Our Thoughts Are With You, Japan

from bbc.co.uk/news

I think I speak for every person in the world when I say it's a horrendous catastrophe when a natural disaster of this magnitude happens.

I am of course speaking about the earthquake that hit just off the coast of northern Japan, reading at a staggering 8.9 on the richter scale. This caused a series of smaller tremors to occur shortly after, as the aftermath of the initial disaster unfolded. A tsunami reaching heights of 10m waves crashed into the eastern coastline, causing unknown levels of damage. To call it a disaster doesn't come close to it - and my thoughts go out to every family affected, wether it be in Japan or families throughout the world who have relatives in the quake zone. Communication must be chaos at the minute, causing even more upset for those caught up in the mad panic of trying to locate loved ones.

I have been following the developments closely via the BBC News website - with live coverage of the affected areas.

Further to the awful events, there is growing concerns for a nuclear crisis, as three of the diesel powered cooling systems failed on shut down of the reactors following the earthquake, the BBC reports. Two of the three systems were stabilised with the use of mobile facilities, however one remained unstable, and although serious efforts were made to reduce worryingly high pressures building in the units - an explosion occurred yesterday at around 8pm (GMT). Today concerns are growing around a similar situation building in another unit. The radial evacuation precautions have been doubled.

The current future in Japan is highly uncertain as the country is in a state of emergency, chaos and sheer panic.

The media is portraying the general state of the situation as a whole, which is important when confusion breaks out during the early stages of disaster - although my thoughts go to those individual people who are disconnected from such reporting. Power cuts continue and panic must of well and truly set in, as those of us reading about the latest online probably know more about it than for example those that have had everything washed away, and have barely survived themselves. As the days go on, food, clean water and sanitary become an growing issue, amongst a multitude of other things, such as contact with relatives and shelter.

from bbc.co.uk/news

Every country unaffected by this will be pulling out the stops to send aid, although little can be done to aid the grief felt by those who have lost family, a lifetime of irreplaceable possessions, and even their own lives.

Perhaps this is an awaking to us all that nuclear energy is although a renewable source, far from being safe, clean or indeed the way forward. I vote Green at every possible opportunity as I constantly live in fear of issues such as this arising from nuclear power. I really do not understand the benefits at all.

That aside - our thoughts are with you, Japan.

In the words of David Bowie: Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

Today we had a lecture/meeting about the proposed changes to the DJCAD programme structure, with several members of the academic faculty present, along with students from Textiles, Jewellery and Metalwork and Interior and Environmental Design - although a substantial amount of JMD students were unavailable due to course commitments. 

Firstly I'd like to point out to those who read this who study in a different discipline from myself that I voiced several issues from the IED perspective - some of which are not entirely my personal issues with the changes, but are talked about in great depth amongst my fellow classmates during studio time. However, after kicking up sh*t for a meeting so we could all be properly informed about the changes - people suddenly lost their voice when it came to voicing these aforementioned concerns. 

Enter Shona. 

When busy people such as Andy Milligan (our head of IED) and Jonathan, along with Mike and Frances from Textiles give up time out of their busy days to give us a chance to question all these changes - why does the powerful voice heard so much in class suddenly evaporate as if it never existed? In fact, people changed their tune in front of the masses - but yet back in the studio, the same moans and groans can still be heard. It made me feel like the big bad wolf from IED in that lecture and left me less than impressed with the lack of voice when it mattered. 

Frustrating.

Although I can see that everyone stands to benefit from the proposed change (use of other facilities, and knowledge from other disciplines etc.), it will always feel somewhat of an odd choice of grouping. Yes "craft" may be taken as a term meaning to belong to a creative profession, it's just craft in it's main sense is rarely what we do. I don't know what my personal distaste for the word "craft" is, I just don't like it. Perhaps it's because I "use software or computers and stuff" - the irony of being described as that amused me, as this was said while trying to convince me IED is a craft. Furthermore, having even more people using the woodwork workshop will probably render our furniture module obsolete as space is already an issue during this project - which ironically is the IED project that has the strongest tie to the damned "craft" word that's getting banded about. 

Another thing that is bothering IED more than the other disciplines is the loss of our first year. A huge amount is learnt during this crucial learning curve, and, on thinking back to the knowledge I came in with and the level of IED we are currently at now - it is difficult to expect newcomers to maintain 2nd-4th year levels when only entering in their second year. The "T" shaped graph of knowledge that was talked about is all very well, but we struggle to get our projects complete as it is. We have for example just been given an extension over the Easter break to accommodate for the masses of work within our discipline that is due, let alone a module here and there based in other fields. I guess what I am ultimately concerned for is the final outcome of our degrees, and not just for our individual years, but the course as a whole - by giving us these new options and opportunities to learn new skills across varying areas, are we diluting our specialised knowledge and therefore jeopardising the strength and quality in each field come degree show? This isn't even just from an IED perspective, the same goes for all disciplines.

It feels like a car sales man's trying to persuade me, sell it to me, make me think it's good - when really we've all got a sinking feeling and a knot in our stomaches, wether it's voiced or not.

I'm scared all courses will end up a mish mash of several inter disciplinary modules that leave you graduating a jack of all trades, master of none - and I don't think anybody, from any field, would like this to happen to what they are passionate about.

Furniture Design: Someone Said It Was Snowing?

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To update, the snow shows little chance of withdrawing its horrid self from these parts, thus extending the mass hysteria and travel related delays. Oh goody.

To date, we have been unable to continue our workshop project since Monday, and given the final presentation deadline is a week tomorrow (Friday 10 December) I have little faith that we will be able to complete it and present fully in that short window. It has been announced that the workshop is open indefinitely today, however how long that will last, nobody is sure.

Just as I thought we may get somewhere today, another stumbling block appears in the form of all buses within Dundee have been cancelled until further notice. Boo! The last attempt to get into the workshop (and the last time it was open) was on Tuesday, to which I managed to get a bus only to find the workshop was closing on my arrival. Typical.

It's nobody's fault - everyone is working hard, but it doesn't stop the frustrations. I especially have sympathy for bus drivers and the council workers trying to clear roads and paths - but some people are being extremely selfish. I went on the Facebook site for the University to try to get a heads up on wether or not I should attempt travelling in, only to find unbelievable comments from some of the students:

"speak english people,, i dont have ANY clue about whether uni is open or not.. YES or NO are the possible answers,, not that whole thing that even google transator wouldnt help :S " - a students response to other people trying to shed some light on the University opening hours. I really hope this person does not study English. The irony does make me laugh though.

Hurling abuse onto the University's page will get them nowhere. It's stupid to expect places to open when staff cannot travel in safely - tutors tend not to live in halls opposite the facilities, love. It's funny how people have excuses not to attend class when it's sunny but when they are bored and want to attend class, it's everybody else's fault. Well, the snow is nobody's fault - even the multiple accident-helpline-lawyers-4-u-get-a-no-win-no-fee-compensation-you-deserve companies would agree.

My personal favourite comment was:

"Pathetic that they were not open today. All my revision material is in a locker in the library, and my exam is next wk! We, as students, pay A LOT of money to attend university, the least they could do is open the buiding. Should be better prepared for events like this! I don't even have the internet in my flat, so I can't even get assess to revision that way! What a joke" - I'll let this person stay anonymous.

I would however like to point out that the person who commented the pointless statement above is from Brechin, so will no doubt get SAAS funding - not costing them A LOT personally. Secondly; they received a mouthful back from a sympathetic student to the University:

"Hang on a minute here chap. It's not exactly the Uni's fault, they can't control the weather. Yes the Uni does get a lot of money for us to attend, but does that mean that the security and maintenance staff have to risk their lives so you can get into a locker. In any case did you leave your revision material over the weekend? Not that worried are you, or if you left it there overnight surely the weather last night was an indication that you should have taken it home with you. Yes we need to be told if the Uni is closed or not in advance but don't be a complete tool." - anon student/legend.

Win!

On a more serious note; I hope I can get on with things soon enough, or at least be allowed some time to make up for what we have lost. Doing the odds and ends in the mean time is all very well, but I'm itching to get on with proper work!

Thats right snow - I'm talking to you! Clear off! 

Thundersnow!

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Wow. The ludicrous actions of the general public never cease to surprise me.

To explain - we have been experiencing some drastic weather as of late. The media is of course blowing it out of proportion, but to be fair it has caused quite a lot of disruption to daily routines - such as bus services being reduced to minimal routes, if not cancelled completely, trains being cancelled, schools and universities closing and some local amenities closed until further notice. Roads are blocked quite badly with only main roads being cleared properly, and several cars have been stuck in my street. The latter however, has been enjoyable for me from the warmth of my house - as I have been stuck at home with no transport, and university and work closed.

It has also been the source of the explosive term infecting every corner of the internet at the minute - "thundersnow". As we have been experiencing heavy snow, it has caused thunderstorms to occur as well. It is unusual, and a first for most people, but the reason I think most people are so animated about it is because they just like saying it. Most people didn't know what was going on during the night when it first begun - I myself woke up confused, genuinely thought it was the apocalypse and went back to the sleep with the attitude: well I'd rather be asleep for this anyway - it's not like I have an arc to safely save all species in. A similar incident occurred when the snow slid off the roof and past my window. The building shook and I couldn't see a thing out the window, which left me in a state of panic for a moment or two!

For you lot who enjoyed geography at school - get your teeth into this one: 

Thundersnow: it got so badass it even struck the Police HQ! 

So, thundersnow aside (even I can't stop saying it), I went to my local supermarket today - as the buses were running for a short period - to get some vegetables to make some nice homemade soup. Nothing wild. I wasn't panicking. I was cold, sure, but not losing my mind. With layers on similar to what my Aunt has to wear while working in the South Pole - I ventured out.

Well. On arrival to the supermarket I realise that I am quite alone in my calm shopping technique. 

The shelves were bare. There was virtually no bread. The vegetable aisle was derelict, with all produce long gone. I half expected tumble weed. People had panic consumed the whole shop, and probably stolen the toilet rolls from the customer toilets as well. 

Social networking sites have been ablaze with stories of the psychotic antics of the public in and around Scotland during these arctic conditions, which provide quite a lot of hilarity and amusement. There have been sightings of people taking sledges to the local supermarket in Dunblane, as "they got milk delivered". 

I myself, don't understand this hysteria. It's as if it's an apocalyptic freeze over - the start of a new ice age. It's quite insane. Common sense has been completely lost, and panic consumerism has taken over. Even if you wiped the milk shelf clean out, buying 150 pints of the stuff - it would still go out of date in around 5-6 days. Logic has been catapulted out the frost covered window, not unlike a snowball.

If Tesco were a cartoon character - it'd have dollar signs in it's eyeballs right now. I'm not sure when I became such a cynic but I'm convinced they will be sneakily raising their prices to get more out of this somehow. Cue supermarket mavens, swooping in like the unappreciated superhero. 

But alas, it won't go on forever. Eventually normality will be restored and albeit it will remain cold, I will be able to continue with my normal routines. Studio, work, a quick bite to eat then sleep, repeat.

In the mean time, a good snow ball fight is on the cards - and lets face it, nobody gets too old for that. 

Stuffs I Wanted To Share

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So on my Saturday evening I have been surfing the internet quite a lot. Don't get me wrong -I do have friends on a social level (although judging from my blog this is hard to believe they are not all digital). 

Several things have caught my eye recently so I thought I would share these - and they will probably end up wasting your time as much as they have mine. 

1. MySpace Website

MySpace appear to have gone under a revamp and now include little animations when you hover your cursor over their logo. Go on, try it. Theres quite a few different ones, it'll have you refreshing for ages! So far I have managed to get the bag of junk, tentacles, a slide with balls, a stags head and eyes and leaves. 

Post a comment if you get any others! It's addictive!

2. Top Gear Car Art

I heavily dislike Jeremy Clarkson - but for some reason he is regarded as somewhat of a journalist having his own column, and is also a very successful world known television presenter. I did however find this entertaining as he gets injured in the downstairs department. Good. The one thing I do like about Top Gear is their filming style - it's always done nicely. Although the content leaves something to be desired. 

Boys and their damn toys. 

3. Worlds Most Expensive House

Costing an estimated $1 Billion, Mukesh Ambani is living the lifestyle of more than a king. Understandably when you are one of the worlds richest men, with an approximate $17 Billion, you want to live a life of luxury - however this is too far. I cannot believe how much people spend. With a £98,000 fuel bill - it would be enough to feed the surrounding slums for a month. What sickens me the most is that it is right in the heart of a slum - rubbing his money, wealth and luxury right in their poverty stricken, disease ridden communities. Unbelievable. 

Oh, and it requires 600 members of staff for upkeep.

4. Bottled Water

This was an interesting article I read, regarding consumerism, and sometimes how ridiculous it is when you really think about it. 

5. McBA(Hons) With a Side Of Dignity

Lastly in my news related topics is the news that McDonalds is set to start providing management degrees. Seriously? I'd like to see where this stands in The Times' Good University Guide. Talk about clown college - or sorry, make that Ronald McDonald College, but not only would it degrade other similar degrees in the field that are not affiliated to it, I don't see what is wrong with putting staff through required courses that already exist? 

huzzah for geeks!

6. Academy of Art University

I read that Adam Savage teaches Advanced Model Making - at San Francisco's Academy of Art University. Now, not only is that my ultimate course - but you get taught by Adam Savage of the Discovery Channel's MythBusters! Zomg! For those of you who don't know what MythBusters is - leave my page now.

I feel a little exposed admitting to my love of that program. Ah well. 

7. National Geographic Photo Contest 2010 

I'm really enjoying the pictures that have been sent in here. Take a look =]

8. The FWA

Great site featuring daily favourites in innovative website design. I used to keep tabs on this daily but since my change of career path (that I aim for) I had migrated away from being so interested. Luckily I have just rediscovered it - and now you can waste hours on this too! The site changes very regularly so you never get tired of it!

One of my particular favourites was the Smart Car site which featured a little game where you drove the car around check points creating a dot-to-dot like image. I suppose it also ties in with my Viral research, and what companies are trying to do to engage people with their product.

So that pretty much sums up what I have been doing. Hopefully you will enjoy at least one of the above. Not much academia was discussed but hey - that's only a very small chunk of the interwebs!

Enjoy! I however, am going to get back to more pressing matters.

Design Studies: Czech Dream

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I was first shown Vít Klusák and Filip Remunda - two final year film students in the Czech Republic - by Kirsty, a Jewellery student, who was introduced to it through Jonathan. Klusák and Remunda created "Ceský Sen", thats "Czech Dream" to you and me, for their final project. You can watch it here on BlinkBox.

Their main interests, aside from the obvious being film, lay with how advertising can be used to propagate against the masses. Together they decided to create their own brand, and begin their very own marketing ad campaign, promising the Czech people lower cost shopping at a new hypermarket; Ceský Sen. They produced labelling. Adverts for the sides of public transport. Billboards. Radio jingles. A brand that people could begin to relate to, and recognise.

This was all very well, but there was something unusual about this hypermarket. It didn't exist. It was a complete ploy in terms of marketing. They wanted to discredit advertising, or at the very least, make the local people think about what it is exactly that they take in every day without even consciously realising. They wanted to expose that advertising does not equal truth.

Unsurprisingly, when they themselves were ultimately exposed during the finale "opening day" of their hoax hypermarket - they found themselves at the centre of a hate rally. The local people were furious, and felt that they had been made a fool of; humiliated for nothing. And, what irritated them furthermore was that it was all at the cost of the tax payer - as Klusák and Remunda had received government funding for their project.

However, when the general mass of people partially calmed down, it became apparent that they were in fact more upset, than angry - as they suddenly understood what the point of the stunt was. It boiled down to the then recent (as it was released in 2005) public vote on joining the EU. The Czech Government had paid out an unbelievable sum in advertising, propagating the people into believing it was the right thing for them - when really it benefitted the government scores more than the people, which is what Klusák and Remunda had issues with. Ceský Sen highlights this through a marketing stunt, which luckily for the creators also served as their final project. The film itself also has some comic moments besides the more serious underlying topic, including showing how difficult it can be working in an industry such as marketing. For the BBC's review - click here.

Well worth a watch!

Design Studies: Misunderstanding

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I am lead to believe during the latest of our seminars that I have misinterpreted the previous assignment slightly.

The tutorial based website task of Assignment 3 was supposed to get us to build a list of reliable website sources - 5 from our area and 5 that we generally like to keep tabs on. Unfortunately nobody could get it to work properly - as every time we added one of the reliable sources to "basket", it removed the previous one. This meant we could select no more than a total of 1 site. Argh! I continued with the assignment non the less, although had to use my intuition when it came to a sources reliability or level of authority - wether my intuition was right or not, is yet to be determined.

I, however, had taken the above to mean that we must collect 5 online sources from our research area that we have focussed on recently with regards to Design Studies (as in Viral Ads), and 5 we generally like to keep tabs on (this being 5 general design sites. I didn't think that they would want to hear what we keep track of online out-with University related disciplines - there's a lot of rubbish out there don't you know!)

So, anyway, the above mix up and broken tutorial aside - I have taken it upon myself to amend my previous post. I have left that post live on my blog as they are still relevant, but I will add in the 5 generalised sites I keep my eye on below.

They include:

BBC News (Scotland) / New York Times / The Guardian

National Geographic

YouTube

WSPA

Twitter

Vimeo

There are several other sites I regularly like to keep up to date with, as I read a lot of current affairs. After all, it's important to know what's going on in the world. Dundee's only a pin prick in terms of global affairs, so I think it's good to know whats going on outside the box, so to speak!

Sometimes My Government Embarrasses Me

Now this post is in no way related to any of the aforementioned topics, nor is it something you would expect me to comment on, however after watching the 10 o'clock news on the BBC I feel compelled to write about it.

Abu Hamza has won his so-called "right" to keep and maintain a British passport.

I am utterly speechless at this! Nay. Make that outraged. He has claimed that being stripped of his UK passport would render him "stateless", as his country of birth, Egypt, have already done so. I'm not entirely sure of how all these inter-government laws work, but I would imagine your country of birth is, and always will be, responsible for you. Albeit as his crimes against the UK were committed here, he must serve his time here, it does not mean that upon his release he should be welcomes back into the open arms of our extremely generous country - the one that without question gave him a passport based on compassion, as he gained his British status through marriage.

This is also the same country that only gave him seven years imprisonment for crimes of soliciting to murder, stirring up racial hate, and possessing terrorist hate text that has was made into a criminal offence under the Terrorism Act of 2000. Several other countries, including our long term allies, The U.S. would have been much tougher.

But, the caring (and somewhat idiotic it would seem) country that we are, granted him permission to retain his status as a British Citizen. His children are taught £9000 worth of education here - something he obviously feels is good enough to warrant that level of expense. He was educated here in Brighton, studying Civil Engineering. He lived a somewhat western lifestyle in the UK on and off for over 25 years, reaping the benefits of the western culture. Freedom. Support. Safety. All the things we take for granted.

Then, he married in 1984 to which he bore seven children. These were all born in British hospitals, delivered by British midwives, paid for, by the British government. Benefits that not every country provide. Few countries provide a health service such as ours - damning reports, campaigns and complaints aside, given that aside from tax it is a free service, it is something that is actually quite special.

After this (and I assure many other benefits being happily and readily accepted from the systems in place here) he incited hatred towards the Western culture, against the British public, and against anything that was not Islam. Happily encouraging the murder of the average British person - with the ideal outcome being what? Mass conversion to Islam? Surely we would already be tainted with sin, so that cannot be the outcome he was looking for. A mass wipe out of entire cultures, nations evaporated? Well, several times we have seen this, Germany 1939 is a good place to start. Insane is not even the word for this. Ludacris, baffling and horrendous would merely be the tip of the iceberg of words I would use to describe such actions. Then there was similar crimes in Oregon, U.S. to which the United States government wish to extradite him upon his release, so he may also be tried for there.

The above (and more) aside, now he wishes to keep his British Citizen's status? What on earth goes through this mans mind? If his home country of birth do not even wish to call him Egyptian, I am absolutely astounded as to why we would continue to call him British. Lets all take pity on the prospect of him being stateless - 'cause we're accommodating for things like that. We're more likely to make him some homemade soup on release and give him a nice hot water bottle. I mean - we did the same for Megrahi.

Well Abu, if you're reading this from your very comfortable, warm prison, with internet access (which would not surprise me) : Over my dead body will you keep your passport.

- Which, if he had his way, would be tomorrow.

Design Studies: Haiti's Cholera Epidemic - What Tipped It?

Image from BBC News 

An epidemic of Cholera has been reported to have broken out in Haiti. The earthquake in January is not thought to have caused the outbreak, however it is thought that is has contributed to it, as it has caused high numbers to live in very close proximity - thus causing the spread to be strengthened. The BBC News has said it is the first cases that have been recorded in 100 years. Given what I have recently learned from the fantastic read "The Tipping Point: How Small Things Can Make a Big Difference" by Malcolm Gladwell,  it would be safe to assume there are other factors involved that have caused this disease to occur, and then tip into what officials are calling an epidemic. 


Only two days ago, on October 22nd 2010, it was reported that there had been 135 deaths from the disease. A mere two days later, it has now been reported that the death toll has exceeded 250. Gabriel Thimote, of Haiti's Government Health Department has told reporters that 3000 people had been infected with it. The northern region of Artibonite has been the epicentre of the outbreak, where within two days reports of 1500 infected people has jumped to 3000. Food and water were at an all time low due to the earthquake which was highly publicised in January 2010; so with the outbreak likely stemming from the available supplies, victims of the earthquake will no doubt try to avoid what little contact they have with food and water to reduce running the risk of infection. This leads to other issues such as starvation.


Cholera - a disease that attacks the small intestine, which is transmitted via bacteria infected food and water, has not been seen in these regions for around 100 years, which begs the question of how it has occurred. Untreated victims are at high risk of death as it causes severe dehydration due to chronic diarrhoea and vomiting, although there are treatments available such as antibiotics and simple rehydration. 


This is clearly an epidemic as it is uncontrollable. Carel Pedre, an eye witness to the events stated "I saw over 500 people waiting to be treated. People were being treated on the floor. They were lying on boards, towels or just the ground." 


Aid workers from around the world are working as hard and as fast as possible to clamp down on the spread of it, as all ages are at risk. David Darg, an aid worker with Operation Blessing said "We were asked to mobilise water purification systems from the area as they suspect people are contracting the disease from the river - which is the sole source of water for some of the communities." If it is the only source of water to a community it is unsurprising that they have contracted it so viciously and has subsequently spread like wild fire. This is possibly how the issue has tipped from being a minor issue with relevant treatment being readily available into an uncontrollable epidemic - with aid being spread too thinly throughout the infected areas. Another issue is the speed at which the disease is spreading, with a 100% increase in a mere 48 hours. All these issues - the earthquake causing cramp conditions and poor services, the only water supply being suspected as the cause, and the minimal aid all accumulated together have exploded into what could potentially cost hundreds more people their lives, with the death toll rising exponentially.  

V&A: This is Dundee. Dundee: Meet Some Culture

Above is the entry from REX, based in NYC - kind of 

puts the Tesco that will be opposite to shame really

Wow. Dundee isn't exactly the UK's hotspot for high end architecture, however it has landed itself potentionally a huge money maker for the tourist industry, not to mention the arts; the brand new V&A Exhibition Centre, which is set to be built on Dundee's waterfront. 

The exhibition which is currently exhibiting the architectural designs that have been put forward by several competators from around the globe is currently being shown in Abertay Univeristies Library, from 29 Sept 2010 - 4 Nov 2010. Votes are being cast as to which of the designs wins the build, which has been narrowed down from over 120 entrants to the final 6. One of these is Edinburgh's Sutherland Hussey. The other architects that have been shortlisted are: Delugan Meissl Associated Architects, Kengo Kuma, REX, Snøhetta with Gareth Hoskins Architects and Steven Holl Architects. For images of the showcased designs, see the final 6. You can also visit the University of Abertay Dundee's site, regarding the shortlisted architects, which provides a little insight into who is on the panel of judges responsible for the remaining 6.

The deisgns which have caused a stir in particular are REX and Snøhetta's entries, but I guess we will have to wait until the winner is announced to know for sure. My hopes are on REX, which is probably quite clear by now! 

Thankfully the train station in Dundee was not
a shortlisted design for the £47 million build.
At least tax dodgers could say it's in the name of 
design if it were.