Monday, March 31, 2008

Antarctica under threat

This time, not from climate change, but from the thousands of 'saga generation' (I wonder if they count me in that category?) tourists and the shipping that brings them down under.

According to the Telegraph, last year more than 40,000 tourists visited the Antarctic. Staggering!

I suppose it is still probably the best place to spot whales, penguins and various southern seal species before they all become extinct?

EVENT - JIIC Open Day Invitation - Prototypes in action!


MONTH
- April

FIELD: Industry-related (especially design/innovation)
WHEN: 8th and 9th April 2008, 3.30pm to 6pm
WHAT: The Jewellery Industry Innovation Centre (JIIC) team invite you to tour the facilities and newly upgraded technologies available at the Centre.
WHAT... MORE?: This is an opportunity for anyone with an interest in Rapid Manufacturing, Rapid Prototyping, 3-Dimensional CAD, Surface decoration and embellishment, Laser welding and marking, Design and New Product Development.This open invitation is a chance to view a unique collection of complementary technologies in action:

v Z Corp 3D Printer
v CNC Milling
v InVision HR 3D Printer
v EnvisionTec Perfactory 3D printers
v Objet Polyjet 3D printers
v Solidscape 3D wax printers
v Dimension FDM 3D printer
v Laser welding
v Laser marking, cutting and scanning
v Anodising of aluminium and titanium

WHERE: The JIIC is located opposite the School of Jewellery, at:
85-87 Vittoria Street,Birmingham, B1 3PA.

WHO: Some very nice folk with some really great stuff... that can help a lot of folk!
HOW: Free, I'm guessing
URL: www.jewellery-innovation.co.uk
COMMENTS: These the guys that have and are helping us with the prototypes for our RE:tie invention. And trust me, if a picture is worth 1,000 words, holding the thing in your hand is chapter and verse! Some amazing kit that has to be seen to be believed.

A must go to be inspired!

PR COVERAGE - Greenbang.com

OK, I'm cheating a tad.

The notion is that 'they' talk about me/us, and if/when we find out we pop it here by way of a 'thank you', and mutual back scratch. Plus I get a prompt to update the now 1 year out of date PR clippings section on the site.

So... Our readers have $1m+ to spend on sustainability

The cheating bit is that they haven't actually mentioned Junkk.com, but see if you can guess who was the author of the one comment they really liked:)

So I say it counts. If not for much as useful PR. 'Hey... I wrote that!' doesn't quite cut it.

Reasons. No Excuses.

Any system that results in this is broke, and needs fixing, fast: Airline in row over free tickets on extra flights

While I concede that such as plastic bags are 'an' issue and may well be worth addressing, even just in terms of public awareness (though getting them to do the right thing with reusables would be optimal), things such as the above are what our political masters should be addressing.

Indy - A stunt that exposes the truth about corporate greed - I am not alone!

Credit where it is due

I have, it is fair to say, some problems with many of the directions our national broadcaster is going.

Every-increasing fee hikes that we have no option but to pay, yet it seems to be expanding into all sorts of commercial areas in all sorts of other places... and frankly the standard of reporting and level of agenda across almost all its offerings is getting farcical to impose on those who have no way to object (all mechanisms, up to and including BBC Trust, are a joke, so essentially it is a £3.5Billion fund for a rather exclusive club to play with pretty much how they like).

However, there are diamonds in the rough. And, if given the choice, I would have paid (or tuned in to give ad revenue to the channel that aired it) for last night's doco on an Indian tiger reserve, using new remote camera techniques.

Superb!

And not a single bit of editorialising in sight. Coincidentally, it did actually make me think a bit about the sheer impacts of population. The reserve is huge, but finite, and with one mother cranking out four cubs who will grow and need territory, I do wonder about how this evolves.

And that is before we introduce the human factor. The area looked gorgeous. Either to a farmer or a holiday development. Sadly, I see no easy solution.