March 30, 2007
Accessible Arcade Fire
Radio City Music Hall seating chart - red seats denote accessible seating
So, the Arcade Fire show at Radio City Music Hall is sold out. Big surprise. It seems that the show sold out at around 10:10 am, since that was the only time I was able to actually access Ticketmaster’s site.
But, if your soul is cold and evil, there are still a number of handicapped accessible seats available. You just have to rent a wheel chair, you heartless bastard.
March 29, 2007
Excellent Short about Letterpress in Boston is quite charming (via)
Nonsuch: photos of model’town Poundbury by Steffi Klenz set in Poundbury Dorset, built
on land owned by the Duchy of Cornwell and planned by the architect Leon Krier
feels like a British version of Celebration
Driving directions from New York City to Paris, France via Google Maps: Step 22 - Turn right at Long Wharf (0.1 mi), Step 23 - Swim across the Atlantic Ocean (3,462 mi)
only New York City to European driving directions seem to work
March 28, 2007
Next time in the Lower East Side, be sure to play Ping Pong at new storefront space Grand Opening
Subprime Mortgage Defaults Map of NYC
notice how hard hit minority areas are and the single dot below 125th in Manhattan
March 27, 2007
John McCain's MySpace Page (narf) was hot linking Mike D's images so he changed them so McCain would appear to be supporting gay marriage (looks like they just changed the image source)
at least it wasn't porn (but he would have been in the right) - just say no to hot linking
Regarding yesterday's Chicago Transit problems, JW points out his view from the trenches, and it doesn't look good
I thought the F being
Hoyt'd
and the G running on one track was bad, but 3 lines being shunted onto one track spells disaster
March 26, 2007
A Rail System (and Patience) Are Stretched Thin in Chicago
I firmly believe that urban-dwellers' number one item to complain about is public transportation, do to the primacy of that system to their lives
Giant Wired New York Forum with photos of New York in Black and White
March 25, 2007
Vidiot took some amazing photos of the new Airbus A380 @ JFK. This is a huge airplane, especially looking from the side or the front. Here is the product website.
Bell Centennial 9's
Bell Centennial 9's
Typeface designed by Matthew Carter for use by AT&T in their phone directories.
March 24, 2007
Fiction come to life: Justin.tv is broadcasting live video 24/7 of its' eponymous author; the four day old project has already been pranked by viewers calling 911
this might end badly
March 23, 2007
On Letterpress: Design as Slow-Motion Train Wreck
Hens coming home to roost: lack of Bush Administration regulation led to The Subprime Loan Machine which led to Foreclosures Force Suburbs to Fight Blight
Typological Websites
Interesting conversation in the comments on my Twitter outing post regarding Twitter itself and social software in general.
What I wanted to focus on was an aside by JW on sloth and blogging:
Even if your preference is to create shorter posts and provide lots of links, like grubbykid.com tends to, at least here there are options here, and there seems to be some concern on the part of the designer to allow himself the ability to have short posts and long posts alike.
Here I segue into a favorite topic of mine: tectonics and typology; in this case, on websites. Lately I have been evaluating and understanding objects on two scales: the tectonics - the thisness or (in the context of the web) content - and on the second scale the typology, or classification of the objects. Often I think of these on an X-Y scale, visualizing
Typology
Typology is the study or observation of types. Some examples of typologies are that:
- Houses, skyscrapers and churches are building typologies
- Chapels, Basilicas and Cathedrals are church or religious typologies
- Spires, stained glass and doors are building ornament typologies
Typologies are great because they operate across scales and can stack one inside the other like Russian dolls and often begin to reveal objects as
Monads (which is for another post).
I tend to think of grubbykid.com as an assemblage of disparate interests which are collected, in public, for my and others viewing. So, I have been operating on the paradigm that photos, links, words, audio & video are all typologically independent, which exhibit monadic qualities; which operate individually, and have different internal structures and typologies; hence, links are link like consisting of a html link, link title and often commentary; photos are photo like containing a photo, photo data and often commentary; each other data type has similar (if different) internal structure. Also note the different display of each type according to its internal structure.
Below are three of the posts which begin to form a typology:
Each respective type have comparatively different internal structure - structures which as a whole are irreducible. A link to express linkness must contain these parts (I admit that commentary could be excized from the structure) or the object will lose its linkness and cease to exist as a link. Similar typological hurdles must be meat for Photoness and Textness, or the objects become unrecognizable. (an aside: this unrecognizability and the very power of typology can be used in both a positive and negative manner; that is, typology can be used to subvert the established meanings; see Derrida, or Eisenman, Peter)
So What?
OK, you say, What does it matter that my blog is full of typologies (and perhps monads)?
Glad you asked! By recognizing this and deciding on positive or negative (as in subversion) use of typology you can better express yourself and organize your website. Your links, text, photos, audio, etc. should not exist as islands, but rather interconnected objects.
Unfortunately, current blog software doesn't allow for granular display of your items. In other words, software such as Tumblr, Movable Type, Wordpress et al all operate under the paradigm that you are entering text, with titles, and you want people to comment on them. When using a hammer, you end up trying to hammer everything.
In future posts, I will outline how software can better accommodate postings as typological data.
March 22, 2007
Tony Snow: Congress Has No
Oversight Responsibility over the White House
This is the very heart of the Unitary Executive theory; think about the White House statement" Congress has no oversight responsibility over the White House
10 Most Magnificent Trees in the World
I've been to 3/10 (2 Sequoia's & Lone Cypress in Monterey)
March 21, 2007
Soulless Programming of the Decade Award: MTV's The X Effect pairs ex-boy/girlfriends together and places them in situations which heighten the possibility that they cheat on their now boy/girlfriends; all the while their present boy/girlfriends watch via CCTV
Why do people sign up for this? And who comes up with these ideas?
New York Times reviews Frank Gehry's IAC headquarters - don't miss IAC's interactive website
How "Christ, What an Asshole!" is the Answer to the New Yorker Magazine Caption Contest
Baltimore's Silo Point grain elevator is being converted to condos (photos & map)
Megabus is a Bus line appeals to shoestring travelers with new routes throughout the Midwest
Senator Boxer Slams Down Inhofe's Global Warming Filibuster
No, that isn’t the rule. You’re not making the rules. You used to when you did this. Elections have consequences. So I make the rules.
Damn straight.Chris Ware's animation for grade school kids who became obsessed with using fake video cameras
March 19, 2007
March 18, 2007
Haredi Counterculture: ‘City of Refuge’
On McCain & Hagel's Different Paths From Vietnam to War in Iraq
It would matter more if Hagel actually did anything about the Iraq War, instead of making very pleasant sounding noises
What can Twitter do for you?
Twitter screenshot
Everyone is talking about Twitter these days. For those not in the know, Twitter is a cross between IM and blogging where you can send instant messages to your friends. I have a Twitter account, but am still unsure about how useful it is.
Inhabiting a social space between IM, weblogs and email, Twitter is confounding because ther is something there, but I just can't seem to tease it out. Even the intangible "something there", is hard to identify. It is obvious to me that using Twitter to update your location or the minutiae of your life is as uninteresting as doing the same via IM, blogs or email.
But, the following are articles which are good food for thought regarding Twitter:
- The Several Habits of Wildly Successful Twitter Users
- SXSW 2007 Twittermob & Spontaneous Microsponsorships
- Dave Winer's thoughts: The future of Twitter?
You all should get a Twitter account, and we can try it all out together.
Alba Super O's
Alba Super - author unknown
March 17, 2007
The last day of the show with zefrank
“The Police Cloud,” by Christoph Niemann (via)
In this funny and tender picture book for the youngest child, a fluffy cloud gets a job (with the help of his friend the police helicopter) as a police officer. But no matter how hard the cloud tries, the qualities that make him a cloud seem to get in the way of his duties.
Hammer & Coop, My action name: Roundhouse Pete
I always think about attening SxSW, but never do; so Naz's SxSW Infographic Roundup will have to do
March 16, 2007
How Zug Hacked the Super Bowl (a slightly unreadable message was broadcast during the Super Bowl
March 15, 2007
Google Newsmaker items: Google Is Reviving Hopes for Ex-Furniture Makers & Google grapples with increasingly political Web
On the Jersey number 0: The Value of Zero Is Increasing
Type nerdity: Eric Gill got it wrong & Typographica rejoiner
Wikipedia: List of types of facial hair
Here Be Dragons: Through Nikolas Schiller's Eye, Aerial Maps of Familiar Places Become Terra Incognita - view his maps
Beautiful Anti-American Propaganda
you don't have to agree with it to think that it is beautiful (in its' own way)
Husky Stash O & S
Husky Stash typeface by Ray Larabie.
Gill Sans Stars
In opposition to Helvetica Stars.
March 14, 2007
Happy Pi Day!
March 13, 2007
On creating downloadable broadcast-quality video of Congressional Hearings and Floor Debates
the fact there isn't free (as in beer) downloads of Congressional happenings is a direct result of policy, not technology
Via Adam, watch this Airport Experience using Pictograms video, similar to the music video, A Tried And Tested Method I previously linked to
Arcade Fire backlash contest winner
Can we interest you in some Kenny Chesney tickets?
- hehHow do you design a marker for the WIPP & Yucca Mountain nuclear waste dumps?
White House directed the firings of United States Attorney's for political purposes
third rate break-ins always bring the family down...
March 12, 2007
March 9, 2007
Gingrich Admits to Extramarital Affair
anyone surprised...?
Expectations of Adolescence: ten years of periodic photographs of two cousins,
seen only during large family reunions in the same two timeless settings of their grandparents’ ornately decorated New England home or the family’s summer place on the water.
David Broder's "Bipartisanship at all Costs" is getting old
often, there are no Bipartisanship solutions
Cornell Student Hates "West Bushwick"
She should move to West East New York, or East West New York (seriously, West Bushwick? I thought East Williamsburgh was obnoxious)
A strange backstory is emerging from the sensational 19 Dec 2005 NY Times story, Through His Webcam, a Boy Joins a Sordid Online World - author Kurt Eichenwald apparently engaged in some checkbook journalism (a big no-no) which is just coming out, over 2 years later
time for another blogger ethics roundtable
Travelogue at it's best: PJ's 2006 RAMBLE, a man and his scooter in America (don't miss the RAMBLE, Best Of Photoset)
The Iraq Effect: Increase of Worldwide Terrorism by Sevenfold
Dueling Firefighters debate Giuliani
Interesting developments in the Firefighters don't like Rudy mini-fracas. Looks like Rudy is pushing back with support from an outfit called, Firefighters for Rudy with an Executive Director Tim Brown.
I was interested in who they were, and my first trip was to do a WHOIS search. I found the following:
- Firefighters For Rudy.com WHOIS
Created On: 01-Aug-06
Timothy Brown (tbrown@thebravest.com)
thebravest.com - Firefighters For Rudy.org WHOIS
Created On: 06-Feb-2007 03:49:02 UTCBentley Westfield (bwestfield@iaff.org)
International Association of Firefighters - Firefighters For Rudy.net WHOIS
Created On: 05-Feb-2007Bentley Westfield (bwestfield@iaff.org)
International Association of Firefighters
Interesting.
One domain is registered to Tim Brown of thebravest.com a little under 6 months ago, and the other two are registered by the IAFF, who were the exact people who did not invite Giuliani to the debate.
I am awaiting response to questions to Tim Brown, and will post a followup.
Later 11-Mar-07
I was out of town this weekend & without web connection.
Looks like Tim Brown is on Giuliani's payroll (no wonder we never got an answer):
Unfortunately for the AP, however, a cursory bit of checking reveals that Tim Brown is actually an aide to Rudy, and it's unclear whether the group even has a membership larger than just Tim Brown. The phone number the campaign offered for the group is actually the same as that of the Rudy campaign's press office. Even the Daily News knew to describe "Firefighters for Rudy" as a "campaign offshoot," which isn't enough, but it's at least a start in the right direction.
So there you go: Firefights really are against Rudy.
March 8, 2007
Video: Help The Police from BBC3 sketch show called Rush Hour, featuring a dad playing NWA's Fuck Tha Police, with live censoring
Apple: America's best retailer - with sales of $4,032/SF... yes, yes they are the best retailer
Jorge Colombo's The Dailies, feature quick sketches of New Yorkers (must be a NY'er thing to do)
Via Kottke comes the cool Social Explorer Maps which offer many visualizations of data. Most interesting are the slideshows illustrating movement of white New Yorker's (1970's White Flight) and movement of Black New Yorkers from 1910-2000 (settling Harlem, Brooklyn & Queens)
March 7, 2007
Cully Long sketches on the A-line and has released a book, A Line: Sketch Portraits From The New York City Subway
Beastie Boys offer DRM-free A cappella mp3s for personal remixes
Prince's Super Bowl Show turns kids gay?
unlikely, what an idiotic thing to believe in
Video: Boiling water turns to snow at -35F on top of Mount Washington (NH) (Map)
Mathowie interviews Adam Savage for MeFi
I think this is called a nerdgasm
Name 50 States in 10 Minutes and name as many Countries in 10 minutes
my score: all 50 states and 74 countries
On moving from Suburbia to Urban living and its' positive change in lifestyle
just say no to suburbia...
770 Chabad center is the Lubavitch community center on Eastern Parkway which became so well-known, the building design was exported internationally as "770 centers" - sort of a Hasidic franchise
March 6, 2007
March 5, 2007
How the world really shapes up - world cartograms
Later - here are the original cartograms (via df)
Martin Strel is swimming the entire Amazon River and has been swimming since 1 Feb 2007 and hopes to finish his swim in 70 days. You can track his progress on a Google maps mashup
March 4, 2007
March 2, 2007
Parking as a Destination - profile of the amazing Volkswagon Autostadt
Someone Doesn't Get Design School
Someone Doesn't Get Design School, originally uploaded by plemeljr
Under the too foolish to understand heading is this Craigslist posting:
make $150 for 4 drafts
Interior design student needing imediate [sic] professional help with school projects. I need a professional with qualifications in the field of interior design (space planning). I need one floor plan, one perspective, one elevation, and one axon.
Wow, $150 for 4 drawings... for an interior design project?
There are too many different ways to mock this posting. So I'll just utter two words:
French Curve.
March 1, 2007
onBeing - a project based on the simple notion that we should get to know one another a little better
interesting...
North Korea has nuclear weapons today because George W. Bush is a stupid, stupid man
The model town of Seaside, 25 years later
paying for the mistake, after 25 years...