magpie's shiny things

Read how they did it and then watch “Performance”. I always wanted
water­col­ors to work this way even if it is an ad for gasoline.
http://www.cpluv.com/www/feeditem/7853

You all liked one sen­tence sto­ries so much that I fig­ure you’ll like
Significant Objects as well. Here’s a descrip­tion of the project.
http://www.core77.com/blog/object_culture/significant_objects_rob_walker_gets_literary_about_stuff_13984.asp
and here are the stories.
http://significantobjects.com/

Degree I won’t be get­ting. (Does the descrip­tion say any­thing or is
free of seman­tic content?)
http://www.core77.com/blog/education/svas_new_degree_mps_in_branding_2010_13974.asp

Photo essay on migra­tion and immi­gra­tion around the world. We here in
the US often think that we have a unique ‘prob­lem’. (Note that while
many peo­ple object to flash based pre­sen­ta­tion in this case I think it
works.)
http://www.100eyes.org/the-migrants/

Good design:

I was mak­ing ster­ling cuffs in class a cou­ple of weeks ago. These are
way cooler.
http://www.coroflot.com/public/individual_file.asp?individual_id=56953&portfolio_id=2345466

How to make ubiq­ui­tous mate­ri­als inter­est­ing. Plywood that bends
around a cor­ner. And if I ever had to live in one room again I hope
these will be available.
http://www.spotd.it/2009/06/flexible-wood.html

Some guys are always cool. From one of my favorite occasionally
pub­lished blogs.
http://theimpossiblecool.tumblr.com/post/137058438/mcqueen

Things to see:

If you don’t know the films of Studio Ghibli you are miss­ing some
awe­some sto­ry telling. So on Aug 19th I will be the first in line to
see Miyazaki’s newest Ponyo. (Ping me if you need to catch up on his
ear­li­er work — I have most of it and movie nights are my fav.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NiNB4epGxK8

More aban­doned build­ings. This time an hos­pi­tal in East LA. Having
just read Gaiman’s Neverwhere it’s a lit­tle disconcerting.
http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/28071

Crop cir­cles are for ama­teurs. How about rice pad­dy art?
http://www.pinktentacle.com/2009/07/photos-rice-paddy-crop-art-2009/

Technology:

EME is one of the coolest ham radio activ­i­ties. What’s EME you ask?
Read an learn.
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/07/ham-operators-shoot-the-moon/

The ele­phant in the room is one of my sis­ter’s favorite say­ings. So
here’s to ele­phants and elec­tric cars and why they won’t be coming
soon to a depressed sub­urb near you.
http://www.wired.com/autopia/2009/07/ev-moon-shot/

Infrastructuralist brings us 4 cas­es of tear­ing down roads to make
traf­fic bet­ter. Followup arti­cles are promised. I’ll post them as they
show up.
http://www.infrastructurist.com/2009/07/06/huh-4-cases-of-how-tearing-down-a-highway-can-relieve-traffic-jams-and-help-save-a-city/

Politics? Intellectual Activity? Academia?

Lisa Goldman reports on the Janet Maslin (in the NYT) call­ing Chris
Anderson “crass, lazy, and reck­less.” Mr. Anderson is quick­ly becoming
the ele­phant in the room of the next rev­o­lu­tion. I am not unhappy
about this.
http://lisagoldresearch.wordpress.com/2009/07/06/in-the-new-york-times-janet-maslin-calls-chris-anderson-crass-reckless-and-lazy/

Nothing crafty today, maybe Thursday.

And out with a silly.

New Gather Activity. Local too. (Link to boing-boing because I refuse
to link to King5.)
http://www.boingboing.net/2009/07/06/cardboard-tube-fight.html

(Slightly bizarre) images.

A car­ni­val in TX.
http://flak-photo.my-expressions.com/archives/6333_1646490288/332630

A sculp­ture(?) whose mean­ing depends on it’s shadow.
http://www.warrenellis.com/?p=7511

Abandoned real estate is an old sto­ry but this slide show from the NYT
has excel­lent photos.
http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2009/07/05/magazine/20090705-gilded-slideshow_2.html
Local scenes.

Cool things hap­pen in Manchester England. I wish I could go and try my
luck at con­vinc­ing the Mad Man.
http://www.mif.co.uk/projects/the-difference-enginea-steampunk-adventure/

Support Seattle small businesses.
http://artcraftanddesign.blogspot.com/2009/07/city-stimulus-is-back.html

Two ran­dom links.

A new time waster  — one sen­tence sto­ries Hundreds of them
http://onesentence.org/stories/popular/all/

This rock­ing horse cell­phone stand is just… well I don’t know what it is.
http://gadgets.boingboing.net/2009/07/06/rocking-horse-cellph.html

But seri­ous­ly.

“New research sug­gests that anx­i­ety trig­gers the release of a scent
that caus­es oth­er humans who smell it to empathize with you.” Which
might explain the (hope­ful­ly tem­po­rary) appeal of dra­ma queens and
liars, and the more jus­ti­fied eager­ness to help out the noobs. More
details here.
http://www.boingboing.net/2009/07/06/smell-of-fear.html

Tim O’Reilly dis­cuss­es the Kindle and the haz­ards of pro­pri­etary. He
descrip­tion of the his­to­ry of pub­lish­ing plat­forms is food for
thought.
http://www.forbes.com/2009/02/22/kindle-oreilly-ebooks-technology-breakthroughs_oreilly.html

more tomor­row.

http://www.sundancechannel.com/sunfiltered/2009/07/anti-domestic-violence-ad-changes-when-you-look-at-it/

vin­tage ads — all a lit­tle weird. some are down right grue­some . OTOH
i’ve always loved the Chase and Sandborn one.
http://www.retrocomedy.com/2009/07/15-creepiest-vintage-ads-of-all-time.html

Glass and fiber and spin­ning wheels. You only need to watch the first
minute or two of the video.
http://www.boingboing.net/2009/07/02/andy-paikos-wunderka.html

There are bad books — there good plants.
http://www.tokyopistol.com/goods/honbachi.html

Spend some time with David Cathro’s 3‑d ren­der­ings. the vehi­cles are amazing.
http://www.coroflot.com/public/individual_set.asp?individual_id=257566&set_id=302532

Carry this lit­tle bin­go card along on your next ride to the Starbucks
(>= 100 miles from home)
http://www.davezilla.com/2009/07/02/starbucks-bingo/

I pro­pose that we pur­chase a good cou­ple dozen of these for the next
Gather. Tent find­ing on Friday night will be soooo much easier.
http://www.core77.com/blog/object_culture/tired_of_roughing_it_the_solar_concept_tents_got_you_covered_13938.asp

hap­py 4th y’all (try to keep all your fingers!)

Design notes:

Some clever and some cute. Car design car-toons.
http://www.core77.com/blog/cartoons/coretoons_unsolicited_proposals_to_detroit_13929.asp

Minimally processed fur­ni­ture. Even I could build this.
http://www.core77.com/blog/object_culture/quicktake_this_saw_and_build_me_a_chair_13914.asp

Warren Ellis has found the ulti­mate vehi­cle for snarky authors (and
Buck Rodgers fans.)
http://www.warrenellis.com/?p=7497

With the Tim Burton ver­sion of Alice in Wonderland in the works some
old­er but no less piquant visions of Alice are reap­pear­ing. Here is
Annie Leibovitz doing Alice for Vogue in 2003.
http://cyanatrendland.com/2009/06/15/alice-in-wonderland-by-annie-leibovitz/

An aes­thet­ic ide­al in kegera­tors. Let’s try a lit­tle hard­er folks.
http://ikeahacker.blogspot.com/2009/06/cheers-its-kegerator.html

Two imag­i­nary worlds:

A cas­tle by the sea in Japan.
http://tokyobling.wordpress.com/2009/07/01/a‑paper-craft-castle-on-the-ocean/

The most com­plex mod­el RR I’ve ever seen. And it’s ‑analog-
http://www.wired.com/rawfile/2009/06/model-trains

The mon­sters of the world:

I am not the only one with a Jellyfish problem.
http://www.pinktentacle.com/2009/07/japan-fears-massive-jellyfish-invasion-this-year/

Jabba the Hutt as a kidlet.
http://www.pinktentacle.com/2009/07/japan-fears-massive-jellyfish-invasion-this-year/

Just a reminder:

http://icanhascheezburger.com/2009/06/30/funny-pictures-evil‑2/

more tomor­row,