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Category Archives: Futurism

4 Bush Foundation grant recipients hail from Twin Cities

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Bush Foundation recipients, from left, Trista Harris, Jennifer Almanza, Sarah Bellamy and Kashif Saroya

Trista Harris will travel from her hometown of Burnsville to California's Silicon Valley and the think tanks of Washington, D.C., to discuss the future of philanthropy.

Futurism isn't a new art, but tapping current trends to chart the destiny of the nonprofit industry is, and Harris -- the president of the Minnesota Council on Foundations -- will be at the forefront, thanks in large part to a grant of up to $100,000 from the Bush Foundation.

The St. Paul-based Bush Foundation was established in 1953 by 3M Co. executive Archibald Bush and his wife, Edith. For 50 years, the foundation has awarded sizable grants to residents of Minnesota and the Dakotas who have already enriched their community and aim to take their leadership skills to the next level.

The foundation on Tuesday was to announce 23 recipients of its 2015 Bush Fellows program. Chosen from among 625 applicants, each grant winner will receive up to $100,000 and 24 months to further his or her leadership abilities through formal education or self-guided research. The leadership fellowship is considered one of the most flexible of its kind in the country.

"It's a leadership development program, but we allow the fellows to articulate what they need to increase their leadership capacity and then provide them the resources to make it happen," foundation spokesman Dominick Washington said.

The fellowship does not require recipients to take time off from work, but many do.

"Some people stay on their job," Washington said.

In addition to Harris, three other Bush Fellows hail from the Twin Cities east metro area.

Jennifer Almanza of Inver Grove Heights will use her Bush Fellowship to pursue a doctorate of nursing practice in midwifery. Almanza researched the birthing experience of women living on the Leech Lake Reservation in north-central Minnesota and served as an instructor and charge nurse in the Regions Hospital Birth Center.

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4 Bush Foundation grant recipients hail from Twin Cities

London Books Roundup: March 2015

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16 March 2015 | Books & Poetry | By: M@

Our regular guide to the latest books about the capital.

Chunky books about architecture arent exactly in short supply, but heres one that punches above its own considerable weight. It does so by taking account of how buildings affect the peopleliving in and around them, and vice-versa. The book is organised by area, with inner London sliced into 30 or so chapters (Clerkenwell, Bankside, etc.). Each covers around a dozen important buildings and other architectural spaces.

Rather than simply characterise the fabric of a building, author Paul Knox delves a bit deeper to recall its history, and even its prehistory. For example, the brutalist former Home Office on Petty France stands on the site of the equally derided Queen Annes Mansions, a continuation of overbearing, Orwellian architecture.With a supremely generous picturebudget (525 colour photos!) and a deftly written text, this is both a first-rate guide to the citys bricks and stones, but also a visual social history of a perplexing city.

From Merrell. Author website.

And now for something completely different. Alice Stevenson is a professionalillustrator, but shes also a keen walker, and an urban walker at that. Her book offers vignettes from 32 urban strolls, nearly all of them north of the river. Her compassmight need oiling, but her experiences flow from the pages with ease and grace. From a melancholy sojourn round the slopes of Hampstead to the antique futurism of the Barbican and its attendant Pedway system, we find that a good walk can conjure all moods and mindsets.

For Alice, as for anyone, London can be a wonderland or a torment, but there is always more to explore.The book is decorated throughout with the authors own semi-abstract illustrations, making this an attractive gift book or inspiring manual of perambulation for anyone who spends too many hours indoors.

From September Publishing. Author website. Authors twitter @AliceStevo.

A tricky one to review, seeing as it pretty much does what it says on the front. This photo-heavy guide to western Europes tallest habitable building takes you through all its evolutions, from design, to construction, to a set of panoramas from the observation decks. Along the way, theres an interview with architect Irvine Sellar, a floor-by-floor guide to whats in the Shard, a history of the area and information on key buildings you can peer down on from the top. Curiously, theres no specific mention of Aqua Shard, Oblix and Hutong, the three restaurants that most make the Shard worth visiting, although the Shangri-La hotel is briefly name-checked. The book isattractive, well illustrated and, best of all, balances on its end like a miniature Shard. It isan official guide, though,so dont expect any other kind of balance, but an account that glows like the Shards illuminated peak.

From Thames & Hudson.

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London Books Roundup: March 2015

Techno pioneer Derrick May and the future sounds of yesteryear

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When the thump-and-sparkle of techno first escaped Detroit in the mid-80s, it wasnt just a new beat to step to. It was a form of time travel an invitation to step into a future where mysterious machines would compel us to shake our bodies in mysterious ways.

Derrick May was there from the jump. Strings of Life, the epic techno track he released in 1987 under the pseudonym Rhythim Is Rhythim, is essentially the Stairway to Heaven of techno music. And nearly 30 years later, May is still gracing nightclubs across the planet, proffering his vintage futurism in a way thats turned the time-travel of techno into something delightfully wobbly.

Such blurry, back-to-the-futuristic sensations arent uncommon at Flash, a nightclub on the margins of the Districts busy U Street corridor, which regularly hosts veteran DJs of all stripes. The crowds are diverse, too: Stylish old-schoolers and fresh-faced party people all move to the same beat, eagerly waiting for yesterdays tomorrow to arrive.

Saturdayat Flash, 645 Florida Ave. NW.(Doors open at 8 p.m.)202-827-8791. http://www.flashdc.com. $10-$15.

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Techno pioneer Derrick May and the future sounds of yesteryear

Tech Up S2E6 – News From Futurism [Virtual Twins, Rescue Drones, Dark Matter, Tattoo Removal] – Video

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Tech Up S2E6 - News From Futurism [Virtual Twins, Rescue Drones, Dark Matter, Tattoo Removal]
TechUp S2 Episode 6 premiers in March on Bell Aliant Community One. Follow us on Twitter - http://www.twitter.com/TechUpOne Like us on Facebook - http://www....

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Tech Up S2E6 - News From Futurism [Virtual Twins, Rescue Drones, Dark Matter, Tattoo Removal] - Video

Radical Transportation Projects Of The Past And Future

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An artist rendering of SkyTran. (Credit: Skytran)

This article is a companion piece to Hyperloop Is Real: Meet The Startups Selling Supersonic Travel from the March 2, 2015 issue of FORBES

The Hyperloop isnt the only radical transportation project out there. Here are a few that may lay ahead for the future and one from the past.

SKYTRAN Inspired by the 40-year-old personal rapid transit system in Morgantown, W.V., Skytran is a high-speed (150 mph) network of two-person pods that whisk people on suspended maglev tracks. A test system is slated this year in Tel Aviv, with a bigger city network projected for completion by the end of 2016. Skytran says tickets will sell for less than a bus fare. We doubt that. Cost: $80 million.

TERRAFUGIA FLYING CAR Its 2015 and we still dont have flying cars? Terrafugia aims to change that with its Transition street legal airplane, enabling you to commute like the future Marty McFly. There have been successful test flights, and deliveries are anticipated for 2016. Still, flying cars have been promised for so long well believe it when we take one to work. Cost: $279,000

PROJECT HARP Jules Verne imagined a day when the astronauts would be fired from a gigantic gun to the Moon. In the 1960s, the U.S. and Canada tried to build guns that could shoot satellites into Earth orbit. Despite perpetual funding woes and political obstacles, the project was able to fire test payloads into space up to 112 miles before it was shut down in 1967.

SHWEEB Google invested $1 million into Shweeb, which is developing a system of monorails with individual pods that you pedal with your feet. The company built a 220-yard prototype at an amusement park in New Zealand. Cool for cities, but what rhymes with Shweeb?

ET3 Two weeks before announcing Hyperloop, Elon Musk met with the founder of ET3, who is talking up a network of vacuum tunnels through which car-sized capsule fly using magnetic levitation. The company claims its system could be built for a quarter of the cost of a freeway and support more traffic. Its currently seeking out sites to build a three-mile prototype that can travel at speeds over 370 mph.

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Radical Transportation Projects Of The Past And Future

This Cartoon Perfectly Sums Up the Optimism of 1950s Futurism

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The December 28, 1959 issue of Life magazine featured this illustration of life in 1975. It's over the top and cartoonish, of course, but it perfectly sums up all of the techno-optimism that was so prevalent in the late 1950s the Golden Age of Futurism.

The article that accompanied the illustration spelled out the wondrous things that people could expect by the year 1975. Americans were promised that they'd be working less, taking home more money, and enjoying longer vacations and more leisure activities than they could even imagine. And don't forget about the amazing technological advances. High-tech communications satellites? Check. Family helicopters? Check. Replaceable organs and robot-diagnosed medicine? Check and check.

The article in Life also assured readers that they weren't just making these predictions up as they went along. They were referencing the hard data from the Research Institute of America, a private research firm:

The Institute's basic over-all prediction is that in 15 years, given a peaceful world, America will be a consumer's utopia. By 1975 more Americans (230 million) will have more money (average national family income up from the present $5,000 to 7,500) and more time to spend it (15% fewer work hours, 50% more holidays). Technology and salesmanship and industry will conspire to make every American's life safer and easier. Rockets will whisk special delivery mail anywhere in the world and relay stations on orbiting space satellites will speed his radio messages on their way. Electronic devices will cook his food faster, purify his air supply, diagnose the weather and also his health. If something goes terribly wrong with his insides, tiny, complex self-powered spare human parts hearts, kidneys and livers will be available.

But we have to remind ourselves that the people of any given generation don't all think alike. For instance, the illustrator of this cartoon, Jim Flora, also drew some rather scary robots for an article in Parade that very same year.

In that piece we see a dystopian world filled with too much automation, too much leisure time, and even suicide as a result. Never forget that no matter the decade, one person's time-saving robot is another person's job-stealing tyrant.

Image via Super Retro

Contact the author at novak@gizmodo.com.

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This Cartoon Perfectly Sums Up the Optimism of 1950s Futurism

Nanoracks Resumes Satellite Deployment From The International Space Station

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Last summer, satellite deployers on board the International Space Station belonging to space science company NanoRacks developed issues that prevented some cubesats deployed into their orbits. After several months of work and repair, that company has been able to solve those issues and celebrated a deployment of two satellites belonging to Planet Labs on Friday.

The satellite deployment system allows commercial space companies to deliver cubesats small satellites just a few inches around into orbit at a low cost. The cubesats get delivered to the space station during its normal cargo runs and then are deployed by astronauts from the station itself. The satellite deployers were developed and built by NanoRacks.

Planet Labs satellites deployed from the space station. (Credit: NASA)

Directing the repairs required the company to coordinate with NASA as well as the Russian and Japanese space agencies and astronauts on board the space station.

Over the last six months, NASA and JAXA have worked tirelessly with NanoRacks to ensure that the on-orbit hardware adaptations make our CubeSat deployers safe and ready for operations. Its a testament to the ISS Programs ability to cooperate with commercial partners and utilize the resource they have on orbit. NanoRacks External Payloads Account Manager Conor Brown said in a statement.

The repairs to the deployment system included a new commanding system as well as latches to ensure that the deployers remain attached to the space station in case of any malfunction so that they dont pose a danger to the station. The hardware was delivered in January on a SpaceX Dragon capsule and installed earlier in February.

NanoRacks has also developed a new satellite deployment system thats capable of sending larger microsatellites into orbit up to a mass of about 100 kg. That system will be delivered on a SpaceX Dragon launch currently slated for June 2015.

You can watch footage of the satellites being deployed below:

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Nanoracks Resumes Satellite Deployment From The International Space Station

Virgin Galactic Unveils Manufacturing Facility For Its Satellite Launcher

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Artist rendering of LauncherOne (Virgin Galactic)

Virgin Galactic announced today that it has leased a new facility in Long Beach, California for the design and manufacture of its small satellite launcher, LauncherOne.

The 150,000 square foot facility is intended to produce LauncherOne rockets at quantity, Virgin Galactic CEO George Whitesides said in a statement. With New Mexicos magnificent Spaceport America for our commercial spaceflight operations, our Mojave facilities for WhiteKnightTwo and SpaceShipTwo production, and now our new facility in Long Beach for LauncherOne, we are building capability to serve our expanding customer community.

LauncherOne is a two stage rocket that is intended to deliver small satellite payloads of 500 pounds or less. Like Virgin Galactics passenger spacecraft, it will be launched by the companys WhiteKnightTwo carrier aircraft. The company aims to be able to deliver satellites into orbit for a price of less than $10 million.

Virgin Galactics new manufacturing facility. (Credit: Virgin Galactic)

The new manufacturing facility is located across the street from Long Beach Airport, where the WhiteKnightTwo will fly from to deliver its customers payloads. The company also announced today that it was going to be hosting a job fair in March, looking for positions to work at its new manufacturing facility.

The company has already contracted with several companies to deliver satellites. Among them is satellite internet service is OneWeb, which the Virgin Group and Qualcomm have both invested in.

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Virgin Galactic Unveils Manufacturing Facility For Its Satellite Launcher

New Mexico Considering Legislation To Sell Spaceport America

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Image Credit: Spaceport America

The New Mexico legislature is currently considering legislation that would result in the sale of its Spaceport America. The bill, SB 267, moved from the Senate Corporations and Transportation Committee to the Senate Finance Committee in a vote yesterday. No hearing date on the legislation has been scheduled in the Finance Committee as of this writing.

The legislation is sponsored by Senator George K. Muoz, who didnt mince any words in a statement regarding the legislation.

Spaceport has one launch director. He probably plowed a lot of snow but hes never hit a launch button, he told the Committee.

The spaceport opened to a great deal of fanfare in 2011 with an eye to being a hub for space startups and tourism. SpaceX leases space there to conduct tests of its reusable rocket designs, and other small space startups like Armadillo Aerospace and UP Aerospace have conducted test flights at the facility.

The main draw for the spaceport, though, is its anchor tenant, Virgin Galactic, which plans to use the site for its tourist operations. However, the past few years have seen continuous delays in Virgins plans to get its space tourism operations off the ground. Those operations have been delayed even further by the the crash of its SpaceShipTwo last Fall.

There was a lot of hoopla before that if We build it, they will come, but its been several years now and nobodys shown up yet, Muoz said in his statement. New Mexican taxpayers are continuing to foot the bill for a $250 million empty facility that is providing the Legislature shaky operational information at best.

Senator Muoz also stated that he feels that Virgin Galactic is in violation of its lease.

Virgin Galactic emailed me the following statement on the matter:

Virgin Galactic remains fully committed to the efforts of NMSA and Spaceport America. We have made a lot of progress on the build of our second spaceship, and our plans for commercial operations remain the same: we will test in California and operate our spaceline from New Mexico. We signed a 20 year lease with the State and have been paying rent monthly since January 2013. We are committed to our New Mexico suppliers and New Mexico based staff and will continue to add both.

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New Mexico Considering Legislation To Sell Spaceport America

SpaceX Successfully Launched Two Satellites

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A SpaceX Falcon 9 launching from Florida on March 1. (Credit: SpaceX)

At 10:50pm on Sunday, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket successfully lifted off from Cape Canaveral, Florida. On board were satellites for two different customers, Eutelsat and Asia Broadcast Satellite (ABS).

The two companies jointly financed both the satellite construction and launch. The satellites themselves were made by Boeing. Theyre unique in that rather than conventional rocket thrusters, theyre powered by electric propulsion. That reduced the weight of the satellites to the point where both could be launched at once. The downside, though, is that it will take the satellites months to reach geostationary orbit.

Eutelsats satellite will join its network of broadcast satellite, providing the company coverage to its customers from Alaska and Canada to South America. ABSs satellite will be used to provide customers on several continents with TV signals, internet backhaul, and cellular service.

SpaceX has been experimenting with making the first stage of its rockets reusable, which the company has said could save millions in launch costs. To that end, its been attempting to land the first stage of its rockets after takeoff. No landing attempt was made today, however.

Next landing attempt will be 3rd launch from now, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk tweeted. Tonights flight and following one will not have enough propellant.

Musk indicated in a separate tweet, however, that changes will be made to the next generation of Falcon 9 rockets to improve the prospects of reusability.

SpaceXs next launch is scheduled for March 21, when a Falcon 9 will deliver a communications satellite into orbit for Thales Alenia Space and the government of Turkmenistan.

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SpaceX Successfully Launched Two Satellites


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