Tempête sur la pointe de Bretagne

(video link)

Incredibly beautiful.

I’ve always thought it would be cool to be a lighthouse keeper, but this might try my nerves. I wonder what it’s like to be in there while this is going on?

via TYWKIWDBI

Stone House

Nas montanhas de Fafe, Portugal

the other side:














hat tip: copula*

Global Outlook: The Legacy of R. Buckminster Fuller

R. Buckminster Fuller, Dymaxion House Model, Third Version, 1929, mixed media. Photo: Estate of R. Buckminster Fuller

Bucky Fuller is profiled in the November 2008 issue of Artforum.

via BFI

geometría callejera

bachmont's photostream

via Vagabondish

Steam Train

Relics of a Long-Gone Era in Eritrea

A 1938 steam train, bound for Asmara, passes through a sun-blasted landscape untouched by modernity. Photo: Shawn Baldwin for The New York Times

Recalling La Dolce Vita in Eritrea
Eritrea: Art Deco time capsule

This Old House: 1918

Shorpy:

Washington, D.C., circa 1918. "Old house, Third Street N.E. Built by Thomas Taylor in 1876." Thought I'd better post this before any more chunks of the glass negative (or house) fall off. National Photo Co. glass negative.

stray bullets

Middle East Cockroaches Invade U.S. During the Iraq War American military personnel have unknowingly been bringing back Middle Eastern cockroaches in their belongings and equipment. One such globe-trotting insect, the Turkestan cockroach, is now settled in the southwestern part of the U.S....

Texas bans nibbling fish pedicures The US state of Texas has banned fish pedicures over health and safety concerns, denying salon customers the opportunity to enjoy the sensation of hundreds of small fish nibbling away the dead skin from their feet.

Mutant fish develops a taste for human flesh in India The enormous goonch, a type of catfish, is said to have developed a taste for human flesh after feeding on corpses thrown into the river after funeral ceremonies. Locals rumours have held for years that a mysterious monster lurks in the water. But they think it has moved on from scavenging to targeting live bathers who swim in the Great Kali, which flows along the India-Nepal border.

also:
Hummus Wars
On-tap Inspiration Online (for writers)
Dr. Dymaxion's Atomic Condos (Bucky stuff)
Projector for your phone
"Calamities of Genius"
Forest Whitaker to direct and star in Satchmo biopic

viddy:
Lab Created Diamonds
First live webcast of a lion hunt
Heavy Metal Farmer
Staubli Robot Dance Show
Hunter S. Thompson: The Crazy Never Die (via)

Gustave Eiffel in his work room

Schtok blog:

Original caption:
Gustave Eiffel is shown in his work room, experimenting with aerodynamic balance to find the exact pressure of the tower against the four caissons which support the four huge piers. Interest in the Eiffel Tower, called one of the seven wonders of the modern age, has been revived because of France’s plans to honor the great designer and builder of the forerunner to the skyscraper. The huge tower, 984.25 feet high, and completed in 1889, is still the tallest structure built by man. On April 29, the City of Paris will unveil a monument and bust of Eiffel by the famous sculptors, Auguste Perret and Andre Granet, erected at the base of the Tower. Eiffel is known as a great visionary and was forced to battle against architects and others of the time, who said the wind would destroy his tower, as that of Babel was destroyed. Since its completion in 1889, 13,153,921 pers

Other than this, I haven't been able to find a source for this image.

Windmills in Eastern Germany

Wulferstedt 2 (Bördekreis), Sachsen-Anhalt, 25.02.1995

Windmills in Eastern Germany: Photos by Reinhard Krause

via Conscientious

stray bullets

Has anyone noticed that oil has dropped below $106 a barrel? Crude oil and gold led a decline in commodities in London as Hurricane Gustav spared the U.S. Gulf states the destruction caused by Katrina and Rita in 2005.

How books changed Mafia man's life For the first time in his life he started reading books, looking deeper into himself and searching for some answers. He set himself the challenge to read the entire prison library. "Prison was the greatest thing that happened to me, because it gave me time to look inside myself, the solitude that I needed to take a closer look at everything around me; to analyse myself."

Danish artists create life-size walking house With oil prices rocketing and mortgages plummeting, visionary Danish artist collective N55 has solved the joint problems of transport and housing by building a home that can walk. A new twist on the mobile home, although I have a feeling it wouldn't fly in this country unless it could do around 75mph. (via)

Dennis Hopper's life: a hell of a ride Hopper’s description sums up his career. He’s part of Hollywood history as the man who in 1969 made independent movie-making a serious business by directing and starring in Easy Rider alongside Jack Nicholson and Peter Fonda. The result was a winning hand that’s kept him in the game ever since, even though he’s run low on chips. But somehow he’s never quite managed to establish himself as a big winner. For a good chunk of his 50-year acting career he has been sidelined by film studios, nervous about his reputation for drink, drugs and wild behaviour and for speaking his mind. I think he's done just fine, all in all.

Seven Eight Things To Do When You Don’t Feel Like Writing 8. Write.

also:
Six Ways to Fix the CIA
People Who Lose Jobs Become Hermits
US army has laser guns in its sights
20 Things You Didn't Know About... Telescopes
Art games and not-games (really good ones, too)
EnglishScholar.com - A compendium of electronic resources

viddy:
Welcome to My Study 4 (prev)
The Prisoner: Video Exclusive - Building The Village
The World of Anathem (via)
The 50 greatest arts videos on YouTube
Kurt Vonnegut documentary
UbuWeb - Christian Marclay

stray bullets

N Korea struggles to control changing economy "In 1999, even in Pyongyang, people were exhausted, malnourished, feeble... In 2004, the situation was very different - the whole city looked like one big market."... "There was activity everywhere, on streets, under the bridges, from the windows of apartments," It is my firm conviction that when left to ourselves, we (humans) become the hunters, gatherers, hoarders and purveyors of stuff that we are. We become consumers and merchants and we create markets. The mammalian hoarding instinct runs strong in us and explains much about things like capitalism and binge shopping.

Soon to be available on the Web: Dead Sea Scrolls In a crowded laboratory painted in gray and cooled like a cave, half a dozen specialists embarked this week on an historic undertaking: digitally photographing every one of the thousands of fragments of the Dead Sea Scrolls with the aim of making the entire file - among the most sought-after and examined documents on earth - available to all on the Internet.

Executed Today - 1979: Eleven by a Firing Squad in Iran On this date in 1979, the only anonymous photograph to win a Pulitzer Prize captured nine Kurdish rebels and two of the Shah’s policemen executed by firing squad in revolutionary Iran. I debated whether or not to post this photo. I decided to let the reader choose whether or not they wanted to view it. This photo always affected me strongly. The two figures in the forefront of the image are the most striking.

also:
Sign language over cell phones
In Pictures: The Frugal Billionaires (there's an old saying to the effect that they're rich because they're tight) (via)
Cuba detains leading punk rocker (on charges of "dangerousness")
Networks - a set on Flickr (design types take note, too) (via)
One hundred one hours of Dada and Surrealism on KBOO (starts tonight, listen live on the website) (via)

viddy:
The Cat House on the Kings (no-cage, no-kill, lifetime sanctuary, don't miss it)
The Church of Bones - Czech Republic (via)
Paper Rad - P-Unit Mixtape 2005 (NSFWeird)
"Our ways are not your ways" - Surreal Automaton

stray bullets

How impostors capture our trust instantly - and why we're so eager to give it to them The answer is that you probably would, too. Human beings are social animals, and our first instinct is to trust others. Con men, of course, have long known this - their craft consists largely of playing on this predilection, and turning it to their advantage. (via)

Eight crazy e-mail hoaxes millions have fallen for They're far-fetched, too good to be true, irrational, ridiculous or impossible, but people still keep clicking on these e-mail hoaxes.

Computer gamers hire hundreds of thousands of Chinese to earn virtual gold Nearly half a million people are employed in "virtual sweatshops" earning points and goods in online games to sell over the internet, a study has found.

How the Nose Sniffs Danger in the Air The next time someone says, “I smell danger in the air,” that might literally be true — and the odor might be coming from you.

also:
The brain from top to bottom: An interactive website on the human brain and behavior (via)
World's largest monastery library restored to its baroque splendour (via)
19 terrifying incidents involving fish (the Candiru scares the crap out of me) (via)
An Interview With Thievery Corporation
The Prisoner Production Diary Week 2 - Descent Into Swakopmund

viddy:
Ken Burns on the "Ken Burns Effect" (via)
David Lynch on product placement
Karlheinz Stockhausen - Helicopter String Quartet (don't miss it)
Live from Daryl's House (love him or hate him, Daryl Hall can sing his ass off-- really good)
Catfish vs. Bat Belize's fishing bats may catch and eat up to 30 fish in one night - but sometimes it may be a fish that catches a bat!

Sick Day

image

I'm a bit under the weather, so just this one post today. I'll be back with you tomorrow. In the meantime, it's lots of bed rest and Monty Python for me, the archives and my splendid blogroll for you, if you need some.

But before I leave you, a few notes and some videos.

First of all, I was shamelessly pleased to discover that Uncertain Times was kindly and thoughtfully introduced by the esteemed Jahsonic. His weblog and Art and Popular Culture Wiki are required reading and reference.

some news:
Sad to say, an American Tourist Is Killed in Beijing
Babies born 8/8/08 at 8:08; 8 pounds, 8 ounces (thx)
Update: Fake-CNN spam mutates as attacks continue

some nugs:
Literary Voyeurism (enough to choke on)
Roald Dahl's “Taste” - Read by John Lithgow for Selected Shorts series on public radio. (don't miss it) (via)
Roadside Architecture is back on the road. (prev)
Darren Aronofsky updated his blog.

some video:

The Chambers Brothers - People Get Ready (via)




From The Last Waltz, The Band performs It Makes No Difference. I forgot how good they were. (via)




August 9th is Frank Zappa Day in Baltimore. Enjoy an excellent live version of Inca Roads.

And finally, Procrastination. (not the one that made the rounds a few months back)



See you tomorrow!

Monster Park

Il Parco dei Mostri:

By the middle of the 16th century, Vicino Orsini created, in his estate at Bomarzo, a labyrinth of symbols, where Ladies and Knights might look for what they most wanted and wonder till they got lost.

He populated the sacred wood with monsters and tortoises, obelisks, nymphaums and giant statues. After Vicino Orsini's death nobody cared any longer for this jewel of mannerist art, that after centuries of oblivion has been saved and restored.

Monster Park video
a few images
a few more images
via Nag on the Lake

stray bullets

Anthrax Evidence Called Mostly Circumstantial The evidence amassed by F.B.I. investigators against Dr. Bruce E. Ivins, the Army scientist who killed himself last week after learning that he was likely to be charged in the anthrax letter attacks of 2001, was largely circumstantial, and a grand jury in Washington was planning to hear several more weeks of testimony before issuing an indictment, a person who has been briefed on the investigation said on Sunday. (also) (also) all (via)

Falcon 1 suffers another setback Lost aboard the Falcon was the U.S. military's Trailblazer satellite, two small NASA payloads and a cache of cremated human remains, including the ashes of astronaut Gordon Cooper and Star Trek actor James Doohan. (via)

For Wealthy Brazilian, Money From Ore and Might From the Cosmos “I AM connected to the divine, to these forces here,” João Carlos Cavalcanti, the Brazilian mining magnate, said as he swept an arm out across the lily pad-covered lake behind his $15 million mansion. (via)

Lunch with Heather Perry (self-trepanner) It didn't take that long at all, probably about 20 minutes. Eventually I could feel a lot of fluid moving around. Apparently, there was a bit too much fluid shifting around, because they'd gone a little bit too far and I was leaking some through the hole, but this wasn't especially dangerous as there are three layer of meninges before you get to the brain. (via)

also:
Franz Kafka’s porn brought out of the closet (via)
Moscow's House of Fairy-tales (ht)
Blogging Merit Badge (out of stock) (via)
Make bookends from old vinyl records (via)
KLF - The Manual (How to have a Number One the easy way) (via)

viddy:
Balls Deep--Sewers of Bogota: Part 1 of 5 (don't miss it) (via)
How Buildings Learn - Uploaded by Stewart Brand Himself
Ask an Astronomer - What Will Happen to the Earth When the Sun Dies?
Iain Banks interview (audio)
20 Ways to Die Trying to Dunk a Basketball (via)

Lost Cities

Badami, Karnataka, India

Lost Cities (many photos of many lost cities)

via Coudal Partners

Storm Sewer System / Saitama, Japan

Impressive Storm Sewer System / Saitama, Japan
via NOTCOT.org

Romanian Painted Monasteries

East apse of the church, Sucevita Monastery

Romanian Monasteries
via Nag on the Lake

general store architecture

14 Onward Mississippi
jimmywayne22 (comment: This place has the best hamburgers on earth!!!! Seriously...)
via The J-Walk Blog

What We Can Learn From Buckminster Fuller

As you might have noticed, I'm a total geek for Buckminster Fuller. I'm reading Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth again this weekend and I really enjoyed this Wired photo essay.

The above image is one of his wackier ideas:

To construct one of his Lightful Towers, Fuller imagined that one airship would first drop a bomb and create a hole in the ground, then a second airship would drop the building into the hole. The stacked apartment unit would be sealed into the ground with cement and ready for use.

There is a more human, even somewhat darker side to the Fuller mythos that was brought back to mind by the comment on the above post and was hinted at in a recent New York Times article. We'll be exploring this side of dear old Bucky in the offing.