Random acts of kindness

Two weeks ago I went on a studytrip to Copenhagen. I had really been looking forward to visiting this city. The first two days were marked by an assignment that we had to do for Fflink.

Fflink is a social movement in Copenhagen. Fflink refers to Fucking Flink. Flink represents Friendliness, and Fucking is used to catch peoples attention. Not only do they want to make Denmark the happiest country in the world, but also the friendliest.

The movement Fflink
The social movement was founded in 2010 by Lars AP. He noticed a difference in his behaviour/friendliness because of his identification with two different backgrounds; American and Danish. Fucking Flink has a hyperactive Facebook page with more than 170,000 followers. Its online community is the largest in Denmark. On the Fucking Flink Facebook page followers share their stories about random acts of friendliness of both small and large scale.

His question: ‘Why am I happier when I speak the other language than the language of the happiest people on eart’, occurred to him. ‘My happiness has much to do with how I communicate with someone’. The aim is to change our value focus through social innovation. Fflink creates little signs of a better world and creates questions about people’s daily routine. The team of Fflink works full time to spread kindness, this includes organizing workshops for students and companies.

Fflink also tries to raise the awareness of people on the streets with ‘random acts of kindness’ and signs of a better world. Below you can find a video with an example. It’s in Danish but without understanding the language you can guess what it is about.

In the video Lars is playing a parking attendant. Instead of handing out fines if people break the law, he gives drivers who parked well, money. First people look irritated. But once they see what is on the receipt, they are surprised and happy. When you give something to people, they want to give something back. The parking attendant receives several presents from the people.

In the next video you see a test on who is willing to tie someone’s lace. Some people walk over quickly, others stop and help him.

This reminded me of a movie I encountered earlier on Facebook.
When are people willing to help? This video sets people thinking about their own behaviour.

The next days in Copenhagen I ran into several signals without searching for them.

For example, this picture:

‘Blågård skole is paying it forward, do you? If you do take one of these rip off flyers and you are allready paying it forward. And please don’t forget to smile’’. On the rip off flyers they wrote:  – Take a selfie with the next person you see – Give a compliment to the next person you see.

During our biking tour around Copenhagen we found this sign by an urban garden: ”Welcome to BYHAVEN 2200, everybody’s garden. Please be kind to the plants and look after your dog & garbage, enjoy!!

With kindness you achieve so much more:) If you are open to it, you can find it in the little things.  But sometimes you need something or someone to wake you up or reminds you.
For this blog, I’ve used my own photos. 

Echo Smartwatch

Hi everyone,
For school I’ve got to find 5 cool hunts and write about them on my blog.

Cool hunt: Echo Smartwatch 

what is it?

The Echo Smartwatch is a watch with touchscreen. Unlike the most smart watches it just looks like a normal classic clock. Brian Khouw, a Dutch student from the TU Delft, designed this concept.

why is it cool & why does it have future growth potential?

The watch is easy to wear. As you can see here above you could do a lot of things with it. The Smartwatches they have designed so far are clumsy and quite heavy. This one is fashionable and compact. Also very important, you always have your phone with you. You don’t have to put it in a bag where you always lose him, and when you don’t have any pockets you won’t have to take a bag with you for your phone.

So I guess a lot of people would like to buy this Echo Smartwatch, because it just looks like a normal watch but with a lot of new functions.

For more information you can go to this website:
http://brekend.nl/2013/08/23/nederlandse-student-ontwerpt-prachtig-smartwatch-concept/

Thanks for reading!
Eline

Concept for medical trainings weights

What is it and why is it cool?
Weights are a good way to train your body, but they occupy quite some space. In addition, they are always heavy.
Wouldn’t it be nice to have light weights which you can aggravate temporarily.
This is the idea behind the concept for these magnetic training weights, the 02 Magnetic Dumbell.

Users can increase and lower resistance by simply adjusting a small dial. By switching the polarity of the magnets embedded within the units, users can toggle between concentric and eccentric muscle movements, allowing them to access a wide range of exercises.

The display indicates 8 circled bars which each represent an additional weight of 3kg. Thus the user can conveniently choose the right training weight ranging from 3kg to 24kg at a glance. Last but not least the user can follow the repetitions of each training set as they are indicated on the display in the middle of the device. This enables the user to get a comprehensive overview of the current training status.

Why it has future growth potential?
The reason for this concept is that people have less time to move. People want to be able to do this when they are on their way.
With the old training weight this is not possible because they are too heavy and too big to carry with them.

You can take the magnetic dumbell with you when you are traveling.  You can do the exercises in the train for example and also when you are reading a text.

Reference : http://www.want.nl/o2-concept-voor-magnetische-trainigsgewichten/