The World, Filtered*

Manfrotto ModoPocket
http://www.kk.org/cooltools/archives/003412.php
 
"Billed as the "World's Smallest Tripod," the ModoPocket is actually a
quadrapod, but definitely just plain tiny: 1.5 x 2.5 x 1.25 inches and 2
oz. Mostly I have been using it to take indoor group photos with the
self-timer, using face recognition to trigger the shutter when I jump into
the group. Shoot it again? Much easier to repeat the composition than if
the camera is propped on a book and/or tilted with a coin (either way,
that method often results in a photo that includes the table in the shot).
The ModoPocket simplifies these tasks, makes them more easily repeatable,
and provides good stability. The photos posted on Amazon show how easily
it tilts up or down, or turn it 90 degrees and it tilts side-to-side. It
also folds very thin (0.25 inches), so it can be left permanently attached
to the camera. In addition to shooting, I use mine as a work stand while I
edit photos in the camera, and use it for easier viewing and
huddling-around-the-camera (aka "chimping")."
 
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2 Via Cloudal (http://www.coudal.com/)
 
The Annual Hajj Pilgrimage
http://www.sacbee.com/static/weblogs/photos/2008/12/017673.html
 
"Islam requires that all Muslims who are financially and physically able
to perform the hajj at least once in their lifetime. The pilgrimage is
supposed to cleanse Muslims of their sin. The hajj begins and ends in the
holy city of Mecca, the birthplace of the 7th century Prophet Mohammed and
the site of Islam's holiest shrine, the Kaaba. Pilgrims on Monday, joined
in a feast of freshly slaughtered sheep, goats and camels at a huge tent
city in Mina, a desert valley east of Mecca. Muslim tradition says it was
at Mina, 3 miles from Mecca, that the devil tried to tempt Abraham to
disobey God by refusing to sacrifice his son. Hordes of pilgrims dressed
in their white robes streamed across Mina valley Monday toward three walls
symbolizing the devil known as the Jamarat, chanting "at thy service, my
God, at thy service." The massive crowds streamed through a four-story
platform the size of an airport terminal built around the walls, and each
pilgrim stoned the largest wall with pebbles collected earlier on the
nearby rocky plain of Muzdalifah. They will return on each of the final
two days of the five-day pilgrimage, which ends Wednesday, to stone all
three walls. -- associated press (18 images)"
 
&
 
Bulgarian Squat Shots
http://www.polarinertia.com/dec08/squat01.htm
 
"In the late 80's, private ownership of production was legalized in
Bulgaria. Among the first businesses to appear were these small "Squat
Shops," operated out of floor-level cellar windows. Despite more
legitimate storefront space becoming available, these small portals
remained operational and lucrative - miniature convenience stores catering
to the cigarette fix of the passing pedestrian or the midday thirst of
those waiting on bus stops, for which patrons have no objection to
stooping to street level. An idiosyncratic, now common element of the
Bulgarian capital, over time the shops have evolved elaborate displays,
framing the small street level openings with bottles of alcohol, coffee,
and cartons of cigarettes, often in eye-catching bright colors."
 
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Microsoft releases toolkit for reusing SharePoint portlets
http://www.infoworld.com/article/08/12/15/Microsoft_releases_toolkit_for_reusing_SharePoint_portlets_1.html
 
"Microsoft has released a tool that allows developers to reuse data and
mini-applications from SharePoint-based portals on rival portal software
that otherwise would not be natively interoperable with SharePoint, the
company said.
 
The WSRP (Web Services for Remote Portlets) Toolkit for SharePoint
provides sample code for producing WSRP-conformant data from SharePoint
lists and libraries, according to a blog post on the Microsoft SharePoint
Team Blog."
 
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WorldHum
http://www.worldhum.com/
 
The independent travel magazine WorldHum was bought last year by the
travel channel. They just released the 3.0 version of the site. Its
worth taking a look at.
 
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At 85, More Peaks to Conquer and Adventures to Seek
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/16/sports/othersports/16beckey.html?_r=1&ref=sports
 
The New York Times today has a profile on the prolific climber and
adventurer Fred Beckey. When I started climbing 30 years ago Beckey was
already a legend and, to my eyes, old. He is still going.

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Bicycle-sharing mania takes hold in Europe
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/11/09/europe/pedal.php

BARCELONA: In increasingly green-conscious Europe, there are said to be
only two kinds of mayors: those who have a bicycle-sharing program and
those who want one.

Over the past several years, the programs have sprung up and taken off in
dozens of cities, on a scale no one had thought possible and in places
where bicycling had never been popular.

The sharing plans include not just Paris's Vélib', with its 20,000
bicycles, but also wildly popular programs with thousands of bicycles in
major cities like Barcelona and Lyon. Programs operate in Pamplona, Spain;
Rennes, France; and Düsseldorf. Even Rome, whose narrow, cobbled streets
and chaotic traffic would seem unsuited to pedaling, recently started a
small trial program, Roma-n-Bici, which it plans to expand soon.
For mayors looking to ease congestion and prove their environmental bona
fides, bike-sharing has provided a simple solution: For the price of a
bus, they get a fleet of bicycles, and they can avoid years of
construction and the approvals required for a subway. For riders, joining
means cut-rate transportation - as well as a chance to contribute to the
planet's well-being.

The new systems are successful in part because they blanket cities with
huge numbers of available bikes, but the real linchpin is technology.
Aided by electronic smart cards and computerized bike stands, riders can
pick up and drop off bicycles in seconds at hundreds of locations, their
payments deducted from bank accounts

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The Tin Shed
http://www.patagonia.com/web/us/tinshed/index.jsp?ln=241

The Tin Shed was the first home of what would eventually become Patagonia,
the outdoor clothing manufacture. Check out this multimedia environment
celebrating Patagonia's history and the outdoor culture they embrace (and
market).

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Jim Carroll - 10 fundamental trends that don't change with the meltdown
http://www.jimcarroll.com/blog/2008/11/10-fundamental-trends-that-don.html

So what are the trends that will drive future growth? Off the top of my
head, there are several...

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The Abraham Path Initiative
http://www.abrahampath.org/about.php?lang=en

The Abraham Path is a route of cultural tourism that retraces the journey
made by Abraham (Ibrahim) through the heart of the Middle East some four
thousand years ago. Three and a half billion people - over half the human
family - trace their history or faith back to Abraham, considered the
father of monotheism. The Abraham Path honors this shared cultural
heritage by linking together into a single itinerary of outstanding
interest and beauty the ancient sites associated with Abraham and his
family.
…

The centerpiece of the Abraham Path is a long-distance walking trail,
beginning in the Turkish city of Sanliurfa, where many believe Abraham to
have been born, and in the nearby ruins of Harran, where Abraham is said
to have heard the call of God to 'go forth.' Initially covering a distance
of 1,200 kilometers, the Abraham Path will pass through some of the finest
landscapes, historic sites, and holy places of the Middle East before
culminating at Abraham's tomb just south of Jerusalem in the city of
Hebron/Al-Khalil. Eventually the route will extend to encompass Abraham’s
travels to and from Egypt, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia.

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Design Thinking and Marketing
http://designmind.frogdesign.com/blog/design-thinking-and-marketing.html

"I was interviewed by BrandWeek the other day for a story on the recent
hype around "Design Thinking" in marketing. They were looking for a
skeptic and found me. First of all, it is worth noting that the term
"design thinking" is of course a clever marketing buzzword. It's ironic
that marketers themselves embrace it as the next big thing as it doesn't
create a new marketing paradigm so much as it proves that marketers are
prone to being persuaded by their very own tricks. "Design Thinking" has
become a brand, and brands are all the more powerful when they present
themselves as memes.

But what does "design thinking" actually mean? Let's rely on the wisdom of
crowds and see how Wikipedia defines it:  "Design thinking is a process for
practical, creative resolution of problems or issues that looks for an
improved future result."  Wow. Isn't that what every single task in
business is about? Or, for that matter, every single action in life? The
rest of the paragraph adds some more specifics: "Unlike analytical
thinking, design thinking is a creative process based around the "building
up" of ideas. There are no judgments in design thinking. This eliminates
the fear of failure and encourages maximum input and participation.
Outside the box thinking is encouraged in this process since this can
often lead to creative solutions." Hmm…ok.

Some Design Thinkers herald Design Thinking as the ultimate problem solver
for business, social, and political challenges. The current financial
meltdown? A lack of design thinking. Our health care sytem? Design
Thinking can fix it. The HIV crisis in Africa? Make sure to apply Design
Thinking. Granted, design is a fundamental responsibility for
organizations in all sectors of our society, and it is absolutely critical
in addressing problems of all kinds. But the quest that everybody should
think like a designer is not the non plus ultra formula. Or, as Raymond
Loewy, the famous industrial designer, pointed out wryly: "Design is too
important to be left to designers."

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World's most efficient solar cells created
http://www.sciencealert.com.au/news/20082410-18340-2.html

"The University of New South Wales: ARC Photovoltaic Centre of Excellence
has reported the first silicon solar cell to achieve the milestone of 25
per cent efficiency.

The UNSW ARC Photovoltaic Centre of Excellence already held the world
record of 24.7 per cent for silicon solar cell efficiency. Now a revision
of the international standard by which solar cells are measured, has
delivered the significant 25 per cent record to the team led by Professors
Martin Green and Stuart Wenham and widened their lead on the rest of the
world.

Centre Executive Research Director, Scientia Professor Martin Green, said
the new world mark in converting incident sunlight into electricity was
one of six new world records claimed by UNSW for its silicon solar
technologies."

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Time Magazine - 50 Best Inventions of 2008
http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/completelist/0,,1852747,00.html

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How the Netbook Will Convert the Anti-Cloud Computing Crowd
http://mashable.com/2008/11/01/netbook-cloud-computing/

"Don't think cloud computing is a wonderful thing? Wait until everyone and
their mother has a netbook in hand.

Yeah, you know, those small Wi-Fi-happy machines sporting 8-13” screens,
flash-based storage drives, Intel Atom central processors, etcetera,
etcetera.

For a large portion of the global population, even those in well-developed
regions, this might seem like really loose premise. Netbooks for everyone?
Why not get an full-on laptop? You can do more with your dollar! And any
simple tasks on the Web can be done with some of the smartphones making
the rounds on hardware review sites, right? Well, I'm not so sure….

…Not so much bigger, though. We recently shared a few notes on the netbook
space and how things are progressing in the field, both in hardware and
software. It's safe to say that in recent months, apart from the requisite
dotage on Apple's lineup of philosophically conventional MacBook and
MacBook Pro products, the market of netbooks has transferred to a
semi-front burner position in terms of attention grabbed and attention
earned.


And its quite clear why that is. The class of gadgets led by the Asus EEE
PC has performed in ways that would not be the case two or three years
ago, and it's mark as something of a phenomenon largely comes down to
price. Consumers can grab a fairly well-equipped netbook from the current
crop of options for an average of $300-500. (According to recent news,
Asus may launch a $200 offering next year.)

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The Lincoln Highway Association
http://www.lincolnhighwayassoc.org/info/

&

A Ride Along the Lincoln Highway - A Rick Seback documentary
http://www.wqed.org/tv/sebak/lincoln_hwy/

"The idea of the Lincoln Highway came from the fertile mind of Carl
Fisher, the man also responsible for the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and
Miami Beach. With help from fellow industrialists Frank Seiberling and
Henry Joy, an improved, hard-surfaced road was envisioned that would
stretch almost 3400 miles from coast to coast, New York to San Francisco,
over the shortest practical route.

The Lincoln Highway Association was created in 1913 to promote the road
using private and corporate donations. The idea was embraced by an
enthusiastic public, and many other named roads across the country
followed.

Americans' enthusiasm for good roads led to the involvement of the federal
government in building roads and the creation of numbered U.S. routes in
the 1920s. The Federal Highway Administration and the Interstate Highway
System is the culmination of these efforts."

AC: I just learned of the Lincoln Highway this weekend via Rick Seback's
documentary broadcast on Public Television. A fascinating part of
American history, made even more personal considering that Frank
Sieberling, referenced above, was my wife's great grandfather!

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Global Sustainable Tourism Criteria Announced
http://www.worldchanging.com/archives/008885.html

A coalition of environmental organizations and travel businesses is
forming a global sustainability standard for tourism.

More travelers are desiring sustainable vacations and more destinations
are seeking to lessen the impacts of rising visitor numbers. But tourists
who want to leave a lighter footprint must currently choose among some 300
different sustainable tourism standards, members of the Partnership for
Global Sustainable Tourism Criteria said Monday at the launch of their
criteria at the World Conservation Union (IUCN) World Congress in
Barcelona.

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Idea Paint
http://www.ideapaint.com/

IdeaPaint is a patent-pending single-coat roller-applied paint that
transforms any smooth surface into a high performance dry-erase writing
surface. IdeaPaint is perfect for the conference room, creative spaces,
classrooms, home offices, kids rooms, playrooms… or any other spaces.

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Metadata fundamentals for intranets and websites
http://www.steptwo.com.au/papers/kmc_metadata/index.html

Metadata is a topic that almost invariably comes up when creating or
refreshing a website or intranet.

While basic metadata is routinely captured by most publishing tools,
including content management systems and portals, there is still
widespread confusion about its uses and limits.

Common questions include:

• How important is metadata?
• What metadata should we be capturing? 
• How is it created? 
• Where and when is it used? 
• Should we be implementing simple or complex metadata?

This article explores the fundamentals of metadata, as it relates to
common intranet and website needs.

Standard metadata fields will be explored, and advice given on how to use
metadata successfully, within typical organizational environments.

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