Blogs

Alex from Hide and Seek would like me to tell you about his festival for "social games and playful experiences" which opens tomorrow. It's not your average festival, but then Alex isn't your average man. A bunch of us are hitting the "This is it ..." event and party tomorrow night, so if your lucky enough to have a ticket, see you there.

I've always been a big fan of cartography. Might be something to do with always wanting to know where I was. Anyway, I've been meaning to post some links from Russell Davies Interesting event last Saturday, so here's the first one.

Total Population

Christians

Muslims

David Raven Ellison is a geography teacher and he gave a great talk on Guerrilla Geography and used these great maps from Worldmapper.org a site set-up by some clever people at Sussex University.

Bottom line:
The Behance Network has the potential to serve as the most finely tuned collaboration of creative thought on Planet Earth.
What might Da Vinci have made of this?
How is this possible?
We're living in the future. That's how.

Behance Network provides a beautifully succinct, feature-rich environment for Artists, Designers, New Media Ninjas and other inspired types to showcase what they're made of. A stroll around a half-dozen portfolios at random, and you're awestruck at what's out there.
Perhaps more impressive, is the means by which connections are made, and the graceful way the network organically operates across the globe. It works, and well.
Behance is based in New York.
Get it on at www.behance.com

Finisterre, a small 4 year old company based on the cliff tops of St Agnes, has won major national recognition at the Observer Ethical Awards for their ethical standards and dedication while building up a portfolio of outdoor clothing encompassing ground breaking R&D in fabric technology and a range of natural and recyclable fibres.

The Houston Fence is a temporary outdoor installation on chain-link fences inspired by QR code barcode patterns. It is located at the intersection of Broadway and Houston in New York City, a crossroads notorious for its heavy traffic. The project was built as a result of a commission to improve fences put in place for a major street infrastructure construction project.

The project's blog can be accessed by mobile devices by means of QR code stickers placed on the fences.

The team behind the project is composed by Carolina Cisneros, Carlos J. Gomez de Llarena and Mateo Pintó, the same group that made the Fulton Fence previously.

Yes indeed, the first mini-Protein® Forum event is taking place on 2nd July as part of 2gether08 at the Rochelle School in Shoreditch. They've got a great line-up of speakers, panels, workshops and sessions so get your ticket now.

The format for the Protein® Forum events are going to be similar to the Freq events we used to run at 54 Below i.e. 3 speakers, 30 mins each with drinks and DJ's after. The difference for the 2gether event is that we are on at 10:30 in the morning, so no drinks and DJ's this time.

David Wilcox has just posted the interview I did with him last week at One Alfred Place ahead of the first Protein® Forum event at 2gether08 in a couple of weeks. Hating the sound of my own voice. Loving the fact the I got "TED Shoreditch" in.

Humanity's inability to resolve it's differences peacefully has moved seraglia to create this rare and spectacular necklace. Of especial concern is the continued and projected use of nuclear weapons, whether as missile warheads or as depleted uranium in conventional weaponry. It is hoped that this necklace will help spread the message, and also raise funds for the continuing work of CND.

"All warfare is based on deception" Sun-Tzu Chinese general & military strategist (~400 BC)

This necklace has been crafted from:

* Fire opal faceted Swarovski beads and crystals
* Fire polished Japanese Miyuki bugle beads
* 1940's plastic pendants from US occupied Japan
* Ancient Roman carnelian and rock crystal beads circa 400 AD
* Vintage glass cylinder beads from Czechoslovakia
* Traditional brass accent pieces from the USA
* Vintage coral and amber beads

Just stumbled on the very pretty BBC Bloom climate change site made by the guys at mN in Manchester .

A Leeds University research team headed by Prof Burkinshaw has developed the Xeros washing machine that uses thousands of reusable plastic chips to remove and absorb dirt.

The little plastic chips clean clothes by pounding the dirt out of them. Some 20kg (45lbs) of chips are added to the machine along with one cup of water and detergent. The chips can be used for up to 100 cycles, or about 6 months of washing.

The machine uses just one cup of water per cycle which is less than 2% of the water – and energy – of a conventional model.

And, what do you do with those 20kg of plastic chips after six months? Will they disappear in 3 months just like the plastic bags?

A enlightening hole full of crap and trash won a $200,000 grant from the World Bank. More specifically, Lebônê Solutions is one of 16 winners in the World Bank’s Lighting Africa 2008 Development Competition for their work on implementing Microbial Fuel Cells (MFCs) to provide light to rural Africans that are currently stranded in the dark.

In most African countries, 95% of the population is living off-grid with no access to electricity. Lebone's solution is the implementation of a combination of highly efficient PLED lights powered by MFCs. These fuel cells run on animal and plant waste and naturally occurring soil microbes.

This round up we gwan mainstream cumbia-techno-rave-trance-synth-reggaeton. Like I said before, my Nigga from Panama is featured on a ravy cumbiaton track of the new A.B. Quintanilla project, Kumbia All Stars.

If you liked my Kuduro post, check out:An interview with Znobia by Eddie Stats at The FaderandPuto Prata downloads at Get Nice.

Grant from Zizek has sent me this hot new cumbia mixtape from El Hijo de la Cumbia featuring loads of fresh Argentinian psychedelic beats for lying in the park, sun in your eyes. Its very good.

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Janus Home

Jeremy Schneyer has big plans.

The Seattle, WA transplant recently relocated to the relatively familiar climes of the Willamette Valley in hopes of establishing the most significant collection of vintage modern and mid-century furnishings in the region.

It's a hefty task, but 5 minutes in his new Grand Avenue studio in SE Portland confirmed that he's well on his way.

With space-a-plenty, and channels established up and down the western seaboard and beyond, Schneyer has an operation that appears to be bottomless in its diverse inventory, and limitless in its ability to deal globally.

A few months ago a friend emailed me pointing out the name of the popular latin artist Nigga.  After doing some poking around on the net I discovered that Nigga is Panamanian and got his name because someone said he sings like a Jamaican.  Probably in a move not un-similar to the Nas album name decision, his name was changed to DJ Flex, for the U.S. market, in fear of offending the United Stateseans (and not Jamaicans?!)I've been hearing a lot of DJ Flex on the radio, with his hit "Te Quiero" and his collaboration with Los Kumbia Allstars "Por Ti Baby" (which is a quite ravey-sounding Cumbia that I'll post later.)  Plus, whenever I hear "Panama!" or someone sing "Panama Music"  my ears perk up, so I've been watching for this dude.

This silkscreened book has been hand bound and published by Ediciones Minimas in Barcelona.

Each individually numbered edition of 64 pages also contains a limited run CD of unreleased studio recordings and demos, words and music from ex-Super_Collider, current Night of the Brain member Cristian Vogel.

The initial run will begin next week, we plan to produce 75 copies.

If you are interested in reserving an edition at 35e plus posting, please send an email with your name and postal address to

station 5 5 (at) no - future.com

thanks!

Always a good day when the cumbias are flow into the inbox courtesy of the good people at Bersa Discos.

Across cultures, classes, and aeons, people have yearned to transcend death.

Bear that history in mind as you consider the creed of the singularitarians. Many of them fervently believe that in the next several decades we’ll have computers into which you’ll be able to upload your consciousness—the mysterious thing that makes you you. Then, with your consciousness able to go from mechanical body to mechanical body, or virtual paradise to virtual paradise, you’ll never need to face death, illness, bad food, or poor cellphone reception.

Now you know why the singularity has also been called the rapture of the geeks.... According to this report its not going to work out as planned. But I still have high hopes!

DJ Speedhy is an excellent congolese Coup Decale beatmaker from Lyon and makes bangers. Lots more tracks to download on his Skyrock blog. Please enjoy this mammoth freestyling style over fifty. As Speedhy says himself KONGOSTYLE.DJ SPEEDHY - AFROTEKNOLOGY FEAT. 50 CENT 2008

www.cascadiagbc.org/lbl

The argument about whether or not the tremendous challenges our planet faces - now and in future years - can be reversed by proactive human action falls short. We have enacted the planet’s decline, and together we can and must move to affect vital regeneration. Yet the heated debates over defining how and the means by which this action will take place wage on.

Amid the politics and global chatter that translate to more talk and less action, a few enlightened groups around the world are engaged in leading a straight-forward, inspired charge with impacting vision.
In the heart of the United States’ Pacific Northwest, a veritable hotbed of sustainable development and leader in the op-timization of natural resources, a movement is emerging that has the potential to rival anything else of the sort in the world with respect to its aggressive approach, and potential lasting impact for change.

Read the tech schtick below, but basically stick it to a flat surface and plug in. Dope.

Power-Ply 380 Roof Integrated Photovoltaic (RIPV) module is designed for flat roof applications and is easily installed over TPO, PVC, EPDM, Modified, and Built-Up roof systems. Its unique design combines high-efficiency cell technology with direct roof application to maximize energy generation for a given roof area. In addition, it eliminates the need for racking systems or other mounting structures that penetrate the roof, resulting in faster installations and less distractions for building owners.

These stones are real and known to mortals as Trovants.

Near a village, just south of central Romania a number of stone formations with alien features lie dormant, witnesses to the passing of time; that is – until it rains. Not long after the last drops of water fall, they begin a multiplication process. Small oval or round blain-like forms appear on the upper part of them, and they start to increase in size.