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Dangerdoom

Burlesque for Choice!

Those of you in the New York City area who care about supporting a woman's right to choose can help by watching burlesque! On June 7th at The Lucky Cat in Williamsburg, Brooklyn our friends Molly Crabapple and Kate Black will be putting on, what will sure to be, a most entertaining fundraiser.

Get tickets and info here.

Strange Bedfellows

The SavetheInternet.com campaign has become a fascinating crossroads for activists across spectrum. Members include everyone from the Gun Owners of America to the American Library Association and the site features videos from Moby, Ask a Ninja and This Spartan Life and more. Even MoveOn.org has taken joined the fray with their newest ad, which is signed by the radically right group the Christian Coalition.

Oh yeah, and you can help too.

The Boob Tube

The Kaiser Famiy Foundation has just released a report on the use of kid's media to regulate family life. Here are some of the facts culled from the study which included 1,051 families with children 6 months - 6 years old:

According to the study, in a typical day more than eight in ten (83%) children under the age of six use screen media, with those children averaging about two hours a day (1:57). Media use increases with age, from 61% of babies one year or younger who watch screen media in a typical day (for an average of 1:20) to 90% of 4 to 6 year-olds (for an average of 2:03).

A third (32%) of children this age live in homes where the television is on all (13%) or most (19%) of the time and a similar proportion (30%) live in homes where the TV is on during meals all (16%) or most (14%) of the time.

More than four in ten (43%) children under 2 years old watch TV every day and nearly one in five (18%) watch videos or DVDs every day.

Read more here.

Social Marketing Resource

Nedra Weinreich's Spare Change blog is yet another great source for info on social smarketing campaigns.

Recent items include musings on the new Truth anti-smoking campaign called whudafxup (with it's smartly entertaining multi-media site) and a PSA for would be suicide bombers.

Spotted on Houtlust.

Fresh Baked Pizza TM

From the AP comes this story of a Lithuanian company attempting to trademark the scent of fresh baked pizza...

Opinion polls show that many consumers in Lithuania identify the pleasure of eating pizza with our trademark," said Mindaugas Gumauskas, marketing director of the Cilija company. "This makes us believe that the scent of freshly baked pizza is a subject to our copyright."...

Cilija, which owns dozens of pizza parlors in Lithuania and neighboring Latvia, has asked the national patent bureau to register the intellectual property rights of the scent. The agency did not comment on the trademark request.

If the request is granted, it does not mean that other pizzerias would have to stop making the oven-baked dish, but only Cilija would be able to make the claim that its food smells like freshly baked pizza.

Guerrilla Gardening

My favorite form of vandalism goes by the name Guerrilla Gardening. This covert greening of cities was the inspiration for a travelling art exhibition that I co-created (see image) and has also been the subject of a recent NPR story, and an article in Tuesday's Christian Science Monitor...

In Stratford, in the farthest reaches of East London, a band of guerrillas has taken over a plot of land. It's the wrong side of 11 p.m. on a hot, sticky night, the air heavy with rain that refuses to fall. Passersby - some full of a night of revelry, others only now dragging home from work - gawp at the guerrillas as they lay claim to a patch ofground at the entrance to a small block of apartments.

"We have reclaimed it from the local government!" says a youthful, ruddy-faced guerrilla, brandishing his "weapon" defiantly.

Read the entire article here. And learn more about the burgeoning UK Guerrilla Gardening movement here.

Fast Food Nation Jr.

Eric Schlosser, author of the excellent and scathing Fast Food Nation has recently released a new volume aimed at a youth audience. Chew On This, written by Schlosser and Charles Wilson, is aparently not just a reheash of previous material, but includes new facts culled specifically with kids in mind. I bought my copy yesterday, so expect a review at some point in the future.

And Fast Food Nation is now going to be fictionalized in a major motion picture too...

Tyger Tyger

Check out the absolutely gorgeous "Tyger" directed by Guilherme Marcondes, created for Cultura Inglesa in Brazil.

Toll Road

I get paid to do graphic design, so I'm not a big fan of design competitions, especially ones you have to pay to participate in. Still I'm intrigued to see what will come of the Cooper Union's Driving Forward competition, which seeks to re-invision transportation signage. From their site:

Driving Forward is an open international juried competition that seeks proposals to re-envision automobile wayfinding systems and traffic control devices. The goal is to improve traffic flow and optimize navigability while reducing congestion. The competition invites candidates to propose traffic signage concepts that promote efficiency, uniformity and safety. Proposals should be adaptable to future changes in traffic patterns and able to incorporate technological advances as they develop. Entries should address current innovations in automobile and roadway technology as well as anticipate new possibilities for the future. Competition entrants are asked to reexamine transportation signage in its entirety, from navigational principals, to new materials, technology, types of vehicles, pictograms, language and communication.

Thanks Roy!

What's wrong with e-mail

Ever gotten in a fight because of an e-mail? A recent Christian Science Monitor article talks about the failings of e-mail for certain communication...

Though e-mail is a powerful and convenient medium, researchers have identified three major problems. First and foremost, e-mail lacks cues like facial expression and tone of voice. That makes it difficult for recipients to decode meaning well. Second, the prospect of instantaneous communication creates an urgency that pressures e-mailers to think and write quickly, which can lead to carelessness. Finally, the inability to develop personal rapport over e-mail makes relationships fragile in the face of conflict.

In effect, e-mail cannot adequately convey emotion. A recent study by Profs. Justin Kruger of New York University and Nicholas Epley of the University of Chicago focused on how well sarcasm is detected in electronic messages. Their conclusion: Not only do e-mail senders overestimate their ability to communicate feelings, but e-mail recipients also overestimate their ability to correctly decode those feelings.

Read the entire article here.

Mainstream Organic

The Christian Science Monitor has an article about the pros and cons of the mainsteaming of organic food:

Organic products now line the shelves at Safeway and Costco. And Wal-Mart - already the nation's largest organic-milk seller - says it wants to sell more organic food. Large companies including Kraft, General Mills, and Kellogg own sizable organic- and natural-food brands. Now, they are developing organic versions of their own products, too.

Still, while some organic-food fans welcome its broadening appeal and availability, others worry that the entry of corporate behemoths into the organic-food market will weaken standards or squeeze out small farmers.

Meanwhile, consumers scanning the aisles face a jumble of labels and claims - cage-free, natural, free-range, organic - with little to indicate how well those claims match reality.

Read the entire article here.

Blue Nation

MyDD has posted some updated Red State/Blue State maps showing the current political climate in the US based on recent census figures.

Last Wishes Tattoo

Mary Wohlford, an 80-year old retired nurse in Iowa, has "do not resuscitate" tattooed on her chest in hopes that it will make her wishes clear if she is ever unable to communicate them verbally. From the Des Moines Register article:

"People might think I'm crazy, but that's OK," Wohlford said. "Sometimes the nuttiest ideas are the most advanced."

Medical and legal experts expressed doubts that Wohlford's tattoo would prove binding, either in the emergency room or in the courts, but they give her credit for originality.

"I'll be darned," said Bob Cowie, a Decorah lawyer and chairman of the Iowa Bar Association's probate and trust law section. He added, "There are easier ways to do it than that," such as signing a living will or authorizing a medical power of attorney.

Said Wohlford: "I don't believe in lawyers too much."

Thanks Rachelle!

Not Your Soldier

Not Your Soldier is an exciting looking new counter military recruitment group for youth. Made up of several anti-war organizing groups they are setting up camps for high school age kids to learn the skills to work against the war in Iraq. They even have a spiffy Flash movie to make their point (which also ties into the upcoming documentary Sir, No Sir about military deserters in VietNam).

via Boing Boing and The Lague

Interview in RVA

RVA magazine has just published an interview with me about ALR Design, my artwork, and my dad!
You can read it here.
Thanks guys.

Can Greed be Green?

The current issue of Utne has several interesting articles on socially conscious business, including "The New Capitalists" which talks about the new wave of corporate social responsibility...

In 2004 Wal-Mart established a "global ethics office" to enforce 10 principles, including to "never manipulate, misrepresent, abuse, or conceal information" and "never act unethically -- even if someone else instructs you to do so." Employees have access to a confidential hotline to report abuses.

In October 2005 CEO Lee Scott announced a long-range plan to use 100 percent renewable energy at the company. For starters, Wal-Mart is working on a new store design that will reduce energy use by 30 percent in the next three years and plans to double the fuel efficiency of its truck fleet -- one of the largest in the world -- by 2015...

If you can't keep your cynical side from making you squirm, maybe it's because you can't forget the New York Times story in October 2005 that revealed that 46 percent of the chain's employees' children are uninsured or on Medicaid. The company has been fined repeatedly for violating the Clean Water Act, including $3.1 million in 2004 for failing to contain runoff at construction sites. Wal-Mart hired Eugene Scalia, former solicitor of the Department of Labor and son of U.S. Supreme Court associate justice Antonin Scalia, to defend the corporation against three whistle-blower lawsuits, and federal prosecutors just recently nailed vice chairman Tom Coughlin for embezzling $500,000 to buy, among other things, supplies for his hunting dogs and a couple cases of Smirnoff...

So which is the real face of Wal-Mart? The easy-being-green family-owned company that donated nearly $1 million to make Sesame Street episodes that help military kids cope with the Iraq war? Or the I-love-trash megachain that, according to a study conducted at Penn State, actually ends up reinforcing, not improving, countywide poverty rates when it plops down a store?

Read the entire article here.

The Evils of Stock Illustration

Most designers don't think twice about utilizing stock photography and illustration as an affordable way to get the job done, but the folks at the Illustration Growers of America want to remind you of the value of using original art. They've even created a series of anti-stock posters to get their point across to marketing folks.

spotted in PRINT magazine

Alternative Freedom

Check out the trailer for the new documentary Alternative Freedom featuring Lawrence Lessig and Danger Mouse talking about the current state of copyright law and the "invisible war on culture".

The Truth About Ethanol

From the Christian Science Monitor editorial on the downside of ethanol subsidies...

Supporters of corn-based ethanol promote it as one way to cure America's fossil-fuel addiction. That's an exaggeration as high as an elephant's eye. The libertarian Cato Institute says it takes the equivalent of seven barrels of oil to produce eight barrels of corn-derived ethanol. Argonne National Laboratory, which studies ethanol for the Department of Energy, is more generous: for each unit of energy to grow, process, and transport corn ethanol, it yields 1.35 units of energy.

True, this high-octane fuel gives engines a kick, but it gets significantly lower miles per gallon, necessitating more frequent fill-ups. Ethanol's also more expensive than gasoline, and, as a blend, contributes to its high price.

Other downsides: Corn ethanol does reduce atmosphere-warming carbon emissions, but environmental organizations such as the Sierra Club say it actually is worse than gasoline in making smog. Meanwhile, builders of the nearly 200 ethanol manufacturing facilities under construction or planned are being tempted to power their facilities with coal. That's because it's less expensive than their current choice, natural gas. Coal power would wipe out or reduce the greenhouse gains of ethanol.

Read the entire editorial "Corn lobby's tall tale of a gas substitute" here.

"No Bar Code"

This month's Mother Jones has an excellent article on the alternative to the global corporate food machine: small-scale, rather eccentric, organic farmers like Joel Salatin...

I asked Joel how he answers the charge that because food like his is more expensive, it is inherently elitist. “I don’t accept the premise,” he replied. “First off, those weren’t any ‘elitists’ you met on the farm this morning. We sell to all kinds of people. Second, whenever I hear people say clean food is expensive, I tell them it’s actually the cheapest food you can buy. That always gets their attention. Then I explain that, with our food, all of the costs are figured into the price. Society is not bearing the cost of water pollution, of antibiotic resistance, of food-borne illnesses, of crop subsidies, of subsidized oil and water—of all the hidden costs to the environment and the taxpayer that make cheap food seem cheap. No thinking person will tell you they don’t care about all that. I tell them the choice is simple: You can buy honestly priced food or you can buy irresponsibly priced food.”

As it is, artisanal producers like Joel compete on quality, which, oddly enough, is still a somewhat novel idea when it comes to food. “When someone drives up to the farm in a BMW and asks me why our eggs cost more, well, first I try not to get mad,” said Joel. “Frankly, any city person who doesn’t think I deserve a white-collar salary as a farmer doesn’t deserve my special food. Let them eat E. coli. But I don’t say that. Instead I take him outside and point at his car. ‘Sir, you clearly understand quality and are willing to pay for it. Well, food is no different: You get what you pay for.’

“Why is it that we exempt food, of all things, from that rule? Industrial agriculture, because it depends on standardization, has bombarded us with the message that all pork is pork, all chicken is chicken, eggs eggs, even though we all know that can’t really be true. But it’s downright un-American to suggest that one egg might be nutritionally superior to another.” Joel recited the slogan of his local supermarket chain: “‘We pile it high and sell it cheap.’ What other business would ever sell its products that way?”

Read the entire article "No Bar Code" here.

Peace Camo

Our friend John at Social Design Notes just posted these lovely alternative camouflage patterns that are free for the taking!

Working Vacation

Bored with the usual tourist traps? Try working on an organic farm for a summer! The Interntational WWOOF Association will set you up with a host farm in over 40 countries from Algeria to Zambia.

Bad Moos

From the Organic Consumers Association comes this news of a bycott on Horizon Organic products by Boulder Co-op Market:

Boulder, Colo. to join other co-ops across the country in boycotting Horizon dairy products. The Co-op is specifically concerned with regulations governing livestock pasture, feed and confinement...Last year, The Cornucopia Institute of Wisconsin, a progressive farm policy research group, filed formal complaints with the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Office of Compliance, asking that it investigate what are believed to be violations of the law...The complaints ask the USDA to investigate whether it is legal to confine cows in an industrial setting, without access to pasture, and still label milk and dairy products as organic.

Remix: My Life in the Bush of Ghosts

In honor of the rerelease of one of the seminal sample albums, My Life in the Bush of Ghosts by Brian Eno and David Byrne, two of the tracks have been posted as editable, downloadable, multi-track files with Creative Commons licenses! Have at it or just listen to what's been done so far.

Gasaholics Anonymous

If you haven't switched to biodiesel yet, you may want to consider you choice of gas station based on their ethical prinicples. Here are the best through worst options according to Co-op America:

BEST OPTIONS

BP: Recently named a climate leader by CERES, a nationally renowned network of investment funds, environmental organizations, and other public interest groups working to advance environmental stewardship on the part of businesses. BP also has made significant planned investment in solar energy.

Sunoco: Sunoco is the only big oil company to endorse the CERES Principles for environmentally sustainable business. Sunoco reportedly does not buy oil from the Middle East.

CITGO: CITGO is the US arm of Petróleos de Venezuela S.A. (PDVSA), a world energy corporation owned by the Venezuelan State. CITGO donated home heating oil to low-income families in several US states this winter, though their efforts were attacked by Congress.

BETTER OPTION

Shell: Shell has agreed to report on its social and environmental impact using the Global Reporting Initiative guidelines. Learn more about the GRI.

WORST OPTIONS

Chevron: Chevron has a long record of environmental and human rights violations in countries it sources from. In April 2006, shareholders called for Chevron to develop a verifiable human rights policy.

Exxon: Exxon was named a climate laggard by CERES. Exxon is the target of international campaigns such as Campaign ExxonMobil, Exxpose Exxon, and more.

Bush Sings

Ever wanted to hear W sing the classic anti-war song Imagine? OK maybe not, but you should. And thanks to the clever editing of The Party Party you can! And while you're at it, check out a George Bush "singing" White Lines, Sunday Bloody Sunday, and more.

And for an old school Bush Sings flashback click below:

Pizza from Hell = Heavenly Design

I love the design of this multi-purpose pizza box from Hell Pizza in New Zealand. It transforms into a coffin shaped leftovers holder!

via Boing Boing

Bush Roast

In case you missed the absolutely amazing roasting of Bush by Steven Colbert you can watch it here. Seriously it's hilarious and kind of painful to watch (and not surprisingly it was totally under reported in the mainstream media).

Icograda Design Week July 9-15: Seattle

For those of you in/near the West Coast of the US (who can afford the entry fee), the Icograda Deign Week should well be worth checking out. It's the first time this international event is taking place in this country. From their site:

Icograda Design Week in Seattle is an international forum for discussion about the role of design in the face of incredible change in the world. It will address how designers can contribute to a healthy world economy while being mindful of the cultural, environmental and political impact of design.

Crappy belated Anniversary!

Sorry I missed posting to commemorate the 20th Anniversary of the explosion of reactor number 4 at the Chernobyl nuclear power facility outside of Kiev in the Ukraine. I like to keep on top of these things, which is why I think you'll find Google's handy nuclear disaster mapping service so handy. Relive your favourite moments in atomic tomfoolery at the click of a button, and never forget another important anniversary. I believe the 40th Anniversary of the Enrico Fermi Meltdown at Michigan is right around the corner. Fan-tastic!

Illegal Immigrants Returning To Mexico For American Jobs

MEXICO CITY—As dozens of major American corporations continue to move their manufacturing operations to Mexico, waves of job-seeking Mexican immigrants to the United States have begun making the deadly journey back across the border in search of better-paying Mexican-based American jobs.

the full story

Fake TV News

The Center for Media and Democracy has just put out a report on the prevalence of pre-packaged marketing messages called VNRs (Video News Releases) used as actual news on TV. Their 10 month study tracked 36 VNRs from 3 PR firms and came up with the following:

• CMD found 69 TV stations that aired at least one VNR from June 2005 to March 2006—a significant number, given that CMD was only able to track a small percentage of the VNRs streaming into newsrooms during that time.
• Nearly two-thirds of the VNRs that CMD tracked were aired by stations in a Top 50 Nielsen market area, such as Detroit, Pittsburgh or Cincinnati. Thirteen VNRs were broadcast in the ten largest markets, including New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia and Boston.
• Of the 87 VNR broadcasts that CMD documented, not once did the TV station disclose the client(s) behind the VNR to the news audience.
• While TV stations often edit VNRs for length, in only seven of the 87 VNR broadcasts documented by CMD did stations add any independently-gathered footage or information to the segment. In all other cases, the entire aired "report" was derived from a VNR and its accompanying script. In 31 of the 87 VNR broadcasts, the entire aired "report" was the entire pre-packaged VNR.

Read the entire report here.