Our Future is the Future of Our Cities; the International Architecture Biennale Rotterdam - Making a City
This Biennale was a call to action which invited architects from around the world to develop models for new urban developments. The main challenge the design of better living conditions for billions of people. But how to make these cities when also responding to urgent social, economic and ecological issues. The video made me feel that Museums need to be a little more active in this discussion if they want to maintain their relevancy in future urban centers.
BandResources.net is a free resource for the gigging band and musician. They are building a database of venues, recording studios, rehearsal studios and labels. None from Australia yet but hopefully that will change soon.
Shapeways CEO on how 3D Printing Will Fuel Creative Commerce
Peter Weijmarshausen believes Shapeways was one of the first companies to put a consumer spin on 3D printing. The startup’s website allows designers to upload their wares for printing and sell the results in an Etsy-like store. Those without design experience can tweak existing models to their liking before printing them in one of 25 different materials, including stainless steel, ceramics and sterling silver. Weijmarshausen says the company printed 750,000 products in 2011. He expects “many times more this year — millions.” The other company most often credited for the rise of the consumer 3D printing trend is
MakerBot, is a really cool new company which sells affordable kit-set 3D printers for about Au 2,200.
What engages students? 10 ideas compiled from interviews with 8th graders by HEATHER WOLPERT-GAWRON
Deconstructing Cinema - One Scene At A Time
By Patrick Samuel
This is a really nice project from Static Mass Emporium which each week takes one scene from a movie and deconstructs it to reveal what kind of an impact they’ve had historically and culturally. It started in September 2011 with A Place In The Sun starring Montgomery Clift and Elizabeth Taylor which looked at the stunning close-ups director George Stevens used for the party scene before moving on to Brian de Palma’s Hitchcockian intro for Snake Eyes, Chan-wook Park’s I’m a Cyborg, But That’s OK and Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ were next. Since then they have looked at key scenes from Remember Me, JFK, The Matrix and All The President’s Men.
The latest is a discussion on American Psycho ... check it out
Yahoo CEO Scott Thompson - False Resume Scandal -
This is just unbelievable no wonder employees find it hard to trust their bosses. Yahoo CEO and ex CTO of PayPal Scott Thompson was forced to apologise after being exposed for lying about false qualifications on his CV. According to Nicholas Carlson of the Business insider he ... wrote an email to staff, expressing his regret for the issue which saw a computer science degree he did not earn appear on his resume. Transcript from 2009 interview on his science degree contains the following ... Gunn: Your bachelor’s degree is in accounting and computer science. Now, from both of those, I mean that’s, that’s pretty obvious that’s Paypal. What are the most important things you learned?
Thompson: Yeah. You know, I think and I, I mention this to young kids when I’m on campus, and my son who I was just talking about at Santa Clara, what I’m happiest about in my background is if you work in technology you’re trained to solve problems.And that’s really it, you’re trained to pull apart very complex things and think about okay, how can I do this or how can I do that or how can I make it better?And that’s really the background that I have and it started back in my college days, and I think that’s really the wonderful part thing of being an engineer is you think that way.
and while we're on the subject ...
Megaupload's Kim Dotcom: Inside the Wild Life and Dramatic Fall of the Fat Nerd Who Burned Hollywood
by Daniel Miller, Matthew Belloni
Daniel and Matthew are right this reads like it was made to be a film. "Kim Dotcom, né Kim Schmitz, the 300-pound-plus, 6-foot-7 German hacker-turned-web mogul who founded Megaupload, the cyber-locker service that offered its 180 million users remote storage of movies, music and other files. The 13th-most-visited site in the world at one point, Megaupload was a pirates' haven -- a Napster on steroids, where members could share everything from Lady Gaga hits to Transformers movies with anarchists' abandon.
Part of the service's appeal was the antihero persona of Dotcom himself. The 38-year-old had become an online celebrity, as much for his over-the-top lifestyle of $400,000 supercars, supermodel hot-tub parties and the slick YouTube video he had made with Kanye West and Kim Kardashian (in it, he raps about Megaupload: "It's a hit! It's a hit!") as for the popularity of his website. And during those two days of meetings with Batal, Dotcom, a self-professed "Dr. Evil" in a loose-fitting black jumpsuit and closely cropped hair, revealed his plan to expand Megaupload, a wildly easy-to-use service, into an empire that would rival that of his idol, Steve Jobs."
This is Big - Free online Accredited Course
MIT offered courses for free when it rolled out its MITx online learning platform last year. However, Harvard took notice of its efforts, and has joined MIT online to form the edX platform and offer courses and content for free on the web. There's no word on the available subjects just yet, but video lessons, quizzes and online labs will all be a part of the curriculum, and those who comprehend the coursework can get a certificate of mastery upon completion. edX won't just benefit those who log on, either, as it'll be used to research how students learn and how technology can be used to improve teaching in both virtual and brick and mortar classrooms. The cost for this altruistic educational venture? 60 million dollars, with each party ponying up half. The first courses will be announced this summer, and classes are slated to start this fall.
Jelly beans used by artist to recreate classic art masterpieces
California-based artist Kristen Cumings was commissioned by candy company Jelly Belly to produce several pieces of jelly bean art to add to its collection ‘Jelly Belly Masterpieces of Confectionary Art’.
Digital items archived from the Occupy movement
This is an interesting archival move - already over 15,000 digital items have been archived from the Occupy movement. They are seeking contributions through a number of different places so if you want to contribute some of your own or are interested in researching there are a number of links from this article
Australian National Cultural Policy delayed
Sydney Morning Herald article by Jacqueline Maley
"The Gillard government's long-awaited national cultural policy has been postponed because of a lack of funds, a casualty of the tight fiscal environment before the budget. The cultural policy, the first such document for nearly 20 years, is still expected to be released this year, but hopes it would be published to coincide with the budget have been dashed, given the government's pledge to return to surplus."
Australian Heritage Strategy - Open for public consultation - closing date 15 June 2012
United States shipwrecks from Battle of the Coral Sea now protected under Australian law
Australian Heritage Minister, Tony Burke, today declared the United States warships the USS Lexington, USS Sims and USS Neosho sunk during the Battle of the Coral Sea as protected historic shipwrecks. On 7 May 1942 aircraft from the USS Yorktown and the Lexington sunk the Japanese aircraft carrier Shoho just before noon. At about the same time, and in a separate engagement, dive bombers from the Japanese carriers Shokaku and Zuikaku sunk the destroyer USS Sims and left the US fleet oiler Neosho a crippled wreck.
Later that day a support group including the HMAS Hobart and HMAS Australia were attacked by another force of bombers, which were based at Rabaul in New Guinea. The battle continued on 8 May, when the two main carrier forces engaged directly for the first time, resulting in the loss of the Lexington with 216 members of her crew. Victory in the Coral Sea was the first major defeat for Japanese forces and the beginnings of the long and difficult road towards victory.
Plastimake
This looks interesting - it comes in balls but when you add water they become mallable and you can mold them into shapes. The plastic then hardens and becomes usable in any number of ways.
Apple's Internal Marketing Video comparing itself to WW2 1944 propaganda film Jobs as FDR, Mike Murray 'The General'
Courtney Love is having her first art show, and what do you know?
IKEA makes digital cameras out of cardboard
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