text:
Looking for a good reason to upgrade your safety, quality, environment, supplier or GRC system to Donesafe.
If you ever needed another reason to go paperless, then we have that reason described with just one word. PRINTER.
Take a look why in this video called "Your printer is a brat".
On a more serious note…
Francene and Michael Mountford of Mountford Plumbing Services have been in business for over 30 years. As a commercial, industrial maintenance business, they do a lot of work with local government and industrial businesses, so in Francene's own words: "WHS had to be first, with everything else after that."
When Donesafe first met Mountford Plumbing Service, they could have been in any number of predicaments typically facing businesses; had a dysfunctional paper based system, had no system at all, or did not have the skills, time or knowledge to make a system that would satisfy legislative or tender requirements.
But Mountford Plumbing Services had a perfectly functioning paper based system. "We used to be completely paper driven with a bit of management through Excel"
If you are thinking, "Geez if only I had a functioning Health & Safety Management system at all!" Well, you are not alone. In fact, you are in good company. So, despite being the envy of many of us readers, why did Mountford Plumbing Services see the need to upgrade to Donesafe, a cloud based (internet based) Health & Safety Management solution?
Well close your eyes and imagine this; (No wait, leave your eyes open, you need to read on!)
A worker notices a cracked window. They pull their phone out, snap a photo, type a note and click send and get immediately back to work. Their notification then pops up on the OHS manager or business owners' phone who then taps a few buttons and the job gets forwarded to the appropriate person to resolve it. At every chain along the workflow, records are automatically taken and recorded without anyone having to spend more than a minute of their day dealing with it.
That's the alternative to a paper based system. That is why Mountford use Donesafe.
A paperless system as quick and simple as this was the proverbial oasis in a desert for Francene and Michael Mountford, except now they were bathing in the benefits, and boy, it is a refreshing feeling.
"At one stage, all we were doing was paperwork. Now we can concentrate more on marketing and getting more customers rather than being bogged down with admin. That's a really important thing. We're trying to focus on the future because of our son. We want to make sure that the business is there for him."
Francene and Michael are now looking towards the future and growing the business. They're now developing the QA and environment aspects of their business in Donesafe in order to get accredited and gain some government work. With a sizeable reduction in paperwork and admin, Francene is now in a position to start investing in the business again.
Image you had 10 hours a week MORE to use developing your marketing, finding and winning more tenders, and running the business you dreamed of in the first place – not bogged down in messy paperwork.
JOIN Francene and Michael in that proverbial oasis in the desert. Chat to Donesafe, and get back to the work you love! Fill out the form below and we'll be in touch.
4 reasons to invest in a cloud based workplace health and safety system
4 ways to justify switching to cloud based safety management software
And as always, keep safe out there.
By Donesafe at Donesafe.com


text:
We train doctors, nurses, medical personnel, police, firefighters, EMTs, students… and anyone!
American Heart Association trained CPR instructors teach Basic Life Support (BLS), Heartsaver and First Aid Skills needed for emergency level care of adults, children and infants.
Classes include AED training, 1- and 2-person rescuer techniques, use of bag valve mask, manikins for compressions and training for choking victims.
All Classes are American Heart Association Certified

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Katy Regnery is back on Blueberry Lane and the first standalone in the Story Sisters series is NOW LIVE and FREE with Kindle Unlimited! ONLY 99c for a limited time!
Amazon US: http://amzn.to/2oMT8qZ
Amazon UK: http://amzn.to/2oMCgAC
Add to your TBR: http://bit.ly/2nfXJ7V
Priscilla Story, the self-proclaimed "wild child" of the straight-laced Story clan, has always had a knack for getting herself trouble. Except this time, her "growing problem" is going to require a Daddy sooner than later…or she can kiss her inheritance good-bye.
Shane Olson, who previously dated Priscilla's sister, Margaret, isn't opposed to a marriage of convenience for the sake of furthering his business interests, but Priscilla – with her wild ways – is just about the last woman he'd choose to marry.
In order to make the marriage look convincing, they end up having to spend more time together than they'd originally planned. When rolling stone, Priscilla, who lives by the seat of her muu-muu, and seriously-ambitious Shane, who's had his whole life planned since he was eleven, start falling for each other, it's going to take a whole lot of compromise for this Bohemian and her Businessman to find their happily ever after.
Review by Emma-Louise Lewis on behalf of KFF
The Bohemian and the Businessman; a title that truly is the definition of just how many differences there are between Priscilla Story and Shane Olson.
"Wild child" Priscilla finds herself in a sticky situation. Pregnant and single, facing losing her inheritance, if she doesn't marry before her secret is exposed.
"I'm not, she wanted to scream, fisting her hands by her sides and blinking back tears. I'm not even close to okay. I'm having a baby, and when our father finds out, he'll disown me. My allowance is almost gone. I'll have nowhere to go…
Hard working Shane, craves to be in the top tier of Story Imports…
"You can't be a vice president here unless you're family."
"But Alice—"
"I'm not talking about the girls. I need the right man for the job."
"A son-in-law, I need a son-in-law who can start taking over the reins!"
Priscilla comes up with the idea that they should marry. Solve her issue and Shane's in one fell swoop.
Shane was a multifaceted character who broke my heart and rebuilt it so many times, I had this overwhelming desire to just tuck him in my pocket and keep him safe. Shane Olson is also a complex character, who on the surface comes across as arrogant and has no sense of humour. Who Shane really is, is much more complicated and layered. Honestly, somewhere in the midst of all the drama this book throws at the reader, I fell fast and hard for the inexperienced Shane Olson; his baby blue eyes especially.
The villain in this book is evident…Douglas Story the arrogant, sexist, vile father of Priscilla and her sisters. Douglas Story was like a bad smell you can't clear from your nose. I have never, ever read a book where there was a character that was such a potential menace to me literally throwing my kindle across the room.
"…always wanted a boy. A son. Someone like you.
Instead I got them. A mouthy rebel, a shrinking violet, an airhead, a hippie and a big baby. Five girls."
The beauty of the love between Priscilla and Shane is breath taking.
Maybe life is like this sometimes for some lucky people, he thought: After years and years of nothing special, someone miraculous walks into your life, and in the space of a few weeks, everything changes. You get married. You fall in love. Quickly. All at once. Without any warning. And the thing is, if you longed for it but never saw it coming, the depth of your gratitude leave you speechless, humbled you, changes you from the inside out. Because in one perfect flash of grace, everything you ever wanted is suddenly yours, even though you doubted something this good would ever happen to you.
From the front cover to the last words, I was enthralled. Carried away on a journey I was so sure was going to go blow up in their faces. Priscilla and Shane are committed and rock solid partners from a certain point early-ish in the book. I loved how they leaned on each other and supported each other. This book was the true definition of unconditional love.
~ 5 Stars ~
About the Author:
New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Katy Regnery started her writing career by enrolling in a short story class in January 2012. One year later, she signed her first contract and Katy's first novel was published in September 2013.
Twenty-five books later, Katy claims authorship of the multi-titled, New York Times and USA Today Blueberry Lane Series, which follows the English, Winslow, Rousseau, Story, and Ambler families of Philadelphia; the six-book, bestselling ~a modern fairytale~ series; and several other standalone novels and novellas.
Katy's first modern fairytale romance, The Vixen and the Vet, was nominated for a RITA® in 2015 and won the 2015 Kindle Book Award for romance. Katy's boxed set, The English Brothers Boxed Set, Books #1–4, hit the USA Today bestseller list in 2015, and her Christmas story, Marrying Mr. English, appeared on the list a week later. In May 2016, Katy's Blueberry Lane collection, The Winslow Brothers Boxed Set, Books #1-4, became a New York Times E-book bestseller.
In 2016, Katy signed a print-only agreement with Spencerhill Press. As a result, her Blueberry Lane paperback books will now be distributed to brick and mortar bookstores all over the United States.
Katy lives in the relative wilds of northern Fairfield County, Connecticut, where her writing room looks out at the woods, and her husband, two young children, two dogs, and one Blue Tonkinese kitten create just enough cheerful chaos to remind her that the very best love stories begin at home.
Author Links:
Website/Newsletter Signup: http://katyregnery.com/
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7211470.Katy_Regnery
Amazon: http://amzn.to/2dqySsy
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KatyRegnery
Twitter: https://twitter.com/KatyRegnery
Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/katharineregner/


text:
Originally Posted August 2012
Let us know what you think about some of these Logo's we are considering.
This wonderful artwork is generated by the graceful and talented hand of Alexander Helbach.
The Tours.... > 2013 - Going Where We have Never Gone Before (Our Sweet 16th) > The XNN Feed >


text:
HALIFAX – A Halifax navy intelligence officer will be sentenced later today for selling secrets to Russia.
Sub-Lt. Jeffrey Paul Delisle pleaded guilty last year to breach of trust and communicating information to a foreign entity that could harm Canada's interests.
The Crown is seeking a prison sentence of at least 20 years, while the defence is asking for nine to 10 years.
Both agreed that Delisle should be fined $111,817, which was based on the amount of money Delisle collected from his Russian bosses over nearly five years.
The 41-year-old Delisle was arrested in January 2012 and became the first person to be charged under the Security of Information Act.
That law was passed following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in the United States.
Mike Taylor, Delisle's lawyer, has said he is surprised that intelligence officials haven't tried to learn more about what type of information he leaked to Russia.
But intelligence experts suggest that Delisle's lawyer wasn't approached because government insiders already know much of what he released after walking into Russia's embassy in Ottawa in July 2007 to offer his services.


text:
I finally got to visit salem! I remember learning about Salem and the Witch Trials as a young girl. I imagined an old town full of people walking in cloaks holding old books in their hands; possibly on their way to get together with friends to create the next potion in their cauldron. Give me a break, I was young! lol. Obviously that's not how I imagined the place as I grew older, though I was hoping the town had a more rugged look to it. It didn't- but it's still a place with a unique personality and full of really cool stores and restaurants. Below are photos of some of the places we visited, including a restaurant suggested by a local. If you are planning on visiting Salem in the near future, I highly recommend these spots. (:
- Salem Witch Museum: Warning: the muppet presentation on the history of the Witch Trials is a bit cheesy. I had never experienced anything like it before, so I found it quite entertaining (admittedly cheesy, but entertaining) . My Baby Seal who had never seen anything like it found it cheesy. You sit in the middle of an auditorium as you watch different stages light up with muppets illustrating the history of the Salem Witch Trials. It provides a good story of the trials, sound is good, muppets look like they could use a make over, but over all it's a fun show. The second part of the show includes a tour guide talking about the history of the the Salem Trials. I don't recommend the muppet presentation for children. The sound is very loud and could be considered scary for some kiddos.
- The Witch House: This place was fun! It is the one and only house standing with any connection to the Salem Witch Trials. The house belonged to Judge Jonathan Corwin- he was called upon to investigate claims of witch craft activity. We didn't get a chance to take tour inside, but tours are offered from mid March- mid November.
- Gulu Gulu Cafe: This was one of my favorite places from our trip to MA! Gulu-Gulu Cafe was named after Cafe Gulu Gulu in Prague, where the owners of Gulu Gulu Cafe met. The restaurant pet is a bulldog, as you'll notice from all the wall art. The place is quaint, full of personality, while not pushing too hard. They have a stage and every week/day they have different bands/DJ's/artists doing their thing. They sell really cool and adorable merchandise, too! We only tried their warm drinks and were very pleased with quality and taste.
- Turner's Seafood Grill & Market: This place was recommended by a local from Salem. At first we were apprehensive about coming here, but my! We were blown away by their delicious food. We had the Fish & Chips, Clam Chowder, and their Lobster Bisque. All three dishes were so fresh, with neat presentation, and very reasonably priced. I cannot tell you enough good things about their clam chowder. We had chowder nearly every day we were in MA. This place definitely blew the others away, and that is saying a lot because restaurants in MA pride themselves in their chowder. If you visit Salem, this place is a must for their chowder. I don't have any photos of our food, my cell phone died by the time we ordered. *sad*
When you visit Salem, Massachusetts make sure to take a trip to these spots! You will have good time, I promise!
Thank you for stopping by (:
Stay groovy,


text:
What you value, how you retire
1 comment
Hi friends,
If you read a few of my posts like: ultimate guide to retire rich you might find articles like Levels of financial freedom very boring. If that's you do not think twice and keep on reading. If you already reach financial freedom and you are pretty much deciding how to spent that egg next read that article carefully.
To be completely honest I won't even take myself that serious and I have a few reasons that suggest so:
- First this post is on steemit and not on Forbes
- I am not close to financial freedom, in fact I do not have enough experience and given that I'm 31 years old you might wonder now what do I have to say regarding financial freedom.
- I will tell you the truth and will not sell you any book, get rich quick scheme or get you into the entrepreneurship trend.
What do I know right now?
There is no many different way that can get you to a financial status that will fit your requirements for the standard of living. That part standard of living and whether you are willing to pair it down or not will for sure affect the money required to sustain that lifestyle and also for how many years.
Another thing is that it is different where you value luxuries or you rather be in a simple yet peaceful place where you can enjoy a good read, and the fact that it can be used book, brand new or maybe the discount version of it in a kindle is also how far you can get with the same money.
To have a different and kind of extreme version of the spectrum Rob Greenfield shows us in this Exploring alternatives interview how he has chosen the simplest way of making a living and be able to live with it.
This for sure is not the easiest way to be financial independent but it really caught my attention how really being financially independent can also be a state of mind as also when you read the Forbes article you can see that working from home can be a huge deal for certain people, I believe the author was trying to refer to what they value is what is the most important not really money related.
@raserrano - Developer
|Conservation Association
|Fund-raising upvoting bot
|Water Saving bees


text:
Join us for our 4th of July Markdown Sale June 30 - July 7!
Happy 4th of July from Burnworth-Zollars! What's more American than buying an American made vehicle during the 4th of July? Stop by Burnworth-Zollars and check out all of our vehicles with sale tags during June 30 - July 7. You won't want to miss these HUGE markdowns!
July 4th Celebration
There's no better way to show up to a 4th of July celebration than with a brand new vehicle! Kick off the Summer with Independence Day celebrations and a new car. Our sales staff will be sure to get you exactly what you want at a great price during our 4th of July sale!
Best Markdowns of the Sale
We have exceptional deals on our pre-owned vehicles! Stop by our Ligonier or Nappanee location, there's no better time to get your dream vehicle.
Follow our social media!
Stay up to date on sales and promotions by following our social media.


text: Providing housing counseling services to the Greater Philadelphia area is critical. AHCOPA appreciates your support in our efforts. 85% of the donations received are directly applied to program operations. Contributions can be made directly to our organization, or you can purchase eligible products through the AmazonSmile Foundation. AHCOPA will receive a portion of the purchase price listed on Amazon.


text:
Grey windscreen free standing design supplied with guy lines, pegs etc
This stylish windbreak is designed to curve which helps stability it is free standing with guy lines for extra support.
it is polyester in shades of grey with spring linked steel poles.
it measures 140 cm high x 500 cm long pack weight 8.2kg
There are no reviews yet.
You must be logged in to post a review.


text:
The Good
NOVA is a fun book. There is something about witnessing a new hero try to get a handle on their newfound powers and abilities. Sam Alexander was your average fifteen-year-old. Since discovering his father was part of the Nova Corps and inheriting his helmet has opened up a new world for Sam. In the short time since he's come into the role of Nova, he's faced some serious situations. And it's about to get worse.
Having met Robbie Baldwin and Vance Astrovik, Sam comes home to find his mother and sister at the mercy of one of Thanos' agents. He will be forced to fighter her without the use of his powers if he wants any chance of guaranteeing their safety.
Zeb Wells makes this a fun and light-hearted issue, despite the fact that Sam's family is being threatened. Paco Medina's art captures the fun and serious vibe of the series and David Curiel's color makes each panel pop off the page.
The Bad
The story felt a little rushed. It might be due to next issue's 100th issue NOVA anniversary. We barely get a chance to see what's happening towards the end as the story feels like it takes a leap to the conclusion.
The Verdict
You can feel there are changes coming. Zeb Wells continues to flesh out Sam Alexander's character and having Robbie Baldwin and Vance Astrovik sets up the next chapter in Sam's life. While faced with a serious and deadly threat, Sam is forced to fight a battle he can't win. There is a quick resolution to it all as the stage is set for the anniversary issue next month. Paco Medina's art is great for the series. We can only hope that the creative switch coming next month will maintain the vibe of the series while continuing to delivering the fun and exciting adventures of the new Nova.


text:
Vintage Sterling Silver Guilloche Enamel Oval Picture Frame
This fabulous large oval vintage sterling silver guilloche enamel picture frame is a wonderful and rich shade of Persian blue. The enamel is in excellent condition. It does have an oval piece of glass in it. The interior, back and easel of the frame are wrapped in beige silk more fabric. It sits on two ball feet. Both feet do have some dings in them, which are hard to see when the frame is standing upright. Otherwise, it is in good to excellent vintage condition.
Dimensions: Approximately 6 3/16" tall by 4 5/8" wide by 5/8" thick
Weight: 192.1 grams
Markings: STERLING on bottom edge of frame


text:
Showing reviews 1-2 of 5 | Next
Posted by Unknown on 16th Dec 2015
I've been buying this since I first tried it at Fair November at the University of Guelph. Absolutely delicious!
Posted by Erika on 27th Dec 2014
I first tried this chutney at a craft fair here in Ottawa. I was immediately hooked! We now serve it at all our get togethers and all of our friends love it! We serve it on warm brie and it is gone within minutes!
Showing reviews 1-2 of 5 | Next


text: Dear all. I've been trying for month to get my server to run FreeBSD 5.x AMD64 without much luck. So far I always thought that the culprit was the 3ware 9500-8S card. The server has the following configuration: -Tyan K8S Pro (S2882) with one Opteron 2.2Ghz , 1GB ECC RAM. http://www.tyan.com/products/html/thunderk8spro.html -Main hard drive is a Seagate ST373307LW (SCSI 73GB, 10Krpm) running on the on-board Adaptec AIC7902 Ultra320 SCSI adapter -3ware 9500-8S card driving 6 Western Digital SATA 73GB, 10Krpm disk. Here is the history of my attempt. With FreeBSD 5.2.1 for amd64 , the system would boot just fine but the 3ware card wouldn't be recognized (which was expected as the twa driver wasn't present). Compiling at the time the 3ware driver would just hang when the twa kernel module got loaded. At that point I gave up and installed FreeBSD 5.2.1 for x86. After a few weeks, I installed FreeBSD-current when the twa driver got into the kernel. x86 target no problem, when amd64 target was installed as soon as the card was being recognized it would just die. Yesterday, I got FreeBSD 5.3 RELENG_5 (5.3 Beta6)... x86 just fine, all works, AMD64 version: hangs just after displaying the message that it's mounting the / directory. Different things I tried: 1)From source upgrading to FreeBSD 5.3 Beta6 from the source on the FreeBSD x86 FreeBSD 5.3 doing: >make buildworld TARGET_ARCH=amd64 >make buildkernel TARGET_ARCH=amd64 >make installkernel TARGET_ARCH=amd64 then reboot in single mode.. Still it locks when mounting / 2)Using the mini-install disk: performing a binary upgrade. Same as 1) Locks when mounting / 3)At that stage I was convinced it was the 3ware card as it wasn't recognized before. So I removed the 3ware card from the server and was amazed to see that it wasn't the 3ware card after all, but it seems to be the Adaptec SCSI Ultra320!! When this one was working fine in the past. I thought of a drivers incompatibility, so in the BIOS I disabled *everything*: -serial port, parallel port, acpi, built-in SATA, gigabit interface, etc... Leaving only the SCSI. Still no luck hangs when mounting / drive 4)I thought it could be some issues with the Seagate drive as I read on the net that some drives had issues when interface was too fast. So using the Adaptec BIOS interface I slowed down the SCSI to Ultra160, then 33 etc... Still the same lock when mounting / So what's next? unfortunately, I can't provide logs when booting the amd64 version. But as it looks just like the x86 output. What's bizarre is that if I boot from the FreeBSD AMD64 CD it boots fine and all disks and interfaces are recognized. So here it is, any advice or recommendation will be welcome, I feel very frustrated on this one. My last plan is to format the main disk and re-install from scratch, so there would be no x86 , amd64 mixture. Thank you in advance Jean-Yves Copyright (c) 1992-2004 The FreeBSD Project. Copyright (c) 1979, 1980, 1983, 1986, 1988, 1989, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994 The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved. FreeBSD 5.3-BETA6 #1: Sat Oct 2 09:33:48 EST 2004 root@:/usr/obj/usr/src/sys/CUSTOM_SERVER3 ACPI APIC Table: <A M I OEMAPIC > Timecounter "i8254" frequency 1193182 Hz quality 0 CPU: AMD Opteron(tm) Processor 248 (2190.49-MHz 686-class CPU) Origin = "AuthenticAMD" Id = 0xf5a Stepping = 10 Features=0x78bfbff<FPU,VME,DE,PSE,TSC,MSR,PAE,MCE,CX8,APIC,SEP,MTRR,PGE, MCA,CMOV,PAT,PSE36,CLFLUSH,MMX,FXSR,SSE,SSE2> AMD Features=0xe0500000<NX,AMIE,LM,DSP,3DNow!> real memory = 1073676288 (1023 MB) avail memory = 1041117184 (992 MB) MADT: Forcing active-low polarity and level trigger for SCI ioapic0 <Version 1.1> irqs 0-23 on motherboard ioapic1 <Version 1.1> irqs 24-27 on motherboard ioapic2 <Version 1.1> irqs 28-31 on motherboard npx0: [FAST] npx0: <math processor> on motherboard npx0: INT 16 interface acpi0: <A M I OEMRSDT> on motherboard acpi0: Power Button (fixed) Timecounter "ACPI-fast" frequency 3579545 Hz quality 1000 acpi_timer0: <24-bit timer at 3.579545MHz> port 0x5008-0x500b on acpi0 cpu0: <ACPI CPU> on acpi0 pcib0: <ACPI Host-PCI bridge> port 0xcf8-0xcff on acpi0 pci0: <ACPI PCI bus> on pcib0 pcib1: <ACPI PCI-PCI bridge> at device 6.0 on pci0 pci3: <ACPI PCI bus> on pcib1 ohci0: <OHCI (generic) USB controller> mem 0xfeafd000-0xfeafdfff irq 19 at device 0.0 on pci3 ohci0: [GIANT-LOCKED] usb0: OHCI version 1.0, legacy support usb0: SMM does not respond, resetting usb0: <OHCI (generic) USB controller> on ohci0 usb0: USB revision 1.0 uhub0: AMD OHCI root hub, class 9/0, rev 1.00/1.00, addr 1 uhub0: 3 ports with 3 removable, self powered ohci1: <OHCI (generic) USB controller> mem 0xfeafe000-0xfeafefff irq 19 at device 0.1 on pci3 ohci1: [GIANT-LOCKED] usb1: OHCI version 1.0, legacy support usb1: SMM does not respond, resetting usb1: <OHCI (generic) USB controller> on ohci1 usb1: USB revision 1.0 uhub1: AMD OHCI root hub, class 9/0, rev 1.00/1.00, addr 1 uhub1: 3 ports with 3 removable, self powered pci3: <display, VGA> at device 6.0 (no driver attached) fxp0: <Intel 82551 Pro/100 Ethernet> port 0xac00-0xac3f mem 0xfeaa0000-0xfeabffff,0xfeafc000-0xfeafcfff irq 18 at device 8.0 on pci3 miibus0: <MII bus> on fxp0 inphy0: <i82555 10/100 media interface> on miibus0 inphy0: 10baseT, 10baseT-FDX, 100baseTX, 100baseTX-FDX, auto fxp0: Ethernet address: 00:e0:81:29:c0:30 isab0: <PCI-ISA bridge> at device 7.0 on pci0 isa0: <ISA bus> on isab0 atapci0: <AMD 8111 UDMA133 controller> port 0xffa0-0xffaf,0x376,0x170-0x177,0x3f6,0x1f0-0x1f7 at device 7.1 on pci0 ata0: channel #0 on atapci0 ata1: channel #1 on atapci0 pci0: <serial bus, SMBus> at device 7.2 (no driver attached) pci0: <bridge, PCI-unknown> at device 7.3 (no driver attached) pcib2: <ACPI PCI-PCI bridge> at device 10.0 on pci0 pci2: <ACPI PCI bus> on pcib2 ahd0: <Adaptec AIC7902 Ultra320 SCSI adapter> port 0x8800-0x88ff,0x9000-0x90ff mem 0xfc9fc000-0xfc9fdfff irq 24 at device 6.0 on pci2 ahd0: [GIANT-LOCKED] aic7902: Ultra320 Wide Channel A, SCSI Id=7, PCI-X 67-100Mhz, 512 SCBs ahd1: <Adaptec AIC7902 Ultra320 SCSI adapter> port 0x9400-0x94ff,0x9800-0x98ff mem 0xfc9fe000-0xfc9fffff irq 25 at device 6.1 on pci2 ahd1: [GIANT-LOCKED] aic7902: Ultra320 Wide Channel B, SCSI Id=7, PCI-X 67-100Mhz, 512 SCBs bge0: <Broadcom BCM5704C Dual Gigabit Ethernet, ASIC rev. 0x2003> mem 0xfc9a0000-0xfc9affff,0xfc9b0000-0xfc9bffff irq 24 at device 9.0 on pci2 miibus1: <MII bus> on bge0 brgphy0: <BCM5704 10/100/1000baseTX PHY> on miibus1 brgphy0: 10baseT, 10baseT-FDX, 100baseTX, 100baseTX-FDX, 1000baseTX, 1000baseTX-FDX, auto bge0: Ethernet address: 00:e0:81:29:c0:b0 bge1: <Broadcom BCM5704C Dual Gigabit Ethernet, ASIC rev. 0x2003> mem 0xfc9d0000-0xfc9dffff,0xfc9e0000-0xfc9effff irq 25 at device 9.1 on pci2 miibus2: <MII bus> on bge1 brgphy1: <BCM5704 10/100/1000baseTX PHY> on miibus2 brgphy1: 10baseT, 10baseT-FDX, 100baseTX, 100baseTX-FDX, 1000baseTX, 1000baseTX-FDX, auto bge1: Ethernet address: 00:e0:81:29:c0:b1 pci0: <base peripheral, interrupt controller> at device 10.1 (no driver attached) pcib3: <ACPI PCI-PCI bridge> at device 11.0 on pci0 pci1: <ACPI PCI bus> on pcib3 3ware device driver for 9000 series storage controllers, version: 2.50.00.000 twa0: <3ware 9000 series Storage Controller> port 0x7800-0x78ff mem 0xfb800000-0xfbffffff,0xfc6ffc00-0xfc6ffcff irq 29 at device 1.0 on pci1 twa0: [GIANT-LOCKED] twa0: 8 ports, Firmware FE9X 2.02.00.012, BIOS BE9X 2.02.01.037 pci0: <base peripheral, interrupt controller> at device 11.1 (no driver attached) acpi_button0: <Power Button> on acpi0 atkbdc0: <Keyboard controller (i8042)> port 0x64,0x60 irq 1 on acpi0 atkbd0: <AT Keyboard> irq 1 on atkbdc0 kbd0 at atkbd0 atkbd0: [GIANT-LOCKED] psm0: <PS/2 Mouse> irq 12 on atkbdc0 psm0: [GIANT-LOCKED] psm0: model IntelliMouse, device ID 3 sio0: configured irq 4 not in bitmap of probed irqs 0 sio0: port may not be enabled sio0 port 0x3f8-0x3ff irq 4 on acpi0 sio0: type 16550A sio1: configured irq 3 not in bitmap of probed irqs 0 sio1: port may not be enabled sio1 port 0x2f8-0x2ff irq 3 on acpi0 sio1: type 16550A fdc0: <floppy drive controller (FDE)> port 0x3f7,0x3f0-0x3f5 irq 6 drq 2 on acpi0 fdc0: [FAST] orm0: <ISA Option ROMs> at iomem 0xd1000-0xd27ff,0xc0000-0xc7fff on isa0 pmtimer0 on isa0 ppc0: parallel port not found. sc0: <System console> at flags 0x100 on isa0 sc0: VGA <16 virtual consoles, flags=0x300> vga0: <Generic ISA VGA> at port 0x3c0-0x3df iomem 0xa0000-0xbffff on isa0 Timecounter "TSC" frequency 2190488152 Hz quality 800 Timecounters tick every 10.000 msec acpi_cpu: throttling enabled, 8 steps (100% to 12.5%), currently 100.0% acd0: CDRW <LITE-ON LTR-52327S/QS57> at ata1-slave UDMA33 Waiting 15 seconds for SCSI devices to settle (probe16:ahd0:0:0:0): No or incomplete CDB sent to device. (probe16:ahd0:0:0:0): Protocol violation in Message-in phase. Attempting to abort. (probe16:ahd0:0:0:0): Abort Message Sent (probe16:ahd0:0:0:0): SCB 15 - Abort Tag Completed. found == 0x1 da0 at ahd0 bus 0 target 0 lun 0 da0: <SEAGATE ST373307LW 0007> Fixed Direct Access SCSI-3 device da0: 320.000MB/s transfers (160.000MHz, offset 63, 16bit), Tagged Queueing Enabled da0: 70007MB (143374744 512 byte sectors: 255H 63S/T 8924C) da1 at twa0 bus 0 target 0 lun 0 da1: <3ware Logical Disk 00 1.00> Fixed Direct Access SCSI-0 device da1: 100.000MB/s transfers da1: 333735MB (683489280 512 byte sectors: 255H 63S/T 42545C) Mounting root from ufs:/dev/da0s1a *** THIS IS WHERE BOOTING THE AMD64 VERSION WOULD HANG bge0: gigabit link up --- Jean-Yves Avenard Hydrix Pty Ltd - Embedding the net www.hydrix.com | fax +61 3 9572 2686 | phone +61 3 9572 0686 ext 100 VoIP: direct: 100 at voip.hydrix.com, general: info at voip.hydrix.com


text:
Time is perhaps the most precious resource we have, and dedicating some time for relaxing or engaging with family and friends is a luxury that we can all enjoy. We believe achieving balance in your professional and personal life is just as important as living to its fullest.
© Copyright 2020 VITALE FINE PROPERTIES | Disclaimer | Design by deChâteaux | Powered by Aussiehome.com


text:
Hello my friends! Today is my day on the Art Gallery Fabrics Rayon Blog Hop. I'm so excited to share my project with you all. I never thought I'd make a quilt using rayon! But guess what? I did. I actually had several ideas in mind for this one but in the end I decided… Read More
Category Archives: Blog
Today I get to share some exciting news! I have a star quilt featured in the newest Martingale Book, Block-Buster Quilts: I Love Star Blocks. The "Block-Buster" series of books are always packed with great ideas that use one specific block. As you might guess, this particular book is all about star blocks. Some pretty… Read More
Hey guys! Welcome to my corner of the world. If this is your first time visiting, welcome! I'm a full time professional longarm quilter and wanna be pattern designer. You should follow along with all my craziness over on Instagram (@OrchidOwlQuilts) and Facebook (Orchid Owl Quilts). I spend most of my days with my INNOVA… Read More
Welcome to my stop on the Cloud 9 New Block Blog Hop featuring my Improv Star Block. If this is your first time stopping, Hello! I hope you'll have a look around my blog and come back often. I used to be a very good blogger but now…not so much. You can also find me on… Read More
Today I get to share some fun news. I had the pleasure of contributing to an awesome book, 180 Doodle Quilting Designs, published by Martingale. I never thought I would get a chance to contribute to a book with fellow quilters Christa Watson, Angela Walters, Maddie Kertay, Melissa Corry, and many more! I must be dreaming.… Read More
Hello fellow quilters! Today is my stop on the Riley Blake Quilt It Modern Blog Tour. This blog hop is all about the solids…confetti cottons and crayola colors by Riley Blake Designs. These solids are so scrumptious and I had loads of fun working with them. Joining this hop was a no-brainer for me because… Read More
I was so honored when Amanda Herring from The Quilted Fish invited me to participate in her Desert Bloom Blog Tour. I was very excited to get my hands on this awesome new fabric line that she designed for Riley Blake. If you know me at all, you know I love all things aqua. It was… Read More
Hey there! Today is my stop stop on the 2016 New Block Blog Hop sponsored by Paintbrush Studio. This hop features the awesome Painter's Palette solids by Paintbrush Studio. They provided me with 6 fat quarters to use any way I'd like as long as I made a 12″ block. I came up with… Read More
I recently had the pleasure of quilting a Kismet Quilt for Quiltique, my local quilt shop in Henderson Nevada. The pattern is by Eye Candy quilts, fabric by Alison Glass. The top was pieced by a friend and employee of Quiltique. I decided to fill the background space with swirls and added a little petal… Read More
I recently quilted an Octagon Shimmer quilt for a local client. This pattern is designed by Jennifer Sampou. I emphasized the octagon shapes by randomly quilting designs in a radiating octagon. I used a Mark B Gone pen to draw boundary lines and then quilted in between with varying designs. I would suggest using a size… Read More


text:
Travel size coffee sachets. One cup servings in individual sachets. Ideal for your hotel, bed and breakfast, camping trips, self catering accommodation and or your work and office.
One serving coffee sachet. Add tea sachets, milk sachets, sugar sachets with hot chocolate sachets to provide the full beverage sachet options.
- Sort by Default Order


text:
Now it's only weeks until a storm of firecrackers, lanterns and dragons will embrace Hong Kong to the sound of traditional Chinese music, and of course everywhere we will see the color of happiness and love: red. It is scientifically proved that women in red appear to be more attractive than others, so why don't you adjust to this wonderful celebration by wrapping yourself in a timeless, hot and sexy color? Here are five beautiful ideas that will definitely give you good fortune this new year!
Nothing says "kiss me" in such a refined way as a pair of shiny bright red lips. If you are looking for Mr. right this is definitely something for you! And you can innocently mark your territory with a beautiful kiss-mark when you found him. Contemplate if you want a cold or warm hue.
A pair of red heels will redefine your femininity when you walk down the streets to watch the fireworks. Don't go for patent leather, it might cause the wrong kind of attention. If you think red shoes aren't your, you havn't ventured the world famous red sole Louboutin's!
It's definitely your turn to be that girl who catches everyones eyes when you make your entrance to the new year's party. The qipao is not only important for the Chinese culture, if you chose the right one it can also be cute and seductive! A red shade suits all skin tones and bodies, and qipao is engineered through thousands of year to enhance the female figure in the most sensual way. Chose a bright or deep saturated red to wow your admirers, then let an army of beautiful men invade your forbidden city…
Red panties will give you luck even if no one see them. To go out with a set of beautiful lingerie will give you all the confidence and security you ever needed. A sexy body in lace is a sexy surprise for the lucky one who undresses you at night. Avoid excessive details and let the color speak for itself! And remember that all bodies are beautiful in red underwear!
Sassy red nails will give you that vamp look which attracts men just as much as it scares them. Combine with the red lips for the ultimate look so that you are ready to leap into the wonderful year of dog!
Love Nutrisa


text:
Local Reviews
Seth was very helpful
David - Worthington, OH
Great service
Steve - Westerville, OH
They all ways do a good job
Honest, professional, great service
norma - Westerville, OH
My air conditioning stopped working. I called Westin Air and Heating, an LLC company in Westerville, OH. Seth, with that company, came out to diagnose our air conditioning problem. I had previously contacted Rightway, also a local Columbus, Ohio company, who told me my compressor was bad and that they had to order a part. From that point on, they never responded or scheduled a followup appointment. They also never responded to any of my calls, resulting in a lot of frustration. Hence I called Westin Air and Heat on the advice of a friend. Seth identified the problem which was that the compressor was not getting power. He replaced that piece ($118 approx. price vs a new compressor at probably around $1500), and we now have a properly working air conditioning system. Seth was prompt, professional, knowledgeable and honest. I will definitely recommend Westin Air and Heat any time I can. Can't say enough good things about them!
Westin Air Service
Susan - Dublin, OH
Excellent service!
John - Westerville, OH
Professional service
Donna - Westerville, OH
Exceptional Service
Mary - Columbus, OH
Seth is the best!! He's very knowledgeable & friendly & takes time to explain everything that he did on the service call. He has come out to check our air conditioner & heater many times & we have hope he continues to come out & help us whenever we need service or repairs. Thank you Seth for being the BEST!!
Thanks Westin Air!
Amanda - Westerville, OH
Great, thorough service. Arrived promptly. Provided clear feedback at mid point and end of service call.
Great customer service!
George - Centerburg, OH
Best customer service. Seth was thorough and efficient. He took his time to explain things about my air conditioning unit to me. I highly recommend!
Great Service!
Keli - Galena, OH
Seth was great. He was very thorough in performing an annual service for our furnace and AC units.
Excellent service
Roger - Westerville, OH
Service person was considerate & efficient.
Great service - very pleasant fellow!
Karl - Westerville, OH
Always so plesant and thorough
Diane - Westerville, OH
Great Service
Lori - Galena, OH
Couldn't do without Seth
Great service
Kristin - Westerville, OH
Great service, arrived on time and the price was great
Xiomara Seda - Delaware, OH
Great service and great price!
Fast response
Greg - Westerville, OH
Jake responded quickly on a Sunday to a lack of heat. He quickly diagnosed the issue and helped me decide on a course of action.
First class company
David - Grove City, OH
I dread hiring contractors because it seems things never go as discussed or that corners get cut. I was so happy when Westin changed my furnace and ac because not only did it go just as discussed, the work was clean and meticulous and the workers were professional. The price was better than other quotes I got (from the companies with the high dollar tv and radio ads you always see). I definitely will recommend them to friends and family.
Excellent service!!
Hillary - Westerville, OH
Great, Friendly Service!
Tiffeny - Mount Vernon, OH
Jake does a Fantastic Job!
Ryan - Westerville, OH
Super nice tech
Lee - Lewis Center, OH
Jake was extremely nice, helpful and informative. A great asset to the company.
NG - New Albany, OH
Great experience! Everyone was so nice from scheduling to the technician. Prompt and helpful. Overall an excellent experience and I will recommend them to other!
Excellent 1st Experience
Jerry - Westerville, OH
I telephoned Westin Air to schedule a furnace inspection and cleaning. Laura answered the phone with a warm welcome and eagerness to help me – a very strong, positive 1st impression of the company. I shared that I did not need immediate service and merely sought to schedule – no emergency. We agreed on a time. She inquired as to whether I needed a furnace filter to which I replied that I had filters. But great proactive inquiry! Laura shared that Jake would be the technician to perform the work. On Tuesday, January 29, 2019, Laura telephoned that Jake was within 15 minutes of arrival. When Jake arrived with equipment in-hand, he demonstrated a professional friendliness and enthusiasm. Escorting him to the furnace, I left him to his work. Soon he appeared and said that the work was completed; not just saying that he was done, but providing details. Jake began a thorough assessment of the furnace and the work he completed! He stated that all was in good shape. He subsequently emailed me a written document of the assessment and completed work. In summary, my first experience with Westin Air was excellent. Professional, mannerly, prompt, caring, and skilled. I strongly recommend Westin Air to serve your HVAC needs! I will return.
Annual Maintenance
Callie - Galena, OH
Seth did an excellent job. He is always easy to work with. I'm glad Westin did the furnace replacement. A great company to work with.


text:
SSIS error DTS_E_CANNOTACQUIRECONNECTIONFROMCONNECTIONMANAGER when connecting to Oracle data source
This time I want to discuss a support case that took me some days to get fixed. This case may be of interest for anyone having problems connecting a SQL Server installation to an Oracle data source using SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS).
In this case my customer was trying to connect to an Oracle Server in order to copy several tables into SQL Server 2005. SQL Server Integration Services is a great tool for this purpose, you can configure how the copy job takes place using SQL Server Business Intelligence Development Studio (aka BIDS) and check from an user-friendly interface how each step is executed. BIDS is in fact a version of Visual Studio 2005 (the executable name is devenv.exe) with the components required to work with the different SQL Server services and components.
My customer was executing BIDS from her own computer without issues but was finding a problem while working with BIDS from the server where SQL Server was installed. The errors she was getting were:
[Connection manager "mib.bigcorp.com.gca"] Error: SSIS Error Code DTS_E_OLEDBERROR.
An OLE DB error has occurred. Error code: 0x80004005. An OLE DB record is available.
Source: "Microsoft OLE DB Provider for Oracle" Hresult: 0x80004005
Description: "ORA-06413: Connection not open.".
[OLE DB Source [1]] Error:
SSIS Error Code DTS_E_CANNOTACQUIRECONNECTIONFROMCONNECTIONMANAGER.
The AcquireConnection method call to the connection manager "mib.bigcorp.com.gca"
failed with error code 0xC0202009.
There may be error messages posted before this with more information on why the
AcquireConnection method call failed.
Since the customer was using the Microsoft OLE DB provider for Oracle to setup the connection, I did a research on the available documentation in Microsoft Support website using the terms "oracle", "oledb" and "provider". I did find several documents discussing different problems but one of them was of special interest here:
INFO: Limitations of Microsoft Oracle ODBC Driver and OLEDB Provider ( KB244661 )
SUMMARY: This article describes the limitations of the current version of Microsoft ODBC Driver and OLE DB Provider for Oracle. These components are currently in maintenance mode. No new updates are planned for future releases of these components including their support against versions later than Oracle 8i.
According to this article, it is not recommended to make use of the Microsoft OLE DB Provider for Oracle if the Oracle server is a version beyond 8i (my customer was using version 9i). This does not mean that the Microsoft OLE DB Provider did not work at all (indeed I was able to preview the remote table in the Oracle server and test connectivity successfully from within SSIS using this provider) but the functionality offered will be reduced and there was a good chance some incompatibility problem happened.
I asked the customer to install the Oracle client on the server (different versions of the Oracle client software are available here). This client provides the required OLE DB Provider from Oracle that enables connectivity to an Oracle data source. Only some hours later the customer back to me saying "I have installed the Oracle client, but the only Oracle OLE DB component I am able to select in SSIS is the Microsoft one". Ok, I knew that one from a different support incident I had in the past. SQL Server Integration Services runs as a 32-bit application on a 64-bit server, as you can quickly check using Windows Task Manager:
This means that, unless you install the Oracle Client for 32-bit on the 64-bit server, you won't be able to access the Oracle OLE DB Provider. This applies not only for the Oracle OLE DB, but for any other 32-bit provider. You can read a full explanation about why you need the 32-bit components in your 64-bit server here:
The 32-bit SSIS Designer [BIDS] displays only 32-bit providers that are installed on the local computer. To configure a connection manager to use a specific 64-bit provider, you must install the 32-bit version of the provider on the development computer for use at design time. Even though the 32-bit version of the provider is installed, you can still run the package in 64-bit mode, both in the development environment and after deployment. The 32-bit and 64-bit versions of a provider have the same ID. Therefore, the SSIS runtime will select the appropriate version of the provider to use.
But having the 32-bit component is not enough, we need both the 32-bit and 64-bit components installed side-by-side. Wit only the 32-bit Oracle client the package will fail when executing from BIDS, this is because there is only one SSIS service on a server, and it is indeed a 64-bit process when running on a 64-bit server as we can see on this Process Explorer screen capture (process name is MsDtsSrvr.exe):
Ok, we have now the SSIS package using the Oracle OLE DB provider from Oracle and we have verified that both the 32-bit and 64-bit version of the Oracle client are installed on the Windows server.
However, the package kept failing with the same error.
After several hours tracing down the error with the help of Sysinternals Process Explorer, Process Monitor and the Internet we did find the a possible cause for this error. Apparently some Oracle client versions are affected by a bug (Oracle bug number 3807408) that causes the client networking layer to incorrectly parse program locations that contain parenthesis in the path. You can find a brief discussion of this behavior on this thread in Oracle forums.
As you probably know, on a Windows Server x64 installation, the default program files directory is "C:\Program Files\" but all the 32-bit components are installed in "C:\Program Files (x86)\" directory. Since my customer did not have access to Oracle support at that time, we decide to test if this was the root cause of our problem copying the contents of the "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 8" folder under a new Program Files folder called "C:\ProgramFilesx86". We started BIDS (devenv.exe) from the new directory and executed the package both from BIDS and SQL Server, this time successfully.
The trick finally did the job and my customer was able to successfully import the required tables into SQL Sever, however, I do not think this is a good solutions (much less "elegant" solution) and I recommended her to contact Oracle support for a version of the Oracle client no affected by this bug.


text:
Are you on the lookout for an adjunct that is easy and will transform any outfit into one thing superb? Of course, it takes time, dedication and loads of arduous work to succeed in that degree, but moving into the sport is now simpler than ever. The New York-primarily based Eadie, 29, is best known for her accessible, yet educated, strategy to vogue. About Weblog – In Entrance Row Style is a style, beauty and style weblog by Vanessa Cano.
About Blog – Beeswonderland is a place the place you'll be able to comply with latest fashio, model and outfits by Borjana. With the a whole lot and a whole bunch of favor bloggers out there, it is onerous to break through the noise. Why: Hailing from Sao Paulo, Helena Bordon is one of Brazil's most influential model bloggers.
About Blog – Man For Himself is a vacation spot for males's model, lifestyle and grooming. Here you'll find matters associated to vogue, life-style, beauty and extra. Roiland based the app FashionTap , a social community that allows customers to upload shoppable, affiliate-based mostly images out of your Instagram.
Style running a blog is rapidly becoming a extremely profitable new media enterprise, with a mix of impartial blogs and nicely-funded vogue weblog networks competing to dominate the area. Primarily based in San Francisco when she launched the weblog, Eadie has labored as a merchandiser for brands like Gap and Tory Burch, which means she has a professional edge in terms of outfit posts.
About Weblog – Pelayo Diaz is the editor of Kate Loves Me, a males's model blog that's been named one of many 40 most influential on this planet by TIME magazine. About Weblog – A Trend, Way of life & Magnificence Weblog by Cristina Gheiceanu. The reference record under shows the very high caliber of media publication which have written about style blogs.


text:
Norton, OH -- (SBWIRE) -- 06/12/2017 -- Eastern Pools, Inc. has announced the release of its pool and spa products, which are available in the Akron/Canton market. Eastern Pools stated that it has the most extensive parts inventory in the Akron/Canton area, and stocks products that are made by the top pool and spa suppliers in the country, and has been doing so for over thirty years. Eastern Pools went on to state that it also makes and sells its own house brand of products, the Team line.
Eastern Pools went on to announce that it stocks a full set of pool and spa chemicals. According to Eastern Pools, the company is able to run tests on samples of pool and spa water, in order to determine which chemicals are needed. Eastern Pools also stated that it does send technicians out for thorough inspections of pools and spas. The company stated that its technicians are able to provide expert advice on which products and services are best for pool and spa owners.
In addition to its line of chemicals, Eastern Pools also announced its line of pool toys, for what it describes as "fun in the sun." Eastern Pools stated that its storeroom contains a wide variety of toys and floats, for swimmers of all ages. Eastern Pools went on to announce that most of its products exceed industry standards for "green ratings," as the company is committed to improving the environment. Eastern Pools also announced that its inventory contains an array of parts that are necessary for pool and spa maintenance. Parts include pumps and filters, pool liners, solar equipment, and "aqua bots" that are able to clean pools quickly and thoroughly. Eastern Pools stated that its staff is knowledgeable about all of the parts and products that the store has in stock.
Further details can be found at http://www.easternpools.com/store/
Eastern Pools closed by saying that it offers a full array of services, along with its pool and spa parts. Services include pool and spa renovation and repair, weekly and bi-weekly pool cleaning, the opening and closing of pools for the summer and winter season, pool cover cleaning and storage, as well as spa sales and installation. Eastern Pools stated that it has been proud to provide such services to the Canton/Akron area for over fifty years.
Company: Eastern Pools Inc.
Address: 4953 Wooster Rd. West, Norton, OH 44203
Phone: 330-825-2214
Email: firstname.lastname@example.com
Website: www.easternpools.com


text:
Alchemy (2812 Edgewater Drive) is a hair salon in College Park. Together with TheDailyCity.com they hosted a summer party in the lot behind the business. The first thing I wanted to see was "Sea of Green" by Doug Rhodehamel. Cardboard fish with green fluorescent eyes were hung every where from the metal roof beams of the shop. The shop interior was pitch black and black lights illuminated the fish creating an hypnotic and playful deep sea space to swim through. Thankfully the shop was also air conditioned.
Outside in the alley between shops there were several cardboard boxes full of vinyl records. There were always people searching that music treasure chest. Other vendors and artisans had vintage clothing and jewelry. Mark Baratelli of theDailyCity.com arrived and handed out swag bags to the first people to arrive. A photo booth was set up by EnnaAnne Photography under a red tent behind Alchemy. Drawing the graffiti I tried to decipher what the tag spelled out but I never did figure it out. Several people introduced themselves to me. Steph has been reading for some time and she was honestly thankful for what I do. Meeting people like that really helps keep me going.
Several food trucks were on the far end of the lot and a stage was set up. Stage lights were sand bagged to the roof tops aimed at the stage. At one point a guitarist was playing musical chairs. When the music stopped everyone sat down. Two people were sitting on one chair neither one giving up. A judge had to be called in to see who had the highest cheek to chair ratio. When Terry arrived we considered getting a bite at the food trucks. One truck was sold out and the other had a long line. Wendy Wallenburg and Carl Knickerbocker and Mark Baratelli also were considering getting a bite. We all decided to go across the street to Paxia alta Cocina Mexicana (2611 Edgewater Drive), a Restaurant with really good Margaritas. The ice cold Margaritas were a great way to cool down after being on the hot asphalt for so long.
Saturday, September 3, 2011
Hot in the City Party
Prints are available for each sketch for $250 and many originals can be purchased for $400. White museum grade shadow box frames are $100 more. You can e-mail Thor at firstname.lastname@example.com
1 comment:
- Ron Marrs said...
Nice Billy Idol reference!
- September 14, 2011 at 10:18 PM
Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)


text:
A month or so back I gave an overview lecture on critical design at Kingston University's design MA. The lecture was pretty intensive and could have easily run on for two hours. This week (Wednesday 4th) I'll be giving a shortened version of roughly the same lecture at Central Saint Martins design MA. A couple of folk have asked for notes since I put up the flickr set so to the best of my memory here's what I said.
Some of the slides are videos and I've provided links to the online copies as and where.
Some of the slides are videos and I've provided links to the online copies as and where.
Note: This shouldn't have to be said, but please don't lift this lecture and use it for yourself as has happened previously. I'm perfectly happy to send material in return for an email and credit.
Note: I'm just sort of spewing as I would talk here, pardon the bad writing.
Note: I'm just sort of spewing as I would talk here, pardon the bad writing.
So this whole lecture is going to be a really fast and intense overview of critical design as I see it. I mean 'as I see it' in the sense that some things I say are design, you might say are art and there artist I might call critical designers. And designers I might call artists, or you might call designers. Really it's quite interpretive and I'll touch on that later.
We'll start with some boring slides of quotes and diagrams and then we'll just rocket through a load of projects because I tend to believe that learning by example works better than some theories. We'll look at projects and artists and designers as well as some tools and methods, and some examples of bad design just to sort of set some bars.
You don't get critical design without Tony Dunne and Fiona Raby. The field was sprung into life with the words 'towards a critical design' and has developed since then over the last 15 or so years. This is a quote from the Q&A on their website and Hertzian Tales which is core reading for interaction and critical design nowadays.
Because of Dune and Raby's influence on the field, a lot of the discourse around critical design, design fictions and so on focuses on the Design Interactions department at the Royal College of Art. This is kind of the primordial soup from which this thinking comes but because of the global nature of the student body there's now some bases in New York, LA, Berlin, Korea, Tokyo and Brighton's pretty kicking right now.
So you can read the book or you can turn to this handy manifesto which I find more useful. If there's something you can learn from even the format of the thing it's that critical design situates itself against the mainstream of design, this is the devil's advocate of design practise. Sometimes that means being the bad guy.
I'm not sure I'd agree with everything on this, in fact there are one or two things that are backwards, but I think an important part of being a critical anything - positioning yourself against something else, is knowing where you are in the first place. And at least here's an attempt to do that.
So, Dunne and Raby project one. Robots. But not as we know them. And that's the point. The idea here is to challenge your assumption of robots, to look at that exceptional as the antithesis of the popular so that there's some medium point in your mind. To try and disrupt that overwhelming image of 'robot.' So, for example, the black robot is the neurotic robot that shies away nervously but stares at us. The lamp one isn't a lamp it needs attention, it has a cable, it needs to be plugged in, we have to care for it.
And now you're thinking 'I know robots, walking metal men with LEDs' or even like the Big Dog and those scary military robots but...
This is the biggest selling intelligent commercial robot in the world. Japan has this ageing population problem which is obviously prime market for robot developers who have figured out that what old people want is something tactile to touch and talk to and so Paro ends up beating all the walking metal men to the punch on the robot market.
And there's something sinister there about the fact that it's a de-robotified robot. That the only way we could be comfortable with artificial comfort is to suspend the lie that this is a real seal pup and not moving metal parts covered in fur.
Quick project: The excellent photographer Vincent Fournier looks at our uncomfortableness with robotness in his Man Machine series. He's posed all these prototype robots in their 'natural habitat' in an attempt to sort of dispel the myth of this robot future that we'll always live in. It's the same thinking process as Dunne and Raby - that there's something unsettling about the dominant future vision - but it's broken by these uncomfortable images.
A nod to history here where critical practise probably began with the Italian Radicals in the late 60s. At this time of global revolution and change, they felt that the world didn't deserve new architecture and new designs and so produced things like Superstudio's Continuous Monument to break the consumer grip of design.
And where do other fields place it? I came across this diagram while teaching a summer school this year and found it both strangely comforting and offensive at the same time. There's critical design hugging the top-left corner, jealously and arrogantly guarding its expertise. I was asked why critical design doesn't branch out and work with others and I could only think that it would be hypocritical to work with the things you were critiquing.
But the diagram is kind of broken. That green one in the middle - design and emotion - as if design is above emotion. I suspect they may mean 'art.'
So futures. Design fiction, critical design, speculative design and all that stuff tends to be based in the future, or a futures, or futures. Why? Because it's a fertile playground and fair game. We're open to the suggestion of future images. It's how advertising works. It's evocative, it compounds hopes and fears and it's malleable. Most work isn't about the future, it's about now, but you can explode the now into the future to make it much more visible and understandable.
The archetypal quote. This is one of the cornerstones of futures work. Somewhere, someone else has your future, and right now, your iPhone is someone else's future.We have to understand there's no kind of absolute rule for 'the' future. There is no 'the' future. There's just a bubbling and propagating mess of technologies and hopes and fears that sometimes arrange themselves into 'a' future.
So this is kind of where you aim at when thinking about the future. This is the futures cone, another one of those tools or symbols that comes up and over and over again. Uncertainty tells us that the future opens up to possibilities. The Google Glass future vision sits in that green preferable part but is unlikely to happen. Where it becomes interesting is exploring some of those wild cards that sit right on the outside. You lend that perspective to people and you can blow their minds. 'Hey there's this new technology and they say it'll do this, but what if it did this instead.'
Here's a great example of this. This is the Big Dog, another robot. As far as we know, the most advanced military robot there is. It's really quite scary, it can throw a cinder block across a room. Very Terminator. But because we don't understand it, and it sits firmly in that 'military' category, it has a fear and wonder is sort of compounded by uncertainty and unfamiliarity.
This is a Photoshop painting that's been doing the rounds recently. Suddenly you take that Big Dog away from the scary high-tech military context and dump it in some sort of weird normality field where it becomes nothing more than a rusty shopping cart and we begin to see it differently. Not only that, but we start to think about how and why that might have happened and then extrapolate a future from it. This is a diegetic prototype. More on that later.
That's not to say that it's necessarily all futures. Sascha Pohflepp's Golden Institute is based in an alternate present where Carter defeated Reagan in the 1980s and established the Golden Institute as a research department to find ways of integrating climate change mitigation and environmentally-friendly energy generation into the American way of life. This car chases lightning storms to collect energy.
Part of the point here is that our present was shaped by decisions we made in the past just as our future is shaped by decisions we make now. Not only in minute ways but in quite massive ways.
This is a project I did to help me think about the future. I'm fascinated by power, all forms and structure of power. I wanted a way to visualise the history of power since the advent of the Roman Empire right up to a future 200 years ahead. By exploring the past I got a sort of run up on designing my future from which I then extrapolated a couple of scenarios that became their own projects.
This is an aside about normalcy. Normalcy is super important. Bad design relies on fireworks and spectacle to create engagement. Good design uses the normal to build a relationship. Or a version of the normal, perhaps a kind of uncanny normal.
The normal is kind of in flux, just as futures are unevenly distributed, so is normal. Or at least relative to where you are normal appears to be so. Venkatash Rao of Ribbon Farm says:
"There is an unexplained cognitive dissonance between changing-reality-as-experienced and change as imagined, and I don't mean specifics of failed and successful predictions. My new explanation is this: we live in a continuous state of manufactured normalcy. There are mechanisms that operate — a mix of natural, emergent and designed — that work to prevent us from realizing that the future is actually happening as we speak."Anab Jain, founder of Superflux took this idea and kind of applied it to futurity and design at her NEXT13 talk:
"google glass, the second wave of nuclear proliferation, organised large-scale protests and extreme weather events. All these trends are pointing to what my friend Scott Smith might call a 'moment of superdensity' where chaos, uncertainty, rapid change and realignment of power are becoming the new operating parameters. We thus find ourselves in a situation that is far from the popular notions of normality, and have entered the domain of the NEW NORMAL."The normal is vital because it's what we're living in, there's no point gripping the spectacular when the normal is so weird anyway. Also, as a designer, the normal is significantly more rewarding. Here's some quick principles from Nick Foster written in Core77:
1. The future mundane is filled with background talent
Stop designing for heroes, they're not real and even if they are, the fall right outside the bell curve (bear this in mind for the next bit) he goes on 'Perhaps we should look past Bruce Willis and design for the 'man at bus stop', 'girl at bar' or 'taxi driver.' While this approach is less aspirational or sexy, these characters are much closer to the humans to whom you are telling your story. When your goal isn't entertainment, you don't need a hero.'
2. The Future Mundane is an accretive space
- the future isn't just new tech, "an LED TV atop a vintage table, a Playstation next to a 60's vase, an iPad in a leather bag. If industrial design is in the business of making stuff, then we need to understand that this stuff piles up, favela-like"
3. The Future Mundane is a partly broken space
"for every miraculous iPad there are countless partly broken realities: WiFi passwords, connectivity, battery life, privacy and compatibility amongst others. The real skill of creating a compelling and engaging view of the future lies not in designing the gloss, but in seeing beyond the gloss to the truths behind it."
Bear that stuff about normalcy in mind as we dive into Design Fictions! Very hip, very cool right now but there are definitely bad and good ones, and all that stuff about normalcy will come back round. This slide is Richard Dryfuss as Roy Neary in Close Encounter from 1977. He becomes obsessed with this mountain where the aliens are meant to land. He starts making it out of mash potato then the scale of his model becomes bigger and bigger until it becomes real. Read what you want into why I chose to show that under a thing about design fiction.
Right this is a corporate design fiction. Microsoft's popular Future Vision from 2009. These get a couple of hundred thousand hits at least on YouTube. You might notice that there's normalcy here but it's pretty thin. It's what futurist Scott Smith might call a flatpack future. Everyone's happy, nothing is broken or smudged. There is infinite wi-fi with infinite bandwidth, no batteries run out, no traffic no delays. This is the preferable future bit of the futures cone - at least to some. And it totally lacks in humanity. The people are props for the technology.
Right so this is two years later. Same company, same idea, a future vision, but two years later. It looks pretty much the same. The interfaces are identical, the world is the same. I'm just going to read you some stuff. So the first video was produced in June 2009, the second in October 2011.
Between those dates the US and UK evacuated nationals from Yemen over terrorist fears, earthquakes killed 2000 in Qinghai China, 525 in Chile, 1400 in Indonesia, that's two earthquakes, one in late 2009, one in 2010 (indonesia also suffered a volcanic eruption, killing 300), there was also that unpronounceable Icelandic volcano that erupted grounding flights across Europe. The Haiti earthquake is particularly memorable, destroying the island and killing 316,000. Later an earthquake and tsunami hit Fukushima in Japan killing 15,000 and leading to the meltdown of a nuclear power plant which has now contaminated the entire pacific ocean.There were revolutions in Kyrgyzstan, Niger and Honduras. Swine Flu - remember that?
The North Korean navy sank a south Korean ship killing 46 and also decided to shell a load of islands, they also conducted at least 4 nuclear tests. The Deepwater Horizon oil platform exploded killing 11 and beginning the world's largest oil spill.
The Greek economy collapsed leading to riots, the rise of the fascist Golden Dawn and successive Euro deals totalling around €200bn. Portugal also received a €78bn loan and Ireland received an €89bn loan.
There were 5 significant air crashes with casualties of more than 100. Craig Venter invented the first synthetic cell. Wikileaks published 90,000 internal cables dealing with the war in Afghanistan, then the 250,000 diplomatic cables that sparked diplomatic crises around the world.
Floods killed 1600 in Pakistan, 903 in Rio de Janeiro, 815 in Thailand (displacing 12 million) and 500 in Taiwan.
December 2010 saw the beginning of the Arab Spring with revolutions in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and Yemen the Syrian civil war that began in March 2011 and major protests in Bahrain, Algeria, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Morocco, Sudan and Saudi Arabia
The Arab Spring also spiked oil prices by 20% leading to an energy crisis.
Osama bin Laden was killed in Pakistan. Anders Brevik killed 77 people in a terrorist attack in Norway. Compared to an unbelievable 19 mass school shootings in the US that killed a total of 75.
Mars Curiosity gather evidence of possible liquid water on Mars.
Occupy Wall Street began in September 2011, a month before the release of this video. By the time of it's release the movement had spread to 82 countries.
Here in the UK we had the Iraq War enquiry, the Riots, the student protests and riots and our own branch of Occupy, the phone hacking scandal, resulting in the prosecution of News International management as well as the shutting of News of the World and the Levenson enquiry that we're still battling over. The super-injunctions scandal was another good one not to mention the MP expenses scandal of late 2009.
Design fiction also suffers its own demons internally. Particularly when reaching out to people to experience a technology. There's something out of place in this Google Glass promo. Sure, it's a classic case of everyone suddenly being an ice sculptor and flying around in balloons or with their kids on the beach which is of course the life we're all likely to lead in the age of austerity, but what's more notable is the fact that beyond the trapeze artist in the middle, no-one else is wearing Google Glass.
How you read that is kind of up to you. To me it's tacit admission from Google that Glass is an awkward and uncomfortably obtrusive object. So much so that actually showing us the object would put us off it. There's a reason they call them glassholes.
So what's the standing difference between sci-fi and design fiction. Well not a huge amount potentially. A good, well designed science fiction like Minority Report or 2001, go on into the annals of history as great works of design. Where it becomes sinister is in the purpose. Film is meant to suspend our disbelief for the purpose of entertainment. While those Microsoft future visions do the same for the purpose of convincing us of our future. The crossed-language has blurred the readings such that there's a crisis of people so dazzled by gorgeous design fictions that much like Hollywood, as long as the plot-holes are closed, they won't question it.
This has bred it's own problems. Minority Report has done more for technology journalists than Silicon Valley's best PR departments could ever dream up. How this pans out will be interesting to see, but this blurring of fiction for entertainment with fiction for sales and their crossed purposes should lead to conscientious conflicts.
This is a brilliant design fiction. Did you know that the Post Office invented Skype in 1969? This is the direct equivalent of Microsoft's future visions done forty years early. It's brilliant for one particular line. When he rings through on the video phone it doesn't work. The first thing that happens when we see this glorious new technology spring into life is that it's just as flawed as phones are nowadays, with a dodgy connection and a flickering image. This is the normalcy thing, remember? Even forty years later, at a considerate thought level, this is much more objectively powerful than Microsoft's shiny glass-fest.
Again, an excellent design fiction by design fiction legends Near Future Laboratory. In Corner Convenience they wanted to talk about how various new technologies might propagate but used that intense normalcy of the corner-shop to do it. No airport lounges and limos or balloons and ice sculpted tigers. Not only that, but the setup is relatively cheap. They got a few friends, some stickers and a shop and made a really powerful film. The other thing that works is humour, it's very funny film. Microsoft executives must be relatively humourless saps.
So, diegetic prototypes. Much like the Post Office and Skype, Arthur C. Clarke via Stanley Kubrick invented the iPad before Apple existed.
David Kirby first coined the term in his book Labcoats in Hollywood but Bruce Sterling took it on to design fictions. It means literally 'prototypes from another world.' The idea being that by experiencing object from another world, we can sort of extrapolate in our minds what that world must be like. The object is our 'in' to a different way of thinking.
Children of Men is one of the greatest diegetic design fictions of all time. You can just about to see the pig hovering above Battersea power station. Even the simplicity of that symbol of talking about what kind of world this is is immensely powerful. Films have been doing diegetics much longer than design but design is catching up.
This is a recent project I worked on with Dunne and Raby where they wanted to explore alternative and massively speculative political systems. The problem with that is how you compress that scale in a way that people can easily grasp it. So they decided to use vehicles as literal vehicles of these crazy ideologies they invented. These cars belong to the Digitarians. The Digitarians are entirely governed by algorithm; processing efficiency is number one and nothing else matters. So the cars are designed to reflect this, with seating arrangements reflecting status and colour and symbols for the benefits of the systems controlling the cars.
This is Life Support by Revital Cohen, not only is it a great example of a diegetic prototype for getting us to think about things like our relationship with animals and health requirements but it's a great example of a definition of design I like - design is a trap. This an idea that design never creates anything, we simply rearrange existing behaviours and object for a favourable outcome.
So, we know that dog pumps blood around it's aerobic system. We know that dog will chase rabbit, we know that the running board will mean the dog will run after the rabbit until it gets tired. All these things are known behaviours, but when arranged with a dialysis machine all these behaviours take on a new meaning and we have a new idea.
This project also plays with the idea of the arrangement of objects. The Prophecy Programuses scientific language to kind of re-engineer the outcome that we might want from an experiment. The creators were interested in the looseness of the machines around science and how they influence behaviour, particularly in behavioural experiments.
It was based on the Milgram experiment which was very cleverly designed to deceive the subject that they were even the subject and incite unpredictable behaviours. Simply through design, perfectly normal people were forced to electrocute (or so they thought) another human.
Another amazing diegetic project. Phillipp imagined a world in which technology had taken a different course. In which the Internet happened on radio waves on TVs and GPS used seismic sensors instead of military satellites and 'the cloud' was actually data encoded in the DNA of bacteria dumped in the sewer. The elegance of this project is that it kind of parodies the weaknesses and fractures in our own systems that we forget about or take for granted: The Internet is a vast securitised cable network, the 'cloud' equally so and we rely on the US military to know where we are.
Bruce Sterling again has a pretty useful definition of objects, both diegetic and non-diegetic of the roles they play in our lives or could play. Both conventional and anti-conventional objects are important and can make us think in different ways.
Right, fear. Fear's important because we have it, and there's a lot of it about and we should talk about that but we're not. So let's. That's a military drone which I'm using here as a stop gap symbol for fear, both of what it represents and what it does.
James Bridle has a bit of a reputation for dealing with drones directly. The object itself possesses an unreadability that's difficult to penetrate. For a start, because we're never near them and they have no human references - no seat, no cockpit or whatever - it's hard to understand them physically. The Drone Shadow projects look at drawing the outline of them on the street as a way of bringing people closer to them. This one is in Washington DC, up the road is the White House.
Dronestagram is another project looking at these weapons. Reported drone strikes are geolocated on Google Maps and then uploaded in a filtered screenshot to Instagram. We have Instagram which is this massively exposing media where people share the most menial crap everyday and then we have drone strikes killing hundreds of people that we're never allowed to see. Some of the places that have these strikes aren't even on the map. So how do you talk about that, how do you force it into the public arena?
Bridle was also the founder of the New Aesthetic blog that kicked up a bit of a storm last year. He was interested in collecting artifacts that showed where the digital started to penetrate into the physical. How we're adapting our world to become robot and machine readable and he ended up amassing this massive collection of stuff.
Little Printer, you're probably all familiar with this. Is it an agent of fear or is it a cute gadget? This is a device that sits in your home, that you accept into your home, on the terms that you won't ever have full control over it. That it is just the mouthpiece for a much larger and more centralised, vertical operation. The cutesy little output does a lot to belie the sense of foreboding about the future of our objects that that thought should illicit. This is the Internet of Things, and we recently found out that the Internet is this massively securitised and surveilled thing. Now we're going to bring that into our homes.
Climate change is this other massive fear that we're really struggling to deal with on a human level. It's hard to do a project about it that doesn't over-politicise the issue and so alienate people from it. It's the single biggest threat facing humanity and we're singularly unable to deal with it as this existential crisis. It's just too big, too massive and too intractable, so approaching project about it is hard. Liam Young's Silent Spring started looking at this by examining how our soundscape might change with climate change.
Space is indeed the place. We never really stopped looking and now we have dozens of private corporations trying to get up there for various purposes and through various means and we kind of genuinely have to stop and think about what it means to be a human in a future of space travel where we're probably going to start colonising and living in orbiters soon.
Vincent Fournier again with his excellent Space Project. The photographs are beautiful but a lot of it is simply about examining the humanity of space flight. Like this one, space is big and scary and unknown, and all that equipment feel suddenly delicate and weak.
Into Orbit from Joseph Popper is another excellent look at that feeling of man in space. This guy replicates or attempts to replicate the feeling of weightlessness using a child's playground. This falls into Popper's category of 'zero gravity, zero budget' where he's also looking at our perceptions of space in relationship to special effects in cinema.
Larissa Sansour has a more political take on this stuff in Space Exodus. We're in this age where companies will be the next people in space, which was once the exclusive reserve of states. So here she puts Palestine on the moon. Could the Israeli-Palestine conflict be solved if Palestine got to the moon? Would that make Palestine a state? If it had a flag on the moon?
An excellent book by the Peckham Outerspace Initiative, Ships not Shelters makes the case that as a race we need to get used to living in transit, that shelter, and stationary dwelling was only a temporary blip in human history and we must sever out attachment to the Earth.
This is now pretty popular. Afronauts was this exploration of the short-lived and unsuccessful Zambian space program of 1964. They're now making this into a film, but it's a nice example of this idea of 'afrofuturism.' The dominant technological narratives we have revolve around a predominantly white, western tech eco-system. What happens once the fastest growing economies catch up and begin developing tech in their own image? What if they already had?
And then put that in Wales and you get the Welsh Space Program. This isn't another land grab for the Moon on the part of the Welsh but was more about celebrating and showing the abilities and skills of the Welsh, of sort of giving them a national project. So the outfit is made from Welsh cotton, the backpack from Welsh copper by Welsh plumbers and so on.
Leading neatly on to materials. That's a couple of SR-71s being built there in the background. Finest vehicle of all time. Designed to spy on the Russians, built entirely out of imported Russian titanium.
Right so 3D printing. Pretty obvious, in the news a lot, largely useless. It's interesting and it's getting a lot of attention but at the moment it's hard to find applications for it. There's the 3D printed gun of course that fire one shot and broke but that's about it really as far as actual things made of 3D printing go.
But no-one's really interested in what 3D printing is so much as what it might be one day. So this is Markus Kayser's Solar Sinter which uses sand and light for 3D printing and nothing else. The cool thing here is that the type of place where this will be useful is the type of place that has a lot of sand and light and not a lot of much else. So suddenly this is more than just a technology but actually opens doors to the kind of futures this technology enables.
We also have to start looking back at existing processes of manufacturing and the way we use materials at the moment. Thomas Thwaites' Toaster Project is a great example of this. He set out to build a relatively cheap toaster from Argos. And it costs him a few grand and took the best part of a year. The point here is that the object itself, the toaster with the £10 price tag kind of obfuscates and hides the history of the object from us. We don't understand its history and we're not allowed access to it.
Another good one, Jeremy Hutchinson's Err. He sent emails to manufacturing plants asking for intentionally faulty objects to be made. The disruption of this well-established manufacturing process was unfathomable to the manufacturers and kind of started this wonderful feedback loop of misunderstanding where decades of consumerism are unravelled. You really have to read the email chains to understand.
Cohen Van Balen's recent project 75 Watt is also a sort of examination of manufacturing. They designed an object that existed solely to choreograph a dance down a manufacturing line and this raises all sorts of interesting questions about control and the relationship we have with our products when it's very construction forces physical action on others. Also it's a kind of perverse celebration of the process, turning it into a dance.
Transhumanism. Although not necessarily. We're living in this age where we're starting to put machines in and on our body and again, we probably have to think about what this mean. This is Stelarc with his famous third arm.
In Prospectus for a Future Body Choy Ka Fai is looking a lot at control again, much like with 75 Watt. He's modelled the dance moves of famous dancers and then forces another dancer to perform them through electrodes on their body. Then it's a question of who's in control here, the absent dancer? Choy Ka Fai? His software? The dancer themselves? With these machines in our bodies we have all these questions of agency over decision making and responsibility to consider.
Sputniko's brilliant Menstruation Machine. At it's core this is about a device that allows a man to experience menstruation. But there's so much more to it than that. For a start she's a woman dressed as a man dressed as a woman which is like three layers of sexual confusion in Japan's notably repressed culture. Secondly, instead of just making this object and then putting it in a museum, she injects it directly into Japanese pop culture by making it into a music video. Full on assault.
This is more recent, Agatha Haines' Transfiguration looks at a future in which designer babies are the norm but actually kind of readdresses the values we might want in our children beyond 'tall and good looking.' So the guy in the bottom-left has big cheeks for faster caffeine absorption in a high-stress job. The guy with the pointed nose is going to be more aerodynamic. The guy with the skin flaps will cool faster and the one missing a toe will get infected with a worm making it less prone to disease.
Liam Young again. Specimens of Unnatural History looks at this fictional island where a load of technology has washed up and animals have sort of grown in tandem with it. We're spending a lot of time looking to protect and secure endangered species but if the world is changing then perhaps we have to look forward to what kind of new species might evolve and begin to embrace them. Remembering that 99% of species that have ever existed are now extinct.
Ai Hasegawa's project I Wanna Deliver a Shark. Clues in the name. If we're overpopulating the planet but sharks are becoming endangered and you want a kid, why not give birth to a shark? Well, why not? Exactly.
Leading neatly onto synthetics. This whole field of synthetic biology has a lot of promises but should we be looking at life like a reducible computer?
New Mumbai is a project I did a few years back. I wasn't so interested in the science itself, this idea of rapidly growing proteins which could result in larger life forms, but in the political and social ramifications of how this technology spreads and propagates. So these guys in the slums of Mumbai end up getting access to these giant mushrooms and use them as a source of electricity, like a potato clock, and this has ramifications for their political independence from the Indian state. To understand technology, we don't just look at how it's used, but how it might be abused.
Common Flowers is a project looking at the legal ramifications of genetic engineering. Georg and Shiho took a copyright chrysanthemum that had been bred to a purple colour and are trying to reverse-engineer it to the original white. There's lots of questions about ownership and legal rights here. If the original was natural and found everywhere then how many deviations from the copyright DNA do they need to go before they end up with a free version? Is it technically still copyright if it's cut and then legally dead?
David Benque's New Weathermen was also looking at the legal ramifications of synthetic biology. He was trying to take apart this whiggish mythology around the GM battle. The pro-GM firms and politicians and the anti who are often as misguided. It's a very political issue in which the science kind of takes a back seat, so he invented this fictional terrorist organisation that hijacked biological processes as weapons. So they breed a diesel bug that can poison fuel supplies, and a species of grass that infect golf courses and lawns. One of the interesting things that came up were the moral effects of basically developing a how-to guide for eco-terrorists. How, as a designer do you deal with that?
Right and then this is kind of where I am. This idea of a new geopolitics, of genuine change, of addressing the reformation we find ourselves in and finding ways to deal with that or fight it. We live in this age of changing and fluxing power and we need to find ways to talk about it because these battles are happening at a level that may be too high for us to comprehend.
88.7 was another one of my projects looking at a speculative future in which the state begins to collapse and the neo-liberal super-fast trading ideologies win out. So I created this bank on a boat as a symbol of this ideology and the kind of inventions and world's it might open up. The thing navigates the world around the north pole every 24 hours and it's kind of a hack on state control over the market. It begins the dissolution of the power of the state and regulation. I wanted to create a single, understandable symbol that we could look at as an image of this way of thinking and of these changes that are happening to our world to think about whether we'd be happy with that or not.
Commoditised Warfare is a project looking at a similar affect. With all the money poured into militarisation and these border conflicts, how could we make them into a spectacle so that the muscle-flexing and political power plays could still happen but no one would get shot? So he invented these vehicles that these conflicts could sort of be 'acted' on. These trucks meet on the India-Pakistan border and perform a dance which kind of re-establishes the relationship between the two countries but there's also North-South Korean baseball on a boat and Falklands mine-sweeping.
Another really great project. The Intel-Cyprus merger was this strangely prescient project looking at a future where Intel and Cyprus conduct a merger to become a new country. It's sort of questioning and looking at these relationships between states and corporations and thinking about what it would be like if they were much more explicit and revealed. Are we in the dying days of the nation state?
And then Stacktivism and Infrastructure thinking are on the cards at the moment as far as the thinking goes. We're in this new, strange, subversive geopolitics where the great powers of the world aren't elected or put in place or even talked about, they just happen to own what might be called 'the means of not-dying.' These giant stacks, these companies have a stranglehold either directly or indirectly over the world's control mechanisms and it's hard to see or understand that.
Another one of my projects, Mercenary Cubiclists was examining the future of labour, or in fact, the present state of labour. I took a lot of the stuff we've been hearing about Amazon recently as well as how labour is valued, or mostly undervalued, digitally and wanted to again, much like with the boat, make it physical. These cables reflect the heavy physicality of the Internet, the ghost-like figures unaware of the work they are performing for people who will never pay under the guise of play and this kind of subverted city all reflect growing trends in the way the digital feudal capitalist system is imposing itself on us.
Finally, Julian Oliver's Transparency Grenade. It's a great way of talking about how data has become or can become a weapon. It sucks in wi-fi data, and then, when the pin is pulled, explodes it out over the nearby area. We forget that all this invisible stuff carries value and that value can damage in quite a significant way.
Right, so this is the end and I want to leave you with some questions that I don't have answers to, having seen all of that stuff.
First up, 'Yes, but is it art?' Most of the projects I showed end up in a gallery. They're not sold in shops or made into real products, so how is this not art? There are cleverer people than I that could answer that question. I believe on some fundamental level that it's design because it uses the language of design to try and attract an audience. Because like I said earlier, it rearranges existing phenomena we can understand to give them new meaning and because it's for other people, not for the creator.
Secondly 'What if? ... Then what?' Critical design poses difficult questions and forces us to confront them, but then what? Once we have the questions and we have the provocation how do we deal with it, individually and societally? I don't know, I'm trying to figure that out.
'How do you measure success?' A question that is coming up more and more. You can measure the success of a normal design project by it's kickstarter funding or by units sold, but here we're not selling units or launching startups, we're trying to get people to deal with difficult things so how do you measure if that works? Well, there's a good spread of projects that get a lot of media attention so I guess that's a success, but is it enough?