Psychic Cephalopod ~ Octopus vs Mannschaft!

The oracle octopus called it correctly!-) But pays a heavy price...

Pussy Shots ~ Slow Motion of Cats in Action!

Thanks to UniqueDaily for spotting these slo-mo pussy shots... There's more, all by Whiskas.

Tik Tok Hebron ~ Humorous Israeli Occupiers?

Not sure whether to laugh or cry...

For Ghana ~ Avenging UY's Mano Del Diablo

Sweet justice;-) The Oranje just avenged the Uruguayan Mano Del Diablo -- or Hand of the Devil goal-save -- (a riff on Maradona's infamous Hand of God goal) -- from their ignoble last game versus the would-be winners Ghana! I hereby dedicate this latest Dutch FIFA World Cup Dutch win to the Black Stars! Tough final match to come versus one the big boys of Europe, but... Perhaps we avenge 1974?!

The Lost Reunions ~ Sagas of WWII PT Boaters

I just met this morning with Danny Diaz, producer and director of The Lost Reunions, a documentary film in-the-making to capture the stories of the US Navy PT Boaters of World War II. This is an important and urgent project because with some ~1,000 US WWII veterans passing away per day, such memories must either be captured now or lost forever...

System Dynamics & Strategy ~ Morecroft Says...

Thanks to MIT's Charles Atencio for spotting this talk on Reflections on System Dynamics and Strategy at WPI by John Morecroft, Senior Fellow in Management Science and Operations at London Business School, teacher of system dynamics, problem structuring and strategy...

ProInfo ~ Brazil's School PC+Projector Combo

Thanks to new MIT Sloan Fellow Ricardo Teixeira for pointing out the Brazilian CERTI-designed ProInfo video projector with built-in Linux PC, Ethernet and WiFi connectivity. Here's a translated version of the Gizmodo article about it. The challenge was to create an easy-to-use, practical, and affordable projector for schools. Check this video of it in-use in Brazil...

Crazy Kobayashi ~ Crashes Dog Eating Contest!-)

Disgruntled six-time champion Takeru "Crazy" Kobayashi crashed the annual Nathan's International Hot Dog Eating Contest on New York's Coney Island yesterday! According to Crime Scene KC...

"Kobayashi wasn't allowed to compete because he got into a contract dispute with Major League Eating."

Priceless! See here the raw footage. Note the "interpreter"...

1GOAL ~ Education for All 72M Kids Globally

Hear Jordan's Queen Rania and consider joining 1GOAL...

Lead User ~ US Army SPC Marrocco IS an H2.0...

On this US Independence Day, it's inspiring to read Lizette Alvarez's piece in the NYTimes Spirit Intact, Soldier Reclaims His Life, about US Army Specialist Brendan Marrocco...

"...who a year before had come so close to death that doctors still marvel over how he dodged it. At 22, he was a spry, charming infantryman in the United States Army with a slicing wit and a stubborn streak. Then, on Easter Sunday 2009, a roadside bomb exploded under his vehicle, and he became the first veteran of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to lose all four limbs in combat and survive. In the nearly 15 months since, Specialist Marrocco has pushed past pain and exhaustion to learn to use his four prosthetics, though he can walk for only 15 minutes at a time."

He's the most extreme of the nearly one thousand US service members who have lost limbs in combat this past decade. Given my earlier post about MIT's H2.0 initiative, I think of SPC Marrocco as an extraordinary Lead User of the latest augmentation technologies. As he recovers and learns with his new limbs -- and, indeed, helps refine and develop them -- he IS a Human 2.0. This is both epic and heroic.

DAtE ~ Illac Diaz's Design Against the Elements

MIT alum Illac Diaz's efforts to DAtE -- Design Against the Elements -- results from years of thinking and action about addressing the challenges faced by everyday people in the Philippines, and is a global architectural design competition seeking solutions to the problems from climate change...

"...The Philippines is one of the 10 most at risk in the world for losses of life and property because of its large citizenry who are most vulnerable and least able to adapt to the wide scale challenges brought by increasing drought and flooding. This is why green may be an option for the developed world, but is growing as a necessity for those in the developing nations."

Gasland ~ Independence or Fracking Our Future?

More non-import natural gas readily accessible nearby is good, right? View Gasland and judge for yourself the total-systemic benefits of "fracking". Keyword? "Externalities"...

Greening Boston ~ Building Ever More Vital City

Great to read Eric Moskowitz's Globe piece The Greening of Boston about what's today the lovely, verdant Charles River Esplanade...

"...widely considered one of Boston’s great treasures, a ribbon of green extending for 3 miles between the shimmer of the Charles and the bustle of the city. It draws millions of residents and tourists a year, an inviting place to walk, run, or rest along the water. But that same park, despite the success of its inaugural fireworks display, was deemed a disappointment in its early years. It lacked shade trees, recreation facilities, and refreshment stands, and it seemed to go nowhere. The lack of visitors was lamented by Boston’s mayor, John F. "Honey Fitz" Fitzgerald, who considered it a failure. "Instead of being able to count the people using the [Esplanade] on the fingers of one hand," he lamented, "the count should be by the thousands." Now, a century later, a new Boston park is the subject of similar criticism and hand-wringing. This long, narrow stretch of green, also criticized for its lack of shade and amenities and its sparse attendance, is named for Honey Fitz’s daughter: the Rose Kennedy Greenway."

Ironic and given the subsequent developments, also historic proof that investments in vital cities and essential civic infrastructure can take time to bear fruit and become beautiful, a process documented by Karl Haglund's Inventing the Charles River and Max Hall's The Charles: The People's River among others noted by the Charles River Conservancy. And as you can see in this image by Michael Piazza, the vista -- and vibe -- is quite different today from the DCR archival photo above...

H2.0 ~ Humanizing Technology, Making Us++

I've been thinking a lot lately about personalized health and wellness, the role of assistive medical devices, and emergent disciplines such as neuroengineering and synthetic biology. Such tranformative technologies for enabling the so-called "disabled" -- and indeed any of us -- are central to the MIT Media Lab's H2.0 activities...

"...focused on ushering in a new era in human adaptability -- an era where technology will merge with our bodies and our minds to forever change our concept of human capability."

There were several delightful provocations at the kickoff symposium as you can see in this LabCast...

Epic Declaration ~ Free Citizens, Not Subjects...

Today the USA commemorates an epic achievement, the rallying together by thoughtful civic and business leaders among the British colonists to formally articulate new and empowering principles of government. They proclaimed the Declaration of Independence, perhaps one of the most immortal of human political achievements! And this was very much a crafted and drafted document, with no less than Thomas Jefferson at the quill. So it's fascinating to see Susan Walsh's photo and read this AP newswire piece Library of Congress reveals slip made by Jefferson in draft of Declaration...

"Librarian of Congress James Billington pointed out where Thomas Jefferson originally wrote "subjects" before changing it to "citizens" in the rough draft of the Declaration of Independence. [...] it appears Jefferson used his hand to wipe the word “subjects’’ out while the ink was still wet. A distinct brown smudge is apparent on the paper, although the word itself is not legible without the help of the digital technology. "It shows the progress of his mind," said James Billington, librarian of Congress. "This was a decisive moment."

Irrigating Prosperity ~ Makunda Uses KB Pump

Thanks to IDE founder Paul Polak for spotlighting Indian farmer Makunda who uses KB treadle pump to irrigate his fields to fruition...

Salmon Cycle ~ Suzuki Describes Super System

Thanks to MIT Sloan's S-Lab for pointing out this presentation by zoologist-environmentalist David Suzuki produced by Wicked Delicate Films describing the Salmon Cycle...

Disruptive Displays ~ Roll-to-Roll Flextronics!

Interesting to read Katherine Bourzac's piece on Inexpensive, Unbreakable Displays in the latest Technology Review about Carl Taussig and HP colleagues whose goal is...

"...to replace heavy, fragile, expensive displays with lightweight, rugged, inexpensive ones made on plastic -- without compromising performance. [They are] using high-volume roll-to-roll mechanics, the type of high-speed manufacturing process used in newspaper production, to make high-performance transistor arrays on the 33-centimeter-wide plastic rolls. [...] The idea is to combine these transistor arrays with flexible "frontplanes" -- the part of a display that creates the images and that the transistors control. "Our goal is to make displays at a cost of $10 per square foot," Taussig says. That's about a 10th the price of today's displays. Silicon-on-plastic displays might be used in laptops, or a few thin sheets might be stuffed into briefcases, replacing printouts and pads of paper. Taussig also imagines "ginormous displays" pasted to walls to show videos and ads."

Check out the process video.

Oranje ~ Dutch Fly Past Brazilians; Fans Help!

Oranje take wing, fly past Brazil! Uruguay next. Fans help;-)

Faster ~ Every Day of JK for Eight Years...

Daily Mail delights with this JK Keller spot...