Antstand-Arty-Background

The Antstand

by entrepreneurshipProductivity

The comfort of a laptop stand without the bulk

I have been working with my laptop all around Melbourne for sometime and this year I got tennis elbow. The reason for this is that working directly from a laptop is pretty bad for your body. Ideally you want to raise the screen and use a separate keyboard and mouse. Laptop stands are available but most are bulky and therefore not good for my mobile working.

Hence the Antstand.  A laptop stand that is tiny and strong, like an ant.

I origonally built it in cardboard and have been prototyping designs based on the original since October 2015. Now I have had a new prototype version build in metal. Below are pictures of the metal stand, you can see that in my slimline laptop case I can fit my macbook air, mousemat and Antstand. I have a stand for my mac without any noticeable extra bulk in my bag.

There is a website now up together with plans for the forthcomming crowdfunding campaign – see www.theantstand.com

Paul ayling Trivium tennis elbow 3

Tennis Elbow

by with No Comment Health

In an earlier article about my road trip to Sydney I explained how I had the misfortune to get tennis elbow.

Tennis (or golfers) elbow is caused by inflammation of the tendons that attach the muscles in the forearm to the bone on the elbow. It is actually mainly caused by poor ergonomics and often mouse use is to blame.

Tennis elbow is a chronic condition and people can have it for years and never really get rid of it. In my case the symptoms started in December and by mid March it was not getting any better despite a program of stretches, exercises and foam rolling.

In the last 2 weeks I have purchased a flexbar and this $40 lump of rubber has made a huge impact on my symptoms. It has been proven in trials to be effective in a number of trials

war on cancer

Surviving Terminal Cancer

by with No Comment Health

In 1971 President Nixon Declared “War on Cancer”

Richard Nixon war on Cancer address

In 1971 one in thirty would develop cancer in their lifetime, today the figure is one in three.

The film Surviving Terminal Cancer suggests this failure is due to a flawed approach the medical establishment has towards terminal disease. The film covers a number of individuals that have been diagnosed with terminal cancer and in many cases given just months to live. Many of the individuals are still alive today (10 or 15 years later). The reason they are still alive is by ignoring the advice of their oncologists and self administering a cocktail of drugs. This practice has been shown to be effective against HIV but for other terminal diseases is difficult and often illegal.

The film highlights how the patients best interests and the the best interests of science are often at odds especially in cases of terminal disease.

Surviving Terminal Cancer from Indigo Rebel on Vimeo.

Don't Stay in School

Don't Stay in School

by with No Comment Behind the NewsCritical ThinkingMusic

The track “Don’t Stay in School” by Boyinaband went viral about 3 weeks ago.

Its worth a listen – even if you don’t like hip hop or androgynous looking men with long hair. He has nailed my feelings on this subject, It is now one of my favourite tunes.

After the deluge of interest in the the track the artist has said in a later video that he has big plans to continue taking this issue foreword. On the video below he is explaining how one school is making changes after the song being viewed by most of the students and staff.

Good work Boyinaband!

 

 

Research Rockets

Research Rockets

by with No Comment Critical Thinking

I am pretty excited about a new start-up I am involved with called Research Rockets.

It helps people to conduct their own online research by providing a method to separate fact from fiction and display their research graphically in a way that is simple and shareable. It’s like a cross between an info graphic and a mind map and it will be embeddable in blog posts and web pages.

The application is in development and is scheduled to be released in limited Beta in April. More details can be found below

Using the trivium to make better decisions

Research Rockets was born out of a conversation I had last year where I attempted to help some of my family members who had some medical problems. I was talking to my brother, I suggested he might benefit from exploring other treatments. He was nervous about this and suggested that

As we are not experts researching ourselves could be more harmful than helpful.

I didn’t agree with that statement but instead of arguing I decided to take a different tack. I conducted my own research on the subject and then when complete I provided my brother with a map of the information and then talked to him about the method and approach I used to focus on the most relevant and exclude the misleading.  It worked fantastically well and brought us together with a shared way of talking about the subject. That approach was the precursor to what is now called Research Rockets.

Two months later at christmas I found myself in a situation where my employer had mandated two weeks of forced leave but my wife was only able to take three days off. So for one of the two weeks I took myself on a road trip (approx 3000km) in six days , starting boxing day.

My Trip

  • Melbourne
  • Sydney
  • Canberra
  • Jindabyne
  • Albury
  • Melbourne

It was on that trip where I worked out the product , the pitch, the business model and the marketing plan for what is now called Research Rockets (and in the process gave my self tennis elbow -which I still have now).

Once I got back I pitched the idea to Kriang (an excellent developer and designer who I met at a startup weekend event in October 2015 ). He agreed to join me in this venture. We are now in the the process of building out the limited alpha version of the software (planned release end of March). Whilst Kriang is working on this I have set up a club to help people with individual research. We hope that by helping people out with their own research we can get some valuable feedback for the business. If you live in Melbourne and are interested in getting to grips with the method before the software goes live then please sign up to the mailing list on the site.

To see more of my articles about managing information, intellectual self defense, and how we can use information to bring more independence into our lives click here

 

InformationOverload

Taking back control of your mind – The importance of grammar

by with No Comment Critical Thinking

The first step to taking back control is understanding

Everyday we are bombarded with incoherent, illogical and misleading information. We are swimming in more information than ever before but the paradox is, most people are drowning. 

The Trivium is a systematic method of critical thinking for deriving certainty from any information coming into the mind via the five senses. In medieval universities, the trivium comprised the three subjects that were taught first, specifically in this order: grammar, logic and rhetoric. If the three steps are arranged any other way, the Trivium will not work as a method for deriving certainty. The word is a Latin term meaning “the three ways” or “the three roads” which lead to Truth. This forms the foundation of a medieval liberal arts education.

reference wikipedia

Trivium

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Altaeros_Wind_Turbine

Flying Wind Turbines

by with No Comment bitcoinpower

Wind 2.0

Wind energy has come along way in the last 15 years. Year on year turbines have been getting more efficient and reliable, however conventional design is now nearing it’s limits. Two companies Altaeros Energies  and google have recently presented some innovative new methods for collecting wind energy that could change the game when it comes to efficient wind power.

Conventional turbines have been getting bigger and are increasingly being deployed at sea to take advantage of better, more consistent winds. In addition to consistency wind at higher altitude is twice the speed and has up to eight times the power of wind used for large conventional wind turbines. Altearos Energies and google use different approaches to harness the power of wind at higher altitude. If successful these innovative developements could mean a huge change in the uses of wind power in the future.

Altaeros Energies floating power-stations

The device pictured below is called the BAT  (Buoyent Airbourne Turbine) from Altaeros Energies . The floating turbine is basically a helium ballon containing a wind turbine. According to the company it is intended for use in remote areas and disaster sites. The BAT will be capable of powering 25 houses.

Altaeros_Wind_Turbine

Googles Flying Power-stations

Google project Makani has a very innovative concept for energy production. It works like a kite with propellers that are turbines and the electricity is delivered via the kite string. They are surprisingly powerful they are currently working on a 600 KW system – enough power for 300 homes. Below is a video

Your comments are much appreciated
mathamajicland

Mathamagicland

by with No Comment Critical ThinkingMaths

Mickey mouse used to be Smart

The film Mathamagicland from 1959 stars Mickey mouse and is very insightful about the relationship, context and history of mathematics, explaining how maths has been used to identify patterns for  beauty , music and life through history. It is worth a view if you have not seen it before.


As I venture into the world of older cinema I find a trend proven by many examples where the media in the past containing a higher level of intelligence than today. I have written about how the media along with schooling are being used to dumb generations around the world. This can be found on the now defunct website called usethetrivium.com (a previous project of mine). Below is one of the many promotional videos that explains what that project was about.

20acres

Permaculture Update from Aylston

by with No Comment Permaculture & Garden

March 2014 Update

Its been all go at the house recently. In September 2013 I planted up the entertainment area in front of the house. Recently I completed a new part of the garden which is uphill from the house. We planted a range of bushes and plants aimed at increasing shade and penetration on the subsoil and adding lushness. Plants include

  • Agapanthus (love em – a friend got about 50 that the neighbour was chucking out)
  • Birds of paradise
  • Pumpkin – organic matter
  • Horseradish & Comfrey to break up the soil and provide organic matter
  • Oak – For shade and mulch
  • Wisteria – to climb the fence and provide a foliage backdrop
  • and a lot of other things I cant remember

The plants were planted in trenches off contour that followed the water lines as they seep from the irrigation pipe on the fence. In the video I give a tour of the new area along with some of my ideas for the new water feature and grape trellis that should cool down the north face of the house.

At Christmas I bought mulch

and this is what I did with it

A fortnight ago I wrote another post on the the estatae here