Eric Koziol's Posts - Urgent Evoke2024-03-29T14:58:21ZEric Koziolhttp://www.urgentevoke.com/profile/EricKoziolhttp://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2209221947?profile=RESIZE_48X48&width=48&height=48&crop=1%3A1http://www.urgentevoke.com/profiles/blog/feed?user=3hp3zynwy3kzx&xn_auth=noMicro Loans in Actiontag:www.urgentevoke.com,2010-04-04:4871302:BlogPost:799312010-04-04T14:48:45.000ZEric Koziolhttp://www.urgentevoke.com/profile/EricKoziol
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<p class="MsoNormal">I am currently teaching assistant for a class on entrepreneurship. We aid students in creating and implementing entrepreneurial ventures for the semester. In this way, not only do the students learn from lectures but also by doing. The main project of the course is to run a business and report their findings. The students get seed funding through micro-loans ($100-$200) that we the teachers negotiate with them. We are currently mentoring and…</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">I am currently teaching assistant for a class on entrepreneurship. We aid students in creating and implementing entrepreneurial ventures for the semester. In this way, not only do the students learn from lectures but also by doing. The main project of the course is to run a business and report their findings. The students get seed funding through micro-loans ($100-$200) that we the teachers negotiate with them. We are currently mentoring and aiding the students with their businesses.<br/>
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<br/><p class="MsoNormal">What is currently happening is truly amazing. The students realized that the micro-loan was really just something to lift them off the ground. What really matters is the skills and abilities of each group to do something meaningful. The money they were given actually can be limiting and disrupt their thinking on endless possibilities. The money that is being exchanged is merely a medium for the transaction of skills. However, to ensure that the loan does get repaid there is tremendous collaboration between lender and borrower to implement ideas that work. For instance, one group is producing a coupon book and working with local retailers but have had six iterations of their idea, from an advertising website to SMS coupons to the coupon book. The group was trying to get realtors but they weren’t biting. We told the group to setup two levels of ads, one that was exclusive but cost more, the other was not exclusive but cost less. It worked, one realtor invested in the exclusive option.</p>
<br/><p class="MsoNormal">If money is a medium and a human construct then both how it is used and its meaning can change. The value of something tends to be an average of demand, so at the same time one person could feel like they are getting screwed while the other thinks they are getting a steal. I think the digitization of money will slow inflation and make people focus on trading skills. If people can us their skills to setup businesses with micro-loans, then the standard of living of the world will slowly increase.</p>
<br/>Starting a Balcony Gardentag:www.urgentevoke.com,2010-03-30:4871302:BlogPost:729032010-03-30T14:06:54.000ZEric Koziolhttp://www.urgentevoke.com/profile/EricKoziol
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<p class="MsoNormal">I have convinced my roommates and I to have a small balcony garden for the vegetables<br></br> that we eat most – bell peppers and onions. We are currently looking for the best seeds and good size pots that can support the growth needed. This is pretty exciting since we will have to go to the store much less and have much, much fresher produce which tastes so much better. I can attest to this fresher taste from eating from my parents’ garden. I am…</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">I have convinced my roommates and I to have a small balcony garden for the vegetables<br/>
that we eat most – bell peppers and onions. We are currently looking for the best seeds and good size pots that can support the growth needed. This is pretty exciting since we will have to go to the store much less and have much, much fresher produce which tastes so much better. I can attest to this fresher taste from eating from my parents’ garden. I am somewhat worried about the lighting though as the area is somewhat blocked. See below.</p>
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<br/>Celebrate Water with Ebb and Flowtag:www.urgentevoke.com,2010-03-29:4871302:BlogPost:715232010-03-29T18:42:17.000ZEric Koziolhttp://www.urgentevoke.com/profile/EricKoziol
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<p class="MsoNormal">World Water Day. A celebration of water. A celebration of life. For without water there can be no life. The celebration must flow like water but also affect the mind. It must have the ability to be calm but then raging the next. To show people how important it is through its absence and then the beauty it can provide through its bountifulness.<br></br></p>
<br></br><br></br><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">A week prior to the event, water shipments stop. All…</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">World Water Day. A celebration of water. A celebration of life. For without water there can be no life. The celebration must flow like water but also affect the mind. It must have the ability to be calm but then raging the next. To show people how important it is through its absence and then the beauty it can provide through its bountifulness.<br/>
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<br/><br/><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">A week prior to the event, water shipments stop. All those water coolers at<br/>
your office are suddenly rationed. This provokes people into become conscious of their water habits. All this time water from rains is being collected but not purified. The day of, the pressure to all water in pipes is turned off so no one has access to fresh water. The lack of water has ceased normal activity and the focus has become gathering enough water for survival. They must travel to access water from lakes, streams, wherever they can find. The pilgrimages to water sources allow people to interact and share insights. But is this water pure? They could be at risk. Lifesaver bottles are distributed (<a href="http://www.lifesaversystems.com/">http://www.lifesaversystems.com/</a>). Machines are brought out for people to work together to pump the water and purify it through reverse osmosis. This happens through play and dancing, giving enough kinetic energy to move playground type machines to provide power to the pumps. The community begins to realize how it can work together to provide better water security. These events carry on through midday when the sun is the hottest and people begin to realize how valuable water is. People also begin to realize that typically the cheapest things are also the most valuable – food, water, clothing, family and friends.</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">Near all the water sources, there are water sculptures. But these sculptures are dry with no running water. Yet as the realization sets in, water begins to become bountiful, a trickle at first and then cascading. The pressure to local water sources is slowly turned back on. Water can be delivered. Rain dances are performed, parties erupt and water sculptures begin to form. People are playing with water. The only drink being passed around is water (or perhaps fire water). There are water sport competitions and pools filled with people. People splash each other with water. People become aware of the fun and excitement that plenty of clean water can bring to their lives, contrasted to the agony of the earlier hours. It is the difference between activity of life in the desert versus that of the jungle. The power and value of water is mighty, with this celebration water becomes respected.</p>
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<br/>New Year's Eve 2020tag:www.urgentevoke.com,2010-03-29:4871302:BlogPost:703972010-03-29T02:32:00.000ZEric Koziolhttp://www.urgentevoke.com/profile/EricKoziol
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<p class="MsoNormal">It’s New Year's Eve 2020. Friends and I are partying at the top of Sears Tower in Chicago. A cutie comes up to me and asks if I’ve seen “The Grid”. “No, but I’d love too” is my reply. She takes me into a room filled wall to wall with computer screens. Massive graphs, constantly changing numbers, video feeds of the roof, inner columns and underground. On all those displays is the location and energy provided from every power source to not just the Sears Tower but…</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">It’s New Year's Eve 2020. Friends and I are partying at the top of Sears Tower in Chicago. A cutie comes up to me and asks if I’ve seen “The Grid”. “No, but I’d love too” is my reply. She takes me into a room filled wall to wall with computer screens. Massive graphs, constantly changing numbers, video feeds of the roof, inner columns and underground. On all those displays is the location and energy provided from every power source to not just the Sears Tower but the entire city of Chicago. The Midwest is relying on its vast amounts of plains to provide wind energy. With all the farms, biogas is being harvested for use as a fuel for power plants. Gases such as methane from cows that would otherwise attack the ozone, are now seen in the atmosphere in lower levels due to their use for power generation. The dancing from New Years Eve is generating enough electricity to power the lights and music as well as the crazy twisty turvey drink fountains with enough power left over to help out with the HVAC. The swaying from the building (<a href="http://www.urgentevoke.com/profiles/blogs/electricity-from-the-motion-of">http://www.urgentevoke.com/profiles/blogs/electricity-from-the-motion-of</a>)is generating the additional power needed to cool down the crowd. Nuclear power the cleanest and most efficient power producer in 2010 still has quite a presence.</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">I continue to stare in awe at the constant motion of where the power is coming from. So many sources, so many uses. The concept is simple: give people the power they need from as many environmentally sources as possible. Yet “The Grid” makes it seem so elegant, so complex. I thank the girl and dance the night away.</p>
<br/>Electricity from the Motion of Buildingstag:www.urgentevoke.com,2010-03-26:4871302:BlogPost:647772010-03-26T04:21:39.000ZEric Koziolhttp://www.urgentevoke.com/profile/EricKoziol
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<p class="MsoNormal">Alright, so everything vibrates naturally from daily occurrences. Just look at how the trees sway in the wind. But we have replaced many, many trees with many, many buildings. Yet, those buildings still vibrate, those same buildings still sway even if you can’t feel it. The higher the building, the more likely it is that you will feel it drifting back and forth. What does this back and forth motion create? That’s right, kinetic energy that can be turned into…</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">Alright, so everything vibrates naturally from daily occurrences. Just look at how the trees sway in the wind. But we have replaced many, many trees with many, many buildings. Yet, those buildings still vibrate, those same buildings still sway even if you can’t feel it. The higher the building, the more likely it is that you will feel it drifting back and forth. What does this back and forth motion create? That’s right, kinetic energy that can be turned into electricity.</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">All of these buildings are designed to resist lateral loads mainly from wind. So there is a structure in place that we can attach highly tensioned cables to from the very top running along the columns to beneath the building. Attach these cables to magnetic rotors that can generate electricity. Hook the rotors directly inline to the buildings power supply. In this way we can diminish the energy usage of the building just from its natural movement.</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">But why stop there? Why not add transducers in the floor so that the movement of people and vibration of machinery induce motion in the floor. This motion, through the transducer and deflection of the floor (even though you can’t feel the floor deflect, it does!) can generate electricity. We can apply this same idea to the cladding, façade, windows, siding etc of a building. All we’ve done is gone from a horizontal plane to a vertical plane. Instead of people moving, we are relying on the wind again. And then apply the floor concept to the roof! Since wind pressures create forces, deflections and vibrations on the roofs. Maximize the electrical efficiency of the building through its own motion.</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">Thus, just from natural occurrences and forces on a building, people and wind, we can generate electricity through motion that is going unused. This generated electricity will not likely be able to fully power a building, but it will reduce the external electricity needs of the building. In this way we can make energy cheaper and less taxing on the environment. We can make the concrete jungle a little more lifelike.</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">Now in order to make this happen, a lot of research needs to be done and a lot of resources and people must be gathered. Retrofitting buildings is no simple task and takes a lot of time. However, if we can get the buyback period for the installation in terms of energy cost savings to 5-10 years, people will buy it. We cannot let free motion go to waste, we must harness it!</p>
<br/>An eye on Tokyotag:www.urgentevoke.com,2010-03-26:4871302:BlogPost:647312010-03-26T03:33:21.000ZEric Koziolhttp://www.urgentevoke.com/profile/EricKoziol
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<p class="MsoNormal">Mmmmm a long, fruitful 10 years since I first got the call from Alchemy. He ignited my inner passion to help change and shape the world. I am currently meditating on mountain top on one of my travels between<br></br> projects. I find the stillness in nature allows me to center myself with the chaos that is raging within the world. Yet I drift away and these two worlds collide. Fixing. Inventing. Helping. Problem Solving. Touching the hearts of others. I have taken…</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">Mmmmm a long, fruitful 10 years since I first got the call from Alchemy. He ignited my inner passion to help change and shape the world. I am currently meditating on mountain top on one of my travels between<br/>
projects. I find the stillness in nature allows me to center myself with the chaos that is raging within the world. Yet I drift away and these two worlds collide. Fixing. Inventing. Helping. Problem Solving. Touching the hearts of others. I have taken what I learned from engineering and applied it to the greatest challenges facing our societies. I have been challenged mentally, physically and spiritually on this journey. Yet it seems I still haven’t found what I’m looking for. It always seems like I’m looking for something new. But the problems of the world are being fought but still exist. Changes are occurring. Governments are too slow to react, too cautious. The people have started taking their livelihood into their own hands. Communities are<br/>
banding together almost like tribes. Except instead of warring, these tribes are building together. Building a new world. A world that is once again easily seen as interconnected. Where relationships between people and between nature are the basis for all actions. A world where individuals do not struggle alone but are backed by their friends, families and enemies. There is strength everywhere you look but the strength is not the same type for each person. For every individual has something new and different to offer, something<br/>
unique. This body of interconnected webs of life and abilities was previously infected with terrible disease. We have started to recover. We have started to regain the strength that made us whole. Each part of this body that is human society picks the others up. But what challenge lie ahead?</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">This is why I meditate. This is why I travel. This is why I help solve the world’s problems. To be at the cutting edge. To be ready for the next problem a moment’s notice. Ever vigilant and always contemplating, devising. But never, ever ceasing to take action. Then there it is – the evoke from Alchemy. We must overcome the Tokyo food crisis. I have been watching. I have been preparing. I am ready.</p>
<br/>Shadowing Emily Pillotontag:www.urgentevoke.com,2010-03-20:4871302:BlogPost:507752010-03-20T18:55:25.000ZEric Koziolhttp://www.urgentevoke.com/profile/EricKoziol
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">I’m choosing to hero shadow Emily Piloton for her work with and creation of Project H Design. Emily has made a venture that services and empowers the individual and community through design. This immediate impact sparks motivation for community members to better themselves and those around them. The learning landscape project is extremely intriguing to me for as a structural engineering student I focus on changing the environment to…</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">I’m choosing to hero shadow Emily Piloton for her work with and creation of Project H Design. Emily has made a venture that services and empowers the individual and community through design. This immediate impact sparks motivation for community members to better themselves and those around them. The learning landscape project is extremely intriguing to me for as a structural engineering student I focus on changing the environment to change the way people interact and experience the world. Coupling a different learning environment with teaching through uncommon but more lasting ways is just powerful.</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">Emily has found what she is passionate about that can affect communities around the<br/>
world. The designs her team creates has a lasting impact on the individuals they are made for. Hopefully the end users of these designs will be moved enough to keep the creative flow going and pass on their ideas to<br/>
better their communities. Emily has found a way to alter the environment of people and thus the way those people interact and behave.</p>
<br/>Be Positive and Do What Makes You Happytag:www.urgentevoke.com,2010-03-18:4871302:BlogPost:447642010-03-18T18:00:00.000ZEric Koziolhttp://www.urgentevoke.com/profile/EricKoziol
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<p class="MsoNormal">“Stay Positive – don’t be distracted by what other people think”</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">Some of the best advice I ever got came from my boss. He told me “Forget what everyone thinks you should do, just do what you want to do. Your parents will still love you, even if you are doing the opposite of<br></br> what they wanted you do to do. Your friends, if they are actual friends, will support you and be happy for<br></br> you. Your girlfriend, well if…</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">“Stay Positive – don’t be distracted by what other people think”</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">Some of the best advice I ever got came from my boss. He told me “Forget what everyone thinks you should do, just do what you want to do. Your parents will still love you, even if you are doing the opposite of<br/> what they wanted you do to do. Your friends, if they are actual friends, will support you and be happy for<br/>
you. Your girlfriend, well if it stops a relationship the pain will be there but only temporarily, but you will be<br/>
happier later. Because if you aren’t happy with what you are doing, what’s the point?”</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">Figuring out what you want to do and doing it, I believe is the key to success. No else is you,<br/> others do not feel as you do, think as you do, so how could they tell you what to do to make you happy? Having confidence in your ideas will take you far. However, you may find that when you reach your destination it does not give you the satisfaction that you thought it would. This is because the journey has changed you and now what you want, or how you wish to feel has changed. Keep your head up for look at what you have accomplished!</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">No matter what you decide to undertake, there will be ups and downs and people will tell you why your idea is wrong. Being able to stay positive, roll with the punches, adapt and not care what people think about you will allow you to succeed. I see too many of my peers stop their ideas short or not push their ideas in a brainstorming session because someone shoots them down instantly. ARGUMENTS<br/> CREATE BETTER SOLUTIONS! Brainstorming should be about creating and building up ideas not knocking them down. So if someone attacks your idea, defend yourself or side step them and figure out a way to build it up.</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">You are the key to your happiness. Being positive will allow you to get so much more done because you will imagine what is possible instead of dwelling on why<br/> it is bad.</p>
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