As a father of one --and trust me, my one counts for six of yours-- I can appreciate good product design when it comes to kid's toys/games/books/clothes, because it's easy to tell which designers actually have kids and which designers have "temporary" nieces and nephews. Well, the Spoon Sisters not only carry products with the child in mind, they also design with parents, imagination, and brain encompassed in both the form and function of their products.
I was originally apprehensive about the following item, but they're really starting to grow on me. At first, the Constructive Eating Utensils seemed pretty unnecessary. When I was a child, the bulldozer and backhoe and front loader already existed in my brain factory, so why would anyone ever need to spend $20 on something that simply recreated what already existed in the imagination? Same goes for the Airplane Spoon. Then I relaxed, pulled my panties out of a ball and realized that they're toys. Kids love toys. And the fact that there aren't any batteries in this toy and it doesn't make any sounds (non-kid manufactured sounds, at least), makes it A-OK in my book.
Your kids will be happy to hear it’s now okay to play with their food! Here is a set of eating utensils disguised as construction tools. Created by a husband and wife team with three kids, these utensils are scaled for little hands to hold. The set is composed of a "Fork Lift" Fork, “Bulldozer” Pusher and our personal favorite, the "Front Loader" Spoon. We all know little boys love trucks, but we’re sure as soon as "sis" sees these, she’s going to want a set too. Handles are textured to make for easy gripping. The PVC-free, phthalate-free plastic is rugged, lightweight and dishwasher safe. Fork and Spoon measure 5 3/4”L x 1" W; Pusher is 4 ¼”L x 1”W. Price: $19.95
While you're there, why not pick up another design favorite for your environmentally friendly clothes line (it's almost Summer!), Swallow Clothes Pins? They need to make a really long pin in the shape of a squirrel for those heavy sheets. And possibly some tightrope walkers. And maybe some guys riding a zipline. I could go on and on...
I haven't seen much on the blogfront in terms of HVAC and refrigeration since the Freeaire craze of last year (now installed in Killington, VT, where they estimate they're now saving more than 86,389 kilowatt hours of electricity, while eliminating an estimated 58 tons of global-warming CO2 emissions annually!!!), so I thought I might see what's on the horizon...
My search brought me to Ice Energy's Ice Bear, an amazingly simple concept with an equally simple installation procedure (off-the-shelf easy).
Similar to Freeaire, the Ice Bear utilizes cool air conditions to reduce power consumption. Whereas the Freeaire system requires frigid conditions to operate at maximum efficiency, the Ice Bear condenses and freezes water at night when energy consumption is less costly. It then holds the frozen water in an insulated storage tank until daytime when the weather warms.
As the warmer daytime temperatures engage the air conditioning, the refrigerant is forced through the coils in the stored ice and chilled before being pushed in to the building's HVAC ducts, thus providing a cool stream of efficiently refrigerated air.
The Ice Bear® 50 system has a capacity of 50 Ton hours of cooling, including 45 latent + sensible and an additional 5 sensible only. The unit provides 7.5 Tons of cooling capacity for 6 hours of continuous cooling.
Typical configurations:
-7.5 Ton for 6 hours -5 Ton for 8 hours or more -Offloading of 10 Ton rooftop unit, where 10 Ton unit is oversized due to high rooftop temperatures -Offloading one stage of a 10, 15, or 20 Ton, 2-stage rooftop unit
There is also a residential unit capable of eliminating up to 95% of on-peak air conditioning demand. And as an added bonus:
Assists LEED certification
-Adds 3 or more points to the Energy and Atmosphere credits
-Contributes to Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) credits
-Brings Thermal Energy Storage (TES) enabling performance to refrigerant based air-conditioning projects
Now, since the Ice Bear claims to use an equal or lesser amount of energy --in addition to delivering a consistent capacity on 95+ degree days with no degradation in performance and no increase in power consumption-- I'm interested to see if this concept could be hacked to eliminate the majority of the power usage all together.
Consider a location like Kuwait that has an average January low of 45 degrees Fahrenheit and an average August high of 112 (the low for that month is a crisp 83 degrees)! With the exception of brown-outs caused by dust storms throughout June and July, I think it's safe to say that the area is drenched in sun.
So why not saturate the rooftop in solar, submerge the unit's storage containers underground to twice-insulate their exteriors from the harsh conditions,* and store the daytime energy in batteries for nightfall, using the saved energy to refreeze the cores at night?
*You're only depth-limited by accessibility...sink the parking 5-10 floors below the building and you could run the unit subterraneaously, making it even more efficient, but still accessible for repairs.Check some of the commercial case studies and decide for yourself. I think there are benefits that exceed the burden of peak consumption. I just don't have the book learnin' to prove it.
Tired of the looking for a vegetarian meal in a marinated meat market?
Exhausted in your search for a patchouli-scented siren?
Need some spark in your hookah?
Dreaming of a dreadlocked darling to hacky your sackey?
Want to put the us in your Prius?
I could go on and on...seriously, I could.
But I digress...
While I'm long-since out of the dating pool (thank Ganesh!) with a lovely wife and a healthy-boweled17 month-old son, this little website was still able to catch my eye. To each their own, so why not the tree-hugging set, right?
Ethical Singles: The Matchmaking Service for People who Care about Humans, Animals and the Environment.
OUR MEMBERS INCLUDE: -Green business practitioners! -Vegan vixens! -Organic farmers! -Eco-warriors! -Human rights supporters! -Pacifists! -Wildlife protectors! -Earth-friendly consumers!
I wonder if you can be both pacifist and Eco-warrior, trudging into battle with a bulletless, flower-filled rifle stock? I have a feeling the soldier might look a little something like this... It’s free to join, and as an added bonus there aren't any uppity couples gushing over one another in TV spots.
Hippie love is a wonderful thing. That reminds me, can you believe it's almost time for Comfest?
ADACTO software has been designed to enable everyone, from the designer to the final consumer, to create their own radiator, giving the option to learn about its technical details as well as its prices.
With just a few easy and spontaneous steps, a very neat graphic display and a defined sequence, ADACTO design programme gives infinitives choices and possibilities of realization. Forms, colours and sizes, can be simulated in just a few seconds.
My only problem, however, is with the North/South designs such as the one below...
The vertically mounted radiator is entirely unnecessary. The circulated air --especially pre-shower in a bathroom-- will be cooler near the ceiling, where heat is not required. Similarly, in the first picture with the maroon radiator in the living room, the radiator is mounted far too high. The radiant heat will barely reach the space below it, thus wasting even more energy.
You always want it to be warmer near the floor for maximum comfort, yes? So why not spec them out to be horizontally mounted chest/waist-high or lower? Otherwise you're just making it cozy for the light fixtures.
You could even mount it as a raised baseboard along the length of a wall. The radiator would extend slightly off of the surface and add depth, while breaking the monochrome paint/tile.
Well, this past week, I witnessed a State Farm ad in which an African American male stands in suit and spandex, embarrassed about how he needed to switch from four wheels to two because of recent surges in gas prices. He stood on a giant velvet red dot as the announcer proclaimed how "State Farm could get you back behind the wheel by saving you hundreds of dollars on car insurance." Saddened by his bicycle dilemma, the male unlocks his bike to head home as a coworker happens by, sarcastically noting, "Nice pants, Jim." Not only can he not afford to drive, but the ladies don't like his red bicycle shorts.
Needless to say, I wasn't very appreciative of the ad. Was the cyclist really put in the same situation as the yellow-plated DUI offenders of the world, mortified by the hollow gaze of his peers in the company parking lot? If anything, I hope we can say that his embarrassment was a result of his outfit. The spandex/suit jacket doesn't really work all too well, so why go aerodynamic solely from the waist-down?
Anywhoo, Streetsblog approached it wonderfully and the comment gates opened up, offering them a little more than they anticipated in terms of action. Here are some of my favorites from their contributing masses:
#12. Dan o: "...if they're trying to get crossover life insurance business, where's the guy's helmet?"
#17. Steve Ardrey: "...I routinely commute to work by public transit and BICYCLE. This keeps my mileage for insurance below 5k a year thus lowering my insurance rates."
#20. Ubrayj02: "This ad presents the option of riding a bike to work (instead of driving) as an emasculating, humiliating, experience - which will leave you struggling with a bike lock outside of work while your car-driving coworkers breeze by.
The skinny pants are meant to show how vulnerable men's genitals will be if they dare to use their bike to get around..."
Turns out, what I thought was just another good post --Freudian genital analyzation included-- was actually quite engaging. Apparently the blogbees buzzed loud enough that Streetsblog author Aaron Naparstekreceived a response (in the comment section, no less) from State Farm's Director of Marketing Communications, Tim Van Hoof. A proactive response to a legitimate customer concern...in a technologically advanced medium such as a blog? Huh?!?! You can read that HERE. Be sure to check out the comments, also.
So basically...(Great post + Great comments) x Great response = My new favorite blog.
Quite some time ago there was an article in Good Magazine titled, Decongestion: Five innovations in urban transportation that you won't find in America, yet. I was really impressed with Copenhagen and the length the Danes went to to create a bicycle-friendly city, so much so that we sent the link out to anyone and everyone that had local influence over urban planning and design. That was then. Now that the Mid Ohio Regional Planning Commission is looking for comments and suggestions as to the future of downtown Columbus, I thought nothing of forwarding the terrific StreetFilm links. Surprisingly, I received a direct response with 30 minutes from one of the Principal Planners, and hope that they truly take some of these wonderful ideas to heart.
Now, considering I was almostclipped twice last week on my ride home from work, the issue hit pretty close to home. While both of the aforementioned near-crash instances were a result of text-while-driving idiots, Ohio continues to ignore the implementation of hands-free laws nationwide. If this continues, it's safe to say (literally) that I want as much space as possible between us and them. Cement/trees/cars/pylons/unicorn statues...whatever.
What's more, is the fact that you can make some tremendously interesting barriers. While the parked cars typically act as the traditional buffer between cyclist and traffic, it's also possible to liven them up, adding trees and shrubs to the space and giving the metro area some greenscape in a place typically void of such surroundings. The more green downtown, the better.
See the StreetFilm argument for yourself:
And their movies are really catching on. Over the last year, StreetFilms has received over 500,000 views. While that might not be monkey-drinking-its-own-pee kind of numbers, it's huge when you consider genre-specific nature.
I am both sad and ecstatic at the prospect of spring...
The snow is officially gone and we have crawled out of our winter dens. I've been biking (weather permitting) to and from work as often as I can, and it feels great to be in motion again. I've packed on some winter pounds and with gas prices as high as ever, I can't think of a reason not to commute on two wheels.
But alas, as I put petal to the pavement I can't help but notice a grime. A filth. A yuck.
In addition to avoiding the 9,487,341,245 potholes from our city's use of cheap, non-Snowbelt grade pavement, I've found myself bouncing over bottles, swerving past cigarette packs, riding around wrappers, a flailing over fast food bags.
The snow plows, while adept at pushing snow off of our roads, also transport and and all rubbish to the curbside. Seeing as we've (yet) to install any bike lanes on any of our streets, this has left for some utterly disgusting rides.
Wanna see what I'm talking about?
You get this:
From this:
Welcome to beautiful Columbus.
Anywhoo...
In honor of Earth Day weekend --!April 25th-27th!-- my firm is sponsoring a clean-up at a Frisbee golf course near Grigg's Reservoir (it doesn't get anymore hippie than that), as well as an all-office/landscape scrubbing around the perimeter of our building (we happen to be situated at the north end of a quarry and the wind blows all the trash our direction, so we're constantly flooded with garbage).
I'm thinking I might need to extend that clean-up to my ride home. I encourage anyone and everyone who reads this little hole-in-the-wall to do the same.
Grab a biodegradable bag and a pair of gloves and hit your street/school/church/work/park/library/bar. Help get some of this disgusting grime off our roads.
The forsythia is about to bloom, so why not make a better backdrop for her pictures.
Columbus Forsythia picture from Flickr user jfsl3.
Interior specialist and New Design pioneer, Philipe Starck, has told German weekly newspaper Die Zeit that design is dead, and that all of his work has been" unnecessary and materialistic." He states, "I [am] a producer of materiality and I am ashamed of this fact." As a result, Starck he plans on retiring in two years.
Say what he wants, but his Aprilia Moto 6.5 is purty. With gas prices booming I found myself window shopping for a commuter scooter, but I'd switch to one of these in a Mastercard minute.
Read on and see for yourself. Is design really dead?
BERLIN (AFP) — Renowned French designer Philippe Starck says he is fed up with his job and plans to retire in two years, in an interview published in a German weekly on Thursday.
"I was a producer of materiality and I am ashamed of this fact," Starck told Die Zeit weekly newspaper.
"Everything I designed was unnecessary.
"I will definitely give up in two years' time. I want to do something else, but I don't know what yet. I want to find a new way of expressing myself ...design is a dreadful form of expression."
Starck, who is known for his interior design of hotels and Eurostar trains and mass consumption objects ranging from chairs to tooth brushes and lemon juice squeezers, went on to say that he believed that design on the whole was dead.
"In future there will be no more designers. The designers of the future will be the personal coach, the gym trainer, the diet consultant," he said.
Starck said the only objects that he still felt attached to were "a pillow perhaps and a good mattress." But the thing one needs most, he added, was the "ability to love".
This site is not affiliated with my work and/or its clients and/or its vendors. The views expressed in this blog are solely the opinions of me, myself and I.
1) Everything is meant in good fun. 2) At this time, there is just too much cool stuff on the interwebs and this is my way of keeping track of it all. 3) My intent is to better familiarize myself with an industry I am only beginning to understand.
Well, where to begin? I graduated from Eckerd College in 2000 [St. Petersburg, FL] with a BA in International Law with a Concentration in Human Rights and Genocide Studies. After college I joined the Peace Corps, serving in the Republic of Kiribati in the South Pacific [2001-2003]. I am currently a Buyer for a design in OH.********As the world continues to accelerate and evolve, I am growing more and more fascinated with technology and design. Since I am not formally trained in either of those fields, this blog aims to showcase products/ideas/tech/people I like. Take it for what you will.********Lili Cheng once wrote, "A beautiful side effect of making things is you start to look around and wonder, 'how did they do that?'; you learn to see, analyze, and appreciate different approaches, well-made things, and clever solutions." Surrounded by creativity and cleverness, I can't help but find myself intrigued.
I have a wonderful wife and a healthy-boweled 1 year-old son.
Your kids will be happy to hear it’s now okay to play with their food! Here is a set of eating utensils disguised as construction tools. Created by a husband and wife team with three kids, these utensils are scaled for little hands to hold. The set is composed of a "Fork Lift" Fork, “Bulldozer” Pusher and our personal favorite, the "Front Loader" Spoon. We all know little boys love trucks, but we’re sure as soon as "sis" sees these, she’s going to want a set too. Handles are textured to make for easy gripping. The PVC-free, phthalate-free plastic is rugged, lightweight and dishwasher safe. Fork and Spoon measure 5 3/4”L x 1" W; Pusher is 4 ¼”L x 1”W.
Read on and see for yourself. Is design really dead?
