Even the lousiest teachers can teach you something...

Teachers are human and therefore even your grades are subject to their opinion. Seth Godin outlines the perks of having a teacher that is hard to please.

1. Grades are an illusion
2. Your passion and insight are reality
3. Your work is worth more than mere congruence to an answer key
4. Persistence in the face of a skeptical authority figure is a powerful ability
5. Fitting in is a short-term strategy, standing out pays off in the long run
6. If you care enough about the work to be criticized, you've learned enough for today

Thank you...for not smoking

Tired of always hearing people's conversations on cell phones? Wish that people realized that headphones were made so you didn't have to hear their music?

Microsoft is moving to promote and enhance good manners. How? It hasn't been released however we will hope it'll improve subway and bus rides.

"Will your cell phone whisper to you “don’t shout”? or increase the volume on the other end so you don’t start screaming in the first place? Context awareness of technology is one of the - if not the - primary prerequisite for smart behaviour. Linking social values to the concept of smart is one way to enhance user experience not merely for the user but also his/her surroundings.

Thank God someone said it....

After four long years of higher education I've found myself, many times a week, thinking about the lessons and benefits of coming to college...what sad results.

Thankfully, Seth Godin laments about the college experience as of late, from the financial burdens to the opportunities after graduation, he sheds a new light on this rite of passage experience.

"The coming melt-down in higher education (as seen by a marketer)"

Hospitals = Depressing

In one of her blogs in "By Design" Allison Arieff details her experience concerning frequent hospital visits after her mother was diagnosed with cancer.

"...the waiting room window was lined with plants — all dead. In the exam room of another medical practice, I picked up a copy of Sunset magazine — from 1996 (it was 2003). In the waiting area for her radiation treatments, my mother joined the ranks of weary women sitting in uncomfortable chairs, awkwardly clutching hospital gowns that didn’t close."

Hospitals are the epicenters of ultlimate physical recovery, however, why can't they aid in mental rehabilitation as well? The lackluster, depressing look of waiting rooms and offices often add to patients' mental stress and fear of the impending.

Arieff sums up this proposition with "What if bureaucratic processes seemed a little less, well, bureaucratic, and the architecture of healthcare spaces a little less demoralizing? Might it somehow promote a sense of calm rather than apprehension? Design may seem frivolous to consider when lives are at stake, but proactive change in the realm of healthcare could help to make that context about wellness more than illness."

Building happiness

Can a building really make you happy?

Japanese architect Kazuo Shinohara, believes that his building designs may have psychological effects on people. Undoubtedly the the form and fashion of many objects, architecture included, have an effect on our moods and the members of the Royal Institute of British Architects are capitalizing on that.

“Led by Ed Blake, “Building Happiness” was a project that aimed to use the best research and anecdotal evidence from across a wide range of disciplines to identify and analyse the most important drivers in the field. How do we construct happiness? What components make for a happy building or space? How do we measure and quantify this response? is it possible? Who is responsible for it? can it be built in?”- Jane Wernick, Building Futures.

"Impenetrable to Inviting"

Once feeling like an outcast while walking down Madison Avenue, Eric Wilson of The New York Times, now fits right in.

Due to the recession many businesses are clamoring for business, including those located on upscale shopping areas like Madison Avenue. Employees of MaxMara, Gucci, Chanel and other high-brow houses, who once sized up shoppers by their hand adornments and shoes before helping, are now indiscriminately performing their jobs. "Salesclerks, haunted by the papered-over windows of stores next door, are being trained to exude a level of customer service rivaling that of Disney," reports Eric Wilson.

On an experimental journey through the area, Wilson dressed poorly and wandered into several stores on the avenue, including Prada and Ralph Lauren, presumptuously trying on clothes he couldn't afford and making false requests.

Nevertheless, customer service was always outstanding and never wavering no matter the clientele.

Oldest Photograph in New York??

The Sotheby's is being offered the latest claim to the oldest photograph of New York City. The 4-by 5 1/4 inch daguerreotype image depicts a lawn planted by evergreens with a road in the foreground and a house in the background.

The photograph is believed to be have taken around October 1848 or earlier and since it is a rare find, considering that most daguerreotype images only date back to the 1950's, Sotheby's is auctioning off the photo on March 30.