Samuel Freilich's Blog (33)

Here's an interesting off-grid power technology: A company called Bourne Energy has created an off grid floating turbine. Anchors across a stream, require little setup, can be carried on your back. More location-dependent than solar, but less time-dependent and more compact. The company evidently has a variety of designs for quick-setup power from moving water.… Continue

There's a lot more to sift through this week, but I've picked out a few highlights:

• The Makers Guild Wiki is up, go there for exciting brainstorming opportunities!
• Someone is running a tabletop RPG based on Evoke.
• People discuss the…

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I was sorting through my mail today, thinking about how I might complete this particular mission, when I came across a newsletter from the Waltham Fields Community Farm. I'd never received mail from that organization before (it took me a while to remember that I'd gone to a benefit concert supporting them a few months ago), so it was a startling moment of synchronicity.



Unfortunately,… Continue

Those looking to understand the state of food security in the Greater Boston Area have a wealth of data available to them: The Greater Boston Food Bank conducts a detailed demographic survey every four years. Probably the most important finding from the 2008 survey is the overall numbers:



"394,300 unduplicated people receive food that was distributed to GBFB member agencies. This is a 23%… Continue

Agent Dragar adds to the speculation on Citizen X. Most of it makes sense, but he says one thing wildly in opposition to what we know: He notes that it might be tempting to fall into black-and-white statements that don't quite mesh with reality. For example:



"Where EVOKE desires transparency, Citizen X seeks… Continue

A while ago, I was doing a fair amount of reading on the global food system. I read Banana: The Fate of the Fruit That Changed the World, a rather remarkable case-study on plant biology, ecology, marketing, big business, and shock doctrine politics, with significant implications for global food… Continue

I met a strange traveler on the road today. Evidently, feeling unusually tired after a marathon blogging session, he had closed his eyes in 2010 and woken up in the WORLD OF THE FUTURE. After such a long nap, he was predictably quite hungry, so I invited him over for dinner. A bit of our conversation follows:



"This is delicious! What did you call that vegetable again? And where did you get these?"



"The… Continue

When mastering a new subject area or studying something complex, there's often no alternative to memorization: Using specific techniques to get vast quantities of information into persistent memory for fast recall (or at least quick relearning) later.



For memorizing tasks, I use a freeware program called Anki. The program is open-source, uses the effective spaced repetition techniques developed by Piotr Wozniak (the creator of… Continue

A few links worth spreading around:



First off, some Agents are starting Guilds that will act as communities of practice within the game. As an engineer, I'll gladly associate with the Makers Guild.



Would there be interest in starting a Hacker's Guild (for those whose building materials are of the more abstract, mathematical sort)? Or is there too much overlap between that and… Continue

I've improved my physical condition quite a bit over the last few years, so I expect by 2010 I'll be in great condition. If I need to get my hands dirty or cover lots of ground in a day, I'll be ready and able.



I'm still working on my foreign language skills, I've been studying Japanese since I studied away in Tokyo, so maybe I'll be in Tokyo when Alchemy makes his call. I loved the city and want to go back, among other reasons that would allow… Continue

A response to Evoke Agent Amanda Jeffery:



Of all the Evoke Powers, by far the most important and hardest to embody is Spark. Even if you're cooperative and courageous and creative and knowledgeable, with business savvy and communication skills and perseverance and perspective, you're still only one person. How can one change the world without the… Continue

Some of my social innovation heroes are the micro-trustees of The Awesome Foundation. I think their model is one that social innovators should look at very closely. Their approach is as follows:

1. Assemble a team of 10 micro-trustees willing to donate $100 each month (the Foundation has several chapters, but so far just in cities in the eastern US (as far as I can tell))

2. Take submissions for awesome project ideas that could use just a… Continue

Exhibit A suggests, among other social innovation tips: "Don’t fight culture (If people cook by stirring their stews, they’re not going to use a solar oven, no matter what you do to market it. Make them a better stove instead.)"



I would suggest that this phrasing is a little incorrect. Social innovation can in fact lead to cultural change. Rather, I would say:… Continue