Have a look at this
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=-U-mvfjyiao
This is a very interesting idea and I was particularly drawn to a couple of aspects of this project (and not least that fact that it deals with one issue of rural poverty in a very down to earth way) ..
1. combination. Exploring the problem of clean water filtration AND the delivery of it, these guys have managed to create a solution that meets both needs. And this approach must surely stimulate further thinking about "and what else?" How might we use the same product to power a mobile phone or radio? How might we use it to dispose of waste materials? How might we use it to create some wealth?
2. prototyping. Its a shame that we dont see more of it in the video, but im always inspired to see the prototypes and mock-ups of emerging ideas. Whilst most people these days can (with a little effort) learn how to create a simple 3D visualization of an idea (check out the free google drawing tool - sketchup - http://sketchup.google.com/) Actually bringing an idea to life in-the-flesh so to speak is an amazingly powerful communicator of strange new concepts. When people can touch and "try" an idea for real, there is a far greater chance that they can understand the benefits that this idea brings (in addition to helping refine and develop the idea). Creating prototypes doesnt have to be difficult, as these guys demonstrate by cutting and pasting cardboard around a bicycle.
Thursday, 24 January 2008
Sunday, 20 January 2008
The Beauty of Incubation.
I have been getting increasingly frustrated by the fact that I am not making any progress on an idea i had a few months ago. I want to modify a Ukulele to create a "show instrument" - I will share the details another time. The conceptual idea came to me a few weeks ago and i created some initial sketches and got very excited about the project. I bought a cheap ukulele that would be the donor instrument and i bought a couple of components to start the modification... and then the project came to a halt as my time became overwhelmed with work and other engagements.
The Ukulele and my sketches have sat on my desk for the past 2 weeks waiting for me to get on and bring my vision to reality. And while this has been frustrating me, i haven't stopped thinking about it.
And now something really interesting has happened.....
During this time of no action, during telephone calls or while waiting for my PC to boot etc, ive been fiddling with some of the project components that have been lying on my desk. I've done little doodles and sketches on postit notes and ive day-dreamed about what it might be like to play this new instrument. And almost like a butterfly from its cocoon a fabulous new vision has emerged from my mind. The concept is still basically the same but the design and method of execution are now far better than i had originally planned or dreamed.
So whats happened in these 2 weeks of seemingly no action?
Well I think this is the power of INCUBATION. The process of letting ideas gently bake in your head. Letting the idea or challenge teeter on the edge of your conscious and unconscious mind and allowing it to make new connections and associations. I dont know where my latest inspiration came from, but i am happy to acknowledge that my mind has been doing much more thinking about this than i was aware of, and the result has re-excited me to get on and bring the concept to life.
Actively building Incubation time into a project might feeling like wasted time, but when better ideas emerge like they did for me, the evidence is clear - we should be courageous enough to walk away from thinking and doing sometimes, confident in the knowledge that this incubation time might actually be very productive
The Ukulele and my sketches have sat on my desk for the past 2 weeks waiting for me to get on and bring my vision to reality. And while this has been frustrating me, i haven't stopped thinking about it.
And now something really interesting has happened.....
During this time of no action, during telephone calls or while waiting for my PC to boot etc, ive been fiddling with some of the project components that have been lying on my desk. I've done little doodles and sketches on postit notes and ive day-dreamed about what it might be like to play this new instrument. And almost like a butterfly from its cocoon a fabulous new vision has emerged from my mind. The concept is still basically the same but the design and method of execution are now far better than i had originally planned or dreamed.
So whats happened in these 2 weeks of seemingly no action?
Well I think this is the power of INCUBATION. The process of letting ideas gently bake in your head. Letting the idea or challenge teeter on the edge of your conscious and unconscious mind and allowing it to make new connections and associations. I dont know where my latest inspiration came from, but i am happy to acknowledge that my mind has been doing much more thinking about this than i was aware of, and the result has re-excited me to get on and bring the concept to life.
Actively building Incubation time into a project might feeling like wasted time, but when better ideas emerge like they did for me, the evidence is clear - we should be courageous enough to walk away from thinking and doing sometimes, confident in the knowledge that this incubation time might actually be very productive
Monday, 14 January 2008
stop stopping yourself
It was raining and windy, and I was wet and cold. Still i was determined to press on.
I could have stayed at home and got on with something far more "important". In fact that would have been the easier (and certainly more comfortable option), but i had focused my mind to stop stopping myself.
Ive had an idea in my head for a couple of weeks; An idea that would result in a novel outcome. The outcome would be interesting but unlikely to change the world, and if i didn't actualize this idea no-one would miss out. However its an idea that keeps niggling away at me and is demanding my attention and so I am motivated to invest some effort to bring this idea to life. And so through the wind and rain I was walking determinedly into town to buy a tool to help me create this vision
The behaviours associated with a "deliberately creative" individual are not particularly astonishing. In fact they have been researched and documented many times over the past 50 years. Show most people this list of behaviours and they nod agreeingly.
Helping people to become more "deliberately creative" is not a question of teaching them a list of instructions, but more a challenge of helping them to stop stopping themselves from exploring, questioning and dreaming what might be.
Breaking old thinking habits is tougher than starting new ones
And so, despite my inner voices telling me that there were more pressing issues to be addressed (coincidently from the comfort of my warm office) I stopped myself from stopping myself and pressed on through one of the many barriers that i am sure i will face in this journey to create my new idea.
What is this idea?..... more on that later
I could have stayed at home and got on with something far more "important". In fact that would have been the easier (and certainly more comfortable option), but i had focused my mind to stop stopping myself.
Ive had an idea in my head for a couple of weeks; An idea that would result in a novel outcome. The outcome would be interesting but unlikely to change the world, and if i didn't actualize this idea no-one would miss out. However its an idea that keeps niggling away at me and is demanding my attention and so I am motivated to invest some effort to bring this idea to life. And so through the wind and rain I was walking determinedly into town to buy a tool to help me create this vision
The behaviours associated with a "deliberately creative" individual are not particularly astonishing. In fact they have been researched and documented many times over the past 50 years. Show most people this list of behaviours and they nod agreeingly.
Helping people to become more "deliberately creative" is not a question of teaching them a list of instructions, but more a challenge of helping them to stop stopping themselves from exploring, questioning and dreaming what might be.
Breaking old thinking habits is tougher than starting new ones
And so, despite my inner voices telling me that there were more pressing issues to be addressed (coincidently from the comfort of my warm office) I stopped myself from stopping myself and pressed on through one of the many barriers that i am sure i will face in this journey to create my new idea.
What is this idea?..... more on that later
Wednesday, 2 January 2008
an idea
heres an idea - and i give it as a gift to any airline who decides to pick it.
wouldnt it be great if airlines provided a service that allowed you to leave your winter-coat at the airport while you went away to your sunny holiday destination. And you simply picked it back up on your return - ready for your cold and damp trip back home
wouldnt it be great if airlines provided a service that allowed you to leave your winter-coat at the airport while you went away to your sunny holiday destination. And you simply picked it back up on your return - ready for your cold and damp trip back home
Wednesday, 28 November 2007
the sound of aliens
i want to create a music video. i have no experience or skill in video or music - not a very good start then.... but something is burning inside me, so maybe there is some natural resonance with music video - so maybe i should at least give it a go.
Actually i can strum a few chords on the Uke and youngest daughter has a sweet voice, and we both like quirk (be that musical or visual) so perhaps were not so far off getting something together.... what we dont have though is rhythm (or rather anything that can create a rhythm backing for us) so i thought id have a look on line for a free rhythm generator - Oh what fun! and if you ever need to waste a few hours you couldnt waste them better than playing with online drum looping machines :-)
I particularly liked this one - http://www.zefrank.com/sequencer/ - which is quick and intuitive, and i think will do well for our masterpiece.
if you go to the site you will see that its a simple bit of dragging and droping various elements onto a time line to create a rhythm loop - and a simple rhythm appears to have a simple symetry to the timeline and so i wondered if by starting with a simple symetrical image as the layout for the rhythm elements - would an interesting sound emerge as a result?.... i leave that for you to decide..... and no i wont be using this for our video
Tuesday, 27 November 2007
Social Networking forever
Im intregued by the all fuss in the media at the moment about the fact that stuff we put on our facebook / Myspace etc might one day come back to haunt us.
Yes i accept that online data may well be stored forever and that postings about your teen drug experiements could technically be dragged up in an interview one day (geez, if that isnt a sign of an employer you dont want to work for and you dont run the heck out of there then you deserve what evers coming to you) - but is it not going to be the case that all other candidates have got some postings of regretable darker past incidents as well? and if they havent got postings of them - why not? are they SO dark that they dare not blog of them?
What i think is interesting is that the people who are creating these scare-mongering stories about past blogs coming back to haunt you might be thinking this from an old world perspective. They are likely to have grown up when "on-line" was something dave lee-travis would have said of his next competition guest, or where your mum kept your favourite brown nylon planet-of-the-apes pants. That was a carefree age when we didnt have to think about our past effecting our future. But today our future might actually depend on our past.
Kids growing up "on-line" today will be the people who will be making the rules of tomorrow - and i dont think they will be fussed by all the data overload nonsense
and so this makes me think a couple of things....
1. If potential employers are going to search our past, might it be wise for us to be writing stuff that actually bigs us up - what? lieing? telling fibs? - and if this is the case then what can an employer really trust about what he reads on us - in the end its all nonsense
2. lets start a data-jamming circle. If we all shared one random bit of information about ourselves, then mixed all the data and applied everyone names to all the data - we'd all appear the same and - in the end its all nonsense
3. If anyone was to search my email - they would clearly see that my orders for drugs have been processed, My money laundering scam has been approved and i now have passwords for some of the hardest porn sites. there is SO much "data" on me, but in the end - its all nonsense
I, for one, am looking forward to the funny funny day when my youngest daughter truly wishes she hadnt posted some of those awful pictures of her posing in the shopping precinct with a bunch of mates, camera held at arms length, pouting overly glossed lips and premark shopping bags in hand
Yes i accept that online data may well be stored forever and that postings about your teen drug experiements could technically be dragged up in an interview one day (geez, if that isnt a sign of an employer you dont want to work for and you dont run the heck out of there then you deserve what evers coming to you) - but is it not going to be the case that all other candidates have got some postings of regretable darker past incidents as well? and if they havent got postings of them - why not? are they SO dark that they dare not blog of them?
What i think is interesting is that the people who are creating these scare-mongering stories about past blogs coming back to haunt you might be thinking this from an old world perspective. They are likely to have grown up when "on-line" was something dave lee-travis would have said of his next competition guest, or where your mum kept your favourite brown nylon planet-of-the-apes pants. That was a carefree age when we didnt have to think about our past effecting our future. But today our future might actually depend on our past.
Kids growing up "on-line" today will be the people who will be making the rules of tomorrow - and i dont think they will be fussed by all the data overload nonsense
and so this makes me think a couple of things....
1. If potential employers are going to search our past, might it be wise for us to be writing stuff that actually bigs us up - what? lieing? telling fibs? - and if this is the case then what can an employer really trust about what he reads on us - in the end its all nonsense
2. lets start a data-jamming circle. If we all shared one random bit of information about ourselves, then mixed all the data and applied everyone names to all the data - we'd all appear the same and - in the end its all nonsense
3. If anyone was to search my email - they would clearly see that my orders for drugs have been processed, My money laundering scam has been approved and i now have passwords for some of the hardest porn sites. there is SO much "data" on me, but in the end - its all nonsense
I, for one, am looking forward to the funny funny day when my youngest daughter truly wishes she hadnt posted some of those awful pictures of her posing in the shopping precinct with a bunch of mates, camera held at arms length, pouting overly glossed lips and premark shopping bags in hand
Wednesday, 24 October 2007
because he can
why would josh want to put so much effort into this? www.joshmillard.com/2007/10/04/retro-histo-making-an-image-fit-your-histogram/
clearly, because he can. And I for one celebrate it :-)
clearly, because he can. And I for one celebrate it :-)
guerilla art
what a lovely idea that we might create small works of public art that has nothing to do with making money, or listening to the ego.
Keri Smith has written a book (or maybe its more of a guide) on the subject of becoming a guerilla artist. check out www.kerismith.com/funstuff/guerilla.htm
I love the idea of leaving little suprises for random strangers and im particularly drawn to the idea of seed bombs - and that people would wake up in spring to find little clusters of lovely flowers growing on their front lawn :-)
Keri Smith has written a book (or maybe its more of a guide) on the subject of becoming a guerilla artist. check out www.kerismith.com/funstuff/guerilla.htm
I love the idea of leaving little suprises for random strangers and im particularly drawn to the idea of seed bombs - and that people would wake up in spring to find little clusters of lovely flowers growing on their front lawn :-)
Thursday, 27 September 2007
mines more of a twig
I am still laughing out loud.
I should be crying - im getting increasingly angry with the amount of spam that i get in my email these days. I remember listening to a "futurist" only 3 years ago who predicted the death of email which would come about due to 1) people feeling overloaded by CC'd tasks, and 2) the increasing torrent of spam. his solution was to charge people to send email. At the time that seemed an outragous proposal as surely the whole idea of email and internet was the freedom and freeness of it all. Sadly i'm starting to agree with his thinking. I wonder what difference would become of our work day if we were charged say 5 pennies for each email sent?
One thing for sure it would dramatically reduce the amount of spam we'd recieve.
I must recieve currently about 50 spam emails per day (and i know some people recieve many more) any suggestions for spam filters gratefully recieved :-) and what confuses me is just how unimaginative it all is. Can it really be true that the only thing that requires spam attention is rolex watches, stocks, software and penis patches? and as for the sales pitch, im guessing that the copy is being thrown together by some dropout schoolboys who dont have english as their first language. And so ive been getting very bored and frustrated with all this garbage coming into my inbox.... until today!.....
At last some spammer somewhere has got a grasp of the situation and engaged me.
His email contained no more than a hyperlink that said "our site" and the best ever one line sentence that is still making me laugh....
"your penis will make more shadow than a tree"
I should be crying - im getting increasingly angry with the amount of spam that i get in my email these days. I remember listening to a "futurist" only 3 years ago who predicted the death of email which would come about due to 1) people feeling overloaded by CC'd tasks, and 2) the increasing torrent of spam. his solution was to charge people to send email. At the time that seemed an outragous proposal as surely the whole idea of email and internet was the freedom and freeness of it all. Sadly i'm starting to agree with his thinking. I wonder what difference would become of our work day if we were charged say 5 pennies for each email sent?
One thing for sure it would dramatically reduce the amount of spam we'd recieve.
I must recieve currently about 50 spam emails per day (and i know some people recieve many more) any suggestions for spam filters gratefully recieved :-) and what confuses me is just how unimaginative it all is. Can it really be true that the only thing that requires spam attention is rolex watches, stocks, software and penis patches? and as for the sales pitch, im guessing that the copy is being thrown together by some dropout schoolboys who dont have english as their first language. And so ive been getting very bored and frustrated with all this garbage coming into my inbox.... until today!.....
At last some spammer somewhere has got a grasp of the situation and engaged me.
His email contained no more than a hyperlink that said "our site" and the best ever one line sentence that is still making me laugh....
"your penis will make more shadow than a tree"
Monday, 24 September 2007
raising my expectations
I made an email enquiry the other day about something fabulous that i want to buy (well, i got some money for my birthday ;-) and i couldn't find the exact details on the website, so i sent them an email......
and then i waited for their response.... 30 seconds, 2 minutes, 10 minutes, half an hour ... what sort of company was this, that didnt respond imeadiately to my email? by the end of the day i still hadnt had a reply from them and had decided that they were clearly a flakey two-bit outfit that obviously werent capable of fulfiling my needs. I really felt quite let down by them
itsnt it interesting how my expectations were so high? was it because i have grown to expect that people sit glued to their laptops and blackberrys or was it because i was so excited about potentially owning something fabulous and i wanted it "NOW"
I had a nice reply from the company the following working day, and they have exactly what im after, so all is cool-in-the-gang again, and i shall order this amazing thing from them.... now lets just look at the delivery date.... "3 DAYS!.. I cant wait THAT long!"
and then i waited for their response.... 30 seconds, 2 minutes, 10 minutes, half an hour ... what sort of company was this, that didnt respond imeadiately to my email? by the end of the day i still hadnt had a reply from them and had decided that they were clearly a flakey two-bit outfit that obviously werent capable of fulfiling my needs. I really felt quite let down by them
itsnt it interesting how my expectations were so high? was it because i have grown to expect that people sit glued to their laptops and blackberrys or was it because i was so excited about potentially owning something fabulous and i wanted it "NOW"
I had a nice reply from the company the following working day, and they have exactly what im after, so all is cool-in-the-gang again, and i shall order this amazing thing from them.... now lets just look at the delivery date.... "3 DAYS!.. I cant wait THAT long!"
Friday, 21 September 2007
ive been distracted
Im back. I havent made a posting to my blog for nearly 2 months. What does that say about me and my ways? I get easily bored and distracted and i dont break old habits easily.
I could list here all the reasons for not writing, but that would simply sound like i'm trying to excuse myself. There is no excuse, Ive simply been distracted.
The distractions have been very good though :-) i might even draw on some of my new experiences to write about in forthcoming blog entrys :-)
So what have i learnt about myself and blogging during this time?
I could list here all the reasons for not writing, but that would simply sound like i'm trying to excuse myself. There is no excuse, Ive simply been distracted.
The distractions have been very good though :-) i might even draw on some of my new experiences to write about in forthcoming blog entrys :-)
So what have i learnt about myself and blogging during this time?
- Blogging needs time (it might well only need a tiny bit of time, but it nevertheless needs it and it needs it regularly)
- Its very easy to think that you dont have enough time
- when working abroad (or even away from your normal routine) the effort to create blogs is even greater
- Even when simplifying the process by posting entrys by mobile phone txt messages, this is not always as simple as you'd hope. I thinking particulary here about working abroad and in remote places
- Blogging needs to be habitual; a way of life. like trying to do more frequent gym visits, the moment you let your efforts slip, it is all too easy to drift back to your old habits. However...
- Like trying to do more frequent gym visits, you might fail a number of times but you can always start again. and so this is me - recognising that frequent blogging is a tough challenge - starting again
Saturday, 25 August 2007
Commenting
It wasn't so long ago that if you wanted to communicate something to another person, you simply had to talk to them. The telephone helped to eliminate the need to be in the same geographical location as that other person. And if talking wasnt an option you could always write a letter.
Mobile phones introduced us to expressions like "text me" and skype created the new verb "to skype", and recently I noted with interest that my youngest teenage daughter was talking about "commenting" her freinds. I enquired further and have learnt that there a whole new world of communicating has evolved.
I thought that when she was on the computer "talking" with freinds that she was using MSN messenger to IM "instant message" (theres another new communication activity), but i now learn that MSN is old hat.... now "we comment each other in MySpace"
MySpace aparently doesnt have an IM feature, so freinds leave comments for each other and converse back and forth from there.
Now, on one hand this seems mad to me. Why dont they use MSN IM if they want to talk? But on the other hand i rather like this idea - it gives people time to reflect on a previous comment and time to think about thier "thoughtful" response.
If only people would take that thinking time in thier real-time conversations, it might just be the case that misunderstandings could be a thing of the past
Mobile phones introduced us to expressions like "text me" and skype created the new verb "to skype", and recently I noted with interest that my youngest teenage daughter was talking about "commenting" her freinds. I enquired further and have learnt that there a whole new world of communicating has evolved.
I thought that when she was on the computer "talking" with freinds that she was using MSN messenger to IM "instant message" (theres another new communication activity), but i now learn that MSN is old hat.... now "we comment each other in MySpace"
MySpace aparently doesnt have an IM feature, so freinds leave comments for each other and converse back and forth from there.
Now, on one hand this seems mad to me. Why dont they use MSN IM if they want to talk? But on the other hand i rather like this idea - it gives people time to reflect on a previous comment and time to think about thier "thoughtful" response.
If only people would take that thinking time in thier real-time conversations, it might just be the case that misunderstandings could be a thing of the past
Monday, 23 July 2007
let the talent free
I thought this was a nice idea - http://www.doodlelong.com/ its the longest continuous doodle in the world! - and you can contribute to it. theres already over 12,000 contributors
I wondered just what might happen to the output? wouldnt it be great if you could unravel it and roll it up into one big ball of doodle - i bet it would be too heavy to carry and certainly too black to see. bet you cant find my contribution
so why do people 1) create these things, and 2) contribute to these things. I guess the answer to both those questions might be "because they can"... and so that makes me wonder why we cant have such enthusiastic and dedicated creators and contributors in our workplace?.. what would happen if we simply allowed people to create something they like for thier work "because they can" and see who joins in "because they can".
There must be so much energy and talent in our workplace that simply doesnt see the light of day while were at work - what a waste
I wondered just what might happen to the output? wouldnt it be great if you could unravel it and roll it up into one big ball of doodle - i bet it would be too heavy to carry and certainly too black to see. bet you cant find my contribution
so why do people 1) create these things, and 2) contribute to these things. I guess the answer to both those questions might be "because they can"... and so that makes me wonder why we cant have such enthusiastic and dedicated creators and contributors in our workplace?.. what would happen if we simply allowed people to create something they like for thier work "because they can" and see who joins in "because they can".
There must be so much energy and talent in our workplace that simply doesnt see the light of day while were at work - what a waste
dont do it now
Dont do it now - but have you ever tried clicking on the "next blog" button at the top of a blogger blog?
I used to wonder why they put that click up there - why would anyone want to go to a completely random blog? what on earth would be the point?
Well I did click it - and its opened a new world to me. Not only is it addictive, but its insightful and interesting too. And if we are trying to develop our capability to be more creative,.... and if one way to help that is to gather different experiences and perspectives - then clicking through random blogs is an excellent personal development activity
And so i feel quite comfortable now to spend my working day reading random blogs - "but boss, its good for my personal development - I'll get the strategic plan to when ive finished reading about 'the abstract hand embroidery by Takashi Iwasaki. So free and imaginative!' "
I used to wonder why they put that click up there - why would anyone want to go to a completely random blog? what on earth would be the point?
Well I did click it - and its opened a new world to me. Not only is it addictive, but its insightful and interesting too. And if we are trying to develop our capability to be more creative,.... and if one way to help that is to gather different experiences and perspectives - then clicking through random blogs is an excellent personal development activity
And so i feel quite comfortable now to spend my working day reading random blogs - "but boss, its good for my personal development - I'll get the strategic plan to when ive finished reading about 'the abstract hand embroidery by Takashi Iwasaki. So free and imaginative!' "
Saturday, 21 July 2007
excess living
Ive just come back from the cinema. (if your looking to see a great feel good movie - see 'Hairspray' - i loved it :-) We're regular cinema goers in our family and as such every now and then our loyalty card gives us a "free" something. Todays was a large drink and popcorn. I love popcorn me.
As the vendor gave me my sack of popcorn, she informed me that I could get free unlimited top ups! Free topups? crikey, it was already the size of a sack of potatoes! My imeadiate idea was to go into the cinema theater and announce to the collected audience that the popcorn was on me!... which lead me to wonder how much popcorn could i get to feed the hungry homeless outside the cinema? Now i didnt quite go that far, but it didnt take long to realise that if we pinched some of the paper bags from the pick and mix sweet stand, we could fill individual bags for all our family and go back get a refill and some more bags and give popcorn to our freinds there too. lovely!
Now heres the point of my story..... clearly the popcorn costs next to nothing to the cinema, if they can give it away so freely (so why do they charge so much for it in the first place??) As a result of this, the audience eating it dont value it as much (and dont really need as much as they take) which is clearly evident after the movie is over and the audience has left the auditorium.
I am always slightly disgusted at our species when i see the mess left behind us at the cinema.
Now here REALLY IS my point..... why dont they put bins in cinemas? why are we content to leave / throw our unwanted popcorn (and drinks cartons, sweet papers, nacho boxes etc etc) on the floor or seat? what pigs we are.
So heres a thought.... if I was to invent a nutritious reciepe using popcorn as the main ingredient then it would be in peoples interest to take home their left over popcorn to use in tomorrows dinner!
or maybe the cinema could sell popcorn that would make great garden fertiliser? (hmm might need to think that one through!)
As the vendor gave me my sack of popcorn, she informed me that I could get free unlimited top ups! Free topups? crikey, it was already the size of a sack of potatoes! My imeadiate idea was to go into the cinema theater and announce to the collected audience that the popcorn was on me!... which lead me to wonder how much popcorn could i get to feed the hungry homeless outside the cinema? Now i didnt quite go that far, but it didnt take long to realise that if we pinched some of the paper bags from the pick and mix sweet stand, we could fill individual bags for all our family and go back get a refill and some more bags and give popcorn to our freinds there too. lovely!
Now heres the point of my story..... clearly the popcorn costs next to nothing to the cinema, if they can give it away so freely (so why do they charge so much for it in the first place??) As a result of this, the audience eating it dont value it as much (and dont really need as much as they take) which is clearly evident after the movie is over and the audience has left the auditorium.
I am always slightly disgusted at our species when i see the mess left behind us at the cinema.
Now here REALLY IS my point..... why dont they put bins in cinemas? why are we content to leave / throw our unwanted popcorn (and drinks cartons, sweet papers, nacho boxes etc etc) on the floor or seat? what pigs we are.
So heres a thought.... if I was to invent a nutritious reciepe using popcorn as the main ingredient then it would be in peoples interest to take home their left over popcorn to use in tomorrows dinner!
or maybe the cinema could sell popcorn that would make great garden fertiliser? (hmm might need to think that one through!)
Monday, 16 July 2007
on to something? or on the gravy train?
Is it all simply marketing gobbledegook or is there something in this? http://www.vespanomics.com/index.cfm
Vespa (the moped manufacturer) seem to be onto something here by tapping into the New Yorkers new interest of carbon emissions and all things Gore. VESPANOMICS seems to have all the environmental facts and stats you could ever want, to make you want to buy a Vespa.
But the really interesting thing i think is their investment in providing free parking spaces for vespas.
No longer does Vespa see itself simply as a manufacurer of mopeds, now Vespa is becoming a guardian of the environment..... which im sure they hope will help them sell more Vespas
and i still remember the days when all they had to do to make me drool with aspiration for a Vespa was to have a picture of a cool dude (cigarette essential) propped up against one in the sun while he casually chats up a local Bella in a miniskirt
Now if they can convince our mail service to transport everything in Piaggio Apes - then Im convinced about vespanomics
Vespa (the moped manufacturer) seem to be onto something here by tapping into the New Yorkers new interest of carbon emissions and all things Gore. VESPANOMICS seems to have all the environmental facts and stats you could ever want, to make you want to buy a Vespa.
But the really interesting thing i think is their investment in providing free parking spaces for vespas.
No longer does Vespa see itself simply as a manufacurer of mopeds, now Vespa is becoming a guardian of the environment..... which im sure they hope will help them sell more Vespas
and i still remember the days when all they had to do to make me drool with aspiration for a Vespa was to have a picture of a cool dude (cigarette essential) propped up against one in the sun while he casually chats up a local Bella in a miniskirt
Now if they can convince our mail service to transport everything in Piaggio Apes - then Im convinced about vespanomics
Friday, 13 July 2007
Applied Creativity / Everyday Creativity
Ask audiences if they are "creative" and in my experience, only about 10 % of people will raise thier hands. Why is this? For some, they think its a little arrogant to think of oneself a "creative" - thats OK I guess, we dont like arrogant people, but i dont see why people cant celebrate their creativity. For the majority of people with their hands still in thier laps, it seems that they REALLY DONT think they are creative.
This must come down to thier personal definition of creativity, and the context within they view their creativity. For sure if you are good freinds with Thomas Heatherwick (designer, among other wonders, of the roll up bridge) http://www.thomasheatherwick.com/ you might find it difficult to consider yourself "creative" like him. But if you think about the way you might get through the day of hassles and niggles - you might start to impress yourself with the way you creatively duck and dive to solve problems and make quick fixes. Your solutions might not get you in the center spreads of the sunday glossys, but there can be no doubt that you are exersicing your everyday creativity as much as Thomas might be.
For me this picture is the very essence of applied everyday creativity - this person had a problem - no hot water to wash his hands in. He didnt moan about it, he did something about it. And this touches on another potential block to our belief that we are not creative.... our belief that solutions must be perfect, that creative people create beautiful solutions.
Lets start the campaign now... "perfection tomorrow - something now"
otherness
Sometimes things are not quite as they seem, and sometimes things are far more than they might seem
I skipped over this photo when i first saw it on http://www.pizdaus.com/ thinking it was just a quirky font style- and then i realised what it was composed of. - look carefully.
Now i dont know if these pictures are genuine or photoshopped, but it did make me think that there must be hundreds of things we see every day, that if only we werent so limited by our "functional fixedness" (our inability to see beyond the original function or purpose) we might be delighted by the wonderful otherness of our surroundings
Wednesday, 11 July 2007
can you see what it is yet?
can you scribble? sure you can scribble. We ALL can scribble.
All we have to do is put the scribbles in the right places
check out this fabulous display of scribbling
and if you would like to have a go, you might find it interesting to investigate a technique developed by Betty Edwards ( www.seedsofgrowth.com/have-you-tried-turning-it-upside-down )to help us see more clearly what ACTUALLY is, and not what we THINK is.... an absolute fundamental in becoming more creative
All we have to do is put the scribbles in the right places
check out this fabulous display of scribbling
and if you would like to have a go, you might find it interesting to investigate a technique developed by Betty Edwards ( www.seedsofgrowth.com/have-you-tried-turning-it-upside-down )to help us see more clearly what ACTUALLY is, and not what we THINK is.... an absolute fundamental in becoming more creative
Tuesday, 10 July 2007
SMIRTING
SMIRTING - I think thats what it was called.. apparently its the new flirting opportunity in pubs now that smoking is no longer allowed inside ... Asking if she wants to come out for a ciggi (even if you know she doesnt smoke, its a perfectly plausible way to ... well, quite literally... ask a girl out)
You see, it just goes to prove that out of every change, comes new opportunity if you are quick and alert enough to sieze it
If its not SMIRTING, maybe its FLOKING ?
You see, it just goes to prove that out of every change, comes new opportunity if you are quick and alert enough to sieze it
If its not SMIRTING, maybe its FLOKING ?
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