foresight feed

Kingsnorth Case. worth a perusal of the link.

Chris — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 02:04:05 +0000

By a majority verdict, a British jury found five protestors who shut down the Kingsnorth coal-fired power plant had a “lawful excuse” to close the plant to prevent greater damage from global warming. Greenpeace activists, protesting the contribution of coal-electric power plants to climate change, scaled a chimney and painted the word “Gordon” on the chimney before they were forced down (“Gordon” is a reference to British prime minister Gordon Brown). The protest shut down the power plant temporarily and the graffiti cost about $62,000 to remove. The jury verdict in favor of the protestors illustrates how a U.S. jury might respond to similar protests.

The jury verdict in favor of the protestors illustrates how a U.S. jury might respond t.............

http://www.globalclimatelaw.com/2008/09/articles/climate-change-litigation/british-jury-in-kingsnorth-case-finds-in-favor-of-climate-change-protestors/

Westin. Melbourne

Chris — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 01:59:42 +0000

great location. internet connectivity equaled the speed of a tortoise. unbearably slow in the room. wireless ripped in the lobby. told that it was due to an in-room TV upgrade coming in February. other than that, the room was great. great desk. comfortable bed. bathroom just the right size. staff super friendly and service orientated. i would definitely go back.

we privatise our profits and socialise our losses

Chris — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 01:58:02 +0000

interesting line which i have been hearing recently. and painfully true.

a heck of a long voyage from Maine to Melbourne

Chris — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 10:38:37 +0000

it is hard to imagine how long the trip was. i simply can't remember. really. departure from Portland, Maine on Saturday early afternoon and then two days later i arrive in Melbourne, Australia. the Portland airport is quite simply - quaint. it has a few gate. mine had rocking chairs to while away the hours as you waited. my plane was cancelled. so i thankfully, after an incredibly stressful ten minutes, was rebooked onto another flight on another airline. United thru Chicago. that sounded just fine. however, i landed at 'F' and needed to be at 'B' in order to meet my next plane. so, the rubber band propelled jet wound up and left Portland heading west. i couldn't stand up in it. the 90 minutes seemed an eternity on paper. i had 10 minutes to spare by the time i actually got to my 'B' gate.

flying in America is simply not nice. no matter how you slice it, economy class sucks. i was in a seat which had no padding, so after 30 minutes my back end was sore. there is so little room between each seat that it is simply IMPOSSIBLE to open a laptop and work. the flight from ORD to LAX was essentially wasted. i did get to watch between the heads a tiny screen which was playing a movie featuring Kevin Costner which essentially was produced to encourage Americans to vote. it made the time pass. but what a waste of four hours of my life.

arriving in LAX was similar. why is it that big airports in the west are held together by duct tape? i had to get from terminal somethingorother to terminal 2. that was easy enough once someone could tell me which bus to get on. but again, the 120 minute interval between flights evaporated. made it to the gate with 15 minutes to spare. i really hate travel stress. this was my first Air New Zealand flight. the lounge was okay. better by far than united or american airlines. just long enough to have a beer and then go to the gate. the 777 is configured so that the business class is up front and economy the rest of the plane. every seat in business has access to the aisle. they are also flat beds which flip. they are all new, so i perhaps expected more. it as just fine. why can't an airline really come up with a good seat/bed? the flight to Auckland was essentially a night flight. i ate and went to sleep. sort of. i find that sleepig at 38000 feet is simply not restful. our bodies need more oxygen to recoup than they can suck out of the air. sunrise over New Zealand was spectacular.

landed in Auckland. found my new gate. flew the final four hours on a 747-400 in the nose seat. it is fun to be able to see out. finally able to get a few hours of work. arrived Melbourne. i love the immigration system here. EVERYONE gets their bag x-rayed. no 'profiling' or anything like that. we all get our bags zapped. fair an square.

22 hours of flights. yuck.

poptech. 2008. amos lee

Chris — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 20:22:24 +0000

great voice. he sang keep it loose/keep it tight.
brought all of the interlopers from the other rooms back in to stand around the outside. they were right to come in.......definatly to get. GET HIS MUSIC! wow.

http://www.amoslee.com/

poptech. 2008. Laura Waters Hinson

Chris — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 19:55:16 +0000

http://www.asweforgivemovie.com/
here is an article in a Christian magazine on the film. http://www.worldmag.com/articles/14162

good theme. bad presentation. she rambled and really should not have droned on after time

poptech. 2008. Gary Slutkin

Chris — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 19:27:08 +0000

can we understand urban violence as a virus? it is something that is medically driven? or should it be considered it an infectious disease? fascinating idea that seems so correct.

violence behaves like an infectious disease in almost every way. so the question is...how are epidemics reversed?
interrupt transmission. this can be immunization, or render the most infectious person and render them neutral, for violence it is looking
change social norms. the central behaviour that is driving the epidemic. this is very much the copying and osmosis that

these are the only two things that work.

FASCINATING. it has to be the direction that this goes. stopping the cycle. REALLY GREAT WORK.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKIDukYgSJ0
[http://www.ceasefirechicago.org/]
[http://www.volvoforlifeawards.com/cgi-bin/iowa/english/heros/hero2004/9116.html]
[http://www.rwjf.org/newsroom/feature.jsp?id=20772]

poptech. 2008. Robert Fabricant

Chris — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 17:06:37 +0000

Executive Creative Director
Robert Fabricant is the Executive Creative Director of frog design in New York, where he leads multidisciplinary design teams for clients such as BBC, Comcast, GE, MTV, Nextel, and Nissan. He has developed user experiences for numerous digital platforms, including handheld devices, in-car information systems, medical devices, retail environments, networked applications, and desktop software.

Prior to frog, Robert led the research and development team at Organic, where he worked on wireless applications for key clients such as Federated, Lucent Technologies, and the Museum of the Moving Image. Other work experience includes @radical.media, Microsoft Research, and Edwin Schlossberg Inc. Robert is an adjunct professor at NYU's Interactive Telecommunications Program, where he teaches a foundation course in Interaction Design. He has worked in user experience design for interactive media since 1994, including exhibition and kiosk design, CD-ROM, web, broadband and wireless applications. His interactive work has been included in I.D. Magazine, Wired Magazine, and The Wall Street Journal and has been presented at SIGGRAPH and DUX.http://www.frogdesign.com/

presented the work that they have been doing with Zinny Thabethe with the Aids clinics in South Africa. they have created a self-diagnosis kit. it was quite impressive and a really good piece of design.

poptech. 2008. Gustav Praekelt

Chris — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 15:13:17 +0000

Praekelt Foundation [http://www.praekeltfoundation.org/] is using mobile technology in south africa to help with the AIDs epidemic. great uptake on this. is is SMS based and focused on helping those who are in most need.

http://mobileactive.org/please-call-me-messages-hiv-info-mobile-social-marketing-south-africa
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7688268.stm

poptech. 2008. Matt Mason

Chris — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 14:55:37 +0000

Matt Mason is the bestselling author of The Pirate’s Dilemma, the first book in the history of the world to hit the number one spot on Amazon’s economics/free enterprise bestseller list, and the rap bestseller list, at the same time. It has since been published in seven countries and counting.

Mason began his career as a pirate radio and club DJ in London, going on to become founding Editor-in-Chief of the seminal magazine RWD. In 2004, he was selected as one of the faces of Gordon Brown’s Start Talking Ideas campaign, and was presented the Prince’s Trust London Business of the Year Award by HRH Prince Charles.

He has written and produced TV series, comic strips, viral videos and records. His journalism has appeared in The Guardian, The Independent, The Observer Music Monthly, Dazed & Confused, Adweek, VICE, Complex, Libération, and other publications in more than 20 countries. He has spoken on the subjects covered in the book all over the world. He recently founded the non-profit media company Wedia with his wife Emily. He lives in New York City.

Piracy is not always a bad thing. see his book [http://thepiratesdilemma.com/about-the-book] this is a book to GET!

7 abundantly clear things about abundance
1. in order to beat piracy, emulate do not eliminate.
2. "good business is the best best art." Andy Warhol
3. the art of storytelling is changing because of abundance. it is now becoming network and becoming part of the conversation. it is about giving other people space to create
4. never let legal ruin a project until the marketing team
5. abundance is better than advertising
- he states that the pharmaceutical companies spend more on advertising than on research. Novatis is
6. some good experiences will always be scarce.
7. in an economy based abundance your business model needs to be a virtuous circle.

Great talk!