The quotation marks in the title are because I have to admit that I stole the line from an article by Jonathan Margolis in the Guardian. See it here Actually is it his wife who said that because she meant that both serious hifi and anti-wrinkle cream were based on very "dubious claims, expensive prices - and results which are only apparent to the buyer." Actually the beauty of that idea is not that both are expensive indulges but they both represent the fact that people to wa

with low CO2 emission levels parkway that enhances an eco-friendly style of living Published on June 17, 2021 By Global Design News Designed by the urban designers AFR ThinkingUrban, the Trojborg Parkway is a daring initiative in the Danish city of Horsens. For its ecological design, the project won a recent 2021 Green Good Design® Award from The European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies and The Chicago Athenaeum. The aim of the project is to revitalize th

A few years ago, my CO2 footprint was an environmental catastrophe. Not on the earth mind you, but in the air. Where it matters. I enjoyed flying. And by that I mean, not even in small regional jets, but in the really big ones. Boeing Mega-tops and the like and on long distances. And to make matters a whole lot worse, I was not crammed into Economy. Or even Economy Plus. Sorry, but my seat was high up and let's say, well in front of the engines. (I warned you, that you wouldn

Lou Ottens is the man. His work has certainly changed your life and that of your parents. He died at the age of 94 on the 6th March in the Netherlands. Lou Ottens was the visionary inventor who lead the design teams at Philips who were responsible for creating the music cassette and the portable cassette recorder. Not content with just that achievement, Lou Ottens was also the person behind the development and success of the music CD. You might think that inventing the music

One of the many interesting aspects to come out of the present pandemic is that there is now a lot of scientific data about what happens when people stay more with their families and at home. The list is impressive. Many fewer heart attacks, a huge drop in antibiotics for children, less social stress, brain hemorrhaging at a record low and the same for low level for premature births. To increase social contact we have seen that community singing and activities actually gave m

In a world turned upside down it is refreshing to see that some of the things that bring us together are in fact some of the more traditional family pastimes. Lock-downs force us to be in social isolation with our families and households. We quickly find that the Insta's and Facebook's and Twitters in our smart phones are just too individually isolating and they fail terribly in the new situation when the household needs to be more cohesively together for longer periods. You

All over Europe, the lock-down restrictions are being removed, allowing more movement and contact. It’s great that the pandemic is on the wane. But the whole idea of a large rock concert or public performance is still way in the future. The excitement and buzz of having a large number of people together isn't going to happen any time soon. We still need to hear good music. We still need to support musicians and the music industry. In these times of crisis, we may be short of

ARSA - Ambient Responsive Sonic Architecture is an acoustic system developed by STEENSSEN where the architecture of the internal structure of the cabinets and the array of driver units gives a time-lapse dispersal of the sound you are listening to so that you get a more natural surround effect when listening. ARSA also takes into account that you may be using a flat tv screen above the unit so that sound waves travel up behind the tv and reach your ears giving a deeper and mo

One of the striking things about these present times is that the pandemic has made us realize that individually we are important. Everyone. Keeping distance, using protection, washing hands and being aware of others are all things that we can do as persons. And our behaviour individually creates a solution that brings benefits to the entire community and indeed the whole planet. This strong sense of individual action in response to the Corona virus is in contrast to how we be