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Archive for the ‘Creativity’ Category

Eclipsing Belief: 8 Rare and Amazing Astronomic Objects & Events

22 Aug

[ By SA Rogers in Culture & History & Travel. ]

We don’t even need to go searching for signs of aliens to find incredibly bizarre and unexplainable objects and events in outer space, from a ‘black widow’ pulsar that’s devouring its own mate to a lonely rogue planet doomed to wander alone for all eternity. Now that we’ve witnessed 2017’s much-hyped total solar eclipse, which crossed the entire United States for the first time since 1918, let’s take a look at some other amazing astronomic phenomena that remain mysterious to science.

The Black Widow Pulsar

Officially known as Pulsar J1311-3430, this pulsar weighs as much as two suns, yet it’s only about the size of Washington D.C. It’s getting heavier because it’s feeding on its ‘mate,’ a normal star, stripping layers away from it with its powerful beam. Eventually, it will devour it. (Image via NASA)

The Boötes Void

Discovered in 1981 by astronomer Robert Kirshner and his team, the Boötes Void is a massive expanse of empty space about 700 million light years from Earth. The largest known void in the Universe, it measures an incredible 250 million light years in diameter and contains just 60 galaxies, which is incredibly sparse for its size. It should contain bout 10,000. Astronomers aren’t sure why the void exists, though some theorize that supervoids are caused by the intermingling of smaller voids. (image via Wikipedia)

Gamma Ray Bursts

The most powerful explosions in the universe, gamma ray busts are usually associated with the collapse of a massive star an the birth of a black hole (how metal.) These bursts of high-energy light typically last a minute or less, and occur every couple days. (Image via NASA)

Lonely Rogue Planet

This wandering planet known as CFBDSIR2149 separated from its parent star and wanders around the universe alone. Astronomers believe that it’s just one of billions of such ‘castaway planets,’ which are ostracized from their solar systems during their formative years when other plants’ orbits are establishing themselves (image via European Southern Observatory)

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Eclipsing Belief 8 Rare And Amazing Astronomic Objects Events

[ By SA Rogers in Culture & History & Travel. ]

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8-Bitten: Space Invaders Street Art Tells Tile Tales

21 Aug

[ By Steve in Art & Street Art & Graffiti. ]

Urban street artist Invader has installed tile mosaics modeled after Space Invaders 8-bit video game characters in over 30 countries over the past 20 years.

Although he prefers to remain incognito like Banksy and many other street artists, Invader has a known personal history aside from his art. Born in France in 1969, he graduated from the prestigious École des Beaux-Arts in Paris though one wonders what his instructors think of his trademark works.

Classical training aside, Invader’s main artistic focus relates to the 8-bit graphic style of visual displays common to the first wave of electronic video games from the late 1970s. His choice of “Invader” as an artistic nom de plume reflects the influence of Space Invaders, one of the first shooter-style video games, released in 1978. The images above, captured by Flickr member Philosofia in Rome in June of 2011, are typical of the artist’s style and preferred placement in public urban settings easily visible but less than accessible.

We’ll Always Have Paris

Invader is not your typical tag & go, fly-by-night graffiti artist though many of his works ARE installed in the dead of night so as to avoid traffic and police. Instead, Invader typically plots his so-called “Invasions” of a chosen city far in advance, scouting out locations for his mosaics and semi-completing the works before he goes out to install them.

The artist’s earliest mosaics began appearing in Paris about 25 years ago. The examples above come courtesy of Flickr members Wally Gobetz (wallyg), Nelson Minar, and Ferdinand Feys.

High Plain Invaders

As time went by and word of Invader’s distinctive works spread, a black market for his pieces sprang up. Naturally, the artist disapproved of this – his works were and are designed to be not-for-profit installations.

In response to a rash of thefts and subsequent resales, Invader has made efforts to make his work more complex (and therefore more difficult to remove) and he’s also been placing them in higher, less accessible locations. The above images were snapped by Flickr members Allison Meier (allisonmeier), KnitSpirit, and victorillen in 2009, 2011 and 2009, respectively.

Miles Of Tiles

In June of 2011, Invader celebrated the installation of his 1,000th work in Paris alone. Over his “career” to that point, he had created 2,692 space invader style mosaics in 77 cities using approximately 1.5 million ceramic tiles. The mosaic above dates from February of 2013 and was snapped by Flickr member sinkdd in Tokyo, Japan’s famously trendy Harajuku shopping district.

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8 Bitten Space Invaders Street Art Tells Tile Tales

[ By Steve in Art & Street Art & Graffiti. ]

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Deadly Pleasures: The Devil’s in the Details of These Dark Miniature Scenes

19 Aug

[ By SA Rogers in Art & Sculpture & Craft. ]

Every dumb thing we humans do in this modern-day ‘civilized’ world is laid out in excruciating detail in these miniature scenes by artist Frank Kunert – not to mention our fears and anxieties. A row of public toilets is placed on a stage so strangers can watch you poop. A bride and groom poise at the end of a diving platform far too high above a pool, their friends and family watching below. A children’s slide empties onto a highway, and a bassinet is equipped with a desk so the little one can get to work as soon as possible. Pipes funnel human waste straight from the toilet upstairs into a television set, and a balcony projects into the path of a train.

Each of these works is a darkly humorous critique mocking us for contemporary habits and practices, from setting ourselves up for danger a la the Darwin Awards to creating cycles of consumption that kill us instead of satisfying us. Art museums are literally out of reach. The only living tree visible in the neighborhood is solely accessible via a dangerous staircase. A beautiful modern villa cuts off sunlight to the hovel below.

Some of the scenes look ordinary upon first glance, and it takes a moment to realize what’s wrong with them. Doors on the side of an apartment tower might lead into nothing but air, or a single chair at a formal dining table is placed out in the cold while the rest are cozy indoors.

Kunert painstakingly crafts each of these miniature scenes as part of his series Photographs of Small Worlds, and then documents them for his portfolio. He works on each one until it captures the mood and message he’s aiming for without any digital manipulation. You can see more of his work at his website, which offers much of his portfolio in photo book form, or in person September 10th 2017 through January 28th 2018 at Germany’s Museum Boppard.

[ By SA Rogers in Art & Sculpture & Craft. ]

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Compact CityTree: Vertical Micro-Garden Packs a Forest’s Worth of Green Benefits

17 Aug

[ By WebUrbanist in Architecture & Cities & Urbanism. ]

Packing the environmental impact of as many as 275 actual urban trees, these multi-functional CityTree units are dense and efficient fighters of urban air pollution (the single largest environmental health risk). Each CityTree can remove 240 metric tons of CO2 per year, as much as a small forest.

Developed by Green City Solutions in Berlin, the CityTree is covered in moss cultures — their high surface area ratios help remove dust and other airborne gasses and chemicals at a rate much higher than normal trees. Each unit has solar panels providing electricity and automated rainwater collection systems to store and distribute moisture as needed. Sensors help monitor soil humidity, temperature, water and air quality in and around each unit.

CityTrees have started sprouting in places like Paris, Brussels and Hong Kong, occupying a few square meters on city sidewalks while also (optionally) serving as public seating. Of course, air pollution is rarely evenly distributed in cities, so placement in high-traffic/emissions areas is also critical.

Developed by an architect and an engineer, the CityTree has been in the works for over a decade. “Our ultimate goal is to incorporate technology from the CityTree into existing buildings,” one of the designers told CNN. “We dream of creating a climate infrastructure so we can regulate what kind of air and also what kind of temperature we have in a city.” Beyond this compact and mobile application, lessons learned from monitoring and growing dense mosses on individual CityTree installations could also be applied on larger structural surfaces down the line.

[ By WebUrbanist in Architecture & Cities & Urbanism. ]

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The Bizarre, Chaotic Geometry of a Frank Gehry Building in Progress

17 Aug

[ By SA Rogers in Architecture & Public & Institutional. ]

Depending on how you feel about Frank Gehry’s work, this building in progress could either be fascinating, monstrous or a combination of both. But it’s hard to argue with the fact that seeing the bones of such a complex structure is more interesting than the renderings of the finished building, which is another of the architect’s mirrored and faceted standouts. Inspired by the silhouettes of the mountain ranges of its southern France setting, ‘LUMA Arles’ will ultimately tower above an experimental contemporary art center.

Set on a former rail depot turned public park, the building is primarily sponsored by Swiss art collector Maja Hoffmann and is scheduled for completion in 2018. The working title for the tower is ‘Centre for Human Dignity and Ecological Justice,’ and it will host spaces for workshops, art studios, exhibitions, seminars and archives.

“We are creating a place where artists, thinkers, scientists – as well as doers and actors of the economic world – can gather and work together on new scripts for the world,” says Hoffmann of the project.

Photographer Victor Picon captured this series of images showing the intricate arrangements of metal ribs that will ultimately support the reflective cladding. Of course, Gehry’s a bit of a controversial figure in the architecture world, with some hailing his creations as visionary and others finding them garish and structurally unsound, noting that his Strata Center design at MIT has leaked, cracked and developed mold. What’s your stance on Gehry’s work?

[ By SA Rogers in Architecture & Public & Institutional. ]

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Happier Campers: Take Your Gear to a New Level With These 15 Innovations

16 Aug

[ By SA Rogers in Destinations & Sights & Travel. ]

Elevate your camping style with the latest high-performance gear like twig-burning stoves, tree tents, bear-proof coolers and portable loungers. These major upgrades will keep you dry, warm, fed and comfortable no matter how rugged your destination, even when you’re traveling on foot instead of in a DIY RV, fancy pop-up car tent or luxuriously equipped off-road trailer.

Biolite Basecamp Stove

By now, you’ve probably seen the cool BioLite, a compact portable stove that burns twigs and then uses the heat as energy to power your gadgets (if not, you should check it out!) Now, the company is taking things up a notch with the BaseCamp, a portable grill that runs on larger pieces of wood. Smaller pieces of firewood or fallen branches both can be placed in the stove’s opening to cook your food – even in camping locations that don’t allow campfires – and an orange power pack on the side collects the energy. The BaseCamp also features a built-in light.

Scrubba Portable Laundry Wash Bag

Prefer not to tote dirty laundry around on an extended camping trip, or want to freshen up your favorite hoodie halfway through? The Scrubba is a brilliantly simple way to wash textiles. Its interior is lined with little nubs that scrub your garments as you massage the exterior of the bag for a machine-quality wash in three minutes. That’s more effective than using a bucket, and you never even have to get your hands dirty. The bag weighs just 5 ounces and doubles as a dry bag.

Tentsile Tree Tent

Marketing itself as a ‘portable tree house,’ the Tentstile tree tent lets you sleep high above the ground (how high is up to you!) by attaching to three nearby tree trunks. Stack them on top of each other to create temporary treehouse cities with your friends, or hang hammocks underneath them for an extra dry sleeping space. The number of people you can sleep using these systems is only as limited as the tree trunks around you.

Yeti Hopper Cooler

Dubbed ‘the world’s toughest cooler,’ the Yeti has become a household name for its durability and dependability. The hard-sided Yetis keep food and ice colder for longer than any other cooler on the market, and now the company is offering soft-sided versions, too, like the Hopper and the Hopper Flip. Each one is waterproof, including the Hydrolok zipper, and can withstand a bear mauling.

Sea to Summit Tarp Poncho

Heading into rainy territory? Keep your gear – and yourself – dry with the Sea to Summit Ultra-Sil Nano Tarp Poncho. Made of lightweight waterproof fabric, it’s big enough to accommodate your pack while you’re hiking, and then converts from a wearable into an ultralight 2-person shelter.

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Happier Campers Take Your Gear To A New Level With These 15 Innovations

[ By SA Rogers in Destinations & Sights & Travel. ]

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Inflatable Interventions: Soft Spikes Bring Roofless Ruins Back to Life

16 Aug

[ By WebUrbanist in Art & Installation & Sound. ]

A series of architectural installations in Scotland contrast sharply with the centuries-old stone architecture and natural landscapes, featuring spiky white inflatables filling in aged cracks and gaps.

Titled XXX, these designs by Steven Messam add movement to Mellerstain’s House and the surrounding gardens — they are the first part of a series of contemporary exhibitions planned for the Borders Sculpture Park on this historic estate. The white inflatables refer abstractly to old marble sculptures that were originally to adorn the grounds.

“Pointed” emerges from an old gatehouse; “Scattered” is spread across the lake, comprised of floating bubbles; and “Towered” pokes out of an aged laundry column. Each one invites interaction and exploration of the site.

“In the use of historical buildings and the designed landscape, XXX draws on the architectural significance” of the estate, says Messam. “As interventions, the sculptures speak the language of scale – all three are bigger than a house. As studies in scale and form, these artworks have to be directly experienced in the environment to be fully appreciated, so i hope they will encourage even more people to visit this wonderful architectural gem in the Scottish borders.”

[ By WebUrbanist in Art & Installation & Sound. ]

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Oru Origami-Inspired Folding Kayak is Back with an Updated Design

15 Aug

[ By SA Rogers in Design & Products & Packaging. ]

City dwellers with small apartments and limited storage can now own a kayak that folds up into a suitcase-sized package perfect for toting on your bike or public transit. The Oru Kayak originally debuted on Kickstarter in 2012, and every few years since then, they’ve released an updated model, with their lineup including the casual Beach LT for day trips, the Bay ST for longer days and the Coast XT for rugged conditions in surf and wind.

Earlier this year, they returned to Kickstarter to raise funds for a limited edition design in collaboration with 1% for the Planet with a custom green tree print, and now, they’re offering another limited edition: the United by Blue style.

The Oru Beach LT Kayak: United by Blue edition has all the same features as the standard Beach LT, but with the addition of a seamless graphic print in either orange or navy blue. The collaboration is a natural fit considering that United by Blue has spent the last few years organizing volunteer ocean and river cleanups using Oru kayaks, and lots of urban kayakers donate their time on the water in a similar manner.

The origami-inspired folding design of Oru’s Beach LT folds from flat and compact into a standard-sized kayak in under five minutes, while the more complex models take 10 or 15 minutes to assemble. As anyone who’s ever owned and transported a kayak can imagine, the ability to fold such an unwieldy object is a welcome innovation, especially if you don’t have a garage or basement to store it in, or a vehicle of your own. But the design isn’t just for newbies – it was made for everyone from the weekender to the fisherman in mind, for short trips or multi-day excursions.

Get your exclusive UBB x Our Kayak Undercurrent Pack at the United By Blue website, or check out the other offerings at OruKayak.com.

[ By SA Rogers in Design & Products & Packaging. ]

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Bold Bamboo: 8 Dramatic Organic Structures by Chiangmai Life Architects

14 Aug

[ By SA Rogers in Architecture & Public & Institutional. ]

With the completion of their latest project, a spectacular sports hall made of prefabricated bamboo trusses, Thai firm Chiangmai Life Construction (CLC) shows off the stunning architectural possibilities of this natural, inexpensive and sustainable material. But it’s far from the only incredible bamboo structure they’ve designed and built, and they’re here to prove that bamboo blends beautifully with modern technology and lifestyles. Each of their projects centers on the concept of ‘life construction,’ in which the design of a building is carefully customized to its environment, including weather, to control how bamboo interacts with the elements.

Bamboo Sports Hall for Panyaden International School

Each of the prefabricated bamboo trusses used to build this sports hall for a school in Thailand spans more than 55 feet without steel reinforcements or connectors, lifted into position on-site with help from a crane. The structure is designed to withstand earthquakes, torrential rain and high velocity winds, and to host basketball, futsal (a variation of football played on a small hard court), volleyball and badminton. The building shape is based on that of a lotus flower, and like all of CLC’s projects, this one is open to the air to encourage ventilation for cooling in Thailand’s temperate climate, where cold weather is not a problem. The space can host 300 students at a time and includes a storage area behind the stage.

Erber Research Center

At Kasetsart University, Thailand’s largest agricultural learning institution, CLC created a facility that allows students and visitors to study chicken rearing through the windows of an adjacent pre-existing broiler hall (where the chickens are raised) as well as offering space for lectures. Based on the layout of a traditional farmhouse with a square courtyard, the facility includes a covered observation platform with windows spray-painted to look like the eyes of a chicken, with a meeting room, office, lecture hall, kitchen and bathrooms nearby. Says CLC, “This design brings traditional architecture to today’s students who grow up in concrete bunkers.”

Trika Villa

Trika Villa is a residence aiming to illustrate CLC’s core goal of bringing natural materials into the 21st century, maintaining a balance of beauty, affordability and quality. The luxury residence includes 5 bedrooms, 5 bathrooms and a spacious living and dining room arranged around a swimming pool in the courtyard. The adobe walls don’t quite meet the curving, overhanging roof, allowing heat to escape and breezes to penetrate the structure.

Bamboo Reception Hall

Welcoming parents and visitors at the entrance of Panyaprateep School in Thailand is this bamboo reception hall with a rolling bamboo roof inspired by snakeskin. Half open and half closed, the structure offers earthen and stone benches for sitting together in small groups as well as an area full of shelves for the display of items made by the students.

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Bold Bamboo 8 Dramatic Organic Structures By Chiangmai Life Architects

[ By SA Rogers in Architecture & Public & Institutional. ]

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Blade Rollers: 11 Retro-Style Knife Sharpener Vans

13 Aug

[ By Steve in Technology & Vintage & Retro. ]

Charming and quaint hand-painted knife sharpener vans are one of the few remaining holdouts from the golden age of hand-delivered household services.

There’s never a dull moment when the knife-sharpener van comes around, rolling along at walking speed and ringing its distinctive mournful bell. Humorously likened by some to “ice cream trucks for serial killers”, knife sharpener and blade-grinding vans can trace their roots back to hand-pulled carts and cries of “bring out your dead… er, dull blades!”

Though many johnny-come-latelies to the age-old trade have employed professional sign writers to decorate their late-model grinding vans, a substantial number of old-school knife sharpeners continue to operate decades-old vans displaying amateur artwork of a similar vintage. NYC-based Del Re’s Grinding is typical of the genre.

According to The Trowel Tribune, owner/operator Dominic Del Re began his career as a mobile blade grander back in the eighties after leaving his job as a commodities trader on Wall Street. Guess he couldn’t bear the bull anymore.

Long Hard Grind

Step-vans and re-purposed bread trucks are often the mobile knife sharpener’s fave choice, as seen by the mobile shop used by Carlo’s Sharpening Service of Ottawa, Canada.

Carlo flaunts his Italo-Canadian pride along with examples of various bladed tools on the sides of his van, as snapped by Flickr member Andrew Codrington (acodring) in 2008 and Twitter member Laura Dudas in 2015. The van’s sun-faded sides pay homage to 7+ years (and uncounted miles) of slow-motion service.

Gotta Look Sharp

Most mobile blade sharpening services are Mom & Pop-type operations (though we’ve yet to see an actual “Mom” at the wheel – or even riding shotgun), with the owner’s name painted on the van’s sides. As such, one “G. Vecchiarelli” does the needful within his spiffy red “Grinding & Sharpening Service” Grumman step-van – possibly an ex-mailvan – in and around the Greater Toronto Area.

Dude better mind his letters, as the sun is beginning to peel them. Flickr member Jennie Robinson Faber snapped the second not-so-sharp photo in early September of 2009.

Bob’s Yer Uncle

Bob’s Grinding Service has been a frequent sight in and around New York City for many years now. His sharp-looking Grumman-Olson van sports spiffy professional lettering offset by the charming folk-art Wile E. Coyote and Roadrunner characters gracing the van’s back bumper – Tweety-Pie’s painted on the hood. Kudos to Flickr member Nicholas Noyes (niznoz) who captured Bob’s van going away in February of 2008.

“This is the second time I’ve seen this truck” states Flickr member Casey Holford (chachlate), who was evidently unaware blade sharpener vans were a thing. “It apparently drives around and SHARPENS TOOLS for people, just like streetside service out of the truck. There’s a guy in there right now sharpening some tools. It’s crazy.” Crazy like a blade-sharpening fox, Casey.

360Photography

Archive for the ‘Creativity’ Category

Eclipsing Belief: 8 Rare and Amazing Astronomic Objects & Events

The Black Widow Pulsar

The Boötes Void

Gamma Ray Bursts

Lonely Rogue Planet

Next Page – Click Below to Read More:
Eclipsing Belief 8 Rare And Amazing Astronomic Objects Events

8-Bitten: Space Invaders Street Art Tells Tile Tales

We’ll Always Have Paris

High Plain Invaders

Miles Of Tiles

Next Page – Click Below to Read More:
8 Bitten Space Invaders Street Art Tells Tile Tales

Deadly Pleasures: The Devil’s in the Details of These Dark Miniature Scenes

Compact CityTree: Vertical Micro-Garden Packs a Forest’s Worth of Green Benefits

The Bizarre, Chaotic Geometry of a Frank Gehry Building in Progress

Happier Campers: Take Your Gear to a New Level With These 15 Innovations

Biolite Basecamp Stove

Scrubba Portable Laundry Wash Bag

Tentsile Tree Tent

Yeti Hopper Cooler

Sea to Summit Tarp Poncho

Next Page – Click Below to Read More:
Happier Campers Take Your Gear To A New Level With These 15 Innovations

Inflatable Interventions: Soft Spikes Bring Roofless Ruins Back to Life

Oru Origami-Inspired Folding Kayak is Back with an Updated Design

Bold Bamboo: 8 Dramatic Organic Structures by Chiangmai Life Architects

Bamboo Sports Hall for Panyaden International School

Erber Research Center

Trika Villa

Bamboo Reception Hall

Next Page – Click Below to Read More:
Bold Bamboo 8 Dramatic Organic Structures By Chiangmai Life Architects

Blade Rollers: 11 Retro-Style Knife Sharpener Vans

Long Hard Grind

Gotta Look Sharp

Bob’s Yer Uncle

Next Page – Click Below to Read More:
Blade Rollers 11 Retro Style Knife Sharpener Vans

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Archive for the ‘Creativity’ Category

The Black Widow Pulsar

The Boötes Void

Gamma Ray Bursts

Lonely Rogue Planet

Next Page – Click Below to Read More: Eclipsing Belief 8 Rare And Amazing Astronomic Objects Events

We’ll Always Have Paris

High Plain Invaders

Miles Of Tiles

Next Page – Click Below to Read More: 8 Bitten Space Invaders Street Art Tells Tile Tales

Biolite Basecamp Stove

Scrubba Portable Laundry Wash Bag

Tentsile Tree Tent

Yeti Hopper Cooler

Sea to Summit Tarp Poncho

Next Page – Click Below to Read More: Happier Campers Take Your Gear To A New Level With These 15 Innovations

Bamboo Sports Hall for Panyaden International School

Erber Research Center

Trika Villa

Bamboo Reception Hall

Next Page – Click Below to Read More: Bold Bamboo 8 Dramatic Organic Structures By Chiangmai Life Architects

Long Hard Grind

Gotta Look Sharp

Bob’s Yer Uncle

Next Page – Click Below to Read More: Blade Rollers 11 Retro Style Knife Sharpener Vans

Next Page – Click Below to Read More:
Eclipsing Belief 8 Rare And Amazing Astronomic Objects Events

Next Page – Click Below to Read More:
8 Bitten Space Invaders Street Art Tells Tile Tales

Next Page – Click Below to Read More:
Happier Campers Take Your Gear To A New Level With These 15 Innovations

Next Page – Click Below to Read More:
Bold Bamboo 8 Dramatic Organic Structures By Chiangmai Life Architects

Next Page – Click Below to Read More:
Blade Rollers 11 Retro Style Knife Sharpener Vans