Cooper Griggs

[thegentlemansarmchair]

aros:

House in Asamayama by Kidosaki Architects Studio

T-Mobile's approach when it comes to luring new customers continues to nab loads of users. This time around, the so-called UnCarrier is offering a year of unlimited data on its LTE network for customers that convince friends to make the switch from...

The Chemin de fer de Petite Ceinture (French for “little belt railway”) was a 32 km railway that encirled Paris, connecting all the major railway stations within fortified walls during the Industrial Revolution. In service from 1852 to 1934, the line has now been completely abandoned for 80 years.

Several developers and local officials have recently set their sights on the vast swath of unused land, tunnels, and stations as an opportunity for new development. However, some railway enthusiasts and related organizations want the tracks and stations to be preserved indefinitely as part of the cities’ heritage. Others want to turn areas of de Petite Ceinture into parkways similar to the nearby Promenade plantée, a 4.7 km park built on an elevated train track in 1988 that later inspired New York’s famous High Line.

As part of his project “By the Silent Line,” photographer Pierre Folk has been working since 2011 to photograph the 160-year-old railway’s last remnants before any final decisions are made. He stalks the tracks at all times of the year, often returning to the same locations to document nature’s slow reclamation as rusted tracks and crumbling tunnels are swallowed by trees, vines, and grass. This is just a small selection of Folk’s work, you can see many more photos right here.

In spring, firefly squid (hotaru ika) rise 2000 feet to the surface of the water and offer a fleeting glimpse of their magical lights

Genji botaru fireflies around a small bridge over the Shimanto River (Kochi Prefecture)

The moon lights up a waterfall against geometric rock formations / A close-up of the red-hot cinders erupting from the Showa crater on Sakurajima

Volcanic lightning during the eruption of the Sakurajima volcano

Scores of fishing rafts floating in the Uchino-umi highlighted by the light from the full moon

Japanese photographer Takehito Miyatake is known for his accomplished long-exposure photographs of fireflies, volcanic eruptions, and beaches awash in bioluminescencnt firefly squid. His exposures, which he refers to as “the light of Japan,” can last anywhere between 15 seconds and 30 minutes and are rooted in an almost meditative approach to photography that he likens to a form of poetry in an interview with TIME. His time spent waiting for each exposure hasn’t been in vain, Miyatake recently won the Grand Prize at the 2014 Nikkei National Geographic Photo Awards. You can see more of his photography on his website and over on Spoon & Tamago.

definemotorsports:

Define

Our last Flickr Friday theme was #Moonlight. We have received all kind of image creativities from your submissions to the Flickr Friday group. Here is the weekly selection of some of our favorites.

Google product engineer Ian Webster believes sponsored articles should be more easily identifiable (as they should be!), so he built the AdDetector plug-in in his spare time to make that happen. More and more publications turn to sponsored content or...

If you were looking forward to playing Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare on the Wii U this fall, well, we have some bad news. It turns out that publisher Activision has made the decision that Nintendo's latest console won't see the futuristic shooter at...

crater lake oregon in two views:

• west rim
• east rim

if you haven’t been, get on that!

Have you done any business with UPS recently? You'd better check out the company's website: some of its stores may have leaked your personal data. After receiving a security advisory from the US Government, the company discovered that 51 UPS Stores...

Ads by Project Wonderful! Your ad could be here, right now.

In case you needed any more proof that we live in the future, just know that we're slowly inching toward the advent of remote-controlled, sensor-laden moths. (Moths, for the record, are constantly being tinkered with.) As it turns out, the rationale...

One of the most common feelings I get when watching an artist working is “oh, that looks easy.” After all, the materials and method are all right in front of you: paint or ink, a paint brush or pen, and a hand that moves deftly across a canvas. What goes completely unseen of course are the years upon years of practice, the trials and failures, and the possession of innate talent. A great example of this are these Japanese dragon paintings that are rendered almost completely with a single stroke of paint.

According to Japanese culture blog Iromegane, the paintings are called Hitofude Ryuu (Dragon with one stroke), and the ones shown here originate from a small studio called Kousyuuya in Nikko, Japan. The studio has seen four generations of master painters who have been creating these stylized dragons for decades.

The process involves carefully painting an ornate dragon head with various flourishes, and then finishing the piece using a giant sumi brush in a carefully orchestrated stroke. The process has much in common with both ink wash painting and calligraphy, and similar to letterforms, the images are often repeated. From the videos you can see certain designs are reused in different colors or with added details. All the videos here start at the fun part where the torso is painted, but you can rewind them a bit to see the creation of the entire painting. (via Cineraria, Iromegane)

While EVs like the Tesla Model S and Renovo Coupe gain steam here on the ground, engineers at NASA's Langley Research Center are taking electric propulsion technology to new heights. What you see above is the GL-10 -- AKA Greased Lightning. This...

Rumors claim that hacktivist collective Anonymous has called for nationwide protests on 21 August 2014.

Being selected to play the Super Bowl Halftime Show is a huge deal -- there's no doubt about that. But this year, the NFL is asking potential acts for the 2015 installment to fork over a share of their post-game tour profits. According to The Wall...

via http://flabbergastedly.com/wp-content/uploads/fabulous grannies/Grannie_Swinging.jpg

“A natural component of filmmaking is the struggle to find money. It has been an uphill battle my entire working life… If you want to make a film, go make it. I can’t tell you the number of times I have started shooting a film knowing I didn’t have the money to finish it. I meet people everywhere who complain about money; it’s the ingrained nature of too many filmmakers. But it should be clear to everyone that money has always had certain explicit qualities: it’s stupid and cowardly, slow and unimaginative. The circumstances of funding never just appear; you have to create them yourself, then manipulate them for your own ends. This is the very nature and daily toil of filmmaking. If your project has real substance, ultimately the money will follow you like a common cur in the street with its tail between its legs. There is a German proverb: “Der Teufel scheisst immer auf den grössten Haufen” [“The Devil always shits on the biggest heap”]. So start heaping and have faith. Every time you make a film you should be prepared to descend into Hell and wrestle it from the claws of the Devil himself. Prepare yourself: there is never a day without a sucker punch. At the same time, be pragmatic and learn how to develop an understanding of when to abandon an idea. Follow your dreams no matter what, but reconsider if they can’t be realized in certain situations. A project can become a cul-de-sac and your life might slip through your fingers in pursuit of something that can never be realized. Know when to walk away.”

-

Werner Herzog. (via liams)

Thanks to BARWO for the link.  :)

A common sight in the sky above the world's largest solar thermal power plant is a "streamer," a small plume of smoke that occurs without warning. Closer inspection, however, reveals that the source of the smoke is a bird which has inadvertently...

Johnny Cash says he went to a lot of places in his song, "I've Been Everywhere." Iain Mullan had some fun with the location list for Music Hack Day London and mapped each place as the song plays.

Also related to songs and location: where Ludacris claimed to have hoes.

Tags: humor, Johnny Cash

jorgerocha78:

…

Well, now, that’s a Man. A mighty tall man. The names are pouring in – Tin Man, Skinny Jeans Man, Clown Man. You can make up your own. But there’s no getting around one thing: this Man is huge. It took a huge crane to get the huge man assembled. It arrived from Reno on Tuesday morning, and by 8 am it was out at the Man Base, along with a hundred or so onlookers plus workers from various crews of an equal number. There were to be two big lifts  – first the Man’s legs would be lifted to an upright position, then his torso would be placed on top of them. We’d only get one try, though – the cranes on site are too small for the job, and this was the only day that the big crane was available. If things didn’t go right, we’d still have a giant Man, but he’d be Reclining Man. Not quite the same. The day broke clear, but very windy. Wind is not a good thing when you are lifting very large objects into the sky. The crane operator, Leonard, was asked what he thought. “No problem,”  he said. Cheers all around. Back in the heart of the city, Booya suggested closing down the heavily used 5:30 road, to keep the dust down. Brilliant.

Brandon, the lead rigger in Black Rock City, called together a team of Heavy Equipment and Man Base workers and assigned them to the four guide wires. Then he explained the process of transferring the load from the guide wires to the wires anchored to the ground. The plan was to stabilize the legs, then have Metal Shop Heather weld the base. Heather is the hot-shot welder in Black Rock City, always the person who is called when something special needs to be done. We only know a little bit about welding, but we know enough to know that she lays down a mighty fine bead. But anyone can do that with a little practice. Her skills transcend the ordinary. We’ve watched surreptitiously when she has finished some complex task, because she doesn’t like to be watched when she works. But when she finishes, she pulls away from the weld and tosses her torch back sharply, like she’s just jumped off her horse and finished tying her hog at the rodeo. She’ll also be the person who does the welding in the Man’s middle, and in his neck when the head is attached. Of course she’ll have to be wearing a harness, because she’ll be working way up in the air, but in her case that has presented special problems: One, it has to be a welder’s harness, because it has to be fireproof, and two, welders are often rather big guys, and she’s kinda tiny. It’s not easy to find a welder’s harness that could do the job for her, but eventually a suitably small rig was found.

Anyway, after the Man’s legs were upright and secure, then the crew would move to the torso, get it up in the air, guide the 20×20-foot spine into the legs, then buckle down the support wires again. “The limiting factor in how quickly this will go is how fast we can do this,” Brandon said to the people gathered around him, their multicolored hard-hats nodding in understanding and agreement. There was one task left before the lifting could begin: the Man needed a lube job. Bacon fat was rubbed all over the top of his femurs, to make it easier for the spine to slide in. And then the big leg lift began, and it was almost astonishingly easy how quickly the legs went up. In contrast to last Friday morning, when a smaller crane seemed to strain under the load, eventually hitting 92 percent of its capacity, this time there wasn’t a moment’s hesitation as the legs neared vertical. Although there were people manning the guide wires, most of the stabilizing work was being done by Pope Phabulous in his Hyster, which had also been attached to the legs. As the legs neared vertical, there was an unmistakable wobble back and forth as the weight shifted. “He was twerking!” Layna said. Then the Man stopped moving, and a cheer went up all around. Done! If nothing else, at least we’d have Leggy Man.

As the cables were being attached and tightened to the anchor buckles on the ground, Joe the Builder was underneath the giant legs, trying to make sure the Man was standing upright. He was using a six-foot level, which looked ridiculously tiny in context. A plumb bob would have been no good, because the wind was still blowing steadily. But no matter. “We use the tools we have,” Brandon said. Finally the cables were set, and Pope could climb out of his Hyster cab. “Want to feel my left foot?” he asked. “It’s still shaking.” The simplicity of the task, and the Man himself, for that matter, was both beautiful and terrifying. He’s held together with giant bolts and, as they have come to be known, Joe the Builder’s giant nuts. The legs are secured to the ground by four cables. Yes, those cables were made of thick metal strands, probably half an inch or so thick, but still: four stinking cables holding up two enormous legs weighing tens of thousands of pounds each.

“There’s a balancing point between ambition and failure,” Andrew Johnstone said to us, “but I think we’ve got the right people to stay on the right side of it.” Pirate took Gary and Playground up in a boom lift, and they helped get the legs ready to receive the torso. On the ground, Brandon had another briefing with the people working the guide wires. The tension was building for everyone, it seemed, except for Leonard, the crane operator. He sat in his cab, legs crossed casually, arms behind his head. It was apparently a walk in the park for him. We asked him later if he had ever been to Burning Man, and in fact he had. He did the big dome lift for Kiwi’s Temple of Transition in 2011. “Burning Man is cool,” he said. “I came back that Friday to check it out.” Then it was time to lift again. The spine of the torso had been sitting securely in the ground, but they had to lift it out of its hole and then, while it was suspended, slice the corners of the ends so that it would slide more easily into the pelvis. Also, Layna slathered more bacon grease on the spine. As you know, you can never have too much bacon at Burning Man. The Man Krewe had already placed the Man’s heart inside the torso. The Man has always had a heart, and this year will be no different. It’s an intricately worked wooden sculpture, usually signed by all the people working on the Man project. Usually, if you know where to look, you can see it because it is highlighted with neon. But not this year, though: the Man’s outer cladding will shield it from view. But don’t you worry – the Man has a heart. The engine of the crane grumbled slightly louder, and just like that, smooth and easy, the torso began to rise in the air. Easy peasy. The torso was flown over into the legs, and the protruding wood was guided into place 50 feet in the air by Bruiser and Joe the Builder. There was an incredibly loud grinding sound as the wooden spine slid into the wooden pelvis. “I couldn’t hear myself think,” Bruiser said later. “I’m yelling, ‘Stop! Stop!’ and I couldn’t even hear myself.’”

Little by little, through the grinding noise, the spine slipped into place. Bruiser and Joe were being encapsulated by the descending torso, but they seemed almost too busy to notice as the poked and prodded, persuading the spine into place. Once again the ground crew went into action, transferring the weight from the guide wires to the ground anchors, and the big lifts were done. We’ll have a standing Man, a giant standing Man, after all. “We’re gonna live inside there for the next couple of days,” Layna said afterward. She and Goatt and Cory and all the others will attach the torso to the legs securely. They’ll drill  holes through the giant pieces of wood and push enormous bolts through, attaching them with, yes, once again, Joe’s giant nuts. “This is so surreal,” Crimson Rose said as she watched it all unfolding, and indeed it was. There were dark clouds moving in now, and the radio said people were seeing lighting at the work ranch, and the dust was kicking up. So here we were, standing under a giant Man, who was perched under a giant crane, as a lightning storm approached. “(The crane) is the tallest thing in 50 miles,” Leonard the crane operator said. So everyone scrambled down and huddled underneath the shade structure at the Man Base. The big crowds were long gone, Sarah was coiling up the cables, and it was time to bid Leonard and his crane farewell. We love you Leonard, but you’re paid handsomely by the hour, and it’s time for you to go. The squall missed us. The crews went back up in the boom lifts and went back to work. Tomorrow they’ll continue to secure the connection between the torso and the pelvis, and eventually they’ll put the final cladding on, which will close up the open middle and extend down below the waist. Oh and also tomorrow? They’ll put on the big Man’s head.

 

 

 

Decoy Study (Duck), 2014. 15 x 5 x 6 inches.

Decoy Study (Duck), 2014. 15 x 5 x 6 inches.

Decoy Study (Duck), 2014. 15 x 5 x 6 inches.

Souvenir Skeleton, 2014. (re-)carved African drummer figure. 10 x 5 x 26 inches.

Souvenir Skeleton, 2014. (re-)carved African drummer figure. 10 x 5 x 26 inches.

Souvenir Skeleton, 2014. (re-)carved African drummer figure. 10 x 5 x 26 inches.

Souvenir Skeleton, 2014. (re-)carved African drummer figure. 10 x 5 x 26 inches.

Shaman Anatomy, 2014. (re-)carved South American shaman bust. 5 x 5 x 20 inches.

Shaman Anatomy, 2014. (re-)carved South American shaman bust. 5 x 5 x 20 inches.

Shaman Anatomy, 2014. (re-)carved South American shaman bust. 5 x 5 x 20 inches.

For his latest body of work, artist Maskull Lasserre acquired a number of souvenir sculptures, the kind found in antique stores or craft fairs that have been mass-produced by anonymous artists, which he then used as a foundation for his own artwork. In a process he refers to as “re-carving,” Lasserre removed details from the artist’s original work to reveal intricate skeletal structures, a process we’ve marveled at numerous times over the last few years here on Colossal. If you happen to be in New York, the pieces are on view for two more days at Junior Projects as part of the Regular JOhn show curated by Jim Lee. You can see many more photos of each piece over in Lasserre’s portfolio. (via Design Milk)

darkestdee:

Source | ^(OvO)^

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