Waves and Waves of Wood

Reuben Margolin makes amazing kinetic sculptures from found and salvaged materials. His pieces are often model recreations of simple waveforms found from observing nature. Out of these simple observation Reuben begins the complex construction process to make pieces of wood behave like water. The end result of his pieces are often mesmerizing as shown on this video by Make Magazine.



Found At Boingboing.net

TED: THIS ONE IS BIG, CREATING A 6th SENSE

TED conference has all kinds of wonderful talks, one of the most memorable was when Jeff Han debuted the Multi-Touch panel back in 2006(now being used everywhere in Apple's Itouch.) Likely this one will equally mark the point in which Technology took a leap forward.
TED 6TH Sense


Jeff Han TED 2006

Found on Grinding.Be, Thanks.

SHEEP PONG & ANIMATION

What would you do if you had dozens of sheep and an LED expert at hand?
This was found over at Grinding.be blog, and it's pretty amazing.

Home Invasion?.... Why Not Video Blog It?

The news has been filled recently with stories of congressmen Twittering rather than listening during Obama's congressional speeches. I must admit there is a Hackberry South Twitter page, though the site doesn't seem to only work for for blatant advertisement. Most of what can be said is pointless, and you have to either not have many friends or stay connected constantly to catch the things you might actually care about. To relish in the ridiculousness of it, here is a guy that decided to Twitter and Video blog when someone broke into his home. There are plenty of questions that arise. I'll let the NYTIMES handle it.

New Music Ensemble 2009 Remix

A while back we did a posted about composer Steve Reich and had clips from Grand Valley State University which learned and performed Music For 18 Musicians in it's entirety for Steve Reich's 70th Birthday. Here is the trailer for what sounds like an amazing remix cd they are releasing later this year.

Terry Riley - In C

Mel Chin's - Paydirt & Fundred on Studio 360

*Thanks Wagner

Tennessee to Texas... "Suck it!" or How To Create A Giant

See they say all things are bigger in Texas, well Tennessee's got a problem with that. Tennessee is home to Little Debbie, which provided the "protein bars" necessary to create the world's largest spider monkey. State Government plans to clone little Lucy A, and try to one up itself by feeding Lucy B a strict diet of Chinese Buffet food (Sweet n Sour Pork, Pizza, Chicken Wings and extra helpings of the little doughnut rolls.)



*Thanks Prof. Roberto

Teaching Is Like War, It's Worse When You're Sober

By EMILY JOHNS, Star Tribune

"A substitute teacher in the St. Paul School District offered a lesson Tuesday on what not to do if you're looking for teaching jobs: Drink and teach at the same time.

The teacher was sent home after he was apparently drinking while teaching a fourth-grade class at Roosevelt Elementary West Side School of Excellence.

Police found a pint-size bottle of Phillips vodka in his bag and gave him a ride home after he registered 0.18 percent on a Breathalyzer test...."

Full Article Here

Here Is Why He Should Have Known This Was A Bad Idea
"Witnesses reported seeing the teacher vomit on a field trip and then leave first-graders to wander through a corn maze by themselves while the teacher passed out on a school bus."

*Re-enactment of what the children did to the teacher after they found their way out

More Here

What To Do With An Advanced Degree From MIT

On the Effectiveness of Aluminium Foil Helmets:

An Empirical Study

Abstract: "Among a fringe community of paranoids, aluminum helmets serve as the protective measure of choice against invasive radio signals. We investigate the efficacy of three aluminum helmet designs on a sample group of four individuals. Using a $250,000 network analyser, we find that although on average all helmets attenuate invasive radio frequencies in either directions (either emanating from an outside source, or emanating from the cranium of the subject), certain frequencies are in fact greatly amplified. These amplified frequencies coincide with radio bands reserved for government use according to the Federal Communication Commission (FCC). Statistical evidence suggests the use of helmets may in fact enhance the government's invasive abilities. We speculate that the government may in fact have started the helmet craze for this reason."

Full Study Here

*Thanks Carlos Vanderheech

Past Present Future

Future Fashions


Dynosphere

Papa Got A Brand New Bag Of Something

Southern Icon meets Drunk History


Dance Lessons


Night Train

Where's the Beef or Entrepreneurship?

Full Article at Forbes.com, By Sramana Mitra

A growing concern is the current lack of policy to support entrepreneurship from this administration, especially bootstrapped entrepreneurship. As the government tries to assess what might stimulate entrepreneurship, I don't see many "practitioners" of true entrepreneurship represented on President Obama's advisory council. Who represents the voice of the bootstrapped entrepreneur in the government? Who understands the extreme cash-strapped conditions under which entrepreneurs operate? Without understanding, how can they design an effective system?
...In fact, this week, there was some whining from the venture capital industry about a tax increase for carried interest per the Obama budget proposal. The administration proposes raising taxes on these firms' general partners by treating carried interest, the portion of profits they take from successful investments, as ordinary income instead of capital gains. That change would increase the tax rate, starting in 2011, to 39.6% from the current 15% level.

Give Up That Twitter For Lent!

From AP, Full Story Here

ROME - Roman Catholic bishops in Italy are urging the faithful to go on a high-tech fast for Lent, switching off modern appliances from cars to iPods and abstaining from surfing the Web or text messaging until Easter.

The suggestion goes far beyond no-meat Fridays, giving a modern twist to traditional forms of abstinence in the five-week period Christians set aside for fasting and prayer ahead of Easter.

So Bad It's Good : Heavy Metal Parking Lot

Just watched Heavy Metal Parking Lot the other day, and was pretty amazed by it. Just a camera, a parking lot, and the crowd waiting around getting trashed before a Judas Priest/Dokken concert, when Metal was still proudly Heavy Metal, and leather and big hair were the rage. . It's remarkably amateur and simply put together, but it captures a lost culture from the 80's that no longer exists.

Confuse Your Bum - Lo-Res Chair

From OOOMS Design
Why not? You know, why not? Usually Comfort and Style have trade-offs but not anymore with the Lo-Res chair. You have lots of padding for comfort, along with both a blocky 8-bit Nintendo chair and a stylishly modern Eames chair hidden in the negative space. I mean, everyone that comes to your house will know without a doubt you know whats going on. You Sir or Madam have Style, Taste, and are a Hip/Modern individual too. Who needs subtility?

Found on Design Milk

When Good Things Break.......Skype

RANT: I believe in Skype, I really do. I even canceled my cellphone and switched to using my Skype service as my only phone.
It was a choice I made for a large part to save money but just as importantly because I believe it's a remarkable service. I had virtually no complaints until about two weeks ago when it just stopped making calls. Everything has been paid for, and I changed nothing on my computer that would prevent calls from connecting, it just stopped working to landlines and cellphones. The service is only 2.95 a month, so there is only so much you can expect, but as a true alternative to whats out there, waiting over two weeks to get your phone working again is pretty sad. I want to believe in them, I want something cheap and affordable and as a service I still absolutely recommend it, just don't go canceling your cellphones just yet.

Shanghai Rock Quarry Gets Hotel Make-Over

Full Story at E-Architect
"The innovative design of the 400-bed resort hotel stands two levels higher than the rock face of the 100 metre deep quarry and includes underwater public areas and guestrooms. It will incorporate conference facilities for up to 1,000 people, a banqueting centre, restaurants, cafés and sports facilities. Sustainability is integral to the design ranging from using green roofing for the structures above the ground level to geothermal energy extraction.

An aquatic theme runs through the design both visually and functionally. Curved wings of the main body of the guestrooms enclose a naturally lit internal atrium, which uses the existing rock face with its waterfalls and green vegetation. This will be overlooked by guestroom balconies and contain restaurants and cafés at the base. Two underwater levels will house a restaurant and guestrooms facing a ten-metre deep aquarium. The lowest level of the hotel will contain a leisure complex with a swimming pool and water-based sports."

Found at Grinding.Be Blog

Fish With Tubular Eyes Can See Through It's Own Head......

Full Article & Video at MBARI.ORG

"Researchers at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute recently solved the half-century-old mystery of a fish with tubular eyes and a transparent head. Ever since the "barreleye" fish Macropinna microstoma was first described in 1939, marine biologists have known that its tubular eyes are very good at collecting light. However, the eyes were believed to be fixed in place and seemed to provide only a "tunnel-vision" view of whatever was directly above the fish's head. A new paper by Bruce Robison and Kim Reisenbichler shows that these unusual eyes can rotate within a transparent shield that covers the fish's head. This allows the barreleye to peer up at potential prey or focus forward to see what it is eating."

From the
...
...........Moe Raw
......
....
...................Brain Feed

Fashion Designed for Covert Planting

"Earrings for Spontaneous Seeding"

"A seed here. A seed there. You never know when an opportunity for planting might present itself. Be prepared with these tiny glass bottles filled with vegetable and flower seeds. Great for secretively planting in friends' yards, medians, and those boring beds full of petunias outside your doctor's office. Includes refill seeds. Note: these are very high quality seeds - many of them heirloom. They come from Seed Savers Exchange."

Get them at Leafcutter Designs

*Found at Grinding.be

How Technology Will Help Reboot the Economy

I've been watching through the released TED 2009 talks which is always amazing, but found this one by Juan Enriquez’s over at Grinding.be blog. Pretty fantastic look at where the world might be heading, and quite funny as well.

A Little On The Nature Of Reality

A few video clips from brilliant minds now past.

Robert Anton Wilson-Real Reality


Terence McKenna-Culture Is Not Your Friend

Getting Smart For Free, Academic Earth

As with the bad news there is always good. Academic Earth.Org is a web based organization whose goal is to provide Top-Notch education to the entire world. Thousands of video Classes & Lectures by Yale, MIT, Stanford(Etc.) professors on subjects varying from Business, Science, Philosophy, and History. Enroll Now!



*Thanks Roberto!

Crashing Economy or not, The Toast Must Go On!

See through glass toaster and Message toaster two just two of the Top 10 Modern toasters over at Yanko Design.

Sit , Read, Spin.....Round Bookshelf & Chair

From Yanko Design

Well can't say if this is a good idea or not, but it looks cool. Perhaps if there was a round window behind it would make more sense. Visit the Yanko Design page to see design specs.

Designer: Zhdanova Irina

Bitter? Try Print Liberation T-shirts!

Found on BoingBoing




More at the Print Liberation Store

Even Caves Are Susceptible To Economic Storms

The Sleeper Family went after a dream, they bought 3 acres of land on ebay that had an old Mining cave on it. They spent years using the existing cave as the structure to build their 15,000 sq ft. home inside. Unfortunately their dream didn't make preparations for the crash in the economy that would come. They currently have the home for sale on Ebay for $300,000 and are trying to raise enough money to save it from the bank as well.

Find out More from the EBAY AUCTION

Under the Covers-This Mortal Coil

It's amazing someone else hasn't created a project like This Mortal Coil. For those that don't know the head of 4AD records created a project band that covered songs(of various genres from the 60's,70's and 80's) but melded them through a classical, darkwave, dream pop filter. The brilliance of the project was how disperate the source material was, whether it was The Byrds, Talking Heads, Emmylou Harris, Tim Buckley or Brian Eno it all worked together. Even the musicians changed on each album(heavily 4AD supported but artists outside the label were welcome too)but the albums held together as if it were all written by the same band. The project spanned 3 albums that created something new, and provided a wealth incredible of source material to track back to as well.

Tim Buckley-Song to the Siren (Incredible Album Version Here)

This Mortal Coil-Song to the Siren

Big Star-Kangaroo

This Mortal Coil-Kangaroo

Gene Clark - With Tomorrow

Late Night - Callin Reese

If you didn't catch the first round of Reese skits then by all means go here. Before South Park, Sifl and Olly, or Wondershowzen...There was Knoxville public access..

Squirrels

$1.37

Rubber Ducky

Southern Icons: John Prine

Some music just takes time to find it's way to you. There are those bands and musicians you've heard of your whole life but you never invested in, or simply hadn't formed the right experiences to give meaning to the words. For many of us John Prine has been making music our whole lives, since 1971. He's someone I've only recently began to admire. In the simplest of ways his songs somehow say just enough, and throughout his catalog he says just about everything that needs be said.

All the Best

w/ Iris DeMent - In Spite of Ourselves

Souvenirs

w/ Emmylou Harris - Angel from Montgomery

Of Southern Pastimes

Southern Divorce Court

Gary Coleman Death Punch

Inversion House -by Dan Havel and Dean Ruck

The New Orleans art houses below reminded me of this installation by artists Dan Havel and Dean Ruck I saw back in Houston,Tx several years ago. It was made a few months before the house was to be demolished….
Here is the old Press Release



*images from DesignVerb.com

From CoolHunting.com: New Orleans Art Houses

Including Safe House by Mel Chin

Dick Furious at Bush Over Scooter Libby

BY Thomas M. Defrank NY DAILY NEWS WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF Photo: Jim Watson / AFP/Getty Images

Sources close to Cheney told the Daily News the former vice president repeatedly pressed Bush to pardon Libby, arguing his ex-chief of staff and longtime alter ego deserved a full exoneration - even though Bush had already kept Libby out of jail by commuting his 30-month prison sentence.

"He tried to make it happen right up until the very end," ... "He's furious with Bush," a Cheney source told The News. "He's really angry about it and decided he's going to say what he believes."

Full Article at NYDAILYNEWS

Random Word #001: Waffles

It's no secret that one can literally find everything he or she needs on the internet, whether it be ordering food, buying clothing, a car, or researching just about anything. With necessities long since covered there is an endless stream of excess information, pointless yet often funny, historically factual yet ridiculous. Where does it come from and why are we so eager to transmit so much unneeded information? Will we ever be able to absorb enough to keep up with the added amounts of useless information? I've decided, to play along with this and try a random word each week and see what I can find through simple search engine results. Feel free to join in and leave comments we'll post your results.
Today's word: Waffles
Wikipedia:
Medieval waffle law:In medieval Europe, vendors were permitted to sell their waffles outside of churches on saint's days and during other special relgious celebrations. Competition at the churches eventually became so heated, and at times violent, that King Charles IX of France imposed a regulation on waffle sales, requiring vendors to maintain a distance of at least "deux toises" (6 feet) from one another.
Waffle Keyboard from Geekologie

$200 Limited Edition Ice Cream Waffle Shoes via Complex

Lego Waffles

Somebody stole the funk....Daptone Records Burgled!

From NYT By Dave Itzkoff

Daptone Records, the Brooklyn-based soul label that releases albums by Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings, and the Budos Band among others, was burglarized over the Presidents’ Day weekend, the label’s co-founder, Gabriel Roth, said in an e-mail message, which was reported on the Web site BrooklynVegan.com. Mr. Roth wrote that numerous items were stolen or damaged, including computers, turntables, amplifiers, guitars and other instruments.
Continued at NYT

*From the love of Mr.Sewell

Microsoft Offers $250,000 Reward To Find Virus Maker

By Maggie Shiels Technology reporter, BBC News, Silicon Valley

A reward of $250,000 (£172,000) has been offered by Microsoft to find who is behind the Downadup/Conficker virus.

Since it started circulating in October 2008 the Conficker worm has managed to infect millions of computers worldwide.

The software giant is offering the cash reward because it views the Conficker worm as a criminal attack.

Full Article at BBC NEWS

Out of Control Russian Sarellite Crashes into US Satellite

By MARCIA DUNN, AP Aerospace Writer

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Two big communications satellites collided in the first-ever crash of its kind in orbit, shooting out a pair of massive debris clouds and posing a slight risk to the international space station. NASA said it will take weeks to determine the full magnitude of the crash, which occurred nearly 500 miles over Siberia on Tuesday.

Full Story at Yahoo News!

Thanks Sara

Framing the Landscape: Myoung Ho Lee

Found these over at Booooooom.com, and thought they were pretty amazing.

Here's what Lens Culture has to say about the Artist and images:
Myoung Ho Lee, a young artist from South Korea, has produced an elaborate series of photographs that pose some unusual questions about representation, reality, art, environment and seeing. Simple in concept, complex in execution, he makes us look at a tree in its natural surroundings, but separates the tree artificially from nature by presenting it on an immense white ground, as one would see a painting or photograph on a billboard.