Hasta La Ideas

uplighter reflector

The first three months of 2011 were extremely hectic, and in response I decided to declare April as a Super Simple Month. This was the right choice for me, and I embraced the austerity that came from this decision. I re-read a few of my favorite books, I spent as much time with my family as I could, I refrained from making any non-essential purchases, I was in bed before 10:00 most nights, and I declined many invitations that would have added stress to my schedule.

As much as I would love to keep a Super Simple Year, I know it isn’t the right choice for me. I like to travel, I enjoy having a more robust social life than I did in April, and there are new book titles calling to me from my Kindle. I’m not planning to jump back into a hectic lifestyle in May, however. There are many wonderful lessons learned from April’s Super Simple Month that I will continue to carry forward with me. Instead of simple, I’m aiming for calm for the remainder of the year.

For May, my public resolution is to be more mindful and deliberate about my media intake. I’m not against television, magazines, newspapers, or the internet (obviously), I think they are wonderful forms of entertainment, education, and information distribution. I’ve simply realized that it is more difficult for me to disconnect from media now than it once was, and this doesn’t sit well with me. I have a constant desire to continually be “plugged in,” and I want to be more conscientious about how and when I am.

I haven’t fully figured out my plan for cutting back on my media intake, but there are a few steps I know I will follow or continue to follow:

1. Except for major breaking news, do not watch television programs when they are initially broadcast.
2. Record programs of interest on the DVR and view no more than an hour of television each week day, two hours of television on Saturdays, and no television on Sundays.
3. Set a timer for 10 minutes whenever I am at the computer or using applications on my smart phone for reasons other than work. This includes personal email, checking social media sites, and general roaming around the web. (This does not include phone calls.)
4. Do not sit at the computer or use applications on my smart phone for reasons other than work for more than 30 minutes total in a day.
5. Unsubscribe from all magazines I’m not reading cover-to-cover during the month printed on their covers.

Do you limit your media intake? What guidelines do you have set for these activities? I’m interested in learning what you do and why you have made your decisions. Share your strategies in the comments.

–
Erin’s 2011 monthly resolutions: January, February, March, and April.

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Milan 2011: London designer Roger Arquer has designed these lamps which are operated by touching the flowers in the adjoining vase, presented in Milan earlier this month by design brand Bosa.

Using touch sensitive technology the Touch Lamp Vase is operated by the flowers in the vase.

More about Milan 2011 »

More vases on Dezeen »
More by Roger Arquer on Dezeen »

The following is from the designers:

Touch Lamp Vase for Bosa by Roger Arquer Studio:

This piece has been launched at the Salone di Mobile, Milano 2011.
Touch is an hybrid between a lamp and a flower base. The flowers work as a switch for the light: when touched, the light goes on or off.

Touch invites you to a playful experience combining water with light, yet being 100% safe. Touch sensitive technology is being used here, while the high content of water on the flowers makes them conductive and sensitive when touched. This piece will add an accent of colour as an ambient light. It can be placed in restaurants, hotel rooms, lobbies, home entrance or hallway…

The vessel is made of one entire ceramic piece. The lampshade is made of fabric. Electricity runs on 12V. The water can be easily replaced when need it.

Roger Arquer. Born in Barcelona in 1975, Roger Arquer graduated from ESDI (Escola Superior de Disseny Industrial, Sabadell) in 1998. Soon after graduating, he moved to New York, where he worked for several designers and artists. In 2003, he 
moved to London to attend an MA in Design Products at the Royal College of 
Art (2003-2005).

He opened his studio in London in 2005 and since then has 
worked for companies such as Royal VKB, Eno, Thorsten Van Elten and Mathmos. He teaches at Central Saint Martin’s and in Camberwell.

Arquer is interested in how quotidian objects have the capacity to give us pleasure as we use them, “good designs have that extraordinary power of making life easier and more enjoyable”.
His work has been exhibited around the world, from Milano to Tokyo and his native Barcelona.

See also:

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Funnel Friends by Roger Arquer	Funnel Vase by Roger Arquer	Fish Bowls by Roger Arquer

Despite the slow and regularly-hindered efforts to build and rebuild memorials and new towers at the World Trade Center site being called “a nation disgrace” by news outlets like 60 Minutes, one of the memorials that has avoided some of the more recent criticism is Michael Arad‘s “Reflecting Absence.” Granted, the ever-flowing waterfall memorial received its fair share a back in 2007 when it too was delayed by more than a couple of years. But with last year’s unveiling of working prototypes out in a test facility in Brooklyn, it seemed a bit more of a reality than, say, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill‘s finally-making-progress One World Trade Center. And to further the “why has all of this taken so long?!” leniency, reading this report by the Seattle Times, which takes a look at the underground, inner-workings of Arad’s fountains, makes you appreciate how much work has been and is involved in making something like this work. Reporter Shawn Boburg went below the surface to see the “extensive pluming work” needed to make the thing, “one of the most extensive and sophisticated water-control systems of its kind,” operate. Here’s a bit:

The automated system controlling the country’s largest engineered waterfalls will keep the water’s chemical balance and temperature at precisely prescribed levels. Ultrasonic sensors will trigger an increase in the volume of falling water when the wind picks up, or will shut down the fountain altogether if gusts get too strong. And a filtration system will flush out the coins, flowers, pictures or any other object visitors drop into the pools.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.