I gotta say life has been pretty good lately. I have been very busy with various projects. Here’s a sneek peek of some vector illustrations from last month.

I had forgotten about this logo I created many years ago. I saw it when I was home for the holidays.

As with most artist/designers your first job out of college is usually for a family member. My first paid design gig was to redesign the logo for my father’s business. He has been a professional cycling coach for all of my adult life and most of that time he has had one role or another with USA Cycling’s Junior National Team. Around the time I created this logo he was instrumental in opening a corridor for young riders who were not currently on the US National Team to go live and race in Belgium. This corridor has helped many young men get the valuable real life experience to catapult themselves to the next level. So I felt the Lion of Flanders putting his hands up while crossing the finish line seemed appropriate.

World Becoming Less Violent: Despite Global Conflict, Statistics Show Violence In Steady Decline

WASHINGTON — It seems as if violence is everywhere, but it’s really on the run.

Yes, thousands of people have died in bloody unrest from Africa to Pakistan, while terrorists plot bombings and kidnappings. Wars drag on in Iraq and Afghanistan. In peaceful Norway, a man massacred 69 youths in July. In Mexico, headless bodies turn up, victims of drug cartels. This month eight people died in a shooting in a California hair salon.

Yet, historically, we’ve never had it this peaceful.

That’s the thesis of three new books, including one by prominent Harvard psychologist Steven Pinker. Statistics reveal dramatic reductions in war deaths, family violence, racism, rape, murder and all sorts of mayhem.

In his book, Pinker writes: “The decline of violence may be the most significant and least appreciated development in the history of our species.”

And it runs counter to what the mass media is reporting and essentially what we feel in our guts.

Pinker and other experts say the reality is not painted in bloody anecdotes, but demonstrated in the black and white of spreadsheets and historical documents. They tell a story of a world moving away from violence.

The rest of this Huffington Post article here

Striking how simple it is.

I can’t wait for the future

West Philly Teens Build Ground-Breaking “Badass Hybrid” Car

Who says teenagers can’t change the world? In their free time after school, 15 teens from a low-income high school in Philadelphia built a car. And not just any car: their 160 mpg Factory Five GTM biodiesel hybrid kit car has outperformed other fuel-efficient cars built by professional engineers and graduate students from Ivy League universities.

Under the guidance of faculty advisor Simon Hauger — a former electrical engineer who now teaches math and science — the West Philly team entered two vehicles into last year’s Progressive Insurance Automotive X Prize, a $10 million prize for which 111 teams signed up. Out of the 111, West Philly was the only high school team. Their entries were a Factory Five GTM biodiesel hybrid kit car that achieved the equivalent of 160 mpg over 100 miles, and a converted Ford Focus gasoline plug-in hybrid. The team blew everyone’s expectations out of the water when they made it to the semifinals, beating out over 80 teams. Equally astounding is the fact that at a school where 85 percent of students are economically disadvantaged and in a region with a drop-out rate of over 50 percent, every single member of the X Prize team graduated.

Read the article in its entirety here

I was very happy to stumble upon this Russia Today/Immortal Technique interview. I couldn’t say it any better.

Hope its a Happy Wednesday!

This is unbelievable.
Titled “Medusa, Anamorph” painted by Ninja1 and Mach505 from Truly Design.

More images here
Bravo!

robo-rainbow from mudlevel on Vimeo.

I saw it here

Enjoy

I try to stay away from politics here, but I think this is bigger than just politics.

Cooperation over Competition

Peaceful demonstrations driven by the youth…..it makes my heart sing. Go Spain Go!

Take it, leave it, you don’t have to believe it