The future of work: We asked three architecture firms to imagine New York City in 2030; see the sleek, soothing results here.
The Iceland volcano* in timelapse.
“So I saw all of these mediocre pictures of that volcano in Iceland nobody can pronounce the name of, so I figured I should go and do better. But the flights to get over took forever as expected (somewhat). 4 days after leaving I finally made it, but the weather was terrible for another 4. Just before leaving it got pretty good for about a day and a half and this is what I managed to get.
* I am so far from actually being able to pronounce its name that I don’t even have the right to type it.
:: rocketboom ::
Look at the timeline on the left… there have been six separate attacks on schoolchildren around the country since 23 March.
From the 30 April attack:
“A farmer enters a village school in Shandong province and attacks preschool students with a hammer, causing head injuries. He then sets himself on fire, killing himself.”
OMG.
Stephen’s Sound Advice on the SATs.
“We all know essay writing is useless. If you don’t believe me, ask your waiter about his English degree.”
Video: Jeff Mangum – “Oh, Comely” (Live at the Chris Knox Benefit, NYC, 5/6/10) @ MBV “This video proves [Mangum] can still devastate with a guitar and his voice. It’s a rare talent, like the college professor who’s a natural at lecturing while others drone on. Not many people have the power to silence a bunch of “Bleeker Street”-yelling NYC ‘bags.” - Lucas, Chain of Knives
Man v. Nature - The front line
(via raonurcouch)
I wish I knew where this was; the type is too small to read.
Honda’s U3-X Personal Mobility Prototype.
My favorite part of the design of this thing is its ability to move in two dimensions without rotating, with its large wheel made out of small perpendicular wheels. Amazing engineering.
A guy manually installed a highway shield/label for the left-side exit of this highway:
“For nine months, no one noticed that the change was the work of a private citizen. Ankrom eventually leaked the story to a local paper. The sign was reviewed in the Los Angeles Times as art, and the locals enjoyed its functionality. The most unexpected reaction came from the California transit authorities: They left Ankrom’s civilian sign in peace for eight more years. It’s a rare day when performance art yields something useful, rarer still when public officials leave such a thing unmolested.”
Our pal Donald Glover looking sharp as always on the Late Late Show.
Pedestrian patterns on the floor of Ikea.
That place really is a giant maze. At least it’s easy to find a comfortable chair to do some iPhoning in when I get bored.
:: pruned ::
Conan’s 60 Minutes Interview.
It’s a relief to see him clearing the air a little bit after the debacle from earlier this year.
Leaving the Tonight Show was an awesome thing for Conan to do. The corporate, lowest-common-denominator attitude exhibited by NBC clearly isn’t ideal for someone in Conan’s wheelhouse. While it’s upsetting that NBC put the show’s talent and staff through hell and killed many of their jobs, it’ll end up benefitting Conan and his fans in the long run.
Even though Conan’s been on late-night TV since the early 90s, he’s still very hip in his style and sensibilities. Leaving the old-hat network TV market to pursue newer avenues for himself will be better for people like me. I’ve loved Conan’s work for a long time, but haven’t seen as much of it as I could have if he was in a more “modern” segment of entertainment.
I predict that within a few years Conan will be doing so much more cool stuff online now that he’s broken free from the network TV chains.
“Herein lies the problem with Yahoo! Maps: the designers focused too much on “decorating” and not enough on “communicating”. For example, it seems that making the highways look attractive was a far greater priority than simply making New York City’s city label legible. Or look at the city “dots” used on Yahoo! Maps: the focus was clearly on making pretty-looking city “dots”, instead of making city “dots” that actually communicate information, such as city population.”
An excellent comparison. This puts into words what most people only feel about the three providers’ map tiles. I could tell you I far prefer Google’s style, but I don’t know that I could articulate exactly why as well as the author.
