magpie's shiny things

Transportation

This KTM con­cept bike is too future-freaky for com­fort. The TopSpeed
review does­n’t make much sense of the bike.
http://www.topspeed.com/motorcycles/motorcycle-news/amazing-ktm-concept-motorbike-ar79248.html

Old-skewl, shiny, prob­a­bly unrid­able. I don’t care. Drool wor­thy Indian.
http://www.bikeexif.com/indian-arrow-motorcycle

Czysz toots his own horn with the Motorcyclist cov­er­age of the I.C.E.
Prettiest of the electrics? Possibly.
http://www.motoczysz.com/rss_news_view.php?id=105

Speaking of elec­tric trans­port. News we nev­er need­ed to see. Trabant
returns — as an electric.
http://www.wired.com/autopia/2009/09/electric-trabant/

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Science and Technology

Congress Considers the future of NASA. Wired Science live blogs. Aside
— is the live blog­ging of tes­ti­mo­ny going to pro­vide an alter­na­tive to
offi­cial tran­scripts? Is this good or bad? Certainly in this case it
high­lights the con­trast between the rec­om­men­da­tions of experts and the
feel­ings of the meme­bers of the Committee.
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/09/live-blog-congress-on-the-future-of-nasa/

The future of space explo­ration and extra-terrestrial sci­ence may be
in hands of small inde­pen­dent exper­i­menters like Armadillo Aerospace.
Simulated moon land­ings by their Scorpius vehi­cle saw them move one
step clos­er to the Northrop Grumman Lander Challenge grand prize.
http://www.wired.com/autopia/2009/09/armadillo_aerospace/

Birds vs. Airplanes. The Bird Strike North America Conference is
get­ting unac­cus­tomed pub­lic­i­ty this year. Wired Science brings us a
round up of some promis­ing devel­op­ments in the bat­tle to keep birds
and planes fly­ing. At least click through for the nice blue bird
picture.
http://www.wired.com/autopia/2009/09/bird-strike-conference/

Gene Therapy con­tin­ues to get press. Nature report­ed on the successful
cure of col­or­blind­ness in two monkeys.
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/09/colortherapy/

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Society

Chumming the waters. Medina is now track­ing all vehi­cles that enter
the city. Rich peo­ple are para­noid and, well, rich enough to do
some­thing about it.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2009873854_medina16m.html

Medinites can now cel­e­brate their com­plete safe­ty with a skillfully
sabered bot­tle of cham­pagne. Do the West Pointers still do this at
weddings?
http://www.boingboing.net/2009/09/16/how-to-saber-a-bottl.html

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Art, Illustration, and Images

The ques­tion of which pho­to print­er to buy comes up all the time.
Here’s the short sweet answer. Less that $500.
http://drawn.ca/2009/09/16/best-printer-home-studio/

Logo-rific LA ani­mat­ed as a pulpy PI movie. Ronald McDonald is the
vil­lain. The Michelin man the hard boiled detec­tive. Stills and clips.
You can be sure that I’ll let you know as soon as the full length vid
makes it’s way to the ‘nets.
http://creativity-online.com/news/h5-builds-the-world-of-logorama/138951

The Afflicted Yard is get­ting an out­door show­ing. I’ve aready pointed
you all to the book of pho­tographs of life in Kingston Jamaica as
doc­u­ment­ed by Peter Dean Rickards.  There a cou­ple of pho­tos in this
announce­ment that did­n’t make the book.
http://cafehabanablog.wordpress.com/2009/09/16/the-afflicted-yard/

Erotic art giv­en a sen­si­tive and real edge by street artist Mode2.
This is the set to show the judge when youw ant to make the
dis­tinc­tion between erot­ic art and porn. NSFW.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/no-eyed-dear/sets/72157621973413086/

Surreal short ani­ma­tion. Morbidly Gallic humor.
http://vimeo.com/muzorama

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On the Way out the Door

Stop motion, paper craft, Samuri Jack. You can not fail with this 15
sec­ond pro­mo for Cartoon Network.
http://drawn.ca/2009/09/16/samurai-jack-cutout-animation/

Transportation

The future(?) is all red and swoopy in these five exam­ples of
futur­is­tic design. I want a jet bike!

Okay, all the green­ers want us to know that the future is public
trans­porta­tion. Maybe if they can make all the bus­es as cool as these
bus shel­ters. Erm, adver­tis­ing is promi­nent fea­ture in all of them.
The future looks an awful lot the present.

Graham Parker and his bud­dy Stewart Cauley has got­ten their hands on a
trove of pho­tographs from the 1917 Beekman Street sub­way col­lapse in
NYC. They’ve uploaded them to Panorama and mapped the loca­tions using
the nota­tions on the pics. Fascinating.

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Technology and Society

Google’s Public Policy blog announces DataLiberation.org. Freeing your
data from the cloud keep­ers. The com­par­i­son to rent­ing an apart­ment in
the first ‘graph push­es the anal­o­gy fur­ther than usu­al — to good
effect IMO.

Books car­ried by back­pack­ers are care­ful­ly cho­sen with an eye to
weight vs. ben­e­fit. Here’s a set of sug­ges­tions for books that
qual­i­fy. Motorcyclist choose almost as care­ful­ly. What would you add
to the list?

Ars Technica’s review of Scribblenauts is enough to con­vince me to dig
out my old DS in prepa­ra­tion for the next long plane trip.

xkcd con­tem­plates a Scribblenauts ver­sion of real­i­ty. <face­book> Like
</facebook>

The Wizard of Oz is 70 years old. Wow. I was trau­ma­tized by those
damned mon­keys as a child. Now I wish I have my own fly­ing monkey
army. SunFiltered offers a cou­ple of links.

Do your­self a favor and give this Eric Clapton ver­sion of Somewhere
Over the Rainbow a lis­ten. A palate cleanser if you will.

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Fashion and Design

Dorothy need­ed ruby slip­pers to get home. I’m lik­ing these from Ahmet
Baytar bet­ter than the sequined orig­i­nals. (Link to my site because
the design­er’s site is unlink­able flash.)

Inspiration for girls who are going to get what they need and don’t
feel like putting up with a fairy god­moth­er to do it.
http://insomnio.org/post/188578223/the-gun-and-the-girl

Color and pat­tern inspi­ra­tion for the day. Batik.

———————–

Video(s) of the Day

Don’t be like this guy.

Or this pig. (Or sing like Nureyev.)

More mup­pet creepi­ness here.

Transportation

The good moto stuff first. Another yum­my bike on Bike EXIF. They’re
hit­ting my sweet spot late­ly. And it *races*.

Outrageously luxe big V‑8s are a pas­sion of mine. Here’s anoth­er entry
for my imag­i­nary garage.

Sadly yet anoth­er exot­ic is get­ting the elec­tric treat­ment. Come-on
folks, these cars were nev­er meant to hum along silent­ly in the I‑405
24/7 traf­fic jam. It’s ugly to boot.

The mir­rors at Lamborgini head­quar­ters are all bro­ken, That’s the only
expla­na­tion for all the odd angles and planes on this Reventon. I like
it any­way and these ren­der­ings seri­ous­ly rock.

Motoring old style. From Millie Motts a set of scans from Delaware
Motorist mag­a­zine 1934. The expla­na­tion of syn­chro­nized traf­fic lights
is excel­lent. (Click for bigger.)

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Technology

I want this book, just because I love any­thing about ‘how it’s made’.

———————–

Science

The best DIY space project ever? Get your very own pho­tos from 18
miles up. For less than $150. Maybe cheap­er, I’m sure we have a couple
of extra beer cool­ers lay­ing around.

Green Porno is back. Seriously good infor­ma­tion on reproductive
biol­o­gy with clever paper cos­tumes and the dead sexy Isabella
Rossellini. NSFW unless you want to have a very interesting
con­ver­sa­tion with the nice girl from HR about your sex­u­al orientation.
(Tentacle fetish anyone?)

For sale, one T. Rex skele­ton. No longer being used by orig­i­nal owner.

———————–

Style

It’s fash­ion week in NYC. Here’s a quick look at some high­lights. I
like the laid back atti­tude we’re seeing.

On a more for­mal note, there are still milliners. Uma Turan is a Brit
with an eye for for hap­py flip­pan­cy in hats.

The MOMA store is always a good go-to for a styl­ish gift when you
refuse to suc­cumb the Bed, Bath, and Beyond Registry thing. Here are a
cou­ple of speech bal­loon plates that will make some­one smile.

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Images

Warren Ellis point­ed to this col­lec­tion of hand-colored pho­tographs
from Russia tak­en in 1896. There is no nar­ra­tive to accom­pa­ny the
images, mak­ing them alien and suggestive.

We’ve lost the Polaroid. Sigh. Here’s a set of por­traits done by Hana
Davies using the Polaroid as a col­lage ele­ments. All of her work
pleas­es me. NSFW — nudes.

A mas­ter of impromp­tu sketch­ing. Wil Wong draws Toronto en plein aire.

Do the Time Warp is back. Deviant Art’s chal­lenge to illus­tra­tors, Now
and Then self portraits.Done most­ly by high school­ers and
20-somethings, more mature view­ers will find both the Thens and the
Nows  poignant reminders of the uni­ver­sal nature of grow­ing up. Alice
chose 12 of her favorites and post­ed them at Modern Met.

Amy Crehore has repost­ed her Demon Ukulele. The horned demon on the
head­stock is sneer­ing sweet­ly — if that’s pos­si­ble. Amy’s site is
unfor­tu­nate­ly NSFW — artist nudes.

A classy young lady who would go on to be one of the most pow­er­ful in
the world. Her charm is unmis­tak­able. Jacqueline Bouvier.

back to the salt mines, the lot if you.

-lara-

Transportation

The Atom Bomb Doctor Who. Naming con­ven­tion remains a mys­tery but the
bike is yummy.

1861 United does a series of pun­ning ads for Yamaha. Love ’em.

For a retro moto look, an album cov­er.

——————-

Science

The Benthic Rover does for the ocean floor what Spirit and Opportunity
are doing for Mars. Only cool­er, and there’s video.

————–

Society

We all know the dan­gers of spy ware but did you imag­ine that Sears and
K‑Mart would be gross offend­ers? Just sign up for a few spe­cial deals,
get $10 — and reveal your kinks, online phar­ma­cy orders, and bank
bal­ance to the retail giants.

UT Austin’s fresh­ly dig­i­tized Poe archives. Search for” raven” and
find sheet music, illus­tra­tions, and manuscripts.

I trav­el; I look at rivers and dams. I might change my mind and plan a
world tour based on vis­it­ing these 10 coolest play­grounds.

——————–

Design

Microwave pop­corn bags have no style what-so-ever. This award winning
con­cept could change that. Stylin’ and delicious.

I like yel­low, maybe not this much yel­low, but DHL gets a lot out of
yel­low. Or in this case a lot into yel­low.

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Art, Images, and Illustration

Modern sculp­tures invade the grounds of Versailles. The pur­ple
crus­taceans are awesome.

More whim­si­cal and charm­ing from under the sea. Meomi’s house
fea­tures the new Octonauts adven­ture. And a cou­ple of thou­sand other
bits of cot­ton can­dy —  mouse around.

Jessica Fortner’s illus­tra­tions are the end result of a long, exacting
process that com­bines mod­el build­ing with pho­to com­post­ing. Her
newest, the first in the“My Woodlands, My Nightmare” series, is at the
top of her blog. Scrolling down will show you how she did it. (And,
no, a bear under and umbrel­la is not in the least bit night­mar­ish. A
few of the ear­li­er pieces are)

Monday seems to be visu­al irony day. Here David Trautrimas paints
unique hous­es based on com­mon gadgets.

La Carrera Panamericana, rac­ing at it’s most bru­tal­ly unsophisticated.
Photographed by Coop. In black and White. 600+ images. Day-waster.

More black and white good­ness. The LIFE archives serve up a slide show
of New York City in the 1940’s.

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Video

Making your day just a lit­tle hap­pi­er. 8 ani­ma­tors pro­vide a roller
coast­er ride for a lit­tle rab­bity fel­low set  to a pop song from New
Zealand. (SFW + audio)

until tomor­row comrades,

Transportation

Honda has devel­oped a “dual clutch” auto-transmission for bikes.
There’s a dia­gram at the bot­tom of the post that I’m still puzzling
out.
http://www.wired.com/autopia/2009/09/dual-clutch-honda/

It nev­er real­ly works but the gull wing sports car refus­es to die.
This one is sex­i­er than most.
http://www.mymodernmet.com/profiles/blogs/mercedes-benz-2010-sls-amg

A com­bi­na­tion of watch porn and auto­mo­tive his­to­ry. This stop watch is going to look so sweet on the dash of the scoot­er. (not)
http://www.dinosaursandrobots.com/2009/09/heuer-dash-mounted-stopwatch-at-auction.html

Video, clas­si­cal music. BMW at the Nürburgring with Wagner (apolo­gies to JC)
http://vimeo.com/5002127

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Science

A col­lec­tion of images from the repaired Hubble tele­scope. The lead pic is a stunner.
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/09/hubble_gallery/

——————

Tech

Ars Technica puts up the pay wall, becomes irrel­e­vant faster than last weeks celeb tid-bits. Big mis­take boys.
http://arstechnica.com/staff/palatine/2009/09/introducing-ars-premier-20.ars

For the fan­bois, excru­ci­at­ing minute by minute cov­er­age of yes­ter­day’s Apple love-fest.
http://www.crunchgear.com/2009/09/09/live-from-apples-rock-and-roll-event/

———————–

Culture

The only  impor­tant news from yes­ter­day’s Apple blitz. Norah Jones cut her hair. And she still rocks wicked cool shoes.
http://gadgets.boingboing.net/2009/09/09/norah-jones.html

Nerf is a huge part of my fam­i­ly’s Christmas tra­di­tion. Happy 40th to the (foam) weapons maker.
http://www.crunchgear.com/2009/09/09/happy-40th-birthday-nerf/

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Art and Images

Gabriel Dishaw is a found object sculp­tor. Here is the left of this Junk Dunk pair of com­put­er trash kicks. (SFW) Click through to his site for more (some NSFW)
http://www.rxfresh.com/rxfresh/2009/9/9/gabriel-dishaw-junk-dunk-art.html

Designlenta is a Russian site that is bring­ing mag­i­cal art to my door by the buck­et load. Today we have: Stuart Crossett whose pho­tos for adver­tis­ing are won­der­ful­ly mixed up.
http://designlenta.com/2009/09/09/kreativnye-fotografii-stuart-crossett/

Also via Designlenta I dis­cov­ered the blog of  Sam Nielson who works for Disney and draws mon­sters that I would glad­ly host in my nightmares.
http://artsammich.blogspot.com/

Another illus­tra­tor blog that I’ll be fol­low­ing belongs to Nate Simpson who used to be a con­cept artist for the gam­ing indus­try and is now teach­ing him­self the art of draw­ing a com­ic by… draw­ing one.
http://projectwaldo.blogspot.com/

Another illus­tra­tor cross­ing over into a medi­um oth­er than his usu­al is Anders Nyberg. He’s been in the work­shop this sum­mer build­ing wood­en toys.
http://andersnybergillustrator.blogspot.com/2009/07/wooden-art.html

Colour Lovers brings us a col­lec­tion of vin­tage Japanese post­cards. Restful palettes abound. I’ve book­marked this one for inspi­ra­tion in rebuild­ing a blog to host the full (with pic­tures) ver­sion of morn­ing linkage.
http://www.colourlovers.com/blog/2009/09/09/vintage-color-design-japanese-postcards/

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Video

You already got a good video this morn­ing so here’s some bad ones. The Wall-O-Fluff — enough cute ani­mal videos to start an entire cube farm full of sugar-shock.
http://reponere.com/walloffluff.php

Until tomor­row my freaky darlings,

-lara-

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Bonus Science Section

My late father was a par­ti­cle physi­cist. Much of his ear­ly career was spent work­ing on the char­ac­ter­i­za­tion of the Higgs-Bosun par­ti­cle. The search for proof of the exis­tence of the Higgs-Bosun con­tin­ues in accel­er­a­tors and col­lid­ers around the world.Paul Halpern has just had his book “Collider” pub­lished. Wired sci­ence has pro­vid­ed two excerpts from the book and two arti­cles on American colliders.
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/09/halpern-qa/
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/09/collider_excerpt/
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/09/tevatron/
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/09/super-collider-gallery/