Monthly Archives: May 2008

ElliptiGO: Run Ride Glide

I saw this at MakerFaire last month and thought it was a fantastic idea. Just goes to show, if you want something and can’t find it, build it.

“The elliptiGO glide bike combines the best aspects of running and cycling to create a fun and effective means of exercising outdoors.”

Interview with the Maker:

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Filed under Design

Know the signs…

Word.

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Filed under Random

Infoporn

I like information and I’m a very visual person. One of my favorite sections of any Wired magazine is the couple pages dubbed “infoporn” which display some sort of statistical information in a creative and potentially impactful way.

Bar and Pie charts just don’t cut it anymore.

I recently stumbled across a site that will give me my pretty data fix whenever I need it. Enter infosthetics.com, a blog dedicated to data visualization and visual design, that scours the nets for interesting infographics.

See links to things represented like:

Gas price by county


An average american’s spending habits

Or videos visualizing Greenhouse Gas production

Or the romantic aspirations of thousands of online daters.

See things in different ways.

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Filed under Design, Education, trends, Video

Flobots: Fight With Tools

“There is a war going on for your mind.”

Those were the first words I heard when Summer put the Flobots on and I was immediately interested. The beats and grooves are strong, but, and far more importantly, the words are poetic and they have a message.

I love music, but I’m not often moved by music.

In the song “We are winning”, an elderly woman, speaks over layers of strings:

” Butterfly wing crosswinds send black hawks toward hurricane survivors
Roses sprout from empty lots and sidewalk cracks
Pacifist guerrillas move undetected through concrete jungles
New forms are beginning to take shape
Once-occupied minds are activating
People are waking up
The insurgency is alive and well

We are building up a new world
Do not sit idly by
Do not remain neutral
Do not rely on this broadcast alone
We are only as strong as our signal
There is a war going on for your mind
If you are thinking you are winning
Resistance is victory
Defeat is impossible
Your weapons are already in hand
Reach within you and find the means by which to gain your freedom
Fight with tools
Your fate and that of everyone you know depends on it”

Your weapons are already in hand.

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Filed under music, Random

WAC Oregon – Speaker: Stephen Lewis

World AIDS Orphans Day was Wednesday.

From Scouts.org:

World AIDS Orphans Day will occur on 7 May. More than 25 million children worldwide have lost one or both parents to AIDS – equivalent to the number of people living in New York, Paris, Rome and Bangkok combined. In sub-Saharan Africa alone, 12 million children have been orphaned by the pandemic. In addition to being especially vulnerable to all forms of exploitation, these children face financial difficulties, disease, and stigmatisation.

Short Notice: The World Affairs Council of Oregon, the Portland Area Global AIDS Coalition (PAGAC), and Unitarian Universalist Global AIDS Coalition (UUGAC) are hosting Stephen Lewis at the First Unitarian Church of Portland tonight.

Stephen Lewis is the co-director of AIDS-Free World (www.aids-freeworld.org), and was the United Nations Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa from 2001 – 2006, his extensive career in the fields of diplomacy, politics, activism and humanitarian work includes roles as Deputy Executive Director of UNICEF and Canadian Ambassador to the United Nations.

He is a powerful, motivating speaker that you shouldn’t miss.

Full info HERE

Details:

Friday, May 9, 2008
First Unitarian Church of Portland
SW 12th and Main

Stephen Lewis 7:00 p.m.
Action Fair 6:00 p.m. & 8:30 p.m.
$5-15 Admission (sliding scale)

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Filed under Personal, Portland, WAC

Maker Faire: Photos

I’m not sure when I’ll find the time to title, tag, and describe each of the photos from Maker Faire. I’ve got them up on my Flickr page now so those of you that don’t want to wait, or want to interpret for yourself what it is you’re looking at, please feel free to browse, comment, critique, etc… That way, when I do get around to describing them you’ll be able to see if you were right! (this is my way of encouraging you to look while rationalizing my laziness)

Anyway, in brief summary, Maker Faire was awesome and inspiring. There are so many people out there with excellent ideas that are doing something about them and with 65,000+ attendees, there are a lot of people interested in those ideas.

I love ideas, more on that later.

for now, the pictures.

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Filed under Design, Education, Fun, Photography, Random