Thursday, April 1, 2010
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
CTA Garden
Mobile Garden Rail Car To Be Tacked on To Chicago Transit System
by Jaymi Heimbuch, San Francisco, California on 02. 1.10
Design & Architecture
Buzz up!
mobile garden photo
Image via Mobile Garden
The Mobile Garden concept dreamed up by artist Joe Baldwin just got the thumbs up from the Chicago Transit Authority. The plan is to add some green space to the transit system by transforming a rail car into a mobile garden boasting greenery and native species. The car will help commuters "visualize the possibilities for enhancing green space in the city," as Hugh Bartling puts it.
According to Mobile Garden, "The basic concept that artist Joe Baldwin came up with is to build a garden on a flatcar train and to let it travel with the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) as part of their regular transit service. Because of the conditions that would subject plants to the ideal plants for the mobile garden are native plants that require low water and low maintenance. This also allows the opportunity to highlight the importance of native plants in the community."
It would be really neat to travel the rails while sitting in a garden...if it isn't too cold outside. But this one would really be just for looks - something gorgeous to enjoy while navigating the hustle and bustle of a morning commute with nothing but gray metal and bundled-up travelers to look at. And it's certainly easier to enjoy than trying to bring along your own suitcase garden.
The project does hearken up PARK(ing) Day, especially one mobile garden found in San Francisco.
Sunday, January 31, 2010
This Man Needs to be Stopped
od's Denier
Sen. James Inhofe
Republican, Oklahoma
As the former chairman and ranking Republican of the Senate environment committee, Inhofe is one of the GOP's loudest and most influential voices on climate change. The senator from Oklahoma calls global warming "the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people," insists that carbon dioxide is not "a real pollutant," and doesn't worry about rising sea levels, because, if all else fails, "God's still up there."
Far from being marginalized, Inhofe continues to hold remarkable sway: In November, he organized fellow GOP members to boycott the environment committee's debate on climate legislation. He also marshaled the ranking GOP members of all six committees with jurisdiction over climate change to write Sen. Barbara Boxer, warning her that proceeding without Republicans would "severely damage" prospects for the bill's passage. The move helped cloud the bill's future, diminishing America's bargaining position at the Copenhagen climate negotiations. "We won, you lost," Inhofe gloated to Boxer during a committee hearing. "Get a life."
In December, the senator also vowed that a resurgent GOP would block the EPA from curbing carbon pollution: "After the 2010 election," he said, "I guarantee we'll have the votes to do it."
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Thursday, January 28, 2010
ROWE
Let's ALL do this!
“In a Results-Only Work Environment, people can do whatever they want, whenever they want, as long as the work gets done.” This is not simply company-sanctioned flextime. A true ROWE has unlimited paid vacation time, no schedules, no mandatory meetings, and no judgments from co-workers and bosses about how employees spend their days. In other words, managers trust employees to get their work done and do not mandate — or even comment on — when, where, or how it happens. Because everyone is evaluated based on what they accomplish, as opposed to how much time they spend looking busy at their desks, it becomes clear very quickly who is actually getting work done and who isn’t.
“In a Results-Only Work Environment, people can do whatever they want, whenever they want, as long as the work gets done.” This is not simply company-sanctioned flextime. A true ROWE has unlimited paid vacation time, no schedules, no mandatory meetings, and no judgments from co-workers and bosses about how employees spend their days. In other words, managers trust employees to get their work done and do not mandate — or even comment on — when, where, or how it happens. Because everyone is evaluated based on what they accomplish, as opposed to how much time they spend looking busy at their desks, it becomes clear very quickly who is actually getting work done and who isn’t.
What this looks like on a daily basis is different for every employee. For example, one Best Buy e-learning specialist completes an entire month of work in two weeks so that he can spend the rest of the month following his favorite bands around the country, checking in with the office via email and cell phone. For someone else, it might mean working from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. and then logging back online at 8 p.m., whether from the office, home, or a resort in Hawaii.
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Animal to Plant - Genetic Modification Anyone?
WONDER SLUG: A sea slug that lives in marshes and creeks along the U.S. Atlantic coast is apparently part animal and part plant, according to a new study by a University of South Florida researcher. Elysia chlorotica (pictured) is shaped like a leaf and is already known for stealing organelles and even genes from photosynthesizing algae, the biological equivalent of kidnapping a restaurant's kitchen staff for your own personal use. But the green slug has now stolen enough photosynthesis equipment that it has incorporated an entire plant chemical-making pathway into its body - the first known evidence of an animal doing so. The slug now produces chlorophyll on its own, rather than relying on a plant, meaning it can make its own food using just sunlight and water. "This could be a fusion of a plant and an animal - that's just cool," says one scientist not involved with the study. Another calls the findings "bizarre," adding that "[s]teps in evolution can be more creative than I ever imagined." (Source: Wired)
Monday, January 4, 2010
Friday, January 1, 2010
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