Books Posts
There’s no F in work
A new book sets out to unravel the complexities, opportunities and challenges of work in the post pandemic era
Read the full article...The designer who unmasked Stalinism
David King exposed Uncle Joe’s attempts to rewrite the historical record
Read the full article...China’s supernova cities
By 2020, the Chinese government hopes to have a new and national Social Credit System (SCS) ready.
Read the full article...Smart Design: rethinking packaging
How electronic packs for pharmaceuticals work with mobile IT to improve patient adherence to medication regimens
Read the full article...Colour, brands and identity in tomorrow’s cities
In London, they brought the fluid neon colours back. For more than 50 years, the moving, illuminated electronic liquid of Lucozade, an energy drink, inspired motorists driving above down-at-heel Brentford, as they reached the western approaches of Britain’s capital at night
Read the full article...Big Potatoes: The London Manifesto for Innovation
In Britain and America, the phrase ‘big potatoes’ is used to describe things or events that are deemed significant. Published in Mandarin
Read the full article...Big Potatoes: the London manifesto for innovation
In Britain and America, the phrase ‘big potatoes’ is used to describe things or events that are deemed significant. Here is the English second edition
Read the full article...Energise!
Before the financial crisis of autumn 2008, soaring Chinese demand for oil led some commentators to predict a rosy future for renewable energy.
Read the full article...The McDonaldization of Higher Education
The term McDonaldization was coined by George Ritzer in 1993 and is a valuable tool for providing a theoretical and practical debate concerning novel and defining features of our contemporary world.
Read the full article...Education as entertainment
At first sight there ought to be nothing contentious about the idea of education as entertainment. Who, after all, has not been entertained, at least once in their life, by a great teacher – has not been diverted by the teacher’s wit, enthusiasm, bearing, tone of voice, turn of phrase or use of eye contact?
Read the full article...Why is construction so backward?
Construction is vital both to Gross Domestic Product and to today’s politics. Prime Minister Tony Blair himself chairs a cabinet committee on the Thames Gateway development, to the east of London.
Read the full article...Digital Visions: Cult IT
Are the claims made for Digital Technology accurate? And if not, why is the arts world so anxious to embrace IT as the latest must-have fashion accessory?
Read the full article...Books: authored, contributed to and edited
1995
Detailed editing of a book written by John Gillott and Manjit Kumar
Science and the retreat from reason
1986
Detailed editing of a book written by James Cousins
Word processing manual for the Commodore 64 computer
Central to design, central to industry
Instruction manual for the Neff B1691 oven
In defence of the Enlightenment
Three of the major breakthroughs of the Renaissance and of the Enlightenment – rationalism, humanism and universalism – are under threat from dark and pessimistic forces in society today.
Read the full article...Victor Papanek: pioneer of patronising design
Review of Papanek, Design for the real world: human ecology and social change, second edition, Thames & Hudson, 1985
Read the full article...Einstein: The First Hundred Years
Einstein: The First Hundred Years presents the great contribution of Albert Einstein to the development of science
Read the full article...
KOWTOWING TO BEIJING DEPT: Whaddya know? Keir Starmer finally discovers his ‘growth agenda’! As my piece also suggests, the portents don't look good for Labour to protect the UK from CCP operations https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/britain-pares-back-secretive-china-strategy-review-seeking-closer-ties-2024-12-16/
"By all means, keep up the salty, anti-Starmer tweets, Elon. But kindly keep your mega-bucks to yourself."
At the #ECB, convicted lawyer #ChristineLagarde has just beaten inflation, oh yes. But #AndrewBailey's many forecasts of lower interest rates have excelled again, with UK inflation now at 2.6 per cent
Painting: Thomas Couture, A SLEEPING JUDGE, 1859
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Innovators I like
Robert Furchgott – discovered that nitric oxide transmits signals within the human body
Barry Marshall – showed that the bacterium Helicobacter pylori is the cause of most peptic ulcers, reversing decades of medical doctrine holding that ulcers were caused by stress, spicy foods, and too much acid
N Joseph Woodland – co-inventor of the barcode
Jocelyn Bell Burnell – she discovered the first radio pulsars
John Tyndall – the man who worked out why the sky was blue
Rosalind Franklin co-discovered the structure of DNA, with Crick and Watson
Rosalyn Sussman Yallow – development of radioimmunoassay (RIA), a method of quantifying minute amounts of biological substances in the body
Jonas Salk – discovery and development of the first successful polio vaccine
John Waterlow – discovered that lack of body potassium causes altitude sickness. First experiment: on himself
Werner Forssmann – the first man to insert a catheter into a human heart: his own
Bruce Bayer – scientist with Kodak whose invention of a colour filter array enabled digital imaging sensors to capture colour
Yuri Gagarin – first man in space. My piece of fandom: http://www.spiked-online.com/newsite/article/10421
Sir Godfrey Hounsfield – inventor, with Robert Ledley, of the CAT scanner
Martin Cooper – inventor of the mobile phone
George Devol – 'father of robotics’ who helped to revolutionise carmaking
Thomas Tuohy – Windscale manager who doused the flames of the 1957 fire
Eugene Polley – TV remote controls