Sunday, December 26, 2010 Tiny House Movement  As Americans downsize in the aftermath of a colossal real estate bust, a small but growing number of Americans are buying or building homes that could fit inside many people's living rooms. "It's very un-American in the sense that living small means consuming less," says Jay Shafer, co-founder of the Small House Society. "Living in a small house like this really entails knowing what you need to be happy and getting rid of everything else." Compared to trailers, these little houses are built with higher-quality materials, better insulation and eye-catching design. But they still have wheels that make them portable and allow owners to get around housing regulations for stationary homes. Read More >>
back to top  Saturday, December 25, 2010 If Santa Claus Was An Engineer...  Of all the gifts that will be exchanged this holiday season, there probably aren't too many that will change someone's life. But a robotics workshop in Seattle has taken the holiday tradition and given it a high-tech twist. When Yoky Matsuoka started getting emails from parents of disabled children asking for help, the neurobiotics pioneer made it her hobby to build devices to assist kids in need. Now, she runs a nonprofit called Yokyworks that asks disabled kids: "If your Santa Claus was an engineer, what would you like for your next Christmas?" Their responses have produced innovations like all-terrain crutches and even a robotic hand that could one day respond to human nerve signals! Read More >>
back to top Friday, December 24, 2010 Beyond the Known Territory  Sean McNiff, who's an art therapist, says in his book, Art and Medicine, "The commercial art world is allied with a particular set of economic values, and we make an error when we perceive this context to be the exclusive, or the highest, realm of art." That speaks to something I found it very difficult not to feel hampered by. The market side of art, art as a commodity, kind of rules the experience of many artists. I think every artist has to learn to be able to exist outside of that world in order to be able to continue. Those artists who are able to make it in this commodity atmosphere usually do have strong egos, but a lot of artists have been through some sort of a loss or early difficulty. People, like me, who are in that camp, have to deal with this self-critical part of themselves. So it can be a vehicle for growth, but in the context of the art world, people can be dissuaded and can give up on a process that eventually can be very healing. Read More >>
back to top Thursday, December 23, 2010 Does Thinking Make it So?  In a world that prizes medical science and blames illness on factors such as genes, viruses, bacteria or poor diet, certain perplexing cases stand out. Consider Mr. Wright, a man whose tumors "melted like snowballs on a hot stove" when he was given an experimental drug that he believed would cure his cancer, but was later declared to be worthless by the American Medical Association. His case is just one of several that underscore the idea that the mind matters in sickness and health. In "The Cure Within," Harvard Professor Anne Harrington proposes that we're persuaded not only by science but also by stories, especially a key set of narratives that humans have told about the mind and body through history. These narratives give vocabulary for complex experiences like discontent and hope. "Stories can do things that science can't," she observes. Read More >>
back to top Wednesday, December 22, 2010 Gandhian on Wheels  Catch a rickshaw on the streets of Ahmedabad, and you might be lucky enough to encounter the smiling face of Udaybhai. Enter his vehicle and you are invited to browse an array of books and newspapers. An mp3 player offers a selection of songs, and if you're hungry, you can help yourself to some tasty snacks. On top of all this, your trip has already been paid for by grateful travelers who came before. The gift-economy rickshaw driver explains, "I have no complaints. Whatever I earn at the end of the day, I use it to run my household. But I will continue to treat my guests with respect and make them feel at home." Read More >>
back to top Tuesday, December 21, 2010 Facebook Takes a Look at Friendship  With 500 million users, Facebook has grown as big as the population of the European Union. With so much potential data, Paul Butler, an intern at Facebook, decided to map out at least one aspect: the locality of friendship. "I was interested in seeing how geography and political borders affected where people lived relative to their friends," he explains. The result is a stunning map of the world, where rather than marking a coast or river or politcal border, each line signifies a real human relationship. Read More >>
back to top Monday, December 20, 2010 Makeovers For A Cause  Makeovers -- for the body and the home -- have become a staple of reality television shows. And now, for a handful of young adults in New York, they are becoming an actual reality. Blissful Bedrooms is a nonprofit organization committed to transforming the bedrooms of young people living with disabilities. They don't have an office, or paid staff, but they do have a website, a Facebook page, and a lengthy ad on Craigslist soliciting volunteers to help with bedroom makeovers. "It was very much a plea to help with a cause," says Cory Mahler, who responded to that Craigslist ad. One weekend Mahler and a Blissful Bedrooms team reached out to Keosha Stukes, a 20-year-old who has cerebral palsy. The results were utterly delightful. Read More >>
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"I'm not going to shrink my hips or grow five inches in 2011. I didn't in 2010, 2009, or 2008, despite my penchant for making New Year's resolutions that defy common sense and human physiology. The only thing more depressing than a personal pledge unmet is one so unrealistic it couldn't be kept even if plastic surgery was free," Philadelphia Inquirer's Monica Yant Kinney writes. That's why this year, she is following Chaz Howard's lead to turn New Year's resolutions inside out. "What if," Chaz asks, "we made resolutions that were about serving and caring for others?" [ 
In 1989, while touring India, Marc Gold found himself "thunderstruck" when he realized he could save a woman from a deadly ear infection by paying the $1 for her antibiotics. "I thought you had to be wealthy to do such things," he recalls. Since then, Gold has trekked through Asia, handing out money to the needy in amounts as little as 50 cents and rarely exceeding $500. In Vietnam, a small donation was enough for a widow to buy a sewing machine and start a business. In Indonesia, a fisherman fixed his boat and returned to self-sufficiency. Compared with global aid organizations, Gold's budget is tiny. But he has touched over 50,000 lives. [ 
A group of adults posed this question to a group of 4 to 8 year-olds: "What does love mean?" The answers were broader and deeper than anyone could have imagined. One 6-year old wrote, "If you want to learn to love better, you should start with a friend who you hate." [ 
In many fields, the user is often the innovator. In the space of scientific instruments, 77 percent of the innovation comes from end users. Yet we generally believe the opposite: that users satisfy their own, personal needs while manufacturers dominate innovation. As a result, our understanding of intellectual property tends to protect manufacturers, not users: firms are likely to patent their (internal, otherwise invisible) innovations and not share them, while individuals working in similar spaces usually don't seek patent production and often share their processes. This may reveal basic biases in how individuals and firms behave. MIT Professor Eric von Hippel notes that it's counterintuitive that we expect manufacturers to innovate - we should expect them to manufacture efficiently, but perhaps to look to their users for design innovation. [ 
As the spirit of giving wraps up this last week of 2010, here's some food for thought: Research suggests generosity is good for you. New studies attest that giving benefits not only the recipients but also the givers' health and happiness, while bringing strength to entire communities. Of course, you don't have to shop to reap the rewards of giving, the same benefits can come from donating to charities or volunteering time to a good cause. UC Berkeley's Greater Good Science Center offers up 5 ways giving is good for you. [ 
