www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWckXHojurM

The New Bus for London is inspired by the much-loved Routemaster and will use the latest green technology when it launches in 2012.

The Mayor unveiled the design for the New Bus for London in May 2010.

The New Bus for London will meet London Buses’ requirements for vehicles in public service in London, including high standards of accessibility, safety and emissions abatement. In addition, it will be more durable, more fuel efficient and better ventilated. The bus will incorporate a double-deck and a platform at the rear near-side corner, so passengers will be able to get on and off easily.

In the world today more than 2,6 billion of people has no access to basic sanitation. That means that 40 out of 100 person lacks even the most simple latrine to perform their needs. The lack of toilets affects both society and the individual through the contamination of fresh water and ground water. Human faeces contain viruses, bacteria, worms and parasites which kills and infects people with serious diseases. One child in the world dies every 15 seconds due to contaminated water.

http://www.peepoople.com

Whenever it seems like there’s a surplus of doom and gloom running through the headlines, you hear about a story like this: at-risk teenagers staying in Covenant House, a homeless shelter in New York City, have set about cultivating green roofs on skyscrapers around the city. Their goal is to create a citywide “skyscraper garden” across Manhattan.

The teens recently completed the first stage of the project, done in collaboration with Seeding the City–planting a green roof on the ninth story of a building in midtown Manhattan.

Read the rest on TreeHugger

Dale Kropf calls it Independence Day: On July 3, his five grocery stores in southwestern Ontario ceased to be Sobeys franchises.

Corporate policies prevented him from buying local products, he says, so he joined forces with four other former Sobeys franchisees and formed the independent Hometown Grocers Co-Op.

“We feel that local food, local presence is huge in our market and we wanted to take advantage of that,” Kropf says.
Canadians are increasingly subscribing to the “buy local” and “100 mile diet” philosophies due to concerns over imported food, Kropf adds. “The pressure was always mounting — the more recalls, the more bad press from China or wherever the product was coming from. I know that in our case, our private label pickles are made in Indonesia. I couldn’t believe that.”

As a franchisee for a large grocery chain, Kropf says, corporate policies stipulating that he only buy federally inspected meat prevented him from stocking local products. Most federally inspected meat in Canada comes from large corporations such as Maple Leaf, Cargill and Tyson.

Read more on CBC

The French artist JR first made his mark in Rio de Janeiro last year, as giant posters of staring eyes started appearing on buildings in the city’s oldest favela. He was drawn there following the controversial deaths of three young men, amid alleged collusion between Brazilian soldiers and a drugs gang. But now JR’s work has made it on to some of Rio’s grander structures. Take a tour of the city with the artist himself, and meet the people who inspired him.

See the slideshow on BBC

www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUGLIYMVOaw

More on illegal signs in Toronto.

Anyway, here’s what the pass will look like:

Bah! Same crappy design, but with more flare and shine. Has the photographer ever heard of white balance and exposure metering? I am not even going to bother this time.

But wait! There is hope! An interesting excerpt from the article:

Later this year the TTC will outline a plan to use art on its passes. Currently, the TTC uses a combination of art and photography when designing passes. The new art will be part of the overall pass design. The TTC will be issuing a request for expressions of interest in August. TTC customers can expect to see new art on Metropasses starting in April 2010.

Adam Giambrone, have you been reading my rants about the Metropass design? Hmmm? Please don’t screw this up – there are a lot of talented designers in the city who would love an opportunity to redesign this abdomination. Give me a shout, Adam.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ylOSGLhafho

University of Toronto made a pretty poor design decision by fading out St. Michael’s lower extremities in the hospital logo. To me it looks like he’s taking a leak. To others it might look like something else, not so uncommon amongst sexual deviants in Toronto downtown parks. Here is my artistic rendition of what I see every time I pass by the hospital:

There is also a massive billboard adoring the wall of the hospital – in this one steamy clouds are rising as St. Michael is taking a satisfying urban leak on our great city of Toronto. “$5 if you can hit the CN Tower!”

Below is what the original statue in the lobby of St. Michael’s looks like. This photo was taken by a Flickr user jp1958. If you have the time, you can  read a brief touching story about the statue and it’s importance to the hospital on St. Michael’s website.

Now, traditionally, St. Michael is portrayed treading on Satan or a serpent, carrying a banner, scales, and sword. A good example is a painting by Guido Reni.

Why did the University of Toronto and the hospital make this poor choice? Who knows, but it makes me wonder how many sets of eyes have seen what I see. And how many hospital admins thought this was a great rendition of the logo and rubber-stamped it all the way to the billboard.

Disclaimer: I have no doubt that St. Michael’s Hospital is a fantastic teaching hospital that does a lot of great work. I would not hesitate to be treated there in case of a medical mishap. Unfortunately, it does not reflect in their logo. It does not do their symbol great justice. Instead it opens up it’s interpretation to various wondering, perverted minds, like mine.

Skip Schreiber, 64, gets online in his van, which is also his home, in the Bayview district of San Francisco. For his 60th birthday, he dipped into his monthly disability check to buy a laptop, connected it to his car battery, and taught himself to use it.

Read the rest on WSJ