New Year, New Calendar
For the new year getcha a new calendar. If you’ve got a big window you might want to try the Protein
Archive for December, 2004
Audio Igloo
Artist Beno
Earth’s Falling Apart
Just so you know, yes, the end is nigh. A tornado warning was issued for Los Angeles last night.
Tsunami
Some incredible photos of the tsunami as it hits a resort in Phuket, Thailand from photographer Hellmut Issels. And a first-hand account from a Washington Post writer, Michael Dobbs. Unbelievable, Dobbs was swimming with his brother in the ocean near an island just off the coast of Sri Lanka. The speed with which it all happened seemed like a scene from the Bible, a natural phenomenon unlike anything I had experienced, writes Dobbs.
Susan Sontag
Writer Susan Sontag has died of leukemia at age 71.
Big Box Reuse
Julia Christensen, a graduate student at Rennselaer Polytechnic University, has been traveling around the U.S. giving presentations on how abandoned big box discount retail stores across the country are being put to alternative uses. Her site bigboxreuse.com shows how the empty shells Wal-Mart leaves behind when it moves down the street to a newer Supercenter are being put to use as medical centers, schools, libraries, apartments and churches. Christensen’s working on a book documenting her research on the changing face of small towns in America.
Top 2004 Searches
Google’s presented their 2004 Year-End Zeitgeist, a look at the most popular web searches for the year by category. A nice interactive flash presentation is included.
Try This Dictionary
Following Google’s Suggest site that fills in your search as you type, comes a terrific dictionary from ObjectGraph that fills in your search query with the words’ definitions. The creators also provide a handy directions on how to roll your own version.
Pop, Soda, Coke
Finally, someone is tackling one of the more divisive issues in our land. A researcher in Oklahoma has come up with a nice U.S. map that shows the generic name for soft drinks, listed by county. More than 120,000 respondents have participated in the popvssoda survey.
Scared of Santa
Tis the season and whatnot. So here’s a nice Scared of Santa Photo Gallery for you.
Never Wear Contacts Again!
Tired of contacts? Don’t like sticking your fingers in your eyes? But you want to be able to see clearly without the hassle of clumsy eyeglasses that you’ll windup sitting on or losing. Well, a coupla kooks in Texas have come up with the idea of hanging eyeglasses from a piercing along the bridge of the nose. Since they have no frame on the side I can wear them while I sleep and still roll onto my side, says James Sooy about his new specs.
Burj Dubai Tower
Construction has started on what will be the world’s tallest building, the Burj Dubair Tower in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The tower will be 800 meters tall and have 160 floors.
Googlization of the World’s Great Libraries
Google has announced plans to digitize books from some of the world’s great libraries, including the collections Stanford University, Harvard University, the University of Michigan, Oxford University and the New York Public Library. The full text of books that are in the public domain and excepts of books protected by copyright will be searchable online.
The Ashhole
For the cigarette-smoking beer-guzzling reveller on your Christmas list, you should get ‘em a couple of new ashholes. It
paraSITE
New York artist Michael Rakowitz has developed an object called paraSITE which uses the exterior ventilation systems on existing architecture as a means to provide temporary shelter for homeless people. The double-membraned plastic ube structures attach to buildings’ warm HVAC vents on the street and inflate, heat up and make a dry warm home for the night.
The Sound of 200 People Talking at Once
Next week federal regulators will review the banning of cellphones on airplanes. If the ban is ever lifted there will probably be extra charges as all calls are likely to be funnelled through a central communications hub that would then send the calls through satellite links. Pricey airline surcharges would apply, but you could talk on the way to Hawaii. Most crucial studies involved in the lifting of the ban wouldn’t be complete until at least 2007.
Not a Nannygate Afterall
Bernard Kerik probably didn’t withdraw his nomination for Homeland Security chief because of nanny problems. Newsweek Magazine discovered that a New Jersey judge in 1998 had issued an arrest warrant as part of a convoluted series of lawsuits relating to unpaid bills on his condo. The magazine faxed documents, including the arrest warrant, over to the White House around 6:00 p.m. Friday, asking for comment. Neither Kerik nor the White House had any immediate response. At 8:30 p.m., Kerik had submitted his letter to the president. He also netted more than $6 million on options on a taser gun manufacturer that supplies the NYPD and Homeland Security. Nope, not the best candidate for the job
Jeremy Deller Wins the Turner Prize
London-based artist Jeremy Deller has won the 2004 Turner Prize. With work that is described as broadly political in a gently way, Deller’s best know works involved public reenactments like the the Battle of Orgreave, which recreated a bloody clash from the 1980s between British police and striking miners. The good news about this year’s prize is that the award was doubled, with the first prize increased from
Podcasting Breaking into Big Media
Always on the cutting edge, the BBC has begun podcasting the Radio 4 program In Our Time. Podcasting, which allows anybody with an MP3 player and web access to subscribe to personally-created radio programs, is one of the hotter gizmos on the Internet lately. The two best resources are podcast.net and ipodder.org. Currently, my top two favorites are Radio Clash for mash-ups/remixes (subscribe -rss) and Coverville for the best and worst cover songs (subscribe -rss).