February 2012
14 posts
Today's archidose #559
Here are some photos of the Alto de Pinheiros House in São Paulo, Brazil by Arquiteto Paulo Bastos and Associados, 1970. Floor plans: lower and upper. Photographs are by Flavio.
To contribute your Flickr images for consideration, just:
:: Join and add photos to the archidose pool, and/or
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from A Daily Dose of Architecture...
Why is NBA TV viewership up so much?
The first 325 games of this NBA season averaged attendance of 17,094. That’s better than 89 percent of capacity, and a hair better than the first 325 games of last season, which averaged 17,057.
But almost every other indicator blows those in-arena numbers away. Viewership is going a bit nuts:
ABC has had just three games, so it’s hard to say anything conclusive, but the audience is up five...
Inspiration To Be Better
There’s always someone whose monster won’t go to sleep, no matter what Molotov cocktail of drugs and poison the medical miracle-makers can concoct to throw at it. Good people, better than I, are doomed to such a fate. The thought of it just seems to drain all of the air out of the room. But it makes me want to be better. I know those people won’t stop fighting until that final...
"Is there a secret recipe for turning around...
Kind of.
The formula, it seems, is some combination of leadership, stability, buy-in across the board, talent (especially at quarterback) and tough love.
from Newmark’s Door http://bit.ly/wC9wC5
Shit New Yorkers say
A collection of things that New Yorkers say. Like “where’s the train?”, “you have to go to Brooklyn, it’s the law”, and “tourists!”
Tags: NYC video
from kottke.org http://bit.ly/wPhxD1
Through destruction, a washing machine achieves...
You’ve seen one washing machine self-destruction video, you’ve seen them all, right? Maybe not. Back in August, I posted this short video of a washer destroying itself (with some help from a brick) but this longer video is mesmerizing and almost poignant at times.
At times, it seems as though the washer is attempting to turn into the Picasso version of itself, a Cubist sculpture...
How to pronounce things hilariously
The Pronunciation Book channel on YouTube shows you how to say various words in American English in a straightforward fashion. Here’s how to say Zegna, the men’s clothing brand:
This is not to be confused with the Pronunciation Manual channel, which does the same thing in the same format but much funnier and more incorrect.
I could have embedded a dozen...
More reasons to love Ivan Johnson
We all love Ivan Johnson, the 27-year-old Hawks rookie who plays in diamond fronts, doesn’t watch basketball and is frightening in a friendly kind of way, like the scary guy on your block who is actually pretty nice. In a season that’s seen a lot of random, little known players pop up in games, Johnson’s stood out as a bright spot/human meme who plays as hard as he possibly can at all times.
...
It’s a Small World, After All…
A few days ago, NASA released this lovely composite image of our home planet:
Click for the full-resolution image
It’s a spectacular image. Click to view in full resolution!
But the projection is slightly…unusual. Can you pick why this isn’t what the earth would look like if you were viewing it from, say, the moon?
from Compound Eye http://bit.ly/gsMJzK
jerrybrito:
Newt Gingrich sitting on a rock.
jerrybrito:
Newt Gingrich sitting on a rock.
from kung fu grippe http://bit.ly/xSV12L
"The Economics Of Post-Collegiate...
Pretty much stinks.
High school and college used to have a lot of advantages for finding a potential spouse. But since at the tonier schools a lot of kids don’t date anymore, that advantage seems to have decreased. Very sad.
from Newmark’s Door http://bit.ly/A4VD4v
The District
Head inside the glass doors by the waterfall at the bottom floor of the Fowler Building in the Tobacco District, and you’ll find the District, a restaurant only open on Thursdays and Fridays from 11:00 am to 2:00 pm.
The Fowler Building is also the home of the Art Institute of Raleigh-Durham, and their culinary program is why the District exists in the first place. It’s a training ground...
"I’m almost annoyed when something I’ve been...
“I’m almost annoyed when something I’ve been interested in becomes valuable. Then it becomes trouble. I have to take care of it.” - William Gibson.
from more of what i like http://bit.ly/wlZGvw
"I owe my livelihood to technology and I love the...
“I owe my livelihood to technology and I love the raw capability it offers us as a tool, but I fear it a bit more than most people do. It’s a tool, but it’s not quite a hammer, because a hammer doesn’t seduce you into sitting around lonely in your underwear for 6 hours at a stretch.” - Brian Lam.
from more of what i like http://bit.ly/x89IpD
Times Square, 4 a.m.
from Pictures From A Taxi http://bit.ly/ycNKLc
January 2012
58 posts
Helium
I just learned why helium makes us sound like chipmunks. If you don’t already know the answer, try to think about it for at least a few moments before I tell you… (spoiler space) (spoiler space) (spoiler space) (spoiler space) The answer is that helium is less dense than air, and sound travels through it about twice as fast! In retrospect this is not terribly surprising,...
Financial District, 4 a.m.
from Pictures From A Taxi http://bit.ly/yhKv4D
"The reasons brainstorming fails are instructive...
“The reasons brainstorming fails are instructive for other forms of group work, too. People in groups tend to sit back and let others do the work; they instinctively mimic others’ opinions and lose sight of their own; and, often succumb to peer pressure. The Emory University neuroscientist Gregory Berns found that when we take a stance different from the group’s, we activate the amygdala, a small...
"I Don't Understand What Anyone Is Saying...
Harvard Business Review blogger Dan Pallotta:
I’d say that in about half of my business conversations, I have almost no idea what other people are saying to me. The language of internet business models has made the problem even worse. When I was younger, if I didn’t understand what people were saying, I thought I was stupid. Now I realize that if it’s to people’s benefit...
projections!
krystalpersaud:
cc: stephen kennedy
projections!
krystalpersaud:
cc: stephen kennedy
from oh, sk. http://bit.ly/x2MyeX
Gramercy
from Pictures From A Taxi http://bit.ly/xAA8lw
Bill Cunningham New York. Very highly recommended....
Bill Cunningham New York. Very highly recommended. What a guy.
If you don’t take money, they can’t tell you what to do. That’s the key to the whole thing.
from more of what i like http://bit.ly/wHQKz2
iBook Author exclusivity
Apple’s new iBook Author software looks pretty cool. If I was going to write a book, I’d certainly be tempted to use it.
It’s interesting that the license agreement contains a little fuck you Amazon … all books created with iBook Author must be sold via the iBookstore (if you give the book away for free you can do whatever you want).
As far as I know, Kindle has a much bigger share of the ebook...
When Words Are Neighbors
Where we live affects where we can enroll our children in school, how much money we can get for our house, even how we’ll probably vote. Our neighborhood matters. Psycholinguists think of words as…
from The American Scholar http://bit.ly/AznHwF
Multicellular Life Evolves in Laboratory
An evolutionary transition that took several billion years to occur in nature has happened in a laboratory, and it needed just 60 days.
Under artificial pressure to become larger, single-celled yeast became multicellular creatures. That crucial step is responsible for life’s progression beyond algae and bacteria, and while the latest work doesn’t duplicate prehistoric transitions, it could help...
"Gastronomics: Where the One Percent...
Short answer: near Fifth Avenue.
With this observation: “Proximity trumps quality, even when you have a car and driver.”
from Newmark’s Door http://bit.ly/A0H8QL
Two on educational costs
“College for today’s newborns could cost as much as $422K [in today’s dollars]”. Can I bet against this? This has about as much chance as a widespread revival of vinyl records.
“A Look Inside A $32,000-A-Year-Elementary School In New York’s East Village”. What do you get for this almost unbelievable money?
But with that price tag comes state-of-the-art...
"This is our hope. This is the faith that I go...
“This is our hope. This is the faith that I go back to the South with. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a quotation pasted without actually reading it and hope. With this faith we will be able to reblog the jangling discords without actually reading the whole thing through and brotherhood. With this reflexive pasting and reading we will be able to seem...
One Earth
To the question, “Has an astronaut ever had a psychotic episode or mental breakdown while on a mission in space?” an answerer on Quora says no, but posts the below quote as representative of epiphanies astronauts tend to have when staring at Planet Earth:
You develop an instant global consciousness, a people orientation, an intense dissatisfaction with the state of the world, and a compulsion...
Today's archidose #550
Here are a couple photos of the REM Eiland Restaurant in Amsterdam, Netherlands by Concrete, 2011. The restaurant is a re-purposed helicopter landing platform from the 1960s, moved from the North Sea to Minerva Harbor in Amsterdam. Photos are by Klass Vermaas.
To contribute your Flickr images for consideration, just:
:: Join and add photos to the archidose pool, and/or
:: Tag...
High-Speed Animal Flight Videos Show Hidden Aerial...
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Fracking Music
Mark Little makes music out of everyday sounds for the new exhibition “The Spectacular of the Vernacular.” He talks to Host Frank Stasio about his work.
from North Carolina Public Radio WUNC - SOT Audio Archive http://bit.ly/wz6EvG
Words bring life to life
Drew Berry is one of the great movie-makers of the molecular world. He makes gorgeous computer visualizations of DNA, proteins, and the various goings-on inside the cell. Last night I spent a little time watching a new TEDx talk of his just posted online. My first thought was, “Why didn’t I get to see these movies when I was learning about biology as a kid? Life is unfair.” Compared to the flat...
Peter Lawrence on the Ills of Modern Science
Peter A. Lawrence is a British biologist who has written several papers about problems with the way biology and other areas of science are now done. In this interview a year ago he summarizes his complaints:
Scientific publication “has become a system of collecting counters for particular purposes – to get grants, to get tenure, etc. – rather than to communicate and illuminate findings to other...
Retreating to Study Technology’s Cognitive Impact
Five neuroscientists travelled into deepest Glen Canyon, Utah, to contemplate how technology has changes their behaviour. Some were sceptics and some were believers, and by taking this forced break from their computers and gadgets (there was no mobile phone reception or power) they were determined to find out whether or not modern technology inhibits their “deep thought” and can cause them...
"Have you every wondered which part of the...
Maybe not. But just in case, you can use this handy-dandy “map tunneling tool”.
With another tool on this page you can also find all the zip codes within a specific radius.
from Newmark’s Door http://bit.ly/y5kSdX
More buses than you could ever imagine (Taken with...
More buses than you could ever imagine (Taken with Instagram at Fulbaria, Motijheel, Dhaka)
from oh, sk. http://bit.ly/AoM7GT
Why We Touch Our Mouths So Much: Forewarned is...
When I taught Introductory Psychology, I came across a study in which researchers put people in a room with food and watched them. They were looking for cycles in eating and drinking. They noticed that their subjects spent a lot of time touching the face near their mouth — what they called “the snout area”. After I read that, I noticed the same thing countless times. Right now I am at an airport...
Boundless blogger considers first anniversary a...
Does the Boundless blogger consider his first anniversary a “miracle” because he or his spouse nearly died last year and only miraculously survived? No. Did one of them commit adultery and then repent, restoring the marriage? No.
No, our Boundless blogger considers his first anniversary a “miracle” because, basically, his wife didn’t divorce him for being imperfect.
Very early in this blog’s...
The New World. In which the title is a metaphor....
The New World. In which the title is a metaphor. Terrence Malick is a seductive director. I thought it started a little conventionally, but partway in, it turned into something special. You’re forced to set aside Disney memories and whatever historical précis you’ve got leftover from school. Interesting to see what expected bits of history and relationship development that he delays or leaves...
Midtown
from Pictures From A Taxi http://bit.ly/yaFpMV
TED: A.J. Jacobs: How healthy living nearly killed...
For a full year, A.J. Jacobs followed every piece of health advice he could — from applying sunscreen by the shot glass to wearing a bicycle helmet while shopping. Onstage at TEDMED, he shares the surprising things he learned.
from TEDTalks (video) http://bit.ly/waZfWj
TED: Jane Fonda: Life's third act - Jane Fonda...
Within this generation, an extra 30 years have been added to our life expectancy — and these years aren’t just a footnote or a pathology. At TEDxWomen, Jane Fonda asks how we can think about this new phase of our lives.
from TEDTalks (video) http://bit.ly/wRfhh6
In The Cave: Philosophy And Addiction | Peg...
http://b.rw/yCWwsb
Philosopher, alcoholic, re-visits Plato’s allegory of the cave, to see what light it can shed on world of addiction, relapse, recovery. “Those who do make it out of the cave and manage never to relapse again are few and far between”
More about this...
Video: Behind The Gregory Brothers' viral videos
The Gregory Brothers have achieved extraordinary fame through their viral YouTube videos in which people who are talking are made to appear to sing. How did they do it? David Pogue visited their Brooklyn studio to uncover what goes into the creation of one of these wildly imaginative and popular videos.
from Latest Sunday Morning Headlines - CBS News...
Video: Cattelan at the Guggenheim
With not a single piece of art on the walls, the Guggenheim Museum is celebrating Maurizio Cattelan’s career by hanging all his works in the middle of its central space. Serena Altschul got a personal tour from Cattelan who shared insight into what makes this perennial trickster such a popular artist.
from Latest Sunday Morning Headlines - CBS News...
Maximizing shareholder value is "the dumbest...
Steve Denning, writing in Forbes:
In today’s paradoxical world of maximizing shareholder value, which Jack Welch himself has called “the dumbest idea in the world”, the situation is the reverse. CEOs and their top managers have massive incentives to focus most of their attentions on the expectations market, rather than the real job of running the company producing real products...
The parking problem
Parking is expensive to create — up to $140,000 per space in an underground garage — but is low-cost or even free to use, which results in strange economic situations and irrational human behavior.
After 36 years, Shoup’s writings — usually found in obscure journals — can be reduced to a single question: What if the free and abundant parking drivers crave is about...
Smoking kids
Inspired by a video of a chain-smoking two-year-old from Indonesia, photographer Frieke Janssens took a series of portraits of kids smoking.
A video shows how Janssens made the photos…the cigarettes were made of cheese. Tags: art Frieke Janssens photography
from kottke.org http://bit.ly/wdZlij
The world's greatest invention
Tom Standage argues that civilization’s best invention is writing.
It is not just one of the foundations of civilisation: it underpins the steady accumulation of intellectual achievement. By capturing ideas in physical form, it allows them to travel across space and time without distortion, and thus slip the bonds of human memory and oral transmission, not to mention the whims of tyrants...