Sustainable design is the focus of the 1st Annual Brasil Eco Show that runs from today until June 5 in Sao Paulo, which is bringing together architects, civil engineers, professors, members of Greenpeace and people usually involved in construction to promote the idea that it’s possible to be environmentally conscious whilst building our living spaces and more. The event will be full of talks and workshops held under such topics as “Urban Fauna: Recognition and Conservation” and “Environmental Pollution Inside and Outside: Sources of Emission and Mechanisms of Reduction.” Plus, the expo will feature a sample eco-house to show principal concepts in use, a fair, three art exhibits including a “cultural garden” and even live music to entertain patrons. The Brasil Eco Show is sponsored in part by the Ministry of Culture (how rad is that?) and is part of its larger national ecological-awareness campaign that aims to inform the public about this important issue through both activities and education.

Things I have used, in the past, to fix wonky tables instead of buying new ones:

–bar coasters (the thick Guinness ones work great)
–old credit card invoices (devoid of personal info, obvs)
–roommate’s stray flip-flops (sorry, dude)
–roommate’s copy of Ms. Magazine (see above)
–my toe (ow)
–Jedi Mind Tricks (yeah, not so great at that one)

Sure, you can buy those clear table shims, but lets face it — they’re bo-ring. These silicone High ‘n Low shim substitutes by NYTO Studios are super-fun, super-kitschy and guaranteed to fix your table- and chair-wobble woes.

(via Core77)

My dad — let’s refer to him as “Dr. Ed” — claims that cell phones and email are ruining modern society. Now, he’s no Luddite, as he uses both, but he does have some strong opinions as to how technology is ruining long-established rules of grammar, spelling, etiquette, and eroding a set of behaviors that I’ll file under the quaint (and arguably antiquated) concept of “common decency”. Therefore, I think it’s safe to say he wouldn’t be a big fan of Pinger. The services offered by Pinger allow users to record brief voice messages and distribute them via a cell phone much like you would a text message. I can see how this could be useful. Users can “ping” hands-free by dictating a message, thus allowing them to message a group of recipients simultaneously, “ping” while driving, and deliver comprehensible messages free of text-shorthand. I imagine the predictive-text challenged and fat-fingered folks may find Pinger especially handy. Other, slightly less savory benefits also come to mind… the “ping” booty-call, blowing off a date via “ping”, you name it. But, here’s the real question: how good Pinger servers at interpreting tipsy callers? You see, it’s questions like these that (much as it pains me to admit it) make me wonder if Dr. Ed is on to something…

Last night, a friend of mine excitedly passed me a business card. “Its for my new company,” he says (I lean in; start-ups, I love them, this could be good), “We make t-shirts!” (Oh no, oh no, oh no!) I say, “Oh great! I’ll check out the site, blah blah,” but what I’m really thinking is– oh, kill me now– because it seems like everywhere I turn there’s a new twenty-something with a new t-shirt company (see: two mediocre designs and an emo-sounding web address) and they all somehow all think that they’re a) SO FRESH and b) totally going to make it. I can’t take anymore. I love t-shirts, I write about how much I love them all the time, but I’ve just about had it with t-shirt craze and I think these “entrepreneurs” should seriously consider a change of focus. And yes, I realize this is a stupid thing to get all angsty about, but, hey, sometimes you’ve just got to bitch.

Yep, venting is healthy, which is why we are officially dedicating today’s Talk Shop Friday to The Things We Just Can’t Handle Anymore. Darling readers, we want to know what it is that’s been getting you down. Bad advertising? Over-priced hoodies? Too many/not enough American Idol re-runs? Anything goes: you can even say you’re jaded on ME (impossible, pumpkin — Ed.) This is an open forum and we just want to hear what you have to say about the ways in which the world is currently sucking. You probably won’t have the chance to get stuff off your chest with so much freedom for a long time after this, so come on! Get mad! Raarrr!

One of my main motivations back in the days when I wanted to be a graphic designer was the potential to work with hot musicians on their album artwork and visual branding. However romanticized that vision was, at the time I really thought that would be the coolest job like, ever, so I can’t help but feel a pang of jealousy when I see work like I did today over at Pale Bird. In addition to collaborations with bands like Panic! At The Disco and Saves The Day on their websites and The Academy Is and Cute Is What We Aim For on their CD jackets, the Pale Bird team also specializes in producing non-annoying and dare I say, totally sexy MySpace profiles (like their’s, pictured above) and those shirts you buy at merch tables during concerts. On top of all of that, their own website is pretty dang slick too — definitely worth wasting a good half hour clicking around on, like I just did.

We’ve been dreaming about creating a place where our users could come to submit things they find inspiring on their own for other readers to see. Thanks to a bit of brainstorming, inspiration from our friends over at Notcot.org and what ended up being a collaboration with the fine team at Kohler, our Design Showcase was born.

Please stop by and feel free to upload images and a bit of text of things YOU, the reader, like. It might be new artists or inventions, design from a foreign place, new music, food or fashion– we can’t wait to see what you find! Also be sure to browse the already existing entries and give your thumbs up to things you like. This is a major new feature here at JoshSpear.com, and we’re excited to hear your feedback! Go!