ACROS Greenscraper ~ Inhabitat Photoessay!

Wow, feature photoessay in Inhabitat by Yuka Yoneda -- Japan’s ACROS Building is a Mountainous Green-Roofed Pyramid Planted With Trees! Check out the whole slideshow including these sample shots of this amazing Fukuoka greenscraper...

How's the T? ~ MBTA Subway Status Updates!

Thanks to Jarrett Goetz for spotting the NSFW version of How's the T? website. Useful!

Class Struggle ~ WSJ on "Two Indias" & Edu

Geeta Anand with Diksha Sahni writes in a WSJournal coverstory about the Class Struggle: India's Experiment in Schooling Tests Rich and Poor spotlighting...

"...a grand Indian experiment to narrow the gulf between rich and poor that is widening as India's economy expands. The Right to Education Act, passed in 2009, mandates that private schools set aside 25% of admissions for low-income, underprivileged and disabled students. [...] the most notable results so far are frustration and disappointment as the separations that define Indian society -- between rich and poor, employer and servant, English-speaker and Hindi-speaker -- are upended. This has led even some supporters of the experiment to conclude that the chasm between the top and bottom of Indian society is too great to overcome. [...] India has tried to create opportunities for its poorest, who are often among the lowest castes. Quota systems reserve government jobs for the poor, and at some colleges almost half the seats are set aside for minorities. Affirmative-action policies like these have fueled resentment among some who feel quotas make it unfairly difficult for their own children to get ahead."

There's many more details in the article worth reading, but I especially like the story of young Vipin, the son of a school principal's former floor-mopper, which illustrates the potential of India's experiment -- and the talent which exists everywhere!

ASEAN Sourcing ~ Supply Chains "Beyond China"

Compelling piece in the Economist on Good darning, Vietnam: Rising costs in China are sending more buyers to South-East Asia...

"...the rag trade is as footloose as its customers are fickle. It goes wherever clothes can be made cheaply and reliably. Until recently, that meant China. But as Chinese wages soar, buyers are looking elsewhere. South-East Asia could be the next big thing. [...] more orders are shifting to lower-wage economies such as Cambodia and Vietnam, where garment factories are mushrooming. Vietnam is already the second-largest supplier of clothes to America. [...] For buyers in a hurry, it is hard to beat China’s mix of scale, speed and flexibility. [...] One way to catch up would be to knit together textile and garment producers in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to create a regional supply chain."

And ASEAN is huge, with 600M people in the land-island zone straddling between Indian and Pacific Oceans...

Biopunk ~ Grassroots DIY Wetware Movement

Thanks to Businessweek's Daniel Grushkin for reviewing Biopunk: DIY Scientists Hack the Software of Life by Marcus Wohlsen who...

"...introduces the grass-roots movement of biotech enthusiasts who are moving genetics beyond traditional labs -- and into kitchens, garages, and workshops. For the uninitiated, that probably sounds incredibly dorky or incredibly creepy. Wohlsen weighs both hypotheses and arrives at a third: Biopunks, he argues, are on the edge of a technological revolution comparable only to the one started by the shaggy übergeeks who built the first personal computers. Like programming nerds, biohackers may have some social quirks, but their gatherings also share the same potential for creative disruption. These hackers, Wohlsen explains, come to biology for a multitude of reasons: some for the pleasure of learning, others for the power of bending life to their whim. The movement has also produced a burgeoning class of entrepreneurs who see the kernels of billion-dollar ideas coming out of their biotech playtime. While the first biohacker tycoons have yet to emerge, Wohlsen believes they may well be on their way."

Many MIT-related peeps mentioned, including Knight, Belcher, and Endy. Synthetic Biology is indeed a powertool for tomorrow's wetware craftologists.

Ending War on Drugs ~ FT's Wolf on Reason...

The FT's chief economics commentator Martin Wolf opines We should end our disastrous war on drugs...

"The global war on drugs has failed. Readers should not take my word for this. It is the opening sentence of a report on the failures of prohibition from an independent Global Commission on Drug Policy. What makes this report astonishing is not its content, now widely accepted among disinterested people, but who is associated with it. [Leaders like Shultz, Volcker, Annan, Cardoso, Zedillo, Solana] While failing to reduce the ills of drug use at which it is addressed, it has created massive “collateral damage”: the spread of avoidable diseases; use of drugs in dangerous forms; mass criminalisation and incarceration; a gigantic waste of public resources; corruption; creation of a cross-border network of organised crime; and the subversion of states. [...] It is a war with myriad innocent victims."

Let's finally let reason and liberty prevail -- stop this insane war now.

City of David ~ 60' Spotlights Wingnut Perfidity...

Interesting how the perfidious righteousness of the various irrational religious wingnuts in the larger region is represented in microcosm in this City of David piece by 60 Minutes...

System Under Strain ~ Feeding World's Peoples

NYTimes infographic A Food System Under Strain...

Safecast ~ Opensource Radiation Measures...

Great to see Safecast, an opensource distributed radiation measurement and mapping system. Civic media response to fear, uncertainty, and doubt of government veracity and industry objectivity...

"The ongoing crisis in Japan has highlighted our collective need for trusted information. This site is not meant as a replacement for government or nuclear agencies. Our hope is that data sets from various places can provide additional context to the official statements in these rapidly changing events."

Regrets of the Dying ~ Get Busy Living...

Thanks to Z Holly for spotting Bronnie Ware's piece Regrets of the Dying on her experiences working as palliative caregiver for those nearing the end...

"My patients were those who had gone home to die. Some incredibly special times were shared. I was with them for the last three to twelve weeks of their lives. [...] When questioned about any regrets they had or anything they would do differently, common themes surfaced again and again."

These are the most frequent:

1. I wish I'd had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.
2. I wish I didn't work so hard.
3. I wish I'd had the courage to express my feelings.
4. I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.
5. I wish that I had let myself be happier.

Bronnie concludes...

"Life is a choice. It is YOUR life. Choose consciously, choose wisely, choose honestly. Choose happiness."

Overmedicated? ~ Questioning Senior Citizen Rx

CNN's John Couwels asks Are senior citizens being overmedicated?

"Strong, antipsychotic drugs are being prescribed more often to senior citizens in U.S. nursing homes, setting off a debate about whether it's the right treatment for the elderly suffering from dementia. [...] conflicting guidance is making it even more difficult for those trying to make sure their aging loved ones are getting the best care during the final years of their lives."

Energy Map ~ Delivering Key Power to People!

Check out this Energy Map of social enterprises delivering energy solutions to underserved populations around the world... Here's live case example, SELCO!

Slutwalk.nl ~ Let's Stop Blaming the Victims...

Inspiring to hear from 24Oranges that Slutwalk hits Amsterdam, a protest-movement which started after...

"...some cromagnon policeman in Toronto, Canada was quoted this year as saying “women should avoid dressing like sluts in order not to be victimized”, which was picked up and understood as women who dress provocatively, like sluts, are asking to be raped."

We are indeed no longer in the Stone Age, so Slutwalk.nl shouts out...

“We are tired of being oppressed by slut-shaming; of being judged by our sexuality and feeling unsafe as a result. Being in charge of our sexual lives should not mean that we are opening ourselves to an expectation of violence, regardless if we participate in sex for pleasure or work.”

Word! Liberty means absolute personal security and social safety.

R.I.P. Jack Kevorkian ~ Dr Death, Mercy Machine

Sad to read via the BBC that "Dr Death" -- Jack Kevorkian -- has just died at age 83. Dr K...

"...assisted in 130 suicides and was released from prison in 2007, after serving eight years. [...] no one disputes that Jack Kevorkian prompted debate. Today, doctor-assisted suicide is legal in three American states. [...] Kevorkian first gained international attention in 1990, helping a 54-year-old Alzheimers patient to die. Many assisted suicides were conducted using his so-called mercy machine, which delivered lethal amounts of drugs intravenously."

It's a total tragedy that people can become so aged or unhealthy or severely pained that physician-assisted death is their final choice, but I'm a firm believer in the absolute individual right to make such a decision. But those advocating this modern, rational stance face an evil inquisition from the forces of religiosity and stupidity. Read here, courtesy the Friendly Athiest, Kevorkian in his own words sharing his humanist credo.

Echoing Green Fellows ~ Saluting the 2011's!

Excellent to see the nearly two dozen Echoing Green Fellows of 2011 including founders of two of our MIT D-Lab Development Ventures class alumco's -- David Auerbach and Ani Vallabhaneni from Sanergy and Javier Lozano from Clínicas del Azúcar (CDA)!

Alkali Metals ~ Experimental Test Reactions;-)

Thanks to Cynical-C for spotting this experimentalist video showcasing Alkali Metals and their relative reactivity to water...

Commencing! ~ MIT Granting 2,500 Degrees!

The 145th Commencement at MIT is happening now! 2,500 degrees including to Tilke Judd pictured below and on the MIT homepage yesterday as part of doctoral hooding ceremony!-) P.S. I just love this foto -- Tilke's so delightfully happy;-)

Resilient Power ~ MIT's Off-grid but Electrified;-)

A wee thunderstorm rolled thru Cambridge an hour ago and knocked out electrical power in a major southwestern part of the city bracketing Mass Ave. The Miracle of Science among other provisioneers to the gods had to close down, unable to deal with lack of grid juice. How borderline barbaric! Thousands of US$ lost in both direct and opportunity costs! Very "Third World" -- only it's right here in the USA! Didn't Franklin invent lightning rods two and a half centuries ago?! Yay, go NStar, the incompetent local monopoly electricity "service provider." Except, however, at MIT which is largely off-grid with our own 20MW gas turbine cogeneration plant continuing to deliver the dynamics! We've got resilient power -- i.e. it actually still works -- and I'm now at MIT überbar, the Muddy Charles Pub sampling a cool and rather tasty Sierra Nevada;-)

Saeed Arida ~ NuVu Studio CEO on MP.tv...

Very cool to have MIT alumnus architect-designer-educator-entrepreneur Saeed Arida join me again on MaximizingProgress.tv, this time to share his experience founding and building NuVu Studio, a compelling new DIY learning venture! Saeed's the Chief Excitement Officer (CEO) of NuVu, an...

"...innovation center for middle and high school students whose pedagogy is based on the studio model and geared around multi-disciplinary, collaborative projects. NuVu nurtures creative problem solving, collaboration, and presentation skills, all critical for student success. [...] NuVu provides students the opportunity to work collaboratively with academic and professional experts to solve real-world problems in an intensive and fun studio environment."

Fantastic approach!

Makoko Ways ~ Street Life in Lagos, Nigeria

Thanks to Africa Unchained's Emeka Okafor for spotting Street Life in Lagos, the Nigerian megacity, by filmmaker Joe Loncraine on Al Jazeera's Witness program...