Hasta La Gadget!

Have you ever thought about how many street signs you see on a daily basis? As I sit looking out of my apartment window I can see 34 in my direct line of sight.

Street signs are perfectly simple and straightforward communication mechanisms that, for almost 100 years, have remained generally unchanged and unquestioned. In fact, the only major changes to street signs have been the result of human innovation, i.e. when we moved from horses to cars and when technology helped move from light reflective glass beads to reflective sheeting and electricity.

As a British guy who moved to New York in January 2013, I was instantly struck by the sheer quantity of street signs, portraying “don’t,” or “no” messages in Manhattan. One sign captured my attention more than the rest, the now defunct “Don’t Honk $350 Penalty” sign which would become an important inspiration for my next stage of painting.

Before the move, I spent eight years painting large abstractions live on stage with some of the world’s greatest bands (I have sound/color synesthesia.) Yet, as I sat down to paint in my new home, all I could see was that “Don’t Honk” sign – two rectangles at the top and bottom, two colors and four words; so that’s what I painted, the opposite of abstract expressionism.

Instead of using the words on the official signs I incorporated positive words to express how I felt about New York City. It was at this moment that I realized the street sign had evolved from a one-way command, into a two way emotionally inspiring communication channel.

I have seen similar evolutions in my parallel career of strategic change consultancy and portfolio management. I help corporate and governmental clients change by injecting positivity and creativity into their structures – which leads to an increase in organisational energy and employee happiness. One of my most successful assignments was at the Office for National Statistics, the UK government department that measures well-being (how people feel about their social, economic, political, cultural and environmental conditions.)

As part of my consultancy, I’m seeing more brands position well-being at the heart of their strategies. Governments such as Bhutan and Venezuela are creating departments of happiness, and in both the US and UK, ‘nudge’ teams have been set up to focus on behavioral psychology. This gets more interesting when we bring in urban planning and neuroscience research, which shows that community aesthetics are a key contributor to our happiness at the same time positive emotions can change our thoughts, and lead to changes in our behaviors.

It was only after moving to New York City that I realized all my experiences… painting, advising executive boards, creative workshops, statistics and writing books about organizational change…gave me a unique set of tools to create the Dept. of Well Being and start a global social impact initiative, which is powered by public art installations entitled Happy Street Signs™.

New York City got the first Happy Street Signs last November. I used my paintings containing positive phrases like “Honk Less Love More” and “New York Loves You” to manufacture 200 government-specification street signs. They were then installed by a team of fifty volunteers around Manhattan and Brooklyn in 90 minutes. Whilst it was unofficial, the objective was to generate smiles for New Yorkers and then survey reactions. We got clipboards out and asked over 600 New Yorkers if they liked the Happy Street Signs and if they wanted more: 92.5 percent of those people said yes!

This whole journey has led me to an exciting moment. After meeting Mayor Ras Baraka, we now have full approval for Newark’s Happy Street Signs and I must express my gratitude to the Mayor for taking a risk on such a unique progressive project. In three weeks, Newark, New Jersey will become the first city in the world to officially install Happy Street Signs. The aim of this citywide installation is sharing positive messages to the people from the people, to use art to inspire and generate feelings of collaboration and connectivity. All of which are recognized as key factors that drive our feelings of happiness – money, health, access to facilities and aesthetics also contribute.

For this to work, it is vital that the messages on the signs are relevant to the people of Newark. Which is why I’ve spent the last eight months curating Happy Street Sign workshops with almost 250 students from Newark’s public and private schools, as well as juvenile detention centers. It’s been an incredible experience working with these young people, the stories, purity and sincerity within the messages are astounding.

10 messages have been selected to make up the 200 Happy Street Signs that will installed. The first Happy Street Sign will be installed by Mayor Baraka following a press conference in Newark on Wednesday October 15, 2014. A caravan of community volunteers, lead by the Newark Anti-Violence Coalition will install 100 Happy Street Signs that day. The remaining 100 signs will be installed over the next twelve months during the mayor’s weekly community walks.

If you would like to connect with the project or join the community Happy Street Sign installation please contact: @DeptOfWellBeing #HappyStreetSigns

(Video courtesy of filmmakers Sean Flax and Omar Kasrawi, who are making a documentary film about the project.)

Not only is the MG auto brand alive, it’s doing very well thank you! Owned (since 2007) by Chinese automaker SAIC, MG now offers a full range of cars to the Chinese market and assembles others from knocked-down kits at its venerable British production plant. The newest of these, proudly wearing the iconic octagonal MG badge and the legend “Morris Garages”, is the impressive MG GT sedan.

Phil Hansen is a multimedia artist “who specializes in representative portraiture using media that connect to the subject matter.” This portrait of Nikola Tesla using electricity is the perfect example of that.

Read more…

We’re not sure how many of you guys will actually need thermal imaging, but in case you do, you might be interested in a device called Seek Thermal. This is a relatively affordable thermal imaging attachment for your smartphone that basically turns your phone into a thermal imaging device.

Seek Thermal will attach to the iPhone via the Lightning port and will rely on chalcogenide lens and a vanadium oxide microbolometer to help create the thermal imaging effect. Priced at $200, it is probably one of the more expensive iPhone accessories, but it is still cheaper than the FLir One thermal imaging case released earlier this year at $350.

So why would anyone need thermal imaging? Well apart from military use, some of the suggestions for thermal imaging as pointed out by the company includes using it at night in a carpark lot to see if there could be suspicious characters hiding and getting ready to rob you. It can also be used for cooking to check the temperature of your grill, and as for home improvement, it can also be used to spot weak insulation or even water damage.

There is an Android version of the Seek Thermal as well which will connect to Android devices via micro USB. If you’d like to learn more or get your hands on the device, head on over to their website for the details.

Seek Thermal Accessory Brings Thermal Imaging To Your Smartphone

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“I know my sexuality is not going to be the cause of my death,” says Quentin Ergane, 38, a gay, HIV-negative, African-American caregiver in Seattle. His sense of certainty comes from his confidence in the HIV drug Truvada as pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) to prevent transmission of the virus. After starting on PrEP this year, “I felt free, finally,” he says.

Our cover guy Quentin is far from alone these days. Although PrEP was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2012, only recently has there been a steady uptick in buzz about this potential game changer. Case in point: Both the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization came out with PrEP recommendations in 2014.

Accompanying the new level of attention on PrEP from policy makers is the increasing glare of the media spotlight (including us). POZ contributing writer Tim Murphy upped the ante with his cover story on PrEP for New York magazine in July. He explored how PrEP has reawakened arguments about the sex lives of gay men.

Soon after that article was published, the AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) launched a media campaign against PrEP as a public health intervention. Advocates in support of PrEP then came out against the AHF campaign. And so it goes. The controversy around PrEP just continues to grow in proportion to its increasing acceptance as part of the HIV prevention toolbox.

Written by POZ editor-at-large Benjamin Ryan, our PrEP cover story dives deep into the controversy. We also explore the effect of PrEP on gay men, but our goal is to broaden the conversation. As the article makes clear, PrEP isn’t a silver bullet. So what is it? We look at all the arguments and then attempt to answer this question: Can personal choice and public health find common ground in PrEP?

As for me, I admit that my opinions about PrEP have evolved. Having now lived with HIV for more than half of my life, I have a strong bias in favor of expanding access to treatment. My viral load is undetectable, and I’m quite aware of my privilege in having attained that status. Too many around the world remain without even the hope of ever having HIV meds.

Unanswered questions about PrEP remain, but I now accept that PrEP isn’t going to affect access to treatment. What matters most to me about PrEP at this moment is that all the data point to an undeniable consensus: At a personal level and with proper adherence, PrEP is highly effective at preventing HIV.

As the public policy debates unfold, I urge all involved in the PrEP discussion not to lose sight of that consensus. Had I been given the option when I was HIV-negative, I don’t know for sure that I would have chosen PrEP. My decision would have depended on key factors (as it does now for those who have the choice). That said, I would have wanted the chance to have a choice. That much I do know.