar construction. more at nytimes

Effective design problem solving

Expert designers appear to be a€ill-behaveda€™ problem solvers, especially in terms of the time and attention they spend on defining the problem. However, this seems to be appropriate behaviour, since some studies have suggested that over-concentration on problem definition does not lead to successful design outcomes. It appears that successful design behaviour is based not on extensive problem analysis, but on adequate a€problem scopinga€™ and on a focused or directed approach to gathering problem information and prioritising criteria. everythingisdesign

Quote of the Day

In the 21st century, nations dona€™t invade other nations.
~ John "Not a Ninja" McCain

Quote of the day? This may be "Quote of the Year" for me…
Seriously, WTF happened to this guy? Did I invent his not being an asshole in the 2000 race?

(Philanthropy) Ventures and Culture

A Slate article proposes that becoming a Billionaire is really only getting half-way to the American Dream. Well that’s good to know considering myninjaplease is approaching the Trillion Sphere. Back to non-reality.

There are three major ways that are proving to be the most popular, present day philanthropic methodologies:

• the award or prize system
• venture marketing and philanthropy
• microphilanthropy

If we were to go back and analyze the art side of philanthropy we would find that promoting innovation is really the key to getting any chance of getting a slice of the black and white pie.

Charitable giving in the U.S. totaled $260 billion in 2005, with giving to the arts, culture and humanities representing only 5.2 percent of overall giving, according to Giving USA. via

Where to start? Try this list of online giving markets (OGM) and frankly be careful of how you represent your creative exponents!
And now to the culture question. Why do individuals and groups of people engage in philanthropic activities? To promote their culture. So this becomes the greatest challenge for new associations amongst old giants:

to protect the corporate image or to project constant image linkage?

I think you know where we rest, my ninjas. And don’t let anthrophobia sway your dreams!