Nick Kewney

For anybody who missed it...

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A Glasgow man received a warning yesterday after being caught blatantly taking a photograph of his own daughter innocently eating an ice cream at Braehead Shopping Centre. 

After an alert from centre security, Strathclyde Police anti-terrorism unit was quick to arrive at the scene to investigate the incident. An 'operation Whippy' spokesman told me:
 

"By taking the action we did, my officers acted with restraint.  Under normal circumstances, we'd have detonated a controlled explosion of every ice cream cone in the vicinity of the shopping centre."

It is reassuring to know that in these days of hightened security, that Braehead security guards and the police can work together so swiftly to ensure that no more fathers can photograph their children in shopping centres.

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Nice idea from Dulux & Unicef. I now own Layer Blue.

Own a colour here.

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I was searching for a new TV and came across this photo on Samsung's flickr site. It got me wondering, at what point does a handshake become holding hands?

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2011 saw the most star-studded sketch ever on Comic Relief, featuring Gordon Brown duetting with JLS.  The show smashed its 23-year fund-raising total in the early hours of this morning.  They managed to raise a record breaking £74 by 2am.

I had a great time taking pledges over the phone with staff and volunteers at Kwik Fit Insurance in Uddingston.

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Just digitised this video from East Ayrshire Choir's trip to the Millenium Dome in 2000. If you see yourself, just leave a comment and I'll list you!

Join the excitement as 80 members of East Ayrshire Schools' Brass Band and East Ayrshire Schools' Choir perform to a capacity audience in the 'Our Own Story Theatre' in the Millenium Dome in Greenwich.

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I really like this poem by Wendell Berry and wanted to share it.

Love the quick profit, the annual raise,
vacation with pay. Want more
of everything ready-made. Be afraid
to know your neighbors and to die.
And you will have a window in your head.
Not even your future will be a mystery
any more. Your mind will be punched in a card
and shut away in a little drawer.
When they want you to buy something
they will call you. When they want you
to die for profit they will let you know.
So, friends, every day do something
that won't compute. Love the Lord.
Love the world. Work for nothing.
Take all that you have and be poor.
Love someone who does not deserve it.
Denounce the government and embrace
the flag. Hope to live in that free
republic for which it stands.
Give your approval to all you cannot
understand. Praise ignorance, for what man
has not encountered he has not destroyed.
Ask the questions that have no answers.
Invest in the millennium. Plant sequoias.
Say that your main crop is the forest
that you did not plant,
that you will not live to harvest.
Say that the leaves are harvested
when they have rotted into the mold.
Call that profit. Prophesy such returns.
Put your faith in the two inches of humus
that will build under the trees
every thousand years.
Listen to carrion - put your ear
close, and hear the faint chattering
of the songs that are to come.
Expect the end of the world. Laugh.
Laughter is immeasurable. Be joyful
though you have considered all the facts.
So long as women do not go cheap
for power, please women more than men.
Ask yourself: Will this satisfy
a woman satisfied to bear a child?
Will this disturb the sleep
of a woman near to giving birth?
Go with your love to the fields.
Lie down in the shade. Rest your head
in her lap. Swear allegiance
to what is nighest your thoughts.
As soon as the generals and the politicos
can predict the motions of your mind,
lose it. Leave it as a sign
to mark the false trail, the way
you didn't go. Be like the fox
who makes more tracks than necessary,
some in the wrong direction.

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This is a 90 minute recording of the East Ayrshire Schools Brass Band and Choir Concert back in 2000. It was filmed at the Grand Hall in Kilmarnock.

Welcome to the third annual concert to be given by the East Ayrshire Schools' Brass Band and East Ayrshire Schools' choir. The varied programme spans 300 years from the 18th to the 21st century.

Following a successful application in 1999 by East Ayrshire Council's Department of Education to the Scottish Arts Council National Lottery Fund, the internationally renowned composer Goff Richards was commissioned to write a work for the band and choir which would in some way reflect East Ayrshire.

Robert Burns' First Edition was published in Kilmarnock in 1976 by John Wilson and it seemed wholly appropriate to use extracts from Burns poetry as the text for the piece, 'A String O' Blethers' by Goff Richards, who passed away on 25 June 2011 in Cheshire, following an illness, at the age of 66.

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I just watched a great video at 99% by Michael Bierut called 5 Secrets from 86 Notebooks and it got me thinking.

Do you need to be a creative person to take an idea to market?

After watching Michael's video, I believe that a degree of creativity and a holistic approach to delivery are two vital ingredients to take an idea from concept to creation, but not nessesariliy the type of creativity and invention traditionally associated with entrepreneurship.  It is inspiring to watch someone open up that has made such an positive impact on the design community in general and Michael's presentation certainly goes some way towards answering my question.

Elliot Eisner defines four different types of creative people in "A Typology of Creative Behavior in the Visual Arts" (pages 323 - 335)

• Boundary Pushing (the rules are too constraining) 
• Boundary Breaking   (the rules are the problem) 
• Aesthetic Organizing (order and beauty from chaos)   
• Qualitative organizing.  The need to produce order, harmony, and unity.  Differs from the others in that novelty is not required.

Most of the people I know can be defined by the different "creative" types defined by Eisner above, meaning that those budding entrepreneurs, developers and designers who simply want to see their idea through from concept to creation should be able to do just that.  I believe there are a few simple rules to follow to avoid being zapped up by the low-energy stage that inevetably comes after the excitement of a new concept or idea starts to wear off.

If you have a good idea, you should:

Protect it

Don't show it to anybody and keep it to yourself.

Don't depend on others to make things happen

Do it yourself and stay in control but get good people to help you.

Don't give up: Some things just happen

Whether it's hitting a brick wall in your design or hitting that low in a project, it's about anything that can’t be changed, in particular the things you reflect on but where reflecting doesn't have positive benefits.

Have fun and step back

Spending more time stressing about petty things than looking forward and remembering why you're working on your idea is bad. If you don't have a piece of glass embedded in your forehead, then enjoy it and make it work *now*.  Take time to step back now and again in order to retain your creativity.

Don't hurt anyone in order to achieve your goal

Share your idea and try to make money out of it, but recognise those who help you and share the rewards accordingly.

See it through

Create, plan, finance, produce and market your idea.

• Developing it as a personal project - personal and professional projects benefit each other as you learn development skills and techniques which you can apply to your work.
• Creating platforms is powerful and good for the mind - participation & collaboration is key!

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Go placidly amid the noise and haste,
and remember what peace there may be in silence.

As far as possible without surrender
be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly;
and listen to others,
even the dull and the ignorant;
they too have their story.
Avoid loud and aggressive persons,
they are vexatious to the spirit.

If you compare yourself with others,
you may become vain and bitter;
for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.

Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.
Keep interested in your own career, however humble;
it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.
Exercise caution in your business affairs;
for the world is full of trickery.
But let this not blind you to what virtue there is;
many persons strive for high ideals;
and everywhere life is full of heroism.

Be yourself.
Especially, do not feign affection.
Neither be cynical about love;
for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment
it is as perennial as the grass.

Take kindly the counsel of the years,
gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.
But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.
Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.

Beyond a wholesome discipline,
be gentle with yourself.
You are a child of the universe,
no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you,
no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

Therefore be at peace with God,
whatever you conceive Him to be,
and whatever your labors and aspirations,
in the noisy confusion of life keep peace with your soul.

With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams,
it is still a beautiful world.
Be cheerful.
Strive to be happy.

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