Link love for January 5th

The United States spends more on medical care per person than any country, yet life expectancy is shorter than in most other developed nations and many developing ones (above).

Robert Henke, aka Monolake shares his custom Max for Live devices.

How to dispose of old electronics in a responsible way.

Top 7 Best Green iPhone Apps.

Ira Glass on Storytelling (YouTube): part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4.

Design and Meaning: an interview with Nathan Shedroff.

Self-Destructing Bacteria Could Be the Key to Better Biofuels.

Incredible ‘Garbage City’ Rises Outside of Cairo.

How to protect your ideas in the digital age: Don’t. Build a reputation as someone who creates great ideas, sometimes on demand. Or as someone who can manipulate or build on your ideas better than a copycat can.

The practice of hanging out is consistently demonized by educationally-minded folks as a waste of time. Yet, it is in that space where youth learn to navigate social situations, make sense of impression management, and develop the social skills necessary to be productive adults.

2010: A New Hope

A new year brings a bounty of hope—for new attitudes, new projects, new directions. In the past year, my intentions were to play more live shows and focus on finishing select tracks to my satisfaction. Mission accomplished.

Rather than make predictions or resolutions, here are some of the things on my plate and/or on the horizon for the year ahead (not all related to this site, FWIW): taking delivery of a blinky, new monome grayscale 64; composing generative pieces using Nodal, Ableton Suite 8 and Max for Live; finishing up a new EP for commercial release; posting more free podcast mixes; turning my generative sketches into fully interactive works; selling original prints and artwork; reading J.G. Ballard‘s complete works and making a dent in my reading list; devoting more time to my Geometry Studio, Sympathy for the Robots and The Silent Stars projects; developing some ideas into a viable, sustainable business; brewing some homemade beer; eating fresh, local cuisine; staying more plugged in and chilled out. Opa!