My bright idea: Cory Doctorow | Technology | The Observer

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2010/may/23/cory-doctorow-my-bright-idea
Cory Doctorow is promoting his latest novel, which apparently deals with teenagers and privacy. He makes some interesting points, which will chime with anyone who (like me) knows far more than they'd like about the private lives of their younger relatives thanks to facebook. Thanks facebook.

"Kids' relationship with privacy is really confused; they're told by teachers and adults that their privacy is paramount, that they should stop disclosing so much information on Facebook and so on. And then they go to schools where everything they do is monitored; there's mandatory spyware that takes every click they make, every word they utter and sends it back to teachers and headmasters for disciplinary purposes.

When they go out in public, they're photographed every five minutes and there are signs that prohibit taking any affirmative step to hide themselves from scrutiny or maintain any privacy."

Wow. It really sucks being a kid, doesn't it? Mind you, I recently found my name, address and email are publicly available on the internet. No wonder I get so much spam. Really should do something about that.

IWOOT - in my dream home...

http://blog.mckayflooring.co.uk/whisky-flooring/
Somebody makes flooring out of whisky barrels. Apparently they don't smell (muc) and there's no point licking them. But they look pretty. When I build my own house (in this alternate reality I'm building at the bottom of the garden), I quite fancy some of this about the place.

M. Kawaguchi at TEDxTokyo: "Peace on Earth via the Japanese Toilet" - Core77

http://www.core77.com/blog/object_culture/m_kawaguchi_at_tedxtokyo_peace_on_earth_via_the_japanese_toilet_16593.asp
Again this is more a reminder to myself to have a look at this - but you might find it interesting, I don't know.

New Bus for London unveiled, and look who it isn't...

http://www.core77.com/blog/object_culture/new_bus_for_london_unveiled_and_it_looks_pretty_sweet_16585.asp
Yes, my favourite designer is back, hurrah! The Heatherwick strikes again. I'm a tad suspicious that this thing might be a bit longer than the ones it's replacing, but damn if it doesn't look good. Two staircases! Three doors! How do they manage to fit people in?

Here's the official London Transport announcement. Damn you Thomas Heatherwick, you're so curly and brilliant.

Doors of Perception weblog: at Crossing The Line

http://www.doorsofperception.com/archives/2010/05/post_54.php
An interesting (if rather alarmist) musing on the role of the designer in a declining civilization. Whether or not you enjoy this article will probably depend on whether you think we might be living through the fall of Consumerist civilization... but its core theme of designing fewer individual products and being more respectful of existing networks and knowledge resonate very strongly with me.

More Expo 2010 trivia - UK Pavilion designed by THOMAS HEATHERWICK, woohoo!

http://www.heatherwick.com/uk-pavilion/
For those who don't know who Thomas Heatherwick is, he is (in my humble opinion) probably the most exciting designer working in the world right now. I may have mentioned him before? Let me see if I can find a link... Ah, here we go.

Certain tribes in the less accessible areas of Greenwich village worship him as a god, and his name is whispered in the hallowed halls of... oh, never mind. As a great, er, mammal once said, He. Is. Fully. AWESOME.

From his studio website: The Seed Cathedral is a 20-metre high building, constructed from 60,000 transparent 7.5-metre long optical strands, each of which has embedded within its tip a seed. The interior is silent and illuminated only by the daylight that has filtered past each seed through each optical hair; a quiet space in which to contemplate this formidable collection of the world’s botanical resources.
All those spines... they're glass! GLASS. (well, okay, probably not glass, probably some sort of transparent plastic, but still) Holy crap! (giggles manically). I am sooooooo going to see this. Oh yes. This is worth a trip to China all on its own.


Here he is being interviewed by the Chinese for the Expo website.


I must admit, though - while I still worship the ground the guy works on (see what I did there?), he is showing a bit of a preference for spiky/furry stuff. This is fine... so far. But don't let it become a cliche, Thomas!