Outward Bound Urban video

Last year, Ben Goodman (a producer I know in Philadelphia; see his website here) asked if I could come along and videotape a photo shoot he was coordinating for Outward Bound. He’s been working on a new branding campaign for OB Urban and wanted to concurrently produce a short promotional video if possible. I went on two photo shoot days (on on an absolutely frigid day in Philadelphia; the other in Baltimore). From that video material and audio interviews I did with kids when they weren’t getting photographed, we produced this video. It was rather difficult as I did not have many “action” shots. Most of the time was spent setting up and shooting stills; so the kids did a lot of standing still. However, the client seems happy; so that’s the acid test (or, I suppose the acid test is gauging what response they get from the campaign). 

Absence

I apologise to all for my lack of recent updates; I’ve been, for the past two weeks, in the US training for a team I will lead in the Czech Republic this summer and spending some time at the BuildaBridge offices catching up on “administrative tasks” and “concept development” (which, mostly, consisted of chatting with Nathan Corbitt by a woodstove).
Right now I’m visiting my parents for a few days; then it’s off to Glasgow for a visit to the Centre for Human Ecology at the University of Strathclyde (more on that later).

Blessings

I remembered an occurrence today; it happened a few years ago when I was leading a cross-cultural team in Bulgaria. We were waking through a mountain town on a very hot day and came upon an old Moslem woman. She brought us all cold water and chatted a bit with Vlady (our Bulgarian logistics fellow).
As we left, she said something that returns often in my memory:
“May all your villages be blessed.”

I’m giving some thought to the power of blessings; in many cultures the hex or curse is considered a powerful statement. However, I think a blessing must be the most potent words any human can speak.

Dinner

I’m working into the evening and ate dinner whilst editing a document. Earlier, I picked up a dish of (what I thought) was egg salad at the store.

When I went to wash my plate and rinse out the little plastic tub of egg salad, I found, not eggs, but fish heads in the mix. I should have thought those were odd tasting eggs. This either states that I pay absolutely no attention to what I eat or, alternately, I am able to completely focus on my work. (Not that I mind little dead-eyed fish, just not when I thought I was eating eggs—it’s a matter of principle.)

This was a much better finding than the time I discovered I’d eaten most of a [name withheld] sports-snack bar that was riddled with an exotic moth larva (reading the newspaper at that time).

The Interface

This is my take on Ubiquitous Computing.
For the past several weeks, I’ve mused on some sort of system that would allow collaboration between urban planners, politicians, and citizens of large cities. This would be a system that would allow people in a given city to readily reference what they are doing to address any one issue; people in other cities would have open access to this knowledge and would work collaboratively on shared solutions.

Originally, I had thought that a well-planned weblog could address this; however, on further reflection, no weblog (as we understand them now) could handle this much traffic and information. Imagine if every city planner in the world attempted to simultaneously discuss wastewater treatment and determine a collaborative plan of action. It may be almost possible with the systems available; however, what if the citizens of each of these cities also offered input? What if all the articles, abstracts, and past research were cross-referenced? It would quickly become a mass of unmanageable information. The next thought was a cross between Google News and . But even that would not be “intelligent” enough to collate such information. So, obviously, such a discussion would have to be moderated; but by whom? No one person could possibly moderate such massive discussions; beyond that, the discussion would be taking place in every major language simultaneously. Someone would have to translate everything—into everything else—in real time.

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Waste

Three Thousand Dollars!
I’ve been considering ways to reduce waste in my everyday activities (and, concurrently, trying to economise where possible). When I last bought shaving cream, I picked up a bottle of the Tesco generic brand rather than the kind I usually use (which, here in the Czech Republic, is rather expensive). The Tesco brand set me back about $1; however, it’s not a very satisfying shave. Also, the disposable razor refill I normally use is even more expensive here than in the states (about $14 USD per 8 heads). I have, apparently, rather course beard hair and can only get about four or five shaves out of one of these heads before it starts chafing my skin or skipping and cutting. So, I go through a lot of these.

As I was falling asleep last night, I considered this. I’ve been shaving now for some years. How many razor heads and bottles of shaving cream have I used in that time? Many. Multiply that times all the men who shave using the same system; how much waste is that! On the back of the razor package there is even a pathetic little icon with a man tossing bits into a rubbish bin. This morning, I went a step further; how much have all those bottles of shaving cream and razor refills cost? With some estimating and averaging, I’ve come up with a figure around $3000 USD. When one derives a number (for anything) that is more than many people in the world make in a lifetime, it ought to call for some pause.

I have used these things because I was largely unaware of other options. I was bombarded with advertising stating that The best a man can get is basically the only thing a man can get if he wants a clean shave and wants women to walk up and stroke his face suggestively. There are, of course, other options. Men have shaved for all recorded history without paying such significant sums. I can reduce cost and waste hundreds of times by using some of the older, tried and true, methods. Of course, I’d have to learn to use them properly and it might not be as convenient. But how often do I need to shave in three minutes rather than five and a half?

It makes me wonder, to an even greater extent, what other waste (both in physical and financial resources) I regularly produce. Toiletries are obvious. I go through toothbrushes like nobody’s business; but, of course, I just wear out the head. Does someone make a toothbrush with a replaceable head? When I was in the Netherlands, I was given a bottle of “shower gel.” It was convenient; I bought several bottles and used them for the time I was there. However, one day it struck me: this stuff is expensive; it lasts for a relatively short time; every time I finish a bottle it goes back to the recycling facility to go through a whole energy-wasting process of re-use (or, many go to the landfill). On the other hand, a bar of soap comes in a paper wrapper (or some stores carry them unwrapped); is cheap; and it lasts for some time. However, according to the shower gel ads you won’t really be clean and manly unless you use our shower gel. . .which we’ve cleverly named after a tool that sounds all manly as well. Axe for it at your local retailer.

If you take a step back from the consumer everything mindset and look at it objectively, it’s really rather sad.

Word of the day

I’ve been studying Czech with my girlfriend’s mother (who speaks no English). In our most recent lesson, I learned the word police which, in Czech, means shelves. The word for police is policie.

I am glad I have learned this distinction before having to call for the police in a crisis situation. I can see the terrible humour in my potentially running down the street shouting “Shelves! For goodness sake, somebody call for the shelves!”