From the This American Life Live! show from last week, which is also getting re-shown tomorrow!

(It was totes awesome)

Set yourself aside some time and watch the first episode of Dirty Work.  It’s really cool!  I’m excited to see where this technology goes.

I know none of us kids (yet) but this song is pretty badass.

Last August a stage collapse at the Indiana State Fair killed seven people.  Recently engineering reports investigating the collapse have been released, implicating, among other things, incorrect engineering calculations and a general lack of regulation regarding the engineering of temporary entertainment structures…

PowerPoint presentation describing the analysis and failure sequence can be viewed here.

Elon Musk (born June 28, 1971) is a SouthAfrican born American engineer and entrepreneur best known for co-founding PayPal, SpaceX and Tesla Motors. He is currently the CEO and CTO of SpaceX, CEO and Product Architect of Tesla Motors and Chairman of SolarCity.

This was on Tuesday’s show but I watched it on Hulu last night.  Anyways, Elon Musk is billionaire genius spaceship builder who wants to inspire mankind to innovate.  No Big Deal.  One of his goals is to make humans a multi-planetary species, but he does have selfish motives for that: he wants to retire on Mars.  By his predictions, interplanetary travel could be a real thing in 10-15 years.  I would love to hang out with this guy… preferably on his way to his crater-side retirement castle.

“GDP is important but not all that is important. This is especially true in developed countries, where most or all of the population has living standards far above basic material needs. Except in the very poorest countries happiness varies more with the quality of human relationships than with income. And in the richest countries it is essential not to subordinate the happiness of the people to the ‘interests of the economy,’ since the marginal utility of income is low when income is so high. The economy exists to serve the people, not vice versa. Incremental gains in income in a rich country may be much less beneficial to the population than steps to ensure the vibrancy of local communities or better mental health. “

Sounds good to me!  Here’s a link to the full report.  It’s pretty long (~155 pages), but might be fun to skim through.

1. Denmark
2. Finland
3. Norway
4. Netherlands
5. Canada
6. Switzerland
7. Sweden
8. New Zealand
9. Australia
10. Ireland
11. United States

The students have made it to the semifinals in the Dell Social Innovation Challenge.  They’ve already put a ton of work into this project, and if you can spare a few minutes to vote for them, it would really help them out.  You have to register with the website, but it’s doesn’t require anything more than a name, email address, and password.  I used my spam address (and identity).

Thanks!

A thoughtfully designed school will promote community sustainability and learning in Karamojong, Uganda.

Texas Impact Design is collaborating with Smile Africa of Uganda, East Africa to design and build a school for the Karamojong tribe’s children that will transform their life through education. More than just a building to accommodate the basic education needs, the school will actively promote discovery, self-sufficiency and strong community relationships through architecture that invites everyone in the Karamojong tribe to engage in active learning. Classrooms will double as public spaces for community classes, civic events, and performances. Outdoor learning gardens will teach sustainable agriculture and nutritional practices, providing opportunities for collaborative interaction extending beyond the classroom walls. Community input drives the design process, ensuring a school that is deeply embedded in the local culture and continued growth of these children.