See you later, accelerator

In this brave new world, we sometimes have to go backwards to advance. Around the world, people are going back to experimenting in their own backyards, trying to create something from their own brains that can have a desired impact on the world.
 There's a heap of music here, an example of which is below. Instruments carved out of vegetables, music composed out of the standard sounds of Windows, sand music. It's all being done. Check out Blue Man Group, and the way the artists behind BMG encourage you to build your own instruments and experiment.

Diego Stocco composed a breath-taking melody by bowing twigs and shaking leaves on a tree as his instrument. The sounds used to make this piece of music were not modified in any way. The track was recorded using Pro Tool LE system.

Diego Stocco - Music From A Tree from Diego Stocco on Vimeo.

Or maybe you want to go fast. I mean, really fast. Hacknmod offers some ideas on building a jet engine in your backyard. And Instructables offers a tutorial.

Or maybe you want to make yourself heard. But in this media-saturated world you need a new technique. How about Craftivism? (Craftivism is a way of looking at life where voicing opinions through creativity makes your voice stronger, your compassion deeper & your quest for justice more infinite.).

Everywhere you look, if you look deeply enough, people are changing the way the world works for them.There's amillion places to learn stuff--maybe we should all be taking more advantage of them.

Powered by ScribeFire.

Mr Green, He's So Serene

Oh what can I say. One of the great pop songs written by Goffin and King and played by one of the great under-rated pop bands of the sixties; The Monkees.

Great production techniques, the song was popply, catchy and terribly subversive. Plus, it includes the Monkee-mobile!

Powered by ScribeFire.

Snow Across England

I just thought this was a cool shot, no special reason or comment to make. Credit goes to NASA.
You can read more about it here. Thanks to Jono for the link.

Some American Numbers

But can Canada be far behind?

Statistically SPEAKING

Because we’re rarely far from a well-stocked supermarket or convenient drive-thru, many Americans aren’t aware of the worrisome trend toward monoculture in our agricultural ecosystems. But the loss of diversity in the plants we eat should give us all food for thought.

Our food supply by the numbers:
Approximate number of plants that are edible:
30,000
Of those, how many have people consumed throughout history:
10,000
Of those, how many make up the basis of our diets today:
150
Of those, how many provide 80 percent of the world’s food:
12
Of those, how many provide 60 percent of the world’s food:
4*
Percent of genetic diversity lost in agricultural crops over the last century:
75 percent
*(Note: You get extra credit if you guessed which four crops these are: Wheat, rice, maize and potatoes.)
Statistics courtesy of: Dean Bill Chameides’ blog, The Green Grok, thegreengrok.com

Powered by ScribeFire.