Animated Olympic athletes star alongside mascots in 2012 film

Image via Wikipedia

Olympic organisers have stepped up attempts to generate £1bn in merchandising revenues by launching a flagship store at Heathrow‘s Terminal 5 and unveiling an animated film featuring the 2012 mascots and a string of Team GB athletes.

The store is the first to open at an airport, acknowledging that a large proportion of the £1bn revenue target – which will raise £80m in profit towards the London Organising Committee‘s operational budget of £2bn – will come from the pockets of overseas visitors.

To coincide with the opening, a second animated film featuring Olympic and Paralympic mascots Wenlock and Mandeville, written by children’s author Michael Morpurgo, has been released.

The film, Adventures on a Rainbow, is narrated by Simon Russell Beale.

Via http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2011/mar/01/olympic-stars-animated-2012-film

Unfortunately, they are not very happy for people to share the video on blogs or websites, so you have to click to watch on YouTube. Some people are SOOOO protective, don’t you think?

Strange Random Olympics Quote:

At the Olympics in China, every color was represented… and that was just the drinking water. – Evan Sayet

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InspireAt, a daily dose of inspiration!

If you’re looking for a way to spice up your reports, websites and whatever, or even looking for a new shade of green for the living-room, InspireAt is the place to go.

The site includes of examples of websites, typography, photos, logos and more, clearly displayed with their respective colour palettes. You can also browse by colour, if that’s what you’re after.

Content is frequently updated and always, well, inspiring, so we recommend InspireAt!

Strange Random Design Quote:

Everything is designed.  Few things are designed well — Brian Reed

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• Showcase Of 60 Unique and Memorable Animal Inspired Logo Designs … (designbeep.com)
• Weekly+Typography+Inspiration+%23+11 (addictivefonts.com)
• HTC Inspire Is Short on Looks, Big on Everything Else (wired.com)

Video Talks, quality online video content

You know we’re fans of TED.com and of video sites in general. Now some kind person called Jim Melfi has published a website listing TED and 56 other resources, from San Francisco to Slovenia, covering topics such as Design, Sustainability, Economics (the Davos video group is interesting, not to mention topical) and Technology. There’s also a separate section for Universities and Colleges of Higher  Education that publish their content online.

You can visit Video Talks by clicking on the picture here or on the link in the Blogroll section on the right-hand side of this page!

About VideoTalks.org: The initial idea for this website was developed in 2009 after realizing that one had to search many sites to find the ones listed above. At the time, I had no idea that the Internet contained such a rich variety of viewpoints from men and women who are truly making a difference in our world community. This site is certainly dedicated to those of us who want quality substance beyond the fog of mindless chatter and short sound bites. I welcome your suggestions regarding other sites and speakers. Jim Melfi.

Strange Random Video Quote:

In seven to ten years video traffic on the Internet will exceed data and voice traffic combined – Bob Metcalfe

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• Say Hello to My Avatar: Bob Metcalfe Gives First UT Innovation Lecture Using Avaya Web Interface (xconomy.com)
• Davos: Explosion Of Video Is Next Technological Innovation (blogs.forbes.com)
• Video Encyclopedia Qwiki Wants To Make Information Into An Experience (reelseo.com)
• Where to Watch the Davos World Economic Forum Online (gigaom.com)
• TED’s Chris Anderson Talks Crowd-Accelerated Innovation (wired.com)

LiveGo – your online life, all in one place!

LiveGo is a new service (still in beta, like most Web 2.0 services worth their salt) designed to help people like us with more online accounts than we care to mention. No more information overload or wishing there were 25 hours in a day; LiveGo lets you sign in using any of 6 different services, which means they don’t ask you to make ANOTHER password and also that they don’t keep any of your information.

What you get is something like this. On the left you have your chosen services, such as Twitter, GMail, Facebook and as you click on them, the results update in the centre pane, where you can manage your account, add content and so on.

Over on the right, there’s a column for instant messaging that includes Gtalk, MSN, Facebook, AIM and a few others to boot. All in all, it’s easy to use and very convenient and the magic word – FREE!

 

Strange Random Information Quote:

“The information in the world doubles everyday. What they don’t tell us,is that our wisdom is cut in half at the same time.” – Joey Novick

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• 5 Tips & Tricks To Avoid Facebook Phishing Scams (makeuseof.com)
• Blekko and DuckDuckGo Partnership Shows How Startups Can Take on the Big Guys (readwriteweb.com)
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The Story of Stuff

Cover via Amazon

Annie Leonard is the author and host of our very own The Story of Stuff. She is author of The Story of Stuff, the book, published by Free Press of Simon and Schuster on March 9, 2010. Annie has spent nearly two decades investigating and organizing on environmental health and justice issues. She has traveled to 40 countries, visiting literally hundreds of factories where our stuff is made and dumps where our stuff is dumped. Witnessing first hand the horrendous impacts of both over- and under- consumption around the world, Annie is fiercely dedicated to reclaiming and transforming our industrial and economic systems so they serve, rather than undermine, ecological sustainability and social equity.

via The Story of Stuff.

Now a series of films, The Story of … analyses the way in which many of the products we take for granted every day can actually be bad for us and bad for the planet. Annie Leonard looks at how everyone can make a difference in this production chain. It’s a cartoon, but it’s a very serious topic. By way of example, here’s The Story of Bottled Water. Visit the website – http://storyofstuff.org/ – for more information and films.

Strange Random Sustainability Quote:

“Anything else you’re interested in is not going to happen if you can’t breathe the air and drink the water. Don’t sit this one out. Do something.” – Carl Sagan

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• Loop Scoops: Annie Leonard And PBS Team Up For New Kids Show (huffingtonpost.com)
• Annie Leonard’s Story of Electronics is an E-Waste Eye Opener (inhabitat.com)
• Green: A Sequel to ‘The Story of Stuff’ (green.blogs.nytimes.com)