Rhein II
Andreas Gursky’s “Rhein II” set a new record for the highest selling price for a photograph ($4.3 million) yesterday. I must say I rather like it, though I do wonder how these things happen.
Astronauts Falling Down
For some reason, after watching this, I spent another twenty minutes watching moon-landing conspiracy videos. Try to avoid that if possible.
A Murmuration of Starlings
Murmuration from Sophie Windsor Clive.
Just lovely. (via The Atlantic)
How to draw a cloud
Apparently the golden ratio applies to clouds too. Scott Hanselman has a good post on the similarities of cloud icons. But why the flat bottom? (via The Atlantic)
The Ides of March
Has anyone seen The Ides of March yet? If not, I highly recommend it. I haven’t been this excited about a movie in a long time, and I was pretty surprised at my reaction.
After discussing it a little, it became apparent that there were at least two ways of reading the overall storyline — I preferred to read it as a sort of Fall story, though that interpretation has some flaws (which I’d like to discuss), but on the other hand, it’s a story where no one, except perhaps Paul, has any real integrity. Any reactions? Who do you think is the hero, or are there any heroes?
Photo out of context
Flocking Robots
From an article in Wired, a group in Switzerland has developed small flying robots that are able to communicate with one another, and depending on the constraints, adopt various flocking patterns. Watch out for “incoherent flocking”. You know who you are.
I do not fear death
I found Roger Ebert’s essay on mortality (excerpted from his new book) to be quite a lovely catalyst for reflection.
Understanding Soulja Boy’s lyrics
You may have heard about Soulja Boy’s insult to the FBI and military. Here’s an entertaining and informative breakdown of what’s going on in that song. If you haven’t been to RapGenius, it really is rather impressive. Recommended for fans of Ulysses and footnotes.
Dear Clusterflock
Post the most accurate picture and/or link to your first car?
Mondrian Drop Ceiling
Thought I’d share something I’ve been working on.
With a lot of help, I created this Mondrian style drop ceiling. When my friend was installing a drop ceiling in my room crowded with ductwork and utilities, and the ceiling wasn’t going to come out very uniform, we joked that we should just make the ceiling of all sorts of different size panels. And then it hit us.
So, we plotted out the desired locations for rails and determining the panel shapes, and fit everything together, unpainted. The panels were labelled and removed for painting. Next, running complex computer simulations, a second friend and I came up with the color pattern. The rails were painted in enamel, mini rollers were engaged, and the whole thing was put back together again very carefully.
It is surprisingly difficult to get a complete photo of an entire ceiling.
Much love and thanks to N, D, and R.
More photos of the process on my tumblr.
You’ve Been Eminent Domain’d
I guess this is what you get when you put an extension on a house this close to the ever-widening DC beltway, but man… I still feel bad for these folks.
Quote out of Context
“I am really sad because this is sad, and this means there’s nothing to look forward to. Nothing.”
What do you follow?
Apparently the percentage of people who follow brands on social media is on the rise. What brands do you follow, and why? Do you do it for just a short time (say, while you’re shopping for ketchup, you follow Heinz to see if there are any sweet deals going on), or long term?
By the way, if you’re in the mood to see what the Netherlands office of Heinz ketchup is up to, well, here you go.
Spotify launches in US
If you haven’t heard, Spotify just opened up in the US. There’s an invitation wait list, or you can just pay to sign up. I think I’m going to pay.
RIP Peter Falk
I just heard that Peter Falk passed away. “Wings of Desire” may be my favorite movie. This is a brilliant and joyful scene.
iA Writer
Found this on Signal vs. Noise. I’m intrigued. Does anyone here use iA Writer?
Tilapia and environmental issues
Dr. McCrary has spent the past decade studying how a small, short-lived tilapia farm degraded Lake Apoyo in Nicaragua. “One small cage screwed up the entire lake — the entire lake!” …
Waste from the cages polluted the pristine ecosystem, and some tilapia escaped.
I thought this was interesting, and also felt sorry for some of the lesser-used categories. Working on “tits” now. Just kidding.
Also, doesn’t fish farming like this (engineered to have small heads and tails, and large “loins”) sound remarkably close to lab-grown synthetic meats? Getting people to accept synthetic meats might be easier than I thought.
Meet the Flockers: Casey Cichowicz
Hello, everyone! I’m very pleased to be here. Long time lurker, then Walken impersonator. A few things about me:
I live in the DC area (Alexandria, actually), and grew up in south central Pennsylvania (I always get funny looks when I say that, but it just means not Philadelphia or Pittsburgh, and you probably wouldn’t know it anyway). When I was in gradeschool we lived in Heidelberg Germany for four years. At this point I only speak a little German, but I still remember how to eat a schnitzel!
I’m a web developer/project manager type, but was a music major and failed rock star. I still try now and then. Trying to get something going again. I’m also trying a little painting — well, it’s really just layering and then sanding down acrylic paint. So I’m not sure it’s art. Actually, I’m very interested in the question of “what is art”, even though from time to time I think it’s a pretty silly question.
I’m a fairly avid mountain biker, but of the weekend warrior variety. I enjoy backpacking. I don’t do nearly enough of either, but I have been on some pretty great trips (Whistler last fall, Patagonia two years ago).
I’m a music fan — I go to a lot of shows and have a large MP3 collection. After reluctantly switching to iTunes, I am still trying to figure out the best way to listen to my music. And by this, I mean, I want to listen to full albums in more-or-less random order, but according to least recently played album and without hearing the same artist within 1 month. If you’ve figured out a good way to manage that, please let me know. These are the kinds of problems I have, or at least, the kinds that I am willing to reveal at the moment.
Anyway, hello and thanks!
