thoughts

Wow. It’s mind boggling think about cultures and groups of people that have been uncontacted in our world, living incredibly different lives, away from technology, the industrial revolution, print,  the internet, science, air transportation, and everyday things we take for granted. Watch the video above, and read tons more about these uncontacted tribes at UncontactedTribes.org. I’ll mirror a few of the astonishing pictures after the jump.

” Video of an uncontacted tribe spotted in the Brazilian jungle has been released, bringing them to life in ways that photographs alone cannot.

The tribe, believed to be Panoa Indians, have been monitored from a distance by Brazil’s National Indian Foundation, a government agency charged with handling the nation’s indigenous communities. Many of the world’s 100 or so uncontacted tribes live in the Amazon.

Until 1987, it was government policy to contact such people. But contact is fraught with problems, especially disease; people who have stayed isolated from the mainstream world have stayed isolated from its pathogens, and have little immunity to our diseases. Brazilian government policy is now to watch from afar, and — at least in principle — to protect uncontacted tribes from intrusion.

Unfortunately, uncontacted tribes usually live in resource-rich areas threatened by logging, mining and other development. There’s often pressure on governments to turn a blind eye. Videos like this, released by tribal advocacy group Survival International and produced by the BBC’s Human Planet program, are legal proof that uncontacted tribes still exist, and deserve protection.”

video via wired science
Wired story and pictures mirrored after the jump

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As snow poors across the world it reminds me of when I attended RISD where I met several international students whom had never experienced snow before. At times, I’d see these students sit outside in a corner just watching the snow for hours as it collected on their shoulders, but then I’d pile them up into theh snow, telling them this was the full experience.

Anyhow, the video above reminds me in this experience.  Panasonic has a new Insulator and to demonstrate how good it is, they made a snowman in Japan, packed it up inside this new material, then shipped it o Bahrain 8,000 kilometers away. Besides the incredible feat, what grabs my attention even more is a reminder in how amazing snow can be. It’s amazing to see how these kids from Bahrain react. I do wonder I I first reacted seeing snow? Do you remember your first time?

For more details on the project and the story behind it:
http://eco-ideas.net/sparks/snowman/


One of my favorite conferences to attend in the best location in Monterey CA is the EG conference happening April 7-9. It’s a very intimate gathering with 300 attendees and speakers for 3 days over lectures, conversations, and an assortment of entertainment ranging from discovery, music, technology, the mind, and amazing stories… or at Matt Groening of the Simpsons who also attends says “It’s like being a fish and analyzing your water…it’s too hard to describe the EG experience.”

I’d highly recommend anyone that can come to attend since I’ll be attending this year as well. it’ll be my 3rd year. Also, for those of you that might need a bit of help, if I can get 4 other readers to attend, I can get a pretty good discount off for each of you. If you are interested, throw me an email and I can send you more details.

Awesome… thats all I have to say about these Lego creations Angry Bird style. I can even hear the theme song ringing in my ears now… If only Lego had the rights to sell sets of these…they would sell millions.
Lots of pics after the jump. All of the pics on the facebook album via Tsang Yiu Keung (aka Chiukeung).

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Ha! Have you ever seen a website or ad and just wondered…what was their marketing department thinking?
“Things Real People Don’t Say About Advertising” takes a crack at marketing with very truthful strategies they seem to add to everything for no great reasons. Take a glance at their site, but I’ll post a few of my favorites below after the jump.

via holidaymatinee

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Ads on the web are horrible. Marketing needs to change, and more importantly, the meaning needs to change and relate back to a user desire, versus a forced upon undesirable interrupting ad.

TED is launching a short project to solve this issue, or at least to understand it more. They got million of people to watch 18 minute ads about ideas worth spreading, so why not take on the challenge in making ads worth spreading… or bette yet, what is an ad in the web world… what should it be, a broadcast, an idea, a problem, a challenge, a solution, or something else.

Watch the video above and learn more about this project which you can participate in here.

Wine Punt turns everyday wine bottles into beautiful simple reusable glassware, 2 sizes. Pretty simple, and very needed! I think I’ll need a few sets of these soon. They also have a wholesale pricing for industries like restaurants seeking a sustainable  fresh approach at glassware….especially those with lots of wine bottle consumption =). A great piece with a great story behind them.

wine punt website
via  unconsumption


If I only knew about the Jointmaker during design school…. I love Japanese saws, but never thought about using them in the inverse where the saw sat static, and the wood was the object that moved to get cut much like a table saw.  Pretty creative and simple. It’s a table saw with no flying dust, no need for electricity, no ear protection or eye gear needed, and a cut as thin and accurate as a Japanese saw vs the wide width of a table saw blade. Only problem I find is the price at around $1,200, but thats what you pay for innovation I guess.

bridgecitytools

via youtube

I always loved the idea in the Seconds Hand Business cards, but to be more sustainable comes a real reuse by creating creating a stamp to put onto existing paper materials!  I just might have to do this now.

Fischer Portugal recently had the challenge of designing an ecological business card for an environmental consultant, Andrea Romani. Business cards are usually made of paper. But using paper, even recycled, is not good for the environment. To avoid this issue, the advertising agency decided not to print any cards at all. Instead they created a rubber stamp to turn re-usable material into business cards.

The Ecological Business Card was developed at Fischer Portugal, Lisbon, by creative director Diogo Mello, art director Marco Martins and copywriter Rafael Pitanguy.”

via theinspirationroom

A great article on how Steve Jobs is a bit different as a CEO at Apple…. and some great pointers for those leaders out there =).

“An anecdotal story: A friend of mine was at meetings at Apple and Microsoft on the same day. And this was in the last year, so this was recently. He went into the Apple meeting (he’s a vendor for Apple), and as soon as the designers walked in the room, everyone stopped talking, because the designers are the most respected people in the organization. Everyone knows the designers speak for Steve because they have direct reporting to him. It is only at Apple where design reports directly to the CEO.

Later in the day he was at Microsoft. When he went into the Microsoft meeting, everybody was talking and then the meeting starts and no designers ever walk into the room. All the technical people are sitting there trying to add their ideas of what ought to be in the design. That’s a recipe for disaster.”

read the rest of the article here, or after the jump.

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