Franca Leeson's Blog (38)

Novelists and Poets Write the News

Added by Franca Leeson on June 14, 2009 at 10:00am — No Comments

Skate House

Athanasia Psaraki of Archivirus Architecture and Design has designed a "skatable habitat". Yes, that's a guy boarding in his kitchen, and no, his mom is not going to kill him. Awesome! The idea was to create a house designed around the concept of skateboarding (or blading), of fast mo… Continue

Added by Franca Leeson on March 28, 2009 at 12:00pm — No Comments

Coaxing a reluctant respondent to give truthful answers

I really enjoyed this description of a creative way around getting people to answer embarrassing questions on surveys. They use a coin flip to create an abstract “screen” for the reluctant respondent. (Apologies to those to whom this is old news) Read on: “Studies linking disease to sex… Continue

Added by Franca Leeson on March 24, 2009 at 2:45pm — No Comments

Get through the downturn by thinking differently

Hubber Ken Wall has just had an article on productive thinking published on Yahoo Australia's Small Business site. Worth reading! Here's the lead to get you started: "How can you get through the downturn by simply thinking differen… Continue

Added by Franca Leeson on March 14, 2009 at 10:14am — No Comments

A Note on Procreativity: We Screw Around

Added by Franca Leeson on February 26, 2009 at 7:07am — 1 Comment

Brain Cells

Added by Franca Leeson on February 18, 2009 at 3:00pm — No Comments

Watermelon Carving

Apparently large fruits make an awesome "canvas" for sculptors. This one is from a watermelon. Check out more carvings here. Continue

Added by Franca Leeson on February 3, 2009 at 8:00am — No Comments

Think Better in Brazil

Think Better is about to be launched in Brazil. Our friend Solange Machado reports that a contact of hers there is director of post-grad courses at a university where a teacher who read the book (in English) has already d… Continue

Added by Franca Leeson on January 31, 2009 at 10:51am — No Comments

Congratulations, Americans!

This is a lovely Flickr photostream of ordinary people at the Obama Inauguration. So many of my US friends have been feeling down about their government's policies and actions over the… Continue

Added by Franca Leeson on January 29, 2009 at 8:19am — No Comments

Comedy in the Wild

This bizarre toy security checkpoint engendered an apparently spontaneous flurry of hilarious faux-reviews on Amazon. Some of them are very, very funny; all of them point to the obvious horror of "normalizing" the kind of surveillance indignities we continue to suffer.… Continue

Added by Franca Leeson on January 22, 2009 at 6:30am — 1 Comment

Think Better in Korean!

Added by Franca Leeson on January 21, 2009 at 5:30pm — No Comments

Monsters of Oak Mountain

Role Playing Games are an awesome way to exercise the imagination, probably the most vital component of creative intelligence. A class of 5th graders in Alabama invented monster friends for their role playing games, and did u… Continue

Added by Franca Leeson on January 20, 2009 at 2:03pm — No Comments

Virtual Bike Lane

Added by Franca Leeson on January 20, 2009 at 2:00pm — 12 Comments

Brain Hacks

Someone has posted a series of cool brain hacks that allow you to evoke hallucinations. Sounds like fun! Check it out at boston.com. The first thing to know is that the mind isn't a mirror, or even a pas… Continue

Added by Franca Leeson on January 16, 2009 at 4:28pm — No Comments

ABCDreams: Art Building Children's Dreams

Many of you met our good friends Frank Smith and Lynn Bird from ABCDreams at Mindcamp this year. Frank and Lynn have arrived in Tanzania for another visit with the children there. Frank, Lynn and Tanzania contact Joseph Lyimo are… Continue

Added by Franca Leeson on January 16, 2009 at 9:30am — No Comments

Calvin has something to say....

Check out this Calvin and Hobbes strip from 15 years ago... sadly apt in light of the current goings-on in the financial world. Continue

Added by Franca Leeson on January 7, 2009 at 10:30am — No Comments

Sticky Tape Sculptures

Click here to view an awesome videotaped interview on Scientific American with a guy who makes sculpture out of sticky tape. They are beautiful. Continue

Added by Franca Leeson on December 30, 2008 at 12:30pm — No Comments

CrapWrap

Want to get your partner a gift but don't want her (and face it, we are talking to males in heterosexual relationships here) to find out you bought it online the last minute? CrapWrap is a service provided by a squad of crack forklift trick drivers who will wrap your gift crappily an… Continue

Added by Franca Leeson on December 17, 2008 at 1:58pm — No Comments

Japanese Bike Parking System

Here's a link to a blog that describes a Japanese bike parking system, where your bike is sent to a parallel universe until you need it again. OK, not a parellel universe, but just as cool, a 144-slot giant underground cylinder that keeps your bike safe from thieves, accidents, bad weat… Continue

Added by Franca Leeson on December 16, 2008 at 12:17pm — No Comments

Monoface

Mono, an ad agency in Minneapolis, came up with this innovative, ever-changing New Year's card for the world. They've photoshopped their facial features in a such a way that they can be clicked on and shuffled to create surprising ne… Continue

Added by Franca Leeson on December 10, 2008 at 7:00am — No Comments

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