In a marketing move more shameless than Valentines day - the biggest online retailers had designated 11/11 singles day, and that was the day that single people could shop to forget that they were single.
Yesterday's epic Singles' Day online shopping event saw US$1 billion spent in its first 50 minutes (many people had filled their digital shopping carts the night before, and then cashed in when the sale started) and totalled US$5.7 billion, or 35 billion yuan in spending before the day was out. This year's sales earned a massive 83% more than 2012's, and Tmall alone saw 402 million visitors.
Looks like a prop from a film - and why did it change colour?!
Fishermen have caught a giant grouper that weighed 683 pounds (310kg) near the Nansha Islands. The fish was sold to a hotelier in Dongyuan, because apparently that's what one does upon catching an utterly massive mutant fish.
Ucon and 8Bar Bikes got together recently to take the concept of creating a ‘featherlight’ track bike to the next level. Personally, I think this came out great! I really love the paint and the details down to the collaboration caps and straps. The video is a little long, but you get the idea.
Check out more photos of the bike and the process below!
The tiny figures of Slinkachu play out surreal scenarios ranging from dramatic to comedic, all against the backdrop of life-sized props that seem giant by comparison. His latest set of little plays took place on the streets of Paris.
His Little People works hide in plain sight, almost too small to see unless spotted out of the corner of one’s eye. He was invited to France for “ReAct Paris, a conference organised by the European Parliament to tackle the problems of unemployment in Europe, particularly youth unemployment, which in some parts of Europe stand close to a miserable 30%.”
Fitting the theme, most of his installations this time around featured people hard at work, from miniature electricians to tiny scientists, group meetings around graphs and workers arranged on a horizontal I-beam (reenacting a classic New York City Photograph).
Previous Slinkachu series, like the Little People of London, has also been seen in galleries and on the streets of other major cities from New York to Beijing. His subjects often interact with everyday detritus in curious ways, finding their on way to work with whatever they encounter a local scale.
Want More? Click for Great Related Content on WebUrbanist:
Slinkachu is a UK-based artist who creates tiny scenes on city streets. He photographs each scene and then leaves it to be discovered. Click Here to Read More »»
Wonderfully creative urban street art. These photographs, taken around town in London and even shown in galleries, are just a small portion of the work. Click Here to Read More »»
All around the streets of Paris, a familiar face is seen. It floats in tourist spots, adorns mailboxes, greets diners at sidewalk cafes. Who is behind the mask? Click Here to Read More »»
Ostensibly this piece is about how drivers who kill cyclists don't get in trouble and how this needs to change. All very good, right? Who could argue with that? (Well, besides the police, and the auto industry, and the auto insurance industry, and the oil industry, and the tabloids, and your local lawmakers, and...) Well, the first warning sign is the stupid knuckle tattoo illustration evoking the evoking the darkest days of the insipid fixie trend circa 2007. Then, the writer opens with this:
SAN FRANCISCO — EVERYBODY who knows me knows that I love cycling and that I’m also completely freaked out by it. I got into the sport for middle-aged reasons: fat; creaky knees; the delusional vanity of tight shorts. Registering for a triathlon, I took my first ride in decades. Wind in my hair, smile on my face, I decided instantly that I would bike everywhere like all those beautiful hipster kids on fixies. Within minutes, however, I watched an S.U.V. hit another cyclist, and then I got my own front wheel stuck in a streetcar track, sending me to the pavement.
Anybody who is "freaked out" by cycling--in San Francisco no less--should probably not be writing about it. Being freaked out by cycling in San Francisco is like being freaked out by sushi in Japan, or by thongs in Rio de Janeiro.
Then he goes on:
You don’t have to be a lefty pinko cycling activist to find something weird about that. But try a Google search for “cyclist + accident” and you will find countless similar stories: on Nov. 2, for example, on the two-lane coastal highway near Santa Cruz, Calif., a northbound driver lost control and veered clear across southbound traffic, killing Joshua Alper, a 40-year-old librarian cycling in the southbound bike lane. As usual: no charges, no citation. Most online comments fall into two camps: cyclists outraged at inattentive drivers and wondering why cops don’t care; drivers furious at cyclists for clogging roads and flouting traffic laws.
Awful, of course. His conclusion?
My own view is that everybody’s a little right and that we’re at a scary cultural crossroads on the whole car/bike thing.
"Everybody's a little right?" You should be starting to get a little bit uncomfortable at this point. Drivers are "a little right" to be "furious at cyclists for clogging roads?" Do me a favor: tonight, at the peak of the evening rush, please head out to the BQE or the LIE or the 405 or your favorite local clogged automotive artery and find me the cyclists who are responsible for that particular clusterfuck. In fact, find me any situation (outside of annual charity rides or actual protests such as Critical Mass, which are statistically insignificant) in which cyclists are delaying motorists by more than a handful of seconds. Even the hated Sunday group rides that cause suburban motorists to lose their shit because a bunch of Freds are taking up the road really don't cause them any appreciable delay. All it means is that a driver has to go 20mph instead of 30mph for a minute or two--but of course every second counts when you're headed to the shopping center for those bagels.
Meanwhile, all it takes is a fender-bender between two drivers to snarl traffic for hours. Delays, police, ambulances, insurance claims--all because one asshole put a tiny dent in some other asshole's Hyundai. Can you imagine if they closed 5th Avenue for half the day because a couple of pedestrians brushed shoulders and one of them spilled some Starbucks on his tie? It's really no different.
Then he softens you up with a little more pro-bike stuff. You forget that momentary bit of discomfort, but just when he lulls you into a state of smugness he hits you with this:
Nor does it help that many cyclists do ignore traffic laws. Every time I drive my car through San Francisco, I see cyclists running stop signs like immortal, entitled fools. So I understand the impulse to see cyclists as recreational risk takers who deserve their fate.
I am so sick of this crap where people can't say anything pro-bike in a mainstream publication without first beating the crap out of cyclists. You "understand the impulse to see cyclists as recreational risk takers who deserve their fate?" You just described watching an SUV run into a cyclist! What kind of insensitive putz could possibly think anybody deserves that, or "understand" anybody who does?
Well, he doesn't. Or not exactly. He does seem to understand that the way things are is ridiculous, and that cyclists aren't usually at fault when they get hurt, and that traffic enforcement in this country is hopelessly skewed:
But studies performed in Arizona, Minnesota and Hawaii suggest that drivers are at fault in more than half of cycling fatalities. And there is something undeniably screwy about a justice system that makes it de facto legal to kill people, even when it is clearly your fault, as long you’re driving a car and the victim is on a bike and you’re not obviously drunk and don’t flee the scene. When two cars crash, everybody agrees that one of the two drivers may well be to blame; cops consider it their job to gather evidence toward that determination. But when a car hits a bike, it’s like there’s a collective cultural impulse to say, “Oh, well, accidents happen.” If your 13-year-old daughter bikes to school tomorrow inside a freshly painted bike lane, and a driver runs a stop sign and kills her and then says to the cop, “Gee, I so totally did not mean to do that,” that will most likely be good enough.
And yet, here's the conclusion he draws:
So here’s my proposal: Every time you get on a bike, from this moment forward, obey the letter of the law in every traffic exchange everywhere to help drivers (and police officers) view cyclists as predictable users of the road who deserve respect. You know what? Fuck that. The writer does make some good and sensible observations in this piece, but this little "proposal" obviates every single one of them. It's impossible, and in fact downright stupid, to "obey the letter of the law" on your bicycle when you find yourself in a situation where the streets and the laws are designed specifically for cars, which describes most of the United States. Moreover, it's gone way, way past the point where cyclists should need to prove to the very people who are fucking us (that's drivers and police officers) that we "deserve respect." We deserve respect for being human, and it ends there. Yet we're supposed to be good little boy scouts and girl scouts--even when it's more dangerous for us to do so--to prove we're deserving of not being killed? That's just stupid and insulting.
This op-ed reads like a homophobe defending gay marriage, but saying that homosexuals should "act less faggy" in order to earn the respect of straight people.
I know what you're thinking. You're thinking, "Hey, why jump all over this guy? His fundamental point is that the fact drivers are allowed to kill cyclists is wrong and that this needs to change." Sorry, I don't care. When you're in kindergarten and you make a fucked-up drawing of a person that looks like a Chlamydia bacterium you get praise for your effort. However, at a certain point people begin to expect more of you. That's why they made you "show your work" in math class. Any asshole can guess or copy the right answer, but the important part is understanding why it's the right answer. The guy who wrote this op-ed knows the right answer, but he doesn't understand why, and a grown-up writing in the New York Times does not deserve an "A" for "effort" when that effort is fifty percent bullshit.
And as far as obeying the law on your bicycle, here's my approach, and it's based on both respect and common sense:
--When I'm in little fantasy bubble realms like gentrified Brooklyn where there's an actual infrastructure designed to incorporate cars and bicycles and pedestrians, and where it actually makes sense to follow the law because the people who laid out the infrastructure actually realizes that cars and bikes are completely different, I'm more than happy to be a good little boy scout;
--When I'm in Midtown or some other place where I'm "sharing the road" (that's cute) and thousands of two-ton 350 horsepower motor vehicles are bearing down on me because they're driven by people whose only priority is getting to the Midtown Tunnel or the 59th Street bridge as quickly as possible, you can be damn well sure I'll do whatever the hell I need to do in order to get a head start on these homicidal mutherfuckers, and that includes running the light if I deem it safer to do so;
--When I'm in the city, I do not ride on the sidewalk. However, if I'm in some suburban or exurban area on one of those heavy traffic routes with no shoulder that feeds into an Interstate, and there's a sidewalk, and nobody has actually walked on that sidewalk since 1963 because they're all in their cars speeding to the mall, and I feel like I need to use the sidewalk to cross that Interstate, you're goddamn right I'm going to do it no matter what the law says. I'm going to "obey the letter of the law" in that situation to prove I "deserve respect?" Fuck that.
In other words, I'll use bicycle infrastructure responsibly if you give it to me, but screw you if you think I'm going to pretend it's there when it's not. And if you think I don't "deserve" the infrastructure I don't have, then you're in denial of both physics and common human decency. The writer of this op-ed, like most Americans, has been brainwashed into believing that "drivers and cyclists share the same rights and responsibilities," as if these vehicles are even remotely the same. Cars and bikes aren't even apples and oranges; they're 20-foot tall genetically-modified elephant/shark hybrids and oranges. Sure, technically you can eat both of them, but the similarities end there. But the reason people are willing to buy into the "drivers and cyclists share the same rights and responsibilities" bullshit is that it's all part of the American take on "equality," which is that it's perfectly fine to hold somebody down and fuck them, even if you've got 100 pounds on them, because technically they're free to fuck you back. (But of course if they do actually manage to fuck you back, you charge them with rape.)
Anyway, tomorrow I'll return to less onerous matters, such as my trip to Philadelphia, and in the meantime if you need me I'll be at the store:
Motorists: earning your respect one collision at a time.
These comic strips showcasing the differences between Taiwan and Hong Kong as depicted by Taiwanese comic artist Jie Jie, who currently lives in Hong Kong, are going viral on Weibo. Take a look and see why.
Despacio AKA “The biggest audiophile soundsystem in existence” set for December debut in the capital.
The wood-panelled Ballroom at Hammersmith Town Hall will not have ever heard or seen anything like it. In fact, complete with 1930′s sprung-dancefloor, it is far from the kind of venue you’d associate with a “revolutionary new clubbing experience”. Then again, when has James Murphy ever done things by the book? Having wowed crowds at Manchester’s New Century Hall (a conference room turned disco mecca, itself not your average venue) at this year’s Manchester International Festival, the towering Despacio rig piloted by messrs James Murphy and Soulwax/2ManyDJs brothers David and Stephan Dewaele is set to make its full-blooded London debut on 19th and 20th December.
To describe the Despacio experience as ‘revolutionary’ is to only tell half the story. The concept guiding the seven 11ft speaker stacks that embrace the dancefloor is state-of the art in its simplicity. A night of music, played entirely on vinyl, where the focus is on sound quality, dancing and good times. Of course it also helps if you happen to be powering that party with “the biggest audiophile soundsystem in existence”.
Watch our mini-documentary about Despacio at the Manchester International Festival.
While the spectacular McIntosh amplifiers – 42 of which are nestled in the rig helping Despacio average 100db on the dancefloor – take care of the sound, the success of Despacio lies in its inclusivity. “I don’t feel like it’s small and snobby and elitist” explained Murphy when we spoke to the trio ahead of their second Manchester show, it’s “a place where all different kind of records sound good and it’s a pretty open environment where the music is quite open and the people are quite open and it’s a nice big space”. [Read the full interview here.]
Reclaiming the passion and attention to detail that defined New York’s iconic discos like the Paradise Garage and Studio 54, Despacio (meaning both ‘slow’ and ‘gradually’ in Spanish) harks back to the golden age of the vinyl disc jockey, where considered selection trumped artificial highs and the music was all that mattered. Making a point to differentiate Despacio from 2ManyDJs’ festival gigs which David suggests are defined by “lights, confetti [and] lazers”, Murphy describes the trio’s role as breaking away from the cult of the DJ. “We’re the projectionists – that’s the screen”, he asserts on the press release. In Manchester, the trio had close to 800 records behind the DJs booth, the autonomy to choose playing a crucial role in the organic development of the evening’s entertainment.
Born out of a vision of a utopian dancefloor experience against a Balearic sunset on the island of Ibiza, Despacio has evolved into the world’s most impressive mobile disco; a party bound by a concept that informs its every aspect. Designed by DFA studio engineer John Klett, the rig is pitched to reproduce the music, as it is pressed on vinyl, in its most natural form; loud but not harsh, enveloping but not stifling. As John told us in Manchester: “You put a record on and it would sound awesome. You’d hear the vinyl, cruising underneath of the needle, hear a click and a pop but they’re not going bang, you know it’s just a click and you hear all the dynamics and everything in the groove. It’s pretty groovy.” [You can read the full interview with John Klett on Despacio's technical make-up here.]
Despacio will transform the Ballroom at Hammersmith Town Hall for two nights on 19th and 20th December and tickets for both nights are available to buy HERE.
Yet another incredible timelapse video has come out of China, this time, featuring the stunning scenery from 49 different cities across the country. "China in Motion 2013", released by the Union of Timelapse China, was created with the help of 56 different photographers, none of whom had ever met, who took 200,000 photos and put them together. The final product is, of course, awe-inducing.
Mental! Factory Five is a bike shop in Shanghai that I get some stuff from. Run by a dude who's in a hardcore band.
I still have so much leftover film from China, with some of my favorites being the roll of 220 I shot in the bamboo forest on the Mamiya. The guys from Factory 5 rode up to the top of this mountain range on their track bikes and I was on my cross bike, getting shots along the way.
An eight-year-old girl from Jiangsu province is China's youngest lung-cancer patient ever, and local doctors have blamed smog and PM2.5 as the overwhelming causes of her condition. China's bad air quality has already been shown to significantly decrease life expectancy, but—until now, apparently—lung cancer was typically reserved for people well into middle-age.
Dobber drawings are for Americans and other loose moralled westerners. No, in China, they make their comedy cocks much more permanent.
Architects in Hainan are apparently envious of Beijing's big, erect, skyscrapers. They have taken it upon themselves to build a raging tower of their own, to rival the People's Daily Golden Cock Headquarters.
We're having an ops meeting in Wuxi. This is a sad day for news :(
Animal activists had a minor victory last week when they saved more than 1,000 kittens from a meat-processing plant in Wuxi, Jiangsu province. This victory was followed by a slight step backwards, however, when local authorities took the thousand rescued cats—some as young as four months old—and dumped them into a nearby forest, because it was easier than dealing with them.
A public karate spinning-kick demonstration went slightly awry when the performer kicked his assistant's head rather than the potato on top of his head. Alternately, a master/assistant feud was finally settled with one swift blow.
They may not be as repulsive as dead pigs (or people, for that matter) but the sheer quantity of dead fish seen in these photos from Lake City Park, Shenzhen, is enough to blow some minds. Staggering.
It’s not everyday that we see professional female athletes shine in cycling. That is, until the UCI Track Cycling World Cup comes around. British Cycling has a ton of exceptional coverage on their site, showcasing the event so don’t miss out. Or, if you prefer to just look at rad photos, check out their Flickr.
A landscape of towering dinosaurs is eerily illuminated with an orange glow at the annual Great Jack O’ Lantern Blaze in New York. A team of professional artists came together to turn more than 5,000 pumpkins into carved masterpieces representing skeletal triceratops, a brontosaurus and even a pterodactyl suspended in a tree.
The pumpkins are stacked and joined together to form cohesive shapes after they’re carved, creating an illusion fiery skeletons from afar. Other designs include a giant spider, snakes and a working grandfather clock.
The pumpkins are situated throughout the riverside grounds of the 18th-century Van Cortland Manor. The event draws tens of thousands of visitors from around the Northeast.
The display will stay up until November 11th and includes sound effects, synchronized lighting and a Museum of Pumpkin Art.
New Zealand artist, illusionist and urbanist Mark Hewson has a good many tricks up his sleeve involving spatial deception, convincing citizens there is less (or more) to their city than can ordinarily be seen.
His first trick in this series: disguising an ordinary street-crossing skyway from a series of key vantage points. But even from alternate angles where the lines do not sync up, the effect is dizzying. Our pattern-seeking brains keep looking for transparency or reflection where there is just a solid painting.
Other illusions in his repertoire involve mirroring or warping unseen elements behind solid surfaces or sheets of material. Again, this toying with voids and our structural expectations induces odd forms of visual vertigo.
In previous projects, like the Lost Space Installation, he has worked with gaps and openings, filling them in with imaginary scenes that range from plausible to impossible. While these may be more obviously fake on the surface, they create a nonetheless potent sense of spatial distortion and disorientation.
Ar Ramadi, Iraq, 24 July 06: “I was supposed to photograph the Iraqi Police receiving medical training, but before I could take my first photo, a mortar exploded about 30 feet behind me. We all ran for cover. Photographing as I was running, an Iraqi “death blossom” opened up and the shooting was coming from all directions. Once the firing finally came to an end we were able to determine that no U.S. forces were injured. What saved us from possibly more casualties was the mortar having landed in a Hesco barrier. We proceeded to go out and search the houses where the shooting was supposedly coming from. No one was found.” —Master Sgt. Jeremy “JT” Lock, U.S. Air Force, Combat Action Diary excerpt
September 2, 2006: Sgt. John Christoffersen heads back to base in a Bradley Fighting Vehicle (BFV) after conducting an early morning raid in the Tameem district of Ramadi, Iraq.
Launch Gallery
Not many of us know much about being in a war zone, much less working in one. Personally, I’ve been shot at by thugs in Nairobi and photographed in places I probably shouldn’t have been, trying to keep my cool (or at least look like I was), hoping the weeks of repeating camera basics would keep me clicking away in risky conditions when the rest of me wanted to crumble. I’ve lived to tell the tales but have always wondered how combat photographers do what they do.
I guess that’s why I’ve been drawn to veteran Air Force photographer Jeremy Lock’s work.
When I look at Jeremy’s visceral images of Iraq, Afghanistan, and other places, I’m right there with him. His photos are riveting and arresting and make me want to know more. So I asked him.
A CH-47 Chinook drops members of a coalition force into the Tora Bora region of Afghanistan in support of Operation Torii on May 4, 2002. Operation Torii was a coalition operation consisting of over 400 members from the United States, Canada, and the Afghanistan Military Forces (AMF) to gather intelligence. They also exploited and denied entrance to four underground sites in the Tora Bora region.
Launch Gallery
“Sheer luck” is what got him into photojournalism. He signed up for the Air Force after he was “politely asked … to leave” college. Initially setting his sights on x-ray tech, he was assigned to image processing, as that’s how it goes in the military. Soon enough he had taught himself photography and has never looked back.
Jeremy Lock retired last month after 22 years in the Air Force. During his adrenaline-filled career he was named Military Photojournalist of the Year seven times, awarded the Bronze Star Medal for distinguished service in Iraq, and documented battles, disasters, and everyday life in Afghanistan, Iraq, Japan, Haiti, Mongolia, and many other locations. At every step Lock has been there with camera in hand steadily and skillfully documenting what we might otherwise never see.
CENTCOM Area of Responsibility, April 12, 2003: Members from the 3rd Battalion 5th Special Forces Group drive through the west side of Baghdad in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. The 5th is heading to an area of the city on a humanitarian mission, checking the outer perimeter of a local hospital and interacting with the local populace.
Launch Gallery
When I met with Jeremy, I had many things I wanted to ask him. Here are a few of the things we talked about:
SHERRY BRUKBACHER: As a military photojournalist, how do you have time to think about composition, color, and technique when guns and bombs are going off?
JEREMY LOCK: One great thing about the military is that they train, train, and then train you some more. You are ready by the time you hit the ground, and when things go wrong, your body just reacts the right way.
When I teach photography, I always tell my students to think “out loud” three things every time they put the camera to their eye.
1. Fill the frame
2. Control the background
3. Wait for the moment
If you do this for a while, your mind just takes over. As for calming the nerves, we always talked about what we’d experienced after a bad day. Combat photography is a true adrenaline rush, very dangerous at times. But being able to show what the proud men and women of our great military are doing inspires me to be better and tell their stories. It is an honor and a privilege to document them.
On April 10, 2002, an Apache helicopter crash-landed at a remote site northeast of Kandahar, Afghanistan. The helicopter was assessed, and the decision was made to destroy it. A combination of C-4, Hellfire missiles, surface-to-ground rockets, and 30mm rounds destroyed the helicopter with a thousand-pound explosion. The following day, after providing security for the downed Apache, these members of the Canadian Ground Security Forces wait for extraction as a CH-47 Chinook lands.
Launch Gallery
SHERRY: How did you know when to put your camera down and do something else, like use your own gun (if you carried one)?
JEREMY: I carried a 9mm pistol. If we were ever in grave danger, there would be a long gun for me to pick up and use. The rifle gets in the way of performing my job of documenting our brave men and women at war. I feel, even though I am a combatant, my job isn’t to fight unless the team I am with is in a really bad situation. In that case, there will be weapons I can pick up and use. This happened just once, but thankfully I never had to fire back.
…..
In the military we (photographers) were trained to be assets to the team we were working with. We could provide first aid, act as vehicle commander/driver, fight, or act as a soldier in the stack, going into a house if the need arose. However, I saw myself as a photojournalist first, there to document and tell the stories of our Marines, soldiers, sailors, and airmen. If I felt we (the team) were going to be overrun, or there was danger to one of my teammates and they needed my help, it was time to put the camera down. You just know when it is time.
Gunner Specialist David Johnson and Assistant Gunner Sgt. Justin Javar fire illumination flares over the city of Mosul, Iraq, on June 1, 2006, from a Mortar Carrier Stryker (an eight-wheeled, medium-armored weapons combat troop transport vehicle).
Launch Gallery
SHERRY: Were there ever occasions when friends or fellow service members were injured in your presence? As a photojournalist how did you handle that? As a person, how did you handle that?
JEREMY: I have seen a lot of death and destruction, good and bad people. I have been lucky enough to experience many different cultures. So, I like to think of my character as enriched. Not only do I get to live my life, I get to live the lives of those I photograph. The way I handle it is to talk about it and remind myself that what I am doing is very important and the world needs to see it. I like to think it hasn’t changed me, but I know it has.
Very difficult to read stories about this at the moment...and VPN won't connect...
There are—so far—very few official comments coming out from the Tiananmen Square car-incident yesterday, but 'sources' have apparently indicated that the crash and fire may have been part of a suicide attack involving Uighur Muslims. There are also rumors (aghast!) that the car may have been waving a white banner with black lettering, whose content is yet unknown.
This says Chengdu, and not Beijing! I was never going to be able to find it!
About a year ago, a blue minivan was abandoned in a Chengdu parking lot; today, it is the 'zombie tree car,' which has been thoroughly invaded by nearby shrubs, and (of course) gone viral on Weibo. After garnering a bit too much attention, the minivan was hauled away by tow-truck, and one really would have expected the towers to do a better job removing all of those shrubs (see below).
Expect awesome shots of the nighttime rain in Bergen now, as I try and emulate this...
Secret Sales: Checkout versus Cart prices
For the Canon deals I've found recently, the price in-cart isn't the price you pay.
I've uncovered some secret sales where the price drops below the in-cart price as you complete the checkout process, and then you get a mail-in rebate after that.
The Internet marches on, and these prices and specials change from minute to minute.
Canon 100-400mm Sale
$1,359: Canon 100-400mm L USM IS: Regular price $1,699, price during checkout: $1,359! (it will show as more in cart; you have to checkout to get the secret discount.)
Canon Hot Deals (not live until 3PM NYC time today)
$999: Canon EF 24-70mm f/4L IS: Reg Price $1,499. Price at checkout $1,299, minus $300 mail-in-rebate makes final $999.00, and includes + 4% Adorama rewards and free shipping
$2,248: Canon 6D with 24-105mm f/4L IS: Reg $2499.00, click "buy together and save" to add the printer and paper, and the final price after $400 mail-in rebate drops to $2248.00, and includes 4% rewards and free shipping.
$1,038: Canon 70D. Reg Price $1199.00, click "buy together and save" to add the printer and paper, final price after $400 mail-in rebate is $1038.00, and includes + 4% rewards and free shipping.
Emergency shelters are designed to be short-term solutions, and many cannot withstand rain, wind and sun for more than six months. Yet the average stay in refugee camp is over twenty times that duration.
The IKEA Foundation, in cooperation with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, has developed a longer-term solution to this problem, turning their experience with flat-pack furniture and language-free instruction manuals toward disaster relief efforts in and around war-torn places like Syria (they are already testing in Lebanon and Iraq). Sticklers for detail should scroll carefully below for a step-by-step deconstruction of what goes into this remarkable dwelling.
The problem, in part, is building the most universal unit possible in a world where emergencies happen globally, spanning regions both hot and cold and with vastly different cultural norms. Their solution is much like an ordinary IKEA product: flexible, adaptable, modular and packed into cardboard boxes of components. Naturally, they require no tools that are not included.
While the structures themselves are still only expected to last a few years, they are made to be modified, enhanced and expanded in various ways. For instance, earthen walls and corrugated metal roofs can be pushed up against, fastened to and ultimately help reinforce the core buildings, or even eventually replace the need for underlying framework entirely, rendering it redundant.
The shelters are constructed primarily from polymer panels that clip into a wire frame. On top sits an aluminum-mesh roofing sheet that is designed to reflect sunlight by day and retain heat by night. Solar energy charges a USB outlet for electrical needs. The target price range for mass production is under $1000, making it affordable in bulk to international organizations. Images and diagram via The Telegraph, IKEA Foundation and Graphic News.
Ostensibly this piece is about how drivers who kill cyclists don't get in trouble and how this needs to change. All very good, right? Who could argue with that? (Well, besides the police, and the auto industry, and the auto insurance industry, and the oil industry, and the tabloids, and your local lawmakers, and...) Well, the first warning sign is the stupid knuckle tattoo illustration evoking the evoking the darkest days of the insipid fixie trend circa 2007. Then, the writer opens with this:
