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Posted on 02.21.08 by Emily
Filed under: creativity and culture and design and emily approved and links and passions and technology and typography and webstuff and women Comments: None yet... Add one here.
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Posted on 02.11.08 by Emily
I received this note through a friend from Timothy Falconer of Waveplace Foundation (then edited with links and pix as I checked out the story — here’s the original):
I’m giving mine. David Weinberger’s giving his too. Timothy noted that Waveplace will update with news and video, some of which will include your XO laptop in the hands of the Haitian child who gets it. Would love to have seen more transparency from the original One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) project and the G1G1 (Get One Give One) program regarding the children who receive it and connection between the giver and the getter. Nevertheless, it’s a thrill to see the news and pictures from the pilot in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. I loved the idea of OLPC project and the G1G1 program from the start and still do (despite some bungling in execution and logistics). Yes to empowering children around the world to learn, connect, explore and experiment with their own connected computers! (Yes to nutrition and health initiatives also! Why would that be an either/or?) It feels great to participate.
Engineered to withstand extreme environmental conditions like high heat, humidity and dust, I figured this three pound membrane-sealed computer would be ideal for tossing in my solar backpack for jaunts to cafes (including spills) and mountain hikes. It excels in high light environments, and the swiveling display delights. I was intrigued to learn even though it’s completely sealed to the elements and accident-resistant, it’s also easy to access and replace parts. If OLPC can make an XO that does that for around $200, how come Apple’s $1799 MacBook Air is so vulnerable to the elements and being dropped, yet impossible to open for something as simple as battery changing? Ok, ok, compromises must be made because it’s so thin. But the same vulnerability is true for the whole MacBook line and indeed, most laptop computers. (I know, the Toughbook. But aesthetics count, and you shouldn’t have to pay that much of a premium.) What I’d really love is a powerful MacBook Air with XO’s ruggedness, openness and flexibility. An elegant and sophisticated yet slim and lightweight Fisher Price My First Mac case with Pro brains and easily replacable and recyclable components to cut down on the massive amounts of e-waste my gadget lust produces. Until then, I’ll settle (eagerly) for the MacBook Air, but if you have a laptop like that to sell or donate, please contact me. So goodbye sweet XO, it’s been wonderful knowing you. Have fun with the new kid in Haiti and stay in touch! XOXOXO
Filed under: activism and better world and consumerism and creativity and culture and design and emily approved and environment and happiness and interconnected and marketing and observations and passions and product review and sustainability and technology Comments: 4 Comments
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Posted on 12.06.07 by Emily
Coming from a deep natural aquifer to the surface in Whakatane, New Zealand, Antipodes has real mouth appeal. It’s less aggressively carbonated than my usual brew, San Pellegrino, and it’s easy on the eyes too. Dressed in classic Mrs. Eaves, Antipodes complements any table without overpowering it. The oviform bottle echoes the round beads streaming up when opened. It’s a happy thing to hold. I know, I know… you have issues with bottled water. I do too. But a girl’s gotta have a vice, and until I can pour sparkling from the tap, I’ll order the bottle. (When out… technically I could make my own at home.) If it makes you feel any better, Antipodes is the first premium water to be certified carbon neutral in production and export, and they plan to be carbon neutral to any table, hotel room or home anywhere in the world by 2008. Antipodes is currently served only in hand-picked great restaurants around New Zealand, hence their restaurant list is a good guide to the restaurants I want to try. You can order Antipodes by the case for home delivery in the United States through New Zealand Natural Goods, but at $60 for 12, I’d have to consider it a design element to justify it. Oh, wonderful! Oprah already did.
Filed under: better world and branding and consumerism and culture and design and emily approved and environment and food and happiness and health and marketing and passions and product review and senses and sustainability and taste and travel and typography Comments: None yet... Add one here.
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Posted on 10.21.07 by Emily
Recommended musical accompaniment: Deep Water (iTunes) by Seal Claire Nouvian sailing in Penobscot Bay for a session on “Oceans in Balance” at Pop!Tech, off the coast of Maine. (More photos from Pop!Tech 2007)Claire Nouvian, a documentary filmmaker, thinks really deep thoughts about the ocean and its inhabitants. She’s especially concerned about how we relate to ecosystems that are far removed from our own. Even though oceans represent about 99% of the planet, they have only been looked at in detail since the 1950’s, and we’ve only sampled about 0.5% of the surface. The ocean remains the last frontier.
Because the deep sea is remote both horizontally — you have to go over the continental shelf before you go down to the depths — and vertically, it is literally out of sight and out of mind. Alas, it is not out of harms way. Creatures we haven’t even discovered yet are under threat from deep sea mining, deep sea dumping, co2 sequestration, ocean acidification, methane & oil exploitation and bottom trawling. Why should we care? Sure there are boundless medicinal and biotech discoveries to be made, but aesthetics alone are reason enough for Nouvian. And they are breathtaking. Tim Burton, HR Giger and George Lucas have nothing on nature. On the very first look through her magnificent book, The Deep: The Extraordinary Creatures of the Abyss, I fell completely in love. As it turns out, the deep sea is where the creatures from our wildest dreams live. But seduction always has a price… once you fall in love, you’ll want to protect them. And Nouvian argues there’s no just reason not to do so: deep sea trawling provides only 5% of the worldwide catch and only 300 or 400 ships engage in the $400 million per year industry. Nouvian argued that we are “destroying a unique, unassessed planetary heritage at unprecedented speed and scale in an irreversible manner for no reason but the increased profit of a handful of people.” Nouvian recommends checking out SeaAroundUs.org, SaveTheHighSeas.org (the website of the Deep Sea Coalition), eating less fish and using seafood watch cards, and her new organization: the Bloom Association which aims to link people with the deep sea, rousing emotions through beauty.
Filed under: activism and animals and art and better world and books and creativity and culture and design and happiness and health and interconnected and love and passions and science and sustainability and technology and travel and women Comments: None yet... Add one here.
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Posted on 09.02.07 by Emily
In Natural History, Pliny the Elder encouraged wearing purslane as an amulet that could expel all evil, but today most people in the US consider purslane a weed. Nevia No of Yuno’s Farm turned me on to it as a salad green last year, and I got hooked on its lemony succulence. Purslane has the most omega-3 fatty acids of any leafy green, and it also features lots of vitamin C, some Bs, carotenoids, calcium, magnesium, potassium and iron. Tossed with blueberries and hazelnuts, olive oil and lemon juice, it makes a perfect summer salad. (Thanks, Cookshop.) Purslane grows easily from seed (from Seeds of Change) in a container on a sunny NYC rooftop. Other recipes I’d like to try soon:
Comments: 1 Comment
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Posted on 04.02.07 by Emily
Filed under: art and books and branding and consumerism and creativity and culture and design and emily approved and environment and happiness and interconnected and links and love and marketing and music and nyc and passions and people and photography and retail and science and senses and shopping and sustainability and technology and travel and video and webstuff Comments: 1 Comment
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Posted on 02.19.07 by Emily
Yay, I heard from Nabaztag/tag today. My rabbit is ready for adoption. In any case, the announcement email is brilliant in that instead of telling me I can purchase a gadget, they make it seem like I’m about to rescue a pet: Adopt A Rabbit and welcome me to the Rabbit Community.
People come to feel love for their robots, but if our experience with relational artifacts is based on a fundamentally deceitful interchange, can it be good for us? Or might it be good for us in the “feel good” sense, but bad for us in our lives as moral beings?
Relationships with robots bring us back to Darwin and his dangerous idea: the challenge to human uniqueness. When we see children and the elderly exchanging tendernesses with robotic pets the most important question is not whether children will love their robotic pets more than their real life pets or even their parents, but rather, what will loving come to mean? I’m willing to bet on abundance… developing love or care for robots expands the total love pie, and can be step towards expanding and expressing love to sentient beings.
Filed under: animals and better world and consumerism and culture and design and emily approved and happiness and health and love and observations and passions and retail and senses and shopping and technology and webstuff Comments: None yet... Add one here.
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Posted on 12.01.06 by Emily
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Posted on 10.06.06 by Emily
You can tell how much you love someone by the amount of time you spend making their scrambled eggs. - Alain Ducasse
In Eggs Take Their Place at the Dinner Table, Mark Bittman reveals the secret of Jean George’s eggs and offers an intriguing recipe for eggs poached in red wine. Have been enjoying cooking my way through Marie Simmons The Good Egg: More than 200 Fresh Approaches from Breakfast to Dessert with Nevia’s marvelous eggs from happy chickens. related: Meat Packing District/West Village Weekend Update
Filed under: ask emily and books and culture and emily approved and food and happiness and health and love and nyc and observations and passions and taste Comments: 1 Comment
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Posted on 09.24.06 by Emily
In the family of periodicals, Good resembles an American cousin of Ode, but younger and more visual, like a nephew of Tibor’s Colors. Open’s thoughtful design features visual tagging using color coded navigation symbols by theme along the top and links to more info along the bottom margin. With a focus on ideas that inspire and people doing interesting things, each issue features a unifying theme interpreted visually by a different designer or group (the inaugural issue highlights WK12 taking on “I ♥ America”). In other senses, Good’s got an excellent hand, smells pleasant and gifts us with thoughtful stickers rather than wasteful blow-out subscription cards. Last but not least, they’re Good to the core with recycled paper content, carbon emissions offset, exclusive rights on content relinquished after 120 days and CC licenses encouraged. Related of interest elsewhere:
Next eagerly anticipated mags to devour:
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It’s hard to remember any specific classroom lessons from that age, but I distinctly remember the joy of experimenting on a Commodore PET, guided by books of
I love bubbly beverages: Champagne and sparkling water are always my drinks of choice. Among the sparklers,
Claire Nouvian sailing in Penobscot Bay for a session on “Oceans in Balance” at 









