VIDEOS, YouTube – An interesting video on the twentieth century, popular online.
Largely a narcissistic century in this view, increasingly focussed on the self.
English with Spanish subtitles.

COMMENT, Melbourne — Let’s face it privatized public transport has failed.
It’s not the same elsewhere in the world — where Public Transport is clean, reliable and safe.

Public transport succeeds in similar towns in Germany.
But not in Australia. Public transport can work, but does not now work in Melbourne & Victoria. There are issues in the approach of the State Government, private contractors and the various ideologically-driven desperadoes on this issue.
The biggest issue is the ideological gunfight set-up by far-Right gunslingers like Alan Moran, of the disingenuously-titled ‘Institute for Public Affairs’.
And …

VIDEOS, Youtube — These are just insane. Actually my last article about the BMW videos led me to find this.
Incredibly offbeat and unusual art & design from this Dutch artist, Theo Jansen.
The machines are almost animal like, yet man-made. Machines that crawl across the land as if they are insects, or prowl as if they are a hybrid between war machines and leopards.
These are original, unusual, and this video is well worth watching.
This is avant-garde.

VIDEOS, Youtube — This one’s been attracting quite a lot of attention on Youtube.
OK it’s an advert, and they’re not saving the world, but it’s worth a look from a design viewpoint.
And corporations like BMW should be encouraged to improve automobiles and other products by engaging with designers.
Besides, BMW are one of the world’s best crawling, no … driving, machines…. Watch. You’ll see what I mean.

COMMENT, USA, UK, Australasia– Why does the West play up the gender divide?
We receive input from a variety of professional bodies. One of the has become not the professional peak body it’s supposed to be, but the pretend Institute of Gender Issues.
Fully 70% of their recent industry publication is focussed on women’s issues.
It’s too much.
Gender Divide is damaging relationships
The only mission of this industry body is to focus on promoting it’s own agenda of female superiority. It only interviews women and features only business women in most of it’s publications …

ANALYSIS, Global — It is always a folly to assume the past is an extension of the present.

Thinkers call this the problem of induction. i.e. Assuming that the past is a predictor of future performance. It’s why if you draw a straight line above a graph, invariably the graph will deviate if it’s measured over a long enough time frame.
Don’t be economically disappointed
This flawed human tendency to view the current set of circumstances as normal is why many countries now place on financial products a disclaimer: “Current financial performance is …

COMMENT, Albania — Korça është njëri nga qytetet kryesore të Shqipërisë. Ajo shtrihet në jug-perëndim të vendit, në lartësinë 869 m mbi nivelin e detit.

Nga gjetjet arkeologjike rezulton si vendbanim i fisit ilir të Enkelejve. Duke pasur një pozicion të favorshëm, ajo u shndërrua në një qendër qytetare me një kishë të përmendur në shek. IX. Qyteti filloi të zhvillohej me shpejtësi dhe pas pushtimit turk,(në shek. XV), u kthye në një qendër të përmendur zejtare e tregtare.
Në gjysmën e dytë të shek. XIX, Korça u bë njëra nga qendrat …

COMMENT, Global – The places where we eat and live are our cities.
2thinknow rank and recognize innovation cities. Cities are important.
But there is a smaller unit that is critical to social change. This true key to positive change in our society is the role of where we eat and talk.
Families around the kitchen table.
It’s where families come together, eat, fight and discuss.
And despite feminism, it is still largely a female manager of the home and kitchen table. Let’s be realistic!
That’s why, as Western democracies are run by a cabinet of …

COMMENT, Melbourne — Corporations are often unhealthy, sick work environments. Not physically. At least not in the West. Emotionally.
Whilst corporations may have cleaned up the physical environment, we have created an unhealthy psychological and emotional environment.

Leaving many corporate workers of having the feeling of being empty and alone. Hollow vessels at times, especially over many years. And leading to unhealthy and socially irresponsible behaviours.
Instead the outcome of the upper echelons of the modern corporate workforce often seem to reward bitter, manipulative, win-at-all-costs people.
Why corporate workforce health matters…
We spend a lot …

COMMENT, Melbourne — The publisher of this journal, 2thinknow, is in the process of relocating from Wednesday 14th to Tuesday 21st February 2008.

We have a nice new office overlooking the skyline city of Melbourne, in the inner-city suburb of Southbank.
Of course the copier is not yet plugged in, servers not working, and the writers are not yet being edited.
The espresso machine is working though. Thankfully.

In Australia inevitably you end up being ‘hands on’ with any task (if you need it done right), so it was 3am the night before.
Talk to …

COMMENT, Saudi Arabia — Add to the long list of things Saudi women cannot do.

Buy Starbucks with a man.
On that list you could add vote.
Drive a car.
Often, being seen with a man is enough for a woman to be punished.
In this case, a woman was punished for having a coffee at Starbucks in Saudi’s capital, Riyadh, with a male work colleague.
Punished?
Hand-cuffed. Lead away. Strip search. Lock-up. Interrogation.
Who does this if found guilty of un-islamic conduct punishment is barbaric.
We don’t want to westernise Saudi Arabia. I couldn’t care if they …

Videos, Youtube — What is so great about the USA is that people just ‘get on’ with new ideas.
Youtube has become part of the election process asking for submissions from voters.
it may not be as effective as traditional media yet, but as truly high-speed broadband video grows it can only become more important in political democracy.
So, watch this space!

VIDEOS, Youtube — We all like Lego. But not only is it a great toy to teach your children spatial and logic skills, now it’s a tool.
The increasingly complex robotic tools made available by Lego Mindstorms allow your child to become a little engineer at a young age.
And quite a few university labs use them for various projects.
This great example is using Mindstorms to solve a Rubiks Cube.

Web 2.0 enables all new types of communication, for many reasons, the medium is indeed the message…

Rudd’s 2020 summit is a good idea, but will it fulfil its promise?

REVIEWS, Global – The T-Shirt Collectors scene is potent globally. And yes, it now has a magazine. T-World.
Like sneaker-collector and custom sneaker decoration scene in Melbourne, another scene. With a local, but soon to be even more international, vertical-niche magazine.
The magazine, created by and crafted for T-shirts enthusiasts, T-world highlights global T-shirt culture.
T-world is a new niche publications with a cult status already, after only the 3rd edition.
It can be ordered online, or via MagNation in Melbourne or New Zealand. Try this link to have a look and order.
What’s the …

COMMENT, Serbia — Healthy and delicious serbian food! Serbians eat big meals. Huge meals in fact. Bigger than Americans often!
Yet Serbs are generally fit, healthy and not fat. No obesity problems.

And Serbians even eat Hamburgers, although with a lot less ‘bad stuff’ inside!
Serbians are mostly healthy as a result of the homecooked dishes they eat. With no additives and not from the supermarket. Although, this is changing.
Generally Serbians who live in Serbia do not have obesity problems despite the fact they eat large portions of meat. Serbians who live in …

REVIEW, Mag Nation, Melbourne & New Zealand — One of my favorite magazine shops, in late 2007, won a prestigious retail award in Melbourne.

You can often find me browsing the magazines, and occasionally spending more than I planned on European or US magazine titles. I like to support small or independent businesses so I also often grab a coffee here and browse.
Chief Magazineologist (sounds like a 2thinknow title!) for Mag Nation, Sahil Merchant commented:
“There is something about magazines that makes them worthwhile and approachable for all.
“Most of the …

COMMENT, Korea –A design agency in South Korea exploring new materials have arrived at a new design incorporating green ideas into the design of a shop.

The basis is a French botanist using a light material on the skin of a building, on which various plants can be grown.
From the site:
“Mass Studies was founded in 2003 by Minsuk Cho in Seoul, Korea, as an investigation of architecture in the context of market-privileged culture of mass production and intensely over-populated urban condition. Mass Studies explore building materials/techniques, space matrixes and building typologies …

VIDEOS, Youtube – Interesting film, unsure of the source. Makes a case for global supply chains and trade, apparently shot in the 1950s, by its appearance. Worth a look even if just to disagree or not!