Nag on the Lake: June 2016

Thursday, June 30, 2016

Japanese Architecture On Your Dinner Table

Five-storey-tall pagodas can be found in Tokyo, Kyoto, and Hiroshima Prefecture. But they can also be found closer to home with this five-story pagoda-shaped tableware set from Japanese manufacturer Koto.

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Lessons In Love From The Seahorse

It’s hard to keep a relationship fresh in any species when kids come along, but when there are more than 1,500 birthed at one time, things can get really stressful. Seahorses have found a way to add some spice to their relationship: they dance.

“The male and female seahorse come together repeatedly every morning to dance together” to reinforce their pair bond, says marine biologist Amanda Vincent, founder of the conservation group Project Seahorse. "They change color as they move together, sometimes with tails entwined."

How romantic is that? Put on your dancing shoes, Mr. Nag!

Via Holy Kaw!

Jupiter's Awesome Northern Lights

If you want to see beautiful auroras, go north. Jupiter’s north pole rocks the most powerful and luminous northern lights in the solar system.

In less than week, NASA’s Juno mission will arrive in Jupiter’s orbit to map the gas giant’s magnetic field, study its interaction with the solar wind, and determine the origin of the auroras.

“These auroras are very dramatic and among the most active I have ever seen”, the University of Leicester’s Jonathan Nichols said in a statement. “It almost seems as if Jupiter is throwing a firework party for the imminent arrival of Juno.”

Images: Hubble Space TelescopeMore here

F-ABRIC By FREITAG

Swiss company FREITAG couldn't find suitable workwear for their employees so they decided to develop their own textiles that would fulfill their requirements. F-ABRIC is the result - durable, 100% compostable and sustainably produced.

And these bags are gorgeous!

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Dreaming in Color: Paintings by Shang Chengxiang

Chinese artist Shang Chengxiang's surreal paintings were inspired by his dreams.

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Bamboo Pavilion Showcases 'Green Steel'

Vo Trong Nghia Architects: Green Ladder, 2016;
Installation view, Sherman Contemporary Art

The Vietnamese firm Vo Trong Nghia Architects is known for designing innovative, green structures, using bamboo as the primary support system. Green Ladder, a plant-filled pavilion at Sydney’s Sherman Contemporary Art Foundation has an open framework inviting exploration from visitors. Elevated woven planters create levels of greenery, while a flat roof of clear acrylic panels provides shelter from the elements.

Below is a photo I took in the Gili Islands, Indonesia of a major hotel under construction using bamboo as part of its support system.

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English As She Is Spoke

In the middle of the 19th century Pedro Carolino wrote a small Portuguese-to-English phrasebook titled English as She Is Spoke (or O novo guia da conversação em portuguez e ingle). Most authors of such phrasebooks have more than a rudimentary knowledge of the language they are translating but Carolino didn't let his unfamiliarity with the English tongue stop him. His ineptitude is hilarious and his little book became a cult classic for fans of unintentional humour.

Mark Twain in his introduction for the first English edition said “Nobody can add to the absurdity of this book, nobody can imitate it successfully, nobody can hope to produce its fellow; it is perfect.”
View the book at Public Domain Review

Read more at Atlas Obscura

Lowell George Died On This Day in 1979

Gone but not forgotten

Wednesday, June 29, 2016

Bride Embroiders Her Love Story Onto Her Wedding Dress

Bride and clothing designer Krésha Bajaj Zaveri embroidered her wedding lehenga with the couple’s milestones, proposal, and other important moments leading up to their wedding. The couple’s names are embedded in the skirt—disguised as a chevron pattern—and it’s finished with a hem of jumping dolphins. “[It] was the beginning of our story,” she wrote, “as we worked together on a protest against cetacean captivity.”

More: My Modern Met

May The Force Be With Your Breakfast

Ladies and gents, load your pumpernickel and Wonder bread and let the battle between the Dark Side and the Light Side begin at your breakfast table.

And this Death Star Toaster brands a Star Wars logo on each slice of bread!

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My response to Heterosexual Pride Day

In red on this map are all the places it is illegal to be heterosexual

Paul Rousso's Candy Wrapper Sculptures

American artist Paul Rousso creates hyperrealistic sculptures of discarded candy wrappers using heat infusion to warm flat sheets of acrylic or styrene and hand-molding the sheets into a sculptural form.

"Flat depth" is a term he coined to describe two dimensional objects in a three dimensional way and to create the illusion of perspective on a flat surface

More: Faith is Torment

Thanks Bruce!

Colourized Photos Of WWII Refugees Escaping to Safety Remind Us Of Today's Syrian Evacuation

Just 70 years ago, during the height of WWII, tens of thousands of refugees walked the same path that Syrian refugees walk today. But they were fleeing that part of the world, not heading toward it.

By colourizing photos of that massive evacuation Sanna Dullaway shows us that the more things change the more they stay the same.

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The Golden Section Finder, A Viewfinder for Observing Proportional Perfection

Historically, artists, designers and architects have used the golden section as a means of defining beauty in art and architecture in a theoretical way. It is not merely a term -- it is an actual ratio (it's numeric equivalent is 1.618). The Golden Section Finder is a pocket sized gazing device to locate the proportional perfection in your surroundings.

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Tuesday, June 28, 2016

The History of Urbanization, 3700 BC - 2000 AD

A visualization of the history of urban settlements over 6,000 years.

The data shown in the map comes from a Yale-led study published earlier this month in Scientific Data, which compiled the most comprehensive dataset on historical urban populations to date.

Link
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Wearable Planters

These adorable 3D printed planters can be sported on your lapel or wherever you like really.

They are sold through Colleen Jordan’s popular Etsy shop, Wearable Planter.

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How To Display Your Collections

Sara & Jason's Terrific Toy-Tastic Home
(Image credit: Sara Harvey)

I am a collector: Inuit carvings, old watercolours, depression glass, Staffordshire dogs, vintage cameras, books and teddy bears; the list goes on ... and on. I also collect old cabinets and shelves to display my collections but I long to declutter without getting rid of everything.
Apartment Therapy offers some creative ways to organize and live with collections while keeping items in sight and incorporating them seamlessly into your decor.

(Image credit: House Beautiful)

(Image credit: Must Love Junk)

More here

Bob Dylan at 20

Dylan was 20 years old when he appeared on the Folksingers Choice and was still playing in the coffee houses of Greenwich Village for “a dollar plus a cheeseburger.” It’s a snapshot in time of Dylan before he released his debut album. He’s just a guy with a guitar with a little mischief underneath.

The team of Blank on Blank created this video.
Via swissmiss

Use a Classic Map To Navigate Rome

The Nolli Map of Rome, one of history’s most famous works of cartography, was finished in 1748 after 12 years of research by Italian architect and surveyor Giambattista Nolli.

The original engraved city map consisted of 12 copper plates spanning 40 square feet but a new app by Martin Koppenhöfer lets you use the map to navigate the Eternal City on your phone. And, despite its age, it is still very valid for most parts of the Roman center.

More: Urbanist

'Come walk with me'

This landscape tapestry was created by artist Martha Cole in 1978,
and features a scene near Disley, Sask. (Shauna Powers/CBC)

Saskatchewan fibre artist Martha Cole uses a quilting technique to create large pieces of textile art that look like paintings. One of her pieces features a grain elevator. Another highlights the prairie sky. It's massive in size at four-feet by eight-feet, and features only the tiniest slivers of ground before the sky takes over.

Artist Martha Cole created this piece in 2005 from cotton, fabric paint,
assorted threads and batting. (Shauna Powers/CBC)

Two of Cole's shows, called 70/70 Vision, continue at the Mata Gallery in Regina throughout the summer.

Via CBC News

WarkaWater

60 million people in the mountainous regions of Ethiopia lack safe water. Women and children walk each day for miles to ponds with contaminated water which they collect and carry back in heavy plastic containers. Lack of clean water is a major source of disease.

Could Warka Water provide a solution? WW is a vertical bamboo structure designed to harvest potable water from the atmosphere (it collects rain, harvests fog and dew). Easily assembled, it is estimated to collect up to 26.4 gal (100 L) of drinking water every day.

The name of the project comes from the Warka Tree, a giant wild fig tree native to Ethiopia. It is an important part of the local culture and ecosystem, providing its fruit and a gathering place for the community.

Learn more about WarkaWater

Monday, June 27, 2016

Yes You Can Re-Use Leftover Pickle Juice

Mr. Nag is fond of good quality pickles. I usually throw the brine down the sink when he's finished eating them but it seemed wasteful so I went to my good friend Google and found some uses for leftover pickle juice. This is one I wouldn't have thought of.

Make a “pickleback,” essentially a shot of pickle brine designed to follow a shot of (usually) not-so top shelf whiskey. The flavors are surprisingly simpatico, which explains why you’ll find the pickleback offered at many hipster and non-hipster drinking establishments.

If you're so inclined, listen to Nickleback when you're drinking it.

More uses here

Shark Made Out Of an F-94 Bomber Fuel Tank

Megalodon is a kinetic shark-shaped sculpture made from a discarded wing mounted fuel tank from a F-94 bomber plane by Nemo Gould.

Megalodon 2016 (extended) from Nemo Gould on Vimeo.

I think it would make a great bar.
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Italy's Handmade Amusement Park

76 year old Bruno has spent nearly four decades building an amusement park by hand. He has no formal engineering or construction training and designed rides inspired by the movement of nature.

Inside Italy's Handmade Amusement Park from Great Big Story on Vimeo.

Patrons can enjoy more than 40 manually-powered rides in the wooded region near Treviso, Italy, all for free.

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Collection of Unorthodox Taxidermy

Dr. Seuss loved Springfield Zoo when he was a child. When his dad became the superintendent of parks he also become a resource who supported his son’s artistic efforts by sending the remains of zoo animals that had met their demise to his son in NYC. The animals lived on as their bills, horns, and antlers became exotic beaks and headdresses on the bizarre taxidermy sculptures of Dr. Seuss.

The result was an astounding 17 sculptures—created during the 1930s—which remain today as some of the finest examples of his inventive and multidimensional creativity.

More: The Art of Dr. Seuss

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Seal Sings With Street Busker In Montreal

Over the weekend four-time Grammy winner Seal sang "Stand By Me" in Old Montreal's Place d'Armes with busker Jason Deeh Pitre from the band The Scroll.

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Zelda Fitzgerald’s Little-Known Art

Zelda Fitzgerald née Sayre was “the first American flapper”, a socialite, novelist and wife of American author F. Scott Fitzgerald. Their relationship was one of the most turbulent in literary history. What you may not know is that Zelda was also an exceptionally gifted artist.

Times Square

Lobster Quadrille

Central Park

The Circus

Her paintings place her among history’s famous writers with little-known talents in the visual arts, including Tolkien’s drawings, Sylvia Plath’s sketches, William Faulkner’s Jazz Age illustrations, and Flannery O’Connor’s cartoons.

More: Brain Pickings

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Manus x Machina

Manus x Machina explores how fashion designers are reconciling the handmade and the machine-made in the creation of haute couture and avant-garde ready-to-wear.

More: The Metropolitan Museum of Art