That’s where it all begins with Asimo, and now that technology is going to be used in devices meant to aid people with walking problems. Using lessons learned in robotic legs and simulating human walking Honda has developed 2 systems and has put them in use around their assembly plants to improve productivity while reducing injury risks. They call it Walk Assist and it comes in 2 flavors With Stride Management and With Bodywieght Support. The main purpose for these 2 systems is to boost your natural abilities. They are designed to help people who can walk increase the weight they can move and reduce injuries in lifting or moving heavy objects. Honda factory workers building cars and vans use them to move heavy parts. (Via The Weekly Constitutional).

Can’t wait for full on mechsuits.

(Thanks to Andrea Zucchini)

I love how Japanese this is. The dog is hilarious. I love food, anyone care to share and recipes?

Extremely interesting documentary, (thanks Andrea for dropping the note).

Very interestingly the part about physical engineering for the brain, with the example of the woman who had a brain surgery to implement with her pacemaker to make her feel happier (part six). We really are reaching a point in history where we have to start to find ways to provide equal possibilities for everyone on this planet, or we will really have physical divisions between people and not just wealth gap in social classes. Imagine a race of people who were actually physically and psychologically stronger in every way because of robotic improvements.

Susan Greenfield puts it best in this film, discussing what kind of world will be living in when we have people worrying heart stability while there are people in the world who do not have access to clean water. The world divided to the techno-haves and the techno-have-nots. 21st century, a century of speciation of people, the difference between species, seems like a rather soon to be realistic world rather than science fiction.

Watch the youtube version above, or download the torrent here:

http://www.mininova.org/tor/1011659

Leave your comments here.

The other night, while coming across the topic of marriage, I remembered the article I came across from The Atlantic, “Have You Ever Tried to Sell a Diamond? “. The article was very informative and extremely interesting. It makes one think about the origins of  “A Diamond is Forver” which is actually coined by the advertising agency N. W. Ayer & Son, in 1948, and “Diamonds are a girls best friend”.

This is one of the many wakeup calls to remind us that what we take for granted, the values, the ‘morals’, the cultural norms, are in fact, fabricated, and much of it, fabricated in only recent times, to fuel the ever growing monster of consumption.

To reach to how we conceive diamonds today, DeBeers and the Anglo American Corporation have twisted words, in what we would label as ‘terrorism’ to get to what they wanted. What saddens me the most however, is not the ignorant brainwashed people in the west flocking to buy into this fantasy of diamonds, but the exploited continent of Africa. Again, they are robbed right in front of their eyes through corruption and greed. t

What if all the things that you’ve ever been taught was wrong?

Excerpt from the video:

De Beers is able to create an artificial scarcity of diamonds through its wholly-owned Central Selling Organization (CSO), thus keeping prices high. A cartel is a group of formally independent producers whose goal is to increase their collective profits by means of price fixing, limiting supply, or other restrictive practices. The US oil and gasoline markets work the same way seeking to restrict the flow of IRAQI oil for example. Now hold on a minute: Why is our government in a “difficult” position if Iraq is a “swing producer” of oil? The answer was that Saddam was jerking the oil market up and down. One week, without notice, the man in the moustache suddenly announces he’s going to “support the Palestinian intifada” and cuts off all oil shipments. The result: Worldwide oil prices jump up. The next week, Saddam forgets about the Palestinians and pumps to the maximum allowed under the Oil-for-Food Program. The result: Oil prices suddenly dive-bomb. Up, down, up, down. Saddam was out of control. “Control is what it’s all about,” one oilman told me. “It’s not about getting the oil, it’s about controlling oil’s price.”

What else have they lied to us about?

This month’s issue of AdBusters is a killer. With the recession continues, will this perhaps be finally the end of capitalism as we know it? What will be known as in the future as? I like the concept of Post-Pythagorean , I’ve sure had enough of their nonsense dominating our thinking.

Kick It Over Manifesto
We, the undersigned, make this accusation: that you, the
teachers of neoclassical economics and the students that you
graduate, have perpetuated a gigantic fraud upon the world.
You claim to work in a pure science of formula and law, but yours is a
social science, with all the fragility and uncertainty that this entails.
We accuse you of pretending to be what you are not.
You hide in your offices, protected by your mathematical jargon,
while in the real world, forests vanish, species perish and human
lives are callously destroyed. We accuse you of gross negligence in
the management of our planetary household.
You have known since its inception that one of your measures of
economic progress, the Gross Domestic Product, is fundamentally
flawed and incomplete, and yet you have allowed it to become a global
standard, reported day in, day out in every form of media. We accuse
you of recklessly projecting an illusion of progress.
You have done great harm, but your time is coming to a close. Your
systems are crumbling, your flaws increasingly laid bare. An economic
revolution has begun, as hopeful and determined as any in history. We
will have our clash of economic paradigms, we will have our moment
of truth, and out of each will come a new economics – open, holistic, human ‑scale.
On campus after campus, we will chase you old goats out of power.
Then, in the months and years that follow, we will begin the work of
reprogramming your doomsday machine.
Sign the manifesto at
kickitOver.OrG

Gotta love their infographics.

I love sorbet, and I love infographics. Can’t wait to give this a try.

Few weeks ago I found on the blog of Tim Ferris, the author of four hour work week, who tested out a the Vibram series Five Finger Shoes. Yes it does seem quite odd, however the reasoning behind it was very convincing.

Above: Testing out the Vibram Five Finger shoes at home.

Until the mass production of flip-flops (thongs in Australia), most of the world’s population went barefoot, however today, our feet, despite being a body part with the most amount of bones in our bodies, are becoming desensitized and numbed, enclosed in a tight space. Even up to my grandmother’s generation, it was still common to have women in bound shoes!

Above: Foot binding was a custom practiced on young girls and women for approximately one thousand years in China, beginning in the 10th century and ending in the early 20th century.

Ok, so we’re not that extreme now in the 21st century, but are we really any better?

Just prior to leaving Milan, my friend Marta arrived at my door wearing a new pair of Vibram classics, it really is something when you see it in person the first time. I had to try it out myself. Two days later in Stockholm, I hunted down a pair at Naturkompaniet and bought a pair myself.

I wore it on the same day, and gave it a city stroll test for roughly three hours. The feeling was really something I haven’t felt before, it really is like walking barefoot, but with a layer of protection. I must say however, it is slightly tight around the top elastic band around the top of my feet, and shown signs of redness. My feet is quite sensitive, and I am not accustomed to wearing shoes without socks. Even when I rockclimb, I would still put a pair of socks, as the feeling of moist and sweat just makes me go crazy, not to mention my phobia against feet odor. However, with the Vibram Classic, the shoe really does breathe quite easily, and I felt no sweating or moist develop throughout the day.

Then the feeling of tightness came in, I start to picture how squished my little toes are in there in the sock like environment, I instantly felt toe claustrophobia. It is advised that the shoe should be one size smaller than your average size, and I think I went about one and a half size smaller.

Few days later I had some time on my hands and went for a jog around the neighborhood, and they were quite amazing. They really do support the whole foot, and I feel like I was running in much better shape and control of my strides. Going downhill on the tarmac was not as spectacular however as I was not in perfect shape, and felt I was heel striking quite a bit as I built speed and momentum.

Tim Ferriss mentioned that after the first 24hrs of wearing the Vibram shoes, the heels do become sore and sensitive, perhaps even bruised, I can see how this could happen. This was not such a big problem for myself as I work from home most of the time and spend more of my days barefoot.

Above: This chart sure is convincing.

According to Ferriss, the Five Fingered shoes are supposed to build strength in your arches, while the local shoe seller suggested that the lack of arch support in these shoes could be problematic for some people. I see the point in both views on both sides, but I’m unsure which to believe. Please leave a note if anyone has tried these shoes, and how it’s working out for them. In the meanwhile, I’m keeping my Vibrams, and can’t wait to see what kind of effects it will have on my daily life.

That’s me, in 50 years. I just recently discovered the pleasures (and pains) of ice bathing, after reading about it through Tim Ferriss’s Blog, Relax like a Pro: 5 Steps to Hacking Your Sleep . One of the most interesting points was about the use of bathing in ice. It sure did sound crazy, crazy enough that on the way home from the Swedish supermarket ICA, with two large party bags of ice, a man had to ask what we were up to for the night, thinking perhaps that there is a big party going down.

I must say, the sensations you feel after the bath, is really something amazing, that is well worth the bath. Though I must warn you, it is fucking cold. I took the recommendation of 10minutes, with 5mintues with just lower body and 5minutes up to the torso and neck. Towards the end, it really doesn’t get too bad, you do forget that your body is shaking like crazy and your teeth is making constant drum rolls.

Overall, do give it a try, especially if you just had a big work out, instead of a hot shower, take a nice ice bath. I was recommended 30minutes after the work out, take a hot cup of tea, and don’t have a hot shower at least one or two hours afterward, otherwise it’ll defeat the purpose.

Happy ice bathing!

I can’t believe I’ve lived through most of my adult life without knowing how to do this. I’m going to boil the rest of my eggs tomorrow just to peel it all.