Russian Sledgesattn: garrett
#upcycling
This incredibly detailed skull made from repurposed skateboard decks is one of several new artworks from self-taught Japanese artist Haroshi (previously) who will be opening his second solo show at Jonathan Levine Gallery in New York on January 12. Don’t miss it.
Unofficial Map: Boston MBTA Commuter Rail Time-Scale Map
We’ve previously featured Stonebrown Design’s time-scale Boston Subway Map (Aug. 2012, 3.5 stars) — now they’ve produced a map for Boston’s extensive commuter rail network along the same lines.
To my mind, this map is even more successful for a couple of reasons: firstly, the time rings are completely concentric, which makes the map easier to read and looks more aesthetically pleasing. It’s interesting to see how fare zones don’t necessarily correspond to the amount of time it takes to get to central Boston.
Secondly, the addition of service frequency to this map (simply put: the thicker the line, the more trains per day) is quite fascinating and is handled very deftly. The legend regarding this is perhaps a little confusing, but all you have to remember is that a station dot that is smaller than the line is wide indicates that not all trains that pass the station stop there. The sheer number of trains that funnel through Back Bay station is quite astounding.
Our rating: Building and improving upon previous work, this is a fantastic piece of work. 4.5 stars.
(Source: Stonebrown Design)
November 17th, 1970
Haddon Hall
Mr. Bob Grace
Chrysalis Music Ltd
388/398 Oxford Street
London W1
Dear Bob
I was born in Brixton and went to some Schools thereabout and studied Art. Then I went into an Advertising Agency which I didn't like very much. Then I left and joined some Rock 'n' Roll Bands playing Saxophone and I sang some which nobody liked very much.
As I was already a Beatnik, I had to be a Hippie and I was very heavy and wrote a lot of songs on some beaches and some people liked them. Then I recorded 'Space Oddity' and made some money and spent it which everybody liked.
Now I am 24 and I am married and I am not at all heavy and I'm still writing and my wife is pregnant which I like very much.
(Signed)
LOVE DAVID
This dude gets text messages when his wine cellar is too hot.
Chris Foresman
Vint Cerf is a dapper man, pulling off a three-piece suit like no one else in the tech world. So of course he has a wine cellar—and it's better than yours, assuming you even have one. (I don't.)
It stands to reason that the wine cellar owned by the co-creator of the Internet will have some futuristic touches, right? Indeed it does. Talking at CES today, Cerf described his home's sensor network, which uses IPv6 radios and the Arch Rock PhyNet smart grid system to track information like light levels, temperature, and humidity. This is important for a wine cellar, which has to remain at proper temperature and humidity levels to preserve the wine's taste and keep the corks from drying out. Naturally, Cerf gets text messages when something goes awry.
"I was visiting Argonne National Laboratory for three days, and my wife was away on some trip," Cerf said. "So for three days every five minutes I was getting messages saying, 'your wine is warming up.' By the time I got home it was 70 degrees in the cellar, which is not good. So I called the Arch Rock guys and I said, 'do you have a remote actuator I can run through the system?' and they said 'yes'. I said, 'does it have strong access controls?' because there's a 15-year-old next door and I don't want him messing with my wine cellar. And they said 'yes.' So we installed that."
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Got a surprise in the mail today! Excited to be included in Hans Lijklema’s Free Font Index again. You can buy a copy on Amazon or in any Barnes & Noble. #published
David Bowie, 1966 | Source
Letterhead used by David Bowie in 1966, a few months after changing his name from David Jones. 8 years later, his stationery looked like this.
The fourth member of the Flour Bakery + Cafe family could open as early as this Thursday, according to owner Joanne Chang-Myers. The Back Bay space is almost complete, minus some menus, light fixtures, and such, and the staff is training hard. The long, narrow layout will have seating for 45-50, about the same size as the Fort Point location. (The other two locations are in the South End and Central Square.) Seats are a mix of regular tables and stools at window counters. Designers Hacin + Associates Inc. also worked on sister restaurant Myers + Chang. This Flour follows in the footsteps of the others with a bright, airy vibe and plenty of space to display fresh pastries.
While each Flour location is helmed by a different chef and thus features different specials, the core menu is still the same, so visitors to the new Flour can expect things like cookies, meringue clouds, and sticky buns alongside salads and sandwiches.
The initial hours will likely be around 7 AM to 7 or 8 PM on weekdays, 8 AM to 6 PM on Saturdays, and 9 AM to 4 PM on Sundays, although they may change slightly depending on how the flow of the neighborhood turns out.
· All coverage of Flour Bakery + Cafe [~EBOS~]
Russian Sledgesrad
[Photo: Official Site]
The salad and froyo-centric restaurant chain Sweetgreen, based in D.C., is making progress on its first Boston location in what was formerly a Ritz Camera shop on Boylston Street in Copley Square. The new spot was hoping for a spring opening and may be on track: a representative for the company says to expect doors to open in late spring/early summer. As seen above, preliminary signage for Sweetgreen features lofty quotes from the likes of Tao Te Ching author Lao Tzu. The photo also shows that Sugary Heaven is next to the New England Dental Center.
· All coverage of Sweetgreen on Eater [~EBOS~]
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MANY organisations pick a word of the year, but this blogger was too distracted by the holidays to notice most of the ones that were announced last year. In any case, I have always been partial to the American Dialect Society (ADS) awards, announced last week, but this year I have to admit that I wasn't impressed by many of the winners. A few thoughts.
Most useful: "-(po)calypse, -(ma)geddon". Wait, can two combining forms be "the most useful word of the year"? First, neither is a word even under a pretty expansive definition of "word". I'd consider a pronounceable acronym or an obviously fixed two-word phrase a "word". But something that can't stand on its own? Two such somethings? That have also been used frequently before 2012? The first Los Angeles "carmageddon" was in 2011 and New York's "snowpocalypse" happened in 2010.
Most creative: "gate lice". In case you missed this one, as I did, this refers to people crowding around an airport gate waiting to board. Not a new phenomenon at all, so even if this was coined in 2012, it doesn't seem very zeitgeisty for a Word of the Year.
Most unnecessary: "legitimate rape". It was a dark day when Todd Akin added this one to America's national lexicon. The Republican senatorial candidate mused that "If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing [a potential pregnancy] down." "Legitimate rape" packs quite a punch: in one two-word phrase it contains the proposition that many rapes are fake or illegitimate, and that's before we even arrive at the second preposterous proposition, that the female body can "shut that whole thing down". "Legitimate rape" is a pretty unnecessary phrase, so I'll nod along with the WOTY voters on this one, though a wag might say that the phrase was necessary for keeping Todd Akin away from high office.
Most outrageous: "legitimate rape". No contest here.
Most euphemistic: "self-deportation". This year, Mitt Romney was a one-man factory of memorable phrases. Unfortunately for him, most of them were not memorable in an "Ask not what your country can do for you" kind of way. He said he had "binders full of women" he considered for appointments when he was elected governor. He called the 47% of Americans who don't pay federal income taxes a class of irredeemable moochers, making "47%" a contender for the big Word of the Year Prize. But when he said that life should be made so intolerable for illegal immigrants that they would resort to "self-deportation", ie, saving the government the trouble of rounding them up, he earned this prize for the year's top euphemism.
Most likely to succeed: "marriage equality". Well, we certainly hope so at The Economist. 'Marriage equality" remains one of those contested phrases, though. It is beloved by its proponents. Its opponents are more likely to refer to "gay marriage" or, worse, "homosexual marriage", knowing that these phrases smack of "special privileges for a fringe group" to many Americans. If "marriage equality" does indeed succeed, it will be because the political case for it is rolling nicely downhill.
Least likely to succeed: "YOLO" and "phablet". Indeed, both are pretty silly. YOLO, which improbably enough was also nominated for "most useful", stands for "you only live once". It is apparently meant to be humorously self-deprecating. This makes sense, since "you only live once" is short and easy to say already, so YOLO can only be meant to be ridiculous. As for "phablet", someone needs to tell its coiner that you need more than a pronounceable portmanteau to succeed. You need one that clearly recalls what the two elements were originally. No one could mistake what "brunch" is. If I told you there was a coffeetastrophe in my office, at the very least you'd know right away that it was a catastrophe involving coffee. Cofftastrophe, by contrast, probably wouldn't be enough to invoke the coffee. And maybe for the same reason, the word phablet fails to invoke phone for me. Phail, as the kids might say.
Election words: Wait, Mitt Romney is up again? This time it's "binders full of women" for the win. Sure, this lit up the news and Twitter when Mr Romney said it, but I expect a Word of the Year to have some staying power, and I don't expect "binders full of women" to do so.
Finally, the Word of the Year to beat all words of the year, the word that truly summed up 2012. Are you ready?
#hashtag
#hashtag? Word of the Year 2012?
Twitter has been around for years. So have its hashtags. Twitter rocketed to international prominence in 2009 when it emerged as a source of information on (and a means of expressing support for) the uprising in Iran. A writer for America's National Public Radio wrote "the revolution will be tagged" back then. Since then Twitter has grown, sure. But I don't recall any memorable single hashtag moments in 2012. I don't recall hashtags reaching some kind of cultural tipping point so that we were all talking about hashtags suddenly. Ben Zimmer, the head of the ADS new words committee, gamely argued that this was the year hashtags "became a ubiquitous phenomenon in online talk". Either I missed that crucial tipping point, or it was illusory to begin with, and almost any of the other nominees would have been better than #hashtag. My first bet was that political junkies were split between 47%, fiscal cliff and marriage equality, letting the past-its-prime dark horse #hashtag squeeze through. But no, "#hashtag" made it to a runoff with "marriage equality" and won.
Ah well. Here's to 2013. Anyone want to stick their neck out predicting this year's winner?
"Landscape designer Leslie Needham reuses mesh clementine bags in a number of different ways when repotting houseplants. Instead of buying screens to cover drainage holes in pots, she overlaps two squares of the mesh. She also fills the bags with packing peanuts and puts them in the bottom of larger pots, which keeps them lightweight and provides drainage. Our gardening editors hang plants with them. To do it yourself, cut a hole in the center of the bag, and create a well for the plant to rest in with a layer of sphagnum moss. Then put a small plant with soil inside the well, and cover it with more moss."
Maurice isn’t an anti-phone book zealot, but he doesn’t need one, either. A few months ago, an unwanted one showed up on his porch. Instead of saving it for a power or Internet service outage or sticking it under a wobbly table leg, he decided to contact the company that delivered it and let them know that they didn’t need to waste any more trees or time delivering phone books to him. The message didn’t quite take. Unwanted phone books are pretty low on his list of problems in life, but that’s an easy problem to solve. Right?
As it turned out, the nice people at YP/Yellowpages.com/AT&T were very anxious to not have an unhappy phone book recipient on their hands. Maurice explains:
I wanted to share with you a story of a company going above and beyond to the point of silliness. A few months ago I came home to a familiar sight – one of those yellow bags on my front porch with a phone directory in it. Since the advent of the internet I don’t use these any more, and I don’t know many people who do.
Usually I just toss the thing in the trash or use it to prop up wobbly furniture, but this time I decided that it was probably a waste of paper and time for the people delivering it. I followed the web link on the bag and opted out of receipt for all the various phone books in my area.
I considered the issue handled, until last week. Once again, I saw the little yellow bag at my door. It didn’t elicit much more than a curious look. Getting an unwanted phone book isn’t exactly a huge stressor in my life.
As more of a lark than anything, I followed the link again and filed an “unwanted delivery” complaint. I told the company (YP.com) that I had previously opted out of mailings and I’d like to stop receiving them.
That’s when the fun started. Over the course of the next week I received four phone calls and two emails, with at least one person claiming to be a manager. They all offered apologies for sending me the Dreaded Yellow Book. They confirmed my name and address several times to make sure I was on their “do not send” list. Just this morning I received an apologetic email that said essentially the same thing, and offered phone numbers for local distributors if I wanted to confirm my status with them.
Although I appreciate this company bending over backwards to make sure I don’t get something I don’t want, I just have to take a step back and laugh that they’re taking this issue so seriously. It’s a phone book, not nuclear waste. Still, kudos to YP.com for spending man hours and phone minutes making sure one non-customer continues to be…a happy non-customer.
RELATED:
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Our Records Indicate That You Don’t Want A Phone Book… Here Is Your Phone Book
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Fixed-end shelving defines the boundaries for your books with no flexibility – bookends on longer shelves, however, always feel somehow additive, sometimes fall over when moved (or stationary), and may not mingle well with your collection. There had to be a middle path – and here it is.
From creators Colleen & Eric, “Your books are no longer in danger of toppling over. Over-sized wing-nut allows bookend to slide into place and be secured wherever it’s needed. Offered in Beech, Walnut and Oak. Water based stain and all natural Shellac finish. Aluminum cube and wingnut powder-coated.”
Right now it remains a prototype, but unlike many more far-fetched and high-tech concepts, this one is a very reachable reality for the designers if there is enough interest in their work.
More about the makers: “Colleen & Eric’s products strive to provoke thought, or at least make you smile, while upholding the highest standards of craft, quality and sustainability. Most of their work is done in-house, using North American grown woods, water-based glues and natural finishes. Outsourced work is done locally, and U.S. made components are used whenever possible. Winners of the NASA/Etsy SpaceCraft contest, an image of their Northstar Table was flown aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavor on its final voyage.”
Russian Sledgesit's vintage, you asshole
Don’t you get it? It’s not about the product, it’s about people knowing I own the product!
Once a wealthy San Francisco businessman and land owner, Joshua Norton lost his fortune speculating on rice prices in the 1850s and descended into a gloomy and destitute self-exile for several years. Then on September 17, 1859, he publicly declared himself Norton I, Emperor of the United States, and later, Protector of Mexico. Encouraged by the local newspapers, he issued numerous public decrees on matters of public policy and later issued his own currency, which was widely accepted in San Francisco.
The army furnished him with a uniform befitting his status as Emperor, the local theaters provided him with seats on opening night. Meanwhile he wandered the city streets, visited local clubs, and slept in a flophouse. In the 1870 national census, Norton's occupation is officially listed as 'emperor'. On the same census, it is noted that he does not have the right to vote. In that column, the reason is entered as 'insane'.
Though he was considered insane, or at least highly eccentric, the citizens of San Francisco celebrated his regal presence and his proclamations - most famously, his "order" that the United States Congress be dissolved by force (which Congress and the U.S. Army ignored) and his numerous decrees calling for a bridge and a tunnel to be built across San Francisco Bay. He was reported to have been articulate, well read, had progressive ideals, and played a mean game of chess.
After a reign of nearly 20 years, on January 8, 1880, Norton collapsed at a street corner and died before he could be given medical treatment. The next day the San Francisco Chronicle ran a front page obituary titled 'Le Roi est Mort' ('The King is Dead'). 10,000 mourners visited his body in state, and a tremendous funeral procession attended his first burial at the Masonic Cemetery. In 1934, Norton's remains were transferred, as were all graves in the city, at the expense of the City of San Francisco to a grave site of moderate splendor at Woodlawn Cemetery, in Colma, south of San Francisco. The site is marked by a large stone inscribed "Norton I, Emperor of the United States and Protector of Mexico".
"Who's the dead guy in the painting?"
"Emperor Norton"
"Edward Norton? That doesn't look anything like Edward Norton."
From above the bar, tucked in above the TV showing the ball game, a portrait of a grumpy looking fellow in an old-timey outfit looks out over Tommy's Joynt, giving unknowing patrons at the bar a decidedly beady eyeball.
To the discerning San Franciscan, it is easy to determine that that beady eyeballed fellow is none other than Joshua Norton, the one time self-declared Emperor of the United States and protector of Mexico. Norton is San Francisco's eccentric patron saint, having arrived in the city in 1849 where, like many early entrepreneurs, he saw his fortune lost in unlucky investments. Unlike them, after a short absence, Norton reemerged in the city in glorious eccentricity, declared himself the Emperor of the United States and began his benevolent reign of bold declarations, political proclamations, and quickly became a beloved, if odd, man about town.
Despite the regal presence, the portrait can be easy to miss in the riot of an interior that is Tommy's Joynt, a local family owned hof-brau on Van Ness and Geary. No one at Tommy's seems to know where the painting came from or when it was added to the hodge podge interior.
Another portrait of Norton is located in Maxfield's Pied Piper Bar at the Palace Hotel on Market Street. He is buried in Colma at Woodlawn Cemetery, where he is visited annually by admirers to this day.
A German looks at a portrait of Stalin in the Unter den Linden in postwar Berlin, Allied-occupied Germany, 1945.
Russian Sledgesummm
It is that time again. The men’s markets begin this week with previews of Fall Winter 2013. Topman Design shares this look at their forthcoming FW2013 collection. The “early gentleman” explorer themes up the Topman Design collection. Consider the spirit of youth while browsing these looks that encompass Tibetan print pea coats, ice white parka, and more.
Topman Design Menswear for Fall Winter 2013 is a post by Jeff Carvalho on Selectism.
Adobe's Creative Suite Premium Plus can now be downloaded for free, giving those with older PCs and Macs an easy way to get a robust, albeit dated, collection of multimedia editing tools. Included in the package is Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, and Premier Pro, to name a few. Keep in mind that these particular programs were released in 2005, so compatibility may be an issue for those with newer machines. To get the collection you must first sign up for a free Adobe account, which should just take a few minutes. Unfortunately, the download page for Creative Suite Premium Plus is down at the moment — possibly due to the influx of traffic — but you'll want to keep an eye on it if you're in the need for some free Adobe tools.
According to Daily Mail, Datta Phuge of Pimpri-Chinchwad, India had a custom gold shirt made for himself to impress the ladies. He’s quoted as saying, “I know I am not the best looking man in the world but surely no woman could fail to be dazzled by this shirt?” It took 15 goldsmiths two weeks to make the shirt which cost him nearly $23,000.
image via Daily Mail
via Daily Mail, Breakfast Links, Neatorama
