3D printing is something that is starting to take off in certain industries. It provides a way for you to work on creative projects that may be far more interesting and easy-to-understand than working on your computer screen might be. It also lets you create cool prototypes that can entice other people to take an interest in what you’re doing. Essentially, this form of printing allows you to use different types of materials together to make three-dimensional objects that you can design yourself.

These printers have come down in cost enough to be accessible to small and mid-sized businesses today. Wouldn’t it be neat if they eventually come down in price far enough that individual people like you and me could have these types of printers in our homes. One product that we might want to design and print could be shoes.

Believe it or not; 3D printed shoes are already being made. Students at two different leading design schools in Sweden are working on ways to create shoes out of a 3D printing technology called selective laser sintering that fuses plastic powders to create the shoe. The plan that they’re working on is that the shoe could be worn once or twice and then the material could be returned to the machine to be broken down and re-used. The idea would be that you could have really amazing new shoes every time that you went out without having to actually keep them and store them.

What do you think?

In somewhat related news, I just have to say that I loved a recent post over at Weburbanist showing off over one dozen super-weird shoe designs.

Tags: 3d printing, Fashion, shoes

Way back in the mid 1980′s, the city of Lima was about to do something progressive with green transportation. They were going to build an electric train. Unfortunately, the project never really took of. For all of these years, the ruins of the project have just been sitting there. They’ve basically just been an eyesore for the area, a reminder of how this great project failed.

The project may not have worked out but the eyesore is no longer there. That’s because it’s been replaced with a free park for children. And it’s not just any park. It’s a park that used recycled materials to create the rides and playground structures for its young visitors. In fact, it is made from the old ruins of the electric train that was here for so long.

The park is called the Ghost Train Park. It includes swings, climbing structures and even canopy lines. It is one of the many great green projects launched by the group Basurama, an organization that discusses the waste and re-use of trash in many different formats. What’s really cool about this organization is that they don’t limit themselves to just one approach to diminishing waste but instead look at many different options through annual festivals and competitions.

Tags: basurama, green, green park, lima, recycled park

I started crocheting at Thanksgiving and have learned that this is a terrific art form that you can use to make almost anything. However, it would not occur to me to crochet a yurt. It did, however, occur to artist Kate Pokorny who is planning to do exactly that and detailing the project on her blog, Yurt Alert.

A yurt, for those who aren’t sure, is a nomadic dwelling used by Mongolian people. However, it’s something that’s become increasingly popular as a design option in the modern world, especially among high-tech minded green-thinking traveler types.

Pokorny is taking the traditional idea of the yurt and instead of going more high-tech is going back to an even more basic design option. Traditional yurts have an inner structure covered with felt. Pokorny’s yurt will be made entirely from crocheted wool, needing no internal structure. Her goal is to use locally-sourced wool and to hand-crochet a large-scale dome which will end up being a yurt that can be lived in.

Creative idea. Way beyond anything I ever plan to do with crochet but cool to learn about, isn’t it?

Tags: crochet, crochet yurt, yurt

I read through a bunch of t-shirt and fashion blogs, partially just because they’re interesting and partially because I want to stay on top of this news for updating the blog over at Edgi Clothing (where I write about sexy tee shirts and other related topics). While doing that reading, I came across a post over at Fashion Tribes about a company called Fashionsentz that I felt compelled to learn more about.

Fashionsentz is a fairly new type of business that specializes in branding clothing and textiles with a scent. In addition to branding clothing lines with a signature scent, this company can add moisturizing and aromatherapy features to textiles (milk and honey, aloe vera, etc.). I can see this working in a number of places, particularly for the robes used at day spas! I can also see luxury designers making use of this, appealing to people’s sense of smell to keep them coming back for more clothing.

The scents are supposed to be durable over the lifetime of the clothing using a technology where small capsules are inserted into the fabric which break up over time and keep releasing the scents. You can even dry clean the clothes and still retain the scent. It seems like a cool new option for sensory-rich clothing.

It will be interesting to see if this type of technology takes off. We all love it when our clothes smell a certain way (fresh out of the laundry, fresh off of the backs of a much-loved boyfriend) and it would probably be great to actually be able to customize the scent on your clothing so that it always smells that way.

Tags: fashionscentz, fragrance branding, fragrant clothing

Over the years, we’ve heard so many people complain that the Internet is bad for our children. People aren’t reading enough books anymore, they say. Kids are writing in txt. And I’ve always pretty much thought it was hog wash.

Now there’s some science to back up my feelings. A recent article from LiveScience starts off:

“Widespread Internet use will actually improve the reading and writing skills of the world’s population, most experts agreed in a new survey from the Pew Internet & American Life Project.”

The article goes on to discuss a survey that indicates, among other things, that a lot of people believe that the Internet is actually making people more literate than ever before. And you know what? I buy it.

Has book reading declined over the years? I’m not sure. I think that a case could be made either way. But what I do think is true is that there are more people, especially young people, who are reading a variety of different material on a daily basis thanks to the accessibility of information on the Internet.

We have access to more information than ever before. Kids who would never have watched the news before have a general idea of what’s going on in the world because of updates on various sites including their favorite social networking sites. Kids who never would have written long letters to their friends are constantly articulating things to them online and via text messaging.

Yes, undoubtedly there are some drawbacks (as there would be with anything). Text and IM may hinder spelling abilities. At the same time, you have to admit that the fact that your computer tells you when you’ve spelled something wrong makes it a lot easier to see your errors and learn how to fix them. So, pros and cons, maybe, but I’m in the camp of people who thinks that the more people who are reading – whether they’re reading books or reading Twitter status updates – the better.

What do you think about this issue?

Tags: internet, readers, reading, smart, Technology, web 2.0

The image above is a poster from artist Justin Perricone. It’s the first in a series designed to show you what’s in the food that you’re eating. For this particular poster, he took all of the ingredients that are in a Ham and Cheese Pizza Pocket and arranged them into this design. Looking at this could definitely make at least a few of us think twice about putting that food into our bodies.

And the poster got me thinking about how you could use tag clouds to actually analyze what is in the food that you are eating. If you’re familiar with the food rules popularized by Michael Pollan, you know that one of the most important things that you can do if you want to eat a healthy, natural diet is to avoid eating foods that have more than five ingredients and foods that contain anything that you can’t pronounce. This makes sense but it’s tough to get used to and I think tag clouds could help.

Here’s how:

Pull out an item from your pantry that you eat on a regular basis. Copy the ingredients into a document on your computer. Now, the way that tag cloud programs work is that the more frequently a word is used, the bigger or bolder it will appear in the tag cloud. Luckily, the ingredients in your food are listed in order of how much of them is in your food. You won’t get anything exact, of course, since you don’t know the percentage of each ingredient in the food, but you can get a general idea by copy-pasting the leading ingredients multiple times into your document.

For example, here are the ingredients for my supposedly healthy cereal bars; they’re in order although I’ve separated the outside part from the inside filling:

enriched flour, oat bran, canola oil, raisin paste, liquid whole eggs, molasses, glycerin, oat fiber, brown sugar, liquid invert sugar, baking powder, vitamins, minerals, wheat bran, salt, cellulose, honey, sodium bicarbonate, sodium propionate, niacinamide, zinc oxide, reduced iron, calcium carbonate, pyridoxine hydrochloride, riboflavin, folic acid

fructose, high fructose corn syrup, strawberries, sugar, glycerin water, maltodextrin, modified corn starch, sodium alginate, natural flavor, artificial flavor, calcium chloride, citric acid, malic acid, sodium citrate, xanthum gum, caramel color

Now, to keep things super simple, I’ve entered these into a tag cloud program. I’ve taken the first five ingredients from each part of the list and copy-pasted them five extra times. Then I’ve taken the following five ingredients and entered them an extra three times. Then I generated my tag cloud. Here’s the result:

Granted, this isn’t an exact science but it certainly gives me a decent picture of what I’m putting in my body. And I definitely think the process of doing this will make me think twice about frequently consuming some of the foods in my pantry!

If you try this, please come back and leave me a comment … I’d love to know how it works out for other people!!!

7 Fun Free Tag Cloud Programs

8 Ways to Use Tag Clouds for Your Writing

Tags: diet, Food, healthy, ingredients, tag clouds

My goal for this blog is to try to post three times per week. I like to stick to loose schedules and to keep the commitments I’ve made to myself. But I’m a little bit delayed in getting posts up here this week.

There have been some good reasons, though … 10 of them in fact …

1. I recently took on 3 new clients. The first few weeks of working with a new client are always time-consuming because you’re fleshing out the details, figuring out the right formatting, etc. More time was eaten up than I expected.
2. I caught a cold. I did everything I could to fight it off and to get healthy again as quickly as possible. That included resting a lot when I could’ve been working on blog posts instead.
3. My body didn’t want to cooperate. In addition to being sick, I somehow managed to hurt my wrist. It’s tough to type all day with a wrist that isn’t working right. I had to call it a half day that day and let it rest.
4. There was so much sunshine this week. I admit it, I played a little bit of hooky while the sun was shining. I knew we’d be back to rainy days soon and I couldn’t help but want to get outside to do some hiking.
5. I started playing around more with Google Buzz and sharing things in Google Reader. I’ve eased back to a normal level of social networking now but I spent a bit more time on those things at first than I probably had to spend.
6. I had overworked last week. Usually I stick to a good schedule but sometimes I just never get off of my computer. I realize it once I’m cranky and frustrated and feel like I’m always online. I needed time away from the computer.
7. I was finishing up some books I’m planning to review on the blog. I’m still mulling over what I want to write about them so the reviews aren’t ready yet.
8. I started a new class. It’s a wonderful hula hoop dancing class that I’ll tell you more about later. Even adding one new class to my schedule forces me to rearrange some of the things I do and when I can do them.
9. I was back and forth between here and Berkeley a lot. That commute time can be conducive to blog writing … or not.
10. I didn’t have anything that I really wanted to say. One of the things about living a smart life is that you know that sometimes it’s best not to say anything until you’re ready. Otherwise a bunch of dumb drivel just comes out. Safer to wait.

Tags: project management, time management

As I mentioned not that long ago, I’m going to be participating in a really cool project called Blog it Forward (or The Blogger Mashup). Over the course of the next month, three hundred of us bloggers are going to be sharing what inspires us. That’s a lot of creativity being shared in one place! I’m super excited about it.

The whole thing kicks off today with the first ten bloggers:

1. SFGirlByBay: This inspiring blogger is the one who started this whole thing. Be sure to see what inspires her!
2. Creature Comforts. Beautiful photos of inspiring things along with a description of why they’re inspiring.
3. The Paper Pony. Picture-rich post of inspiring photography.
4. Design for Mankind. Great A-Z list of inspiring things.
5. Ink on my Fingers. Inspired by some surprising things!
6. Poppytalk. The Olympics, the elderly, art … and more.
7. Heart Fish. If you’re a fan of typography then you’ll love this post!
8. Smile and Wave. Inspired by illustration art.
9. Oh Hello Friend.
10. Hula Seventy.

Tags: blog it forward, blogger mashup, blogging inspiration, sfgirlbybay

There was an article in the New York Times recently about people who are apparently choosing to debark their dogs by taking them to the vet and having the vet cut out the animal’s vocal cords. These aren’t the kind of people you would think of as being cruel to animals; they’re likely educated folks who theoretically love their pets and who certainly have some excess cash if they can afford this type of thing. And I have to ask … wtf?!?

I love animals but I am by no means an animal rights activist. In fact, by the standards of how San Franciscans spoil their dogs, I was probably not even a good “mom” to dogs. (Not only would I never call myself my dog’s mom but I’d also never dress it in clothes, buy it gourmet food or have it stay in a hotel while I was away.) So I’m pretty average when it comes to my pets. But there was a definite part of me that stood up and screamed in horror when I read this article.

The people who are doing this have their justifications for it. They say it doesn’t hurt the dog. They say that the alternative would be to give up the dog because its barking is out of control and it would probably end up euthanized so it’s better to just debark it. They say, “hey, this surgery has been going on for decades so it’s clearly not that bad”.

I have to disagree. I’ve owned lots of dogs. I’ve seen why they bark. They bark because they’re defending themselves or their home, because their excited or because they want to get your attention. To take out your pet’s vocal cords so that instead of barking it just makes a wheezing sound is just not right. Just not right. Justify it however you want, I’m not buying it.

And frankly, it seems like the owners just shouldn’t be do owners if they feel the need to do this. They clearly aren’t doing it for the dog. They’re doing it because they’re annoyed by the barking or because their neighbors are complaining about the noise or because they want their attack dogs to be silent predators. It’ selfish. Get the dog trained. Move to a dog-friendly area. Get a cat.

Tags: animals, debark, dog surgery, remove dogs vocal cords

Innovative soccer balls seem to be the hottest thing right now in the world of green news. They’re popping up everywhere and making headlines. Of course, these aren’t just any old soccer balls. These are soccer balls that serve a dual purpose.

For example, there’s the Swirl which isn’t just a soccer balls but also a way to do your laundry. tI’s being used in developing nations as a great green way to get your clothes washed while also having some fun. You fill it up with dirty clothes, soap and water and then close it up and play your game. It’s hard to say if this is as effective as a true washing machine (or as solid as a real soccer ball) but it’s a great green idea isn’t it?

And then there’s the Soccket ball which stores the kinetic energy that is created while playing soccer and then allows people to use that energy for power. It’s also being used in developing nations where steady electricity for charging mobile phones and other small items is hard to come by. Just send the kids out with the ball and have them bring it back fully charged!

Who would have thought soccer balls were a key to being green?!

Tags: eco-friendly, green innovation, Green Living, soccer balls green, world news