Quote of the Day

"Rehab is for quitters"

The Economist: ThinkingSpace

ThinkingSpace uses beautiful, abstract 3D objects to create surfaces of information. The idea is similar in execution to Channel 4's TV identity campaign.

TEDGlobal 2009 : Thursday

More thought provoking talks from the live video streams of TEDGlobal in Oxford yesterday courtesy of Wieden & Kennedy. The TED website has become such a global phenomenon of spreading ideas that they have now added a translator covering up to 40 different languages. With Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese and Arabic being the most popular.

Paul Romer, a new-growth economist, suggests building more cities to reduce the human footprint. His argument is that cities are higher concentrations human populations. Currently, humans populate 3% of the world's arable land. Any extra billion people would only take up another 1% if housed in cities. Hong Kong is a perfect model for a successful economy as a special administrative region which should be copied in places such as Guantanamo Bay.

Michael Pritchard, an inventor, has created a new syringe whose plunger breaks after use to prevent infection from spreading through reuse. Apparently, 64% of all injections in India were considered unsafe because of badly recycled syringes. Another notable invention is his new water bottle called the LifeSaver, that can filter elements as small as 25nm. The Polio virus is about 50nm. The global cost to provide the world with clean drinkable water is $20bn. The UK alone spends $12bn on foreign aid.

Rob Hopkins of transitionnetwork.org, an open source network of ideas. He champions resilience as being more important than sustainability. The globalisation of the world has concentrated our dependence on a few elements making us very vulnerable to any sudden changes in climate or economy. He suggest a spread of this risk through microeconomics.

Tim Brown of IDEO wants a return of big design which should inclusive of people by asking the right questions.

Misha Glenny, an BBC journalist says one industry bucking the trend of the credit crunch is organised crime, which accounting for 16% of the world's GDP.

Loretta Napoleoni, a Macroeconomist, says organised crime launders $1.25 trillion globally, double that of the UK GDP. She says that there is no escaping our relationship with crime which has permeated our society and economy.

The moving story of Emmanuel Jal, from a war child soldier to Hip Hop artist.

Ross Lovegrove, an Industrial Designer, references nature to create minimally efficient & organic design. The new design discipline of Bio-mimicry.

Nick Veasey's amazing X-Ray photography shows the hidden beauty of everyday objects from clothing to Jumbo Jets, the later of which took 2 painstaking months to complete.

Eric Giler, of MIT: 40 billion disposable batteries are made every year to satisfy our need for mobile energy. WiTricity hopes to change this with wireless power using Resonance Energy Transfer.

Parag Khanna, a geopoliticalist: a 100 new countries have been formed since the end of WW2. Contrary to current beliefs, the world is actually fragmenting due to artificial borders collapsing. But he suggest that conflict can be overcome with shared cross-border infrastucture.

'Carousel' ad for Phillips

The award winning TV advert for electronics giant Phillips promoting their new TV screen. Produced by Tribal DDB Amsterdam, it was created to play in a continuous loop. Watch in full screen for maximum impact.

Read here for more info.

TEDGlobal 2009: Wednesday

Phew! Just got back from the live streaming event in East London hosted by the very nice people of Wieden & Kennedy showing the talks of the unsung heroes of forward thinkers in this world. Well, where do we start?

Jonathan Zittrain, a specialist in internet law, spoke of his belief in the humanity shown in the self-regulation people used on the internet where collective groups have organised themselves to democratise content, citing Wikipedia, amongst other sites.

Evgeny Morozov, an internet scientist, who counters that for every democratic action the internet provides, there is an equal and opposite reaction. Examples of draconian governments learning the transition of censorship to propaganda is much more constructive in appeasing the populace.

Aza Raskin, an interface designer for Mozilla, on a lateral solution to browser usage with Ubiquity, a language based web tool which allows the user to command the browser to perform tasks simply by typing in commands in any language.

An inspiring and entertaining talk from Rory Sutherland, of adverting giant Ogilvy, on the importance of unquantifiable perceived value versus material wealth.

Cary Fowler, a biodiversity archivist, on the importance of preserving all varieties of life so that we may learn what they can teach us, regardless of how trivial they may seem at the current time.

Janine Benyus, a science writer, reminds us that humans aren't the first creators on this planet, but were predated by nature's grand designs which have recently been exploited for various applications, from the shape of a Kingfisher's dive for the ergonomics of a high speed train, to the mimicking of a shark's skin to keep medical clothing bacteria free.

Elaine Morgan, an octogenarian scientist and writer of 'The Aquatic Ape', reminds us of our obligation to explore other avenues of thought and to not accept current scientific beliefs as set in stone, with her compelling theories that humans evolved from a watery environment.

These fascinating subjects were just a glimpse into what was discussed today.

Auto Erotica: Jensen Interceptor

The Jensen Interceptor is a sporting GT car hand built in the UK between 1966 and 1976. The car broke with Jensen tradition by having a steel body shell instead of glass-reinforced plastic. The saloon version had a distinctive large, curving wrap-around rear window. It was powered by a Chrysler 6276cc which was increased in 1971 to 7212cc making it the most powerful Jensen ever produced. It took most of it's styling cues from a rare Brazilian car manufacturer Brasinca Uirapuru.

Unfortunately, the company was sold in 1988 and then went into receivership in 1993, but it has risen from the ashes with a new owner and model, the Interceptor SX.

Auto Erotica: Aston Martin V8 Vantage

There's something incredibly sexy about this beast. Britain's answer to the American muscle car, the V8 was used in the James Bond film 'The Living Daylights'. Created in 1977, it was hailed as Britain's first 'supercar' for it's 170mph (274kph) top speed and 0-60 mph (0-100 km/h) of 5.3 seconds, only a tenth of a second quicker than the Ferrari Daytona.

Carrots causes security alert

An art installation commissioned by Kalmar Museum of Art in Sweden caused the Swedish secret police to intervene and stop the performance. The Bunny Project, created by artist Conny Blom was forced to remove the 15 carrot bombs placed in public after members of the public called in to report the sightings.

The Culture Minister also refused to give her speech there if it continued. Ironically, the speech was about how art must be allowed to be free and provocative.

Further reading at BBC News.

Onion Moon Landing

The real video transcript of the Apollo moon landing.