Emily Temple at Flavorwire has posted a useful assemblage of handwritten outlines by famous authors.
Here’s an example by Joseph Heller — click through to see it in full size:
ARB — 24 May 2013
A Collection of Famous Authors’ Hand-Drawn Outlines
Tag: design
Mechanical Transmission of Power With Endless Rope Drives: More Efficient Than Electricity?
Kris De Decker at Low-tech Magazine has published a fascinating article discussing rope drives, a 19th-century technology that was used, especially in Europe, to transmit power over shorter distances. This method of transmission was actually “more efficient than electricity for distances up to 5 kilometres” and even today “would be more efficient than electricity over relatively short distances.”
De Decker makes an interesting connection to the spread of small-scale renewable energy production and suggests a possible role for a technology such as the endless rope drive:
“In spite of [some drawbacks discussed in the article], power transmission by ropes might have a place in our energy systems. Today, there is a trend towards small-scale, decentralized power production, based on renewable energy sources. These solar panels, water turbines or wind turbines generate electricity, but whenever we need to produce mechanical energy, eliminating the step of generating electricity could result in a somewhat less practical, but more efficient use of energy.”
De Decker thinks that “If we used modern materials for making ropes and pulleys, we could further improve this forgotten method.” He illustrates his article with many photos of 19th-century installations.
ARB — 4 April 2013
The Virtue of Small-House Living
Over at ThomasNet Green & Clean recently, I wrote a pair of articles about small houses, with a mix of interesting photos, statistics on home sizes, and quotes from Henry David Thoreau. Here are links to the articles:
Living in Small and Tiny Houses – Thoreau Would Be Proud
Want to Build Green? Start by Thinking Small.
(Photo: Tiny house interior. Credit: RowdyKittens, CC BY 2.0.)
AB — 14 Oct. 2011
Infographic Maps Physicians’ Use of Online Communities
Here’s an interesting infographic from Publicis Healthware International, a healthcare-focused communication firm based in Italy. I think this is interesting and potentially useful for marketers of pharmaceuticals, medical devices, and products and services directed at physicians — it gives some idea of how physicians are using social/professional media and identifies some of the trusted communities where they might be reached.
In an accompanying article, Publicis writes that
The proliferation of small and large communities is the result of physicians’ increasing need to share ideas and discuss clinical cases with colleagues in every part of the world.
The article categorizes physicians’ online social media (although “social” doesn’t necessarily express the purpose of these communities) in three ways:
- Specialty — focused on physician specialties and special interests — Publicis calls this “the long tail of physician communities”
- Location — country- or language-specific communities
- Trusted provider — communities that enjoy high confidence among physicians, such as those organized by professional societies
Following is the map/infographic. This image is reduced — you can click on it to link through to the full-sized original:
AB — 7 September 2011
Infographic Shows Where American Jobs Are Going
I came across this useful infographic from MBAProgramInfo.com, which analyzes the effect of outsourcing on the U.S. jobs picture (this image is reduced in size — click on the image to link through to the original and examine it in full size):
AB — 30 August 2011
Useful Infographic on Defeating Internet Trolls
I’m interested in infographics in themselves as tools for communication, but this one from Community 102 also has some useful information about silencing Internet trolls (click on the image below to see the original at full size):
AB — 13 August 2011
Non-Functional Machine on Smithsonian Logo – So That’s Why Innovation Never Gets Moving!
Smithsonian.com recently started a new “Department of Innovation” blog to “track all things innovative.” However, Michelle Malkin rightly notes that the logo used on the blog represents a non-functional set of three gears.
Maybe this is an unintentional admission of the organizational gridlock that often throttles innovation!
AB — 8 August 2011
Cisco’s Infographic About the Internet of Things
On the Cisco blog on July 15, 2011, Dave Evans, Cisco’s Chief Futurist in their Innovations Practice, posted the following infographic about the Internet of Things, which I’ve been writing about for a few years — see “Developing the Internet of Things and a Smarter Planet” and “Is an ‘Energy Internet’ Emerging?,” which touches on similar idea.
Click on this image to link through to the full-size original:
I’m as much interested in the infographic as a method for the visual presentation of information as I am about the particular content of any infographic — in examining any of these presentations, I think it’s important to understand the data sources and to recognize that these graphics are simplifications of research that is often quite complicated.
I notice that author of this graphic says that by the end of 2011, “20 typical households will generate more Internet traffic than the entire Internet in 2008.” While the denizens of Casa Bredenberg no doubt generate a lot of traffic as Internet users, I doubt whether the objects in our house are right now generating 5 percent as much traffic as the 2008 Internet. Maybe if Progress Energy eventually gets its smart-grid rollout going …
AB — 18 July 2011
Infographic Shows Extent of Renewable Energy Use
Here’s an interesting infographic that gives an idea of the extent of renewable energy use in the U.S., future projections of the energy mix, and some other useful information — click on the image to examine it in full size:
AB — 14 July 2011
Infographic: What happens on the Internet every 60 seconds
Here’s an interesting infographic giving statistics about the volumes of various activities on the Internet every 60 seconds. The graphic is credited to Go-Globe.com, but I found it at 22 Words. Click on the image appearing here to go to the full-size original:
AB — 21 June 2011
A Thinking Person, a.k.a. Cogit8R 