Core77’s editors spend time combing through the news so you don’t have to. Here’s a weekly roundup of our favorite stories from the World Wide Web.
Maximum Efficiency
I won’t lie, all those Soylent billboards that have been sprouting up around L.A. are working on me. All the nutrients you need in one bottle with none of the cooking, chewing or dish-doing? Sign me up! But wait, it gets even better, because Soylent has commissioned Berlin-based fashion designer Nhu Duong to create utilitarian uniforms for the company. Maybe in the not-too-distant future we’ll all velcro into our jumpsuits, slam a Soylent and get to work.
—Rebecca Veit, columnist, Designing Women
Portugal Power
Last week Portugal claimed a clean energy milestone by powering the entire country for four consecutive days on renewable energy alone. A combination of wind, solar and hydro-generated electricity kept the lights on for an 107-hour run. The news of Portugal’s success is an exciting glimpse at how green energy could reshape the energy industry in Europe and beyond.
—Linyee Yuan, managing editor
The Restaurant Inside a High Security Prison
There is a wide range of statistical evidence showing that educating prisoners dramatically reduces their chance of returning to prison, which is one driving inspiration for London-based charity The Clink, which runs four gourmet restaurants inside prisons where meals are expertly prepared by prisoners nearing the end of their sentences—"‘Prisoners get the chance to learn practical skills with which we can try to help them get jobs,’ says Chris Moore, the chief executive of Clink. 'But the soft skills are as important: Confidence, motivation, pride and waking up in the morning with a sense of purpose.’“
—Allison Fonder, community manager
Creative Vacuum: The Latest Vogue in Success Literature Showcases an Ugly Elitism
"There is something about the merging of bossery and nonconformity that beguiles the American mind. The genre marches irresistibly from triumph to triumph. Books pondering the way creative minds work dominate business-best-seller lists. Airport newsstands seem to have been converted wholly to the propagation of the faith. Travel writers and speechwriters alike have seen the light and now busy themselves revealing the brain’s secrets to aspiring professionals.”
—Eric Ludlum, editorial director
The Father of Modern Metal
This excerpt from Jonathan Waldman’s forthcoming book, Rust: The Longest War, tells the captivating tale of Harry Brearley, a man who “saw himself as steel’s savior, its priest” and, through sheer determination, brought us stainless steel. It’s a story of vision. As Brearley himself puts it: “The range of the mind’s eye is restricted by the skill of the hand. The castles in the air must conform to the possibilities of material things—border-line possibilities perhaps; or, if something beyond the known border is required, the plan must wait until other dreams come true.”
—Alexandra Alexa, editorial assistant
http://www.core77.com/posts/53223/Weekend-Reads-Meet-the-Father-of-Stainless-Steel-and-a-Critique-of-the-Secrets-to-Creativity-Self-Help-Craze