Pause midway through chasing your dreams and take stock of your happiness quota, and soak up Bobby McFerrin’s manta, Don’t Worry Be Happy. As Bobby jived his way through 1988 with his hit single, he brought to life the reality that human beings are programmed to search for happiness. Whether we choose to acknowledge it or not, we spend a large proportion of our days aiming to achieve a state of contentment, satisfaction and to find those heart-warming-eye-crinkling good vibes. His Holiness the Dalai Lama believes that, “…The most fundamental aspiration of all human beings is to seek happiness, to overcome suffering. We may go to bed at night confronted with many problems in our lives. But we go to bed hoping we will wake up the next morning! And then the next morning, in a way, it is hope that motivates us to get out of bed and carry on with our lives – the hope that we will eventually be able to achieve our aspiration for happiness.” So when we wake up tomorrow morning, let’s try to remember to put a smile on our faces before we jump out of bed.
We have all heard the phrase, ‘when I was your age’, and as soon as we do, we tend to block out the following advice because we assume it’s probably exaggerated, irrelevant, or expired. As Charles Wadsworth once quoted, ‘by the time a man realises that maybe his father was right, he usually has a son who thinks he’s wrong.’ To solve this generational problem, Walker Lamond, a writer and producer, wrote a book of rules for his (not then born) son, rules that were comprised before Lamond could become old and somewhat uncool. For example, Lamond advises to his son that there are only a few times that he can wear velvet, New Year’s Eve would be one. He also tells his son to take a vacation from the internet, lose the adverbs, to not jog shirtless and to always accept drinking challenges. In fact, Lamond, together with contributing bloggers, has collated a list of more than 450 very useful and learned lessons for any son to apply in life. You can read a full list of his suggestions on his blog and also make contributions to the list. May fathers never be doubted again.
“Literacy unlocks the door to learning throughout life, is essential to development and health, and opens the way for democratic participation and active citizenship.” – Kofi Annan, former United Nations Secretary-General. While many of us in the Western world view education as a given right, children in Third World countries are forced to relinquish their right to an education – an education that could enable them to escape poverty. The vicious cycle of lack of education and its link to poverty is well-recognised, and remains a significant humanitarian challenge that must be overcome, with more than 774 million illiterate people in the world. For every year a girl is educated above the average, her wages will increase by 15%. It is powerful facts like these that have driven organisations to invest in providing desperately needed educational resources. Room to Read is a foundation that aims to provide an education to underprivileged children in Asia and Africa. Their main objectives are to run programs that provide and create access to educational resources such as libraries, increase the awareness of literacy in schools and communities, and to provide administration support to facilitate educational centers. You can help Room to Read continue their efforts by donating to their website through personal contributions, fundraising, employee involvement, or hosting book drives.
Health retreats are the ultimate in regenerative relaxation, where you can unwind on your exotic holiday while enriching your body with treatments and pampering sessions. Vulkana is unlike any other, set in the picturesque coastal landscape of Norway. This getaway takes place on a traditional 19th-century fisherman’s boat that resembles the vessels used by the Vikings. However, the insides of the vessel have been remodelled to incorporate design principles from Japan, creating a soothing and peaceful ambience that focuses on the beautiful surrounds and the calming effects of the Arctic Ocean. The boat has a Zen lounge, built in an area that once housed more than 60 caught fish, sits underneath the water surface, and has a Turkish bath that uses fresh seawater, a library, and a skylight that allows you to gaze at the Northern Lights shining above. A sauna and a salt-water hot tub sit on deck and feature spectacular views any time of the day or night. Both can be followed by a refreshing dip in the Arctic Ocean – your own private bath. The small space above the cargo room has been converted into a bistro, which can seat up to 14 guests, and serves delicious dishes made from local ingredients. Vulkana can take 12 passengers and promises a truly unique experience that will renew your body and spirit.
In a world where surveillance is almost a given and our privacy is not what it used to be, the path of our everyday movements are often documented more than we might realise. Who knows who might have been filming, photographing or watching on your journey to work this morning? And now with Google Earth’s ubiquitous documentation of the planet, you never know when you’ve inadvertently been immortalised on film. A tongue-in-cheek response to such technologies is the ‘You Are Here’ umbrella designed by Cabracega Studios for a project commissioned for a Coca-Cola Light Exhibition within ExperimentaDesign Biennale’s 2009 program. The challenge consisted in re-inventing secondhand objects collected during Coca-Cola Light campaign. The designers of the umbrella intended not only to create new objects/installations but also to place them on a broader context, thus telling a new story. Within the contemporary context of information and surveillance, they cheekily transformed an umbrella into a geographical/spatial symbol so that air surveillance and Google Earth will have no trouble locating your whereabouts. Perhaps this will be the futuristic version of Where’s Wally/Waldo?
Photography Gianluca Colla. by As humans, we are constantly searching for ways to increase our life span, and we celebrate those who live well into their old age. Dan Buettner, an American explorer, writer and Emmy-award winning documentary producer, has identified places in the world where a large proportion of people live beyond 100 years of age, having the longest life expectancy, and are free from disabilities. He has named these clusters ‘blue zones’, and after uncovering some preliminary research, he teamed up with National Geographic to identify Earth’s blue zones. Buettner has uncovered zones in Sardinia in Italy, Okinawa in Japan, Nicoya in Costa Rica, and Loma Linda in California. Each place has characteristics that create living conditions that lengthen life spans and avoid diseases. He found that, in Sardinia, wine contained the highest levels of known antioxidants. In Ikaria, Greece, people drink herbal tea, which significantly lowers blood pressure. Buettner questions Western practices, and urges us to rethink our own living habits including diet, exercise and social patterns. His research into ancient civilisations could uncover health practices that could significantly increase our life expectancies. It is yet another reminder for us to shake up our diet, incorporate exercise into our lives, and to aim to live more naturally.
An up-and-coming, straight, hotshot actor falls head over heels for another man, who has a newly pregnant ex-girlfriend. Throw a savvy talent agent in the mix and you have The Little Dog Laughed. Just the right mix of naughty, funny and glossy Hollywood drama, this Queensland Theatre Company production keeps nothing in the closet. The Little Dog Laughed is a clever commentary on our society’s obsession with celebrity and QTC artistic director Michael Gow says the Hollywood jabs and insights are “cutting but never cruel”. See for yourself if this little dog is barking up the right tree, with tickets available through QPAC.
Edward de Bono is an inventor and problem solver who coined the term ‘lateral thinking’ and he was the first winner of the Capire prize in Madrid for a significant contribution to humankind through his groundbreaking ideas on the way we think.
Map Magazine attended his speech on February 01 at the London School of Economics and Political Science.
During question time, when we asked him “what’s the purpose of life?”, he responded with an aussie joke. We’re not so sure what that meant, but one of his key points about creativity was humour. We’ve outlined his main points below.
Continue reading ‘‘poor thinking’ plagues humanity - edward de bono’
Growing up in rural Australia, a sensitive and caring young girl experienced the hardship that people often face when they are deemed to be different. When, as a teenager, she moved to the big city and into one of the country’s most culturally diverse communities, the innocent young girl witnessed social injustice on a global scale. Now 28, founder of The Social Studio, Dr Grace McQuilten is determined that Australia must become a more accepting country. In her efforts to help initiate that change, this positive young woman has armed herself with humility, generosity and an infectious laugh that comes straight from a heart of gold. Continue reading ‘national dreamer - grace mcquilten’
Entrenched in the high-flying world of business in Hong Kong, Norwegian brothers Chris and Bjorn Fjelddahl and Frenchman Nicolas Gontard would escape each year to what they considered the ultimate winter playground – Niseko, Japan. When, on a whim, Nicolas bought a piece of land in the alpine paradise, the trio seized the opportunity to indulge their love for design, architecture and sustainability. Combining their nous learned from decades working with the world’s most iconic brands, the trio created Odin – a property development and design company that would redefine the concept of luxury. In addition to building a stable of breathtaking ‘personal luxury sanctuaries’ (houses) throughout Niseko, Odin also dabbles in the design of exquisite furniture and, in December 2009, opened the doors to its first boutique hotel, Kimamaya by Odin. Continue reading ‘international dreamer – chris fjelddahl’
Beyond the energetic buzz, the buoyant chatter and the enlivening scent of freshly ground beans that fills the air at Di Bella Coffee’s roastery in Bowen Hills is a single clue that alludes to a love so strong, it could never be quelled. Perched high above the counter sits a placard expounding the words of a satisfied coffee lover. A morning without Di Bella Coffee is like death, it declares. Nine simple words that, in their sincerity, capture the relationship that so many people have with coffee – it calms, inspires and brings communities together. For Phillip Di Bella, the enduring motivator behind the tour de force that is Di Bella Coffee, understanding the intense love affair that a person can have with the rich bean is the key to his success. In just eight years, he has grown the business from a one-person operation (himself) started with $5,000, to a multi-million-dollar outfit that serves the divine liquid to coffee lovers throughout Brisbane and Australia. But the secret ingredient to his success is not the coffee he makes. It’s the passion for people, community and the ultimate experience that has fuelled his inspired journey. Continue reading ‘local dreamer - phillip di bella’
When Renee Nowytarger was a little girl, she liked to view the world through a lens. She remembers borrowing her dad’s camera from his cupboard and roaming around their property north of Sydney in Oxford Falls, taking photos for the school magazine. That was in the days of black-and-white film when the easiest way to breathe life into your shots was to process them in your own makeshift dark room. It proved a disciplined way to learn the ropes. Today, Renee, 36, is living her photojournalist dream and proving her mettle in a male-dominated industry. She recently scooped her fourth Walkley Award as Nikon-Walkley Press Photographer of the Year 2009 (she’s also a four-time finalist) but it’s not the trophies that float her boat. Renee thrives on working with people and telling their story.
Continue reading ‘live dreamer - renee nowytarger’
Power outlets are quite often overloaded with appliances, crowded with extension cords and generally present an unattractive and dangerous electric mess. And no matter what you do to try to conceal them, it’s virtually impossible to hide their unsightly appearance from complete sight. Designer Meysam Movahedi has created the Rambler Socket in order to help minimise the danger and aesthetic offensiveness of extension cords. The Rambler Socket is a 1.5-metre extension cord that recoils into the wall socket and unwinds to your chosen length when required. Much like the cord of a vacuum cleaner, it is mounted on a spring mechanism that will retract the cord when you tug sharply. Meysam invented the socket design after listening to user feedback on the woes of using traditional extension cords. Perfect for use with appliances such as hairdryers, the Rambler Socket is a useful solution for an age-old problem.
Despite the known, detrimental effects of poor eating habits, an unhealthy diet continues to be one of the leading causes of major diseases. Daizi Zheng has attempted to use design to change people’s perceptions of healthy food, using recognisable packaging stereotypes that evoke the appearance of addictive products such as junk food, prescription drugs and cigarettes but contain fruit and vegetables. After observing personal behaviours of humans, Zheng created packaging that would allow people to connect with the food physically and physiologically. Super-size your order of celery sticks at the drive-through, pop your daily blueberry from the pill-packet, and run down to 7-11 for a packet of carrots. While still just a concept, the re-packaging could not only contribute to the availability of healthy food but could also result in people choosing healthier food in everyday life.
Do you rule the Trivial Pursuit board or are you one of those people who cower in fear at the mention of a pub trivia night? Everybody learns differently and, for some, the conventional classroom wasn’t the most effective method. Visual Aid books give the reader a fun and engaging way to train your brain and quench your thirst for knowledge. Getting you game-show and trivia-table ready, books such as Visual Aid: Stuff You’ve Forgotten, Things You Never Thought You Knew, and Lessons You Didn’t Quite Get Around to Learning will help you answer an array of life’s little questions by using colourful illustrations and diagrams that will capture your attention. Learning with visual aids improves retention and comprehension and can help the reader see relationships and patterns. Proving that you really can never know too much stuff, the books can teach you how to use sign language, the geography of the Italian wine region, and the configuration of star constellations. Both Visual Aid editions provide the reader with handy yet sometimes eccentric information compacted into an accessible guide format. The books are suitable for all ages and available for purchase at Amazon.
Photo by Carolyn Cole for the Los Angeles Times. On January 12, a catastrophic 7.0 magnitude earthquake hit Haiti and caused a series of after-shocks that have together affected 3-million lives, taking the lives of 200,000 people, and leaving an estimated 1.2-million people homeless. It is now more important than ever to support the poverty-stricken area, and help those affected by the disaster. The Stand With Haiti Foundation, run through Partners in Health, urgently needs support to acquire and distribute medical supplies to the area, and continue their work in strengthening the public-health system. What lies ahead in the process of rebuilding Haiti is many years of work and heartache for its people. You can help by donating to the foundation online, or fundraising in your local community to help spread the word of the cause and contribute to the relief effort.
Mathieu Lehanneur, a designer and sometimes scientist, has developed a range of quirky yet functional creations that fuse together technology, nature and his own wild imagination. His works include gold-infused spring water, artificial foliage that reacts to seasonal changes, and a ‘local river’ – a mini-ecosystem used to store fish and plants. He has received recent attention for Andrea, a natural air purifier that uses earth’s most efficient air purifiers: plants. Andrea is a glass-enclosed super-plant that cleans the air of toxic compounds through its leaves and roots. The materials used to create our man-made world emit toxins that are imperceptible yet harmful to humans. For example, plastic furniture, glues, and cleaning products emit formaldehyde, a compound that is classified by the World Health Organisation as a known carcinogenic. Fulfilling his dream to design objects that improve quality of life, Mathieu has created an ultra-efficient filter system that eliminates harmful organic compounds from the air, using the basics of nature to combat the by-products of manufacturing.
Image via Lexpress.
