Because these seven Academy of Art University students, along with their professor Cameron Maddux, are some of the hundreds of folks around the world holding Bunko Breakfasts — small, informal gatherings to talk about the ideas in The Adventures of Johnny Bunko.  Find out more — and read about Bunko Breakfasts in San Francisco, Toronto, Columbus, and Sydney — on the Bunko Blog.
Several people have told me recently about Visual Thinking Strategies, a non-profit that “uses art to foster kids’ capacities to observe, think, listen and communicate.” In fact, VTS was behind the Harvard Medical School art museum program I wrote about awhile back.  It sounds like they’re doing great work. Find out more about their research and principles here.
“Compared to France, U.S. Internet access is twice as expensive and one-fourth as quick. Since 2000, the United States has gone from fifth in the world to twenty-second in broadband penetration. We have become a nation of buffering YouTube videos.”(Source: Nick Thompson’s new Washington Monthly piece on the tech policies of the two presidential candidates.) Â
If you’re in New York City, join us Monday October 6 at 6:30pm for a cool event at the Japan Society. I’ll be talking about manga, Johnny Bunko, and dojinshi. Added bonus: There will be food!
“The worldwide economic value of the pollination service provided by insect pollinators, bees mainly, was €153 billion in 2005 for the main crops that feed the world. This figure amounted to 9.5% of the total value of the world agricultural food production.”
Several months ago, I had a chance to read Tim Sanders’s new book Saving the World at Work. It’s excellent.
Sanders — who’s written other books, including one with what might be the best title of the last 10 years – makes the case that business is entering what he calls the “Responsibility Revolution.” Businesses that make a difference in society — through the products and services they offer, through their environmental practices, through the way they treat employees and suppliers — are the ones that will flourish. Those that don’t have such aspirations, and then put them into place, will become irrelevant.
The book just came out last week. And given what’s happening in the economy, it’s going to make a splash. Look for it near you. It’s definitely worth a read.Â
“A $700 billion expenditure on distressed mortgage-related assets would roughly be what the country has spent so far in direct costs on the Iraq war and more than the Pentagon’s total yearly budget appropriation. Divided across the population, it would amount to more than $2,000 for every man, woman and child in the United States.”
