Pecha Kucha

In the fight against ineffective emails, mismanaged meetings, and presentations with zero engagement and way too many attendees, the Japanese have found a little trick on one of our worst enemies. From Kaizen Training in the UK:

Pecha Kucha (Japanese for 'chit-chat') is a new way of using PowerPoint where you are given 20 slides and the timer set so each slide is only on screen for 20 seconds. That's 6 minutes 40 seconds and you're finished. You could find it revolutionises the way you present! What if you made that the norm for your company from now on?

Human-Powered Spaces

Gyms, football stadiums, dance clubs, … Check out this article on the HK gym:

http://www.inhabitat.com/2007/03/08/human-powered-gyms-in-hong-kong/

 

 

 

 

Styrofoam Construction

Since when did Styrofoam become eco friendly. Since the Japanese created the Dome House, I guess.

http://www.i-domehouse.com/characters.html

Consumerism postively correlated to death

Facing one's death, Americans like to live by splurging:

http://knowledge.wpcarey.asu.edu/article.cfm?articleid=1645

Bicycle Subculture

More people who wouldn't normally ride bikes are investing in a 2 wheeler for a number of reasons: gas prices, environment, obesity, etc. I have been immersing myself in the urban bike culture right for the past year.

A new breed of cyclist is being born. Here I will highlight some of what's going on:

Los Angeles Urban Posse
Reno Bike Workshop
Montreal Chop Shop
Paris Fixie Hub
Australia Dumpster Divers

Mexico hates Emo

Blender and star reporting are like milk and bourbon. But Senior Editor Josh Eells did a great piece called The Eyeliner Wars. While trying to find the story online, I found a related one on NPR. 

Basically, Mexico is rapidly becoming more liberal. Goths and Emo kids are not as hip here because of how quickly it hit mainstream, but over there it is aspirational and somewhat underground still, and the Mayor and others in politics are not so happy. Looking for a political drum to beat, they label these non-conformist as anti-church, anti-family trouble makers and has put an all out ban on Emo. One kid's trash is another kids treasure. It makes you wonder how other US trends fair overseas. 

Coltan

One of the best articles I've read on Coltan. Basically, Coltan is the new blood diamond. It is a metal mined in places like Canada, Australia, and the Congo for tantalum. Tantalum is used in hi-rel capacitors because of it's great thermal properties. It is used in cell phones and laptops. Demand has forced the US gov to keep reserves. Price has gone way up and so has the fight for profits. Congo has been victim to internal and external profiteers, resulting in bloodshed, humanitarian and environmental crises, and little attention from the international community. Many companies including vodaphone and nokia have spoken to their supply chain to stop using the metal in their capacitors, and US-based Kemet is swearing that all coltan is from the non-Congo region.