In praise of failure. Sir James Dyson, the inventor of the Dual Cyclone bagless vacuum cleaner, which has made him enormously rich, describes in a guest column for Wired his failures-littered path toward successful innovation and talks about the James Dyson Foundation, an engineering charity that provides "hands-on, creative thinking through design and engineering".
Blog shout-out. One of the most enjoyable parts of my job is to meet Lehigh students who already shine on their chosen path, and for whom I cannot imagine anything else than a great future. (Click here for an earlier Lehigh shout-out.) Therefore, it is my pleasure to draw attention to the blog Nighttime maneuvers by a soon-to-be Lehigh graduate, Class of 2011, who also writes the Low End Theories columns in the student newspaper. Such high-quality writing makes me wonder why we put up with so many opinion pieces of dubious quality in the media, while talented twenty-somethings post essays that are infinitely superior on their blog. Anyway, here are a few favorites: "A Sunday in Baltimore", "Fab Five", "A Fame Monster" and "Unfit For a King".
Sustainability starts in Kansas. The May issue of Dwell Magazine has a remarkable essay about the small town of Greensburg, KS, which was devastated by an EF5 tornado four years ago next week. (Click here for the slideshow.) After the tragedy, Greensburg reinvented itself as a "model green town of the future", with a wind turbine that produces enough power for the entire town (and then some) and a K-12 school that meets the Leed Platinum standards (the highest possible level of certification), among other assets. The town has also, according to the article, "attracted thousands of eco-tourists."
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