Seth Priebatsch: The game layer on top of the world | Video on TED.com

Seth Priebatsch: The game layer on top of the world | Video on TED.com

I just watched this TEDx video. It's really a great analysis of how games can be used to help make social change and how they are, in fact, being used. Priebatsch's discussion of dynamics of games will be helpful in developing Bus Meister (http://www.andynash.com/projects/busmeister/index.html).

Thanks for the votes!

I've been traveling, but the big news is that my Singfrancisco music video won one of the runner-up prizes in the Swiss International Airlines contest promoting their new service to San Francisco. I won two round trip tickets for a flight in Europe ... cool! You can still see the video on my YouTube channel.

By the way, as I was catching up with my reading I checked James Fallows' blog and he had a post recommending Pamplamoose (links to their cover of Lady Gaga Telephone on YouTube). They are really fantastic and show how good a modern music video can be ... highly recommended!

More when I recover from my jet lag.

But, what about the beer?

Beer from wooden keg, der Pshorr, Munich, from my flickr Munich photos.

Monocle recently ranked Munich the world's most livable city. I love Munich and I think that the Monocle video presents a very nice view of the city.

I was particularly struck by the comments from BMW's head of design, Adrian van Hooydonk. In the video he says Munich doesn't take energy from you (the way living in many cities does) but gives you energy (about 3 minutes into the video). I remember thinking something similar when I first visited in the 1980s ... waiting for the U-Bahn, which was clean, fast and reliable as clockwork, I thought how nice it must be not to have to worry about public transport ... a real difference from most big cities. This frees up energy for creativity.

My only complaint about the Monocle video is that it did not mention beer, and, for me at least, the beer in Munich tastes better than anywhere in the world. My posts and recommendations for Munich.

Why doesn't this happen on the Vienna U-Bahn?

Improv everywhere is at it again! Let's try to organize something similar in Vienna!

Watching Scorpio in Vienna

Scorpio: Chase scene through Vienna Karlsplatz U-Bahn station.

On Saturday I went to the Kino unter Sternen (movies under the stars) on Vienna's Karlsplatz. The program is being held at Karlsplatz this year (in addition to the regular Kino unter Sternen at the Augarten) because the Wien Museum has a great exhibition called Wien im Film on right now.


The Kino unter Sternen is showing a whole series of films made (at least partially) in Vienna. Scorpio was particularly good because the big chase scene was filmed at the Karlsplatz U-Bahn station when it was under construction during the 1970s. Sorry the photo is out of focus. More photos on my flickr photos tagged Scorpio Vienna Kino untern Sternen. More photos are available from the flickr user Kino unter Sternen including one of the Wiener Beschwerdechor (Vienna Complaining Choir) singing before the July 3 movie - see if you can find me!

Swiss International Air Lines: Minding the network (SFO 1)

Swiss Airlines just started a blog about flying and their operations. The first post was Swiss International Air Lines: Minding the network (SFO 1) is about scheduling flights. It was quite fascinating.

Another great source of information on flying is Patrick Smith's Salon column "Ask the Pilot". Patrick even answered one of my questions (about how flights are controlled over areas where there is no radar coverage, e.g. over the Atlantic Ocean). His explanations are clear and I really enjoy the fact that he says exactly what is on his mind (see some of his columns on security!).

The second Swiss Blog was on preparations for starting service in San Francisco. Of course I asked if they were making any special arrangements for "cows who come to San Francisco with flowers in their horns" but no response yet!

Cali Columbia's Bus Rapid Transit System Film

Here's a film from current TV on Cali Columbia's new bus rapid transit system which is called MIO. It's a nice film illustrating many of the benefits of BRT. At one point a user complains that she likes the older minibuses better - because the new system is too crowded! Not sure if that's really a negative ... a few more buses might solve the problem.

For a slightly less serious look at South American BRT systems check out my music video parody: The Bus From Curitiba on YouTube.