Thriving too

Becoming a fan of smiling

It won't surprise many of you to find out that I've always been partial to a good old fashioned smile. I just love it.

In fact I love it so much that thanks to the wonders of Facebook, its now official. I am a fully fledged fan of Smiling having just joined the 400,000+ strong group of global grinners this week.

According to the people behind the group:

"In physiology, a smile is a facial expression formed by flexing those muscles most notably near both ends of the mouth. The smile can also be found around the eyes (See 'Duchenne smile'). Among humans, it is customarily an expression denoting pleasure, happiness, or amusement, but can also be an involuntary expression of anxiety, in which case it can be known as a grimace. There is much evidence that smiling is a normal reaction to certain stimuli as it occurs regardless of culture. Happiness is most often the motivating cause of a smile."

So there you have it!

I don't know about you, but of the most common types of smile I'm rather prone to the 'Twisted Smile' myself, although mine is more a half smile/smirk combo I'd say... But whether its a smile or a smirk, grin or gurn, there's no doubting their magical powers!

So go on, say cheese and give grinning a go!

The Friends of High Line

The High Line is a disused elevated railway 1.45 miles long which runs through New York, spanning 22 blocks. Thanks to the community spirited work of The Friends of the High Line this waste of space is being transformed into a park, instead of being demolished as planned. I hardly need to say it, but another amazing example of people working together to create something beautiful. 

You can see the full slideshow.

Something similar was done in Paris

If I needed an excuse to visit New York this would probably be it. It is expected to open in Spring 2009... soon!

Survival of the Kindest

 

Dacher Keltner is a Professor of Psychology at UC Berkeley and author of Born to Be Good.

He has written a fascinating article called Darwin's Touch: Survival of the Kindest

In his article he describes a study he has conducted where people can sense an emotion through touch alone.  He goes on to summarise:

"Sympathetic touches are processed by receptors under the surface of the skin, and set in motion a cascade of beneficial physiological responses. In one recent study, female participants waiting anxiously for an electric shock showed activation in threat-related regions of the brain, a response quickly turned off when their hands were held by loved ones nearby. Friendly touch stimulates activation in the vagus nerve, a bundle of nerves in the chest that calms fight-or-flight cardiovascular response and triggers the release of oxytocin, which enables feelings of trust."

"Were he alive today, Darwin would likely have found modest delight in seeing two of his hypotheses confirmed: sympathy is indeed wired into our brains and bodies; and it spreads from one person to another through touch. Darwin, the great fact amasser that he was, would no doubt have compiled these new findings on sympathy and touch in one of his many notebooks (now a folder on a laptop). He may have titled that folder "Survival of the kindest.""

Previous post: Innate Goodness. 

Ironworkers Paint The Names of Children on Their New Building

This is a Special Story

It has become a beloved ritual at Dana-Farber in Boston: Every day, children who come to the clinic write their names on sheets of paper and tape them to the windows of the walkway for ironworkers to see. And, every day, the ironworkers paint the names onto I-beams and hoist them into place as they add floors to the new 14-story Yawkey Center for Cancer Care.

Via: Daniel Pink

Learning Just Changed... I think....

There is a lot of talk about 'open' in education.  But I feel as though the game is *really* changing.  Talk has started to be a reality.  

If you can't get to Berkeley, Harvard, MIT, Princeton, Stanford, Yale..... On Academic Earth you can now watch lectures from their top scholars.

Two years after it's launch new research published this month in New Scientist Magazine showed that students who downloaded a podcast lecture through iTunes University 'achieved substantially higher exam results than those who attend the lecture in person'.

My friend Andy Gibson has been writing about the possibility of doing an MA in Everything. I love this idea and I can really start to imagine this happening!

"I've been thinking for a while now about going back into full-time education.
I'm very clear that I don't want to be an academic or study at an academic institution though. I want to spend a year studying all the various things I'm interested in - some quite formally, some just for the fun of it. I want to design my own Masters course and spend a year learning everything I've always wanted to."

Casa di Libri

Livio De Marchi is very fond of wood. Among his many works is this house of books which really is a house of books. There are many more marvellous photos of it on his site as well as other delights such as his wooden Mercedes.

Earth Rise, Earth Set

I Love Your Bike!

"Ever see a sweet bike on the street and wish there was a way to tell that person how much you love their bike?.... perfect for hanging on the handle bars of all my favorite bikes in town.

Just carry a few in your pocket everywhere you go so you'll always be ready to leave a note to share some bike love."

From: Etsy

The World's Smallest...

 

The world's smallest puzzles. Beautiful pictures of insanely teeny tiny things - can you guess what they are made of?

If it weren't for the wonders of the social web, I might have resorted to telling you with the world's smallest postal service...

The Story of Co-Design from Thinkpublic

A really great video from  thinkpublic
The Story of Co-Design from thinkpublic on Vimeo.

The Elements of Style

I adore Maira Kalman. Below is the beautiful film she made for the illustrated version of the book Elements of Style

[Update: In case you missed this in the comments. Lori has kindly shown us a link to her lovely interview with Maira Kalman. Thanks Lori - you chose some wonderful pictures too!]

Vote for a One Flag

Simon has written to remind us that the One Flag Poster Competition, currently being run by Adbusters, is open for voting.  A sample below.  

Original post: The One Flag

   

Go bananas

Spent a very enjoyable day wandering round the Fairtrade Fortnight Launch on London's Southbank, chatting to producers and suppliers and eating a ton weight of samples. Nyom nyom.

"Every time you buy a fairtrade banana you are helping to alleviate poverty on my side of the world"  Fairtrade banana producer

So, what are you up to on 6th March? Think you have time to eat a banana and help the Fairtrade Foundation break a world record? I suspect so...

Go Bananas for Fairtrade

New Posters from Advice to Sink in Slowly

Advice to Sink in Slowly have released some lovely new posters.  Big fan.

In Good We Trust

Bruce Mau has been named the inaugural Aristic Director of the Denver Biennial of the Americas: In Good We Trust 2010. What a great choice!

There is a movement happening powered by our desire for good

The Denver Biennial of the Americas will be a citywide, international cultural event, with exhibitions, public programs and signature art installations celebrating the power of ingenuity and the imagination of the Western Hemisphere. 

Once every two years, some of the world’s greatest innovators will convene in Denver, tap into a dynamic local community of creative thinkers, and together galvanize a citizen-driven movement toward cross-cultural understanding and global cooperation. In doing so, the Biennial hopes to forge solutions to some of the world’s most pressing issues. 

For the Biennial Mau and his studio will develop a multi-platform expression of the In Good We Trust Project. Tackling issues from the economy and health to education and the environment, In Good We Trust will bring people together to create a global discussion and provide the tools to inspire a community to action.

Keep Us Busy

Two 3rd year graphic design students in York have spent the week working in a shop window. Their project is Keep Us Busy.  It looks like they have been!

Making Social Business Work

Another inspiring case study from GOOD Business: Greyston Bakery. More on their site.

"How good can one brownie be? Greyston Bakery's brownies are delicious, sure, but they also help to alleviate poverty within the community of Yonkers. With a progressive, open-door hiring policy, Greyston welcomes people who may have faced barriers to employment before. The profits from the bakery are funneled back into the community, funding programs such as after school care, low income housing, and support for people living with HIV/AIDS." 

The Future of RSA Networks

There was a really interesting creative workshop yesterday hosted by the University of Westminster, looking at the future of RSA Fellowship.  The session was facilitated by David Gauntlett  who is Professor of Media and Communications at the School of Media, Arts and Design at the University.  One of David's interests is in Serious Play as a way of unlocking creativity and insights and the workshop was energised by the use of lego and plasticine to create metaphorical models.   Learning 4 Life has produced a really excellent summary of the workshop, including videos.  I have posted one below in which Daniel Snell explains (rather well I thought) the thinking behind his group's model.  

It was such an interesting afternoon, with lots of really lovely people. Thanks so much to Lizzy Jackson and David Gauntlett from the University and Laura Bunt and Laura Billings from the RSA... Plus many others for making it so enjoyable and hopefully productive!

I am planning working with a group of Fellows and RSA networks and fellowship teammembers to put together ideas for a 'Connecting and Initiating Toolkit' in March, so please be in touch either here, through the OpenRSA blog, or the The RSA Platform if you would like to be involved in this project! 

Mike Amos-Simpson has posted his really interesting insights from a new Felllow's perspective.

Reports are being developed on the OpenRSA Wiki and contact details of attendees here.

Great pic from Laura Billings below!

Moments of Pure Insight

John Lehrer is a really brilliant writer on thinking and neuroscience. I was sent a particularly interesting article yesterday by a friend published in New Yorker last year.  The article The Eureka Hunt describes research which tries to understand how moments of insight happen, what occurs in the brain at that moment of inspiration.

One of the interesting points in the article is that these moments often happen when the brain is 'relaxed', in the morning when half awake, in a warm shower etc.  Concentration on a problem often proves to be counterproductive to finding insightful solutions or ideas, because the sharp focus potentially inhibits connection-making.

One of the people who took their tests was a Zen meditator, who was unable to solve any of the puzzles at the beginning but by the end has solving them all perfectly.  The researchers speculated that this unusual performance reflected the possibility that the meditator was better able to purposefully relax his brain. 'He had the cognitive control to let go," Kounios said. "He became an insight machine."

My own interest is in the role of knowledge, and how and when conscious knowledge becomes tacit.  Malcolm Gladwell's brilliant Blink describes many instances when experience and deeply buried knowledge transforms into moments of insight and knowing, whether a fireman sensing to get out of a burning building or an art specialist being able to spot a fake, or a food specialist being able to identify subtle variations in taste.

In John Lehrer's latest blog post, he also suggests that for a brainstorming session that blue rooms are best!

Thanks Josh for the link!

Welcome to Art III Students

Thriving Too blog has been given as part of an assignment for Art III students. Welcome to the blog... and hope you find some fun stuff!  Please share with us if you can...

People Who Hug Things

alex who loves vinyl (and wombats, of course)'s photostream

has some fun themes. Above two from a set called 'people who hug things', below one from 'people looking for things'. Take a look....

[Update: Lovely Alex has given us permission to use one of his pics on our banner - how fab is that? Thank you Alex!!

Via: One Floor Up

Communities, Google and young people

"At Google, we like to reflect the ever changing world of our users through the logo designs on our homepage. The 'Doodle 4 Google' competition asks young people across the UK to design their own 'Google Doodle' and the winning entry will be used on the Google homepage in the UK on 1st October"

5 year old Tommy Fosbery:
"My Community is Camborne it has alot of trains especially steam trains on Trevithick Day. I have doodled a steam engine built by Richard Trevithick because he was important to Camborne and he made engines so that we can drive vehicles now."

Via Steel and Stevens

100 Dances and 100 Songs

100 dances?! I'd be happy with just the one! Great music, great dancing, great idea.

I may just have to add this to my list of mindapples... a dance a day to keep the doctor away!

BOOMBOX from Ely Kim on Vimeo.

The Extraordinaries - Micro-volunteering

This is such a great new idea!

The Extraordinaries aim to make volunteering very easy by making use of our small amounts of spare time through our phones...

"Problem: 73% of Americans do not volunteer."

"Root Cause: Most volunteer opportunities require vetting, many hours, and a long-term commitment. It’s akin to a second job. For most people, the process is inconvenient, takes too much time, and doesn’t easily fit into hectic lives."

"Our Theory of Change: Americans have spare time – billions of hours – but in small windows of idle moments: sitting in an airport, waiting in a doctor’s office, riding the bus to work, and more. If we can reach people during these spare moments we harness a huge pool of untapped human energy."

Follow them on Twitter

Parenting without religion

Is this controversial?  I hope not, because it seems very important. In the US 7 million non-religious parents are raising children. Dale McGowan, who describes himself as a freethinker, an atheist, a secular humanist and a Bright, and has written a couple of important books on how 'to raise ethical, caring kids without religion': Parenting Beyond Belief and most recently co-authoring Raising Freethinkers. 

McGowan was named 2008 Harvard Humanist of the Year, and I was very interested to hear what he had to say.