Grubbykid.com :: Words: May 2007 Archives

May 31, 2007

Substrate

Substrate 3000 is a work by Jared Tarbell using the Processing framework, which a procedural algorithm creates [l]ines like crystals grow on a computational substrate. A simple perpendicular growth rule creates intricate city-like structures.

Reminds me of Peter Eisenman's rational for the Aronoff Center on the University of Cincinnati's campus.

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A Case: Al Gore for President

Gore 2008 by William Drenttel

William Drenttel makes the designer's case for Al Gore:

[A]mong the most prominent issues we face as designers (and as human beings) is the question of sustainability. Ultimately, this single topic is worth changing the way we practice design, the way we think about successful design, and the modes by which we collaborate. Saying something is fundamental, at the core of contemporary design, is a radical shift. Al Gore has embraced this radical shift. There is no compromise on the environment, and one can only imagine the differences in policy if he were President — from the Kyoto Protocols to the EPA's policies on emissions.
...
Say what you will, but the very concept of considering an alternate universe is, on some level, what designers do for a living. And at the end of the day, whether you're a designer or not, living is something we all do. Maybe Gore can help us do it better. And I, for one, truly believe he can.

I'm not 100% convinced.

What are your thoughts?

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May 30, 2007

Liquefied Coal: Too Insane to be taken Seriously

Exploit, originally uploaded by Andreas Reinhold

So this week's energy source du jour is Liquefied Coal, which has been getting a great deal of coverage in the Times:

Prodded by intense lobbying from the coal industry, lawmakers from coal states are proposing that taxpayers guarantee billions of dollars in construction loans for coal-to-liquid production plants, guarantee minimum prices for the new fuel, and guarantee big government purchases for the next 25 years.
...
The M.I.T. team expressed even more skepticism about the economic risks. It estimated that it would cost $70 billion to build enough plants to replace 10 percent of American gasoline consumption.

The study estimates that the construction costs for coal-to-liquid plants are almost four times higher than the costs for comparable petroleum refineries, and it argues that cost estimates for synthetic fuel plants in the past turned out to be “wildly optimistic.”

I thought the whole, let's throw eleventy-billion dollars at the coal industry idea was merely insane. This was before I saw this graph below, illustrating the comparable carbon footprint of liquefied coal to other energy sources, which without a doubt moves this proposal squarely into the batshit insane category:

That's right: by using liquefied coal as a fuel source, we would increase the release of carbon and other greenhouse gases by 119%! Let' be real: by the time any subsidy bill works its way through Congress, any sort of language mandating carbon capture will be long gone. Not to mention the literally billions of dollars needed for research, development and execution of liquefied coal on an industrial scale. Even the National Coal Council isn't on board this deal:

Ironically, for all the hype, liquefied coal is hardly the cheapest or easiest way to achieve energy security. According to the National Coal Council, an advisory board to the Department of Energy filled with coal executives, a tremendous coal-to-liquid push — involving $211 billion in investments over the next 20 years and a 40 percent increase in mining — would allow the United States to replace just 10 percent of its oil supply. By contrast, using that coal to generate electricity for plug-in hybrids would displace twice the oil and emit a fraction of the carbon.

So, now that we've all agreed liquefied coal is a bad idea, can we please bring the grownups into the room and get on with some actual ideas about creating new and sustainable energy sources?

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May 29, 2007

Francesca Berrini's Imaginary Maps
Wiimbledon!

Brooklyn's first (the world's first?) Wii tennis tournament

Some transit advocates attend meetings. Others write letters. Some even picket outside subway stations.

Numan Parada makes maps.

At a time when a subway-to-the-sea along Wilshire Boulevard is still far from a reality, he is plotting it on a map anyway.

With the click of a mouse, he puts a notch next to the Getty Center on the rail line he envisions branching off Wilshire Boulevard to follow the 405 Freeway corridor to the San Fernando Valley.

"That's a good place for a station," he said. "It's an obvious traffic generator."

I am always fascinated by fictitious map makers (I've made my fair share of fictitious maps) because the most serious ones bring a consistency and rigor to their work which can only be described as tautological. Be it a map of online communities or be it Adrian Leskiw's Fictional Road Maps the best of the fictitious maps are pieces of art into themselves.

But there is a nit to pick: Harry Beck's Underground Map is amazing, but doesn't travel well to other locations (especially due to its' ignoring geographic realities). The closest anyone has come to reusing Beck's design intent was Vignelli's 1972 NYC Map - which, if you remember, have panned repeatedly as a documentation of creative sophistry.

Please stop using the iconography of Beck's design: it is a singular work of brilliance which doesn't translate well to other forms of transportation, location and context. Celebrate the design, but please don't dishonor the design by copying the iconography devoid of context. This is analogous to creating detached suburban homes with minarets, crenelations, adobe earthworks and the like.

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May 25, 2007

CCTV

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Video: Republican Memory Loss Syndrome (heh)
I watched The Fountain a few days ago, and it was quite amazing film, especially considering there was very little CG used; the film really affected me in ways I don't wish to explain

Coming Soon: Congestion Charge

Coming Son: Congestion Charge

Nothing substantive to add, but the London congestion charge symbol (more info) is pretty nice.

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May 22, 2007

Movie: The civil war in four minutes

May 18, 2007

Trip

Short trip to LON & BRI UK for some work and play.

Many photographs to follow.

Update -

Some quick thoughts so far about London, better formed paragraphs to follow:

London typography rocks! Is that Gill Sans and New Johnston all around the place? I think so.
I wonder if the typography rocks because it is different or because it is so consistant?
London is a city of 8+ million, but it isn't so dens; it just seems like it goes & goes. I wonder what the density compared to NYC & Tokyo is?
Most housing is in the 3-5 story range; no hgh rise housing like NYC thus far.
Most scooters have flat acrylic boards on the front for mounting instructions/directions on them; wonder if that is safe.
Still looking left when I should be looking right; 28 years of doing one thing instead of the other is hard to break; good thing there are instructions written on the ground to tell you where to look.

Most important: good friends are even more appreciated when travelling, but should be appreciated as much when merely in your home town

More to come.

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May 17, 2007

I need one of these

Just in case you needed a bit of a pick-me-up watch YouTube - Keepon Dancing to Spoon below by Marek P Michalowski:

This is described as working and developing a:

dance-oriented nonverbal play with between children and the robot Keepon, ...designed and built by Hideki Kozima. Keepon is a small creature-like robot developed to perform emotional and attentional interaction with children. It has four degrees of freedom, a soft rubber skin, two cameras in its eyes, and a microphone in its nose.

Awesome

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May 16, 2007

The best of Ollie Williams

Lady's Old!

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May 15, 2007

Abandoned & Little-Known Airfields

May 12, 2007

Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Typeface

May 11, 2007

Fort Snelling National Cemetery

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Fort Snelling National Cemetery, Minneapolis, Minnesota.

May 10, 2007

May 9, 2007

List: Google Satellite map images with obscured data
From the NY Times: A No-Frills Kitchen Equipment list
The Asshole Collar: A First-Glance approach to the No Asshole Rule
New Yorker profiles artist Bansky: Popular Culture: Banksy Was Here
When Hollywood burns, the world knows: Boing Boing: Hollywood is burning (yet again)

Spamtrap

"Spamtrap" by Bill Shackelford:

"Spamtrap" is an interactive installation piece the prints, shreds and blacklists spam email. It interacts with spammers by monitoring several email addresses I have created specifically to lure in spam. I do not use these email addresses for any other communication. I post individual email addresses on websites and online bulletin boards that cause them to be harvested by spambots and then to start receiving spam.

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