Archive for July, 2008
the chief mate
“There used to be a queer character on the Seattle ‘front that we used to call: “The Chief Mate”. About all he owned was an extensive collection of discarded ship’s officer’s caps, and he used to parade slowly up and down the board-walk in a different one every day. Likely as not, he’d wear them [...]
charting time in space
Edward Tufte: Posters and Graph Paper
Handmade by a Russian cosmonaut, Georgi Grechko, this cyclogram shows a 96-day flight of Salyut 6. Some 22 parallel time-series show 1500 sunrises and 1500 sunsets during the flight, a schedule for space walks and baths, and visits of resupply ships bringing equipment, fresh fruit, and gingerbread. Printed in six [...]
submar(coca)ine
“The green-colored submarine, carrying what was believed to be cocaine, was about 32 feet long and appeared to be a makeshift or modified vessel. “The submarine traveled almost at the surface of the sea and when it came up we took advantage,” said Capt. Benjamin Mar, a navy spokesman. Special forces troops swooped on the [...]
the coffee and the chimp
“Natasha Mitchell: He even got to a point where he drank beer and smoked. Elizabeth Hess: Yes, it was the 70s so you know it wasn’t uncommon for Columbia students to be hanging around at night smoking pot, and Nim loved pot and eventually developed his own sign for give me a joint. You know [...]
innovation innovation
“Dwayne Spradlin, president and chief executive of InnoCentive, said in an interview that the company had solved 250 challenges, for prizes typically in the $10,000 to $25,000 range. According to the Web site (www.innocentive.com), the achievements include a compound for skin tanning, a method of preventing snack chip breakage and a mini-extruder in brick-making. “Odds [...]
usa today bot
My hilarious interaction with the USA Today Instant Messenger Bot. I’m not sure why I started talking with it, but I’m sure glad that I did.
“Your welcome.” Who trained it to say these things?
A Concise History ofthe X-15 Research Airplane
A Concise History ofthe X-15 Research Airplane
sms in china: how individuals try to act as a group
“- Talk with some other Chinese professionals, whose business involves sending out a lot of instant text messages (SMS) on mobile phones. These short messages often seem to be China’s main communication systems. People rely far less on email than in America; I rarely see someone with a Blackberry; but everyone has a mobile phone, [...]
“Speakers designed like rocks.”
“Speakers designed like rocks.”— Rockustics Pavorocci – Wired Summer Test 2008
the birth of the commons
“Fast forward to the 1970’s when the Mission Planning Council, the Mission Housing Development Corporation (MHDC) and the Open Space Committee were working together to identify possible sites for neighborhood parks. “It was a long gestation period,” says Toby Levine, unofficial neighborhood historian who lives across the street from Juri Commons. The MHDC in its [...]
Inventing Green by Alexis Madrigal is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
