Sunday, April 30, 2017
Project Hair
The Hmong/Miao people of southwest China collect their hair to create these pieces – some have generations of hair woven together to create the finished piece.
Project Hair | MIAO from Hair by Nicolas Jurnjack on Vimeo.
The hair is woven into tiny braids, sometimes mixing in wool and animal hair, and those braids are then made into larger ponytails. The ponytails are wrapped around a support made from wooden horns and secured with white ribbon, wound around in a striking geometric pattern.
Project Hair | MIAO from Hair by Nicolas Jurnjack on Vimeo.
The hair is woven into tiny braids, sometimes mixing in wool and animal hair, and those braids are then made into larger ponytails. The ponytails are wrapped around a support made from wooden horns and secured with white ribbon, wound around in a striking geometric pattern.
Self-Healing Concrete
The Self Healing Concrete project is part of the TU Delft wide Self-healing Materials research programme at the Delft Center for Materials (DCMat). Researchers are engineering a form of self-repairing structural concrete by mixing spores of calcite-precipitating bacteria into cement paste. Once cracks occur, the oxygen wakens the bacteria and triggers the healing process and after a few weeks the rift is sealed.
In addition to substantial cost savings, the bacteria also leech carbon dioxide from the atmosphere in the process.
More here
Via PfRC
Einstein The Parrot Does Impressions
Einstein, an African grey parrot, has a vocabulary of more than 200 words and sounds. To celebrate her 30th hatch day she performs impressions of a spaceship, a horse, the Aflac duck, a siren, a crying baby, and more.
Happy hatch day to Einstein! Zoo Knoxville's beloved African grey parrot turns 30 today. from Zoo Knoxville on Vimeo.
For more Einstein, check out her TED talk.
Via
Happy hatch day to Einstein! Zoo Knoxville's beloved African grey parrot turns 30 today. from Zoo Knoxville on Vimeo.
For more Einstein, check out her TED talk.
Via
Sunday Links
 |
| Photo: Museum of the City of New York |
The Stettheimer Dollhouse: Оne of the most beautiful and expensive dollhouses in history
Explore the life of a 101-year-old
Photos taken in 1986 to cover the 25th anniversary of the Berlin Wall
The Ravens of the Tower of London: An interesting story of how six pampered birds came to serve as the guardians of the Tower.
Would you like to live in a bank in Cumby, TX? Then this is the house for you.
Citizens of Woodstock, Alabama Are Split Over S-Town Podcast
100 days of Trump:
 |
| download PDF |
Have you ever wondered What Happens When You Enter the Witness Protection Program? I know I have.
Jonathan Demme Movies: Where to Stream Them
The State of the Art: The Culture ship Arbitrary arrives on Earth in 1977 and finds a planet obsessed with alien concepts like 'property' and 'money' and on the edge of self-destruction. When Agent Dervley Linter, decides to go native can Diziet Sma change his mind?
What Street Food Looks Like in 30 Countries Around the World
My Aryan Princess The story of Carol Blevins, a heroin addict and “Aryan Princess featherwood” (property of a gang member) who became the FBI’s most important confidential informant during a six-year investigation into the Aryan Brotherhood of Texas — an organized crime syndicate responsible for over 100 murders and a huge drug trade.
Cuba’s Most Authentic Experience Is Far From Havana A good article about the rebirth of Cuba's artisanal heritage.
Bodhi Hanna Kistner (88): “Only After Sixty My True Life Began” An inspiring story.
Chernobyl Disaster anniversary:“He took only his white suit and his radio”
He Was Searching For Intersexual Pigs And Ended Up Finding The World's Rarest Dog They look a lot like my dog.
People Photographed as Young Adults and Again at 100-Years-Old
Freddie Mercury, Cat Fancier
An infographic of the world's most beautiful gardens
The unbearable wrongness of Gwyneth Paltrow
I Went on a Weeklong Cruise For Conspiracy Theorists. It Ended Poorly.
Saturday, April 29, 2017
Support Science
These posters imagine the effects of global warming. Download them for FREE to show your support for climate research.
Take them to today's Climate March or tape them to your work cubicle to irritate an annoying colleague who thinks global warming is a left-wing hoax.
Thanks Bruce!
Take them to today's Climate March or tape them to your work cubicle to irritate an annoying colleague who thinks global warming is a left-wing hoax.
Thanks Bruce!
This Former Fried Chicken Tycoon Transformed a Wasteland
Almost 50 years ago, David Bamberger sold his fried chicken business and used the money to purchase 5,500 acres of overgrazed land in the Texas Hill Country and devoted the rest of his life to restoring the degraded landscape. Bamberger is now considered to be a visionary in land management and water conservation.
Thanks Bruce!
Thanks Bruce!
Friday, April 28, 2017
A Snuffbox Made For Frederick II
Frederick the Great of Prussia commissioned this extraordinary chrysopase table snuffbox with diamonds to showcase the skills of Berlin makers in the 1760s.
You can see it at the Victoria and Albert Museum.
You can see it at the Victoria and Albert Museum.
Japanese Railfan Doesn't Need To Leave Home To Ride The Rails
@igaigaadjmadjml is a Japanese rail enthusiast who posts a lot of train-related items to his Twitter page. He recently converted one of the rooms in his house into a life size-replica of a 485 series Japanese train car that is faithful in every detail and could easily pass for the real thing.
More here
 |
| Photo: @igaigaadjmadjml/Twitter |
More here
The White Ravens Of British Columbia
 |
| Image: Mike Yip |
There is a legend that tells of white ravens who helped humans (and the earth) get fire before they were turned black by the flames. In 2007 photographer Mike Yip learned about a colony of white ravens in Qualicum Beach, British Columbia and has taken photographs of them over the years.
More lovely photos here
Thanks Bruce!
Thursday, April 27, 2017
Vanquishing the all-you-can-eat buffet
The all-you-can-eat buffet is a competitive sport and you've apparently been playing it wrong. Foodie Dan Pashman of You’re Eating It Wrong tells you how to be a winner.
Via Boing Boing
Via Boing Boing
Raw Bounty Bites
These little coconut chocolate bars look like a yummy healthy treat. I'm going to make them for my vegan son and I may eat a couple myself.
recipe here
Worlds Apart: An Experiment
Can two strangers with opposing views prove that there’s more that unites than divides us? This Heineken ad shows people paired at random and forced to collaborate on simple problem solving and Q&A tasks in a warehouse.
Google AI or Dada?: A Poetry Quiz
Google announced that its artificial intelligence was composing poetry after reading thousands of romance novels. Some found it nonsensical. Others saw a continuity between Google's verse and chance operations poetry, a technique traced back to the Dada Movement.
 |
| Take the quiz |
Shusaku Takaoka is a Japanese graphic designer who creates entertaining juxtapositions of contemporary culture with classic art.
Via
Reclaimed Car Sofa
Retro brand Smithers of Stamford offers unique leather sofas built over the front or rear of old cars, complete with working headlights or brake lights.
Via The Awesomer
Via The Awesomer
‘Personal Space’ Around The World
Famous Movies Scenes Turned Into Colour Palettes
Twitter user @CinemaPalettes has built a large collection of over 200 colour palettes extracted from some of the world's most iconic movie scenes.
More here
 |
| Spirited Away (2001) |
 |
| Amélie (2001) |
 |
| Moonrise Kingdom (2012) |
More here
Wednesday, April 26, 2017
Japanese Manholes Uncovered
Only in Japan are covers for sewage designed so beautifully that they now make manhole cover trading cards! John Daub from ONLY in Japan visited the Nagashima Imono Casting Factory to see how the manhole covers are designed and built.
Link
Via PfRC
Cat City
Cat City by Victoria Vincent tells the story of a runaway cat who gets an apartment, a job and a life on his own - until things go wrong.
Cat City from victoria vincent on Vimeo.
Via
Cat City from victoria vincent on Vimeo.
Via
Persuasive Cartography
 |
| “The Silver Dog With the Golden Tail,” 1896. Map, 20×26 cm. P. J. Mode Collection, Cornell University Library. |
“Persuasive cartography" is a term for maps (like the one above) intended to influence opinions or beliefs rather than to communicate geographic information. More than 500 maps have just been added to the P. J. Mode Collection of Persuasive Cartography at the Cornell University Library.
Via The Map Room
Tuesday, April 25, 2017
DIY Reusable Food Wrap
A few years ago I bought reusable fabric wraps infused with beeswax and jojoba oil to use instead of cling wrap or foil. They eventually lost their waxiness because I used them so often. They were very affordable and I was impressed with Abeego, the Canadian company who makes them, so I would probably order from them again.
But, if you are a DIY type, this post at Apartment Therapy gives easy instructions on how to make your own.
A Japanese Minka House
A film about place and memory, a farmhouse in Japan, and the lives of the people who called it home.
Monday, April 24, 2017
Wreckfish - The restaurant that could be
Documentary about chef Gary Usher launching his 4th restaurant. Crowdfunding launching on Tuesday 2nd May. Gary and his team launched a weeks pop-up, pay-what-you-want restaurant at the proposed site in Liverpool with no water, electricity, gas or toilets.
Wreckfish - The restaurant that could be from Natural Selection Design on Vimeo.
Wreckfish - The restaurant that could be from Natural Selection Design on Vimeo.
The KittyHawk Has Launched
The Kitty Hawk looks like something that was conceived for The Jetsons. Resembling a flying jetski, this electric aircraft weighs about 100kg and can travel up to 25 miles per hour.
More here
Money Laundering
Rob Holsen may be the only professional coin washer in the United States. He washes coins for the Westin St. Francis Hotel in Union Square, San Francisco, Calif., a tradition which began to keep ladies white gloves from getting tarnished back in the 1930s. Three times a week, Holsen soaps, rinses, dries and rolls money. He estimates that $1.5 million in spare change has passed through his hands in the past 20 years.
"There was a time," Holsen says, "when a cabdriver could look at a person after they paid their fare and ask, 'So, how was your stay at the St. Francis?' "
More here
Via
Sunday, April 23, 2017
Man's Best Friend
In 1870, a man’s dog was shot. He rightfully sued the shooter, and after a lengthy trial, his attorney George Graham Vest gave his closing argument. From this speech “Eulogy of the Dog," the term ‘man’s best friend’ was coined. This is a dog food commercial but it's good.
Thanks Bruce!
Thanks Bruce!
Best graph ever.
Best graph ever. —@academiaobscura pic.twitter.com/Zk0tTICpfv— Vala Afshar (@ValaAfshar) April 16, 2017
Suffra-jitsu?
In the early 1900s suffragettes were arrested, thrown to the ground, groped, force-fed with rubber tubes and two marchers were killed. These proper British protesters decided to turn to jiu jitsu for their own protection. They were trained in this Japanese martial art by a a 4’11”, 46-year-old woman named Edith Garrud.
Garrud and fellow suffragette Gertrude Harding also formed the Bodyguard to protect organizer Emeline Pankhurst. Nicknamed “The Amazons” by the media, this group of 30 young and fit suffragettes acted as a line of defense around Pankhurst.
Sunday Links
Step Inside Peter Marino’s Gorgeous Hamptons Garden
Trump’s Elements of Style
Blondihacks proves that even the most intelligent cat is no match for human ingenuity. Hilarious!
Dwight Yoakam: Purple Rain Via
St Oswald's Place London I have found the house of my dreams.
How The Best Podcast Of The Year Was Made There are spoilers so don't read this until you've listened to the podcast.
Insane True Stories of Drunk Juries: Getting wasted while deciding the fate of suspected criminals is an age-old tradition.
Miles of tulle, exquisite couture and needle sharp quips provide the pattern for the best fashion documentaries
Odd Lots: Curious Objects Up At Auction: Patrick Swayze’s G-string, Churchill’s half-smoked cigar, and a sample book of burial monuments.
One family's life in the wilderness In the US state of Alaska, the Atchley family are the only people who live anywhere along the 250-mile (400km) length of the Nowitna River. Over the past 18 years, only a handful of people have ever visited them in their remote location, 100 miles from the nearest town, Ruby. Via
A Victorian Bath House surrounded by glass and steel
What it's like to work in Apple iPhone factory Pegatron in China Dejian Zeng spent 12 hours a day attaching one screw to iPhones. He tells us what it was like.
The Door: A Woman’s Journey from Domestic Violence Victim to Survivor. A powerful interactive artwork by Stacie Dubay.
Speak, Memory: When her best friend died, she rebuilt him using artificial intelligence
Banksy's The Walled Off Hotel in the West Bank proves to be a hit with tourists
The radical grief of Cliff and Wilma Derksen: In 1984, Cliff and Wilma Derksen’s daughter was abducted and left to die in the Winnipeg winter cold. With no idea of her killer’s identity, they made a controversial choice: to forgive.
Ways That Steve Buscemi Could Die In Future Coen Brothers Movies, Ranked
27 Scathing H.L. Mencken Quotes On Politics, Religion, And The American Public
In Cold Blood: The real murder case behind Capote's masterpiece
If you have 40 minutes to kill there are some simple life hacks here.
Saturday, April 22, 2017
Lane Valet
Imagine this: A visionary semiautonomous passing-lane-assistance technology, it promises to bring us one step closer to a day when vehicles don’t just react to the world around them, they improve it.
Unfortunately it was just an April Fools Day post.
Thanks Bruce!
Unfortunately it was just an April Fools Day post.
Thanks Bruce!
Embers and Dust
On a radio show on the evening of October 30th, 1938 Orson Welles’ announced invading alien army from Mars sending listeners into a panic. What if, at the height of the fictional alien attack, a power transformer blew out in Concrete WA plunging the entire town and surrounding areas into darkness?
A sci-fi short by Patrick Biesemans.
Via
A sci-fi short by Patrick Biesemans.
Via
The Mysterious Life of Artist Bob Ross
Bob Ross ranks alongside the likes of Mr Rogers and Elmo as a well-loved public television star. Despite being famous the world over for his soothing demeanour, his show The Joy of Painting and his amazing ‘fro, we know very little about one of the best known artists in modern times. Until now.
More here
Via
More here
Via
Rainbow Typeface Honours Creator Of Pride Flag
Artist/activist Gilbert Baker designed the LGBTQ rainbow flag in 1978. He died on March 31, but his legacy and vision of the community lives on through a rainbow typeface created in his name by Type With Pride.
More here
Soil your undies?
The Soil Conservation Council of Canada is encouraging people to bury their underwear in the garden. They found that by burying undyed 100 per cent cotton underwear for two months, farmers and gardeners will get a good indication of how much organic matter exists in their soil. If there is a good amount of organic matter in the earth, after the underwear is underground for two months all that should be left is the waistband.
(The undies above are dyed and should be hung on a clothesline, not buried underground)
More here
Thursday, April 20, 2017
Falls doc Motel looks at low-income struggles
Even as a kid, Jesse McCracken was fascinated with what was past Clifton Hill during his trips to Niagara Falls.How did people live in this tourism town? What lay beyond the museums and waffle cones?
More here
More here
Orphan kangaroo loves her pouch
Terri is an adorable orphan joey at the Kangaroo Sanctuary, Alice Springs, Australia.
Via Boing Boing
A Unique Volkswagen Beetle
The last Volkswagen Beetle rolled off the assembly line in Mexico in 2003. In 2010, native Mexican artisans were given the task of decorating a VW Beetle in their traditional style to promote their culture. The name Vochol is a combination of “vocho”, a term used for the Beetle in Mexico, and “Huichol” the name of the Wirrárika indigenous group. The Huichol are famous for their unique and colourful art pieces, made with yarn, seeds, and beads. More than 2 million beads were used in the project.
16th Avenue Tiled Steps
In 2003 Jessie Audette and Alice Yee Xavier started the 16th Avenue Tiled Steps project, a sea to stars themed mosaic by artists Aileen Barr and Colette Crutche, that flows up a 163 step stairway in San Francisco's Golden Gate Heights Neighbourhood.
Tile sponsorship provided the funding for the majority of the project and on August 27th, 2005, they held their Opening Day ceremony.
Behold The Kraken Piescraper!
Jessica Leigh Clark-Bojin (AKA @thePieous), after much experimentation, has figured out how to maintain structural integrity as you build "up" with a pie. The awe-inspiring Kraken Piescraper is the result.
Via Boing Boing
Via Boing Boing
Wednesday, April 19, 2017
Chance the Rapper’s Chicken Wing Birthday Cake
Chance The Rapper celebrated his 24th birthday with this amazing cake shaped like his favourite meal from Harold’s Chicken Shack in Chicago.
More here
More here
Bangkok Is Clearing Out Its Famous Street-Food Vendors
CNN this month named Bangkok as the city with the best street food on the planet but, after decades of promoting itself as a key destination for foodies, Bangkok has done a complete turnaround. An official has announced that ‘every street vendor will have to move out’ by the end of 2017 in the interests of “order and hygiene”.
Check out this clever 2015 marketing campaign video called "Pray for Anna," which extols the virtues of Thailand's street food:
Food enthusiasts are struggling to absorb the shock.
More here
*Update*
Check out this clever 2015 marketing campaign video called "Pray for Anna," which extols the virtues of Thailand's street food:
Food enthusiasts are struggling to absorb the shock.
More here
*Update*
Remove Rust with a Potato!
Why am I just finding out about this now? Potatoes contain oxalic acid which helps to break down rust. To clean a rusty cast iron frying pan cut a potato in half. Dip the cut end in dish soap or baking soda and firmly rub it over the rusted area. If the end of the potato gets slick, slice it off and dip the newly cut end. Repeat until rust is removed.
Via
L’illusion de Joseph
L’illusion de Joseph was created and directed by Pask D'Amico in honour of Joseph Plateau, inventor of phenakistoscope.
L'illusion de Joseph from Mr.Klesha animation on Vimeo.
Previously
Via
L'illusion de Joseph from Mr.Klesha animation on Vimeo.
Previously
Via
Tuesday, April 18, 2017
Cosplaying Cat Dines With His Mum Every Night
Maro is an easygoing Japanese kitty who dines with his human mother Rie Matsui and allows her to dress him up and take adorable photographs of him at the table.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)