Archive for the ‘art+design’ Category
Shady Characters
July 31st, 2011
This morning I awoke suddenly aware that I hadn’t yet linked to Shady Characters, a lovely blog that records the history of some of the more interesting typographical glyphs: ¶, ‽, #, &
Goddammit
June 7th, 2011
My (still pretty new) apartment is mostly awesome, with one notable flaw. The pictured outlet (above) is the only source of 220v for the air conditioner. The air conditioner’s bent power cable was apparently designed to occlude the lower, regular outlet, which is the only one controlled by the light switch. The sadistic electricians who wired this building have effectively forced me to choose between having either sub-triple-digit temperatures or convenient, wall-switch-controlled light.
I chose the AC. If I want to be able to see at night, I have to walk all the way across the room and actually turn on a lamp, like a Neanderthal.
…
On the other hand, there’s a colony of prairie dogs living like a mile down the bike path. So, big picture, everything’s actually awesome.
art+design, bitching, ill-conceived plans, moaning, personal | No Comments »
Abandoned Yugoslav Monuments
May 23rd, 2011
A few decades ago, the Yugoslav government commissioned a series of huge sculpture/monuments to be built at a few historic locations. They’ve since been abandoned, so the Balkans are now scattered with what look like the relics of an ancient and completely alien civilization.
Also, on a personal note, I’m spending the summer in Boulder, CO, interning with the lovely people at Foraker Labs! So, you know, FYI. You should probably visit — Boulder is just incredibly awesome and I have a remarkably comfortable floor moderately comfortable futon.
AlgoRythmics
April 13th, 2011
The video above depicts an insertion sort implemented through Romanian folk dance.
See also: bubble sort, selection sort, and Shell sort.
Wind Knitting Factory
March 8th, 2011
Have you seen Merel Karhof’s Wind Knitting Factory? I guess if you read swissmiss you have. Which you should.
The site’s worth checking out — there’s a video. If you go watch it, I’ll spare you a really weak “windsock” joke.
Painting with WiFi
March 7th, 2011
So clearly this results in a pretty cool set of images. What I’d really like, though, is a 3-d graph depicting signal strength on a 2-d field.
Imagine if we replaced the rod with a disc composed of a set of concentric circles of lights. Suppose the number of circles that light up correlates with the strength of the signal, so that more signal => more light. Head to the city park, wander around in a grid pattern with this device, point the camera down from a building, and take a long exposure of the results. Signal would be represented as pools of light.
Someone go do this for me. Send me pictures.
art+design, computer science, infographic, video | No Comments »
Types of Screws
January 10th, 2011
I sure hope some other person in the world finds Wikipedia’s List of Screw Drives page as fascinating as I do.
L’elephant triomphal
September 14th, 2010
History has forgotten French architect Charles Ribart, and with good reason. Here’s his wikipedia article, essentially in full:
In 1758, he planned an addition to the Champs-Élysées in Paris, to be constructed where the Arc de Triomphe now stands. It consisted of three levels, to be built in the shape of an elephant, with entry via a spiral staircase in the underbelly. The building was to have a form of air conditioning, and furniture that folded into the walls. A drainage system was to be incorporated into the elephant’s trunk. The French Government, however, was not amused and turned him down.
Little of his work now survives.
animals, architecture, cranks, history, ill-conceived plans, old dead white guys | No Comments »
Lego Fallingwater
August 28th, 2010
Apparently Lego is now selling a model of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater. They’re making a few other architectural models, like the Guggenheim and the White House, though they’re much simpler.
I’d love to see them try to model something by Frank Gehry, but I won’t hold my breath.
