Sursum

New currency, The Ven, built from basket of world currencies and carbon futures

An interesting way to "price in" environmental externalities.  Full description and story is here http://bit.ly/kZeg0U

Hat tip to @umairh.

Sir Ken Robinson on creativity and our education system

Sir Ken Robinson points to many opportunities as we seek to reform the way we think about "education."

 

Smarthistory.org and the textbook industry

I studied Art History in high school, using Gardners "Art Through the Ages," an iconic Art History survey book.  20+ years ago it cost ~$80, and weighed a ton.  

Much of the same content is now available for free at Smarthistory, a non-profit.  Amazingly well-done, I quickly got sucked in.

This is not good news for the textbook market.  Smarthistory shows that non-profit / open source entrants can start to collapse the existing "value chain."  Its going to be an interesting next decade in the textbook market. 

Below is Piet Mondrian's Broadway Boogie Woogie (MOMA, 1942).  Smarthistory has some great background / historical context on the painting.  Clearly a man very much in love with his adopted home, NYC.  I love the elemental (yet sophisticated) vitality.

 

Bus that "straddles" cars: cheaper than a subway

Great design innovation out of China.  Works great for straight highways :)

CEO of WholeFoods on Conscious Capitalism

Link to the video here, via @umairh

bit.ly/fo3Ur7

Ben Franklin's Daily Schedule

via @adamwerback..

About 1 in 7 Americans are on Food Stamps

The WSJ ran a great article on Food Stamps today -- about 14% of Americans use them.

Some states currently have food stamp usage of nearly 20% with the number of folks using food stamps growing by ~2% per year.

Certainly this speaks to the structural nature of food insecurity in our country.  A great video about the program is below...

 

Google and Twitter partner to thwart Internet shut-down in Egypt

One of the coolest things that came across my desk today was an emerging partnership between Google and Twitter.  

Egypt has apparently shut down their Internet to prevent reformers from sharing information with each other and also with the outside world.

The Google / Twitter partnership allows reformers to call an international number and "record" a tweet that goes out with a #Egypt hashtag.  Awesome. 

Viva la Revolucion!  

Teacher: Kids have more energy, are more focused, grades going up...

 

Reasons for optimism - world health and prosperity trends

Sometimes its important to take a step back and see what the data tell us.  Hans Rosling helps us do just that in the video below.