Kevin Kelley on Reading
Books were good at developing a contemplative mind. Screens encourage more utilitarian thinking. A new idea or unfamiliar fact will provoke a reflex to do something: to research the term, to query your screen “friends” for their opinions, to find alternative views, to create a bookmark, to interact with or tweet the thing rather than simply contemplate it.
Book reading strengthened our analytical skills, encouraging us to pursue an observation all the way down to the footnote. Screen reading encourages rapid pattern-making, associating this idea with another, equipping us to deal with the thousands of new thoughts expressed every day. The screen rewards, and nurtures, thinking in real time.
Infographic: Communism and the Financial Crisis
See Wifi Range in Augmented Reality
Wireless in the world 2 from timo on Vimeo.
On Energy Security
On LifeBoxing and Fungi
This is pretty cool. It’s cardboard box lined with seeds and particular fungi to accelerate growth. Whats even more interesting though, is their backend product, the seed mix.
H/T to Greendemon.
Shlok in Boston
Headed up to Boston tomorrow and I’ll be there until the 3′rd. May have some free time so feel free to ping me.
$100/sqft Prefab Housing
Very cool. At this price point, this is the kind of system that can be adapted to a new kind of joint household. (For the West anyway.)
This stunning steel-framed modular housing system is set to debut next week at the Dwell on Design in Los Angeles. Designed by by Phoenix-based ASUL Adaptable Systems, the prefabricated modular construction system is projecting an amazing $100 per square foot in construction costs, and it even allows for customization that allows the homes to adapt to a wide range of sites.
Square Foot Garden + 4 Days
My okra and squash are showing already!
My Square Foot Garden And You Can Too
Finally got around to building my own garden. Pretty excited about it. I’m using the square foot gardening methodology. It uses a special mix of soil in a raised bed. The full writeup on the process is after the break for anyone interested.
More China Faking Legitimacy
Cory -
Chinese entrepreneurs are renting random white guys to pretend to be visiting businessmen, and to lend an aura of general Being Connected to the West to business meetings, conferences and receptions:
LOL
Tim Lynch on Development
In the face of high risk and uncertainty; small agile mission focused organizations will function where large bureaucratic organizations fail. How much longer will it take before somebody at the top of our government figures this out? We are swamped with hundreds of FOB bond bureaucrats who have all the good intentions in the world and can explain in excruciating detail exactly why they can’t translate their good intentions and piles of OPM (other peoples money) into effective projects. Good losers lose and I am sick and tired of being on the side that is losing due to self imposed constraints.
Amazing, Cheap, DIY Soil Moisture Sensor
This is brilliant way to start with testing soil on your own. You can get very creative with the data coming out of this sensor (or keep it simple). Great blog BTW.
Idea: Kickstarter as Venture Capital
Kickstarter‘s pretty cool. For example, their platform enables you to follow organizations seeking funding, and see the number of people invested in it. That’s great for its target audience. But to really turn loose the power of micro-angels, you have to focus on the other side of the equation and build a platform that’s focused on the investors.
This means building a new, companion platform. It would be pretty cheap and a lot of fun with plenty of payoff. Some key features:
- Empower investors to collect influence and reputation for their investments. Encourage this through enabling people to see investor profiles. The kinds of things you’re interested in, how they’ve done.
- Enable partial payments. Rather than all-or-nothing, staggered benchmarks for iterative development. For example, if I’m building a shed, slice it into a few different chunks – foundation, walls, roof, finish. Price out each step, show results, garner feedback, then solicit funding for the next step.
- Biggest difference is you have enforce tangible returns for their investment (feel-good entrepreneurship isn’t sustainable) – even though returns will, 90% of the time, be long-run and low, it’s something, and it reinforces people’s attraction to a particular cause. Now they’ve got something to win in addition to lose. More people will play ball.
Go Vote for ShareCrop
The name needs some work, but its a pretty cool project along the lines of OurHarvest. They’re in the running to land $50k to build it as part of this contest. Go vote.
