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I’ve just started working on my house, doing long overdue repairs. The roof in particular is in need of major overhaul. Its a metal roof, still quite sturdy in general, even after 20 some Quebec winters, but there are rusty screws, some holes and yes, minor leaks.

Of course, I tend to neglect these maintenance tasks just ever so slightly too long. My excuse? Well, the house just doesn’t make sense. Or at least, it doesn’t make sense to me. Mind you, it is a fairly good, solid, and comfortable house, entirely renovated 20 years ago (long before we purchased it).

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I have always admired Steve Jobs. For those who might not have heard of him, he is the founder of Apple Computer (now known simply as Apple Inc.) and is currently the head of both Apple and Pixar Animation Studios (bought out recently by Walt Disney, but still independently operated).

Mr Jobs is an idealist and a visionary, and he fits my definition of a ‘creative agent of positive change.’ He is known as a charismatic leader, and his detractors accuse him of being single-minded; they talk about the ‘Jobs warped reality field.’
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Modern paint products are known to offgas nocive volatile organic compounds (VOCs) for periods up to several years after initial application. This is especially worrisome in sealed indoor environments, such as modern hyperinsulated homes where such compounds add up to a myriad other household airborne chemicals which collectively impose a significant burden on our immune system. While low VOC commercial paints are now available at a premium on the market, there are also many ancient recipes to make paint from simple natural ingredients. Experimentation in the Omnilab has led to a promising recipe for paint based on milk; the results and advantages of this paint formulation make it an interesting alternative choice for the environmentally-conscious. (more…)

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Building on the social progress of the sixties and the many innovations rooted in the seventies (such as the personal computer, the cellular phone, and the Internet), the eighties was a hopeful decade. It saw the end of the cold war, the birth of a new environmental consciousness, and positive progress in both science and art. However, many initiatives and innovations which developed in a promising manner in the eighties have failed to live up to their expectations. Indeed, the mood has shifted from hopeful to cynical, from possibility to pessimism, from spiritual to material. Thankfully, there are signs of a turnaround. (more…)

 

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R. Buckminster Fuller (July 12th, 1895—July 1st, 1983), engineer, poet, philosopher, architect, inventor, and visionary was the quintessential modern Renaissance man. Among many other descriptions, he was called “the PR man to the Universe.” His original and profoundly individual way of thinking led to a catastrophic business failure and bankruptcy in 1927; he had been attempting to innovate in the very conservative business of construction, which has traditionally been strangled by regressive codes and territorial trade unions. Profoundly shaken, he chose to embark on a lifelong experiment as “Guinea Pig B” to find out what one individual could do to help all of humanity become an enduring success, in a manner which would be sustainable and environmentally sound. He worked ahead of his time and left an impressive legacy of tools and knowledge in mathematics, architecture, engineering, philosophy, etc. One of the highlights of his life’s work is that he understood the importance of working at the interfaces, of transcending the boundaries that exist between the fields of human endeavour. In this line of thought, he was inspired by Nature’s synergetic mechanisms, its systemic quality, which makes it difficult to understand if you look at only one aspect at a time. This philosophy led to unique and extremely valuable inventions, with the geodesic dome being the most recognized.     (more…)