Happy New Year

Happy new year everybody! And watch out for those trees)))

Xenocide by Orson Scott Card

Continuing with the next book Xenocide . It is getting considerably harder to read though I still enjoy inventive concepts with different life cycles, ways of thinking and some general philosophical concepts regarding human nature and how aliens would perceive us. There was one long discussion on what drives humans in their lives in relation to their gender. I though it was very well written and kinda blunt and open without hiding any details. Another one I liked was on human intelligence or rather lack of it.
Religious overtones are getting much stronger and i find them distracting. I don't really see what they do for the story. In some instances I think they make characters less believable. In one instance converted to Christianity piggies make references to Jesus and his sacrifices when talking about themselves. This really sounds stretched coming from the creature on a different planet thousands of years into the future that really never had a place in that religious concept. Piggies are not related to Humans at all.  Piggies own origins might be not entirely natural so I really don't understand  why would Piggies would fall for Christianity beside the fact that author really wanted it to be there.
Luckily, there was no attempt so far to bring Christianity to buggers. I still see authors personal search for answers here as he questions gods in one place but then changes his view in other parts of the book.
I will finish the book though not sure how long that would take. At the same time being a slow read leaves time for thoughts and doodles. So I did bunch of doodles in my tiny sketchbook and played with some of them in Photoshop. Here is one page with more Buggers. I am interested on how they could look considering that they all are the same but different depending on their function in the hive. Soldiers, workers, etc. There should be more functions such as engineers, guards,.. So I doodled thinking of how they could evolve starting from the same place. I like the idea of the some sort of fangs functioning as communication antennas becoming a distinction and the posture and arms for different functions.
Second sketch is the idea of the buggers spaceship. They are very practical so I would think buggers would use most simple shapes but still have some bug-type esthetics with big chunks connected with small links. 

BMW Urban Driving experience challenge

Another entry for Local Motors contest. This time BMW driving experience challenge. Main theme was described as doing good in 2025. Never had a project where the final goal didn't include some kind of 2D or 3D design so had hard time figuring out what is the appropriate presentation for the concept. Decided rather to think more about ideas then spend time on polishing the presentation. So ended up with three concepts. All concepts incorporate social network at the core. Seems like that would be the most important change in the future of driving. With each concept tried to consider different aspects of life that could be influenced by such network.

First idea "BMW i-Care"  tries to create a supportive safety net for active young mothers in the urban environment. BMW would create a special package/modification for the interior geared toward small kids needs. Such modifications could include changing table. Compartments for wipes, dipers and so on. Comfortable chair for breast feeding. In this scenario mothers within the network can request to use somebodies car as a personal space. Also parents can use this network to learn and share kids related information in the area of their commute. https://forge.localmotors.com/pages/project.php?cg=11436&tab=project-home

Second concept "BMW i-Care globes"  proposes a creation of the small interconnected networks or Globes as I called it that unite people by their interests, hobbies, sports, etc. and This would limit the amount of information on the road and bring like minded people together to participate in charity events, sponsor projects and just help each other. Drivers in the globe can modify their car according to their interests. https://forge.localmotors.com/pages/project.php?cg=11461&tab=project-home

Third idea "BMW i-Care energy globes" concentrates on the energy sources promoting alternative energy production and creating a driving force for their development . Electric vehicles can get electricity from various sources such as wind, solar, wave, bio, etc. My idea was to create social Globes circled around certain type of energy production. Participants would earn point for using alternative energy sources hence not putting more strain on the grid. In car network would allow drivers to share or resale energy hence creating new energy market. https://forge.localmotors.com/pages/project.php?cg=11474&tab=project-home

...Wow this is the longest post so far

Just checked the Local Motors forge web site and apparently my first concept "BMW i-Care" was selected as one of ten finalists so ... you can vote :-)
All entries are here
https://forge.localmotors.com/pages/competition.php?co=81#entries&tab=view-entries

Posting only first pages of each concept...