This Week in PopTech: Ecomaterials, Grasshoppers and Caterpillars
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Friday, July 30, 2010 UTC
Happenings:
- This week we released Kurt Andersen’s talk on renewing America, accompanied by an interview with Kurt in which he explores the concept of failure as it relates to the insect world: “For some people, it will take hitting bottom to behave like the ant instead of the grasshopper. Some people are just naturally virtuous ants, sure. But it’s a lot more fun to be a grasshopper and dance and play and sing until winter comes and you have no choice but to figure out a way to get inside.”
- We wrapped up our incredible Ecomaterials Innovation Lab. Take a peak into the work of the collaborative PopTech network and the future of new low-impact materials.
- The Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery has selected Lincoln Schatz’s 2008 commission for Esquire magazine, Portrait of the 21st Century, for inclusion in their collection.
- Just published: Memory Wall, a book by Anthony Doerr, award-winning writer who last year shared with us a story about how networked technologies can alienate us from nature and the things that matter most.
- Reuben Margolin, kinetic sculptor who created a custom wave that was installed for PopTech 2009 at the Camden Opera House last fall is currently building ‘Nebula,’ a multi-tiered, geometric structure made of more than 10 miles of aircraft cable, 1,780 pulleys and over 4,500 amber crystals. Measuring almost 100 feet long and 50 feet wide, it is the largest mechanism he has ever built.
- Speaking of Reuben, a man inspired by a caterpillar wave, did you know that a caterpillar’s innards move before it does? Way.
- What we’re reading: How Will the Smart Grid Handle Heat Waves?
- Peer-To-Peer Edition of The Yes Men Fix The World has been released for download. The Yes Men are masters at impersonating business leaders and smuggling stories to the public to expose big business wrong-doing. In 2006, the The Yes Men gave us a behind the scenes look at their unique method of activism.
- Failure quote of the week: “Failure is the condiment that gives success its flavor.” -Truman Capote
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