Designs of the time: A New Approach to Design

Designs of the time: A New Approach to Design: "Eighty percent of the environmental impact of today's products, services, and infrastructures is determined at the design stage. Design decisions shape the processes behind the products we use, the materials and energy required to make them, the ways we operate them, and what happens to them when we no longer need them."

A meta phor all seasons

We have a place, all of us, in a long story--a story we continue, but whose end we will not see. It is the story of a new world that became a friend and liberator of the old, a story of a slave-holding society that became a servant of freedom....

It is the American story--a story of flawed and fallible people, united across the generations by grand and enduring ideals.

...

Through much of the last century, America's faith in freedom and democracy was a rock in a raging sea. Now it is a seed upon the wind, taking root in many nations.

Our democratic faith is an ideal we carry but do not own, a trust we bear and pass along.

Inaugural Address

Carbon finance could mean millions for Kenya

Carbon finance could mean millions for Kenya
In recent months, carbon finance has been widely praised, including endorsements from the U.N., the World Bank, and even the United States. Policymakers and environmentalists alike find the idea attractive because it could help fight climate change at a low cost while improving living standards for some of the world's poorest people and preserving biodiversity and other ecosystem services.

Mongabay.com analysis of U.N. deforestation data suggests that an avoided deforestation initiative could be worth $4-36 million per year to Kenya, depending on how much deforestation it could "avoid" and the market price for carbon offsets.

Between 2000 and 2005 Kenya lost an average of 12,000 hectares of forest per year according to figures from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). How much carbon does this represent? At the low end, FAO estimates that each hectare of Kenyan forest stores an average of 76 metric tons of carbon in above-ground biomass (more exists in below-ground biomass, dead wood, vegetation litter, and soil) that would be otherwise released by deforestation and subsequent land conversion for agriculture or pasture. Other research suggests that net carbon released from deforestation of secondary and primary tropical forest, allowing for the carbon fixed by subsequent land use, is of the order of 100-200 metric tons per hectare. So deforestation in Kenya releases on the order of 76-150 metric tons of carbon for each hectare of cleared or converted for agriculture. As such, Kenya's annual deforestation rate of 12,000 hectares may produce 912,000-1,800,000 tons of carbon emissions per year.

see also
http://www.fao.org/newsroom/en/news/2005/1000176/index.html

Global warming: plants are not to blame - SciDev.Net

Global warming: plants are not to blame - SciDev.Net: "

Plants are not to blame for climate change, according to a statement issued this week (18 January) by the researchers who reported eight days ago that plants emit up to a third of the methane — a potent greenhouse gas — in the atmosphere.

Speaking to SciDev.Net, Keppler said he wanted to make three points clear to the public.

First, their findings do not mean that reforestation programmes should be condemned. Trees absorb carbon dioxide, the most important greenhouse gas, so planting them is still beneficial.

When the methane emitted by trees is taken into account, says Keppler, the benefits of planting trees to absorb atmospheric carbon dioxide diminish by just one to four per cent — a negligible effect.

Secondly, changes in the overall amount of methane emitted by plants — including changes that could worsen global warming — are likely to be caused by human activities such as deforestation.

Finally, they say that much more research is needed to discover how methane emissions from plants vary according to species, temperature, humidity, sunlight and other factors, as well as how these emissions might change as the environment does.

"

VIRGIN EARTH CHALLENGE

VIRGIN EARTH CHALLENGE

To encourage a viable technology which will result in the net removal of anthropogenic, atmospheric greenhouse gases each year for at least ten years without countervailing harmful effects. Today, Sir Richard Branson and Al Gore announced the setting up of a new Global science and technology prize – The Virgin Earth Challenge – in the belief that history has shown that prizes of this nature encourage technological advancements for the good of mankind. The Virgin Earth Challenge will award $25 million to the individual or group who are able to demonstrate a commercially viable design which will result in the net removal of anthropogenic, atmospheric greenhouse gases each year for at least ten years without countervailing harmful effects. This removal must have long term effects and contribute materially to the stability of the Earth’s climate.

Democrat & Chronicle: Local News

Golisano helps high school go high-tech

Students at Bishop Kearney to get laptops, new curriculum

Erica Bryant
Staff writer

(February 14, 2007) — Starting in September, every student at Bishop Kearney High will get a laptop and the school will get a high-tech upgrade designed to better prepare its graduates for work in the global economy.

Paychex Inc. founder Tom Golisano announced Tuesday that he planned to use his money and influence to make the traditionally Catholic institution the most technologically advanced high school in the United States.

In addition to the laptop computers, the campus will have a wireless network, and curriculum enhancements will incorporate practical life and business applications.

The school will also get a new name, Bishop Kearney High School / A Golisano Education Partner.

"The world has changed dramatically since I was in secondary school," said Golisano, who was greeted with a standing ovation at Tuesday's assembly of parents, students, teachers and alumni. "The cradle-to-grave security of large corporations is gone."

"Free La Foneras (Wireless Routers)

"Free La Foneras (Wireless Routers) From Fon
from O'Reilly Radar

By Brady Forrest

FON, the community WiFi-sharing startup, is giving away wireless routers to new members (Foneros). The routers are very small and portable -- perfect for travelers. Out of the box it supports broadcasting two SSIDs: a protected one for your home and a public one for your fellow Foneros.

Apple - Thoughts on Music

Apple - Thoughts on Music
or, how to do things with words.

Steve Job's essay is a modern masterpiece. Clear, well written, and well reasoned, and possibly the straw that will break the camel's back. The DRM camel, that is.

argparse

The argparse module: a Python command line parser

Web 2.0 ... The Machine is Us/ing Us

The Machine is Us/ing Us

Accordian couch

Very cool design....

| ARCchart | Blueprint : Is the Great UWB Wait over?

| ARCchart | Blueprint : Is the Great UWB Wait over?
Belkin’s cable-free four-port USB Hub enables PCs up to 30 feet away to access storage, printers, cameras and other stationary USB devices connected to the hub and comes with a USB-based UWB dongle for communication between the PC and the hub. The Belkin hub is priced at USD 200

UWB, with its primary vehicle wireless USB, can offer data rates up to a maximum of 480 Mbps over a distance of 30 m. UWB transmits information spread over a large width of radio spectrum (>500 MHz), generating radio energy at specific time instants.

(10 times more power efficient than Wi-Fi and 50 to 70 times more efficient than Bluetooth).

Domefest

Eluminati

Dome Theaters Exhibits & Installations Content & Research

Domeworks: Projection, Reception, Perception

How did we miss this?


Domeworks: Projection, Reception, Perception
Premiere of Schenectady Museum's Edison Media Project
October 3rd, 2006
Schenectady, NY

Domeworks' latest performance, "Projection, Reception, Perception", took place at the Schenectady Museum on October 3rd. Domeworks is a unique collaboration of visual and sounds artists performing in domed spaces.

Equally enthralling when viewed from both the inside and outside, the Domeworks geodesic hemisphere was lined with a lycra skin and lit up by a HAL-SX6. A number of media artists collaborated using live video processing, recorded videos, interactive visual language software, and an 8-channel surround sound system. Participating artists included Diana Slattery, Vonn New, Stephan Moore, and skfl (Jason Steven Murphy), Johnathan Lee Marcus, Scott Smallwood, Chris Harvey, and David McConville.

The event was sponsored in part by the Elumenati and was the premiere performance in the Schenectady Museum's new Edison Media Project series.

Red Planet Mars inflatable globe
36ft. Diameter Inflatable Planet Mars
with internal illumination
http://www.creatableinflatables.com/inflatable_globes.htm

Cubex portable planetarium

CUBEX Inflatable Dome The dome of the CUBEX is an inflatable dome measuring 4, 5, 6 or 7 meters in diameter. It is inflated by a three-speed fan that continuously blows air into its interior. To enter and exit, the highest blowing speed is used to compensate for air that is lost. Once the audience is inside, the fan’s speed is reduced to its lowest speed to maintain a quiet, continuous airflow that keeps the dome inflated and the interior comfortably ventilated. The dome fabric is a blackout type and has a fire retardant treatment that meets the NFPA-701 standard. A FR (fire retardancy) certificate is furnished with each dome. Its complete opacity ensures optimum darkness and thus the best sky possible, regardless of the lighting outside the dome. Entrance to the dome is quick, comfortable and safe. The two meter high entrance is easily opened and closed with a doble-sided, easy to grasp zipper. Both the exterior and interior colour of the dome shown above are silver grey, but the inner one could be white as well. A white colored inside surface is more reflective, but grey is much less susceptible to dirt. The white color works fine for optomechanical star projectors, like Cubex, but it is not convenient to be used with full video projectors. An inside grey color is good for full dome video projection and star projection as well, and this is the recommendable choice if these two types of projection are the anticipated uses for the dome. Since the dome does not have a floor, emergency evacuation is instantaneously and safely achieved by simply lifting the dome over the audience’s heads and to one side, exposing the interior in seconds. The dome is remarkably lightweight. At only 18 Kg. (39 lbs) for the 5 meters one, it is the lightest one available for its size. It can be transported by one person with a minimum of effort. Once folded, the dome fits neatly in the provided carry bag. Dome Colors: The exterior color of the dome is available in a Royal Blue color. View Cubex dome color swatch. Our company name and data are never visibly printed on our domes. Dome Meaurements: The figure on the right shows the 5 meters CUBEX dome measurements. The Cubex dome is made in four sizes: 4, 5, 6 and 7 meters. All them are equal in every aspect of their design and function.

Whisher

Use Whisher to treat anyone's Wi-Fi like it's your own

By Rafe Needleman – January 30, 2007, 4:10 AM PST

There's a new Wi-Fi sharing service launching at Demo 07: Whisher. This service competes with Fon, but has a very different architecture. (See News.com story.)

The Whisher client app.

(Credit: Whisher)

Fon asks its customers to install Fon-powered Wi-Fi access points on their broadband connections, and it makes them all into a global shared network. Whisher, by contrast, collects the access keys to the existing routers that its subscribers already use. In other words, to put your broadband connection on the Whisher network, you give the service your Wi-Fi access point's ID and security code (WEP or WPA key), and then Whisher holds that information in proxy for its other subscribers.

Subscribers use the Whisher software to connect to access points on the Whisher network. The actual passwords that Whisher transmits are not revealed to subscribers.

Clearly, it's a much simpler way to build a co-op network of access points, since it doesn't require dedicated hardware.

It is, however, a scary proposition from a security perspective. With Whisher, anyone who gains access to a Wi-Fi access point can put it on the network. Whisher founder Ferran Moreno said, "As long as you can connect, we assume you are the owner." But that's not the case: Once you give your network's Wi-Fi key to friends or employees, any of them could put your Wi-Fi on the Whisher network, and you might never know it--until you find strangers on your LAN and no bandwidth left for the people who own it.

Vuvox

Vuvox: Beautiful online app makes snazzy multimedia presentations

By Rafe Needleman – January 31, 2007, 3:28 PM PST

(Credit: CNET Networks)

Jaman

Jaman cuts out the middleman and lets independent North American filmmakers and South American and South Asian filmmakers get their cinematic works online. For a fee of $1.99 to rent and $4.99 to buy, people can then sift through and watch any of the 200-plus films in their stable. And, Jaman.com brags, the films are delivered via broadband with "better-than-DVD quality" to a Mac or PC.

Jaman's video player (playing 4:3 content)

(Credit: CNET Networks)

The social-network quality is the "smart window" to the right of the video window where filmmakers' commentary, along with community commentary, is posted. You can choose to skip fellow viewers' editorializing, or navigate right to scenes with comments by the bar on the bottom of the screen.o