Every work day I would have two cups of coffee – morning and after lunch. Needed or not.
Soon enough the needed element was behavioral – not for need of performance. Regularly the after lunch cup would leave me in a caffeine/lunch slump making me search for the 3:30 pick me up.
So this week I tried an idea to use a 2-3 cup plunger so as to slowly drink the entire plunger pre lunch – or brew the coffee the entire morning and drink post lunch. Got me way to jittery.
Previously – I’ve come across the idea of downing at least half your water bottle after a good couple of sips of coffee and to good effect. The caffeine is now flushed around your system coated with the bodies need for hydration. Not coffee’s usual strong suit.
For the last couple of days, I’ve done the pre-lunch coffee as the second coffee - the amount of time before lunch is still to be determined as the coffee/water combination reduces appetite. Approximately 1-1/2 an hour prior to lunch seems to be working well so far.
Structure:
- Brew coffee in plunger for at least 15 mins
- Consume half coffee within 5 minutes, followed shortly by half the drinking bottle of water.
- Repeat consumption process till coffee’s finished.
If hot drinks are your thing – find a coffee replacement till your pre-lunch cup eg, tea. Freshly grated ginger into hot water – and allowed to brew for 10′ish minutes is ideal.
Approx half an hour to one hour before lunch – consume the pre-lunch coffee and repeat consumption process above.
You are now sufficiently caffeinated for the rest of the day.
The vision is great – the problem is with the ecosystem.
It is said that within 10 years, Australia could be self-sufficient in renewable energy.
Today I’d like to focus in solar. And I’d like to propose a concept – it’ll just take a few hundred million dollars to do it…
If you’ve ever driven on a highway in Sydney/Melbourne driving a few kilometres out of the city you’ll notice walls protecting the surrounds from noise, pollution and providing a measure of safety.
But what if these spaces held solar cells? These walls as mentioned above – protect, but what about the fact that they sit around all day, facing the sun, capturing heat and generally decaying to some extent year after year causing councils to save their pennies waiting till the time when they’ll have to be replaced.
We’ve all seen the solar farms or at least pictures of them, taking up acres of space ‘way out west’ in places where it’ll probably take more fuel to transport the energy captured than we get in return for using the service.
Could we combine the two? Could we attach solar panels to the walls of these never ending walls and capture all the sunlight we can for a seemingly ‘no extra time‘ cost?
I am fully aware that solar panels aren’t really ready for mass consumption and don’t provide the best ROI at the moment – but think of it as government trials, or a future sighted company who in the next 10 years will make an absolute killing.
The panels will be replaced as the technology gets better paid for via a combination of government funding (as a write off for clean energy trials) and a) the revenue generated from selling this energy to an energy company or b) using this energy for street illumination lights and therefore saving the council in annual expenditure.
Now for the rub.
It’s one thing to capture. It’s another thing entirely to store, which requires batteries – which themselves will have a lifespan. Transport, as mentioned above depending on location of capture will probably be a loss leader until the ‘eg. UPS distribution’ network is established. And theft or vandalism. If these panels are just laying around on highways – what’s to stop people from helping themselves – however securely they are attached? Or on a more ‘people are generally good’ note – these panels will need to be kept relatively clean and petrol/diesel fumes are (some of) the reasons that we are in this mess.
An ecosystem needs to be devised (the complex bit) so that the simple idea of using already plentifully available surfaces to capture solar energy can be at least considered.
And there’s no reason for owners of warehouses not to use their roofs to do the exact same thing. I think, it’s a win win.
If you have a look around, there’s a few companies doing so really exciting things. Like here, here and here.
This is just a concept of something I’d like to see…
Music is the adrenaline that pumps through your veins, the calm on a sleepy weekend morning and the cause of new friendships at a summer festival.
With the hand in pocket availability to connect and discover new music, we are fast reaching a level of gathering and access that makes us second guess the effort needed to save a song, playlist or site/service. It’s become so easy to find, hear, enjoy and move on – that we would often experience something great and simply follow our discovery path at another location. There really is no need to save, curate and spread to every music player we own.
So then does it become a curation of bookmarks or a folder of apps rather than a playlist of songs and albums? With too many sites and services constantly springing up, half the time it’s easier to search for a genre or mood rather than default to the old trusty. Old trusty is hardly exciting and new.
The music for every moment (Spotify) I think is rapidly changing. We are generally so busy that news is consumed during the only time available – whilst on the treadmill. And the commute or downtime is just another allotted block of time that I have to be productive. So the question of what are you listening to may more frequently answered with ‘a podcast about…’ or ‘this book by that author’.
We are constantly trying to experience, escape or become more knowledgeable that listening to the same album 100 times may be a thing of the past. Music is no longer the only thing we wish to fill our time with.
S what are you listening to? And how did you find it? When is your favourite time to hear that type of sound? Discovery is the new game. Within a business model – the more you listen to the more time you will spend on our service which will lead to more chances for me to sell you something.
With regards to how music is currently categorised. I think that music currently so popularly split amongst genre, will become more prevalently categorised by mood, time of day, situation or any other method – sleep, sex, summer, odd.
And with more services come more curators, more categories and more experiences. Just the way I like it.
Craving realness
“We’re trying to do something that’s consistent with the Jay-Z brand,” Droga explains. “He does all these incredibly bold things in the music industry. He wants to do the same thing to the publishing industry. What’s bolder than putting every single page of your book out in the real world, so if someone wanted to read it or discover it, they don’t have to buy the book? He’s so confident that the story’s compelling, the reader will get so caught up in looking at this that they’ll want to buy the book.”
http://bit.ly/KKX9Vf
Case study here, here and here among others.
Category
Entertainment, literature
Brand
Jay-Z in collaboration with Bing
Product
Jay-Z Decoded
Engagement insight the “Why do I care?” component
Ultimate presentation meets ultimate fascination of cool.
Presented in an unparalleled way on the world stage, the wow factor hooked many into a deeper level of storytelling than had previously been accessible. Those who simply found the pages of the book in passing were intrigued and those who played the scavenger hunt like game were richly rewarded over 30 days with an early release of a uniquely experienced story of Jay-z’s life.
Social insight – belonging and identity
Within the culture of Hip Hop – cred and having a story to tell is everything.
Giving fans a chance to become ‘those in the know’ allowed them to rep their cool to their friends and allowed fans to become part of the discovery process through a collaborative effort across the web.
Digital idea/ thought starter
In collaboration with Bing – use search, maps and photos to discover and recreate the story of Jay-z’s life as told through the pages of the book – Decoded.
What’s the physical need the idea fulfills?
Creating your own discovery story through uncovering of the meaning and context behind Jay-z’s lyrics.
Interacting with the Hip Hop community and friends alike.
Respect and rewards from possibly being the first to find the page.
What product benefits does this digital idea highlight?
The product – a book, tells the story of Jay-z’s life as portrayed through his music.
In an offline world, fans were able to see, in real life, a page displayed with relevance to the place and context of the story. Through the digital collection, fans were able to reconstruct the entire story through the digitally found places and pages. The first to find each page received a signed print of that page. The first to find all pages won a double gold pass to every Jay-Z concert for life.
More worthwhile than putting one foot in front of the other…
Me:
I’m a runner. Not everyday, and not particularly all year round. But, running is the one sport that I’ll come back to year after year.
Lucky enough, or rather through running year after year, i’ve been quite competent in the past, and rather than training loads more to attain just a little bit better time, I thought I’d do something a little different this year, 2012.
Premise:
Last year whilst running my heart out on the City 2 Surf Trail, my heart went out to the two wheelchair teams that I passed along the way. These teams are made up of a few people taking turns pushing someone in a wheelchair, generating some charitable good will along the way and giving that wheelchair bound body an experience they’ll not soon forget.
The callout:
So, in hopeful form, I’m calling out all runners who’ve been there before. Do something more worthwhile than putting one foot in front of the other.
And besides, there’ll always be next year for you to run and reclaim your honorable time, not to mention having a great experience ‘that one year’ – and the story to tell afterwards (if that’s your thing).
The charity?:
There are so many worthwhile charities and as this will a team effort, it’s only right that the team I get together should decide together. Check out City2Surf Charity Listings
http://bit.ly/K4YxDC
The non-able body:
Making it a little easier, I have asked a bright and bubbly young girl to help us out. She’ll hopefully also double as our ‘along the way cheer squad’.
There are a few particulars to sort out, but as the entries have opened, I thought now is the time to act.
Please get in contact at jthoyer at gmail.com – Message me on facebook or DM at @jthoyer
I’d love to hear from you.
Justin
