Nearly three years ago, Ian Silverstein, one of my dear friends and guest contributors to this site was simply minding his own business, asleep, when his home and everything in it was destroyed by Britain’s largest peacetime explosion.
His life would never be the same.
It’s now known as the Buncefield Depot explosion, and little has been done to remedy the situation for the people affected by this massive incident. Ian lost everything, his beautiful home, all of his belongings, and years later he suffers from symptoms caused by the blast. Frankly, he’s lucky to be alive– and he knows it, but deserves closure and help from the companies that caused it.
Literally, nothing has been done to help him with his situation — or anybody for that matter. The local authorities have failed him, the governments have failed him, insurance has failed him, and the companies that operated the facilities — Total and Chevron — have ducked blame entirely. The massive companies made more than £18 billion in cash last year, but can’t help a few people out when a leak in their tanks caused massive and catastrophic damage to dozens of people’s lives.
Watch this video, send it to your friends, and let’s help Ian get the closure he deserves. Don’t believe how big this thing was? Check out this feed of Flickr photos. A sample after the jump.
It may take a whole village to raise a child, but it took an entire community of creative minds to put together the precious new MIMOBOT bundles of joy. The VDC MIMOBOT Series offers Mimoco’s first fan-designed versions of their flagship character-driven USB drives. The collection is the result of the Vimobot Design Contest and was chosen by whittling down a field of hundreds of artistic submissions on over-sized blank Vimobot vinyl toys to a scant final count of six winners. The new drive designs range in style from the semi-abstract to characters that more closely resemble the traditional MIMOBOT fare. To get your hands on these truly unique file ferrying friends, head on over to the Mimoco website and pick one up as they debut today.
San Jose will play host to the annual Tech Awards gala this Wednesday to honor 25 laureates who have benefited humanity through their work in education, equality, health, environment, and economic development. Among the nominations from 68 countries were environment award winner Laos-based Sunlabob Renewable Energy, which rents solar charging stations to entrepreneurs who then rent out solar lamps to local villagers. The Lucknow, India-based Digital StudyHall community-generated video project has earned one of the education awards for creating a database of classroom instruction that can be accessed by teachers in rural areas and urban slums.
The Tech Museum of Innovation created the awards to recognize new approaches to the most critical issues facing humanity and the planet and will award a $50,000 cash prize to one laureate in each category this week. Professor Muhammad Yunus will receive this year's Global Humanitarian Award for his work in pioneering and promoting microcredit finance.
British clothing company RedDot couldn’t make it much to easier to win £1,700 worth of new wares this winter. Entrants in their apparel giveaway contest need only send a joke their way to lighten up the sour economic mood on both sides of the pond. A lucky winner will receive all of the black E.T. T-shirts and multicolored herringbone vests one person could want. RedDot promises that “no joke is too low” and that they’re not easily shocked. No matter what holiday you’ll be celebrating next month, their colorful designs are well worth an off color joke or two.
In case you haven’t heard, the new Q-Tip album is awesome. The Renaissance dropped on the day we all voted, and we had a lot more on out minds than new music. Now that things have settled down, we’re making up for lateness on this one by picking up not only the record, but also this really bad-ass T-shirt by Absurd in collaboration with Universal Motown. We especially dig the old school graffiti font — the super-limited availability, less so.
Yoga’s great for the soul and all, but when it comes to yoga mat design, it seems like all the soul is sucked out. At least we think that’s what Terra Breese, the creative who launched Devi Mats in 2006, thought. To solve the monotone problem, her line of yoga mats — each 1/4″ thick and printed so that they retain their grip — have organic designs like plants, the Aurora Borealis, and fire. Because nothing is more relaxing than envisioning yourself about to be engulfed by an erupting volcano.
Has the current state of the economy got you down? If so, there is one thing that universally brings nothing but pure joy to everyone — clowns. Luckily, Corey Helford Gallery in Los Angeles is debuting an new exhibit on November 15th (running through November 29) titled “CLOWNS!” The show features reinterpreted works inspired by the classic American clown painting. The show will feature an unprecedented lineup of artists including Gary Baseman, Shag, Tokidoki, Colin Christian, Dave Kinsey, Chris Anthony, Natalia Fabia, Buff Monster, Joe Ledbetter, Audrey Kawasaki, and many more. Also, Corey Helford Gallery teamed up with London’s StolenSpace Gallery to feature some of the U.K.’s hottest new artists, including D*Face, Chloe Early, Word To Mother, and Will Barras. Do you think this is funny … does it amuse you? Well it should.
Like many accomplished artists before him, Jonathon Keats was confounded by the fact that no matter what he created, it would always pale in comparison to the natural phenomenon that is the universe. Rather than paint a pretty picture and move past what vexed him, Keats delved into a study of quantum mechanics proposed by a Dr. Everett and refined by other scientists back in the 1950’s. It was this study that led him to decide that, rather than be in awe of the cosmos, he would create many new universes himself. Unlike Eric Cartman, he wouldn’t do so using brine shrimp and “seamen.” After countless universe building experiments using components compiled from eBay and other household items, Keats designed a $20 Do-It-Yourself Universe Kit. The kit, produced by Keats’ company Universes Unlimited, will be available starting on November 20th exclusively at the Modernism Gallery in San Francisco, and comes complete with with uranium glass and scintillating crystal, but requires the user to supply a mason jar, chewing gum and a drinking straw. If that sounds simple enough, the kit also provides easy instructions for you to develop your own God complex…err…we mean new universe. Also on November 20th, Keats will be unveiling his new plans to fabricate universes on an industrial level at an opening taking place at the gallery from 5:30 to 8 p.m. Be there, pick up your universe and remember, if someone asks you if you’re a god, you say yes.
In case you haven’t heard, the new Q-Tip album is awesome. The Renaissance dropped on the day we all voted, and we had a lot more on out minds than new music. Now that things have settled down, we’re making up for lateness on this one by picking up not only the 
Like many accomplished artists before him, 
