Tag Archive: technology


..in 2012

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02/01/2012

..I meant ‘think’

I caught IBM’s temporary installation THINK this fall at the Lincoln Centre, an inspirational and thought-provoking exhibit featuring real-time data, algorithm and analysis. The aim was to immerse the viewers into an operation with instantaneous references and their evaluation, thus helping us realize how deep the human quest can be (ought to be) to make the world more livable, safer, more efficient, and more sustainable.

With today’s technology, it is possible to visualize, interpret, map and understand the dynamics of information crucial for action toward a join common goal of progressive and sustainable present and future.

With ‘Think’ the company, celebrating its centennial, explores how the world works and how to make it work better. It tackles essential issues that all megacities face – traffic, urban spatiality, air index quality, renewable energies – displaying them in real time and visually linking them to innovative proposals and concepts.

|MORE INFO|

One of the messages was that we must keep moving sensibly into the future.

Good one for the upcoming year, don’t you THINK?

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Toronto’s bike proposal

Filed under: travel — 2 Comments
25/06/2011

I’ve written about London’s bike scheme and the Parisian one. So, here’s a little something about Toronto.

At the beginning of May Toronto unveiled the new Bixi rental scheme, hoping to join the ranks of global cities that already have extensive bike rental networks. However, Bixi doesn’t seem to be as user-friendly as those encountered elsewhere. It’s pretty expensive and there’s only 1000 bikes, all within a narrow downtown core (meaning: they can be rented and returned only there; 30min riding limit).

It’s not the choice most would make, especially given the already existing problems with Toronto’s bike infrastructure.

So firstly the city needs to improve the cycling framework and address the gaps in the existing network, in order to be able to accommodate the already large volume of regular cyclists and the new rental population.

Last year we heard proposals for a bike lane network, given the need for a continuous bicycle system in the downtown core. But the plan appears to have halted right from the onset with different proposals trumped.

Spacing Toronto Magazine reckons that this plan attempts, but comes up short in solving one of the greatest deficiencies in the cycling network — the poor connectivity and discontinuous routes in downtown, which oftentimes start or stop suddenly, forcing cyclists to merge into busy traffic.

More info:

Globe & Mail

Torontoist

Cyclists Union

The full City of Toronto Proposal

art you want to mount

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Collaborative Consumption

Filed under: eco/environment — Leave a comment
23/06/2011

The end of consumerism as we know it.. a distant dream or a possibility?

Social researcher Rachel Bosman has some interesting ideas about a new movement called ‘collaborative consumption’. The rise of collaborative consumption is a cultural and economic force, reinventing, not just what we consume, but how we consume.

We’re bartering, trading, swapping, sharing, but they’re being reinvented into dynamic and appealing forms.

We have actually wired our world to share.

Many big concepts were emerging — from the wisdom of crowds to smart mobs — around how ridiculously easy it is to form groups for a purpose.

We started moving from passive consumers to creators, to highly-enabled collaborators. The Internet is removing the middleman, so the peer-to-peer revolution is happening at phenomenal rates. We now live in a connected age where we can locate anyone, anytime, in real-time, from a small device in our hands.

There is a renewed belief in the importance of community, the usefulness of real-time technologies, the pressing environmental concerns, and a global recession that has fundamentally shocked consumer behaviours: all collectively define collaborative consumption.

There are thousands of examples from all around the world of collaborative consumption, organized into three clear systems.

The first is redistribution markets based on ‘reduce, reuse, recycle, repair and redistribute’ mantra.

The second is collaborative lifestyles – the sharing and resources of money, skills and time.

The third system is product service systems. This is where you pay for the benefit of the product — what it does for you — without needing to own the product outright.

These three systems are coming together, allowing people to share resources without sacrificing their lifestyles, or their cherished personal freedoms.

The site, the book, audio & video of her lecture at the RSA, her presentation at the TED.

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Canadian Arctic passage

Filed under: eco/environment — Leave a comment
25/03/2011

can-arctic

As an area of growing strategic and economic importance, the navigable passages of the Canadian High Arctic should be unconditionally secure. Uninterrupted monitoring, consecutive patrol, and the capacity to take action when needed are top priority in terms of safeguarding. Economically, an accessible high Arctic passage facilitates maritime trade between Canada and our Northern neighbours. Combine Canada’s sparse Northern population and spotty surveillance of vast territorial waters and the world’s second largest country is limitless.

Moreover, due to bordering international waters, inhospitable climate, and isolation, infrastructure and population density are minimal. The limited availability of community resources, remoteness, and austerity restrict the growth of communities and the development of businesses.

The Canadian Forces have recently become more aware of the need for persistent surveillance of extensive proportions to cover the Canadian waters and the network of passageway within our jurisdiction.
Lack of facilities for a comprehensive and interminable monitoring of the entire area is a factor that can compromise our security.

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the weird & wonderful Tokyo

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14/12/2010

While I am still assembling experiences and conceptualizing the (wait for it) brilliant articles on Japan, especially the wind-up Tokyo chronicles, here are a few youtube videos that portray or capture some must-sees that are just so, quintessentially, amazingly, Japanese:

Golden Gai, a quaint little area near Shinjuku station for great dusk-til-dawn pub crawls, comprising of over 250 incredible tiny and quirky bars:

Shomben Yokocho, another small area just behind Shinjuku station full of izakayas that specialize in yakitori (grilled food on a skewer – mostly chicken & meat, some veggies. Similar to kebab)

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new RSA – Education

Filed under: travel — 1 Comment
08/11/2010

New RSA animated lecture on Education.

Brilliance, as always

Some notes:

- Education is not a guaranteed path to success later in life, and particularly not if the route to it marginalizes everything most of the things you think are important about yourself

- The current system of education was designed, conceived and structured for a different age;

- Assumptions about social structure & capacity, driven by an economic imperative of the time, lead by intellectual model of the mind = academic ability, deep in the gene pool. there are two groups: academic and not, smart and not. All judged by this particular view of the mind. This model has caused chaos

The arts, and science to a degree, are the victims of this mentality. Aesthetic experience – where senses are operating at their peak. You are resonating to this thing that you are experiencing and you are fully alive. Anesthetic is when you shut your senses off and deaden yourself. And kids shouldn’t be put to sleep, they should be woken up.

We all have the capacity to learn; with age it mostly deteriorates as we become more ‘educated’.

Most great learning happens in groups; collaboration is the stuff of growth.

 

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educational podcasts

Filed under: eco/environment — Leave a comment
14/07/2010

iPods are everywhere, in every ear, to be exact! At least 50% of people (and probably 80% of young people – account for the developed world in this case) are hooked on to their portable audio devices.

We are all ‘escaping’ our ordinary surroundings, isolating ourselves from circumstances – the traffic noise, the crowd, our concerns.. for the most part by listening to music. I thought I’d use that time more efficiently, not to ‘escape’ per se, but tune into something important and interesting.

I looked into different podcasts online and focused on informative, academic and analytical episodes that can inform and/or educate.

You can easily scroll through and pick themes that appeal to you:

Treehugger

More Hip Than Hippie

How Stuff Works

Radio Lab

The Ocean Doctor

Just search for free subscriptions on iTunes – there are so many, you are bound to find something that will peak your interest and gain your attention: Scientific American’s 60-second Earth, Earthfiles, Green TV, Planet Green, Oxford University’s Environmental Change Institute…

tune in!

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Spark triggers – part 3: music

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16/02/2010

When you can’t get away, how do you get away?

but some world music into your step!

–

One of my favourite worldly music ensembles is Gotan Project. Their sound is very unique and a blend of some genres, predominantly a spin on classical tango, with nu jazz, electornica, new age.. The sounds are very moving, yet complex and tranquil.

have a taste:

una musica brutal

la revancha del tango

differente

–

Moving along the same lines: Ojos de Brujo is a Spanish group, also with a distinctive style and sound, tastefully merging elements of flamenco with rap, electronica, and rhythm & blues.

They’re very energetic and remarkably passionate.

Sample, hope you have sangria on hand:

piedras vs. tanques

todos mortales

nueva vida

. . . .

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Spark triggers – part 2: books

Filed under: travel — 2 Comments
12/02/2010

summer literature

Well, I suppose I should start with a guide of the true traveller’s mentality, in my opinion: Bruce Chatwin’s The Anatomy of Restlessness (1997). I’m lost and found.

Next up is Le Petit Prince (1943) by Antoine de Saint-Exuperty, who wasn’t a travel writer per se, but a true explorer. Supposedly a children’s book, it is actually a philosophical work about life, human nature and growth. Brilliant, and by no means naive.

The list is not complete without the one that never disappoints: able to transmit dreams and transport into the world that is beyond words and beyond pages: Sommerset Maugham. His Ashenden is incredibly witty and mischievous!

ah, the written word

Not long ago, by recommendation, I got this book and after reading it in 5 days, I was hooked: not travel literature per se, but having been with the UN for some time I’m familiar with its functions and the general mindset: Cain, Postlewait, Thomson (2006) – Emergency Sex and Other Desperate Measures: True Stories from a War Zone. Written from distinctive perspectives of three UN workers in different professions – a doctor, a lawyer and a secretary, in faraway war-torn places they were alternately stationed, detailing cultural and geographic wonders, it is sentient, raw, bittersweet, intense, and exquisite.

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Spark triggers – part 1: films

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08/02/2010

jeux d'enfants

Paris Je T’aime – Paris I love you [France, 2006] – I like that these bits are unusual and kind of intimate.

Waltz with Bashir [Israel, 2008] – animated feature, conveying a story of Lebanon-Israel conflict of 1982.

City of God [Brazil, 2002] – classic cult, popularized, but artsy & very well done.

The Good Thief [France, 2002] – I love all heist movies, but this one was shot in Nice and Monte Carlo, yet it’s unrefined, and carefree..

The Talented Mr. Ripley [USA, 1999] – maybe it’s the idea of living someone else’s identity, someone else’s adventure; maybe the attempt at a nonchallant dolce vita, maybe all the beautiful Mediterranean… but I loved this movie.

ah tyler durden...

Motorcycle Diaries [Argentina, 2004] – gotta love Che; gotta love Bernal.

Up in the Air [USA, 2009] great movie and his leading elusive character. I can particularly relate to his packing habits and evasion of airport queues. Wonderfully witty.

Before Sunrise (1995) & Before Sunset (2004). I was a teenager when the first one came out, I thought it was so down-to-earth, and holistic, especially the dialogue. Later I realized that it’s not really so, but I liked it anyway. Years and travels passed, I had adventurous exploits of such kind as well, a character in my own nonexistent screenplays.

The Beach [USA, 2000] – based on a book by Alex Garland.

along the same subject: Into the Wild [USA, 2007] based on the book by Jon Krakauer. Makes you think about materialistic necessities, possessions, righteousness of people, our symbiosis with the nature.

House of Flying Daggers [China, 2004]. Love the plot and the scenery in it. It’s so vibrant and expressive. The settings and decors are rich and exhibit a good balance of fiery and tranquility.

L’auberge Espagnole or The Spanish Apartment/ Pot Luck [France/Spain, 2002] – when I was younger I imagined I would do something like this. And even now, sometimes still (:

 

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