“Signature” (2009), acrylics on canvas, 20″ x 16″

In Atlanta, they have recycled three old city buses to create a cool bus shelter:

Even the seat is from one of the de-commissioned buses.   Great idea!

This is from SpaceInvading via coolboom.

Here is a glorious find, with thanks to No Tech Magazine.  With a publishing date of 1868 (republished 1908) and bearing the title “507 Mechanical Movements:  embracing all those which are most important in Dynamics, Hydraulics, Hydrostatics, Pneumatics, Steam Engines, Mill and Other Gearing, Presses, Horology, and Miscellaneous Machinery“, this doesn’t have all the hallmarks of a winner.  But to me it is a joy to behold, for a few reasons.

First and foremost, it shows that virtually any mechanical problem can be solved by careful thought and precision engineering.  The vast arrays of industrial might and computational power we throw at issues today perhaps hide a lack of genuinely personal creative thought.   Not so in earlier days.  The thought processes required for this kind of solution making had to be transparent in the drawings and descriptions.  It is a reminder of what we achieved without all the trappings and destruction concomitant with modern consumer-capitalism.

Second, the book is laid out exactly as required for this kind of information.   Images on one side, relevant text on the other; no jumping about.  And that good design is carried forward in this virtual representation.  The images are crisp and clear and navigation is a breeze (just click on a page to move forward or back).

Thirdly, having been manager of a technical writing group for many years, I appreciate the clarity of the text.  Everything that needs to be said is said well, and nothing that is irrelevant is allowed to intrude.

To me, this book is as well planned and well constructed as the movements it describes. I am glad to have found it.  Thanks again to No Tech magazine.

This week, Fast Company has featured a new book: New Packaging Design by Janice Kirkpatrick.  The book reviews packaging design from around the world.  The Fast Company review includes pictures of several of the designs, including the one I like best:

This is a campaign image for Nepia tissues.

Wonderwall, a Japanese interiors firm, and Groovisions, a graphic-design firm, brought a high-concept approach to a tissue box for Nepia. Each one looks like a mottled brick; when stacked, they look like a wall. The fluffy tissue contrasts with the industrial-looking tromp l’oeil.

Creativity doesn’t need to be complicated.

On the very first day they make me Emperor of the World, I will ban this bloody nonsense about moving the clocks back and forth. Let time be, I say.

I am a marketer at heart, and I really appreciate those who extend themselves in thinking of novel and memorable marketing ideas. Thus it was impossible for me not to be impressed when a German group recently used banners tied to houseflies to send their message. The report and video from Wired:

The banners, measuring just a few centimetres across, seem to be causing the beleaguered flies a bit of piloting trouble. The weight keeps the flies at a lower altitude and forces them to rest more often, which is a stroke of genius on the part of the marketing creatives: the flies end up at about eye level, and whenever a fly is forced to land and recover, the banner is clearly visible. What’s more, the zig-zagging of the fly naturally attracts the attention because of its rapid movement.

Clever stuff for a stunt!

Low-Tech magazine looks at bicycles this week, and concludes that cars have to go.  Boy, I couldn’t agree more.

The problem is not that there is a lack of good roads – enough of these exist to bike from here to Mars and beyond. The main problem is that these are occupied by automobiles that are not only dangerous but also very inefficient both in terms of energy use and floor space.We don’t need any new infrastructure, what we need is to clear the existing infrastructure of inefficient vehicles and replace them with efficient ones. In other words: give all streets, highways, cloverleaves and motorways exclusively to bicycles and all other human powered wheeled vehicles. Get rid of cars. Why make things so complicated if the solution is so simple?

How could we live without cars, I hear those trapped in skepticism say.  The answer is clear:

Picture this for a second. If cars are gone, we are left with pedestrians (on the sidewalk), pedal powered vehicles (one part of the streets and the highways) and public transportation (another part of the streets and the highways, separated from pedal powered traffic, or underground) … For long distance passenger transport, we have trains. For long distance cargo transport, trains again. Short distance cargo transport could see the revival of cargo trams (streetcars). Electric vehicles could be a part of the solution, too, both for cargo transport and for the disabled, provided they keep the same speed as bicycle traffic.

The whole article is well worth the read, and the possibilities should be lightly discarded.

Here’s a really good socially-responsible idea that saves energy and returns the night to the dark it should be.  Reported  from the Guardian:

The lights are going down in Toulouse. Tomorrow early-rising residents of the Allée Camille-Soula in the south-western French city will have set out to work with the morning gloom held at bay by radical new technology which turns on streetlights only when pedestrians pass.   Installed on a 500-metre section of pavement last weekend, the lampposts double the strength of the light they cast when they detect human body heat. Ten seconds later they revert to normal.

“It’s a prototype. Nothing like this exists anywhere in the world. We pretty much built the technology ourselves,” said Alexandre Marciel, the deputy mayor in charge of works, highways, sanitation and lighting. The aim is to cut energy consumption by around 50%, first on the busy street which runs between a sports stadium and university halls, then more widely. If it is a success, it will be rolled out across the city of around 450,000 people, France’s fourth largest …

There is a growing campaign in France against nocturnal light pollution. Last weekend saw countrywide demonstrations against the contamination of the night sky by urban lighting. “Concern started just among astronomers and other specialists but is now getting much more mainstream attention,” said Clara Osadtchy, one of the organisers … Cash-strapped and increasingly environmentally conscious communities are now trying to cut electricity consumption. Many cities have changed streetlight bulbs for less wasteful models. After years where cheap tariffs and plentiful power meant all-night lighting, smaller rural communities are returning to earlier practices and turning off streetlights after midnight …

Earlier this year the German town of Dörentrup started turning off its lights at 11pm, with its 9,000 residents able to illuminate a specific street for 15 minutes by dialling a special mobile phone code. The local utility company estimated the scheme would cut Dörentrup’s carbon emissions by 12 tonnes a year. Early trials showed that many streetlights were switched on only two or three times a night.   Marciel, an elected official from the Radical Left party, has grand ambitions. “Imagine if instead of thinking of movements in town as consuming energy we thought of ways they could generate energy instead. The possibilities are without limit,” he said. One project under consideration is to connect dynamos to the thousands of free bicycles available in Toulouse. The energy they generate could then be “harvested” overnight and used for streetlights or the national grid, Marciel said.