Russian Sledges

March 1923. Washington, D.C. "Western Union telegram -- electric code machine." Jazz Age cryptography? Harris & Ewing Collection glass negative. View full size.

Circa 1908. "North Adams, Massachusetts -- Wilson Hotel." With "first-class moving pictures" at the Empire Theatre. 8x10 glass negative. View full size.

natgeofound:

Travelers look at a glass dome on a stainless-steel train car, April 1947Photograph by Willard Culver, National Geographic

Nice.

AP twitter account hacked, posts FALSE report of Obama injured in bombing at White House

BOSTON — The city of Boston is moving one step closer to normalcy.

The FBI transferred the Boylston Street crime scene over to the city in a brief ceremony Monday evening. While the street will remain closed to traffic and the general public, business owners and residents will be able to return to their offices, shops and homes Tuesday as the cleanup continues.

The Boston Police Department is planning to temporarily relocate the two memorials that have flanked Boylston Street for the past week to a new location in Copley Square Park, but the mayor’s office has not decided a permanent location, if any, for the items.

On Monday, the piles of flowers, teddy bears, religious figurines and handwritten notes were moved from the center of Boylston and Berkeley streets to the sidewalk.

In its new location, volunteers organized the memorial. Instead of haphazard tributes laid along the police barricades, the volunteers arranged the items: putting running shoes next to running shoes, baseball hats near other baseball hats, and taping heartfelt notes to the pavement so they would not blow away, all surrounding three white crosses with pictures of the three who died in the attacks.

But Rainey Tisdale, a museum curator who consults with city museums, is concerned that as the city gets back to normal, some of the items that mark the Boston Marathon bombings site will be lost.

“If we don’t make some formal plans to preserve these objects as part of the public memory of this event, then they could easily be dispersed to the four winds, they could easily be forgotten,” Tisdale said. She hopes there will be a permanent home for these items connected to the race and bombings.

Tisdale says the New England Museum Association has agreed to host a meeting soon to discuss the idea.

“We’re against the clock because this stuff will disappear if we don’t start moving quickly,” Tisdale said. “So it’s a question of whether we can mobilize resources soon to save this story before it’s lost.”

Already some mementos are being lost. Messages written in chalk have been washed away by rain. The flowers are disintegrating. Volunteers who have been watching over the memorials said some medals that runners left have been stolen.

While written and digital records are being collected in city archives and online, there is no long-term plan to preserve the physical items people have left.

“The objects, because they are so emotionally powerful, because they are these symbols, because they are so evocative, they can bring us back to this place, they can bring us back to this week much better than the written record ever can,” Tisdale said.

Part of the problem is that there is no local museum that is a logical place for the items. Finding a permanent home would take staff with expertise in preserving three-dimensional objects, as well as space to store and eventually exhibit them.

AvianRecon says Gizmo is an Eastern Screech owl, living with us at the Avian Reconditioning Center in Florida. Lots of people ask if he's a baby, but he is a full grown owl!

Squee! Spotter: AvianRecon (via Avianrecon)

Tagged: screech owl Share on Facebook

Doctor Who and Broadchurch actor Darvill to take lead in Once opposite Joanna Christie, also making her Broadway debut

As Rory Williams, the Doctor's companion in Doctor Who, Arthur Darvill is used to travelling quickly through time and space. However, as of tonight he'll be falling slowly in love nightly starring in the Tony award-winning musical Once.

Darvill, who played the local vicar in ITV's hit murder mystery Broadchurch, will take over as Guy at the Bernard B Jacobs theatre in New York, while British actor Joanna Christie, who starred alongside Daniel Radcliffe in Equus, will step into the role of Girl. The pair will replace temporary leads Ben Hope and Laura Dreyfuss, both of whom will return to understudying.

Both actors will be making their Broadway debuts in John Tiffany's production, which picked up eight Tony awards last year, including best musical and best leading actor in a musical, which went to original star Steve Kazee. Cristin Milioti, who played the role of Girl, was nominated in the equivalent category.

Christie has said she was considering leaving the profession before getting the part. "I've nearly given up acting twice now," she told the Huddersfield Daily Examiner. "About six years ago, just before I landed the role in Equus in the West End, and again just before getting this job, when I was literally about to apply to Cambridge for a master's in anthropology."

Meanwhile Darvill, though best known for his screen roles, has built up a considerable theatrical CV, having starred in Our Boys and Swimming with Sharks in the West End and played Mephistopheles in Christopher Marlowe's Doctor Faustus at Shakespeare's Globe. He has also written songs for several musically-inclined plays, including Been So Long – nominated for best new musical at the 2009 Evening Standard theatre awards – and The Lightning Child, which will premiere this summer, also at the Globe.

Based on the independent Irish film of the same name, Once opened in the West End earlier this month, garnering a string of favourable reviews.

BOSTON — Boston police want to return the personal belongings left behind by people fleeing the Boston Marathon bombing.

The items have been determined by the FBI to have no evidentiary value in the investigation into the Patriots' Day explosions.

Anyone who left personal property behind while fleeing the Boylston Street blast scene can contact Boston police via email at lostproperty.bpd(at)cityofboston.gov or call the mayor's hotline at 617-635-4500.

Individuals can also visit police department's main headquarters between 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday through Friday.

It’s expanding:

[E]ven though the percentage of Americans officially working has dropped dramatically, and even though household income is still well below what it was in 2007, personal consumption is higher than it was before the recession, and retail sales have been growing briskly (despite a dip in March). Bernard Baumohl, an economist at the Economic Outlook Group, estimates that, based on historical patterns, current retail sales are actually what you’d expect if the unemployment rate were around five or six per cent, rather than the 7.6 per cent we’re stuck with. The difference, he argues, probably reflects workers migrating into the shadow economy. “It’s typical that during recessions people work on the side while collecting unemployment,” Baumohl told me. “But the severity of the recession and the profound weakness of this recovery may mean that a lot more people have entered the underground economy, and have had to stay there longer.”

The following is an article from the Annals of Improbable Research.

by Scott A. Sandford, Santa Clara, California
Jason P. Dworkin, Arnold, Maryland
Max P. Bernstein, Mountain View, California

Virtually everyone who works in a scientific field will ultimately have to deal, in one way or another, with the production of a Press Release. The importance of Press Releases cannot be over-estimated since it is by their distribution (and the distribution of the short science news articles that are generated from them by randomly scrambling their words) that the majority of the public learn of current scientific progress. Not surprisingly, a great deal of energy, time, and resources are spent each year in the production of these releases. Shortly after the start of a new year¹ it occurred to us that this important task could be greatly simplified. We noted in a comprehensive survey of articles from 1983-2001 that 87.3% of the Press Releases and science news articles could be faithfully reproduced through the straightforward application of a set of simple standardized rules.² These rules can be easily applied to generate a form containing a pre-written Press Release in which one need only fill in various blanks with items specific to the matter at hand in order to generate a full-blown Press Release.

In hopes that it can be used to increase scientific efficiency, stimulate the American economy, and serve the general public, we therefore present the Press Release Template.³

How To Use the Press Release Template
To generate a Press Release, simply fill in all the fields, giving the appropriate information. Each field is denoted by words in CAPITAL LETTERS.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
INSERT NEWSPAPER-LIKE TITLE HERE, PREFERABLY WITH A DOUBLE MEANING OR PUN⁴

Scientists today announced that they are the first to successfully demonstrate SCIENTIFIC FINDING.⁵ This has long been one of the holy grails of SCIENTIFIC FIELD. “This finding radically alters our understanding of the field, to say the least,” says FIRST AUTHOR, a SCIENTIFIC FIELDologist from INSTITUTION who led the research.

“We were stunned when we made the discovery. For a few minutes we just didn’t believe what we were seeing,” says FIRST AUTHOR, “then SECOND AUTHOR (a student of FIRST AUTHOR) yelled ‘We’ve done it!’ and we started dancing around the LAB/OBSERVATORY/FIELD SITE. It was very exciting.”

INSERT LIGHT-HEARTED QUIP FROM FIRST AUTHOR, PREFERABLY BASED ON A PUN OR TWIST ON A COMMON SAYING.⁶

News of the finding was greeted with universal surprise,⁷ except, that is, at FIRST AUTHORS INSTITUTION. “Privately, a few of us had long thought this might be the case,” said FIRST AUTHOR, “but we kept it quiet because we were afraid our colleagues would think we were crazy.”

Not everyone is convinced, however, and their report has been criticized as premature by some. “While FIRST AUTHOR’s interpretation of the data represents one possible explanation, their data do not necessary preclude the possibility of OPPOSITE EXPLANATION,” intoned A NON-AUTHOR PUNDIT IN THE SAME FIELD of ANOTHER INSTITUTION. “Further work will be necessary to fully prove that they are correct.”

“Ah, NON-AUTHOR PUNDIT IN THE FIELD,” chuckled FIRST AUTHOR in response, “He has been grinding the ALTERNATE EXPLANATION axe for ages. It has been growing steadily out of favor for years and our new results are the nail in its coffin. He is, of course, correct that more data is always desirable, but we are confident that future studies will only support our findings.”

The full extent of the importance of these findings will take years to fully appreciate, predicts THIRD AUTHOR. Nonetheless, it may well have implications that cross the boundaries of the discipline of SCIENTIFIC FIELD. INSERT MANDATORY QUOTE BY (A) Sagan, (B) Einstein, (C) Freud, (D) Darwin, or (E) folksy grandmother HERE. “Only time, and continued support, will tell,” intoned THIRD AUTHOR solemnly.

A better understanding of this effect may help scientists plan more successful strategies for SCIENTIFIC FIELD in the future. “This is just a step along the path,” said SECOND AUTHOR modestly, “but an important one.”

     --AUTHOR’S BYLINE

FIGURE. It is important to provide a figure that can be used with the press release. However, it is never a good idea to show any graphs, equations, or chemistry. We have provided sample images⁸ that are appropriate for almost any topic. It should be noted the same image can serve equally well in reports about any of several different branches of science.

Notes
1. The idea for the PR template occurred to us in January 2002, after we became supersaturated in short science articles. January is traditionally a good time for Press Releases and short science articles, as many science magazines pick this time to publish their “Top 10/20/50/100 Science Stories of the Past Year.”

2. Well, okay, one of us read a whole bunch of “Top 100 Science Stories of the Past Year” articles while laid up to recuperate from knee surgery, and it seemed like 87.3% was about the right number. The principal author’s inability to reach his calculator with the end of his back-scratcher abrogated his ability to do an in-depth statistical analysis. The secondary authors are simply lazy and shiftless people who leech off of the primary author’s hard work.

3. This template has been optimized for the physical sciences. It can easily be altered to accommodate discoveries in sociology, parapsychology, astrology, etc. by replacing all the words in the quotes with synonyms, preferably arcane ones, having three to four times as many syllables.

4. This is one of the few places in the form where a bit of creativity is needed. Just as examples:
• “I Came, I Sew, and I Conquered” -- PR about a new means of doing surgical stitches.
• “The Proof is in the Puddling” -- PR about rising sea levels due to global warming.
• “Charmed, I’m Sure” -- PR about quarks.
• “A New Twist on Molecular Shapes” -- PR about molecular structure of a protein.
• “Astronomers Piss Themselves” -- PR on the debate over radio telescope detection of urea in interstellar clouds.

5. This text should controlled by the nature of science and may require some creativity on the part of the writer of the PR. However, we would note that many Public Affairs offices require their PRs be written at about the sixth-grade level.9 As a result, it is generally impossible to fully describe the nature of the actual discovery, so the typical writer of PRs need not worry too much about the contents of this portion of the text.

6. Examples are:
(a) “It’s as if we were shown how to pull the finger of God.”
(b) “I feel as if I can now call Einstein a Special Relative.”
(c) “This proves that all oxidants are preventable.”
(d) “Superconductivity has shown that resistance is futile.”
(e) “It would be gneiss if it weren’t full of schist.”
(f) “We have demonstrated that clumsiness is not genetic, but a Freudian slip.”

7. It is mandatory that this comment be included, even though it is quite likely that everybody in the field has long been aware of the possibility.

8. Photo credits (left to right):
(a) TRACE 07-14-2000, Stanford-Lockheed ISR and NASA.
(b) Apollo 17, 12-07-1972, NASA.
(c) Ames Laboratory, Novel Materials and Ground States.
(d) Punuk Island, Bering Sea, Alaska, 07-1977, Captain Budd Christman, NOAA Corps.

9. It should be noted that the definition of “sixth-grade level” changes depending on the year and quality of elementary school education of the Public Affairs Officer.

_____________________

This article is republished with permission from the July-August 2004 issue of the Annals of Improbable Research. You can download or purchase back issues of the magazine, or subscribe to receive future issues. Or get a subscription for someone as a gift!

Visit their website for more research that makes people LAUGH and then THINK.

 As a new package design and in an effort to reflect its iconic logo, beer brand Budweiser by Anheuser-Busch has introduced ‘bowtie-shaped’ beer cans. Budweiser rebranded to the new 'bowtie' logo in 2011, when the new can was already in development. The new design will not be replacing the traditional can.  

 

thesochillnetwork:

The day graphic design died

Submitted by: Unknown

Tagged: shirt , hedgehog , Video Share on Facebook

The 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill was even worse than BP wanted us to know.

Bat! Baby bat!

Blossom Down Under by Adam C. via Cute Overload

“I have love in me the likes of which you can scarcely imagine and rage the likes of which you would not believe. If I cannot satisfy the one, I will indulge the other.”

-

Mary Shelley, Frankenstein. (via riverran)

#mary shelley #this quote though #it’s all kinds of wonderful #hey remember that time one asswipe was like you have 30 seconds to name something invented by a woman… #…and Mary was like SCIENCE FICTION MOTHERFUCKERS #that was awesome #thanks Mary Shelley (via snappily)

And the next time someone starts claiming that teenage girls have ruined the horror genre with romance or whatever you can be like, hey dicksmack, teenage girls and romance built your genre so sit the fuck down. (via sharpestrose)

Mary Shelley fucking invented your favourite genre motherfuckers. You owe her Kirk and Vader and every goddamned thing Joss has ever done that’s made you cream your pants. Created when she was a teenager cause, hey, that’s how she rolled. She took love and showed it as the powerful, terrifying, all-encompassing, ruthless, wrathful thing it is. (via piinboots)

And I would like to add:

(via irisbleufic)

me: What you do think about the princess marrying another princess?
her: Instead of the prince?
me: Instead of the prince
her: So her daughter would have two mommies?
me: Yes
her: two princess mommies...
me:
her:
me:
her: fabulous

It's bad writing, it's bad timing, it's bad ideas; it's inane and self-serving, and adds nothing to our understanding of the marathon bombing, or of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, or of terrorism. Well: it adds a new way to make jokes.

luckstergal:

bellisadinosaur:

This baby owl hit our window. Gave us this look the whole time - Imgur

YOUR FORCEFIELD DISPLEASES ME

AS DOES YOUR INTERIOR DECORATING

HELP I AM CRY

Oh sweet heaven, what an expression…

We are now up to the year 1968 for the double-episode season 6 opener of Mad Men. This already seems to be the show’s most progressive season so far costume wise. Season 5 certainly took the most significant cultural jump, with Swinging Sixties politics, clothes and interiors looming like a shadow of coolness. In the latter half of season 5, aspiring actress Megan’s (Jessica Paré) capri pants and sweater audition wear, while not exactly beatnik were avant-garde enough to suggest the growing exuberance of her character. The times they are a-changin’.

For season 6, costume designer Janie Bryant looks to be channelling the same ideal as season 1, but whereas season 1 (set in 1960) was a crossover in terms of fashion from the 1950s/60’s, season 6 is transitional from the 1960s/70’s. As we are only in 1968 it could be argued this is a mite early, but cleverly Bryant only hints at the changes to come. Costume design is not necessarily presenting a historical truth (though it can be); what is more important is that the audience sees what they expect to see, albeit in a way they were not expecting.

Obviously Megan Draper (Jessica Paré) is the style focal point of Mad Men, and with good reason – her character has the figure, looks and means. But it is also worth noticing some of the younger background players on the show, as they are often wearing even more youth orientated fashion.

To put 1968 into context in New York, it was the tail-end of Mary Quant’s youth fashion movement that originally started in London, which then gave birth to the Swinging Sixties around four years earlier. Mary Quant is one of the most influential fashion designers of all time, though she would probably refute this assertion, believing that a movement as important as that which occurred during the sixties could not come from one person but many working toward a common goal. Arguably Quant created the mini-skirt; definitely she was designing the kind of mini shift dresses seen on Megan by the late 1950s. Her dresses were 1920s inspired, short, unfitted or drop-waist. Thanks to Quant’s success in the UK then even more in the U.S., London led the way in terms of fashion influence. Her clothes and the clothes that followed by among others, Biba, were crisp, lively, fun and, above all, youthful. By 1968 this new movement had died down in London making way for the hippy generation, but for those with means in Manhattan it was at its height. At this point, high-end designer names such as Dior (ready to wear) and Pucci were making psychedelic mini-dresses, wraps and skirts. This is the look we are seeing more and more of in Mad Men.

Early in the season 6 premiere, Megan is on a beach in Hawaii wearing a pink and purple maxi dress, very much resort wear of the time, and later in purple florals, a floppy wide brim hat and white round plastic sunglasses. This is spot on for someone with her money. It is a step up from the more youthful clothes she sported in season five (some of which were a little too young for her) and it screams designer. Pucci would have been a good fit for Megan and no doubt we will be seeing more of their swirly prints as the season progresses. In what could be a first for Mad Men, for her arrival back in New York Megan wears a hip-length fur coat, in leopard skin print no less, which contrasts neatly against the prim, but still elegant Betty (January Jones) who wears an equally trim version in plain brown for a night at the theatre. Staying with Megan, further nods to the 1970s come with the Missoni like skirt and top she wears later during the day in her and Don’s apartment. Then entertaining guests in a metallic silver trouser suit with tunic top (very Goodfellas housewife). She is racing ahead in terms of contemporary style more than any female character on the show. Although for the men, Megan would be hard pressed to keep up with snappy jacket wearing Harry Crane (Rich Sommer), seemingly modelled on Roman Castevet (Sidney Blackmer) from Rosemary’s Baby (1967).

New SCDP partner Joan Harris (Christina Hendricks) is seldom seen out of a sheath dress, except for a wiggle skirt and blouse, so a suit is something different for her. Those brooches though, generally indicative of Joan’s mood or the time of year in the show, are a signature piece.

Megan might be the most forward thinking central character, though a few brief glimpses at the orange mini-dress receptionist working at Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce (SCDP) indicate that fashion is now led by the young. Megan is not old, though it was the buy and throw-away teenage wear that inspired trendy adults. Peggy Olson (Elisabeth Moss) on the other hand has always been fascinatingly tough to pin down in terms of style. She began in dowdy separates with occasional broad checks, went through a beatnik phase in season 4, donned a conspicuous 1950s esque evening dress in season 5 and is shown for the first time in season 6 wearing white knee socks. Immediately she appears more teen-like, even Mod, but her new shorter, tucked under hair and pearls with Chanel-like suit indicate a professional persona she is trying hard to project at her new agency. Her boyfriend Abe (Charlie Hofheimer), however, is now nearly unrecognisable with long hair and Viva Zapata moustache. Peggy is inconsistent in terms of style because she has no idea what she is doing. She aims to fit in, but eventually falls back into old patterns. Ultimately she is a sensible girl who would rather dress this way.

Noting the brief appearance of new partner at SCDP, Joan Harris (Christina Hendricks), who unfortunately does not receive much screen time in the premiere, it is obvious there are changes afoot. Once ubiquitous in sheath dresses, Joan has put her new money to a new wardrobe consisting of a purple skirt suit with waistcoat and matching blouse – possibly the first time she ever has worn one. We have seen Joan in wiggle skirts and blouses before, but not a suit. It looks like a brand new creation by Janie Bryant too, rather than a vintage piece. And this is something Joan could afford: custom clothing. It is telling just how dated Joan is in terms of overall demeanour at this point in the show. She will always be stunningly beautiful, but the Twiggy figure was dominating fashion spreads and posters on teenage boys’ walls. Despite her ingrained beauty, to most young men Joan was starting to look like a buxom aunt or worst still, their mother.

Although Roger Sterling (John Slattery) is the oldest of the three men pictured, he is the most modern in terms of styling with his blazer and even a stitched shirt cuff. Note that even staid Pete Campbell (Vincent Kartheiser) attempts a lively pocket square and matching tie (likely chosen by his wife), while Don Draper opts for a sober grey check.

For the gentlemen of Mad Men, the show’s make-up and hair department clearly had some fun embracing a new ‘wild man’ ethos. Don Draper (Jon Hamm), still in the same cut suit in the same colours, wanders into a meeting of young freelancers looking like a handsome headmaster. There are beards, moustaches, jersey sweaters and loud sports jackets. He, like Joan, belongs to an entirely different era. But Don is a smart man, he surrounds himself with young, hungry people who now know the world he is selling to far better than he does. Roger Sterling (John Slattery) is more youthful than Don at heart, seen in the premiere wearing a blue blazer with heavily stitched lapels, grey slacks and white sideburns. Pete Campbell (Vincent Kartheiser) has let his sideburns grow too; he seems a tad sloppier which in turn makes him seem more relaxed. His brown suit is further sign that the seventies are right around the corner. Out of all the male characters in the show, Pete is the one who would suit the 1970s best: comb-over, slight paunch, fat lapels, wide flares, kipper tie, brown liquor in hand – perhaps we will be fortunate enough to get a spin off when Mad Men ends for good at the close of season 7.

This season’s double episode premiere was slightly disappointing in respect of the evolution of Don, who appears to be retreading old ground, but in terms of costume design it is one of the most accomplished yet. Janie Bryant understands that trends do not turn on the decade, some creep in early, some come later. But most important of all it depends on the individual wearing them. We see Don in a rather jazzy red and grey check sports jacket later in the episode, which we will likely see more of, although really this is a man who will live and die in a grey single breasted suit. These are people, remember, not a catwalk. That said, roll on the rest of season 6, and bring on the patterns.

Mad Men season 6 continues on Sky Atlantic HD every Wednesday at 10 pm.

© 2013, Chris Laverty.

With our first proper glimpse of the ‘life suit’ worn by Jaden and Will Smith in the latest trailer for After Earth released last week, we have put together a brief round up of sci-fi related suit posts at Clothes on Film. For specificity, we are saving the sharp lounge suits of Inception and the like for another time; these are space suits or similar – the kind of costume actors have to be zipped into.

CLICK THE IMAGE TO TAKE YOU TO THE ARTICLE

After Earth’s life suit as designed by Amy Westcott. We are not really sure what it does yet (gives you wings?), but Ms. Westcott provides a few hints to be going on with. The film is out 13th June.

Video: Mid-1960s fashion and costume collide with Hardy Amies’ very Courrèges like designs for Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Costume designer Janty Yates chats exclusively about her space suit designs for Alien prequel Prometheus. Fact: the shape of the helmets intentionally resemble that of an Alien egg.

Film critic Simon Kinnear analyses the ‘lived-in’ costumes and space suits of the original Alien film, plus sequels two, three and four.

In depth deconstruction of the Tron Legacy light suit (more another dimension suit than space suit, but still…). We were granted full access to the suit at Digital Domain Productions in Los Angeles and interviewed some of the designers who worked on the film, including associate costume designer Christine Bieselin Clark and lead helmet designer Neville Page.

You can watch Sigourney Weaver in Alien at LOVEFiLM.com.

© 2013, Chris Laverty.

“Wine Cures the Gout, the Colic and the Phthisic, Wine is to all men the very Best of Physic.” - …

Continue reading →

High levels of deadly pollutants in Beijing and other cities have led parents to alter their children’s day-to-day activities drastically, and some plan to leave the country.

Submitted by: Unknown

Tagged: Canada , coffe , cups , monday thru friday , g rated Share on Facebook

The Wikipedia entry for Stockholm’s Metro system says that it has 100 stations in use along about 65 miles of track. I seem to recall that Stockholm was one of the cities used to illustrate the concept of transit-oriented development in Michael Bernick and Robert Cervero’s 1996 book on the subject, Transit Villages in the 21st Century. I also know that Stockholm was an early adopter of congestion pricing for roadways.

Courtesy of Imagea.org/Flickr

Courtesy of Ingrid Truemper/Flickr

What I didn’t know until now, however, was that transportation innovation in the Swedish capital and its suburbs also extends to a flamboyant display of public art in its Metro stations. Indeed, The website Twisted Sifter relays the claim that the system is basically "the world’s longest art exhibit":

Travellng by metro is like travelling through an exciting story that extends from the artistic pioneers of the 1950s to the art experiments of today. Over 90 of the 100 subway stations in Stockholm have been decorated with sculptures, mosaics, paintings, installations, engravings and reliefs by over 150 artists. What a fun and inexpensive way to explore the art and culture of an incredible city like Stockholm!

 

Courtesy of @raulds/Flickr

Several of the underground stations, especially on the system’s Blue Line, are left with the shape of the bedrock exposed, covered in sprayed concrete, as part of the exhibits. At the Rissne station, says Wikipedia, a wall fresco depicting the history of Earth's civilizations runs along both sides of the platform. In six of the stations the art is temporary and replaced periodically.

Courtesy of August Linnman/Creative Commons

Courtesy of Nenyaki/Flickr

Twisted Sifter says the movement to install art in the Metro began in the mid-1950s. There are guided tours of the highlights.  Enjoy these photos garnered from the collections of photographers generous enough to license their work for public use (as always, move your cursor for the credits). 

Courtesy of Kallie1/Wikimedia Commons


Courtesy of imagea.org/Flickr

For an especially fun presentation, watch this video (Spanish with English subtitles) of an animated host taking us on a tour of some of the highlights:

This post originally appeared on the NRDC's Switchboard blog, an Atlantic partner site.

via http://bigredrobot.tumblr.com/page/4

Despite being a national treasure to generations of free-thinking Iranians and one of the most well-known and loved songbirds from the East, Faegheh Atashin (most famously known as Googoosh or Gougoush) is ironically also the performer of some of the rarest unheard pop music in the world. Originally pressed on the diminishing vinyl format in the mid-1970s her songs and performances were banned after the Iranian revolution of 1979 resulting in her records, and millions of others, being forbidden, hidden and destroyed. Preserved in some part via the rise of global compact cassette culture in the 1980s some of Googoosh’s most famous songs have become anthemic amongst international Iranian communities whilst in darker contrast dozens of 45 b-sides and commercially stunted album tracks remain as distant and nonexistent memories in the mind of the most devout fans and fastidious vinyl librarians.