If you’ve been reading myninjaplease recently you’d noticed that we’ve been featuring posts in Japanese. Editors, Hiroki and Kosuke have been writing about some of the cultural phenomena in Japan and US and what a great way to learn either language! Here’s a link to NINJAPAN BLOG…
Posted: September 11th, 2010
at 7:57pm by Koookiecrumbles
Categories: the column
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Japan Invents Rare Earth Alternative
If China is trying to give its manufacturers a leg up by restricting exports of rare earth metals, it may find the advantage temporary.
With prices spiking following the latest in a series of annual export quota reductions by Beijing earlier this summer, miners have been scrambling to develop deposits of the essential industrial minerals worldwide. Now Japan's Nikkei business daily reports that Japanese manufacturers have developed technologies to make automotive and home appliance motors without rare earth metals. Hitachi has come up with a motor that uses a ferrite magnet made of the cheaper and more common ferric oxide. Meanwhile the chemicals conglomerate Teijin and Tohoku University have co-developed technology to make a powerful magnet using a new composite made of iron and nitrogen.
Posted: September 11th, 2010
at 2:09pm by Koookiecrumbles
Categories: science,development,blogs,trade
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Dinosaur Design vs. Cockroach Design
Dinosaurs used to be kings and queens of the planet. Nothing got in their way except for each other. They came in many shapes and sizes. Some ate plants and others ate meat. They were complex creatures and each of them were unique in their own way.
If you were to look at all of the dinosaurs and were told you could design your own then you would have a ton of cool features to work with. You could get the wings of a pterodactyl, horns of a triceratops, roar of a tyrannosaurus rex and a number of other bits and pieces. You would simply take the best of each species to make one wonderful creature.
Odds are though it wouldn’t work out very well. It would fail just like every other dinosaur. This is how some designers like to design. They look at all the great trends other sites are using and they collect them to try and piece together a perfect design. If someone were to ask you what creature from millions of years ago you would love to replicate today due to its greatness would you even consider the cockroach? The great dinosaurs died off and yet this little, disgusting insect lives on. There is nothing fancy about it and yet it has become the closest thing to timeless we see today.
Pour des Dents d’un Blanc Eclatant et Saines
by Jeroen Diepenmaat
Part of the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University’s groundbreaking exhibition that explores the culture of vinyl records through 50 years of contemporary art.
The Record: Contemporary Art and Vinyl features work by 41 artists from around the world, from the 1960s to the present, who use vinyl records as subject or medium. The exhibition includes sound work, sculpture, installation, drawing, painting, photography, video and performance.
The Record includes rising stars in the contemporary art world (William Cordova, Robin Rhode, Dario Robleto), outsider artists (Mingering Mike), well-established artists (Jasper Johns, Ed Ruscha, Carrie Mae Weems) and artists whose work will be shown in a U.S. museum for the first time (Kevin Ei-ichi deForest, Jeroen Diepenmaat, Taiyo Kimura, Lyota Yagi).
Posted: September 9th, 2010
at 7:53am by Koookiecrumbles
Categories: music,art,contemporary,events,education
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Christophe Roberts / Hebru Brantley
Christophe Roberts and Hebru Brantley are opening at theALyons Wier Gallery in New York with theirA Journey of a Thousand Eyes andAWait a Cotton Picking Minute exhibitions, Friday, September 10, 2010 6:00 - 9:00 pm and the exhibit runs from September 10 - October 10, 2010.AMNP talked with Roberts this past winter about his art inAthe DOJO. Don't miss it folks!
Mass Media meets Mass Production: New works by Chicago natives Hebru Brantley and Christophe Roberts will be presented at Lyons Wier Gallery in concurrent exhibitions that blur the boundaries between fine art, social commentary and consumer products. Each artist will present a body of work that engages and navigates contemporary urban realities with critical wit, precision, agility, and vision.
Journey of a Thousand Eyes 2010, Mixed media
38 x 38 x 24 inches
Amongst the Hustle 2010, Mixed media and collage
57 x 67 inches
: Images courtesy of the Lyons Wier Gallery :
Posted: September 8th, 2010
at 7:59am by Koookiecrumbles
Categories: contemporary,events
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Quote of the Day
It does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority keen to set brush fires in people’s minds…
- Samuel Adams
Posted: September 7th, 2010
at 8:18am by Koookiecrumbles
Categories: quote of the day
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Who got that Vocab?! : The Pilbara
The Pilbaraathe word is Aboriginal for mullet, a type of fish running in the mountain creeksais both the end of the earth and the wellspring of Australia’s future. The desolate region was home to indigenous people for millennia, then to the stockmen and adventurers who populate fantasies of the outback. [LINK]
Posted: September 6th, 2010
at 1:04pm by Koookiecrumbles
Categories: who got that vocab?!
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The Reverse Geocache Puzzle
Early this summer, the friend who first introduced me toAArduino amazed us with the news that he was moving to France to get married. Once I recovered from the surprise, it occurred to me that putting together some sort of Arduino-based wedding present might be a uniquely fitting thanks for his years of friendship and for helping get me started in this delightful enterprise. And so after weighing several ideas a I didn't fancy adding some ugly techno-junk to the pretty collection of tea cozies and china sets a I finally settled on building the device I describe here: a puzzle box that won't open until it is taken to a certain location.
To better understand my conception, let's fast forward and imagine the gift opening. The new couple, freshly back from their honeymoon, remove the wrapping to reveal a book-sized wooden box elaborately carved with elephant images. (I didn't carve it; I bought it that way atAWorld Market.) Mounted into the lid, perhaps incongruously, are an illuminated button, a small display, and a mysterious module that sharp-eyed readers might recognize as a GPS. There's also some kind of connector tucked away on the box's left side. More about that later.
What do they make of all this? It's hard to guess, but naturally I imagine they might try to open it up and take a look inside. When they do, however, they find the lid stuck tight a it seems to be latched from the inside. Will they push the button? Pretty buttons are awfully hard to resist, so let's assume so.
How to Pivot on a Dime
If you're planning to make entrepreneurship your future, then you probably think that you're a fairly adaptable, fly by the seat of your pants kind of guy (or girl). That's a good start, however, to achieve real success as an entrepreneur, you're going to have to learn to change direction practically mid-sentence. Here are the reasons why, as well as a few tips on how to make it a little easier.
Posted: September 5th, 2010
at 1:50pm by Koookiecrumbles
Categories: entrepreneurship
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