Historical World War II air map – Denver as the center of the universe

To understand this map, think of Denver as the center of the universe. Created during World War II when airplanes were becoming common. It was an “air age” that shrunk the world down to flyable chunks, and new maps were created to show distance – in one tank of gas or two.   From Mapping the …

My Manifesto – the Zeitgeist of sustainability

This will be the fifth manifesto I’ve written. And every one of them has had a noble goal and ambitious hopes. I like to shoot for the stars and see where I end up. My goal is to be the Zeitgeist of sustainability. Zeitgeist – “the spirit of the times” or “the spirit of the age.” …

European Union leads the world in renewable energy – achieves 100 GW of wind power

Renewable energy continues to surge in the European Union (EU). The latest achievement is 100 GW of wind power, the equivalent of 62 coal power plants. The growth has been fast, “it took twenty years to get the first 10 GW grid connected…only 13 years to add 90 GW.” And half of that was added in …

20 of the world’s most remote islands

If you want to get away from it all – here’s the book for you. Roger Lovegrove has visited – and photographed – 20 of the world’s most remote islands. From the far south Atlantic to the viking north, these are forbidding places. The book is called, Islands Beyond the Horizon, and here are three of …

Creativity: giant colored pencil art installation, that “both awes and threatens”

JeannieJeannie: The Echigo-Tsumari Art Field is a fantastic and wonderfully impractical art space in Japan, where artists from around the world have scattered large-scale installations across 160 kilometers of land. In the midst of this art field is this set of giant colored pencils from Cameroon-born artist Pascale Marthine Tayou, titled “Reverse City:” enormous colored pencils hewn from …

History of the Steel Pan – musical instrument from industrial waste – beloved in Trinidad

BBC wrote an interesting piece on the history of the steel pan: Amid the electronica of 20th Century music one new instrument stands out for its simplicity. The steel pan, possibly the only instrument made out of industrial waste, has become an icon of Trinidadian culture. “There is something about the steel pan and Caribbean music …

Crowdsource the launch of a nano-satellite into space – Kickstarter

We are developing a nano-satellite, and mobile apps to go with it, as the focus for a global education and public outreach campaign. The satellite, called SkyCube, is a 10x10x10 cm “1U” CubeSat intended for launch as a secondary payload on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket in 2013. Orbiting more than 300 miles up, on a …

A century of Olympic posters

    Images from the book “A Century of Olympic Posters” by Margaret Timmers: As snapshots through time, Olympic posters provide a fascinating record of our world, a lens through which we can explore links between sports and art, politics and place, commerce and culture. A Century of Olympic Posters offers an intensely visual representation of the modern …

National Geographic premieres new show – Comic Store Heroes

This is Comic Store Heroes, a wild and wacky adventure into the subculture of comic book super fans, where dreams are everything… and with a bit of faith and spandex, they really can come true. Amid the dark and dangerous shadows of New York, the real life Gotham City, shines a bright light that lures comic fans …