I saw this on a blog the other day and I am stealing it. It’s called the Kyoto Oven and it quite possibly could change the landscape of Africa. The thing that I find interesting about these types of inventions is that they will require a change in habits. I mentioned this oven to a friend who is familiar with African culture and practices (she’s been there and lived it) and she thought, ” Yeah, its great but what about cooking at night?”. I have to admit the solar oven might have some issue there, but you could change the way you do things. 1) Precook your dinner before the sun went down. 2) Boil lots of water while the sun is shining and store it in a cool place. 3) Make a couple of them yourself and sell them.

In order to make the serious changes we are going to have to make in the world to sustain the current inhabitants and bring everyone’s quality of life up, we are going to have to change habits.  I think we have used this one before, the same thinking that got us where we are isn’t going to get us to where we need to be.  I think everyone in the world should read, at least, the first chapter of Thomas Freidman’s book Hot, Flat, and Crowded to get a little perspective twist on how we all live and how much we need to change.  Or there is a talk he gave on it that I haven’t watched yet.

Micah Baginski

I just got the most recent issue of Good magazine and am seriously impressed.  They have consistently delivered on their promise of being “An entertaining magazine for people who give a damn” but this time they stepped things up quite a bit.

It’s called reinventing our wheels and has more than 10 different pieces on the state of our transportation system here in America and what we can do to fix it. The writing is inspired and the topic is more relevant than ever not to mention that they chose to get away from the “Obama is awesome” message that every other magazine in the country is writing about (not that they do not like him its just that they were smart enough to write about something else instead of more bla bla bla about how amazing he is).

So here is a little pat on the back to the folks over at Good Magazine who continue to put together something with a heart and soul. Keep it up!

But it would not be right to have such a glowing review without a jab right? OK so here is the deal – the full back page is a Ralph Lauren Rugby ad….Are you kidding guys? Does anyone still buy Ralph Lauren Rugby clothes? Do they even still sell those? I can not believe how some brands survive for so long. Some things were meant to last 6 months then go out of style…Rugby gear…Yeah its one of those things.

Levi

The book was really good, but a movie? Hmm…

Ok, so the YouTube link  I put up here is now broken (so sad) now you have to jump over here to see the video I put up.

I did my homework, spent the time, ran around the building enough times and now I am finally ready to make my decision.

Twitter is lame. Twitter has no place in my life. Sorry Tweetheads. I am out.

I like good simple design especially when its done with an eye towards sustainability. The best designs disappear into your surroundings and subtly make things easier. I recently heard about a movie that the local designer Matthew Lechowick is working on getting The Crest to show – its called Objectified and by the looks of the trailer its a really well done look at the people behind the products. The thing is, Matthew needs our help convincing the Crest to show the film. So… want to help out? All you need to do is send an email to Sid Heberger over at the Crest to let him know you want to see it. Sid’s email is Sid@thecrest.com.

The Hummer….

Its now been proven that people who drive Hummers get nearly 5 times as many tickets as the average driver…Ouch.

As if you needed another reason not to buy one.

Levi Benkert

It all had to start somewhere….

Don’t know if you noticed but we have a pretty neat little calendar widget on the right of your screen where you can find out about upcoming events. Some are things that we are doing like open houses and such and others are things that we heard about and think you might want to go see. If you find anything interesting send it our way, our goal is to have the calendar stocked full of local happenings and we need your eyes to help spot the cool events.

Levi Benkert

This is one area where I guess I am a little behind on things. It seems I can not go a day without someone new telling me that they are getting a lot out of twitter and that they can not believe I am not using it.

If you don’t know what Twitter is let me give you a brief run down. The site describes itself this way: “Twitter is a service for friends, family, and co–workers to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent answers to one simple question: What are you doing?”

I however would put it more simply. The site is like a blog but shorter. Short and sweet and 9 out of 10 times pointless..,Sorry for the jab there I just can’t seem to make out why its worth more of our time to update the nameless faceless crowds on your daily routine.

So… Here is the question of the day. Are you into Twitter? If so, why? Convince me please.

Levi Benkert

I keep hearing how everyone is so excited about the new Times Square ball and how its oh so much more efficient than the one they used last year. Does anyone get that this thing is only going to be lit for a short and that somewhere in the region of 1,000,000 people are going to be traveling to see the thing? I am puzzled how the energy saved on that ball matters at all when its a part of such a wasteful event. Not that I would never go but I just don’t get why that matters at all.

PHILIPS LIGHTING provided the new solid state lighting technology for the Ball, resulting in an astounding increase in impact, energy efficiency, and color capabilities. Capable of creating a palette of more than 16 million colors and billions of possible patterns, the 32,256 Philips Luxeon LEDs in this year’s Ball represent more than three times the number of LEDS used last year, to deliver a brighter and more beautiful New Year’s experience than ever before. And this year’s Ball is 10-20% more energy efficient than last year’s already energy-efficient Ball, consuming only the same amount of energy per hour as it would take to operate two traditional home ovens.

Whooo Hoo?!?  Did you hear that two home ovens! Amazing.

Levi Benkert