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Mississippi Flood

Homeowners in Flood Zone Erect Their Own Levee. Great example of self-reliance

H/T  Time, Inc Photo Scott Olson / Getty Images High Dirt walls surround a home near Vicksburg, May 18, 2011.

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Design Out Crime

The Design Out Crime project is developing innovations in technology, services and product design which help make mobile phones more crime-proof. Three teams of designers and technology experts have developed innovative, marketable solutions to tackle mobile phone crime.

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PufferFish

Launched at TED in 2010. Multitouch, interactive display system part of the collaboration between seeper and PufferFish.

Right-on:

We took the sphere out to TED 2010 ‘Innovation Lounge’, loaded with a series of four unique applications, Voronoi, Fluids, Drip and Flow Field.

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We believe

Why we do what we do message about dare+

Each year we take a morning to sit down and remember what it is we do. Usually around the first week of May when spring is in full swing in New York and the seasonal temperature is truly wonderful. We honour this charter, not in a sappy way but in a ‘raise your glass and salute the whisky gods’ that oversee design for good blessings. Thanks to all our clients, friends, family and loved ones for putting up with us (family especially know the long hours and dedication).

dare+ new york

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Standing Up

NYTimes reports in the article “Is All That Sitting Really Killing Us?” the associated heath risks of sitting down for long stretches. It takes courage to stand up at work. I’m not talking about sticking your neck out, speaking truth to power or anything else so dramatic. I mean it literally; it is hard to find a way to work standing up at your desk instead of sitting down.

I know this because I’ve spent several weeks trying to find the perfect way to work at my computer without a chair. (It truly feels odd at first, almost like cooking) The search was not quixotic; standing up is in vogue. Medical researchers (seeking out this particular research paper) have found that people who stand at work tend to be much healthier than those who sit, and there’s a large online subculture of stand-up fanatics who swear that getting rid of your chair will change your life. But I wasn’t just looking for better health; standing, I hoped, would also improve how I work.

Several video editors I know stand up, several have resumed an all round better posture by balancing on a yoga ball. In the end, it’s a matter of what you’re prepared to do to experiment with new choices and ideas.

Change is good, it’s a healthly fact.

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El Teide timelaspe

Spectacularly beautiful. Starts slow and graceful.

Filmed at El Teide. Spain´s highest mountain @(3715m) is one of the best places in the world to photograph the stars and is also the location of Teide Observatories, considered to be one of the world´s best observatories.

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Drinks Machine

Checking out this little nugget of Japanese wisdom (for emergencies)

Suntory vending machines have emergency levers beneath a sticker on the upper-right corners. Pull the sticker off, pull the lever firmly and you’ll get free drinks.

They built a backdoor into their own vending machines for emergencies and have followed up and gotten the information out there. Free juice for the weary! It was sleeping there the whole time, very Japanese.

Suntory Holdings Limited サントリーホールディングス株式会社, Established in 1899

Smart and A+ for the sheer thoughtfulness. h/t @hackernews via Timeout Tokyo

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Kafka Reconsidered

Kafka Redesign and Reconsidered Graphic

Whenever I’m asked which authors I’d most like to design jackets for, I always say Kafka. I mention others too, but Kafka is usually the first to spring to my mind.

Enjoying these elegant reconsidered cover designs (Like a shop window into the brilliance of the novel) h/t Jacket Mechanical

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35 Ways to Break a Habit

While we’re still in the first week of the New Year and everyone is in goal-setting and resolution-making mode, all or many of which undoubtedly entail doing something different, we need to admit to ourselves that sometimes our habits put us in a rut that we need to pull out of. And since a plethora of neurological studies show that doing new and different things spark brain activity, here are 35 ways to break a habit:

1. Go up steps right foot first.

2. Change the route you take to work.

3. Change your lunch hour.

4. Eat lunch with someone you haven’t before.

5. Eat lunch alone.

6. Put your pants on right leg first.

7. Put your jacket on left arm first.

8. Exercise if you don’t; change your routine if you do.

9. Read a section of the paper you normally pass over.

10. Listen to a radio station you don’t like.

11. Call someone you haven’t contacted in years.

12. Break an obligation (politely).

13. Commit yourself to something you’ve been avoiding.

14. Read a novel in a genre you’ve never tried.

15. Read a joke book.

16. Buy a book for a friend.

17. Go away for the weekend.

18. Turn your cell phone off all day.

19. Don’t eat dessert all weekend.

20. Take a long slow walk around your neighborhood as if you’re seeing it for the first time.

21. Volunteer for a charity.

22. Play a sport you’ve never tried.

23. Find some fresh flowers to smell.

24. Commit two jokes to memory.

25. Make up an occasion and throw a party.

26. Do nothing all day (bet you can’t).

27. Spend time with someone a generation older than you.

28. Spend time with someone a generation younger than you.

29. Do a crossword in pen.

30. Send a love letter.

31. Watch a PBS show that sounds boring.

32. Watch a game show and try to win.

33. Switch brands.

34. Watch a stranger and make up their life story.

35. Take a class unrelated to work or hobbies.

BONUS: Order something that isn’t on the menu, no matter what eatery you’re visiting.

Add to the list…I can think of at least 50 other ways. But I want to hear your ideas!

H/T Matthew May