Mikkele.bringard

If I was looking for a mobile for a boys room, this one by Tom Schamp would get my vote.

My Favorite Songs

obviously 

My friend Chris has his Bafflers on sale this week. These are handmade puzzles. I own a few of them and they are wonderful. You should get one for yourself, even if you don’t, just go look at them, they are fantastic.

(via http://www.chrisyates.net/store/puzz.html)

dilettantepickle:

Jeffrey is too generous. 

This week conceptual artist Florentijin Hofman brought his gargantuan Rubber Duck artwork to Victoria Harbour in Hong Kong. The huge inflatable duck measures nearly 46 feet tall and 55 feet long and is shown above being pulled by a tug boat only a fraction of its size. Hofman is well known for his grandiose and whimsical sculptures that seem born with the primary goal of inducing as many smiles possible. Via the artist’s website:

The Rubber Duck knows no frontiers, it doesn’t discriminate people and doesn’t have a political connotation. The friendly, floating Rubber Duck has healing properties: it can relieve mondial tensions as well as define them. The rubber duck is soft, friendly and suitable for all ages!

According to SCMP Rubber Duck will be on display in the harbor through June 9th, 2013. (via laughing squid, my modern met)

Belgium-based photographer and designer Manon Wethly keeps a wonderful Instagram account where more traditional landscapes of the European countryside are punctuated with the occasional airborne beverage. No liquid is safe from being catapulted in front of her camera, Wethly uses coffee, milk, juice, water and other drinks to get the perfect mix of form and color to make some pretty fantastic shots. She says most of the photos are captured with her iPhone though she’s also begun experimenting with larger cameras. See more of her high speed photography over on her blog. (via junk culture)

It’s a cold January day and you’re walking down a street in Brooklyn gnawing on a piece of gum that just passed the point of flavorful into the realm of tastelessness. In a hurry, you spit it on the ground without a second thought and continue about your day. Hours later a mysterious woman arrives and surreptitiously collects the sticky gum from the sidewalk and drops it into a clear plastic bag which she carefully labels. Flash forward a month later: you’re walking through an art gallery, and there, mounted on the wall, is a familiar face staring back at you. Astonishingly (or terrifyingly) it’s a 3D print of your face generated from the DNA you left behind on that random piece of gum that now appears in a petri dish just below the portrait. A few years ago this would seem like science fiction, the stuff of films like Gattaca, but to information artist Heather Dewey-Hagborg it’s how she makes her artwork here in 2013.

They say inspiration can strike anywhere and for Dewey-Hagborg that moment happened while sitting in a therapy session. While staring at a framed print on the wall she began to fixate on a tiny crack in the glass into which a small hair had become lodged. As her mind wandered she began to imagine who this seemingly insignificant hair belonged to, and more specifically what they might look like. After leaving the session she became keenly aware of the genetic trail left by every person in their daily life, and began to question what physical characteristics could be identified through the DNA left behind on a piece of gum or cigarette butt.

Sample Location 6. January 6, 2013 at 12:25pm; Wilson ave. and Stanhope St. Brooklyn, NY; MtDNA Haplogroup: D1 (Native American, South American); SRY Gene: present; Gender: Male; HERC2 Gene: AA; Eye Color: Brown

Stranger Visions is the result of her fascinating if slightly disconcerting line of questioning and experimentation that lead to the creation of 3D printed portraits based on DNA samples taken from objects found on the streets of Brooklyn. Dewey-Hagborg worked with a DIY biology lab in Brooklyn called Genspace where she met a number of biologists who taught her everything she now knows about molecular biology and DNA. Via an interview with the artist:

So I extract the DNA in the lab and then I amplify certain regions of it using a technique called PCR – Polymerase Chain Reaction. This allows me to study certain regions of the genome that tend to vary person to person, what are called SNPs or Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms.

I send the results of my PCR reactions off to a lab for sequencing and what I get back are basically text files filled with sequences of As, Ts, Cs, and Gs, the nucleotides that compose DNA. I align these using a bioinformatics program and determine what allele is present for a particular SNP on each sample.

Then I feed this information into a custom computer program I wrote which takes all these values which code for physical genetic traits and parameterizes a 3d model of a face to represent them. For example gender, ancestry, eye color, hair color, freckles, lighter or darker skin, and certain facial features like nose width and distance between eyes are some of the features I am in the process of studying.

I add some finishing touches to the model in 3d software and then export it for printing on a 3d printer. I use a Zcorp printer which prints in full color using a powder type material, kind of like sand and glue.

The resulting portraits are bizarre approximations of anonymous people who unknowingly left their genetic material on a random city street. So how accurate are the faces created from this genetic experiment? The artist likes to say they have a “family resemblance” and no, unlike the scenario depicted above, a person has never recognized themselves in any of her exhibitions. Yet. There are some things such as age which are virtually impossible to determine from DNA alone, so Dewey-Hagborg casts each portrait as if the person were around 25 years of age.

Sample Location 2. January 6, 2013 qt 12:15pm; 1381 Myrtle ave. Brooklyn, NY; MtDNA Haplogroup: H2a2a1 (Eastern European); SRY Gene: present; Gender: Male; HERC2 Gene: AA; Eye Color: Brown

Artist Heather Dewey-Hagborg with a genetically derived self-portrait.

Dewey-Hagborg will be giving a talk with a pop-up exhibit at Genspace next month on June 13th, and QF Gallery on Long Island will host a body of her work from June 29th through July 13th. You can follow the artist via her website and also her blog. All imagery courtesy the artist. (via smithsonian)

The Thorncrown Chapel in Eureka Springs, Arkansas is considered one of the crowning examples of organic architecture, a philosophy credited to Frank Lloyd Wright that promotes a harmony between the natural world and human habitation. The non-denominational chapel was designed in 1980 by an apprentice of Wright’s, architect E. Fay Jones, who employed the use of steel and glass to create a weightless, almost translucent structure that offers sweeping views in all directions of the surrounding Ozark habitat. In keeping with the organic design of the chapel Fay asked that no construction element be larger than what two people could carry through the woods by hand.

Recently a power company has applied to build a 48-mile high voltage transmission line through Northwest Arkansas that will cut through the woods right next to the chapel, shattering the views and serenity offered by the extremely unique building that was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2000. For those interested, the Arkansas Public Service Commission is accepting comments from the public regarding the proposed power line construction. You can also read much more over on Hyperallergic.

We rent our Manhattan apartment, so we've never thought of putting up wallpaper. But Hygge & West recently launched removable wallpaper tiles, so you could put them up easily. Wouldn't these look lovely in a bathroom or foyer?

P.S. 10 favorite wallpapers.

(Via Joy)

I absolutely love these banner cards, available as Heart, OK! and Yeah! . They are designed and printed by Izabella Dennis for Fifi du Vie.

Yep, I am totally ordering one of these customizable Hashtag Banners. Perfect for our #Tattly birthday bash in July!

Want some new shirts? We’ve got you covered.

After thinking of every possible combination of cooking competitions, B-list celebrity living arrangements, televised dating scenarios and island survival democracies, reality TV producers have submitted the last idea that they could think of: A show called Vanilla Ice Goes Amish. In the upcoming reality show that will air on DIY Network, the “Ice Ice Baby” rapper will join an Amish community to learn construction techniques—the least interesting angle possible for show about Vanilla Ice living in an Amish community. Even Vanilla Ice seemed to concede that the show was a somewhat desperate career turn. He tweeted “This show is going to be amazing, pure magical. Get in where you fit in, and I'm fitting in with the Amish. LOL” …

In the ever-important quest to figure out how many different junk foods you can jam into a single breakfast meal, Dunkin Donuts has announced their latest revelation—the Glazed Donut Breakfast Sandwich. The sandwich contains the two essential pieces to any regrettable early morning decision: Donuts and bacon. Combine those two items with a dose of something called “peppered egg”, and you’ve got the fast food chain’s own perfect storm of cardiac terror. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending how you look at it), right now the Glazed Donut Breakfast Sandwich will only be available in select New England stores …

It’s been over six years since I mooned here over a lost dumpling love. Dumplings are kind of a fixation for me; I am unwaveringly convinced that small pockets of food wrapped elegantly in a thin dough are among the universe’s most perfect foods; portable and petite, servings easily scaled, I dare you to find a nutritious food not improved by an adorable doughy package. The vegetable dumplings that I used to get at a chain of otherwise average west side Chinese restaurants were my all-time favorite; before they changed the recipe, I regularly rerouted my day to stop there for an order, and a beer. (Sidebar: Can we talk about how delicious a cold beer in a glass is with potstickers? No, different conversation, huh? Onwards!)

Anyway, I hope you haven’t mistaken my silence since on the matter as a sign I’ve found any peace. I have not. While I still cannot resist vegetable dumplings/wontons/gyoza/potstickers on any take-out menu, hoping to find within their centers the dumplings I once knew and loved, I’ve had enough mystery vegetable mush to accept that if you want spectacular vegetable dumplings, you’ll want to make them at home.

... Read the rest of spring vegetable potstickers on smittenkitchen.com

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© smitten kitchen 2006-2012. | permalink to spring vegetable potstickers | 215 comments to date | see more: Asparagus, Dumplings, Peas, Photo, Spring, Vegetarian

If you're looking to get more of a specific vitamin or mineral in your diet, or you're wondering what types of produce will help you get which types of nutrients (and what those nutrients are good for), this beautiful, color-coded chart breaks it down for you.

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If you feel like Facebook has more ads than usual, you aren't imagining it: Facebook's been inundating us with more and more ads lately, and using your information—both online and offline—to do it. Here's how it works, and how you can opt out.

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Dear Lifehacker,
I've been holding onto old documents (pay stubs, credit card bills, insurance paperwork, etc.) and my filing cabinet has finally had it's fill. I know moving into the 21st century by scanning and sorting is probably the best option, but I don't want to give the time or energy to scanning, organizing, backing up, etc. all those documents. When can I just get rid of them?

Read more...

According to a recent report from The Wall Street Journal, Apple has begun production on two new iPhones. One will be a high-end, more heavy-duty phone with a metal case, the other will be a cheaper version available in multiple colors. The report also said that, despite some rumors, Apple is unlikely to make a larger version of the iPhone. Apple also said that no, they definitely haven’t run out of new product ideas and are now just releasing different versions of the same product in multiple colors. That’s not their style …

This series of AT&T ads that ran from 1993 to 1994 pretty accurately predicted the future of technology. In each commercial spot, several, then-unfathomable new consumer devices were shown, and audiences were told that in the near-future “You Will” have access to such amazing technology. The ads show a variety of technologies that are now a part of daily life: an on-demand streaming service like Netflix, a Siri-like virtual assistant, a digital tablet, in-car GPS, E-ZPass tolls and more. The series is no “It’s Not Complicated” campaign (which is hilarious), but its predictions are still pretty impressive …

The year was 1991. The man was Tim Berners-Lee. The invention was a "wide-area hypermedia information retrieval initiative aiming to give universal access to a large universe of documents." They called it "W3"—short for "World Wide Web." It was a one-page number, it wasn't much to look at and it's been lying in a musty, forgotten corner of the Internet ever since. But, today, CERN decided to re-activate it, and you can go mess around on it. Take a little tour of the place where this whole shindig got started and then, for kicks, read this 1995 Newsweek article about how the Internet will never catch on ...

This is fascinating in a refreshingly absurd way: Old People Wearing Vegetation.

Created by Riittai Konen and Karoline Hjorth.

(via bb)

How wonderful are these custom signature necklaces by Brevity? Wishlisted!

(via Jaime)

The other evening, we were hanging out, and Alex busted out the word "postprandial," as in "Let's take a postprandial walk with Toby." NICE. (This was my reaction.)

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that there's nothing more attractive than hearing someone use a vocab word in regular conversation.

So here's the weekly challenge: Choose a favorite vocab word and pepper it into conversation this week. Are you game? Here are the 250 most difficult SAT words, if you'd like inspiration. Peripatetic. Innocuous. Sycophantic. Taciturn...Which word will you choose? Let's nerd out!

P.S. British words and annoying words.

(Photo of Grace Kelly. Graphic design by Rachel for Cup of Jo)

Love this little sweatshirt from Australian etsy shop Paul & Paula. That's all :)