A selection of acrylic and wood artworks decorated with gold leaf is to go on display at next month’s Pulse Contemporary Art Fair in Miami, Florida.Created by Cuban artist Jose Toirac in collaboration with art historian Meira Marrero, the Orbis: Homenaje a Walker Evans collection will go on show at the Jose Toirac: Censure and Celebration in Cuba exhibition at the event between December 3rd and 6th.The series consists of dozens of pieces based on pictures taken in Cuba by American photographer Walker Evans in 1933, with each artwork accented with gold leaf made in Seville in Span, Artdaily reports fireplaces.Seville was the main port city that took delivery of gold from the Americas when Spanish colonial rule was in force. The collection was originally shown at the National Fine Arts Museum in Havana to replace work by Toirac that had been censored.Pulse Miami will take place at The Ice Palace and will feature 75 exhibitors and ten galleries in total.

Gold leaf art to go on show at Miami fair

Video Olympic present a video mapping installation in the city of Exeter this weekend in conjunction with the Exeter Phoenix 2 Short Nights film festival. The Installation will be running from 6 till 7 on both Friday 27 & Saturday 28 of November 2009.

For more information please contact Video Olympic.

Sounds design by DJ Jusme.

See you there!

Algunos ya os habreis dado cuenta que hay ciertos temas en particular que nos hacen tilín…sostenibilidad (a quien no), utopías, “lost and found”, arquitectura y cine…y como no, arquitectura y digitalización. Por eso queríamos dedicarle un post al proyecto que recientemente fue preseleccionado en el concurso creado por el alcalde de Londres Boris Johnson para construir una atracción turística en el Parque Olímpico de la ciudad para las próximas Olimpiadas–el llamado The Cloud, o “La Nube”, de MIT.

Cada vez más, la arquitectura se vincula a las nuevas tecnologías y tecnologías de la información, desde aplicaciones de Realidad Augmentada como Layar, programas de código abierto para modelar como SketchUp, localizadores compartidos como Google Earth, hasta conexiones a servicios web como Pachube para compartir datos del consumo energético de edificios en tiempo real.

El proyecto de “La Nube”, liderado por científicos de MIT y un equipo estelar de arquitectos, ingenieros, artistas, escultores, diseñadores y escritores, no es sólo una nube en el sentido figurativo por sus esferas flotantes a más de 100 metros de altura, pero también en el sentido figurado; es una nube de información. Una escultura en celebración de la tecnología que hace a la vez de parque público y mirador, visualizador de datos, y que produce la energía que consume.

Aunque el ganador del concurso aun no se ha anunciado, MIT se ha propuesto seguir adelante con el proyecto si o si, desvelando el diseño públicamente y embarcándose en un esfuerzo de “cloud-raising” para construir la nube a medida de las donaciones públicas que recibe el proyecto.

Carlo Ratti, uno de los arquitectos que lidera el proyecto (que también dirige el MIT SENSEable Cities Laboratory) le dijo a BBC News: “Realmente se trata de que la gente participe en crear la Nube. La podemos construir con £5m or £50m. La flexibilidad del sistema estructural nos permite adaptar el tamaño de la Nube a la cantidad de fondos recaudados.”

La torre está compuesta por cables metálicos  de los que se suspende una nube de burbujas interconectadas hechas de ETFE (Ethylene tetrafluoroethylene–el mismo plástico utilizado en el centro aquático de Beijing), equipadas con LEDs que proyectan datos en tiempo real como con la temperatura, búsquedas en Google (que apoya el proyecto con publicidad gratuita), datos de las carreras de los juegos Olímpicos y otros que se verán desde dentro de la torre y desde diferentes partes de la ciudad. La torre en espiral cuenta con tecnología resitente a terremotos para protegerla del fuertes vientos, y dicen que producirá su propia energía a través de paneles solares y convirtiendo la energía de los transeúntes en electricidad.

El empeño en hacer el proyecto una realidad dicen los autores es por aplicar a la arquitectura los procesos de distribución  que están revolucionando el mundo digital; de crear un símbolo de propiedad global construido apartir de la participación ciudadana.

No sabemos si los ciudadanos estarán de acuerdo, o si pondrán de su propio bolsillo para construir lo que al fin y al cabo es una atracción turística para las Olimpiadas, o si el ícono contemporáneo sentará bien en el contexto de “East London”… Eso está por ver. Pero es interesante ver como comienza a surgir arquitectura que incorpora tecnología digital y explorar los usos que puede dar a la ciudad.

Fotos via raisethecloud.org

Puedes bajar un dossier completo del proyecto aquí.

on oublie trop vite certaines références, son kiff c’était de phagocyter ses modèles dans ses a-poc:
http://www.isseymiyake.co.jp/

These affordable and unique gift ideas Will Leave Your Best Friends Speechless! We all had the honor of being part of a procession. Although it is always a wonderful experience, you will agree that this is not the cheapest. And after spending a grand easy clothes, gifts and hotel rooms that you really want in return? There are only so many gifts wedding procession there, and the number of weddings you've been, you probably have quite a collection now . Whether you are about to get married or know someone who is, these new ideas are required to have your closest friends to love you. at prices ranging from $ 10 to $ 70, these gifts are great to mix and match the perfect gift for your price range. After all, what are your best friends to show them how important they are for you! For BridesmaidsMonogrammed tote bags.Affordable and useful, they are a win-win gift. For something extra special, tie a scarf around each individual bag. We offer: J. Crew 's Mautauk Small Tote $ 49.50 (including monogram) sterling silver earrings. What woman Wouldn 't want a pair of these? Their simplicity would compliment any outfit and dress after the wedding day, she will be able to wear anywhere.We suggest: Tiffany & Co. Sterling Silver Bead Earrings $ 70Photo frame with a single mat. Because managers keep our precious memories, show how your staff mean for you by selecting one or more photos for each. A plain frame black or white with a colorful rug adds an additional flair.We suggest: Urban Outfitter's Block Print Mat $ 14 Female sleepwear.Nothing makes a woman feel sexier than a piece of lingerie. Choose different colors for each officer based on his favorite color or style.We suggest: American Apparel Sheer Jersey Chemise $ 22 and Baby Rib Thong $ 8Spa package. You love to be pampered, and you love your friends … so why not your friends to a pamper! We offer: SpaFinder.com gift certificate for $ 50 or more…

Read full article: <a href='http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/44387/the_best_attendant_gifts_for_any_

This research by Julia Molloy and Taka Surei is “subjective, composed from informal interviews, photographs, sketches and observations. The document is not An unbiased fact, but a spatialized map of the objects stored in our collective memory. This research is not a manifesto, but Rather an inquisition to further question the process of documentation. Architects regard a document as a conclusive fact, based on intensive research. However, a document is a result of a more intimate exchange between the observer and the observed.

Through the insertion of the observer into the document, the document can potentially become a heightened record. As research-tourists, our travel to the burmese refugee camp, mae la, magnifies the role of documenting through the documentation Of the observer. Since 1984, there have been 460,000 people seeking refuge in Thailand from Myanmar. Among them, over a 150,000 karen ethnic minority Citizens of Myanmar, under siege from myanmar’s junta military (spda), have resettled within 8 refugee camps scattered Along the Thailand/Burma border. The thai government provides the land for the refugee camps, but the majority of the economic And material resources are delivered from foreign governments and nongovernmental organizations. Beginning in 1999 The united nations instituted a resettlement program hosted by 11 countries including U.S., Canada, australia. The complex network Of exchange between cultures and objects, power and money, and land and occupation is a difficult story to tell Through traditional forms of media. This maps attempts to represent the situation in a multivalent manner; to illustrate the international Agency and collaboration that is required to establish and sustain a temporary occupation of refuge.”

document-refuge is currently exhibit at Columbia University in Avery at the 100 level.

Roundup and slides from Geographical Information Day, 18 Nov:
http://wmro.wordpress.com/2009/11/24/roundup-of-geographical-information-day/
Ordnance Survey, Dudley Council and Open Street Map especially notable.

Thanks Gavin Wray and WMRO

Posted via email from Andrew’s posterous

THURSDAY, Nov. 19 (HealthDay News) — Seniors who eat plenty of fruits and vegetables and who have good cognitive function are much less likely to die from heart disease than those who have poorer cognitive function and eat fewer fruits and vegetables, a new study has found.

Cognitive function refers to the ability to think, remember, plan and organize information.

Researchers at the Drexel University School of Public Health in Philadelphia analyzed diet and cognitive data on 4,879 people (3,101 women and 1,778 men), age 70 and older, who took part in the U.S. Longitudinal Study of Aging. The participants were followed for an average of seven years.

The analysis revealed that:

Those who ate three or more servings of vegetables daily had a 30 percent lower risk for dying from heart disease and a 15 percent lower risk for dying from any cause during the follow-up period than those who ate fewer than three servings of vegetables a day. There was a significant association between higher consumption of fruits and vegetables and decreased prevalence of cognitive impairment. People who scored high on cognitive functions tests were less likely to die from heart disease or any other cause during the follow-up than were those with low scores.

The study was to be presented Wednesday at the American Heart Association's annual meeting in Orlando, Fla.

More information

The U.S. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute explains how to prevent and control heart disease risk factors.

Diet, Cognitive Ability May Play Role in Heart Disease

In his article Citizens as sensors: the world of volunteered geography (2007) Goodchild details the recent establishment of citizen or public volunteered information which he calls “volunteered geographic information (VGI)” (212).

This movement has been typified by web-based applications such as Google Maps, Google Earth, and Open Street Map.  All of these sites/sights are examples of what is now called web 2.0, which is characterized by the participatory creation of databases of information by web users.  Where the first incarnation of the web was strictly a one way affair where users moved from page to page and could not interact with the information that was presented other than read it, now with web 2.0 users are active creators and authors of information.

In the realm of Google Maps/Earth, Open Street Map and Wikimapia, among others, this information is geographic in nature, while places and events, and many other forms of information, are now georeferenced.

In this new world of participatory mapping enabled by web 2.0 users are the sensors themselves, and the information is locally sensed rather than remote sensed.  It must be stated though, like with any mapping activity, user created mapping is not objective, but subjective to the user’s position within the physical world and material society.

Examples of “Participant Populations” (218) given by Goodchild interestingly enough includes soldiers, and farmers.  He states that these individuals are potential sources of firsthand information and “data that is in many cases much more detailed and current than that available from central…agencies” (218).

He also claims, however, that these “developments contribute to a growing reversal of the traditional top-down approach to the creation and dissemination of geographic information” (218).  This is a problematic assumption though on the part of Goodchild that information coming from soldiers and farmers represent a shift to a bottom up kind of information gathering.

Soldiers represent the violent, repressive, and coercive authority of the state, and therefore, any information they would gather and disseminate will be in the state’s own interest.  Furthermore, the geospatial tools, utilized in precision farming, are owned by the capitalist class.  These tools are used on large farms owned by agribusinesses who farm on land that was gained through the structural, or in many cases the actual, violence of colonialism.  Is that what bottom up means?

Nonetheless, the growing trend of VGI, in many instances has removed map making from the hands of the ‘experts’ and placed it into the hands of regular citizens.  This is an empowering and democratic act, however, only for those that are able to participate by owning the proper equipment, and being connected (literally).

Goodchild, M. F. (2007). Citizens as sensors: the world of volunteered geography. Geojournal, (69), 211-221.

Last Saturday 14 interested folks came out to our Crowley Hilltop Preserve to learn about working with Global Positioning Systems (GPS). This fun group had signed up for the workshop to become more familiar with their own receivers or learn more before getting one of their own. The group included people who had never touched a GPS before to those who use them regularly for work, and even a couple who is using theirs to travel the world, all wanting to learn a little bit more about this technology and have a good day out on the land.

Lets start with the basics...the Earth is round right?

The workshop kicked off with a review of the theory behind the GPS including coordinate systems, satellites, maps and more. The remainder of the program was designed to get people using their units successfully on their own to locate and navigate to locations using maps and coordinates. In the end, the participants managed to navigate through a GPS course in rough terrain ending with a special treat while overlooking views of Crowley Lake and the Benton Range beyond.

Getting to know a Garmin

Based on the great feedback we go from participants, we have been thinking about more workshops in the future, anyone interested? What would you like to learn how to do? Map & Compass? Landscape Photography? Quilting with Natural Dyes?

Aaron

THURSDAY, Nov. 19 (HealthDay News) — While rates of obesity are climbing across America, they are especially high in sections of Appalachia and the Southeast, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports in its first county-by-county survey.

Obesity and diabetes "are basically the two conditions of greatest concern for U .S. adults right now," said study lead author Edward Gregg, chief of epidemiology and statistics in the CDC's division of diabetes translation.

"They have been increasing for the last 10 to 15 years," he said. "This is the first time we've been able to look at the most local level, defining where the problem is." The findings are published in the Nov. 20 issue of the agency's journal, Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

In the Appalachia region that includes Kentucky, Tennessee and West Virginia, 81 percent of counties have high rates of diabetes and obesity. In the Southeast region that includes Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi and South Carolina, three-quarters of the counties have similarly high rates of both.

In many counties within those regions, more than 10 percent of residents have a diabetes diagnosis, and obesity prevalence is more than 30 percent.

Poor diets and sedentary lifestyles, both commonplace in modern American life, are known to contribute to type 2 diabetes and obesity.

"We think these increases in obesity and diabetes partially reflect the cultural shifts that are affecting all of us," said Gregg, "but we see them most in regions where there is more poverty and where educational levels are lower."

The two cond Hot News: Canadian woman loses benefits over Facebook photo

Yes. Less rage filled posts and more relevant entries.

So, I decided to try and start mapping. Shit’s pretty boring when you have to start from point zero, but editing maps is far easier. I took the liberty of decompiling the old Precinct 13 map, and started editing and optimizing it. My main goal is to remove the ‘vertex overflow’ error, which caused many people to neglect the map and rarely use it. I also decided to rebuild the inside of the housing complex, which is pretty time consuming. Over the time, I ran into leaks during the addition of new areaportals which also taught me how to use pointfile. There really ain’t a big lesson in it but whatever.

And now you may think. ‘lol u just started lol how do you know lol what to do lol’. But, surprisingly, mapping ain’t new for me. Ever since I bought my first version of the Source engine, I’ve tried to experiment with the SDK. Many fails and screw ups has happened over time, but with my new – unknown – motivation, it became fun and almost addictive.

So, back to life. I spend my entire weekend mapping and playing GTA4, which also meant that I didn’t need to go out of a smoke. I guess my inactive body neglected my addictiveness, and held me ongoing. Maybe that’s why I now find it fun and exciting to map.

But, since I’m back at my boarding school without my stationary computer, it has become pretty tough not to smoke. I’m trying to fight against the addictiveness, but I’m building a headache and feeling somehow anxious.

Enough for now.. I’m pretty sure this is the longest post I’ve ever written.

Oh the irony. I get a working computer and blogging is the last thing I want to do. How strange, because it requires a computer at least capable of internet surfing.

In other news, I’m learning C / C++ now! I think I’ll use this as a sort’ve tracking spot for progress on that. Should be fun!

I’m also making a TF2 map! For more info on that visit here: http://home.comcast.net/~cubkyle/tf/demodownload.html

Cubkyle is AWESOMELY hosting the server for our weekly playtests, and he is recording these awesome demos of the game for us! Check it out if you missed it, it’s awesome, plus it’ll be a neat place to watch developments on the map, in addition to what I post here, of course That’s what’s goin on for me, we’ll see what I can get together for keeping you updated on stuff.

This interview with William D. Green, chief executive of Accenture, was conducted and condensed by Adam Bryant.

Skip to next paragraph Dan Neville/The New York Times

William D. Green, chairman and chief executive of Accenture, the consulting, technology services and outsourcing company, says competence, confidence and caring are vital to success.

Corner Office

Every Sunday, Adam Bryant talks with top executives about the challenges of leading and managing.

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Q. What important leadership lessons have you learned?

A. I’m a proud plumber’s son from western Massachusetts. In my family, working with tools is the highest honor. It isn’t how many degrees you have. It’s what you can do. So that had a big impact on me. What that says is, it doesn’t matter what you look like, what you talk like, where you went to school, where you came from, any of that. What matters is what you’re capable of.

Q. What else?

A. I was not a good student. I found my way into a two-year college. I went from an underperformer to a solid performer, with a little inspiration from some professors. That had a profound effect on me, to realize how much raw talent is out there that organizations don’t mine or leverage because of structure and rules.

Q. So how do you break through?

A. I once sat through a three-day training session for new managers. I counted 68 things we told them they needed to do to be successful. And I got up to close the session, and I said there are three things that matter.

The first is competence — just being good at what you do, and focus on the job you have, not the job you think you want to have. The second one is confidence. You have to have enough desirable self-confidence to articulate a point of view. The third thing is caring. Nothing today is about one individual. This is all about the team, and, in the end, this is about giving a damn about your customers, your company, the people around you.

Q. What other basic messages do you have for all your employees?

A. One of our other principles is that people who are successful are the ones who ask for help. It sounds simple, but to get an organization to believe that asking for help is a sign of strength, and not weakness, is a huge thing.

Q. You have to make sure people don’t worry they might be criticized for asking.

A. You want to challenge people to get them to raise their game, as opposed to criticizing them, which makes them raise their defenses. It’s like learning. With a motivated learner, you can work wonders. In institutions, it’s the same thing. Companies with the resolve to change are like a motivated learner. Other companies like the status quo. In the end, that’s the difference between winners and losers in corporate America and around the world.

Q. How has your leadership style evolved?

A. I used to be an orchestrator from behind the scenes. I could make stuff happen but was never comfortable with the spotlight. Now I lead a lot more from the front. I have a better appreciation of what people expect of me, and it matters if the C.E.O. shows up.

Q. Let’s talk about hiring.

A. It’s one of our core competencies. We get two million C.V.’s a year and hire between 40,000 and 60,000 people. I always say, in simple terms, we need people who are analytical and have common sense, good judgment and the ability to get along.

We’re taking a more scientific approach to how we recruit. We do something called “critical behavior interviewing.” It’s based on the premise that past behavior is the best indicator of future behavior. Essentially what we’re looking for is, have you faced any adversity and what did you do about it?

Q. That’s what it comes down to?

A. If you get down to it, it’s what have you learned, what have you demonstrated, what behaviors do you have? Have you shown intuition? Have you shown the ability to synthesize and act? Have you shown the ability to make a choice? How have you dealt with the hand in front of you?

I was recruiting at Babson College in 1991. The last recruit of the day — I get this résumé. It’s very light — no clubs, no sports, no nothing. Studied finance. Work experience: Sam’s Diner, references on request.

I’ve seen all these people come through strutting their stuff and they’ve got their portfolios and a semester studying abroad. This guy sits down. His name is Sam, and I say, “Sam, what else were you doing while you were here?” He says, “Well, Sam’s Diner. That’s our family business, and I leave on Friday after classes, and I go and work till closing. I work all day Saturday till closing, and then I work Sunday until I close, and then I drive back to Babson.” I wrote, “Hire him.”

He’s still with us. He had character. He faced a set of challenges. He figured out how to do both.

Q. So what’s that quality you just described?

A. It’s work ethic. The guy had charted a path to make it work with the situation he had. He didn’t ask for help. He wasn’t victimized by the thing. He just said, “That’s my dad’s business, and I work there.” Confident. Proud.

What critical behavior interviewing does is get at people’s character, and you get to see where work fits in their value system, where pride fits in their value system, where making hard decisions or sacrificing fits in their value system. You sacrifice and you’re a victim, or you sacrifice because it’s the right thing to do and you have pride in it. Huge difference. Simple thing. Huge difference.

Corner Office: 68 Rules? No, Just 3 Are Enough

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You’d think the legality of a thing — online gambling, say — would be black or white. It’s either legal or it’s not, right?

Apparently not.

If you play poker for money from the comfort of home, over an Internet connection, there’s no federal law that out-and-out bans the practice, though come December a new law goes into effect that requires banks to refuse to accept money won through online gambling. So, O.K., after that date no more Internet gambling, right?

Not quite: The new law doesn’t clarify the legality or illegality of online gambling itself. Because it’s so confusing, there seems to be a possibility Congress may delay the new law’s effective date.

Meanwhile, some states have made Internet gambling illegal, others have not. Our own tax writer Eva Rosenberg talked to officials in California and received some disturbing and confusing responses as to what the state’s residents should do if they have losses from such games that they want to deduct. See her TaxWatch column for more details.

Here’s my take on it: Deducting those losses is a gamble, no matter how you roll the dice.

— Andrea Coombes, assistant personal finance editor

Online gambling poses tax conundrum

California resident J.D. won over $50,000 playing video poker online this year. Wow! She couldn’t do that well in Las Vegas, and at home she can play anytime without having to drive for hours. Plus, she can play any number of different “machines” without waiting for one of them to be free. But J.D. spent over $40,000 before cashing out $50,000. Are her losses deductible? See TaxWatch.

TAX STRATEGIES Tax harvest your stock losers

Now may be a good time for many investors to consider a tax-planning move known as tax-loss harvesting. Ask yourself: Do I own any stocks that are selling for less than I paid for them and that I’ve been thinking of dumping? If so, think about getting rid of those losers before the end of the year. See full story.

Smart year-end tax moves for 2009

Year-end tax planning always makes sense, but this year it’s especially vital. Convulsions in the markets and the economy have shifted the ground beneath many taxpayers, and next year may bring major tax changes as lawmakers confront the record deficit. Bottom line: Review your taxes before it’s too late. See full story.

Four days saves one man $27 million in tax case

What a difference four days can make. Billionaire Julian Robertson won a $27 million tax case after he successfully argued that he wasn’t a New York City resident for the year 2000 and didn’t owe city taxes. See full story.

TAX-ADVANTAGED ACCOUNTS The 10 vital things you need to know about inherited IRAs

It’s not a certainty, but odds are high that you might inherit an IRA some day. Doing so is bittersweet. On the one hand, it means that someone you know and love has died. On the other, it likely means that your net worth has increased as well. Inheriting an IRA should also come with a bottle of ibuprofen because it also means that you now have to become familiar with and, more importantly, compliant with some retirement rules and laws and regulations that you never knew existed. See Robert Powell.

Crunch time for IRA tax break

It’s crunch time for a tax break that lets people tap their IRAs and give the proceeds to a charity without the Internal Revenue Service claiming part of the money easy payday loans. The provision that lets people at least 701/2 pull money out of their individual retirement accounts and channel it tax-free to charity expires at the end of the year. With charitable giving down 2% last year and expected to be off in 2009 as well, there’s a push on Capitol Hill to keep the tax break — and even to broaden it.

See full story.

Nuts and bolts of five-year rule on Roth IRAs

Could you explain how the five-year rule for Roth IRA conversions works and how it differs from the five-year rule for contributions to Roths? Do multiple conversions over a period of time trigger a new five-year waiting period for each conversion? Does attaining age 591/2 have an effect? See full story.

More parents are becoming 529 dropouts

In recent years, 529 plans have been pitched as the ultimate college-savings vehicle. Investors can put after-tax dollars into an account that typically offers a range of mutual funds and other investments. But in the wake of last year’s market collapse and some high-profile fund blowups, some investors — and financial advisers — are paring back their reliance on 529 plans and in some cases are considering alternatives. See full story.

THE HOME-BUYER TAX CREDIT What you need to know about the extended, expanded home-buyer tax credit

House shopping usually slows down in the winter, as people put their home searches on hold to trim the tree, buy presents to put under it and avoid the chilly weather. This winter, however, might be different, thanks to the extended — and expanded — first-time home-buyer tax credit. See full story.

Home-buyer tax credit will boost sales, housing market will stabilize: NAR

Home sales are expected to rise about 15% next year, as buyers take advantage of a home-buyer tax credit and housing prices stabilize, the National Association of Realtors’ chief economist predicted on Friday at the group’s annual conference in San Diego. See full story.

STATE TAXES States turn to ‘millionaire’s tax’

States hungry for revenue are turning to taxpayers to make up the shortfall as they deplete rainy-day and economic-stimulus funds. To avert a popular revolt, many are resorting to a so-called millionaire’s tax, which puts the burden on a smaller group of the very well-heeled. A flurry of rate increases occurred this year, and tax analysts say the trend will accelerate in 2010. See full story.

More states jump on tax-amnesty bandwagon

Many people who owe back taxes in their home states will soon have a chance to get right with the tax man and avoid penalties that usually go with doing that. States in dire need of revenue have jumped on a bandwagon to collect taxes through short-term amnesty deals, luring people with the promise of leniency. See full story.

California takes bite out of taxpayers’ paychecks

Few Californians took note in July when lawmakers passed a budget item raising the state’s income-tax withholding rate, but plenty of people are noticing now that their paychecks are smaller. See TaxWatch.

State estate taxes are latest worry

With the federal estate tax disappearing for most people, state death taxes have emerged as a surprise new worry. This year, the federal exemption rose to $3.5 million per individual, or as much as $7 million per married couple. At the current level, only 5,500 estates a year are federally taxable. See full story.

Taxing Times: Some tax deductions are no sure bet

Pacifiers made out of 18-c gold are being sold in Dubai for over £3,000, according to the Khaleej Times.Camelia Mohebi came up with the idea of designing opulent baby gifts after searching Dubai’s shops for a unique gift for her newborn niece in 2006. Ms Mohebi says that gold has been given as a gift to babies and their families for many years according to Arabian tradition.She adds that dressing up babies in fine clothes and accessories is part of the nation’s way of life. She said: "Arabs love opulence. It has been part of our culture for centuries and babies are your windows for fashion accessories diamond pricing."Look at Angelina Jolie or Katie Holmes, everyone is doing it." Ms Mohebi says that there is definitely a market for baby chic in Dubai, adding she has sold 15 of the £3,279 pacifiers in the past year. In May, Ms Mohebi received an award for Most Potential Business Growth from His Highness Sheikh Majid bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum.

18-c gold pacifiers ‘the most opulent baby gift’

A series of gold items are being reproduced for a Tutankhamun exhibition at the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) in Toronto, Canada. The gold rings, bracelets and pendants were originally produced in 1979 when the King Tut exhibition previously visited the gallery, says the Toronto Star.Eya Donald Greenland is sculpting the items, which will be sold in the museum’s gift shop for up to C$1,000 (£566).The original sculptor was her late husband Ivaan Kotulsky, who designed and made the collection that is inspired by ancient Egypt.Mr Kotulsky passed away last year and Ms Donald Greenland says that she did not intend to recreate her husband’s work until the AGO approached her with an enquiry about the gold items from 1979 burning fireplaces.She has found 18 originals that were made by her husband and will be reproducing more of the Egyptian-inspired gold scarab jewellery to be sold in the museum’s gift shop. The King Tut exhibition will be displayed at the AGO between November 24th and April 18th 2010.

Gold rings reproduced for Tutankhamun exhibition

Hot News: Imperial Japanese gold leaf treasures on display

Lynda Gratton at the London Business School gave one of the best Keynote speeches that I’ve heard all year. Her talk was a tour de force on how to catalyze innovation and one of her core recommendations really hit home for me: “If you really want to be at the cutting edge of innovation, then you better make sure that 20% of your team is under the age of 27.” Lynda upholds this principle in all her business ventures.

I find this absolutely brilliant, which explains why I prefer teaching undergraduate seminars and why I always try to keep in touch with former students. Without fail, they continue to be an invaluable source of inspiration and innovative thinking.

A former student of mine, Adam White, recently introduced me to another undergraduate student at Tufts University, Rachel Brown. Rachel is a perfect example of why I value interacting with bright young minds. She wants to return to Kenya next year to identify and connect local peace initiatives in Nairobi in preparation for the 2012 elections.

Rachel was inspired by the story of Solo 7, a Kenyan graffiti artist in Kibera who drew messages of peace throughout the slum as a way to prevent violence from escalating shortly after the elections. “Imagine,” she said, “if we could identify all the Solo 7’s of Nairobi, all the individuals and local communities engaged in promoting peace.”

I understood at once why Adam recommended I meet with Rachel: Ushahidi.

I immediately told Rachel about Ushahidi, a free and open source platform that uses crowdsourcing to map crisis information. I suggested she consider using the platform to crowdsource and map local peace initiatives across Kenya, not just Nairobi. I’ve been so focused on crisis mapping that I’ve completely ignored my previous work in the field of conflict early warning. An integral part of this field is to monitor indicators of conflict and cooperation.

There are always pockets of cooperation no matter how dire a conflict is. Even in Nazi Germany and the Rwandan genocide we find numerous stories of people risking their lives to save others. The fact is that most people, most of the time in most places choose cooperation over conflict. If that weren’t the case, we’d be living in state of total war as described by Clausewitz.

If we only monitor indicators of war and violence, then that’s all we’ll see. Our crisis maps only depict a small part of reality. It is incredibly important that we also map indicators of peace and cooperation. By identifying the positive initiatives that exist before and during a crisis, we automatically identify multiple entry points for intervention and a host of options for conflict prevention. If we only map conflict, then we may well identify where most of the conflict is taking place, but we won’t necessarily know who in the area might be best placed to intervene.

Documenting peace and cooperation also has positive psychological effects. How often do we lament the fact that the only kind of news available in the media is bad news? We turn on CNN or BBC and there’s bad news—sometimes breaking news of bad news. It’s easy to get depressed and to assume that only bad things happen. But violence is actually very rare statistically speaking. The problem is that we don’t systematically document peace, which means that our perceptions are completely skewed.

Take the following anecdote, which occurred to me several years ago when I taught my first undergraduate course on conflict early warning systems. I was trying to describe the important psychological effects of documenting peace and cooperation by using the example of the London underground (subway).

If you’ve been to London, you’ve probably experienced the frequent problems and delays with the underground system. And like most other subway systems, announcements are made to inform passengers of annoying delays and whatnot. But unlike other subway systems I’ve used, the London underground also makes announcements to let passengers know that all lines are currently running on time.

Now lets take this principle and apply it to Rachel’s project proposal combined with Ushahidi. Imagine if she were to promote the crowdsourcing of local peace initiatives all across Kenya. She could work with national and local media to get the word out. Individuals could send text messages to report what kinds of peace activities they are involved in.

This would allow Rachel and others to follow up on select text messages to learn more about each activity. In fact, she could use Ushahidi’s customizable reporting forms to ask individuals texting in information to elaborate on their initiatives. Rachel wants to commit no less than a year to this project, which should give her and colleagues plenty of time to map hundreds of local peace initiatives across Kenya.

Just imagine a map covered with hundreds of doves or peace dots representing local peace initiatives? What a powerful image. The Peace Map would be public, so that anyone with Internet access could learn about the hundreds of different peace initiatives in Kenya. Kenyan peace activists themselves could make use of this map to learn about creative approaches to conflict prevention and conflict management. They could use Ushashidi’s subscription feature to receive automatic updates when a new peace project is reported in their neighborhood, town or province.

When peace activists (and anyone else, for that matter) find peace projects they like on Ushahidi’s Peace Map, they can “befriend” that project, much like the friend feature in Facebook. That way they can receive updates from a particular project via email, SMS or even Twitter. These updates could include information on how to get involved. When two projects (or two individuals) are connected this way, Ushahidi could depict the link on the map with a line connecting the two nodes.

Imagine if this Peace Map were then shown on national television in the lead up to the elections. Not only would there be hundreds of peace dots representing individual peace efforts, but many of these would be linked, depicting a densely connected peace network.

The map could also be printed in Kenya’s national and local newspapers. I think a Peace Map of Kenya would send a powerful message that Kenyans want peace and won’t stand for a repeat of the 2007 post-election violence. When the elections do happen, this Peace Map could be used operationally to quickly respond to any signs of escalating tensions.

Rachel could use the Peace Map to crowdsource reports of any election violence that might take place. Local peace activists could use Ushahidi’s subscription feature to receive alerts of violent events taking place in their immediate vicinity. They would receive these via email and/or SMS in near real-time.

This could allow peace activists to mobilize and quickly respond to escalating signs of violence, especially if preparedness measures and contingency plans already in place. This is what I call fourth generation conflict early warning and early response (4G). See this blog post for more on 4G systems. This is where The Third Side framework for conflict resolution meets the power of new technology platforms like Ushahidi.

It is when I meet inspiring students like Rachel that I wish I were rich so I could just write checks to turn innovative ideas into reality. The next best thing I can do is to work with Rachel and her undergraduate friends to write up a strong proposal. So if you want to get involved or you know a donor, foundation or a philanthropist who might be interested in funding Rachel’s project, please do email me so I can put you directly in touch with her: Patrick@iRevolution.net.

In the meantime, if you’re about to start a project, remember Lynda’s rule of thumb: make sure 20% of your team is under 27. You won’t regret it.

Patrick Philippe Meier

Review by Rob Myers

Two-part exercise to map CCTV cameras around Whitehall, London, within a zone covered by SOCPA (Serious and Organized Crime and Police Act 2005). A map of the hundreds of cameras in the zone was made over two days of observation. The second part involved mapping the range of one of these cameras, no. 40 in Villiers street, by intercepting its signal as it was transmitted wirelessly without encryption. As passers-by entered the marked area covered by the camera, they were alerted to the its presence and handed a copy of the map of CCTV cameras in Whitehall.

“Mapping CCTV around Whitehall”, 2008, is, as its name implies, a performance of mapping Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) security cameras around the UK’s parliament in London and a video record of that performance by Ambient.tv’s Manu Luksch. Starting with a HAL 9000-like image of a CCTV lens, the video of “Mapping CCTV In Whitehall” has a glitchy techno aesthetic of sound and images with a post-MTV-Style Guide reportage feel. The first half consists of a recording of the police stop-and-search interviewing Luksch under anti-terrorism legislation, with a map of the area superimposed. The second half consists of CCTV views of the range of Camera number 40 being taped out, and of the people caught within those bounds. Words flash on the screen to identify the subjects of CCTV. This redeployment of the language of mass media visual persuasion opens up what we see rather than closing it down, making it a very effective encapsulation of the project’s ideas and aesthetics.

Mukul Patel and Manu Luksch codirect Ambient Information Systems (AIS), a crucible for the conception and production of collaborative, interdisciplinary, and critical artworks, events, and tools. They work as artists under their own names and also as ambientTV.NET. They have a history of conceiving works that integrate curatorial and collaborative aspects (e.g., VBI), research (FACELESS and the Data Protection Act), community involvement (BOW SPACE), and hybrid media installations (ORCHESTRA OF ANXIETY). Of particular interest are  concrete, contemporary issues that arise at the interface of social and technical infrastructures: access to information, privacy, surveillance. The establishment of participative processes, creation of tools, and archiving and documentation are signal features of recent projects.

http://ambienttv.net/content/?q=mappingcctv

Twitter’s COO Dick Costolo said this morning at the TechCrunch CrunchUp event that he felt the “geo opportunity” was “huge.”

The location-stamping or geocoding of content and the release of that data to third parties (online and in mobile) will unleash a wide range of creative applications and expressions for local tweets. Indeed, Costolo emphasized that mobile would be a prominent use case for this location-oriented data. That’s clear, as people look to Twitter-enabled local-mobile apps to find out who’s around and what’s going on.

Accordingly Twitter changed its tagline from “What are you doing?” to “What’s happening?” This intrinsically lends itself to location-oriented tweeting. 

With appropriate controls and filters Twitter becomes more viable as a “local search engine.” Right now there’s too much noise. To date some of the apps that have tried to ground Twitter data locally have simply located Twitter users on maps or augmented reality apps. Now the tweets and content itself will be capable of being located and can help “annotate” places (see Flook). 

Twitter and its ecosystem could also potentially could develop further in the Q&A arena. Some people ask questions on Twitter but the results and responses are inconsistent. Location-filtered Twitter communities could start to use the service to find out all kinds of information about things, places and events. There are also a ton of marketing implications, from analytics to enabling businesses to target broader groups of people in their service areas. 

I see lots of creative potential here and am eager to see how these applications play out in the next several months. 

With this move Twitter — or the Twitter data more properly — will likely become a significant player in local. All the traditional local players and competitors should be thinking about how to tap into this data to enhance their own existing services or to build new ones on top of this information.

Google likes to do things that “scale,” which is why it has been difficult for the company to create vertical solutions of depth. Maps and local is an area that Google has invested hugely in but, by and large, the company has not built out compelling vertical content areas or services.

What’s happening with real estate is very interesting because it’s playing off of Maps and local developments — a case of “synergy” that enables Google to offer an increasingly credible real estate search capability. Google has offered housing/real estate search for some time. But now it appears to be getting much more serious. Matt McGee covers the integration of Place Pages into the mix. And the Google Australia Blog describes the ways in which Google may indeed become a force in the real estate vertical (at least in terms of listings):

We also wanted to tell you about the integration of real estate listings with Place Pages. Now clicking the “more info” link next to a listing takes you to a faster, easier-to-read page that gives you all of the information we have about a listing: photos, inspection times, videos, details, a Street View preview and nearby public transit information if available, allowing you to quickly find the listing you want and click through to the sources of the listing. 

Here’s a “real estate” search on maps for my old San Francisco zip code:

Each of the listings has a Place Page (this is the game changer for Google potentially):

As mentioned above, these pages may/will contain video as well. The content on these pages is also as good or better than the listings detail pages of most real estate sites. 

The key to successful real estate search is comprehensiveness and depth. Google’s goal is likely to be able to show all properties for sale in a given market. If in fact they can get there (which people can argue about) then real estate search on Google will become more widely used. The Place Pages supply the depth of detail about the listing that prospective renters/home buyers want. The advertising implications (together with Local Listing Ads for agents) are self-evident. 

Real Estate verticals “going forward” will need to compete with community, as well as value added services, data and other features.