shiny things in messy little piles

Month: May 2009 (Page 2 of 2)

Morning Linkage (May 5)

Trans­porta­tion:

More on the sad state of our rail sys­tem. (With a lit­tle swine flu
pan­ic thrown in.)
http://www.wired.com/autopia/2009/05/flu-pandemic-could-put-send-us-freight-system-to-the-icu/

A cool fold­ing two-wheel trans­port. Sum­ma­ry here:
http://www.core77.com/blog/events/mobility_concept_wins_buckminster_fuller_challenge_13365.asp
More images here.
http://challenge.bfi.org/winner_2009

Stu­pid prod­uct — fun­ny videos. (A seg­way knock off for the under 8s.)
http://www.crunchgear.com/2009/05/05/dareway-unsafe-at-any-speed/

Tech­nol­o­gy:

A use­ful site list­ing alter­na­tives to var­i­ous soft­ware. Some of the
alter­na­tives are free some are not. For exam­ple both Visu­al Studio
(expen­sive) and NetbBeans (free) are  list­ed as an alter­na­tives to
DreamWeaver. Espe­cial­ly use­ful if you need to find something
cheap/free for a one-off project.
http://alternativeto.net/

Design:

Includes the best pair of cow­boy boots I’ve seen this week. (Do Want)
(click through to the site but the best three are right here.)
http://www.sundancechannel.com/sunfiltered/2009/05/one-dollar-art/

I’m an Amy fan not a ukulele fan but damn it’s been a long wait for
this gem. Worth it.
http://amycrehore.blogspot.com/2009/05/amy-crehores-tickler-ukulele-number-two.html

There are always too many radish­es in the gar­den. Now I have something
use­ful to do with them.
http://blog.craftzine.com/archive/2009/05/how-to_make_a_radish_wreath.html

more tomor­row

Morning Lnkage (May 4)

Sci­ence:

Seat­tle is adopt­ing new math text books. Cliff Mass has some­thing to
say about it. You should too.
http://cliffmass.blogspot.com/2009/05/seattles-big-math-decision.html

A study of zebra finch­es brings up new ques­tions about how bird song
is taught/learned. I nev­er feel com­fort­able with the broad conclusions
about the nature of cul­ture and cul­tur­al inher­i­tance that peo­ple want
to draw from these exper­i­ments. Nonethe­less the results of this one
are fascinating.
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/05/songbirdculture/

Cen­tralia PA and it’s under­ground fires came up at the Fish Fry. I
spent time there on church spon­sored work par­ties as a teenag­er. (Link
to boing boing because the serv­er at teleport-city is overwhelmed.)
http://www.boingboing.net/2009/05/04/visit-to-a-smoulderi.html

Stuff:

Golfers are obses­sive (my Dad so would have had one of these)
http://www.crunchgear.com/2009/05/03/doorstop-helps-improve-your-putting/

Things to do with a dumpster.
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2009/05/dumpsters_pool.html

Tech­nol­o­gy and Design:

How design can make a dif­fer­ence. Case study — Redesign­ing the IV
pole. Excel­lent­ly writ­ten as well.
http://www.core77.com/blog/news/_core77_case_study_modos_iv_pole_for_cardinal_health_by_goo_sung_13354.asp

How Google scans a book with­out the page dis­tor­tion caused by the
cur­va­ture of the page. (Warn­ing: Patent Info)
http://www.npr.org/blogs/library/2009/04/the_granting_of_patent_7508978.html

Art and Images:

World class sandcastles:
http://www.pinktentacle.com/2009/04/photos-world-sand-sculpture-festival-2009/

Stealth tromp l’oeil of an urban sort.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/lancashire/8030766.stm

Just because it made me a lit­tle hap­pi­er this morning.
http://sleepmachine.tumblr.com/post/102944001/miniatures-biccchi-qiring

more tomor­row,

Morning Linkage (May 1)

Just one link this AM.

I can’t decide what to think of these por­traits of the chil­dren of the
new Russ­ian elite. Some­how I think they don’t feel as odd here in the
US as they do in Rus­sia. The sex­u­al­iza­tion of child­hood and the push
to mim­ic­k­ing adult behav­iors and atti­tudes in 12 year olds is common
here.

Nonethe­less the pic­tures are com­pelling. (audio)

http://www.annaskladmann.com/little_adults.html

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