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Showing posts with label world. Show all posts
Showing posts with label world. Show all posts

10 July 2014

Shelter


Much more humane idea than installing metal spikes to keep homeless people from having places to sleep. Considering as a society we already like to pretend that all homelessness is due to personal choices and they should be punished for it, it is nice to see a city take even a small measure to make that less of a hardship for the person on the street.

12 November 2012

The One World Futbol Promise

Tim Jahnigen has always followed his heart, whether as a carpenter, a chef, a lyricist or now as an entrepreneur. So in 2006, when he saw a documentary about children in Darfur who found solace playing soccer with balls made out of garbage and string, he was inspired to do something about it.

The children, he learned, used trash because the balls donated by relief agencies and sporting goods companies quickly ripped or deflated on the rocky dirt that doubled as soccer fields. Kicking a ball around provided such joy in otherwise stressful and trying conditions that the children would play with practically anything that approximated a ball.

During the next two years, Mr. Jahnigen, who was also working to develop an infrared medical technology, searched for something that could be made into a ball but never wear out, go flat or need a pump.

Mr. Jahnigen has developed a fifth generation of the ball, which is rounder than earlier versions. He carries samples around the world to conferences, potential buyers and sponsors. For effect, he crushes them and even drives cars over them. All of them bounce and hold their shape. By his estimate, the ball can last for 30 years, eliminating the need for thousands of hand-sewn leather balls that are typically donated by relief agencies.

Also, Sting payed for the development. Definitely a way to get better publicity than just doing good deeds or creating an awesome product that can be a game (pun intended) changer.

18 June 2012

Google Hiking

At a demo event last week, Google showed off the Street View Trekker, a backpack-mounted camera that the company is using to get detailed footage of trails where cars can’t tread.

I'm not really so sure how I feel about this. It seems great for looking at places I have no intention of visiting, but totally would kill the experience of seeing somewhere for the first time.

21 March 2012

World Water Day 2012

Water is Life. Today millions scavenge for water and billions don't have a toilet. You can help.

No speech. Just...if you can, or choose to....help.
My organization of choice: charity:water. I've given to this group for years, they do amazingly wonderful things.


Other links:
World Water Day
The Atlantic's In Focus Photo Essay
Global Water Challenge
UN-Water

24 October 2011

One Day on Earth


One Day on Earth is a project to capture how humans live in every country on the planet. It is collaborative, anyone can submit footage, creating a giant video archive that encompasses something of each culture. The original date was 10/10/10 and this year on 11/11/11 the group wants to be able to get even more footage, to act as a time capsule of how the world is at this time.

This is a celebration of individual beliefs, expression and perspective.

21 February 2010

The Internet? Bah!

What the Internet hucksters won't tell you is tht the Internet is one big ocean of unedited data, without any pretense of completeness. Lacking editors, reviewers or critics, the Internet has become a wasteland of unfiltered data. You don't know what to ignore and what's worth reading. Logged onto the World Wide Web, I hunt for the date of the Battle of Trafalgar. Hundreds of files show up, and it takes 15 minutes to unravel them--one's a biography written by an eighth grader, the second is a computer game that doesn't work and the third is an image of a London monument. None answers my question, and my search is periodically interrupted by messages like, "Too many connectios, try again later."

You can't blame the writer for his opinions. It was 15 years ago, the internet was still fresh ground for everything. I remember 1995 as AOL being ruler and the internet was a matter of staying in their 'webshell' a term now completely outdated. From the original Geocities accounts, I can see how anyone would be pessimistic about the internet becoming a more comprehensive, usable idea. I am now able to laugh about the idea of the cacophony of the internet, mostly due to growing up half my life with this concept and constantly getting new ways to overcome the problems. "You don't know what to ignore and what's worth reading. Logged onto the World Wide Web, I hunt for the date of the Battle of Trafalgar. Hundreds of files show up, and it takes 15 minutes to unravel them" When you think on it, it really is amazing how these concerns are made so simple thanks to Google and Wikipedia. Poplar blogs, news sites, Digg, Fark, Reddit, etc. All the reasons that were never supposed to happen filled i the void, just as Paypal, Amazon and Facebook have filled in the other concerns laid forth.

If nothing else, as interesting an article as anything from the early 1900's about what we ould be capable of by 2000.

20 January 2010

Earth as Saturn


Artist depiction of what Earth would be like with Saturn's rings.

Personally, I think this would be amazing. More in the sky to look at would be beautiful.